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THE PRAIRIE FARMER
A Weekly Journal for
THE FARM, ORCHARD, AND FIRESIDE.
ESTABLISHED IN 1841.
ENTIRE SERIES: VOL. 56--NO. 4.
CHICAGO, SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 1884.
PRICE, $2.00 PER YEAR,
IN ADVANCE.
[Transcriber's Note: The Table of Contents was originally located on
page 56 of the periodical. It has been moved here for ease of use.]
THE CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.
AGRICULTURE--Raising Onions, Page 49; Royalist 3d, 4500, 49; Illinois
Tile-Makers' Convention, 50-51; Better Management Needed, 51; Seed Corn
from South, 51; Field and Furrow Items, 51.
LIVE STOCK--Items, Page 52; Herd Books and Records, 52; Competing for
Sweepstake Prizes, 52; Raising Young Mules, 52.
THE DAIRY--Wisconsin Dairymen, Page 53.
VETERINARY--Impaction of the Paunch, Page 53;
HORTICULTURE--Lessons of 1883, Page 54; Illinois Hort. Society, 54;
Diogenes in His Tub, 54-55; Possibilities of Cherry Growing, 55;
Prunings, 55.
FLORICULTURE--Gleanings by an Old Florist, Page 55.
EDITORIAL--Items, Page 56; The Cost of Cold Winds, 56; Good Work at
Washington, 56-57; Wisconsin Meetings, 57; Answers to Correspondents,
57; Wayside Notes, 57; Letter from Champaign, 57.
POULTRY NOTES--Chicken Chat, Page 58; Chicken Houses, 58; Items, 58.
FORESTRY--Items, Page 59.
SCIENTIFIC--Official Weather Wisdom, Page 59; A Remarkable Electrical
Discovery, 59; Items, 59.
HOUSEHOLD--Christian Charity (Poetry), Page 60; Items, 60; The Night
Cap, 60; How to Treat a Boy, 60; Pamphlets, Etc., Received, 60; Compiled
Correspondence, 60.
YOUNG FOLKS--Jule Fisher's Rescue, Page 61.
LITERATURE--Between the Two Lights, Poem, Page 62; The Two Overcoats,
62.
HUMOROUS--Bait of the Average Fisherman, Page 63; Whose Cold Feet, 63;
Changed Relations, 63; It Makes a Difference, 63; Items, 63. Question
Answered, 53.
NEWS OF THE WEEK--Page 64.
MARKETS--Page 64.
RAISING ONIONS.
There are two causes of failure to make this crop uncertain. One is
because the soil is not kept clear of weeds, and the other is that it is
not properly enriched. To raise a good crop of onions requires a light,
loamy soil, worked into as fine a condition as possible, to render
cultivation easy.
The greater part of the preparation should be done in the fall, and
especially the application of the manure. Well rotted manure is the
best, and that which is free from grass, oats, or weed seeds, should
always be selected. Of course, if the manure is properly rotted the
vitality of the larger portion of the seed in it will be killed, but
unless this is done it will render the cultivation much more difficult.
Stiff, clayey, or hard, poor land can be made a great deal better for
the onion crop by a heavy application of ashes or well rotted bagasse. I
prefer to apply ashes as a top dressing in the spring, working it in the
surface, as I find by experience that they are not only valuable as a
fertilizer when used in this way, but are also of great benefit in
keeping down the weeds.
A plot of ground that is seeded with crab-grass should not be selected,
as the pulling up of the grass injures the growth of the onions. Onions
feed near the surface; in fact, the larger portion of the bulb grows on
top of the soil, and as a natural consequence the plant food should be
well worked in the surface. Of course it is too late now to talk about
fall preparation. If we want a crop of onions from seed this spring,
whatever preparation there is must be done between now and seeding. I
should plow or spade up the soil as soon as possible, if there is a thaw
out either the last of this or any part of next month.
If you can save up and rot a supply of poultry manure and leaves, you
can have the very best manure for a good onion crop.
Another important point in raising a good crop of onions is to have good
seed and sow it early. The first favorable time in the spring must be
taken advantage of, if you would have the best success with your crop.
As good seed is necessary in any crop, so it is with onions. Test your
seed before risking your entire crop, as by the time you plant once and
fail, and procure seed and plant again, it will be too late to make a
good crop. I always take advantage of the first chance in March to sow
my onion seed. We usually have a few warm days sometime about the middle
of the month when this work can be done. Of course I do not say that
this is the case every year. The first favorable opportunity should be
taken advantage of, is what I want to impress upon those who expect to
make a crop; let this time come when it will, any time early in the
spring. If the ground has been plowed or spaded well during the winter,
a good harrowing or raking should be given. If you have the poultry
manure, now is the best time to apply it, working it on top of the soil
with a rake. If you have not the poultry manure and have ashes, give a
good strong dressing of ashes, raking evenly over the surface. Mark off
in drills twelve inches apart, and not more than one inch deep; lay off
the drills as narrow and as straight as possible, and then drill the
seed evenly. Try to keep them in a straight row, as it will aid much in
the cultivation. Cover lightly, but press the soil firmly upon the seed.
They will withstand considerable cold, damp weather before rotting.
Last year I sowed my onion seed on the 23d of March; the next ten days
were cold, rainy, dark, dismal days, with two or three freezes. Yet my
onions came up all right and made a good crop.
