smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1875

A painful question arises out of a
very sad story of shipwreck and suf-
fsring that comes to US from Singa-
pore. Time was when no doubt was
entertained that it was Unstable for
human beings to feed on one another
in cases of necessity, and criminal
prosecution was never dreamt Of
when one of boats crew consented,
on lot, to be slaughtered 70 the sus-
tenance of his companions. But
modern civilization appears to take
different view of the matter, and to
contend that one life is as good as
another's, and that all the crews
lives should die out or be sustained
at the same time. We are led to re-
fer to this subject by the circum-
stances attending the loss of the ship
Euxine, the general particulars of
which have already reached our read
ers, but who, without actual exper-
ience, can never realize tithe Of the
torture endured by the wrecked men
Of the vessel named.


The simple story of one Of the suf-
ferers is more pathetic than any
amount Of word painting on our part,
and, therefore, we shall give his
brief but graphic tale, as nearly as
possible in his own words. An Ital-
ian named Shufus, after the hands
had been worn nearly to skeletons by
inanition, said that it was best that
one should die rather than that all
should starve. The second mate
would not hear of the sacrifice, where
upon one Muller laid himself upon
the thwarts Of the boat, (ths ship had
long been deserted), and declared
that if anyone would kill him he
would die for the rest. He made the
same offer three times that day. but
no notice was taken of it. When
the men were fainting and famishing,
another proposition was made to i'm
molate one of their number, and the
second mate, who was in charge OF
the boat, still refused to give his con-
sent, but at length yielded. Lots
were drawn, and the Italian who first
offered himself as a sacrifice was the
doomed man on the drawing. Null
ler, who appears to have been . no.
bic fellow in his way, offered himself
as . substitute, but was refused. The
Italian then knelt down and prayed
for some time, and afterwards barred
his throat to the knife of = mess
mate, who severed his head from his
body, and all present drank Of his
blood aud ate Of the flesh.


1t so happened that the boats crew
were picked up the same day by the
Java packet and taken to Singapore.
The facts stated were not concealed,
and speedily reached the ears Of the
British authorities. We will not now
argue out the justifability or other
wise of slaughtering one human be-
ing in order to save the lives of many,
as more will be heard of the case,
but will content ourselves with stat
ing the simple fact that all the survi-
vors of the boats crew are now in
prison under committal for the crime
of wilful murder.
Year: 1875

The crop of grasshoppers this year
promises to be ~ abundant in Missouri
as it was in Kansas and Nebraska in
1874. A gentleman in this city re-
ceived box Of specimens from Wes
ton, in that State, or Tuesday. There
seemed to be millions in it--an innu-
merable mass Of sprightly little fel-
lows from al eighth to quarter Of IN
inch long. They had been scooped
up by the handful, and the gentle
man who gathered them in says there
are acres upon acres Of them. The
ground is alive with the post, and ~
soon as they have grown little more
they will take wing, and then comes
the havoc. 1t is not unlikely that
they will appear as far east as South
ern Illinois the present season. II
was thought the late cold weather
would be fatal TO these grasshoppers,
but they seem to be proof against any
ordinary temperature. and can stand
a sharp fros: a good deal better than
the fruit. What with the grasshop-
pcrs to devour every green thing,
the buffalo gnat to sting to death the
live stock, and an unfavorable spring,
the farmers Of the West have u dis
NAL prospect before them for 1s..5.-
Cincinnati Commercial.
Year: 1875

making the trip from Red Cloud to the Cheyenne
Agency. They we're escorted though BY part OF
the Second Cavalry. Before returning they IN
tend visiting The different agencies On tho 1Ver
below Ft. Sully
Year: 1875

CITY ATTORNEY WALKERS opinion
or the value Of certain city bonds has
unsettled the views Of gOodly number
Of financi-rs who had banked and still
bank upon other views. Now if we
could only have the opinion Of the su-
prems court 20 the same effect, our tax
payers would feel easy to the extent of
over 3 million.
Year: 1875

