There are few heads of families who think 
they have done their whole duty in simply 
providing food for those dependent, upon 
them. The first thing to be thought of, by 
those persons residing in the regions devasta¬ 
ted by grasshoppers will be food plants, but 
the ornamental should not be forgotten, 
because of their value as educators of the 
rising generation. It is to be presumed that 
the greater portion of the residents in the 
regions named, have friends in the older 
less skeptical when he told me the following 
secret :—Eggs with the air bladder on the 
center of the crown of the egg will produce 
cockerels; those with the bladder on one 
side will produce pullets. The old mau was 
so certain of the truth of this dogma, and 
his poultry-yard so far confirmed it, that I 
determined to make experiments upon it 
this year. I have done so, carefully regis¬ 
tering the egg bladder vertical, or bladder 
on one side, rejecting every one in which it 
DAILY RURAL LIFE. 
From the Diary of a Gentleman near New 
York City. 
EXPORTING COLORADO POTATO BEETLES. 
Jan. 4.--1 notice in my papers this, week 
that the Governments of Switzerland, Aus¬ 
tria and Belgium have adopted stringent 
measures against the importation of Ameri¬ 
can potatoes infected with the Colorado 
potato beetle. Now, if the wise men of 
Europe can tell us what t hey mean by the 
word infected , as applied in this instance, I 
for one, desire to have them “ rise aud 
explain.” Their entomologists, at least, 
should know that the beetle referred to, 
does not “infect,” or in any manner attack 
the tuber, but confines itself to the leaves in 
summer, and the chances of exporting this 
beetle with the potatoes is about as likely to 
occur as sending a Cotton Planter’s “Sambo” 
with a bale of cotton. Then ugaiu don’t 
everybody know that this beetle is a native 
of Texas as well as of the plains to the north¬ 
ward, from whence cotton, buffalo hides and 
various other articles have been shipped 
direct to Europe for the past century all 
without once “infecting” the potatoes of 
the old world. 
But for all this the Colorado potato pest 
may be carried to Europe and become 
naturalized there, still it is far more likely to 
be transported in some other material than 
among potatoes, because it is not so stupid 
as to go to roost for the winter upon a 
potato when it can find more comfortable 
quarters. If the European Governments 
desire to prevent the introduction and spread 
of this beetle, let them send over for a bushel 
preserved in alcohol, and have these mounted 
and distributed among the farmers in order 
that they shall be known and recognized at 
the moment of their first appearance. 
Knowledge is power in these matters as well 
as others, and had our farmers known the 
pest on its advent and cared to destroy it, we 
should never have heard of Colorado potato 
beetles east of the Mississippi River. 
When these beetlos become abundant 
about our Atlantic seaports they will no 
doubt be carried aboard of outgoing vessels, 
with fresh vegetables from gardens, or even 
upon the clot.lies or baggage of passengers, 
and it would be well for our transatlantic 
cousins to know them on arrival in order to 
bestow a fitting reception. But this beetle 
neither “infects” by laying its eggs upon, 
or, in the tubers ; neither is it in the habit of 
crawling into barrels of potatoes for the 
purpose of obtaining a free ride by rail or 
water, consequently the excluding of pota¬ 
toes from a country as a precautionary 
as intended in this instance, shows 
hay rake. 
was not decidedly one or the other, as ill 
some it is only very slightly out of the cen¬ 
ter. The following is the result 53 chick¬ 
ens were hatched, 3 are dead, II are yet too 
young to decide upon their sex ; of the re¬ 
maining 44, every one has turned out true to 
the old man’s theory. This, of course, may 
be an accidental coincidence, but I shall cer¬ 
tainly try the experiment again.” 
seeds, plants or cuttings, which can be 
both readily and cheaply transported to 
them through the mails. This mode of 
transportation need not be delayed until 
spring but may be commenced at any time 
during the winter, because cold will not in¬ 
jure seeds or cuttings of hardy plants. Even 
strawberries, blackberries, raspberries or 
small seedling trees may be safely sent by 
mail during the coldest weather if packed in 
a little damp moss, and then enclosed in oil¬ 
paper, to prevent the moisture striking 
through and injuring other mail matter with 
which such packages may come in contact. 
