liarg of a flnraUst. 
DAILY RURAL LIFE. 
From the Diary of n Gentleman near New 
Vorlt City, 
lii'ii iii'Ii iua Corn. 
Nov. 27—Iu several of Hie agricultural 
papers, of late, I have noticed some dispar¬ 
aging remarks in regard to the Judson 
Branching varieties of corn. When I saw 
the illustration and description of the Jud- 
son Golden Drop corn in the Rural New- 
Yorker, Oct. 8, 1870, I was convinced that 
1 he theory therein advanced was sound, 
w hcllier the variety of corn alluded to was 
so or otherwise, and soon after I procured a 
small quantity of it for seed. The year pre¬ 
vious I raised a small quantity of the Branch¬ 
ing Pop corn , and although it. proved to he 
an impure sort (in color at least), still the 
yield was very satisfactory, as many of the 
stalks exhibited the Branching habit, hear¬ 
ing six 'to ten ears each. Last spring the 
Golden Drop Branching was overlooked 
until all oilier sorts were planted; hut I had 
it planted, although at least a month too late 
for this latitude. The crop, however, ripen¬ 
ed, and ilie yield proved so satisfactory that 
1 have saved every sound ear for seed another 
year. Under such unfavorable circumstances 
great results were not expected; but the 
yield was far above the Large White Flint 
which I have cultivated for several years as 
my main field crop. There may have been 
some spurious seed distributed; otherwise, 
1 cannot account lor the numerous condem¬ 
nations of th is corn that have lately appeared 
in print. I purchased the seed which 1 
planted, from a seed store in New York, and 
from packages done up for the general retail 
trade, therefore, it could not have been bet¬ 
ter than that obtained by others who pur¬ 
chased theirs from the same house. 
Country (Sroeu-lloiisen. 
Nov. 28.—The mere mention of a green¬ 
house fills the minds of many persons with 
expensive thoughts. It is certainly true that 
such a structure cannot ho built and kept in 
order during winter without, some outlay in 
labor and fuel; hut it should, ami generally 
will, if properly cared lor, pay a fair profit 
on the investment. Of course I would not 
advise every farmer or land owner to erect a 
green-house and cull i vale plants for pleasure 
mid profit; 1ml there should lie at. least one 
such structure in every school district, not 
only to furnish a supply of early vegetable 
plants, but. those required for ornamenting 
the parlor and garden. I will venture tin* 
the country. In addition, do not fail to be¬ 
come the agent for all the leading horticul¬ 
tural and agricultural journals, not forgetting 
the Rural New-Yorker. Any intelligent 
young lady may do all this and more, and I 
am quite certain that she would soon be sur¬ 
prised at the results, even in all isolated 
country neighbor)mod. The greater the fa¬ 
cilities given the people to purchase such ar¬ 
ticles the more will they require; and thou¬ 
sands of femaleschool teachers who are now 
struggling for a hare subsistence, with fail¬ 
ing health, might, if they would, find honor¬ 
able and healthful employment iu this 
direction. 
My excuse, if any is needed, for making 
the above remarks, is—First, t he number of 
calls that 1 have had for plants since my 
green-house was completed, a few weeks 
since, and this, too, from neighbors who 
would scarcely bo expected to indulge in 
such luxuries. Second, three young lady 
school teachers called to-day, (to see the 
plants, of course,) one of them having been 
obliged to give up teaching on account of 
ill-health, and the other two showed in their 
hectic cheeks that consumption was not far 
away, ft disease that carries more women to 
the grave annually than hard work among 
plants would in ft century. 
Pruning (iriipn Vinos. 
Nov. 29.—It may not he strictly “ortho- 
do.v” to prune grape vines in November, 
hut the late cold weal her lias made me 
sharpen my shears anil make a beginning. 
I have tried the different months, beginning 
as soon as the leaves fall in autumn, and ex¬ 
tending the time until the buds swell in 
spring, hut never noticed that there was 
any particular difference In the results. Il 
would he difficult to lay down any particu¬ 
lar rule for trimming vines in general, inas¬ 
much as few persons follow any positive 
system of training. Vines trained on the 
spur system should of course be pruned to 
short spurs of two or three buds ; hut when 
any of the long rod plans are adopted, then 
a foot in length of the young eane should he 
left, to boar fruit. There always have been, 
and perhaps always will be, two directly 
opposite systems of pruning advocated. 
