6o8 
AUG. 22 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
honest, strictly temperate and neat—a good scholar, me¬ 
chanic, engineer, butter-maker and business man generally, 
but we should not expect too much, or that everything 
will move as smoothly as was anticipated, as many little 
annoyances and troubles will spring up that must be over¬ 
come by honest, patient work. A. L. wales. 
Erie Co., Pa. __ 
NOTES FOR AUGUST. 
A study of blackberries will lead to very contradictory 
reports, taking five years in succession. This year the 
Erie is detestable. The Uucretia Dewberry is remarkably 
fine ; Taylor is small; Snyder under its usual size; Aga¬ 
wam only keeps on sweet, good, of fair size, unpreten¬ 
tious, delicious. 
This is hollyhock month, and there ought to be a fine 
display either in your flower lawn or shrubbery. This plant 
is so stout that it does very well among shrubs. When 
they come up In my bean or corn fields I manage to leave 
a few here and there, and so in August my place is very 
gay. 
The varnish-leaved willow sent about a few years ago 
by The Rural, is a charming, small tree. The head 
is almost exactly round, and the leaves glisten like a var¬ 
nished surface. The shade is dense and the air always 
cool underneath. There is a great difference in the exhala¬ 
tions of different trees ; and so a marked difference in the 
coolness as well as the purity of the air underneath. 
This is the very best time ot the year to consider when 
and what cutting must be done. Judicious pruning kept 
up from the outset will prevent the necessity of severe 
pruniDg, as a rule; but occasionally a tree has to be re¬ 
moved, or a large limb. Study this up when the foliage is 
all on. Never cut in winter. Look at the effect from all 
sides. 
Have you noticed the increasing number of fruit trees 
coming up about our roadsides ? These should be pre¬ 
served ; and where the stock law is enforced they can be. 
In Spain the people plant seeds of fruits that they eat by 
the way. It is a fine custom worthy of our imitation. I 
used to see innumerable peach trees coming up along the 
sidewalks in Chicago ; and often dug them with my knife 
and set them in my garden. There are, no doubt, thous¬ 
ands of fine things among such chance seedling j . I do not 
know any pleasure more delightful than watching for the 
results of such care and culture—unless it be waiting the 
results of careful cross-breeding. Please help on Nature 
until our streets are orchards. 
At last I also am succeeding in getting a pawpaw to 
grow. Wnen quite small the trees have proved tender. 
The specimen I have now is up six feet aud branching 
well. The Rural’s picture of the pawpaw is a good one, 
but the picture of the fruit is too small. I have eaten paw¬ 
paws three times that size; and they were fine. Why can¬ 
not we make a specialty of developing the persimmons and 
pawpaws ? I have no doubt both can be greatly improved. 
WANTED ! A PERFECT MARKET STRAWBERRY. 
$100 for One Dozen Plants. 
The question comes to me every year over and over, 
“ What shall I do for a more perfect market strawberry ?” 
I obtained the Wilson 30 years ago, and have trained, 
cared for and cultivated it ever since with almost as much 
care as a mother bestows on her pet baby. As a result it 
has done nobly for me, and the vines are to-day stronger 
and more healthy than when I first got them. They are 
the best bearers and shippers I have ever known. The 
only variety that even threatened to supersede them, is 
the Manchester. That is a splendid bearer upon my land, 
and a large, beautiful berry, but it is a very unsafe fruit 
to ship any distance. The Crescent is a good bearer, but 
not equal to the Manchester by a long way. I cannot tell, 
or even begin to guess how many different varieties I have 
tested within the last 30 years; if I were compelled to con¬ 
fine myself to a single variety, I would not hesitate a 
moment in choosing the Wilson, yet it is not the perfect 
berry. It is not as strong a grower as I should like, 
although it is stronger now than when I first obtained it. 
It has one defect which I have vainly done my best to 
remedy. At the first two or three pickings the berries are 
large and nice, but at the later ones, they are smaller, and 
dwindle to a small size during the latter part of the sea¬ 
son, in spite of every effort I can make to prevent it. Ex¬ 
tra manure and water, and the bsst of cultivation will of 
course make them somewhat larger, but not what I would 
like, and what the market of these days demands. 
