THE CONTINENTAL INSURANCE COMPANY! CASH CAPITAL 1,345,386 92! OFFICE, 102, BROADWAY, NEW YORK. GEO. T. HOPE, President. H. H. LAMPORT, Secretary. CYRUS PECK, Assistant Secretary. OFFICE OF THE WESTERN AGENCY, MADISON. WISONSIN. G. F. HASTINGS, GEN'L AGENT. A. C. DAVIS, State Agent for Wisconsin. CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF THE CONTINENTAL INSURANCE CO. THE system on which this Company is based is popularly known as "The Participation System." The following are some of the reasons for preferring the Continental to any other Insurance Company: 1. It enables customers to obtain their insurance as near cost as is consistent with re. liable security, with the additional advantage of having that security increased with each successful year's business. 2. This Company insures all kinds of good property, at the lowest current rates. 3. Special attention is paid to insurance of Homesteads and Farm Property, including Grain in stacks, and Live Stock on farm. 4. This Company pays for damage done by Lightning to property insured by it, to the full amount of the damage, whether fire results from the lightning or not. 5. Any person insured in this Company may, at his request, have his policy cancelled at any time, and have his money refunded for the unexpired term, in which case the Company will retain the customary rates for the time the policy has been in force. 6. The effect of the "Participation system" is to leave in each State the principal part of the amount received by the Company for premiums; for instance, all the money paid for losses, the principal part of the expense of conducting the business, the State and Revenue tax, and three-fourths of the net profits divided to its customers, are all retained within the State, thus giving all the advantages derived from local and State Mutual Companies. 7. This Company has also reserved the important right to issue policies which do not entitle the holder to participate in the profits. Such policies do, however, entitle the holder to all the security which the system provides, and will be issued at prices as low as experience proves to be equal to the hazard, and therefore as low as any respectable and permanent company can insure. A ledger account is opened with each person or firm participating in the profits of the Company's business. Below will be found a practical example illustrating the "Participating" system: Winter Wheat Growing. Why not grow winter wheat more generally in Wisconsin? is a question of peculiar pertinency just now, and after the good success of the present year, with the general failure of the spring wheat crop, many will be induced to sow largely this fall, trusting in a snowy winter and a moist spring to carry it through successfully. Now while it is very desirable that we may have a favorable "wheat winter," i. e., with plenty of snow, so uncertain is it that a word of caution may not prove useless. Confident that this crop can be safely and surely grown with proper treatment, and in view of a large breadth being sown, I wish to offer a few suggestions upon the condi tions of success: EDITOR. No. 8. some ready mode of artificial covering or protection. Among the various plans is one I have seen used successfully years ago, which is to sow among corn at the last working with cultivator, and letting the stalks stand affording a partial shade and break-wind to until growing weather in the spring, thus prevent the snow blowing off, and the effects of drying winds of March. But the course I would especially commend is to return the straw to the field during winter. Now I fully believe there is straw enough burned in most sections, especially on the prairies, to insure a fair crop of winter wheat. The farmer that grows 40 acres of wheat, can, after reserving all his cattle need, distribute evenly the straw 1st. It is very necessary to secure a vig-over, say, 20 acres of winter wheat-more or orous autumn growth before severe freezing, less, according to the bulk-and thus serve a double purpose, preserve his crop and redeem his land from the notorious robbery so disgraceful to western agriculture. As to the time this should be done, I should. say soon after the ground is fairly shut up with frost, and a very thin coat evenly spread will secure a safe wintering and vigorous growth to the crop. MADISON, Wis. the better to resist the influence of open winter. To secure this, sowing should commence the middle of August and not be delayed after the 1st of September. Any excess of growth or tendency to spindle, can be easily checked by a moderate grazing. But in this latitude there is little to fear from this cause, as the cool autumn weather induces a v gorous, spreading habit of the stool. 2d. To insure successful wintering, it is necessary to have some winter mulch. Abundance of snow insures the crop until summer, but as the southern portion of the State especially is very uncertain in this re. spect, it is positively necessary to adopt J. C. P. The above suggestions are worthy the consideration of our farmers. Every year adds to our conviction that winter wheat should be grown more extensively than now. Early sowing is important, and Mr. Plumb's recommendation on this head is deserving of emphasis. [From our South American Correspondent.] Equatorial Vegetation. MR. FARMER:-To the suggestions of my October note, printed in your December number, I beg leave to add, that I deem it entirely unsafe to write after dinner; and especially to write, as I then wrote, from a great coffee harvest on the Hacienda of the British Minister, where flowed freely old port and the genial beverage which glorious old Jack Falstaff so delighted to sip, in the Dolphin Chamber, in East Cheap, at the round-table, by a sea-coal fire, upon Wednesday, in