10c. all round ; wheat, 75c. to 80c. per bushel; 
hogs, live. $2.50 to $2.75 per 100 pounds ; stock 
cattle are worth, two-years-old, $25 to $28; 
three-years-old, $30 to $33; heavy spring 
calves, $8 to $10, and very few to be had. 
W. J. B. 
Kans. i West Asher P. O., Mitchell Co., Aug. 
20.—The weather here for the past month has 
been quite seasonable. Wheat was a poor 
crop, both as regards quality and quantity. 
Corn is doing well and must be a large crop in 
this vicinity. Irish potatoes arc not a very 
good crop, but sweet potatoes are a fair one. 
Fruit is scarce. Grass is plentiful and hay 
abundant. .t. n, h. 
Cai.., Loquel, Santa Cruz, Co., Aug. 23.— 
Santa Cruz is one of the smallest counties of 
this State, and more celebrated for its man¬ 
ufactures than for its agricultural products, 
although it embraces some of the richest land 
in the State. It is also the second county 
in importance, Sau Francisco being the first. 
It is the second county south from Sau Fran¬ 
cisco, Sau Mateo lying between it and that 
city, which is 75 miles distaut by steam. It 
comprises an area of 820,000 acres and a pres- 
sent population of about 16,000 souls. It is a 
narrow strip of laud, about 40 miles in extreme 
length by some 15 in extreme width. Forty 
thousand acres are the richest kiud of bottom 
lands. These lie along the various streams, 
and are occupied principally as dairy farms. 
Fifty thousand acres of agricultural land arc 
terraced plateaus, as the laud rises from the 
bay of Monterey iu benches or steps, as it 
were, back to the summit of the mountains. 
The county is heavily timbered along the 
gulches, and uplands. Pastures on the low 
lands remain green and fresh throughout the 
entire year. On the uplands, although the 
grasses wither in the summer season, they 
lose noue of their nutritive properties, and 
cattle thrive on them as well as ou fresh grass. 
Some 20,500 acres are in cultivation. On this 
soil the average yield of wheat is 27 bushels 
to the acre; baric}', 38; corn, 48; potatoes, 3| 
tons, and sugar beets, nine tous. Our 275,000 
acres of mountainous land produce fabulous 
growths of Red-wood,Oak and Fir, as well as the 
finest quality of all varieties of grapes. Through 
this mountainous region runs a thermal belt 
within which frost is seldom seen even in the 
coldest season. As a consequence of the mild 
climate within this limit, strawberries bloom 
aud ripen in large quantities the year round, 
orange trees wear a perpetual livery of golden 
fruit and blossoms, and the delicate Almond 
dons its fragrant dress of blossoms iu Febru¬ 
ary, while trees in other sections are hibernat¬ 
ing, waiting for the spring. 
Witliiu the county limits there are five 
shipping points; 11 sawmills with a capacity 
of 30,000,000 feet of lumber annually; five 
lime-kilns, employing, when running, over 
200 men and producing the fiucst quality of 
lime iu the country, supplying seven-tenths of 
the demand therefor throughout the State, 
and capable of unlimited extension. There 
are also four largo tanneries that turn out 
immense quantities of leather, while the Cal¬ 
ifornia powder works located one and a half 
miles above Santa Cruz on the Sau Lorenzo 
River, manufacture thousands of kegs of pow¬ 
der per mouth. Then we have a glue and a 
chair factory as well as a fusee factory ; also 
four large flour mills all of which are con¬ 
stantly employed, together with a beet sugar 
factory which is the source of great expecta¬ 
tions. 
Sixteen years ago there was not a single 
vineyard in existence in this county. Vine 
Hill is located from 1,000 to 1,200 feet anove 
the level of the sea, is subject to no frost 
sufficient to injure vegetation in the least, 
aud will also produce the finest varieties of all 
kinds of choice fruits. There are some ten 
vineyards in the viciuity of Vine Hill, which 
cultivate the vine for the market. At auy of 
the cellars all kinds of wine will be found, as 
well as brandy. The total manufacture of 
wiue at the vineyards mentioned, is 81,000 
gallons annually; but probably the whole 
amount in the county will sum up 100,000 gal¬ 
lons. C. H. H. 
