538 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
August 25 
“ R Cc H >rsi; ’ 
Fbed Gkundy, Illinois.—So ne years 
ago, “ everybody and his wife ” made it 
a point to go to the Great St. Louis Fair, 
and the railroads were taxed to their 
utmost to carry the crowds It was a 
time set apart by thousands of farmers 
for an outing, probably the only day oflf 
they would have in a whole year. I have 
been on the grounds when the crush 
equaled that at the World’s Fair on some 
of the great days. From an elevated 
position, one could look down upon a sea 
of humanity. The association flourished 
like a green bay tree, and made big 
money for its stockholders. But a change 
came o'er the scene. Gradually the farm¬ 
ers ceased to attend. Merchants and 
others in the towns took advantage of 
the reduced railroad rates during the 
fair to go to the city to buy goods, etc., 
but few of them visited the grounds. 
Four years ago, I went down to see what 
was the matter, and after looking things 
over carefully, I diagnosed the disease as 
a fatal attack of race horse and beer. 
Most of the premium money went to the 
owners of fast horses, and beer was 
eyery where. It was hardly a fit place to 
take a lady. 
There was a time when a premium won 
at this fair meant something—it was 
something to boast of—but in the last 
few years it didn’t cut as much of a figure 
as a premium won at a common county 
fair. The reason for this was plain 
enough. The best pet dog was awarded 
812, while the the best pair of fowls re¬ 
ceived only 84. The best collection of 
white rats was given 83, and the best pair 
of geese 84. It paid better to trot out 
the white rats and pet dogs than the 
fowls. List year, the association petered 
out—died because the country people 
were not such suckers as to spend their 
money for the benefit of race-horse gam¬ 
blers and the owners of pet dogs and 
white rats ! 
A new management has taken charge 
of the fair this year, and, as a starter, it 
has relegated the fast-horse gamblers to 
a back seat. Let us hope that it will 
make a clean sweep and veto beer also, 
or at least send it off to some out-of-the- 
way corner of the grounds. I have not yet 
seen the premium list of this new manage¬ 
ment, but I understand that it purposes 
to make the fair a real exhibition of 
farm stock and agricultural, horticul¬ 
tural and mechanical products. If it do 
this, it will win back the old patronage, 
and the fair will again become great in 
fact. The fair management that makes 
racing its chief attraction, is fore-doomed. 
The great respectable, conservative, pay¬ 
ing element, will not patronize such ex¬ 
hibitions. This has been amply demon¬ 
strated time and again. The great ma¬ 
jority of the people never tire of grand, 
good, instructive things, but they despise 
sham, trickery, jockeyism and buf¬ 
foonery. 
Stop That Leak! How We Did It. 
G F. S , Collins, N. Y.—In a recent 
R. N -Y., Dr. Collier stated that the 
farmers of New York State annually 
waste over 850,000,000 worth of fertilizer, 
mainly liquid. It may help some of the 
readers of The R. N -Y. to hear how we 
stopped this big leak on our farm. A little 
lull in the farm work that came after 
thrashing, made this possible. While 
our neighbors rushed to the lake to lux¬ 
uriate on straw beds laid on boards in 
tents by night, or sun themselves on the 
sand by day, I tackled my stable floor. 
First we took up the old floor, placing 
a large hardhead under each joist just 
above the gutter, filling in between these 
hardheads with more stone, forming a 
continuous wall the length of the stable, 
sawing off the joists to the upper line of 
the gutter. Gravel was then drawn to 
fill the space between the new wall and 
the wall under the sill at the outside of 
the barn, to within 14 inches of the floor. 
Cement mortar was put on this, one inch 
thick and 20 inches wide, on which we 
placed the new gutter. This gutter was 
12 inches wide and 12 inches deep and 
made of two-inch plank. More stone 
was then placed each side of the gutter, 
and cement mortar turned in until level 
with the top of the gutter, making it 
water-tight. The old plank turned over 
served again. The planks on each side 
of the gutter were made to project over 
its edge. This stable was 94 feet long ; 
600 feet of new lumber, 25 pounds of 20- 
penny nails and two barrels of cement, 
were used. Two men did the work in one 
week, using a team when drawing gravel 
or stone. Results: Ten loads of rich 
stable manure from under the barn, a 
warm, tight floor, and gutter deep 
enough for economy and cleanliness ; a 
fine top-dressing for the wheat field (we 
believe in raising our own bread), and 
8100 worth of additional fertilizer for our 
farm for every year to come when saw¬ 
dust or other bedding is plentifully sup¬ 
plied, Moral: Don’t wait to build a fine 
new barn before you stop that leak. 
