284 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER 
dttdu55tl[htl ®q|i([5S. 
EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 
At the New York Btate Fair there was a 
discussion, nominally, upon experimental 
farms. The occasion for this discussion was 
that a distinguished member of the Farmers’ 
Club of the American institute and a mem¬ 
ber of a Committee appointed by it “to in¬ 
quire into the best mean* of promoting agri¬ 
culture in our Agricultural Colleges by ex¬ 
perimental farms” read a paper in which 
he criticised Agricultural Colleges In general 
and particular for teaching men theory and 
not practice. He thought the first object of 
the Agricultural College should be to insti¬ 
tute an experimental farm which should 
give practical direction to all its teaching. 
He said Cornell University had been char¬ 
tered nine years, and yet had only built a 
barn and educated nine agricultural stu¬ 
dents. Whereupon Mr. HAWLEY of Syra¬ 
cuse said the dairy interests of the State 
had been more benefited by chemical inves¬ 
tigations at Cornell Universiiy than from all 
' other sources whatever. 
Mr. George Geodes of Syracuse lias Borne 
very peculiar notions of matters. He de¬ 
fended Cornell University ; said Mr. Cor¬ 
nell had .built the bam and donated it to 
tire University. Then he naked, “ What can 
you r eally do with an experimental farm ?” 
asserting—“There is no science of agricul¬ 
ture. No gentleman can tell rrte what it 
coats ixr food to grow a pound of beef or 
wool, it is all guess. Those who sowed 
wheat last week bet on the weather. Will 
an experimental farm tell us when to bow 
wheat? it is the sciences that should be 
studied at the College and the practice 
gained on the farm. The physician cannot 
tell what will be the effect of medicine, nor 
I he farmer predict the weather.” 
Mr, E. W. Stewart of Buffalo was con¬ 
siderably stirred evidently hy Mr. I!ramies’ 
speech. He didn’t think it should bo al¬ 
lowed to go out from the New York State 
Agricultural Society that there is no science 
of agriculture, that it is all guess, that wo 
cannot, tell tire cost in food of a pound of beef 
or wool. He was surprised at the state¬ 
ment, If Mr. Gkddes had not determined 
himself the point* mentioned iu atr expe¬ 
rience of forty years, It is the fault of his 
own observation. Because a physician does 
not know the effect of a medicine under all 
circumstances, does it follow that there is 
no science of medicine? it maybe impos¬ 
sible to tell the exact strength of a thousand 
soldiers brought into an engagement, but is 
there, therefore, no militar} r science ? At 
W< ;t Point they do not undertake to make a 
soldier by teaching military science theoret¬ 
ically. Constant drill is a part of bis educa¬ 
tion. So you cannot educate a student in 
agriculture by talking to him. The theory 
must be illustrated by the best practice. If 
agriculture is not a science, then there is no 
science. No two chemical analyses are ex¬ 
art ly alike, but is chemistry not a science on 
that account i Because no two animals 
Would make a pound of flesh from exactly 
11" same amount of food, is there no science 
< f feeding ? The milk of different cows dif- 
f. s in the relative proport ons of oil and 
casein, and it will require a different quantity 
to make a pound of choose, but have we not 
determined nrr approximate average quan¬ 
tify of milk for a pound of cheese? All hu¬ 
man knowledge is merely approximative, 
and agriculture is capable of as definite illus¬ 
tration as any of the natur al sciences. What , 
can be the object of establishing an Agricul- . 
