THE
PRAIRIE FARMER
A Weekly Journal for
THE FARM, ORCHARD AND FIRESIDE.
ESTABLISHED IN 1841.
ENTIRE SERIES: VOL. 56—NO. 5.
CHICAGO, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1884.
PRICE, $2.00 PER YEAR,
IN ADVANCE.
[Transcriber’s Note: The Table of Contents was originally located on
page 72 of the periodical. It has been moved here for ease of use.]
THE CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.
AGRICULTURE—Selection of a Site for a Park, Page 65; Fresh Meat for the
Farm, 65-66; Farmers’ Communicative Society, 66; Botany for Farm Boys,
66; Diogenes in His Tub, 66; How He Likes Dakota, 66; The Use of Salt,
66-67; Woven Paling Fences, 67; Illinois State Fair, 67; From Central
Kansas, 67; Field and Furrow Items, 67.
HORTICULTURE—The Farmer’s Garden, Page 70; Our Future Orchards, 70-71;
The Model Illinois Nursery, 71; The Basket Willow, 71.
POULTRY NOTES—What Ails the Pullets? Page 74; That Duck Farm, 74; From
New Hampshire, 74.
THE APIARY—Corn-silk Protection, Page 74; Feeding Back, 74; Bee
Pasturage, 74.
LITERATURE—Logic, Poem, Page 78; Don’t Wait, Poem, 78; The Curfew
Heroine, 78; Items, 78.
HUMOROUS—Old Shoes, Poem, Page 79; An Obstinate Wife, 79; Wanted
Weather Strips, 79; It’s a Telephone, 79; An Emergency, 79; Items, 79.
SCIENTIFIC—The Brilliant Sunsets, Page 75.
LIVE STOCK—Items, Page 68; A Scare in Missouri, 68; Public Sales of
Stock, 68; Remedy for Foot-and-Mouth Disease, 68.
THE DAIRY—The Wisconsin Dairymen, Page 68-69.
EDITORIAL—Items, Page 72; Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society, 72;
When It is Time to Resign, 72; Locating the Minnesota State Fair, 72-73;
Wayside Notes, 73; Letter from Champaign, 73; An Eloquent Tribute, 73;
Selection of Site for a Park, 73.
HOUSEHOLD—An Humble Confession (Poetry), Page 76; Pyramidal Women, 76;
Give the Babies Water, 76; Work for Little Fingers, 76.
YOUNG FOLKS—The Legend of the Stork and the Babies (poetry), Page 77; A
Chat About Halifax, 77; The Little Legislatures, 77; Walking Canes, 77;
Items, 77.
NEWS OF THE WEEK—Page 80.
MARKETS—Page 80.
[Illustration: DREXEL BOULEVARD, CHICAGO—DESIGNED BY H. W. S. CLEVELAND.]
SELECTION OF A SITE FOR A PARK.
BY H. W. S. CLEVELAND.
Few persons think of a park as anything but a place of recreation, a
pleasure ground, and an ornamental appendage of a city.
As a consequence, if it is proposed to create a park in any city, every
suggestion that is offered in regard to its location is based upon the
fact of its superior natural advantages; its picturesque character; its
command of fine views, or the features of attractive interest it
combines.
Without denying the value of any of these elements, I wish to call
attention to other objects which are rarely thought of, and yet are
deserving of careful consideration in determining the location.
Almost every city comprises within its limits some portion of territory
which is not adapted for business purposes, and is not attractive to
that class of inhabitants who can afford to choose the location of their
residences. Such localities are at first left vacant, but as population
increases they are occupied first by squatters, then by those who can
afford nothing better, and finally become the site of tenement houses,
or dens of resort for the worst class of human beings, male and female,
that the city contains.
The original cause of the avoidance of the place may have been that it
was low and subject to malarial influences, or of such topographical
character that it could only be adapted to residence purposes at very
great cost.
In either of these cases it is obvious that the first cost of the land
will be far less than that of a tract combining all the features which
render it most attractive as a site for residences. Let us now consider
some of the effects of improving such sites:
Suppose the area to be low and wet, an unsightly tract, suggestive of
chills and fever, and too extensive for improvement by its individual
owners. Instead of suffering it to become the plague spot and breeding
place of moral and physical diseases, as it certainly will if left to
itself, let the city purchase and improve it as a park, first, by
thorough drainage, and then by such artistic arrangement as shall make
it an attractive resort, and it is obvious that the result will be not
only the securing of a charming place of recreation and ornament to the
city, but the conversion of a threatening danger to health, into a chief
source of its promotion. The creation of such an improvement also
invariably changes the character of its surroundings by rendering them
desirable as residence sites, and thus repaying the cost by the
increased taxable value of adjacent property. It often happens, however,
that large areas are comprised within, or adjacent to, a city, which
even if unobjectionable on the score of health are not available for
residence on account of their topographical character.
The site of the New York Central Park affords an illustration of my
meaning:
At the time of its first inception in 1857—the whole of that section of
the city was a series of barren ledges of rocks of such forbidding
nature that no individual proprietor could afford the expense of
preparing an area for residence and providing himself with the simplest
necessities of comfort. The land had only a nominal value, and its only
occupants
(_Continued on Page 73._)
FRESH MEAT FOR THE FARM.
One of the greatest banes to the proper enjoyment of country life is the
almost constant use of salt meats. It is ham for breakfast, salty, oh,
how salty! Then for dinner it is salt pork, boiled or fried. Then for
supper a cold slice of ham, or boiled cold shoulder, varied a little by
chipped dried beef, which is within itself a “piller of salt.” Then it
is drink, drink, from morning to night without abatement.
