I 
ry , wholesale by tlie Shakers for forty cents a 
cuntmc antr psrftu. p° uud - tTt 
USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC ITEMS. 
APPLIED SCIENCE AND MECHANICS. 
Cotton Hcort Lint. 
When cotton is ginned in the usual way 
the seed is covered with a short, downy lint. 
It is estimated that the quantity of this lint 
amounts annually to thirty-six million 
pounds, capable of making first class paper 
ami, for many purposes, forming a good 
substitute for the longer cotton fiber. For¬ 
merly this was all wasted ; but within the 
past two or three years machines have been 
made which strip the lint, clean from the 
seed. They cost about five hundred dollars 
each, and clean the fiber from a ton of seed 
per hour. A ton of seed will yield a little 
more llmu three pounds of lint. As the 
fiber on the seed interfered with planting by 
machinery many pinna for gel l ing rid of it 
were formerly tried without any idea of 
utilizing the fiber. One inventor proposed 
to drop the seeds through a hot lube to burn 
off the lint aud then receive them in a vibrat¬ 
ing pan to cool them. Another suggested 
treating them with sulphuric acid to char off 
the liber, and still another moistened the 
seed with glue water and rolled it in sand to 
wind the fibers closely so that the seed would 
pass readily through the dropping mechan¬ 
ism of the planters. The cleaned seed is us 
smooth as corn, so that any simple machinery 
will answer for planting. 
Tli«« Indian llit n in Suitin' Hit Mint. 
In some of the European sugar manufac¬ 
tories the white color of the loaf sugar is 
improved by the addition of blueing, juat as 
that of linen is improved by the same means. 
Indigo and some other substances are used, 
but all are practically harmless. The pres¬ 
ence of the indigo is readily ascertained by 
dissolving some of the suspected sugar in 
water aud letting it stand, whereupon the 
indigo will settle to the bottom. 
Bamboo nmt Cnno lor I’aper Itlakinur. 
Most people have noticed tliat often in 
grasping a newspaper the paper will crackle 
aud be stiff instead of pliable and soft. Such 
paper is commonly made from bamboo and 
cane. The material is cut into lengths and 
put into a large cast iron receiver shaped 
like a cannon. The receiver is then closed 
and steam, at a great pressure, is admitted. 
The material having become thoroughly 
surcharged with the steam, the receiver, 
which is called a steam gun, is suddenly 
opened. The material is shot out, and the 
expansion of the steam among the fibers 
tears it into miuute fragments, which are 
gathered up and taken to the paper mill for 
chemical treatment, and subsequent manu¬ 
facture into paper. An English inventor 
recently proposed to take the East Indian 
can© and crush it flat between rollers and 
then compress it into bales for export to 
England us paper stock, the cane in its 
natural condition being too bulky to be car¬ 
ried far with profit. 
Transporting Sulphuric Acid. 
One drawback to the makiug of home¬ 
made super-phosphate from bones is the ob¬ 
jection ot the railway companies to carry¬ 
ing oil of vitriol in the wicker-covered bot¬ 
tles called carboys, in which it is commonly 
put up, and for which extra rates are charged. 
A plan has been devised in England for con¬ 
veying oil of vitriol in barrels; but whether 
it is a practical improvement remains to be 
seen. The inventor lines an ordinary cask 
or vessel with lead, which is very slowly 
acted upon by the acid. The seams of the 
lead are carefully soldered, and when the 
barrel is filled a lead cap is soldered over 
the inlet, to close it hermetically. 
DesiecutcU Potatoes. 
Several different methods of preserving 
polities by drying have been devised within a 
tew years past. In some the raw potatoes 
have been cut in thin slices, dried by hot air 
and then ground into flour. In others the 
vegetables have been first cooked and after¬ 
wards dried. The latest plan is to steam or 
boil the potatoes after removing the skins, 
then mashing and forcing them through a 
vessel having a perforated bottom like a 
colander. This brings the substance into the 
form ot long sticky strings which are dried 
and which may be used in place of rice in 
soups, etc. Or, they may be ground fine and 
when moistened with boiling water will re¬ 
semble mashed potatoes cooked in the 
ordinary way, 
t'se# of Milkweed. 
Probably no weed has ever been so much 
experimented with to so little purpose as the 
common Milkweed. Commencing at the 
b p of the plant we find the silky fiber, which 
ms over and over again been tried for spin¬ 
ning and weaving aud also for paper making, 
and is now used, so it is said, to mingle with 
jvool in the manufacture of fur hats. The 
bark gives a strong, tough liber, somewhat 
' ' c . " "‘ft’ and the milk yields a substance 
having very much the same nature as India 
11 ! ,tr > an d claimed to possess the same prop- 
itus, while the root is used in medicine, 
niK ’ c,ried ancl Put up in packages, is sold at 
To Clean n Hnnt-flulslied Wall. 
