Various

“ With plenty of milk and mill-feed to mix with the corn, good hogs may be grown without grass. But with corn alone, the task of growing and fattening a hog without grass costs more than the hog is worth.
To make hog-growing profitable to the farmer, he must have grass. In the older States where the tame grasses are plenty, it is a very thoughtless farmer who has not his hog pasture. But out here in Kansas and Nebraska, where we have plenty of corn, but no grass, except the wild varieties, the most enterprising of us are at our wits' ends. ”

“ At some future time I may communicate something about raising wheat and vegetables in Dakota, to the readers of "our paper."
This winter is proving to be rather long and stormy, but with plenty of fuel, good books and papers, time has not hung heavily on my hands. Indeed, I consider these long Northern winters a decided advantage to those who regard the cultivation of the mind as important as the cultivation of the fields. I am afraid the majority of farmers do not lay enough stress upon mental culture. In this age of cheap books there can be no excuse for being without them. ”

“ The practical advantage of drainage as it appears to the casual observer, is in the increased production of valuable crops. Ordinary land is improved, and worthless land so far reclaimed as to yield a profit to its owner, where once it was a source of loss and a blemish upon an otherwise fair district. The land-buyer who looks for a future rise in his purchase, recognizes the value of drainage, being careful to invest his capital in land which has natural drainage, or is capable of being drained artificially with no great expense, if it is suitable for use as an agricultural domain. ”

“ We, the undersigned, farmers and others, respectfully submit that the present law which allows the importation of cattle from the United States, and shuts out store cattle, is unjust and oppressive to the farmers of this country, and enhances the price of meat to the public. We therefore crave that her Majesty's Government would open the Scottish ports to the introduction of store cattle from the Western States where disease does not exist. ”

“ There will be more grass seed planted this spring than ever before, and the farmers will be guided by the conditions on which the best successes seem to have been obtained. But this seeding will not give us much grass for this coming summer. What must we do? I write for our Western farmers who have no clover, orchard grass, blue grass, but have in their cultivated fields.
CRAB GRASS.
This grass, the most troublesome weed of the West, smothering our gardens and converting our growing corn-fields into dense meadows, makes the best hog pasture in the world, while it lasts. ”

“ Farmers, living about our county towns, and doing their trading there, and having leisure enough to loaf about the public offices, and curiosity enough to scratch through the dust-covered piles of old papers and rubbish in the corner, are usually rewarded by finding a copy of these valuable reports. But we, who live far away from the county seat, do our farming without this aid, and mostly without any knowledge of their existence. ”

“ It is one of the peculiarities of plant culture, that after a certain number of years of cultivation, any plant having the properties of sporting freely, that is, changing greatly from the original wild character of the plant, will become double. In most cases it first arises from seed, but with the plant under notice it appears that it was what is called a bud variation, that is, that from some freak of a particular branch of a plant of the well-known A. Thomsonii, the ordinary single flowers were found to be double. ”

“ While the maize plant, as a rule, is not self-fertilized, that is, as a general thing the pollen from one plant fertilizes the silk of another, yet in very many cases the pollen and the silk upon the same plant is synchronous, and self-fertilization becomes possible, and undoubtedly is of frequent occurrence. The pollen ripens from below upward, and thus the fall of the pollen, through the successive ripening of the blooms, may last for three or four days, and there is a great variation in period of blooming as between individual plants. ”

“ We can't all go to Colorado, Dakota, Montana, or Washington Territory, nor to those other Edens at the South and Southwest where a man, so far as winter is concerned, may work about every day in the year; but don't do so any more than we here at the North where we have the excuse of severe weather for our laziness between November and April. I like Colorado and Wyoming, Arkansas and Texas, Alabama and Florida—for other people who like to make their homes there, but my home is here and I like it. ”

“ Now you go there to pick up cattle to consume your pasturage this spring and summer, and don't you see you run the risk of taking to your home and neighborhood a disease that may cost you and your neighbors many thousands of dollars? If I were you I would pick up the stock I want in my own neighborhood and county, even though not exactly the kind I would like to have, and though it would cost me a great deal more time and trouble. You see to a Man of the Prairie things look a little squally in this cattle business. We have all got to be careful about this thing. ”

“ So it is with farming; the man who endeavors to be proficient in all its departments is apt to be a failure, while his specialist neighbor succeeds, simply because he has his course marked out, and bends his energies in that direction. Life is too short for a man to comprehend everything. It is true, that the farmer has no fixed law by which to guide him ”

“ The Mississippi is frozen over still, with no signs of breaking up, and men, women, and children are sighing for sunshine and showers, and daisies and violets. The wood and coal bills have been enormous; the pigs squeal in the open pens, and cattle roam, as usual, shivering in the lanes and along the streets. ”

“ I advise cooked food because experience has taught me that it is much better for poultry than the raw articles would be. Because raw bugs and worms constitute the "natural diet" of fowls in their wild state, it does not follow that raw meal and potatoes would be the best and most economical food for our domestic fowls. Other things being equal, chicks that are fed on cooked food grow fatter, are less liable to disease, and thrive better generally than those who worry along on uncooked rations. ”

