•MARCH S 
MOOBE’S 1 BUBAL -NEW-YOBSCEB. 
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Ipomotogical. 
and hardy tree, the fruit d' which is excel¬ 
lent as a Winter apple, being a good keeper. 
THE BUFFALO BERRY. 
THE GERMANTOWN SEEDLING PEAR. 
(Shepherdln argentea.i 
From the report of the late annual meeting 
of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society 
we clip the following ; 
Col. Stevens said that a few weeks since, 
Col. Sweet, of the Northern Pacific Railroad, 
handed him a specimen of fruit, and as Col. 
Sweet was here present, he should like to 
hear from him. The fruit was to him entire¬ 
ly new. Col. Sweet said it was a shrub that 
grew up on the Missouri river, in great pro¬ 
fusion a nd in clusters. The berry, resembling 
red currants, remained on the. twigs until 
February. The tree, or hush, was thorny. It 
grows mostly on the bottoms, but to some 
extent on the bluffs. It is called the bull ber¬ 
ry. It is hard, evidently. The berry has been 
used for jellies and pic -,’ and makes very good 
ones. The shrub would make an excellent 
hedge plant. They his wife and others— 
used it regularly for pies, and it is sub-acid 
in taste. The Indians use them to a consid¬ 
erable extent, also, and travelers along that 
route used them sometimes. Borne, of the 
jelly was on the table, and could speak for 
itself aa to quality. He was satisfied that it 
was a valuable plant. He believed that from 
a single quarter section, '-',000 bushels might 
have been gathered. They commence ripen¬ 
ing the 1st of August, and stay on the tree 
until the 1st of February. The soil was of 
various kinds where they grew. 
Mr. Crimes said that the plant was known 
to horticulturists as the Buffalo berry. Col. 
Stevens said it was a mistake that it had 
been pronounced upon by Hasteru horticul¬ 
turists, who could not place it as yet. One- 
half of t he shrubs produced alternate years. 
Judge Baker suggested that a committee bo 
appointed to look into this matter. 
Wjs do not hesitat e to inform the gentle¬ 
men whose names appear in the above re¬ 
port, that the plant under consideration is 
the old and well known ShepheriMa argentea, 
a shrub named in honor of John Shepherd, 
formerly curator of the Liverpool Botanic 
Garden. It has been known and cultivated 
by Eastern nurserymen for the past, fifty 
years, and we have often called the attention 
of our Western readers to this shrub as one 
likel)- to be valuable for hedges, 'five follow¬ 
ing is a portion of a paragraph we wrote nine 
years ago, about this shrub : 
“This is a small tree, a native of the far 
West, being found on the eastern slopes of 
the Rocky Mountains, chiefly on the upper 
Missouri and its tributaries. Its leaves are 
small and long, of a gray, silvery color ou both 
sides ; young branches arc also of a grayish 
color. It is quite ornamental in appearance, 
especially in Autumn, when loaded with its 
email, red, currant-likc fruit, which is acid 
and quite agreeable. They are highly priced 
by many persons for tarts, pies, &c., The 
Shepherdias are what is termed by botanists 
dioecious plants—that is, one tree bears pis¬ 
tillate flowers aiul produces fruit ; the other 
staminate flowers, and bears no fruit, but fer¬ 
tilizes the pistillate flowers ; therefore, to 
have trees produce fruit, it is necessary to 
have the two kinds in the same garden w,nd 
if in close proximity, all the better. " 
We have old plants in our garden at this 
moment, Feb. 20, loaded with Hhephertlia 
berries. Col. Stevens is mistaken in sup¬ 
posing that this shrub has not been pro¬ 
nounced upon by Eastern horticulturists. He 
is also in error in saying that one-half of the 
plants produce in alternate years. He. prob¬ 
ably noticed that a portion of the plants 
had no fruit upon them, and not. knowing 
this dioecious character, he might readily 
jump at the conclusion that they only pro¬ 
duced fruit in alternate years. 
We hope our Western readers, particularly 
those residing in the frigid regions of the 
North, will try the ShepherdJa as a hedge 
plant, for it has many good points to recom¬ 
mend it, especially those that terminate its 
small branches. 
-♦-*-*- 
P0M0L0GICAL GOSSIP. 
The Kittalinny Blackberry is thus com¬ 
mended by a gentleman who has had experi¬ 
ence growing it as a market fruit at Normal, 
Ill. Were 1 going to set out blackberries, I 
should prefer the Kittatiny to any variety I 
have seen yet. For hardiness, flavor and 
productiveness, and for a market berry, I be¬ 
lieve they have no equal. 
I'lumb'a Qiiler Apple is by some said to be 
identical with Smith’s Cider. Some assert 
the trees of the two arc distinct in habit ; 
but Plumb’s pricelist calls his Cider, “for¬ 
merly Smith’s Cider" and asserts that it 
received its present name by vote of the Wis¬ 
consin Horticultural Society in 1869. But 
what right had that society to do such a 
foolish thing ? 
