‘ii taui>kuill;.mfw 
have walked musing upon the great task to 
which he was devoted. 
The wood of the apple tree has use9 which 
we are not accustomed to credit it with. For 
tire- wood it Ls equal to hickory, and for cabinet 
work it is unsurpassed in beauty by any other 
wood. My best bureau is made of the apple 
wood, and resembles cherry. In Europe the 
woods are bordered by apple trees, and the 
fruit is free to the public, except where wisps 
of straw fastened to a tree indicate that the 
fruit is reserved to the owner of the land. 
How adapted to such a use is the upright 
apple tree; planted along our roads there would 
be no temptation for those juvenile saints to rob 
our orchards. Of all the contrivances to pre¬ 
vent stealing this is the most certain and easy. 
The origin of the cultivated apple is still un¬ 
certain; the wild crab theory is unsettled, for 
no one has evidence that the seed of the crab 
apple ever produced an improved fruit. No 
Van Mods ever did for the apple what has been 
accomplished for the pear. Although probable, 
the theory must ever remain uncertain until, if 
by some horticultural Sunday School the crab 
apple has been converted into good Christian 
trees. 
No other fruit has such a range of ripening 
and of use. In good cellars it is kept from July 
to July. Kinds so delicate—and as the General 
Grant of the vine would say, “so refreshing,” 
even the pear cannot rival, and not even the 
peach can surpass. We can no more tire of 
apples than wc can of bread. “ As the apple 
limbs of the shape shown in fig. b; a, to form 
the back; the arms and front legs may be 
formed of two pieces similar to fig. 6. The 
open work at the back can be formed with 
pieces something like h and c, using, when 
necessary, smaller pieces for filling in. For the 
way, and partly filled with manure. Around 
the outside of the barrel the cucumbers were 
planted. All watering was done through the 
barrel and the manure. The water reached the 
roots from beneath, and kept the soil moist and 
rich. In both methods the plants were more 
thrifty than those treated in the common way. 
Plainfield, Ill., 1804 J- M. E. 
Remarks.—W e thank our correspondent for 
keeping his eyes open and giving others the 
benefit of what lie sees. The first mode is new 
to us; the second is not. 
PICKLED POTATOES FOR SOLDIERS, 
LAYING DOWN GRAPE VINES, 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker:—I saw a wish 
expressed to know how to pickle potatoes for 
the soldiers, and will say how I saw them pre¬ 
pared while on a visit at Chicago last spring, at 
the Sanitary Commission Rooms, and in private 
families. They pared and sliced them as thin 
as they could, put them in a vessel of cold 
water, let stand an hour or more, then put them 
in a firkin or barrel. Then they heated vinegar 
scalding hot, put a small quantity of salt in the 
kettle, and poured it on the potatoes while hot. 
I will tell Arons how I helped my sister pre¬ 
pare some she was going to send the soldiers. 
We filled our firkin part full of potatoes, and 
then put sliced onions and green tomatoes, 
j (pickled of course in the spring,) and in the 
center she put a can of pickle Lillie for the 
boys. Green tomatoes and cabbage are very 
good to send to them. I visited with a Chap- 
Iaiu while In Chicago; he said if the ladies 
would send more of such things, it would be 
healthier, and the boys wouki relish it better 
than 3weet-meats. If one can’t fill a barrel, 
several can. Cut it fine, and put a little salt on. 
I put a layer of cabbage and sprinkle a little 
salt on and pound it down hard, and when full 
pour the vinegar on cold, and it will keep good 
a long time.—>1. A. L., Romulus, Seneca Co,, 
N. T., 1864. 
Wk have several inquiries how to cover 
grape vines to the best advantage. Different 
modes are adopted by different cultivators. 
Some cover them with earth from two to six 
inches. Others cover with leaves or half-de¬ 
cayed leaf-mold. We have seen the vines wrap¬ 
ped with straw and not taken from the trellis 
at aU. This of course was not done where the 
number of vines was large. Wo have often 
been told by cultivators that it Is not the degree 
of cold which destroys vines, but the sudden 
changes, and the exposure to the exhaustive 
winds of winter. This is doubtless the fact to 
a considerable extent. If vines are kept cov¬ 
ered with snow during the winter, it will he 
ample covering. If they are properly sheltered 
from wind, and from sun until the time arrives 
when they should feel its Influence, it is ail that 
is necessary. Wo were talking with an expe¬ 
rienced grape grower, in his vineyard, during 
the autumn, who told us he believed as many 
vines were injured, fruit buds destroyed, and 
vineyards made barren by the process of laying 
down as from exposure. He denounced the 
practice of burying the vine. In the spring, 
and sometimes in mid-winter, the freezing and 
thawing, the gathering of water about the 
vine, was its sure destruction. He laid his 
vines down, but did not cover them. He laid 
them down in order that they might be shel¬ 
tered from the Bweep of the winds; and he had 
found the laying them under the bottom slat of 
the trellis, clear from the ground, a sutlicient 
protection—he had never lost a bud that he 
knew of by this practice. We thought him 
sensible. 
