smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1876

The Kansas City papers are clamor-
ing for the Inauguration of system of
barge transportation on the Missouri
river. The idea is good one and we
believe feasible one. We hail it as a
har6lnger of good and of promise. The
Missouri river is ours by title that the
stock market cannot affect. 1t will req
ulate rates of transportation and can
pool all its earnings in its own pocket.
Thus, while it gives new facilities Tor
shipment, it will keep prices regular
and make the market firm, profitable
and permanent.
Year: 1876

For THIRTY DAYS we will sell tie grtatest
bargains ever offered in Lexington. Having
determined to change our business and location


we intend making a clean sweep if possible, Of


every piece of goods in the house in as short
"a time as possible. Call and examine, as our
goods and prices will speak for themselves


First come first served, getting the cream of
our large and attractive stock, having just re-
ceived large lot Of goods from New York
Philadelphia and St. Louis to supply our + al
trade. This is rare opportunit7 of securing
your Fall and Winter Goods at New York
jobbers prices.
Year: 1876

The soil is the farmers bank. II he
woad keep his accounts good and have
his drafts honored. he must take care that
his farming operations do not impoversh
his land, for that will inevitably impover-
ish him.


There are those accounted good farm
ers, because iii the main they are reason
ably successful in their management. vet
who are futile in accomplishing desired
results There is much working in the
dark, and sometimes a great waste Of la
bor There are some things that are hard
TO be unlearned after they have been long
practiced with apparently beneficial eff
tects, but which really had little agency
in producing those effects.


A hundred wears and more ago Jethro
Tull believed and taught that by sufficient
culture the soil would produce crops year
after year, without manure. His theory
brought disaster upon him ultimately, but
there was great lesson in his experience
which farmers failed to apply, to wit, the
value Of tillage in aerating the soil. Cul
tivation, frequent stirring. admits the air,
aud when it is recollected that vegetable
and mineral manures are useless until de-
composed into their original elements, and
that decomposition can only 90 on by the
direct agency OF the atmosphere, the I'M
portance OF the knowledge is at once re-
cognized. Organic matter possesses high
ly tertilizing properties, but these lie dor
mant and useless until decomposed and
rendered fit for plant food, by aeration of
the soil to which this matter has been APP
piled, pnlverize the soil and keep ii mel
low, for then it can breathe freely so to
speak, and the more productive II will be
rendered. Herein lies the benefit oi' re-
peated stirring-ot fall pIowing, which
insres additional pulyerizalion by the
action OF frost. insuring finer tilth. And
hence, too, the beneficial effects of drain
ing the soil, carrying off Stagnant water,
and permitting the air 10 take its place.


We must not lose sight OF the fact that
with properly aerating the soil, the con-
stituonts removed from it must be returned,
and that in the usc of manures it is well
to consider not only what is desired for an
immediate crop, but also the condition in
which the soil will be left for succeeding
crops .ludicious culture and proper ro-
tations Will insure good crops, and at the
same time the land viii deteriorate in fer
tili1y Western Nural
Year: 1876

Farmers MAKE a serious mistake in not
raising better stock. as ii costs no more to
iced COW worth 500 than it does one
worth only so. All you have to do in
order to have good cows is to buy a good
huh Of any breed that is noted for produc-
,ng good milch cows, and with two or
three first rate native cows one can soon
have COWS shat will milk 20 quarts day
lust as well as those that give only six or
light quarts. Icarling bulls Of blooded
stock can often be bought quite cheap, to
he kept year or longer before used The
Ayreshire is probably the best milk pro-
ducing breed we have. The Durhams
make the best beef cattle. and sometimes
good mixers; the Devons are very hardy,
aud makes splendid working oxen, but
are not noted as great mixers; the Alder
neys and Jerseys (both about the same
breed) are too small for farmers, and their
milk is too rich to 90 to cheese factories.
as it produces Il pound Of butter to six or
seven quarts, while native cows milk
makes only pound to thirteen or fourteen
Quarts of milk
Year: 1876