Now, I know the great difficulties that lay in the way of a farmer,
located miles from city or town, to procure a daily supply of fresh meat
from the markets, to say nothing of the unbearable cost of such a
proceeding to those who live close enough to market to procure a daily
supply. Just think of it; we sell our beef cattle to the butcher for,
say three cents on foot, and pay for the article on the hook from twelve
and a half to twenty cents per pound, and our mutton and pork in the
same ratio. It is not my purpose, in this article, to show the relative
losses and profits in these transactions, but to show my brother farmers
how they can have fresh meat on their tables every day of the year, and
every meal of each day if they will, and that at their own first cost
prices. This plan of mine is not new; yet, I am safe in saying that it
is not practiced by one per cent of the farmers in the nation. Why is
this? Ignorance of the way to do it. It can be nothing else. For there
is less labor and work attending the process of preserving the meats put
up for home consumption, by keeping them fresh, than there is by
salting, smoking, wrapping in canvas, and packing away, as now
practiced. A second great advantage is, that the curing of meats in a
fresh state can be accomplished at any season of the year, no matter how
hot, and that without ice.
Then, a third consideration is the saving of labor to the farmer’s
family during the hot sweltering summer months, in fact, all through the
year.
To enable any person to understand the matter, I will explain by briefly
stating what we are now doing in the way of preparing our fresh meat for
next summer’s use. In the first place, we have as many lard or pork
barrels as will be necessary to hold a supply of meat for the family.
These barrels are clean, sweet, and tight, one end taken out. They are
arranged on a bench in the cellar, open end up. The pigs are killed and
cooled in the usual way. When the animal heat is all out they are cut
up, cutting off the sausage and lard, the lard cut up ready to be
rendered out. The shoulders and sides are then cut up into such sized
pieces as may be convenient for table use. These pieces are washed
cleanly, and boiled in large kettles, seasoned with salt and pepper to
make palatable, and when sufficiently boiled for table use they are
placed in a barrel closely together, but not pressed or mashed, thus
leaving each piece as near in the shape cut as possible. When the barrel
is filled within two inches of the top, we then pour in warm lard until
all the crevices between the pieces of meat are filled up, covering the
top with one or two inches of the warm lard. Next day we find that the
lard has settled down; we fill up again to the top and keep filled until
all has become a solid mass of meat and lard. This is the whole secret.
You can fill any tight vessel from a one gallon jar to a forty-five
gallon barrel in like manner, and if properly done, and kept in a cool
place the meat will keep fresh and sweet the year round.
The advantages of this process of keeping meat are manifold. You can
kill a fat hog at any season of the year, and its own fat can preserve
it, and the fat can be used for culinary purposes just the same as when
put up in cans for home use. The shoulders can be thus prepared, and
when cold are far superior to salt meat, even after being boiled. The
sides when cut in square pieces, with the ribs on, are just as good as
when cooked fresh in the fall of the year. Hams, whole, when well cooked
and seasoned, retain all their sweetness, and that without being
impaired by the excess of salt necessary to keep them. Then, there is no
trouble with flies, bugs, or skippers; the meat remains sweet,
wholesome, and palatable until the last piece is taken from the bottom.
All the care necessary in taking the pieces from the barrel is to press
the lard down closely over what is left, and thus exclude the air.
There are two great advantages in this mode of keeping meat; one is, it
is fresh, easily digested, and consequently more healthy, and decidedly
more pleasant to the taste; and it does not create that burning thirst
that is so hard to quench on a hot harvest day. Then it is always ready
for table use, and that without requiring your wives, daughters, and
house help to melt over a hot stove when the mercury is up among the
nineties, a no small saving in threshing time.
The only great drawback that I have found to this plan is, that I can
eat twice the amount that I can of salted meats; and, therefore, it
requires double the quantity for family use than under the salting
process; but I am persuaded that the difference is made up in better
health, and smaller doctor bills. Try it on a small scale, and you will
always follow it.
A. R.
CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO.
FARMERS’ COMMUNICATIVE SOCIETY.
I am now fifty-five years old and have always lived in a good
agricultural country. Having had no rich friends to draw on for supplies
I have had to look to Mother Earth for my living. Hence I feel that I
should pay homage to the Great Creator of all things for that fair
capacity which has enabled me to select good lands and grow crops well
adapted to the soils.
While my work has been arduous in the main, I have not felt it drudgery.
In fact, my farm has not only furnished me a good living, but in its
productions and developments I have been highly entertained.
I am not different from most of my fellowmen. I like to manage and
dictate, and have my own way. I manage so as to bring my lands into
subjection. I do it by making them better. I cultivate and dress them
until they look better and feel better, and I know they are better.
When I plant my crops I give them such attention that it seems they have
every confidence that I will remove all obstructions to hinder their
growth, and the young and tender plants seem to avail themselves of the
situation and spring up as by magic. In their prosperity I rejoice.
I take a half dozen farm journals and a few newspapers so as to learn
what others are doing without going from my home, especially in the
winter season. For I find that when I go from home I can’t always get
delicious fruits and vegetables that I have learned to be so fond of in
my riper years.
Now I come to a point where I will venture a proposition to my brother
farmers: That we organize a—well I don’t know just what to name it, but
say Farmers Communicative Society. I mean by this that we select some
farm journal that seems most fitting and send in our names and
addresses, agreeing to write once a month a short and candid statement
of our plans and successes and failures in our agricultural and
horticultural pursuits. I am of course intending to get the best of the
bargain as I always try to do in business. But it must be apparent to
all that we, as farmers, can be more benefited by commingling our
interests together in the developments of the farm, and learn from one
another in a few years what it will take each one of us a whole life
time to learn in case we continue to “go it alone” as in olden times.
