provcmeuts, in utensils and methods bring us 
down to the improved methods and applian¬ 
ces of the present as described here last week. 
—---- 
EDUCATION AND KNOWLEDGE: HINTS 
TO TEACHERS. 
PROFESSOR W. 3 . BEAL. 
At the close of my last. I spoke of wasting 
time on Arithmetic. Later in life, a few weeks 
will enable the pupil to easily understand what 
he spent so much time over when a little boy. 
The observing powers should be early culti¬ 
vated. Tliis will be valuable in all depart¬ 
ments of business aud all conditions of life. 
Observation can well be cultivated in connec¬ 
tion with writing descriptions of objects, such as 
auy piece of furniture, a plant, flower, fruit, or 
animal. These lessons will almost always in¬ 
terest those who are usually classed as *• dull.” 
We need more observers. 
Drawing is valuable to use in connection 
with the study ot objects, as it will tend to 
improve the observation. Some knowledge of 
Geography and History will be desirable, and 
some lessons on Physiology. 
These are subjects for children to study in 
the common school. 1 should try to obtain a 
good teacher who knows bow to teach these 
things well, but if he lias not had the proper 
training in Natural History or in drawing, I 
should uot urge him to devote much attention 
to them. I should rather allow him to put the 
most time on what he liked best, for those 
tbiugs be would teach the best. There are but 
few who know how to interest young children 
in botany and zoology or in drawing. 
In all school-training the teacher must uot 
lose sight of the discipline which every pupil 
should acquire. 
We should educate as well as impart knowl¬ 
edge; train us well as stuff the mind. Knowl¬ 
edge is useful, but there is so much known at 
jiresent that it is utterly useless to attempt to 
teach all that is known, even in auy one de¬ 
partment. Education is power; it is more 
powerful than knowledge. 1 believe it is much 
more important, while 1 am with my students 
for a few weeks, to teach them how to investi¬ 
gate any subject by themselves, than to spend 
the same time in imparting the knowledge 
without giving them the power to investigate. 
In botany, insteud of showing them the plants 
aud telling all about their names, their uses, 
their structure (which would be mere knowl¬ 
edge which they could leant by themselves, if 
they knew bow)—instead of this, I put them 
ill a way, with some selected exercises, to ac¬ 
quire this or auy similar information, when¬ 
ever they may desire it. This education is too 
often confused with theory by those who have 
not given the subject careful attention, Noth¬ 
ing is more practical than true education. The 
good teacher will stimulate a desire for knowl¬ 
edge and instruct his students how to acquire 
it. I have recently heard of a girl of sixteen 
who had received no training, except that in 
the district school. She had committed two 
grammars to memory, including most of the 
Hue print and notes. What a pity! It is well 
to train the memory, bnt. too bad to fill the 
mind with anything except, the most valua¬ 
ble information. With proper training, what 
achievements this bright girl could have made, 
iu outlines of history, botany, zoology, geog¬ 
raphy, and something in several other depart¬ 
ments of knowledge. One of the most inter¬ 
esting and suggestive works I ever lead on 
education was that by Herbert Spencer, pub¬ 
lished hy D. Appleton & Co., and costing, per¬ 
haps, $1.50. 
To maintain good order is one of the most 
important and difficult, points iu teaching 
school. Some persons can never acquire the 
faculty. To aid in keeping order, be particu¬ 
lar, even in little things, as to where each pu¬ 
pil shall sit, iu the way he shall come and go 
from class. Begin at once, on the first minute 
of the first hour of the first day. No time 
must be lost before beginuing. As it is easiest 
to check a horse at the top of u steep hill and 
make him go slowly all the way down, so it is 
easiest to maintain order by beginning at once 
on the opening of school. The teacher must 
be quiet and never bluster, speak plainly and 
distinctly, using only just, the words to express 
the exact meaning. 
Always prepare a programme for the exer¬ 
cise of the day, and adhere to this, with, per¬ 
haps, now and then a change. Have a time 
for every thing. To aid in this programme, 
obtain a scheme of some good graded school. 
Always be on time for everything- This is one 
of the most marked defects of the people iu 
the country. To aid in keeping good order, 
strive to get the pupils interested. To get them 
interested, manage every honorable way to 
get. them out promptly every day. To aid in 
this, use a series of tickets, which I need hard¬ 
ly explain. Have what we will call, an Hono¬ 
rary Uoll. We may use a part of. the black¬ 
board for this purpose. 
The Honorary Roll should include, each week, 
the name of every student who was uot tardy 
or absent during the previous week. lie should 
also have had all his lessons reasonably weH. 
THE 
R At. 
ER. 
