in reality the stool is a cluster of plants draw¬ 
ing sustenance from the soil through one 
stem at first but afterwards new roots will 
issue from each and strike down into the 
soil. Each fruiting stem is crowned by a 
cluster of flowers which in turn become a 
fruit. 
hairs are broad and flat in some parts, and in 
others, becoming narrower, they suddenly 
taper to a thread, and then widen out again. 
The hairs of the Pekan, one of the Weasel 
family, said to be found in Canada and the 
Northern States of America, are curious for 
the structure of the leaf-like cells or scales 
1 hat surround the interior of the hair. The 
othei-s are too well known to require further 
notice, and are only added for the sake of 
comparing their relative sizes. 1 find Canada 
RUBICON APPLE.” 
IRREGULARITY IN HATCHING 
Not long since, in one of the Rural New- 
Yorkers you quoted an article from the 
Poultry Chronicle in which the writer stated 
that u cause of irregularity in hatching was 
Mot damping the eggs. While I fully agree 
with him as to the necessity of wetting the 
eggs a few days before hatching, particularly 
in dry weather, I think not doing 
cause of failure to batch than of ir 
POMOLOGICAL GOSSIP 
Lenvig's White Strawberry, the Editor of 
the Rural Carolinian does not think, as grown 
so is more 
■regularity, 
as I have invariably found the chicks dead 
in the shell in twenty-four hours after the 
first were hatched, even when they were able 
to break the shell and could not extricate 
themselves. It seems to me that when they 
reach maturity if they do not obtain more 
air than is contained in the egg, they must 
die of suffocation. I have devoted three set¬ 
tings of eggs t o the cause of science in regard 
to this matter, and that is the conclusion 1 
have arrived at. The- skin being dry and 
hard, the chicks are not able to break it. 
The lat er the eggs arc set the more likely the 
chicks ai*e to die, as late chickens are always 
weaker than the early ones. 
In the same article he also says, “ A hen 
pheasant, partridge, grouse or common hen 
l hat steals her nest, leaves her eggs at break 
of day, prompted by nature, and goes to the 
gr.iss in search of food. She returns to her 
nest recking and sits on her eggs, etc.” I 
have closely watched the habits of sitting 
birds of different kinds, not only common 
fowl hut wild birds, and 1 have noticed they 
almost invariably leave their nests at from 
nine to eleven o’clock. If the weather is bad 
they frequently sit two days and sometimes, 
in fine weather, come off I wioo in one day. 
Fowls of the kinds named, in making their 
nests, select as dry a spot as possible; hut 
even then* some moisture arose from the 
ground. If it is a very wet season, frequent¬ 
ly their eggs do not hatch. Following nature 
as nearly as 1 can, 1 place in the bottom of 
my nests, when sitting hens, wet woolen rags 
below the hay. The heat of the hen causes 
moisture enough to ascend to keep the eggs 
in good condition. If they get dry, wet them 
again. Water fowl, only, I think, go to 
their nests wet, and their plumage is im 
pervious to water. To explode that theory, 
wet a hen thoroughly and see if she will go 
directly to her eggs. f. 
Chico Springs, New Mexico. 
Fig. 5 . Haim of Omithorynchus paradoxus , New Holland 
in his garden, quite equal to the “ Seth Boy- 
den” in flavor, as it certainly is not in size or 
productiveness ; hut he adds, “it is a variety 
we Rhould be sorry to lose.” 
Fruits for Kansas.—At the June meeting 
of the Kansas I fork Boe , the Vienna rasp¬ 
berry, the Lawton (where not too much ex¬ 
posed) and Kittatinnv and Wilson blackber¬ 
ries, Houghton, Stan bury gooseberries, the 
Red Dutch currant, and the Concord and 
Ives grapes were recommended. 
SCIENTIFIC AND USEFUL NOTES, 
Rubber Roots and Shoes.—I bought a pair 
of $5 rubber hoots last fall, and now I have 
to throw them aside unless some one can tell 
me how to mend them. Just a little crack 
in one of the feet is all that uils them. How 
work. A grower cannot control taste ; and 
some people value the gratification of the 
senses through the eye as highly as through 
the palate. 