As soon as the shoots make their appearance above the ground a good
raking with a fine steel rake can be given. This will give them a good
start and destroy the young weeds that will begin to make their
appearance at the same time. After the onions start to grow, cultivation
is the making of the crop, and the cleaner they are kept and the oftener
the surface is stirred the better will be the crop.
As to varieties, the old Red Wethersfield and the Danvers Yellow are my
favorites. The Yellow Strasburg is a good yellow variety, and there are
quite a number of others that are good. In cultivating I keep the
surface level, as they do better if kept in this way than if they are
hilled up. Thin out so that the plants do not crowd each other--they
should stand two or three inches apart--if you want large onions at
maturity.
N. J. SHEPHERD
MILLER CO., MO.
ROYALIST 3D, 4500.
[Illustration: Royalist 3^{rd} 4500
Elmwood Stock Farm
PROPERTY OF COL. C. F. MILLS, SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.]
The bull Royalist 3d, 4500, here portrayed, stands at the head of the
superb Jersey herd owned by Col. Charles F. Mills, Springfield,
Illinois. He was bred by Mr. Samuel Stratton; dropped December 13, 1878;
got by imp. Royalist 2906; dam imp. Nelly 6456. Royalist 2906 received
the first prize over all Jersey in 1877; first prize and silver cup at
St. Saviour's Show in 1877; first prize at the great St. Louis Fair as
a three-year-old, and grand sweepstakes at St. Louis Fair in 1879 as the
best Jersey bull of any age. Her sire, Duke (76), won first prize over
the Island, Herd Book Parochial prize, and first Herd Book prize at
Royal Jersey Show in 1875. Merry Boy (61), I. H. B., grandsire of
Royalist 2906, won first prize at St. Mary's Show in 1874. Stockwell II
(24), I. H. B., great-great-grandsire of Royalist 2906, won third prize
over the Island and second Herd Book prize at the Royal Jersey Show,
1871; the bronze medal at the Channel Island Exhibition in 1871, and
third prize at the Royal Jersey Show in 1872.
Nelly, the dam of Royalist 3d, 4500, has produced 21 pounds of butter in
seven days since importation, and Mr. Stratton is authority for the
statement that she received the special prize at the Farmers' Club,
Island of Jersey, for the best butter cow, having made 16 pounds Jersey
weight of 18 ounces to the pound, or 18 avoirdupois pounds, in seven
days. Her sire, Lemon (170), is the grandsire of Mr. C. Easthope's
celebrated Nancy Lee 7618 (test 95 lbs. 3-1/2 oz. unsalted butter in 31
days), and Daisy of St. Peters 18175 (test 20 lbs. 5-1/2 oz. unsalted
butter in seven days).
Taking all things into consideration, we doubt if there is a better
Jersey bull in the world than Royalist 3d. Certainly he has no superior
in this country. Mr. Mills' Jersey herd is a model in all respects, and
the popular chief clerk in the State Agricultural rooms may well be
proud of it.
* * * * *
The Northwestern Importers' and Breeders' Association, Minneapolis,
Minn., have bought $20,000 worth of Fresian stock of the Unadilla
Company, West Edmeston, N. Y.
* * * * *
[Illustration]
AGRICULTURAL
Farmers, Write for Your Paper.
Illinois Tile-Makers' Convention.
BUSINESS OF THE YEAR.
(_Continued from last week._)
An interesting feature of the proceedings of the Tile-Makers' Convention
was the brief reports of members regarding their business last year.
About forty manufacturers reported. In the majority of cases the demand
has been fair; in a few very brisk; in quite a number it was said that
sales could be made only at a reduction in prices. It was easy to see
that in some sections of the State the work of tile-making was overdone,
that is, the supply is in excess of the demand. It was the general
expression that prices could not be greatly reduced and leave a
reasonable profit to the manufacturer.
HOW TO INCREASE THE DEMAND
was the question this year. Last year at this convention the talk was
upon "How shall we supply the demand?" The answers to the question of
how to increase the demand were various. Some advocated a rigid
adherence to fair living prices, and thus teach farmers that it is
useless to wait for cheaper tile; make a first-class article and the
cheap tile that is hurting the trade will be forced out of the market.
There was a general advocacy of a wider dissemination of a knowledge of
the benefits of drainage. Show farmers and fruit-growers that they can
add new acres to their farms, and take from tiled land a sufficiently
increased yield the first year to pay for tiling, and that their land is
worth more dollars per acre after tiling than the expense amounts to,
and the demand will multiply many fold. Teach the farmers how to lay
their drains properly, so that no disappointment will result, and every
acre drained will advertise the profits from drainage. Circulate facts
in regard to drainage as contributed to the agricultural papers, and
even the newspapers. Subscribe for these papers and distribute them.
Circulate the essays read at tile-makers' conventions. Talk drainage
everywhere and at all times. These were among the means sensibly
advocated for increasing the demand for tile.
WINTER TILE-MAKING.
It is but recently that the manufacture of tile has been carried on in
winter, but now many establishments are running the year round. It was
not claimed that the business can be prosecuted as advantageously in
winter as in summer. But it gives employment to men, and the
manufactories are thus enabled to keep skilled labor always on hand. It
was thought that though the profits are small it is really better to run
in winter where there is a demand for tile. In most cases it is better
to make brick a portion of the year. There is always a demand for good
brick at paying prices. If it will not pay to produce all tile, or so
much tile as may be turned out, this will afford relief and keep the
machine in motion.
