February  27 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
MAULE’S  SEEDS  LEAD  ALL 
Have  done  so  for  years  and  are  as  far  ahead  in  189a  as  ever  before. 
OUR  new  Seed  Book  is  a  wonder  and  is  pronounced  the  best  Seed  and  Plant  catalogue  published.  All  the  striking 
novelties,  as  well  as  many  of  the  old  standbys,  are  represented  in  colors ;  not  only  Vegetables  and  Flowers, 
but  Flowering  Plants,  Small  Fruits  Nut-Bearing  Trees,  etc.  It  contains  732  illustrations,  weighs  over  11  oz.,  is 
brim  full  and  running  over  with  all  the  good  things  in  Plant  life.  This  Catalogue,  representing  the  largest  mail  trade  in 
America,  should  be  in  the  hands  of  every  gardener  or  small  fruit-grower.  You  need  it.  Is  too  expensive  to  mail  free; 
send  five  2  cent  stamps  and  you  will  receive  a  copy  by  return  mail.  This  does  not  represent  half  its  cost.  Address 
I  Mention  this  paper  and  receive,  free  of  charge,  a|  __  
Ipkt.  of  Earliest  of  All  Tomatoes  (now  first  offered,  W  ^  TTI  "Y"  7  71  A  T  t  A 
Iworth  20  cts.  any  other  way).  Is  3  to  5  days  earlier  1/1/  /|/#  \  1/  \\i  Z|  f  /  #  . 
[than  any  other,  of  good  shape,  size  and  color,  or  a  »  *  -*■  Y  -L-  1  JL.  XyXy  t 
\packet  of  Marguerite  Carnation  which  blooms  4  _  ,  ' 
yfnonUis^rornjowingJhe^see^^^^^^^^^^^^  1711  Filbert  Street,  Philadelphia,  Pi 
The  Haps  and  Mishaps  of  a 
Hill  of  Corn. 
HOW  FATTY  LOST  HIS  PI. ACE. 
oft;  — 40W  pleasant  this  is,” 
murmured  the  shin- 
{mm  ing  kernels  of  corn 
to  one  another  as,  in 
f|Bj  I their  rich  dress  of 
sk*  I  they  cuddled 
together  on  the  ears 
Kgjj  &  hanging  in  Farmer 
Gray’s  warm  kitchen. 
Here  they  had  been 
placed  during  the 
winter  in  order  that  the  grains  would 
keep  dry  until  planting  time. 
“  1  hope  we  can  stay  here  always,”  one 
whispered. 
“  Hut  we  can’t,”  said  a  third,  “  for  last 
night  when  tlie  rest  of  you  had  gone  to 
sleep,  I  heard  Farmer  Gray  tell  his  wife 
that  corn  planting  time  was  almost  here, 
for  the  oak  leaves  were  almost  as  large 
as  squirrels’  feet.  ” 
“Yes,”  said  a  plump  little  one  from 
near  the  top  of  the  ear,  “don’t  you  re¬ 
member  how  he  looked  at  us  the  other 
day  and  said  that  his  seed-corn  was  keep¬ 
ing  in  splendid  condition  ?” 
“  Well,  youngster,”  growled  a  big,  fat 
kernel  from  the- bottom  of  the  cob,  “you 
needn’t  be  afraid  ;  he  won’t  take  such  a 
little  thing  as  you,  anyway.” 
“  I’m  glad  of  it,”  shouted  the  little  one, 
getting  excited,  “  I’d  a  good  deal  rather 
be  fed  to  the  chickens  than  be  buried  in 
the  dark  ground  and  maybe  smothered 
to  death  or  drowned.” 
Shortly  after  this,  on  a  rainy  day,  the 
farmer  came  in  and  began  to  shell  his 
seed  corn.  Now  Mr.  Gray  was  a  progress¬ 
ive  and  intelligent  farmer  who  believed 
that  it  paid  to  take  some  extra  care  with 
the  seed  lie  used  for  his  crops.  So  in  the 
fall  when  husking  the  corn,  he  had  care¬ 
fully  selected  only  the  very  finest  ears, 
and  in  that  way  he  had  as  fine  a  lot  of 
seed  as  could  be  desired.  When  shelling 
the  corn,  as  nothing  else  could  be  done, 
he  did  it  slowly,  picking  out  every  imper¬ 
fect  kernel  and  a  number  of  grains  that 
were  too  small  were  left  on  the  tip  of  the 
cob.  There  was  also  a  special  reason  for 
taking  all  this  trouble  with  his  seed  corn: 
for  he  knew  that  a  leading  agricultural 
paper  had  offered  a  prize  of  $500  for  the 
largest  yield  from  an  acre  planted  to 
corn.  After  being  shelled,  the  corn  was 
placed  in  a  strong  bag,  and  then  came 
grumbling  and  quarreling  among  the 
kernels. 
