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dences and tall church spires smiling under the bright unclouded sun of "La Belle France." The cars for Paris were to leave at 2 p. m., and as it was half past one before we were fairly landed and had passed the farcical ordeal of a custom examination, we had but a running glance at some of the business portions of the town. A large, handsome and thriving commercial city, the Liverpool of France.

But of Rouen: Once the capital of Normandy, its fine old Gothic structures and monuments, some of them a thousand years old, are full of interest to an American who in his own country lives in the midst of the creations of to-day. Some relic of antiquity meets the traveller at every turn, either in the form of a pointed arch, the mutilated statue of some saint, or a Gothic fountain; the door-posts, window-frames, beam-ends and wood work of almost every building are chequered, intersected and ornamented with rich carving, grotesque heads, flowers, animals and other fanciful devices; while the mouldering magnificence of the great Cathedral-said to have been founded as early as 1260-and of other churches once grand and beautiful, carry the mind of the beholder back through indefinite centuries and inevitably lead to serious reflections upon the transitory nature of all the works of

man.

The most magnificent of all the churches is St. Ouena purely Gothic structure of most elaborate architecture and gorgeous finish within. It is about 400 feet in length, 300 in height and was built in 1318. The paintings on the windows and walls, the rich ornamentation of the altars and the splendid statuary are the wonder and praise of every visitor.

From the summit we had a most magnificent view of the city, the surrounding hills and the beautiful Seine. The Statue of Joan d'Arc, which ornaments the market place in the Place de Pucelle, is one of the finest works of art in the country. Of the Palais de Justice, the Jardin des Plantes and numerous other objects of interest we have not time now to write.

sacrifice of our own Wis. FARMER. Brother farmers, what would you think of the Editor of our Wis. FARMER going to the city of Buffalo or New York to buy their flour when it could be had right in the city of Madison for one half the cost? You may consider this a very insignificant question, but this is the doctrine that we advocate when we pay our money for agricultural papers published out of the State. Why there are farmers enough in Wisconsin to make the FARMER just as good as the Rural, or any other paper. Now if it is not as good, what is the matter? this can be very easily answered. In my opinion, it is because the agricultural interest which is far the greatest in the State, does not give it that support that is due to so worthy a journal. Farmers, this great agricultural State which can support a score of political papers, through its vast extent, yet it can hardly support one good paper devoted to the predominant interest of the State. Let us have one, if no more, agricultural paper that will be a lasting benefit to us and our children, and the future good to those who may live in generations not yet born. Then come one, come all, say not that we are not able, or that the times are so hard; but send the money right to the "Farmer Office," and get a copy. D. B. CRANDALL.

UTICA, Wis., 1862.

Skim Milk Calves.-In relation to this matter we can speak from experience, having tried successively the methods proposed by Adolphus and the Massachusetts Ploughboy, and giving preference to the latter, we must in a measure condemn them both for our own use. We had last summer eight calves, and for the sake of experiment fed one precisely after the manner of Adolphus; another we allowed to suck its mother until fall, and the remaining six we allowed to suck three cows apportioning two calves to each cow. The result was as follows: We had in autumn seven calves, which in point of size, we have seen none to excel. The difference between the one reared by hand and the sucklings, was truly surpris

From this place we shall go up the Seine to Paris, where ing, and at least sufficient to condemn the skim milk plan all the glories of the French Empire await us.

Wisconsin Agricultural and Mechanical Association.-The attention of our readers is called to the Premium List of this Association which appears in the supplement to this number. Through the management of its enterprising and energetic officers, the Fair, this fall, will be a success.

CORRESPONDENCE.

ED. WIS. FARMER :-I do not know how many copies of the FARMER are taken at this office, I think not a very large number, but do know at least 50 copies ought to be taken, and I know that quite a number of the Rural New Yorker are taken here. Now I do not want to find fault with the Rural, nor those of any brother farmers that take it, but must certainly protest against the policy of taking foreign agricultural papers at the expense of the

as extremely objectionable. If properly managed, the labor required to break a cow to suckling two calves, is not equal to that necessary to learn your calf to drink from a pail. The merits of this method are that you retain one half of your cows for dairy purposes exclusively, and raise calves which any farmer might be proud of and this without the least attention after the first few days.

