FEB'49 
that the trustees could rarely get a quorum 
for a board meeting, so little was their inter¬ 
est in the welfare of the groat trust committed 
to their hands, and many other equally false 
and foolish charges were made. 
Now I wish to state in the most positive and 
absolute manner—and I speak entirely from 
the school records--that, the University of 
Illinois has been constantly growing in its 
practical , technical , scientific side from the 
year of its organization to the present time, 
while the facilities for classical and literary 
study, which have always been excellent, 
have had no such proportionate enlargement; 
that t he College of Agriculture has to-day and 
has always had the largest ami best equipment 
in men and appliances of any in the Univer¬ 
sity; that, nine years ago the attendance of 
students in the scientific courses was but 34 
per cent, of the total attendance, and that 
now it is 58 per cent.; and, leaving out the 
girls, who mostly take the literary courses, it 
is 89 per cent, ol' thu entire attendance. This 
clearly shows on which side we are growing 
fastest.. It is also a fact that 15 per cent, of 
all our graduates are farmers to-day; while 
of the large number who have takeu partial 
courses, and have not been eligible to gradu¬ 
ation, a large proportion are now found upon 
the farm. And 1 wish to add that we are to¬ 
day, and have been from the beginning, ful¬ 
filling in spirit, and to the letter, the law 
of Congress making a land grant, and the 
laws of Illinois organizing the university; 
and that to-day we have 21 professors 
and assistants teaching the several sciences 
which lie at the basis of agriculture and the 
mechanic arte—a body of able and faithful 
men, embracing several names of world-wide 
scientific reputation. With such a corps of 
teachers; with a splendid farm of 400 acres 
given entirely to agricultural experimenta¬ 
tion; with extensive shops for wood and iron¬ 
working where we build the most complicated 
machinery and apparatus; with extensive 
laboratories, museums and libraries, all in con¬ 
stant use, we feel that, we are fulfilling in a 
large way, ami with entire fidelity, the mag¬ 
nificent dream of liberal and practical educa¬ 
tion which inspired the founders of this grand 
system of s< booK 
That the agricultural courses in nil of our 
colleges have less attendance than the engin¬ 
eering uml mechanical, or the purely scientific 
and literary courses, is a matter which wo can 
all join in regretting, but which canuot be 
considered the fault or the trustees or faculty. 
It comes from a certain phase of develop¬ 
ment of our civilization. The farmers’ sons 
cannot ba bound to thfi farm lift, but 
will become mechanics or merclmuts or 
professional men. Time and education 
will slowly change this, as the farmer’s life 
and home become more dignified and attrac¬ 
tive. Hut I will suggest, one remedy for the 
light attendance on the agricultural courses in 
our colleges. It Lies largely with the agri¬ 
cultural press. It is a long time since I have 
road one line of general praise and commen¬ 
dation of any of our agricultural colleges on 
the editorial page ol' any agricultural papers 
and I read a great many papers. You , 
Messrs. Kditors, lead the minds of both farm¬ 
ers and sous. 1 beg the agricultural press to 
consider whether ii is doing its duty in this 
matter. Has it been doing full justice to the 
colleges, and full justice to the boys who need 
their help? 
Ocean Springs, Miss. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
STOCKS FOR KriCFFKU AND LE CONTE PEARS,ETC. 
A. \V. C., Fayetteville, Ark .—Are Kieffer 
and Le Conte Pears better when grown on 
their own roots than on Bartlett roots, and 
and will the English walnut thrive when 
worked on ordinary bluck walnuts# 
ANSWERED 11V WM, PARRY, OF PARRY, N. J. 
We are not aware that pear trees are ever 
grown on Bartlett roots. There never was 
more than one seedling Bartlett pear tree; all 
others have been propagated by taking buds 
and grafts from that, one original tree and its 
descendants to inoculate other stocks; and if the 
roots of a Bartlett tree were uow dug up to be 
grufted with other varieties, they would not 
be Bartlett roots, but would be roots of the va¬ 
rieties (jierhaps seedlings) on which the Bartlett 
had been worked. Home pears will strike ruot 
readily from cuttings and others will not. 
