Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-11-12
FARM NOTES.

Among the prizes offered at the next Mich
igan State fair is one which gives forty acres
Of land to the couple willing to be married at
some stated time on the festival days, in front
of the grand stand.
Portland Or, is becoming a grain port, 81
600 tons of this years harvest having already
been shipped. Port aud commission charges
at San Francisco, 10 cents bushel difference
in the price of wheat and the saving of two
landings favor the Oregon city.
The original Seckel pear tree is said to be
still standing on the shore of the Delaware,
or, rather, a remnant of the tree, which is
now not much more than a mere shell, but
still bears few pears. 1t is supposed to be
one hundred and fifty years old. 1t is con-
jectured that the seed from which the tree
sprung was thrown overheard in a core from
vessel as it passed down the Delaware,
which being washed to the shore, took root
and grew.
The yield of the sugar plantations of LouiSi-
ana is estimated at 200, 900 hogsheRds, but it
is feared that the entire crop cannot be har-
vested in good condition because of u lack Of
help. In Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Arkansas and southern Missouri the cotton
picking goes on slowly for like reason.
Georgia planter has over %, 900 tea plants
growing near Savannah. An expert in a
New York wholesale tea-house pronounced a
sample of this tea as India tea worth 80 cents
per pound.
The corn crop from the Ohio river to the
Atlantic coast is q grand one (says an ex-
change), and farmers, knowing that a big
crop of corn makes everything comfortable
at home, are cheerful.
That man is happy who eats homemade
butter. He only can be sure he is not lubri-
eating his bread with lard, tallow, suet or
soapstone.
couple of years ago when wool was 30
low, a farmer near Starkville, Mississippi, but
his wool clip into mattresses. This season
he ripped open the mattresses and sold the
wool in them for $3.50.
The farmer who let's all the liquids of his
barnyard run to waste is a spendthrift, how
ever 'closehsted" he may be with money.
1t has long been known that the simplest
method of sharpening razor is to put it for
half an hour in water to which one-twentieth
of its weight of muratio or sulphuric acid
has been added then lightly wipe it of, and
after few hours set it on hone. The acid
here supplies the place of milestone by cor
roding the whole surface uniformly, so that
nothing further than a smooth polish is nee
essary. The process never Injuries good
blades, while badly hardened ones are fire.
quently improved by it, although the cause
of this improvement remains unexplained.
The sowing of a bushel of oats per acre
with the winter wheat has often proved of
material benefit to the wheat crop. The oats
grow more vigorously than the wheat and aid
in catching and holding the snow. The oats
act as protection or mulch to the wheat. The
little food the young oat plants draw from
the soil is returned during the spring, when,
being killed by the winter, they rapidly de-
cay.
Discouraged farmers from portions of Eng
land an constantly emigrating to this coun-
try. Two gentlemen appointed as delegates
have Just been sent to Canada to inspect and
report upon lands and prices there, with a
view to the immigration of large number of
farmers in the spring, if prospects are favor
able. American farmers hardly know how
much they have to be thankful for in being
| able TO own the fertile land they cultivate.