TILE MACHINERY.
Mr. Billingsby, whose position allows him an excellent opportunity of
judging, said there has been rapid improvement in the machinery for
tile-making. Great advance has been made in machines for preparing clay,
especially in the rapidity of handling it. The buildings for drying tile
were a great deal better than five years ago. The means of ventilation
are becoming excellent. The kilns are better and can be more
satisfactorily managed. There is yet need for a cheaper tile
factory--one where the investment of only a few hundred dollars will
answer.
PROTECTING DRAINS.
It was generally conceded that it is best to have some device at the end
of the drains to keep out rabbits, water animals, etc. Wires stretched
across did pretty well but must be carefully looked after to clear away
the roots and refuse that come through the drains. Two or three devices
to take the place of wire were exhibited and were generally thought to
be greatly superior.
OPEN DITCHES.
An interesting feature of this convention was the introduction, for the
first time, of the discussion of tile ditching by machinery in a paper
prepared by Hon. F. Plumb, of Streator, Ill. Mr. Plumb has been
experimenting for several years with tile ditches, using both animal and
steam power. He gave it as his conclusion that the machine of the future
would be a machine that would perfect the ditch by one passage over the
ground. He has perfected and is now manufacturing a steam power machine,
at Streator, Ill., which is spoken of very highly by all who have seen
it at work in the field. Mr. Plumb claims that the machine will cut
twenty rods of three-foot ditch in an hour, and give a grade and finish
to the bottom of the ditch equal to the very best hand work. The
capacity of the machine is varied to any depth up to four feet, and for
any sized tile up to nine-inch. Two men can operate the machine. The
cost of cutting ditches, laying and covering tile is reduced to about
ten cents per rod. He has already sold several of his machines, and is
to be congratulated on the success he has attained in securing a good
tile ditcher. We can conceive of no one thing that will conduce to the
sale and use of tile so much as such a machine as the Plumb Steam Tile
Ditcher. The machine is indorsed by C. G. Elliott, of Tonica, Drainage
Engineer; by Mr. Pike, President of the convention, and others who have
seen it at work in the field.
LAYING TILE BY MACHINERY.
There was nothing among the devices exhibited at this convention that
attracted more attention or received more favorable private comment than
a model of Chamberlin Brothers' Patent Apparatus for Tiling. The model
only was shown, but working machines are in operation in Iowa, and they
are giving excellent satisfaction, as attested by such men as Thos. B.
Wales, Jr., of Iowa City, and Daniel H. Wheeler, Secretary of the
Nebraska State Board of Agriculture. The apparatus is upon the old
principle of the mole ditcher requiring the same capstan power. One team
is sufficient to run it. The apparatus is composed of a beam or sill,
horizontal in position, and a coulter seven feet long at the rear end of
the beam, and perpendicular to it a spirit level attached to the beam,
aids in regulating. The coulter can be run anywhere from one to five
feet deep. The front end of the beam is provided with a mud or stone
boat to prevent sinking in the mud, and with a jack screw for regulating
on uneven ground. Attached to it, and following the mole, is a carrier
200 feet long, made concave in form. On this the tile are laid and
carried into the ground. A start is made at an open ditch or hole of
required depth; when the carrier is drawn in full length a hole is dug
just back of the coulter, two by three feet, down to the tile, a stop
placed in front of the tile, the machine is started which draws the
carrier from under the tile, when it is again located as before, and so
on. Different sized moles are used according to the size of the tile to
be laid. Any one can easily count up the advantages of this mode of
laying tile, provided the machine can do the work it is claimed to do,
and of this there seems to be no question, if we may believe the
testimony of those who have seen it in operation.
DRAINAGE LAWS.
The following by Senator Whiting, of Bureau county, was read by the
Secretary:
Illinois is a good State as nature made her, and drainage is destined to
add wealth almost inestimable. Drainage enterprises are everywhere
seen--in extent from the small work beginning and ending in the same
field, to the levees of Sny Carte, and the canal-like channels through
the Winnebago swamps. Drainage is naturally divided into two classes:
1. Individual drainage, where the land-owner has his own outlet
independent of others.
2. Combined drainage where one can not drain without joining with
others.
The smallest of these combined works is where two only are concerned.
The Hickory Creek ditch now in progress in Bureau and Henry counties is
thirteen miles long, has a district of about 15,000 acres, owned by over
seventy-five persons. This combined drainage partakes of the nature of
public works. For this class the constitution has been twice amended,
and many elaborate laws have been enacted. These laws have had their
vicissitudes, and are not yet free from complications. The first
drainage legislation commenced forty years ago, by a special act, to
drain some wet lands near Chicago. In 1859 two special acts were passed
for lands on the American bottoms. In 1865 a general act was passed. All
these enactments were under the constitution of 1848 which was silent on
drainage, and the courts annulled most of these as unconstitutional. In
1870 the new constitution was framed containing a brief provision on
drainage. The late Mr. Browning, a leading member of that convention,
drafted a drainage bill which was enacted into a law without change.