Now Mr. Editor, I think you can afford to second the motion to help
organize these practical old farmers and get them to write for your
journal. I feel that we can give your readers many practical ideas of
benefit to all, and you agree to clothe our crude thoughts and make them
appear intelligent before the public, so that no one need be embarrassed
to “speak out in meetin’.”
Now the benefits to be derived from an association to communicate
through the paper are to my mind much greater than from conventions. All
admit that farmers’ conventions have accomplished great good in the
different interests, and that they are indispensable. I am indebted to
these conventions for much of my success in farm life. But I conclude
that as great good, or even greater good, can be accomplished at much
less cost. For a few hundred farmers can communicate to each other
through a good farm paper like THE PRAIRIE FARMER, so paged that it can
be filed for future reference, and we can, as it were, have our meetings
every week at our homes and with our families, and impress the lessons
upon our children’s tender minds so they will not have to wait until
they are of mature age before hearing discussions as to the best modes
practiced in agriculture and horticulture. I have felt in attending
these conventions like asking those old veterans who must soon pass
away, where are the young men of our country? For very few seem to
attend these interesting gatherings.
Another reason why I suggest we adopt THE PRAIRIE FARMER is, that THE
PRAIRIE FARMER COMPANY sends to each of their patrons a large map of the
United States, which would enable us to know the exact locality of
parties giving useful information, which is always more satisfactory.
Now I am always trying new things and looking after new industries, and
I have made a great many observations, some of which I shall promise to
give in farmers’ communications, in case we can get a fair start so as
to get others to give me their observations, for that is my prime
object, as I stated in the outset. I am like my Irish friend “I want a
little more than I give.” I am developing our sweets in Kansas. I have
also the finest fruits of the land and succeeded in both, and I will
tell how I did it.
J. H. W.
POMONA, KAN.
BOTANY FOR FARM BOYS.
This time I would like to call your attention to the subject of botany.
It might seem rather odd at this time of year, but you know that the
farmers have more time now than in summer to read THE PRAIRIE FARMER. It
is better for the farmer’s boys to become acquainted with the laws of
nature than to spend their time in reading novels, or other books, which
bring them little information. A little knowledge of the nature of
plants is worth infinitely more to the farmer’s son or daughter, or even
to the farmer himself, because it has special relation to his calling.
And in order to obtain a practical knowledge it is best to study the
plants themselves, their structure, their habitat and peculiarity of
growth, etc., and in order to do so, it is best to have some apparatus
for the purpose, requisite for the accomplishment of this object.
The student in botanical science should give early and persevering
attention to the collection and preservation of specimens of as many
species of plants as he can procure. The advantages to be derived from
such collections, either in refreshing the memory by reviewing them, or
in instituting a more thorough examination at one’s leisure, are such as
will afford an abundant compensation for all the labor requisite in
preparing them. Such a collection of dried specimens of plants is called
an herbarium, or by the more significant title, hortus siccus (dry
garden).
The apparatus requisite for the accomplishment of this object is, first,
a close tin box, twenty inches in length, and of a portable form;
second, a portable press, consisting of two boards of light material,
twelve by eighteen inches, opening and shutting by hinges, like the
cover of a book, and secured by springs (even a large book is a good
substitute); third, a quantity of smooth, bibulous paper, of large size
(a dozen or more quires of printing paper); fourth, eight or ten boards
of the same size as the paper; fifth, a small screw press, or several
lead weights of various sizes, from fifteen to thirty pounds each.
In gathering plants for this purpose, or specimens, as they are called,
the smaller and herbaceous plants should be taken up with a portion of
the roots, while from larger plants there should be selected a shoot,
with complete representations of the leaves and flowers. They may be
preserved for several days, without withering, in the tin box, or they
may at once be laid between several thicknesses of the paper and
inclosed in the portable press. It is always desirable that they be
gathered on a dry day; if not they should be freed from dampness before
being committed to the paper and press.
In drying the specimens, great care is required, that they may preserve
well their natural appearance, form, and color. It is generally
recommended that they be carefully spread out, as nearly in their
natural position as possible, between eight or ten thicknesses of paper,
and then submitted to pressure between the boards. The degree of
pressure should never be such as to crush their parts, and may be easily
regulated by the screw, or by the number and size of the weights used.
Cotton-batting may be used to equalize the pressure.
As often as once a day they should be taken from the press, transferred
to fresh and dry paper, and returned, until they are thoroughly dried,
when they are ready to be transferred to the cabinet. The true secret of
preserving specimens with all their colors is to extract the moisture
from them by pressure in an abundance of dry, bibulous paper as soon as
possible.
The next object with the collector is the arrangement of his specimens.
For this purpose each one is first to be fastened to a sheet of firm
white paper, about ten by eighteen inches, either by glue or with loops
of paper of the same kind, or they may be stitched to the paper with a
fine needle. The latter mode, if done skillfully, is preferable. Then
let all those specimens which belong to the same genus be collected
together and placed within a folded sheet of colored paper, with the
name of the genus and each species written on the outside. Each sheet
should also be labeled with the names of the plants, the locality, time
of gathering, habits, etc., etc.
The genera are next to be collected together into orders, each order
being wrapped or folded in a still larger sheet, of a different color
from that which enfolds the genera, having the name of the order with a
catalogue of its genera on the outside. Thus arranged, the orders are to
be laid away upon the shelves of a cabinet, or packed in a chest. To
protect the plants from the attack of insects pieces of camphor gum are
to be laid among them, or a piece of sponge saturated with the oil of
turpentine. To save them from decay they should be kept dry and well
ventilated.
