©OBE’S BUBAL NEW-YORKER 
Fayette, in Seneca (the last five spanning the summits between their heads attain 
peninsular between Seneca and Cayuga tude of from 1,000 to 1,200 feet in the towns 
of Baniugton and Tyrone. These hills form 
Tlie town of Geneva, at the foot of the water-sheds of a sufficient extent to produce 
lake, which resembles its namesake in torrents when confined to a narrow channel, 
(Switzerland, is noted for its business facili- is the case, with Glen Creek. Thus we 
ties and interests, as well as its beauty of need not be surprised at the work it has per- 
an alti- 
Situation, It was the seat of the first settle¬ 
ment of that region of country as early as 
1787-8, First comers long made this town 
a rendezvous before venturing further and 
alone into the wilderness. Settlement® rap¬ 
idly sprung up on both sides of the lake, for 
the pioneers of that day were delighted with 
their prospects, although the country was 
one unbroken, densely-wooded wilderness. 
Jemima Wilkinson, the “Universal 
Friend," as she called herself, who had been 
formed rushing a distanc e of two miles under 
the pressure of a fall of 800 feet over and 
through a friable and shaly slate rock, which 
l he frosts of winter and heats of summer are 
continually aiding in disintergrating. Still is 
the Watkins Glen, with its “Gates Ajar,” 
“Glen Cathedral,” “Frowning Cliff,” “Mys¬ 
tic Gorge,” “Artist’s Dream,” “Narrow 
Pass,” “The Fairies’ Home,” “ Rainbow 
Fall,” “Shadow Gorge,” “Cavern Cascade” 
and “Rival Pools,” ft modern wonder, pay- 
preaching to her followers in Rhode Island, in & richly for a visit by both the pleasure- 
Connectieut and Pennsylvania for a number seeker and the student. 
of yearn, and longing for a spot where she 
might gather them into one fold, was one of 
the earliest to locate a colony on the borders 
of this lake. Hearing of this delightful re 
gion, hIjo sent a party of twenty to explore 
it. They went as far as the spot where Dres¬ 
den, in Yates county, now is, and made such 
a flattering report that a colony was sent out 
the next year, in 1789. A settlement was 
made one mile from the lake, in what is now 
the town of Tony. The next year more 
came, including the “Friend” herself, form¬ 
ing a community of some 200 souls. These 
people-were of a class who exercised great 
influence in giving character and stability to 
the succeeding generations. Turner, the 
historian of the Phelps and Gorham pur¬ 
chase, says the Gentiles found the country so 
attractive, the Saints were surrounded and 
overwhelmed by their temptations. 
Geneva was early the residence of the cele¬ 
brated laud agent, Charles Williamson, 
Esq., who managed the vast landed estates 
originally purchased by the Messrs. Phelps 
and GouHam, after passing to the hands of 
Sir William Pultney in 1712, since general¬ 
ly known as the “ Pultney Estate..” Geneva, 
instead of Canandaigua, thenceforward be¬ 
came the center for the great land specula¬ 
tions of the day, and grew rapidily as a town. 
It now boasts its Hobart and Medical Col¬ 
leges and a population of some six or seven 
thousand. Steamers dally ply through the 
lake, carrying immense quantities of coal, 
which is destined to all points by the rail¬ 
ways and canals. Passenger steamers make 
the. through trip to Watkins iu four horn’s, i 
including stoppages, and running a distance ] 
of fifty-five miles. The scenery is strictly I 
rural and quite beautiful. Gentry-sloping t 
farm-lands kiss the rippling shore, gradually < 
becoming more bold and bluff-like until they i 
reach an altitude of some 8U0 feet at the t 
head and summit of the water-shed. Along 1 
the shores of the lake, from the village of 
Dresden and on Long and Shingle Points, p 
there are several hundred acres of vineyards e 
in a flourishing condition. The fruits of the n 
orchard are everywhere to be seen in abund- i- 
ofichl fljwp. 
SOWING MIXED GRAINS. 
On the east side of the lake, opposite Dres¬ 
den, stands the imposing structure, erected 
by the State, named the Willard Asylum, in 
honor of the. originator, for the cure and 
treatment of tlie pauper insane of the State. 
This institution occupies the late Agricul¬ 
tural College farm, which proved a failure. 
It is under the care of Dr. John 13. CHAPIN 
as Resident Superintendent, and when com¬ 
pleted will be a great and noble institution. 
Looking easterly from the top of the ridge 
that separates the Seneca and (layuga, one 
sees the villages of Ovid, Lodi, Hector Falls, I 
and others, in the distance. The whole basin 
and slope of the lake is beautiful, rendering a 
sail upon its bosom a thing of joy. 
