Willamette farmer., February 18, 1876, Page 3, Image 3

Sw55lr&l '
WTtngtmniktiiri
mmmom 'i mis'b.
R3SSffS
Qood HejvlTH-
Death in the Dishcloth.
A lady says in the Rural World, when some
of yon are sure to be down with typhoid fever;
, when neighbors are neglecting their own work
to nurse yon; when doctors are hunting in cel
lars and old drains for the canse, let me whis
per in yonr ear look to your dishcloths. If
they be black and stiff and smell like a "bone
yard." it is enough throw them in the fire,
and henceforth and forever wash yonr dishei
with cloths that are white, cloths that yon see
through, end Bee if ever you have that disease
again. There are sometimes other causes, but
I have smelled a whole honsefnl of typhoid
fever in one "disbrag." I had some neighbors
once clever, good sort of folks; one fall fonr
of them were Bick at one time with typhoid
fever. The doctor ordered the vinegar barrels
whitewashed, and threw about forty cents
worth of carbolio acid in the swill pail and de
parted. I went into the kitchen to make gruel
I needed a dishcloth and looked about and
found several, and such "rags!" I burned them
all, and called the daughter of the house to cet
me a dishcloth. She looked round on the
tables: "Why," said she, "there was about
a dozen here this morning;" and she looked in
the woodbox and on the mantlepiecp, And felt
in the dark corner of the cupboard. "Well."
I said, "I saw some old, black rotten rags lying
round and I burned them, for there is death in
snch dishcloths as these, and you must never
use such again."
I "took turns" at nursing that family four
weeks, and I believe those dirty dishcloths
were the canse of all that hard work. There
fore, I say to every house-keeper, keep yonr
dishcloths clean. Von may wear your dresses
without ironing, your sun-bonnets without
elastics but yon must keep your dishcloths
clean. Yon may only comb yonr bead on Sun
days, yon need not wear a collar, unless you go
from home bnt yon must wash your dishcloth.
You may only sweep the floor "when the sign
gets right;" the window don't'need washing, you
can look ont at the door; that spider web on
the front porch don't hurt nnythirg-but, as
yon love your livrs, wash ont your dishcloth.
Let the foxtail get ripe in the garden (the seed is
a foot deep any way), let the holes in the heels
of your husband's footrags go nndarned, let
the sage go nngathered, let the children's shoes
go two Sundays without blacking, let two hens
Bet four weeks on one wooden egg ut do
wash ont your dishcloths. Eat without a table
cloth; wash yonr faces and let them dry; do
without a curtain for your windows, and cake
for yonr tea but for heaven's sake, keep your
dishcloths clean.
Prevalent Errobs with Rkoaud to Apo
plexy. A mdical authority writing to the
New York Tribune regarding the death of
Vice-President Wilson, corrects ono or two
very prevalent errors with respect to apoplexy.
The symptoms of this disease, so dreaded and
so sudden in its attacks, are due to a lack of
proper supply of blood to the brain, and not,
as is generally supposed, to an accumulation or
"ruBh of blood to the bead." The rupture of
the cerebral blood-vessels is due to weakness of
its coats, which is the resnlt of general debility
or ill health. In the great majority of cases
there are no premonitory symptoms The at
taok may be preceded by a sense of weight or
fullness, vertigo, flushing, etc., but these sym
toms are never to be relied on. The liability
to an attack inoreases progressively from the
age of twenty years and upward. Another
popular error is that persons with short necks,
florid faces, ana fnll habit are peculiarly liable
to this attack. Recent researches develop the
fact that the majority of persons attacked are
either spare or of ordinary habit of body.
Physicians conclude that unless one attaok has
oocurred there are but few, if any, physical
signs or premonitory symptoms which will
warrant the prediction of an attack in any
case.
Oabeless Handlino or Children. I wish
to enter a protest in the name of all nervous
persons and of the injured little ones against
the reckless way in which many heedless per
sons express their love for children, suoh as
lifting them up by their heads, tossing and
catching them in the air, carrying infants on
their hands without any support to their backs,
and otherwise endangering their limbs or
wnses. I have now in my mind the case of a
man who was rendered a cripple for life
through his father's carelessness in lifting him
by the ankles, while he was a small child, he
(the father) having nnfortunatelv lost his bal
ance and turned the child's ankles in such a
way that he waH lame ever afterward. Two
different persons have told me that they knew
when too late that by their thoughtless play with
them they had seriously injured infants in
trusted to their care, one case resulting in
spinal disease and the other in fits. And yet it
Is a sight daily to be seen, that of people doing
these things. Do give the little folks tender
handling! Rural New Yorker.