The Mason Stranger Apple, is highly re¬ 
commended by Virginians, as a productive 
January 26, Rural New Yorker, page GO, 
we published an engraving of a new' pear, 
crediting it to Germantown, Pa. Mr. Geo. E. 
Lasher writes us that it is a Germantown, N. 
Y., seedling. We stand corrected ; but the 
fault is not ours in this instance, no State ap 
pearing on the letter. He adds concerning 
this seedling:—“ I should call it a late fall 
pear, as they were No. 1, in October. They 
will keep two months after fully ripe. Those 
I sent you had been picked over three 
months. 
^[kriailtural. 
FREAK among larch cones. 
I have a European Larch now full of cones 
and each cone lias a sprout or limb growing 
J A/ through the center of it. 
The growth commenced 
in the latter part of the 
Summer, about the time 
\M the cones commenced 
/% ripening. Indotcd find 
cones taken from the 
jw tree. Is it n mammon oe- 
fk currcnca with the Larch ? 
c—P., Finding, O. 
We give herewith an 
dJT illustration of one of the 
■cones, and although such 
1J freaks have been observ- 
l.ft cd by almost every per- 
i$L son who lias studied the 
if Larch and its structure, 
still it is not every one. 
tyXt who understands why 
these variations occur. 
Now, to account satissfac- 
V-' torily and, perhaps we 
may be allowed to say, 
scientifically, for this hoc- 
ondary growth, wo must 
consider the cone as only 
a branch arrested in its 
growth, the green leaves 
becoming scales, within 
which the organs, or at 
least one sex is developed. 
The cone, therefore, being 
only a modified branch, 
it follows that any change 
in the weather which 
would excite or force the tree to make a 
second growth in Autumn would tend to 
force the rachis to elongate, as shown in these 
specimens. Such freaks and variations from 
the usual types arc often the principal facts 
from which theories regarding the formation 
and the true structure of plants are deduced. 
“HOW TO REPRODUCE PINE FORESTS." 
In the Rural New-Yorker. Feb. 16, I find 
an article with the above caption, over the 
signature of “Morristown,” when it struck 
me that the writer might find a more expedi¬ 
tious mode of procuring pine, for at. least a 
cehtttry to conic, than to sit down and wait 
for old field') to furnish a supply, unless (line 
trees can be “reproduced" in Pennsylvania 
like mushrooms, and spring up in a night. 
VVc think they grow fast enough in this lati¬ 
tude, and find more difficult! in eradicating 
them from the soil than in reproducing. 
You have only to cease cultivating the land 
to have an abundant crop of young [lines; 
and if any of your readers will comedown 
South, 1 will show them hundreds of acres of 
young [>ino forests, where cotton flourished 
less than ten years ago, which, in a great 
measure, accounts for the cheapness of our 
arable lands. Whatever may be our suffer¬ 
ing in the future, we have no fear of a pine 
famine; and if any Pennsylvania gentleman 
would like to invest in extensive pine forests, 
as fine as any in the world, I can put. him in 
the way of purchasing one hundred thousand 
acres of as heavy pine timber as he ever saw, 
at less than fifty cents an acre, well located 
along a line of railroads, near several South¬ 
ern seaports, and every facility for transpor¬ 
tation to Philadelphia, New York, or any 
European port, without any difficulty what¬ 
ever ; and what may astonish you still more, 
these lands, when cleared of the timber, will 
produce good crops of com, cotton, sugar 
and vegetables. These are facts which can 
be clearly demonstrated to the satisfaction of 
any candid inquirer ; arid to us, who are fa¬ 
miliar with them, it appears strange that 
men should talk about cultivating pine trees, 
as though they were sugar cane, to be cut 
down and used every season. T w c. 
Augusta, Git., Fob, I'll. 
TO PREVENT SOWS DEVOURING YOUNG. 
A Scotch farmer writes :—1 noticed some 
t ime ago a method for preventing sows from 
devouring their young, which they will do at 
times, and sometimes they won’t let down 
their milk. When this state of things is not 
caused by a diseased condition of the uterus, 
it is said that the sow can be brought to 
terms by pouring a mixture of ten to twenty 
grains of spirits of camphor with one to three 
of tincture of opium. Into the car. The sow 
will immediately lie down on the side of the 
ear to which the application was made, and 
remain quiet for several hours In this position, 
without interfering wit h her pigs ; and on re¬ 
covery from the stupor w ill have lost her ir¬ 
ritability in regard to them, The experiment 
has been tried in Germany hundreds of times, 
according to one of the agricultural journals, 
without any injurious effects. It is also said 
that the eating of pigs by the parent sow can 
ho readily prevented by nibbing them all 
over with brandy, and making the same ap¬ 
plication about the nose of the sow herself. 
