system of “drilling” that is very annoying to tho 
dealers and destructive to the fruit. Without the 
least intimation from the Agent, the locomotive will 
back against the ear with tremendous force, knock¬ 
ing tho peiichcs all over the ear, and then, with a 
Jerk, it will "start, and away goes more fruit, and olT 
go the cars, which sometimes are detained half an 
hour, and perhaps then placed in a different part of 
tho yard. Tho convenience of dealers is not con¬ 
sulted in the least. It would be but a trifle for these 
give satisfaction to tho owners? It is true that 
thereare not ulwnys so many marks In a car; nor Is 
there so much complaint among tho largo trrowers 
who can All a car of their own ; for their fruit does 
notvary so much In quality or variety; and should 
It become necessary to load a car uf mixod fruit, the 
dealer Is notified of that tact. 
One ot the results of this promiscuous packing Is, 
that much of tho fruit la not sold at the cars, hut 
given to the retailers to dispose of at the best prices 
they can. and pay for it what they can afford to give; 
for they will not buy such a mixture except at a 
lower figure than Jtliu dealer Is willing to accept. 
Some may think tills a strange way to do business; 
but there Is no help tor it; they will not buy it, and 
ono is compelled to dispose of It, for all of this trash 
cannot lie sent, to tlin store to be disposed of. 
Mow remember, that on aoeount of tiio early hours 
of arrival, we must depend entirely upon the lan¬ 
terns curried by I be dealers to Judge of the quality of 
the fruit, r have often noticed this particular fea¬ 
ture, that the light makes poor fruit look better, 
while it does not Improve the looks of good fruit 
anil I have frequently been amused at the disputes 
among the buyers In regard to the color of fruit, 
some contending that It wus red ; others t hat it was 
not: and I presume many farmers would be puzzled 
to decide, did they not. know i he color by the variety. 
Could the dealer exhibit t,he fruit by daylight, and 
have plenty of room to do so, and could ho persuade 
tho purchasers to wait until it was done, then he 
would bo enabled to return better prices for good 
fruit.; but ho can do neither, and must take tho 
Chunconrf getting a good price for tho whole. It Is 
frequently the case that a dealer has from four to 
ten ears per day to dispose of, and tills must bo done 
promptly, or he falls to make a good sale. Thus It is 
that many growers do not got the value of their fruit, 
and complain or the dealer, while, m reality, Uo is 
notto blame. The worst, feature of this point is, that 
the man who has the least and poori" t fruit, makes 
the greatest complaint; the only generous fontirro he 
possesses Is to treat his commission dealer with from 
two to three grumbling letters per week, because lie 
does not. get more money for his fruit. 
Prices have been very moderate the entire season, 
in fact, so much so as to nmko the trade monotonous. 
I think tho net ales realized by the farmers Is from 
forty-eight lo fifty cents per basket. The quantity 
received, as tias already been stated, wus very large. 
In 18ti7 the largest number of ears received In one 
day was IIfly-live., and tbos®completely glutted tho 
market, causingugeneral stagnation for some days. 
This season we had one hundred and seventy-five 
cars, and they all sold at, good prices. In addition to 
tlie quantity received, as above stated, there wero 
throe steamers engaged In thin business, making a 
dally Unc from lielnwaro; the quantity thoy curried 
I have never been able to ascertain; but the largest 
possession, also a few items of information for those 
not acquainted with the trade. 1 know that many of 
the complaints made by the growers against the 
dealers would not be made if they knew the diffi¬ 
culties the latter have to contend against. 
Farmers know all about the labor connected with 
the picking, packing and delivering of the fruit to 
the cars; but after that there is an Interval which 
they imagine to be a kind of dream in a fairy realm. 
That Is, the fruit Is shipped, aud sold, and they soon 
machines and abandoned their use. He had 
found he could do tnoro and better work with 
an ox team and plow, running; it deep under tho 
row. Nearly all tho crop is thus thrown to tho 
surface, and with the aid of a hoc it is light, 
work, comparatively, to gather the entire crop. 
