the implement draws, and consequently the 
coarser the harrowing. By shortening the 
drawbar and taking off one section, it can be 
made into a t hree-horse harrow. 
Champaign Co., Ill. geo. whiton. 
--- ■— 
A HOME BENDERY. 
Most readers are loth to cast aside valuable 
papers. Those who do so lose more than half 
the value of the year’s subscription. The best 
papers are intended for study as well as for 
reading. The trouble with most persons is 
that binding is expensive, if douo by a regular 
binder, and unsatisfactory if done at home. I 
have a method of binding my own papers and 
pamphlets which I And very cheap and sub¬ 
stantial. I arrange the numbers in regular 
order, with the back edges and one end as 
even as I can get them. With an aw] I pierce 
three holes, as showm at 
the numbers in Fig. tilt. 
These are large enough to 
admit the passage of a 
darning needle, and are 
made, say half an inch 
from the back margin. 
Now, with u darning 
needle, strong wrapping 
twine is passed down 
through the hole at 1, across and up at 2, 
down at 3, up again at 2, and across to 1, 
after which it is tightly drawn and tied. 
If there are covers to put on, take a piece 
of stout cloth—as brown drilling—the length 
of the volume, and wide enough to cover the 
hack and come an inch or so on each side. If 
there are two covers, one may be pasted on 
the outside, aud one on the inside of the cloth, 
so that when pasted on the book the edges of 
the covers shall be about half an inch from 
the back corner. With good paste fasten the 
back thus prepared on the hack edge of the 
volume. From some jioster or advertisement 
cut the name of the paper and pnste it on the 
side or back and the book is complete. 
Canyon City, Col. L. j. templin. 
GARDEN TROWEL. 
The trowel shown at Fig. 62 was made by 
our blacksmith from an old cross-cut saw, and 
is a little heavy. He furnished the steel and 
charged 50c. for making it, 1 having to polish 
Fig. 62. 
it myself. It is very strong; in fact, I very 
much doubt if a mau can break it by prying 
on it. In some kinds of work a good, stout 
handle, three or four feet long, can be insert¬ 
ed and save stooping over. Thus fixed it is fine 
for working around shrubbery, taking up 
strawberry plants, digging holes for trans¬ 
planting, etc. 8. T. \V. 
Forest Grove, Or. 
Ol’R Hogs. —The statistician of the Agricul¬ 
tural Department gives the average number of 
hogs in the United States during recent years 
hs about 44,000,000. The average number for 
Europe is about 49,000,(XXI, Our country con¬ 
tains 55,000,000 inhabitants, Europe over 
300,000,000. In other words, there are, in this 
country, HO hogs to every 100 inhabitants, 
while in Europe there are but 15 to every 100. 
Our average exportation for 25 years has 
been 530,000,000 pounds or nearly 3,000,000 
hogs. These figures show that the Eurojiean 
consumption of pork is relatively small, that, 
over supply may easily become a glut, aud 
that an increase of production in these coun¬ 
tries may seriously affect our trade, while au 
increased consumption would at ouce be felt 
iu our markets. 
Liquid Manure. —The Agricultural Gaz¬ 
ette says English farming iu some sections 
has reached a point where the losing of liquid 
manures may mean ruin. It appears strange 
that while liquid manure is known to be the 
most valuable, most of the time spent in de¬ 
vising means for handling aud utilizing has 
been devoted to the management of solids. 
I 
We know the composition of liquid manures, 
but few can tell the amount yielded by the 
animal or how different foods affect its qual¬ 
ity. it. is well known that when the animals 
are fed upon certain substances, such as vege¬ 
tables, silage, or other succulent matter, the 
quantity of urine is greatly increased. Doubt¬ 
less the inferiority of certain manures is at 
least partially made up by the increased quanti¬ 
ty and quality of urine. How to save such an 
unmanageable article is a groat problem. 
Where many cattle are kept it will surely pay 
to construct drains loading to a pit or cistern, 
into which the liquid may run. We know of 
one farm where this product is conducted to 
the basement, into a hogshead, set on wheels, 
where it can be dragged out and sprinkled 
young leaves have also a tint of red. It is a 
desirable shrub, but one is enough. 
The Fastigiate Oak grows like a small Lom¬ 
bardy Poplar and the foliage remains intact 
until early Winter. It is not quite hardy at 
the Rural Grounds. 
The Purple Myrtle-leaved Elm is of dwarf 
habit and well suited to grounds of small 
extent.. 