Md., Quantico, Wicomico Co., Aug. 26.— 
Rain, rain, rain, aud still it comes. Up to the 
25th of July the weather was very dry, but 
since that time we have had moisture enough 
to make half a dozeu crops. Corn will be 
short. My Blount Prolific is doing extra well. 
It has from four to nine silks on each stalk, 
but 1 think the ears will be small. If they fill 
to a fair size, they alone will be worth the 
subscription price of the Rural. g. a. b. 
Va.. Newmarket, Shenandoah Co., Aug. 20. 
—We have hud the severest drought here that 
has been experienced for many a year. Corn 
and other crops suffered severely on this ac¬ 
count, but a fine rain, that began yesterday, is 
still coming down to aid our farmers. But 
little plowing for wheat has been done here 
yet on account of the dry condition of the 
ground. Wheat turned out a pretty good 
crop ; nearly all of it is thrashed. It is selling 
for from 90o. to 95c. per bushel; corn, 50e. ; 
THE RURAL 
rye, 50c. to 55c.; oats, 30c.; butter, 12c. to 
15c. per pound ; eggs, 8c. per doz. v. a. w. 
W. Va., West, Wetzel Co., Aug. 26.—The free 
seeds received front the Rural were plauted 
carefully, but the greater part of them tailed to 
germinate ; or, perhaps, through my iguorauce 
of botany, t pulled them too soon out of tlu- 
bed to make room for the Jamestown •weed.” 
My Pearl Millet is now about five feet high. I 
had 115 kernels of Blount's corn I plauted 
them iu my garden, iu hills 21 feet apart, a 
grain in each- The stalks are now about 12 
feet high, and bearing from three to seven ears 
each, averaging probably 3J ears. I am satis¬ 
fied that I have received the value of my sub¬ 
scription to the Rural by the introduction of 
this Prolific coru into this section, to say 
nothing of the mass of varied information on 
farming and other topics imparted weekly 
through the columns of the paper. j. n. 
Florida, .Starke, Bradford Co., Aug 28.— 
Some green food for horses here in the winter, 
would he a godsoud. People here talk about 
cattle being able to live on the wild grass all 
the year round, ’tis true ; but horses will not 
eat it at all unless driven to it by hunger, ex¬ 
cept during a short time early in the spring, 
aud then only where it comes up green after 
the ground has been burnt over. Cattle will 
do very well ou it for four or five mouths, aud 
for the rest of the year they just manage to 
exist, though many of them starve to death 
every winter. There is no hay to he cut, and 
we have to depend upon dry corn leaves, corn 
and oats. Coru leaves are $20 per ton ; corn, 
90c. per bushel aud oats 70e. Pea vines grow 
here all winter—even the heavy freeze and ice 
we had last December only killed the blossoms 
of our vines which put out new ones and bore 
a crop of peas later. i. s. 
(Lijf (Querist, 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
The use of Lime 
W. S. L., Allica, Ohio, asks whether lime is 
as good as barnyard manure as an application 
to summer fallow for fertilizing purposes; 
aud how much should be used. 
Ans. —No. Lime canuot be compared with 
barnyard manure. It fills the same place iu 
regard to manure as a condiment does to food; 
it supplies to some extent a needed element in 
Lhe soil, although it is very rarely that soils 
are deficient in lime, hut its greatest effect is 
to help the soil to digest the manure, so to 
speak- ft is, in short, a stlmulaut which re¬ 
quires solid food to be taken with it to prevent 
injurious reaction. The iwo cannot, there¬ 
fore, be compared in the wav suggested in the 
inquiry. Lime is a very useful aud effective 
application to the soil when judiciously used, 
and its effects are more apparent upon man¬ 
ured than upon worn soils; because it must 
have something to work upon to produce its 
effect. It is used in a good system of farming, 
once in five years, at the rate of 40 or 50 bush¬ 
els per acre, at the flame time with the man¬ 
ure; and generally for wheat or rye seeded to 
grass aud clover. When used on a summer 
fallow and without manure, it can only act in¬ 
juriously by decomposing and making imme¬ 
diately available whatever vegetable matter 
exists iu the soil, and by liberating part of 
whatever potash may remain in it undevel¬ 
oped. In this ease it acts as a stimulant al¬ 
together and really helps to impoverish the 
soil more quickly than would otherwise be 
done. If the land is foul with weeds and 
needs some vigorous treatment to improve it, 
then it might tie advisable to summer-fallow it 
aud apply from 25 . to 40 bushels of lime per 
acre, iu proportion to its present condition of 
poverty or goodness. But unless barnyard 
manure is applied very soon after, the benefit 
will bo ouly temporary. 