Beep fob Diphtheria. A young lady was
recently attacked with diphtheria in a virulent
form. Slices of fresh pork were bound on her
neck without any good results. Her father
heard that the city doctors were using beef ex
tensively for the same purpose, tried it, and in
six hours the beef turned green, relieving the
sufferer. Ex.
THe Diivr
Temperature and Cream Raising. .
One of the most disoussed questions in -dairying
for butter is, at what depth and tempera
ature is it advisable to set milk to secure all
the cream? There have been numerous
opinions derived from diverse experience.
We find in the New York Tribune an
article from Prof. L. B. Arnold, secretary of
tha American dairymen's association, which
states very clearly the principles which govern
the rising of cream. The propositions set
forth are of peculiar value to California butUr
makers, for here it is not as easy to secure ex
act temperatures as at the East where ice-
.A .hnn1ant Prnf. Arnold ahowa how
nouBea mo Bwuuw.ii.1 - - - -
the setting may be made to act perfectly in
dittereni aegrees ui uoi. "..-.
There are a few general facts relating to set
ting milk and raising cream that have.an appli
cation in deep and Bhallow setting, which It
may not be out of place to state briefly in this
connection. 1. Other conditions being equal,
it must be evident that it takes less time for
cream to rise through a thin stratum of milk
than a thick one less time to rise two inches
than twelve. 2. As fat, of which cream is
chiefly composed, swells more with beat and
shrinks more with cold than does water, of
which milk it chiefly composed, i t is evident
if other circumstances are alike, that oream
will rise faster in a high temperature than a
low one, since the fit in cream, by swelling
more with beat, will be relatively lighter, when
both milk and cream are warm, then when
both are cold, the temperature in both cases
being supposed to be neither rising nor falling,
but standing without change. 3. Water is a
better conductor ol heat than fat, and hence,
when the temperature of milk varies either up
or down, the water in the milk feels the effect
of heat or cold a little sooner than the fat in the
cream does, and therefore the cream is
always a little behind the water in swelling
with heat and shrinking with cold, diminishing
the difference between the specific gravity of
the milk and cream when the temperature is
rising, and increasiug it when the temperature
is falling. The dliference between the specific
gravities of milk and cream, when both have
the same temperature, is but little. It is barely
enough to give a sluggish motion to the cream.
Where the difference in gravities is so viry
small, a slight increase or decrease is sensi
tively felt, and the carefal observer will havo
no difficulty in noting the retarded ascent of
cream in a rising temperature, and its hurried
ascent in a falling one. The fact of a hurried
rising of cream in a falling temperature ot milk
has great significance in butter dairyiDg, and
though always open for recognition in every
butter nirtkiDg establishment, whether corporate
or private, it has failed of being recognized
both by dairymen and dairy writers, perhaps
because they have had their minds intently
bant on some ideal temperature or depth as the
sine qua turn. A Utile explanation may neip to
snow now tnese general statements are con
nected with deep and shallow setting.
If two vessels of milk at 803 and of the same
depth and quality are set in a room which has
an even temperature of 50, and one is cooled,
before setting, to G(P, and the other is not, the
vessel which was cooled will not throw up
cream so rapidly nor so perfectly as the one
which was not cooled before setting, because
it received no benefit from an increased differ
ence between the specific gravities of the milk
and cream by reason of a falling temperature.
It after the cooled milk had stood at 50 till the
cream ceases to rise, it is warmed and set again
at 50', or if without warming it is set in a room
colder than 50, in either case more cream will
rise by reason of lowering the temperature.