ROR 
THE ABUNDANCE PLUM. 
There is such a multitude of “supe¬ 
rior” novelties appearing every year 
which are really inferior, that when a 
really and truly superior novelty is found. 
The R. N.-Y. delights in giving it all 
possible publicity, that its readers may 
be among the first to be benefited by the 
new introduction. That the Abundance 
proves to be about all that is claimed for 
it, seems now a settled fact. It is to us a 
blessing and a revelation; a blessing 
that we may now enjoy plums of our own 
raising, and a revelation in that we have 
never before been able to raise plums 
because of the curculio. Our friends 
should bear in mind that our tree was 
not planted until the spring of 1890, and 
it has borne three crops. Last season, 
the tree was so loaded that three props 
were used and the tree anchored so as to 
resist heavy winds. It was estimated 
that this young tree bore nearly three 
bushels, and the yield this season will 
probably be as much. Last year the 
plums began to color August 5. None 
had fallen or rotted. This year they be¬ 
gan to color August 1. Many rotten ones 
had fallen. Last year none was fully 
ripe August 12, though all were ripening. 
The color was then a light green and 
crimson. On August 18, all were picked, 
though not fully ripe. The bees attacked 
them in such numbers that all would 
have been destroyed if longer left upon 
the tree. As stated last year, we have 
grown about 25 varieties of plums—many 
of them said to be curculio-proof, but 
the Abundance is the only variety that 
could hold its fruit to maturity. 
Dow many years will the tree bear in 
this way ? The photo-engraving—Fig. 
137, first page—shows a foot of stem 
bearing 18 plums; as many as 12 to the 
foot may be found on almost every branch, 
which this season, as last, renders 
IK writing to »<lvertlBeri please always mention 
Tkm BtJBAI.. 
That Tired Feeling 
Is due to an impoverished condition of tne 
blood. It should be overcome without de¬ 
lay, and the best way to accomplish this 
result is to take Hood’s Sarsaparilla, which 
Hood’s .„ 
will purify and vital¬ 
ize the blood, give 
strength and appe¬ 
tite and produce sweet and refreshing 
sleep. Get Hood’s and only Hood’s. 
Hood’s Pills cure nausea and blUonsness. 
strong supports necessary. The branch 
was cut off July 24, when the plums were 
not fully grown. The single plum—Fig. 
138—shows the actual size at that date. 
A resum6 of what we have already pub¬ 
lished as to the Abundance elsewhere is 
as follows: 
W. W. Farnsworth, of Lucas County, 
O., fears that it blooms too early. 
Prof. J. L Budd, Story County, la., 
says that it is not hardy unless top- 
worked on native stock. Then it bears 
well and is not as much in j ured by the cur¬ 
culio as most other foreign plums. It is 
not, he says, equal in size or quality to 
some Russian plums which are much 
hardier in the tree. 
W. F. Bird, of Washtenaw County, 
Mich., reports the tree remark ably hardy 
and healthy. 
S. D. Willard, of Ontario County, N. Y., 
says that he is greatly delighted with its 
flavor and size as well as its market 
qualities. The masses of the people will 
be much pleased with it for home use. 
It sells fully as well as other plums in 
the market, if not better. It is a heavy 
bearer, and, on the whole, a profitable 
and desirable sort. 
Our friend, Isaac Hicks, of Queens 
County, Long Island, N. Y., says that it 
is excellent in quality and a great bearer. 
Burbank is of better flavor. 
H. L. Fairchild, of Fairchild County, 
Conn., says that it ripens when peaches 
are most abundant, which will probably 
hurt its market. Its quality and beauti¬ 
ful color make it very nearly the best for 
home use and market. It is practically 
curculio-proof. 
THE IMPROVED DWARF ROCKY MOUN¬ 
TAIN CHERRY. 
This bush, which is new to the East, 
has been for several years past much 
talked about and much advertised in 
catalogues and journals. Mr. Chas. E. 
