||atmstrhil (Tapirs. 
VACATION LETTERS. 
A WORKING EDITOR OUT OF HARNESS. 
I still linger in the country. These are 
golden days. Chestnuts are dropping. Ap¬ 
ple picking, potato digging and corn husk¬ 
ing are m progress. Apple parings and love 
makings anti fun-are in (ashion. Don’t call 
me back to the sanctum yet. 1 had rather 
have a week in the country now than a 
whole month in July and August. The 
days are short and the evenings long. I 
enjoy these large lamps on the center of the 
big dining-room table, and the profound dis¬ 
cussions of literature, politics, trade and 
farm economy by the family conclave in its 
light. But talking of 
Giiiheiiiinr Apples, 
reminds me that 1 went into Peter Pains¬ 
taking’s orchard to-day, and saw himself 
and boys at work, lie is one of the men 
who never have to go off their farms to sell 
their produce. J1 is apples arc contracted 
for about one-third belter price Ilian his 
neighbor Solomon Bmashup gets for his. 
Why? J will tell you. There does not an 
imperfect apple go from It is place into 
market, ilis barrelled fruit is beautiful— 
ends and center of the barrel are alike per¬ 
fect and inviting. Buyers have learned to 
know it. The fruit—all that is worth pick¬ 
ing— is picked, assorted, graded, barreled 
and marked first or second quality (the sec¬ 
ond quality only being inferior to first in 
size) and dealers know that, his brand means 
just what it says. Smasitup shakes off 
from (he trees and tumbles all sorts of fruit 
in a melange into the barrels, heads them 
up, hauls them to market, where the heads 
are knocked out, the fruit rolled out upon 
1 lie lloor and paid for according to value. 
The poor fruit depreciates the value of the 
whole, and the price corresponds. Now 1 
like Peter’s way of doing things, ami 
know that it pays. 
(lorn Husking. 
ft is profitable to study contrasts. I 
busked corn last evening in Painstaking’s 
barn. Things are kept tidy. Two bas¬ 
kets sit at my elbow. Into one goes first- 
class, marketable corn; into the other soft 
and imperfect ears. The former is carefully 
cribbed ; the latter is steamed or boiled or 
ground for immediate feeding to swine, beef 
cattle and horses. Then when a handsome, 
perfect sample, wilh the required number of 
rows of kernels, is found upon a stalk bear¬ 
ing two to four ears, all tin; husks hub four 
arc stripped off, it is carefully laid aside and 
finally these are braided and hung up in a 
cool, dry place where it is impossible for 
mice or rats to reach it, and thus the seed 
for the next season’s planting is obtained 
and preserved. Painstaking always has an 
abundant supply of excellent seed corn for 
sale. The character of Ids crop steadily im¬ 
proves under Ids system of selecting and lias 
become noted throughout the neighborhood ; 
and all the SmashU 7 and Shiftless families 
and their relations pay Painstaking two 
prices for seed or else select, from their cribs 
in the spring and have the pleasure of re¬ 
planting two or three times before they Can 
get a stand, and growling at the weather, 
fate and Providence hecnti.se of their ill luck. 
Ill Ihe I'otnlo Field. 
The same system prevails in Hie Pains¬ 
taking regime. No potatoes go into the 
cellar except such ns are marketable, The 
small ones always go to the barn cellar or 
hog pen lor immediate cooking and feeding; 
There is no mixture of sorts; and the sorts 
are always the best. In spring they are 
sold at fifty percent, advance on the market 
price to the SMAsnup and Shiftless family 
for seed ; mid these same families always 
wonder how it is that Peter has such luck. 
Luck! 
