35 
was first broken up, it remained very light 
and porous, and enormous crops were grown 
upon it. But as the old grass roots decayed 
and disappeared, the soil seemed to run 
together and pack like clay. If tramped or 
worked in the spring while a little wet, it be¬ 
comes so hard and cloddy when it dries, that 
nothing can be done with it until late in the 
summer. If worked at just the right time, 
when neither too wet nor too dry, it will re¬ 
main fairly friable through most of the sea¬ 
son. Underdraining and clover bring it into 
a condition similar to that of newly broken 
prairie, and seem to renew its strength com¬ 
pletely; and I am satisfied that neither lime, 
sand, nor anything else of that sort will ac¬ 
complish a like result. Our black soil is rich 
in fertility, and, if treated properly, it will 
grow immense crops of cereals for years and 
years; but it will resent ill-treatment almost 
as emphatically as a Jersey cow. 
Christian Co., Ill. 
FROM F. S. WHITE. 
From what little experience I have bad 
with lime, I am satisfied that it would be very 
beneficial on some soils and for some crops. 
If I had a heavy clay soil and wanted to grow 
corn, wheat, oats, or a crop of cabbage, I 
would use air-slaked lime freely, and I would 
also use it on a sandy soil for the same crops. 
I have always thought that our black, rich 
soil of the West had lime enough in it for all 
crops. I am sure we do not need to apply 
lime here yet, except on such soils as I have 
mentioned. Lime applied to plants has a 
very drying influence, and it should be used 
sparingly, and if it is applied to the soil it 
would seem that more could be used in a wet 
than in a dry season. I have used lime sev¬ 
eral seasons in my cabbage ground, and I find 
it slow to mix with the soil here. Different 
soils and different localities would show differ¬ 
ent results, so I think the advisability of us¬ 
ing lime is a question to be settled by practi¬ 
cal experiment. The cost of lime is another 
question to be considered. We could not 
afford to use it here, unless the prices of our 
crops were higher. 
Polk Co., Iowa. 
FROM J. W. INGRAM. 
Scarcely any lime is used on the land in 
Northern Pennsylvania, on account of the 
great distance it would have to be brought 
and the cost of its transportation. There are 
but few limestone rocks to be found in this 
part of the State, and these are composed 
chiefly of innumerable small shells cemented 
together, the shells containing all the lime. 
When burned, the lime has considerable 
strength, and is called “gray lime.” In the 
southern part of the State, where I have fre¬ 
quently traveled, and especially in Dauphin 
and Lancaster counties, immense quantities 
of white lime are used on the land to increase 
the crops. It is drawn from the kiln and put 
on the fields in piles nearly as large and as close 
together as ordinary manure piles, and aftei- 
wards these are evenly spread over the ground 
and harrowed in. I was told that lime was a 
benefit to all crops, but more especially to 
wheat and the other cereals, making the 
straw brighter and stiffer, and causing a 
larger yield of plumper grain. In my 
opinion, an application ®f caustic lime to the 
raw prairie soils of the West, although it 
would be of no benefit to corn, would put the 
land into a more favorable condition for 
raising wheat and oats. 
Bradford Co., Pa, 
Hitral topics. 
SUGGESTED BY A PICTURE. 
T. B. TERRY. 
The wife's rightful position ; the curse on 
Eve not indefinitely transmissible ; man's 
natural tendency to domineer ; a true help¬ 
mate; give the wife the keys of the safe as 
well as those of the kitchen; legal injustice 
to wives; the “ dower" insufficient; mail 
and wife full partners; inconsiderate and 
niggardly husbands; no better time for 
reform in domestic relations than just 
now. 
The picture on the first page of the Thanks¬ 
giving Number of the Rural pleased us 
greatly. We looked at it long and earnestly, 
and repeated the “True Thanksgiving Song” 
with full hearts. But, after a time, there 
came a feeling that something was not quite 
right about the picture. It seemed to leave 
an impression on the mind that wasn’t quite 
satisfactory. At last, a passage of scripture 
was recalled, that made all plain—“And he 
shall rule over thee.” 
