1874.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
2S9 
Improvement in Handling Cotton. 
—By a new process, which has been sufficiently tested to 
show its practicability and value, the seed-cotton may be 
taken from the field and, without the use of the gin, 
brought directly to the card. Here a machine known as 
the Clement attachment, which occupies the position of 
the usual “ licker-in,” takes the cotton and cleans it 
from the seed, dust, trash, and motes, and delivers it in 
untangled condition to the card, from which it emerges 
through the “doffer” in a continuous roll called a 
“sliver.” This improvement in the manufacture of cot¬ 
ton will be of great benefit to the Southern planters, as it 
makes the use of the gin and the press unnecessary, so 
soon and so far as the manufacture of yarns direct from 
the seed-cotton can be established. Then the natural 
connection between the planter and the spinner will be 
effected, and instead of the raw material being exported, 
a partly finished product, the yarn, will be. Mr. F. E. 
Whitfield, sr., has several of these machines already in 
successful operation at Corinth, Miss. 
State Fair Notes. —As the Ohio State 
Fair is to be held at Columbus for a number of years, the 
Board has taken possession of the County Fair Grounds 
east of the city, has extended them, and is making many 
permanent improvements. This subject, of a place for 
the Fair has been a matter for heated discussion for ten 
years, and was settled in favor of location at the State 
Capitol, at the last winter meeting of the State Agricul¬ 
tural Society. The fair will be held the second week in 
September—Sept. 7th to 11th, and a special effort will be 
made by the dominant party, to have the fair all that the 
legitimate Agricultural Exhibition can be. The Northern 
Ohio Fair at Cleveland, will be held a week later, par¬ 
taking more of the character of an Industrial Exposition. 
An effort is being made to organize a Southern Ohio Fair 
Association to hold a fair at Dayton... .The Indiana 
State Fair and Exposition, will open at Indianopolis 
Sept. 7th, and hold thirty days_The Illinois State 
Fair will be held at Peoria, Sept. 14 to 10; Iowa at 
Keokuk, Sept. 21 to 26 ; Kansas at Leavenworth, Sept. 7 
to 11; Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Sept. 7 to 12 ; Wisconsin 
Industrial Association at Mineral Point, Sept. 1 to 4; 
Minnesota at. St. Paul, Sept. S to 12 ; Nebraska at Omaha, 
Sept. 29 to Oct. 2 ; Colorado at Denver, Sept. 22 to 26 ; 
California at Sacramento, Sept. 21 to 26; Michigan at 
East Saginaw,- Sept.. 14 to 19. The Industrial Exposition 
at Chicago, will open Sept. 9, and continue one month. 
This was a great success last year, and every effort will 
be made to have the exhibition excel, this year, in every 
department. Our Fair List will appear next month as 
usual, and we ask those Secretaries of State, County and 
other Societies, who have not sent us their official 
announcements, to do so as early as possible. It is a very 
difficult matter to make up an accurate list of fairs, as 
the papers published in the same county and town, often 
disagree as to dates. We ask the secretaries to help us 
make our list as correct as possible. 
Ammonia, in Feat.—“Lime” Passaic, 
N. J. The advice of your neighbors as to the best way 
to use swamp-muck is correct, and that of your city 
friend is incorrect. Peat contains nitrogen, but does not 
contain ammonia, either free or in combination with an 
acid, and it is only such ammonia that is driven off by lime 
or potash. Peat-muck applied to a field as drawn from the 
swamp, is of no immediate use, and we have had no 
visible benefit from a copious dressing of it. But if 
decomposed by lime, the nitrogen in the peat, which is 
inert of :;self, is slowly changed into ammonia, which 
remains in the peat, in combination with acids, until 
absorbed bv the soil or used up by the plants to which it 
is applied. Thus fresh blood, flesh, leather, and other 
animal substances are rich in nitrogen, but may be 
mixed with lime without any ammonia, or any smell 
being given off. But as soon as the nitrogen is changed 
into ammonia by decomposition, a strong smell is per¬ 
ceived on the admixture of lime or potash. Ammonia 
consists of one atom of nitrogen, with three of hydrogen, 
and this combination takes place during the decomposi¬ 
tion of substances which contain nitrogen, and are 
therefore Ceded nitrogenous substances. Peat decom¬ 
poses slowly, and several months rest in the heap mixed 
in alternate layers of one load, with one bushel of lime, 
is necessary to render it fit for use. After that time it 
becomes fine and spreads easily. Peat thus treated con¬ 
tains ammonia in varying proportions of one per cent or 
less, up to three per cent. 
Tlie Cattle Business in New York. 