Whitsun week, while he swore to Dame Quickly, on a parcel-gilt goblet, viz: sherris-sac. But for this, I am quite sure I would not have been so free with the private opinions of the good old lady. Well, speaking of gun-flints reminds one of shooting, and it is equally natural to pass from coffee to cacao and cotton. As to the former, it is the neglected shrub of this country. It steals its way into fence corners, rocky knolls, &c., and receives little attention except to be cut down or grubbed up, unless its exhilarating berry be wanted in the kitchen, when it is only necessary to reach out and take it. Yankee energy and ingenuity could soon make it as cheap as peas, all the world over. An enterprising young man from the North need seek no surer and quicker road to fortune than the culture of coffee. The same may be said of cacao, or the kernel from which chocolate is made. pleasant, nutricious beverage, taken here its purity, but utterly worthless as used with you. Its only fault is, that its frequent use gives great encouragement to the dental art. It is dear everywhere, but may be produced almost as cheap as coffee. and the yield abundant. Some people in This is the headquarters of the vegetable world; but as few, if any, of the trees or plants could be acclimated in our country, a description would not interest you. Flowers entirely unknown to us, and of the rarest beauty, grow wild all through the Andes ; but owing to the scarcity of bees and like insects to fructify them, the seeds are generally abortive. The only means of securing a flower for hot-bed culture at home, is to take the plant. I have a collection of drawings and plants, which I hope some day to show you, whose incomparable floral gems are worthy to adorn the brow of Venus herself. Hasta luego, We regret that our esteemed correspondent, who, as before stated, is no less a personage than the American Minister at the Court of should have been influ enced by the spirits to write what he now regrets to have said; but we are still of the opinion, that his shaft did not fall far from the mark. Hope he will favor us frequentAly, and with the utmost freedom criticise in whatever needs reform. The remoteness and the loftiness of his stand-point on the tops of the Andes, at the Equator, must enable him to see, with greater comprehensiveness and impartiality than we can possibly do, in the midst of what we would view. Only this one word of caution, our dear "Peleg": In the future, be more wary of that artful British Minister. In all respects he represents his government, and would just as soon get you into trouble as not. Join the temperance society before you dine with him again. As to the cotton tree, I regret to say, that all the noise lately made about it in the United States is sheer humbug. It grows wild in most localities, where the temperature is never lower than 60° Fah. In a colder temperature it cannot be made to grow. It is a beautiful shrub, bearing two kinds of flowers-pink and yellow--on the same branch. The fibre is of good quality, Thank you for the several specimens. Anything further you may be pleased to write us concerning those highly interesting of farmers as on the part of any other tropical lands will be gratefully received by class. THE EDITOR OF THE FARMER. For the Farmer. The "Combination" of Farmers. As farmers we complain bitterly of the combinations of merchants, manufacturers, factors and brokers, and yet there is but little reason to doubt that if farmers had the same facilities for effecting combinations, injustice and even extortion would characterize their action also. Human nature is about the same in all classes. A retired and quiet life, in the midst of beautiful, honest nature, doubtless has a tendency to keep men from all the vices into which they would fall if daily subject to the temptations of a great city; and yet notwithstanding these restraining and elevating influences of nature, in a very different sense from that which Burns meant to convey, MR. EDITOR:-I think there should be some reform or change from the present mode of doings among farmers, as to selling their produce. The better way, I think, would be to form a U. S. States Society, then societies in each State, and in each county in each State, all branches of the U. S. States Society, combined together to hold on to the produce they have so hardly raised. If all would combine together to keep it out of market, they could get a fair price for it. If some must sell their produce, let the society buy it, giving them the present market price, together with one half the rise, then put it in the society's store-house and keep it, not letting one ounce of food or clothing material go to market until poor loafers and speculators pay a price set by the farmer instead of them-ety organizations might effect something selves. I would like to hear from others on for farmers in the direction proposed; and this subject, and particularly from the edi- yet, so far as we know, whenever and wherSETH ROWLEY. ever the experiment has been made it has failed and the whole scheme been abandoned. tor. WAUTOMA, July 5, 1864. REMARKS.