Does not system and sense pay? Isn’t a 
good reputation good for .something? Is it 
not a capital investment to get a notion into 
people’s heads that what one offers to sell is 
worth buying and the best Hint, can lie 
bought—that it is sound to the core, fair to 
the eye and full measure and running over 
every time? Yes, sir! Here goes Pains¬ 
taking right straight along, independent, as 
Bismarck, conquering and to conquer, be¬ 
cause he can look every man in the eye and 
say “ that barrel of apples, hag of corn, bin 
of potatoes, tub of butter. &c., is up to the 
standard, is worth so much money and you 
must pay it or we cannot trade.” When 
once the buyer knows Painstaking he pays 
it and trades. 
Chestnut Thieves. 
Do you know that there are a great many 
well meaning and honest, folk who are 
thieves? There are. They are chestnut 
thieves, walnut thieves, butternut thieves, 
berry thieves, &c. They will not like to he 
called thieves, bm they are, and most rascal¬ 
ly annoying ones, too. Their perception of . 
equality is very obtuse. Now here are some 
good sort of people called Kaarbe, who reg- < 
ularly steal from Jim Blossom's premises all, i 
or nearly all the fruit his walnut, chestnut 
and butternut trees produce. Would this 
Kaarre family steal his apples? Oh, no! 
But they do not ace, apparently, that it. is 
just ns annoying, wicked and wilful thieving 
tu go into his chestnut woods, hang-whang 
among his trees, heat off his chestnuts, gath¬ 
er them and sell them for $10 or $12 per 
bushel—tlia*, it is equivalent to stealing Ids 
pigs, peaches, pears or pumpkins and con¬ 
verting them into greenbacks for their own, 
their heirs’ and assigns’ use forever. 
Blossom winces but patiently endures 
rather than provoke a quarrel with his 
neighbors. J tell him, however, lie is re¬ 
sponsible for their thieving. 1 would warn, 
them, ami if they did not. desist prosecute 
them for tresspass and larceny. I toll ydu 
the way to have good neighbors is to teach 
them their and your own lights, and exact 
respect for yours and concede theirs. And 
one of the rights that belong to the farmer 
is to gather and enjoy all the fruits of bis 
farm. It is both a lawful and equitable 
right, and ought to he enforced and respected. 
oo 
liarg of a ILmiHst. 
DAILY RURAL LIFE. 
From llic Diary of a Gentleman near New 
York C’iiv. 
Planting Trees in Autumn. 
Od. 2 .—General rules in horticulture are 
usually excellent guides, provided one knows 
the exceptions. One of Hie general rules is 
that spring is the best lime, all things con¬ 
sidered, lo transplant trees. At. Ibis time 
vegetation seems to possess its greatest vi¬ 
tality ; new roots are soon formed, and take 
hold and draw nutriment, from the soil to 
support, the new growth of branches. But 
soil, climate and widely different species of 
plants furnish us with good reasons for mak¬ 
ing exceptions to almost any general rule 
in regard to time of transplanting. For 
instance, in my light, warm soil, and in a 
locality where the winters are neither 
changahle nor severe, there is much to be 
gained by fall planting of nearly all kinds 
o! hardy deciduous trees. This rule, how¬ 
ever, must be somewhat qualified by saying 
early fall planting instead of late. 1 begin 
as soon as possible after the wood and leaves 
are ripe and before the sap of the trees hits 
entirely ceased tlowilig, at least before it is 
all solidified. Of course, all leaves Hint may 
happen to he on the trees at the lime of re¬ 
moval are taken off, and both roots and 
branches are pruned the same as though it 
was spring. 
I have found that the wounds on the 
roots of trees removed early in autumn 
usually commence to heal before freezing up 
in winter, and sometimes new rootlets issue 
therefrom, and this is so much gain both in 
growth and time. If 1 was in a locality a 
lew degrees farther north, and where there 
were but a lew weeks bet ween the first frost 
and very cold weather, I should certainly 
avoid fall planting of trees, particularly in 
wet, heavy soils. But 1 would always dig 
up the trees in autumn and carefully smooth 
off all wounds upon the roots and then Iiecl- 
in and cover the roots deep enough to pre¬ 
vent freezing. In such a position trees 
could scarcely (ail to he in the best possi¬ 
ble condition for planting out in spring. 