What shall I do ? I will not knowingly cultivate a va¬ 
riety that will not, with the care and cultivation that I am 
willing to give to it, yield from 200 to 300 bushels per acre. 
The Wilson will do this, and, if anything, overrun the 
amounts named when it has such care as it needs. What 
other variety will do it ? I do not know unless it is some 
of the new ones that I am now testing. I had great hopes 
of the Jessie, but it has proved one of the worst failures I 
have ever had upon my grounds. The Bubach is doing 
fairly well. The fruit is large and of fair quality, but too 
soft to stand shipping any distance. It bears perhaps half 
or two-thirds as much fruit as the Wilson by its side The 
Warfield is doing better and is the best of all the new 
sorts I have tried. If it continues to do as well as it now 
promises, it may possibly supersede the Wilson on my 
soil. I have the Haverland, but have not tested it far 
enough to know its value. I have some other new varieties, 
but have little or no faith in their being of any practical 
value. I have certainly spent in money, time, manure and 
cultivation more than §1,000 in the last 25 years trying to 
get as good a berry upon my grounds as the Wilson, with¬ 
out its defects; but my efforts thus far have been failures, 
unless one of those now being tried proves to be the com¬ 
ing berry. I am sorry to learn that so many of the new 
varieties during the last few years are pistillates. There 
is more trouble in setting and caring for the plants, and 
then with all our care, we are at times liable to lose nearly 
an entire crop by their not becoming fertilized. For in¬ 
stance, three years ago, I believe, we had a long, cloudy, 
wet and cold season, lasting about the entire time the 
vines were in bloom. No bees were around, the blossoms 
were wet almost all the time while they were open, and 
the result was that although my Manchesters were as 
promising as 1 have ever seen them before or since, they 
did not get fertilized, and the crop was almost an entire 
failure ; while the Wilsons right by their side gave me an 
enormous crop. I do not like to take such risks. I much 
prefer the perfect-flowering varieties, and if any grower 
has one with as perfect a blosson as the Wilson, as good a 
bearer as that variety is upon my ground, but bearing a 
larger berry during the latter part of the season, and one 
which is as good a grower as either the Warfield or the 
Crescent, and as good a shipper as the Wilson, I have $100 
ready at any time for one dozen nice, thrifty plants. 
Brown Co., WIs._ J. M. smith. 
Live Stock Matters. 
MORE ABOUT CHEAP PORK MAKING. 
None But Full-blood Hogs are Countenanced. 
The Poland China leads as the popular hog in the pro¬ 
portion of perhaps three to one, as compared with all oth¬ 
ers combined, the Chester White standing next in popular 
favor. It is claimed by the friends of the Poland-China 
that he can be made to weigh 200 pounds at an earlier age 
and on less feed than an animal of any other breed, and 
that he is quieter and more easily managed than any 
other, and equally healthy. The general practice is to 
have the pigs farrowed late in March or early in April, 
turning them on clover as soon as it gets well started. 
Then with the run of the clover field, plenty of water and 
a regular and liberal ration of corn to keep them growing, 
they may be made to weigh 200 pounds or more in eight 
months. This would bring them on the market in No¬ 
vember or December. In view of the fact that a hog re¬ 
quires some age to get the best results from clover ; that 
owing to the heat our pastures are usually short in July 
and August, and that the cholera from which this coun¬ 
try is seldom entirely free, may attack our herds any time, 
but is most apt to do so in the fall, many farmers are be¬ 
ginning to follow the practice of having pigs farrowed as 
late in the fall as is safe, say in September or October. 
The pigs being small, may be wintered cheaply. They are 
of an age to get the benefit of the early pasture which is 
always best, and may be fattened in June or July—the 
most favorable months for feeding. For the reasons 
above mentioned, I prefer the latter plan, that is, having 
pigs farrowed in the fall. With corn at 30 cents per bush¬ 
el—about its average price here—it is our cheapest seed for 
fattening hogs. Bran, slops and ground feed may pay to 
start the pigs on, but corn Is the only profitable thing to 
fatten hogs on. H. G. M. 
