MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YO 
JAM, M 
gmrir ®f a ||taM 
DAILY RURAL LIFE. 
From the Diary of a Gentleman near New 
York City. 
FANCY FOWLS. 
Jan. 7.—I have never had a very severe 
attack of “chicken fever,” although fre¬ 
quently exposed to this disease, which has ' 
mode many a man’s pockets collapse within 
a very short time after his first, venture in 
this direction. Twenty or more years ago 1 
had a little touch of the Oriental chicken 
disease, represented in the big rooster who 
could pick corn off the top of a hogshead or 
out of the second story window of an ordi¬ 
nary house; but I have found these long- I 
legged fowls would necessitate the purchase 
of a prairie farm, or the reduction of the 
price of corn to ten cents per bushel, in or¬ 
der tx> make the keeping of poultry profita¬ 
ble. I went back to the good old common* 
no-pedigree-barn-yard fowls of the country, 
and had plenty of eggs and chickens without 
any considerable care in the way of curing 1 
diseases or producing food. My next ven¬ 
ture was with the White Leghorns, a hand¬ 
some breed, great layers, hardy, health}-, 
and a splendid fowl for the table, but the 
hens seldom want to set; and if they do the 
desire usually leaves them long before it is 
time for the eggs to hatch. Tin's peculiarity 
of the Leghorns necessitates the. keeping of 
some other breed in order to replenish the 
stock and have chickens for the t able. After 
a ten years’ trial of the Leghorns, with Tan | 
occasional brief experience with a few of ! 
later Introduced and more celebrated breeds, 
I was induced to try the Dorkings, a very 
fine strain of tliis breed being in possession 1 
of one of my neighbors. 1 procured a. trio 
to start with, and succeeded in raising about 
twenty chickens the first season, after which 
my old stock of other breeds were killed off. 
Now these Dorkings are quite handsome 
j supplied by a dozen good, strong plants. 
| These wore carefully lifted from the bed in 
the garden at the approach of cold weather, 
and set in a rough, box like frame in the 
center of my greenhouse The plants were 
not potted, but the roots and all the earth 
that would adhere to them left intact; 
therefore, they sustained very little, if any, 
chock to their growth. The soil about them 
was made very rich and the surface covered 
with fine manure from the barn-yard. 
Isabella Spruid, a beautiful yellow tea 
rose, and Safrano, a pale, salmon-colored 
rose, have bloomed most profusely, with no 
signs of giving out. linn Stten « is the queen 
of all the deep pink monthly roses, mere on 
account of its beautifully-formed bud than 
the full blown flower. Countess de Bertha, 
THE PHYLLOXERA AGAIN. 
In a late number of Moore’s Rural 
New-Yorker, Mr, .T. L. Labiaux of North 
Carolina states as follows : 
“ And now, and in conclusion, let me make 
this affidavit:—Dr. E. J. Planchon of the 
Faculty of Montpellier, who was sent to this 
country by his Government and several 
Agricultural Societies of France, to study 
the American vines and grapes, particularly 
in their relation to the Phylloxera, was my 
guest for more than a week in September 
last. This high aut hority (Dr P isapracti- 
the Delaware, Mr. Paul Guerin considers 
it as an exceptional fine variety superior to 
most of them. Another large wine-grower, 
near Bordeaux, says;—“Some American 
varieties succeed better with us than our 
own ; the Delaware and Clara will bring a 
better price than our Chasselas—your Lenoir 
and Jacques make a wine superior to any of 
our varieties.” 
Without further argument we leave Mr. 
Labiaux to continue, his experiments with 
foreign vines, hoping that the end will be 
better than that of all past cultivation here 
of the foreign grape. 
The foregoing article is from the Farmer 
and Gardener, edited by our friend P. J. 
Bkrckmaxs of Augusta, Ga. 
a beautiful light pink, excels in fragrance M viticulturist as well as a told and 
is a noble white rose, but like the ' native insect of America exported to France, 
/ Gold, Marcchal Nid, Solfoterre, and a fact 1 <lid not kuow bfifore ™-Y bend’s (Dr. 
.tlier verv desirable noisettes, reouire I IVs > coming-does not interfere, I cannot 
as well us iu a profusion of flowers. La 
marque is a noble white rose, but like the 
(Hoik of Gold, Marcchal Nid , Solfa.te.rre, and 
u few other very desirable noisettes, require 
plenty of room for roots and branches in 
order to bring their flow-ers to full size and 
perfection. 
