XV-5s 
even at the sacrifice of a little feeling as to 
their irregularity. 
In the hybridization and production of 
new flowers, plants and fruits, Mr. Wilder 
lms been one of the foremost as well as most 
successful, doing perhaps as much by his writ¬ 
ings and by urging upon others the advant¬ 
ages as well as satisfaction consequent on its 
pieuAioo, on t <y pig own, however valuable, 
results. In Camellias, in .Lllioe, in {Straw¬ 
berries, etc., all who run and read know of 
his productions, and know that flowers and 
fruits are never permitted to go from his 
possession until their valuable qualities are 
so fully tested as to leave scarcely a doubt 
of their future success in all parts of the world 
wherever due and appropriate cultivation is 
given them. 
But while we have said hut a tithe of 
what we would of the man and his acts, we 
are reminded that the Rural Inis limits, and i 
therefore wo will close this brief sketch by 
simply a record of the various ollices which, 
from time to time, have been freely conferred 
upon him, several of which he yet continues 
to fill with unsurpassed if equaled ability, 
dignity and intelligence. 
In 1840 Mr. Wilder was chosen Presi¬ 
dent of the Massachusetts Horticultural 
Society, and annually re-elected eight years. 
In 1848 he was one of the originators of the 
American Pomological Society, elected Presi¬ 
dent, and continues—as we hope he long 
may—to hold that office. 
In 1849 an Agricultural Society was 
formed in his own county (Norfolk,) and 
Mr. Wilder made President, in which 
office lie was continued by annual elections 
for twenty years, when he peremptorily de¬ 
clined a re-election and was constituted an 
Honorary President for life. 
In 1858 u convention of the Massachusetts 
Agricultural Societies was held, and a State 
Board of Agriculture created, of which 
Mr. Wilder was made President. This was 
Make as light as is consistent with durability. 
Of course no one expects to lift a heavy 
shock of corn on to this table. Tip it up 
against the shock sidewise, grasp the latter 
by the head, and, as the bench is tipped 
hack, over comes the shock of corn ready 
lor the buskers. There is no getting down 
on your knees in the wind and cold, no dirty 
stalks, and an excellent place is secured upon 
which to tic bundles. After having used 
one for six or seven years, I would not be 
seen in the corn field without it. 
Frank Graves. 
Marcellus Falls, N. Y. 
in and scatter it around your pasture? Al¬ 
low me to suggest a better plan, and perhaps 
you will think more of sowed corn after 
you have tried it. If you milk your cows 
in stanchions in your milk barn, as you 
ought to, cut 3 ’our corn, and after milking 
spread it before them, and they will eat it 
all» then lot them into your pasture and 
they will be satisfied; they will not ramble 
tor more or be breaking out, and the bene¬ 
ficial results will be more plainly seen. 
We sometimes hear of cows that will give 
a large amount of milk nearly the year 
around without extra feed, either in the 
early spring or late in the fall; but such 
cows are mostly found with men that want 
to sell, or at auctions; they are seldom found 
in the farm dairy. If you have more corn 
than you wish to feed your cows, before 
frost comes, cut, bind it, and after it is cured 
put it in the bam, and it will made good 
fodder for winter. c. 
Remarks.—T he foregoing is timely talk, 
because it is now the time to see the force of 
the suggestions demonstrated. It should go 
on the farmer’s memoranda for next season’s 
work, that a patch of corn must he sowed. 
B.Y' the way, there are many of our readers 
who will be glad to hear from men of ex¬ 
perience the best mode of curing and storing 
sowed corn for winter use. In latitudes 
whore it has been wet there is a surplus of 
feed, and the sowed corn may be found more 
profitable for winter feeding because it is 
SELECTING SEED CORN. 
The time lias arrived for this, yet how few 
are the farmers that attend to it. When will 
people learn to know that the crop iB de¬ 
pendent upon the quality of the seed ? The 
thing lias been demonstrated repeatedly that 
the best, plumpest kernels produce the best 
and heaviest crops; also that a new infusion 
is an advantage. But without getting our 
corn from abroad, we should attend to what 
we have. Some ears will be in advance of 
the rest. They will bo larger, fuller, earlier 
—better all round. Now to raise such corn 
is desirable. And it can be done to a greater 
or less extent. Why not then do it ? 
Be sure and get the earliest and largest 
ears,—and get them when they are ripening, 
before they are fully matured or “ dead ripe,” 
When just hard, when the stalk 
MAKING RIVETS HOLD 
The Ohio Farmer says“ Farmers and 
mechanics are very often bothered by the 
breaking or slipping of rivets in machinery 
and other places, and do not know a remedy. 