The village of Watkins bears i the name of 
its early founder, a conservative old gentle¬ 
man, who never allowed the village to grow. 
Since his death it has sprung rapidly into an 
active business town, under the auspices of 
the late John Maqkk and those who have 
followed him, who did much to develop the 
coal trade and mining Interests. It now has 
a population of 8,000, with good facilities for 
commercial and manufacturing purposes. 
Watkins Glen, so celebrated for its beauty, 
cuts the west bank of the valley, about 80 
rods from the head of the lake. Thousands 
annually visit this spot. The Glen has been : 
formed by the waters of Glen Creek, which ] 
drains a considerable surface and in the 
course of time has found its way through the < 
•Gate and shale formation characteristic of i 
t ( Jonathan Talcott, Rome, N. Y., writes 
H to the Journal of the Farm as follows Ilav- 
v ing had some experience in sowing mixed 
e grains, i will say in regard to experiments 
I tied by me, that the sowing of spring grains 
1 tor feed to be used on the farm for stock 
t feeding purposes, has proved fully equal, it 
> not superior, to those crops that were kept 
Separate, but l’or market, such mixed grains 
■ would not, as u rule, be as valuable as if each 
’ variety were sown by itself. 1 have known 
some good farmers who made it their usual 
practice to sow oats and peas quite exten¬ 
sively for u field crop for home feeding to 
stock, also rye and oats and barley with oats, 
all which crops are deteriorated for the mar¬ 
ket when grown together, as on our dairy- 
farms in Central New York there is not 
usually us much grain raised as is fed to the 
stock. All such, 1 think, would be benefited 
by the sowing of their spring grains mixed, 
but they still should sow an area large enough 
for such grain dean, else in case of a wish 
to sow clean seed of one variety, they would 
be under the necessity of purchasing their 
seed of some one who kept his grains pure 
and unmixed. In raising com, many of our 
best farmers say they prefer to mix eight, 
ten and twelve rowed varieties of the same 
color together, thereby increasing the average 
per acre by from five to ten bushels. I con¬ 
fess that lias been, and still is my practice, 
[ and 1 think with good results, and in the case 
of corn when all of one color, no objection, 
is made by the purchaser. Sometimes when 
the colors are mixed the price will be a little 
less for the mixed grain. 
in regard to potatoes, too much care cannot 
be taken to have each variety kept separate, 1 
especially for all that are to be marketed, as t 
mixed lots never sell so well as those that are 1 
kept pure. - c 
While tm this subject of mixed grain, I t 
must not close till 1 give my emphatic dissent £ 
to all this sowing of mixed grains for the 6 
food of the human family. Go where you p 
i- of removing the stamens just before they 
is discharge the pollen, and introducing the 
n pollen of some other variety and the use of a 
e small pair of tweezers in making the change, 
I, I find to be difficult and tedious. 
And 1 thought I was lucky if I gut five 
hybrid grains from one head by the old way. 
r Ry my new method I have got as high as 
* thirty-two. 
For a beginner, a watchmaker’s eye glass 
„ vr 'A show t he different stages of development, 
j ;ui( i when they become familiar with the 
changes, they can easily be seen without the 
r fibLSS. The only instrument 1 use I made as 
r follows :—Take a piece of wood an inch in 
p diameter and three inches long, and bore a 
J-16 inch hole through. Then make another 
pieee of wood the same length, small enough 
to insert in the first piece two-tliirds of its 
length. Then take a fine needle with a sharp 
point; run the eye of the needle iu the small 
end of the small piece till the point will pro¬ 
ject about an inch. 
1 lie large piece is to make it convenient to 
carry the needle and attachment easily in 
your pocket. I remove the stamens from the 
wheat blows while green before there is any 
danger of their bursting, by carefully rais¬ 
ing the chaff with the point of the needle and 
holding it with a finger of the other hand till 
I oun remove the three stamens that every 
blow contains. When the part of the flower 
called the pistil develops to its full size and 
the honey can ba seen in it like dew, then 1 
take stamens that have just bursted, and the 
pollen will move like dry sand if it is nil right. 
You will find the needle the best tiling you 
can use to handle the pollen with. When the , 
polen decomposes, it becomes soft and \ 
gummy. 