1t was only half an hour before the paper
went to press, but he walked unerringlv into
the EDITORS private room and, dropping his hat
over the warning placard of Busy Day-Short
Calls seated himself with easy bar-room po-
litencsS on the table with the exchanges. lie
was dressed in AN Ulster and a soiled rutled
shirt, wore an amethyst about the size of a hook
glass on his third finger and cluster pin in his
bosom. lie took a acknowledgement cigar
from his mouth and placing it on the editors
ink>tand, remarked coniidentaly:


II am going to spend some time this year,


The editor clutched his pen like dagger, and
paving after the few hairs on the top of his
head, said


in Philadelphia


The young man spat gracefully over his left
shoulder on the new carpet and responded:


''Ies. Pve done Il little wrtin' in my day,
and bein' dsengaged this summer, should like
to send tirst-cass journal like yours'-


The editor fell back in his chair and gaspcd-
'SOme letters about the Centennial"


The interviewer nodded. and kicked his No.
lis pensvely against the veneered panels of the
desk,


"WouId YOU like to be packed in ice until
your friends call for you?" said the editor gloom
lily, "or shall We forward your remains in an
air tight casket?'


Then gazing sorrowfulv at the young man
he put his mouth to speaking tube and asked ::


Are any of the pressmen ut hand!'


Promptly waited through the tin tube came
the reply


Red Mike and Big Dan, SIR


The would be correspondent started up
aghast, put his hat on, wrong side in front, and
buttoned the third button of his coat into the
second button-hole; but the newspaper man,
taking no more notice of him than he would Of
a dead head advertisement, breathed through
the tube


"Give 'em a quarter apiece and let them come
here. Tell them there is another one of those
Philadelphia Centennial fellows here, and then
pull in district telegraph boy and send for Il
hearse"


Before the last words were in the speaking
tube the tails of an Ulster coat sailed out of the
private office, and nervous young man, after
trying the door of the coat room and diving into
the coal closet, reached the counting-room door,
looked over his shoulder at two brawny Milesi-
ans who had just descended from some upper
region, missed his footing for dozen stairs, ac-
cented his descent with heavy bump on the
first landing, and reached the street as the edi-
tor wrote the last word of an article on ''the
business outlook" and calmly sent 1t whirring
up in the box to the composition-room.
Year: 1876

Cnksscd Of the sunshine, unbaptzed of showers,
With buds scarcely swelled which would burst into


flowers,
We wait for thy coming, sweet wind of the South,
For the touch OF thy light wings, the kiss of thy


mouth,
For the yearly evangel thou Dearest from God
Resurrection and life to the graves of the sod!
O, rose of the springtme its light and its BREATH
Bring warmth to this coldness bring life TO this


DEATH
Renew the great miracle, let us behold
The stone from the mouth of the sepulcher rolled,
And nature, like Lazarus, rises as of old.
Let our faith, which in darkness and GOODNESS has


lain,
Revive with the warmth and the brightness again;
And in blooming of flower and budding OF tree
The symbols and types of our destiny see;
And US to the sleeping earth, love to the soul.
Year: 1876

\ great many old strawberry beds are
now a complete mass OF plants. too thick
r' produce a good crop of fruit Take a
common farm hoe, and have blacksmith
cut Oft enough of each end to leave hoe


b1ut four inches wide. Grind this sharp,


and commence to thin ont the plants as
.oon as the leaves have grown enough, to
enable YOU to distinguish between the old


md new plants that have grown two or
more crops Of fruit, 50 far rs You can, and
s0u thus renew your bed; and by follow
no up this system of cutting ont in the fall


II Spring every year, one may grow straw
Herries for many wears without resetting
The beds. New beds may he made either
l the Spring or in August and Neptember;
rut never wait till fail when the bed can
bee set in the Spring. The crop will be
worth but little I'LL the second year. Plants
set in April or May two feet apart will
rovet The ground with plants by tall. Set
ing in rows is a very good way-the rows
tWo feet apart and the plants one foot


pat in the rows; and It narrow walk
Kept open between the rows TO pick the
luit from See to it that YOU don't set
pistilliate (temale) plants with no stami-
ntte (male) plants to tertlIize them
Year: 1876

He was taken sick in the night, and in
her youthful ignorance she made two
mustard plasters and put one in front and
one behind, and then with horrid sarcasm
she asked him how he felt, But he was a
well-bred man, and merely said that he
realized with tenderness he had never
known before the true position of sand
wich in the community.
Year: 1876