Fruits and seeds which are too large to be pressed with the plants, and
also truncheons of wood, are to be pressed separately in a cabinet. In
the above I have closely followed the directions of Professor Wood in
his excellent work on Botany, which would prove a profitable pastime for
those desiring to improve their knowledge in this direction.
H. A. P. WESSBERGE.
DIOGENES IN HIS TUB.
Diogenes in this desires to call the attention of all readers of THE
PRAIRIE FARMER to what he deems a very important subject and a great
wrong—one to which they have heretofore seemed strangely indifferent.
The papers teem of late years with accounts of sharks passing about
among farmers and others, and under various pretences, obtaining their
signatures to documents, innocent in themselves—but which eventually
turn up as notes of hand in possession of third persons. And the result
(it is always so stated) is, that the note is collectable and has to be
paid.
And the papers with one voice unite in warning their readers against
using their signature in such a way.
Now, Messrs. Editors, and fellow readers, is it possible that there is
such a principle in our laws—common or statute—that makes such a thing
possible; that legalizes such a fraud? If so, it is not only unsafe for
a man to sign a contract of any sort, but to write a letter to a friend.
And while I am loth to believe there is any statute justifying it, I
feel sure there is no common law principle that will sustain it; or if
there is, it is a relic of barbarism that common sense and common
justice ought long since to have swept into oblivion.
The theory seems to be acquiesced in on the ground that innocent parties
must not be made to suffer. But this theory will not hold good.
Thousands of cases occur in which innocent persons do, and are compelled
by law and by right as well, to suffer loss from just such frauds. A
rogue may steal or borrow my horse and sell him to a neighbor, who buys
in good faith. The law, and right and justice, instead of compelling me
to lose my animal, permits me to replevy him and take him home, and my
neighbor pockets his loss. And this is done daily over the land without
objection; and we hear no newspaper cautions to the “gullible” farmers
not to lend horses. So with every other species of property; one can
take his own legally wherever he may find it—in the hands of a rogue or
of an innocent purchaser.
It is strange to me that this thing has been permitted to go on so long
unchallenged. I do not know whether the courts have ever sustained such
a principle; if they have, unless there be much more cogent reason for
it than I can conceive of, the sooner it is reversed the better for
honest men and good government. Will you allow me, through your widely
read pages, to earnestly call the attention of your readers to the
subject matter—and not only your readers, but your cotemporaries of the
agricultural press as well. Let the principle be ventilated.
DIOGENES.
HOW HE LIKES DAKOTA.
In passing through Chicago last spring on my way to Dakota, I called at
your office and paid for THE PRAIRIE FARMER. The gentleman in the office
requested me to write you about Dakota. I have delayed doing so until
now to learn about the winters here, and as it is now on hand, I write.
The last half of December and the first half of January we had the cold
wave, the mercury going below zero from 8 to 40 deg. We have from six to
seven inches of snow on the level. Thermometer now ranging from 10 below
to 20 above. We have had some windy days that make the snow fly. I was
in Illinois before leaving for Dakota some forty-five years, and I did
not in all that time see a more pleasant winter; but a very few days
that a man could not be at work if he choose. The wind is no harder nor
more frequent than in Illinois—just the same as near as could be made.
Now for the land, etc.:
Here in Brown county, about twelve to fifteen miles from the 46 parallel
(south) the land is nicely rolling, just about as any one would wish.
There is very little choice in location, only as distance from railway
stations. The soil is black sandy loam, good for small grain, and,
judging from experiment in sod corn, we can raise corn and a good crop
mature if put in in good season, and of an early variety.
I never say anything against Illinois. It is good enough, and Dakota is
just as good, and in one-quarter of the time that Illinois was in
developing, Dakota will be up even with her, the facilities being far in
advance of those of early Illinois. Then we had to team all of our wheat
into Chicago by wagon for nearly twenty years before we had a canal or
railroad. But here we have the railroads to start with, and if
emigration is as large next spring as it was the last there will not be
a foot of land to be located. There is not a quarter section left now in
Brown county, unless it has been overlooked. Towns are growing up as
fast as toad-stools in summer. We are located six miles from Frederick
(600 inhabitants), seven miles from West Port (200), ten miles from
Ordway (500), twenty miles from Aberdeen (2,000), twenty from Columbia
(1,000), county seat. The land is watered about the same as Illinois,
with the elm and maple along the Jim river. For wells we dig from
twenty-five to forty feet and get the best of water.
I think Dakota as good a place for a young man of small means as can be
found. There are some counties where the land has not been surveyed yet,
where good location may be made. Our crops were short last year in Brown
county, caused by a short time of dry weather in June, just as the wheat
and oats were in blossom, at which time these crops require rain in
order to “fill” well.
The only drawback we have is in the matter of fuel as yet. Soft coal
sells at from $7 to $8 per ton: hard, $12 to $13. Dry-goods and
groceries are as low as in Illinois. Lumber from $2 to $4 higher. Our
vegetables can not be beaten.
Just a thing or two more. I want to ask you what are the best kinds of
timber for us to put out on our tree claims. Will the black walnuts,
black and white oaks do well as far north as we are? How will the Scotch
and Norway pines do? I wish to put out such timber as will make good
lumber when grown. Cotton wood, box elder, etc., will just answer the
law, that is about all.
A. J. FOORD,
BROWN CO., DAKOTA.
THE USE OF SALT.