—-A change of great importance to feeders of cattle has 
gradually taken place in the method of conducting the 
trade in live stock in New York. The slaughtering busi¬ 
ness is now in the hands of a few men, and hardly more 
than a dozen of city retailers kill any beeves, sheep, or 
calves. The meat they sell is purchased at the large 
slaughter-houses, or the wholesale meat-market, by the 
side, quarter or carcass. The few retail butchers who 
still purchase their live cattle are gradually changing 
their methods, and by and by doubtless they w ill fall into 
the regular chaunels of the business. The effect of this 
is to narrow the competition and prevent sudden fluctua¬ 
tion in prices. A few men can now make the market, 
and as it is to their interest to keep prices steady, it is to 
the interest of the country dealers and graziers that this 
state of things should continue. The prices quoted in 
the market reports now more nearly represent the actual 
value of the stock than at any former time, and shippers 
from the West may be more certain of realizing a fair 
market price than they could previously do. The con¬ 
centration of business in a few hands cheapens the cost 
of handling the stock and the meat, and this saving in 
cost, of course, comes ultimately either to the producer, 
or the consumer, or partly to both of them. Fat cattle 
from the West are subjected, on their arrival here, to a 
shrinkage of 60 lbs. to the 1,000 lbs. of live weight. They 
are then sold on an estimate of 57 to 58 lbs. to the gross 
hundred weight. Beeves, which weigh 1,200 lbs. in 
Chicago, will thus weigh on their arrival here 1,128 lbs., 
and will bo sold on an estimate of 640 lbs. nett weight. 
As to Tile-Brains. —“ Subscriber,” Wa- 
terbury, Conn. The water enters the tiles in drains be¬ 
tween the joints. In laying tiles, care should be taken 
to have the joints as close together as possible, and to 
cover them with compact soil. The largest portion of 
the water enters from beneath tiles and at the sides, 
scarcely any entering from immediately above them. As 
the flow is a gentle percolation through the joints, there 
is only a trifling amount of sediment carried in, and to 
get rid of this, “silt basins” are made in the drains. 
“ Waring’s Draining for Profit ” explains all this very 
fully, and should be studied before any thing is done in 
the way of draining. 
“ Horse Books.”—“ M. E.,” Walla Walla, 
W. T. The best book upon horses for general use is 
probably Stonehenge’s “ Horse in the Stable and in the 
Field.” Its cost is $3.50. It may be procured at the office 
of the Orange Judd Company, 245 Broadway, New York. 
If a mare does not become in foal after repeated visits to 
the horse, it is common to bleed her, and reduce her con¬ 
dition by physic and exercise. A run at pasture along 
with a horse for a few weeks, will frequently lead to the 
desired result. In such a case the shoes should be re¬ 
moved, to avoid injury. 
The Potato-Bot. —“G. W. S.,” Mifflin, O. 
The origin of the potato-rot is a somewhat disputed 
point, but we know in a great measure how it maybe 
avoided. The crop should bo grown only upon well 
drained, warm land, a light loam with some gravel in it, 
is the best soil; only well rotted barn-yard manure 
shonld be used, or some good superphosphate applied in 
the hill. Wet clay soils, fresh unfermented animal ma¬ 
nures, and a wet season, are productive of rot, and if the 
first two are avoided, the crop often escapes the effect of 
the last. 
What Part of tko West?—“ B. B. B.,” 
Greene Co., Ohio. What part of the West is the best for 
farming or stock raising, depends upon many circum- 
stances. If the emigrant has but little money and much 
patience and perseverance, he may choose the neighbor¬ 
hood of one of the great railroads, where homesteads 
are still vacant. Through the Arkansas Valley, along the 
Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railroad, the winters are 
somewhat shorter than in the Platte Valley, upon the 
Union Pacific and the Burlington and Missouri roads, and 
there are homesteads far out npon.aachof these roads. 
If he has more money, he would do better to purchase 
lands near towns from any of these roads, but before 
selecting his home, we would advise him to go and look 
for himself. The present month wonld be a favorable 
time to examine the Western country. 
How Brains Act. —“Milo,” Telmacana, 
Texas. The water which runs into drains dug in tough 
clay soil, enters from the sides and the bottom, and not 
from immediately above the drains. The toughest clay 
is sufficiently permeable to water to allow it to pass 
through readily, and after the drains have been in opera¬ 
tion some time, regular and permanent water channels 
become established in the soil leading from above to 
the bottoms of the drains. In digging drains in tough, 
compact clay, nnmerons small veins of water are cut, 
which show very clearly how readily the water will pass 
throngh such soil as soon as outlets are provided. The 
advantage of the deeper drains is thus explained, and it 
is readily seen that their influence extends further in 
proportion to their depth. 
See Page 313—Basket Page 313." 
“Walks and Talks” Correspondence. 
So many persons write to the author of “ Walks and 
Talks,” asking questions upon the topics therein treated, 
that to answer them in the articles would either extend 
them unduly, or crowd out other matter. To obviate 
these difficulties, we give Mr. Barris a place in the 
Basket columns, where his answers to correspondents 
will hereafter be found under the above heading.— Ed. 