One class of vineyardisls continually cries 
out, against close pruning, while the other 
declares that our vineyards are being ruined 
by over-hearing, iu consequence of long 
priming. Judging from a pretty extended 
experience of my own, 1 conclude thut the 
cU/se-pi'iuiing gentlemen have the best of 
Hit: argument, sustained by practical rest ills. 
The tendency is always toward large crops 
of fruit, and the inexperienced in iiorlicnl 
litral matters is inclined to believe that the 
more wood left on the plant the greater will 
I) tt gt cn tc J, nfbrmtt ft o «. 
assertion that a well kept conservatory of | R . Mic quantity of fruit. But extremes in 
choice plants (always open lo visitors) in a 
neighborhood, will do nearly as much to¬ 
wards the education of children and general 
elevation of the intellectual and moral con¬ 
dition of the pupils as the school-houses. It 
is not necessary that these struct tires shall he 
attended by men, any more than the ones in 
which our children are taught their letters, 
all hough there arc scores of feeble men and 
boys who would ho greatly benefited by such 
employment. \Ve also know many persons 
who annually visit, the Southern States for 
their health, exposing themselves ton most fa¬ 
tiguing journey, who could, with the money 
expended in this way, erect a large con¬ 
servatory, producing therein a whiter habi¬ 
tation with a climate equally tropical and 
far more evenly tempered than the one found 
among verdant Southern clinics. The rich, 
however, can do as they please and the poor 
—as they can. But it does seem to me that 
this green-house culture of plants might he 
made a grand feature, as well ns a blessing, 
this direction are always more or less injuri¬ 
ous to both the plant as well as the quality 
Of the fruit produced. 
Tliaiikaxivinir I)uy. 
Nov. 80.—The thermometer this morning 
marked only 14° above zero, and il is the 
coldest, day for the time of year that L have 
known here. 
Shelter for Cuttle, 
Dec. 1.—My carpenter lias to-day raised 
the frame of a new burn, which I have 
found it necessary LO build, although 1 had 
thought my old structure, of this kind siif- 
ficieiilly large when it was first put up. It 
is strange huw things will accumulate on a 
farm which require protection from the 
weather. Implements and animals all need 
shelter, no matter how mild the elements. 
Wherever rain falls animals should he furn¬ 
ished shelter, all the stories of enthusiastic 
emigrants to the contrary nolwilhsland• 
ing. A quarter of a. century ago we were 
told that the climate of Wisconsin and Min¬ 
nesota was so very mild in winter that cnl- 
lle needed no shelter, and would gather 
nil they required for food on the prai¬ 
ries and “oak openings,” The climate 
in our social system, and at least one-half of or the ideas of the people luivn undergone a 
all the young women who are now fitted to 
become school teachers, find healthful and 
profitable employment 111 cultivating plants. 
School teachers in the country, especially 
women, do not have a very enviable occupa¬ 
tion, particularly iu winter; and owing to 
the sharp competition their wages are not 
highly remunerative. 
My advice would he to those who have 
parents or a home with friends who have 
land, to try and use their education in some 
other channel, and permit those less fortu¬ 
nate to teach the schools and obtain better 
wages than they do at the present time. The 
cultivation of choice plants is an occupation 
iu which the most highly educated person 
can find room fur a full and free use of his or 
her talents, even from Greek down to the 
primer words of two or three letters, such ns 
hi, di, tri, cis, his and others equally small 
and simple, of which I fear many a learned 
school master never knew the origin or un¬ 
derstood the meaning. Let our lady school 
teachers start with a small,cheap house at 
first, one that will not cost more than one or 
two hundred dollars, if she cannot afford a 
better, then cultivate only vegetables and 
bedding-out plants until a market for more 
choice sorts is created. Open correspond¬ 
ence with some of the largest floral and seed 
establishments and keep a small stock on 
hand of the seeds and plants required on the 
farm or in the garden. In other words, be¬ 
come the ageut of reliable firms throughout 
Wonderful Change in those Stales, and the 
Klysian fields of former days have been 
moved farther south, or perhaps westward 
to Colorado, from whence the same kind of 
nonsense—“ no shelter for stock required ”— 
slill comes lo us iu land agent's advertise¬ 
ments. 1 have hud experience on both sides 
of the question, mid passed nine winters in 
the mild climate of the Wesl, hut 1 have yet 
to find a place north of the Gulf of Mexico 
wherein it will not pay a large profit on the 
investment to erect buildings to protect ani¬ 
mals of all kinds from the cold rains and 
storms of winter. One of the most absurd 
notions Unit ever circulated among farmers 
is that of making animals tough by exposing 
them to coin and neglect during winter, if 
making of them runts, with the hair running 
in as many directions as the grain of u white 
oak knot, is a toughening process, then most 
of those who practice tins system succeed. 