Diminished Wheal Yield in the Old.Settled States. 
W. C. J.. Lebanon , Bel., asks whether the 
wheat crops of the old-settled Slates are as 
heavy now as formerly; if not, how much 
difference is there, and the cause of it. 
Ans. —About the beginning of this ceutury 
the average yield of wheat iu New York was 
from 20 to 30 bushels per acre: now it is 
hardly 12 bushels. Fifty years ago the yield 
per acre in Ohio used to be 26 bushels; now 
it is not more than 13 bushels, and iu the 
New England States the disparity between 
the yields of the past and present is still 
more striking. The cause of this diminution 
in the yield lies in the practice followed by 
our farmers for years, of carrying off every 
harvest the fertilizing ingredients taken up 
by the various crops, without rettirafug to 
the soil auy equivalent. In the course of 
time the available amount of plant-food iu 
the soil has been so lessened by this practice 
that, in many places, tin re is not enough of 
it to yield crops sufficiently heavy to pay tbc 
expeuses of cultivating them. By a proper 
system of tillage aud manuring, however, 
this land can be soon restored to a profitable 
condition of fertility. Iu England, during 
NEW- /0RKER. 
the reign of Elizabeth, the average yield of 
wheat is said to have been only five bushels 
per acre, whereas now the yield is from 28 
to 30 bushels, and this vaBt stride in advance 
has been made chii fly within the preseut 
century. With the lessons taught by Euro¬ 
pean experience before them, our farmers in 
the old-settled States will doubtless speedily 
restore the fertility of the soil whenever a 
liberal course of tillage and manuring will 
pay better than purchasing in the West lands 
which for years will need no such expensive 
treatment.. 
V Preventive of Smut in Wheat. 
II. L. O.. Rich Prairie, Minn., asks for 
some preventive of smut in wheat. 
Ans.- -Smut is the product of a minute spore 
which serves the purpose of seed, and to pre¬ 
vent the appearance of the pest, this must be 
removed or destroyed. This can be most 
readily done by steeping the seed grain in a 
strong brine or in a solution of,say, four ounces 
of sulphate of copper to a gallon of water. The 
seed may be steeped in the solution a couple of 
hours, and then dried with a small quantity of 
dry lime, or, better still, of plaster. 
Miscellaneous. 
A. C. IL, Roanoke, Bid., says 1, that the silk 
on his Blount’s corn is mostly white, but about 
one-fourth of it is a bright pink, and he asks 
the reason why—It is 20 rods or more from any 
other corn; 2. He inquires at what time 
should salt he sown with winter wheat to do it 
most good; 3. Fears are felt thereabouts that 
the swarming crickets will injure the young 
wheat, aud he wants to know whether they cun 
be driven off by sowing salt where they are at 
work; 4. What would he the price of, say 
90 pounds of pure Clawson wheat for seed, de¬ 
livered by United States Express at his town. 
Ans.— 1. The color of the silk of all varieties 
of coru varies, and Blount's is no exception. 
The color of the silk has no connection with 
the impurity or otherwise of the seed. 2. Salt 
may he sown at any time : its action is to dis¬ 
solve potash chiefly and help to decompose 
organic matter. Its most useful effects occur 
when it is sown in the spring, when it tends to 
stiffen the straw and brighten the grain ; five 
bushels per acre may bo sown, but, 3, that will 
hardly interfere with the crickets. 4. Clawson 
wheat is worth $1.50 a bushel. The express 
charges to Roanoke, lad., depend a good deal 
upon where the wheat is shipped from. The 
nearest place to procure the seed would be at 
Detroit, Mich., (Ferry & Co., seedsmen). An 
excellent quantity of Clawson is grown in 
Michigan. 