Tell Mr. Pikuce he can clean a hard- 
finished, plastered wall, by washing it with 
soap suds and rinsing it with clean water. 
If there are any spots which the soap fails 
to take off, scour them with ashes.—S. A. 
Browning. 
To Itlnkc nn .Eolinn Hnrp. 
Take a home hair or piece of sewing silk; 
let it reach two-lbirds or all the way across 
the window. Tie a little splinter to each 
end and stretch it across the window, stick¬ 
ing the splinters between the two sashes, (l 
think the thread or hair must be left even 
with the top of the sasli), then wait for the 
wind to blow and hear the music. A close 
fitting sash will not answer; for it will not 
do, 1 think, to let the thread touch the sasli. 
Your correspondent who inquires, will find 
out by experimenting.—s. a. b. 
Wood I'aper for Walts. 
A correspondent (Mr. Sanborn) in¬ 
quires of the “ wood paper” for walls, <feo., 
and wants to know where to find it. Please 
say to him that the less lie knows, experi¬ 
mentally, about wood veneering lor walls 
the better. It lias been used to a consider¬ 
able extent in this village, much to the sor- 
row <>f several housekeepers. It is a failure. 
In seasoning it cracks, curls up and falls off. 
So far as I have learned, all who have used 
it have been compelled to replace it with 
something better.—M. M. F., Kingston-on-the 
Hudson, N. Y. 
Ilniv to Keep Water Cool. 
Water can be kept cool for drinking in 
warm weather by the following method; 
Get fresh water, let it he kept in an unglazed 
earthenware pitcher, wrapt around with two 
or three folds of coarse cotton cloth kept 
constantly wet. The theory of cooling water 
in tiiis manner Is the absorption of beat from 
it by the evaporation of the moisture in the 
cotton cloth — expansion produces cold, 
compression heat. 
-- 
Useful and Scientific Inquiries.— A Californian 
asks:—” Will some one «ell me how to skeleton¬ 
ize leaves; also how to press flowers so that they 
will not lade? Then I should like very much to 
know how to dry flowers so ns to keep their 
natural form and color. Flowers in any shape 
and form are always pleasing to look upon, and 
we cannot always have fresh ones in our rooms, 
so we might as well have them preserved in 
every way possible.” 
be ffiwrbencr. 
GARDEN NOTES. 
Remedy for Sqtiusli Rugs. 
Chas. A. Porter writes the Rural New- 
Yorker that if a brood of young turkeys are 
confined in a melon (or other vine) patch, it 
will be all the remedy necessary. 
Big Asparnaus. 
Shirley Hibberd, in the Loudon Gar¬ 
deners’ Magazine, thinks that all the Giant 
aud Colossal character iu asparagus comes 
simply from “difference in culture, rather 
than difference in seed.” Wide planting will 
undoubtedly give large shoots aud more of 
them from each hill; but bow is it that when 
two beds are put out side by side, one will 
be large and fit for cutting a year before the 
other? This is the way Conover’s Colossal 
acts here, near New York.— Horticulturist. 
A Little Bed of Herb*. 
Every family should have its little patch 
of “ Herbs.” They are easily obtained ; 
some of them arc perennial, and require 
replanting only once in several years. The 
seed can all be found at our agricultural 
aud horticultural stores. The list is as fol¬ 
lows:—Sweet Marjoram, Marigold, Thyme, 
Winter and Summer Savory, Coriander, An- 
issecd, Rosemary, Lavender, Sweet Basil, 
Caraway. Fennel. Thyme, "Winter Savoy, 
Fennel, Lavender aud Sage are perennial; 
the others require the seed to be sown an¬ 
nually —Germantown Telegraph. 
How a Rural Woman Grows CnbbuKcs. 
I will tell you how I raised my cabbage 
on new soil, full of roots and stones, but still 
warm and gravelly. I dug holes that would 
hold nearly a bushel, filled them two-thirds 
full of cow manure, a little dirt on that, then 
a good handful of hen manure, covered with 
about two inches of soil, and set the cab¬ 
bage ; watered them once or twice, hoed 
them three or four times, and in the fall had 
a good many twelve to twenty pound heads, 
and none unfit to use. I paid for my Rural 
New-Yorker, The Tribune, and all of our 
garden seeds, this spring, with the proceeds 
of the cabbage patch, beside all a family of 
six wanted to use all winter, and a barrel of 
sanr-kraut. It was hard work; bpt 1 did it, 
and intend to raise larger heads this season. 