-It may hardly be etiquette for us to speak first, in reference to our corres. pondent's suggestions, but inasmuch as post onemont is very liable to result in our forgetting altogether what we had intended to say, our readers will pardon our promptness in saying our say on this interesting and important subject. We as thoroughly reprobate the combinations of loafers and speculators" as do you, friend Rowley. Our brief article on "The Conscience of Capital," in the July No., was prompted by the same kind of sentiments as those expressed by you. Still, it is possible that we may differ somewhat as to the applicability of the remedy proposed. The truth is, we don't much believe in "com. binations" of any sort. They are in violation of the natural laws of trade which always give fair and equitable results if uninterfered with, and, except in necessary self-defence, are just as reprehensible on the part "A man's a man for a' that." The difficulty is just here. Farmers are too numerou, too isolated, and, worse than all else, too little informed as a class to render combinations among them possible. It would seem, at first thought, that soci The best remedy we know of against the swindling and gouging of which farmers are too often the victims is INTELLIGENCE. It's not so easy for me to say what my neighbor may sell his wheat or wool for, but, if out of debt and unpinched by dire necessity, it is perfectly easy for me to say that I will not sell the product of my own labor and management for less that such or such a figure-said figure being determined by a due consideration of the demand and supply. "But," say you, "this demand and supply, how are we to get at it so as correctly to base our action thereon ?" That can only be arrived at by a careful consideration of a number of modifying circumstances, such as the condition of the country, the amount of old produce on hand from previous years, the character of the present year's crop at home and abroad, &c., &c.-circumstances with which one can only become familiar by studying the principles of political economy, and by keeping relations of intercommunition with the rest of the world through the medium of the periodical press. If farmers were as complete masters of their business in all its departments as the commercial classes in theirs, they would less frequently be found growing crops for which there is no demand, and neglecting much easier means of acquiring wealth and independence. The societies already formed-agricultural societies-might make themselves more useful than they now do by diffusing practical information on these important matters, but we very much question whether there is anything feasible in the scheme proposed by our worthy correspondent EDITOR. Couch Grass. – EDS. RURAL NEW-YORKER:-How can I destroy Couch grass, which is extending very rapidly over my farm, especially in one portion, rather low? A few years ago I think there was scarcely a root on my place, but now in some places it is almost impossible to get a crop. Is there any way of destroying it at once?-M. T., Orleans Co., N. Y., 1862. [From the Report of the Department of Agriculture BY J. H. SMITH, OF ILL. MILLS. A good mill in this business is a thing of the greatest importance; for if that breaks down or stops, the work in all its departments must stop; but when that goes and performs well its part, then all other parts of the work must move briskly forward. The mill, therefore, needs to be well and thoroughly made in all its parts, for no time should be lost in mending or repairing after the work has been onee commenced. Its capacity should be graded according to the extent of the crop. If one has twenty-five or thirty acres of cane, he needs a mill capable of expressing 150 gallons of juice per hour, unless he expects to run both night and day. We have heretofore used a mill manufactured in Cincinnati, but consider it susceptible of improvement, and shall endeavor to improve upon it hereafter. A mill that will express 250 gallons of juice per hour may cost a little more at the outset, but as it costs no more to attend it, and as the same number of hands can run it that would be required to run one that would express only 50 gallons per hour, we believe it would really be a saving of expense before the season was over to lay out a little more money in the beginning. While a small mill would only make about forty gallons of sirup per day, a large one, with a very little more expense, would make 150 gallons per day. HANDLING THE JUICE. A tunnel seive may be used for conduct. ing the juice from the spout of the mill to the filterers over the pan, and this renders handling unnecessary until it is passed into the evaporator, where it should be concen There can be no question but this grass is becoming exceedingly troublesome, and an easy way to destroy it has not be discovered, that we are aware of. It is very tenacious of life, and we have taken up plants that have been buried for a couple of weeks where even the leaves did not appear dis-trated to 15° Baume. It being then colored. But, the great difficulty is with the roots or under-ground stems. They increase rapidly, spread over a large surface, and the first intimation we have of their existence is the appearance of the young shoots, making their way above the surface, A small particle of root left in the ground soon forms a new plant, and if neglected, a thousand. The only way we have ever succeeded in keeping down is to remove the roots from the soil with a fork. This is effectual, if faithfully performed. If any one knowns of a better method we should be happy to learn it. As this grass flourishes best in a damp soil, draining is of advantage. Rural New-Yorker. thoroughly defecated, it is then passed, while hot, through three tub filterers, set directly over each other, and which may be of the following dimensions, viz: three feet deep, three feet square at the top, and two feet square at the bottom, which is perforated, with flannel over it upon the bars, then filled with bone-black or animal coal. These filterers should be so placed that, by turning the cock, the liquid can be run off into the last concentrating pan; then drive the fire till the saccharometer indicates 40 while hot; then run it off into a large flat cooler, which will hold the labors of the day, without having the sirup more than two inches deep in the cooler when hot, lest it should |