than any other station in the country. This is 
chiefly because the reports are simple and 
timely and deal with matters Of practical in¬ 
terest. 
Egg Track and Industry in Russia — 
The egg trade and industries have attained 
large proportions in Russia. In 1*73 there 
were exported from Russia 30,000,000 eggs, 
valued at §157,000, or 50 cents per 100 eggs, 
and in 1884 298,000,000 eggs, at §1,5:15.000, or 
07 cents per 100. In 1**3 Russia exported 64,- 
000,000 eggs to Germany, 46,000,000 eggs to 
Austria, and 16,000,000 to England. The lat¬ 
ter country imports annually about 700,000,000 
eggs, paying from 0s, to 12s. per 10 dozen. For 
a long time the Tartars of Kazan have manu¬ 
factured egg soap from yelk of eggs. In 1850 
Mr. Balabiu began to manufacture albumen 
out of the white of eggs and egg oil from the 
yelk of eggs. Later he also made eggfioap and 
egg pomatum. Egg oil is used for oiling kid 
leather and wool in the wool milts. In 1879 in 
Russia there were produced 75,000 pounds of 
egg albumen, valued at §37.000. Now there 
are iu Russia five factories making egg albu¬ 
men ami as many more manufacturing blood 
albumen. Russian manufacturers export 
their egg albumen in dry condition (in bar¬ 
rels) to France and Germany, charging from 
§i0 to $23.50 ]>er pood (30 pounds). Blood al¬ 
bumen is selling at §7 per pood. Yelk is also 
preserved iu the form of a powder, which is 
much used in bakeries and confectories. It is 
selling in Moscow at from §4 to §8 per pood. 
Being dissolved iu glycerine and saUiilicand 
and some other acids, yelk Is preserved iu fluid 
shape, and is used iu tanneries. In Russia 
over 12.000,000 eggs are used annually for man¬ 
ufacturing purposes, valued at about $05,000. 
New Sugar-making Process. —Of late 
Louisiana papers have said that the sugar in¬ 
dustry there was declining owing to improved 
processes employed elsewhere, with which 
planters could uot compete. The new process 
of sugar-making briefly referred to in our 
‘'Agricultural News” hist week, as shown by 
experiments at Fort Scott, Kan., by Professor 
Wiley, of the Agricultural Bureau, points to 
the more profitable making of cane aud even 
sorghum. The extraction of the sweet from 
cane or sorghum or beets has been by squeez¬ 
ing under pressure. The new way is called 
the diffusion process, aud consists in soaking 
out the saccharine matter. The average yield 
of juice by the pressure process is from 56 to 
61 |hu* cent, of the whole. By the best appli¬ 
ances from 70 to 80 per cent, has been obtained. 
By the diffusion process it is claimed that 
from 90 to 95 per cent, of all the juice can be 
extracted, and that in a much better condi¬ 
tion. Mr. R. Sieg. ‘"a Louisiana expert in 
sugar manufacture,” reports that by the old 
practice sorghum yielded 47^ poundBof sugar 
per ton. By the new process 80 to 90 pounds 
are expected to be i >btained. 11 is reported that 
at the New Jersey factory the yield is even 
better than this But a less yield thau 80 
jKiuuds per ton will make sorghum a profitable 
crop commercially. A telegram sent by Pro¬ 
fessor Wiley to the Commissioner gave as the 
first results of the process a yield of more than 
120 pounds of sugar to the ton of cane, where¬ 
as by the crushing process iu use in Louisiana, 
the yield would have been but *0 ixiunds. A 
later dispatch reports a yield of 134 pounds 
per tou. 
Croc Mortgages. —The custom of mort¬ 
gaging ungrown crops is so common and pro¬ 
ductive of *o much evil in some portions of the 
South that, according to the St. Louis Repub¬ 
lican, there is “more or less clamor for legis¬ 
lation to regulate or prohibit the practice.” 
It is added that in Arkansas many members 
of the new legislature “were elected under 
pledges to work for a repeal of the law per¬ 
mitting such mortgages.” Farmers who have 
rented laud, or whose land is encumbered, 
give these crop-mortgages as security for sup¬ 
plies which they must have. It is h common 
thing for them to use this credit to the extreme 
limit that the storekeeper will allow. When 
the crop is harvested, its entire proceeds often 
fall a little short of paying the mortgage, aud 
the farmer is “not only again without money 
or credit, but Is actually iu debt and under 
obligations to the storekeeper who has accom¬ 
modated him,” Such a system, of course, 
means high interest and high prices for every¬ 
thing the farmer buys. It is very doubtful if 
a law prohibiting these mortgages would af¬ 
ford much relief. 