I’l'ONiM'viiiit Foi'cxi Tree Heed*. 
Or/. 3. —10very day, as I see the chestnuts, 
acorns, hickory and other nuts scattered 
about in great profusion under Hie trees on 
my place, 1 cannot help thinking how great 
is the need of them on the far west¬ 
ern prairies, and how few men know the 
simplest met hod of preserving through win¬ 
ter in a condition for growing. The com¬ 
mon chestnut is probably Hie most deli¬ 
cate of any of our native tree seeds, and 
still it may he preserved with its vitality 
uninjured from fall until spring in any moist, 
cool place. I have scattered them upon the 
ground and covered Willi two or three inches 
In depth of leaves, and in spring they were 
sound, and a few warm days caused them 
to sprout and grow. Packed in layers of 
damp moss and placed in boxes out of doors 
or in a building where they will remain 
frozen, their vitality will he unimpaired 
through winter. Another, and perhaps a 
better plan than either of the last is to mix 
with pure sand and then pul in boxes and 
bury them in lb© open ground. This last, 
method is the one I practice, with all kinds 
of forest tree seeds that ripen in autumn ; 
maple, tulip, oak, magnolias, beech, in fact, 
the seeds of all of our hardy species limy 
he treated in the same manner, and their 
vitality perfectly preserved until it is lime 
for sowing in spring. 
Grass About Frail Trees. 
Od. 4.—There may he a slight chance for 
argument as to whether apple trees sur¬ 
rounded by tall grass are more liable to the 
attacks of the borer than those that are not. 
But, we doubt if any one believes that old, 
dead grass and weeds are a protection 
against field mice, aud yet almost, or quite, 
I nine tenths of the apple orchards in the 
country offer a most inviting harbor for the 
little pests of the fields. I have seen scores 
of handsome orchards in which hoed crops 
had been grown during the season, but the 
trees were neglected and each stem was sur¬ 
rounded In autumn with grass sufficient to 
make half a dozen cozy mice nests, and I am 
sure no one could blame his micesliip if he 
accepted the invitation to lake up his resi¬ 
dence where there was plenty of food and 
abundant, materials for winter protection. 
My orders have always been that every tree 
must he hoed or dug about as often as neces¬ 
sary to keep down all grass and weeds, and 
up to this time I have never had a planted 
tree injured by mice, and yet these pests are 
plentiful. I do not know that my exemption 
from logses is due to my practice of cultivat¬ 
ing about the stems of trees, hut I think so, 
and wish others would try the same plan. 1 
have suffered losses to a considerable amount 
by mice injuring trees and shrubs heeled-in 
during winter where a little extra protection 
was given in the way of coarse litter, such 
as manure, leaves or straw, hut none when 
nothing but earth free from sods or grass was 
applied. 
JMovintr ETerjrrcrn* In Autumn. 
Od. 5.—I have purchased to-day several 
thousand small evergreens, such ns Irish .Ju¬ 
nipers, Siberian Arhorvilies, <tec., and al¬ 
though I would not think of planting out 
such trees in autumn, slill it is perfectly safe 
to dig them up at this time. As soon as 
these plants arrive T shall heel them in, se¬ 
lecting a dry, protected place, and cover the 
roots at least twice the depth they were in 
the nursery; of course some of the lower 
branches will lie buried, but this will not 
injure them so long ns the soil is cool. If 
snow comes before Hie ground is frozen, no 
other protection will he given until it is gone; 
lint should the ground freeze before snow 
falls, then a light covering will he applied in 
the form of evergreen houghs, wood shavings, 
reeds from the swamps, or some similar ma¬ 
terial in which mice ivill not, he likely to 
make nests. The main object in giving any 
extra protection is to afford shade, not to 
keep out. cold. The light, and direct rays of 
the sun on evergreens that have been taken 
from the soil in which they were growing, 
injure llieni in winter more than the severi¬ 
ty of the cold. 1 never had any success in 
transplanting evergreen trees in the full, but 
have often piyg^nsqd them at this time, and 
by care in heeling-in and shading, none 
were lost. 
