The Northern Pacific farmer., 1881-10-13
HOUSE AND FARM.
Brief Notes on Various Subjects.


Common white potatoes are wholesaling
in st. Louis at $1.4Oper bushehla-deeid.
ed luxury.
Mr.. A. 8. johnson, Boston, Mass, ex-
hibited at recent fair 100 varieties OF po-
tatoes and similar products.
It is sAid that, Notwithstanding the frosts
OF the past season, Florida will send so,
600. 900 oranges to market this year.
Holding for higher prices is character
ized by ex- Governor Seymour as "the spirit
OF gambling" and he declares that, for ex-
ample, more hop growers have been ruined
by waiting for 80 cents per pound than have
been hurt by selling their crops in season,
even when the market ruled Mt only 10
cents.
Wine growing is being successfully pur-
sued in Virginia, and Is rapidly assuming
large dimensions. It was first introduced
by Germans, but others are now taking
hand in it. One firm, with thirty-seven
acres Of land, has produced $500 gallons
Of wine in a season.. It is reported that
the yield Of two counties this year will be
$4,000 to 10000 gallons. There is ready
market for all that can be produced.
The Rev. j. G. Wood, the. eminent En-
glish naturalist, in an article on "The horse
dAu ACS OWAcI, says, III IoAoIcuC0 W OcdI
ing reins: People see the horse champing
tossing its head, rattling its harness. and
assume that the horse is acting in the pride
of its strength and fullness of spirit, where
as it is suffering agol4ies of pain, and is try
ing to gain bv these movements momen-
tary relief"
A mistaken notion in regard to the size of
r01o hrao6infy rimo 10 rpav:lnnf IT, i1
supposed that a large animal must produce
large and finely developed progeny. But,
on the contrary. it is the small and finely
formed and evenly balanced sire that is
most valuable for breeding. Some OF the
most successful sires have been small ami
mails, and, in general, size is of very in
ferior Importance in selecting males for
breeding purposes:
The finest wheat district in the United
States appears to be Stark comfy, Ohio,
which has yielded 27.7 bushels per acre.
Portage county, Ohio comes next with %
1-2 bushels. The largest aggregate yield
in any one county in the Union was that
of Colusa county, Co.., which produced in
1879 about 4, 500, 900 bushels, an average of
about II IA bushels an acre. Michigan
has seventeen counties that in 1880 yielded
over million Of bushels each. Illinois has
eleven counties, Ohio seven and Indiana
four.
The use of Shorthorn and Hereford bulls
in the great western pastures has more than
doubled the value of the herds for beef,
o: when \ farmer is inclined to scorn a
Short-horn COW because she is no milker,
he must remember that her business in the
world is to produce beef. Aud SO the lean,
bony, cat .hamined Jerseys bust
ness is to make the best of butter, and that
of the bulls to cross on our common COWS
and double the value Of every heifer calf.
Two of our large Industries are troubled
by the high price of corn. The glucose
factories all over the country are either di-
minishing or, more commonly, altogether
suspending operations. With corn at rs to
30c., per bushel, they could make very
satisfactory profit by converting it into
sugar." but with corn at 60c. to 70c., per
bushel, they could pl looably make profit
by reversing the transmutation. were such
feat possible. The Kentucky distillers
are also worried by the advance in price of
that cereal. and are said to be debating
whether, in view CT the low plice of whisky
and elgh price Of corn, it would not be ad-
visable to make no moro whisky at present.
Few are the unmixed evils of the world.
Bad For English Farmers.
While the farmers of the greater part of
the United States have seen their summer
crops wither and !heir pastures dry up for
the want of rain, in England it is quite the
reverse, and SO much water has fallen of
late that nearly all operations on the farm
have been at standstill. The season in
Great Britain commenced very favorably,
and there was every indication Of full crops
and fair weather for gathering them; but
recent reports show that the prospects of
the farmers are not very encour ,ging. In
addition to bad weather the foot and
mouth disease has broken out among cat
tie i'll several counties in England, causing
severe losses, although strenuous efforts