The same results would follow, but in a feebler
degree, if the milk which was not coo'ed before
Ketting was treated in the same way, provided
it was et shallow, say two inches deep in the
first place. Milk .set shallow in a cold room
will not throw up its cream so perfectly as
when set in a warm room, because when shal
low It drops to the standard of the room before
the cream U all up, and now, having ceased to
derive any benefit from a depression of tem
perature, It will not, in a cold room, throw up
its cream with a sufficient force to bring the
heavier narticlea to the surface, Hearing in
mind that, up to a certain point, the warmer
milk is kept the sooner It spoils, C5 is a high
temperature to set milk in; yet milk set two
inehes deep at 03 will throw up its cream
quickly and perfeo'ly, when it would not do so
sat at 5P, because though the milk may very
soon fall to the standard of the room and cease
to derive any advantage from ft falling temper
ature, yet as the creim rises more readily in a
high temperature than in a low one, it will, at
snch a degree, and such a depth, come up fast
enough to rise perfectly before souring begins.
If we should set warm milk in vessels six
inches deep, in a room at 65J, it would take so
much longer for the cream to come up through
tnat increased deptn mot me mint woum bjjuu
hflfnrn it nil cnnld cet nn. But let the deep
vessel be placed in a oold room, say at 50, and
the result will oe altogeiner ainerem. umina
the shallow milk in the cool room, the in
creased depth and bulk so muoh prolongs the
time of coolinc that the cream will all, or very
nearly all, be up before the milk has dropped
to the standard of the room.
By having the foregoing general statements
well grounded in tne mind, and Keeping in dis
tinct remembrance the relations between tem
perature and depth, and especially the im
portant effect of o'falling temperature upon the
ascent of cream, one anxious to learn can,
with a little experience, be successful in rais
ing cream perfectly at any temperature from
40 to 70. It will beoonie clear that though
certain temperatures are desirable, they are not
absolutely necessary to obtaining all the cream.
There Is a great deal of talk about an even
temperature for raising cream, and so far ns
the dairy room is concerned, it is desirable
that it should be uniform, because it gives reg
ularity to all the operations of the dairy, and
aids in securing uniform results. But so far
as the single fact of raising the cream is con
cerned it is betterUbat the milk should not be
kent at anv one particular degree, but that it
should be kept varying downward as long as
possible.
Agriculture in the Public Schools.
By Professor Isaac Kinley Concluded.
The True Book Farming.
There was a lime, and not lone ago, when
book farming, or scientific farming, was the
standing jest of the farmers themselves, it was
looked upon as a species of pedantry, set up in
opposition to experience. And it must be con
fessed that many were the men, with neads
chock full of theories and visions of the poetry
of country life, whose great promises and great
lauures gave puiuii uj iud gcuom jui.u. , .
deed, I were compelled to choose between
theory without experience, and experience
without theory, I Bbonld, unhesitatingly, take
the latter, confidently expecting that routine
with industry and strong muscles would win
the race. For the farmer needs educated
muscles as well as educated mind, and habits
of industry as well as habits of thought. No
one should be foolish enongh to suppose that
theory of itself can produce great crops. It is
theory applied the skillful hand guided by a
wise head, that must accomplish results.
The science of agriculture I use this phrase
for convenience is not one, bnt many sciences,
or such parts of them as relate to and explain
the practical operations on the farm. Agricul
ture is, by common consent, one of the oldest
of human pursuits; and it would be paying a
poor compliment to the tillers of the soil, to
deny that an) thing more valuable than rontine
has been deduced irom au tne experience ui uu
the ages.
Value ol Agricultural Science.
The value of agricultural science has been
recognized by the congress of the United
States, In establishing an agricultural bureau,
I tl. ilnn.Hnn fsi AAnll RtAtA fit A ttOrtiOD
of the public lands for the purpose of building
up tne industrial colleges iu wuiuu ojjiivuhuio
is to occupy a conspicuous place. It is further
supported uy mc ih;i. liiMNicni umiic(,vbmi
established departments of agriculture. But
it will ne generally miu suuivjouwy iowgijiwu
only when the common schools of the State
(KaU-' glluuLU.-i ,. , - -0-"
tnral science as a necessary part of their edu
cation, wnen rots is uuuo, hdnjui iwuww
industries alongside it having equal educational
advantages. ....