Large enterprises were organized and got well started; but again some
complaining person appealed to the courts, and this law too, was
declared too big for the constitution. The constitution was then
enlarged to meet if possible, the views of the court. Two elaborate laws
on the main question were passed in 1879, and these with several
amendments since made rest undisturbed on the statutes. One of these is
generally known as the "levee law," and the other as the "farm drainage
act." They cover nearly the same subject matter, and were passed to
compromise conflicting views. These laws relate to "combined drainage."
"Individual drainage" was not discussed. As the law does not undertake
to define how deep you may plow or what crop you shall raise, so it was
thought unnecessary to make any provisions about the drainage of your
own land.
COURT DECISION.--To the public surprise the Appellate court at Ottawa in
two decisions pronounced individual drainage unlawful. As this decision
is notable, and the subject of controversy, its history should be known.
In 1876, Mr. C. Pilgrim, of Bureau county, laid about sixty rods of
two-inch tile up a slight depression in his corn-field, discharging the
same under a box culvert in the public road. This depression continued
into a pasture field of Mr. J. H. Mellor, of Stark county, about
eighteen rods to a running stream. Mr. Mellor sued Mr. Pilgrim for
trespass, and the case was twice tried successively in the circuit
courts of Stark and Bureau counties. The juries each time decided for
Mr. Pilgrim, but the Appellate court each time reversed the decision;
and finally worried Mr. Pilgrim into yielding to a judgment of one cent
damages. The material part of that decision is as follows:
MELLOR VS. PILGRIM.--"The appellant had the right to own and possess his
land free from the increased burden arising from receiving the surface
water from the land of appellee through artificial channels made by
appellee, for the purpose of carrying the surface water therefrom more
rapidly than the same would naturally flow; and the appellant having
such right for any invasion thereof the law gives him an action. * * *
If, as we have seen, the appellee by making the drain in question
collected the surface water upon his own land and discharged the same
upon the lands of the appellant in increased quantity and in a different
manner than the same would naturally run, the act was unlawful because
of its consequences, and the subjecting of appellant's lands to such
increased and different burden than would otherwise attach to it, was an
invasion of appellant's rights from which the law implies damages, and
in such case proof of the wrongful act entitles the plaintiff to recover
nominal damages at least."
Under this decision it is not easy to see how a man can lawfully cut a
rod of ditch or lay tile on his own land, unless he can contrive some
way to stop the flow of water.
1. The lower man may recover without proving that he is damaged because
to drain is "wrongful."
2. Such drainage being a continuing trespass, subjects the perpetrator
to never ending law suits and foredoomed defeats.
3. The lower man may forbid you to drain, or exact such tribute as he
may dictate.
4. As the first man below must be consulted, why not the second, and how
far this side of the Gulf is the limit of this trespass?
Here, as I have elsewhere, I challenge this as bad law. It reverses the
order of nature, as well as custom, and can not be endured as the public
policy of Illinois. Let us contemplate the exact opposite principle. "A
land owner may drain his land for agricultural purposes by tile or open
ditch, in the line of natural drainage, into any natural outlet on his
own land or into any drainage depression leading to some natural
outlet."
This proposition is generally regarded as self evident, but out of
respect to the court, let us give some of the considerations on which it
rests:
1. Improved agriculture is an element in civilization.
2. Drainage belongs to good agriculture, is extensively practiced and
must often precede the plow.
3. The surplus water can not be stored or annihilated, and the course of
drainage is indicated, in most places determined by nature, in the
drainage depressions which are nature's outlets.
4. The law of gravity, with or without man's work, is constant and
active in moving the waters to the lower level. The ditcher's art is to
remove the obstacles to a freer flow.
5. Excessive water is a foe to agriculture; and for the general good it
should be collected into channels, and as speedily as possible passed
along on its inevitable journey.
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.--It is said to be a universal law maxim, "that you
may use your own as you will, but not to the detriment of your
neighbor," and that this principle forbids this kind of drainage. This
maxim may be general, but it is not universal. My neighbor may have
built his house and other domestic arrangements in the lee of a natural
grove of timber on my land. The removal of this grove may be a real
grievance by giving the wind too free a sweep; yet my right to change
this waste into a grain field will not be questioned. My warranty deed
is my right thus to improve my land, though it be "to the detriment of
my neighbor." He should have foreseen the contingency of a removal of
these woods. On like principles a land owner may remove an excess of
water so as to raise corn and not rushes. In the removal of woods my
neighbor may not have an immediate remedy for his ills, but the effect
of my ditches may be turned to good account by continuing them, and thus
improving his land as I have mine. My warranty deed is my right to
cultivate my own land, and this right carries the right to cultivate it
in the best manner. The lower man should have taken judicial notice that
water runs down hill, and that in this progressive age ditches may be
cut and tiles laid.
But it is said that this court decision follows the English Common law;
and now being settled by a decision, it is not open for further
consideration. In this progressive age nothing is settled until it is
settled right. Judge Taney once judicially settled the status of the
African race. The common law was held to forbid the bridging of
navigable streams. Harbors could only be made where the water was salt
and affected by the tides. The Dartmouth college decision was held to so
cover railroad corporations as to shield them from legislative control.