RUSTIC SEAT8 AND HOUSES 
FIGURE 5—SECTIONS OF FRAME WORK. 
seat, use a piece of pine board; mark out with 
chalk any figures that fancy may dictate, and 
nail on the outline pieces of grape vine, which, 
from its fiexible nature, is admirably adapted to 
this kind of work, as it can be readily bent to 
any shape. Then till the spaces with some 
smooth kind of bark of a sufficient thickness to 
bring it even with the top of the grape vine 
outlines. A suitable ornament for the center of 
the back, is a good-sized dr Conci. 
Fig. 0 is a design for a Rustic Chair. The 
back of this Can be formed ^ 
by taking two pieces of the ^ 
shape shown in fig. 15, d, and 
joining thorn nicely together 
at top. Tbe front legs and |vyV \!J 
arms can be made of two 
<• Can you give any rules for the manufacture 
of rustic seats ?” writes a young farmer. This 
suggests that there is no better time than the 
winter evenings for the manufacture of rustic 
work—and no employment in which good taste 
in out-door matters can be more pleasantly cul¬ 
tivated. The cultivation of taste in the out¬ 
door accessories to home, begets a desire for 
harmony in all the surroundings of home. And 
our farm architecture is not rural enough. The 
charm of unadorned nature in farm architecture 
ls not sufficiently appreciatiated by farmers and 
architects. The home may be rustic work, and 
yet combine symmetry, strength, durability 
and beauty. Where is the rural architect who 
will develop this feature of rural life? 
Making Pencil Writing Indelif.le.— 
A great many valuable letters and other writings 
are written in pencil. This is particularly the 
case with the letters our brave soldiers send 
home from the army. The following simple 
process will make lead pencil writing or draw¬ 
ing as Indelible as if done with ink:—Lay the 
writing in a shallow dish and pour skimmed 
milk upon it. Any spots not wet at first may 
have the milk placed upon Them lightly with a 
feather. When the paper is all wet over with 
the milk take it up and let the milk drain off, 
and whip off with the feather the drops which 
collect on the lower edge. Dry it carefully, 
HENRY WARD BEECHER ON THE APPLE, 
The following is a report of a characteristic j 
speech made by Henry Ward Beecher at j 
the fruit meeting at Iona, recently: 
The apple is the unapproachable fruit of the 
world, the grape, with all its romance, notwith¬ 
standing. In the country of its origin it is 
supreme, in America unsurpassed. In Europe, 
certain classes having wealth and power, set 
the current of public opinion from center to 
circumference, but in America, where the intel¬ 
ligence of the common people ha3 wrought out 
such gigantic results in all departments of truth, 
the popular opinion determines from surface to 
center. “Popular” ls a word which is much 
despised, but m^y be made respectable. In this 
country wealth Is obliged to pay respect to pop¬ 
ular opinion, and of all frutt3 the apple is the 
most democratic—the true democratic—for some 
democracy that we are acquainted with spring 
from the first apple. This popular favor of the 
apple arises from the nature of the tree and the 
fruit. Any man who can grow corn can raise 
apples. In every soil, and under the most dis¬ 
couraging circumstances, the apple tree lives 
and thrives. It can bear high or low cultiva¬ 
tion. It is not dyspeptic like the peach, or apo¬ 
plectic like the pear, or scrofulous like the plum. 
The apple is among the fruits like the cow 
among animals, like the camel, and like all 
good things, uncomely—for beauty is only the 
mask which covers everything that is evil. In 
the beautiful evil has struck in and affected the 
whole vital organism, while in homely women 
it is on the surface. 
