trial, as being very hurdy and productive. 
The fruit he pronounces good; not as large 
as Willson’s Albany, but very handsome. 
In an experiment at the College, it stood 
unusual exposure last Winter, better than 
Figure I. 
any other variety. Its only drawback is 
that it requires Borne staminate variety to 
be planted near it, as it is a pistillate var¬ 
iety. 
Cuttings of Currants, etc., may be set 
as long as the ground is open and friable 
Double Crop of Cauliflower from 
One Plant,—To got a second crop of Cauli¬ 
flower from your plants, a writer in the 
London Field says, simply cut the cauli¬ 
flower with the usual complement of over¬ 
lapping leaves; leave all the other leaves 
on the stem for a week or two. Go over 
them, and choose from two to four of the 
best placed and strongest; three to each is 
n. oapital average. Remove or bend down 
any leaves that interfere with theso ad¬ 
vancing growths, and also any decaying or 
old worn-out leaves; allow all others to 
remain. Give the stems several good soak- 
ings of manure water, and a layer of dung, 
if thought desirable; and in an amazingly 
short period of time another crop, perhaps 
as heavy—or heavier in the gross—as the 
first, may be out from the old stalks. 
THE FIRST AMERICAN ICENT. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
365 
and lawful 
§omaloijii[al. 
POMOLOGICAL GOSSIP. 
I.v the RtrRAtNuw-YoKKEu of Oct. 26'I 
notice an inquiry from Charges H. Wil¬ 
son in regard to numismatics. In reply, 
would say that the first American cent was 
si ruck in 1791, and the following year, 1792, 
another and much larger one was struck, 
those were called the “Washington Cents.” 
and are extremely rare, there being but 
about 200 of them struck before the dies 
wore broken. In 1798 commenced the first 
of the regular coinage, and of this date 
mere are seven., -uxerenttoncs. Fr“„, this 
liato to 1799 the coinage continued regular¬ 
ly , at which time it was discontinued un¬ 
til 1800 , when It was again commenced, and 
continued without intermission to the 
present time. Thus, 1799 is the only year 
in which the American cent was not coined 
The last year in which the largo copper 
cent was coined was 1857, of which date 
there are two different dies, beside the 
nickel cent, which was first circulated in 
that year, although the lirst nickel cents 
were struck in 1856; but they were only 
experimental, and consequently rare. 
f. s. 
THE TELEGRAPHIC EAR. 
The Ida Strawberry.—Prof. Mat¬ 
thews, of the Iowa Agricultural College, 
iu the Iowa Homestead, highly recom¬ 
mends this strawberry, after eight years 
BEES AND FRUCTIFICATION. 
1 am a bee keeper, and make my livii 
partly by raising and grinding buckwhea 
so, you see, 1 am muoh interested in ti 
quostiou'broached by “Anti-Bee Keeper 
in Rural New-Yorker, Oct. 5. I ha 
examined very closely; have seen my buc 
wheat fairly covered with bees, and thougl 
at first they must injure it, but have con 
to the conclusion they do not. 
There are two kinds of flowers growii 
on the buckwheat plant. They grow clo 
together, although one usually grows t 
the upper side of the branch, and the oth 
on the lower side. One produces honey ai 
pollen, the other buckwheat. The one th 
produces honey never produces buckwhea 
the other flower produces only buckwhea 
The berry is formed before the flower open 
as the kernel swells tbo flower opens; be, 
do not meddle with it; it has nothing f< 
them—no honey, no pollen. Let Auti-Bi 
Keepers keep bees, and tell theJr little one 
if they have any, that the Great Father 
very kind and good, and meant they slum! 
have honey with their cakes. „ 
New Baltimore, N. Y. 
BEE NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Forage Plants for Bees.-I am goto 
to keep bees have a few swarms to whic 
I am going to add others and mako it 
business. I should like to know what flov 
enug plants—not trees-I should oultlvai 
in order to get adequate pasture for the 
the coming season. Can any of your co 
respondents tell me what annuals to so 
next Spring with a view of promoting tl 
manufacture of honey? If R0 , they w 
oblige— A. Tyro. 
Will some of our experienced bee cu 
turists answer the above, giving facts a: 
suggestions.—[E d. 
@lte (Bartlett. 
STARTING EARLY POTATOES. 
