and the boxes placed over the plants, 
heaping the soil up a little on the out¬ 
side so as to stop up all means of ingress. 
After the plants become hardened and start 
into vigorous growth they may be treated to 
Paris-green the same as other potato vines. 
Keep the soil mellow and free from weeds and 
gather the seedlings as soon as the vines 
die. Select, as we have said, the largest 
and shapeliest tubers, placing each in *a sep¬ 
arate bag, and mark the bags “Early,” 
“Intermediate,” or “Late.” Preserve them 
until the next season in these bags, kept 
in any cool, dark place which is frost-proof. 
These seedling potatoes may the next year be 
planted whole or cut as may be desired, and 
planted and cultivated the same as fixed va¬ 
rieties. But it is well to continue the selec¬ 
tion of the best for a year or two longer. 
RUMINATION. 
HENRY STEWART. 
Are the railroads above law and supreme 
in power in the States? This question comes 
up in a most serious form in various ways, but 
in no more emphatic manner than through the 
sad picture on the front page of the Rural 
of January 7. Let me suggest one effective 
safeguard. When any person is riding across 
a railroad in such a situation that he cannot 
see danger ahead, let him stop his team and 
take a lookout. A train or an engine can be 
heard half a mile or more away by the rumb¬ 
ling of the rails. One must care for himself 
to a large extent in this age of rush and con¬ 
stant pushing to get ahead. There is reckless¬ 
ness on both sides in most of the accidents at 
railroad crossings. I have seen a man whip 
up his team to get ahead of an approaching 
train and go at full gallop across the rails only 
a few feet ahead of the engine. 
R.N.-Y.—A man may be deaf or partially 
so; he may suddenly be seized with dizziness 
or sickness as he nears the track; his horses 
may become unruly, etc. The Rural claims 
that the law should oblige the railroads to 
protect all people in any emergency that 
might arise, by placing gates across every 
railroad crossing, to be closed when the train 
approaches and opened thereafter. 
The remarks of B. E. on page 3, should 
be read aud heeded by every owner of a horse. 
Watering after feeding is a most injurious 
practice. A horse should be watered, if pos¬ 
sible, always before feeding. The reason is 
based upon physical necessities. 
B. J. F. should have added a very proper 
caution to his statement of the new remedy 
used to stimulate and strengthen (?) horses. 
Are these two terms justly used in con¬ 
nection? Can we stimulate and strengthen 
at the same time? I don’t think we can. 
On the contrary, stimulation is only a tem¬ 
porary action, which finally weakens un¬ 
less followed up by adequate nutri¬ 
tion. Arseniate of strychnine is a nerve 
stimulant, as both arsenic and strychnia are. 
Moreover, their effects are cumulative and 
when the drug is discontinued the reaction is 
most injurious. The stimulus to the nerv¬ 
ous action is never healthful, but wears out 
the muscular system and disturbs the circula¬ 
tion. That it strengthens the organ of nutri¬ 
tion I think is extremely doubtful. The new¬ 
ly introduced drug coca is a case in point. It 
has been supposed to give strength and nour¬ 
ishment, but acting only upon the nerves its 
effects are transient and its results are depress¬ 
ing. Had B. F. J. stopped when he wrote 
“the remedy is not a safe one,” he would have 
done full justice to his subject. 
Jonathan Talcott is a most sensible and in¬ 
structive writer, and his remarks upon the 
benefit of clean seed are worthy of reconsider¬ 
ation just now, and every week, or day, or 
hour, until seed-time arrives. How strange 
it is that we will not learn. “Line upon line, 
precept upon precept,” in regard to clean, 
good seed, have been given for more than 2,000 
years, since Virgil wrote to the same effect 
that “plants will degenerate unless the seed 
be carefully chosen by the hand.” The in¬ 
stance related by Mr. Talcott of the cleaning 
of the “clean seed,” is full of significance to 
every farmer, who will find it greatly to his 
advantage to select most carefully the cleanest 
seed and then clean it thoroughly himself. It 
will pay a farmer to buy and keep a good 
fanning mill for the express purpose of clean¬ 
ing his seed grain alone. 
