have a chance with others in gathering as 
much as they want, but I decline to pay any 
more freight or commissions. 
At first I thought this “idea'’ of cultivate 
ing fruits for ornament was original, but an 
incident which has just couie to mind con¬ 
vinces me that it is not; for many years ago 
there lived on Long Island a man who beat 
me out of sight in this line, as his ended not 
in a failure. Once upon a time he invited a 
large party of gentlemen and ladies to visit 
him for the purpose of Boeing and eating 
strawberries, as he had in his garden several 
hundred of the choicest varieties known. 
The invited guests resided in New Vork City, 
and of that class who know how to enjoy a 
day in the country, strawberries or no straw¬ 
berries. As the party arrived at the old 
season, if he had never gone beyond the first 
sort introduced to notice, viz.,—Doolittle, or 
American Improved Black Cap. 
Among the red raspberries there is really 
a less number of novelties than among the 
blackcaps. The Brandywine, which has of 
late attracted considerable attention, is a 
rather dwui f-growing native sort, with me¬ 
dium size bright red or scarlet berries, quite 
productive and plants very hardy—an excel¬ 
lent variety for local!ties where the foreign 
sorts will not thrive. The Baldwin, a new 
sort, from Illinois, is hardy, moderately pro¬ 
ductive. 
ABOUT PATRONS AND GRANGES 
DAILY RURAL LIFE. 
Dominion Grange .—The Farmers’ Advo¬ 
cate, London, Ont.. thus announces the or¬ 
ganization of a Dominion Grange, P. of H., 
to which we suppose the subordinate Gran¬ 
ges will pay tribute instead of to our National 
Grange “ We take great pleasure in in¬ 
forming our subscribers that our Dominion 
Grange lias been organized, and that we need 
no longer send any of our money to the 
United States or be In any way subject to 
them. Delegates from the different Granges 
throughout the Dominion met in London on 
the second day of June, and there, by a unan¬ 
imous vote, decided upon tbe organization 
of our Dominion Grange, adopted a consti¬ 
tution and by-laws, and appointed ofticei-s. 
Of this meeting we can only say that the 
speeches and work of the representatives 
present showed very plainly that we do not 
need to go to the lawyere for men of ability 
to represent us in Parliament, or to the 
merchants for thoroughly practical business 
men. There was no hesitation, no stuttering, 
no want of words to convey ideas. Many 
of the speeches contained the true germs of 
eloquence, and ull of them were practical 
and business like, and we felt that we had 
just cause for being proud of our brother 
farmers.” 
Patrons and Politics .—Under this heading 
the Southern Agriculturist says It has 
been a matter of regret with us to learn that 
there are several prominent members of the 
Order of Patrons of Husbandry who are as¬ 
piring for some high office. The principles 
of the order declare it to bo non-political, and 
yet as soon os a district is partially organized 
some one declares himself u candidate, which 
gives the politician a cause for opposing the 
Order. The members must be consistent, in 
their principles and practices, to give the 
“balance of the world” that confidence 
necessary to the success of the Order. That 
it will work a grand reformation, wc do not 
doubt; that it will plaeo men of integrity in 
high positions we feel sure ; but we disap¬ 
prove of members rushing into the field as 
candidates and attempting to use the Order 
to further their endB. They should not be 
hasty—there is a time for everything, and 
From the Diary of a Centleman near Kew 
York City. 
A DAY WITH CHARLES DOWNIHO. 
July 0.—There is not mueh that is either 
new or interesting in pomology this season ; 
in fact, there has been a dearth of novelties 
for several years past, and one’s eye for new 
fruits begins to grow dim for want of use. 
A visit to-day from Mr. CHARtEB Downing, 
the veteran pomologiat, brought to mind the 
enthusiasm of former days, if not the objects 
which caused it, and wc traveled over again 
in thought and words some of those old Jour¬ 
neys in search of facts in regard to many of 
the once new but now old fruits of our gar¬ 
dens. 
The name of DOWNING has been so long 
and intimately connected with American 
horticulture that some of the younger mem¬ 
bers of the profession, who have been born 
since the fame of the Downing brothers was 
established, can hardly realize the fact that 
the elder of the two (Charles) is still in the 
field, doing an immense amount of labor 
towards purifying the nomenclature as well 
as for the general advancement of American 
Pomology. Few men have ever devoted 
their lives more unselfishly and constantly 
than Charles Downing to the good of a 
science which so directly benefits his fellow 
man ; and as he was but 72 yvurs old yester¬ 
day, (and for aught that 1 can see to the con¬ 
trary, as young a* when 1 first knew him, a. 
quarter of a century ago,) we may hope that 
his days of usefulness are far from being over. 
Wliile musing thus, he reminds me, as lie 
lias often done before, that time is passing 
and growing more precious to us all as we 
grow Old, therefore a run through a part of 
the garden before dinner will be just so much 
saved from the work proposed after dinner. 
