623 
tied down by sickness or deformity he can’t 
be blamed for failing; but if he has his health 
and a fair amount of brains, he has no busi¬ 
ness to complain of failures. c. b. c. 
IrnaCo., Mich. 
Shakespeare said: 
“It is not In our stars, but in ourselves 
That we are underling*." 
It is well for farmers to think this over. 
There are more farmers in this country than 
can be found in any other class of workers. Iu 
some of the Western States the right to vote 
and to be taxed are almost all that is conceded 
to farmers. The right of railroads, warehouse¬ 
men and others to fleece them is guaranteed. 
Why do our lawyers and saloon-keepers have 
ten-fold more influence than farmers? Because 
they exert it that they may promote then 1 
individual or united interests and aims. 
English farmers are filling many important 
Government positions. In America the far¬ 
mers are expected to occupy the humble but 
important position of mud-sills, by their own 
consent. Niue out of ten of our counties aud 
legislation districts are represented by 
lawyers. They huve had so much method in 
making our laws that an estate cannot be 
settled, or a note of hand collected, unless au 
attorney gets 10 per cent or more. However 
.intelligent a farmer, merchant or mechanic 
ma 3 r be, he cannot appear as a party in court, 
except through a lawyer. We have employed 
lawyers to do our business, until they have 
bound us “baud and foot. ’’ Some forty years 
ago a law was made in this Stab;*,permitting any 
man to appear in Court, aud attend to his own 
case. Lawyers immediately nullifled the law, 
by a decision that no one can appear in court 
to attend to business without a license to 
practice law. Had the law been permitted to 
stand it would have proved a grand educator 
of the people, and saved to their pockets 
many thousands of dol lars. Farmers will never 
b8 emancipated until they act independently 
of political parties. Success to the ‘Wheel’ 
that is rolling in Arkansas aud to the alliances 
throughout the northwest. They are omens 
of good. s . w . h. 
Madisou Co.. Ind. 
FAILURE—WHERE LIES THE BLAME? 
E. DAVENPORT. 
loo much whimpering’ laying the results of 
one's own faults at fortune's door; “About 
Face!"; subscribe for the Rural/; be hon¬ 
est with yourself—and with others; lots of 
f rozen sense. 
Too much is written and said about the dark 
side of farming, condoling with the poor 
wretch who is doomed to toil from sunrise till 
dark for the bare necessaries of life; with no 
advantages, social or otherwise, and no money 
to spend for pleasure or improvement. In a 
recent article I find such a one described as 
obliges! to endure his hard fate as there is no 
escape. The author advised him to bear up 
under the great load for the sake of Ins dear 
family dependent upon him for support. 
I say to expressions of such sentiments 
“Bosh 1” The chances are that, the wife or the 
neighborhood supports such families. If it be 
true that hard labor does not firing a measure 
of success, there is a great leak somewhere* 
either in expenditures or in energy misdirected 
But the probability is that the man iu question 
is a chronic grumbler, loitering perhaps while 
others are at work. He trades upon credit, 
aud shelters his machinery under the broad, 
blue canopy, wherever night or the close of the 
season overtakes it. I will venture that he 
pastures his cows, his sheep and his hogs in the 
same Held with his horses and along with his 
geese if he owns any; that the nuts are loose 
on his mower, aud the sickle is dull, that his 
fanmng-mill is old and his wheat turns to 
chess; that his farm grows rougher, and that 
he is too shiftless to dig a ditch; that the wet 
spot in his field grows larger aud deeper till 
the willows spring up ami flourish “like the 
green bay tree." To sum up the whole mat¬ 
ter, I will venture the opinion that he has the 
blues, and is disgusted with his business; that 
he is working without plans and does not profit 
by his failures. 
Let me say to such a man “Halt! A.bout 
Face!” Take for your motto “This one thing l 
Do, ’ and think of it at every job you 
undertake. Do everything just as well 
as you know how, and it will tie done 
poorly enough. If yoa do not know how to 
do a thing as it should bo done, ask some one 
who does know. Be ou the lookout for the 
best way. Waste nothing. Subscribe for 
two or three agricultural papers, and road 
them. If your seed is not pure, get some that 
is, and keep it so. Get new screenes for your 
fanuiug-mill, and your wheat will not turn to 
chess. Before you take that mower into the 
held, see that it is in perfect repair. If auy 
part is defective, renew it at once. Keep 
everything tight. Repair, but never patch. 
