shaped into marvelous and superb architec¬ 
tural forms by the aetiou of the water, and 
then slowly lifted by the hand that made the 
world to their present bight, the greater they 
became, until the scene was overwhelmingly 
appalling. 
From Prospect Point we could see these en¬ 
ormous rock structures—as wo could in paid 
from Diamond Creek Canon—from base to 
to summit. They were all very near to us, 
apparently within a few rods. We eould note 
their foundations of granite or trap rock, 
count the horizontal strata, then the tains, 
theu the strata, the corners of each great piece 
sculptured into bastions with wonderful ex¬ 
actitude, the facade diminishing toward the 
top where the structure ended may be in a 
perfectly shaped pyramidal peak iu the center. 
Some of the facades wore curiously sculptured. 
On one were the colossal figures of au elephant 
and owls, standing out in bold bas-relief The 
principal architectural forms have from time 
to time been named, and for the most part 
fitly. One goes by the name of Solomon’s 
Temple, Its actual higlit is (5,250 feet above 
the level of the river (the river is 1,180 feet 
above the sea), aud the estimated width of its 
facade is from two to four miles. Try to 
imagine a stone structure of perfect propor¬ 
tions aud of beautiful workmanship, over a 
mile high aud correspondingly wide! The 
peaked cupola on the top—we could see from 
this point, as we could not below—was the 
face of a ridge or wall running back, Farlee 
said, for 15 miles. Auothcr piece called the 
Pyramid, because of its shape, rose to a bight 
of 4,2fllJ foot, Babel’s Tower, u structure with 
beautifully sculptured buttresses, wus majestic 
in its bight of 5,000 feet. 
“Sunset Peak’’ has not been accurately 
measured, but its hight is reasonably esti¬ 
mated at 6,000 feet. After the sun has set and 
not a ray of sunlight can elsewhere be de¬ 
tected, this peak reflects a golden glow; a 
point of glory away up against the clear, blue 
sky. One group is called the “Castle on the 
Rhine” and is 5,• M>0 feet in hight, aud other 
equally notable portions are yet unnamed. 
On none of these great ruins, cut aud shaped 
into distinct aud separate structures, was 
there auy vegetation—may lie an occasional 
spear of grass—but on the cliffs running 
landward from the river trees grow abun¬ 
dantly. From where we sat, the river below 
looked but a slender stream that we could 
leap across, and iunoceiit, enough of over hav¬ 
ing had u part, in fashioning the tremendous 
scene we gazed upon. If the talus were re¬ 
moved from above each layer of rock strata 
each would present, to a very considera¬ 
ble degree, a succession of enormous steps 
from base to summit. Farlee related to us 
some of his experiences iu reaching the top of 
one or two of the highest structures—one 
hardly knows wlrnt term to apply to these 
abodes of the giants; in any ease an exceed¬ 
ingly daring and perilous undertaking. 
It was two in the afternoon when we 
reached the hotel—the descent being as fa¬ 
tiguing as the ascent—and Farlee said that we 
should be off for the station not later than 
four; but it was a half hour later when we 
started. I was too tired to move with my 
usual expedition, aud then 1 dreaded the hot 
sun in the long ride ahead of us, quite forget- 
tiug that we were to be in the shadow of a 
mighty wall, and things more wonderful than 
auy we had yet seen were to come into view 
in that outward drive. 
“It will be eleven o’olock when we reach 
the station,” said Farlee; “but wc must reach 
Westminster Abbey before dark.” 
Fortunately Pop and Rowdy were fresh for 
their long pull. Farlee, who had spared him¬ 
self in no way to serve us, was still in the best 
of humor. The sky was cloudless, but bats 
had begun to fly in the evening air. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Connecticut. 
Gai.es Ferry, New London, Oct. 27.—Hay 
here about an average crop. Corn fair. 
Potatoes owing to drought mostly a failure; 
Apples set well but uearlj r all fell off. Eggs 28 
cents a dozen aud scarce at that. w. m. w. 
Illinois. 
Elgin, Kano Co., Ill., November 1.—On 
the Call Board to-day butter^was slightly low¬ 
er, with heavy sales at 26 to 27 cents; over 
300,000 pounds sold; the lower price made a 
fairly active market; receipts continue large. 
Cheese quiet bat firm; full creams 10 to 11 
cents; half skims three to eight cents, with 
fair demand. u r. m, 
Indiana. 
Milford, Kosciusko Co., Oct. 26.— Our 
wheat crop was a failure on account of the fly. 
Corn a partial failure on account of drought ; 
what there is is badly blown down. Oats a 
good crop. Potatoes au average one. 
J. B. A. 
Michigan. 