Of course, 1 shall not attempt to report pri¬ 
vate conversation, but will remark, inciden 
tally, that we first visited my currant patch, 
where I have every species and variety of 
currant that will grow in this climate, be¬ 
sides some that won’t without nursing. For 
a selection of six I would name Red and 
White Dutch, Versailles, Cherry, White 
Grape and Victoria. The latter is a little 
later than the ltcd Dutch, otherwise no bet¬ 
ter. There are plenty of sorts equally as 
good as those named but no better, conse¬ 
quently one gains nothing by adding them to 
a collection unless for the purpose of study¬ 
ing their peculiar characteristics. La na¬ 
tive and La Fertile de Angers, resemble the 
Cherry in growth, leaf and Color of fruit, 
but the bunches and berries are smaller. 
Champagne is n pretty pink or light rose- 
colored sort, always appearing to be about, 
half ripe. Gloria des Sablons is a striped 
variety, each berry distinctly striped with 
red, the ground color being a dull, yellowish 
white. 1 might go over the whole list in this 
manned but the story has been told over and 
over again in our fruit books as well as in the 
horticultural papers. 
“ Nothing new among currants,” said Mr. 
Downing, as we passed on to the raspber¬ 
ries ; “ but when you and I are gone, some 
3 ’oung enthusiast will go over the same Held 
and these varieties will be new to him and 
his associates.” 
An hour among the raspberries, which are 
exceedingly ahundant this year, owing to 
favorable weather, enabled us to discover 
some of the strong as well as weak points in 
the old as well as newer sorts. Among the 
Black Caps, the Fay ranks first us a very 
early sort, and the fruit is of good size, firm, 
black, with very little bloom—a first-rate 
market sorb, not becoming dull or of a faded 
color in rainy, damp weather, as usual with 
those covered with heavy bloom, like the 
Ontario und Mammoth Cluster. I may also 
remark that the canes of the “ Fay” have 
very few thorns, which is another decided 
merit. 
The “Surprise” is another very distinct 
and valuable variety, although not very gen¬ 
erally known among the cultivators of small 
fruits. The berries are large and of a coni¬ 
cal shape, which is quite unusual among the 
black raspberries. It is a strong and vigor¬ 
ous grower and quite productive ; berries 
firm, and with a slight bloom, ripening with 
the medium or late sorts. 
*< Elsie” is said to be a seedling of the last, 
but is so near like its parent, if not identical, 
that a distinct name is unnecessary. The 
older sorts still hold their own among the 
new claimants for favor, and a man would 
have lost but little, except in prolonging the 
L-ALg, but scarcely sufficiently distinct 
from the wild varieties to be found in the 
woods all through our Northern States. I 
have quite a number of what are known aB 
“ Hers line’s Seedlings,” but none appear to 
possess any special merit making them wor¬ 
thy of extended culture. Of course I hope 
no one will consider Mr. Downing In any 
way responsible for my opinion as expressed 
above, because he happened to be with me 
during an examination of these fruits to-(lay, 
for probably both of us are too decidedly in¬ 
dependent to allow another’s taste or opinion 
to warp our own. 
Although Mr. Downing has been a close 
student of pomology for a half century or 
more, he is as eager and ready to learn to¬ 
day as when he. first begun, showing that 
egotism or .self-conceit in regard to knowl¬ 
edge of any one subject has never as yet 
entered his mind. Fifty years is a long time 
to look forward to, but u very short period 
to look back over; hence the failure to ac¬ 
complish much by those who are negligent 
or waste time while young, and the wisdom 
of those who are industrious even during an 
ordinary lifetime. 
FRUITS fOR ORNAMENT. 
July 10.—I have been trying for the past 
week to introduce a new idea into the small 
community over which 1 attempt to preside, 
but fear that it will end in aD ignominious 
failure on my part, although I still hold that 
it is a good one. The small returns received 
for fruits sent to market, with a fair pros¬ 
pect of a greater reduction next, week, set 
me to tliinking what should be done with 
them in case of a complete breakdown in 
prices. After <lue deliberation for so mo¬ 
ment,uous a question, the idea of considering 
my raspberries, currants, gooseberries as or¬ 
namental plants dawned upon my rather 
obtuse brain, and in accordance with - 'this 
original discovery I gave orders that certain 
rows, dumps, patches and squares of the 
above named fruits were hereafter to be 
considered as “ornamental plants.” After 
ten I walked down to the raspberry patch 
just to see bow it would seem to look at 
magnificent scarlet clusters of Clarks, and 
bushes bending with rich purple Philadel¬ 
phia*, and cream - colored Bouclietti’s, and 
orange-colored Brinckles, and all as orna¬ 
mental berries, just as I have always en¬ 
joyed looking at the scarlet berries of the 
Yew, Ardisia, Euonymus, und a dozen other 
kinds of ornamental shrubs. Then I went 
over to my currant patch, and there 1 had a 
real feast in the way of looking at the beau* 
tiful crimson, pink, white, black, yellow and 
striped ornamental berries. 1 had never 
looked at them in this light before, but I 
must confess that they were the most bril¬ 
liant ornamental plants in my garden, and 
cost far less than those in the borders sur¬ 
rounding my lawn. As all ideas of profit or 
practical usefulness passed out of mind, and 
the sole idea of ornament entered, then- 
beauty increased, and I found myself uncon¬ 
sciously repeating the old Latin phrase^ 
" Vcni. vl'U, vir.i although I was not quite 
sure of the conquering. 