The reason why wheat does not miss, is ' 
because the pollen is discharged in the chaff, 1 
and cannot get out till it is dead. Then the ( 
chaff opens a little, and the stamens shove f 
out and farmers Buy their wheat is iu bloom, j 
They will find by examination that impreg- t. 
nation has taken place a day or two before, v 
and the young grain has attained a fourth of h 
its future length. If impregnation does not t 
take place, the young grain will not grow in r 
length, but may grow out flat, mid open the 
cli.-i If till bees can get at the honey. The pistil 
will remain in bloom sometimes for a week, 
and 1 succeeded in getting a hybrid a week 
after the right time. Tlie pistil will do very n 
soon after impregnation takes place. j, 
18 Dan!. 
BEST DUCES FOB THE TABLE. 
B rr 
I egetmeier says, in a recent article :—For 
g those who require early ducklings 
That OOnie before the green peas Cure, and take 
The winds of March with beauty. 
(T quote from memory), there is nothing like 
, the Aylesbury. Others again prefer a more 
> pronounced and gamy flavor, and maintain 
i rimt there is no equal to the tome-bred wild 
duck if allowed a good range. The two 
things arc. very different in their way ; and 
I confess to having enjoyed a young Ayles¬ 
bury of ten or twelve weeks old and a tame- 
bred wild mallard with lemon and Cayenne 
with almost equal relish. T was talking the 
matter over with my friend Mr. Lortund one 
or two other gentleman a few days since, 
when it was mentioned bv one of the com 
pn .03 that the best table ducks he had ever 
reared were the result, of a cross between the 
common white coll, or decoy duck, and the 
small black, known as East Indian, 
Mr. Lori also stated that the result of his 
experiments had led him to precisely the 
same conclusion, stating that for flavor, sa¬ 
pidity, and shortness of flesh, these birds, if 
allowed a free range and liberty to fly, are 
unequaled. Both gentlemen described them 
as breeding fairly true to color, being black 
w-ith a small streak of white In front of the 
throat, and usually having parti-colored bills. 
As the merit i of this cross wore vouched for 
hy two persons who had no previous knowl¬ 
edge of each other's experiments, I concluded 
like Cajit, Cuttle, that having found my in¬ 
humation, the best thing I could do was to 
make a note of It, ’ which note I here pub¬ 
lish for the benefit of all whom it may con¬ 
cern. Mr. Lort also informed me that the 
flavor of these ducks could be greatly im¬ 
proved, and, in his opinion, rendered equal 
to that of the famed canvasbaeks of America, 
whose acquaintance he made in their native 
haunts, by giving them a little celery seed in 
their soft food for a few days before they are 
required for the table. 
•• 
— ♦ -- 
CAYENNE PEPPER AND EGGS. 
FIELD NOTES. 
• (iluc of Orchard (iruns. —Fjon. Lewis F, 
Allen, Black Rock, N. Y., says “ We 
I see on page 306 of last VoJ. of Rural 
New-Yorker, that, u person named Enos 
Johnson is informed that red pepper (Cay¬ 
enne pepper) mixed with the food of laying 
fowls increases egg production. Now the 
question I would like to ask i&-Wliat influ¬ 
ence does pepper have on fowls to cause this 
increase in productiveness ? Is it to force 
have a field of if, on a strong, clayey loam. nature in tllQ performance of its duty ? if so, 
_I..* v i j « » v J J fliAn £ . . i.j i 
which has stood for more than thirty years. 
It has bean cut for soiling ; it has been cut 
for hay ; it, has been pastured ; it was first 
sown with red clover and t imothy, which it 
long ago run out, and although" the wliite 
clover and blue grass venture their presence 
to a limited extent among it, the orchard 
grass retains its supremacy, and breast high 
at maturity, lords it over its diminutive tres- 
theu the practice is entirely wrong, and 
would be attended with disaster to poultry 
raisers, I believe, and it has boon my expe¬ 
rience, that excessive stimulating food given 
to poultry will very soon show itself by cre¬ 
ating d(sense in the flock. Nature should not 
be forced only so far as to keep them in a 
good healthy, thriving condition, which can 
be done by feeding them tlie different kinds 
of grains, fed in such a maimer as to make a 
food of the human family. Go where you passers in a. bounteous crop, while its hum- 01 ^ raJns ’ U1 such a manner as to make a 
will, you will see but few fields of wheat of bier attendants, good in their place, modestly c kunge ol diet; the best way being to fix it 
the winter varieties that are not badly mixed Ah up a great nutritious undergrowth at tlie 80 t ^ iat co, Ad exercise their own wishes 
with rye and chess, and the spring varieties bottom. No grass which we have ever grown U8 to w ^ lu1, they choose to eat; in this man- 
wit,h rye, oats and barley. I um satisfied lias yielded so heavy swath as this, nor one ner P° ultr y <‘An be kept with profit. But if 
more is lost by tilts way of mixing seed than from, which so much cattle food to the acre we feed ®ich things os pepper, or oniona 
enough to pay for pure, clean seed every year Can be grown, aside from lucerne, which our rnix, - ,d wiUl coni meal, the latter being of it- 
in the United States, and all of which might American climate will not consecutively sel( a ver - v stimulating article of food, by 
lie saved to the tillers of t he soil if each one year after year, produce.” ' producing heat and lat, we may expect large 
in the United States, and all of which might 
be saved to the tillers of t lie soil if each one 
determined to sow pure, olean seed, and if, 
in consequence of such determination not 
more than one-half the usual area were sown 
by each farmer. In this case, 1 speak from 
personal knowledge, having sow u mixed seed 
of wheat, cockle, chess and rye, and as a 
matter of course I harvested mixed grain for 
the crop, when wheat only was wanted, i 
am satisfied, that in a field of ten acres, i 
grown some years since, I lost more than 
| enough to pay for clean seed twice over. 
