' VtArU, 
PRICE FIVE C ENTS 
*•2.00 PER YEAR. 
VOT,. XXXVIII. No. 3 
WHOLE No. 151». 
[Ent«rert sccor-Unff to Act of Oou^ro»«, lti the y©AT IS7S, by the Rural Cu uiihIi i iiv Ooropany, in the othce of the Librarian of Oonirrew* at w iRhinarton. | 
plowing is superior: and so i( is, in one sense 
The ground is all plowed; it is all alike, and 
looks beautiful; hut still it is not well pulver¬ 
ized. because the mold-boards of their plows 
lack the requisite boldness and twist to per¬ 
form the work in the best possible manner. 
The short, stubby, American plow holds harder 
and requires more skill to preserve a furrow 
of even width, but it is a better pulverizer; so 
the American farmer has come to think that 
the preparation of the soil is about complete 
when it is plowed : while the English fully 
understands that the real work is then only be¬ 
gun. Herein, I am satisfied, lies the secret of 
England’s success iu raising larger crops. It 
would take away the. breath of a prairie farmer 
to hear even an Englishman's enumeration 
of the “ spuddings." the *’ grabbings," the 
“ twitching®," the harmwings, the cross-liar- 
rowings, the rollings and ernshings that a 
heavy clay field is subjected to before it is con¬ 
sidered ready for wheat. 
What is this all for ? Simply to unlock the 
full store-house of nature. That, it is full has 
been proven time and again. By actual anal¬ 
ysis it is found that an average soil 
- contains, in the first six inches, plant 
3Bg' food enough for from fifty to one hun- 
dred and fifty full crops of grain. Ido 
not desire to discourage the purchase 
and use of fertilizers, but what I do 
protest against is, purchasing on time 
commercial manures at forty dollars 
per ton. which arc really worth only 
twenty-five, to enrich cloddy fields al- 
ready fairly rich In plant food locked 
up, it is true, but there, none the less, 
—=-=- only awaiting a little judieions appli- 
cation of brain and muscle tose^t free. 
If these hastily jotted facts and im¬ 
pressions are the means of inducing my 
fellow-fanners to remove some of the 
useless trees and fences, or to give the 
~~ ~- fields an additional cross-harrowing or 
two before casting in the seed and ask- 
ing the Lord to bless the labor of their 
H^m bauds, my object will have been at 
: tained. 
Agricultural Dept, Cornell University.. 
“ What insects are the most destructive to 
grain ?” 
“There has been none for many years in 
this locality that has done much damage.” 
“ How often docs the wheat winter-kill ?” 
“Scarcely ever, if sowed early and in good 
condition. The yield is sometimes slightly re¬ 
duced by “ laying.” rainy weather, mildew or 
rust.” 
On looking around. I found that there were 
at least ten good farmers to one poor one, 
while in the United States the reverse is too 
often true. Tt is often said that the English 
fanner is forced to farm well to meet his high 
rents. Then, might it not be said that the 
American farmer is forced to farm well to get 
any profit on his low-priced products? While 
I felt that 1 hud found some of the reasons for 
their high averages, I was not thoroughly sat¬ 
isfied, and on further inquiry, learned that 
while the question of fertilizers was a great 
one, the question of the preparation of the soil 
was a greater 
The English are noted for their straight fur¬ 
rows, and we consequently infer that their 
broad acres, is restless and ready for almost any 
change that offers a short road to success. In 
one thing they are. alike—both seek their own 
good, the latter bv change, the former by per¬ 
manency. The one. is unduly stimulated bv those 
around him who have risen from obscurity to 
honor; the other lacks even a healthy incen¬ 
tive to make the most of his surroundings. 
The one is too rapid and nervous, the other too 
slow and plodding. The one is perfectly will¬ 
ing to do a big day’s work, if yon will let him 
do it in eight hours and go to the village af¬ 
ter snpper; the other will work faithfully 
twelve or fourteen hours, but must have plenty 
of time to cat and drink and is greatly averse 
to haste. 
If I was disappointed in seeing so many 
more trees out of place, so many more open 
ditches, so many more broad-based and un- 
kopt hedges than I had expected. I was also 
greatly pleased and instructed by the flue tilth 
of the fields, and the magnificent crops of 
grain. Why is it that England so far exceeds 
us in the average yield of wheat, oats and bar¬ 
ley ? I began to ask questions: 
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS ON ENGLISH 
FARMS. 
PROFESSOR I. P. ROBERTS 
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS 
Practical experiments in farming 
are essential to progressive agriculture, 
aud yet how few farmers will take the 
trouble to make experiments and note 
carefully the results for their own and 
others' benefit ' There are a few praise¬ 
worthy exceptions, but the great ma¬ 
jority are entirely too indifferent in 
this respect. Agriculture will never 
attain the high degree of perfection it 
might, and which its importance de¬ 
mands. until the common farmers be¬ 
come more deeply interested in their 
calling, or •* profession." and learu to 
work with their heads as well as with 
their hands. The term “ professional 
farmers" sounds odd. and is unfa¬ 
miliar, but they are just the kind of 
fanners needed to bring the great agri¬ 
cultural interest up out of old-timo 
ruts, aud place it on the highway to 
success. Statesmen, lawyers, physi¬ 
cians, etc., carefully note precedents 
and experiments in their respective pro¬ 
fessions, and profit thereby, and why 
should not “professional farmers” also 
learn wisdom from the past and reap 
some benefit from the study, experience, 
and labor of their brother farmers ? 
The Department of Agriculture is 
trying to bring about an improvement 
in this matter by distributing new seeds 
and improved varieties of old ones, and 
requesting cultivators to make minute 
special reports of their experiments 
with them. But few of tlerse who 
might do this, however, can be prevailed 
upon to do so, as the majority of far- 
PINUS PONDEROSA VAR. PENDULA. (Seep. 39.) 