Borne of those sixty pounders would suit 
me, and 1 shall try hard for them.— Mrs. F. 
F. B., Spring Creek, Pa. 
anitscape ©artremng. 
GARDEN CHAIR. 
We give herewith an illustration of an ex¬ 
cellent reversible garden chair and awning, 
which are found exceedingly conveniuut. 
along walks that are sunny, and where, in 
order to obtain the benefit of a beautiful 
Gakihsn Crain, with Awning. 
view, one must sit in the sun. We commend 
this class of seats to the Central and Pros¬ 
pect Park Commissioners. It will be seen 
that, the awning is so constructed as to bo 
easily raised or lowered. The seat aud back 
are wood, the ends cast iron. 
--a-*-*-- 
ABOUT WALKS. 
“Too many walks! Too mauy walks!” 
Such were the grumbling words we over¬ 
heard one of our neighbors repeating a few 
mornings since, as we came unexpectedly 
upon him rambling uneasily over his newly 
found country home. Witli adesirc for relief 
from labor, he had just bought and moved 
out from the city some three miles, to a place 
tlnit, by a former city resident had, after a 
two years’ life, been abandoned and sold be¬ 
cause of its care and annoyance, expense and 
trouble, beyond its compensating return. 
The place upon which my neighbor has 
located was modeled after a published de¬ 
sign, with its regular parallelogram, half- 
circle figure, and with paths defining tiie 
boundaries of supposed bods and borders, but 
without having any imaginable use or object 
save that, of forming a boundary to a figure. 
Our friend can ace uo attainable object in 
these pathways, and'looks upon all connect¬ 
ed with the home comfort and beauty of a 
place, as like unto the chimneys of a house, 
necessary thereto, but in themselves posses¬ 
sing no attraction save that allied (o necessity. 
Our friend’s plot is only of one acre; and 
at the left of his house, some sixteen feet 
has been setoff on a straight hue for a tram¬ 
way to the rear, while a carriage way 
proper, with a wide road and lumwuy, leads 
to the house and passes off to the right, oc¬ 
cupying, in all, nearly one-eighth of bis 
whole laud, aud requiring as much labor 
yearly to keep it iu clean and neat condi¬ 
tion as does that of his entire garden plot. 
The planting of his trees and shrubs is such 
that he has no clear lawn or grassplot of 
over thirty leet extent in any direction ; but 
he has gone to work replautiug, transferring, 
turfing over, Ac., and soou he says his place 
shall have, as he thinks it ought only to 
have, just such pathway as daily going to 
and fro requires, while his shrubs, Ac., shall 
be in masses as outer bells, groups or 
screens, with a good wide, clean, ever bright 
grassplot; and so the keeping of his place 
will be but an hour or so of labor daily ns 
compared with its former] arrangement, 
needing a steady man all the time. 
Some other time, perhaps, I will write a 
word on this surplusage of walks put in the 
plans of almost every one who designs a 
small place which has to depend for its cate 
upon the chance labors and odd hours of its 
owner; but the present record of my neigh¬ 
bor may perhaps give some who are just ar¬ 
ranging their grounds a hint to he careful 
and make no pathways except such as are 
absolutely useful aud of almost daily require¬ 
ment. Frank Amon. 
BEAUTIFY YOUR GROUNDS. 
The costly styles of architecture are not 
within the reach of the purses of a large 
majority of Rural New-Yorker readers; 
but almost every one has it in his power, by 
the exercise of a little taste and skill, to add 
much to the beauty and attractiveness of his 
yard and garden. Little things of a rustic 
kind often bestow more real pleasure to the 
occupants and all who see them, than the 
costly ornaments put up by skillful work¬ 
men. Among some of the many small at¬ 
tractions referred to, is one on my own 
grounds, which was made as follows:—A 
few years since 1 planted two English honey¬ 
suckles, and two clematis vines on each side 
of the walk leading to my front door ; about 
ten feet therefrom, and about ten feet apart. 
After they had grown bushy, I got an old 
buggy wheel lire, cut it open, and made an 
arch of it from one post to the other, and 
trained the vines over the arch, hanging a 
moss basket in the center, tilled with flow¬ 
ers, such as verbena, geranium, Ac.; and 
now, the mingled bloom of the honeysuckle 
and clematis, give a picture which art can¬ 
not rival, and this cheap and simple orna¬ 
ment—a living archway—is the observed of 
all observers. 