That one command of his Maker, man has 
rarely failed to obey. The man in the picture 
seems to take to it naturally. His position 
shows it; the way he grasps that ear of corn 
would convince any one. Oh! dear Rural, 
when you had such a good chance to make a 
man take his rightful position for once, and 
acknowledge the full partnership with his 
help mate, why didn’t you do it? Wbv didn’t 
you put the sharer of all his joys and sorrows 
by the lord's side, with bis arm around he^ 
even if he didn’t beat time quite so accurately 
for the creatures below? 
To be sure the Creator did lay a curse on 
Eve; but I know you do not believe that it 
was intended that it should stay on women 
for all time. They have certainly been 
punished enough. It would be un-Godlike, 
unmanly, to keep that curse forever hanging 
over them. It has been already largely re. 
moved. What has done it? Christianity. It 
must be right, then. Let the good work go 
on until woman is acknowledged in every 
respect the equal of man, and his full partner 
in life, as the great Creator undoubtedly in¬ 
tended in the beginning she should be. 
But how easy it is to fall into this “rule- 
over-thee” way. Come to think it over, I 
must plead guilty myself. In all I have ever 
written for the papers, I do not remember that 
I have given my partner one bit of credit for 
what we have accomplished. No, I have 
taken it all on my own lordly shoulders. And 
still for nearly a quarter of a century we have 
worked hard together, she doing her full 
share, if not more. Let us think a little. The 
first year we came on to the farm, my partner 
loaded all the hay. We were too poor to hire 
a man. We had help but one day that year. 
When I was learning to plow, for I was en¬ 
tirely green at farming, who drove the horses 
and encouraged me? Who has been ready at 
any time to help, out-of doors or in, where 
she could do the most good, willing to live on 
little, yea, contented and happy, until we 
could work our way out? I tell you, friends, 
it was that blessed wife and partner of mine, 
and many thousands of you have just such 
partners; see to it that you acknowledge and 
treat them as such, and do not play the “lord 
and master” over them. 
The beginning of a New Year is a good 
time to start an improvement of this kind, 
where there is need of it. The subject is too 
broad for one to attempt to go over it all in a 
newspaper article, so allow me to confine 
what I may say to two points: First, brother 
farmer, if you should die this year, would 
your farm or even half of it go to your wife, 
who has done as much as you towards earn¬ 
ing the money and paying for it? If not, fix 
that matter to-day. In Ohio, a man and 
his female partner may work and save for 30 
years to pay for a farm. The man dies first, 
and if there are children the law does not give 
that poor woman the ownership of one single 
acre of that farm; she gets simply the right 
to use one third of it during her life-time. 
Think of the terrible injustice this may work. 
Think before it is too late, if you love your 
wife, or have any love for justice. Justice 
demands that you do no less than deed her 
half of the farm. For myself I have deeded 
all the farm to my wife, so in no case can she 
be cheated out of her rights. It is time enough 
for the property to go to the children when 
both the original partners are through with 
it. The wife can will the property back to 
the husband, or, in Ohio, she can deed it back 
and he can keep the deed and not put it on 
record unless she should die first. 
In any State the matter can be fixed so as 
to work injustice to no one, if it is attended 
to in time. In a few years, it will be safe to 
leave this matter for the law to settle, as our 
laws are fast coming to acknowledge man 
and w ife as equal; but until that good time 
comes, when public sentiment has been work 
ed up to simple justice, we farmers who love 
our wives and recognize their claims as full 
business partners, must take it in our own 
hands. Do it immediately, otherwise you 
maybe to blame fora “dark sorrow that 
mars” your dear one’s next Thanksgiving Day 
(see last line of the “TrueThanksgiving Song.”* 
The next point is very simple. When two 
partners are doing business together, should 
one carry the pocket-book and handle all 
their joint earnings and savings, and tbe 
other, when she wants any, have to ask for it 
in a begging way? Not much. And still that 
is about the way many women have to do 
and they are thankful when they ask, if they 
are not met with a harsh refusal. There is a 
terrible wrong and injustice here. There is 
but one right course. Have no secrets.. Let 
the wife know at all times just how you, or 
rather you and she, stand in the world. 