At the close of the term, a summary of this 
roll should be conspicuously posted in t he room 
where it may be surrounded with a wreath of 
leaves, cvsius'ccns or flowers, and allowed to 
remain till the opening of the next term. 
The successful teacher must have unbounded 
resources and patience to get along well in a 
district school. lie should be cheerful, not 
silly, ami never lose his temper. He must be 
able to readily devise plans, which may be 
novel, for the punishment of an offender. 
He must not be outwitted by his pupils. Try 
on the start to impress all the pupils that you 
want to do them good, and then carry out the 
design. Get interested in their plans and busi¬ 
ness. Have some general exercise every day. 
Always have singing or some concert recita¬ 
tions once or twice a day. Give them little 
talks on physiology, geography, government 
history etc. 
Get up a museum. Your pupils will aid in 
procuring some shelves. They will bring in 
all sorts of fossils, minerals, Indian relics, and 
triukets of interest. Some of these may be 
valuable and only borrowed for awhile. The 
teapher can tell the pupils about them tit cer¬ 
tain times. This is one of the best ways to 
interest dull pupils. There is no one so dull 
that he cannot find some interesting object 
lo bring to school. He may know something 
about it. Give each a chance to tell about the 
specimens. 
Agricultural College, Lansing, Mich. 
$idi) Craps. 
SPRING WHEAT. 
A. M. VAN AUKEN. 
Advantage* of It. 
Many people come here filled with the idea 
that we of this region grow spring wheat 
through laziness, and they make up their 
minds that they will soon show us that it is 
just as easy to grow winter wheat, and have 
good Hour and good bread; though, if the 
truth be told, the folks here seem to have very 
good bread from the spring wheat flour. Well, 
oue of these new-comers gets his wheat, pre¬ 
pares his land, and sows it. The result is dis¬ 
couraging—the yield is small, for all his fine 
growth of straw. He.gets it ground; for he 
consoles himself that there is enough for his 
own bread, at any rale. The miller smiles 
a little at it, but comforts our farmer with 
the remark that it is a very poor wheat year. 
The first baking draws tears from bis wife; 
“ What alls the bread ?” The next hatch is uo 
better. He pockets his pride and asks his 
neighbor what is the matter. With u bourse 
laugh, which is most mortifying, the neighbor 
says: “ Well, Ithortyou’d get enuif of that 
winter Wheat; you see it ain’t fit fur this kun- 
try, and we quit raisiu’ it long ago." A native 
who “happens” along, chimes in with, “ Yes, 
it don’t was much use to try winter wheat 
now. When my granfadder was just got his 
farm clear up, he raise just so good winter 
wheat as ever was ; but now our woods is all 
chop off, k is no good." 
There Is much truth in this last remark ; for 
from thirty to oue hundred miles further 
north, the wiuler wheat is good: but as 
fast usforestB are cleared away, the winter 
wheat begins to fail. Many who come from 
the East imagine that our spring wheat is 
poor stub and makes indifferent Hour. This 
is a mistake. Let me illustrate: Four years 
ago we had an excellent crop of wheat 
of a variety called Minnesota VVliite Spring. 
It was a good, plump, fairly white wheat. 
At the mill to which I took our grist, the mil¬ 
ler was recently from Rochester N. Y. aud was 
an excellent miller. While waiting for the 
grist, 1 was wandering about the mill and finally 
begau to discuss with lUe miller the merits of 
their smutler. From tiffs we begau to discuss 
the different varieties of wheat and one Which 
he called the best. I asked if it was better 
than ours. He said, no, but that that was a 
Spring variety while ours Avao a winter. I 
corrected him. He looked at me ; went and 
felt of the flour.of the bran, of the midd 1 i nge, and 
looked at the wheat in the hopper and listened 
to the Stones. He came to me aud said. “ A ml 
you say that is spring wheat?” I replied iu the 
affirmative. "Well” said lie “if that is so, 
there are thousands of people fooled iu their 
flour. I have ground thousands of bushels of 
that same wheat into XXXX Rochester flour, 
and we consider it among our best wheats.” 
This man may have been mistaken, but if he 
was not, it proves that our spring wheat is just 
as good as winter wheat. 
Now let me quote a few prices on flour from 
the Rural lor Dec. 28: 
rank very high if exhibited at. our county fairs, 
and would in the East excite derision. 
To make this extra grade of flour, hard 
spring wheat must be had. The result of this 
is already seen—the Milwaukee board of trade, 
some years ago, established a grade called 
“ Hard No. 1." And the wheat which is most 
likely to produce this grade, is the Fife. 
The rules of the Chamber for inspection are: 
" No. 1 hard spring wheat shall be composed 
mostly of hard Fife or Black Sea wheat, and 
shall be sound, M’cll cleaned, and must not 
weigh less than fifty-eight pounds to the meas¬ 
ured bushel." 