"Csn you write good financial arti-
cleo" said boss editor TO p new man.
"Oh, yes, that is my stronghold yn the
press" said the new man, and he im-
media ely sat down and dashed Of
written promise TO pay a small amount
OF money. This he signed and handed
in for inspection. The boss said that, as
he was running q conservative paper he
was not prepared to indoTse all that the
stranger had written, but that il he
would go and prepare a carefuIly-writ-
ten obitusry notice Of himself he would
publish it with great pleasure.
Year: 1875

Here comes a correspondent Of The World
with question which, if it were submitted
to the practical men of the country-those
who ought to be best qualified to answer it
would be answered as variously as their ex.
perience, locality climate, topography of the
country in which they reseide, are varied or
dissimllar. The question is, (which is the
best milk breed Of cattle ?" and he states
that he wants to 20 into cheese making


The answer must be qualified one. If he
has his COWS to purchase and his means are
limited the best way to build up milk dairy
is TO purchase selected native or grade cows
that are known to be healthy and good milk
ers, for if he attempts to purchase herd Of
pure Ayrshire, Jersey or Holstein-known as
milk breeds-his herd will cost him too
much for cheese-inaking, though he might
make money by such an Investment if he
prove careful and skillful breeder. Having
got his native or grade herd Of dairy cows,
his next effort should be TO get thorough
bred bull of some one of the milk breeds
to breed from with view to increasing
and improving the milking qualities of
each successive generation of his herd. In
luis udttoE DuOEIuUTuS suOuiu Uo huu6U W
the list of breeds from which to select dairy
bulls for there are many dairy farmers who
insist that no cross made on native cows
gives better mixers than that of thorough.
bred Shorthorn bull, of milk family
which last is very important. For cheese
dairying, the Shorthorn, of a milk family, or
the Holstein, are doubtless preferable for
crossing, though the Ayrshires have many
friends, especially in localities where the
pastures are chiefly upland and the country
is comparatively rough and uneven. They
are lighter built, said to require less food in
proportion to the milk they yield-which is
doubtful-hardy and readily thrive where a
pure Shorthorn or a COW Of high grade Of
this breed would fail to find sustenance
enough to keep the milk up to the maximum,
1t must be remembered, however, that with
the exception of the Shorthorn, comparative.
ly few experiments have been made in
crossing the thoroughbreds Of the other milk
breeds named upon native stock with view
to building up dairy herds. There have beer
some such experiments but the results have
not been pronounced and general enough to
enable an intelligent comparison or confident


prediction that would be warrantable as dog


matte advice. This is the best The WorlC
can do for its correspondent, unless men o


practical experience furnish it facts within
their own knowledge tending to answer thu
question World. r...
Year: 1875

l have been reading two or three agricul-
tural papers for the last few years, and see
in almost every paper pieces relating to
horses, cattle, bees, butter, cheese, vegeta-
bles, and grain, and other articles too numer-
GUS to mention, but nothing, comparatively
speaking, Of our great staple crop. grass. 1t
is a well.known fact, that if we get q good
crop of hay, we are well.to-do, if the pota-
toes do rot, grain blight, aud the corn gets
nipped by early frosts. But il the hay crop
proves a failure, we are in trouble. We
have to get rid Of our stock, and buy meal
and other grain to get the remaining few
through the winter. If our stock is cut
down, our profits are less the next year, also
our manure pile smaller, and it takes from
three to five years to get over it. 1t has
been and is now too much so that grass is
held as third or fourth rate crop. Farm
ers have studied to get the largest crop Of
potatoes and grain from their manure, and
the grass must take up with what is left.
Then they will wonder why the grass did not
hold out better. If Mother Earth were not
more generous than everything else, thou
sands of our New England farms would be
worthless, know Of many farms that do
not keep over one-half the stock they did
fifteen years ago. They lay it to tho sea-
sons, when if they had taken the pains fol
grass they did for potatoes and OATS their
farms would have increased instead Of di.
minished in value. Most farmers commence
in debt and they will scrimp, and dig, and
pay for it, and get few hundreds or thou
sands out at interest, move into q village
and sell the farm TO another poor man, anC
then the poor farm will undergo another
skinning, and at last the buildings run dowr
and the farm is sold for mere nothing, for
sheep pasture. don't think man make
money very fast if he buys farm and pay
for it at the end Of twenty years and sells
for One-half what he gave. 1t has been th