Another simple device, or rather, several 
simple devices, are made by getting nice 
green moss from the woods, aud then lin¬ 
ing wire baskets with it, and filling them 
with flowers, and hanging them up in trees 
about the premises. These will give an air of 
rustic sweetness scarcely attainable by any 
other simple plan. There are so many de¬ 
vices that will suggest themselves to the 
mind of all persons of taste, that, wo deem it 
scarcely necessary to make ally further sug¬ 
gestions here. By all means beuntily your 
homes as much as you can, it will add to 
your own, and the enjoyment of all who 
come about your place. Woodman. 
--■ 
SOMETHING ON LAWNS. 
Occasionally I read advice that to recu¬ 
perate and enrich the grass and soil of a 
lawn, well rotted animal manure should he 
liberally spread over it and well raked, An 
experience of many years in making, seed¬ 
ing and renewing lawns, causes me, when¬ 
ever I read such advice, to wonder if the 
adviser expects the Chinaman to work on 
his lawn the coming’ season steadily and at 
low wages, pulling out weeds and coarse 
grasses. I care not how wull rotted the ani¬ 
mal manure, 1 never yet saw it applied with¬ 
out weeds following and course grasses. I 
never use animal manures in the making of 
a lawn if I cun possibly avoid it, preferring 
the same amount of decomposed turf or 
fresh loam lo add to what may be a loo in¬ 
ferior soil to carry forward the tine grasses 
of a lawn. 
In renewing a lawn, I much prefer to scat¬ 
ter hair an inch to an inch of line, rotted turf 
loam, then, after raking, sow lame meal 
three-fifths, plaster one-tilth, and salt one- 
fifth, adding to each acre of old lawn two 
bushels of Kentucky blue grass and one 
bushel of creeping bent grass. The cost of 
this is as nothing, compared with the labor 
aud annoyance of having to weed continual¬ 
ly after an application of barn yard manure; 
and the beauty ol a lawn so improved needs 
Lo be seen only once in order to make the 
stupidest and most obstinate old fogy ac¬ 
knowledge its superiority. f. A. 
Homological. 
THINNING OUT FRUIT. 
It would be difficult to give a specific rule 
applicable to all cases for thinning out fruit. 
Every orohardist, however, knows that if 
trees are allowed to overbeur, the fruit will 
be proportionally small and far more likely 
to be deformed and of inferior quality. It is 
far better to have a less number of speci¬ 
mens and all large and fine than many small 
ones, as the former will usually measure us 
much as the latter, and bring more in mar¬ 
ket. Nearly all of the large fruits, like ap¬ 
ples and pears, should be thinned when not 
more than half grown; and where they are 
produced in clusters, it is better to remove 
but one, leaving the largest and most prom¬ 
ising specimen. It is also well to notice the 
difference in quantity upon the different 
branches, and so thin that no more fruit will 
remain on one side of the tree than t he other, 
This, of course, cannot always be done, be¬ 
cause cold winds or late frosts may have 
blighted the blossoms upon one side and not 
upon the other; but by using a little fore¬ 
thought, and making observation before 
commencing the operation, an equal dis¬ 
tribution of thu fruit over the whole tree can 
be established. It is also a good plan to go 
about the orchard once or twice a week and 
remove any specimens of fruit that have been 
stung by insects; such fruit, however, should 
not be thrown upon the ground, where the 
larva within can come to maturity, but 
should be either given to hogs or otherwise 
effectually destroyed. A little attention to 
such matters would improve the quality of 
our fruit and lessen the number of its in¬ 
sect foes. 
—-♦♦♦- 
POMOLOGICAL GOSSIP. 
Strawberries in lllluois. 
I have just read your account of the 
Bliss Strawberry Exhibition, aud am led to 
a desire, to give my experience in strawberry 
raising this season, with common culture. 
My Wilsons did very well indeed, although 
not as large as I have raised; but this I ac¬ 
count for because >he bed was a three-year- 
old. Green Prolific gave a good yield under 
the same circumstances; fruit of fair size 
and good flavor. Hoyden’s 80 gave a fair 
crop, ami the largest berries I have ever 
raised. 1 picked seven boxes from my bed, 
averaging fifty-six berries to the box and 
well heaped up ; the smallest number in one 
box was forty-eight berries, while the largest 
number iu any one of the seven was sixty- 
two. Russell’s Prolific did not do very 
well this year; but I did not give them a 
fair chance. Triompho Do Garni never did 
well with me. Neither did the Agricultur¬ 
ist. But there are, no doubt, reasons for 
this, if we only knew them—soil, for one 
reason. To illustrate :—A neighbor of mine 
has the Green Prolific, and he says it is the 
sourest berry he ever raised, while with me 
they are very sweet,—F. O. II., Sterling, 111. 