♦ ♦ ♦ 
PIG-PEN PARAGRAPHS. 
To Make a Young Sow Breed. — D. Kraut 
has a young Chester White sow which shows 
no disposition to receive, service from the 
male, asks how it can be remedied. He keeps 
her in a close pen anil well fed. Probably 
she is kept too well and too close. 
Crossing Magic and Chester Whites. —A 
correspondent, asks if any of our readers have 
crossed the Chester Wliito with Magie hogs ; 
if so, is a better hog produced than t he pure 
Chester White. 
The Report of the Swine, Breeder' s Conven¬ 
tion. —A correspondent who says he contrib¬ 
uted towards the publication of the report of 
the proceedings of this Convention in pamph¬ 
let form, writes us lie lias not received it and 
wonders why, VVe do not know. Perhaps 
Messrs. Rust and Emery will answ'er. It 
was given in their charge. 
Suffolk Su'ine. —We notice “Long John" 
Wentworth is criticising the report upon 
the characteristic* of Suffolk# mode at the 
late National Convention. Since lie was put 
on the Suffolk Committee and notified of the 
ia>t, he should have seen to it that his ideas 
were expressed and discussed before, that re¬ 
port was adopted. 
S'he 
HOW TO PADDLE A BOAT. 
To paddle a boat swiftly, straight and with¬ 
out changing the paddle from side to side, is 
something well worth knowing to any one 
who hunts or traps by water, and may be 
Figure 1. 
easily learned by putting in practice the di¬ 
rections here given and illustrated. 
If you make your strokes with the blade of 
the paddle (A, Fig. 1,) at a right angle with a 
liue(B) drawn through the center of the boat 
Figure 3. 
from stem to stem, your course will be in a 
circle, the outside being that side on which 
yon paddle, and to correct this the unskillful 
paddlor constantly shifts his paddle from one 
side to the other. But make your strokes 
Figure 3. <■ 
with the outward edge of the paddle (A, Fig. 
j,) a little fur ward, and you have a pressure 
against the stern sidewise, which counteracts 
the tendency of the pressure which sends the 
boat ahead, to throw the bow- to the right. 
Or, make the stroke with the paddle blade at 
3, and then at tho end of the stroke turn the 
paddle nearly parallel with the line B, as at 
C, and steer for a second, just etiough to re¬ 
cover your direct course. You can paddle 
faster in this way, as all the power of the 
stroke is applied to propelling the boat for¬ 
ward ; but there is a continual yawing of t he 
bow as it is thrown slightly' off the course by 
Figure 5. 
the stroke, and brought on again by the 
touch of steering, which is not admissible In 
case you are working up to a wild 
duck with nothing between you and 
him but a single tuft of rushes. By 
the first, method you can send your 
boat as straight to a .raven point as 
It could be drawn to it, by a line. 
To avoid splashing, strike your 
paddle perpendicularly into the 
water (Fig. 4) anti turn it edgwise 
as you take it out; or, if you must, 
paddle crouching low and with the 
least possible motion, do not take 
the paddle from the water at all, 
but at the end of tho stroke turn 
the blade parallel with the line B, 
and so move it forward for the next 
stroke, as in Fig. 5. 
Tho advantages of paddling over 
rowing arc, that your face is set in 
the direction you are going, and 
that you can move so silently. The 
proper craft for paddling is. a canoe, 
birch or log. or a light, shaRp-stetried 
skiff. A very heavy or a wide- 
sterned boat is quite unsuitable for 
this mode of propulsion. A good 
model for a paddle is given in 
figure 0. a. fig. 0. 
Apiarian. 
VENTILATING BEE HIVES IN WINTER. 
Too much ventilation chills bees ; too little 
destroys them by causing an accumulation 
of ice from the moisture generated. A recent 
writ er says the right way is to have the hive 
so arranged that there will be a slow move¬ 
ment of the air upward—just enough to allow 
the moist air to pass out of tho hive, instead 
of lodging on the combs and sides of the hive 
or freezing up the entrance and smothering 
the bees. He accomplishes this by removing 
the heavy board and filling the cap of this 
hive with clean cobs. There are four half- 
inch auger holes in the edge of the cap under 
the cover, so as to be out of the way of the 
storms, and covered on the inside with wire 
cloth to keep out robbers, moths, etc. 
-->♦» 
DEGENERATION OF BEES. 
A gentleman who has been a breeder of 
Italian bees in Germany, Italy and America 
for seventeen years, says ho has invariably 
found that to raise queens and drones from 
the same queen, or even the same blood for a 
few generations, results in the size and physi¬ 
cal strength of the progeny becoming re¬ 
duced. Even in their native land they ai 
smaller than those that are crossed for one or 
drones of differ- 
moro gemmations witli pure 
a right angle with the line B, as at. A, A, Fig. 1 cut blood, 
I 
