THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



103 



come sutliciently iiitlamcd to cause niortilica- 

 tion. 



Tlie General next records an instance of a 

 cure of his right eye which liad received a se- 

 vere blow aimed by a driver at the head of a 

 horse. The account of this has already been 

 published. lie gives an account of the .suc- 

 cessful application of wet tobacco leaves as a 

 cure for the fiery red and mucli swollen eyes 

 of a lawyer in Asheville, N. C. This lawyer 

 recommended the remedy to two young ladies 

 in North Carolina at a place where red sore 

 eyes were epidemic. The young ladies slei)t 

 with wet tobacco leaves on their eyes and 

 were cured by morning. In several other cases 

 he found the remedy useful for curing sore 

 eyes. 



As a remedy for sore throat the General 

 says the application of wet tobacco leaves has 

 been found by him to bo unfailing. He in- 

 stances his own experience at Acjuia Creek, 

 the case of a lady who took his advice, and 

 cites the testimony of his brother, a physician 

 in North Carolina, who often applied wet to- 

 bacco leaves iu cases of sore throat. 



Gen. Clingman also testifies to the value of 

 tobacco leaves as a cure for erysipelas of the 

 head, and gives details of several instances iu 

 which he found it effective. In one instance, 

 he says, he subdued a severe erysipelas iu the 

 face, and a physician told him afterward : 

 " No doctor could have cmed you in three 

 weeks." On one occasion he says he cured 

 himself of a terribly painful attack of sciatica, 

 greatly aggravated by the treatment of two 

 physicians. He did this by applying wet to- 

 bacco leaves to his hip. He also cured bun- 

 ions of long standing by api)lying tobacco 

 leaves a single night. He cured a United 

 States Senator of intolerable pain in the side 

 and back with wet tobacco leaves, and says he 

 has many other cures which he could relate. 

 He warns his readers not to use manufactured 

 tobacco, because of the deleteriousness of va- 

 rious drugs used in the manufacture, such as 

 Tonipia bean, wintergreen. and poisonous 

 substances. He cautions those who use to- 

 bacco as a remedy to apply only the pure leaf 

 tobacco. 



RUST IN WHEAT. 

 Rust is a parasitic plant, with neither leaves 

 nor roots, but it steals its food from plants 

 which have leaves and roots. Professor C. E. 

 Bessey, of the Iowa Agricultural College, has 

 given rust considerable attention, and we are 

 indebted to his labors, the result of which he 

 gave in the New York Tribune, for a fuller 

 acquaintance with the habits of the plant and 

 the manner in which it is propagated. Tlie 

 first stage of rust is passed on the barberry 

 leaf, where it may be found in the spring 

 forming yellow patches. Under an ordinary 

 lens these patches are seen to be made up of 

 many beautiful little cups called "cluster 

 cups," and each cup is filled with orange- 

 colored spores. The latter soon fall out and 

 are blown away by the winds, some finally al- 

 lighting on the leaves of wheat. Here they 

 germinate and soon penetrate the skin of the 

 leaf, there beginning a process of rapid growth 

 in the soft interior tissues. In a few days, if 

 the conditions have been favorable, masses of 

 reddish spores are formed by the parasite just 

 beneath the surface of the leaf, which finally 



break through the skin, forming the red-rust 

 patches so common on grain. Every red-rust 

 spore may produce more red-rust by falling 

 upon a leaf and and germinating there. In 

 this manner a small amount of rust in a field 

 may, under favorable conditions (high tem- 

 perature, with an abundance of moisture), 

 give rise to enougli to destroy the wliole crop. 



The red-rust spores appear to be incapable 

 of living through the winter, so there are pro- 

 duced a little later, from the same parasite, 

 large black patches of thick-walled spores. 

 This is the black-rust stage, and is the last to 

 appear. It often matures after the stalk is 

 dead, and so appears at first sight to be much 

 less harmful than the preceding red-rust, but 

 these black spores are so tough that they en- 

 dure the winter and germinate in large num- 

 bers the next spring. They first grow a little 

 threadlike stalk, and on this are produced 

 several exceedingly small spores, ki-own as 

 sporidia. These last, on account of their 

 minuteness, are widely dispersed by the winds, 

 and some, falling upon barberry leaves, germi- 

 nate there, and thus start the " cluster cups." 

 Tlie complete round of life is a follows : 1. 

 The " cluster cup " on the barberry, i. The 

 red-rust on the wheat. 3. The black-rust on 

 the wheat. 4. The germinate of the black- 

 rust spores, forming s|)orida, which in turn 

 produce the "cluster cups" again. It has 

 also been discovered that the sporidia, which 

 cannot afi'ect old leaves, are able to germinate 

 upon and enter into the very young leaves of 

 the wheat, and wlien they do this they arc 

 capable of producing the red-rust stage, the 

 "cluster cup " being omitted. 



