MOOBE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
30 
three years old, or at two if preferred, but 
in whichever ease, never to sell at any price 
before, and to reserve those for breeding he 
deems worthy and not sell one of them under 
any temptation. 
When a breeder who is seen to lie selling, 
every opportunity, by private sales calls a 
public auction, it is a natural conclusion 
there arc; only such animals as have been left 
by purchasers to be offered, and it is veiy 
uncertain about the result of an auction 
being satisfactory ; but if a man is well 
known to sell all his colts every year, reserv¬ 
ing none put up, and only keeping back such 
as are necessary for the future prosperity of 
his stud, then he ivill always have a good 
sale, and when it is found how well they 
turn out in consequence of their fully-de¬ 
veloped powers, lie will be patronized and 
his income will be enormous, while the ped- 
ling kind of dealing going on with others 
will not pay expense#. 
There is more depending on the manage¬ 
ment of the colts during the first winter of 
their existence than is admitted by would-be 
great horse authorities'; And hundreds of 
colts have every good quality lying latent- in 
their system ruthlessly strangled andforever 
lost, while by a treatment which would 
stimulate, the young animals so that on being 
weaned they would increase in froliesomness 
and retain the plump, round form given by 
good nursing, and all the strength of muscle 
and quickness of action, which was ever 
possessed by any of the ancestral line, would 
be forced into existence instead of lying dor¬ 
mant. 
Yes I this is the secret of all the disap¬ 
pointments in breeding; this is the art of 
successful breeding, of courso combined with 
good management altogether, for it would 
be useless to expect highly satisfactory re 
suits when the colts arc shut up as it were 
in prison with no opportunity of bounding 
away and racing about in their joyous ex¬ 
uberance ; and again, many colts are ac¬ 
tually injured before they are born by the 
idiotic folly of keeping the mare without 
exercise while in foal, Though the moderate 
climate of the middle States is preferable for 
raising, particularly on account of the sav¬ 
ing of expense in wintering, yet it can be 
done easily enough in the coldest weather 
with the right management, 
A Wop.king Farmer. 
BETTER NOT SAY ANYTHING. 
This is our advice to those who thiukthey 
are called upon to give the lxistoiy of each 
and every phenomenon as it is presented to 
their notice. Probably there always is a 
time, during the rise and progress of any 
science, when it is perfectly safe for a man 
to advance a theory of his own, no matter 
how absurd it may be, and there will be 
very little danger of immediate, detection ; 
but lie may rest assured that- sooner or later 
its truth of falsity will bo discovered. If 
men bad always confined themselves to what 
they really did know instead of presuming to 
account for things of which they were to¬ 
tally ignorant, we should have far more grain 
and leas chaff in all of our historical and 
scientific works. 
Among agriculturists and horticulturists 
there have been innumerableinstane.es where 
both writers and talkers would have stood 
far higher in public estimation if they bad 
not said anything upon certain subjects, in¬ 
stead of advancing foolish theories and ex¬ 
planations of phenomena which were far 
beyond their comprehension. Flint the 
Elder was a most wonderful man for his 
time, and he has afforded us an insight into 
the condition of rural affairs among the an¬ 
cient Romans, b&sirle.s no little amusement, 
over his absurd theories. For these favors 
we are certainly much indebted to him, but 
would have been better pleased if he had 
confined himself to facts and uot mixed in 
so much fiction that 18 centuries of sifting 
have failed to separate, fiction from truth. 
The wonderful and marvelous were the 
only proof of wisdom required by the igno¬ 
ramuses of those days as well as in the pres¬ 
ent, consequently our old author tells the 
gardener if he wants to get rid of the canker 
worm he has only to hang the bones of a 
mare’s head (those of a horse will not do) 
upon the fence about a garden, and these 
vermin will soon disappear. This remedy 
has its counterpart, in the insect-extermina¬ 
tors that are being peddled about t he count ry 
at the present time. All through the works 
of our ancient, authors this prOnencss to in¬ 
troduce the marvelous instead of confining 
themselves to facts of which they were cog¬ 
nizant, is constantly cropping out. If they 
did not know anything about an event, they 
were sure to tell a long story in explanation. 
