1893 
575 
Farmers' Club Discussion. 
Continued. 
Where the Farmer’s Wife Stands. 
C. M., Royalton, Vt. —One can’t help 
wondering what kind of a man he is who 
“misters” the hired hand and speaks of 
a strange woman by her given name. 
Some folks don’t seem to think that they 
disclose the treatment their wives get by 
their remarks ; but I have never known 
a hired man to misuse his mistress if his 
master had not set him the example, and 
I wonder what sort of a person that man 
was who let his hired man say “ What in 
thunder,” etc. to his wife, and I pity the 
latter for her lack of spunk. How came 
she to let things go until such treatment 
was admissible ? A woman is always 
and everywhere treated on the basis of 
her own valuation of herself. If she al¬ 
ways runs for articles when asked where 
they are, she will soon be expected to go 
for them, and if she will pick them up, 
others will drop things carelessly around. 
She must get rid of the old-fashioned 
notion that her husband is bound to take 
care of her—to see to the supply of the 
little needs of her pantry, clothes, etc. 
Let her say : “ Get this or that,” or, bet¬ 
ter, let her purchase what she wants 
herself. Does one partner ever dictate 
how the other shall dress in a man 
partnership? Not “much.” Women who 
are careless or cowardly in such matters 
have just themselves to blame for the 
bad treatment they so often receive. 
Let each woman take the place that be¬ 
longs to her. I can’t help smiling at 
that lady who tells about her cool 
kitchen. Did she ever hear of an oil 
stove ? Nowadays no wife should work 
in a warm kitchen—an oil stove does 
much nicer work than any other, with 
less labor and next to no heat at all. 
Did she know that folks who are “ up to 
the times ” do not iron, use next to no 
starch and look just as well and feel lots 
better than those who still keep in old 
ruts? 
An Ai.kkkengi and Tomato Hybrid.— 
We have spent hours during the past 
month in crossing the common tomato 
and Alkekengi (Strawberry tomato— 
Ground cherry, etc.), using pollen of the 
Alkekengi upon the common tomato, 
and vice versa. At least 100 trials were 
made, and the result of it all is that five 
fruits have formed upon the Alkekengi 
—none upon the tomato. Two of these 
fruits are nearly of normal size, if we 
may judge by the size of the bladder¬ 
like (calyx) covering; the others are 
small. The vital question now is, do 
these fruits bear true seeds ? That is 
viable seeds. According to our best 
knowledge and belief this cross has 
never before been attempted. 
What good may come out of such a 
hybrid ? Well, the Alkekengi (Physalis 
Alkekengi) which is the true Strawberry 
tomato, is a hardy herbaceous perennial. 
The common tomato is a tender, long- 
lived annual. Just how long a tomato 
plant will live if kept in a congenial 
temperature and permitted to bear fruit, 
we do not know. Possibly the hybrid 
progeny may prove hardier, may become 
perennial. Possibly the hybrid progeny 
may bear sizable fruits—as large as or¬ 
dinary tomatoes—enveloped in a beauti¬ 
ful red covering (similar to that of the 
Alkekengi) which might serve to pro¬ 
tect the berries so that they might be 
shipped long distances in perfect safety. 
There are other possibilities, good 
friends. But you will excuse us from 
mentioning them until we find whether 
our hybrid fruit bears seed that will grow. 
On October 1, 1880, the late Pres. Mar¬ 
shall P. Wilder wrote The R. N.-Y. as 
follows : “I send you by mail a bunch of 
the Minnehaha grape, a cross of Muscat 
of Alexandria on Rogers’s Massasoit, 
which will show you what can be done. 
I sent this grape to J. J. Thomas two 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
years ago, and he wrote, ‘ I was startled 
at its excellence.’ So much for the in¬ 
fluence of pollenization.” Is this grape, 
regarded so highly by two of the best 
men and best pomologists our country 
has ever known, in existence to-day ? 
A year or so ago we spoke of the Eliot’s 
Early pear and gave an illustration of it. 
A tree was sent to the Rural Grounds in 
the spring or fall of 1883, and it has been 
in bearing three years. Let us compare 
this Eliot’s Early with the Wilder Early, 
introduced by C. A. Green, of Rochester, 
N. Y. The size and profile are much the 
same, if we may judge the pears ripened 
with us—the tree growing in poor soil 
and close to a solid walk three feet wide— 
as the specimens sent to us by Mr. 
Green, assuming that he sent his largest 
fruit. This pear begins to ripen on the 
tree about July 20. The quality is, in our 
opinion, fully as good as that of Wilder 
Early. It is the same character of quality, 
though not quite so acid. The pear keeps 
well; we have never seen one with a 
decayed core. 
Mu. James Dougai.i., of Canada, died 
some years ago, and he seems to have no 
heirs that care either for his memory or 
his work. The Eliot Early, which, we 
are assuming originated with him, is 
well worthy of introduction. Who is to 
introduce it ? Has any one else speci¬ 
men trees ? Has it been introduced in 
Canada ? 
The prospect of a fine yield of grapes 
at the Rural Grounds is good—better 
than it has been in several years. The 
reason seems to be that the rose bugs 
came a little later than usual, so that the 
grape blossoms were not injured or de¬ 
stroyed as much as usual. These pests 
have become so numerous and harmful 
that we have helplessly ceased to fight 
them. It does not pay to go over the 
vines from morning until night, and the 
rosebugs exist in such vast quantities 
that there is no way to control or even 
partly control them. The hot-water 
remedy is scarcely practical, and Buhach 
merely paralyzes them for a few hours, 
while myriads are meanwhile flying from 
plant to plant. 