A CORRESPONDENT of the Cottage Garden¬ 
er says;—To have a few early potatoes I 
have found the following system answer 
well. 1 plant my potato sets in pots, say 
about 5 or 6 iuchcs In diameter; tho soil I 
use is a pure turfy maiden loam and charred 
earth, with a little soot. Beiug in pots they 
can be started wherever there is a little 
heat. While they are coming on intho pots, 
leaves and a little manure are put up in a 
round heap to ferment, then put into a pit 
or frame; after the bed is in a fit condition 
of heat the surface is covered 8 inches deep 
with half-rotten leaves. When the heat is 
up the pots may be plunged in this materi¬ 
al, and the plants kept in the same pots till 
the young tubers are the size of large peas 
or small marbles. This can easily be ascer¬ 
tained by turning them out of the pots. I 
consider the chief advantage derivable from 
tills system is, that as they are confined in 
the pots, only a limited supply of nutriment 
is afforded, which causes the plants to tuber 
much sooner than would otherwise be the 
case. Whenever I find that the young po¬ 
tatoes are as large as l have stated 1 im¬ 
mediately take off the top soil the pots were 
plunged iu. if l find t he heat is deficient I 
add a little now warm manure to the inside 
of the bed, and turn it over. Then, having 
had some good, dry, turfy soil, and charred 
or burnt earth, with a mixture of a little 
soot, the bed is covered over to the depth 
of U or 15 inches; tho Potato plants are 
next turned carefully out of their pots, and 
planted in a furrow iu rows in the new soil 
after it has attained the natural warmth of 
the bed. 
I never use any manure, but a little soil is 
put on the drills after the plants are estab¬ 
lished. By keeping them near the glass, 
and well aired at every favorable oppor¬ 
tunity, a good crop of fine natural-flavored 
potatoes will bo obtained. 
—-- 
NEW AND OLD PEAS. 
Market gardeners care very little about 
the quality of peas, or in fact any other 
fruit or vegetable, so long as it is prolific 
and commands a good price in market. 
People who board at city hotels or boarding 
houses, or even depend upon the markets 
for a supply of green peas, never find even 
a passably good article, for the simple rea¬ 
son that first-class sorts are seldom, if ever, 
cultivated f<>r market. The first and great¬ 
est objection which the market gardener 
urges against the choice sorts, is tho price 
of seed; uml we cannot blame them, inas¬ 
much as not one person in twenty kuows 
enough about peas to distinguish one va¬ 
riety from another, as they are offered in 
market; and it is doubtful if the best sort 
known would command live cents per bush¬ 
el more than the very poorest; consequent¬ 
ly, at present, there is very little encour¬ 
agement for introducing or cultivating the 
best flavored varieties for market purposes. 
Iu a commercial point of view, earliuesa is 
a great merit, for the strife among growers 
is to see who shall have the first peas in 
market, ami those who win are usually 
well paid for their efforts, although the 
consumer gets a poor return for his money. 
Tho Early Keut, Dan. O’Rourke and Dil- 
listouo’s Early, may answer to be called 
peaa; but they are a poor substitute for a 
good article. 
The amateur and others who cultivate 
peas for their own tables soon learn to dis¬ 
criminate between varieties, and it is only 
within the past half-dozen years that we 
had an extra early variety of first-rate 
quality; and even now there are few that 
cau bo said to equal the later sorts. Mc¬ 
Lean’s Little Gem, and McLean's Advancer, 
are certainly fine very early sorts, both 
being of the wrinkled marrow type. The 
wrinkled surface of the pea, when ripe, is, 
by the way, as good sign of sweetness when 
green, in peas, as it is in corn, and tho dif¬ 
ference is as great between smooth and 
wrinkled sorts as between oomraou field 
corn and sweet corn. But it must not be 
supposed that there is not a great differ¬ 
ence In tho quality of the wrinkled sorts, 
the same as found in our best varieties of 
sweet corn. 
For many yearstheOhampiouof England 
has had no equal among the late sorts of 
wrinkled peas; and we are somewhat in 
doubt as to whether it has a successful 
competitor among the many novelties late¬ 
ly introduced; but were we to believe the 
annual announcement of new superior sorts 
made in English magazines, this old favor¬ 
ite must havo been many times superseded 
during the last dozen years, although we 
have found none that suited us better, con¬ 
sidering all its merits. 