To Keen Strawberries Hearing. 
N. Gilmer recently said at a strawberry 
discussion in Dayton, O.:—“To keep two 
acres of strawberries in perfect bearing con¬ 
dition, one acre should be planted each year, 
and one acre plowed each year after the third 
planting, lie recommends deep cultivation 
in the spring, but very shallow cultivation 
during the summer. 
Burr's New Pine Sirnwhervy, 
At a late meeting of the Montgomery 
(Ohio) Horticultural Society, the members 
present generally concurred in recommend¬ 
ing Burr’s New Pino Strawberry to ama¬ 
teurs as the best for table, if they can get 
genuine plants. A few Wilsons or a male 
plant should he planted with them. 
gbc Dinrnarb. 
GRAPE GROWING IN CALIFORNIA. 
The eminent, horticulturist and author, 
Charles Downing of New York, who was 
one of the horticultural party tliat visited 
California last season, on a tour of observa¬ 
tion, in a recent letter lo the editor of the 
Pacific Department of the Rural New- 
Yorker, speaks thus of tiie prospects of 
California ns a grape and wine producing 
Country ; 
“ When visiting your grape districts, I 
could not, help thinking that if they lmd 
been planted on the side bills the fruit and 
wine would have been of better quality, but 
perhaps not so large in quantity nor so tine 
in appearance. From all I could see and 
hear, I concluded that grape growing and 
wine making was just fairly commenced; 
and 1 have no doubt California will prove 
tin: best country in the world for growing 
grapes and making wine, and at the least 
expense.” 
This preference for kill-aides for the culture 
of the grape, accords with the position we 
have taken in our work, “ Hyatt’s Hand- 
Book of Grape Culture,” as especially adapt¬ 
ed to California, and published in 1867—ns 
well as in subsequent articles which we have 
written and published on the subject. 
It. seemed to ho the unanimous opinion of 
all the intelligent gentlemen who composed 
the Horticultural party that visited us last 
season, that California is destined to he the 
leading grape growing and wine making 
country of the world, and at no distant day. 
And wo reiterate what we have so often 
tried to impress upon the people of our coun¬ 
try, that there is no enterprise, no business, 
whether in city or country, that is sure to 
afford so profitable an investment and so re¬ 
liable success, as the planting of a vineyard, 
either for table grapes, raisins, or for wine 
making. T. Hart Hyatt. 
-- 
IONA GRAPE. 
Is the Iona Grape a reliable success in the 
vineyard ? is a question which comes to me 
dozens of limes per week ; hut to-day 1 an¬ 
swer it iu response to an inquiry of S. A. 
Skaveu, Mount Pleasant, Union Co., III., as 
follows;—No! the Iona Grape is not a relia¬ 
ble success anywhere as a vineyard crop. 
So far us information gathered from reports 
may he relied on, and so far as my own ob¬ 
servation extends, it lias thus far beeu a de¬ 
cided failure, resulting iu more and greater 
pecuniary loss over the entire country than 
the advent or introduction of any other one 
variety of grape. That it is a really good 
grape when well grown and perfectly ripen¬ 
ed no one lias ever disputed, ami that it does 
occasionally succeed iu localities no one de¬ 
nies; but that any man would be considered 
of sound mind who now should plant it by 
the acre, is a question that I think would be 
negatived in any intelligent convention or 
community. f. r. e. 
-- 
I'm a ali Iu Grape Culture. 
The Journal of Chemistry gives the fol¬ 
lowing results of an analysis of a Black 
Hamburg grape vine:—“ Potash, 20 parts 
in a hundred; phosphate of iron, 19 parts 
in 100; carbonate of lime, 18 parts in 100; 
soda, 8 parts in 100; magnesia, 4 parts ill 
100; With SU titles i>( iron, magne¬ 
sia, si lex, etc. 
ness, and ignite 1 4*vc 
—potash, 84 ]. phosphate of 
lime, ii parts 00 ai naU of lime, 9 
parts in 100, wi .« small amounts of earthy 
substances. 1 I lie 1 
mineral food ini tnd it. fruit 
require iu the largest quantity is —First, pot¬ 
ash ; second, phosphoric acid; and third, 
lime.” 