A Rainy Day. 
Od. 6.—It was only Sept. 28 that we fin¬ 
ished taking up a. large bed of bulbs flint 
needed transplanting, and 11 1 were put 
into an out-building just as they came from 
the ground, as 1 mentioned in my Diary of 
the date, named. To-day my men have been 
busy assorting and trimming these bulbs, 
consequently a rainy day is no loss to either 
workmen or employer, I have often been 
surprised at Hie negligence of farmers in 
respect to their want of calculation in re¬ 
gard to keeping their hired help employed 
on rainy days. There are thousands of 
farms in the country inclosed with the old 
worm fence occupying six times as much 
land as it should, and nearly double the 
amount of timber that it. would take for a 
straight fence, and all because the owner 
says lie nor his hired help has lime to 
make or mortice Hie posts. No sensible 
man believes this to he true, because the 
posts could have been made on rainy days 
that were idled away, if the timber had been 
provided and in a convenient place for use. 
There is a great deal of time wasted for the 
want of proper calculation beforehand, and 
farmers are not exempt from censure in this 
direction. 
Dliiiiiiitf Forewt Trees. 
Od. 7.—The copious showers of yesterday 
anil last night made the ground too wet and 
heavy to work easily, but just in a proper 
condition to pull or dig trees in fields and 
woods. In nearly all of the neglected fields 
bordering heavy timbered lands, in the east¬ 
ern Slates at least, there arc almost any 
quantities of small forest trees that have 
sprung up from seed scattered by tlie winds. 
Some of these trees are valuable and worth 
preserving, and this morning I sent three 
men after a lot of the choicest species, such 
as maple, tulip, liqiiitlamber and chestnut. 
Upon their return this evening 1 find that 
they have between two and three thousand, 
varying in size from one to six feet high, all 
with excellent roots, as the ground was so 
wet and soli that Hie filters were readily pre¬ 
served entire. A few thousand of these trees 
growing in nursery rows will always he 
worth their cost and something besides, and 
my negligent neighbors gladly avail them¬ 
selves of the chance to get a few choice trees 
for their lawns or roadside, particularly if 
the price is a little less than regular nursery¬ 
men’s rates. Besides this I find that a few 
well grown trees of the different varieties are 
very handy about a place to help fill up 
vacancies that sometimes occur. Any one 
who owns land not already occupied with 
trees may greatly enhance its value by col¬ 
lecting and planting the choicest species. 
■iflir (traps. 
FIELD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
JennlnK*’ White Winter Wheat. 
Jennings’ White Winter Wheat is the best 
I have ever tried. It is a bearded variety. 
From four acres sown 1 threshed 100bushels, 
being 40 bushels per acre. From t lie same 
land 1 never before raised more than 25 bush¬ 
els per acre. This wheat lias proved very 
productive wherever tried. It lias a very 
stiff straw r and will stand on the richest land. 
—F. M. LotcelMlle, Ohio. 
Foerloit I’otnto Crop*. 
I purchased one barrel of Peerless Pota¬ 
toes and planted early in May. The land was 
wheat stubble, no manure was used, the po¬ 
tatoes were lifted in the latter part of Sept, 
and yielded 102 bushels, the largest, weigh¬ 
ing from 211). to 31b. 14oz. They were plant¬ 
ed in hills, the same width as corn, Hie land 
occupied was acre and 9 rods, the quality 
is superior to any other variety tested, all 
pronounce the Peerless the finest patato 
grown.—F. M. Lotoellville, Ohio. 
I’irklinit Whent. 