He lias never seen a machine which ho would 
give a cent for. 
An Improved Curry Comb had been sent the 
Commander of t he Club which ho thought would 
prove a very nice thing. It was simply a block 
of hard wood, one side of which had been cut by 
machinery into conical teeth. A strap over the 
back confines it, to tho hand. Members thought 
an iron one of same shape and stylo would he 
bel ter, since their use on a wet animal would 
soften the wood and ruin the teeth. 
Experiment* with Ferllllzera.— JAMBS fl. Bull, 
North Nassau, N. Y., writes the Club: 
In planting corn last spring I was anxious to get 
some commend a! fertilizer to take tho place of hog 
manure in tho hill. Not finding any ground bone or 
ground tlsh In tho Albany market, I tried a barrel of 
double refined pondretto in competition witli hog 
manure, hen manure and plaster, and ashes and plas¬ 
ter, the plaster being about one fifth nf bulk of the 
two other mixtures. Commenced planting on west 
side of piece May 25, using about a gill of ashes and 
plaster to n hill till the supply was exhausted; then 
left four rows, plantiag tlio corn dry; then used hen 
ilia min! and ashes, iihout a gill to a hill, till that was 
used up: then planted four rows dry; then used the 
pnudrelto, also about a gill to a hill: then four rows 
dry: men used hog manure i.hut bad been mixed 
with four times ils bulk of mack; of this we put per¬ 
haps n quart in each hill. In each ease tho manure 
was covered with earth, and tho Coen planted on the 
covering. It all came up very nice, hut. from the 
stin t that on tho hog manure took the lead, and 
could bo distinguished by its ranker growth and 
darker color as far as the piece uoulil be seen. Juno 
2ti.lloniiedoV8rt.be piece anti could see but little 
dilferenoe between that, where tbu ashes Were used 
and (hut planted dry by the side of it. Where tile 
hen manure was used ft was one-third larger than 
that planted dry liy its side; pondretto about twice 
ns large; the hog manure four times as largo as thut 
planted dry by Its aide; and remarkably tine, dark 
colured, and stocky. lout up lOOhllls of each kind ; 
busked seen rale, and weighed in thenar. The weight 
of the 100 Hills whore thcoshosajid plaster were used, 
i am unable to give, but It differed but little from the 
hen manure. The ears from 100 hills, hen manure, 
weighed id pounds; pondretto, weighed Pi pounds; 
bog manure, weighed 90 pounds; Without manure, 
weighed H!l pounds. The soil was a gravelly loam,and 
bad perhaps eight loads of yard manure to the acre, 
spread amt ploughed in. bo l oro planting. 
Mr. Ca itPt'NTKR paid tho result from the use of 
poudretteis always better when applied lo lands 
rich with other fertilizers than when applied to 
poor lands alone. He would not recommend the 
application of poudrette alone to corn, unless 
tho soil is rieli without it. It stimulates growth 
iscussions 
AMERICAN INST. FARMERS' CLUB 
We continue our note of the sayings and 
doings of this distinguished body of scientific 
agriculturists. 
Salt Tor Stock.—JOHN Rice, EUiottsbcrg, Pa., 
wants tho opinion of the Club on the necessity 
for tho use of salt, for horses and cattle. He 
does not believe In using it himself, does not cat 
it and does not feed it to his stock. Prof. Nash 
said cattle should have it whore they can have 
access to it at will, or as their instinct teaches 
them it is necessary. I)r. Smith regards it a 
necessity for stock and humans. It aids in the 
destruction of parasites and prolongs animal life. 
Mr. Buford of Oregon has been a dairyman 
many years and knows that it is absolutely nec¬ 
essary for dairy cows, especially if the product 
therefrom is to be of auy value whatever. Dr. 
Smith culled attention to tho fact that wild 
animals, doer, &c., sought out saltlicks. Prof. 