COMPARATIVE SIZE OF ANIMAL HAIRS 
The hairs of animals are frequent subjects 
of interest to mieroscopists, and are figured 
in many of the popular handbooks. It is cu¬ 
rious, also, to study their comparative sizes 
and proportions ; and as I do not remember 
to have seen them thus noticed, perhaps the 
QUERY ABOUT PINE-APPLES, 
While reading the article on t he pine-ap¬ 
ple in your issue of last week, a friend and 
myself' were unable to agree as to how many 
pine-apples grow on one plant or on a single 
spike. He maintained that each spike bore a 
single pine apple, while 1 maintained that 
each flower Lore one. Please let me know 
which of us was correct and oblige one who 
has read your paper for the past sixteen 
years.— James J. YounulOVE, Johnstown, 
N. V. 
Your friend is right and you are wrong ; 
for a spike only produces one pine. After 
1'iG. G.—Center of Hair oi Fallow Deer, showing 
polygonal cells. 
can it be fixed ? I have heard of such mate¬ 
rial being repaired by dissolving India rubber 
in oil—hut what oil * and whut is the pro¬ 
cess*— b. h. o, 
Farina Manufacture. — A correspondent 
writes : Will you please give me the process 
of making farina or potato flour used when 
calcined for silk dressing ; also for sizing. Is 
there any such manufactory ? If so, where 
can I find it, and is there any hook treating 
on its manufacture.” Wo cannot answer; 
perhaps some of our readers can. 
Manifold Writing Paper is made liy coat¬ 
ing the paper with lampblack mixed with a 
non-drying oil ; also by rolling it with print- 
A GIRL AND HER BANTAMS 
The daughter of Charles E. Lawrence, 
Esq,, New Brighton, Staten Island, was pre¬ 
sented by a friend with a pair of Seabright 
Bantams. This little girl, only ten years old, 
has been so successful with her miniature 
Fig. 9 —Hair of Tire- Fig. 10 .—Hair of Gray 
trills. Fox. 
hennery that we want all the young readers 
of the Rural New-Yorker to know of it 
and see if any one of them can equal her. 
The one Bantam hen has already this season 
laid ninety-three eggs and there has been an 
increase of thirty chickens. The care and 
skill of one little girl has done all this ; and 
now if all the little girls who read the Rural 
should have a Bantam hen like this one and 
they should feed her as well and be as care¬ 
ful to gather the eggs and set them and then 
to look after the buby chicks, what a nice 
thing it would be and how many thousand 
eggs and chickens it would make, and what 
a hie Cackle ! 
Fig. 1 .—Hair of Seal. 
the fruit is ripe, it may he cut and the old 
stool then throws up suckers, each of which 
iu time produces another spike of flowers 
and fruit, thus an old plant may produce a 
number of specimens, although it is not a 
usual practice to allow a stool to produce 
more than one, or at most t wo pine-apples, 
because the greater the number the less the 
size. Perhaps the following description of 
the flowers and their position upon the stem 
will enable you to decide the question in your 
own mind without further aid from others. 
Flowers of a bluish color, small, and scat¬ 
tered upon the thick fleshy receptacle, 
which, after the flowers fall oil, increases in 
Fig.* 7 —Hair of Bat. 
ing ink and drying between sheets of blot¬ 
ting paper for some weeks. The white paper 
employed with it is thin, oiled paper. 
Camphor for Preserving Furs. —Camphor 
is hut little used to keep furs. Furriers gen¬ 
erally think camphor will not injure the col¬ 
ors of the fur, hut they also deny that it will 
preserve them from moth, etc. 
POULTRY NOTES, 
Beans for Poultry Food. —The Plantation 
says : — If you have any beans that you can- 
Fig. 2,—Section of Hair of Peccary. 
size and becomes a succulent fruit, covered 
on all sides with small triangular scales and 
resembling the cover of the pine ; and from 
this resemblance the common English name 
of pine or pine-apples has been derived. 
It is not unusual to permit an old plant,to 
produce one or more fruit; hut the greater 
the number, the smaller the size. Old stools 
may produce many suckers, each of which 
will, if permitted bear a single specimen, but 
Fig. 3.—Hair of Fallow Deer; Fia. 4.—Root of 
A, Up of hair ; B, root. Human Hair. 
following sketches, taken under the camera, 
may interest some of your readers. The fig¬ 
ures ait-, all drawn under the same power, 
viz.: 4-ID objective and A ocular, magnifying 
about V-D diameters. The most remarkable 
of all I lnve noticed is the hair of the- Orni- 
thorhynciua paradoxus, one of the Monotre- 
mata, which is covered with brown fur. It 
is found wily in Western Australia. The 
Fig. 11.—Hairs of Mole. 
not market, you may make good use of them 
for fowls. They will not eat them whole, 
however, as everybody knows, but they must 
be cooked. Boil them well, and when done, 
stir in at once about one part of corn meal to 
two of beans. The mixture can be kept 
several days, and the hens will be found to 
thrive well upon it. 
Fio. 8 —Hairs of Pekan; .4 , large hairs; B, small. 
A Liquid for Marking Boxes is made by 
mixing lampblack with coal oil until of the 
right consistency for use with a brush. 
To Fasten Rubber Belting to Wood, paint 
the wood with white lead in oil and let it 
dry ; stick the rubber on with glue. 