tuml College if there is no science of agri¬ 
culture. If a knowledge of the sciences al- | 
lied to agriculture will not enable a practical t 
professor of agriculture, at an experimental t 
farm, to illustrate all its processes better than ] 
the ordinary farmer, then we should go back j 
to tradition and discard science. \ 
Cornell University and its experimental ] 
farm Were defended by President White j 
and one or two of it* Professor*. The sci- , 
ences relating to agriculture and general t 
agricultural instruction and practice were j 
being taught to a largo proportion of stu , 
dents, although the number who take an ex- « 
ohtsively agricultural course of study is small i 
comparatively. Ou the experimental farm : 
200 samples of wheat were being tested, and , 
an experiment upon the cabbage worm is in 1 
progress. But it was asserted by the Pro- 1 
fessorof Agriculture that farmers were not 1 
ready to support agricultural schools. There | 
was neither money nor help enough to con- \ 
duct experiments. Think of one man doing 1 
justice to Practical and Experimental Ag * 
ricuiture ! Superintending feeding expert- l 
merits is enough for one man, etc., etc. c 
Such was the drift of the discussion on 
experimental farms. They may be made 
valuable with money enough to spend, but 
inutile now, except in a small way. Cornell, 
however, was indorsed by tire Society, and 
the distinguished member of the Farmers’ 
Club evidently did little beyond stirring up 
a breeze and getting the chaff blown into his 
own eyes. 
- 4 4 4 
MAGISTRATES AND LAW. 
A case for a Squire to settle came on yes¬ 
terday. Being showery, quite a crowd of 
harvesters were present to hear 
the complaint, the defense, and the k 
decision of tire Squire. The evi- 
dencc was clear, and the magistrate " 
an upright and capable man ; but 
tlic'rcsult was unworthy of the ever 1 l 
free and glorious United States, J 
because the law permitted the de¬ 
fendant to appeal against the de¬ 
cision, which every one could see 
was just. Three harvest hands ^ 
were discharged by a farmer be¬ 
cause, after harvest, they refused 
to go back into the Held to work ; 
and, after keeping them waiting 
for two days, he left their wages at 
a store, with the payment short a 
half day. They refused the money . ’-w 
and went to the Squire, and, as . j- 
stated, the parties met for the trial. ’ ’ 
The workmen proved their time ' 
and brought four witnesses, one a 
farmer whom they wor ked for the 
days following that on which they 
left the first place, and it was 
shown they were good and com¬ 
petent men at binding wheat. 
Then the defendant brought a hired girl out 
of the house and a boy to say that on shock¬ 
ing some of the sheaves the day after the 
men left some of them became untied ; how¬ 
ever, the defendant admitted to the magis¬ 
trate that lie had been in the field with these 
men while doing the work .and had not com¬ 
plained about their manner of doing it. The 
decision was that as it was the custom of the 
country to leave work at, sunset and there 
had no fault been found before the men left, 
the full wages must be paid, whereupon the 
defendant gave notice of an appeal to a 
higher court, and these poor men will have 
to lay out of the money in tire meantime and* 
bring suit at the County Court next Novem¬ 
ber. Everybody saw the hardship of the 
case, and I, as an Englishman, saw tlrat 
though in a general way the poor man is 
better off in this country, yet in England no 
dishonest and vindictive farmer could set 
aside decisions made by magistrates. 
THE POULTRY-KEEPER,-No. 10. 
IA FLECHE HEH—CHARACTERISTICS. 
Of rather smaller size t han the cock. Firm 
and confident walk. Eye lively and bold. 
Body slender, rounded-off. Legs of middle 
length, strong and sinewy ; all the fleshy 
parts well developed. Flesh fine and abund¬ 
ant. Head strong, beak strong. Feathers 
. 2 
. , V: - 
A. W. F. 
BRUNSWICK CABBAGE IN GEORGIA. 
Mn. Cook of Baldwin Co., Ua., says that 
it is a very prevalent notion among tire farm¬ 
ers in that part of Georgia that cabbage cf-n- 
not be grown successfully, believing which 
the majority continue to grow oalewort and 
look upon an eight-pound cabbage, if home¬ 
grown, (referring to his own success,) as 
something almost wonderful. “ Let them 
procure seed of the Brunswick and raise 
strong, healthy plants by thinning out liber¬ 
ally ; make their land rich and plow deep. 
Set out up to the first, leaf (very important) 
and cultivate carefully, and they will soon 
discover that they have been laboring under 
a mistake,” is the advice and prediction of 
Mr. Cook. Mr. C.’s method with Lis cab¬ 
bage was as follows “Planted the seed in 
a cold frame February 10; transplanted to 
soil of medium fertility March 20. The land 
had been deeply plowed and manured a 
month before ; raw cotton seed applied 
broadcast before plowing, at the rate of 100 
bushels to the acre ; when the plants were 
ready, the soil was freshened by a shovel 
plow, dispensing with the harrow. The 
plants ware set out 0x0 feet, during a. light 
rain. Two days after two tablespoonfuls of 
superphosphate were applied to each plant by 
sprinkling on the surface and slightly raking 
in. The cultivation consisted of two plowings 
and three honings. Four applications of land 
plaster were made, following as many rains. 