B. B., Cadet, Mo., asks whether we know 
anything about W. V. Horton’s “Stump Era- 
dieator.” Horton, it seems advertises in 
country papers that for $1 he will supply a 
stump destroyer with which, without boriug, 
blasting or burning, a boy can destroy 250 new 
stumps a day. As our inquirer is just openiug 
a new farm iu the woods, he naturally thinks 
such a stump-exterminator would be very 
handy, if it could effect even half what is 
promised. 
Ans. —A visitlo the number ou Nassau street, 
this city, where Hortou professes to do busi¬ 
ness, failed to discover any one who was 
willing to acknowledge himself couuected with 
this fraud. Wc learnt, however, from a person 
in the building that all letters addressed to the 
fellow are cither forwarded tabled by a eou- 
tederatc, or that he himself, under another 
name, is the assumed confederate aud pockets 
directly the money which people send him for 
his marvelous “ Kradicator,” Electricity is 
the means by which he pretends to work such 
wonders, and this electricity is supposed to be 
generated from an innocent little white powder. 
Are fanners really more stupid than other 
folks, that every swindler seeking a greenhorn 
whom ho may cheat, appeals to them ? 
It. T.. G.vrattsuille, AT. 1., asks, 1, what is 
the cause of coated wool on sheep ? 2. He also 
sends for name a specimen of a plant which 
he describes as growing from six to eight iueh- 
es in bight, with blossoms yellow aud bead¬ 
shaped, aud evidently of the clover family. 
Ans. —Oar friend doubtless refers to the ex¬ 
ternal coating produced iu Merino sheep by 
the natural secretion of yolk. This Is a sticky, 
pasty, half-hardened substance within the 
wool or the hard substance at its outer euds, 
which is commonly called oil. grease or gum. 
The external yolk is occasionally somewhat 
yellowish, like dirty beeswax, but generally of 
some dark shade ot brown or nearly, if not 
quite black. This hue is often intensified by 
the dust, pollen and other refuse matters that 
adhere to the yolk-impregnated fleece. Chemi¬ 
cal aualysls of the yolk has shown that it 
contains 1, a soapy matter with a potash base ; 
2 , a small quantity of carbonate of potash; 
3, a perceptible quantity ol acetate of potash ; 
4, lime combined in an indistinguishable state ; 
5, an atom of muriate of potash ; 6, an animal 
oil to which is attributable the peculiar odor 
of yolk. 2. Trifolium agrarium—Yellow hop- 
clover. 
W. A. B. Clinton, Conn., has plauted some 
pot-growu Strawberries and wishes to know 
* 505 
which way he will get the most fruit next sea¬ 
son—by cutting off the runners or by allowing 
them to form new plants. 
Ans. —Remove the runners. Cut them off 
with a sharp knife. To tear them off violently, 
as is done by some persons who do not know 
any better, will do the plants more harm than 
good. 
W. B., Sennett, N. Y., asks whether the 
“faucy" beets sent out by the Rural are fit to 
be eaten. 
Ans. —No; our Domestic Department has 
contained several recipes for the best method 
of preparing the leaf-stems for the table. 
Other inquiries are answered in other parts 
of this department. 
C. E , Canterbury, Conn., asks where and 
when Jeff. Davis, president of the the defunct 
Confederacy, was born, 
Ans.— Jeff. Davis was born on June 3, 1808, 
in that part of Christian county, Kentucky, 
which now forms Todd county. Soon after 
his birth his father moved to Mississippi and 
settled near Woodville, Wilkinson county. 
W, M. E. t Middlebary, VI., asks whether 
plum trees, grown from stones, will produce 
plums true to name. 
Ans. —Plum trees grown from stones are 
seedlings, and there is never any certainty 
that seedlings will reproduce the parent va¬ 
rieties of fruit. The wild sorts will more 
nearly do this than the cultivated kinds. 
R. C. II., Madison, Ohio, asks how to guard 
his thrashed wheat against weevils. 
Ans. —One of the best safeguards against 
weevils in grain is to thoroughly fumigate the 
bins with burning sulphur, before the grain is 
stored therein. The operation should be re¬ 
peated a month or so after the storage of the 
grain. 
