the last week in August; but on account of 
stress of weather or press of other work, sow¬ 
ing is often delayed for three weeks. When 
sown Sept. 14, ’83, I had a heavy cutting the 
second week in April, and as clover is al¬ 
ways sown with rye, we cut a good 
crop of second growth and clover early in 
May, and another of clover early in June. 
As to a preference for rye or a comparison 
of it with other grains, I can say that for my 
use there is nothing to fill its place for soiling 
in early spring. Scarlet clover, (Trifolium 
incarnatum) comes nearest to it. Wheat makes 
a good crop for soiling, as I have learned by 
experience; but if cut a little too green, it has 
a'laxative effect upon the bowels, which rye 
does not have. Again, wheat must not joint 
'until after danger of frost has passed, or it will 
be ruined, while rye will stand uninjured. 
Any that may be left, is cut in bloom and 
cured, using all the straw we need for ty¬ 
ing sowed corn, etc. Though I never 
purposely saved straw as a dry forage, I 
find that horses and cows eat it with apparent 
relish. I do not consider that green rye is 
good only for the production of milk and but¬ 
ter; because for horses, as the first change 
from dry to green food, nothing can be better, 
and probably the same can be said of it for 
other stock. M. b. prince. 
Vance Co., N. C. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Indiana. 
Pendleton, Madison Co., Sept. 17.—The 
thrashing machine test proves the wheat crop 
of this county to have averaged six bushels 
per acre. Quality No. 3; worth now in local 
markets 75 cents. Rye 30 bushels; oats 30 
bushels. It the R. N.-Y’s hope of finding a 
hybrid wheat as hardy as rye is realized, it 
will be a boon to bread-winners and an era in 
agricultural progress. It will be worth mil¬ 
lions to farmers, and the originator will be 
entitled to the gratitude of coming genera¬ 
tions. Copious rains, on the 15th and 16th, 
ended the dry weather of nearly a month, and 
many farmers, who had suspended their work 
will resume seeding. The abundance and 
variety of fruit are very unusual. Small 
fruits, as well as plums, pears, apples and 
grapes, are plenty and cheap. Grapes are 
offered in market at two cents. Politics are 
receiving a due share of the Hosier farmers’ 
careful consideration this year. Protection 
and Free Trade are discussed pro and con, 
and will be better understood than ever be¬ 
fore. More fanners will vote for what they 
consider sound policy and their own interests, 
and with less regard to party dictation than 
ever before. s. w. h. 
[Good! Ed’sR. N.-Y.] 
Kanin. 
Parsons, Labette Co., Sept. 15.—The 
weather is becoming autumnal—shorter days 
onger nights, and the return of the “ northers” 
in their gentler but more invigorating mood. 
The character of our crops is being daily devel¬ 
oped. They are found to be spotty in districts. 
We are remarkably favored in all our crops. 
There seem no exceptions. As to grass and 
weeds they are frightful. If great care is not 
taken in the early spring there will be devasta¬ 
tion from fires. Corn is ready to husk, and the 
crop here and in the surrounding counties 
will be by far the largest ever raised, and 
the best in quality. Prices of corn are point¬ 
ing down to 20 or 25 cents per bushel; wheat 
is 70cents; oats 20 cents; apples hardly sala¬ 
ble at 20 to 35 cents per bushel. We are ship¬ 
ping apples and hay to New Orleans by R. R 
direct. j. B> 
North Carolina. 
Mooresville, Iredell Co., Sept. 10,—July 
was a hot month from first to last, and there 
was just about enough rain to keep the cotton 
from shedding its fruit, so the weed is small 
but very full of bolls of good size that indi¬ 
cate a good average crop of the staple of this 
country. The drought injured corn very 
much in this vicinity, especially that on up¬ 
lands, but.from here west the crop is very fine. 
The peach crop is the best that has been here 
in several years. The weather throughout 
August was very fine for drying fruit, so dried 
fruit is one of the articles of trade in the 
country stores. The price ranges from four 
to ten cents per pound for peaches, and from 
three to six cents per pound for apples. The 
ground was too dry Tor farmers to plow fallows 
or clover land, until since the first of this 
month. Almost every farmer has planted a 
patch of turnips, and they are doing well since 
the rain has come. It has rained almost ev¬ 
ery day since September 1. A regular N. E. 
storm set in four days ago, then changed to 
the south for about 24.hours ; then back to 
northeast and has been blowing a regular gale 
with heavy rain for 12 hours. Cotton that is 
open in the fields will be badly stained. The 
farmers and business men are casting about 
for some substitute for jute bagging to bale 
their cotton. I have not heard of any mer¬ 
chant buying bagging yet this season, and our 
merchants say they will order only as ginners 
order from them. There are still fine melons 
in the fields. The chinch bug has damaged corn 
in some localities, but not at all extensively. 