Any strong, brown paper coated with boitv.d 
linsed oil, and then dried will answer the 
purpose. The outside wrapper should be 
plain paper, not oiled. 
The postage on such packages is only eight 
cents per pound, size of packages limited to 
four pounds. Seeds may be sent in paper 
bags, but cloth is better for sending long 
distances. There are surplus Beeds and 
plants in the old gardens of the eastern states 
sufficient to supply a half dozen devastated 
western ones, still tne cost of packing and 
transportation is something, and this may 
prevent supplies going forward to those who 
are in need, aud have friends residing in a 
laud of plenty. 
.. juu .ram. jjenect narmony m your 
Ijiauge, never under any circumstances, 
speak ill of a brother or sister. Cultivate 
oidy the kindest feelings and sentiments. 
Though the Grange is not political, it will 
exercise a powerful influence on the politics 
of the country, and will purify it of the scum 
and filth that now make it so disreputable. 
In the Secretaries' column of the Patron’s 
Helper, Brother N. W. Oarreston, Secretary 
of the Iowa State Grange, says : “ No change 
has been made in admittance fees to mem¬ 
bership, neither is such change likely to be 
made.” 
Tub Patrons of Upshur County Tex 
have “taken steps to start a tan-yard har¬ 
ness shop, shoe shop and hat factory' and 
concluded to raise their own broom corn and 
make their own broom-handles and axe- 
helves. 
The next session of the National Grange 
will beheld at Charleston, S. C., commenc¬ 
ing Wednesday, Feb. 3, 1875. We repeat 
tins because of much confusion existing in 
consequence of wrong dates having been 
published by many papers. 
The Indiana State Grange Agency does a 
wonderfully miscellaneous business. In one 
week recently it shipped dry goods, grocer¬ 
ies, dried fruits, coni shellers, feed cutters 
stoves, paints, hardware, washers, wlingers* 
carpets, etc. The transactions for the week 
amounted to $4,588.58. 
Tub Grange Movement, as it is termed 
has in a comparatively short time brought 
about the most extensive and beneficial re¬ 
forms known in the history of the world 
It has struck a death-blow at the credit sys¬ 
tem, it has brought the farmers and manu¬ 
facturers, bankers, dealers, mechanics and 
artists face to face ; driven off the unwary 
and annoying speculator ; has encouraged 
widespread social christianizing and familial- 
interchange among farmers, the neglect of 
which had well-nigh lapsed into a degree of 
indifference bordering on stoicism. The 
great compact awakens in the social circle 
pleasant song and kindly voices aud throws 
over all the halo of lasting virtue ,—Southern 
Agent. 
The Patrons of Husbandry are gaining 
in numbers and influence throughou the 
country. If they continue in the future, as 
they generally have in the past, to adhere to 
the principles of the Order, great good must 
result to members and community. One 
question is whether members will do their 
duty, in every ease, and prefer to be high 
privates rather than officers. 
POULTRY NOTES, 
“ Ruinpktn" Fou'ls.—(T>. S.)-These are 
so-called because they have no tail and are 
said to be deficient in dorsal vertebra-, so 
that they cannot have any. They are called 
hardy birds and excellent egg and flesh pro¬ 
ducers. But we do not know where they 
can be obtained. 
Egyptian Geese.—A correspondent at Sel¬ 
ma., Ala,, asks where he can get Egyptian 
Geese. We don’t know. 
measure, 
ignorance on the part of the makers of such 
regulations. 
SENDINQ HUNTS BY MAIL. 
Jan 5.—I am in receipt of a letter from 
an occasional correspondent residing in Ne¬ 
braska, who says that in addition to the loss 
of field crops by grasshoppers, the few choice 
flowering plants cultivated in hundreds of 
gardens have also been totally destroyed. 