Have you never seen the maiden who, in a 
whole family of girls, remains unmarried, so 
homely that the lovers have all passed by her, 
who was the uurse, the mother, the story-teller, 
to a generation of little ones—the Virgin Mary 
of the household—the mother of God to little 
souls, in teaching them the better life—who was 
more fruitful in all except children than any of 
her kindred ? My perfect idea of woman is my 
dear old Aunt Esther, who will spend ages in 
heaven wondering how she ever got there, and 
the angels will wonder why she was not always 
there. What such a one is to the household is 
the apple among fruits. Not the least among its 
excellencies is its hardiness. 
We should as soon think of coddling our for¬ 
est trees as the apple tree. It will thrive in the 
stony lot too steep for the plow, or grow in the 
meadow, and repay us for more abundant nutri¬ 
tion. Where a mullen stalk or a hill of corn 
will grow the apple tree will contrive to secure 
an existence. It can be plain or ornate, always 
able to take care of itself — what I call demo¬ 
cratic. It is emphatically the people’s tree. Iu 
Florida or Canada it is equally at home, and 
equally good; while on the Pacific slopes it is 
portentuous in size. Newton's apple, which 
originated iu his brain the science of gravita¬ 
tion, had it grown in California, would have 
forever put an end to his discoveries, and have 
opened the heavens to his gaze. 
The health and longevity of the apple tree are 
unsurpassed. Healthier than the pear, no blight 
i cv disease affects it; worms and insects may 
Eds. Rural New-Yorkkr:— Being one of 
the unfortunate individuals dependent upon a 
gardener for the management of a large green¬ 
house, and having been much perplexed and 
pestered to know whether, after letting the 
gardener have his own way in all thitujs apper¬ 
taining to the. management of the establishment, 
he owned houses and all things connected there¬ 
with, or whether the proprietor did, I am led 
to make the following queries:—Why is it that 
all “ prolesslonal gardeners” are Germans, 
Irish, Scotch, or born in some other foreign 
clime? And why is it that these gardeners 
own the premises and are emphatically “bosses” 
in less than sixty days after being employed? 
They always command wages equal to their 
entire earnings, say $75 to $100 per month; are, 
as a class, insolent and overbearing to all — to 
proprietors, labor* rs and visitors. They re¬ 
ceive all the cash; perhaps it is accounted for 
and may be not. 
There are, it is true, a few honorable excep¬ 
tions, but they are quite as rare as hens teeth. 
Out West, we will give a “right smart” premi¬ 
um on a good gardener — one who labors for 
his employer and minds his own business and 
attends to it. Why are there no American 
gardeners? The demand aud wages, saying 
nothing of the many pleasures connected with 
the business, must be and are attractive to any 
young man seeking an honest livelihood. 
Indianapolis, led , Dec., 1884. W. H. L. 
Remarks.— Our correspondent makes a com¬ 
plaint that is both very common and for which 
there ls too much cause. His complaint ought 
to be suggestive to young men who expect to 
depend upon their own efforts for a livelihood. 
The pleasure, profit, the knowledge of natural 
laws, familiarity with the wonderful and mys¬ 
terious operations of those laws which must 
result to the intelligent gardener, ought to 
attract young men to this industrial profession. 
And the young man who wills can acquire it by 
giving time and labor to securing it. Why is 
there not a school established for the purpose of 
furnishihg this kind of education? It seems to 
us that if such a school were established in the 
vicinity of large towns, or in connection with 
some of the larger propagating and commercial 
establishments, it would be found profitable to 
all interested. It would bo a great thing for 
horticulture if Isaac Newton, Commissioner 
of Agriculture, would instruct the accomplished 
Superintendent of the Public Gardens. Wm. 
Saunders, to receive and instruct a certain 
number of young men in this business. No 
man in the country is better qualified. This is 
a suggestion which occurs to us. Something of 
the sort should be done, for horticultural pro¬ 
gress demands it. 
FIGURE 1—SUMMER HOUSE. 
Here is a summer house erected by a gardener 
of this city for one of our citizens. We do not 
give it as a model of beauty and symmetry in 
rustic work, nor as a model after which all 
others should be built; but if our readers build 
like it, it will be better far than the expensive, 
white, glaring, unsightly conceptions and con¬ 
structions which so many people set up in their 
gardens, forgetting to plant a vine near; or if 
not forgetting to do it, do not do it because it 
may cover up the architectural beauty—as they 
suppose—of their fillagree work. 
