go into oranges and make more
money than I have, or lose it all. I have read a good deal about the
seductive business, in Florida, though but little of the details of
cultivation in other countries. Tell me where I can find something about
how they manage in Spain and the south of Europe.

ANSWER.--Most of the really valuable works on this subject are in
foreign languages--French, Spanish, or Italian. However, for a wonder, a
late publication of the Department of State, at Washington--Reports from
the consuls of the United States, No. 33--contains a valuable and
lengthy paper on Orange Growing at Valencia, Spain, contributed by the
consul there, which you may perhaps obtain through your member of
Congress.

J. D. SLADE, COLUMBUS, GA.--I am interested in a large plantation near
this city with a friend who is a practical farmer. We have decided to
abandon the planting of cotton to a great extent and adopt some other
crops. Having concluded to try the castor bean, I wish to ask some
information. 1. Will you give me the names of parties engaged in the
cultivation of the crop in Illinois and Wisconsin? 2. Where can I get
the beans for planting? 3. Describe the soil, mode of preparation,
planting, and cultivation, and give me such other information as we may
need.

ANSWER.--1. Winter wheat and corn have, to a very large extent, taken
the place of castor beans and tobacco in the agriculture of Southern
Illinois. As for Wisconsin, we question whether a bushel of castor beans
was grown there last year. The two sections where they are now mostly
cultivated are in Southwestern Missouri, by the old settlers, and in
Middle and Southern Kansas, by the first comers. For information on the
whole subject, write the Secretary of the Kansas State Board of
Agriculture for the quarterly report issued two or three years ago,
which was mostly devoted to castor-bean culture. The Secretary's address
is Topeka, Kansas. 2. Of the Plant Seed Company, St. Louis, and also
valuable information--that city being the chief market for the castor
beans. 3. The soil best suited to the crop is a light, rich, sandy loam,
though any dry and fertile soil will yield good crops. For some reason
not clearly understood, the castor bean has been found a powerful and
energetic agent in improving some, if not all soils, the experience in
Kansas being, that land which previously refused to yield good crops of
wheat or corn either, after being cultivated two or thre