Pigs and Acorns.— “ C. P.,” of N. Y. city, writes: “ I 
bought a farm of320 acres in Virginia. Shall move on to it 
this fall. I am going into the milk dairy business, and 
want to raise pigs. Being near a city where I find a 
ready sale for fresh milk at 80c. per gallon wholesale, 
there will be Kttle chance for skimmed milk, or butter¬ 
milk. The buildings are surrounded by a grove of 7 acres 
of large oak, with a few hickory trees. Adjoining this 
grove is a wood-lot of 27 acres, mostly oaks. Both are 
fenced in. Many bushels of acorns cover the ground in 
the fall and winter. But I want to save all the manure 
from the pigs for my fields, and what I want you to tell 
me is how to utilize the acorns and save the manure.” 
There is no way of saving all the manure, except by 
gathering the acorns, and this, of course, will not pay. 
The best plan I can think of would be to keep the pigs 
out of the grove and wood-lot until the acorns had com¬ 
menced to fall freely, and there was a full feed for the 
herd on the ground. Then turn in the pigs for an hour 
at a time twice a day, and keep them in the yard or pens 
at night. After they have got a good meal of acorns, the 
pigs maybe brought back to the yard, or turned into a 
field of stubble or grass that you wish to enrich by their 
droppings. By doing this regularly at a given time, and 
by giving them a few ears of com in the yard or field, the 
pigs could soon be taught to come when they are called. 
If yon can get 30c. per gallon for milk at wholesale, sell 
every quart of It. At such figures you can afford to buy 
guano and artificial manures to raise grass, corn-fodder, 
and mangles, to feed your cows. Do not go too largely 
into the pig business, until you have had more experience. 
Hurdles for Pigs. — “ C. P.” further says; “Hav¬ 
ing no fences in the fields, I intend hurdling my pigs on 
clover lots.” All of us, at some period of our lives, in¬ 
tend to do a great many things that wc never accomplish. 
I think in C. P.’s case hurdling pigs on clover will be 
one of them. 
Valuh of Acorns. — “ What is the comparative 
value of aeorns as food for pigs?” ask* “C, P.” Ac¬ 
cording to the tables given by Prof. S. W. Johnson in 
“How Crops Grow,” 100 lbs. of com contain five times 
as much nitrogen, and about twice as much available 
carbonaceous matter, as 100 lbs. of acorns. I should 
think 100 lbs. ef corn worth at least as much as 300 lfee. 
of fresh acorns. The manure from pigs feeding on 
acorns would be worth comparatively little. 
Varieties of Wheat.— “R, P. E.,” Cumberland 
Co., N. J., asks if I think the Diehl wheat will do well 
in that section. I can not tell. Like all good varieties 
of white wheat, it requires better soil and better treat¬ 
ment than the hardier and coarser varieties of red wheat, 
such as the Mediterranean. Mr. E. says they have not 
raised any white wheat for a considerable time, but caa 
grow 25 to 30 bushels per acre of red wheat. Soil, a 
sandy loam, with a red clay subsoil. The Fultz wheat, 
he says, is being tried to some extent, and promises well. 
All I can say is that the Diehl wheat is the best variety 
of white wheat I have yet tried. The millers do not like 
it as well—or at least they say they don’t—as the Bonghton 
or Soules. The latter has almost entirely disappeared in 
this section, and the Boughton was never raised here to 
any considerable extent, as it proved too tender for our 
winters. Last year the Diehl was badly winter-killed, 
and many of our farmers gave it up and went back to the 
Mediterranean. This year the Diehl gives a good crop 
on good land. It should be sown on no other. If land 
will not produce a good crop of red wheat, it is useless 
to sow the white varieties. But if yonr land will produce 
a large crop of Mediterranean—so large that it is fre¬ 
quently lodged—try the Diehl. If it does well, you will 
get a larger yield of grain, and it will command a better 
price. It has remarkably stiff straw, and yields much 
move grain in proportion to straw than any variety I am 
acquainted with. Some of our farmers object to it on 
the ground that the straw of the Diehl is so bard and 
stiff, that it is not as valuable for fodder as the softer 
straw of the Mediterranean wheat. 
Rape for Sheep.— “R. P. E.” also writes-t “My 
experiment with rape for winter pasture for sheep I con¬ 
sider eminently successful. I sowed early in August, 
after early potatoes, and by November bad a heavy, dense 
growth, almost equal to a heavy crop of clover. Winter 
was open, with little snow, and the sheep fed on it all 
winter, and with meat profit in the saving oi hay and 
condition of sheep. I sold the sheep and lambs at the 
same time for $12 v. e pair, in April and May. 1 sowed 
some rape seed in m corn field. It did not d* near so 