The theory that each cutting should make its 
own roots is beautiful; but it is found in prac¬ 
tice that there is a difference in the value of 
seedling stocks for budding or gruftiug. Home 
may not be as good as roots sent out from the 
cutting itself, and trees grown on these poor 
stocks would be inferior to those grown from 
rooted cuttings, and other seedlings may be 
better, unit trees grown on them may be siqxj- 
rior to those grown from cuttings. In 1878 
we planted one dozen Le Conte pear trees. 
Six of them had been grown from cuttings 
and were on their own roots;the other six had 
been budded on seedling pear stocks. They 
have all done well, and borne fruit abundant¬ 
ly, each according to its size, though the six 
on pear stocks are double the size of those on 
their own roots, and yield double the quantity 
of fruit. Thosoil, treatment and every cir¬ 
cumstance connected with then.) have been the 
same, excepting the roots, one lot beiug 
budded on seedling pear stocks aud the other 
grown from cuttings and on their own roots. 
Quince stocks are not congenial to the Kieffer, 
Le Coute aud other Oriental pear trees. In 
1878 we planted an orchard of 2,000 standard 
Kioffer pear trees, and 3,000 dwarf Kief- 
fors, worked on quince stocks, between 
them. The standards, worked on seedling 
pear stocks, have made a fine growth, 
been annually trimmed and headed back 
to a uniform size aud shape, and now 
present a beautiful appearance aud they are 
very productive. There have been but three 
failures to our knowledge iu the lot; one of 
them was accidentally run over by a wagon 
and .broken down near the ground; with re¬ 
gard to the other two, when we saw the leaves 
were changing color, we examined the roots 
and found the stock on which the Kieffer had 
been worked was entirely dead. Knowing the 
tops must follow the dead roots, we had them 
removed, and in tall replaced them with other 
Kieffer Standard trees, which are doing well. 
Of the 3,000 dwarfs Or K (offers on quince,more 
than ,800 turned black and died during the 
first summer, and as many more every year 
afterwards, until they were nearly all gone. 
The few that are left threw out roots from the 
Kieffer above the quince roots, through which 
nourishment is dra wn to support the trees, All 
the trees, both standard aud dwarf, yield 
abundautly of large, handsome fruit. In the 
nursery rows we have budded Le Coute on 
quiuce and pear stocks beside each other, and 
while those on pear stocks made a fine, healthy 
growth, those on quince all blighted the second 
ami third years. We think the quinco stocks 
are not congenial to the Le Coute and Kieffer 
pears. 2. We have never worked the English 
walnut on the black walnut; but have under¬ 
stood that it succeeds well, unitiug readily, 
and making a good growth aud coming into 
bearing younger than when grown from seed. 
SEEDING A HILLSIDE TO PERMANENT PAS¬ 
TURE. 
(7. At. W., Bel!aire, f). —1. How can I obtain 
a good stand of Blue Grass, as soon as possi¬ 
ble, on a steep, northwest hillside; soil lime¬ 
stone, much inclined to slip; laud strong, 
never plowed, but can be; a poor stand of 
original grass, overpastured but a splendid Bet 
of moss, which is inclined to exterminate the 
grass; well watered by springs. 2. What are 
good works on the cultivation of pasture 
grasses, dairy husbandry and ensilage# 
ANSWERED BY WALDO F. BROWN. 