Consult together about all large expenditures. 
Have confidence enough m each other’s 
judgment to ask no questions about little 
amounts. Have the pocket book as accessiblo 
to one partner as to the other. No true 
woman will ever abuse such a partnership, 
and there are more true women in this world 
than there are true men. I am not a woman; 
but I believe women have the same feelings 
that we men have, and I do know how grind, 
ing it would be for me to have to a.-k my 
wife for every dollar I got, even if she always 
gave it to me graciously. 
Last winter, after having talked on this 
point at a farmers’ institute, the writer was 
taken by the hand by one of tbe good old 
mothers of the audience. I knew her hus¬ 
band, and knew him to be one of the richest 
farmers in Ohio. The good lady said, with 
eyes full of tears, “Mr. Terry, I do not know 
that my husband ever positively refused me 
any money when I asked for it: but,” she 
added, “if the^e was any way in the world in 
which I could earn what I want, unbeknown 
to him, as old as I am, 1 could do it sooner 
than to ask for it.’ 
Oh! friends, there was a terrible injustice 
there. I do not think it was at all intended 
on the one side: but it was felt on the other 
all the same. Was this an isolated case? 
Well, I have stood before thousands of farm¬ 
ers’ wives since then and have told this simple 
story.and I know from their locks that it is not. 
Now, my brother men, will you not see 
to this point to-day, also? Do not make your 
dear wife look up to a “lord and master” any 
more, and meekly beg a few cents of you 
when she wants them. Do not give her a 
little now and then. That makes her a beg¬ 
gar. Do not pay her so much a week or 
month for her own. That makes her a hired 
servant. Make her rather a full partner, a 
free woman, and not a slave. Let her see 
that her husband is not a master, but a noble 
man in whose heart justice reigns as well as 
love. 
After I had finished a hard day's work, not 
long since, my wife said: “How much have 
you made to-day?” I replied; “It is hard to 
say exactly; but I believe this day’s work 
may be safely set down at #5.” “And I have 
made $1.” she says. “I have done the wash¬ 
ing and ironing which I could hire done for 
$1.” “No, my dear”, I replied, “you do not 
put the matter rightly. ‘ We have made .$6. 
between us,’ is the way to put it. We went 
into partnership 24 years ago; but then you 
are too modest. Who has got me three nice 
meals? Who takes care of and makes my 
home pleasant, thus making it possible for me 
to do strong and telling work? Who diet that 
washing and ironing herself just because she 
couldn’t hire it done quite nicely enough to 
suit her? We must pay for the best when 
we will have it. If you want to charge up 
your labor to-day, charge $3 and it will be 
just and fair.” Wasn’t I right, friends? 
Summit Co., O. 
THE HISTORY OF A FARMERS’ 
INSTITUTE. 
Large attendance and lively interest in 
Michigan farmers' institutes; how the 
Kalamazoo County institute was started; 
farmers and professors co operating; the 
Grange the prime mover; local hospitality 
to visitors; a farmers' institute by farmers; 
organization of a county farmers' club; 
country villages preferred to cities for 
meetings; principles on which the annual 
institutes have been conducted. 
I notice in a recent issue of the Rural, a 
complaint from a correspondent that the 
farmers of New York do not take proper in¬ 
terest in farmers’ institutes which are held for 
their benefit. He seems to think that when 
so much pains are taken to supply first-class 
lecturers, the farmers ought to avail them¬ 
selves of the opportunity to hear what is said, 
and learn what is taught. Now I do not know 
anything about the institutes in New York; 
but I do know a good deal about those in Michi¬ 
gan, and the complaint suggests the query to 
my mind: Have they not begun at the wrong 
end of things there? Are they not trying to 
heat the mass from the top instead of from 
the bottom? If so, it may take some time to 
get it warmed through. It is not so in Michi¬ 
gan. At every farmers’ institute the biggest 
room in town is crowded with farmers and 
their families, and the greatest interest is 
manifested. Perhaps a little history of how 
institutes were started here may be of bene¬ 
fit elsewhere. 