“Look  out  there!”  stormed  our  fat 
friend,  who  seemed  in  danger  of  being 
crushed  ;  “  if  you  fellows  don’t  stop  your 
crowding,  I’ll  give  you  something  to  re¬ 
member.” 
“  Remember  yourself,  Fatty,”  retorted 
the  little  one,  who  somehow  had  man¬ 
aged  to  slip  in,  “  we  have  as  much  right 
here  as  you,  and  don’t  take  up  nearly  as 
much  room.” 
“  Well,  there’s  some  good  in  me  ;  I  can 
help  our  master  a  good  deal  in  getting 
that  prize.” 
“Ha!  ha!  there’s  conceit  for  you! 
Fatty  is  going  to  make  the  whole  crop  : 
himself.” 
Thus  it  went,  first  one,  then  another  < 
having  something  to  say  ;  it  was  those  on  < 
top,  however,  who  were  the  noisiest. 
Those  in  the  bottom  were  almost  suffo-  1 
cated,  as  it  was  very  warm  and  dark,  and 
some  of  the  kernels  that  were  not  entirely 
dried  began  to  sweat,  and  so  perhaps  were 
likely  to  ruin  all  of  the  seed  so  care¬ 
fully  saved.  When  corn  is  damp,  it  soon 
gets  so  hot  that  the  little  germ,  as  the 
point  which  begins  to  grow  is  called,  is 
destroyed.  Before  any  damage  was  done, 
however,  planting  time  was  at  hand  and 
Farmer  Gray  had  got  his  land  ready  by 
manuring,  plowing  and  marking  it  out 
into  small  squares.  As  he  wished  to 
plant  it  very  carefully,  he  intended  to  use 
a  hand  planter  like  the  illustration,  (Fig. 
84)  with  which  he  could  also  place  in  each 
hill  a  small  handful  of  some  quick-acting 
Farmer  Gray’s  Planter.  Fig.  8. 
fertilizer  to  give  the  young  plants  a  start. 
All  this  having  been  done,  the  next  we 
hear  of  our  kernels  of  corn  is  from  under 
ground. 
“  Ugh  !  how  close  and  dirty  this  is,” 
grumbled  our  fat  friend,  “  and  what  a 
horrible  smell !  I  wish  I  was  out  of  this 
dark  hole.” 
“  How  jolly  it  is  that  we  are  together 
again,  ’  chimed  in  the  little  fellow,  who 
always  seemed  to  fall  right  side  up. 
Now  we  have  a  chance  to  see  who  will 
do  the  best.” 
“I  think,”  remarked  a  middle-sized 
kernel,  “  that  we  had  better  keep  to¬ 
gether  until  out  of  the  ground.  I  remem¬ 
ber  that  my  father  told  us — besides  many 
other  things — that  one  alone  always  had 
hard  work  to  break  through  the  hard 
crust  over  us,  while  for  a  number  to¬ 
gether  it  is  very  easy.” 
“  That’s  so,”  cried  the  middle-sized 
one’s  brother,  “  we  ought  all  to  keep  to¬ 
gether  until  we  get  out,  then  each  one  for 
himself.” 
All  the  rest  agreed  to  this  wise  plan  ex¬ 
cept  Fatty,  who  got  as  far  from  the  others 
as  he  could  and  said: 
“You  fellows  can  do  as  you  please,  I’m 
going  to  suit  myself.  Just  you  all  keep 
away  from  me.  Why  are  there  so  many 
in  this  hill  anyway?” 
“  Why,  haven’t  you  heard  the  farmer’s 
rule  for  planting  corn  ?  ”  asked  the 
middle-sized  one.  “  Here  it  is  then 
‘  One  for  the  cut-worm, 
One  for  the  the  crow, 
One  for  the  blackbird 
And  three  to  grow.’ 
You  see  there’s  danger  ahead  for  some  of 
us,  for  this  hill  will  soon  be  thinned  out 
enough.” 
“  I  hope  it  won’t  be  me  that  will  have 
to  go,”  each  one  cried. 
“  I  know  it  won’t  be  me,”  said  Fatty. 
“  Don’t  be  too  sure;  pride  comes  be¬ 
fore  a  fall,”  observed  one  which  until  now 
had  been  silent. 
“  How  large  I  am  getting,”  our  little 
friend  exclaimed  one  day. 
This  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
others  who  all  found  themselves  swollen 
out  of  shape  so  that  they  were  all  like 
little  balls  of  a  whitish  color,  Fatty  still 
being  much  the  largest. 
( Continued  on  next  page.) 
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