If wheat grains are germinating at the 

 same time that the sporidia are being pro- 

 duced, the young wheat plants are liabli; to 

 be inoculated with the parasite. Winter 

 wheat germinates in the fall, while the 

 sporidia are produced in the spring, and 

 there is no danger to winter wheat. But with 

 spring wheat, which germinates at the exact 

 time the sporidia are forming, the danger is 

 great. The reason why rust is common in 

 places where the barberry is not grown is 

 simply because the "cluster cup" stage is 

 omitted, as tl;e sporidia are able to directly 

 inoculate the young spring wheat plant. In 

 order to avoid the evil it should be made a 

 special object to destroy all the straw which 

 has black rust upon it, as the black spores 

 have been known to produce myriads of 

 sporidia upon straw which had been nsed for 

 the winter protection of strawberries. Con- 

 sequently it is al^o dangerous to have straw 

 scattered around. Every precaution should 

 be taken in communities to avoid the dissemi- 

 nation of rust, as its spread can be partially 

 prevented by organized effort. 



LAWNS. 

 The time is now here when attention to the 

 lawn is needed, whether it be to put one 

 already prepared in order or to make a new 

 one. A well made and well kept lawn con- 

 tributes greatly to the beauty and value of 

 the proiHjrty, whether it be in a town or in 

 the country. In fact nothing adds greater 

 beauty or satisfaction to a place than a well 

 constructed and well kept lawn, and society 

 if more indebted than it knows to the skill 

 and value of good landscape work about a 



pleasant home. There is the opportunity for 

 the display of taste in any degree on a large 

 lawn. But size is not required for the pur- 

 pose of exercising taste and skill. Indeed 

 quite as much invention and judgment may 

 be exercised on a modest sized as on a broad 

 lawn. The creation of a permanent and 

 beautiful lawn is the work of several seasons, 

 unless the owner be a person of wealth who 

 can by its expenditure through the hands of 

 professional landscapists attain results more 

 speedily. 



The first thing to be considered in making 

 a lawn is to get a deci) rich soil. This is 

 secured by trench spading and manuring. 

 The surface rau.st be made level and smooth 

 and a mixture of grass 'seeds .sown and pro])- 

 erly cared for. Some people prefer to get 

 turf from other places and put on the pre- 

 liared surface of the lawn. This gives quicker 

 results, but in too many cases introduces the 

 roots and seeds of weeds that give trouble 

 afterwards. Whichever way the turf is pro- 

 cured it must be nicely attended to and kept 

 shorn smootlily to thicken the sod. An appli- 

 cation of superphosphate or phuine or other 

 good fertilizers before a rain greatly assists 

 the grass to grow strong and thick. 



Trees and shrubs may be planted and slitmld 

 be when the lawns is made, also fiowcr beds 

 should be made at the same time, or rockeries, 

 or summer houses, and whatever is to be 

 placed in the lawn ground, and let all grow 

 and come on together. It requires a good 

 deal of labor to keep a lawn in proper condi- 

 tion, and in any pretentions to taste or style 

 are indulged the labor must be expended, for 

 an unkept lawn is an eyesore to anyone, 

 whatever may be his condition. The fact is 

 that only people of leisure and means can or 

 should attempt to keep lawns, and tlien the 

 formation should, as a rule, be placed in the 

 hands of a professional. After the lawn ia 

 laid out and planted any careful person can 

 keep it in order and attend to the ornamental 

 trees, shrubs and tlowers. A well kept gniss 

 plot about a house is ornamental and within 

 the reach of almost any house owner. The 

 taste of children may be cultivated in the 

 planting and caring for Howers, and any home 

 which a child has helped to beautify and keep 

 homelike and pleasant will always he held in 

 dutiful remembrance. It is well to encourage 

 a taste in all to make as beautiful lawns and 

 surroundings about their homes as they can. 

 A little strip of grass well kept and cared for, 

 with a rose or other flower in it, is a sign of 

 culture and taste in its owner. Such things 

 may be very simple and yet be as expresive of 

 taste as the expensive lawns and grounds of 

 the rich. 



SEEDING, PROPAGATING AND COV- 

 ERING. 



The most carefully .seeded meadow is the 

 most productive. Gnxss seed should be sown 

 with winter grains, because they grow thinner 

 on the ground than spring grain ; the young 

 plants are less shaded, and the growth forms 

 with stronger roots and is better .able to with- 

 stand the hot sun and dry weather. After 

 harvesting the grain the seeding is often 

 destroyed, because the roots of clover and 

 timothy are so near the surface that they dry 

 up. The ground is crusty for want of cultiva- 



