RHUS MICHAUX SARG. Is a pocumbent shrub, growing from 1 to 3 feet high, and has from 9 to 13 villons-pubescent leaflets, and red, silky pubescent fruit, ripening in the vicinity of Raleigh, N. C., during the latter part of August. The range of this variety, as far as determined, extends from Statesville, Iredell County, northeast to Farmington, Davie County, thence east to Raleigh, Wake County, from which point it extends slightly northeast through Vance County to the Atlantic. RHUS GLABRA L. Is a shrub growing from 6 to 15 feet high with glabrous leaves and branches, and from 11 to 31 leaflets. The fruit is red and is covered with crimson hairs, and ripens in the vicinity of Raleigh a little earlier than the above variety. This is the variety most commonly collected and sold in North Carolina. It extends from one end of the State to the other, and is plentiful in all sections. RHUS CAPALLINA L. Is a small shrub, locally known as Mountain sumac, growing from 2 to 8 feet high and has from 9 to 21 leaflets and pubescent branches and petioles. The fruit is hairy and red in color, with a pleasant, aciduous taste. The range of this species is apparently identical with that of the above. From carefully selected samples of leaves and bark, collected by myself on June 29, 1899, and submitted to Professor Fraps, Assistant Chemist of the North Carolina Experiment Station, for analysis, the following percentages were obtained: DRY MATTER. Rhus capallina, leaves 34.33; bark 34.22. Rhus Michauxi, leaves 43.97; bark 38.57. Rhus glabra, leaves 37.85; bark 42.23. A determination of tannin by the gelatin-permanganate method gave the following, calculated as gallo-tannic acid in dry matter: Rhus capallina, leaves 18.0; bark 3.4. A careful examination of these figures will disclose the fact that dealers make a mistake in having Rhus Michauxi collected in place of Rhus capallina, and that the indiscriminate mixing of Rhus glabra and Rhus Michauxi results in a loss to the purchaser of at least 50 per cent. There could be a saving of an equal amount by substituting the first-named variety for the second one. The percentages of tannin could be very materially increased if our collectors would wait until the "galls" (which are round, ball-shaped excrescences), appear on the under surface of the leaves. This change generally takes place in our State during July and August. C. W. HYAMS, Assistant Botanist and Entomologist, N. C. Agr. Exp. Station. THE FARMER'S HEAVIEST TAX. The talk on agricultural depression, how the farmer can get nothing for his produce; the discussion how the great trusts of the country are the chief cause for nis depression, and the talk in each political campaign of the office seeker, who if only elected will work for the farmer's interest in the legislative councils, all these the farmer has had thrust at him. No matter who is elected to office, he finds his condition practically unchanged, unless he gives up trusting to others, and turns in and helps himself. The farmer's greatest foe is at his own gate-way. The sight of the tax-gatherer is not the most unwelcome sight that meets his eye as he stands looking down the county road. This same county road, which leads from his farm to town, if it be not in good repair is his most inveterate enemy. The mud tax is the great burden which oppresses and grinds the life out of the farmer. This is the tax, mud, which prevents his marketing his produce when good prices prevail in town. This same mud tax injures his children by depriving them of schooling, and the whole family suffer in their morals by being unable to attend religious services. It would seem that anything which would offer relief to the farmer from this tax, would be gladly accepted and welcomed.-New Bern Journal. Quite right, the farmer pays an enormous tax imposed by mud. The wear and tear on vehicles and harness; the small loads-about one-half, or less, than should be hauled-prescribed by the mud; the exposure and strain on draft animals; the wear and tear on the spirit and vitality of the farmer when compelled to use "mud ways" instead of road ways; the imprisonment of the farmer and his family for weeks at a time, all conspire to make the mud tax the most burdensome borne by the farmer. If it could be reduced to dollars and cents and presented to the farmer, in a lump, once a year for payment, he would not only be astonished, but would declare that no farmer could live under such a burden, and he would be right. There can be no question of the economy of good roads. ATTENTION, FRUIT GROWERS! The following from Mr. J. Van Lindley, a practical pomologist, is of great importance to all growers of fruit trees. Do not hesitate to put his suggestions into practice at once. PEAR AND APPLE BLIGHT. The blight in pear has been long back as I can recollect. known for many years. I have known it as Now it has spread and attacked the apple, quince and other fruits. The remedy, and the only remedy, is the knife. Keep a sharp lookout, and as soon as the blight appears, which is usually on the ends of limbs, in the blossom or young fruit, and on young twigs during the summer, cut it out and burn it. Go over your orchard at least twice during the summer, and then again just before the time the leaves shed, cutting away every bit of the blight down to three or four inches below the affected part. By following this method a year or two, you can be rid of the blight-if your neighbors do the same. This is the only remedy; and if properly done, it is effective. Some years it is worse than others. This year it has been worse than it has ever been known before, and it is reported as at work in nearly all the different States. It is important to watch your fruit trees, by cutting off and burning the cut-off limbs. It is a contagious bacterial disease of the pear, apple, and kindred fruits. The most important time to destroy it is late in the autumn, when all growth is over and the leaves begin to fall. Then you can easily detect the affected or blighted limbs from the healthy wood where it joins. In the pear, the blight sometimes starts near the body and encircles it. When this is the case, there is no help for it, but in most cases the tree can be saved. On the apple so far, it has always appeared on the ends of the limbs. Pomona, N. C., August 8, 1899. J. VAN LINDLEY. PRESERVING EGGS. A reader of the Country Gentleman asks for a good recipe for an egg preserver-one that a man can use who has only twenty or so dozen eggs a week to put away. The editor gives the following, which is simple and no doubt effective: "Care should be taken to select