Bucephalus Brown’s statement that “there 
is as bad butter made now as ever, aud an 
immense quantity of it, too,” is one that 
teaches us a sad fact, which is that an im¬ 
mense number of butter-makers are beyond 
the reach of instruction. There are six 
million farmers and about one in ten only 
ever reads a good agricultural journal. How 
are the five million farmers who do not 
read, study, think or learn anything to be 
reached? And of the one million, how few are, 
as B. B. terms it, gilt-edged? I saw a dairy¬ 
man once, after giving a talk on gilt-edged 
butter and how clean everything about it 
should be, turn ’round and spit a stream of 
tobacco juice on the floor and spatter the spray 
over his listeners. He owned and ran a 
creamery, too! Truly the instinct of cleanli¬ 
ness is very rare indeed. Mr. Hoard is right; 
“fine butter is the result of flue thinking.” 
And, in fact, fine—that is, close and accurate 
—thinking is the foundation of all good work 
and conduct. 
WESTERN MORTGAGES. 
HEAR THE OTHER SIDE. 
A sudden and simultaneous cry has gone up 
on the Western farm mortgage question, It 
is based on the fact of (so-called) heavily 
mortgaged and heavily bonded farms. In 
regard to heavily mortgaged and bonded 
farms, let us see how heavily they are loaded. 
The average size of the Kansas counties is 
about 700 square miles or 448,000 acres. If 
all these were bonded to railroads at $25,000 
per county, the principal would be $30 for 
each 160 acres. An ordinary steer would 
liquidate the principal. The interest at seven 
per cent would be $2.52 per annum. A dozen 
of the “old woman’s” chickens would cancel 
this load. The taxes on railroads and city 
property, would reduce the above one-half. 
Regarding mortgages, there are lots of 
them; but there are also lots of farms without 
them. The amount of the mortgage, where 
it does exist, is not more than one-third of 
the present value of the land. This land is 
worth $15 per acre 300 miles west of here. 
The value depends, however, upon the quan¬ 
tity, quality and price of its products. The 
quantity and quality we know from experi¬ 
ence, approximately. We can work on culti¬ 
vated ground one-fourth more days than the 
average east of the Mississippi. We can 
raise drier grain than is produced there. We 
lose no crops from frosts, and very rarely 
from floods, and when there is a loss from 
floods the area is small as the lands are undu¬ 
lating. Regarding climate, we are far ahead. 
Suffocating nights are not experienced three 
times in a season. Whenever it is hot ihe 
winds are fresh. Pulmonary cases rarely 
occur and most, if not all of them, are 
brought in by the subjects or their parents. 
Hydrophobia and sunstroke are entirely un¬ 
known. It is true we have had bad crops dur¬ 
ing the last 12 years. Who will say what State 
has not, and who will say our crops are less 
than the average? Let it, however, be consid¬ 
ered that if one man cultivates here one-quar¬ 
ter more acres than in the Eastern States by 
virtue of the nature of our soils and seasons, 
the fact should be taken into consideration. 
Thus if an Illinois man produces 40 bushels per 
acre and the Kansas man 32 bushels, it will 
leave the parties equal. 
Freights to market are of cou? se against us 
as well as freights inward. But freights are 
very surely gradually working downward. 
The chief aud greater number of the roads 
that charged an average of, say,two cents per 
ton per mile in 1878 are carrying now at an 
average of one cent. This means a reduction 
of 100 per cent., and the tendency seems 
downward. 
With double tracks and continuously im¬ 
proved engines, cars, etc., and with double 
business and less personal service proportion¬ 
ately, and with low rates of interest, the ten¬ 
dency downward is inevitable, despite com¬ 
binations. 
Double and quadruple tracks will be now 
built. The losses of life (and therefore cash) 
during the last two months will force the at¬ 
tention of the roads to this matter. Down 
with rates! will be more in order than “Down 
brakes!” Kansas bonds on farms are good. 
Hold them. s. b. 
Labette Co., Kan. 
FARMERS’ INSTITUTES. 
T. B. TERRY. 
Programme “ smashing ” objected to; mode of 
making up programmes in Ohio; local 
needs and talent taken into consideration; 
the public should not be disappointed ; 
local speakers to be encouraged rather 
than “a ring of regulars '''; practical and 
other topics of discussion; Ohio and Wis¬ 
consin institutes. 
I do not often differ from friend Gould, but 
shall have to do so a little in regard to the 
management of farmers’ institutes, The Wis¬ 
consin institutes are models. They are ad¬ 
mirably conducted. Superintendent Morrison 
and his assistants, Messrs. Gould and Adams, 
taken together, are probably as good a trio as 
could be selected to take charge of these meet¬ 
ings. But on one or two points I think friend 
Gould was a little off in his recent article on 
page 868 of the Rural for 1887.' Perhaps I 
am wrong and Mr. G. right; but I will give 
my views, and readers can decide between us. 