Persons in want of coal should go to FoHt
and get seme Enterprise Coal to try before
laying in their winter supply. Those who
have tried it could rot be induced to buy
any other. - ,,o,,u


West and Water,


Orange and Water sts.
Year: 1876

An honest official under Grants
administration is now tho exception
and not the rule. No time in the
history Of our country has deyel-
oped such fragrant stealings and
frauds as during the present Presi-
Dental term not even excepting
rascality shown by contractors during
;he rebellion. Frem the intimate as
sociates of the President down to the
lowest under-strikor in the employ
Of tho Government, stealing, fraud
and corruption appear to be the Or
der of the day. And yet the Presi-
dent smokes his little Havana cigar
and exclaims, "Lot no guilty man
escape Well, we don't see that
they are escaping very badly. His
appointees are nearly all stealing,
and none are resigning, or leaving
the country, or being removed from
office; and for the life of us we can't
see why the President is afraid they
will "escape.
Year: 1876

A Washington paper says: The
holiday season of Christmas was
turned into an occasion of sorrow.
In the Patent Office on Friday, the
merciless axe of rotrenchment decap-
itated forty more Of the unfortunate
employees in that bureau. 1t is un-
derstood the work of reduction will
not stop here. 1t is known that in
that bureau is a number of Demo-
Gratis, it is proposed to scalp them
forthwith A list of twenty-four of
these has been prepared, and will be
submitted to the Secretary for con
sideration. The Secretary has OK.
pressed his determination to root out
every man in his department who
does not show very decided evidences
of Republicanism.
Year: 1876

At an immense meeting of citizens
OF Walla Walln, last week, a resolu-
ton was unanimously adopted petit
tioning Congress 10 annex Walla
Walla county to Oregon The pa
pers Of that city favor the PROPOSE
ton and the people of the county
are said 10 be almost a unit in sup
port of the measure. We will glad
ly welcome that rich and prosperous
country into the embraces of our
young State
Year: 1876

have been much interested in the dis.
cussion about Jersey cattle in the FARMER
since our fair last fall. acknowledge it
must have made quite an impression on the
mind Of Brother Thorp to have seen the pens
prepared for the Shorthorns occupied by the
Jerseys, for certainly there is quite con-
trast in the two breeds. believe he claimed
they were not hardy enough to endure our
severe winters with the care the average
Vermont farmer gave his stock. think if
| was to select breed that would least show
i'll usage, should prefer Devon or Ayrshire.
How was it with the moving machine few
years ago? Was it not justly claimed that
our meadows were so rough and stony that it
would not have been policy for the average
Vermont farmer to have bought machine ?
But has not nearly every one made the im.
prOvement required for the use Of the ma
chine


believe the very fact that it is claimed
that the jersey will not endure i'll usage as well
as some other breed will in the end prove bene-
fetal. For when we learn that with good
care, we can, from the Jersey COW, make
twice as much butter, and got % to 100 per
cent pound more for it than we did in the
old way, we should naturally make the nee
essary improvements. | cannot sec as the
beef question is any argument against the
Jersey, for certainly wool and mutton pay
better in Vermont than beef, and then it is
conceded, everything else being equal, that a
creature will need II daily allowance in pro-
portion to its weight. Now it We keep our
cows until they are ten, aud they get their
growth at four, therc will be six years that
we have to support the wear aud keep up
the vitality Of the COW, and then It would
naturally cost more to get creature to dress
seven than it would FIVE hundred pounds. |
don't believe the extra weight would pay for
what more feed the heavier COW would need.
How few know which their best cows are.
We generally make our estimate by the
quantity of milk COW gives, when, in fact,
it will take twice as much from some COWS to
make pound of butter as it will from 9th
ers, and then there is US much difference in
quality, which is generally in favor Of the
COW that gives the richest milk. l know Of
no way Of telling correctly but by setting
each cows milk and churning the cream sep.
arately.


have had the native, French, grade Dur
ham, grade Devon, grade Ayrshire, and
grade Jersey, and have owned a thorough
bred Jersey bull the last three years, there
fore most of my young stock are grade Jer-
sey from oue-half to 6fteen.sixteenths. My
experience with the Jersey is limited, but |
like them better than anything else | ever
had, aud the higher the grade the better,
| thus far. d. n FARRAND.