One great reason for the prejudice against 
this kind of wheat, lies in the fact that in mak¬ 
ing tiffs flour, we take, say, five hundred bush¬ 
els of wheat, or enough to make one hundred 
barrels of flour; from this we shall get thirty 
barrels of “patent" Hour, fifty-five barrels of 
"clear” flour aud fifteen barrels of a poor 
grade which is sold without a uame for what 
it will bring. 
This poor grade is largely shipped East, but 
little being sold here. It has uo life aud is 
" poor stuff.” 
The grade of flour called "straight” is 
grouud the usual way, and the middlings are 
then re-ground. This is known iu our local 
markets us “ Half-Patent.” 
There is one advantage, that, I think, I have 
shown—that spring wheat makes the best 
flour. Ollier advantages will readily suggest 
themselves, such as the avoidance of winter¬ 
killing ; the fact that in spring the farmer is 
better able to judge of the probable supply and 
demand of tbe market, etc. 
Dent Vnrietlcu. 
It Is the "Hard Fife” and the "Black 8ea” 
varieties which are used iu this extra grade of 
Hour. By the " NeM r Process,” better Hour can 
be made of soft wheat than by the old process; 
but it is far inferior to that made from hard 
wheat. It is lo the interest ot farmers to raise 
a wheat which will grade “hard No. 1," or, in 
any event, uot fall below “No. 1.” This wheat 
will uot get into the general market. It will 
be bought up by local millers aud agents for 
Eastern millers. Even Bostou millers find it 
to their advantage to keep agents iu Minnesota, 
and have wheat stopped direct to their mills. 
It is, then, best to raise varieties which will 
come up to these requirements. First stands 
the File. But it must he good. It is seldom 
ne will get a good sample from an Eastern 
ouse. They make uo specialty of it, and on'e 
will be as apt to get “ soft ” as “ hard ” from 
them. A few years ago we had a new wheat 
introduced, "all the way from Maine.” It 
was called the "Bismarck,” aud had a wide 
sale. It proved to be only an invigorated Fife. 
The Club wheat is iu every way inferior, aud 
so Is its prototype, the Lost Nation, the differ¬ 
ence between which wheats it iu hard to dis¬ 
cern. Two varieties which seem to be lost, I 
think, M’ould be valuable to us now ; they acre 
called the " Iledge-row wheat” aud the " Cali¬ 
fornia wheat." The Rio Grande is uu inferior 
wheat, and the White Russian is too little 
knoM r n to risk an opinion on its value. 
Brown Co., Wis. 
—- ♦ • ♦ - - 
PROPAGATING POTATOES. 
We have been in the habit of procuring most 
ot the new potatoes when first offered, aud 
usually propagate them iu this way : About 
the first of February we plant tbe potato in tbe 
greenhouse, and in about twenty days there 
will be a good growth of sprouts on it. We 
now take up the potato, and slip off all the 
sprouts, plantiug them, three together, in pots. 
Having done this, we next replant the potato, 
and have another set of sprouts ready in about 
the same time gs before. We now repeat Ihe 
slipping off and replanting. The next set of 
sprouts, if left to get well rooted, eau he plant¬ 
ed at ouce in the grouud. If the weather is 
too cold, pot the same as before. This process 
can be repeated as long as the potato keeps 
solid aud does not become exhausted. 
We usually keep sprouting until June, at 
which time we cut the potato into as many pieces 
as there are eyes, and plant them. The sets 
should be planted as soon us tbe weather aud 
soil will permit. A pound of potatoes, treated 
iu this way, ought to produce about three 
bushels of good, sound potatoes. It is best, in 
putting out the sets, to choose a moist time, or 
shade them. If properly started, they will 
produce potatoes just as large, sound aud 
healthy, as though planted in the usual way. 
It is to be supposed, when any one plants 
potatoes, that he will endeavor to raise all he 
can. We find the ground should he kept mel¬ 
low until the potatoes are ripe, and it should 
be rich to begin with. I. J. Blackwell. 
Mercer Co., N. J. 
- ++-+ - 
Superfine Stale. 
at. Louis, choice....... .,. 
Minnesota “ clear, choice. 
“ •* straight,” choice_ 
•* “patent”... 
f:a.»o 
6.00 
4.60 
6 06 
8.Z6 
These are iu all cases the outside figures. 
