MOORE'S BUBAL NEW-YORKER. 
MAY 48 
0 jnt!(l <3(t[0p. 
CORN AND CUT WORMS. 
A correspondent of the Country Gentle¬ 
man Bays:—Your valuable preventive—one 
and one-half pounds of copperas to one 
bushel of corn—I tried as follows, with great 
ease, cheapness and certainty, and most 
marked and astonishing results to all iny 
hands:—I pulverized two pounds copperas 
at night, and the next morning put in soak, 
and I put one and ono-half bushels of corn in 
soak in a separate vessel at night. After 
soaking twelve hours I poured off the water 
from the corn into a tub; 1 then added? 8 
much water as will cover the corn, and add 
to it the copperas water, and thoroughly 
mix and pour over the corn, and let it re¬ 
main in copperas water twelve hours ; I 
then poured off the copperas water from the 
oorn and rolled tho seed corn in J. J. T—'s 
Excelsior or plaster, and if early for planting 
I open deep furrows, say four or five inches, 
and cover light with corn coverer; but if 
late I cover deeper. I tried this experiment 
on a sod field of three years standing, plowed 
in March and April of 1873. f plowed with 
a three-horse plow, seven inches deep on t he 
average; the ground was nicely pulverized. 
Planted on the 1st of May, three and one- 
half by three and one-half each way. Two 
days planting (ten acres). I dampened the 
corn and rolled it in the plaster. The third 
day I had the corn prepared with copperas 
and ready to plant. 
I planted the corn across a forty-four acre 
field, by the side of the second day’s plant¬ 
ing, and there were between two and four 
days planting; all treated alike, except the 
application of copperas on tho two bushels 
seed corn. To the surprise and satisfaction 
of myself and hands, it catne up regular, 
green and vigorous, and grew rapidly. I 
soon found it necessary to replant. I found 
on examination not a hill cut nor a worm to 
be found where the copperas was used, and 
the entire field, except the two bushels of 
seed thus treated, was cut from two to 
three hills out of five, and I often found 
from one to fifteen cut worms in a hill. I 
was so worried I could not determine which 
plan was the best, replant, plow and plant 
over, or check off between rows. 1 have 
heard of such being done, but never tried it. 
I have ordered 150.pounds, and I am urging 
all my friends to give it a t rial. One bushel 
of corn will plant five acres, and one and 
one-half pounds of copperas will prepare the 
bushel of corn. Copperas can be bought in 
quantities to suit farmers at six or seven 
cents per pound. It would cost 1.3 cents per 
acre.. It is cheap, simple and certain with 
me and others who tried it list year, and I 
regard this a valuable preventive. 
--♦ « * - 
“ LIFE-PRESERVER ” PEA HAY. 
A South Carolina farmer writes the Ru¬ 
ral Caroliuan;—“The life-preserver pea, if 
planted the first of May, makes an excellent 
hay, and will grow on almost any kind of 
land. Two plowings and one hoeing will 
make tho crop. I usually plant them on 
thin land that would not make over 150 or 
200 pounds seed cotton per acre. 1 have the 
earliest pods gathered for seed, when ripe, 
and as soon as the leaves begin to turn yel¬ 
low I have the vines pulled up and let 
them lie in the sun about two days, then 
haul in and house them for winter use. 
There will be a good many peas upon the 
vines, which makes them all the better. I 
have never weighed the hoy, but suppose I 
get from 800 to 1.000 pounds per aere. When 
they are fed they should be cut with a 
hatchet upon a block, or with a straw cut¬ 
ter, and moistened with water in which a 
little salt has been dissolved. Jf there are a 
good many peas upon the vines, the ani¬ 
mals will do well on one-tliird less corn than 
with fodder or other hay. I am now feed¬ 
ing upon them, and the animals seem to pre¬ 
fer them to any other food. I would not 
exchange my pea-vine hay for Northern 
hay, one pound for two.” 
-- 
IMPROVING WHEAT FOR SEED. 
