or Lake Michigan although it was understood there was some kind of a
water-way connecting the Fresh Sea (Lake Huron) with Ontario. A little
knowledge had been gained of a great body of fresh water lying beyond
the "Mer Douce," "a grand lac," so called by the French--now known as
Lake Superior. The length of this superior lake with that of the Fresh
Sea (Lake Huron), the Indians declared was a journey of full thirty days
in canoes. At the outlet of the great lake was what was described by the
savages, as a considerable rapid, to which the French gave the name of
"Sault de Gaston," the present Sault St. Marie, in the St. Mary's river,
the stream, which, it is well known, flows from Lake Superior into Lake
Huron.
Accounts also had been received from the Indians prior to the year last
mentioned, of a lake of no great size, through which flowed a river
discharging its waters into the Fresh Sea (Lake Huron). These were
reports of Lake Winnebago and Fox river, in what is now the State of
Wisconsin. As the French upon the St. Lawrence had no knowledge as yet
of Lake Michigan, they imagined the location of this small lake, and its
river was beyond, and to the northwest of Lake Huron and that they
emptied into it; Green Bay into the head of which Fox river really
flows, being (like Lake Michigan) wholly unknown to them.
It had further been reported by the Indians before this date that there
was a mine of copper on an island in what has been mentioned as probably
Lake Winnebago; doubtless, however, this island should have been located
in Lake Superior. A specimen of native copper had as early as 1610, been
exhibited by an Indian to an interested Frenchman upon the St. Lawrence,
and an account given by him as to the rude method employed by the
savages in melting that metal. But other islands besides the one
containing the copper mine had been brought to the knowledge of the
French settlers. A large one southeast of the "Sault de Gaston" being
described, and two smaller ones, to the south of it. These islands were,
it is suggested, the Great Manitoulin, Drummond, and Little Manitoulin,
of the present day.
* * * * *
Dr. Leeds has said that spices were adulterated to a great extent, but
only such substances were added as were purely non-poisonous. Mustards
were never found to be pure. Vinegars were also highly adulterated.
Competent officers, who shall be specialists, should be appointed in
each State to examine manufactured and natural foods to detect
adulteration. So far these examinations have been made by college
professors. The State Boards of Health should take the matter in hand
and see that it has the proper attention.
* * * * *
A French periodical, La Culture, gives the following simple method for
testing the purity of water. In an ordinary quart bottle three parts
filled with water dissolve a spoonful of pure white sugar, cork it well
and put it in a warm place. If at the end of forty-eight hours the water
becomes turbid and milky there can be no doubt of its impurity, but if
it remains limpid it may be considered safely drinkable.
* * * * *
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Political talk is generally very eloquent, but it lacks the
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politics reminds us of the lines of Lord Neaves, not long since
deceased:
[Transcriber's note: This is where the article ends in the original and
the lines in question are not to be found in the rest of the
periodical.]
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The Prairie Farmer
ENTERED AT THE CHICAGO OFFICE AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER.
CHICAGO, JANUARY 5, 1884.
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[Transcriber's Note: Original location of Table of Contents.]
* * * * *
RENEW! RENEW!!
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1841. 1884.
The Prairie Farmer
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For forty-three years THE PRAIRIE FARMER has stood at the front
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engaged in the rural industries of the country, and that it has labored
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achieved, and the hold it has upon the agricultural classes.
Its managers are conscious from comparison with other journals of its
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To discuss the most approved practices in all agricultural and
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To be, in brief, an indispensable and unexceptionable farm and home
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The style and form of the paper are now exactly what they should be. The
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illustrations are superb. The departments are varied and carefully
arranged. The editorial force is large and capable. The list of
contributors is greatly increased, and embraces a stronger array of
talent than is employed on any similar paper in this country. We
challenge comparison with any agricultural journal in the land.
THE PRAIRIE FARMER is designed for all sections of the country.
In entering upon the campaign of 1884, we urge all patrons and friends
to continue their good works in extending the circulation of our paper.
On our part we promise to leave nothing undone that it is possible for
faithful, earnest work--aided by money and every needed mechanical
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To each Subscriber who will remit us $2.00 between now and February 1st,
1884, we will mail a copy of THE PRAIRIE FARMER FOR ONE YEAR, AND ONE
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[Illustration]
"The Little Detective."