But the dry hones to he seen in many a 
farmer’s wood lot tells a different story. The 
best way to have fat, healthy animals in 
spring is to give them warm, dry stables in 
winter. 
Outiimr Cionit. 
Dec 2.—Cions of very hardy trees may ho 
taken off any time during the winter or 
early spring. It is, however, a safe plan 
to cut all kinds before they could possibly 
injure liy cold. By cutting them this month 
and placing iu damp soil, moss, or sawdust 
in the cellar, we are pret ty certain ot having 
SUNDRY COMMENTS. 
Deaii Rural: — Did you ever suspect ! 
that you publish an awful amount of trash ' 
in the department 1 suppose you’ll assign ' 
this to? Bo good enough to forbear the j 
easy jest about the fitness of things in such 
assignment, while I recite one or two in¬ 
stances which just now occur to me as sus- I 
tabling the charge I make. 
Lead lor tin* Itair. 
First, I think—possibly because I’m grow- 1 
ing gray myself, probably because of the 
mischief contained in the half dozen lines— 
of the good-natured idiot who wants you lo 
“loll Roth Mayfoud’’ to use a lotion of ; 
sugar of lead “ to restore her gray lniir to 
ns natural color.” Rutii ought to be : 
ashamed of herself for wauling to dye her 
hair at all; and all the more for the in con¬ 
sistent desire to change it from its natural 
color. If it was naturally brown, or black, 
or blonde, twenty, thirty or forty years ago, 
it is now “naturally” gray; ami, in the 
name of common honesty, let it stay so ! 
As for John Poiut.u, who advises lead, 
let him turn to page 178 of the first volume 
of Stilus's “Therapeutics,” and read what 
is there said of lend jwinoning, Or let him 
ask any well-informed physician of his ac¬ 
quaintance how much of the neuralgia, 
nervous headaches and diseases of the eye, 
ear and brain, are directly nttribnlablc to the 
use of lead in hair dyes and cosmetics. 
Specific fov Smnll-I’ox. 
The recommendation of the Bar meet tin 
purpurea ns a specific in small-pox, with the 
statement—If I remember correctly—that it 
may ho relied on as certainly as quinine, in 
fever and ague, is another mischievous piece 
of nonsense. Not that there is any harm 
in the "side-saddle” or “ pitcher-plant," as 
it, is commonly called throughout the North¬ 
ern Slates, from Main to Wisconsin, hut be¬ 
cause the fostering of the idea Mint there are 
drug “ specifics” for diseases is mischievous. 
The only “ specific” for small pox is vac¬ 
cination —first, within three or four months 
after birth, and every live or six years there¬ 
after during life—even oftoncr if exposed, or 
during an epidemic of the disease. This, 
and personal cleanliness, should and would 
have “slumped out” this disgrace to our 
civilization long ago /’hilt no medicine will 
either stamp it. nut or cure it. il is a “self- 
lmiitcd” disease— basil certain course to run; 
and the most, thut medical skill can do 
is lo see that it runs its natural course with¬ 
out complications, to sustain the patient’s 
strength, to correctly order Ids hygienic sur¬ 
roundings, and, to a certain cxlcut, to modify 
its hhhtfAUS traces by preventing “ pitting.” 
Hleiulinit at tlic I.nun*. 