“ No doubt in the southern part of Texas there was a little Texan fever, but that, like yellow fever, was merely indigenous to the district. It was never seen out of these parts. He considered it would be a great boon to the farmers of Scotland if they could get cattle £3 or £4 cheaper than at present. It would save a very considerable amount of money in stocking a farm, and would also tell on the profits of the feeders, and the prices paid by the consumers. They had them to spare in America in the greatest possible abundance. ”

“ He held that if farmers would agree to insist on live store cattle being allowed to be landed in Britain, they would soon get them. When they get them, he, if then alive, would be quite willing to take all the responsibility if they found an unsound or unhealthy animal amongst them. He appealed to butchers in Montrose, who had been in the way of killing States or Canadian cattle, if they were not totally free of disease; and he would like to ask them how many Irish cattle they killed which were perfectly healthy. ”

“ To show the difference between the winter in Colorado and the States this way and further west, the Farmer, of Denver, mentions the fact that it knows a farmer who has had about two hundred acres of new land broken between the middle of November and the first of March. Still, these Eastern States have advantages which render them rather pleasant to live in. Our farmers find plenty of time in fall and spring in which to do their plowing and sowing, and our severe winters don't seem to hurt the ground a bit. ”

“ I don't take cheap insurance either, but invest my money in the policy of a company which I believe has abundant capital and is cautiously managed. A wealthy man can take his fire risks in his own hands if he chooses, but for a man of small or moderate means it seems to me the height of folly to do so. I would rather go without tobacco or "biled shirts" than insurance and lightning rods. ”

“ But fattening the lean hogs takes too much corn. We must have a grass that the hogs will relish, and on which they will both grow and fatten. They will do this on clover, orchard grass, bluegrass, and other tame grasses. But we have not got any of these, nor do we know how to get them. Hundreds of bushels of tame grass seeds are sold every spring by our implement dealers. A few have succeeded in getting some grass, but nine out of ten lose their seed. We either do not know how to grow it, or the seed is not good, or the soil is too new. ”

“ We do not believe that such a disease as the foot-and-mouth disease exists in either Illinois, Iowa, or Kansas.
3. That at no time within the space of twenty years have the cattle, sheep, or hogs of this country been in as healthy a condition as at the present time; for while we are in favor of strict quarantine laws to prevent any importation of disease into this country from abroad, we believe if any disease should break out in this State, or any other State, that the citizens would be interested sufficiently to stamp it out without expense to the National Government. ”

“ For instance: by planting in adjoining hills, or, better still, the mixed seed of two varieties of corn, one of which is distinguished for its length of ear and smallness of cob, and the other for the large size of its kernel, we should anticipate, in many instances, the transfer of the large kernel to the small ear and of the small kernel to the large ear. By selecting from the crop those ears which have length and the large kernel, we should anticipate, by a series of selections, the attaining of a new variety, in which the large kernel and length of cob would be persistent. ”

“ The seedsmen's advertisements do not, of course, enumerate all the parties have for sale, but it may be taken for granted that they keep nearly all kinds of grass, grain, and vegetable seeds. We would also say to seedsmen that it will probably be found to pay them to advertise the seeds of the new grasses, alfalfa, the special fertilizers, etc., that are now being so much inquired about. We have a large number of inquiries about where to obtain silk-worm eggs. Persons who have them certainly make a mistake in not advertising them freely. ”

“ Why can not Illinois have an Arbor Day as well as Nebraska, or any other State. There ought to be ten millions of trees planted the coming spring within its borders—saying nothing of orchard trees—by the roadside, on lawns, for shade, for wind breaks, for shelter, for mechanical purposes, and for climatic amelioration. Nearly all our towns and villages need more trees along the streets or in parks; thousands of our farms are suffering for them ”

“ CATARRH It is needless to describe the symptoms of this nauseous disease that is sapping the life and strength of only too many of the fairest and best of both sexes. Labor, study, and research in America, Europe, and Eastern lands, have resulted in the Magnetic Lung Protector, affording cure for Catarrh, a remedy which contains No Drugging of the System, and with the continuous stream of Magnetism permeating through the afflicted organs, must restore them to a healthy action. ”

“ True, my buildings have never suffered from fire or lightning and these luxuries have cost me no inconsiderable amount of cash, but this money has brought me relief from a heap of anxiety, for I know in case my property is swept away I am not left stripped and powerless to provide for my family, and I know that it will not be necessary to mortgage the farm to furnish them a shelter. ”

“ The plants made about the same growth on the two plats and suffered equally from bugs; but when it came to digging, those from new seed yielded two bushels of large potatoes for every one that could be secured on the land planted with seed of our own growing. This difference in yield could be accounted for on no other theory than the change in seed, as the quality of seed, soil, and culture were the same. ”

“ It is thought by many who have not yet tested the value of tile drainage, that it is one of those luxuries often indulged in by so-called fancy farmers. By such farmers is meant those who farm for pleasure rather than for profit; those who raise wheat which costs them $1 per bushel, but which is worth only eighty cents on the market ”

“ The Illinois farm is well fenced and in a high state of cultivation. There are growing upon it more than 2,000 large evergreens, giving at once protection to stock and beauty to the landscape. There are also 1,500 bearing fruit trees, a vineyard, and a large quantity of raspberries, blackberries, currants, etc.
Besides a good farm-house, there is a large barn, in which there are often fed at one time 150 head of horses, with plenty of room for each animal; and an abundance of storage room in proportion for grain and hay. Also a large sheep shed, the feeding capacity of which is 3,000 head. ”