J. R.

ED. FARMER:-That big list from Oregon is not forthcoming yet, and for reasons not necessary to enumerate. First and foremost is the fact that the dear people have been most preposterously deceived in regard to their own best interests. They have been led off after false gods→ false issues, and false (to us) farming literature. Some think the Tribune is all in all; others add the American Agriculturist to their list, which they take "as the man of their counsel." The great argument in favor of the Agriculturist is the convincing one, viz: That it furnish

es its subscribers with seeds at a penny an ounce-as per the old saying, “penny wise but pound foolish." For what do foreigners know about our wants and capabili- | ties? just about as much as a Badger knows about cultivating negroes. Sometimes I am about disposed to give over the community as joined to their idols; and yet I know that many are getting sorely sick of their choice, and will, in due time, come back to their sober sense and patronize their own best friends.

I take pleasure in comparing the WISCONSIN FARMER with those taken by my neighbors, and am satisfied that the FARMER has not suffered by contrast.

Many of the old patrons of the FARMER lost confidence in it when one of the old Editors advised the State to assume the railroad indebtedness. I happened to be in the same boat, (though I did not commit myself,) which crippled my influence. I am a victim to railroading, but yet I shall not try to dodge the shot, I shall pay all, and pay for the FARMER, and yet live to see a rousing list in this place. I keep all and have them bound, and find them a Ready Reckoner in times of need.

OREGON, Dane Co., Wis.

W. COLEMAN.

Corn and Potato Culture.-Some persons may object to a discussion of this subject, on the ground that it is too common to require it; our opinion is that emaciated corn fields are too common to dispense with it. We give our method without claiming to know more than other people, with the assurance that it has seldom failed to produce good crops. In procuring seed corn, care should be taken to pick the largest, earliest and best matured ears, and this too before the strong frosts of autumn set in. Put them in a dry place where the frosts cannot penetrate to the cob before it is dry. When perfectly dry, and you have time in winter, shell and barrel your seed corn for spring planting; it is well to plant corn and potatoes in the same field; manure the field in autumn, the part intended for potatoes with straw, or what is better, hotel manure.

The part intended for corn with well rotted compost from the cattle or sheep shed. The manure should be plowed under immediately after drawing--choose a dry place for this if possible. If the land is sufficiently dry about the first of May, run over it with a cultivator to lighten its surface and kill the weeds which might start before the corn. Next mark out in rows 4 feet apart, cross these at right angles with marks the same distance apart; procure Mandrake Root, and boil in water so as to make a strong decoction, in which soak your seed corn; this will render it unpalatable to birds, insects, &c. Plant corn and potatoes about the first of May, if the land is dry enough. Plant potatoes in hills, same distance apart as corn; cut potatoes so as to leave two or more eyes in each plant; put three of these in each hill about 6 or 8 inches apart. As soon as the corn and potatoes are visible in row, commence plowing, though the weeds have not made much progress, it is well to threaten what you will do in case of their appearance; if the weeds plot up a new start, threaten again with hoe and cultivator or shovel plow. This threaten

ing process you will find more effective in cleaning your land ten times better for your corn and performed in one half the time it takes to bestow the necessary punishment on the noxious weeds after they have obtained full possession of your field, and are proposing to choke out your corn. Potatoes should be hilled in mounds sufficiciently large to contain bushel in case of a heavy crop. J. R.

