name of subscribers as printed upon this paper each week. The first two
figures indicate the volume, and the last figure or figures the number
of the last paper of that volume for which the subscriber has paid:
EXAMPLE: John Smith, 56-26. John has paid for THE PRAIRIE FARMER to the
first of July of the present year, volume 56. Any subscriber can at once
tell when his subscription expires by referring to volume and number as
given on first page of the paper.
* * * * *
[Transcriber's Note: Original location of Table of Contents.]
* * * * *
1841. 1884.
THE PRAIRIE FARMER
PROSPECTUS FOR 1884.
SEE INDUCEMENTS OFFERED
SUBSCRIBE NOW.
For forty-three years THE PRAIRIE FARMER has stood at the front in
agricultural journalism. It has kept pace with the progress and
development of the country, holding its steady course through all these
forty-three years, encouraging, counseling, and educating its thousands
of readers. It has labored earnestly in the interest of all who are
engaged in the rural industries of the country, and that it has labored
successfully is abundantly shown by the prominence and prestige it has
achieved, and the hold it has upon the agricultural classes.
Its managers are conscious from comparison with other journals of its
class, and from the uniform testimony of its readers, that it is
foremost among the farm and home papers of the country. It will not be
permitted to lose this proud position; we shall spare no efforts to
maintain its usefulness and make it indispensable to farmers,
stock-raisers, feeders, dairymen, horticulturalists, gardeners, and all
others engaged in rural pursuits. It will enter upon its forty-fourth
year under auspices, in every point of view, more encouraging than ever
before in its history. Its mission has always been, and will continue to
be--
To discuss the most approved practices in all agricultural and
horticultural pursuits.
To set forth the merits of the best breeds of domestic animals, and to
elucidate the principles of correct breeding and management.
To further the work of agricultural and horticultural organization.
To advocate industrial education in the correct sense of the term.
To lead the van in the great contest of the people against monopolies
and the unjust encroachments of capital.
To discuss the events and questions of the day without fear or favor.
To provide information concerning the public domain, Western soil,
climate, water, railroads, schools, churches, and society.
To answer inquiries on all manner of subjects coming within its sphere.
To furnish the latest and most important industrial news at home and
abroad.
To give full and reliable crop, weather, and market reports.
To present the family with pure, choice, and interesting literature.
To amuse and instruct the young folks.
To gather and condense the general news of the day.
To be, in brief, an indispensable and unexceptionable farm and home
companion for the people of the whole country.
The style and form of the paper are now exactly what they should be. The
paper used is of superior quality. The type is bold and clear. The
illustrations are superb. The departments are varied and carefully
arranged. The editorial force is large and capable. The list of
contributors is greatly increased, and embraces a stronger array of
talent than is employed on any similar paper in this country. We
challenge comparison with any agricultural journal in the land.
THE PRAIRIE FARMER is designed for all sections of the country. In
entering upon the campaign of 1884, we urge all patrons and friends to
continue their good works in extending the circulation of our paper. On
our part we promise to leave nothing undone that it is possible for
faithful, earnest work--aided by money and every needed mechanical
facility--to do to make the paper in every respect still better than it
has ever been before.
* * * * *
SPECIAL NOTICE
To each Subscriber who will remit us $2.00 between now and February 1st,
1884, we will mail a copy of THE PRAIRIE FARMER FOR ONE YEAR, AND ONE OF
OUR NEW STANDARD TIME COMMERCIAL MAPS OF THE UNITED STATES AND
CANADA--showing all the Counties, Railroads, and Principal Towns up to
date. This comprehensive map embraces all the country from the Pacific
Coast to Eastern New Brunswick, and as far north as the parallel of 52
deg., crossing Hudson's Bay. British Columbia; Manitoba, with its many
new settlements; and the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, completed
and under construction, are accurately and distinctly delineated. It
extends so far south as to Include Key West and more than half of the
Republic of Mexico. It is eminently adapted for home, school, and office
purposes. The retail price of the Map alone is $2.00. Size, 58 x 41
inches. Scale, about sixty miles to one inch.
* * * * *
READ THIS.
ANOTHER SPECIAL OFFER.
[Illustration]
"THE LITTLE DETECTIVE."
WEIGHS 1/4 OZ. TO 25 LBS.