Whitney said a boy who had charge of a cow 
ono summer neglected to feed the animal salt 
and the butter resulting from her milk was of 
the vilest quality; and lie has read that it was a 
penalty in the middle ages to feed criminals food 
Mr. Buford said that 
that contained no salt 
salt should never he measured out to animals- 
they should have access to It at will and allowed 
to let their instinct guide them as to the quantity 
they consume. 
Patent Burcullo Remedies.—Mr. ItlOK asks if 
there have been any patents Issued for eurculio 
remedies. Says there are parties peddling red pcs 
for the destruction of insects which they claim 
arc patented, and they require parties purchas¬ 
ing not to divulge the secret. Prof. Whitney 
says tho fact that it is kept a secret proves that 
it is not a patent hut a swindle. Mr. HtCE was 
informed that if he would send it to the Club, il 
would ho published. [We hope no render of tho 
Rural willbe wheedled into purchasing a recipe 
for killing insects or invigorating Dees. Nine 
out of ten and probably ninety-nine out of one 
hundred of them are swindles.— Eds. Ritual.] 
Corn Cob Meal for Stock.—A Club correspon¬ 
dent asks if corn cobs arc of any value for grind¬ 
ing and feeding to stock. Mr. CAn TENTER has 
reason to believe that cooked corn cobs have 
nutritive value. He had hoard of u cow (or of a 
man who had a cow, or of a man who had heard 
of a man who had a cow, which WO did not 
clearly understand,) who fed his cow on faith 
and corn cobs exclusively, and she gave more 
milk than cows fed upon hay. Dr. Sylvester 
had fed corn ground fine upon hay; corn and 
cobs ground together as fine as (hey could he 
ground, which ho regarded important; and 
buckwheat, and its bran together. Four pounds 
of corn meal per head per day upon hay pro¬ 
duced the richest milk. Corn and cob meal pro¬ 
duced a larger quantity ol' good marketable 
milk, which sold well, and he esteemed the cobs 
worth from fifteen to twenty-five cents per 
bushel for this purpose. The buckwheat pro¬ 
duced the most mux, regardless of quality. 
Prof. Nash said it depends much upon how the 
animal is fed — otherwise, whether the cobs arc 
of any value. There must be something fed to 
ruminating animals to distend tho stomach. If 
the feeder feeds bulky food, corn cobs for ani¬ 
mals so fed are of little value; if concentrated 
food Is fed altogether, the cob meal will be found 
beneficial. 
Seedless Apples —LySAnder Barry, who sent 
the Club some specimens of seedless apples 
some tiino since, says they had not been im¬ 
proved. by freezing, ns some papers reported, but 
had been injured. Mr. Fuller said he had no¬ 
ticed thut be was reported as saying that It was 
not necessary for a tree to blossom to produce 
fruit, whereas be said that it \vas not necessary 
for it to produce peifect blossoms. Prof. Whit¬ 
ney thinks that the fact thatan apple is seed less 
is an indication that it is far removed from Its 
original typo and of too great weakness to per¬ 
fect seed. 
Possibility of Producing Plums. — Ira BROWN, 
New Haven, Vt., insists they can be grown, and 
says:—“My success with seventy of tho moat 
popular varieties has been all I could desire, and 
that, too, without the use of dunghill fowls or 
swine. Moreover, l doubt the benefit of these 
last-named fiitliy creatures. They will eat half- 
ripened plums, I know, hut I have not seen a 
hog that would cat them only one-third grown, 
when the larva is in tho fruit —but half ripe it 
has gone. Nor did 1 ever know of a chicken 
swallowing a eurculio. I allow nothiug hut a 
horse, aud a plow or cultivator attached to pass 
among my trees." Mr. Smith said that he knows 
tho most important vehicle. whereby tho sheep is 
(Uivtiilnod in proper condition, and the wool thereby 
improved. Digestion Is tt function Iti animals by 
which organic elementary substance* introduced in¬ 
to the stomach and intestines are converted into tho 
nutritive fiuld. ohyle.uud mixed Indirectly with the 
I,mi,it the .ix.-rrimmlltlofli and Useless matters be¬ 
ing injected Of wist out at the body. The organs by 
which tins function I* performed fit the Higher ani¬ 
mals are the mouth, phnrnyx, lesuphttgus. stomach, 
and intestines, with their accessory salivary glands, 
pancreas, liver and mucus follicles. The first act to 
which food Is subjected is tho mechanical division 
by the tooth. So Important is tills In order that it 
niuy be influenced by the salivary accretions, that, It 
may In' said ns an axiom that good food well chewed 
i» half digested; but tho golden tula, however, in 
constantly neglected, ft" - which we have to pay the 
penalty of dyspepsia. This rule may be applied to 
slump Gy taking out the Trout, teeth, SO that the ani¬ 
mal is forced to masticate und chew a long while be¬ 
fore it enters the stomach. The farmer will find that 
till*, recommendation will prove Very valuable in the 
wool crops. 