fashion here to keep up piece from three b


FIVE years, and then seed down with oats, an


in very favorable year they would got


fair catch. But if drouth overlook it, i


would bs failure. They will plOw it u
again, more oats and no manure. and is
wonderful If the piece gives short crops


hayH In seeding down with grain, the graf


grows faster than the grass; it takes all


the moisture, and shades the plants whe


the grain is out and the sun scalds down o
Year: 1875

used on grass as a top-dressing, in the hill
for potatoes, aud also on turnips On
grass IL was sowed by hand, Just before a
rain, at the rate Of from one to four barrels
per acre, and with but little visible effect
10 the latter case, and none in the former.
He used il on potatoes, by putting half
pint in hill, and found the crop both later
and smaller, where il was used alone.
Used with manure, it seemed to produce no
effect. His advice to his brother farmers is
TO buy il on a limited scale until they have
tried it and found it valuable advice which
it is perfectly safe to follow. He might
also have said they had better buy in small
quantities until they learn how to use it in
an economical way. One barrel sown on an
acre Of grass as a top-dressing, is putting it
on pretty thin. We do not believe it should
ever be spread in that way, but should first
be eomposted with loan or muck, to absorb
the ammonia, and hold it until the rains can
wash it into the soil. Then, in the case of
the potatoes, too much was put in the hill
and probably very nearly killed the plants.


We have had the same experience, and
know of many others who have failed, when
the fertilizer was placed under the seeds. 1t
makes it altogether too hot for them aud they
die as soon as they sprout. We must barn
TO use fertilizers as VIC do firearms, with
great care, or we may suffer by the recoil.


We ought to have some public institution,
experimental farm, or something OF the kind,
where all these fertilizers could be tested
both chemically and practically, and for the
benefit Of the whole community. 1t costs
something to try experiments, and beside
there are comparatively few who are COM
petent to try experiments in a way that
shall make the results obtained worthy of
full confidence and respect by the public at
large. If a hundredth part of the money
expended for worthless and inferior fertili
zers could have been expended in testing
them before they were put upon the market,
millions of dollars would have been saved to
the farmers, and we should long ago have
had fertilizers of uniform character and at
fair prices.-Neto England Farmer.
Year: 1875

AT the time found NY milk decreasing,
as the seed stalks were increasing, l was
trying an experiment to see how much milk
1 could make from one-half acre of green
rye. The rye was sown in September, after
a crop Of fodder corn. Between three and
four cords of barn cellar manure was spread
and plowed in, and six pecks. Of rye sown.
began to cut on the 10th Of May; for
fourteen days ten COWS had nothing but
green rye aud corn meal. They gave 1547
quarts of milk, sold at Al cents per quart
S69.6l deduct SLABS, value of meal fed,
leaves S55.33 for the rye. 1 did not begin
to cut quite soon enough had to cut six or
eight square rods for bedding, because it was
too ripe to make milk. For q few days,
when the leaves were grown and the seed
stalks were not, was able TO get one dol.
lars worth Of milk, besides value of meal
fed, from each square rod Of ground had
no idea so much milk-making material could
be grown on the ground before the first of
june After the rye was cut, took the
manure that was made while feeding the
rye, spread it on the stubble, plowed it in as
shallow as l could, and covered the stubble


worked it fine with a wheel harrow, and
planted mangle wurzels in rows 81 feet
apart, hills one foot apart; gathered four
teen tons of roots, and six tons of mangle
wurzel leaves from the half acre twenty
tons Of good feed, after heavy crop of rye,
| think was doing very well. Perhaps l
made mistake in not keeping my mangle
wurzels until the seed stalks were grown, 80
as TO get more and better milk from them.
Who kDows2 ANsEL w. PUTNAM.


