says that the desideratum is a substance that 
will throw off sulphurous acid on exposure to 
the air, while remaining unchanged in con¬ 
finement. Chloride of lime sets free its active 
agent in this way. but though a deodorizer, it 
is not an anti eptic. 
A disinfectant destroys the organic germs; 
a deodorizer destroys or neutralizes offensive 
odor*, and an antiseptic prevents or retards 
putrefaction. It is said that sulphurous acid 
will combine all these properties iu the best 
form, A mixture was formed of sulphate of 
lime, sulphate of zinc and sulphate of alumina. 
Moisture or air caused a decomposition be¬ 
tween the sulphates of blue and alumina, 
which resulted in au evolution of sulphurous 
acid gas. This has given the most remarkable 
results in neutralizing foul odors. 
The best Scotch married shepherds receive 
as yearly wages about $125 iu money, 500 
pounds of oat meal, potatoes, a cow’s keep and 
a free house and garden. Iu many localities 
the “pack" system of paying wages still ex¬ 
ists. Under t his system the shepherd is per¬ 
mitted to raise a small flock of sheep of his 
own and find his wages iu the profits derived 
from his sheep. These small flocks are gener¬ 
ally about eight per cent, of those herded for 
the owner of the estate. 
A. W. Cheeveh would lx? perfectly willing 
to dispense with the crow and the English 
sparrow, as he thinks both birds do more harm 
than good. A crow eau be tamed as easily as 
a chicken, and quickly makes himself at home 
about the yard. He will not touch the potato 
beetle as some persons have claimed. He. is a 
great robber of birds’ nests, and is as unfeel¬ 
ing as a butcher .*■. 
A writer in the New England Homestead 
well says there are millions of dollars worth 
of good fertilizers lying dormant under ham 
floors. Where there is no basement, it will 
pay to take up the floor of the stable and dig 
up the soil and fill in with fresh earth. 
The Homestead makes sport of the common 
practice of shouting at oxen. There is no 
reason for this tremendous outburst of noise 
which is hurled at oxen ordinarily. Cattle 
cau be traiued to mind a quiet and determined 
voice without this shouting. 
PKOF.jATWATEHsays that in a pint of milk 
and a pint of oysters there is the same amount 
of nutriment. The oysters contain more ni¬ 
trogenous matter—the milk more fat. 
Sir. J. B. Lawes says that the pig is the 
best and cheapest fat-making machine which 
exists, and that the human stomach has a 
great requirement for some sort of fat. 
The N. Y. Times says that hundreds of mil¬ 
lions of bushels of corn are sold in the ear at 
the rate of 70 pounds to the bushel. This will 
do for some kinds of corn. But the ears of 
many varieties do not weigh 14 pounds—some 
less than 10. Potatoes vary in weight from 
40 to (50 pounds, and a dozen eggs weigh from 
14 to 30 ounces. Yet all are sold for the same 
price .*.... 
The National Live Stock Journal is right in 
saying that the questions, what is the cost of a 
bushel of wheat, a pound of butter or of beef, 
is about like asking what is the length of a 
string or the size of a piece of chalk. The cost 
depends upon the circumstances. It may costa 
certain farmer so much to produce a certain 
amount, of produce, another farmer on a dif¬ 
ferent soil, with different stock, different tools 
and methods, cannot use these figures with 
any success. The only way to find out what 
produce costs, is for each farmer to figure on 
his own work and not accept the figures of 
others. The closer farmers follow this rule, 
the nearer they will come to success. 
The Pacific Rural Press says that California 
grape growers have found that in smoking for 
frost, as in sulphuring for mildew it pays to 
get in the remedy ahead of the disease. On 
frosty nights bonfires of any materia] that 
will make a dense, heavy clinging smoke are 
made 30 to 40 feet apart throughout the vine¬ 
yards. It was thought at first that it was only 
necessary to build these fires just before the 
sun came up. Now they are kept burning all 
night.. — *. 
It appears to be pretty generally decided 
that the most economical use for liquid man¬ 
ure is to mix it with.the solids and apply the 
two together. It will hardly [jay to collect 
and cart out the liquids by themselves and 
for most plants they are too strong. They 
can be best conducted into a pit where the 
solids are thrown, or poured over the piles... 
Speaking of Hercfords, a writer in the 
London Live Stock Journal says that the 
disproportion in size between oxen and the 
dams they come from is one of the curiosities 
of breeding.. 
Dr. Ogle thinks that a white nose in cattle 
or horses indicates imperfect smelling power. 
He would suppose that white-nosed animals 
would be most likely to eat noxious or poison¬ 
ous plants. Who have noticed that this is 
tine?. 