Weighs 1/4 oz. to 25 lbs.
Every housekeeper ought to have this very useful scale. The weight of
article bought or sold may readily be known. Required proportions in
culinary operations are accurately ascertained. We have furnished
hundreds of them to subscribers, and they give entire satisfaction.
During January, 1884, to any person sending us THREE SUBSCRIBERS, at
$2.00 each, we will give one of these scales, and to each of the three
subscribers Ropp's Calculator, No. 1.
* * * * *
A meeting of farmers interested in ensilage will be held at 55
Beekman street, New York, Wednesday, January 23, at 12 o'clock. All
interested in the subject are invited to attend.
The Iowa State Horticultural Society will hold its annual
meeting at Des Moines, January 15-18. Prof. J.L. Budd, Ames, will
forward programmes on application. The usual reductions in railway and
hotel fares are expected.
Professor S.R. Thompson, Superintendent of the Nebraska
Agricultural College farm, has been chosen to represent Nebraska at the
meeting to be held at Washington, D.C., next week, for the purpose of
taking action in regard to contagious diseases of cattle. He requests
stock men and all others interested in the cattle industries of his
State to correspond with him, and make such suggestions as they may
think proper for guidance at the meeting.
Since its organization in 1853 to 1882 inclusive, the managers
of the Illinois State Fair have offered the following amounts in
premiums for live stock: Cattle, $70,406; horses and mules, $81,825;
sheep, $24,450; swine, $25,320; poultry, $8,214;--total $210,215, which
must be considered pretty substantial encouragement. The total offered
in premiums for all classes of exhibits has been $303,961. Thus a little
more than two thirds of the entire amount has been given to the breeders
and importers of stock.
The officers of the Northwestern Dairymen's Association say
that every indication warrants the conclusion that the coming convention
at Mankato, Minn., commencing February 12, will prove the grandest
success in the history of the association. A full array of the best
dairy talent of the entire Northwest will be present. The purpose is
both in the arrangement of the programme and in the conduct of the
discussions, to make of the coming convention an institute for study and
instruction which no intelligent and progressive farmer can afford to
miss.
The Missouri State Board of Agriculture asks the aid of one
competent man in every township in the State to give it estimates of
crops, etc., in his vicinity. The aim is to give as full and reliable
statistics for crop reports as it is possible to collect. The State
provides but $1,250 for the general expenses of the Board, and it is
thus dependent upon voluntary aid in the matter. The Board will defray
all expenses of postage and stationery. Competent persons willing to
undertake this work for the public good should address J.W. Sanborn,
Secretary, Columbus, Mo. Such persons will receive, free, the monthly
and annual reports of the Board.
In March of last year Secretary Fisher, of the Illinois State
Board of Agriculture, submitted his report for 1882 to Gov. Hamilton.
This report has just made its appearance. It has taken the State printer
ten months to get the volume printed and bound for distribution, a work
that any respectable job office in Chicago would have turned out in four
weeks without any extra exertion. The report is valuable, of course, but
it would have been worth a deal more had it appeared last April. Such
papers as the report of Prof. Forbes, State Entomologist, for instance,
might have been of immense benefit to the people of the State if the
information it contains regarding noxious insects had reached them in
early spring.
SEED SAMPLES.
We have letters from several parties desiring us to publish an offer
they make to send packages of seed corn and other seeds to any one
applying and inclosing stamps to pay for trouble and postage. Some of
these parties also send samples of the seed. There is one great
difficulty in the way of publishing this class of communications. Once
we begin, the door is open to the practice of petty frauds upon our
readers which we have no right to encourage or allow. Now we are almost
certain that all these writers, thus far, are honorable men, who wish to
confer a favor upon their brother farmers, and who do not wish to gain a
farthing in the transaction. But some of them are personally unknown to
us, and we do not feel like vouching for their responsibility, still
less so because it is difficult to tell who will next propose a similar
scheme. There is to be a brisk trade in seed corn during the next four
months, and parties having a well tested article will find no difficulty
in disposing of it at good prices, providing they can convince people
they have exactly what they claim. The way to do is to advertise the
seed corn in the regular way, giving as references such men as the
postmaster, justice of the peace, banker, etc., as may be most
convincing and convenient. We are as anxious as any one can be to see
the people supplied with well ripened and well cared-for corn grown in
the proper latitude, and we are equally anxious to guard them against
imposition.