While 1 have my Thorsito cap on, let 
me ask you and your readers what one of 
you, in a case involving the title to liis world¬ 
ly goods, would ask in the newspapers for 
advice as to what lo do in the matter? 
Would you think of following Farmer Tom's, 
or Blacksmith Dick’s, or Parson Harry's 
olf hand dictum as to how to settle a knotty 
law point ? 
Why, then, in a case involving life itself, 
as in that, of “ bleeding at the lungs,” invite 
every old woman, of both sexes, to pour into 
your over-crowded columns their “sure 
cures,” winding up with Iheiueviluhle “ Try 
il?' Bern! hack the poor sufferers note, 
with the advice to consult some reputable 
doctor, and to refrain from tampering with 
his constitution, and possibly ruining his 
chances for recovery. Or, if you haven’t 
lime for this, at least throw il in the waste 
paper basket, and so avoid lending yourself 
and the noble engine you control to liftsLRi- 
ing the poor fellow’s end. 
Scarlet Fever. 
Lest, you should fancy I can do nothing 
else but scold, let me wind up with an at¬ 
tempt to answer a query in your hist, num¬ 
ber, as lo how to prevent scarlet fever. This 
cannot he done by medicine, any more than 
the most assiduous physician will prevent 
one from getting his leg broken, if the neces¬ 
sary amount, of violence he applied to it. 
Unfortunately, there is no protective meas¬ 
ure like vaccination against scarlet fever. 
1 expect lo see, in a week or two, any num¬ 
ber of “ ncver-kiiown-lo-fiiils,” chief among 
which will t>e lielladomm. They are all as 
useless, but nothing like so harmless, as so 
much spring water. 
this, disinfectants should he used unsparing¬ 
ly. Of these carbolic acid is probably the 
most, efficient; and cloths, wet, in a solution 
of it, should he suspended in the room and 
in its open windows, to disinfect the air be¬ 
ing- breathed and passing out; while the 
same solution should he used in all vessels 
containing excretions, and poured over all 
clothing that has been in contact with the 
patient, while awaiting thorough boiling. 
The boiling temperature, 212", is relied on 
to destroy the “poison germs” in woolen 
goods, bedding, etc., which cannot he wash¬ 
ed. These “germs” may retain their activ¬ 
ity for years’ in suitable conditions, if not 
thus destroyed. 
Not until the skin is entirely “ scaled off” 
is the patient, free from the danger of com¬ 
municating the disease, no matter how well 
and strong he seems otherwise ; and during 
this period the body should lie frequently 
anointed with carbolizocl oil,both to prevent 
the “ scales” llying in the air and to destroy 
the vims they contain. 
Of course, the attendance of an intelligent 
physician is necessary; so that nothing need 
he said of the means of “cure,” save that 
what is known ns the “supporting treat 
ment” is that adopted l>y the most successful 
practitioners, — for, like small pox, scarlet 
fever is ft “ self limited disease;” and little 
can he done, or is attempted by the wise 
it which drove it away, and does not appear 
on it; but by putting a draught behind her 
favors that leg. Gun you, through the col¬ 
umns of your paper, tell me what I cun do 
for her V—A Subsc riber. 
Give the horse good food and perfect rest, 
with the occasional application of a mild 
blister. If inflammation exists, rub the part 
well with a mixture (one ounce each in an 
ounce of water) of belladonna and opium. 
Or place camphor and opium in the poul¬ 
tices; or rub the enlargement with equal 
parts of chloroform and camphorated oil. 
When the pain subsides,apply with freedom 
some of the following ointmentOne ounce 
iodide of lend; eight ounces simple oint¬ 
ment, mixed. 
IS THE CHESTER WHITE HOG A 
THOROUGH-BRED ? 
Lybandkr W. Babbitt argues in the 
Rural New-Yorker of Nov. 2f»ih, that 
lliry must he, because in a cross between the 
Chester While and the much named China 
Poland the pigs were while. This might 
have occurred from the fact that the white 
parent, wns the stronger or the more vigor- 
physician, except to prevent complications, 0 us ot the two. There is no doubt in my 
look after the hygiene of the patient, and 
sustain his vital powers. 