Now that congress has made a valuable do
nation for the purpose of having agriculture
taught, Its utility, as a collegiate study, is be
ginning to be admitted; though, as a study, in
the schools of lower grade, it Is ridiculed as
impractical. Yon may teach it in the colleges
but not in the township or district schools. A
little reflection will suffice to show the absurd
ity of this proposition. Not more than one
WILLAMETTE' FARMER.
farmer's son in a thousand has the advantage
of a collegiate course of study: and of those
who do have, the number is relatively small of
those who return to the farm. I agree, how
ever, that the introduction of a course of agri
cultural stndy will greatly increase the number
of farmers' boys who enter college, as well as
the relative proportion of those who, after
having graduated, will return to farming pur
suits. But alter making a liberal allowance
for this, it must still always be true, that only
a very small per cent, of the whole people cau
ever have the benefits of a collegiate education.
Whatever of agricultural soience is taught to the
great mass of the people must, therefore, be
taught in the common schools. A few farmers
of affluence will be able to send their Bona to
college; a few young men of great energy will
work their way through the collegiate course;
but the large majority must bo eduoated only
in the publicschools, and unless the industrial
sciences can be taught in these the great mass
of the people must forego all school instruction
in thia subject.
The whole Deonle should be educated in the knowl
edge and business of practical life. By denying
the Introduction ot industrial Bcience into tne
public schools, the very persons must always
be deprived of it who most need its advantages.
la this country it is not the policy to segregate
the land into larae estates, constituting the
rural population Into landlords and tenants.
The polioy is rather to subdivide into small
estates, the farmer tilling his own soil. His
boys take the place of hired help, and canuot
well be spared irom uome. me puuuo scuuuia
are. aa a rule, their onlv opportunities, and we
should make these opportunities equal to their
wants. To say that agriculture shall be taught,
and yet not taught in those schools, is to deny
the teaching of It where alone it can be greatly
beneficial.
In order that agricultnral education be valu
able to the people at all it must be taught in
schools accessible to the people. What mock
ery to provide the benefits of agricultural in
struction, and yet have this instuicti'.iu given
only in institutions which no considerable por
tion of the people can by any possibility at
tend. It should be taught in the colleges, as a
matter ol course; but let the colleges be in this,
as in other subjects, places to which students
may graduate trom schools of lower grade.
But cut ooiio, says the practioal man of busi
ness, suppose every lea-onable objection be
answered and every farmer's son thoroughly
educated in agricultural science, what good will
it all do? I concede that the question of utility
properly stands at the thr shold of every enter
prise. WhatU9e? On the pi oper answer to this
question will depend the final success of the
movement. We live in nn utilitarian age. We
are a utilitarian people. And in the widest
sense of this much abused word I confess to
the title of utlllt-iriau. Utility is the motive
power that gives force to enterpii-e and over
comes the inertia of popular indifference. By
it let us test the present movement, and let Its
fate be decided by the answer to the question,
"For what good?"
The Results.
The first and m st manifest benefit arising
from agricultural education will be the general
increase of the products of the farm. As al
ready stated, the farmer applies practically ini
nnrtnnt nrincinles of science. That in order to
apply these correctly It is necessary to under
stand them, is a proposition which needs no
argument. When the farmer plows he changes
the mechanical and chemioal condition of the
soil. When he plants and cultivates he is mak
ing exneriments in orsanic chemistry. When
he feeds bis live stock he is applying principles
of nhvsinlnov and hvciene. And finally, every
kind of farm work requires, in order that it be
rinnn at tne ntrht time ana in tne nroner uiuu-
ner, piactical knowledge as well as praotlcal
skill. Now, if the sciences which give infor
mation on these subjects betaught in the pub
lio schools, and be made" the "text for Bchool
books the best methods with the reasons there
for explained It is plain that the fund of prac
tical knowledge would be increased, and the
judgment correspondingly improved.
Agriculture In the school would cultivate
early habits of reflection as applied to work,
and in after life cause knowledge and judgment
to take the place of routine.
If what I have said be true we should expect
to find, as Is the fact, that in those countries
where agricultural science is better understood
and better applied, a corresponding Increaso in
the products of the earth. In England, Hol
land and most of the German States, the aver
age products of the soil exceed those of the
United States, though our soils are newer and
naturally more fertile. Industry guided by
science has converted the rocky fields of East
ern Massachusetts into gardens, and every year
witnesses harvests that are seldom surpassed in
the more fertile fields of the newer States.
In the different portions of the Union tho ex
amples have been numerous of skillful and
scientific farmers, who, purchasing waste and
worn out fields, have by underdraining, deep
plowing, subsolling and a judicious application
of fertilizers, made their barren soils the equal
of the best.