In many portions of New York and 
New Jersey, we hear that the vines are 
loaded with fine bunches, so that rot 
alone is likely to stand in the way of a 
heavy supply and low prices in this part 
of the country. 
Bulletin No. 94, just issued by the 
Michigan Agricultural Experiment Sta¬ 
tion, is a surprise. It is a biography, 
with many engravings of the birds of 
Michigan, by Prof. A. J. Cook, who has 
taught ornithology at the Michigan Agri¬ 
cultural College for the past 2(5 years. 
The book consists of 150 large pages with 
a comprehensive index. 
A few years ago experiments—care¬ 
fully conducted !—were made to show 
that the strawberries of pistillate varie¬ 
ties were greatly influenced in size, shape 
and quality by the pollen of bisexual 
parents. As The R. N.-Y. never could 
see that such changes occurred, we could 
not give any support to the theory—or 
facts, as the careful experimenters 
averred. What is the consensus of opinion 
of experienced strawberry growers of to¬ 
day ? Is the shape, size or quality, or 
any one, influenced by the pollen-fur¬ 
nishing variety ? 
We are making careful comparisons 
between the new Horticultural Lima and 
the real Limas. 
Prof. Van Deman, late United States 
Pomologist, says in Green’s Fruit Grower 
that every one knows that the grain- 
grower is each year making heavy drafts 
upon the bank deposit in his farm, and 
that only by frequent replenishing can 
it be kept up. This is in a measure true 
of the fruit farmer, but in a far less de¬ 
gree. He must keep his soil rich, but it 
requires far less manure to keep it in 
condition to yield a big crop of fruit than 
a medium crop of grain. 
Prof. Van Deman never knew a farmer 
who sold the grain oft’his farm year after 
year who did not so deplete his soil that 
he could not make it profitable even for 
a single crop. Year after year may mean 
two or fifty years. We presume that he 
never knew a farmer that sold any crop 
whatever off his farm that did not im¬ 
poverish his soil. It is plain, indeed, 
that grain crops carry off more plant 
food than do fruits. The safe way, of 
course, is to use more fertilizers and ma¬ 
nures in the one case than in the other. 
He agrees with The R. N.-Y. as to sell¬ 
ing water. There is nothing the human 
system needs and craves so much as good 
water. If it is inside beautifully tinted 
wrappers, the skins of strawberries, 
peaches, plums, pears, apples, oranges, 
lemons, etc., combined with nutritious 
food and healthful acids, it is the more 
relished. Think of the price we pay for 
what is little else than water colored and 
flavored by nature so as to be pleasing 
to the eye and the palate. 
The amount of fruit gathered from pro¬ 
lific gooseberry bushes is often surpris¬ 
ing. “How many gooseberries did you 
get from those three rows, eight rods 
long ? ” Mr. C. A. Green, of Rochester, 
asked his foreman. “Eighteen bushels,’■ 
was the reply. The men scraped them 
off in handfuls, with gloved hands. They 
then ran them through the fanning mill, 
like so many beans, blowing out all the 
leaves and stems. Gooseberries were the 
most profitable fruit grown this year. 
Currants have also been a profitable 
crop. The demand for the blackcurrant 
seems to be increasing every year. 
Suppose, a few years ago, some one 
had predicted that tomatoes would be in 
the market during the winter months 
and sell freely at retail for two cr three 
cents apiece ; would any one have be¬ 
lieved it ? Every year the tomato grows 
more and more popular, not only in this 
country but in nearly every other. 
Wiiat is the difference between the 
white and pink Rosa rugosa ? The flow¬ 
ers of one are white ; of the other pink. 
In all other respects they appear to be 
precisely alike. They might fairly be 
regarded as blonde and brunette sisters. 
■* Abstracts. 
-Life : “ Money makes the mare go, 
but it does not answer to let it drive.” 
“To be a bank president has long been 
a vulgar synonym for light work and 
large pay.” 
If you name The Ruiiai. New-Yorker to our 
advertisers, you may be pretty sure of prompt 
replies and right treatment 
NO QUARTER 
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Pleasant help, too. These sugar- 
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They’re the cheapest pills you can buy. 
ADAPTED 
SHEDS ETC. 
FOR INFORMATION & PRICES WRITE TO 
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Are Nature’s 
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ENGINES. 
Threshing Machines. 
Best Machinery at Lowest Pricks. 
A. B. FARQUHAR CO., York, Pa. 
FRUIT EVAPORATOR. 
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im: 
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All these you can have 
and still be unhappy. 
A little farm well tilled, 
A little barn well tilled, 
A little wife well willed, 
A little horse, moat killed 
On the cruel barbed wire. The use of Page Colled 
Spring Fence would have prevented such a catus- 
trophe. 
PAGE WOVEN WIRE PENCE CO., 
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The Page Wire Fence Company of Ontario, Ltd. 
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Price, *1 ; reduced to 75 ceute. 
HY A. A. CltOZlEH. 
A collection of errora and auperatltlons entertained 
by farmers, gardeners and others, together wlta 
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practical cultivators who want to know the truth 
about their work. 
FRUIT CULTURE, 
and the Laying Out and Manage¬ 
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C. Strong, Ex-President of the Mas¬ 
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Vice-President of the American Po- 
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revised edition, with many additions, 
making it the latest and freshest book 
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new problems Insoluble before, and with new Ideas 
new books follow. It Is In just this line (In the 
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and this book is the result.”— Thomas Meehan, in 
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Price, in one volume, 16mo., cloth, $1. 
THE NEW BOTANY: 
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Price, paper, 25 cents. 
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