Farmers have only commenced to mow 
the fall crop of hay, which was short, fine and 
clean until this rain, which has no doubt mud¬ 
died and damaged the hay. Farmers in this 
vicinity usually save the blades of their corn 
for their summer feeding for their horses 
while they are plowing. Very little fodder 
has been saved up to now. If the weather 
clears up now, the next ten days will be de¬ 
voted to pulling fodder, and then cotton-pick¬ 
ing will commence in earnest, and from then 
until the election in November everything 
will be astir in all this country. There will be 
big political speakings, farmers’ picnics, fairs, 
encampments, circus shows, and all sorts of 
entertainments for everybody, and I hope all 
the farmers will enjoy good health, harvest 
good crops, realize fair prices for them, sub¬ 
scribe for the Rural New-Yorker for 1889, 
and thereby add a per cent, to their profits 
and a joy to their households. w. h. b. 
Henderson, Vance Co., Sept 17.—We are 
nearing the close of the most unprofitable 
season we have known for many years. We 
had a wet, late spring, excessive rains contin¬ 
uing through June, followed by a drought in 
July and August, the two extremes cutting 
our crops short by one half, and now the first 
half of September has given us so much rain 
that the corn forage is nearly a total loss. 
The outlook for farmers is gloomy indeed. 
Corn, cotton and tobacco are our most im¬ 
portant products, and all are far below an 
average. We had an extra crop of fruits 
of all kinds, yet grapes—the only fruit we 
grow to any extent for market—brought but 
little more money than would pay expenses 
of marketing. The Farmers’ Alliance, with 
only a little over 400 members, saved thou¬ 
sands of dollars to the farmers of this county 
in the price of fertilizers. Not only members, 
but all who used fertilizers reaped the bene¬ 
fits of lower rates. The Alliance is a new 
thing with us, not yet a year old; but so far 
we have realized more than we anticipated 
from it. How soon we may be able to success¬ 
fully combat the Cotton-Bagging Trust is 
yet to be determined, but we have our pitch- 
forks ready, and propose to have a hand in 
pricking “Uncle Sam,” m. b. p.— 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name 
and address of the writer to Insure attention. Before 
asking a question pleisesee If It Is not answered In 
our advertising columns. Ask only a few questions at 
one time. Put questions on a separate piece of paper. 
HOW TO GROW CABBAGE AND CAULIFLOWER 
SEED: RYE FOR SPRING FEED. 
H. T. L. Brighton, Can. —1. How are 
cabbage and cauliflower seeds best raised, and 
must the heads be left on the stumps, or will 
the stumps without the heads produce good 
seed if set in the ground the following spring? 
2. Do they need thorough cultivation and rich 
soil? 3. Will rye sown on old sod about the 
middle of August, do well for pasture next 
season? 
ANSWERED BY E. B. DARLINGTON, MANAGER 
OF FORDHOOK FARM, BUCKS CO., PA. 
I. When raising plants for growing cabbage 
seed, the seed is not planted so early 
as when growing the heads for market, as it 
is not desirable to have the heads too large for 
burying, though they should be of good size 
and solidity. If the plants were set out too 
early there would be danger of their bursting, 
when full-grown. Each person should learn 
from his own experience in gardening at 
about what season the plants should be set 
out in order to be of the proper size for bury¬ 
ing. The heads stored should be of fair size 
well developed and carefully selected. No 
heads should be buried excepting those which 
are good and tight and of the true typi¬ 
cal shape of the variety cultivated. All 
heads which are not of proper shape or 
which have a large number of loose 
leaves should be marketed or used in 
some other way; for if all the poor heads 
were buried with the good ones the strain 
would soon become so mixed and irregular in 
shape as to be worthless for market purposes. 