Great crops are not accidents. The laws of
nature are uniform. In agriculture, as in other
things, like causes must produce liko effects.
Wherever exist the necessary conditions great
crops must be produced. To explain what are
these conditions; how, at the least cost, to pre
serve them when prosent, or to produco them
when absent, Is the legitimate work of agricul
tural instrnction. Let us suppose all the more
important knowledge on this subject arrangod
in convenient and systematic form and pub
lished in a series of school books, numbering
one, two, three, etc., from easy primary woiks
to those more thoroughly scientific, and that
these be made an optional part of tho school
course. What grand results might we not rea
sonably expect. Within the next generation
agriculture would assume a new form; its pro
cesses would in every way be improved, and in
some cases a hundred per cent, be added to the
products of the soil. The ditch, underdrain
and subsoil plow would carry from our wet
lands the excess of moistnre now compelled to
evanorate into the atmosphere, generating
agues and all manner of pestilential fevers; the
nouses, Darns, orcnurua auu ku .uum ,
on neatness, order and beauty, and our glorions
country become the Arcadia of the world.
The simple operation of ditching and under
draining and Bubsoiling, so beneficial in many
parts of the United States, is a praotical ap
plication of scientific principles. Now is it not
reasonable that the farmer who understands
these principles will be more likely to apply
them properly than one who does not?
Knowing Causes.
It is said that it is enongh to know the fact
Why trouble ourselves about the sciences? I
answer that we are a reasoning, skeptical, phil
osophical people, and it Is very difficult to
nnvinrA na nf facta without our first knowing
the reason. Bnt give us a theory even a false
one, If we are thoroughly convinced of its
truth and we will traverse tne poiar region
in search of Symme's hole, lavish our money
without stint on a machine that is to be a per
petual motion, or quietly wait tho new advent
according to the predictions of Miller. Give
ns a reason, whether in sciences, politics, or re
ligion, and we follow it to its legitimate results.
Educational institutions are for the young.
The youth should have opportunities to pre
pare for the life battles in which they are soon
to engage. Let therefore, the fanner's eons,
and daughters, too, be thoroughly educated la
the principles of scientific agriculture. Let
theory and practice go hand in hand. While
the muscles are being trained in the habit and
skill of farm work, let the mind bo Instructed
(n such knowledge as will mako this skill the
more valuable.
Thn vir that witnesses the advent of agri- t
cultnro as a Btudy in the public schools, will .
mark an era in human improvement, and the
man then of middle age will live to see accru-
ing advantages beyond all calculation. In no-,
thing else, perhaps, will this improvement be
so marked ns in the use of fertilizers. The
farmer who knows not what his soil contains,
nor what the plant feeds on, is not so likely to
supply to an Impoverished soil precisely the
plant-food it needs, as one better acquainted
with the constituents of both soil ami plant,
and who understands the best and most econ
nmirul means of siunilviDC deficiencies. One
of the greatest drawbacks to agricultural im
provement is the constant withdrawal of edu-
cated youug men from the farm. Regarding agri-
w. . u v n- - -? - . .
