An Illustrated Monthly Rural Magazine. 
Conducted by Isaac F. Tillinghast. 
FOR EVERY ONE WHO PLANTS A SEED 
_ OR TILLS A PLANT. _ 
SUBSCRIPTION 50 CENTS PER YEAR. 
Advertising Rates, Cents Per Link. 
Entered at the post-office as second class matter. 
VOL. V., NO. VII. WHOLE NO.. XXXIII. 
La Plume, Lackawanna Co., Pa., July, 1884. 
The Weather to-day (June 24,) con¬ 
tinues hot and dry, We have had no rain 
of any account for five weeks and all veg¬ 
etation is suffering terribly. The drought 
has seriously interfere ! with setting cab¬ 
bage plants, and our sales so far have been 
much lighter than for many years. We 
have on hand a large supply of plants of 
the finest quality, and can ship promptly 
in any quantity. Many fields designed for 
cabbage have already been sown to corn 
for fodder, and there is now no doubt that 
much less cabbage will be set than usual, 
and those who do set and grow a good crop 
will get better prices than usual. 
The New Crop of Turnip Seeds is 
abundant and of fine quality. Pi ices will 
rule lower than last season. Any of our 
customers may order at 25 per cent, off 
from list rates given on page 31, or if five 
pounds or over are taken by express, we 
will supply at 50 cents per pound, net. 
Reforms in the postage laws, now on 
foot, might well include some benefit to 
farmers, Nearly the whole of the postage 
paid on merchandise comes from the farm¬ 
er’s pocket, as he buys largely through the 
mails. City and town people do tl eir buy¬ 
ing at the stores. Seeds comprise a large 
proportion of the “merchandise” mail. Six 
seedsmen who met in Washington to pro¬ 
test against increase in this class, alone 
send matter through the mails an amount 
costing for postage over $175,000 a year, 
which is paid by the farmers. In England 
the “parcels post” carries seeds and other 
goods for 6 cts, a lb., or 24 cts. for 7 lbs. 
In Canada the postage on seeds is but 8 cts. 
a lb., while the United States charge Amer¬ 
ican farmers 16 cts. a lb. With a 2-cent let¬ 
ter postage we ought to send seeds and 
other small merchandise at not over 8 cts. 
a lb., or 1-2 cent an ounce. 
Our Regrets. Through the politeness 
of Mr. G. B. Denis, editor of The Farmers’ 
Home , of Dayton, O., we have received an 
invitation to attend the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ 
Re-union and Monument Dedication, July 
29, 30 and 31, in the city of Dayton. We 
should be pleased to accept this kind invita¬ 
tion but the distance and our duties forbid, 
however we extend to our friends who may 
be able to participate in this celebration our 
cordial good wishes and trust they may en¬ 
joy a pleasant visit to the City of the Sold¬ 
iers’ Home. 
On our recent trip to Boston and re¬ 
turn, we passed through parts of Pennsyl¬ 
vania, New Jersey, New York, Connecti¬ 
cut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. In 
some sections the frost of May 29th, had 
been so severe as to kill the new growth of 
walnut, ash and beech, and give large for¬ 
ests a brown appearance as though fire had 
scorched the leaves. We passed through 
Fairfield county, Conn., where onion oeds 
of many acres in extent were visible from 
the car windows, but on the whole trip not 
an acre of cabbages met our view. It seem¬ 
ed to us also that corn has been much more 
extensively planted than potatoes through¬ 
out this territory, and we judge that cab¬ 
bages and potatoes will rule high next fall. 
We were surprised to notice how exten¬ 
sive are the depredations of the codling 
moth in Connecticut and Massachusetts. 
We passed hundreds of apple orchards in 
which scarcely a green leaf was visible, the 
browned and withered skeletons only re¬ 
maining where the worms had eaten. Cer¬ 
tainly no apples can be harvested in that 
region this season, and we should fear for 
the lives of the trees We never saw a tree 
so affected in Pennsylvania, and hope to 
hear from some of our Connecticut friends 
something in regaad to this malady. How 
long have they been working on your trees 
in that way, and do you know of no rem¬ 
edy? 