Every housekeeper ought to have this very useful scale. The weight of
article bought or sold may readily be known. Required proportions in
culinary operations are accurately ascertained. We have furnished
hundreds of them to subscribers, and they give entire satisfaction.
During January, 1884, to any person sending us THREE SUBSCRIBERS, at
$2.00 each, we will give one of these scales, and to each of the three
subscribers Ropp's Calculator, No. 1.
* * * * *
OUR PREMIUM LIST.
Revised, extended, and properly illustrated will this week be sent to
every subscriber. There must be something offered in it that every one
needs or would like to have. The terms are the most liberal ever
offered. All readers are hereby constituted agents to solicit
subscriptions to THE PRAIRIE FARMER. If those who can not enlist in the
work will hand the PREMIUM LIST to some person who will do so, they will
confer a great favor upon the publishers and editors. What we all want
is to double our present list before the first day of April.
* * * * *
RENEW! RENEW!!
Remember that every yearly subscriber, either new or renewing, sending
us $2, receives a splendid new map of the United States and
Canada--58 x 41 inches--FREE. Or, if preferred, one of the books offered
in another column. It is not necessary to wait until a subscription
expires before renewing.
* * * * *
WE WANT AGENTS
in every locality. We offer very liberal terms and good pay. Send for
sample copies and terms to agents.
* * * * *
The Adams County (Ill.) Fair at Camp Point will be held the first week
in September. The premium list is out.
* * * * *
The seventh annual fair at Jerseyville, Ill., will be held commencing
Tuesday, October 14, 1884, and continue four days, with $5,000 premiums.
* * * * *
At the Cape of Good Hope Agricultural Society's trials, November 11,
1883, the Johnston Harvester Company were 1st in the trial field, and
also for the machine best adapted for the colony.
* * * * *
The growth of the Western live stock business has stimulated parties to
organize a Union Stock Yards Company at Sioux City, Iowa. The company
has a capital of $100,000. The shipping of dressed beef may become a
branch of its business.
* * * * *
One of the most popular and instructive essays at the late Wisconsin
Dairymen's Convention was entitled "THE FARMER'S GARDEN," contributed by
J. M. Smith, Esq., of Green Bay. This essay will appear, in full, in the
next issue of the PRAIRIE FARMER.
* * * * *
French papers declare that the Government crop reports for 1883 are
exaggerations. If land has risen in value and stock doubled in price,
the extra cost of running a farm more than makes up for it. The impost
duty on all agricultural products has also alarmingly increased.
* * * * *
Mr. Merritt, United States Consul General at London, directs attention
to the falling off in the value of exports from Great Britain to the
United States during the fiscal year ended September 30, 1883. The total
value of declared exports from the various United States consular
districts in Great Britain and Ireland during the year was $165,207,987,
a reduction from the figures for the preceding year of $14,231,858.
* * * * *
Mr. Calkins, member of Congress from Indiana, succeeded on Monday in
getting a suspension of the rules and the passage of a bill providing
that in any suit against an innocent purchaser of an article
manufactured in violation of the patent law, if the plaintiff shall not
recover twenty dollars or over, he shall recover no costs. This bill is
a blow aimed at the drive-well patent agents, and others of that ilk who
are perambulating the country to the annoyance of farmers. If the bill
passes the Senate, and there appears no valid reason why it shall not,
it will put an end to this species of robbery now so prevalent.
* * * * *
The only general advices we have regarding winter wheat come through the
extensive grain commission house of W. T. Baker & Co., Chicago. They
have private reports which indicate that the crop maintains a very high
average, and, with the exception of a few points in Southern Illinois,
Kentucky, and Tennessee, is doing as well as could be expected at this
season of the year. In Kentucky and Tennessee the ground is quite bare
of snow, but north of the Ohio river, from Kansas to Ohio, the wheat, as
a general thing, is well covered. The crop, however, was generally sown
late, and in many quarters fears are entertained of the final outcome.
* * * * *
The Nebraska State Farmers' Alliance held a meeting at Kearney on
Wednesday of last week. A platform was adopted declaring in favor of
national legislation to regulate railway traffic, demanding the
abolition of national banks and the substitution of Government currency,
demanding a tariff for revenue only, expressing sympathy with labor,
asking protection to labor organizations, recommending the abolition of
convict labor, asking Congress to reclaim all unclaimed land grants and
reserve the public domain for actual settlers, and opposing the
acquisition of public land by foreigners.