These have all been overturned by the march of events, and this
Appellate court decision is not necessarily immortal. For fifty years
the farmers of Illinois knew no such rule. The public roads have been
improved by side ditches which dropped the water into the first
depression. In 1873 there was placed in the road law a provision that a
land owner may drain on the public road by giving timely notice, and
this stands through all revisions. Blackstone in his commentaries does
not class this kind of drainage as a nuisance or trespass to lower
lands, but he does its opposite, where the lower man neglects to "scour"
a ditch, and thus sets back the water to the harm of the upper man. If
this court rule is common law, as claimed, then it may be further said
that a rule for the dark ages when drainage was exceptional, is not
necessarily the true rule, since drainage has become so large a part of
good agriculture.
ACTION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.--Early in the last session, bills were
introduced into each House to overturn this court decision. These were
defeated, but late in the session there passed with much unanimity a
bill of the following title, which became a law: "An act to permit
owners of land to construct drains for agricultural purposes." Sec. 1 of
this act reads as follows: "That the owner or owners of land in this
State shall be permitted to construct drains for agricultural purposes,
only, into any natural water-course or any natural depression whereby
the water will be carried into any natural water-course, or any drain on
the public highway, if the road commissioners consent thereto, for the
purpose of securing proper drainage to such land, without being liable
in damages therefor to any other person or persons or corporation." This
was intended to establish the right of "individual drainage."
But we are told that the courts will not respect this law, for the
reason that it seeks to legalize trespass.
Here we join issue with our objectors and stand by this declaratory law.
It embodies the general opinion and practice of the people; it is
plainly conformable to the physical laws of nature and the requirements
of civilization. Lands are held subject to laws thus grounded, and these
considerations will not tolerate laws or decisions the very opposite.
These declarations are not much more radical than a declaration that we
stand by the law of gravity as constitutional.
The public are busy in overturning this court decision by everywhere
disregarding it. The few who stopped draining in deference to the court,
have resumed under shelter of the statute. If all violators should be
prosecuted with vigor, tile-making might decline, but courting would be
lively. Courts and judges must be multiplied, and every lawyer in the
State would have fat business for the next ten years. Some judge will
soon give us a precedent in accordance with reason, and this will settle
the matter as effectually as did one taste of the tree of knowledge
reveal good and evil. It will soon be seen that individual interest is
best promoted by general and free drainage--that presumption should be
in its favor, and that one man should not be clothed with power to stop
others from making improvements.
NEW LAWS.--The next legislative work on drainage should be to revise and
consolidate the law. On some points the law is duplicate, and on one
triplicate. It is generally demanded that the law shall be less cumbrous
and more summary. This can be done to some extent when it shall be found
that the courts favor drainage. So far they have had a very tender
feeling for complaints. When drainage shall be acknowledged to be
lawful, laudable, and necessary, like plowing, laws may be greatly
simplified and made more effectual.
RIVER DISTRICTS.--Illinois being generally level, many of our inland
streams waste a large amount of land by overflow and drift. Roads,
crops, and bridges are insecure. To a large extent this may be remedied
by straightening the channels, and hereafter keeping them in repair and
clear of drift wood. If the lands along these rivers, which would
receive benefits from this work, were made into a district and
classified according to benefits, the burden on them for proper
improvement would not be great, and it is believed that dollars would be
realized for cents expended. This waste is growing worse year by year.
Enough land could be reclaimed along the Kaskaskia, Little Wabash, Big
Muddy, Saline, and Henderson to more than make a New England State. The
State may well afford to do the engineering and give an enabling act,
that the people interested may organize as they decide to improve their
respective rivers. When so improved, it will become practicable to more
effectually drain the district by lateral works.
Illinois being so generally level, and much of our black soil resting on
clay, here is to be the favorite field for the ditcher and tile-maker.
Invention has an inviting field, and already foreshadows rich results.
Your association, though a private one, touches the public interest very
broadly. You reveal and make possible new sources of wealth, which
promises to agriculture a new era of development. You may do much to
settle true principles and proper public policy, so that this great
drainage enterprise may move along harmoniously. The law-maker and the
tile-maker are necessary factors in this grand march of improvement.
Other valuable papers were read which we shall take occasion to publish
at some future time.
BETTER MANAGEMENT NEEDED.
A little forethought on a farm is a good thing. It saves time, money,
and much of the vexation that is liable to come without it. Like the
watchman on a ship a good farmer must always be looking ahead. He must
be quick in his judgment of what should be done at the present time, and
he should have a good perception to show him the best thing to do for
the future.
It is a mistaken idea that many possess who think there is no brain work
needed on a farm. Farmers are usually looked upon as an ignorant class
of people, especially by many of the city friends who often do not see
the large, sympathizing feelings that lie hidden beneath the rough
exterior of country people. They are in many cases better educated than
they look to be, and they have a chance to use all the education they
have at their command in the performance of the many and different kinds
of duties that are to be done in the occupation of agriculture. There is
much work to be done and it requires to be done at the right time to
give a profitable return for the labor. To have things done properly a
farm requires a good manager to eke out the labor force in the way it
will do the greatest amount of work. Most farmers are willing to work,
and take pleasure in doing so. All perform the harder parts of farming
with an energy that is surpassed by no other laboring class in the
world. Farmers deserve praise for this, I think, for it requires a great
deal of pluck to work as hard as many of them do.
