3 ft. 
HOW TO RAISE HEW MELONS. 
The same correspondent who asks the 
above questions about raising Hk-kory nuts 
wants also to know how to proceed m order 
to produce uew varieties of melons. As our 
common garden sorts of the various spec.es 
of melons are so far removed from the wl1 ^ 
kinds, having been hybridized and crossed 
for thousands of years, wo encounter greater 
difficulties in retaining any ilxed type or va¬ 
riety than in producing new ones. If we 
raise an apparently new and distinct variety, 
it is at best only a mixture of several, conse- wons 
miontlv Plants raised from its seed are likely agents 
to sport in aU directions few, if any, retain- may be interesting, 
ing all of the characteristics of the la*st parent some who may^- 
! variety. A greater portion of the vanetiw | the 
I in cultivation may be termed accidentals, , 
being variations from others, the grower sc- 
lecting a single specimen which pleased him, 
and then, by carefully planting the seed of 
the same for a term of years and in a posi¬ 
tion isolated from all others, weeding out 
each season every plant or melon not, con¬ 
forming to the original model, the type at 
last becomes fixed, and we have what is 
termed a distinct variety. Perhaps a more 
scientific course would be to select two sorts 
as a starting point, taking those combining 
i the most desirable merits ; then cross-fertib 
I ir.e the flowers, saving seed from both the 
| first season, and from the product of these 
select the best and most desirable specimen, 
after which pursue the system of weeding 
> | out variet ies is as referred to above. 
To get a distinct variety or keep it pure, 
1 only one sort of the same species cam bo safely 
l crown in any ordimtf y-sized garden, for bees, 
' r insects will go from flower to 
ing tho poller on their legs or 
3 by cross-fertilizing the sorts 
cep pure, 
have already aa good varieties 
;, iu T’.r.ctc.imc to produce , but 
FROM AIKEN, S. C 
daily rural life. 
I TELL you of Aiken, S. C., as seen by a 
cool-headed Northern man, who is not inter¬ 
ested in eelling real estate, aDd who will not 
stoop to use even the initials of others in 
sundry papers in violent praise of attractions 
not to be found here except in the comnns- 
made by unscrupulous real estate 
in selling, &e. An impartial view 
and perhaps useful, to 
’ contemplate a removal to 
South. With this view, I—“a 
From the Diary of a Centleman near New 
York City. 
RAISING hickories. 
;_A correspondent signing himself 
Z„ Highland, N. Y.,” writes me as 
through the Itu- 
would go to 
Jan. 15. 
“X. Y. : 
follows“ 
RAL 1- - 
work to raise 
varieties, 
and how ? 
lings bear 
from wine 
The above is 
consideration, i 
as well as e 
nuts are b 
best sorts 
reputation 
being c~ 
preserve 
attention to our native 
■w'efi aware that there arc a 
natural wild varieties c- . 
some possessing 
quite inferior. 
Please tell me, 
New-Yorker, how you 
Hickories in order to get good 
Can they be grafted successfully, 
If raised from seed, will the seed- 
the same variety as the parent tree 
h they were taken i” 
rorthy of careful 
Hickory timber,, 
varieties of these 
One by one tlie 
which have had at least a 
_ ter some ren- 
destroyed, with scarcely an 
them. Any one wL 
i sunny- , 
looker-on in Venice”-write, while the ther¬ 
mometer marks 05’ in the shade, and a fine, 
pleasant breeze is stirring, making the heat 
bearable, and will give a few notes of reali¬ 
ties The extreme heat does not range 
higher here than at the North, but lasts 
longer through the day. The ground, houses, 
furniture and all things else get thoroug h 
warmed up and feel hot to the touch, so that 
in the morning the thermometer marks W 
or 85% at midday and t ill 4 or 5 o’clock P- M. 
it stands at. 95“ to 98% and at 10 o clock at 
night it will be up at 90’. Bo tis the long 
: hot days, and many of them stretching out 
into weeks and months, that debilitates and 
takes away the energy and strength that is 
so necessary for continued industry. 
One hundred and twenty miles by railroad 
-west of Charleston, on a continual rise, but 
so gradual as to be imperceptible, is situated 
Aiken, S. C-, QUO'feet above the ocean s level 
| and 350 feet above the Savannah river at 
Ga., seventeen miles on the railroad 
We make the following extract irom mid 
P resident’s Message which will bo found 
interesting as illustrating the magnitude of 
the land business in this country under 
Government direction : 
The business of the general land offico 
exhibits a material increase in ail it.a branches 
during the last fiscal year. During that time 
there wero disposed out of the public lands 
thirteen million thirty thousand six hundred 
and six acres, being an amount greater by 
one million one hundred and sixty-five thou¬ 
sand six hundred and thirty-one acres than 
was disposed of the preceding yea.. 