Tiie Pulse of Health. 
New York, Dee. 1,1871. 
IliC 
icrrsnmtn. 
THAT POLL EVIL. 
mind but that in the sow breeders the Ches¬ 
ter AVhit.es have been made thorough-bred, 
while with others, perhaps the majority, they 
have been mixed up and bred with such dif¬ 
ferent characteristics that their identity has 
Ijeen lost. Much confusion lias arisen con¬ 
cerning this breed from the fact that there 
arc two families—one with lopped, and one 
with straight or erect cars. Then there are 
Chester Whiles with straight faces and others 
with dished faces. Here is a medley ot 
A. W. Mii.lrr asks for cause and cure of points among the regular specimens likely lo 
poll evil. I answer, the cause is, ns has 
been said, a blow on the head of the horse, 
usually done by the horse throwing Ids head 
up and hitting a beam or something of the 
kind iu sheds or stalls. All poll evils are 
Curable, no matter who says to the contrary. 
L can cure every horse with poll evil, no 
matter how many are brought. 
Five years ago a gentleman h:ul a fine 
horse with a poll evil of three year’s stand¬ 
ing; he had tried several horse doctors, and 
they had failed to cure the horse. I bought 
the horse very cheap, ns lhe*owner had got 
discouraged trying to cure him. After I 
bought him I cured him, and now, after four 
years, it would lake r ight times the amount 
I paid for him to buy him from me. 
Before giving yon the cure I will tell you 
why every effort failed to cure this horse. 
Every horse with a poll evil of any consid¬ 
erable time standing, hns a tube, or pipe 
(sometimes more than one), leading from the 
surface to the neck bone, through which all 
the discharges pass. This pipe is generally 
more or less tilled with mallei—sometimes 
very thin, sometimes thick. This tube must 
j he destroyed before a cure can be effected. 
produce surprise from a thorough-bred stand 
point, and to one, naturally an unbeliever, 
considerable doubt ns to the genuineness ot 
the breed. 
He might ask, in his innocence, which, or 
what is the breed? There are Su.veu’s 
Improved Chesters; 1 suppose these are 
Chester White, only a little more so. And 
then there are the Ohio Chester**—they prob¬ 
ably have a sort of Buckeye flavor. 
Chester Whites have been bred long 
enough, although originally a made-up breed, 
to ho claimed as thorough-bred; that is, 
where they have been properly bred. A. 
Chester White, with a good coat of bright, 
white hair—all white—a short, stout, nose, a 
dished face, mid ears lopped over and hang¬ 
ing down on the eyes; a long body ; strong 
and heavy legs, with sonic wrinkles or folds 
of skin on them; a heavy tail, large at the 
base and wrinkled; a full ham, with plaits 
on the stern, i 3 a thorough-bred; and when 
crossed with common hogs will improve 
them, and mark the cross with some of the 
above features. 
The Chester White I have described is a 
good hog, has a strong constitution, is a 
Most, people fail to destroy this pipe, if they hearty feeder, and lor ft huge, pig lilt lens 
use a syringe to force the medicine into the early and well. One such hoar in a neigh- 
pi pp. This is why a failure was experienced borlmod would he likely to make an im- 
iu the case above; the pipe containing so provemont and undoubtedly bus, by crossing 
much matter slopped the medicine from go- upon the native pigs ; and ( haste i \\ nite-> 
ing to the bottom of the pipe where the dis- have been plenty in that region, and horn 
ease is located. their bearing the name have been -scattered 
Go to your druggist and buy about an hn* and near. The only way to remedy this 
inch of lunar caustic pencil; get. a goose evil is to have swineherd books, and eon- 
quill that will tit the caustic pencil, and in- dciuu «U pigs claiming to be pure bred in¬ 
sert the pencil into the quill. Let the pen- Ihorotigh-bred unless they Juive an authentic 
oil stick out of llm quill allOtlt half an inch; or regular pedigree. by not .i 
then secure the horse, if need he, by a t wist Tk® pork interest is one of the largest m 
on the nose. Take a syringe and cleanout, this country, anil is increasing c vet) ><-ai ; 
the lube with soapsuds; Mien syringe with we call upon the breeders ot Ihomugh iue 
clean cold water. Next take tlic quill and awiuo to organize for this purpose. One 
lunar caustic pencil and probe the pipe lo committee would answer lor all the different 
the bottom, twisting the pencil genily ns you breeds by placing upon it one or more mem- 
press downward in the direction of the pipe tiers who are experts with a parUcttlni bleed ; 
and there will be no difficulty in burning out and the various subcommittees acting mi 
this pipe to the bottom. You should he e^l* breed could make up one volume cm- 
ahout three or four minutes burning out the bracing all the admitted breeds. One ad- 
tube. The pencil will cause the neck to vantage would 1 ‘C.sull Rom this movement— 
swell Some, and the hole where the tube is die redundancy of titles would he cut down, 
burnt out will apparently dose up; keep and breeds now luxuriating in a dozen or s<> 
on, after burning, a bread and milk poul- names, would have lo get along will. l»nt 
tico, or cloths w et in cold water, till it one. F.D. Curtis. 