If we pass over u dozen or more centuries, 
or up to the time printing was invented, we 
still find that man had improved but little 
in his manner of recording facts. For in¬ 
stance, Gkrarde, in his groat botanical work, 
| “ Historic of Plants,” published in London, 
1507, could not be content with telling what 
he knew about the plants cultivated in Brit¬ 
ish gardens, but must dabble in other branch¬ 
es of Natural History'. The last chapter of 
his work is devoted to the history of the Bar¬ 
nacle Goose, (rterniclu leucopgitt,) which he 
declares is evolved from barnacle shells, ( Lr- 
Puh analife.ru,) found attached to old sunken 
logs on the north coast of England and in 
many other places. To make the case strong¬ 
er, he declared that he had witnessed the 
cut Ire transformation from the barnacle to 
the living goose ! We know at- the present 
time that he never saw any such tiring, and 
this weakens our faith in the aut hor of what 
is apparently a great work. Thousands of 
similar instances might be selected from 
other books on Nat ural History, all of which 
prove that it is quite often the case that men 
had better not have said anything than to 
have said what they did. 
But., to give a clearer idea of this peculiar¬ 
ity of mankind, we will name a few of the 
many instances that have been brought to 
our notice within the past few years, where j 
explanations were worse than useless. 
in the year 1850 there appeared in the Pat¬ 
ent Office Report a beautif ul lithograph, pur¬ 
porting to be an exact representation of Pea¬ 
body’s New Hautbois strawberry'. On page 
449, the origin of this variety'is given, to wit: 
“ Mr. OH as. A. Peabody lias originated a 
new seedling strawberry by crossing the 
Rose Fhceuix with the wild strawberry of 
Alabama.” But liow this crossing could pro¬ 
duce a “ Hautbois” strawberry* is inexplica¬ 
ble, as neither of the sorts experimented 
with belong to that, very distinct European 
species. The same kind of philosophy would 
permit a man to ussert. that by crossing ihe 
Alderney* with the Durhamghe could obtain 
buffaloes. 
Two or throe years since a man appeared 
before the Farmers’ Club of this city with a 
new and promising strawberry. He was 
asked to give its origin, which he attempted 
to do by stating that tl: e pollen of two or 
three varieties were, mixed together, etc,, 
etc., which showed so conclusively* that the 
man was totally' ignorant of the first princi¬ 
ples of vegetable physiology, that several of 
the gentlemen present expressed their doubts 
of the plant being a new seedling. This sup¬ 
posed to be new variety, was the much talked 
of Romeyn, which proved to lie the old 
Triomphe do Gaud. Its miraculous origin 
was too much for the poor thing, and two or 
three fat hers were certainly enough to make 
one seed produce a plant exactly like its 
mother. 
The Mexican Ever-bearing strawberry is 
another bantling that was introduced in a 
questionable way, a few plants being brought 
from Mexico in a carpet bag, and after sever- 
ral months of hard usage one plant came to 
life, to gladden the heart of a dear sister of 
a famous traveler and introducer of so won¬ 
derful a berry. It is a great pity* that it 
should have proved to be an old and well 
known sort that hail escaped from some 
neighbor’s garden. 
The above must suffice for the strawberry, 
but there are plenty more of the same sort. 
We have apple trees that bear fruit but 
never bloom (provided we can believe it) and 
plums that are curculio-proof ; and one va¬ 
riety*, the origin of which can bo traced to a 
seed found in the craw of a goose. But what 
is still more strange, this wild goose story is 
constantly being repeated, to make another 
land of goose believe that the fruit is better 
in consequence of it* miraculous origin. 
Some men seem to think that if they urc 
introducing a new fruit or grain it is posi¬ 
tively' necessary that a marvelous history 
must be attached to help the thing along. 
What was the necessity of calling the new 
“ White Rose l’otato” a hybrid f Does it 
make it any better I or was not the word 
“cross,” or even “seedling,” strong enough 
to suit the fancy of the introducer ( If it is 
a “hybrid,” perhaps the originator can tell 
us the names of the two aperies (not varie¬ 
ties) that are its parents. In other words, if 
people would confine themselves to facts or 
to what, they really know, othei-s would not 
lie so likely t-o discredit their statements or 
discover their ignorance. 
-- 
An Ohio Woman Writes: — “Will the 
Rural friends please tell us all about their 
bowers ami to cultivate them. I think what. 
‘Daily Rural Life’ tells us from week to 
week is worth the price of the Rural. May 
the Rural New-Yorker live long to do 
good.— Mrs, S. Barber. 
yf-’ii'ld 
A MAN WHO KNOWS BEANS. 
A farmer near Brockport, Monroe Co.. 