Mrs. M. E. G., Forest Grove, Oregon , asks 
where she can get Gray’s School and Field 
Book of Botany, or Wood’s Botanist and Flo¬ 
rist, and the price of them. 
Ans. —They can be obtained through this 
office, but to save freight, it will he better to 
purchase them through some book store near 
you. The price of Gray's book is $1.80,; of 
Wood's, $1.75. 
Mrs. G. II. II ., Loquel, Cal. —The flower of 
the Pelargonium you sent is very pretty. It 
is impossible to name such varieties. Pelar¬ 
gonium seedlings are now raised by the tens 
of thousands, no two of which may be exactly 
alike, while many bear too close a resem¬ 
blance to hold a distinctive name 
L. C. Wright, Level, Montgomery Co., Ky. 
asks whether Osgood & Co , who advertise 
patent scales iu the Rural, are trustworthy 
in their representations of the articles. 
Ans. —Messrs Osgood & Co., are perfectly 
trustworthy. 
M. F. F., Morenci, Mich., asks when to sow 
salt on wheat, aud how' much per acre. 
Ans. —Spring is the best time ; five bushels 
per acre Is the usual quantity. See several 
answers to inquiries concerning this matter in 
back numbers of the Rural. 
C. W., Evanston, Ills,, asks how raspberry 
canes can be made miniature trees, so as to 
avoid the necessity of tying them to stakes. 
Ans. —Simply by pinching off the canes when 
they are three or more feet high. 
W. P. McR., Truro, Nova Scotia, asks what 
kind of Strawberries would be best adapted to 
that severe climate. 
Ans. —We do not know; experiment is in 
this case the only reliable teacher. 
M. W., no address, asks when she shall cut 
her Helichrysums. 
Ans. —Cut them as soon as the flowers are 
well expanded. 
W., Jr., Williamston, Mich., asks where 
he can get an apple parer and corer. 
Ans. —Any hardware store will supply one. 
B. 8. P., Bolster's Mills, Me., sends a leaf 
and flower of plant for name. 
Ans. —Cleome spinosa. 
Communications received for the week ending 
Saturday, Sept. 13. 
H. D. R.-E. W. S.—A. H.-W. B.-G. A. A.-E. 
H. S.—W. J. B., thanks-J. W. M.—E. T. D.—J. W. 
S.—W. I. C.—"Veneer Farming,” from Clinton, 
N. Y., the writer’s name Is necessary—A. M.—G. 
H.—J. H. H.-A. M. H.—G. G. Jr., thanks—O. H. 
H.—J. L.—A. 8. H.—J. J. H.—M. E. A.—A. L. J.— 
F. D. C.—N. K., best thanks, too late for this No.— 
S.—S. B. P.—J. N. J.—C. W.—F. D. C.-E. B. 
P.-G. E. M.—L* C. W,—H. N. N.—F. W. J. 
—M. W.—N. K.—T. D. B.—C. G.—G. B. A.— 
S. O.—B. F. T.—J. B. R.—J. H. L—S. R. M. 
-A. T. N.—G. K.—W. C. S—A. E. C.-B. F.— 
J. S.—H. W.—A. E. H.—G. B. E.—M. M. W.—F. 
A. P.—S. R. M.—J. G.—I. C.—A. E. B.—C. L. A.— 
D. M. I.-W. M. N.-C. M. C.- E. R. B.—H. L. K.— 
A. L, J.—A. E. B.—R. W. F.—F. M. M.—F. D. C.— 
C. A. B.—J A. H.-J. D. H.—W. M. E —J. N. D.— 
G. W. B.—EstoLia-R. M. L.—A. C.—N. C.—W. H. 
W.-J. W. S.—E. H. S.—C. P. B.—A Subscriber-E. 
A. —J. W. K.—A. L S. S.—E. J. H.—U. iv.—F. 
G. —J. A. P.-L. C. D.—W. A. B.—N. C. B.-J. H.— 
F. A. B.—L. P. L.—H. K.—P. S. W.—H. S.—J. N. 
H. —A. E. B.—T. J. E.—W. I. C.—B. IL—G. G.—C. 
B. W.—L. E. J.—C. G. W.—W. L. S.-J. W. S.-L. 
U. 8.—O. G.—F. T>. L.—8. V.—M. B. W. 