The next morning, however, a domestic 
storm arose, out of which I came off second 
best, but not quite convinced, although 
beaten, in my first attempt at introducing 
the ornamental idea in fruit, culture. When 
it got to be fully understood by the inhabi¬ 
tants of my limited kingdom that those 
beautiful raspberries, currants, gooseberries, 
und similar berries on the plants in my 
specimen ground were not to be picked, but 
become the food of birds or fall on the ground 
in a perfectly natural way, the epithets 
which were hurled at my head became both 
numerous aud appalling. “ Stingy,” “ Wick¬ 
ed,” “Dog in the manger,” “Crazy old 
fool,” and similar select extracts from 
“ Webster’s Unabridged,” were set in motion 
sub rosa by my white and black subordi¬ 
nates; and still the reports from market 
were but, two cents per quart above the cost 
of picking, and this would not pay freight 
and commission for selliug. The storm, 
however, had risen to such a dangerous 
point that I concluded to rescind my order 
of “no more picking,” and substituted an¬ 
other, to wit, let out the hens and let them 
As the party arrived at the old 
mansion, built in revolutionary times, with 
its broad, roomy hall, tallies on each side 
loaded with strawberries greeted their eyes, 
while the fragrance of this delicious fruit 
filled them with joyous thoughts of more 
satisfactory pleasure near at hand. One of 
the guests actually commenced a declama¬ 
tion thus: 
•• StmwhcrrleB upon the rlsht of us; 
Strawberries upon the left of us; 
Strawberries in front of uh ; 
Enoush for six hundred.” 
The company were invited to “fall to and 
help themselves,” whieh they did with as 
little hesitancy as usual on such occasions, 
each vieing with his neighbor in employing 
ail the adjectives at command in praise of 
such splendid strawberries, all of which 
were bought in market, aud came from New 
Jersey. After the capacity of the guests 
had been fully tested, they were invited to 
walk through the strawberry plantations, 
where plants loaded with green, ripe and 
over ripe fruit was the rule, the proprietor 
highly appreciating the straw-berry as an or¬ 
namental plant, especially when visitors 
were likely t,o leave orders for plants to be 
delivered at the proper seasou. 
The nurseryman referred to above fully 
carried out this idea of the ornamental in 
fruit culture, and liis grounds were always 
worthy of a visit to see the various fruits in 
their season. 
James Barnes, Racine, Wis,, writes the 
Germantown Telegraph : —“ I just put a 
handle to a large tin milk can aud scooped 
the beetles off the vines ; it was rather slow 
work, but it answered the purpose and T 
saved my crop. Last year I took an old 
sulkey and put in an axletree long enough to 
cover two rows, then made a box with bot¬ 
tom, back aud ends closed and hung it on the 
axle-tree, tilting back, and driving the horse 
at the rate of about six miles an hour over 
the field of four acres, as soon as the young 
insects make then- appearance. 1 caught a 
bushel and a-half the first time ; but where 
tiie bugs are numerous the operation must 
be repeated several times. I then again im¬ 
proved tbe machine by making the box of 
sheet-iron, the front part of the box coming 
in contact with the vines is bent over a rod 
about an inch iu diameter to prevent it cut¬ 
ting the tops. With it I succeeded in saving 
my crop last year, which I sold at, from ?5c. 
to $1.50 per bushel. The first time I went 
over my field of five acres which I did in 
three and a-half hours. I gathered three 
bushels of beetles, aud tho next time half as 
many. From this you can judge how well 
it operates. The machine is not patented, 
hence I have no ax to grind ; but being an 
old Pliiladolphian, I feel an interest in my 
old friends and neighbors. 
ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES 
Cabbage Worm Remedy .—“A friend to 
Kroct ” is informed that Mr. Quinn mixed 
twenty parts of superphosphate of lime, one 
part carbolic powder, and three parts of 
frseh air-slaked lime, thoroughly, and a 
small quantity of the compound thrown by 
hand into each head of cabbage. This was 
repeated three times during the season and 
the loss from the worm thereafter was not 
five per cent. 
Mandrake Roots for Potato Bugs.— A 
gentleman residing in Brecksville, Ohio, 
reports a very successful treatment, of pota¬ 
to bugs, with a decoction of mandrake root 
tea. The roots are boiled in water aud the 
decoction sprinkled on the potato vines, the 
same as directed for the solution of Paris 
green. 