The trouble usually arises f'rum the rivet- 
hole being too sharp upon the edge, and 
from the rivet-head being too flat upon the 
under side. The most of the heading tools 
used by blacksmiths in rivet making are 
rounded on the surface, so that the heads are 
left concave. This brings the outer edge of 
the head upon the surface to which it is to 
be drawn, and the rivet has a chance, when 
brought to a heavy strain, to extend, which 
prevents breaking. 
“The rivet is usually made of softer 
is green 
somewhat, select your ears and put them 
where they aro in the air; a slight current 
of fresh air is best. In the loft, of any out¬ 
buildings is a good place. Hang up (in 
braids, as is the good old way,) and open the 
windows. Do not dry by a stove pipe, and 
never hang up in the corn crib over the corn. 
A neighbor of ours lias tested this to his 
satisfaction, having had, the past year, to 
plant over in consequence of keeping his 
corn suspended over the corn bulk in the 
corn-house. The steam emanating from the 
pilowillhurt.it. It will keep it. from cur¬ 
ing, extending the time so long that, with 
the green Cob in the center and the moisture, 
(a deleterious one,) outside, there wifi be 
mold and fermentation before the ear has 
attained its proper dryness. 
We cannot he too particular with our 
corn. It should always be remembered that 
the cob is a great obstacle in the way of dry¬ 
ing; and also that if dried too fast the corn 
w ill be hurt, even if it does not seem to be. 
Properly taken care of, there will be not 
only safety in getting a good start, hut a 
good crop of smaller ears with good cultiva¬ 
tion. With bad cultivation, no corn will do 
iron 
than that upon which it is to be clutched: 
consequently, if the edge of the rivet,-hole is 
left sharp, when a strain of tension comes 
the soft iron is cut away by the harder edge, 
and the work loosened. 
“ Counter-sinking the hole upon the sur¬ 
face is the only remedy to be used in the 
last case spoken of, and but little of that 
need ho done; a common counter-sink, 
Which may be bought at any hardware store 
for l( ‘u cents, and used in a hit-stock, js all 
that is required by way of tools. Rivets 
subject to u shearing or side-w ay strain, do 
not require this caution, as they only need 
bending enough to keep the work in place. 
“ The force necessary to tear a piece of 
iron is very near that of cutting or shearing 
the. same, so that the strength of rivets may 
be very easily estimated when used in differ¬ 
ent. parts of machinery. 
*' The pressed or ‘sale rivets,’ are not as 
good as those made at the anvil; at least, 
RUST IN WHEAT. 
farmer friend of mine in Virginia has told 
me how he keeps off the rust in wheat, lie 
procures good, healthy w heat for seed, (either 
white or red,) and then makes a solution of 
blue-stone (sulphate of copper) as follows: 
To every four gallons of water, lie puts one 
pound blue-stone. He then mixes or dis¬ 
solves the blue-stone as well as lie can, and 
then puts it on to boil—allows it to boil 
three or four hours—then takes it off and 
allows it to coo]. After it is cool, he steeps 
the wheat in it, say twenty-four hours, and 
then pours off the solution and puts the 
wheat on the barn floor to dry a little before 
it is put into the ground. A half barrel that 
w ill hold about three to four bushels, is a 
nice thing to put blue-stone solution in and 
to steep the wheat in. 
Alter the wheat is partially dry, there 
will Ixi a crust on the kernel that seems to 
head off most diseases th^t befall wheat My 
friend usually uses some good HtipernlJOS- 
dryest lcoolls. On plowing it the sod was 
found to he brittle and thin, and no grass or 
weeds troubled the first crops. From the 
growth and yield of these, as compared with 
those of adjacent land, I was convinced that 
the soil would have been more productive 
had it been plowed and cropped more fre¬ 
quently. 
Letting the entire clover crop go into the 
ground is, 1 think, the best method of using 
it as a fertilizer, it makes little differ- 
rence whether it be plowed under during the 
season ot its growth or the succeeding spring - 
and I think it is not profitable to let grain 
land lie under grass longer than two years, 
and if the farming were well systematized I 
was better than two. 
FIELD NOTES 
Second Crop Potatoes. —If it is important 
to decide the question whether ncw r potatoes 
will produce another crop the same year, I 
will state for those w ho are interested that 
in June, 1808, new potatoes began to appear 
here, brought from Southern Ohio. For the 
sake of the experiment, I planted a few hills 
the first week in June. They were along 
time coming up and very slow iu grow ing, 
hut in the lull they yielded a few small pota¬ 
toes. This spring I plauted this second crop 
of last year by the side of the Early Good¬ 
rich and the Orouo, and now find them the 
earliest and best of the three kinds. The 
vines aro vigorous aud have many seed balls 
on them. They aro now nearly ripe. 