It is not, however, the actual hard manual labor that pays the best. The
hardest part of the work may be done and there still remain enough to
render the job far from complete. The minute parts of an occupation are
the ones that distinguish it from others. These parts constitute trades.
They require a special training to perform them, and the more perfectly
they can be performed by any one, the more successful will that person
be considered as a tradesman. A fine workman receives more pay for less
work than one who does rougher work, simply because it is the minute
parts that bring in the profit. This is so in the mechanical trades; it
is so also in farming and yet many seem to be unaware of the fact. How
numerous are those who leave out the minutia; mechanics learn a trade in
a short time at least well enough to make a living by it. Many farmers
have spent their whole lives upon farms and are still scarcely able to
make a decent living; and the reason of it is because they have left
undone those parts which would, if performed, bring in profit.
It is not the lack of an education that causes so much poor success. It
is a lack of care in action and a want of observation in seeing. A man's
experience is what makes him wise. He gains this experience by coming in
contact with and observing those things which he meets.
In schools children are taught from the works of men. These works are
arts, and since art is but the imitation of nature, all education is but
imitation of that which the farmer boy has the chance of seeing before
it becomes second hand. There is no place that has greater facilities to
give observation its full scope than a farm. All farmers can, with the
aid of the right kind of books and papers, be reasonably well educated,
and most of them have a better comparative knowledge than they think
they have. Many of the city cousins are superficially educated. City
people can talk, but the greater part of the talk of many of them might
be more properly called chattering. No farmer need feel below them
because he is more retired and has a greater amount of modesty.
It is true, perhaps, that one can not seem more insignificant than he
really is. Great men are constantly dying, but the living move on just
the same. Each person's position seems valuable to few, and yet there is
almost an entire dependence of man to man. Every one can not fill the
highest positions, but they should make the best possible use of the
faculties that are given them. If this is done there will be no regrets
in the future in regard to what might have been done in the past. Life
will then be thought worth living and much more happiness will cluster
around it than now does.
There is no greater lack of education, perhaps, in agriculture than in
the other vocations of man, and most farmers have a good share of well
developed muscle to aid them in their work. The requisites are supplied.
How many use them, at least in the way they should be used. All of the
work could be done, but there is too small a number of good managers to
oversee and carry out the performance of the little jobs that require to
be performed at the right time.
There are some people in every business who, in the race for success,
far outrun their competitors. This may be noticed on a farm. It takes
but a short time to tell by the work a man does whether he is a good
farmer or not. If a person is a good farmer and unites that quality to
that of business management he will be successful in his attainments.
Through success he will be honored by the members of his profession. He
will be praised by all other people, and above all he will in the silent
thoughts of his own mind have the satisfaction and pleasure of knowing
that he is not a cipher in the vast human family. He will be pointed out
as an example to those who are perhaps bowed down by discouragement. He
will in all probability be called lucky when his success is really due
to decisions that are arrived at by the experience and close observation
of the past. If more farmers would be content to give their thoughts, as
well as time, to farming, there would be more success and happiness in
the occupation that depends above all others on good management.
S. LAWRENCE.
QUINCY, ILL.
SEED CORN FROM SOUTH.
I am an interested reader of THE PRAIRIE FARMER, and knowing that
thousands of farmers take the advice they get from its pages and act
upon it, I wish to say that the suggestions of B. F. J., Champaign,
Ill., regarding seed corn from portions of the country South of us will
not do. Last spring hundreds of farmers in Western Iowa planted seed
corn that came from Kansas and Nebraska, and the result was that none of
that from Kansas ripened, while but little of the Nebraska seed did any
better. It all grew nicely, but was still green and growing when the
frost came. It may be claimed that much of that grown from native seed
was no better, but it was better and considerable of it ripened, and
from this native seed we have the only promise of seed for next year's
planting. If farmers expect a good crop of corn they should not get seed
from a southern latitude. No Iowa farmer would buy seed corn now that
grew in Kentucky, Kansas, or Missouri. The only seed corn on which our
farmers rely implicitly is that which they have gathered before frost
came and hung up near the fire to be thoroughly dried before it froze.
That corn will grow.
S. L. W.
MANNING, IOWA.
FIELD AND FURROW.
All manures deposited by nature are left on or near the surface. The
whole tendency of manure is to go down into the soil rather than to rise
from it. There is probably very little if any loss of nitrogen from
evaporation of manure, unless it is put in piles so as to foment. Rains
and dews return to the soil as much ammonia in a year as is carried off
in the atmosphere.
Rice contains more starch than either wheat, rye, barley, oats or corn.
Of these grains oats carry the least starch, but by far the largest
proportion of cellulose. In nitrogenous substances wheat leads, followed
by barley, oats, rye and corn, while rice is most deficient. Corn leads
in fat, and oats in relative proportion of water. Wheat leads in gum and
rice in salt.
Convenience of farm buildings is an important aid to good farming,
especially where much stock is kept and there are many chores. Water
should always be provided in the barn-yard, the feeding boxes should be
near where the feed is kept, and the buildings should not be very far
removed from the house. If this results in more neatness about barns and
barnyards than has been thought necessary, it will be another important
advantage gained.
The President of the Elmira Farmers' Club tells the Husbandman that his
crop of sorghum got caught by the frost, and too much injured to be of
value as a sirup-producing substance. But he fed it to his cows which
ate it greedily, and soon began to gain in milk. He thinks he got about
as much profit from the crop as if it had been devoted to the original
intent.