The first, licud was cut May 2G, arid pine- 
tenths of the product were.marketed by Julv 
10, the heads ranging from 1 to « pounds iri 
weight. Comparatively few planks failed to 
head ; but for tile cabbage-worm, hit percent,, 
would nave headed. These insect* were un¬ 
usually destructive mul would not yield to j 
plaster alone.” In brief, Mr. C. says that, [ 
after having fried all the leading varieties of 
cabbage except the Ear ly Wyman, ire is de¬ 
cidedly in favor of the Brunswick. 
Fio. 12 —La Flhode Hen. 
of the abdomen thick, but slightly spread 
out. Plumage black. (See fig. 12.) 
Weight. —At full age lbs., and some¬ 
times 1% lbs, ; as a fat chicken, 8% lbs, to 9 
lbs. 14ozs. 
Stature,—From the upper part of the head 
to under the feet, in an ordinary position 
177-10 inches ; from the back under tire feet, 
143-10 inches. 
Head. —Long, strong, having all tire char¬ 
acteristics of that of the cock, but smaller-. 
Comb, —With very small horns, but very 
noticeable from their inclined position in 
front. 
Wattles. —Much rounded, 13-10 inch long. 
Cars. —White, and very apparent by their 
decided color and the large space they 
occupy. 
Nostrils. —Like those of the cock. 
Ideal;. —Strong and long. 
Eye, —Of the same color as the cock’s. 
Physiognomy of the Head. —Very sharp 
and very sprightly, much like that of the 
cock. Its comb in the form of horns causes 
it to have the local'name of “The horned 
hen.” 
Fool, —Strong, of middle size; toes solid 
and long. 
Feathers. —Pretty abundant and compact 
on the body, but behind less developed. All 
the feathers of the body shiny black, irides¬ 
cent with violet and gr een, with the excep¬ 
tion of those of the abdomen, which are 
greyish-black ; feathers of the legs are a dull 
brown black. 
Laying. —Good and precocious, the eggs of 
a large size. 
Sitting.—A non-sitter. 
CHICKENS THAT HAD 
NURSE. 
Tins summer t wo of my lions took a freak 
such as I have never before known, and 
which may indicate that fashionable ideas 
and follies are extending into quarters where 
least suspected. One of my Bralima hens 
was lamed early in the summer. Khe had 
fourteen chicks, all hatched by herself. As 
soon as her lameness appeared, a small black 
hen, part Baula, took the young chicks and 
divided responsibility with the mother. The 
nurse did the scratching and providing fer¬ 
tile family, including the mother, while the 
latter, as the largest, did the brooding. The 
way the Brahma made the little black nurse 
“stand around” at feeding-time was com¬ 
ical enough. The Bail la’s humility Was like 
that so often required and so seldom seen in 
human servants. The strange copartnership 
continued until the chicks were turned off 
by both mothers to shift for themselves. 
Another hen, also part Brahma, with whom 
I had put eighteen chicks, also took as nurse 
a small hen of the common barnyard breed. 
This hen did not hire a nurse until the chicks 
Were nearly three weeks old, and she had 
already begun to lay a new litter of eggs. 
The nurse, ns in the other case, did most < f 
the work, the other mother hen eating the 
seeds and insects that the smaller ono had 
scratched from the ground. Neither of the 
nurse hens took any notice of the chickens 
until the brood was two or three weeks old. 
Neither was mother to any of the chicks ex- 
: c-ept by adoption, and I could not see that 
any compulsion was used. 
Western New York. 
- 4 - 4-4 - 
GAPES IN CHICKENS. 
l _ 
• Editors Rural New-Yorker I notice 
- in your good paper of July 25 an article from 
I. D. Stewart, M. D., in which he says that 
• gapes in chickens is pneumonia of the lungs. 