The late Dr. McLean of Colchester, Eng¬ 
land, created quite a sensation a few years 
since by raising several now varieties of 
merit; but a Mr. LAXTON is now command¬ 
ing the attention of tho English people by 
Figure 
his feats in successfully crossing the best 
sorts, the results of which are said to be 
somewhat marvelous, even to those who are 
accustomed to havo the best sorts under 
cultivation. Our seedsmen’s catalogues 
have been giving 1. ax ton’s peas a pretty 
wide notoriety for the past two or three 
years, aud, from present appearances, are 
likely to continue in the same line, judging 
from late announcements of new sorts. 
Two more now varieties of Mr. Laxton’s 
havo lately been noticed, namely, Laxton's 
Harbinger aud Laxton’s Superlative. The 
first is said to bo the earliest variety known, 
it being a cross between Laxton’s Alpha 
and Dillistone's Early. Tho pods are about 
‘Z}4 iuches long, full, plump and rounded 
with a slight curve, as shown in figure 1. 
Laxton s Superlative is claimed to be the 
largest of all peas, aud is a cross between 
the Ne 1'lus Ultra aud a hybrid Supreme. 
It is a robust grower, the vinos often reach¬ 
ing seven or eight feet high. The pods are 
very large, as shown In figure 2. This va¬ 
riety is later than tho Ilarbiuger, but con¬ 
sidered very valuable. Both of theso new 
sorts were awarded a first-class certificate 
by tho Fruit Committee of tho Royal Hor¬ 
ticultural Society. 
-- 
GARDENERS’ NOTES. 
A Good Way to Keep Cabbage-—Se¬ 
lect a dry place in your garden, or near the 
house; dig a hole two feet deep and place a 
barrel or box in it; put some small sticks 
iu the bottom of tbo box or barrel, with 
some dry straw over them; then after cut¬ 
ting off the roots, aud some of the outside 
leaves from your cabbage, plaoe them in the 
barrel in layers, with some dry straw or 
hay between each layer, covering it with a 
board, or large flat stone; now bank the 
earth to the top of the barrel, and dig a 
drain to oonduot away the surface water. I 
have tried a great many different ways to 
keep cabbage through the winter, but never 
found any better way than the above, as 
you can get it at any time, no matter how 
hard the ground is frozen.— Lexington, 
Rochester, N. Y., 
The Hartford Post says that one of the 
most remarkable illustrations of the power 
which a telegraphic operator acquires to 
distinguish individuals by their touch upon 
the instrument has just been afforded by 
Mr. Hemstead, one of the operators In the 
Western IInlou Telegraph Company \s office 
tn this city. About a fortnight ago, Mike 
'Y. Sherman, formerly an expert and well- 
known telegraph operator, escaped from 
the Middleton Insane Asylum, where ho 
has boon confined, and, though thorough 
search has been made for him, ho tmoeesr- 
fully eluded the people who wore on his 
truck until Monday night. While Hem- 
stead was at work iu the office in Hartford 
that night, he suddenly recognized, among 
tho clatter of a score of messages passing 
ovor the wire, a sound whichheat onoede- 
clured;waa the touch of the missing Mike. 
It proved to be a message from Walling¬ 
ford, and an investigation showed that Mr 
Hemstead was quite right in ascribing it to 
the insane man, who was found there the 
next, day, he having dropped into the office 
in the former place on Monday night, aud 
taken a hand at his old business. 
Tlie Red Hawthoruden Apple, is a 
fruit that has had quite a local reputation 
and is attracting general attention in En¬ 
gland. An English journal describes it as 
follows;—Tho fruit is large and oblate, 
with four very obtuse angles on the sides. 
The crown is flat and there is only a slight 
depression in which tho eye is placed, skin 
smooth, greenish-yellow, with red blush 
next the sun, eye small and closed, set in 
a shallow depression, ytalk very short, set. 
in a deep cavity. Flesh white, tender and 
juicy, with sprightly and agreeable acidity. 
Season, end of August, and beginning of 
September. It is an excellent grower as a 
standard, or trained, but not so suitable as 
a pyramid. 
“Green” Nowtown Pippin. —In the 
Rural New-Yorker, Nov. 16, I saw an ar¬ 
ticle from Charles Downing stating that 
there is a Green Newtown Pippin. I think 
Mr. Downing is mistaken, and 1 think ho 
will find it out so, too. He has ovidontly 
got some other kind of an apple, and calls 
it Newtown Pippin. 1 have raised New¬ 
town Pippins several years, and havo never 
come across but one kind; and that sort is 
always green until it begins to ripen, when 
it turns yellow. I beg Mr. Downing’s par- 
don for disputing him; but as I have made 
Newtown Pippins a specialty, I think 1 
know something about it.— a. b. 
