Seed-Time and Harvest. 
the balmy winds of springtime 
$1 I I Blow their breath across the plain, 
111 |( Melting off the snows of winter 
t Filling things with life again,— 
Then within the earth’s broad bosom 
Scatter we the precious seed, 
Looking forward to the harvest, 
Providing for a future need. 
And, as days of summer lengthen.. 
How we watch with eager eyes 
The slow progress of our harvest. 
Growing to a ripening size. 
For when summer’s heat is over, 
And autumn winds go blowing past. 
If we’ve been faithful to our duty, 
The seed will bring good fruit at last. 
Thus it is life’s seed is planted, 
Planted in our youthful days. 
And it grows into a harvest, 
As we go upon life’s ways. 
If we plant the seed of wisdom, 
And destroy the weeds of sin, 
Happy lives and many blessings 
Is the reward we’ll surely win. 
No matter what our worldly profit. 
No manner in what place we go, 
Our reward will be according 
To the kind of seed we sow. 
Then as we sow good seed in springtime. 
Let us sow good seed in youth; 
Always trying to be faithful 
To our duty, and to truth. 
Shatter’s Colossal Raspberry. 
BY CHARLES A. GREEN, CLIFTON, N. Y. 
This remarkable variety originated with 
the veteran George Shaffer, in the town of 
Wheatland. Monroe Co., N. Y., in 18G9. 
The original plant, now over twelve years 
old and growing where the roots of trees 
rob it, is yet remarkable for its wonderful 
vigor and productiveness. Mr. Shaffer 
brought us two plants of his raspberry in 
1879. We divided them, making four 
small plants, all of which lived. One of 
them threw up a fruit stalk, producing, 
three months after planting, about one-hun- 
dred berries. We sent this specimen branch 
entire to Charles Downing, Newburg, N. 
Y. They were not fair samples as to size. 
hut good for such an infant plant. Mr. 
Downing replied: “The seedling is large for 
its class, being quite firm, flesh sprightly, 
sub-acid. I would think fine for cooking 
purposes—the color is a little too dark to 
suit the eye for marketing. The specimen 
branch shows that it is very productive. It 
is certainly a promising variety of its class.” 
This variety surprised us each succeeding 
season by increasing in size and productive¬ 
ness, and was viewed with astonishment by 
all who saw the fruit, yet we gave only or¬ 
dinary culture, without enriching the soil. 
The past season we premitted the four origi¬ 
nal plants to grow without cutting back, 
and they now stand nine to ten feet high. 
A farm wagon and team could have been 
concealed behind them. Other varieties in 
the same rows and adjacent, look like pig¬ 
mies in comparison to these giants, whose 
roots spread out like those of saplings, fill¬ 
ing the earth far and wide. In 1 80 Mr. P- 
C. Reynolds, Rochester, N. Y., editor of the 
American Rural Home, Secretary of our 
Western New York Horticultural Society, 
and a veteran fruit grower, visited our 
place to see the new raspberry, and express¬ 
ed himself as astonished at the great size of 
Shaffer’s Colossal, saying that it was the 
Largest raspberry he ever saw. Mr. Wm. 
C. Barry, of Eilwanger & Barry, Rochester, 
N. Y., was here when Shaffer’s Colossal 
was in bloom, and spoke of the surprising 
vigor displayed in the growth of the canes. 
Neighbors who ordinarily cared little for 
such fruits urged us persistently for the 
plants, as they did the originator, but we 
could not then part with them. Mr. Shaf¬ 
fer’s first plantation was on low muck, his 
second on light drifting sand, where corn 
attempting to grow failed, on account 
of lack of fertility. Our soil is a rich, 
clayey loam. In all the different locations 
and soils it is equally vigorous. It appears 
to he an iron-clad in hardiness, surviving 
the severest winters, unprotected, without 
the least injury. We consider it as hardy 
as the Turner, desirable for the severe 
Western States. Its season is the same as 
Gregg: it remains in hearing longer. The 
following gentlemen have this berry for 
testing: Charles Downing, M. P. Wilder. J. 
J. Thomas, Samuel Hape.Suel Foster, T. T. 