1. There should be no difficulty in getting 
such land seeded so as to make a profitable 
pasture, 1 would advise that it lie plowed 
shallow and thoroughly pulverized and then 
Heeded heavily with mixed grasses, such as 
now flourish on the soil and iu the locality. I 
seeded very satisfactorily u similar piece of 
land seven years ago, w bicb has since pro¬ 
duced good crops of grass. 1 used six quarts 
of Timothy seed, three quarts of common Red 
Clover and a little Red top and Orchard 
Gruss aud one bushel of Blue Grass, and if I 
were to seed such a piece of laud again 1 
would sow two pounds each to the acre of 
White aud Alsike Clover. The foot is, that to 
make a profitable pasture one cannot get too 
great a variety of grasses, aud one canuot de¬ 
pend on Blue Crass to furnish pasture for at 
^ least three years; but if itouee gets rooted, it 
will finally cover the laud and crowd out all 
others. At present prices of the seeds named 
it would cost from $2.25 to $2.50 per acre for 
seed, but us the pasture is to be seeded for a 
life-time, it will pay. 1 would not seed this 
spring unless the season is such that it could 
be done quite early, and if not done now, I 
would plow in summer aud seed the Timothy 
in September and sow the other grasses on the 
frozen surface early in March following. I 
am of the opinion, from some experiments I 
ho ve made, that this land could be reseeded 
without plowing, uud if it cannot be plowed 
this con ling spring, 1 advise thata trial should 
be made on a part of it at least. If fine inun- 
uro can be had, 1 would recommend a light 
coat well harrowed into the surface, just as 
early as a team can lie used on the land, and 
then the seed should be sown. Or, if straw 
cun be had, spread a light coating over the 
land and burn it off. This will kill out the 
moss and furnish a little ashes to fertilize the 
young grass and give it a atari? I should ex¬ 
pect good results from this method, and 
should much prefer clover straw, if it, could 
be had, to wheat. I would ulso Recommend 
that commercial manure be tried on an acre 
or two of it. It will be necessary to sow the 
Blue Grass seed separately, but all the rest 
can be mixed aud sown together. 2. The 
question about books is one not easily ans¬ 
wered. as most agricultural hooks take a wide 
range aud arc not confined to a siugle topic. 
Perhaps as good a book as one can find to 
cover the points desired, is a book of over 500 
pages entitled “Feeding Animals,” by E. W. 
Stewart. Mr. Stewart is an author of recog¬ 
nized scientific attainments regarding the 
topics on which he writes, and no intelligent 
man can read his book without benefit. I 
know of no work on dairy farms which is 
valuable. The subject of ensilage and silos is 
too young (in tbis country, at least) to have 
developed a literature that is valuable. 
Daily’s book I consider misleading and of no 
value, unless it is as an example of “How not 
to do it” in agricultural writing. As a dairy 
food silage has scarcely obtained a footing 
that entitles it to recommendation, and one 
can scarcely make up his mind as to its value 
from what has been written about it. 
FERTILIZERS FOR POTATOES, ETC. 
S. II. M., Troy Hills, N. J— 1. In growlug 
potatoes is the Mapes Complete Potato Fer¬ 
tilizer the best? 2. Is lime good for potatoes? 
3. Will lime applied in the fall, and farm-yard 
manure put on iu the spring, both being 
plowed under together, act well for potatoes. 
Should Mapes’ Fertilizer be put on the ground 
and harrowed in; or putiu the hill next to the 
potato pieces, or put, on after the vines have 
come up, when hoeing begins? 4. Is the firm 
of W. Atlee Burpee reliable; and what about 
their new Empire State Potato? 5. What is 
the best manure for Timothy on a clay ground 
not very heavy, and whut is the best potato# 
A NS. —L We do not know. We believe 
that it is the aim of the Mapes Company to 
mamifucture as good an article as it can afford 
to make for ttie prices charged. The average 
of analyses made by the several stations shows 
this. 2. If the land needs lime, yes. Other¬ 
wise, no, except as the lime may hasten the 
solubility of plant food already in the soil. 
Our experiments two years ago with lime 
alone on potatoes show that the yield was not 
increased by its use. 3. Yes, the lime will 
somewhat hasten the decomposition of the 
manure. It will be just as well to spread the 
fertilizer broadcast and harrow it in perhaps. 