Sow none but the largest and most perfect 
kernels. It has been my practice for the 
last sixteen or eighteen years to run my 
wheat for seed over a very coarse seed 
screen, so ns to sow none but the very largest 
kernels. By so doing I have improved my 
wheat so that I have 60 kl nearly all my 
wheat at home for seed. But in 1871 I hit 
upon a new plan. I had a piece of Tread¬ 
well wheat that was injured by insects in 
the previous fall and killed by freezing in 
the. winter, bo that there were Epots not 
worth cutting. After harvest 1 observed a 
few scattering heads of unusual size. It oc¬ 
curred to me that there was wheat that had 
withstood the ravages of the insects and the 
rigor of the winter. T gathered enough to 
sow one rod square, from which I realized 
twenty pounds of wheat, of unusually largo, 
even berry, which was at the ratio of over 
fifty bushels per acre; last harvest had 
twenty bushels which weighed sixty-six 
pounds per bushel. It is my opinion that 
we realize the best crops from the best and 
most perfect seed in the vegetable as well as 
the animal kingdom. Peter Kklsje. 
-» 4 » - - - — 
RAISING MANGEL WURZELS. 
Prepare a part of the ground for seed bed 
as follows :—Make ridges of about three feet 
apart, plowing deeply, and pass over the 
rows lengthwise with a “clod-crusher,” or 
“ float.” Bow the seed vary thick in drills, 
on center of ridge; cover about an inch deep. 
They will endure quite a frost after “ coming 
up.” When up, plow and lme. The rest ol' 
the ground should be frequently cultivated, 
to keep free from weeds. When the mungcls 
arc from one to one and one-half inches In 
diameter, and the tops eight to twelve luches 
long, prepare more ground, uud thin by 
transplanting from the seed rows, cutting off 
tops about two inches above crowns. Use a 
stick about five or six feet long, sharpened, 
for a dibble, making the holes eighteen or 
twenty inches apart. Transplant when the 
ground is wet. The plants can be left till 
two inches in diameter. Cultivate with a 
double shovel-plow and lioe. If the seed 
comes up good and is sown thick, one row 
will fill lrom five to eight. From one to two 
po'iinds of seed will do for an acre, and cost 
about seventy-five cents j'or pound.—Prairie 
Fanner. 
--- 
FIELD NOTES. 
Cow Peas for Plowing Under.— Fritz It., 
Dundee, O., asks “the difference between 
cow peas and green clover for plowing under 
as fertilizers; also where the peas can be 
bought, the price, and expense of raising.” 
We have had no experience with cow peas 
08 a green manuring crop. Tho difference 
between lids crop and clover can only be 
that the cow pea makes a greater growth in 
the same length of time, and hence furnishes 
the soil with more fertilizing material. That 
it will do so as far North as Dundee, (J., is 
not yet determined. We do not know where 
seed can be obtained, nor its cost. Perhaps 
some of our readers can give more satisfac¬ 
tory information. 
Pcd Chaff Spring Wheal the Canada Far¬ 
mer calls “a bad variety of spring wheat,” 
and says that while it is only since last har¬ 
vest that much of it has come into market, 
except Lor seed, “it has already become 
pretty well known to millers, bakers and 
grain buyers, who nro unanimous in the re¬ 
solve to avoid it as completely us possible. 
No miller who knows it will buy it, except 
at a great reduction in price below what the 
Glasgow and Fyfo variety will bring, as it 
injures the appearance and depreciates the 
value of any brand of flour winch it may be 
used to make.” It urges farmers not to 
waste their time growing it. 
The Area to be Planted in Colton.—It will 
require a good deal of Grange discipline, as 
well as many good strong Grange resolu¬ 
tions, if the templution to plant au unusual 
area of cotton is resisted, now that it is 
known that it is proposed to reduce the crop 
one-third. We hope our Southern friends 
will make themselves “masters of the sit¬ 
uation ” by adhering rigidly to the policy of 
growing less cotton and their own supply of 
animal food. Certainly, if they do this, their 
cotton crops will be the most reoiun era live 
ever grown, and the close of the season of 
l$74-o will And them more prosperous and 
happy. 
‘‘Is Orchard Grass Exhaustive to the 
Soil f”—So asks a correspondent of the Ru¬ 
ral New-Yorker. All grasses are more or 
less exhaustive, especially if they are allowed 
to mature seed; but orchard grass is not re¬ 
garded as exhaustive as timothy, red top or 
rye grass. Our correspondent, who says he 
has tui open woodland, on which he would 
like to sow the best kind of grass for such a 
location, is informed that we know of no 
grass better adapted for semi-shaded places. 
Grsses Named.—Please give name of en¬ 
closed grasses in next Rural, and oblige— 
F. W. Riggins. 
No. 1, FinibristijUs capfUnris ; 2. Panicum 
crus-gallis: 3, P-dicliulumutn l -1, P-capil- 
lure; 5, Setnrla glauea; 6, Panicum san- 
guinale; 7, Cyperus ftliculmis; 8, Panicum 
dkhotomiim ; y, Anaropogon scopurius; 10, 
Andropoj/on furcolus . 