Mr. G. would “smash” all programmes when¬ 
ever his judgment might deem it best. Here 
in Ohio our programmes are made out by a 
committee of farmers selected for that pur¬ 
pose. They reside in the county, and ought 
to be able to select from the list sent them the 
subjects that will best suit in that locality. 
Their combined judgment ought to be better 
than that of a superintendent from abroad. 
They know their local men and can select 
those the farmers will most care to hear. Of 
course they may make a mistake once in a 
while: but, as a rule, wouldn’t their judgment 
as to subjects and speakers be likely to be 
good? Well, they do their best to get up a 
good programme, and along comes one of the 
State speakers and “smashes” it right and left. 
Wouldn’t they justly feel hurt? What was 
the use of getting up any programme at all? 
Usually a thousand or two copies are printed, 
and it is published in local papers, all entailing 
considerable expense. Of what use is this if 
it is to be ridden over and ignored after the 
institute begins? I think the programmes are 
made out by a committee in Wisconsin the 
same as in Ohio. 
Again, a farmer can perhaps attend the in¬ 
stitute only one day, or he wants to hear 
some particular speaker or some special sub¬ 
ject discussed. He notes the time on the 
published programme, and comes at that 
time, or on that day, only to find the pro¬ 
gramme has been changed and his subject has 
been already taken up or thrown out. Will 
not he be disappointed and even aDgry, and 
justly so, unless the change was a necessity? 
During the last six winters I have seen many 
an angry man for this cause, and I have al¬ 
ways been very sorry when from necessity 
we had to change a programme. Where I am 
a change is never made if I can help it. I be¬ 
lieve it is the duty of leaders to set a good ex¬ 
ample. Is it a good example to violate ruth¬ 
lessly the published programme? Isn’t the 
programme a contract with the public that 
such and such subjects shall be taken up at 
ceitain hours, Providence permitting? If a 
local speaker does not suit the superintendent, 
he should remember that he has been invited 
in good faith by the committee, and com¬ 
mon courtesy demands he should have his 
time and not be crowded off. How are we to 
get good speakers and workers unless we en¬ 
courage local men? When a regular bore gets 
on, as one will, once in a while, our Ohio au¬ 
diences help out the chairman by simply clap¬ 
ping him down. 
Now I do not think friend Gould so intend¬ 
ed, but to me it looks from his article as 
though his plan was to keep the management 
of institutes in a sort of ring of regulars, 
rather than to educate the farmers up to help¬ 
ing themselves. This is right the opposite of 
our Ohio plan. We are trying to get the farm¬ 
ers to go alone. We give only wbat help is 
needed. We do not want to carry them, or do 
everything for them. This management is 
telling too. The writer arrived at Lodi the 
other Monday morning, at 10 o’clock, the time 
set for the institute to begin. He went to the 
hall and found it full and business begun. 
Many of our institutes can now take care of 
themselves, perfectly, and foreign speakers 
can not excel, and receive no better attention 
than local men. Sec. Bonham and myself had 
the pleasure of listening to a local man at the 
institute at Morrow, last Friday night, on the 
subject of fanning in Ohio before the white 
man settled here. It was by far the most in¬ 
teresting, original and carefully prepared 
paper read at that meeting. It was the re¬ 
sult of years of study and inquiry. 
We like practical subjects for the most part; 
but we like variety, and some science and elo¬ 
quence, too If we can best get them from 
‘ ‘generals, senators and reverends,” we do not 
“kill them off at the start.” I think our Ohio 
evening audiences who have listened a hun¬ 
dred times to the burning eloquence and ora¬ 
tory of General S. H. Hurst, of our State 
Board, and of Rev. McGregor, President of 
the Oxford Farmers’ Club, would seriously 
object to having them “killed off at the start.” 
No, no, we are willing to get good from every 
quarter. We are not quite all pig and cow, 
like the farmers I heard talking as they left 
an evening institute. Pres. Cutler, of Adel- 
bert College,had held his audience spell-bound 
with “Instinct” for a subject. One farmer 
says to another: “How did you like it?” The 
answer was: “Oh, I suppose it was good 
enough, but it wouldn’t feed the pigs or milk 
the cow.” I agree with friend Gould per¬ 
fectly that the best man should end up the in¬ 
stitute. If he isn’t on the programme regu¬ 
larly, we try and get him on in an off-hand 
talk. We want to see the institute adjourn 
when at its very best. 