Ovid, Clinton Co., Oct —OJd Michigan is 
doing her best to equal her Southern sisters | 
by way of second crops of grain, fruit aud 
flowers. This season we have a second crop 
of oats two feet iu hight all headed and well 
filled; hills of strawberries with six to eight 
large ripe berries, and apple trees with ripe 
fruit and blossoms on the same limbs. Wheat 
is making a splendid growth. I have five 
acres of the Surprise and D-M Wheat sown 
this Fall, that is uow as thick as a mat and 
five inches high. The Shumaker sent out in 
the Rural Free Seed Distribution a few years 
ago, does very well here, growing a long 
straw; but it falls down badly. A. f. b. 
Rew York. 
Utica, Oneida Co., Nov. 1.—The first of 
the Winter months finds uo falling off iu 
cheese as was expected, but total sales of 
11,1564 boxes rulmg at 11cents, or 2,820 
boxes more than last week, ruling % cent 
higher. The market was active aud fairly a 
surprise, being firm at the opening aud vigor¬ 
ous at the close. This was owing to the 
buyers having largely disposed of their sur¬ 
plus in shipments, aud the auxiety of the 
sellers to get their October cheese, which is of 
fine quality, on the market. Little Falls sold 
7,662 boxes, ruling at 11% cents. It was a 
strong market and a slight gain iu sales. The 
butter receipts were about 150 packages, the 
general market being a little weaker but 
prices about the same for best makes. The 
quality last week has been improved. The 
best will probably be brought out for the 
holiday trade. Little Falls to-day sold 100 
packages dairy at 20 to 28 cants, and 25 pack¬ 
ages creamery at 24 b) 25 cents. Prices here 
about the same. Hops—All is quiet and 
nothing reported save a few damaged ’60s at 
16 cents. R. L. 
Tennessee. 
YV artkauk, Bedford Co., Oct. 27.—We have 
been having a most, remarkable Fall. We had 
no rain iu 40 days, which has much retarded 
the 'coming up of wheat, aud caused a large 
per cent, to be parched by the hot sun we have 
been having throughout this month. Acreage 
about the same as last year, most of the land 
buviug been turned before dry weather set iu. 
We had frost on October 2 ; but none since, so 
that corn ripens very slowly. It is on average 
crop ; price 85 cents; wheat 70 cents; apples 
the least crop for years. Of peaches we had 
none, llogs are scarce a ml still dying with 
cholera in some sections ; price 68.50 per 100 
pounds; shoats $3,25 per 100 pounds. Cattle 
are only worth $2.50 for best butcher’s, while 
$2.00 is the average price. W. H. w. 
Virginia. 
Richmond, Henrico Co., Nov. 1. —At 
present it Is only safe to say of tobacco, that 
for tine wrappers, cutters and smokers the 
market is stronger. The prices paid for com¬ 
mon stock arc low at 1 to 2% cents in the in¬ 
terior markets aud 8% to 8! 2 cents here, but 
standard, fine and desirable bright new to 
baecos are selling high wherever offered in 
this State and North Carolina, white wrap¬ 
pers reaching as high as $1 per pound, and 
fancy at 87 cents aud over. Holders of good 
old bright leaf believe iu much better prices 
still, but a slow rally in prices is probable. 
Planters are advised not to send to market any 
new till there is a better chance to sell, and 
old stocks are reduced. Suu-eurod leaf is 
more active aud higher, A fair business has 
again been done in Western hurleys for home 
manufacturing at 4 to 8 % cents. The 
exports of manufactured tobacco from this 
district have been large, and were over 
400,006 pounds, from Petersburg, Vu M for 
the month of October. W. E. D. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
| Kvi-ry query must he 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 advertI sIiik columns. Ask only a few questions at 
one time. Put questions on n sepuratepioeoof paper. 
JAPAN PLOVER; TREATMENT OF MUCK, ETC. 
G. G ,, No. Whit* Sulphur Springs, Pit.— 
1, How much Japan clover seed should be 
sown to mi acre? 2. At what season should it 
bo put In ? 8. Will it, yield anything of tt crop 
of hay ? If sown jn woodland shaded much 
by trees will it flourish f 4. Where cun seed 
be got and at what price ? 5, How can a 
quantity of tenacious black muck from a 
swamp, apparently with a lot of vegetable de¬ 
composed matter in it, be best utilized as a 
top-dressing for meadows ? I have been ad¬ 
vised to mix lime or kainit with it; would that 
be advisable ? 6, What kind of a mower is 
the Eureka ? 
Ans. —1. We do not know, but should sow 
about the same quantity ns of clover seed. 2. 
November for your section. 8. Our friend is 
referred to page 656 of the R N.-Y, of Oct. 2. 
On rich, damp soil, it will grow a foot or is 
inches high. But the leaves are small and the 
stems are too woody for hay. On sandy soil 
it is low-growing and procumbent in habit. 