New Varieties of Peas .— I have two varie¬ 
ties of peas, both new to me. The seed was 
given me by an Englishman, who said a 
friend of his brought them from India. One 
has pods six and a half inchesloui 
Measurement or Hay.—You w ill find the fol¬ 
lowing rules for tlie measurement of hay in u 
mow, after careful experiments for forty years, 
to bo as nearly correct as oau be. It is for hay 
Itirout'll from top to bottom of the mow; that 
Is—the mow is to be full. It halt bus been taken 
Out of a large mow the rest would be nearly the 
same, or quite, as pressed hay. As the depth is 
the main guidance as to solidity In u mow; 
therefore a soft depth will be un equal division 
between the first two of the following rules: If 
partly or each kind of hay make a division ac¬ 
cordingly. 
In a mow twenty feet wide by thirty feet long 
and twenty-five feet deep. 
should say one year 
What funnels need steadily to aim for are 
thorough cultivation, good rotation of crops, 
green manuring, and the making of as much 
farm-yard manure as is practicable. 
ClIIEL. 
CIlieeOry Imported.—'"' 
crease in the Importations ol this 
<-- 
with those of 
previous, r 
ending May 31,1809, the 
4,583.318 pounds |_ ^ 
May 31, 1868, only 1,973,833 pounds, 
this indicates an increased __ 
root as a substitute for and in the aduiteiiuVon 
of codec, or whether it indicates a diminished 
production ol the root in this country* we have 
not the data at hand with whftta to determine 
Uur it is certain that there is no good reason 
why American fanners should allow an ounce 
of this root to bo importod. It is as easily 
grown as any other root crop, and its prepara¬ 
tion for market involves no skill that can be re¬ 
garded an obstacle. 
There is a decided in 
-—j root into this 
country the past eleven months, as compared 
a corresponding- period the year 
fi'^biuco,for'the eleven months 
, —importation amounts to 
; tor the same period ending 
J. Whether 
consumption of this 
HARVESTING CORN. 
The time for cutting corn being at, liaml, 
I offer the plan of two Implements which 
save a great amount of inconvenience and 
vexation to the laborer. Thu Corn Horse 
was given in the Rural several years ago, 
lint it may not be out of place here. The 
Husking Table T have never seen elsewhere, 
and, I think, is original. 
The construction of the first needs no ex- 
450 feet of herds- 
graas, nr 350 red top, or 550 clover. Is a ton. 
In a mow fifteen feet wide by twenty feet long 
and fifteen feet deep. 550 feet of hords-gmss, or 
400 red top, or 050 clover, is a ton. 
In a mow from ten to lit toon feet long by tom 
l'cet wide aud trum six to ten foot deep, 630 cubic 
feet of herds-grass, or 500 red top, or 750 clover, 
is a ton. 
The above is for a well settled mow without any 
pressure from above with grain, &c. 
In a mow fifteen feet wide by twenty foot long 
and fifteen feel deep, 400 cubic foot of well pleased 
herds-grass, or 385 red top, or 550 clover, is a ton. 
In a mow twenty foot wide by thirty feet long 
mid twenty feet deep, 350 cubic foot of well 
pressed hords-gmss, or 300 red top, or 300 clover, 
is a ton.—-SAMUEL T, Bartlett, East Bethany ,, 
various parte of the country. The civil war 
caused its dissolution. 
When the Paris exhibition was held in 
1807 Mr. Wilder was made United States 
Commissioner, and there did our Horticultu¬ 
ral. and especially our Grape interests, great 
good. 
But this list of honors is gettinglong, and, 
although it exhibits the success aud position 
of a self-made man, we must lx brief, and 
simply add that Mr. Wilder is Vice-Presi¬ 
dent of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech¬ 
nology, and President, of the New England 
Historic Genealogical Society. He has 
been a member of the various branches 
of the Massachusetts Legislature, President 
of the Senate, and Director in many of the 
Boston institutions, and is everywhere called 
on to preside wherever there is a gathering 
oi intelligent, active men engaged in any 
good cause. 
ig, the vines 
an; live feet high, and are abundant bearers. 
Some of the pods are plump, others seem to 
shrink around the pea; when cooked, pod 
and all, they are delicious. The other kind 
hits been blossoming all the season; the pods 
are small, vines about live feet high—blos¬ 
soms very pretty and in clusters like the 
sweet pea. They have not been tried for 
cooking. It seems to be tin ever blossoming 
variety, and from its beauty the Englishman 
called it “ La Belle, de VMef s. l. 
Escanaba, Mleli. 