Do not wait till noon to repair u break 1 do it 
on the spot, lest the weak place bring extra 
strain upon the strong. When you pot away 
that mower, make a note of all repairs it will 
need before another year; then provide them 
in season. Put it into a house the same hour 
you finish using it. If your reaper is too old 
to use and you must have one, buy a new one. 
Do not give your note for it but buy for cash. 
Pay money for every purchase, even if you 
have to hire it. You can buy cheaper, you 
will buy less, and will take better care of what 
you do buy. 
Do not do two days’ work in one, and go 
fishing the next. Set up your grain so it will 
endure bad weather. Hire only the best of 
help, and if you do get a poor man, settle with 
him on the spot. Never invest in schemes 
promising sudden riches. Do not speculate. 
It might be well to buy a dog and feed him ou 
traveling schemers. 
Be strictly honest. If you have a cow that 
is not just what a cow should be, say so when 
you sell her. Don’t let the best of the wheat 
get on top iu the bag. Find no fault with the 
weather—it is both wicked aud foolish. It is 
as good as if you had made it yourself. Don’t 
grumble about hard times, or get the blues. 
Other men have their difficulties—tie a man 
yourself. Other men succeed at fanning; you 
can. 
Study your business. Quit using tobacco. 
\ ou have no money to waste; liesides, you are 
going to be too much of a gentleman. Look 
on the bright side of things. May lie you have 
the dyspepsia. You eat too much or too fast. 
If things go wrong there is a cause. Find it.; 
fix it. Pay every debt the day it Is due. 
Excel in something. Be authority in some 
line. Do not embark in a new scheme with¬ 
out careful investigation. If you have made a 
mistake, retreat.; but iu good order. If you 
are engaged in a branch that does not pay or 
is not. pleasing, do not surrender without 
terms. Hold the fort for the honors of war. 
Cover your retreat, aud go out with coloi-s 
flying. In other words, do not quit a branch 
of funning in disgust and at a great sacrifice. 
W ait till the tide sets in a favorable direction 
for a change. 
If you have decided you cannot be a farmer, 
adopt the same principle. Do uot quit in the 
midst of failure, or the chances are you will 
fail in the next business yon undertake. Go 
at it with a will. Study it. IVring success 
out of it. Then chauge your business if you 
will. The renewed coulidence in yourself will 
bring success iu your new calling, and the 
chauces are it will awaken an interest in the 
old one. If a man fails utterly iu one business, 
he is all the more liable to fail in the next, for 
“from him that hath not shall be taken even 
that he hath.” 
If not successful look to yourself for the 
cause aud you will usually find it. Compare 
yourself with some one who does succeed. 
Don’t say “He had a better chance than I. ,! 
That is a coward's argument. A good chance 
must be improved to amount to anything. It 
takes the same ouergy and attention to save 
and use that it - docs to acquire. Some cau do 
more thau others; but every man can do well 
if he will. If you succeed you will beon haud 
to claim the credit, so if you fail be consistent 
and shoulder the hlame. There is more differ¬ 
ence iu men than in their occupations. All 
callings afford more or less opportunities for 
success aud the best of them chronicle tnanv a 
failure. Lookup. Thank God uud take courage, 
lake n lofty view of life even ou a farm, and 
you will respect yourself, be respected, and be 
happy. 
Barry Co., Mich. 
til'll) Ci*0|)5. 
THE WHITE RUSSIAN AND OTHER 
OATS. 
In the Rural of August 21st, I notice com¬ 
ments on C. S. Plumb’s experiments with oats. 
I notice also a paragraph m another article iu 
the same issue, which says “Our minds were 
given us to reason aud think; we must not 
settle that u thing is so just because some¬ 
body else says it is. Things that we prove for 
ourselves are worth twice as much as things 
somebody else proves for us.” 
I do not agree with Mr. Plumb’s conclusions 
respecting oats, aud do not know that the fact 
of his being connected with au experimental 
Station makes his experiments auy more val¬ 
uable than those of practical farmers made on 
a larger scale. 1 have read articles written 
by him before in the Country Gentleman, iu 
which lie praises horse-mane or side oats as 
better than all other kinds: but I consider his 
theories on the subject unsupported by facts. 