This plant is spoken well of by certai n farmers 
iu Louisiana. “ It will grow and form a sod 
on the thinnest land,” they say, “ and even in 
the roads aud naked places where nothing else 
will grow.” Still, we should advise caution in 
sowing it except as an experiment. The 
writer of this has seen it iu North and South 
Carolina on thin, hillside land, and its growth 
was by no means luxuriant. We are not 
aware that it would thrive in woodlands. I. 
A. P. Rowe. Fredericksburg, Ya., will inform 
you where the seed eau be purchased. It was 
sold last year at eight dollars per bushel. 5. 
Yes, mixing it with lime would bo as good 
a way as any to break it up—a few bushels 
of refuse lime to a cord of the muck; mix both 
together and keep in good condition to shed 
rain;or mix at least a bushel of fresh lime wit.Ua 
ton of muck. The lime hastens decomposition, 
and until the muck is decomposed, it is of little 
or no use. It would be well to mixkaiuit with 
it if potash is desired. The salt, and potash 
would also act as a solvent and hasten the 
period •when the muck could be best utilized 
for the purpose required. 6. The Eureka is a 
first-rate machine. We decidedly prefer it to 
the side-cutting mowers. The cutter-bar is 
directly’belli ud the horses aud iu front of the 
driver. We are not a ware that it runs more 
heavily than the side-cutter. At all events a 
pair of ordinary farm horses have served us 
well enough for the past five years. 
TESTING COWS FOR CREAM AND BUTTER. 
W. C. H., Shrewsbury , Mass .—What is the 
best way to test cows for cream aud butter, 
and what should be the grain feed during the 
test? 
ANSWERED BY H. STEWART. 
Testing cows Ls a particular business, and to 
be of auy use the tost should be made system¬ 
atically and with precision. The cow is fed 
iu the ordinary manner, and the food is 
weighed aud measured as well as the product, 
twice a day for a week, as a beginning. It 
should bo done accurately, and the feeding 
and watering should bo done at regular hours. 
Theu the food is increased by regular steps 
one week at a time. The hay or coarse fod¬ 
der is kept constant, but the various grain 
foods, as bran, corn meal, cotton-seed meal, 
pea meal, or other substances which may be 
given, are increased week by week. In my 
own tests, I have made five pounds of cut hay 
per meal, three times a day, the standard of 
this fodder, and the standard grain food has 
been made up of 200 pounds of corn, 1(H) 
pounds of oats aud 100 pounds of fine bran 
—wheat or rye—all ground, together; of this 
eight pounds per day have been the regular 
food, three pounds being given with the cut 
and moistened hay night and morning, and 
two pounds of dry with live pounds of dry hay 
at noon. To this standard ration various ad¬ 
ditions may be made, but I have hud the most 
and best butter from the addition of four 
pounds of fine ground corn meal and two 
pounds of cotton-seed meal per day, given in 
two meals—morning aud night—hall at each 
meal, iu addition to the regular ration. For 
a working dairy this is as highly as a cow can 
be fed with profit as a sternly thing, and theu 
watchfulness must be exercised lest, any un¬ 
toward accident, may bring on an attack of 
garget. The only use for testing, is to find 
how much food can be given to a cow with 
profit—not how much can be given without, 
killing her. And this business way of testing 
cows should be a part of the regular manage¬ 
ment of u dairy until the capacity of each cow 
is found, and theu that should never be ex¬ 
ceeded. 
COTTON-SEED HULLS AS A FERTILIZER. 
G. B. K ., Mobile, Ala .—Would cotton-seed 
hulls among which there are some seed graius 
be a good fertilizer for Irish potatoes or other 
vegetables? Would it be a good way to make 
a compost of them with au equal amount of 
fresh horse manure in alternate layers, put¬ 
ting a cord of compost on eight drills 200 yards 
long, and then using as a top-dressing 200 
pounds of cotton-seed meal and 200 pounds of 
cotton-seed hull ashes? 
Ans, —A fertilizer for potatoes needs to cou- 
taiu lime and phosphoric acid chiefly, with 
some potash. Cotton-seed hulls are rich iu 
potash, phosphoric acid, and lime, their ash 
containing 28% per cent, of potash, nearly 8 
per cent, of phosphoric acid, and 80 per cent, 
of lime. It would bo a good plan t<> compost 
the hulls with horse mutiure, but the addition 
of some leaf mold or black soil from the 
woods or a swamp would be beneficial, as the 
dryness of the manure and the hulls would 
cause the compost to heat .vigorously, unless 
it was watered occasionally. No doubt* the 
manuring described would be advantageous 
to the potato crop. The drills 200 yards long 
would cover about one-third of an acre, hence 
the cord of compost would make a very fair 
manuring with the cotton-seed meal and the 
ashes. These should be sown evenly on the 
harrowed ground before planting; the plant¬ 
ing will mix them with the soil. 