Jndu'iti’htl 
A .WOMAN’S VIEWS ABOUT FARM 
LABORERS. 
* The experience that I have had with farm 
bands, or “ hired men,” as we call them in 
our section, leads mo to think that most of 
those who write concerning them have no 
experience. In the matter. In paragraph first, 
of the article in Rural of April 25, your 
correspondent speaks of the lack of promo¬ 
tion in regal'd to farm labor. Tilts, 1 think, 
Is a mistaken view. The educated, intelli¬ 
gent American, with his native elirewdness 
and hat »it ot thinking for himself, is worth 
as much again to a farmer as a blundering 
foreigner who has our ways to learn aud our 
methods to adapt himself to, and who only 
cares to work as long as the “ boss,” as he 
calls his employer, bus his eye on him ; and 
the smart man will command much more 
per month ; for the man who is not a nig¬ 
gard, is willing to pay a better price to the 
bettor man. We carry on a farm of 300 
acres and hire many men, one year with 
another ; wo often get those who think it a 
groat hardship to get up at sunrise, who will 
not get. up until repeatedly called, then stum¬ 
ble out to find teams fed and cows milked 
by the “ good man” of the house, who gets 
tired of calling, and cannot have his cows 
standing until after sunrise for their morning 
meal. More especially does this apply to 
the warm mornings of summer ; for all who 
have taken care of cows know how much 
quieter they stand in the cool morning thau 
they do after the sun gets warm and the flies 
bite them. 
Then, if the'men start their teams at 
they turn out for noon at 11, and out in tho 
field again at VA> turning out at night at <>A, 
which leaves time to get tho millring and 
other chores done before dark. But tho 
drone who sleeps till 5’-£ or 6, wants his $26 
a month just as much as the man who is up 
and astir in the morning. From $2(5 to $30 
per mouth is what farmers pay hereabouts ; 
and when fanners pay $26 a month, (which 
is a dollar a day,) and boards Ins man, (which 
cannot be called loss than ?4 per week,) who 
has his washing and repairing done in the 
family, while, in other occupations board and 
washing have to be paid out of the wages, 
1 think there is not so much in life on a 
farm to compiaiu of as your correspondent 
seems to think. Besides having his board 
and washing, your man thinks he is entitled 
to your hoi-se aud buggy to drive whenever 
he wishes to ride, and is oftentimes put out 
if ho cannot have them ; and if you add in 
with his wages what, his livery bill would be 
if he had to hire a horse and carriage for his 
rides, I think you will come to the conclu¬ 
sion that instead of being imposed upon and 
down-trodden, the hired man on the farm 
makes more money accordingly thai his 
employer, and has a good many privileges. 
This is the way we do by our men, and also 
do our neighbors. 
Speaking of the extra price given to day 
hands during haying aud harvesting, remem¬ 
ber that the month hands generally hire out 
the first of April (aud even earlier) and the 
days are shorter, with many stormy and 
wet ones, when there is nothing but tinker¬ 
ing about to do. aud he is getting his board 
and a dollar a day besides ; while the man 
at 82 or $3.50 in haying and harvesting, 
works early and late at hard work, and the 
days are very long and warm. The farmer 
does not often lodge his day hands; often 
they,get their breakfast at home, which all 
lightens the labor and expense of the farm¬ 
er's house, especially if his day hands num¬ 
ber 8 or 10. 
Speaking, too, of the opportunities for 
reading in fanners’ houses, I have noticed 
that the number of good papers, books and 
periodicals in farmers' households compares 
favorably with that of other classes. It is 
not to 1)0 supposed that men or women who 
hire out to labor, expect to have much time 
for reading or other recreations; that is a 
privilege those who are not compelled to 
labor have over those who work for a living ; 
still, in a farmer's house the lured men and 
hired girls have Lheir evenings to themselves, 
also their Sundays. If they choose to read, 
they can ; if one feels entirely wearied at 
night nothing, in my estimation, is so restful 
as an hour of quiet reading; it fits one for 
more refreshing sleep, though I have heard 
girls excuse themselves from reading, saying 
t hey were too tired ; but they could dance 
till the small hours, if occasion presented, 
without fatigue, or without complaint, at 
least. 