V. W. T. asks “ what! is meant by pickling 
wheat for seed and drying in lime?” This: 
Make a strong brine, pour in it. a bushel o! 
wheat, (having brine sufficient to considera¬ 
bly more than cover the wheat,) and Hie 
heavy, perfect seed will sink to the bottom, 
while the foul and imperfect seed will float 
and may he poured off. By this means the 
seed can he cleaned of oats and diseased 
(smutty) wheat; t lion pour off the brine into 
another vessel and stir into the cleansed seed 
enough air-slaked lime to dry it. It is tlien 
ready for seeding. We have often treated 
wheat in this manner, and never had a smut¬ 
ty product from such seed. 
AUike Clover in 1 1»r- Kontli. 
In answer lo the enquiry of W. P. A., 
Lynchburg, Va., as to the success of Alsike 
Clover in the South, I can report favorably 
from an experiment made by myself in a 
small way. In the spring of 1870 I sowed a 
few seed in my garden, which came up in a 
few days and grew off finely. That summer 
we had a severe drouth, which the Alsike 
stood better Hum anything else in the gar¬ 
den, It has continued lu fionrLluev( r siar*'.. 
I am perfectly satisfied' u wilI succeed lo re 
in the center of South Carolina if sown in 
a rich moist soil. It must he sown in the 
fall—say in Oct. or Nov. 1 expect to sow 
several acres.—I. II. K. Columbia S. C. 
Cnnniln TliiHlIf Jjtiiy i n Illinois. 
Tnis Prairie. Farmer publishes the follow¬ 
ing Illinois law relative to Canada thistles; 
“ Any person who shall bring into this State 
any seed of the Canada thistle, whether the 
same he in the packing of goods, grain or 
grass seed, or otherwise, and permit the 
same to he disseminated so as to vegetate 
on any land in this State, such person shall 
be liable to a penalty of $100, lo he recov¬ 
ered by an notion of debt or assumpsit be¬ 
fore any justice of the peace of the proper 
county. Any person owning or possessing 
land in this State, who shall permit the 
Canada thistle to mature and disseminate 
its seed on land so owned or possessed by 
him, shall he liable to a penally of $15, to 
he recovered as specified in the section 
above.” 
timtiftc anir (iXstfiil 
USEFUL AND S0IENTIFI0 ITEMS. 
The Oldest Herbarium. 
The oldest herbarium known lias, accord¬ 
ing to Nature, been discovered in Cassel, 
some of the plants having been prepared in 
1550. It contains 614 plants, properly fast¬ 
ened down and labeled, and was formed by 
Caspar Katzf.nijekger. 
A Hot for Ho l.l oritur. 
Dr. E Otnoi.eu has tested the efficacy of 
an alloy fur soldering iron to steel, or either 
of these to brass. This alloy consists of 3 parts 
of tin, 39of copper, and 7)£ of zinc. When 
applied in a molten slate it will firmly unite 
the metals first named. 
Dyimr Hilk Illnck. 
The Journal of applied Chemistry says 
For dyeing heavy black upon silk an ex- 
trael of horse chestnut wood lias recently 
acquired great importance. It is preferred 
to nut-galls or divi-divi for this purpose. To 
what particular principle in Hie wood is to 
he ascribed the important property of which 
use is now made, has not been determined 
with certainty, but it appears to he ascer¬ 
tained that the extractive matter of horse- 
chestnut wood now plays an important part 
in the silk manufacture oT Europe. The 
question is not. one of so much importance 
in this country as it is in France and Ger¬ 
many, but it ought to occasion a search to 
be made for some suitable substitute. We 
doubtless have in our forests trees that would 
yield a similar product if they were to be 
examined. There is a weed growing in great 
abundance in New England known as hard 
hade, which ought to lie examined with ref¬ 
erence to its possible use in dyeing and tan¬ 
ning. Il is a nuisance as it now exists, and 
if it could tic used for anything, could be had 
in immense quantity. 
Horse-hair Sunken. 
Years ago, when a child, my wonder and 
curiosity were much excited by what we 
called horse-hair snakes. To-day tliey wro 
discovered in a well which J finished ili.r. 