culture as mere routine, ambitious young men
tire of the exclusively muscle work, and seek
a wider field of intellectual pursuit. These
vnnnr- men will learn that tannine is an Intel
lectual vocation, and that the fiekls that grow
tlinir rrona are also fields of research. Seeing,
that intelligent labor produces double the yield I Thu wonW We a totai projuct 0 90,000,000
of mere routine they will not be so readily bushels 0f wheat for these lands alone. Allow
tempied away from this the grandest of human jng (liat tbey wer8 M reolaimed and settled up
pursuits. ... I by small farmers, Bt, say the rate of two hund-
lUlture Aavocaiea. .red acres to each family, would give us an ad-
I do not mean that the agricultural student ditjonaj popnlation of 15,000 families, or about
should give his attention to this subject alone, G0 000 souls. Allowing one-third of this land
and to the exclusion of all other needed Inlor- for orcuard, pastures, gardens, roads, villages
mation; I wouM not shut him out irom other and other pnrpose,i $t would still leave an an
sources of knowledge or from any means of re- nnftl pro(Jnct o( CO.000,000 bushels ot wheat
fining and humanizing culture. Every child from the reraaining two-thirds, which would be
that comes into the world has, by reason or its ( - t . 000 000 more tnan tjje totai product of
humanity, an inalienable right to the growth whoat nn(1 barey combined for the year 18t5G,
of its powers, and should have, not only during nnd go qqq 000 i,UBUei8 more than the corn
minority, but through life, the best opportum- ngd ' dnct of wuoftt and barley in 1873. Of
tiei for mental and moral culture. m I the laud now cultivated in the State, more
With the improvement in agriculture will, th(m two.thirds is devoted to wheat and barley,
eome a corrnsponding improvement in tne Qr ab()nt the samo propottion a9 allotted to the
other industries and ot society itself, landless gwJ land. In other words, the swamp
indeed are the collateral advantages that would jandglo tn0 g,nto are fully equal in extent and
result. Among these the suppression of deni- ftrea tQ thfl enUre caitivated area of the State,
agngism and tho silencing of corrupt politicians i( reciajmedi wiii yield double as much,
will not be the least. The general Increase of Tfae taJe lan(,3 of the stftte are sj(nated prin
lntelbgence that must resnlt will make the cipaliy jn the Saoramento valley, commencing
people so jaunty a nag as to render tho ruling i aD've''R(,d Dff, Rnd extending down the Sacra
of it a dangerous experiment. , mento rjver on both sides alternately, to where
Tho great resulting moral advantages must . t nuite8 wj,u tho San Joaquin; also, bordering
not be lorgotten. It has been beautifully said Beverai 0f the lakes, Tnlare and Kern. Tho
that " The laws ot nature are tne eider wuru ui .
God." The student of agricultural science is
the student of nature, and whetner studying or
applying this " elder word, " he will feel that he
is ever in the presence of the invisible but
omnipotent God, to whom study and labor are
at once a homage and n piayer. Agriculture
in the public schools will produce high culture
on the farms, and what is infiuitely greater
and better, It will produce high culturo in tho
minds nnd hearts of the aons and daughters of
the people. Rural Fress.
Wool Markets.
New YonK, Jan. 8th. There is a very slow
business done. The failures recently at the
mills tend to distrust, and form a most promi
nent influence ngainst the trade. Holdors do
not appear at all anxious as regards their ability
to sustain the current market rates on the more
desirable line? of stook. The transactions show
a change in the prices of California wools.
Considering the condition of matters it has met
with a fair demand, nnd full prices have been
realized. Spring is quiet. Sales are 10,000
pounds at 1820 for Choice and 17 for Burry ;
32,000 pounds alightly Burry spriug at 1G16,
and 16,000 Spring at private terms. The esti
mated stock of Dom8tio Wool in this city Jan
uary 1st was 0,499,000 pounds, of which there
were of California spring, Oregon and Nevada,
1,332,000 pounds; California fall, 1M90;000
pounds, California Pulled, 170,000 pounds.
Boston, Jan. 8tb.-The large sales for the three
months ending December 31st, coupled with
the indisposition to extend credits so liberally
as in the past, have tended to make the trade
comparatively quiet the past week. A few
small manufacturers have failed, but as this
was anticipated it has had little or no effect on
the market. Sales of California have boon
comparatively light and prices are firm. Thoro
are orders in the market from buyers for Coli
fornia fleece at h little below current rates, but
holdors are not yot ready to mako the necos
Bary concessions. The sales include 125,700
nnnnila nnrini? at aBfMGc: 255.000 pounds fall
nt. 1.!rtA'lin fi.000 nounds Scourol ut37(n55c:
12,0011 pounds Pulled on private terms. The
estimated stock on hand January 1st was 11,-
d stock on hand January 1st was 11,- Bjncle year, aggregating twelve tons ot good
pounds, of which 5,007,000 pounds hay worth at the landing of the boat ten dol
iifornia, against 4,323,000 pounds for ' i a toni which womlcl be 120, and this less
i time last year, while prices show a $.j ft ton for baling and delivering, would leave
Zi)V, UUO pOUUUt
were California
the name time
denlinA of two cents on fall nnd five cents on
spring as compared with tho same time last
year. .