It is better not to put the fertilizer in direct 
contact with the seed pieces. They should 
first be covered. For late potatoes it might 
be well to give two applications of fertilizer, 
one before, the other after the potatoes are 
up. For early potatoes we should spread the 
whole before. 4. Wo regard W. Atlee Burpee 
& Co., as a trustworthy, enterprising firm. 
We tried this potato during the season of 1885. 
It is rather late. The yield iu the rich soil of 
our test grounds was at the rate of 484 bushels 
per acre. The quality was mealy and dry, the 
fiesh nearly white. Iu shape it is variable. 
The eyes are numerous but not deep. 5. We 
cannot tell; nor can anybody else with such 
mougre data. It is better, perhaps, that wo 
should not attempt it. The best potatoes with 
us may prove quite unsatisfactory with you. 
The Rural tests all potatoes as they are an¬ 
nounced, or before, aud reports have appeared 
during t.he past 10 years. 
VALUE OF FEEDING STUFFS FOR MILCH 
COWS. 
H. G. //,, Delaware, Ohio. —When clover 
hay is worth $10 per ton, wheat bran, $14; and 
corn meal, $17, what is the value of malt 
sprouts as feed for milch cows, the sprouts 
to be first scalded aud then mixed with tho 
bran aud meal at the rate of two pounds of 
each! 
Ans. —According to tho tables of the Con¬ 
necticut Experiment Station Report, includ¬ 
ing those giving the digestibility of feeding 
stuffs, aton of clover hay contains of digesti¬ 
ble protein or blood and muscle-formers, 142 
pounds, and of carbohydrates, or fat-formers, 
898 pounds, and at $10 per toll, these would 
cost, for the former, $4.13; for the latter, 
$5.87. A ton of corn meal would contaiu 143 
pounds of protein uud 1,411 pounds of carbo¬ 
hydrates, and these would cost, with the meal 
at $17 per ton, $5,38 for the former, and $11.73 
for the latter. A ton of bran would contain 
351 pounds protein and 975 pounds of carboliy 
drates, which would cost with bran at $14 
per ton, $7.42 for the former, uud $8.58 for 
the latter, figuring the protein aud carbohy 
drates at their average costs iu these three 
foods; the ton of malt sprouts containing 378 
jw mn dsof protein worth $12.88 and 899 pounds 
of carbohydrates worth $8.58, would bo worth 
$19.44. By mixing these in the proportion of 
two pounds cacti, our feed ration would con¬ 
tain protein and carbohydrates iuthe propor¬ 
tion of 770 of the former to 3,285 of the latter 
or as 1 :4-37; but a cow giving milk should 
have a ration with a nutritive ratio of 1 ; 6.4, 
and in order to give this we would have to add 
more corn meal. If a ration was compounded 
of five pounds of corn meal, throS pounds of 
bran and two pounds of malt sprouts, it would 
have a nutritive ratio of 1:5.5 which would 
give, when fed with clover hay, a very good 
result. But our friend should be very sure 
that the malt sprouts are fresh aud sound, as 
they are very apt to become injured by lying 
very long iu bins or piles. 
COTTON-SEED AND LINSEED MEALS. 
E. P. AT., Nichols, Conn.— I would like to 
know the greatest quantity of cotton-seed meal 
that can lie economically fed to a horse aud 
the same in regurd to linseed meal, aud how 
they should be fed; also as regards feeding 
cattle. 
Ans. —Both these stuffs are rich in protein, 
or that element, which goes to the formation 
of blood, lean meat, wool, tho cheesy part of 
milk, or which would enable a horse to endure 
hard work; but a horse or cow must have iu 
its food a proper proportion of carbohydrates; 
or those elements which support respiration 
aud furnish heat and fat, in order to be heal¬ 
thy and produce the best results. By careful 
experiments, it has been found that with a 
horse at hard work aud a cow giving milk the 
proper proportion of these vary but little, and 
should bo not far from 1.55 or one of the for¬ 
mer to live and oue-half of the latter. Now 
iu cotton-seed meal or linseed meal the pro¬ 
portion of protein is greatly in excess of this. 