• He says the idea of worms in tire windpipe 
is nothing but a myth. Now, I wish to say 
I raise, from 200 to 300 chicks every year, and 
often find some of them with gapes, and, in 
order to relieve them, I take two horse hail's, 
twist them and double them, and then insert 
the horse hair in the windpipe, twist the hair 
around in the windpipe, ( hen draw out the 
hair and find from two to five small, red 
worms, t he extracting of which relieves the 
chicks at once. I would like to send a sam¬ 
ple of the worms to the Doctor, if I had any 
way of forwarding them. J. K. b. 
Perrysville, Allegheny Co., Pa. 
Sthq ^pi[i;tit. 
HONEY IN NEW YORK STATE. 
Mu. Quinby is authority for the following 
statementThe Cherry Valley Gazette 
gives Mr. Hetherington the credit of being 
the largest honey producer in the State. 
From what 1 know of the product I should 
say much the largest. It says :—‘ Mr. Heth¬ 
erington shipped one day last week a car 
load (ten tpns) of choice whit© honey. He 
had previously sent away about three tons, 
besides two tons of strained honey. There 
are yet several lots that have not been 
brought in, so his this year’s crop cannot fall 
much short of 20 tons.” 
One of his partners that had the care of 
177 hives of bees, last spring, obtained, in 
surplus, over 17,000 pounds—box and ex¬ 
tracted, Ho took the pains to weigh accu¬ 
rately the products of one hive, that seamed 
to be doing better than the others. He com¬ 
menced June 29, and obtained five lbs.; July 
4, eleven lbs.; July 8, thirty lbs.; July 10, 
thirty-one lbs.; July 23, fifty-eight lbs.; July 
25, fifty-seven lbs.; July 29, sixty-llve lbs.; 
August 1, sixty-five lbs.; August ft; seventy- 
two lbs.; August 8, forty-six lbs.; August 20, 
thirty-seven lbs. Total, 582 lbs. in about two 
months. 
- 4-4 4 - 
BEES IN ONONDAGA CO. 
Bees have not gathered so much honey as 
usual this summer owing to the open winter 
which killed the. white clover, in most places. 
They have swarmed more than usual, have 
laid up a store for winter and arc now gather¬ 
ing buckwheat, but this has but a poor mar¬ 
ket. There is not half tire honey in market 
that there was last year and yet the price is 
lower, they offer but 23 cents and last year 
it was 24 to 30 cents. The bees that live near 
a linden (basswood) forest have dona better. 
Bees have not increased to their former 
number yet but are doing well so far. Two 
years ago they were mostly killed about here 
by distemper. The Italian bees are a better 
kind than the black ones, more industrious 
and more prolific. A. Wilson. 
■ - 4 - 4 - 4 --- 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Dee or Wasp Stings. —Spread over the 
part stung, a plaster of salad oiland common 
salt ; if oil be not at hand, the salt may be 
moistened with water or vinegar. Another 
remedy is to keep tiro part constantly mois¬ 
tened with a rag dipped in sal-volatile and 
cold water, as strong as can be borne with¬ 
out raising the skin. Another antidote i 
everywhere available, for it is nothing more 
than common soil applied to the wound. 
This remedy has often been tested with 
complete Euccess, and can be implicitly 
relied upon. Tire toil should bo wet before 
being applied.—AVir Fuels, 
Granulated Honey. Tire Jews Of Moldavia 
and the Ukraine, prepare from honey a sort 
of sugar which is solid and as white as snow, 
which they send to the distilleries at Dant- 
zic. They expose the honey to fr ost lor three 
weeks, where neither sun nor snow can 
reach it, and in a vessel which is a bud con¬ 
ductor of calorie, by which process the honey 
becomes clear and hard, like sugar.— lirvan. 
Defuse Hops from ISreu'eriex. —Are these 
hops injurious to bees ? A friend who lias 
seen bees working on them, says that (hey 
are injurious, resulting io some sort of weak¬ 
ness which he could not definitely explain. 
Do you know anything about it ?—C. o. 
We do not; but we do not think we should 
fear the hops if the bees do not. 