Puck says: “There are two sides to the 
bread question, farmers,” shouted a political 
speaker, “and my record shows you which side 
I stand upon.” “Yes,” replied a voice,” the 
buttered side.”. 
Art can beat nature every time, says Thom¬ 
as Meehan; but only those who take pleasure 
in the art can do it.... 
The American (Nashville) calls 
clover the “elixir of agricultural life.” 
The N. Y. Tribune remarks that it 
is most tme, as quoted from the Rev. 
Mr. Bushnell, that the high culture of 
the few does not elevate the many: 
and that benefactions to collegiate 
institutions would be greater benefac¬ 
tions to auy country if applied to the 
humbler cause of universal elementa¬ 
ry training in work as well as in words. 
As an illustration of the safety to 
the stomach of using water that has 
been well boiled the same paper men¬ 
tions a ease of water used in a stone¬ 
ware bottle and heated on cold nights 
as a bed-warmer. Being left in the 
bottle all Summer slightly corked, it 
was found wholly unchanged in ap¬ 
pearance when Winter came again.. 
OMER PACHA PEAR. From Nature. Fig. 57. 
over grass land. Absorbents, such as sawdust, 
sand, straw, moss or sea-weed can be used to 
save much of this valuable product—too 
valuable by far to rim to waste. 
POINTERS. 
The Japan Cercis or Judas Tree is a beauti¬ 
ful shrub or small tree—but not always hardy 
at the Rural Grounds. 
Remember the Quereus Concordia or Yel- 
lmv-lcaved Oak. We have had a specimen of 
this for ten years. It is now ten feet in hight, 
OMER PACHA PEAR. Cross Section. 
Our friend Mr. Hale of Conn, says 
that the Kieffer Pear suggests in qual- 
ty “a cross betweeu a quince, a squash 
and a seed cucumber.” We do not 
think such extreme comparisons fair. 
The Kieffer is better than a quince, 
squash, cucumber or any conceivable 
combination of them. 
The Editor of the Industrialist of 
the Kansas Agricultural College 
feels a good deal of sympathy 
for the proprietors of advertise¬ 
ments, which he occasionally sees, who end 
their announcements with the terse observa¬ 
tion that “no notice will be taken of postal 
cards. ” The Editor has observed that, the man 
who writes about stock upon a postal rarely 
buys. Still, we do not see why inquiries or 
requests, not of a private nature, may not be 
written upon postal cards. 
Opr esteemed contemporary, the Florist, 
gives a fine colored plate of the new rose, “Her 
Majesty.” It also presents a life-like photo¬ 
graphic portrait of Peter Henderson. 
Good points from the Breeder’s 
Journal: The nearer water is to the 
temperature of the body, the less beat 
is wasted in assimilating it. Profits 
waste with the heat. Never feed 
frozen roots to stock. Give the calves 
more oats. Do not turn the cows 
that are in-ealf out on to slippery 
places. ... 
The English grain crops are the 
wonder of the world, and yet they do 
not pay to raise. Reasons, high rents 
aud foreign competition.. 
A correspondent of the Loudon 
Live Stock Journal holds that live¬ 
stock will still be the mainstay of 
British agriculture. He proposes to 
produce more “baby beef’ and “baby 
mutton.” England cannot compete 
in the number of cattle, for her area 
of available land is limited, but she 
can strive for early maturity and 
choice quality.. 
To help iu reducing England’s 
$50,000,666 butter bill, he suggests the 
keeping of more of the smaller butter 
breeds near towns and cities. A 
Jersey cow that would feed on the 
lawn with a little extra feed, would 
keep the family in milk and butter.. 
A cow knows enough to rest after 
eating a hearty meal. How many 
human beings are equally intelligent- 
Fig. 58. 
having been cut bacK once. The young leaves 
are of a bright yellow. This is lost in Sum¬ 
mer. returning somewhat in the Fall. 
CkrcidipHyllpm Japonicum has a leaf 
somewhat like the Cercis. It is a very hardy 
tree so far as we have tested it. The young 
loaves ore purple. 
The Pendulous Conus Florida is said to be 
compact in habit, which cannot be said of the 
branches downward... 
The new Variegated Red Dogwood bears 
leaves margined with yellowish-white. The 
W hen the farm begins to run down, 
the boy inns to town, says Prof. Roberts. 
Breeding for disease may be described as 
using an unsound animal for breeding pur¬ 
poses, or subjecting pregnant animals to 
cruelty iu any form. The list of diseases 
thought to be hereditary constantly increases 
as science probes into the matter. The young 
is so much a part of its parent that any de¬ 
rangement of the blood of the latter cannot 
help being transmitted. 