Purification ok Water — Professors Aus¬ 
ten aud Wilbur, of Rutgers College, have 
been conducting a series of experiments on 
THE BUBAL MEW-YOBKEH. 
DEIS 4 
the purification of water by means of alum. 
The method was simple enough. A small 
amount of alum—8*:, grains to the gallon of 
water—was added, the whole shaken and then 
allowed to stand fora short time. Polluted 
water was formed by adding sewage to per¬ 
fectly pure water, analysing, precipitating 
with alum and then analysing again. It was 
proved that many waters which are positively 
unfit to drink would be rendered fit to drink 
by treatment v ith alum. The action of the 
alum was immediate. This was proved by the 
fact that when it was added to water already 
purified by its use no precipitate would form. 
This use of alum is old. The muddy, impure 
waters of many of the western streams eau be 
rendered fairly palatable by its use. 
The Island of Barradoks with mo square 
miles supports a population of 175.000 or 1,054 
persons to the square mile. This was thought, 
to be the most; densely inhabited portion of 
the earth’s surface, but it is now found that 
the island of Malta, with 05 square miles of 
surface, contains 142.500 inhabitants, or 1,500 
to the square mile. With this ratio the New 
England States could hold a population of 
102,522,0U0.or the State of New York 70,500,000. 
BRIEFS. 
Prof. Shelton and Mr. Darwin are not 
exactly of the same mind as regards bumble¬ 
bees and clover. In Kansas, humble-bees are 
ul most unknown. it issafe tosay that, not one 
clover head in a dozen ever knows the embrace 
of the humble-bees, aud yet nowhere are such 
crops of clover seed grown as in that State. 
Every clover head which is allowed to come 
to maturity is every year filled with seed of 
best quality. Certainly the clover worries 
along very handsomely without bumble bees. 
Col. Weld says in the Guernsey Breeder 
that when cream is thoroughly ripened, free 
from lumps, perhaps al rained, and every way 
just right, the churning should lie started at a 
temperature of 62°—the point usually marked 
for churning on dairy thermometers. Then 
the butter eoiues quickly, aud it usually all 
comes. 
Dr. Hoskins thinks that it would be a good 
thing, sometimes, if the butter expert could be 
tested as well a- the butter. The result might 
possibly raise a laugh. In regard to the grain, 
every good dairyman knows that it can lie as 
thoroughly (though not so easily) preserved by 
the old method as by the new.. 
The Dr. says that there is really no true 
“grain" to butter, pure butter being homo¬ 
geneous iu its texture. What is called "the 
“grain” is a granular appearance resulting 
from a general and equal distribution of briny 
water, separating the little pellets of butter 
that firat appear in churning. “Only this aud 
nothing more.” aud our grandmothers (some 
of them) knew how to preserve that before 
either Professor Arnold or the “granular 
method” was thought, of. 
The American Dairy man su.ys that if we let 
a drop of fresh milk fall into a gloss of pure 
water, and the milk promptly disseminates it¬ 
self through the water, the eow that yielded 
that milk is uot with calf, but if it sinks to 
the bottom she is...... 
A whiter in the N. E. Homestead has in a 
umulier of cases tried feeding apples to milch 
cows with the invariable effect of lessening 
the flow of milk. 
Our English correspondent aud dairy 
authority says that all chums should be pro¬ 
vided with a small pane of glass, so tliat the 
churn «r may see without opening the churn 
when the butter begins to form.. 
The New England Farmer suggests that 
Winter is the time for harvesting ideas. 
It also suggests that we give our boys the 
money and let them subscribe and huve pa¬ 
lters sent iu their own names. They will read 
them with more interest while they do the 
parents just as much good... . 
The Husbandman was one of the farm jour¬ 
nals that rejected the advertisement “Emn- 
mous fortunes await mg claimants in England. 
France, Germany and other countries,” The 
editor remarks that the advertisement has ap¬ 
peared iu a large number of papers received io 
exchange, and it is reasonable to assume that 
in each instance the publisher knew that by 
its publication he aided a swindling scheme. 
The man who plans a swindling scheme is no 
worse than the man who aids him to put it 
into successful execution, yet that is the part 
accepted by publishers who take deceptive or 
dishonest advertising. . 