If I were rich, there are three kinds of 
plants which should receive at my hands 
I special attention, and these are roses, carna¬ 
tions and oranges. Some may prefer the 
great symmetrical wax-1 ikecamellia, with no 
fragrance, to the orange ; hut, to me the 
latter is far more preferable, not, only when 
in bloom, but there follows a long season of 
beauty as the plants are loaded with their 
luscious, golden fruit. Of course I mean aJl 
this for our cold Northern States, not the 
tropics where the foliage of large - leaved 
I evergreens is no novelty. I want a Rosery, 
! Pinkery and Orangery, and these are the 
, hight of my ambition in floriculture. 
COLO FEET IN WINTER 
I beheve my acquaintances will bear me. 
■ out in asserting that. I never trouble myself 
in regard to w hat others eat, drink or wear, 
so long as they make themselves comfortable 
and do not injure anyone else by their follies. 
Neither liave I ever pinned my faith upon 
wrote me that provided tho Phylloxera—& , FULLER FACTS ON THREE NEW GRAPES. 
help being successful in my introduction 
here of the grapes of Herault. ; cared for, 
worked as in Herault. The cure for the 
Phylloxera is discovered ; and this fell de¬ 
stroyer, winch has ruined so many wine¬ 
growers in France of late years, is no longer 
any more dangerous than the. Qidium, which 
is so easily gotten rid of. I could hardly be 
more brief.” 
We notice that several of our cotempo¬ 
raries are publishing accounts of three new 
varieties of grapes, claimed ns new by a cer¬ 
tain Ithaca (N. Y.) doctor Some of the said 
cotemporaries appear to swallow the whole 
story in regard to their merits, while others 
doubtingly ask for more light. The Country 
Gentleman, after publishing what the origi¬ 
nator says of said grapes, and probably the. 
only man living interested in them, closes its 
remarks by saying :—“ We want, fuller facts 
This is a sweeping assertion, and one open il:; to the Auburn Pearl and the Tuekerman, 
to refutation, as American wine-grower* will 
not accept the. verdict of Dr. Planchon with¬ 
out a strong protest. 
for they both deserve attention.’’ Now, the 
easiest way for S. ,J. P., M. D., to supply the 
Country Gentleman and the rest of the world 
Aw stated, Dr. Planchon was sent hereby 1 w ith “ Fuller ” facts, is to send specimens 
fowls, both in feathers and form, their meat j liu} of the isms oi schisms of the day, 
excellent and egg* large; but of this latter 
product I must say it, is exceedingly scarce; 
in fact on this point the Dorkings will boat 
any breed 1 have over tried. For the past 
year I have given jov fowls all the known 
“incentives” to laying in the shape of food, 
but eggs have, been the rarest, product, of my 
farm. My man, John, seeing that the egg 
crop was likely to 1)0 a failure if wo depend¬ 
ed upon our pure bred Dorkings for it, pro¬ 
cured a lew eggs from the common fowls of 
one of my neighbors while Mrs. R. and my¬ 
self were away last bu turner, and from them 
reared two broods of chickens. These pul¬ 
lets have already commenced to lay, but not 
an egg have wc got from any of the. Dorking 
fowls in more tlum five months. J have 
been killing off old and young for several 
weeks past, and in but, one single instance 
has a sign of an egg been found in either pul¬ 
let or old hen. Of court© I do not suppose 
everybody who has kept or who keeps this 
breed find them so unproductive, but I give 
my experience for what it is worth, and 
shall again go back to White Leghorns, keep¬ 
ing a few common fowls to raise the chicks. 
ROSES IN WINTER. 
whether it bo in politics, religion or medi¬ 
cine, for 1 see a necessity for all, and a good 
in all. One person can belie v what another 
cannot, and If it were not for this well pre¬ 
served individuality awrl difference in opin¬ 
ion and ideas tins world would wear a dread- j 
fully monotonous appearance so far as man¬ 
kind is concerned. Then again, we ourselves 
change in habit, opinions, as well as in 
stature; boys become men and girls women, 
and mind grows us well as body. 
A paragraph which I have just read in a 
newspaper about cold feet and want of 
proper circulation of blood, brings to nu'nd a 
change iu my own mode of dressing the feet. 