THE PORK QUESTION IN EUROPE.
The question of admitting American pork into France is not yet settled.
The Corps Legislatif is again "all tore up" by rash statements made by
member M. Paul Bert, who has published a letter at Paris in which he
argues that the use of our pork must result in disease, and that a
general outbreak may be feared at any moment, so long as the products of
diseased swine are offered in French markets. He endeavors to strengthen
his position by pretending to quote from Dr. Detmers, Department of
Agriculture Inspector at the Chicago Stock Yards. He alleges that
Detmers has reported that diseased and dying hogs are sold daily in
Chicago, and then shipped as pork, bacon, and lard to Havre and
Bordeaux. To this audacious or mendacious charge Dr. Detmers replies as
follows:
The statement made by M. Paul Bert, as contained in a cable
dispatch from Paris, is not only a perversion of facts, but a
falsehood cut from whole cloth. I never certified, wrote, or
said that dead hogs are shipped to packing-houses, or that
these carcasses are shipped abroad. All I ever said in regard
to transportation of diseased or dead hogs is contained in my
official reports to the Commissioner of Agriculture,
Washington, and can be found in his annual reports of 1878
and 1879, on pages 355 and 418 respectively, where it is
accessible to everyone. I simply called attention to the
transportation of diseased and dead hogs to the rendering
tanks--entirely distinct from packing houses--as affording a
means of spreading the then prevailing disease--swine plague,
or so-called hog cholera.
M. Paul Bert seems to be a true demagogue, otherwise he would
not resort to a falsehood to please his constituents. I never
in any manner, directly or indirectly, stated or intimated
that packers are or ever were in collusion with dealers in
diseased live stock. Moreover, the laws and regulations of
the Chicago Stock Yards are such as to render it absolutely
impossible that a dead hog should be smuggled into them, and
if an animal should die while in the yards it is at once
delivered to a soap-grease rendering establishment outside of
the Stock Yards, and can not possibly get into a
packing-house.
This reply came too late to have any effect upon French legislation, and
the decree of prohibition has been re-enacted. So far we notice no
marked effect upon the prices of pork products in this country, but
later it must result in depression. We notice the leading papers of the
United States are advocating the retaliatory measures proposed months
ago by THE PRAIRIE FARMER against European States interdicting
the importation of our meat products. We refer to the prohibition of
French and German adulterated and poisonous wines and liquors, and dry
goods and silk goods colored with poisonous dyes. It must come to this
at last if such totally unreasonable legislation against American
products is to continue in those countries.
CORN, WHEAT, AND COTTON.
The preliminary crop estimates by the Statistician of the Department of
Agriculture have been completed. He says the average yield of corn per
acre for 1883 was within a fraction of twenty-three bushels, which is 12
per cent less than the average for a series of several years past. The
quality is another thing.
It is doubtless true, Mr. Dodge says, that the quality of the corn north
of parallel forty is worse than for many years, increasing practically
the amount of shortage indicated by the number of bushels. As the whole
corn grown in 1883 in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Dakota, added
to half that grown in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska, would
make 400,000,000 bushels only--a fourth of the whole crop--so that the
possible depreciation of 40 per cent in all of it would be equivalent to
a 10 per cent reduction in the value of the entire crop. The Illinois
Department agents make the quality 31 per cent less than the average in
this State. An effort will be made later, after the worst of the crop
has been fed, to ascertain the feeding value of the year's product. It
is not proposed, however, to reduce the product to the equivalent of
merchantable corn, or "sound" corn, as no crop ever is free from
immaturity or imperfection. There always are some Northern fields caught
by frost, some neglected acres, some choked with weeds or flooded by
over-flows, and so on--corn, which is mainly "nubbins." What is intended
without reference to panic or exaggeration is to find out the exact
truth and then tell it. There is nothing gained, be it to farmers or
consumers, the Statistician adds, in suppressing truth on the one hand
or exaggerating the losses on the other. One feature of corn-growing in
1883 should prove a lesson to the farmers of the country; that is, the
general use of seed corn in the West, grown in lower latitudes. The
planting of Nebraska seed in Minnesota and Kansas seed in Illinois, has
demonstrated the folly of attempting to acclimatize the Southern maize
in the more Northern districts. Much loss from frost would have been
avoided had the seed been carefully selected from the best corn grown in
the immediate neighborhood.