N. Y., commenced, some twelve years ago, 
by the purchase of fifty acres of land. It 
was before the rise in land, and he bought 
for fifty dollars an uer«, much of it being 
considered of Inferior quality. Ho was in 
debt for a considerable part of the purchase 
money. He planted neariy the whole of his 
farm, the first year, with beans. The war 
made an active demand for beans, at high 
prices ; he got a good crop and sold for f t to 
$4.50 per bushel. Doing so well the first 
year, he repeated the experiment ; bought 
more land, until he now owns 309 acres. 
Beans are and have been Ills main though 
not, as at first, his only crop. Two years 
ago he planted about 149 acres. The plant¬ 
ing is all done by a machine made especially 
for the purpose, and tha cultivating is done 
by horse labor. He hires the beans pulled 
by the acre, $2.50 being the usual price. 
Women and ehiidrod do much of this work, 
and, as it is done by the acre, t hero is no dis¬ 
puting as to how much each laborer earns. 
There are ups and downs in prices — low 
prices being the rule since'the war—but Mr. 
-has found Ids bean crop always a profit¬ 
able one. In seasons when beans are injured 
by the weather, he furnishes a great amount 
of work for poor people in winter in hand¬ 
picking lii.s enormous crop. Ilis example and 
success have proved contagious, and the re¬ 
sult. is that beans have been grown more 
largely within six or ten miles of Broekport 
thau in any other section of similar size in 
world. Many farmers have grown rich by 
growing them, and during the war it was 
not uncommon for men to make the value of 
their land from a single crop, well sold. 
Western New York. 
CRANBERRY CULTURE. 
We tue indebted to J. N. Bauo, Sec’y, for 
the Annual Report of the Hampden Co., 
Muss., Ag. Soe., in which wo find t he follow¬ 
ing communication from Mr. Etiian Brooks 
on Cranberry Culture, which will interest 
many Rural New-Yorker readers : 
lu the spring of 18152 1 began the cultivation 
of cranberries, by spending one day, with 
two men and teams, in removing sods, carting 
on sand, and setting the plants, which were 
previously obtained from near the Westfield 
Ponds. The groimd taken was of a swampy 
nature, (not peat,) and the mucky soil, from 
four to seven or eight inches deep, was under¬ 
laid with a day hard-pan. Alter carting off 
the turf and carting on about two inches of 
sand, the vines were set in rows about two 
feet apart, by* putting the roots of a long vine 
in the ground, and then occasionally covering 
the vine as it extended along the row. T con¬ 
sidered all this merely experimental, intend¬ 
ing, if the result proved favorable, to give 
more attention to the matter, bur. the dlib 
eulty (consequent upon the war) of procuring 
labor, and the greater difficulty of procuring 
the money which labor then demanded, 
compelled me for the time to abandon the 
enterprise. This patch, being in the midst 
of a twenty aero pasture, was at the mercy 
of the cat tle and the colts, who trampled on 
it at will, and yet without the slightest care 
the vines completely covered the ground in 
three or four years, and have produced good 
crops since, yielding this fall something more 
than a bushel to the square rod, 
I am now enlarging these beds, and have 
at present an acre set to vines, though not 
in bearing. 
A brook runs through the grounds, and a 
dam which nature had provided by bringing 
high banks quite near together just where a 
dam is needed, enables me to keep the vines 
under water ail winter. By this means I 
guard against the cranberry worm, which 
sometimes is destructive to the vines, and 
also kills out the grass. The vines are not 
injured by being under water from October 
till May. Grass, and especially* sorrel, may 
be killed out in mid-summer by covering the 
land with a few inches of water in the hottest 
weather for three or four days. This will not 
hurt the vines, but is certain destruction to 
the fruit if there is any on the vines. I have 
planted some vines without carting on any 
sand, but this is on ground which lias some 
sand mixed with the muck. 
The grass comes in badly* on this piece, and 
T removed the fence last cummer so as to let 
the cattle on, that they might keep down the 
grass, and am well pleased with the result. 
I think there may be in tins case another 
advantage in allowing the cattle on the 
ground, as they must tread the running vines 
close to, and even down into the ground, giv¬ 
ing them a better chance to root. I think 
these vines may make as good a “bed” as 
any planted in sand, but they will be longer 
in coming into bearing, 
About two years since I called on Mr. The¬ 
odore Budd of Pemberton, New Jersey*, who 
showed me bis forty-four acres of vines and 
very courteously gave mo much information 
on the subject. One of bis statements is that 
there is no such thing as a “barren” vine; 
vines that do not bear are barren for the 
time from some temporary* cause. 