a receptacle from which the eggs can draw nothing; hence glass jars or stone crocks are preferable. Six gallon glass jars will hold twenty dozen eggs. Slack about a peck of lime; to this add six pailfuls of water and three quarts of salt. This should all be dissolved, and when settled is fit to use. Pour the thin lime water into the jars, cover them with a cloth, and on this spread a coating of the thicker lime water. The solution must stand in the jars so as to cover the eggs. A peck of lime will be enough to preserve about 100 dozen eggs." Eggs preserved in this way are known to the trade as "limed eggs," and do not command as high a price per dozen, by several cents, as fresh eggs. Minorcas, Barred P. Rocks, Leghorns and other standard breeds of fowls, if properly fed and housed, will produce eggs during the winter months, when prices are highest. FROM THE CONSUMER'S STANDPOINT. Some people are inclined to think that butter producers ask too much when they want the traffic in oleomargarine restricted, and the sale of that colored to imitate butter forbidden. Is oleo not perfectly healthful to the consumer? Well, the State Department has recently shown us an interesting sample of 35 1-2 grains of paraffin taken from an ounce of oleomargarine. Now paraffin is not just the thing which the ordinary consumer would care to take into his stomach, as it is practically impervious to the action of the digestive fluids. Yet the temptation to use it is strong, because it gives the oleo a fine body, making it resemble a better grade of butter than it otherwise would. The presence of the adulterant is not to be detected by any but an expert; and the adulterated counterfeit sells for the same price as good butter. The cost of production is much less. This discovery by the officials of the New York department is a matter of interest to consumers in general.-Country Gentleman. A WORD TO THOSE DESIRING TO SELL LANDS. The unsurpassed advantages which North Carolina offers in climate, lands, timbers, minerals, water power, etc., etc., ought to attract thousands of settlers. There is a way to attract them, and there is a way to repel them. It is a well-established fact that where settlers have been suitably located in this State, they have been wonderfully pleased with our climate and our people, and have induced many of their friends to come and cast their lot with us, and these have added greatly to the State's prosperity. Unfortunately, there have been hindrances to successful immigration, attributable, I think, to an eagerness to sell the new-comer land whether it suited him or not. Real estate dealers have too often induced the stranger to purchase what they had to sell, rather than what he wanted, or needed. In all such cases the results have been unsatisfactory. The settler not only quits the State in disgust, but he gives it a bad name among his friends and neighbors. Unquestionably, many excellent people are looking for homes in North Carolina. Our people have an abundance of lands for sale (as is evidenced by the fact that for the past six weeks, more than 200,000 acres have been entered on the Land Registry in this office), and very much of it is being offered at prices below its value. Can they sell these lands even at low prices? There is a way to sell them and a way not to sell them. I know of no better way to illustrate this point than giving the substance of a conversation recently had with two gentlemen. One said he had a farm for sale. A land agent wrote him that on a certain day he would bring him a possible purchaser in the person of a wealthy gentleman from the cold northwest, seeking a home in a milder climate. He hastened to paint the dwelling, whitewash the barns, stables and fence, cut down the weeds-all at a very small cost. Result, the farm was promptly sold, the purchaser wonderfully pleased with climate and people, and has already written to his friends in the Northwest that there is no place like the Old North State. The other gentleman said he was in the real estate business. Recently one of our best citizens called at his office and placed with him for sale a very valuable farm near the city. He did not go out to see it, several gentlemen who knew the premises well assured him that the price named was too low. After much correspondence, he induced a gentleman from the North to come down and examine it. They drove out, and the first thing they saw was the gate broken down, and then there were no stable doors, one blind was gone and another hanging by one hinge, and weeds, weeds, weeds, there were weeds almost everywhere. Without alighting the prospective buyer remarked: "Is this the place? Well, I guess we have seen enough of it, let's drive back to the city." Result, no sale; but that was not the worst, for the gentleman returned to his home to tell his friends that they need not heed anything that they read about North Carolina's attractiveness. A small expenditure might have made this farm present a tidy and attractive appearance-might have been the means of selling it, and the purchaser might have been delighted instead of disgusted, as he naturally was. Imagine yourself emigrating to Massachusetts or California, and being driven out to some old, deserted, dilapidated premises and told that you could buy them cheap. Cheap, indeed! You would not accept them as a gift if you were required to live there. JNO. W. THOMPSON, In Charge of Immigration. CATTLE DISTEMPER OR TICK FEVER. Since the opening of the warm season the Board of Agriculture has investigated many outbreaks of tick fever in cattle. These have occurred in the stock law and mountain counties, and have invariably resulted from driving cattle from one district to another. While there may be exceptional cases, the majority of outbreaks have been caused by cattle from free-range districts. In nearly every case farmers have observed ticks on the diseased and living cattle. The disease infected cattle have either been raised on the farm which had previously been uninfested or had been purchased from uninfected farms where no disease has prevailed. The investigations of the Board show that the first brood of ticks began hatching out early in April in central North Carolina, and the second brood before the middle of June. There have been no observations regarding their earlier appearance in the eastern counties. In two instances it has been claimed that ticks were introduced last year and reappeared this spring. The outbreaks investigated comprise but a portion of the losses so far occurring, many scattered cattle dying in all sections. Of all cases of disease |