Noxious Weeds and the Dog Law.-ED. WIS. FARMER-I notice that the present legistators have made it the duty of the overseers of highways, to destroy Horse Sorrel and Burdock, in addition to the duty of destroying Canada Thistles, which they were previously required to do. And now will the farmers in the State (for they are the class more immediately interested,) see to it that the laws in this respect are thoroughly and universally enforced to the letter and spirit. Truly may it be said in this matter, "a stitch in time saves nine." I have a neighbor who sowed some eastern grass seed six or eight years ago, and when it grew, he found his patch nicely seeded to Horse Sorrel. He has been negligent in killing it, and now it is scattered in spots for miles around. Burdock has been strangely neglected in this vicinity, and is now growing luxuriantly in various localities in the public highway, the injurious effects of which the condition of some of the wool brought to the carding machine abundantly attest.

There is another subject of vital interest to all sheep farmers in the State that ought to occupy the attention of the legislature, to-wit: The inefficiency of the present Dog Law. The almost insurmountable obstacles as well as the expences directly and indirectly connected with the enforcement of the present Dog Law makes it practically a dead letter through nearly all parts of the State.

These difficulties and expences arise chiefly from the present mode and time of collecting the license money. If the law was so amended as to require the Assessor to make a list of the names of the owners of dogs through the town and the license fee annexed by the Town Clerk to the taxes of such owners to be collected by the Town Treasurer, I think that the greater part of the trouble attending the enforcement of the law would be removed, and the State benefitted thousands thereby.

DANVILLE, Wis., June 19, 1862.

GEO. H. ADAMS.

To Kill Canada Thistles.-Summer fallow one season and plant potatoes the next summer. What survives the last hoeing, physic out with strong pork or beef brine. J. R.

NOTICES OF NEW ADVERTISEMENTS.

have a surplus of produce more interested than in just Advice to Farmers.-In nothing are the farmers who and accurate weights, and prudence and economy dictate pork, wool, &c., before it is taken to market. that they should have scales to weigh their grain, beef,

Among the kinds in use, Fairbanks' scales stand promgarded as the acknowledged standard, and no good farmer inent, on account of accuracy, durability and being re

can afford to be without one.

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In this connection we would caution the farmers, in Comparative Statement of the business of the Company buying, against counterfeits, represented as Fairbanks' Scales, made at Buffalo and other places, which we are credibly informed have been sold under that name. They are unlike the genuine, except in external appearance, and are undoubtedly altogether inferior, and we would advise them to buy only the genuine, made at St. Johnsbury, Vt., and which have "Fairbanks' Patent" on the Brass Beam and Platform of the scale.

Durham Cattle and South Down Sheep.--In this number appears the advertisement of John P. Roe, importer and breeder of pure Durham Cattle and South Down Sheep. A personal acquaintance with Mr. Roe, and his fine stock, disposes us to bespeak for him the patronage of amateur stock raisers. beds

Singer & Co.'s Sewing Machine.-A new advertisement of this sterling machine will be found in our advertising pages. It is too well known to need a lengthy notice of

its merits.

Madison Mutual Insurance Company,

FOR THE YEAR ENDING

JANUARY 1st, 1862.

Made to the Governor of the State of Wisconsin, as required by the provisions of chapter 303, of the General

Laws of 1858.

Total amount of accumulations,...............

Premium notes of policy holders $180,124 63

Cash on hand, and due from

policy holders for cash premiums,..

Am't secured by mortgage and

Office furniture and fixtures,...

Whole number of policies issued,.....

Am't of outstanding risks thereon,........... $10,320,789 00
Reported losses awaiting further proof,......

Losses recently reported,..

Whole number of policies issued in 1861....
Amount of outstanding risks thereon,......
Amount of premium notes thereon,..
Amount of cash premiums thereon,...
Total amount of losses reported during the
year,.....

Total am't of losses paid during the year,

Amount settled by drafts and awaiting the

Amount of commissions paid to Agents,...

Amount paid for postage,........

Amount paid for office rent,....

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Expenses paid, including all compensation of officers and directors-stationery, extra clerk hire, fuel, lights, and all other incidental expenses,....