They show a grade of flour worth double what 
"superfine State” is worth, aud that flour is 
made from a grade of wheat which would not 
IIow Much Wheat Seed per Acre?— 
Neigbor Glover always sows two bushels aud a 
peck of seed wheat per acre. My rule is, one 
bushel and a half, aud if the land is iu good 
heart, it is enough, aud if it is not In good 
heart, the quantity is certainly enough like¬ 
wise, for thereby we save the plant-food 
HARM S© 
needed for the growth of the straw from the 
three pecks of extra seed. He told me of a 
slugle kernel of wheat that produced 150 
separate Btalks. One grew in my garden among 
the carrots with 75. But why multiply in¬ 
stances when the evidence is so one-sided to 
show that there is no need for thick sowing. 
What is there In the nature of the wheat plant, 
that it should require eight times as much see.d 
as for a corn crop, ami how can we expect it 
to yield to its full capacity, without some after 
cultivation ? p. w. c. 
glairy Ijusbanirrj, 
THE RISING OF CREAM. 
T. H. HOSKINS. M. D. 
Cream and Butter. 
There has bceu, of late, a great striving 
among dairymen and others interested, to 
understand the true principles concerned in 
the separation of cream from milk when left 
standing Undisturbed. All agree that cream 
is lighter than milk, as oil is lighter than wa¬ 
ter. The microscope has eltOWU us that the 
cream exists in very minute drops, called 
globules. Pure cream is simply ungathered 
butter—that is, the butter globules, after they 
have assembled together upon the surface of 
the milk, constitute cream ; the same globules 
eaused to adhere together by churning, form 
butter. There is uo difference between pure 
cream and butter save this mcchtiolcal one ; 
but cream, as»ordinarily taken, is mixed M-iih 
milk, which remains after churning as " but¬ 
termilk.” Until recently the 
Action ul’ Gravitation 
lias been regarded as sufficient cause for the 
rising of cream. But since it lias been discov¬ 
ered that under certain circumstances and 
couditions cream rises much more rapidly than 
uuder others, there has been a search, or 
groping, after some other cause, as necessary 
to explain all the facts. Tbe 
Law or Specific Hem 
has been appealed to as furnishiug an auxiliary 
force, or rather as increasing the levity ot the 
cream globules relatively to the milk wheu 
rapidly heated or cooled. A little considera¬ 
tion of this law and its uetiou, however, shows 
that so far as it acts at all in the matter, it has 
directly the reverse effect. For under this 
law when milk is rapidly cooled, the cream 
globules cool faster thun the milk. Conse¬ 
quently they M’ould have a less tendency to 
rise, rftther than a greater, us their greater 
condensation or contraction makes them rela¬ 
tively heavier than before the cold was applied. 
So, theoretically, cream ought to rise slower, - 
rather than quicker, when subjected to tbe 
strong and rapid cooling of (lie “Swedish 
method,” or its modifications, the llardin aud 
Cooley systems. As it does iu fact rise much 
quicker, those theorists who have been seek¬ 
ing for a motor power iu aid of gravity to 
account for tbe observed facts, stand at a non¬ 
plus iu the matter. I have long studied this 
subject along with others in relation to milk, 
aud have always believed that the force of 
Gruvily Alone i* Slitticieikl, 
and that no other cause need be sought for to 
account for the separation of cream from milk, 
no matter how slowly or how rapidly, under 
various conditions, it may occur. 1 am con¬ 
vinced that the slight variations in relative 
weight between the globules and the milk 
effected under tbe law of specific heat by sud¬ 
den cooling or beating, are uot sufficient to 
cause any measurable difference iu the rapidity 
with which they may come to the surface. But 
teometlilng HelurdN the Uising 
of cream. All experience shows that widely 
variant periods of time are demanded for ihe 
perfect separation of cream trom milk, wheu 
left to stand for that purpose under varying 
conditions, especially ot temperature. Now 
what is this something? For that we are to 
look for is not some recondite husteuing force 
or cause. No such thing has been demon¬ 
strated, and no such thing is needed. No ap¬ 
paratus has been devised positively to hasten 
the process. The most efficient apparatus is 
that which most effectively removes or pre¬ 
vents the obstruction referred to. Now 
What It* ll I 
It is simply and only the existence of currents 
in the milk, which carry with them the glo¬ 
bules aud prevent them from gathering to¬ 
gether at the surface, as they tend to do under 
the law of gravitation. The recently intro¬ 
duced methods of 
lluising Cream at Law Temperatures 
have misled observers. SctUugiuilk for cream 
so successfully at a temperature of about 40 
deg. by the use of ice or otherwise, has led 
people to believe that cold is the efficient 
force which in some mysterious way drives the 
cream quickly upwards. This hasty conclu¬ 
sion. that the sudden abstraction of its heat 
from the milk lias a direct iulluenco iu throw¬ 
ing up the cream, has been the delusion under 