Besides this, in cotton-seed meal there is a 
very large proportion of free oil which is ob¬ 
jectionable. For uiUch eowsor hard-working 
horses, we mix 500 pound? of corn meal to 
200 pounds of bran and 150 pounds of new-pro¬ 
cess linseed meal. 
OLD BEANS AS STOCK FEED. 
C. D. K., Yarmouth, N. S .—Last year’s 
beans, a “little injured at harvesting aud a tri- 
lie musty,” if not too bad, can be fed to store 
sheep whose principal food is Timothy hay or 
straw, or both. We have repeatedly tried 
feeding poor beans to fattening sheep, but in 
every ease have lost some before we were 
through with the experiment. The very best 
use to which we ever put such beaus was to 
use them as hog food. Cook them thoroughly 
in water aud wheu done add to two bushels of 
beans (two bushels before cooking) a half 
bushel of corn meal and a half bushel of line 
bran, stirring these in while the beaus are 
hot. We ulways try to use all of the waste 
foods we can, and got even tho manure for 
profit. Their value as foods depends upon 
their condition; when sound they are a very 
highly nitrogenous food and very valuable to 
feed with corn, hay or straw. But iu their 
present condition tho plant food which they 
contain and which, if fed to fattening or full- 
grown animals, would be voided in the excre¬ 
tions to at least the extent of 75 per eent. 
would cost, if purchased in the fertilizer 
market,not less than 50 cents per bushel, and 
if three-fourths of this were returned to the 
farm it would be worth 38 cents. It will be 
thus seen that the best use to be made of them 
is to feed them, well cooked, to swine. 
CONJUNCTIVITIS, SIMPLE OPTUALMIA, IN A 
HORSE. 
S. P. MaGV'illisco, Iowa .—A film is grow¬ 
ing over tho eyes of my two-year-old horse. 
The eyes ruu water all tho time, and are con¬ 
stantly becoming weaker; otherwise the ani¬ 
mal is iu good health. Can anything be done 
for it# 
ANSWERED BY F. L. KJLBORNE. 
Without a personal examination of the 
horse we cannot say whether it will be possi¬ 
ble to restore the sight or uot. Disease ol tho 
eyes of the horse is very liable to terminate in 
the loss of sight unless tho eyes are properly 
treated during the early stages, before struc¬ 
tural changes have taken place. After such 
changes have taken place, especially in the in¬ 
terior of tho eye, it is usually impossible tore- 
store the eye to its normal condition. If the 
film has formed recently and is iu the front of 
the eye (not back within the eye) the following 
treatment may be successful. Dissolve two 
or three grains of nitrate of silver In an ounce 
of pure wuler, and paint daily portions of the 
eyeball covered by the film, using a small 
camel's-hair brush. If this appears to cause 
much pain, omit it for u few days, and cover 
tho eyes with a soft cloth kept constantly 
moistened with the following solution: Sugar 
of lead, one-hulf dram, sulphate of morphia, 
ten grains, water, one pint; continue this for a 
few days after which try the nitrate of silver 
again. Then apply a little soft extract of 
belladonna daily to the outside of the eyelids 
and eyebrows. Keep the colt In a dry, dark¬ 
ened, clean stable, aud give special attention 
to his general health and comfort. Internally 
it will be desirable to give a laxative—two or 
three drams Barbadoes aloes--to unload the 
system, and follow night aud morning with 
two tlrams potassium nitrate,one ounce Epsom 
salts aud one-half ounce powdered gentian. 
MAllE BITING LEG. 
c. II. O'H., Louisville, Kan— My mare be¬ 
gan to bite her left, foreleg over a year ago, 
aud since then she has been accustomed to 
bite it every chance she gets. Last uigtyt she 
got loose and bit it very badly; nothing tha 1 