Under Secretary Bonham’s management 
our Ohio institutes are becoming wonderfully 
popular. About 50 have been held already 
this winter and as many more are to come. 
We nearly always have a large and enthusias¬ 
tic crowd. The general plan is short written 
papers, introducing a subject with an hour, 
more or less, follbwing, devoted to discussion 
and questions. This is considered far better 
than to have a few regulars take up all the 
time with long lectures, no matter how in¬ 
teresting they may be. “In the multitude of 
counsel there is safety,” and there is growth 
and improvement for the multitude and 
greater interest in the meeting they personally 
helped to make a success. 
When I say the Wisconsin institutes are 
“models” I know what I am talking about, as 
I spent five weeks attending them last winter, 
and the same the winter before. I well re¬ 
member one three days’ meeting where I only 
made one short talk, and the other State 
speakers did about the same. The local 
speakers were well prepared and the pro¬ 
gramme full of them. Friend Morrison said 
to me in substance: “We must hold back and 
let these locals who are on the programe have 
the time. It will not do to slight them.” If 
he has changed so much as friend Gould 
would indicate, I think there must have been 
some terribly poor programme committees up 
in Wisconsin lately. 
Hudson, O. 
FARMERS’ INSTITUTES ONCE AGAIN. 
PROFESSOR G. E. MORROW. 
Excellent Wisconsin institutes; “programme 
smashing ” an evil to be avoided when pos¬ 
sible; some good practical suggestions. 
I had the pleasure of attending four Wis¬ 
consin farmers’ institutes during my holiday 
vacation week, and am glad to add my word 
of hearty praise. They were well attended, 
well conducted, interesting and very valuable. 
Mr. Morrison, the superintendent, has shown 
great skill in organizing them and in keeping 
them well advertised and popular. He is for¬ 
tunate in having excellent conductors. Messrs. 
Gould and Adams are well informed men in 
agricultural matters and have much of tact 
and readiness in conducting a meeting. In 
comparison with like work in some other 
States, it should be kept in mind that Wiscon¬ 
sin has made a very liberal appropriation for 
carrying on this work, so that a superinten¬ 
dent can be employed to give his whole time 
to arranging for them, and liberal payment 
can be made if necessary to secure speakers. 
In Illinois, for instance, on the other hand, 
there is no special appropriation, and the 
State Board of Agriculture is directing this 
season’s institutes with a treasury greatly de¬ 
pleted by the unfortunate weather at the last 
State fair. So far as I know, no man has 
ever been paid a penny for an address at an 
Illinois farmers’institute: in many cases the 
speakers have paid their’own traveling ex¬ 
penses. 
I am not able to agree with Mr. Gould about 
“programme smashing.” At the best, I con¬ 
sider this a necessary evil, to be discouraged 
and only practiced when unavoidable. It 
seems to me clear that an audience will be 
better satisfied, other things equal, if they 
hear what the programme has promised. So 
far as it can be done, my experience leads me 
to favor the plan of grouping subjects of the 
same general nature together, addresses of a 
general nature or those of almost equal inter¬ 
est to farmers and residents of villages or 
towns, to be given at the evening sessions. 
Ordinary courtesy to audience and speakers 
should'prevent a not unknown practice of an¬ 
nouncing men whom it is only hoped to have 
present. When one has consented to attend 
such a meeting it is inexcusable if he fails to 
keep the engagement except for the best of 
reasons. 
If asked to advise in this mgtter, I would 
suggest that the central or State management 
may do best to hold only a moderate number 
of institutes, at easily accessible points, well 
distributed throughout the State, aud that 
county or other local organizations be en¬ 
couraged to hold the smaller institutes under 
their own auspices. There are many advan¬ 
tages in the meetings which have been ar¬ 
ranged for, and the work at which is largely 
done by those who live in the immediate 
vicinage. The feeling of personal and neigh¬ 
borhood responsibility for success or failure 
is a good one to encourage. 
It was pleasant to me to see how thoroughly 
these Wisconsin institutes are being used to 
increase interest among the farmers of tbe 
State in the agricultural college and experi¬ 
ment station, and if one may judge of results 
by the energy of the agents, the State Agri- 