The practice of growing seed from the stems 
after the heads have been cut, is a most per¬ 
nicious one, as it rapidly deteriorates the very 
best strain. It is for this reason that the 
American-grown seeds are so much superior 
to the cheap seeds imported from Europe 
where the practice of growing from the be¬ 
headed stems is almost universal. When there 
is danger of the ground freezing in the fall, a 
trench four feet wide and a foot deep should 
be dug on rather high ground where there is 
no danger of water standing. The cabbages 
should be carefully pulled or dug if very dry, 
so as not to injure the main roots. Stand the 
plants upright in the trench, a row at a time, 
filling in carefully between the stems and all 
open spaces with dry or not very moist soil, 
and when the trench is full, cover the whole 
with soil from four to six inches in depth at 
first, increasing to a foot or more in thickness 
as the cold increases; or in such a settled cold 
climate as Canada all the protection might be 
given at once. As soon as the ground is in 
good working order in the spring, the heads 
should be dug out and all the good plants set 
out in rows five feet apart, the plants 2% 
feet apart in the row. When planted, take a 
large knife and cut two slits at right angles 
across the top of the head, going down almost 
to the heart, so as to let the blooming shoots 
out; otherwise most of the heads will be so 
tight that they will rot off without breaking 
out. Keep the crop clean, and when the seed 
is ripe and nearly ready to burst the 
pods, cut off all the branches and store 
in a cool, airy barn. When perfectly dry, 
thrash with an ordinary flail and clean 
in a grain fan, carefully regulating the speed 
so as to let all the light and none of the heavy 
seeds run over with the tailings. When set¬ 
ting out the heads, the very best should be 
carefully selected and planted together. The 
seeds from these should be saved and cleaned 
separately for use as stock seed for growing 
the next crop. When the seed is cut, it is 
usually gathered and hauled to the barn in 
sheets, so that none of it may be lost. Cauli¬ 
flower seeds are grown in much the same 
manner; but as it takes a cool, moist climate 
to raise the finest heads, this seed is 
grown only in a few favorable localities in 
Europe and in Puget Sound in America. 
2. Cabbages cannot be too heavily manured, 
if good well-rotted stable manure is used. 
Some market gardeners use as high as 75 or 100 
loads per acre. It is hardly advisable to 
manure so heavily, as the largest heads are 
not desirable for storing for seed-growing. 
Rich soil is desirable as the plants can be 
planted more closely, and will make a more 
rapid and even growth. The soil should be 
free from weeds, but should not be cultivated 
after the plants have obtained a good start, as 
the roots of full-grown cabbages run near the 
surface, and would consequently be injured 
by the cultivator. 
3. If the sod were plowed and the ground 
sown to rye about the middle of August, it 
would make an excellent'pasture in the spring, 
and would continue to grow and furnish 
green food until after harvest. If the pasture 
were simpy harrowed and the rye sown on top 
of the sod it would make but a poor catch and 
would probably winter-kill. If it is desired 
to retain the old sod it would be much better 
to sow grass seed on it. 
SEEDING A HILL-SIDE TO PERMANENT 
PASTURE. 
H. F. S., Benson , Vt .—I have a yellow 
loam hill pasture which the former owner 
plowed several years since, took off a crop of 
oats and left without “seeding down.” I wish 
to seed it for a permanent pasture. The soil, 
judging from the rank growth of weeds, is 
not exhausted, yet I prefer to enrich it before 
seeding it. It is not convenient to get manure 
on it; what is the best way to enrich and get 
it into good,permanent pasture? Which are the 
best grass seeds for such purpose, and how 
many pounds of each per acre should be sown? 
Would it be well to plow and sow to rye this 
fall, and early next spring seed heavily with 
large clover, putting it in with a Thomas 
smoothing harrow; then the next spring, 
when the clover has attained a good growth, 
plow it under, sow to barley and seed it 
down? 
ANSWERED BY DR. T. H. HOSKINS. 
There are so many local circumstances and 
peculiarities about every piece of ground, that 
a practical farmer must hesitate about blind¬ 
ly giving advice as to how it should be treat¬ 
ed in any particular instance. Is this pas¬ 
ture wet, or dry; rocky, or stony; ridgy, or 
with a pretty uniform slope? Will it be badly 
washed if kept under tillage for any length of 
time? What kinds of grass seem .to suit the 
soil best? All these facts, as well as others, 
would affect the judgment of an experienced 
farmer as regards its treatment. Most sand¬ 
stone land, (of which Rutland County has a 
considerable share), comes naturally into 
what we in Vermont call June-grass, but 
which is the true Kentucky Blue-grass. 