6,069 56 STATE OF WISCONSIN,) DANE COUNTY, 86. We, the undersigned, being the President and a majority of the Directors of the "Madison Mutual Insurance Company," do solemnly swear, and each for himself saith, that the foregoing is a true and correct statement of the affairs of said company in the particulars therein named, as appears by the books of the company, according to the best of our knowledge and belief.

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pany for the past year gives a gratifying evidence of its high standing in the public estimation and of the success of its rules and principles of action.

Although its business for the preceding year (1860) was much larger than that of any previous year, and notwithstanding the general depression among farmers the past season, arising from light crops and low prices, the above. figures show an increase of nearly seventy per cent. in the number of policies issued, and of over seventy per cent. in the amount of cash premiums for the past year.

We invite a careful examination of this report. Its figures make a stronger argument than any form of words, and prove a rise and standing in popular favor unparalleled in the history of the Northwest.

DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS FOR THE YEAR 1862:

DIRECTORS.

J. W. BOYD, Walworth County.

B. F. HOPKINS, Dane County.

D. WORTHINGTON, Waukesha County.

S. D. HASTINGS, Trempeleau County.
G. F. HASTINGS, Dane County.
DAVID ATWOOD, Dane County.
G. R. MONTAGUE, La Crosse County.
S. R.. MCCLELLAN, Kenosha County.

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Hints for the Season-August. This is another busy month with the farmer. The early part of the month will be employed in finishing up the haying, and securing the wheat, oats, &c. Let the grain be well stacked and covered with a good thatch. A

little labor and care of this kind secures the

outside grain against driving rain storms, which often penetrate the naked stack, and destroys, or injures more or less grain. A few hours spent in thatching your stack may save the toil of weeks and months. Let the haying be finished up this month, whether on low or upland. It is a great mistake, (a mistake quite common,) to allow prairie grass to stand into September, and even October, before cutting. If for market, it may make but little or no difference with your pocket, if you can find unprincipled purchasers; but if fed to your cattle and horses through a cold winter, the difference will be seen and felt ere they leave the yard in spring.

The ground for winter wheat and rye should be put in order, and the seeding done the last of this month, or very first of the next. No crop is of more importance to the farmer than a field of rye. Aside from a crop of grain, it supplies excellent feed, both fall and spring, at a time when grass is of no account. This is an important month with all root

tained by topping a portion of the corn after it is glazed, or by going through the field and cutting out surplus stalks, or such as are bar

ren of ears.

Towards the last of the month hogs intended for pork should be put up and started.

Examine the orchard trees for the eggs of insects. They will be found in dry, rolled up leaves, and in clusters on small twigs. Scrape the twigs and burn the leaves. If not destroyed, they hatch in spring.

Muck for Manure.

MR. FREAS:-There are many kinds of muck which becomes good manure simply by being taken out and exposed during the autumnal and winter months, to the action of the air and frost. The effect of the latter is to fine or pulverise the mass, and render it more easily handled, while that of the former tends to sweeten it; all muck of a vegetable nature, and which has long lain submerged, being possessed of an acid or sour principle which lessens greatly its value as a manure, if it does not actually destroy it.

It is by no means necessary, as many suppose, and as most agricultural writers attest, that all mucky masses require to be composted before they can be rendered of actual benefit to the soil. I have seen excellent and luxuriant crops of corn which had received no other dressing than muck taken directly from the primitive bed, and placed fresh under the corn at planting. Most muck which can be regarded as at all valuable for manuring crops, is almost exclusively of vegetable origin, and the result of successive annual deposits and decompositions, extending, for ought we know to the contrary, through thousands of years, or perhaps centuries. I have seen, in muck aken from a depth of thirty feet below the surface, the impression of leaves as freshly The cows will now need something besides and distinctly defined as if sketched by the the dry grass from the pastures, to keep up a hand of art; yet the mass was as thoroughly decomposed as vegetable matters can be withgood flow of milk. To supply this want, noth-out dissipation or loss of identity. ing is equal to corn stalks, which may be ob

crops.

If you would have a good crop of turnips, carrots, &c., the ground must be stirred and the weeds kept down.