Governor Glick, in a short address before the State Board of
Agriculture, last week, stated that Kansas history is the most
remarkable on record; that in 1883 her people had more money to the head
than any other people under heaven; that the State had received 60,000
immigrant population in 1883; that it will receive 160,000 in 1884; that
in ten years it will have 2,000,000 people, and that thereafter Kansas
will not care anything about bureaus of immigration--it will have people
enough to work with, and the rest will come as fast as they are needed.
Farmers' Call: The experiments conducted during the last season at the
Missouri State Agricultural College fully demonstrate the advisability
of mulching potatoes. We believe every experiment so far reported gave a
similar result. The cost of the materials for mulching is usually very
small, leaves or straw being plentiful and cheap upon the farm. The
materials manure the ground; and mulching saves hoeing. The potato
requires a cooler climate and moister soil than our latitude affords.
Mulching tends to secure both. The result in every case has been largely
increased yields of superior quality.
The old saying, no grass no cattle, no cattle no manure, no manure no
crops, is as true to-day as when first spoken. Grass takes care of him
who sows it. The meadow is the master mine of wealth. Strong meadows
fill big barns. Fat pastures make fat pockets. The acre that will carry
a steer carries wealth. Flush pastures make fat stock. Heavy meadows
make happy farmers. Up to my ears in soft grass laughs the fat ox. Sweet
pastures make sound butter. Soft hay makes strong wool. These are some
of the maxims of the meadow. The grass seed to sow depends upon the soil
and here every man must be his own judge. Not every farmer, however,
knows the grass adapted to his soil. If he does and seeds by the bushel,
or other measures, he is apt to be misled.
Including millet and Hungarian there were in Kansas this year 3,730,150
acres of land devoted to the raising of hay. The yield per acre was 1.61
tons, or a total product of 6,002,576 tons. None of the tame grasses
have as yet attained a large area in this State, the most extensively
grown being timothy which has an area of 95,844 acres. The great bulk of
the grass lands mentioned above is the prairie, protected by fence. The
eastern third of the State probably contains four fifths of the tame
grass area. The question of the growing of tame grasses in Kansas is
receiving much attention from farmers, it becoming of vast importance as
people increase the number of their farm animals. The question no doubt
will be satisfactorily solved within a few years, and the tame grass
area will increase to its just proportion.
The agricultural changes in Great Britain continue to be of a marked
character. The area devoted to grain crops the past year was 8,618,675
acres, which is 214,705 acres less than in 1882. Potatoes were planted
on 543,000 acres, and turnips and Swedes on 2,029,000 acres--all
showing a slight increase; but mangolds, vetches and other green crops
have declined by 21,000 acres on the figures for the previous year.
Clover and the grasses show an increase of 58,500 acres. The change from
tilth to permanent pasturage is again conspicuous, there being
15,065,300 acres as compared with 14,821,600 last year. Ten years ago
grass covered 13,000,000 acres, while arable land has fallen during that
period from 18,186,000 to 17,319,000 acres. Orchards are on the
increase, and also market gardening. In the matter of live stock there
is an improvement which leads to the hope that the heavy losses of
recent years will be made up.
* * * * *
Illinois Central Railroad.
The elegant equipment of coaches and sleepers being added to its various
through routes is gaining it many friends. Its patrons fear no
accidents. Its perfect track of steel, and solid road-bed, are a
guarantee against them.
* * * * *
FARM MACHINERY, Etc.
NICHOLS & MURPHY'S
CENTENNIAL WIND MILL.
[Illustration]
Contains all the valuable features of his old "Nichols' Mills" with none
of their defects. This is the only balanced mill without a vane. It is
the only mill balanced on its center. It is the only mill built on
correct scientific principles so as to govern perfectly.
ALL VANES
Are mechanical devices used to overcome the mechanical defect of forcing
the wheel to run out of its natural position.
A wind wheel becomes its own vane if no vane if used, hence, vanes--save
only to balance the wheel--are useless for good, and are only useful to
help blow the mill down.
This mill will stand a heavier wind, run steadier, last longer, and crow
louder than any other mill built. Our confidence in the mill warrants us
in offering the first mill in each county where we have no agent, at
agents' prices and on 30 days' trial.
Our power mills have 25 per cent more power than any mill with a vane.
We have also a superior feed mill adapted to wind or other power. It is
cheap, durable, efficient. For circulars, mills, and agencies, address
NICHOLS & MURPHY, ELGIN, ILL.
(Successors to the Batavia Manf. Co., of Batavia, Ill.)
* * * * *
Sawing Made Easy
Monarch Lightning Sawing Machine!
Sent on 30 Days test Trial.
A Great Saving of Labor & Money.
[Illustration]
A boy 16 years old can saw logs FAST and EASY. MILES MURRAY, Portage,
Mich. writes, "Am much pleased with the MONARCH LIGHTNING SAWING
MACHINE. I sawed off a 30-inch log in 2 minutes." For sawing logs into
suitable lengths for family stove-wood, and all sorts of log-cutting, it
is peerless and unrivaled. Illustrated Catalogue, FREE. AGENTS WANTED.