The Mark Lane Express states that arsenic¬ 
al sheep dips have been in extended use in 
England, but complaint is made that the rains 
wash the arsenic out of the wool to drip into 
the feed, frequently poisoning the sheep. A 
dip prepared from carbolic acid is well spoken 
of. 
Our young associate of other days, C. S. 
Plumb, writing to our esteemed contenqx)rary, 
the Drawing-room Companion, says that at 
Geneva (N. Y.), Lucerne or Alfalfa produces 
an abundance of foliage, It is hardy and a 
lover of dry, warm soil. He finds, however, 
that it makes an abundant and vigorous 
growth where the soil is cold and the thei" 
mometor drops to 15° below zero. His plots 
begin a vigorous growth as early as April 20th, 
and on July 2d the first cutting is made. One 
plot yielded at the rate of 10 tons per acre of 
green fodder; another over seven. On July 
17th the plots were again cut and yielded at 
the rate of over six tons per acre. On Sept. 3d 
a third crop of over three tons was cut . ... 
These plots of Alfalfa have made a good 
growth for three successive years. The foli¬ 
age is clover-like, and all animals relish it. 
The average bight of the plants just before 
making the first cutting was two feet four 
inches. The plots were not manured. The 
roots descended quite vertically into the soil, 
and sometimes measured, a foot below the sur¬ 
face, three-eighths of an inch in diameter, and 
at two feet nearly ono-fourth of an inch. 
Fibrous roots, though not abundant, pene- 
trated to a depth of four feet below the crown. 
One large tap-root was traced three feet 10 
inches below the surface. In sandy soil they 
have been traced to a depth of 13 feet. No 
wofider it thrives in dry soils. 
The plants, as we know from a trial of 
Alfalfa at t he Rural Farm, do not grow to a 
cutting size the first year. The land must be 
prepared as for clover, and 20 pounds of seed 
sown to the acre.. ... . 
Cvfn)wl)crf. 
TRANSCONTINENTAL LETTERS.—LIII. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
Sights at a fair; ‘'second" fruit crops; nuts; 
jellies; apples; potatoes; onions; cabbages: 
grasses; wheat; origin of Golden Grain; 
form wages; patronizing home industries. 
The Mechanics’ Fair was in progress while 
we were in Portland, ami we visited it on three 
different occasions as we found leisure so to 
do. The pavilion in which this fair is annu¬ 
ally held is a permanent structure, aud when 
decorated, as upon this occasion, presents a 
brilliant interior. Outside of the agricultur¬ 
al department I found little of interest to one 
like myself, who is tolerably familiar with 
the “stock iu trade” of most fairs. There 
were more “crazy” quilts than I had ever be¬ 
fore seen together, and considerable decora¬ 
tive work, of which the prettiest was a screen 
of satin or plush, on which was painted a 
part of a datura plant in bloom, the flower 
being very fine in effect. A young man who, 
with his brother, had invented a pillow sham 
holder —a metal fixture to lie fastened to the 
head-board of a bedstead for holding up shams 
and lifting them out of harm’s way at night— 
seemed to be having quite a patronage among 
women I asked him how it happened that he 
had busied himself to invent such an article so 
distinctively belonging to the house, and he 
said he wanted to make some money. I thought 
if he had been a chamber-maid aud had seen 
the shams tumble down after he had arranged 
them scores of times, he might have had 
reason to bunt for 6oine mechanical remedy. 
Is it not a little curious that women so rarely 
invent practical labor-saving machines that 
apply directly to their own work? In the 
dairy department l noticed a “separator” for 
milk, that was labeled “sold.” 
In the agricultural department I found 
many novelties in the way of fruits aud grains, 
aud a good degree of taste manifested in the 
arrangement, of grains on the stalk—a lesson 
learned, probably, at the Kansas Exhibit at 
the Centennial. There was quite a display of 
“second crops”—Wilson’s Albany Strawber¬ 
ries, the second crop [licked Oct. 12: the first, 
April 25. This second crop of strawberries is 
not phenomenal in Oregon or Washington 
Territory, and this exhibitor, I was told, had 
brought iu 40 boxes, which he sold for 40 cents 
the box. His ranch was near Mt.. Tabor. 
There was a second crop of “June” apples, 
and a similar exhibit of silver prunes. Of a 
second crop of Bartlett Pears, I measured one 
which was 11 inches in circumference the 
long way and nine inches around—a goodly 
crop indeed. There were a number of straw¬ 
berry plants iu bloom aud bearing green and 
ripe fruit—a sight to be seen in many a garden 
until Christmas. A laudable attempt bad 
been made to show a second crop of cherries, 
but as the exhibit was limited to one cherry, 
it could hardly be called a crop! There were 
grapes from Walla Walla that had been raised 
without, irrigation, and some very large, com¬ 
pact, buuches that came from Jacksonville. 