Mr. Budd gave mo this advice : — “ Get 
| shut of the w ater. Keep out the bushes, and 
the vines will get the ascendancy of the 
grass.” He also stated that he had been 
quite as successful without as with applying 
sand, though the nature of the ground must 
determine this matter. 
I have learned by experience, that vines 
wit h roots should be Used in planting. Vines 
without roots may live. Some of them will 
live and some will die, but vines with roots 
ure almost sure not only to live but fjrow, 
much better than those without roots. All 
springs should be cut off, and the ditches 
placed low enough to make the ground in 
summer time dry enough for corn, unless it 
be iu ease of newly-set vines. Then, in case 
of extremely* dry* weather, it would bo best 
to stop up the ditches or brook and allow the 
ground to fill or partly fill with water. Being 
only a beginner in this branch of agriculture, 
I will hero pause to await further results, 
only adding that as the cranberry thrives 
without other fertilization than that obtained 
from ono application of the poorest sand, 
while all other crops are constantly* calling 
“manure,” “more manure,” it seems worthy 
the consideration of Massachusetts farmers. 
■ ■- * * ♦- 
RAISING SEEDLING POTATOES. 
Last spring 1 procured from B. K. BLISS 
<fe Sons a paper of potato seed ; planted it 
the (5th of June. I have twelve varieties of 
potatoes. Some were quite early and some 
were not ripe when tlio frost came, I have 
two hills that are very fine looking; they 
will be worth Considerable if they are as 
good as they look. One hill of white ones 
tiiwl nineteen potatoes ; the largest weighed 
rix ounces. T hove marked them as accu¬ 
rately as l could ; 1 will send the sheet with 
this letter. Is the number and size anything 
more than Is com.non from seed? 1 had an- 
uthcr hill near this ono tint had nine—ono 
that weighed seven ounces. There were six 
that were a fair size for cooking. I shall 
test their goodness next summer. I uni de¬ 
lighted with my* garden, and should lie glad 
if more of my sisters would leave oil some 
of the ruffling and tucking and take to plant¬ 
ing and breathing the pure air.— Mrs. P. 
Burgess, Kenosha, IF/#. 
The sketches of the seedlings sent show 
some specimens of remarkable size for 
tubers the first year from seed. We shall be 
pleased to hear ho\v they succeed another 
season. Of course there is no reason why 
the ladies should not indulge in r aising new 
varieties of potatoes; and wo agree witn 
you that many of them would be benefited 
by a little or a good deal of close acquaint¬ 
ance with the soil iu the culture of plants. 
Only make it, fashionable and popular, and 
there will be no scarcity of female experi¬ 
menter* in this field of industry! We hope 
your new seedling potatoes will be superior 
to any yet produced, if for no other reason 
than to show what a woman can do. 
MY CORN CROP FOR 1873. 
I herewith give the details relating to my 
last season's corn crop, it being the most 
profitable of any one crop grown on my 
farm. Size of field, 5 acres. Cost of plow¬ 
ing, $10; harrowing, $1 ; marking, 82; plant¬ 
ing, 85 ; cultivating, 88; hoeing but once, 
$7.59; seed, $1.25; cutting, $5; husking, 
$37.00 ; hauling, $10 ; valuing the land at $290 
per acre, interest, $79 — making the entire 
cost of production, $160.35. 
We harvested 752 baskets of sowed corn, 
or 400 bushels Of shelled corn, which will sell 
to-day at 80 cents per bushel, or $320 ; 1,600 
bundles stalks, $75 ; gross returns, $395 ; net 
profit, $234.05 
The soil is gravelly loam (pine laud), also 
beach and maple on same (originally heavily* 
timbered). The same field has been under 
the plow for over 30 years; produced 30 
bushels of wheat per acre tlio previous year. 
The soil has been quite well fed with clover 
and about once in threo years has had a 
liberal dressing with barn-yard manure. The 
corn was planted June 2d ; the seed was 
eight-rowed “red blaze,” The plow was 
set to run 11 inches. I believe corn should 
uot be planted in tins climate before June 1. 
BaldwInsvillo, N. Y. I). W. Newcomb. 
- *-*■+ - 
Chufas or Earth Almonds are not Pea¬ 
nuts. They can be grown along the Hudson 
River, but we would not advise “X. Y. Z.” 
to waste any time cultivating them. 