Mention this paper. Address MONARCH MANUFACTURING CO., 163 N. Randolph
St., Chicago, Ill.
* * * * *
CHICAGO SCALE CO.
[Illustration]
2 TON WAGON SCALE, $40. 3 TON, $50.
4 Ton $60, Beam Box Included.
240 lb. FARMER'S SCALE, $5.
The "Little Detective," 1/4 oz. to 25 lb. $3.
300 OTHER SIZES. Reduced PRICE LIST FREE.
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.
* * * * *
THE PROFIT FARM BOILER
[Illustration]
is simple, perfect, and cheap; the BEST FEED COOKER; the only dumping
boiler; empties its kettle in a minute. OVER 5,000 IN USE; Cook your
corn and potatoes, and save one-half the cost of pork. Send for circular.
D. R. SPERRY & CO., Batavia, Illinois.
* * * * *
HOOSIER AUGER TILE MILL.
[Illustration: Mills on hand.
Prompt delivery.]
FOR PRICES AND CIRCULARS, ADDRESS NOLAN, MADDEN & CO., RUSHVILLE, IND.
* * * * *
MISCELLANEOUS.
EVAPORATING FRUIT
[Illustration]
FULL TREATISE on improved methods, yields, profits, prices and general
statistics, free.
AMERICAN M'FG CO.
WAYNESBORO
FRANKLIN COUNTY, PA.
* * * * *
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.
* * * * *
40 (1884) Chromo Cards, no 2 alike, with name, 10c., 13 pks, $1.
GEORGE I. REED & CO., Nassau, N.Y.
* * * * *
REMEMBER _that $2.00 pays for_ THE PRAIRIE FARMER _from this
date to January 1, 1885; For $2.00 you get it for one year and a
copy of_ THE PRAIRIE FARMER COUNTY MAP OF THE UNITED STATES,
FREE! _This is the most liberal offer ever made by any first-class
weekly agricultural paper in this country._
* * * * *
[Illustration]
LIVESTOCK DEPARTMENT.
Stockmen. Write for Your Paper.
American breeders imported from Scotland 850 head of polled cattle last
year.
* * * * *
W. C. Vandercook, Secretary of the Northern Illinois Merino Sheep
Breeders' Association, recently took 900 Merino sheep to his recently
purchased ranch in Norton county, Kansas.
* * * * *
Mr. Estill, of Estill, Mo., passed through Chicago, a few days ago, with
forty head of Angus-Aberdeen and Hereford cattle. Estill & Elliott now
own one of the best polled herds in the West.
* * * * *
The second regular annual meeting of the Kansas State Short-horn
Breeders' Association will be held in the Senate Chamber of the Capitol,
Topeka, Kan., during February 12 and 13, beginning at 7 P. M. of the
12th.
* * * * *
The seventh annual meeting of the Dutch-Fresian Association of America
will be held at the Butterfield House, Utica, N. Y., February 6, 1884.
Essays and addresses are expected from a number of distinguished stock
breeders.
* * * * *
The Lafayette County Thoroughbred Live Stock Breeders' Association was
recently organized at Higginsville, Mo. They will hold annual public
sales and otherwise advance the improved stock interest. Their first
sale will be held at Higginsville, October 15 and 16, 1884.
* * * * *
The following is a list of Jerseys exported from the island during the
past year: Mr. Francis Le Brocq exported 848 cows, bulls, 28--total,
876. Mr. Eugene J. Arnold sent out 656 cows, 47 bulls--total, 703.
Sundry shippers sold 158 cows and 7 bulls--total, 165. Grand total,
1,744 head.
* * * * *
Our readers will not fail to notice the public sale ad. of Mr. Wm. Yule,
of Somers, Wis., who will, on the 19th day of March, disperse his entire
herd of thoroughbred Short-horn cattle. The herd numbers forty head, and
is the opening sale of the season, and will be one of the most
attractive ones of the year. They are all of his own breeding. Send for
catalogue, which will be ready about February 15.
* * * * *
Horse-stealing seems to be as prevalent in England as in this country. A
late London live-stock journal says there is as much of it going on as
there was half a century ago. A gang has recently been operating in
Kent, Essex, and Surrey quite extensively. The thieves are no respecters
of breeds, taking hunters, cart horses and carriage horses with equal
boldness. Arrests are becoming frequent, and it seems likely the gang
will soon be broken up.
HERD BOOKS AND RECORDS.
The following addresses may be of use to many readers of THE PRAIRIE
FARMER who may wish to record stock or purchase books:
American Short-horn Herd Book--W. T. Bailey, Secretary, 27 Montauk
block, Chicago, Ill.
National Register of Norman Horses--T. Butterworth, Secretary, Quincy,
Ill.
American Clydesdale Stud Book--Charles F. Mills, Secretary, Springfield,
Ill.
American Hereford Record--Breeders' Live Stock Association, Beecher,
Ill.
Holstein Herd Book--Thos. B. Wales, Secretary, Iowa City, Iowa.
Herd Register--American Jersey Cattle Club, Geo. E. Waring, Secretary,
Newport, R. I.
American Poland-China Record--John Gilmore, Secretary, Vinton, Iowa.
Central Poland-China Record, Mr. Morris, Secretary, Indianapolis, Ind.
COMPETING FOR SWEEPSTAKE PRIZES.