To Color Cochineal. — To one pound of 
yarn, take one ounce of Cochineal, two ounces 
of cream tartar, two ounces muriatic acid; put 
the acid in a tumbler and pour in two ounces of 
melted pewter; let it remain in the acid until it 
stops simmering; then add the whole compound 
together with four quarts of water, and boil for 
ten minutes; then wet the yarn in warm water, 
Immerse it in the dye and boil fifteen minutes; 
pulverize the Cochineal and color in a brass 
kettle; wash in three suds after coloring. Make 
the suds before you put in the yarn. — Mrs. 33. 
W. G., Liberty , jV. Y. 
DOMESTIC INQUIRIES 
Coloring Grasses.—A young lady reader of the 
Rural wishes to know through your columns what 
kind of paints are used in coloring grasses.— Linda. 
To Color Fur—W ill some one please inform me 
through the columns of the Rural how to color rock 
martin fur a dark brown or black?— Virginia, TFyo- 
mng, -V. F. 
A Pskfcus Bag —Will some of your lady subscri¬ 
bers be so kind as to furnish me with a recipe for fill¬ 
ing with perfume a scent-bug for handkerchief or Jove 
box ?— A WrscoxsiN Lady. 
Drying Fruit.—W ill some, one please inform me, 
through the Rural, tie best way to dry fruit, whether 
to dry it in the sun or in a house; and the best way to 
build the house?—A Subscriber. 
Yarn that Crocks.—W ill some of your fair read¬ 
ers tell us what to do with yam which has been col¬ 
ored with “extract ol‘ logwood,” black, and smuts 
very much* We have tried salt and water, but it 
helps the matter none.—8. E. Turner. 
FIGURE 2—GROUND PLAN. 
Fig. 2 shows the ground plan; a is the seat, 
made of pine boards covered with bark; b, hexa¬ 
gon table. The top of this table is cut out of a 
wide board, and the sections are covered with 
small maple rods, from a quarter to half an inch 
in diameter, putting the smallest at the center. 
Nail these rods ou the board with inch brads, in 
the direction shown by the lines of the engrav¬ 
ing. The supports or legs of the table are made 
of rough branches; d, cedar posts that, support 
the roof; e, door, paved with small pebbles, of 
different colors, in Mosaic. The ground work 
may be llghtrcolored pebbles, and different pat¬ 
terns, to suit the taste, formed by those of a 
darker color. 
J)EWEY'S C0L0EEB PETTIT PLATES. 
Society’s Silver Medal awarded in IST 9 . Fipl.yrrta for fast 
Colored flairs aicarded in 1 S6S, by F. Y. S. Ag. Society. 
SBFB.Y HUJVIMKIt t'JR IK TIE 9 
Of Apples, rears. Pearlies, Plums, Cherries, Grapes, 
Berries. Ornamental frees. Hoses, Flowers, Ac., *11 
drawn and colored from nature. lor the use of Nursery¬ 
men and Tree Dealers. Catalogues sent on application 
lo IX 11. DEWEY, Agent, Rochester, N. Y. 
TYEMOBESrs ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY and 
J J Mate. DeuKirtstG Mirror or Fashion*-■ —Ftirulshlug 
au attractive array of .sehil and arUsIkTUtrarj novel¬ 
ties. A splendid Programme for lSdx The end 1.1 J au. 
No. with New Year's Music, New Year's Engravings, 
New Year's Dresse*. New Year's Poetry, Ne« Year’s 
Receipts and Household Matters, and a grand Literary 
Entertainment for the New Year, Do not fall to see 
the splendid January No. now ready , Single copies 25 
cents, mailed free on receipt Of the price. Yearly $3, 
with a largo and splendidS«ee» Engravtog,or a package 
of two dollars’ worth of full-,Den Patterns, us a pre¬ 
mium to each subscriber. Splendid premiums and 
terms t» clubs. Address WM. .JENNINO8 I'EMOK- 
EST, No. 39 Beckman St.. New York. Back, numbers, 
as specimens, sent on reet tpr, of 10 cents. Over ten dol¬ 
lars’ worth of full-sized Patterns ami three dollars’ 
worth of Now Music will be given In the Magazine du¬ 
ring the year. 
Planting Tulip Ssrd.—I see aa inquiry In Rural 
about when to plant tulip seed. I have had good suc¬ 
cess in planting in October, but never had RBy grow 
planted in spring.— Mrs. B. U., Friendship, X Y. 