Of grapes grown in the open air near Port¬ 
land, I noticed Black Hamburg, White Tokay, 
Muscat Hamburg, Black Spanish, Iona, Royal 
Muscatine, Chasselas, Rose and Eumelan. Of 
nuts, there were black ami English walnuts, 
chestnuts, hickory-nuts and filberts. But the 
display was meager—a few nuts in glasses— 
and from what I could learn, I am not in¬ 
clined to correct the statement I have hitherto 
made concerning nut-growing on this north¬ 
west coast. The nuts, even when they can 
be produced, do not mature well. 
A lady exhibited what she called Mesple 
—a German fruit, which was unfit for use un¬ 
til it decayed! Then, she averred, it made a 
fine jelly. Some of the jellies exhibited were 
fanciful in appearance— a section of orange 
jelly surmounted with currant, or a sandwich 
of the cont rasting color, through the middle. 
There was a magnificent display of apples, 
one man exhibiting 98 varieties. 1 think the 
finest collection was made by the Porter fam¬ 
ily—superb apples without flaw. Early Rose 
potatoes, a foot long, were common; and I no¬ 
ticed one potato labeled as weighing 
pounds. There were some very line-looking 
sweet potatoes from Eastern Oregon, and if 
they cau be well produced there, they would 
form a profitable product, as the price is in¬ 
variably high. The onions were exceedingly 
fine. I measured one of average size,15 inches 
in circumference, and they produce from 1,(MK) 
to 1,200 bushels to the acre. There was an ex¬ 
hibit of onions grown on sage brush land in 
Idaho. The weight of one of these onions 
was two pounds ten ounces. A Peruvian 
pumpkin weighed 1 '2$}4 pounds. Chinese 
squashes were brilliant in color. The cauli¬ 
flowers were extraordinary — compact and 
firm—the circumference of one head was five 
feet aud nine inches. Cabbages from 13 to 20 
inches in diameter; but a Pacific Coast cab¬ 
bage head would at any time be respected in 
the East for its size aud quality. There were 
fine apples and squashes of a new shape, and 
a curious-looking fruit that was evidently un¬ 
decided whether to be a pear or an apple, but 
which was called the former. 
I saw stalks of oats eight feet high, and the 
stalk three-fourths of au inch around; Tim¬ 
othy eight feet aud three inches tall; clover 
from the Waldo Hills, east of Salem, seven 
feet two inches. The Timothy man harvested 
12 tons off four acres. One Timothy head was 
18 inches long. There was a fine exhibit of 
wheat,both as to quality and variety,ami it was 
well endowed with fanciful name—“English 
Purple Velvet,” of which our farmer in Linn 
County harvester! 9(5 bushels from t hree acres. 
“Palestine Mammoth Wheat”—largest wheat 
known. The exhibitor told me that he had 
sent 30 bushels of it to a Philadelphia firm, 
which changed the name to “Golden Grain.” 
Its yield was 30 bushels to the acre. Black 
African Wheat, with beards like porcupine 
quills, was black of head aud yellow of stalk 
—a novelty. Russian rye, with grain three- 
fourths of an inch long, yielded 35 bushels to 
the aero. A fine specimen of Japanese bam¬ 
boo, grown in Portland, promised a probable 
future for that plant on this coast. White 
Australian Spring Wheat and the Winter 
Velvet were mentioned as good varieties for 
Oregon, and yielding from 20 to 00 bushels to 
the acre, according to condition. There was 
a general complaint of lack of markets for 
products, which was urged us partial cxplan 
atiou of wasteful, shiftless farming so pre¬ 
valent, in Oregon ; but every one seemed 
agreed that a better class of farmers were 
coming in from “the States”—as old Oregon¬ 
ians still speak of the the rest of the country. 