Reconsideration intending to reflect
on the communications of any Of our other
contributors, we must say, that it seems to
us that the above is modern newspaper
article. 1t begins at once upon the subject
under consideration, tells the whole story in
few words, perfectly plain to understand,
and stops as soon the story is ended. Fur
thermore, the facts given are put in such
form as to clearly show Just what was done,
and we believe most farmers will be surpris-
ed to learn that such an amount of cattle
food can be grown on half acre of good
land. We have grown rye for feeding green
to milch COWS for several years, with an in
creasing estimation OF its value for this pur-
pose. Our course is, to SOW grass seed with
the rye, and then cut one or two crops Of
good fodder after the first crop Of rye. One
not used to feeding green rye to cows, would
be likely to delay beginning cutting too long.
The earlier it is cut the larger will be the
second crop, and the better the cattle will
eat it. 1t is not fit to feed long after it
comes into blossom.-Neao England Farmer.
Year: 1875

Our personal prejudices have not been
very much in favor of commercial fertilizers
for common farm crops. We have seen
them bought years ago, at prices ranging
from $50 to $50 per ton, when the barrels,
boxes or bags in which they were packed
were all the buyer had to show for them at
the end of the season. We have seen farm
ers pay hard earned dollars for fertilizers to
men who could hardly find ways enough in
which to squander the profits made on those
fertilizers. We have seen fertilizers sold at
$50 per ton, which did not contain a value
of more than S2.33 by the analysis of COM
petent chemists. We have seen large gath
eriugs Of farmers at agricultural meetings
who could hardly control themselves long
enough to listen to dealer in commercial
fertilizers, while he was explaining the
methods Of manufacture. Indeed, it is a
we'll known fact that fertilizer men are moi
popular with the majority Of farmers in
New England. Still, the one thing needful
on all our farms is manure,-more manure
and the farmers all ask, "Where can We
buy an honest article2" and the editors o
agricultural newspapers are asked to answer
the question. This we would be glad to d.
five could, but we cannot. With the ligh
that has been thrown on this subject within
a few years, by such men as Professor
Goessmann, johnson, Atwater and Others
and with the increased intelligence of th'
farmers themselves, it is reasonable to ex
peCt that a great improvement should b
made in the business Of making aud sellin
fertilizers, and we have no doubt that sucl
has been the case. The day for the sale Q
worthless fertilizers we believe is past
Farmers are beginning to know what the


want, and they demand fair dealing and vii
not long submit to any other.


We can speak understandingly Of tn
Brighton fertilizer, because we have used il
and because We have seen it made, an
know what it is composed of. We hay
used two or three tons. We have used


barrel of the German potash, and these al
the only.kinds Of commercial fertilizers v


have ever used since we commenced farm
ing. We have refused to buy, because "


were afraid Of them. We tried these tw


as matter Of experiment for our own sati
faction, and that we might be able to Civ


some kind Of an answer to the many inqurl'


received. But our opinion is but the oPlI


ion of one individual. We may, like other
fail to use it properly. We have before
, now, letter from gentleman at Walthan
! Mass, giving the results OF his experlenS
with the use Of ton Of Abbattolr tertlllze
Year: 1875