Wheat Land*— Whftt All* Them ?—JAMES GAL¬ 
BRAITH, Lurtdisburg, Pa., writes the Club : 
Some years buck, or in tho earlier settlement of 
our country, thirty, thirty-five, and ns high us forty 
bushels of wheat have been produced to the acre; 
but now from twelve to fifteen, and ut farthest 
twenty to twenty-two, is the outside that cun be 
ruised. This is not owing to want of fertility In the 
xoil; where the ground is made good by manuring so 
as to produce a good crop, the wheat will lodge and 
not till; this Is the evil In our time. Some suppose 
that It Is because the ground has been too long 
worked, that tt bus lost its anginal properties neces¬ 
sary for l.ho different kinds of grain; htit ln,w is It 
with England, where the land lias been worked for 
centuries, and they eitn raise from forly to Sixty 
bushels of wheat to the acre. The loug-eoiitJnued 
culture ot the laud cannot he the cunse. Others snp- 
pOBu Hint. In England It is the root culture, making 
more or a variety in the crops, not having such a 
regular succession Of green crops us wo have. Our 
best laud Is limestone irossillferous:) our next host , 
rod shale (limestone slato.) Our crops are, first, coni ; 
second, oats ; third, wheat! next, red clover, which 
is mowed ffirhuy.uud clover seed ono or two years; 
then turn down t he clover seed and commence with 
corn. This Is generally our round of crops, or some¬ 
times u crop of clover Iri full bharm Is turned down 
Tor wheat. Why is It that opr wheat crops are not so 
good as they were, and that the Increased fertility 
of the soli causes more abundant growth ot straw 
and not a corresponding amount, of wheat, the straw 
not having strength to support the wheat until it HI Is ? 
Mr. Crane said on lands thill once produced 
forty bushels per wore thoy could not raise ton 
bushels with the manure they applied until they 
dressed the land with about two hundred pounds 
of guano to Hie acre. One dressing increased 
the cron to twenty-five bushels. While the 
guano should be supplied, other man arcs should 
not be omitted. Mr. Carpenter thinks bouo 
dust would be a still better application. He had 
used guano In a similar cusc, which hud increased 
rather than diminished the weakness of the 
Prof. Nash agrees with Mr. Carpenter, 
BELVIDERE Cr R JYT 5 Pi. — (See page 38.) 
1 this in done without tiio least men to give them notice that they were going to 
iart, consequently they do not move them, but they will not. Remonstrance docs 
ixtoty or expense it costs. Bo- no good; like their superiors, they sock only their 
is point, however, I will gtve a own convenience: they enro not If the whole car-load 
• the business. of fruit Is upset; it. would be no loss to them. In 
g to the Wilmington and Drla- several instances horses have been injured, and 
if tho size usually iiiuao use Of several lives have been In Imminent danger from 
r.scs, and are lined all t hrough, tills recklessness. In on« instance, when they came 
near killing a raun, the official replied that “he did 
net care ; Uo might to bo killed.’’ This is a fair speci¬ 
men ot the character of tho men that we came in 
contact with in the yard. 