Lincoln, Ind. 
Pedigreed Poland-Chlnas Equal to Prime Pork. 
To make pork, the pigs, in the first place, must have 
been descended from ancestors that have had their diges¬ 
tive and assimilative powers cultivated by good care and 
feed for several generations. A sow that has had to 
“ rustle ” for a year to get feed to make a weight of 200 
pounds, will n t be likely to bring pigs that will make 
cheap pork. I would not advise that brood sows should 
be kept too fat, but I believe the general tendency is the 
other way. To make the cheapest pork the pigs should 
come in April, and after the first few days the sow should 
have an abundance of the kind of feed that will make the 
most rich milk. With me shelled corn (fed dry) and skim- 
milk make the best and cheapest. Bran and shorts mixed 
and made into a slop, can be used when milk is scarce. I 
think the pigs do better if kept in a close pen until they 
are about three weeks . Id, when they will have learned to 
eat shelled corn if some is scattered on the floor. After 
that a clover pasture is the best. The first two or three 
months of a pig’s life determine whether he will be a pro¬ 
ducer of cheap pork. 
At present I have a bunch of 40 April and May pigs; 
because corn is higher than usual they were weaned in the 
fore part of July, and their dams will soon be ready for 
market. The pigs are fed half a bushel of corn and about 
20 gallons of milk a day at two feeds, with good pasture. 
When the new corn is ready to feed, their corn ration will 
be gradually increased until they have all they can eat up 
clean at two feeds a day. Pigs will make some growth on 
clover alone; but a light feed of corn with it will make as 
much pork as double the amount fed later when corn is the 
only feed. 
Pigs that are intended for brood sows should be selected 
from the litters of the old sows that have raised a second 
litter, as pigs from mature sows make, as a rule, larger 
and better brood sows. Oats are good feed for pigs but, 
when cheap pork is the object, cannot be fed. With us the 
cheapest 200-pound pigs are made from clover and a little 
corn in the summer and corn with a little clover in the 
fall. 
As a rule, full-blooded sires have been used for several 
years so that most of the pigs are what is called high 
grades. With the same care they cannot be told from the 
full bloods. More ,'Poland-Chinas are raised than of all 
other breeds combined. They are supposed to stand our 
climate better than the white breeds, and to be more quiet 
than the Berkshires. J. S. 
Corning, Iowa. 
From a lOO-Plg Farm. 
Poland-Chinas are more prolific than Berkshires, and 
mature earlier than Chester Whites or Daroc-Jerseys, and 
the pigs in each litter are more uniform. I want a full- 
blood boar unless I know of a good hog grower whose 
stock is three-quarter purebred or better; then I would 
just as soon get my boars of him, and I can exchange boar 
pigs with him. I have good Timothy and Blue Grass pas¬ 
ture for pigs and also White Clover. I feed corn meal, 
soaked with milk and buttermilk; also what dry oats they 
will eat without wasting any. For the past 15 years all 
my sows and boars have been young. My pigs come from 
May 10, to June 1. I use two boars and 20 sows, and raise 
about 100 pigs more or less. I frequently feed cattle, some¬ 
times early, sometimes late in the season. Hogs and pigs 
always follow cattle I am feeding. These are always fed 
whole corn. O. E. F. 
Renwick, Iowa. 
Farm Politics. 
Here it is proposed to discuss with freedom and fairness, ques¬ 
tions of National or State policy that particularly concern farm¬ 
ers. The editors disclaim responsibility for the opinions of cor¬ 
respondents. The object is to develop a true and fair basis for 
organization among farmers. Let us think out just what we want 
and then strive for it. 
HOW MUCH GOLD DRAINAGE CAN WE STAND? 
I find in Bradstreet’s, of July 4, the following note: 
It was announced this week that the administration had 
decided to extend the maturing 4)^ per cent bonds at the 
rate of 2 per cent. This action accords with the recom¬ 
mendations of the bankers who were recently consulted 
by Secretary Foster in this city. The principal interest 
attaching to the matter is the alleged probability that it 
will result in an increase in the national bank circulation. 