Of the amount disposed of one million six 
temdred and twentv-six thousand two hun- 
1 , local | 
nark able merit, are 
i effort, to ! 
ho has paid any 
nut bearing t rees, is 
t, vast number of | 
of the same species, | 
; unusual qualities and others | 
The Pecan nut of the South 
and West and our common Shell-bark Hick- 
orv being the only two species remarkable 
for the superiority of the nuts, in an edible 
point of view, it is among these wcshoul 
look for natural varieties for preservation and 
propagation. 1 presume that many choice 
varieties belonging to both species could bo 
found if they are not at present toown,^ 
searching the forests where these trees 
abound ; in fact., I know of several soi •* ( 
which have a great local voputaHoc, an 1 
amon- the Shell-barks, (Car;,a dha ,) Ilon ® 
hotter than the Hale’s P^cr-shcll. tv-Wch 
was first brought to public notice through 
the Rural New-Yorker, betas 
described on page, 33-, h° v - 1 % * 
ia another quite sin 
on Snake Hill, iu 
York City. At 
two years ago, 
wel\-known Me 
receivi 
sorts, some 
kind. But as wo 
tionol Arboretum 
as politicians 
who co re one w 
such vs- 
done iu t his 
private 
But in answer 
Augusta, ^MMH b Pbp 
still further west- AU these mgn ianu S nunon 
throughout this section arc of a heavy sandy fired a 
v-ji ove r a, substratum of yellow and red clay steads 
many ol tnem new jm 
tq a higher standard of 
judicious system of dll 
There is just, as good 0 
roads; 233,548 acres were approved to State 
as swamp lands ; 13S,G81 acre* were certified 
for agricultural colleges, common ^schools, 
universities and seminaries; 190,773 acres 
were approved to States for internal im¬ 
provements ; 14,222 acres were located with 
Indian scrip. 
The cash receipts during the same time 
wero $3,498,515.50, being $190,415.50, in excess 
of the receipts of the previous year. 
During the year 50,48S,182 acres of public 
lands were surveyed-aa increase over the 
amount surveyed the previous year of 1,037,- 
1 B 3 acres, and added to the a.ea pioviou.1} 
surveyed, aggregate GIG, 514,895 acres which 
have been surveyed, leaving 1 , 218 ,443, oOo 
acres of the public lands still unsurveyed. 
The increased and steadily increasing facil¬ 
ities for reaching our unoccupied public do- 
I main and for the transport of surplus prod¬ 
ucts enlarge the available field for desirable 
homestead locations, thus stimulating settle¬ 
ment and extending year by year in a gradu¬ 
ally increasing ratio the area of occupation 
and cultivation. 
The expressed desire of the representatives 
of a large colony of citizens of Russia co emi¬ 
grate to this country, as it is understood, 
with the consent of their government, if ccr 
tain concessions can be made to enable them 
I to settle in. a compact colony, is of great 
anists. 1 have also j a 
•ed from correspondents many other a]w;1 
of them quite uniquo of their then 
have neither a State nor Nu- nimi 
worthy of the name, and fear 
rule the nation instead of men g ra y 
—hit about the preservation of very 
pueblo natural products, whatever is coris 
line must lie through energies of t ,, ,, t 
individuals. . S0UI 
to your questions 1. Pro- to t. 
coed in tho same manner as pomologists do den 
in raising now varieties of pears and apples, ly 
Sow nuts of the beet sorts that can be found : bod 
but there will be no certainty oi obtaining Agt 
an exact reproduction of the parent sort, as abo 
the Hickory is likely to vary when grown tho 
from seed the same as our cultivated fruit., rat 
but not to so great an extent. This ten 
Tour third question. One instance will suf- put 
h°e for an illustration of the variations of of e 
liickory seedlings : —Bom e SO years ago, when the 
then owner of the farm upon which the eat 
from COLORADO. 
Colorado is one of the best stock raising 
sections of the West, the grass, as you are 
aware, curing on the ground and remaining 
nutritive through tho winter. Although 
there are good vacant spots to be found 
north of Denver, yet I think the southern 
portion of the Territory preferable for this 
purpose. There are some most excellent 
spots about the Divide, on its northern and 
southern slope. Money can be made stoex 
raising in Colorado. To find employment 
at farming, I think, it would be best to 
go out early in the spring ; as to herding 
I suppose one season about the same as an- 
l other. I believe there is not much difficulty 
! in finding employment at any time. The 
in politeness, from gentlemen in varxous | grapevines. In good* ^ 
parts of France, asking fora few dozen or i ties tow ][ 8 v Q rk marl 
hundred of native grapes, the most likely to cr ops to the tl 
s:~ : 
and ? that is what annoys me. 1 iM? wear hefore they are ripe at the . 
good boots and at %J same time not be a Scup _ errihng , a native grape, i 
bootmaker or dealer m the. article mtirelv free from disease an 
JMSioi. are Urge £ 
troubles. Wha t they said about my long bere Mie blackberry grow 
white hair last summer, and mv owu refer- test luxuriance, and bund 
... r »v r.m «ip-e_ hromrht iust The 6 trawb erry, e 
Wilson’s, does remarkably wel 
and I find the Black Cap ras 
finely in a few gardens here, ai 
raised profitably to send tc 
;U letters from as many (l presume! 
friiis. who requested just a small iock 
r their albums, and the result is 
wig (Don’t print this, for Mrs. Ru- 
tfiinks l cut my hair off cm account of 
