The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1882-09-22
industrial Rrc oitiea.


Two ladies in Burlington. Iowa, are
engaged in silk culture, and are meet
ing with good success.
A gentleman who has travelled cxtens-
lively through the western states says
that the best corn il in Indiana.
According to IN English poultry All.
thority. Mr.. Tegetmeier, yolks Of large
and small eggs are generally OF the
same size.
A Shetland mare belonging ut Mauch
Chunk, Pa, has colt that weighs ~
pounds and measures nineteen inches
in height.
Wolves are very troublesome In Rcy-
nolds county. Missouri, where they have
not only attacked sheep, but have killed
two colts.
Cuba is chiefly supplied with beef
cattle raised in southern Florida. The
quality Ut the meat is poor, but the an
imals are raised at very small cost.
A young farmer in southern Illinois
has noticed that the common swallow
devours more chinchbugs than any
bird common to the grain-growing re-
gion.
1t was reported at the nurserymen's
convention recently held at Rochester,
N. T.. that nearly all the pear trees set
out In the western states are raised in
New York.
Griffin, Ca, has the largest peach
orchard in the south, containing $4,000
trees and covering most of 600 acres. -
On the same farm are 1000 grated APP
pie trees and 5000 pear trees.
Afarmerin England raises l 200 ducks
each year for the London market. Many
of them are Matched in the winter, and
arc kept under cover till the approach
of cold weather.
The far-famed Duke of Connaught.
the highest-priced bull ever sold, is in
cluded in Lord Fitzharding's sale. A
reserved bid of 1925. 600 will, however.
probably retain him at Berkeley castle.
A new use for glass has recently been
developed in its substitution for marble
tops Of tables and dressing cases. A
Pittsburgh firm has turned out slabs of
glass that are said to be u perfect imi-
tation of the latter material, while they
admit of decorations Of various designs,
both in form and color.
The agricultural department will in
future make special efforts to collect for
publication crop and market reports of
European countries. and Commissioner
Loring has just appointed Edward J..
Moffat, of New York, agent for the de-
partment for this purpose. He will be
made deputy at tho London consul gen.
eralship. =.
To grow strawberry plantsin pots,
sink small fower-pots filled with rich
soil under the ends of the runners. and
hold them there with stone or weight
of any kind. A wire in the shape Of a
hair-pin is as good as anything to pin
them down. In three weeks the little
pots will be filed with roots, and the
plants may be set in new beds, by thump-
ing them out of the pots.
Jerusalem artichOkes havc long been
known Ms a most valuable addition to
the rations of hogs, but the fact that
they are even more valuable Us an adj
dition to the diet of cattle seems to be
less generally recognized. They arc
hardy, yield fair crops on poor and very
large ones on rich soil; arc more nutri-
tious than the potato, and once planted
there will be no need for replanting, as
they are not easily got out Of piece of
land after they have become establish
ed.
1t is thought that the demand for q
cheap insulating material has been met
by discovery of method by which
wood, sawdust, cotton waste. paper
pulp, and other tibrous substances can
be converted into a material perfectly
impervious to moisture and acids, east
ly nodded under pressure into any shape.
and capable of being worked or cut in
to any form. This material is All excel
lent non-conductor of electricity, and
can be used for all forms of battery
cells, telegraph insulators. supports for
electric-light leads, and telephone work.
1t affords the means of securing perfect
insulation at very much less cost than
ebonite or gutta pcrcha.