As to farmers being slow paymasters, 1 
have yet to learn that they are more back¬ 
ward than ot her men. Employers generally 
make agreement with employes — that is, 
speaking of farmers—that they shall receive 
their pay when the crops arc Fold, as farm¬ 
ers do not sell every day as the tradesman 
does. But slow pay is often an advantage 
to the young man in the end, as he has his 
wages all in a lump, and it can be turned to 
better advantage than when he gets a few 
dollars at a time through the whole season, 
for then, when his time is out, his wages a re 
nearly spent. As to girls in the farm house, 
their labor, to be sure, is harder than the 
music teacher's ; but then they do not have 
to go to tho expense of costly schooling to 
learn their branch of business, as that is 
something that cannot be taught in the com¬ 
pass of a few lessons, but is bo various that 
nothing but experience will suffice. Girls 
who do domestic lalx>r have their board, too, 
which is considerable of an item if you have 
to pay it every week out of your earnings, 
but which is nearly always overlooked in 
calculations of the price paid. But I think 
the price of labor for female help is out of 
proportion to that paid for men. There can 
be no set price for such labor. If I had a 
neat and capable girl who did not waste my 
provisions nor destroy, by her carelessness, 
all my breakable utensils, I should consider 
her price far above rubies ; but at $3 a week 
and the price of your demolished crockery, 
Bridget’s wages are far beyond her deserts. 
1 never knew in any family any hired girl 
kept at work for 15 hours. We have a large 
farm to carry on and a dairy of 12 cows, but 
we get our work done before dark, except 
to wash the milk pails aud strainers, which 
1 generally do myself, as I attend to all the 
details of the milk and butter. 
Take it altogether, I do not see but what 
farm help is as well paid aud provided for 
as any other class. Let those who do not 
like their labors or their pay seek something 
more congenial to their tastes, hut there 
must always be some who are hewers of 
wood and drawers of water. And as to tho 
respect shown to the laborer, whether in one 
k in d of business or another, it is not of much 
consequence. Townspeople have a sort of 
contempt for the farmer's soiled clothing 
and brown, hard hands, whether he bo em¬ 
ployed or employer ; but people of worth 
and wisdom respect worth and wisdom, and 
are not slow to discover those qualities in 
others, though farmers or farm laborers. 
Berry Briar. 
^piariait. 
ITALIAN BEES, ETC. 
I am a beginner in bee keeping, and, from 
what I can learn by reading, 1 think f iat the 
Italian bees are tne best to keep and that 
the}* should be kept in “movable comb 
hives.” My bees are the common honey 
bee, and 1 use the box-hive. I do not know 
that there urc any Italian bees kept near 
here, neither have I ever seen a “ movable 
comb hive.” Will you please inform mo aud 
others through your columns of the best way 
to obtain Italian bees and also a few practi¬ 
cal hints in regard to keeping bees, for be¬ 
ginners, and plain directions for makiug a 
good bee hive—something t hat is better than 
many of the patent bee hives that are used ? 
Which, of the text-books on bee keeping ad¬ 
vertised for sale at your office do you con¬ 
sider the best for beginners f—s. & It. 
The only way to obtain Italian bees that 
we know of is to buy them of those who 
from time to time advertise them for sole 
in our columns. Our correspondent asks us 
to give a few practical hints for beginners. 
This we could do, but if he is going to make 
bee keeping a business, he should study the 
subject thoroughly. To this end we recom¬ 
mend him to buy either Lanostkoth's or 
Quincy’s works on bee keeping (advertised 
in our book list) or both, and study them 
thoroughly. The columns of an agricultural 
paper afford too limited a space to tell him 
nil he ought to kuow and that he can learn 
from these books. Our object is to give 
current bee news and descriptions of im¬ 
provements. Some lime since we gave a 
description and plan of an unpatented hive, 
which we will reproduce at the earliest prac¬ 
ticable moment. Meantime we are always 
glad to receive such inquiries and the ex¬ 
periences of practical apiarians. 
-♦♦♦- 
Smoking Bees. — C. W. Stokes, Atchison, 
Kansas, says :—I will send you directions for 
making a smoker that I have used and like 
very much. Take a piece of paper eight 
inches by twelve and, with corn silk, make 
a solid roll of about one inch thick; paste 
down the edge of the paper, aud you will 
have a smoker that you can depend upon. 
You can blow the smoke where you want 
to ; it leaves no bad effect on the bees. 