O 
gmg two days ago, and it. is only partly 
stoned. Some of them are eight or ten 
inches long. Forty years have made me 
incredulous of the story of horse hairs turn¬ 
ing to snakes when in water, although it 
would he a cheap way of accounting f ( , r 
their appearance in the welt so soon. I 
think it would interest the little folks to have 
the creature shown up in the Rural New- 
Yorker.—L R. W. 
Solution* Affecting ihe Germination of 
Seeds. 
According to a late paper by Dr Yogf.l, 
upon Hie influence of various substances on 
the germination of seeds, il is slated that 
among those mogt injurious in this respect 
are dilute acetic acid, and carbonic acid, al¬ 
though the substances in question are pres¬ 
ent in very small percentage. Solutions of 
hydrocyanic acid, arsenic, phosphorus, &c., 
were found to he much less injurious in Hu; 
same proportion than those first mentioned. 
This explains the unsatisfactory nature of 
experiments for the destruction of insects on 
plants by means of solutions of carbolic acid; 
the insects, it, is true, being killed by a very 
weak solution, while at the same time the 
plants themselves rarely survive. 
How to Make Matches. 
In the Rural New-Yorker of Septem¬ 
ber 23, a correspondent inquires “how to 
make matches.” I will answer, having 
formerly been extensively engaged in the 
manufacture of matches. Dissolve five 
pounds of gum undue in five pints of water, 
by means of hot water hath, and strain it 
through a Sieve into any suitable vessel; to 
this mucilage add three pounds of phospho¬ 
rus, a few sticks at a time, until the whole is 
finely divided and thoroughly incorporated 
with the gum. When the mass is cool, take 
twelve pounds of finest quality of Paris 
while, reduced to the consistency of a stiff 
hatter by a proper quantity of water, and 
mix it perfectly wilh ibe phosphoric mucil¬ 
age, when it is ready for use,—T. H., New 
York , Od. 4. 
f* f mi- fjtrb. 
PIG PEN PAPERS. 
Herksliivo l’ias. 
What has become of the old Berkshire 
hogs which were so popular a few years ago? 
—John O. 
Preventive of Hok Cholera. 
A correspondent of the Department of 
Agriculture in Dooly Co., Gm, where hog 
cholera lias prevailed aud no remedy has 
been found, writes:—“ Wo believe that it is 
contagious; and the best preventive I have 
found is the free use of spirits of turpentine, 
mixed with tar and a Rinnll quantity of cam¬ 
phor. It can bo used either externally or 
internally. 1 prefer the latter, by soaking 
corn in it for ten or twelve hours. 1 have 
never failed in arresting ihe disease." 
Host Cholera Remedy. 
R. H. Worthington sends lotheTowson- 
town Journal the following prescription, 
which he states is a sure cure for hog cholera: 
“Take ten grains of calomel and tCU grains 
of tartar emetic, and make them into a pill 
As soon as it is known that the hog is sick 
give the pill. If there is no change for the 
better by next day, or within twenty-four 
hours, give another pill of the same ingredi¬ 
ents.” Mr. Worthington says that helms 
never known a second dose ot medicine (ail 
to effect a perfect cure and restore the hog 
to health. Mr. Worthington himself 1ms 
cured more than 100 hogs which have been 
afflicted with cholera, by this medicine. 
Discuses Anions iloff*. 
A writer in the Country (renlletinen, "ho 
mails his letter at Gallatin, 111., describes a 
rapid and fatal disease that is prevailing 
among Hie hogs in that section. The (ir.n 
indication of the disease is shown by the 
bogs slobbering, as they do sometimes when 
feeding on clover The next appearumx m 
a swelling of the face, a general dullness, 
and a difficulty in breathing. In some <• 
the cases the tongue becomes swollen and 
black, and the belly and inner parts of the 
legs are covered with dark purple 
Those that die quickest show no symptoms 
but in breathing. The disease is a new one 
in that locality, and no effectual reme< v 
against it has yet been found. 
jcuiai 
A 