I have spoken of the outlet* of the yards. These 
streets are often blocked with empty car* left stand¬ 
ing on the track. This is frequently the case on tho 
lower street, where tho mall cur i* unloaded, com¬ 
pelling all the teams to wait for them, or drive around 
the block, when all this could ho avoided by simply 
moving the car half its length ; but. they would not 
do it. 
There is another fact connected with this Company 
worth knowing, which is, that it Imposes a higher 
rate of ferriage on those carting ponchos than they 
do on others, although much of the work In done be¬ 
fore the regular travel Is begun. I think this unjust, 
for it Hilda no cars, simply pulls the train from New 
Brunswick to its depot. Tho whole amount of fruit 
outside with strong wire grating. An Inside door 
covers this space when ventilation is not required. 
The side, door is formed by using slats two Inches 
wide, leaving a space of the same width. The inside 
is arranged with sholves tiio height of a basket, and 
will contain.iOfi baskets each. 
Tho system adopted by the Delaware Railroad Co. 
to freight, peaches Is a peculiar one. It compel* tho 
parties who need the cars to charter them at a stipu¬ 
lated price per trip during the season, and require a 
deposit of twenty-llvo dollars on each car when en¬ 
gaged ; then this amount is refunded hy deducting 
two dollars and fifty cunts per car each trip tt makes; 
If tho cur ir not used often enough to recover tho 
amount of the deposit, it is forfeited to the Com¬ 
pany. Kaeli ear must have the name of tho con¬ 
signor or consignee, and the name of the depot from 
which it starts, securely fastened on each side of it. 
All empty baskets are returned free of charge. 
Tills train is run over four principal roads before 
reaching Jersey City. The Deln.wu.ro Road unites at 
Wilmington with the Philadelphia ami Baltimore 
Road; that at Cray’s Kerry, or West Philadelphia, 
with tho Camden and Amboy, which unites with the 
New Jersey Road at. New Brunswick, N. ,1., the termi¬ 
nus being ab Jersey City, opposite New York, where 
all the car* uro unloaded, and the fruit carted to 
New York City. 
This depot contains, to the best of my judgment, 
and Is covered all over witn double 
play good judgment in selling it; for sometime* A’s | 
culls bring ns much as IPs good fruit, i admit that 
this is somet imes the case, and will explain, lo a cer¬ 
tain extent, tho cause of it. The cause first, begins 
with the owner of the fruit, and continues to Hie 
agent who loads tiie cars. It is presumable that every ! 
grower knows nil about the fruit that ho picks every 
day; if ho does not, hi* foreman should. Ho known 
how many “culls” and “primes" there arc; and 
knowing it so Well, it docs not occur to him that his 
Commission dealer knows nothing about tt; so tt is 
sent to the cars without a word of explanation to the 
dealer. Thu driver Is told to hurry back, and on 
reaching tho ears lie don’t, want to wait, but drives 
up, and unloads at any car that Is open, 
Tills promiscuous packing is tho worst feature of 
the whole, and ono that, needs a thorough reforma¬ 
tion in order to overcome thl* objection. I know 
that agent# say that It cannot bo done: but it can bo 
done,and the time will soon come when no agent, 
will be employed who will uot do It. As it lias been 
no man can sell with good judgment, for he knows 
nothing Of the contents of the car, nor can lie see a 
distance of three feet In the car, to tell what its 
content* are. When a car Is opened perhaps nothing 
but poor, small fruit presents itself, then how cam 
hn tell what Is In tho interior ?—he cannot see It, and 
in case of a large supply he is anxious to sell as soon 
as possible, for ho may have a number of cars to 
disposo of, and he sells to one, two, or three persons 
tho ontiro loud at a fixed price. If the load should 
prove to be cheap to the purchaser ho will take It, 
but should It prove to bo a dear one the buyers fre¬ 
quently back down, and the dealer Is compelled to 
sell again. 
in order to get at this feature of the case let us 
stand by the side of a ear at 2 A. M. on its arrival. 