When a boy my mother used to knit me 
thick woolen socks lor winter wear—none of 
your flimsy store affairs would answer, but 
the real long-legged, home-made article, re¬ 
quiring— well 1 have forgotten just how 
many ounces of yarn per pair. Well, 1 can ! 
feel now the peculiar pleasant sensation that I 
those socks produced as 1 pulled them on 
cold winter mornings, and then pushed for I 
the barn to do the chores, before wading a | 
mile through tho snow to school. That 
notion of thick woolen stockings to keep my 
feet warm stuck to me a good many years, 
Jan. 8.—A rose in winter a 1 ways appears ] g^ve it up at last, to my great relief , 
to be much more of a rose than in summer, 
perhaps because we sec so few of them. 
Every time I receive ft letter from any of toy 
correspondents residing at the South 1 can- 
not help asking myself the question, Do they 
keep their roses blooming all through tho 
winter? I think I should try pretty hard t<> 
do so if I lived in the sunny South, where 
only light frosth occur. This reminds me of 
a conversation I had with the Row H. W. 
Beecher many years ago, and before any¬ 
body thought we should ever have a war 
that would end in the abolition of slavery, 
A certain well-known abolitionist of Massa¬ 
chusetts proposed to colonize our colored 
people in Florida, and of course the scheme 
was noticed in all the morning papers. Dur¬ 
ing tho day I met Mr. Beecher and said to 
him, “ IIow do you like t he colonization idea 
of Mr. T.r His answer was quite charac¬ 
teristic of the raiin:- “D,, wliat a great 
country Florida must, be to cultivate roses 
in! Have you obtained any new and desira¬ 
ble varieties this year?” This was the only 
opinion I ever hoard him cxpre c s in regard 
to colonizing the negro in Florida. But up 
here in the North, where the temperature 
ranges all the way from 60° uboVe to 30° lie- 
low zero in winter one has to keep awake if 
he succeeds in keeping his roses iu bloom 
even in a conservatory or warm room. Thus 
far, however, I have not failed to have a 
hunch or two of rose, buds upon my table 
every day since cold weather get in, and all 
for since 1 commenced wearing thin cotton 
socks in winter I have, less cold feet than 
ever before, I do not wear tight boots, 
consequently there is no fear of a free circu¬ 
lation of blood to keep them warm. There 
has been a great invention, however, since I 
left, off my home-made, woolens, and that is 
cork soles to wear inside of the boot, and 
these keep the bottom of the foot warm. It 
may be worth a trial for those who suffer 
with cold feet in winter to try this plan of 
wearing cotton or linen socks, with boots or 
shoes large enough to admit of cork soles. 
If the feet perspire through the day, or 
dampness strike through the boots, the cork 
soles should be taken out at night and thor¬ 
oughly dried. Give me goad thick boots, 
cork soles and thin cotton socks, and I think 
the man will have to go fuj-tlier North than 
New York to freeze me out in winter. 
--- 
Wormy Apples. —The apples here thie sea¬ 
son are, a great many of them, full of a very 
small worm that looks to me just like the 
worms that get into radishes. It is about 
the same size, and burrows all through the 
apple, which may look fair and rich and be 
a mass of rottenness withiu. Can you tell 
me if they are the same worm ?— A. S. Nash, 
W k cannot tell anything about the worms 
in your apples without having a specimen 
for examination ; guessing will not answer 
in these days of numerous entomologists. 
the French Government to study the Amer¬ 
ican vines and grapes, particularly in their 
relation to t he Phylloxera. Why did he not 
, visit the locality tn Georgia, whence, as stated 
by Dr, Flu mean of Bordeaux, the insect was 
export ed to France ? Why did Dr. Planchon 
i not personally investigate other localities in 
the South besides the neighborhood of 
Ridgeway, N. C. * What positive proof has 
he acquired, during his hasty visit, to assert 
. that t.he insect is of American origin ? Since 
the Doctor’s return to France, we learn from 
excellent authority that in his report he 
does not say that the insect originated in 
America, but he states that “ he is satisfied 
that the American Phylloxera and theirs are 
J identical This does not prove that it lias 
been exported hence to France. When the 
| report of the special committee, appointed 
by the American Pomological Society at its 
I late meeting at, Boston, to investigate its 
J origin and injur}', will be made next sum¬ 
mer, it is more thau probable that its ex 
istence on this continent will be traced po 
importation from France, and that instead 
of American vines having introduced the 
insect in France, wc owe to the introduction 
of French vines, its existence, in a few dis¬ 
tricts of the West. Until then we shall con¬ 
sider all statements as to its American origin 
unfounded—as the ease is now under inves¬ 
tigation officially. 