Hydepark, Feb. %, 1876.


p. s. should like to inquire through the
FARMER about the white Solomon oats, and
it they are what -. r. W" claims, should
like to buy few to SOW. ID. N. +.


Our correspondent can rely on the good
faith Of Sd. X, W." in his description of tt
white Solomon oats lie is one of the most
Intelligent anl reliable farmers 10 Windsor
county. We have not raised these oats (as
we raise no grain) but the testimony 10 their
favor is unanimous
Year: 1876

Though they may not be masters Of rhetoric
they are, or should be if they heed the teach.
iugs Of nature. masters Of the facts, aud can
give us If they will the bulk of the available
practical knowledge which IS worth having,
and which some agricultural writers and
editors too must learn from somebody. The
New England Farmer very justly observes !;


An agricultural paper should not be
looked upon as an oracle Of agricultural
wisdom. The farmer should not 90 to the
editor to learn farming He should acquire
that, as other men learn their trades, by a
regular apprenticeship, or by observation
and study. But he needs the paper to keep
him posted 10 that which neither his master
nor the books teach. They teach what is
already known, aud has been for a long
time. The paper should reflect the advance
steps as they are taken day by day; and
who make these advances but the practical
farmers themselves, aud those who are
making special efforts toward knowledge?
Is it not plain that that paper will be the
most valuable which is made up largely OF
the work Of itS readers? Editors naturally
incline to discuss those subjects with which
they are most familiar, or in which they are
most interested, and for this reason papers
may have tendancy to lack variety and
breadth of thought; but each reader may
contribute to his paper what is Of most interest
10 himself, without the least danger Of warp
ing it or Of getting it into rut
Year: 1876

1t is not infrequent that water pipes which
have wthstood the biting frosts Of mid.winter.
yield to the varieties of temperature and
heaving Of the soil as the weather moderates
towards spring, and some night, as the far
mer goes to water the horses aud finishes up
his chores, he 6nds the trough empty and
the shed or yard all aaoat. There may be
a thin place in the pipe rustsd through, or
an imperfect joint parted. Perhaps it may
be readily found, but the "tinker" is miles
away with his soldering kit, aud the spring
is full of water (mOre likely to be so this
winter than last and night is coming on, In
such cases the farmer will 6nd it to his ad-
vantage to exercise his own surgical skill.
A few grains Of that useful quality, faculty,
will be worth more than much talent aud
learning without it, in such an emergency.
A small break is often effectually stopped
by winding wool twine tightly around it.
ln other cases a bandage of cotton cloth OF
drilling, not too many thickncsses, wound
over closely aHd tightly with tWine answers
the desired purpose better. II the break
is large it may be necessary to apply ban
dage Of thin leather, from an old boot leg
once around and tapped little. In either
case fit the bandage close aud wind the tWin'
very tight. When joint is parted and 4
space Of an inch or two intervenesr a piec'
of smaller pipe or a wooden plug with a hOl'
through its length, may be slipped in Il
complete the connection, aud bandaged with
drilling aud tightly wound.
Year: 1876

i. f. Miller of the New England Home
stead, stated in an essay before the Deerfeld
Valley Farmers Institute that four tons Of
common rutabagas are worth as much for
stock as one ton Of the best English hay.
f. NJ. Smith stated at the same meeting that
he kept fat two-year-old. heifer without
food or drink forty eight hours, then fed her
two quarts of dry corn meal, and killed her
within thirty minutes The meal was found
in the first stomach thoroughly mixed with
its contents.
Year: 1876

There is no truth more evident than that


good agricultural papers cannot be made
without the direct help Of farmers as writers.
1t is the mcH who cultivate the soil and
ralse'stock, who have learned 10 their daily
walk the truths which lie at the basis Of
agricultural knowledge, to whom We must
look for the fundamental truths in regard
to the raising Of crops aud the breed
ding and care Of domestic animals,
Year: 1876

The printers made US state in the issue
of March Sd, that Mr., Joslyn of Waits6eld
was the pioneer in the introduction OF Jersey
cattle, while the context indicates that it
should read Shorthorus. Again that we
gathered sap in boyhood from trees 100 yards
from the house 1t was our intention TO say
100 rods, and that was moderate reference
to a pretty good halT mile. The third error
was our own in tapping the lever wood.
Would not advise the boys to initiate that
example.
Year: 1876