That composting very essentially enhances

the value of many, perhaps, of most kinds of muck, when contemplated as a means of vegetable enrichment, there can be no question, but that it is in all cases indispensable, is a position wholly unsusceptible of proof. To every one therefore who is the owner of a good muck bed, I would say, use it at all times just as you would short manure. If its effects are not manifest the first season, they will be the next, and your land will soon exhibit evidences of its value which no one can dispute.

Muck may be used by the farmer in a great variety of ways, and always so as to be profitable. It may be made to absorb the liquid matters which are constantly accumulating around his buildings, and which are too frequently permitted to sink into the earth; or it may be mixed with loam in the yards, and used as a top-dressing for lands in grain or grass. In either of these modes of application, it will produce excellent effects. I hope that, as a general thing, there will be more attention accorded to this subject, and to the subject of manuring lands with other matters, than we have heretofore evinced in our operations. We need all we can get from the soil, and the more we bestow in the form of manure, the more we shall receive. The autumn is a favorable season for attending to matters of this kind, and a few days devoted to the subject now, will enable us to double our products without anything like an equivalent expense in money, or in time, which, with most men of industrial and economical habits, is synonimous with cash.

Before closing this already lengthy, and perhaps, to most of your readers, tedious communication, permit me, sir, to say a few words on a subject not altogether irrelavant to the one discussed. I refer to the use of the well-known mineral fertiliser, Gypsum. Too much of this cannot well be used on a farm, I think, and already are its many virtues too well understood and too highly appreciated to require much to be said in its favor in this place; yet there is a probability, to say the least, that many who might use it to advantage, and who think so, will be deterred in consequence of supposing themselves unable to bear the expense. This is an unfounded fear, and no one who has lands to improve should indulge it for a moment. "A word to the wise," &c.-A PRACTICAL FARMER, in Ger. Telegraph.

WHITE CLOVER.-This forage plant seems to be very much neglected. That it possesses undoubted merits, especially as a pasture grass, no one can doubt. Thaer who was regarded as the most practical and scientific cultivator of his day, says: "It is certainly the most generally approved of all plants that are cultivated for this purpose." Fessenden wrote: "It does not contain as much nutritive matter

as red clover, yet its value as a pasture grass is universally admitted.

This plant readily adapts itself to a large variety of soils, but its favorite position seem to be in moist land, and it always succeeds better in a wet season. It does not appear to be so much relished by stock as from its sweetness would naturally be supposed, yet it has been found that in pastures where this plant is largely found, milch cows produce milk of a nicer quality than that from any other grass. We believe this plant to be capable of great improvement, by the proper selection and cultivation of varieties, and we hope it will ere long be accomplished.-Maine Farmer.

Prices of Harvest Help, &c.

ED. WIS. FARMER: I infer from what I have

The

read in the papers of the State, and from conversing with the farmers in this vicinity, that high prices for help during the coming harvest, are generally anticipated. These views, I think, are erroneous, for the following reasons: First, as to the amount of labor to be performed, this depends of course mainly upon the quantity and quality of the grain to be harvested. And I think from the appearance of the wheat crop at the present writing, (July 8th,) that we shall not, after all, have much, if any, more than an average yield this year. general complaint is that the wheat did not "stool" well, (the effects, I think, of the excessive rains,) and is consequently rather thin, exceptions to this are not few nor far between, but that the wheat crop will be less than has been expected, I think is very true. And the unprecedented quantity of reapers and mowers sold in the State this year, will partially make up for the absence of our young men who have gone to the war. The present prices of wheat will also tend to make farmers slow to pay exorbitant wages for harvest help. And perhaps it would be proper to calculate some upon the growth of the boys in our midst the past year. Another argument for low wages is the fact that farmers have universally calculated upon a scarcity of help in harvest, and laid their plans and planted and sowed accordingly.

And now Mr. Editor, would it not be for the best interest of Wisconsin farmers to so arrange their business as to bring about a more equal

and uniform distribution of their farm labor

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