In THE PRAIRIE FARMER of January 5th, in report of Illinois
Horticultural Society, Mr. Earle is made to say he used salt on
asparagus and it killed the weeds and most of the asparagus. This is
different from my limited experience; I have used lake salt at the rate
of one ton to the acre and did not kill either weeds or asparagus. I am
now making arrangements to use about three and one-half tons to the acre
from the refuse of pork packing houses.
Will Mr. Earle please give particulars in THE PRAIRIE FARMER: The kind
of salt, time of year it was used, amount per acre, nature of soil,
etc. By so doing he will confer a favor on many readers.
S. P.
TERRE HAUTE, IND.
WOVEN PALING FENCE.
A Washington firm of patent solicitors write us, as we suppose they have
all the agricultural papers, warning readers against persons claiming of
them a fee of $500 and upwards for alleged infringements of a patent
upon a so-called “Wire and Picket Fence.” Our informants say that, “It
is quite true that there are a number of patents for wire and picket
fences, or so-called ‘woven paling fences,’ but all these patents are
limited in their claims to the detailed construction of the woven fence,
and there is no broad patent on this class of fence. Indeed it was
invented as long ago as 1829, when Chauncy Hall, of Meriden, Ct., on
November 27th, of that year, obtained the first patent for a wire and
paling fence. All recent applications for patents which have endeavored
to claim the woven fence broadly have been rejected, as we find by an
examination of the records of the United States Patent Office, on the
old patent to James Moore, of Pittsburg, Pa., for a woven picket fence,
which was granted June 30, 1857, and therefore, expired in 1871, so that
it is now public property. There is another patent of the same year
granted to J. B. Reyman, of Bloomington, Ill., No. 18,301, dated
September 29, 1857, which, also, shows a paling and wire fence, or
picket and wire fence. This patent has, also, been frequently cited as a
reference against applications of subsequent patentees who endeavor to
claim broadly the invention of the combined wire and picket fence. In
1849, one, Lucius Leavenworth, obtained a patent for a method of
constructing a fence by fastening pickets or palings upon the wires by
means of a series of links formed on the connecting wires and adapted to
receive or hold the pickets or palings. All of these patents have long
ago expired, and are now public property, so that no person can claim to
have a broad patent on the, so-called, woven picket fence, and any man
who, by virtue of a pretended claim covering broadly that class of
fences, asserts such a right may be put down as an impostor, and should
receive treatment as such. Of late years a number of patents have been
granted for this class of fences, but, as soon stated, the claims of all
these patents are confined to the detailed construction of the fence,
i.e., the precise weaving of the pickets between the wires. A number of
machines have, also, been patented for constructing this kind of fence,
one of the first being that which was patented by Fletcher on Nov. 17,
1868.”
We have heard of no trouble from these patent agents in the West, but
give our readers for what it is worth the information vouchsafed by the
Washington firm.
ILLINOIS STATE FAIR.
This fair, as we have before announced, begins at Chicago on the 8th of
September. The Superintendents of Departments for 1884 are as follows:
Class A, Cattle, Mr. Reynolds; Class B, Horses, Mr. Lewis; Class C,
Sheep, Mr. Vittum; Class D, Hogs, Mr. Gore; Class E, Poultry, Mr.
Griffith; Class F, Mechanics, Mr. Chester; Class G, Farm Products, Mr.
Skeavington; Class H, Horticulture, Mr. Haskell; Class I, Fine Arts, Mr.
Pearce; Class K, Textile Fabrics, Mr. Savage; Class L, Science and
Education, Mr. Rush; Class M, Speed, Mr. Lewis; Class N, Farm Machinery,
Mr. Schuttler; Marshal of the Ring, Mr. Judy; Superintendent of Grounds,
Mr. Gillham; of Forage and Stalls, Mr. Virgin; of Press Department, Mr.
David; of Permits and Privileges, Mr. Washburn; of Purchasing
Department, Mr. Pullen; of Gates and Tickets, Mr. Dysart. Auditors,
Messrs. Funk, Pearce and David; Committee on Reception, Fair—Messrs.
Landrigan, Scott, Gillham, Reynolds, Judy, Pearce, Washburn and Vittum;
Com. on Arrangement, Fair, Messrs. Landrigan, Scott, Gillham, Reynolds,
Vittum, Gore, Haskell, Pullen, Dysart, Washburn, Lewis, Virgin,
Schuttler and Fisher; Com. of Arrangements, Fat Stock Show, Messrs.
Landrigan, Gillham, Reynolds, Gore, Pullen, Dysart, Vittum, Funk,
Virgin, Schuttler, Savage, Scott, Washburn and Judy; Com. on Printing,
Messrs. Savage, Dysart and Fisher; Com. on Finance, Messrs. Pearce,
Pullen, Gore, Lewis and Chester; Com. on Crop Reports, Messrs. Gore,
David, Skeavington and Fisher; Com. on Agricultural and Industrial
Education, Messrs. Scott, Reynolds, Washburn, David and Rush; Com. on
Museum, Messrs. Gillham, Scott, Haskell and Savage; Com. on Library,
Messrs. Haskell, Rush and Fisher; Com. on Transportation, Messrs.
Landrigan, Vittum, Judy, Schuttler, Griffith and Fisher. Jury on
Pedigrees, Class A, Messrs. Reynolds, Dysart, Judy, Funk and
Skeavington; Class B, Messrs. Lewis, Virgin, Griffith, Pearce and
Chester.
The same arrangement of Superintendents and Committees is followed in
the management of the Fat Stock Show which takes place at Chicago in
November.
FROM CENTRAL KANSAS.
Mild, open winter in this the central part of Kansas. Very little cold
weather. Wheat and rye looking fine, and very large acreage sown the
past season. Stock doing finely; but little fodder used as yet. In about
ten days plowing will begin.