Growing Potatoes rrom Seed Units_The New 
England Farmer gives the following directions • 
Alter gathering the balls in the full, they may 
1,111 ' Irv Place in paper bag-s, or in a box 
of sand packed as liens’ eggs are, in oats or chaff. 
ii y : J . U t,J ,lavo as large as possi¬ 
ble t he first year, it will be w ell to plant the seed 
m a box of fine earth the last of March, or first 
of April, and keep them In the house, os vou do 
tomato plants, till all danger of frost is passed, 
sa> tiJl into June, when the plants may be put 
out iu the open ground. In order to lengthen 
out the season, it may be well to protect vines 
lioin early lull frosts. In this way sonic of them 
may at tain to nearly the size of hens’ eggs the 
first season, but most of them will be much 
smaller. Tlx next year they may lie planted in 
fin©, rich soil, the same as other potatoes. 
-♦-*-*-- 
Keeping Sweet Pot«»oe 9 .-A Hamilton Co., O., 
correspondent of the Country Gentleman says 
he has found tnatrotten wood, finely pulverized 
is the best thing in which to keep sweet pota¬ 
toes. “Collect the rotten wood in the summer 
or early tall; get It perfectly dry; grind or 
pound It fine, pack your sweet potatoes in ft in 
boxes or barrels, and keep them In a warm room 
A Corn Horse. 
planation, save that the stick in the center 
is movable. It is placed in the corn, with 
three rows upon each side, making thirty- 
six hills to a shock. The corn is placed 
equally iu the four corners formed by the 
cross-piece, and after tying the shock this 
stick or rod is removed and the horse drawn 
out ready for the next shuck. It will he 
seen that there is no tying around hills and 
no com falling down. I find that the shock, 
it properly set up, will stand longer than by 
the old method. 
Inquiries About the Use of Lime 
I have a 
piece of flat meadow land, dark loamy soil, witli 
clay subsoil. I propose to cut open ditches iu 
order to carry off the surface water that Mows 
on from above. I wish to turn under the sod 
this fall and sow to oats in the spring. I have 
not the manure to spare, and propose to sow on 
iime. Will it pay to soav lime at fifty cents per 
bushel, and cart it fifteen miles? Will it puy to 
sow as many as fifty bushels iter acre? I wish 
to draw my lime during the winter; will it lose 
any of its essential qualities ir left, iu large piles 
on the ground until spring ? I wish to know if 
I may expect a reasonable return for the outlay 
if lime is thus used without any other manures. 
Will some one who has had experience please 
reply? By so doing he will greatly oblige a 
number of Rural readers in this vicinity,—J. 
D. Smith, Meredith, Ddaimrc Co., N. I r . 
SOWED CORN 
imu 
C0iramji 
THE BEST USE OF CLOVER. 
In the best system of farming practiced iu 
this country, grass or clover is one of the 
main reliances for continuing the soil fertile 
We seed down ns much with the view of 
manuring as for the value of the crop for 
other uses. This remark is true, of course, 
only of grain land, not where the products 
ol the dairy or the meadow arc first in im¬ 
portance. What, then, is the best molhod 
of using grass as a fertilizer, and how long is 
it profitable to let the soil lay under it? 
Where clover is grown, the most benefit is 
derived by returning the entire growth, roots 
and tops, to the 'soil. By so doing the top 
soil is enriched by what elements the deep- 
hlephnnt Plow?.— Tlx perfect steam plow- has 
not yet arrived, but t! powerful one is in use. 
Instance: “Among the usual agricultural im¬ 
plements now manufactured in Great Britain 
are large numbers of elephant plows, which are 
forwarded by way of the Mediterranean, tho 
Isthmus of Suez, and the Hod Sea aud Indian 
Ocean, to the place of their destination. Every 
morning, at sunrise, the elephant takes his ma¬ 
hout by the Avaist belt, places him on his back, 
and starts into the hold. Two assistants guid© 
t he plo w-handles, aud as long as tho sun is above 
tho horizon the elephant marches along, throw¬ 
ing up a huge ridge behind him, th© furrow hav¬ 
ing a breadth of four and a half feet aud a depth 
of three.” 
Corn Husking Table. 
The corn bench, or huslcing table, is made 
of two by four scantling, eight feet long, 
forming the lop bars; bore inch and a hall’ 
holes for the legs and end pieces at the dis¬ 
tance shown—the latter to be three feet long, 
and the legs according to tlie height of the 
busker. Brace strong’with half inch hoards, 
and nail on one narrow board for the top. 
I npjnuianiuH’k \\ heat.— I have grown it for 
y«*rs and think it “fills the bill.” It ripens 
earlier than the white, smooth variety, and 
yields well. It does decidedly the best on rich 
land; not much danger of laying down.—J ohn 
G riest, Jay Co., hut. 
Early Planled Corn gains root when the leaves 
turn yellow-in the cool atmosphere; but late 
planted corn Is now knocked down in the storm, 
from the weakness of its roots.—s. av. 