A Non Blooming Verbena —I have a verbena that 
is over a year old that has never bloomed. It is from 
seed. 1 transplanted it into a small paint kec last 
sprint:, in good, rich soil. It tends to spread very 
much, if allowed. 1 would like to know what will 
moke It bloom — Mrs. B. W., friendship, X. Y. 
If sunlight and confining its roots will not make it 
bloom, we do not know what will. 
WATERING PLANTS, 
^PECIAL notice: 
To Farmers Wives and Daughters. 
FIGURE 8—PANELS. 
Fig. 3, plan of panels; A, posts; £>’, spaces 
between the posts, is filled in with common 
boards, the outside of which Ls covered with 
basswood bark; tbe inside is overlaid with rods 
of different colors, from one-half to three-fourths 
of an inch in diameter, in the way shown in the 
plan. 
The roof of this summer house is covered 
with boards, with bark nailed on tbe outside, 
aud the inside is lined with moss. 
Osaue Oban ss Plants. —(Wm. Howard, Ohio 1 
We have no doubt that Osage Orange plants will be 
advertised 3s soon as there Is a supply tor sale The 
demand, the past season, has been tar beyond the sup¬ 
ply, because of a want of seed. But our advices from 
the West are that there is ltkeiyto he a supply the 
coming season. Write to C. R. Overman, Blooming¬ 
ton, IU., who can probably poet you. 
Eos. Rural New-Yorker:— While travel¬ 
ing in Ohio last summer, during that exceed¬ 
ingly dry season, 1 noticed in a friend’s garden 
a contrivance for watering plants, which struck 
me as being the best that has yet come to my 
knowledge. It may be old to you aud to some 
of your many readers, yet I will venture to 
give it. 
It was nothing more than the principle of 
capillary attraction applied to moistening the 
earth around cucumber vines. A vessel con¬ 
taining water was placed near the plants, from 
which extended a piece of old cloth to the roots 
of the plant. Thus water was conveyed from 
the vessel to the plant slowly, keeping the 
ground constantly in a good degree of moisture. 
One vessel answered for several hills. This 
method I think much superior to pouring on 
water, which generally llows off aud hardens 
the ground, sometimes injuring the plant more 
than if it had received no water at all. 
1 also saw iu another garden another method, 
equally good, in practical operation. A barrel 
with both heads out was set iu the ground half- 
THE PAEKEE SEWING MACHINE. 
PRICK §45. 
The beet Family Stnrina .V v Atef in the Il'n-v, It will 
do a- much work In one hoar as a good seamstress will 
do Iu 24, and in a v, ry superior manner. Thtv are 
worth more than their price merely for 
HlIVIIBLtOXIDEUXjNrO- 
Inclose two stamps to Parker Sew n* Machine Co.. No. 
143 Weat-Fourth St., Cluelnnai i. O.. and get a descrip¬ 
tive eitvular and : aui pics of work. Each machine sv ar- 
ranted in every respect. 
FRANK BALDWIN, General Agent. 
Fruit in Niagara Co., N. Y.—A writer In the 
Niagara Co. Intelligencer estimates the apple crop of 
I ha: county told and exported this year, at 100,000 bar¬ 
rels, bringing to the county $300,000- Another cor¬ 
respondent believes this to be below the actual crop, 
and smaller in both returns and thenumber of barrels 
than that of any former crop for several years. There 
is 3 Fruit Growers’ Association in that county. 
YET IT FOB YOUR BOYS 
T - 
THE EARLY LIFE OF 
CHIEF JUSTICE CHASE, 
ENT1TLBD 
THE FERRY BOY. 
ILLUSTRATED. 
By a Regular Contributor to th* Atlantic. 
PRICE §1.50. 
tjT This ts the most Interesting of the “ Boy Bucks,” 
aivl is written In an unusually attractive style. 
For sale by all Booksellers, or sent by mall on receipt 
Of $1.30, by WALK EH, WISE & CO., 
Publishers, Boston, Mass* 
Extension Ladders.—W e have several inquiries 
about an extension ladder said to have been on exhi¬ 
bition in this city, wan u we did not happen to see 
and therelore know nothing about. Mary Gardner, 
who says she. has to pick apples and wants two o( 
them, asks where they can bo obtained. We tlud by 
reference to the list of premiums awarded, that one 
was given Calvin Eaton, Webster, Monroe Co., N. Y. 4 
(Or an extension ladder. Mr Eaton should advertise 
them, lor they arc wanted, evidently. 
ID 
Shh 
r 
f 
m 