breaks out and runs freely. Watch for the Kirt >VHomestead, Carlton, N. Y. 
breaking out and take off the poultice so as 
to allow the discharges to pass off. Keep 
clean with bar soap suds. Sometimes it 
will heal up too soon and have to break out 
two or three times before il will heal up for 
good. In experienced hands one applica¬ 
tion of the caustic pencil is sufficient to et- 
Cuuimr Cions. is the highest attainable degree of health— 
Dec. 2.—Cions of very hardy trees may be 'he highest degree attainable by cleanliness, 
taken off anytime during the winter or fresh air, exercise, correct habits in eating, 
early spring. It. is, however, a safe plan drinking, Bleeping and living generally, 
to (-ut all kinds before they could possibly A] , j n !U h|iij on p, this Uie avoidance of 
injure by cold. By cutting them this month . ,, . r ,... 
and placing iu damp soil, moss, or sawdust exposure lo the infection ‘ -I ■ 3 
in the cellar, we are pretty certain ot having if temporarily depressed by mental anxiety, 
them in a proper condition for use next over-work, or, lit children particularly, when 
spring. They should be kept, moist, not sufferin' 1 - from any other ailment, such as a 
wet, and as cool na possible without being ,j (li . in . ]l0a elc . 
ariiroenltr L'a'/oii \ nVt iMM’IIWr \V 1 1 I lirinir ilo ’ ’ 
The only preventive against scarlet, fciei f e( nacnrc; but if you should not ilo so the 
. ... ....Ill Z* 1 . .. 1 . 1 . 1 J 
severely frozen. Next spring will bring its 
work and everything that can he done now 
will save just as much time in a far more 
busy season, 
Where the disease actually exists the 
most rigid quarantine should he enforced in 
order to prevent its spread. And to aid 
first, time, after sufficient time has elapsed to 
determine that a cure has not been effected, 
(say four weeks,) try it over again for it will 
surely cure. G. W. Denny. 
New Haven, Ct. 
--■ 
About Spavin. 
I have a valuable mare, taken lame some 
three months ago. Did not know for quite 
a while w hat the trouble was; finally con¬ 
cluded it was a small bone spavin. By 
using, it would show n small hunch some 
larger than a pea; by lying still a day or 
two, could sec nothing. I used a recipe on 
A Swine-1 lent Koolt. 
We give herewith a letter from Colonel 
Frank 1). Curtis which, in our estimation, 
contains an important suggestion—the creat¬ 
ing of a swine-herd hook. It is quite time 
this should he done. The number of swine 
distributed as pure bred, of tins or that 
breed, annually is enormoite. Purchasers 
should have some guide. Legitimate, hon¬ 
est and careful breeders should have some 
protection and there should lie a premium 
placed upon honesty in breeding ami dis¬ 
seminating swine which can alone be done 
by some such mentis ns is suggested. There 
is the same necessity for it there is in the 
case of cattle breeders. We have no doubt 
this suggestion will commend itself to all 
honest breeders of swine. The advantages 
to both breeder and buyer are too apparent 
to provoke question for an instant. At least 
such is our judgment. 
'MAH 