We should be delighted to learn that at 
j last a perfect cure for the Phylloxera has 
bsen discovered in France, but, at last, re¬ 
ports, the results of the Sulph ured of Curhon 
are far from being satisfactory. When 
properly applied, the fumes of tlib# chemical 
will destroy the insects, but, will also mate- 
| rially injure the vines. This remedy was 
tried by a competent vineyard owuer, in 
1869, who writes 1st. The application of 
I Sulphuret of Carbon killed most of the vines 
operated upon. 2d. At St. Emilion, a sim- 
! ilar experiment has just been tried, and a 
portion of the vineyard was destroyed even 
with an application of 50 grammes (about 
j one and adialf ounces). Jd. Supposing that 
we succeed in dosing according to the tena¬ 
city of the different soils, a few roots will 
here and there remain upon which will be 
left, a scattering insect, and as the Phylloxera 
has, according to Dr. Planchon, produced 
twenty-four milliards in one year, it is obvi¬ 
ous that a new crop can be expected, and 
the remedy must be again resorted to the 
following year. New, the cost of applying 
the Sulphuret of Carbon in sufficient, quan¬ 
tity to destroy the insect is over 10 cents for 
each vine. One hcctai'e (2,471-100 acres) con¬ 
tain 9,600 rines, which at 10 cents each 
would make an enormous sum to result iu 
anything but a certainty. Even if this should 
be within the limits of the purse of a few 
rich land owners, it is beyond that of the 
average vigneron. * 
From this it is evident that the cure of the 
Phylloxera is not yet discovered. 
Another statement of Mr. Labiaux says : 
“Our American grapes would not bring 
over one-half of one cent, to the pound in 
any grape market in France.” 
Which may be correct if he refers to the 
native wild types of Fox grape, etc. But in 
of those wonderful grapes to the office of the 
Rural New-Yorker, where a certain man 
named Fuller attends to the horticultural 
matters of this kind. 
the Journal Agriculture Pratique as regards 1 the plant. 
HOW DO INSECTS HEART 
In a recent paper read by Professor Mayer, 
before tho Academy of Science, he gave an 
account, illustrated by experiments, of what 
he supposes to be the organ of hearing in in¬ 
sect*. Placing a male mosquito under tho 
microscope, and sounding various notes of 
tuning-forks in the range of a sound given by 
the female mosquito, the various fibers of 
t he antemuo of the male mosquito vibrated 
sympathetically to these various sounds. 
The longest fibers vibrated sympathetically 
to the graVe notes and the short fibers vi¬ 
brated sympathetically to the higher notes. 
The fact that the nocturnal insects liave 
highly organized utcunie, while the diurnal 
ones have not; also tho fact that the anato¬ 
my of these parts of insects shows a highly 
developed nervous organization, leads to the 
highly probable inference Ihwt Prof. Mayer 
has here given facts which form the first 
sure basis of reasoning in reference to the 
nature of the auditory apparatus of insects. 
These expt rimepu were also extended in a 
direction which udded new fails to the 
physiology of tho senses. If a sonorous im¬ 
pulse strike a fiber so that the direction of 
the impulse is In the direction ci the fiber, 
then the fiber remains stationary. Thus, 
when a sound strikes the fibrils of au insect, 
those on one antenna are vibrated more 
powerfully tlian the fibrils on the other, and 
tho insect naturally turns in the direction of 
that untenna which is most strongly shaken. 
The fibrils on the other antenna are now 
shaken with more and more intensity, until, 
having turned his body so that both antennas 
vibrate with equal intensity, he has placed 
the axis of his body in tho direction of the 
sound. Experiments under the microscope 
show that the mosquito can thus detect to 
within five degrees the position of the sonor¬ 
ous center. To render assurance doubly sure, 
Prof. Mayer, having found two fibrils of the 
untenn® of a mosquito which vibrated pow¬ 
erfully to two different notes, measured these 
fibrils very accurately under the microscope. 
He then constructed some fibrils out of pine 
wood, which, though two or three feet long 
und of the thickness of small picture-cord, 
had exactly the tame proportion of length to 
thickness at the fibrils of the antennae of the 
mosquito. He found that these slender pine 
rods or fibrils had to each other the same ratio 
of vibration as the fibrils of the mosquito. 
---- 
Wood Lice in frames or pots may be 
trapped with a piece of apple or potato as 
bait loosely encased in dry moss; but a cor¬ 
respondent tells The Garden that no plan h ®> 
worked so successfully with him as the ex¬ 
peditious and easy one of pouring boiling 
water close round the inside of the frame, 
taking care, not to let it reach any portion of 
A 