The wheat crop is estimated, as before, slightly in excess of
400,000,000 bushels.
The cotton product, as shown by the December returns, is about 6,000,000
bales. There will be another investigation after the close of the cotton
harvest and the shipment of a large portion of the crop, when precise
results will be approached more nearly than has been possible hitherto.
The Department evidently feels a little "nettled" over the criticisms
that have been made upon its estimates of the last two corn crops. Again
we must protest that the amount of harvested corn in the West will fall
considerably below Mr. Dodge's figures. Whether or not the Department
sees fit to "reduce the product to the equivalent of merchantable corn"
such an estimate would be of interest, and when it gives the result of
the feeding quality of the corn, there will be something of a basis
furnished for such a calculation, especially as we shall have by that
time a pretty accurate account of the exported corn of the crop of 1883
and the amount "in sight," as the grain merchants say. It is true that
there is nothing gained to consumers by "suppressing truth on the one
hand or exaggerating losses on the other" but there is something lost to
consumers by overestimating yields at about the time the harvest is
ready and when speculators can use Government estimates to force down
prices.
The statistical machinery of the Department of Agriculture is far from
perfect, but it is the best the Government has supplied it with, and it
is not wise or fair to criticise its estimates too severely, based, as
they often must be, upon inadequate returns. The most that can be said
is that the Department should be exceedingly careful not to err on the
side that may result in injury to the producers, for, as we understand
it, it was created solely to advance their interests.
CHICAGO IN 1883.
Compared with the other great cities of the Union, and even with
previous years in her own history, Chicago had a prosperous business
year in 1883. The total trade of the year foots up $1,050,000,000, which
is a slight gain over that of 1882. The receipts of flour were 4,403,982
barrels; wheat, 20,312,065 bushels; corn, 74,459,948 bushels; oats,
37,750,442 bushels; rye, 5,662,420; barley, 10,591,619. Of cattle there
were received 1,878,944 head; hogs, 5,640,625; sheep, 749,917; horses,
15,255; dead hogs, 55,656. Of seeds, 122,582 tons; broom corn, 15,038
tons; butter, 53,987 tons; hides, 34,404 tons; wool, 20,122 tons;
potatoes, 13,000,000 bushels; coal, 4,042,356 tons; hay, 50,000 tons;
lumber, 1,848,817,000 ft.; shingles, 1,154,149 M.; salt, 1,096,587
barrels; cheese 23,590 tons. The total value of farm products of all
kinds is estimated at $402,000,000, which is $20,000,000 above the
valuation of that of 1882. The products of Chicago manufactures are
valued at $325,000,000. In 1881 the receipts of hogs amounted to
6,474,844 head, and in 1882, 5,817,504 head. The wholesale mercantile
trade has fallen off somewhat, as it has all over the country, owing to
depression that seems to be universal. In manufactures the city is
making wonderful development. In growth she is still unchecked and
without a rival in the world among large cities and business centres.
STRONG DRINK.
We often see in the papers the amount in dollars and cents, that strong
drink costs the people of this country. Some one has been making out
similar statistics for Great Britain, and finds that if the total house
rent is added to the rent of farms in the three divisions of the Kingdom
the total is $30,000,000 less than is usually spent for drink. Add
together the cost of the linen goods, cotton goods, coal, tea, coffee,
sugar, milk, butter and cheese and the total is only $45,000,000 in
excess of the sum spent in drink. And this is only the direct cost. The
indirect expense of drink--the crime and misery entailed, the cost of
prisons and almshouses, criminal courts and trials, the loss from
idleness, incapacity, blunders, sickness--towers above these figures in
colossal magnitude. Counting all these things it may be said of both
countries that strong drink costs more than sufficient to supply the
personal needs--food, clothing, and homes--of all the people. It is
indeed a fearful showing.
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
CHARLES DE LONG, Artesia, Miss.--THE PRAIRIE FARMER has the reputation
of knowing all about the prairies, north and south, and, therefore, I
appeal to it to tell me whether the Japan persimmon will be likely to be
hardy in this section, some portions of which is, as you probably know,
a prairie country?