Special pains should now be taken with
COWS coming 10 this spring. 81 feed aud
care for them that they will be in strong,
vigorous health and good condition. They
will better endure the drain of giving milk
up to the time of good pasture feed, aud
will make better return for keeping.
While it is not advisable to make COW ex-
cessivcly fat, on the grounds of economy and
safety, it should be remembered that the fat
and flesh laid up in the system, are stores
upon which the animal draws in time Of
need-when filling the pail twice day.
Year: 1876

We shall be careful to refrain from any
interference with the heated discussions on
the subject of transportation in the Mad
River Valley, is the efficiency of the work
in which we are engaged might thereby be
impaired to no good purpose. But if we
W ere obliged often to take the stage at $50
Year: 1876

The state fair next fall being located at
st. Abans the farmers Of that section Of the
state have an opportunity which they have
never before enjoyed of participating in q
s ate fair at theirOwn doors. It is to be hoped
that the advantages offered will be ap-
preciated by them. Fairs are one of the
instrumentalities which the farmers have it
in their power to make greatly useful to the
good cause of improvement. No board Of
managers can make a successful fair In
community Of apathetic farmers. The sue
cess of the fair and the benefit derived from
it depends upon the farmers themselves
There is no more gratifying or conclusive
indication of intelligence and progress in
farming than a right down good fair, abound
Ing in good farm stocks, crops, fruit and clean
Wide-awake farmers.
Year: 1876

If there is time to spare FROM the wood
pile farmers would make q great gain to
start out the manure. When land is toler-
ably level it may be spread on the snow
without material loss by teaching or evapor-
alton. 1t is not quite as easy loading it
while frozen, but there is no way in which
farmers can so well forward their work.
Every load put in the field now is a help
when time is worth more.
Year: 1876

CIDER WNE.-Cider for this pur
pose should not be made until Decem-
ber when it should be barre He'd and
placed in a vault or cool cellar and left
there until February or March, when
it should be bottled, using champagne
bottles, well corked and wired Use
good sized copper wire, which requires
only once passing over the cork. Then
return the bottled cider to he cellar,
laying The bottles on their sides, and it
will keen for years.
Year: 1876

Salt is not only mild aperient or de-
obstruent, but it operates as a tonic. Ibis
very great rectifier of the acidity of the
stomach when taken in proper quantities !;
and it not only renders very palatahle food
which would be disagreeable and insipid
without it, but it keeps the functions of
the stomach in healthy state and often
alleviates the effects of debility and dis.
ease. The true way is to have tub of
salt placed where cattle, horses, and sheep
can have access to it at all times, whether
they are in the pasture or in the barn yard
Then when the appetite calls for lick of
salt they can 60 and get it, at the very
time it is most needed, and when it will
exert the most beneficial effect on digcs.
ton or any part of the system.


A good plan is to keep salt in a small
tub or strong, water-tight pail in the pas.
turing season, and in the yard during
winter. Animals will not consume as
much when they are supplied with it in
this way as they will when they are salted
once or twice during a week. 1t Is slov-
enly and wasteful to throw salt on the
ground for animals, and especially for
much as they consume.


III sailiHS sneOP, uIlFe tnTec Ut LOuE
high stakes around pail, or small tub.
leaving one side only, so that they can
thrust their heads separately into it. For
cattle and horses, encircle the tub with
lot of boulders as high as the top of it. or
drive half dozen strong stakes around 1t
letting them extend above 1t few inches.
to protect it from being paved to frag.
ments. If the tub is water-tight, in case
it should rain in it there will be nothing
lost, as they will lick the salt water as
they will the salt; and should the water
evaPorate, the salt will remain. When
sheep or neat cattle are kept in pasture
where there is much clover (triifolium
pratenee) they usually have a great ham
kering after SALT and if they can have ac-
cess to it, they will 60 and lick, more or
less, several times during the day; and
they will rectify the acidity Of the stom-
ach, and keep them from bloating. Many
a farmer has lost fine animal, In conse-
quence of bloating, which one, pound of
salt would have kept in good health
Scientific .4merican