Since then I have resolved to sow only wheat 
where I wished to harvest that crop, and it 
lias worked to a charm with me, and I don’t 
doubt the same course would do so with all 
those who sow clean seed on clean, well-pre¬ 
pared soil; and very frequently such a crop 
can be sold for an extra price for seed, but il 
not, it, will always bring a few more cents 
per bushel for milling than the mixed article. 
Also a farmer feels much better when lie can 
carry a first-rate, clean sample of wheat, to 
market, than he would do if it was pretty 
this country. Pi-om the hill-tops, some two. well mixed with chess, cockle and r 
milea above, to the valley, it has cut a gorge many of our farmers are wont to do 
of surprising magnitude, of wondrous forms _„ , ,_ 
and depths, which excite the wonder and HOW TO HYRRTmYV 
admiration of the beholder. It, will be re- i W 0 H YBRIDI ZE WHEAT. 
membered that the Seneca is 271 feet lower Ancel B. Jones writes to the Farmers’ Un- 
than .the. waters of the Iveuka, while the ion (Minnesota) as follows :— 1 The old method 
ye, as too 
Cotton Seed Meat on Tobacco Land.— The 
New England Homestead says “ Hatfield 
farmers are using cotton seed meal this sea¬ 
son on t heir tobacco land, at the rate of from 
1,900 to 1,800 pounds per aere. Tins has been 
proved te be a good fertilizer, and is consid¬ 
ered to be more valuable than Lidian meal. 
Silas G. Hu hr arc has ruised tobacco on 
kind seven years without any stable manure. 
Tim first year he compoBted fish with muck 
and used superphosphates, and has since 
used cot ton seed meal, which by chemical j 
analysis has proved to be of four times the 
value of corn meal for a fertilizer. Mr. Hub- 
I bard puts on about 8109 worth Tier acre ” 
I 
A Potato Crop Possible after Vines have 
been Denuded of Foliage.—A correspondent 
of the Country Gentleman says:—“I have 
heard of a method of making a crop of po¬ 
tatoes after the leaves have been all eaten 
from the vines. Even after denuded of fo¬ 
liage the potato stems will remain green 
some days in dry, hot weather, and eight or 
ten days In cool and wet weather. Then, in 
order to make a crop, the vines are com¬ 
pletely plowed under and covered up. These 
vines, so protected, push new roots and 
stems, and sometimes a good crop of pota¬ 
toes is made.” 
self a very stimulating article of food, by 
producing heat and lat, we may expect large 
pioflts t he first year, but the second you will 
find the balance sheet against you. The sur¬ 
est way is to keep the poultry healthy and 
iu good condition ; the result will be a steady 
increase of profits over and above expenses 
Williams, Buy Co., Mich. J. C. Bowden. ‘ 
-- •» ♦♦--— 
POULTRY NOTES. 
The Fertility of Fugs, John Bennett, Sun- 
man, Iud., thinks, is somewhat dependent on 
the character of the run to which the fowls 
are circumscribed—that is, if fowls are kept 
in a small and dry inclosure, their eggs will 
not hatch well. The next most important 
thing to fertile eggs, is proper packing. New' 
boxes should be used, and sizes adapted to 
the number of eggs to be sent, the boxes 
allowing inches square space for each 
egg, and having a depth of 4j* inches, and 
the eggs packed with their ends up and down. 
The boxes ought to be of light wood, andl 
should have something on the bottom to 
deaden any jar received in oourse of trans¬ 
portation. I claim that my method is the 
best,—that is, to have a cushion on the bot¬ 
tom, inude of sacking, and stuffed with hay. 
Tins done, and a handle affixed, by which to 
curry the box, and properly marked, eggs 
ought to be transported so as to warrant the 
hatching of at least two-thirds of a sitting. 