We need more settlers of energy and thrift to fill up the large scope of
unoccupied lands. No homestead lands here but plenty railroad lands yet
for sale. The price ranges from $4 to $8 per acre on long time, with a
discount for cash or short time.
We have good water and grass, and plenty of the finest limestone
building rock.
This is a good place for a man of small means to get a home. Having been
here six years I know whereof I speak.
In THE PRAIRIE FARMER of January 5, 1884, I noticed an article on Meadow
Oat Grass, by J. W. Robson. I would like to know where the seed can be
obtained.
J. D. MC. P.
ALLIANCE, BOSTON CO., KANS.
—We presume you can get the grass seed from all our reliable seedsmen.
In a few days THE PRAIRIE FARMER will doubtless be favored with plenty
of their advertisements.—[ED.
FIELD AND FURROW.
Secretary W. A. Armstrong reports that all the kinds of commercial
fertilizers applied to the alluvial soils cultivated by members of the
Elmira Club proved in every instance to be “practically worthless.” The
best that can be said is that “some of them used on uplands in which
clay is a constituent, have fair probability, at least, of yielding
satisfactory returns.”
At the Mississippi Valley Cane-Growers’ meeting at St. Louis, delegates
from Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Michigan gave their
experiences in growing cane and making sirups. In Illinois, Kansas, and
Nebraska good results were generally obtained, but the season was bad in
other States and expectations were not realized. All concurred, however,
in the belief that the cultivation of sorghum was a good thing, and
would yield handsome profits.
The New York Tribune: The animated discussion of the subject at the
recent meeting of the Connecticut Board was unfavorable to ensilage.
Exhibition of a sample of clover put in a silo when wet called out the
query whether it was fed to cows to make Limburger cheese. One reporter
says it “fairly howled” through the City Hall, echoing and reverberating
a fearful smell. President James A. Bell, of the State Agricultural
Society, is quoted as declaring that the free talk of the occasion “will
save the farmers thousands of dollars by keeping them out of the silo
system.”
At which end should a hoe-handle be the larger? At which end should a
pitch-fork be the larger? It is not every farmer that thinks of these
things until his attention is called to them. As Mr. J. J. Thomas
remarks, the laborer who makes with a common hoe 2,000 strokes every
hour should not wield a needless ounce. If any part is heavier than
needed even to the amount of half an ounce only, he must lift this
needless half ounce 2,000 times every hour. A hoe-handle should be
smallest near the hoe and largest near the other end; a pitch-fork
handle the reverse. Oughtn’t it?
A member of the Oxford (Ohio) Farmers’ Club recently said: We know
something how soil was made, if we do not know much. The soils in the
forests and untilled lands are better than they were a century ago, or
in the days of our fathers; but, alas, it is not so with the soils man
has cultivated. He thinks the term “cultivating” means to improve, make
better. We may make our soils better, but so few do that that we ought
never to use the term “cultivating the soil.” We harass, and torture,
and murder, and starve the soil. By withholding more than is meet we rob
our best friend.
New York Times: Tobacco is a universal insecticide. It kills ticks upon
sheep; the troublesome scab insect; its related species which produces
mange and itch; lice, fleas, and all other insect parasites which infest
and annoy animals; and root-lice, leaf-lice, and all other pests which
injure plants. Just at this season an application of fine tobacco dust
or snuff may be used effectively to relieve calves and fowls from the
vermin which keeps them poor and wretched, and a decoction of tobacco,
applied to house or greenhouse plants with a brush, will destroy the
pestiferous green fly and all other insects which infest them. The same
liquid may also be poured around the roots of house plants that are
infested with the small white worms which are the larvæ of a small black
fly that may be found in the pots and upon the soil in them.
The town of Amenia, in Dutchess county, N. Y., has tried, with marked
success, the plan of keeping a force of four or five men at work on
highways through most of the year under the supervision of an
experienced and skillful builder of roads, who gives his attention
constantly to the work. Every part of the seventy-five miles of highway
in the town is in good condition, and the expense of keeping it so has
been much less than it could have been by the old method. The new plan
has greatly relieved the farmers, who have not been called to work on
the roads at a time when other duties demanded their attention. New York
has a law which directs that the voters of any town may elect to adopt
this plan of hiring a force of men and a competent commissioner to make
and keep in repair the roads of their town, but the plan, once adopted,
must be followed for not less than three years. It has been found that
by the method described the roads have been kept in better condition
than ever before, and that the cost of the work has actually been less
than that of road-making by the old way.
Correspondent Ohio Farmer: In 1882 I raised a piece of Hubbard squashes.
The ground was manured very heavily with rich rotten compost, probably
at the rate of fifty tons or more per acre. It is necessary to make the
land very rich to succeed with this crop, but that isn’t the point I am
after. That same land last year was planted with potatoes, and it was
there that they rolled out so large and numerous as to yield at the rate
of 500 bushels per acre. Just over the fence, on a part of another lot,
where no manure had been applied for many years, there were only 200
bushels per acre. Difference in soil and kinds of potatoes might account
for some of this great variation in yield, but I think it fair to say
that 200 bushels per acre of the best yield was owing to the manure put
on the ground for squashes the previous year. The potatoes were none of
them sold for less than forty cents a bushel, so we have at least $80
per acre cash benefit from that heavy manuring the second year, to say
nothing of $240 an acre which the squashes brought. It was, of course, a
little more trouble to pick up and market the larger crop, but enough of
the potatoes were sold for over forty cents per bushel to pay for that.