Where this grass is at home, (which is on a 
deep and moderately moist soil), the quicker 
the land can be got into it for pasturage the 
better, and the seed does not catch well when 
sown with heavy clover, or any similiar crop, 
likely to lodge. As to fertilization, the best 
for permanent pasture is a liberal dressing of 
unleached ashes and bone. The quantity 
should be really liberal,—even at the rate of 
, $100 worth to the acre would not be wasted, 
and would pay good interest, provided the 
(and is naturally good, and, as in this 
case, apparently, amenable to tillage. 
Other things being right (which in this 
case I, of course, do not know), a good way 
would be to plow again at once; then sow on 
from 500 to 1,000 pounds of rather coarsely 
ground raw bone and 25 to 50 bushels of un¬ 
leached ashes to the acre, working them in 
well with an Acme or disk harrow. Then 
seed with a mixture of grasses adapted to the 
spot, in which Blue-grass and White clover 
seed should constitute a considerable portion, 
this to be worked in with a smoothing harrow* 
With the grass seed a thin seeding of winter 
rye would go well, to hold the soil on the 
slope and act as a protection to the young 
grass. It is not well to turn in the cattle on it 
the first season, and the only practical alter¬ 
native is to mow it just as the rye is heading 
out next spring. The objective point is a 
good sivard of grass, and a full growth of 
mature grain is a hindrance from this point 
of view. ASter preparation and seeding, the 
ideal policy would be not to turn stock into 
the field until the spring of 1890, and then to 
stock it only lightly at first, yet sufficiently 
to prevent a rank growth of the stronger 
grasses, which would be unfriendly to the 
June-grass and White clover that should at 
last possess the land. Success In all this de¬ 
pends very much upon the care, judgment 
and thoroughness of the operator. A liberal 
use of good grass seed is a cardinal point. 
The finer grasses should greatly predom¬ 
inate in the mixture, and the error is 
rarely made on the side of too much seed. 
DRAINING A SPRING-FED SWAMP. 
A Subscriber, Coles Ferry, Va. I wish to 
reclaim several acres of land, which if well 
drained would be worth $100. per acre. If I 
drained this land by an open ditch the opera¬ 
tion would cost $100, and the ditch would 
likely be filled up by overflow from the river 
every few years. Reclaiming this land in 
this way would not therefore be practicable on 
the score of expense. Besides being profitless, 
this land is now an eye-sore. Would it be 
practicable to run a ditch through this marsh, 
which contains many springs, and take the 
water off by a wind-mill? It would have to 
be raised only about five feet. The little stream 
flowing through it, could be contained in a 
six-inch pipe at a moderate rate of speed. 
What would be the cost of a wind-mill which 
could do this work? The surrounding coun¬ 
try does not offer any obstruction to the 
wind’s action. 
ANSWERED BY HENRY STEWART. 
This question is of more than usual interest 
because of its wide applicability and its rela¬ 
tion to the very profitable practice of irriga¬ 
tion. A piece of level land on a river bottom 
is capable of being made more valuable than 
any other equal area of upland, by forming 
of it an irrigated meadow. Irrigation and 
drainage must always go together, for it is not 
the water that comes from the land, but that 
which passes through it that makes it fertile 
and productive. In this case two methods are 
suggested, but one is discarded as being im¬ 
practicable. I do not think it is, but, on the 
contrary, unless there are some difficulties not 
mentioned, I am of opinion that this is the 
better plan. An open ditch is the cheapest 
kind of drain, and really the most effective, as 
long as it is kept open. Therefore I would sug¬ 
gest as one way to meet this case, that one main 
open ditch be cut through the land with later¬ 
als to tap each spring. These laterals may be 
provided with wooden V-shaped drains made 
of boards. The strips covering the trough 
are placed crosswise so as to furnish abund¬ 
ant spaces for the water to enter the drain. 
The angle of the drain is put downwards so as 
to give a sufficient current to remove sedi¬ 
ment. These drains would discharge into the 
open ditch, which of course would need clear¬ 
ing out occasionally—a very simple 
matter, and one that would pay for 
the cost of it by the fertilizing matter taken 
out, which would be valuable for manure. 
This plan would permit of the land being 
covered at times of high water in the river, 
and every freshet would be equal to a rich 