Mu. Dun, the noted New York Mercantile 
Agency proprietor, says that firm bus over 
one million of business men reported to it 
every year—that is one store to every 50 per 
sons. ()ur esteemed contemporary, the Rural 
World, commenting upon the above, advises 
those who would study their own interests to 
stick to the farm. 
Prof. Sanborn (Missouri) hopes to induce 
the different thoroughbred cattle associations 
to select 10 representative steers from each 
breed and place them iu his charge on the 
State college farm, where they are to be fed 
under the same conditions of course. In this 
way he aims to determine the merits of the dif¬ 
ferent breeds. It is a good way to fight out 
the “battle of the breeds”. 
Take two colts, says a writer iu the Rural 
World, as nearly alike as eau be found, and 
put them iu the same pasture: feed one oats 
aud the other corn aud you can see the differ¬ 
ence in a month. In a year you never would 
know they had looked alike. 
Mr. Crosby, in the Cultivator, says that he 
thinks Orchard Grass the most ov* r-praised of 
any gross grown iu file country, Even if cut 
aud well cured while in blossom, the hay, he 
says, is uot liked by either horses or cows. 
He ha-s uever seen it yield a good crop of hay 
in weight, although to look at a field of it 
about the time it Is ready to cut. one would 
suppose the yield would l»e heavy. It has 
been tbe Rural’s duty to chronicle the gist of 
what has been said of i Jrchard Grass—but we 
have been cnrefulto state our own experience, 
viz., that it is far less valued at the Rural 
Farm and by our neighbors than Timothy.... 
We have also stated that Orchard Grass, no 
matter how thickly the seeds were sown, 
would nevertheless grow in bunches or “tus¬ 
socks.. . ..... 
That well-known pmnologist and good 
man, J. J. Thomas, speaks of the Clairgeau 
Pear in a recent number of the Cultivator and 
Country Gentleman. When a tree of the 
Clairgeau Is loaded with large, ripening, 
crimson-cheeked pears, it excels any other sort 
for its showy appearance, aud the fruit iu 
market retains this superiority Its freedom 
from blight adds to the value of this variety. 
t.)u young trees, the qualit y is often quite poor, 
and w hen the pears rot before softening they 
are perfectly worthless. As the trees arc 
older the quality improves, and the larger 
specimens become melting and delicious. 
The Sheldon mid Clairgeau are variable 
kinds of pt-ars, but when in perfection they 
are hard to rival. 
No man, say Dr. Hoskins in Vick’s Maga¬ 
zine, cun graft a Rhode Island Greening on a 
sweet apple stock and another from the same 
on a sour stock, aud have the same fruit in 
appearance and taste as the original from 
each tree. At least he has never been able to 
do it. He has a number of them, but no two 
are alike... *. . 
y 
Waldo F. Brown says iu the Farmers 
Review that there are thousands of good cows 
owned by men who do not, know it. They 
never feed high uud have not tested the milk, 
and they do uot cure for a cow in a way to 
make her do her best. A neighbor of his sold 
for §35 a eow that iu the hands Of her new 
owner has since made 53 pounds of butter iu 
a mouth—an average of over 12 pounds a week. 
Public slaughtering at Fat Stock Shows is 
justly and forcibly condemned by tbe Farm¬ 
ers’ Review. Feeling people can not of choice 
witness the death agony of an animal at the 
hands of a butcher, nor do we admire those 
who have a morbid love for such spectacles. 
At the Kansas City Fat Stock Show the editor 
noticed with astonishment ladies looking on 
without apparent feeling while animals were 
being knocked down, bled and opened Worse 
thau that, they had their children, some of 
them little girls, with them, and were using 
every endeavor to give them a good show of 
the miserable scene. A poor start in life truly 
for the sympathetic feeling and tender emo¬ 
tions generally attributed to modest woman¬ 
hood...... 
Puck says the leaders of the Knights of 
Labor are driving their dupes into a series of 
strikes that will ultimately beggar the whole 
organization, Wheu all Labor is on a strike 
and earning nothing, how is Labor to be fed: 
And bow are Labor’s children and wives to be 
fed?. 
One of the many silly things advocated by 
verdant farm editors is the use of tiledraius for 
blanching celery. 
C. A. Green says iu the Tribune that there 
appeal's to be in every human breast a natural 
desire for rural life, the glare and glitter of 
the city soon liecoiuiug tiresome. 
Many of the young sows that carry off the 
first prizes at t he fairs never rear any progeny, 
says Our Country Home. They have been 
overfed. In some eases they stop growing 
entirely, so that, iu addition to being worth¬ 
less as breeders, they become comparatively 
valueless for meat .. 