This to me is one of the worst features of 
the grasshopper plague, not because the 
intrinsic value of the ornamental plants is 
very great, but as a rule our people do not 
possess any too much love for such things at 
best, and it requires only slight disheartening 
circumstances to blot out a growing taste 
for beautiful flowers. Of course a man who 
has a wife and children suffering for bread is 
not only excusable but justified in neglecting 
the cultivation of flowers, but it is to be 
feared that non-associatiou will in many 
instances end in loss of taste for these beau¬ 
tiful adjuncts of the highest order of civiliza¬ 
tion. 
Many a farmer will be inclined to reply to 
requests of wife and children for ornamental 
plants, even after present disasters have 
been fully repaired. “What’s the use of 
them ? we cannot eat flowers, aud if the 
grasshoppers come again they will all be 
destroyed f” The same might be said of the 
newspapers or school books, for these are 
onty of use for a time and then thrown 
aside as worthless, but they have filled the 
place for which such articles were deigned, 
namely, instructed and educated those who 
used them, and this is the light in which the 
plest flower should be viewed. The 
WISNER IMPROVED SULKY HAY RAKE 
In the matter of hay rakes as much 
thought has been given and as diverse inven 
tions have been produced as almost any othei 
implement of use on the farm. Among 
those taking high rank with practical men is 
the one which we herewith illustrate. It is 
SQUASH AND MELON SEEDS 1-OR 
POULTRY. 
I have read your Poultry-yard Notes for 
three or four years with great interests The 
whole paper is good, but that. Department 
suits me best. I shall beg leave to differ 
with the writer of the Notes on page 338, 
about “Aunt Lou’s” sick chicken, as re¬ 
gards giving squash, pumpkin aud melon 
seeds to poultry. I hatched 34 pullets on 
the 30th of May, and from the time summer 
squashes were large enough to boil until the 
present time I have given my chickens 
squashes aud pumpkins boiled, seeds and all, 
I put about six quarts of pumpkin inco a 
kettle, and when boiling hot put in one 
quart of meal and one pint of finely-ground 
scraps, mashed well together, and twice a 
week I boil with the pumpkin three or four 
red peppers. On the 1st of December I had 
three pullets laying, and now I have from 12 
to 15 eggs per day. How is that for six 
months pullets, with the food they have t 
My fowls are a cross between the Leghorn 
aud Bolton Gray ? C. W. Harding. 
S. Abington, Mass., Deo. 29, 1874. 
The isner makes a large, compact wiurow 
and the load is discharged by a slight move 
of the driver’s foot. Any boy or girl that 
can drive a gentle horse can rake with it. It 
is constructed of excellent, selected materials 
—of wood, iron aud steel—and is finished in 
oil, thus enabling the purchaser to judge for 
himself. The teeth are guaranteed bv the 
manufacturers, Messrs. John Dodds & Co. 
of Dayton, Ohio, to be spring steel, tempered 
in oil, and to stand the severest tests and 
usage. Tins is so great an improvement on 
the earlier horse-rakes that its merits deserve 
at least the closest investigation, and indeed 
its indefatigable patentee, Mr. Wisner, in¬ 
vites the. whole world to see for themselves. 
Mr. Wisner has been a practical farmer for 
many yearn, aud should know what a good 
rake is, as we believe he does. Personally he 
is a very genial gentleman, as all who have 
met him at Fairs, or elsewhere, can attest, 
and if not a Solomon in all respects, the 
Wisner Hay Rake proves his wisdom in 
labor and time-saving at a season when both 
SEX IN EGGS 
sim; 
shrub, tree, and other perennial plants em- A correspondent of the London Journal 
ployed solely for ornamental purposes, are, G f Horticulture says in reference tothisques- 
like the solid old standard volumes of a tion “ Last winter an old country poultry 
library, always useful for instruction and keeper told me he could distinguish the sex 
reference. in eggs. I laughed at him, and was none the 