Wink and Biundi. The preBs dispatches
from Washington, dated Jan. 10th, bring an ab
stract of n memorial presented in the Sonate by
Mr. Saroent. hottinc forth various faots in re- i
gard to the culture of the grapovine and the
ferred to the Committee on Finance. In pre
senting the memorials, Mr. Sargent said that,
in France, 1,500,000,000 gallons of winowere
nrodnced annually, valued at S300.000.000.
manufacture 01 Dranuy, umiusaiuK ruu. :-
Five million people were engaged in grapo cul
ture, Bnd it had been stated that two vintages
paid the indemnity exacted from France by
Germany. California had about tho same area
nf Innd uh France and one-half of it was Bilita
ble for grape culture ; at present there were
30.000.0UO vines in tLe State. He stated that
there was a prejudice against California wine,
and frequently a higher price was paid for an
inferior foreign article. The result was that
grapes in that State was frequently fod to hogs,
and the only remedy to be applied at present
was a relaxation of rules in reference to the
taxation of brandy. The memorialists desire
that there should be a species ol Government
warebojses provided, in which wine could be
stored and tax paid to the Government at
the time the wine or brandy went to market.
The Government now paid bountios to fisher
men, discriminated in the tariff in favor of
shin buildincr. etc.. to all of which ho had no
objection, but he hoped that the same polioy
would be extended to the interoat of California.
Ho hoped the matter would be considered by
the Fioanoe Committee, for though be knew
that no bill in regard to the subject could ongi -
nate in the Senate, the matter could come up
on a revenue bill from the House, and he
would then ask to bo heard further on tho
snojeci.
Bunch or Syrian Gbapbs, A correspondent
ot the Journal of Horticulture describes a big
bunch of grapes, grown in a not house in Scot-
land, weighing over twenty-five pounds, " The
vine that carried the bunch of 25 Bjj. 15 oz.,
when weighed in Edinburgh, but which Mr,
niokaon states weiehed 20 lbs, 8 oz. when
cnt. has only been planted four years. It was
n-n from an eve taken from an old vine
D". . . . - 7 . . . nL Wltn Unite JJUUCIurn, yuuiun miuun, .uuuui
which bad produced very large bunches. The n,lra glabrous, dark blue, legs fuscous, thighs some
second year it was planted a bunch was cut I what emsralnate, knees swollen and darker, tlblto
from it that weighed 11 lbs., the third year one
that welched 10 lbs. 6 oz.. and this year
the same at given above." This variety is sup'
VUC Hit 111" K Vt4 mw ivi mah avw v wtstf -
.i - u .tA .avM aa .v.. mi, .Tsiiirtno. unA
his companion brought to the Israelltish camp
after their visit to the land of Canaan.
California Swamp Lands.
Their Productions and Value when Reclaimed.
Within the past few years the swamp and
overflowed lands of the State havo received
considerable attention at home, but as yet but
,.. i ..i i.n. i, i..in rnrmiilnn
n, on(tgev,.ri 0f the 1 arger lakes and river delta,
M ig8mncn ft mntter of wonder to-day that,
R of these ,aujH Re not uder cultivation a
it .g th(lt the ti(.h ,Rndg ftll over the state were
aowed ,n lio lll)e and un0Ccupied in early
. Th ...gon9 are principally the ssm
in-..oth instances men havo sought to find a
shorter and Ies-i laborious road to wealth
through tho gold and silver mine", and have
scorned to embark in an enterprise that can
but provo profitable.
To give a full description of th swamp
lands of the State would require a volume; out
we believe a short description of the quantity,
wh iiMiiriVH it miiuil urnui iui
quniity iocnt jon and condition of this valuable
portlon oI our suto wln be of general interest
at home and abroad. Three million acres is
the amount of swamp land put down by tho
Surveyor-General, and the estimate Is not far
out of the way. Let ns figure a little, taking
thirty bushels of wheat to the acre, which is
i.:.i. ....:. , a .v,ii nrnvo lilrpr-tlv.
freghwater iftnd, nro fertile the moment they
are reclaimed, there being no salts or aiKaues to
interfere. The qualities of these lands vary,
as a matter of course, those higher up tho river
having a more oompaot soil than those near the
delta. All the laud, however, is composed of
about the same material decayed tnle nnd the
sediment deposited by the streams at high
water. This sediment is brought from tho
mountains and gulohes, being washod off by
the rains and melting snows, nnd also by means
of bvdranlio streams used for mining purpose.