The banks already hold $23,000,000 out of the $50,000,000 of 
4X per cent bonds outstanding. It is, however, hoped 
tnat when additional circulation is needed in the early 
autumn the banks can purchase extended bonds at par 
and use them as a basis for additional circulation. Bank¬ 
ing authorities, however, hesitate to commit themselves 
as to the probabilities of the matter. 
This is, to me, a most disagreeable statement. First, be¬ 
cause it reminds me of the fact that the Secretary of the 
Treasury of the United States, when in doubt as to his 
wisest course, makes a pilgrimage to Wall Street where 
he takes counsel of the money kings and generally acts 
up to the advice they give him. It is not to be hoped that 
the advice there received, if carried out, will result in any 
benefit to the masses of the country, but rather in aggra¬ 
vating the worst features of the present economic condi¬ 
tions. What the bankers and monopolists desire and 
recommend is generally a safe thing to avoid, if one really 
wishes to aid those who earn their bread by labor, whether 
in shop or field. 
Next, it reminds me that our laws regulating our finances 
are based upon the most absurd theory that human in¬ 
genuity can devise. To a common-sense man, it would 
seem that the paper currency of the country should be is¬ 
sued directly by the government. This the bankers oppose 
and they descant freely upon the superiority of our pres¬ 
ent method, which bases our paper currency on the bonds 
representing our national debt. The less a man owes, the 
better his credit. What is true of an individual is true of 
a nation, and I fail to see how a currency based upon the 
evidence of a debt can be better than the direct obliga¬ 
tions of the nation. 
Again, the article reminds us that in the matter of the 
volume of currency necessary to carry on our business, 
we are largely in the hands of the banks. For the year 
ending July 1, there has been a decrease in national bank 
circulation of about 10 per cent, or a little over $18,000,000. 
It is a most unfortunate condition of affairs, when a great 
nation surrenders the power to regulate its volume of cur¬ 
rency into the hands of any set of men, and especially to 
men whose interests are not at one with those of the in¬ 
dustries of the country. 
The same paper chronicles the fact that we have in the 
past six months, “suffered (?) a drain of gold to Europe of 
upwards of $70,000,000.” But it seems no harm has re¬ 
sulted from it and Bradstreet’s sees no reason for apprehen¬ 
sion. Yet when the friends of silver coinage have a word 
to say, all the opponents at once raise the stereotyped cry 
“Our gold will all leave the country.” Well, suppose it 
should, though I do not believe it would, will some com¬ 
petent authority tell us exactly what harm would follow ? 
A drain of $70,000,000 in six months seems to produce no 
disturbance. At what precise point would the trouble 
begin and what would be its nature ? I ask for Informa¬ 
tion and hope to receive it. 
Meanwhile, I thank The Rural for its department of 
Farm Politics, where we can temperately discuss such 
matters as I have alluded to. F. 
Orange County, N. Y. 
THAT LAND LOAN SCHEME AGAIN. 
Jerseyman Talks Back. 
On page 496 Alva Agee raises a large crop of words to 
show me that the land loan scheme is not “class legisla¬ 
tion.” Somehow I don’t quite comprehend it yet. His 
argument is that if we increase our currency by issuing 
lots of paper money based on land, everybody will be 
benefited. I claimed that only those who had land to pledge 
to the government would receive any direct benefit from 
this scheme. Those who owned no land would have to 
work for what money they got as they do now. Mr. Agee 
claims that everybody would share with the farmers “all 
the benefits that are supposed to flow from an increased 
volume of currency and a low interest rate.” By this I 
understand him to mean that farmers would receive a 
direct while other workers would receive an indirect 
benefit. Certainly if I can raise $2,500 in cash on my farm 
and still hold it for a home, the benefit to me is far more 
direct than it is to my mechanic or clerk friend whose 
only hope for getting some of that money lies in having 
his salary increased. As for the lower rates of interest, 
the great majority of my friends have little sums of 
money tucked away in savings banks and other invest¬ 
ment offices. It is but natural for them to want all the 