Mr. T. B. Terry, writing from Milton 
Junction, Wis., to the Albany Cultivator, 
says that though he does uot wish to speak ill 
of his own town, he wishes he could select a 
hundred acres in Southern Wisconsin, and 
place them around his Ohio home. He would 
show some crops that would be worth looking 
at... 
What to Major Alvord seems most necessary 
for dairymen and friends of dairymen, as he 
expresses himself in the Farm Guide, is for 
them to stop their complaints and expressions 
of fear, with the accompanying cries for help 
to protect them in their honest labors from 
some terrible enemy. Instead of this, they 
should make their business and product such 
that it need fear no competition in the form 
of a substitute or adulteration. 
The Saskatchewan, spring wheat (so called) 
is spoken well of by many. 
There is a weeping variety of the Purple 
Beech... 
Plant the Colorado Blue Spruce, Try the 
Imperial Cut-leaved Alder. Have you the 
red-flowering Horse-chestnut?.. :. 
Chas. A. Green says in the Weekly Press, 
of Philadelphia, that the fields, woods, flowers, 
fruits, rocks and hills are the best of teachers 
to a receptive mind, and all the processes of 
growth and all the operations of agriculture 
enforce lessons of patience, iudustry. economy 
and hope... 
Mr. Green thinks that the phenomenal 
success of Cornelius Vanderbilt, the elder, 
and his son in accumulating a fortune, is 
worthy of study. It was not accidental. 
These men had well defined plans and methods, 
which they adopted in early life, and Mr. 
Green believes it was their experience on the 
farm that was largely instrumental in form¬ 
ing those purposes and fixing those habits 
which commanded their surprising success. 
To this the editor replies that the farm is a 
good school for a boy. but of the millions who 
attend school only one Vanderbilt is evolved 
in a generation—and the world might worry 
along if there were none. 
Some one has said that old people should 
never sleep with children. The argument has 
been that the -vitality of the child would be ab¬ 
sorbed by the older person. Dr. Hoskins says 
this is most absurd. People do not grow poi¬ 
sonous as they grow old. The good grand¬ 
mothers, who so love their children’s offspring, 
and take such sweet care of them, should not 
be made the victims of a gross and groundless 
superstition .... 
Our friend, the Western Rural, says that a 
lazy man ought never to get married. Home 
duties are too exacting for laziness. It is the 
husband's duty to assume a full share of the 
labor that is by many supposed to be peculiar¬ 
ly the wife’s. 
It further says that the average theory of 
home life is that the happiness of home depends 
solely npon the wife. She is advised always 
to have the husband’s supper ready and hot. 
It seems to be supposed that she has married a 
stomach; and we admit that the stomach 
appears to be all there is to some men. 
“The bull is half the herd.” Yes. and often 
only half. The cow's represent the other half. 
If hey are scrubs, their half will be plainly 
evident....... 
The Poultry' World says that the great suc¬ 
cess attained in developing the Plymouth Rock 
and Wyandotte breeds has greatly' encour¬ 
aged the making of new varieties. Dozens of 
men are quietly at work building up new 
breeds.... 
H. A Babcock sums up the good qualities 
of the Plymouth Rock. Its peculiar plumage 
is pleasing to the eye. It has a satisfactory 
figure—solid without beiug clumsy. Consider¬ 
ing size, structure and flesh, it is as good as 
any breed for the table. It is hardy. It 
adapts itself to all circumstances. By nature 
it is tame... 
The London Live Stock Journal speaks of 
four hens that live in a small basket on the 
wagon of a strolling pedlar. When a bait is 
made the hens hop down aud forage, and thus 
pick up part of their living. We know of a 
small flock of hens that lived on a construction 
train iu the West, and kept the cook well sup¬ 
plied with eggs. The hen is one of the best 
friends the farmer knows. 
The English papers are discussing the much- 
vexed question relative to the determination 
of sex in offspring. They do not seem to come 
much nearer any real solution of the question. 
A great deal of conflicting evidence has been 
brought out. It has even been stated by some 
that pullets or cocks can be produced at will. 
A writer in Gardening says that, from his 
experience, he should advise those who wish 
to hatch pullets (1) not to use the eggs from 
young birds for hatching, but from more 
matured ones ; (2) not to have less than eight, 
or nine hens with each cock; (3) not to begin 
hatching before March or April. 
So far as we can learn, the honor of produc¬ 
ing the greatest amount of butter or milk in 