The sediment alone Is almost equal to manuro
as a fertilizer, and when the clayish character
of these deposits is eradicated, anu too grouuu
softened and mellowed oy me uw " uouu
tnle, it forms a soil at once rich and mellow,
which cannot be surpassed by any known arti
ficial or natural ground.
The first crops planted on those reclaimed
lands was wheat. The tules were burned off in
the fall, and the wheat sown, theu bands of
sheep driven over it until the seed was tho
roughly covwo.1. On the islands now under
cultivation the horses are shod with a broad,
flat shoe, which keeps them from sinking down,
and tho wagon wheels have a rim from eight
inches to a foot wide, for the same purpose.
Iu the fore part of this chapter we based our
estimato on thirty bushels to the acre. Now for
the lacts. Last year wo visited oil the re
claimed islands, and from personal knowledge
know that the average yield of wheat on these
lands was more than sixty bushels, while many
fields turned out as high as ninety, nnd that of
the finest quality. What will people lately
from the East say, where the greatest item of
expense is for manure, without the application
of which the land would not earn its salt, where
the hills of corn are oovered with plaster, and
where thirty bushels is a good yield when we
state that we have seen a crop of grain cut off,
and the ground immediately plowed up and
planted to beans, whioh would yield a crop tho
same year of flftoen to twenty centals to tho
acre, worth at least forty dollars. We have
ooon th ornund In vounc orchards on theso
Islands rent to Chinamen for fifteen to twenty
,in , mul it nafd them well, too
, We have soen four crops of alfalfa out in a
Bjnce year aggregating twelve tons of good
$9(1 nn acre dear. Sacramento Record-Union.
A Pest on the Sweet Potato.
As forewarning is forearming, we call atten
tion of our sweet potato growing readers to the
fact that a New Orleans entomologist announces
th djgcovotv 0f a new pest infesting tlie roots
of the swoet potato. Dr. S. V. Summers
writes to the New Orleans 7ome Journal, de
scribing his discovery. He found a little,
weevil injuring the roots of tho sweet potato,
, nc'" '"'""" .'. ,. , .. '. ..
' and after studjing it thoroughly decides that it
is an insect which has no place in the entomol
ogical records of the day. He calls it tho
Otidocephalus eleyantului, or " sweet potato root
borer." It i a weevil rather small in size, yet
larger tbun the common rice weevil and more,
elongated than the plum curculio; the elytra,
or wing cases, are dark blue, very shiny; the
head is moro inclined to black, whilo the
thorax, or that division between the head and
wing-cases, is a shiny brick rod; legs reddish;
tho larvio is a long, white, soft worm, destitute
of legs.
This is the word photograph of the threatened
pest. At present its habitat is given in Louis
iana, bnt the doctor asks sweet potato growers
nvervwhere to look for its appearance and send
him specimens, if any be found, in order that
.,. ,( ,' ,oi,tir,n man h latrmind.
It lg weH to b6ar in mni that suoh a mator is
moot.dl even if our readers should find none of
tneir tabr inffotod. It would be well also to
i exan)tne carefully any imported seed or we
; jjave euemie8 u 0ur fields ere we are
aware
I Tjr.'summers gives a full description for the
j benefit of skilled entomologists, which we re-
, produce as follows:
OUJoarthaliu elraantului n. ip. Long o. 19 o, 30
incn, 4,75 S. M. M. rostrum abbreviated, nlgroplceous.
Incraiaite, (circoly curved, gtabroua, minutely and
dtatlnctly nuncturod, akorter tbaii tborax, antenna?
iUgbtly elbowed, luacouti, outer Jolnti gradually
dilated and paler, arttiea from anterior third of ros
trum, bead M broad aa thorax at bint, depressed and
rugose above eyes, piceoua Inclined to blutab, angles
wanting, thorax rufo-teataceous, gUbroua, very convex
.'?. distinct, post-ut 'angle. L-dnn, elytra convex
beiore. uaaeuij cuutrsvtjou uuiitiiuti. 4vci -
DOI
slender slightly arcuated below, middle and posterior
taaau elongated.
We should be pleased to hear from any of
- tl 1 A
onr readers, both uracucal erowera ana ento
' mologists, if auy suoh insect as we have de
scribed is known to them.-J?ural Press.
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