I have raised outs for 40 years or more, aud 
have tried a great variety of kinds on a large 
scale and iu different soils, and my conclu¬ 
sions with respect to side oats are the reverse 
of his, I consider the Russian the best of 
that kind so far as I have tried; but they are 
so late in ripening as to be generally discarded 
by farmers in this section. They usually ripen 
here about the middle or later part of August, 
and become more or less damaged by rains 
which are almost sure to come about that 
time: moreover, they ripen too late to sow 
w heat after them. They do not stand up any 
better than the panicle-growing oats, espe¬ 
cially the White Australian, which I consider 
superior in that respect and iu every other 
to any kind I have ever raised. They are the 
heaviest oats [ know of, and retain that qual¬ 
ity. I commenced raising them four years 
ago and now raise no other. They weighed 42 
pounds to the measured bushel at first, and 
this year’s crop averages 44 pounds. I never 
knew White Russian to weight over 36. The 
Australian ripen very early. I sowed this 
year the last of April and commenced cutting 
the 20th of July, and they were all in the 
barn the first week in August. I cannot sav 
that they yield better than the White Russian, 
but they yield equally well, the largest crop I 
have had of either beiug 70 bushels per acre 
by weight. I may change my opinion after 
further trial: for it req ures some time to de¬ 
termine what is the best kind of oats. This is 
a Crop that seems to be affected more than 
most other grains by soils, seasons, etc. 
For instance, the first year I raised the 
White Australian I had nine acres on a clay 
loam rather compact soil, and adjoining this 
piece, on the other side of a fence, four acres 
of the same kind of oats on a loose, rnucky, 
gravelly sod. The first named piece stood up 
well, and every rod was cut by the reaper 
clean, although some of it was over five feet 
high, and it would average at least four feet. 
The other piece, ou the loose soil, lay almost 
flat on the ground, and there was much waste 
in cutting. If I had sowed none but this last 
I should very likely have though# they were 
not good to stand. There are conditions in 
which no oats will stand np well. A loose soil 
or a heavy shower at the right time will pros¬ 
trate side and panicle oats alike. It may be 
well to try experiments on a small scale; but 
conditions will vary. The chemist iu his la¬ 
boratory may analyze the soil, but the farmer 
wdl never know what he can'raise on it until 
he tries The great superiority of the Aus¬ 
tralian oats is in its weight Asground feed for 
horses it is worth 25 per cent more than most 
other kinds, while in every other respect it is 
equal, if not superior, to them. 
ith respect to what Mr. Plumb says about 
“this oat being boomed extensively” and his 
remark that "all through Western New York, 
from Geneva to Niagara Falls, extensive fields 
of them may lie seen lyiugtiat on the ground,” 
I will say it is news to me, I have never 
known of the variety beiug "boomed” as much 
as I have known of his efforts to write it down, 
aud if he knows of “extensive fields lying flat” 
etc., I do uot, and should like more explicit 
information. 
[The White Australian oats were never 
“boomed" under that name, but as "Welcome” 
fii-st, and now under several different names 
as we have stated repeatedly. Our friend is 
referred to page 626. third column, under 
What Othere Sav.—E ds.] 
I do not raise Australian oats to sell for seed, 
and know of no one who does, nor of any 
“boom” attempted in their favor. I live in 
Western New York, between “Geneva and 
Niagara Falls.” This year some of my Aus¬ 
tralian Oats stood five feet eight inches high 
and none of them were “down.” The same is 
true of my neighbors’ who raise them aud 
praise them for precisely the quality which 
Air. Plumb says is lacking. They are consid¬ 
ered the best fo “stand” of all kinds about 
here, and so long as they continue to do well, 
we shall continue to raise them, opinions at 
the Experiment Station to the contrary not¬ 
withstanding. WILLARD HODGES. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. 
CEREAL NOTES. 
Are Martin’s Amber and Landreth Wheats 
the same ? As seen in the field, grown side by 
side, they certainly do appear identical. But 
in studying varieties I have found it uecessary 
to take into consideration the color of the 
grain as a diagnostic point. The graiu of 
Martin’s Amber is of a decidedly light amber 
color, while Landreth is usually a white or 
mottled amber and white. The origiual 
Landreth, I understand, had a white graiu. 
My seed came from the party originally sell¬ 
ing the seed to Landreth. 1 found that these 
two varieties were apparently identical in 
other respects, the spikelots averaging the 
same in number—18—the grams being about 
medium size, 1,000 of Landreth weighing 504 
grains, and 1,000 of Martin’s Amber 520 
grains. The panicles of both are smooth, 
slightly loose, flat tened and abruptly pointed. 