* * * * *
Do not forget that the Annual Farmers' Institute, or Agricultural
Lecture Course, at the Illinois Industrial University will be held from
Tuesday, January 29th, to Friday, February 1, 1884. Four lectures will
be given each day, at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., by Dr.
Peabody, Regent of the University, Professors Burrill, Jillson,
McMurtrie, Morrow and others. The topics discussed will be:
_Soils_--Their Origin, Physical Characteristics, Chemical Composition,
Drainage, Cultivation, Fertilization; _Plants_--Their Structure, Growth,
Nutrition, Seeds, Movement of Sap, Development and Distribution,
Economic Products. Addresses will be given in the evenings by Dr.
Peabody, Governor Hamilton and others. These lectures and addresses are
given as a part of the work of the College of Agriculture of the
University. No fees or examinations are required. All interested are
cordially invited to attend.
THE COST OF COLD WINDS.
Prof. Shelton, of the Kansas Agricultural College, puts the question of
sheltering stock in an exceedingly pointed manner. He has lately been
feeding ten steers in an experimental way. He found that for the period
of ten days ending December 29, the average gain per head was thirty-one
and one-tenth pounds. The weather was warm and sunny. The steers were
fed in an unbattened board shed. During the succeeding ten days, when
the cold was intense almost the entire time, the same steers, fed on the
same rations, and in the same shed, gained but six and six-tenths pounds
per head. About a year ago the Professor fed a lot of pigs for three
weeks of the coldest weather, in open yards, and found them to consume
more than three times the amount of food to pound of increase than the
same number of pigs in the warm basement of the barn. He has a cow kept
in a bleak "Kansas barn" which shrinks in her milk from one-fourth to
one-half after twenty-four hours of very severe weather. From all this
the conclusion is what we have so often taught in these columns, though
not as forcibly as the Professor teaches by his careful experiments,
that you can not burn feed as fuel to support the body of an animal and
at the same time have the animal stow it away in the form of muscle and
fat. The fact is that our farmers throw away one-half their feed in
furnishing animal heat that they might just as well save by paying a
small lumber bill and expending a moderate amount of labor.
GOOD WORK AT WASHINGTON.
Surely the House of Representatives is getting down to solid work since
the holiday vacation. Mr. Holman, for instance, found no great
difficulty in getting a resolution passed declaring that in the judgment
of the House all public lands heretofore granted to States and
corporations in aid of the construction of railroads, so far as the same
is subject to forfeiture by reason of the nonfulfillment of the
conditions on which the grants were made, ought to be declared forfeited
by the United States, and restored to the public domain.
This was good work, but Mr. Holman's second resolution, also passed, was
fully as much in accordance with public feeling and desire. It is to the
effect that our laws relating to public lands should be so framed and
administered as to ultimately secure freeholds to the greatest number of
_citizens_, and to this end all laws facilitating speculation in public
lands authorizing or permitting entry or purchase in large bodies ought
to be repealed, and all public lands adapted to agriculture, subject to
bounty grants, and those in aid of education ought to be reserved for
the benefit of actual and bona fide settlers, and disposed of only under
the provisions of the homestead law.
There was some opposition to this resolution. Mr. Kasson feared such a
law might work injury to the cattle industry. Mr. Bedford, however,
neutralized Mr. Kasson's influence by declaring that he did not propose
that four or five cattle kings should own the West as four or five
railway kings own the East.
It may be that our readers would like to take down the names of members
who voted against the resolutions. Here they are: Barksdale, Bingham,
Bisbee, George, Horr, Kean, Libbey, Lyman, Morse, Muldrow, Poland,
Ranney, Reed, Rice, Russell, Stone, Van Eaton, Whiting.
Now that the representatives have resolved that these things ought to be
done let us see if they will stand up to the rack and attend to their
part of the doing.
WISCONSIN MEETINGS.
Feb. 5 and 6--The State Horticultural Society in Senate Chamber,
Madison.
Feb. 5--The Wisconsin Cane-Growers Association, Madison. Prof. Wiley of
the Department of Agriculture will be present.