Something over a dozen years ago, the State 
Board of Agriculture provided for a series of 
six annual institutes, to be held in various 
parts of the State, under the direction of the 
professors from the agricultural college at 
Lansing. Climax is a little village of be¬ 
tween 300 and 400 inhabitants at “the cor¬ 
ners,” in the midst of one of the prettiest little 
prairies in Southern Michigan, and sur¬ 
rounded by a thnviug farming community. 
At that time it had a Grange, and the Master 
of the Grange was a graduate of the Michigan 
Agricultural College. It struck him that 
Climax would be just the place for a farmers’ 
institute, so he broached the matter to the 
members of his Grange, and after not a little 
argument and persuasion, induced them to 
invite the State Board of Agriculture to 
assign one of the institutes to Climax. By 
the use of his influence with the Board, the 
institute was secured. One of the conditions 
was that a local committee should make all 
the necessary local arrangements and provide 
one half the speakers for the occasion. The 
Grange, being tbe only organized body ready 
to deal with the matter, immediately set to 
work to make the necessary arrangements. 
The co-operation of all the citizens in the 
vicinity was secured. Invitations were ex¬ 
tended to the best known and most successful 
farmers for many miles around to prepare 
papers on special topics, on which they were 
known to be well posted. A sufficient num¬ 
ber responded to fill the programme. Every¬ 
body far and near was invited to attend. The 
Master of the Grange was chosen presiding 
officer of the institute. The best music to be 
had in the vicinity was provided for the 
occasion. The institute was held in the 
largest church in the place, which was filled 
to overflowing. The professors from the 
college and the farmers mingled together and 
got acquainted, both performing their part in 
the programme, the farmers doing their full 
share in sustaining the interest of the meet¬ 
ing. The institute lasted two days. The 
people of Climax and vicinity took the 
visitors home with them, fed and lodged 
them, and treated them in every way as wel¬ 
come guests, as they were. The institute was 
in everv respect a grand success. 
The next year the same man said to his 
Grange: 
“ Let us have another institute this winter.” 
But they said: 
“The State will not give us another one so 
soon.” 
“Very well, then, let us have one on our 
own account.” 
“ But we cannot sustain it alone ” 
“Yes, we can, I will risk it. It is worth 
trying anyhow.’' It was done. Under the 
n 
;i 
» ! 
■ ■ 
same management, and following the same 
plan, a second institute was held in Climax, 
quite as interesting and successful as its pre¬ 
decessor. The presiding officer on botn occa¬ 
sions urged the formation of a club or organi¬ 
zation to continue the institute. At the 
second one, the organization was effected 
under the name of the Kalamazoo County 
Husbandman's Club. It has been a flourish¬ 
ing society from the very start. Its twelfth 
annual institute will be held the first week in 
February next, in Richland. The main parts 
of the papers and discussions have been fur¬ 
nished by tbe farmers of Kalamazoo county 
and vicinity. Some help has been obtained 
from year to year from the professors of the 
agricultural college. The institutes have all 
been held in the small villages of the county, 
in the midst of the farming communities. 
The city was shunned as not having the right 
sort of atmosphere and surroundings for such 
meetings. 
Every institute has been “the best one 
yet.” These principles have been at the bot¬ 
tom of the whole business: 1. The institutes 
have been made the farmers’ own meetings 
which the professors were invited to attend 
and take part in—not the professors’ meetings 
where the farmers were invited to come ana 
be instructed. 2. They have been held in a 
congenial atmosphere, with congenial sur¬ 
roundings. 3. Persons coming from a dis- 