* * * * *
BROWN’S BRONCHIAL TROCHES for Coughs and Colds: “There is nothing to be
compared with them.”—_Rev. O. D. Watkins, Walton, Ind._
* * * * *
The difficulty with most people is that they want to sit in the sunshine
and have good fortune come tumbling into their laps. Nature is an odd
dame, however, and does not give even half a loaf to a man who can do
his own loafing. You must get your spindle and distaff ready and then
Providence will send you the flax to spin.
* * * * *
MISCELLANEOUS.
Cheapest Farms for Sale in Illinois.
BEST FRUIT REGION IN THE STATE.
Send for my List of Farms and timbered Lands for sale.
DEWITT C. SMITH, Land Agent.
Stone Fort, Saline Co., Illinois.
When you write mention THE PRAIRIE FARMER.
* * * * *
[Illustration]
Print Your Own Cards
Labels, Envelopes, etc. with our $3 PRINTING PRESS. Larger sizes for
circulars, etc., $8 to $75. For pleasure, money making, young or old.
Everything easy, printed instructions. Send 2 stamps for Catalogue of
Presses, Type, Cards, etc., to the factory.
KELSEY & CO., MERIDEN, CONN.
* * * * *
First-Class Plants
OF BEST VARIETIES OF SMALL FRUITS.
Catalogues free. Address
O. B. GALUSHA,
Peoria, Ill.
* * * * *
[Illustration]
We will send you a watch or a chain BY MAIL OR EXPRESS, C.O.D., to be
examined before paying any money and if not satisfactory, returned at
our expense. We manufacture all our watches and save you 30 per cent.
Catalogue of 250 styles free. EVERY WATCH WARRANTED. ADDRESS
STANDARD AMERICAN WATCH CO., PITTSBURGH, PA.
* * * * *
[Illustration]
FARM MACHINERY, Etc.
GREAT SAVING FOR FARMERS.
THE
Lightning
Hay Knife!
(WEYMOUTH’S PATENT.)
[Illustration]
Awarded “FIRST ORDER OF Merit” at Melbourne Exhibition, 1880.
Was awarded the FIRST PREMIUM at the International Exhibition in
Philadelphia, 1876, and accepted by the Judges as SUPERIOR TO ANY OTHER
KNIFE IN USE.
It is the BEST KNIFE in the _world_ to cut _fine feed_ from bale, to
cut down _mow_ or _stack_, to cut _corn-stalks_ for feed, to cut _peat_,
or for ditching in marshes, and has no equal for cutting ensilage from
the silo. TRY IT.
IT WILL PAY YOU.
Manufactured only by
HIRAM HOLT & CO., East Wilton, Me., U.S.A.
_For sale by Hardware Merchants and the trade generally_
* * * * *
[Illustration]
CHICAGO SCALE CO.
2 TON WAGON SCALE, $40. 3 TON, $50.
4 Ton $60, Beam Box Included.
240 lb. FARMER’S SCALE, $5.
The “Little Detective,” ¼ oz. to 25 lb. $3.
300 OTHER SIZES. Reduced PRICE LIST FREE.
[Illustration]
FORGES, TOOLS, &c.
BEST FORGE MADE FOR LIGHT WORK, $10.
40 lb. Anvil and Kit of Tools, $10.
Farmers save time and money doing odd jobs.
Blowers, Anvils, Vices & Other Articles
AT LOWEST PRICES, WHOLESALE & RETAIL.
* * * * *
CHAMPION BALING PRESSES.
[Illustration]
A Ton per Hour. Run by two men and one team. Loads 10 to 15 tons in car.
Send for descriptive circular with prices, to GEHRT & CO., 216, 218
and 220 Maine St., Quincy, Ill.
* * * * *
“THE BEST IS THE CHEAPEST.”
ENGINES,
SAW MILLS, THRESHERS,
HORSE POWERS,
(For all sections and purposes.) Write for FREE Pamphlet and Prices to
The Aultman & Taylor Co., Mansfield, Ohio.
* * * * *
MISCELLANEOUS.
LIFE LOANS
AT 4 PER CENT.
[Illustration]
Principal need never be paid so long as interest is kept up.
[Illustration]
No security required except for interest, and then only personal. These
loans are for poor or men of moderate means, in amounts of $100, $500
FOR LIFE. Send a cent for particulars. W. ROBERTS, Manager, 195 W. 5TH
ST. CINCINNATI, O.
* * * * *
TO PRESERVE THE HEALTH
Use the Magneton Appliance Co.’s
MAGNETIC LUNG PROTECTOR!
PRICE ONLY $5.
They are priceless to LADIES, GENTLEMEN, and CHILDREN with WEAK LUNGS;
no case of PNEUMONIA OR CROUP is ever known where these garments are
worn. They also prevent and cure HEART DIFFICULTIES, COLDS, RHEUMATISM,
NEURALGIA, THROAT TROUBLES, DIPHTHERIA, CATARRH, AND ALL KINDRED
DISEASES. Will WEAR any service for THREE YEARS. Are worn over the
under-clothing.
CATARRH, It is needless to describe the symptoms of this nauseous
disease that is sapping the life and strength of only too many of the
fairest and best of both sexes. Labor, study, and research in America,
Europe, and Eastern lands, have resulted in the Magnetic Lung Protector,
affording cure for Catarrh, a remedy which contains No Drugging of the
System, and with the continuous stream of Magnetism permeating through
the afflicted organs, MUST RESTORE THEM TO A HEALTHY ACTION. WE PLACE
OUR PRICE for this Appliance at less than one-twentieth of the price
asked by others for remedies upon which you take all the chances, and WE
ESPECIALLY INVITE the patronage of the MANY PERSONS who have tried
DRUGGING THEIR STOMACHS WITHOUT EFFECT.