Mr. E. H. Libby says that war for prin¬ 
ciple has been declared, and the farmers shall 
yet be represented in our government by farm¬ 
ers ... 
Mr. F. D. COBURN, in our Country Home, 
gives this experiment iu feeding pigs, which 
was made in Ohio Co., West Virginia: In the 
Winter of 1882-3 he fed 22 young hogs, and 
having little corn concluded to try bran, 
though assured by several tliat it would be a 
failure. He bought a ton of bran, paying 
§26, and began feeding it Dec. 23. He made it 
into a slop, a barrel at a time; had a large 
barrel sunk into the ground beside the pump. 
He fed six bucketfuls twice a day, and the 
tou lasted 60 days. In addition to the bran be 
fed them one bucketful of nubbins twice a 
day. He weighed them Dec. 23, and they 
weighed 1,550 pounds. Weighed them again 
Feb. 21, and they weighed 2.383 pounds, a 
gain of 833 pounds: average gain nearly 38 
pounds. He considers the above a very favor¬ 
able showing for bran iu slop. Bran is much 
cheaper now.... 
0Ufnjtol)fU. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Michigan. 
Schoolcraft Co., Nov. 16. —The hay 
crop was very good on clay laud, but tbe re¬ 
verse on the sandy farms near the shore of 
Lake Michigan. Potatoes a fine crop; also 
wheat and barley. Oats rather light, owing 
to the dry weather of June aud July. t. i\ 
New York. 
Westfield, Chautauqua Co., Nov. 6.— 
Crops fair. Corn and potatoes two-thirds of 
a crop; oats the same; apples, half a crop: 
grapes, an extra crop. We have uot had a 
frost here this Full to do uny harm till last 
night, when six inches of snow fell. s. e. w. 
North Carol inn. 
Henderson, Vance Co.,Nov. 5.—There was 
a little frost in spots about a month ago, which 
did some damage to tobacco; but as yet we 
have had no killing frost here. Tobacco 
suckers, tomato plants, etc., are as fresh as in 
Summer. m. b. p. 
Wisconsin. 
Freedom, Outagamie Co., Nov. 15.—Weath¬ 
er warm and pleasant for time of year. 
Farmers are still plowing. Weather dry and 
roads good. The seusou has l«*en dry, and 
crops light; still farmers have raised enough 
to live on, aud to feed their stock. Prices of 
must kinds of produce are low, making it 
hard times for those who have debts and inter- 
estto puy. Strawberries and raspberries were 
fair crops. Apples do. The Wealthy grows 
in favor as a hardy tree, a good keeper and a 
good apple, aud a free and early bearer. 
Grapes did well with us this year. I think 
they like a dry season. k. n. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
(Every ijuery must tie 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 
oue lime. Put questions on u separate plcceof paper. 
IT 
C'AHILVUK AND “ROUGHNESS" AS STOCK FEED, 
ETC. 
IV* IF. F.. Wuh'i rillr, Ohio. —I have eight 
acres of late cabbuge. of which many heads 
have burst open and grown again. There are 
also many soft aud miniature heads, and, of 
course, a very large amount of surplus leaves, 
etc., making a very large quantity of stock 
food. Now the question is, how can I best 
utilize this food? Can 1 buy a flock of sheep, 
ami in any way use this as u part, ot their food 
to a profit, and if so, how? 2. A neighbor says 
his sheep one Winter ran to a straw stack and 
in u cabbage field, and came to Spring very 
fat, but tliat tbe lambs did not do well; was it 
on account of being too fat, or because the 
cabbage watt unwholesome? 3. Could I stack 
the cabbage in alternate layers with the straw, 
or would it be bettei to construct a cheap silo, 
and if so, how shall 1 do it? 
Ans. —This cabbage is a very valuable food 
in connection with the straw, both wheat and 
out, aud it would be better still if a little grain 
be fed daily. We certainly could buy sheep 
and use (his as u part of their food at a profit; 
but whether our friend <au do so dtqtends upon 
many circumstances, among which is the ques¬ 
tion as to what kind of quarters he lias, the 
price at which he can buy sheep, aud very 
much upon the care he would give them. Any 
stock when fed any considerable quantity ol 
green food, should lie. warmly housed, but 
when so quartered they will make a good re¬ 
turn for such food. 2. Neither was the cause. 
Where sheep have plenty of grain food, it is 