Considering that the two above are con¬ 
sidered distinct varieties, owing to difference 
in color of seed, the question comes to me— 
How fixed is the color of seed in a wheat 
variety ? In 1884 I had the seed of a certain 
wheat sent me from an experiment station. It 
was of a most pronounced white color. The 
progeny of the seed planted had just as white 
a grain as the parent. In describing|thissame 
variety, the experiment station that sent it to 
me classes it as red wheat. I have no reason 
for doubting the accuracy of the work of the 
other experimenter, yet this evidence seems 
only to confirm other marked evidence that 
some varieties of wheat are very subject to 
changes produced through being grown under 
very different conditions—extremes we mav 
say. 
[We have received several alleged Blount’s 
Cross-breeds from the Colorado College, the 
heads being larger and liner than any we had 
ever seen as raised in the East. These grains, 
sown at the Rural Farm, were easily recog¬ 
nized as old kinds ; Clawson was one.— Eds.] 
This variability in color or form may per¬ 
haps be illustrated in the case of Washington 
Glass or Surprise. That sent to me as Wash¬ 
ington Glass came from the Ohio Experiment 
Station, and was certainly larger, squarer, 
and more compact at the tip than at the base 
of the panicle, yet seed of this same variety 
from the Agricultural Department (Rural, 
V ol. XLV., p. 545,) produced heads of the 
form of Landreth. Now. did all this seed 
originally come from the same source, and by 
being grown under diverse conditions produce 
a variable progeny, or have we two varieties 
sold under the same name. 
[We have reason to think that two kinds 
were sent out as the Surprise in the Rural’s 
Seed Distribution.—E ds.] 
I agree that Diehl-Mediterranean is prefera¬ 
ble to Mediterranean Hybrid, it being the 
original name, and explanatory at that 
\ et I thus described it as having been sent me 
under that designation and as the popular 
name. If Armstrong is identical with 
Landreth. the former name should take 
precedence; likewise the name White 
Australian Oats should be used rather than 
Welcome 
[We object to Mediterranean Hybrid, for 
the reason that the wheat is merely a cross, 
not a hybrid. In fact, we doubt whether it is* 
even a cross.— Eds.] 
This matter of names is really one of great 
moment, for the more uam -s a variety has the 
more deception can b° practised by seed- 
dealers in selling it. Hence the necessity of 
accurately describing all varieties introduced, 
and making synonyms where there are no 
doubts. 
[That is very true. -Eds.] 
I have grown this year over a half dozen 
varieties of side-head oats. These are not all 
later thau oj>en-paniele varieties, though, as a 
rule, they are later. One, called Egyptian, 
was of medium earliness, the first side-head to 
ripen, and preceded quite a number of open 
panicles. I know nothing of this variety, a 
most excellent one. I found a spoonful of 
seed in an old envelop, marked “Egyptian 
Double-headed Oats,” evidently left here by 
some farmer. Grain white, of medium size, 
plump, short, abruptly pointed, quite different 
from White Russiau, whose seed is long and 
tapering, and not. strictly plump. 
During the past two months I have been 
making very critical examinations of many 
oat varieties, and taking thousands of meas¬ 
urements of the various parts of the plant. 
1 do not feel justified in saying that the pro¬ 
portion hetween chaff (ginmes) and grain is 
strikingly variable. Certain so-called rust¬ 
proof oats from the Sonch have large glumes, 
but so have they large, broad-backed grains! 
The clustered condition of side-head panicles 
gives the impression of chaff, that the same 
panicle would not give if opened. I do uot think 
side-heads are chattier than open panicles, 
neither do I believe that even the hulless oat 
has a greater percentage of chaff than the 
common oat, if we divest the latter of its 
flowering glume, or tegument. 
Is there a rust-proof oat ? I have not seen 
it yet, though 1 have grown oats under that 
name from several loealities iu the South. 
They all rusted with me. I should like to re¬ 
ceive some genuine rust-proof oat seed. 
Reports are coming to me that Maoshury 
Barley is becoming more in demand among 
malsters. if farmers cau command a good 
price for it, it will pay them to grow so produc¬ 
tive a variety. Clawson wheat, has had to fight 
the millers iu its day. The farmers liked it 
for its productiveness and stiffness of straw. 
The millers disliked it because it did not mill to 
suit them. The millers had to give way to 
the farmers, and to-day Clawson is the lead¬ 
ing wheat in New York State, as well as in 
other parts of the country. Perhaps the Man- 
shury can be made to command a price if 
pushed to the point by the farmers. 
C. S, PLUMB 