FATTENING HOUS ON TURNIPS, ETC. 
B. It., Jr., Abilene, Texas.—I am in the 
droughty district and all crops were a failure. 
I have 25 bogs which I want to fatten in the 
cheapest way possible. 1 have a large crop of 
turnips. Would it pay to boil them aud mix 
with them some cotton-seed meal (worth $1 
per 100 pounds) and wheat bran (worth $1 per 
100 pounds) ? What proportion would be best ? 
2. Would cotton-seed meal and bran be a good 
fertilizer for vegetables? 
Ans.—1. The mixture proposed would bo 
excellent for the hogs; but there is no neces¬ 
sity to boil the turnips. These may be chopped 
up; a spade with the edge ground sharp cuts 
very fast in a shallow box about sLx by eight 
feet. For 25 head of hogs six bushels of tur¬ 
nips may be chopped for (ftnotil. This can be 
done iu about three minutes iu the manner 
mentioned, then two pounds per head of bran 
and half a pound of cotton-seed meal may be 
sprinkled over the cut turnips. Two meals a 
day of this kind would fatten hogs very soon. 
The quantity of cotton-seed meal mentioned 
should not be exceeded, as this meal is exceed¬ 
ingly rich food. 2. Yes. 
GRAPES FOR THE SOUTH. 
\V. T. T„ Salisbury, N. C.—l. What is a 
good, hardy, prolific grape that will ripen 10 
days or two weeks later than the Concord? 
2. Will Brighton and Moore’s Early bear 
transportation to Northern markets? 8. What, 
is the best time to apply ground bone and ashes 
to bearing grapes, aud how much per acre? 
Boil, sandy loam with clay subsoil. 
ANSWERED BY T. V. MUNSON, OF TEXAS. 
I. The Triumph has proven the best late 
variety tried here. It is a fine, largo table 
grape. 2. Moore's Early and Brighton earry 
quite well to market, but the latter rots 
severely. 3. Apply ground bone and ashes 
early in Spring when cultivation begins, and 
cultivate in after having been sown broad 
cast at tho rate of 500 pounds of bone dust 
aud one ton of fresh wood ashos to the acre. 
A few hundred pounds of lime would be ex¬ 
cellent on sandy soil, in addition to the 
ground bone and ashes. Compost manure 
and leaves would also be excelleut for such 
soil. 
DANGER FROM COPPER EVAPORATORS FOR 
CIDER. 
II. S. K., Cavendish, Vt— 1. What is the 
best way to cleau a copper evaporator used in 
making cider jelly? 2. Is there auy danger 
of poison as long as the cider keeps the pan 
bright? 
Ans. 1 tV asli the copper bottom with eider 
vinegar and then thoroughly with hot water 
and rub dry with a clean cloth. The cider 
may then be boiled without danger if it. is 
sweet, but not otherwise, as the acid would 
produce acetate of copper or verdigris, which 
is very poisonous. 2. Yes, tho brighter the 
cider keeps the copper, the more danger there 
is, as the bright surface indicates that the 
copper is being dissolved, and the cider is 
acquiring a decidedly poisonous character. 
TOBACCO STEMS AS MANURE. 
C. C., Wairenton. N. C— What, fertilizing 
■elements do tobacco stems contain? IIow 
should they be prepared for manure? 
Ans.— Tobacco stems contain a largo quan¬ 
tity of fertilizing matter. When dried they 
have nearly 2(1 j>er cent, of ash, or 200 pounds 
in 1,000 pounds, and these 206 pounds of miner¬ 
al matter consist of 54 pounds of potash: 7% 
pounds of soda: 20% pounds of magnesia: 73 
pounds of lime: 7 pounds of phosphoric add; 
7» j pounds of sulphuric acid and 8% pounds of 
chlorine, aud 6 pounds of silica. They are 
therefore an exceedingly valuable fert ilizer on 
t his account, without considering a large but 
undetermined amount of nitrogen which they 
contain. They are best composted with cow 
manure, or some other moist matter whit h 
will help to decompose them. A largo quan¬ 
tity might, be spread on tho land and bo 
plowed in. 
SELLING I’LANTS NOT TRUE TO NAME. 
“A.” Barabro, HTs.— Three years ago I 
ordered from B. 72 Worden grape-vines. 
When they began to bear fruit they nil 
proved to be Janesville. Wordens sell hero 
at from 6 cents to 12 cents per pound; the 
others are worthless. I shall, therefore, have 
to take out these vines aud plant others. 
Should not tho nurseryman pay not only the 
original price of tho vines, but also damages 
for three years’ loss of time iu selling the 
crop? 