I asked the wages paid to farm laborers—an 
average wage, with board the year around, 
$15 per mouth; for the Summer, $11.50 per 
day. A stock show—the first held iu Oregon— 
was also in progress, but I quite forgot about 
it until it was too late. Its great attraction 
was the “largest steer iu the United States,” 
owned by Mr. Johnson, of Portland. It 
weighed 700 pounds more than the prize steer 
at the last Chicago stock show, and bore the 
pretty Indian name of Multnomah. On every 
side we heard much talk of protecting home 
industries by patronizing them, and it would 
seem to be the only successful way to do, for 
with Eastern manufacturers flooding this 
coast with their wares, there is small chance 
for local industries. There is iron enough 
here for all purpo-ies, but nine-tenths of all 
stoves come from the East. It is the old 
story—tribute to the East. Oregon has some 
good woolet manufactures, aud some of the 
cloths made are fine enough in appearance 
for ally gentleman’s wear; but the men, as a 
rule, buy English cloths, sending their money 
to Great Britain, aud then growl about the 
Chinese sending their money to China! Quite 
an amusing incident occurred at the fair, pro¬ 
duced by a lady asking if certain stoves were 
made in Portland, and upon being (old that 
they came from Chicago, she remarked with a 
patriotic toss of her head, (hat she lielieved in 
patronizing home industries. The man who 
had answered her question replied with 
spirit: “So do I, madam, and I wish 
every lady in Oregon wore linsev made 
on that loom there!” The lady wore a 
gown of silk that was made in France, a shawl 
that was woven in India, the feathers on her 
bonnet came from South Africa, her shoes 
from the East and her gloves probably from 
Paris. But she had a sense of “justice,’’ 
nevertheless, much as wcyil 1 have, aud exem¬ 
plified it. in about the same fashion—on<> Kind 
of preach aud another kind of practice. 
♦ ♦ ♦ 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
llllllUlM. 
Kirkland, Do Kalb Co.—Small grains look 
well here. H- m. 
Indiana. 
Pendleton, Madison Co., June 6.—Wheat 
still gives promise of an average crop. Com 
planting is about over. Corn planting and 
wheat harvest never lie fore came so close to¬ 
gether. Some wheat fields have a tiuge of 
gold, as if they would In- ready for the sickle 
in 10 days. Drought, is prevailing to such an 
extent that fields as well as roads are dusty. 
Gardens, late planted corn and berries are suf¬ 
fering for rain. s. w. H. 
Mnrylnnd. 
Westovkr, Somerset Co., June 7.—Though 
we had an unusual amount of rainfall the 
jiast Spring, the season is the earliest we have 
had since 1880, Tbe pea and strawberry crops 
are all marketed, .and although there have 
been no fancy prices, fair prices have ruled 
the season through. The crops have been 
abundant, and most growers have realized a 
handsome profit. The hay crop will be the 
best iu several years. Wheat aud oats are 
looking well, oats heading out, and wheat will 
soon be ready for the reaper and binder. Com 
is making a slow growth on account of the very 
cool nights, and much re-planting has to be 
done because the birds have pulled it up— 
principally black-birds. All kinds of stock 
are in a thriving coudition. Musk melons in 
bloom. Tomatoes ns hu ge as a hulled walnut. 
I [allied to-day from the “Alaska” Pea 10 pods 
weighing two ounces. s. c. s. 
Missouri. 
Eldon, Miller Co., June 1.—Farmers cer¬ 
tainly cannot complain of the prospects for 
crops this year, for taking tilings all around, it 
w ould be difficult to have them average better. 
Wheat, oats and grass will all make full aver¬ 
age crops. This is well-nigh assured. Fast- 
arcs are in first-class condition. Fruits in 
full supply, except poaches. Corn all up aud 
growing finely. Ground clean and weather 
favorable. n. j. s. 
Montana. 
Fridley, Gallatin Co.— I have a farm here 
of 700 acres, Yellowstone Valley land, and a 
great portion of it is nice enough and good 
enough for garden, and from a three years’ ex¬ 
perience, I am satisfied almost any kind of 
fruit, or vegetable grown in N. Y. State can be 
grown here. Last year and the year before 
last, no frost from May 1 till September 10. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name 
and address of the writer to Insure attention. Before 
asking a question, please see If It Is not answered in 
our advertising columns. Ask only a few questions at 
one time. Cut questions on a se|iarate piece of paper. J 
THE STRAWBERRY LEAK-ROLLER. 
A //. /,., Sheboygan, IF is .—For two years 
an insect somewhat like the cut-worm, but 
only half its size, and of not so bright a green, 
has infested my strawberry In ids. It appears 
about the time the fruit begins to ripen, and 
in a short time nothing is left, but ribs of tho 
leaves aud the stems. Wliut is the name of 
the [test, and a remedy for it? 
answered by prof. a. j. cook. 
It is tho worst, enemy of the st rawberry, and 
has done serious damage in Michigan as well 
as in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, etc. 
It is the Strawberry Leaf-roller— Phoxopteris 
fragariau (W. & R.) The moth is quite small, 
ex[iftitding not more than 9 Hi of an melt. The 
front wings are brown strqied and ^pecked 
with black aud white. The body ami hind 