the poor, spindliDg grass, IL has to die. l
believe the most profitable crop to grow IN
New England is grass we cannot compete
with the West in raising grain, but we can
beat them in making good butter and cheese,
and to do this we must have grass. My
plan is to haul out my manure in spring, ut
the rate Of fifty two.horse loads 10 the acre,
turn under and plant corn, fodder corn, pota-
toes, turnips or bsets, for home consumption,
and in the fall, after my crops are oil, Plow,
harrow, and get the stones off, aud seed it
down. In that way thepiece is out Of grass
but one year. One reason have for seed
ing in the fall is, that in spring it is geuer.
ally too wet to get in the seed quick enough.
Sowing in fall gives il a chance 10 get well
along before our hot, dry weather in June.
Seeding iu fall gives time to get off the stones
aud work the land down smooth, and get It
in better shape than you could in spring. /
SOW one bushel of timothy aud ten pounds of
red top, TO the acre, and roll it in, aud in
spring, on the last snow or soon after, SOW
twenty pounds of clover seed 70 the acre,
and the frost coming out, and spring rains,
will cover it aud it will do nicely. l have
never failed in getting good catch and
large crop Of hay the following August or
September. 1 think heavy seeding of grass
is best, as the hay is fner and of better quail
ity, and gives more perfect sward. Two
years ago my neighbOrs that seeded with
grain lost their grass seed Mine came on
and | got a good crop Of hay. Hay cut
from such pieces is extra for cows in milk.
l have talked with a number of farmers
about seeding without grain, and they say l
must have straw to bed my horses and pigs,
and it is handy to have few oats to feed.
If they would spend the same time in getting
brakes and wild grasses in their pastures
that they do for grain they would get twice
as much bedding, and help the pasture, and
enrich the mow;ngs. As for a few oats, l
would rather have meal aud middlings in every
place. believe if every Oat in New Eng
land had been lost ten years ago, with the
exception OF seed for soiling crop, we
should be better off, have been thinking
of breaking up two or three acres in August
next, manure On top, work well, and seed
down. would inquire if the readers of the
FARMER have tried this plan, and how it
succeeded. l should like to hear from my
brother farmers on this subject. hope
there will be more talk on grass and less on
thirty thousand dollar Shorthorn stock they
are luxury that very few can indulge in,
and if grass fails where are they?


YoUNG FARMER.
Year: 1875

He had saved few hundred dollars be-
fore he was twenty-five years old, at which
time he bought farm, paying for what he
had, and then finding that he spent too
much time in cooking, he married a strong
healthy woman, leaving the bayfield, an
hour and half to have the cere mony per-
formed, when he returned to his work, and
his wife went into the kitchen to get dinner.
OF course they could not afford a bridal
trip nor any thing of the kind, nor could
they afford to have children, and they lived
forty years blessed with health, working all
day long, wet or dry, out doors and in.
Churning, wood-sawing and shelling corn
were done after dark.


They always had apple sauce and never
wanted butter ; salt pork answered instead
Of beef or fish potatoes instead of eggs;
they drank thoroughwort and catnip tea, and
soaked their feet in warm water. Of books
they had no need because they had no time
to read, though they made out to read the
tracts given them so nothing might be lost.
They never attended church because they had
money which they could worship, and they
could not afford to give to the poor some
day. For quarter of q century he hauled
hay twenty miles to market, getting So to
$40 ton, all of which was saved, since he
carried his victuals in a round box, and bed
clothes, so that he could sleep in the wagon.


Ten years ago he was sixty years old, and
he was SO crippled in various ways with
hard work, having varicOse veins and rup-
lures and some other little things, and their
farm, which had become the best in the
county, was sold, bringing over $4,000,
aud this with their extra stock made up a
value Of over $4,000, all of which was put
into government bonds, and then they were
making money faster than ever He bought
a small piece of twenty acres of choice land,
which they worked to the best advantage,
keeping COWS, hogs and poultry. He is now
seventy. They rise every day at o'clock,
when he goes to work, allowing himself half
an hour at noon, returns from work at dark,
milks, feeds the hogs, churns, shells corn,
and pursues the even tenor of his way. In
every particular she is his mate, the house
is neat and comfortable, no little children to
get things out of order, visitors seldom ap-
pear, but if they do the food is extra !;
almost as good as they have at home. Now
the shadows are falling, the light of life
begins to glimmer, but they are rich, and
why should they not be happy But there
is one drawback. What is to become OF
their money ?-Neao York Tribune.