HOW TO OBTAIN This Appliance. Go to your druggist and ask for them. If
they have not got them, write to the proprietors, enclosing the price,
in letter at our risk, and they will be sent to you at once by mail,
post paid.
Send stamp for the “New Departure in Medical Treatment WITHOUT
MEDICINE,” with thousands of testimonials,
THE MAGNETON APPLIANCE CO.,
218 State Street, Chicago, Ill.
NOTE.—Send one dollar in postage stamps or currency (in letter
at our risk) with size of shoe usually worn, and try a pair of our
Magnetic Insoles, and be convinced of the power residing in our Magnetic
Appliances. Positively _no cold feet where they are worn, or money
refunded_.
* * * * *
CONSUMPTION.
I have a positive remedy for the above disease; by its use thousands of
cases of the worst kind and of long standing have been cured. Indeed,
so strong is my faith in its efficacy, that I will send TWO BOTTLES
FREE, together with a VALUABLE TREATISE on this disease, to any
sufferer. Give Express & P.O. address. DR. T.A. SLOCUM, 181 Pearl St.,
N.Y.
* * * * *
SELF CURE FREE
Nervous Lost Weakness
Debility Manhood and Decay
A favorite prescription of a noted specialist (now retired.)
Druggists can fill it. Address
DR. WARD & CO., LOUISIANA, MO.
* * * * *
FOR SALE—One-half interest in a thoroughly equipped CREAMERY located in
one of the best dairy districts of Wis. J. G. SNYDER & SON., Mt. Hope,
Wis.
When you write mention THE PRAIRIE FARMER.
* * * * *
[Illustration]
LIVESTOCK DEPARTMENT.
Stockmen, Write for Your Paper.
Leland Stanford, Palo Alto Stud, Mayfield, Cal., has sold to H. J.
Agner, Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, seven head of young thoroughbred
horses.
* * * * *
Col. Charles F. Mills, Springfield, Ill., informs THE PRAIRIE FARMER
that his Elmwood herd of Jerseys are going through the winter in
excellent condition.
* * * * *
H. K. Lewis, and John Cotton, Boyle county, Ky., have sold to G. L.
Chrisman, Independence, Mo., a nice lot of pure-bred Southdown ewes,
yearlings, at $12 per head.
* * * * *
T. D. Chestnut, Danville, Ky., recently sold to Simon Johnson, Garrard
county, Ky., ten Cotswold ewes at $6 per head, and fifty head of
Cotswold ewes to Robert Collier, Garrard county, at $5.50 per head.
* * * * *
Breeders of Short-horns in Scotland are to meet in Edinburgh next week
for the purpose of furthering the movement in aid of centenary prizes
for Short-horns at the forthcoming show of the Highland and Agricultural
Society of Scotland.
* * * * *
Mr. Charles H. Walker, President of the Nebraska Stock Breeders’
Association, writes THE PRAIRIE FARMER that the association will meet at
Lincoln, February 13-14. He adds: “This meeting is not in the interest
of any one breed; but is intended to help all persons engaged in
breeding, feeding or marketing cattle, horses, and swine.”
* * * * *
The Nebraska State Wool-Growers’ Association will hold its annual
meeting on Friday, February 15, at the Senate Chamber, in Lincoln. Every
sheep man in the State should be present, as matters of great importance
to this large industry will come under discussion, and especially the
present unsatisfactory state of the tariff. So writes the President, Mr.
P. Jansen, of Fairbury, Neb.
* * * * *
The collective shipments of live stock and fresh meat from the United
States and Canada landed at Liverpool during the first week of the
present year amounted to 861 cattle, 850 sheep, 100 hogs, 7,598 quarters
of beef, and 1,906 carcasses of mutton. The figures show a large falling
off in the arrivals of both live stock and fresh meat when compared with
the imports of later weeks of the preceding year, more particularly with
regard to live stock, which arrived in very small numbers.
* * * * *
Chicago Evening Journal: “The prospect is that the little ring of
political office-seekers who want Congress to make places for themselves
as “inspectors” of cattle and hogs will succeed in defeating the
proposed measure of retaliation against those European countries which,
without good reason, are discriminating against imported American
pork-products. The producers of and dealers in Western cattle and hogs
should take instant measures to head off Sanders and his gang.”
* * * * *
The flock belonging to the estate of the late K. W. Gentry, of Sedalia,
Mo., was disposed of at auction last week. The unregistered Merinos were
disposed of in lots of fifty at from $3.25 to $4.50 per head. Grade
lambs brought $2 to $3. The registered Merinos were sold by sixes and
sevens at from $17.50 to $60 each. The best rams brought from $20 to
$101, and a few of the ram lambs sold at from $18 to $46. Samuel Jewett
bought largely. On the same occasion the Berkshire hogs sold at from $20
to $43; one pair of mules brought $205; the yearling Jersey bull Elmwood
Favorite, bred by Col. C. F. Mills, Springfield, Ill., sold for $165.
* * * * *
The Inter-State Short-horn Breeders’ Association held a meeting at
Kansas City last week to adopt rules to govern the sales of breeding
Short-horns at the next Fat Stock Show in that city. After considerable
discussion it was resolved that the pedigrees be submitted and cattle
ready for examination on or before the first day of June, and that the
committee be requested to visit and inspect, some time in June, the
cattle offered for the sale. The executive committee was given plenary
powers in regard to deciding what animals are to be admitted in the
sale, and authorized to have the catalogues compiled and published. So
far over one hundred head have been entered for sale.
* * * * *