Feb. 6, 7, and 8--Farmers' State Convention, under the auspices of the
State Society, at capitol.
Feb. 13 and 14--16th annual meeting of the Southern Wisconsin
Cane-Growers' and Manufacturers' Association at Whitewater.
Feb. 6--The Wisconsin Swine Breeders will hold a meeting at the capitol,
for the transaction of such business as may come before them and the
discussion of subjects appertaining to successful breeding and feeding
of swine. All interested in this subject are invited to attend.
Answers to Correspondents.
J. C. MCCONAUGHY, ROCHELLE, ILL.--1. How can I secure a blue-grass
pasture? 2. How much seed to acre? 3. Can blue-grass be grown
successfully mixed with other grasses? 4. What season and what soil is
best adapted to secure a good catch? 5. Can it be grown on low, wet
land?
ANSWER.--1. There are almost as many ways to obtain a blue-grass pasture
as there are men who undertake the job, though essentially the practices
are alike. The usual method is to sow the seed in the spring or fall,
either alone or with clover or timothy. 2. The seed is very light and
chaffy, and weighs only fourteen pounds to the bushel, and the amount
sown varies from five to seven pounds to the acre. 3. Yes, though after
a few years blue-grass, on a true blue-grass soil, roots every other
grass out and reigns with a divided empire with white clover. 4. Any
good corn or wheat soil will produce good blue-grass--the usual method
of obtaining a blue-grass pasture is as follows: To one bushel of good
timothy seed one quart of red clover is added, and this quantity is made
to cover from five to six acres. The seeding may be done in the fall
with fall grain, in the spring with oats, or on stubble or wheat land on
the snow in February. After, in the month of August from a peck to a
half bushel of blue-grass is sown upon the young timothy and clover. But
little or nothing can be seen of the blue-grass for the first year and
it does not show vigorously until the third year. Thereafter if the soil
is a true blue-grass one and the land is pastured, blue-grass and white
clover dominate to the exclusion of everything else. Perhaps the surest
way to obtain a stand of timothy and thereafter a set of blue-grass, is
to prepare the land carefully and sow rye in October. On this sow
timothy and red clover as above on the snow in February or March;
pasture the rye, but not too closely, to 15th of May. Harvest the rye at
the usual time, and the yield will be all the better for the pasturing,
and sow the blue-grass seed on the stubble in August. 5. No, but red top
will in spite of your best efforts to the contrary unless you till and
thoroughly break up the land.
JOHN ZIMMERMAN, CAMERON, MO.--1. Has setting trees on a fence line as
posts for barb-wire been a success? 2. If so what kind of tree is the
best? 3. Will the hardy catalpa do, if so what distance apart?
ANSWER.--1. Barb-wire has not been introduced and used long enough for
trees set for the purpose of posts to grow to a sufficient size. But in
many cases aged Osage orange hedges, which have been suffered to grow
up, have been thinned out so as to leave a tree every ten, twelve, or
fifteen feet, and on these barbed-wires have been strung and made a
fence, which so far has proved satisfactory. The same success was
obtained where fruit and shade trees standing in a line have had
barbed-wire attached to them. But the precaution must be taken to nail a
strip--a common fence picket will answer--to the tree and then the
barb-wire to that. If this is not done, and the wire is fastened by a
staple to the tree, the wood soon overgrows, cracks and increases the
strain on the wire, damages the tree and spoils the fence. 2. Almost any
fast growing tree will do, but hard wood varieties are preferable. 3.
The hardy catalpa may do, but for low land we would just as soon have
the common willow. Eight feet apart is a good distance. The wires may be
fastened to these when they have acquired a diameter of four or five
inches, and later every other post may be removed. For high and dry land
in your latitude one Osage orange is worth a half-dozen catalpas,
because it is just as easily grown--and when grown it furnishes the
strongest and most lasting timber known. We may add here, that where a
fence is wanted across sloughs, or through permanently wet or moist
land, posts large enough for barbed-wire may be grown in a couple of
years or so--this by cutting stakes six or seven feet long and from
three to five inches in diameter from the common willow, and setting
them in March. The stakes require attention the first summer, in case of
dry weather or drouth, but nothing more than that the moist earth shall
be pressed up against them to prevent the young roots from drying out.