Pennock, of Colorado, seems to have 
been instrumental in introducing it. His 
claim is that the improvement comes 
from raising many seedlings and select¬ 
ing the best and propagating only from 
them. He says that it is the most pro¬ 
ductive cherry of which he has any 
knowledge. He has picked 16 quarts 
from a three-year-old bush. He has 
picked 80 cherries from a branch 12 
inches long on a two-year-old bush. He 
says that the cherries are jet black when 
ripe, and in size average “somewhat 
larger than the English Morello, the 
season of ripening being after all other 
cherries are gone. In flavor, it is akiu 
to the sweet cherries, and when fully 
ripe, for preserves or to eat out of hand, 
it has no equal in the line of pitted 
fruits, and is conceded superior to any 
fruit grown in this section. It has the 
best system of roots of any shrub or tree 
I have ever planted, which accounts for 
the wonderful productiveness of plants 
at such an early age. It bears every 
year, grows to a height of four feet, and 
has never been harmed by insects or 
disease. It makes a handsome flowering 
bush with its mass of pure-white flowers. 
It stands 40 degrees below zero without 
harm to fruit, bud or branch.” Essen¬ 
tially the same claims have been made 
for it by nurserymen who have offered it 
for sale. As nearly as known, it seems 
to be closely allied to the Sand cherry— 
Prunus pumila. 
Our plants were received and planted 
during March and April of last year from 
three different sources: C. E. Pennock, 
Bellevue, Col. ; Charles Parry, of Parry, 
N. J., and Storrs & Harrison, of Paines- 
ville, Ohio. There is no difference be¬ 
tween them that we can discover. The 
bushes are now about 3J^ feet high and 
of spreading habit, being about the 
same in diameter. The bark is brown, 
the leaves about 3>^ inches long and 11^ 
inch wide across the middle. In shape, 
they are lanceolate, sometimes oblanceo- 
late, acute and moderately serrate. The 
stems are half an inch long. The flowers 
are small, the little petals white and not 
conspicuous enough to make the bushes 
valuable as ornamental shrubs. The 
fruits set freely, but frost afterwards 
caused most of them to drop. The ripe 
cherries, natural size, but the least bit 
shriveled, are shown at Fig. 140, the pit 
at Fig. 141. The cherries ripened about 
July 20, being quite black in color, aver- 
bON’T ACCEPT iniTATI0N5. 
THE PROCTER & GAMBLE CO.. CIN'Tl. 
AMERICUS FERTILIZERS 
FOR WHEAT AND GRASS. 
DUUIiLB 2HE CROP EVERT TIME. In these times of low prices farmers muat 
Increase ihelr yield; our Eertlllzers will do It. Manufactured by 
WILLIAMS 4 CLARK FERTILIZER CO., 83 Fulton Street, New York. 
Branch Office: BOCHESTBB, N. Y. 
CIDER 
MACHINERY 
^dranlio. Knuckle Joint and Screw 
PreaMt. Gntere. ElcTatorf, Pn mpa. 
etc. Bend for Oatalosaa. 
BOOMER & BOSCHERT ~ 
PRESS COm 
118 W. Water St.. SYR ACUS 
mil fomi ST11E rim. 
Syracuse, September 6-13. 
$25,000 in Premiums. 
$7,000 in Purees for Races. 
September 8.—QOVBBNOB'S DAY 
September 11.—OBANGBBS’ DAY. 
September 12.—Bicycle Baces. 
Dally exhibition of Butter and Chtese-MaklLg 
Special Trains. Low Bates. 
JAS. B. DOCHARTY, Sec’y, Syracuse, N. Y. 
n ■ y y I y p mcachinrry and supplies. 
UnlllilnU D. O. Trench Co., Chicago, Ill., and 
Famham, N. Y. Mention this paper. 
Send Us Yonr Address, 
and we will mall you our Illustrated Caialogne with 
Price List of FINE SURREYS, BUGfcHliS and 
ROAD WAGONS. We sell direct to the Con¬ 
sumers, giving them the beneht of the Dealers’ 
Profits. NO DEALEB8 HANDLE OUB CAB- 
BIAGK3. We Sell by Correspondence Only. 
KALAMAZOO BUCKBOABD CO., 
Kalamazoo, Micbigan. 