The cart is drawn alongside of the car. The seller, 
j with a half dozen buyers, mount It, to get a peep at 
tlie fruit. 
about ten acres 
tracks, so that tlie cars on one t ruck cun ho unloaded 
on tho north, und tho other on tho south side thereof. 
The space for unloading is wide enough for a cart to 
stand by tlie Bide of tho ear, while a third can pass 
between them. Two streets cross this yard which 
are the entrance* and outlets for all teams employed 
in carting this fruit. There is not a single lump in 
all this Immense space to enable the farmers and 
dealers to see how to transact their business; neither 
is the yard paved in any part of it. The center is 
graveled, while the northern part is filled with cin¬ 
ders, which are soft aud pliable to the wheels, mak¬ 
ing hard work for the horses, ancl is very dusty in 
dry weather and very muddy when It rains. 
Yon cannot, imagine tho noiso, confusion and dan¬ 
ger, arising from the rush of tho cartmen on the 
arrival of the cars, to find tlie one car which con¬ 
tains thtdr respective fruit. There are frequently 
one hundred of these carts, and It is 80 dark that If it 
was not for the lanterns carried by the dealers they 
Could not see the names on the cars; and frequently 
these carts become completely ontnngted In one con¬ 
fused mas*, and unuble to move for some time. To 
overcome this difficulty the dealers were compelled 
to litre ami pay a sufficient number of police to keep 
these men in order; for many of them are what is 
called “catch carmen,”—those who have no regular 
work, but. frequently force themselves in the way of 
those who have. In order to get employment. 
There are no buildings in this yard devoted to the 
peach business, where the dealer* can enter to wait 
for the cars, or to protect themselves from the 
storm; the only room this Company has is a small, 
dirty office about ten feet square, connected with 
tlie regular freight department; and during the first 
mornings in .September, which were very eool, the 
officials made a good tire in it, and looked tho doors, 
declaring that they would not have any peach deal¬ 
ers in there. 1 knew that in several instances, when 
straw. 
but thinks the correspondent runs his land too 
bard with cereal crops. Dr. Sylvester thinks 
the correspondent's land is, ns they say iu West¬ 
ern New York, “clover sick.” When land is 
fertilized by plowing in clover alone it is liable 
to become so, and the application of bone 'lust., 
lime, and leached ashes is a remedy. Dr. Smith 
urged that farmers ought to return the straw to 
the land whence it came; if they would do so 
there would be less complaint of grain falling 
down. Mr. Fuller said that, in tlie vicinity of 
New York tho straw is worth us much as the 
wheat, and is too valuable to apply as manure- 
lienee something cheaper and quite as good is 
sought for. 
Product of One Fenmie Hog in One Henson.— 
Abram Brands, Delaware Station, N. J., the 
Commander of the Club announced, “sends 
the product of one female hog” Tor the sou- 
son. A Chester sow yielded him a product of 
$400.54 besides “two tittle pigs given away.” 
The Delaware Peach Trade, —C. W. IDELL, 
fruit dealor, 328 Greenwich street, read the fol¬ 
lowing paper before the Club, which will hc*lp 
to show our readers what becomes of their fruit 
and why prices arc not always satisfactory :— 
As the peach crop is one of our most valuable 
I ones, and every thing connected with this fruit is of 
I propose giving them some in- 
The door Is thrown open, and they see 
rows or baskets extending to the roof, filled with 
peaches, it Is supposed; but owing to their being 
packed so dose, but little of the fruit enn no seen. 
In many instances tho car is opened <m the opposite 
side from which it is loaded, and then the beauty of 
promiscuous packing Is fully Illustrated. Begin to 
unload tt. 1 have known five different mark* to bo 
taken out before one cart was loaded ; thut cart con¬ 
tained all kinds, qualities and varieties, that were 
then ripened. How Is any man to sell that fruit aud 
requiring that number. Mr. Carpenter stated 
that ho had tried nearly all the potato-digging 
interest to ■farmers, 
formation in regard to the fruit after It leaves their 