M. D. VINCENT, SPRINGFIELD, MO.--1. Can you tell me how badly oranges
were frosted during the late cold spell in Florida? 2. Is there a record
of colder weather at Charleston, S. C., Savannah, Ga., if so when was
it?
ANSWER.--1. It is hard getting at the facts. One report is that neither
oranges nor the trees were injured at Palatka, fifty miles south of
Jacksonville, while another just as credible says the fruit was badly
frozen on the trees as far south as Enterprise, 100 miles south of
Jacksonville. The probabilities are, that there was a good deal of
damage done to fruit on the trees, but no permanent or serious injury to
the orchards. 2. The mercury may not have been lower for 100 years at
Charleston or Savannah than the late cold spell, but during the winter
of 1834-35 the weather was so severe the orange trees were killed to the
ground 100 miles south of Jacksonville. Snow to a foot in depth fell at
Millidgeville, Ga., Lat. 33, and several inches over all northern
Florida. Some apprehensions are felt that these southern sections are
not safe from severe frosts for this winter and the next, since it is
pretty well known that these extreme cold periods return about every
half-century--the winters of near fifty and one hundred years ago having
been made remarkable by terribly severe and protracted cold.
J. H. J. WATERTOWN, WIS.--Give us the best remedy for chillblains?
ANSWER.--Tincture of iodine painted over the parts; or 10 grains of
salicylic acid extended in an ounce of half water and half alcohol. Both
to be applied with great caution, and largely diluted where the skin is
broken and ulcers have formed.
CHARLES C. PETERS, OLNEY, ILL.--If you were about to plant an orchard on
levelish, but at the same time naturally well drained land, would you
advise throwing up ridges as the common custom is in some sections?
ANSWER.--It might be advantageous to throw up ridges so as to secure
permanent moisture; but the trees should be set in the depression
between them instead of on the ridges.
THOROUGHBRED, LEXINGTON, KY.--There is a belief or an opinion current
among a class of breeders, always ready to accept and experiment with
new fangled notions, that the draft breeds imported from abroad,
especially the high priced French horses, are fed from birth on a more
or less regular ration of bone or flesh meal. This they claim is for the
purpose of developing bone and muscle. What do you know of the facts?
ANSWER.--Not much. Some of the foreign journals contain accounts of
experiments in feeding soluble phosphates of lime, but no two agree on
results, except that when the salt is judicially fed, no harm is done.
The subject is worthy of investigation and especially by Kentucky
breeders, since it would establish the claim that their soil, being
especially rich in the phosphates and nitrogen, produces grain, hay, and
forage of superior strength for feeding purposes, which appear again, in
their high bred stock of horses, sheep, and cattle.
* * * * *
The fourth National Agricultural Convention, under the auspices of the
American Agricultural Association, will be held at the Grand Central
Hotel, New York City, Wednesday and Thursday, February 6th and 7th,
1884. Addresses will be delivered and papers read by leading thinkers
and writers on topics of general interest, and all identified with
agriculture and kindred pursuits are cordially invited to be present and
participate in the proceedings. Delegates will be present from all
sections of the country, and arrangements for reduced rates of fare are
being made with the railroads leading into New York. The annual meeting
for the election of officers and the transaction of other business,
including the matter of a national agricultural fair, will be held at 12 m.
of the first day of the Convention.
Wayside Notes.
BY A MAN OF THE PRAIRIE.
I notice that Mr. Sanders, of the Treasury Cattle Commission, thinks it
beneath the dignity of Congress to adopt retaliatory measures against
France and Germany for prohibiting American pork products from entering
those countries. He thinks it a far better scheme to appoint a small
army of inspectors to examine all the pork before it is shipped from
this country. This might be more dignified, and after a time effectual,
but how shall we make France and Germany stop shipping their poisoned
goods to this country? Will they be equally "dignified" and appoint
inspectors on their side that will be satisfactory to our people.
Probably they would after a few months of prohibition; never before.
Dignity is a good thing, but protection to the health and wealth of the
people is better. Besides, Government inspectors are expensive luxuries,
and by no means always efficient. A fat Government appointment is a nice
thing--for the appointee, as Mr. Sanders is aware, but it is not
profitable to the tax-payers of the country to multiply them too
extensively. In my opinion the easiest way out of the muddle is to
strike back and to hit where it will hurt worst.
* * * * *