The motto of the farmer should be, get the 
best to be had, then improve it, if possible. 
What is true in agriculture is also true in 
horticulture, aud there is always a chauce of 
producing novelties even from common sorts, 
among either fruits or flowering plants, as 
variation is one of the most potent laws of 
nature. 
I have been prompted to write the above 
in consequence of an examination of a quan¬ 
tity of seedling Pelargoniums raised by my 
colored man, John, from seed which ho 
saved last fall, when taking up and potting 
the stock plants to be kept through winter. 
John had heard considerable talk of new 
seedling Pelargoniums, although owing to 
neglect of early education he is unable to 
road about them. But a ten year’s appren¬ 
ticeship at gardening has probably made up 
to sprout. I have been looking over all my 
flowering bulbR and tubers and find them iu 
excellent condition, which makes me wish 
everybody had, not only as many, but as 
good prospect of a fine show of flowers next 
season. 
1 hn, again, while one is looking over the 
ornnm ntal plants it, is well to see if the po¬ 
tatoes, turnips, cabbages and similar edible 
kinds are in good condition. All decayed 
specimens had better be removed at once 
before disease is communicated" to others, 
and the unhealthful fumes of decaying 
vegetable matter sent into the air breathed 
by the family, or animals in tho stables. 
Few persons seem to pay any attention to 
this matter of cleanliness of cellars in winter, 
hence spring fevers, and more or less throat 
and lung diseases. 
Every cellar, whether under an outbuild¬ 
ing or dwelling house, should be thoroughly 
cleansed in early spring, and every portion 
of wood-work and wall c,'irefully white¬ 
washed, If this was done both spring and 
fall, there would be less need of tansy bitters 
aud quinine. There are more odorous cel¬ 
lars about this time than most persons would 
be willing to admit. 
DISTRIBUTION OF THE GRAPE LOUSE. 
We presume our readers have all heard 
more or less of the insect which is now, and 
has beeu for several years past, devastating 
the vineyards of France. The insect in ques¬ 
tion is called a grape louse, and known to 
entomologists by several names; but the 
more commonly accepted one at present is 
Phylloxera vastatrix. There appear to bo 
two forms of the same insect, or two species 
of the same genus, one producing, and living 
in small galls on the minute fibrous roots. 
Those which produces galls on tho leaves 
confine themselves to tho Clinton grape, or 
closely allied species, while the other attacks 
nearly or quite every known species and 
vanety.puncturing the minute fibers, causing 
galis from the Bize of a pin’s head up to that, 
of a small pea, say au eighth of an inch in 
diameter. The puncturing of these small 
fibrous roots of course arrests their func¬ 
tions, causing disease and deat h. Vines badly 
infested with these root-lice grow very slow¬ 
ly if at, all, although we may safely say 
that few actually die In this country as the 
result of injury caused by these insects, pro¬ 
vided other conditions are. favorable. But 
in European vineyards its destructive powers 
appear to be far more potent, and death to 
the viae soon follows au attack, owing pro¬ 
bably to a more congenial climate, and a soil 
lacking the fertilizing materials necessary to 
insure a vigorous growth of tho plant. 
in part at least, for the lack of a smattering 
of “ book learning.” I neither gave advice 
nor directions in regard to the raising of these 
seedlings, but noticed that the heads of seeds 
wore collected and carefully spread out to 
dry in shallow boxes sec upon the stage of 
the greenhouse and then cove rod with panes 
of window glass. John probably had not 
forgotten that there might he mice about, 
hence, tho care of covering while the seeds 
were drying. .Jn a few days 1 noticed that 
the seed had been sown in boxes two or 
three inches deep, filled with fine sifted soil. 
A few weeks later the seedlings had ap¬ 
peared, and us soon as large enough to hand le 
conveniently thev were Dotted off Httnn.ru ♦ 
DAILY RURAL LIFE. 
iently they were potted off separate¬ 
ly. They have already begun to show dis¬ 
tinctive characteristics in their leaves. The 
leaves of some show a distinct bronze zone ; 
in others it is very indistinct or entirely 
wanting. Then there arc variations in form, 
and color, some of a light green or yellow 
like the Golden Fleece; others dark and 
glossy, all of which conclusively shows that 
a number of varieties have beeu produced. 
From this time forward changes in habit 
during development, will be noticed ; finally 
the budding and blooming of each individual 
plant before it can be determined whether 
any are worthy of perpetuation under dis¬ 
tinct names. 
Now, the question arises, cannot any of 
the lady readers of tho IIi/rai. New Yorker 
raise seedliug Pelargonium *Why not pro¬ 
duce new sorts of your own even if they do 
not rival in beauty those produced by the 
celebrated cultivators of this plant in Europe. 
If one raises seedlings there is a satisfaction 
in knowing that they are all your own, and 
while others may have equally as good or 
even better sorts, still they are not, your pro¬ 
ductions. Then, again, if a variety is pro¬ 
duced worthy of perpetuation, the miser 
can name it. to suit himself or herself, regard¬ 
less of the opinion of Jean Siscly or other 
authority in Pelargonium culture. Perhaps 
it is a kind of selfishness on my part, still I do 
like to have something in my garden a little 
different from anybody else, even if it is 
nothing more than a bed of seedling Verbenas 
or Petunias. 
TURNIP-FLAVORED BUTTER. 
Jan. ill.—A lady who signs herself “ Farm¬ 
er’s Wife,” writes us as follows : 
Ually Rural Life:— lam not us mum, in¬ 
terested in plant culture at this season us 1 
am in the effect, a certain root, known as 
turnip, has upon milk aud butter when fed 
to cows. Now, cannot, you tell me how to 
prevent, mv butter tasting “turnipy,” as mv 
husband thinks these roots are health to! 
food for cows in winter.” 
I have submitted your query to Mrs. llural- 
ist, who is making excellent butter trom a, 
cow that has a mess of turnips twice a day 
with a quart of ground feed, sprinkled over 
From the Dfnry of a Gentleman near New 
York City. 
RAISING NEW VARIETIES Of PLANTS. 
Jan. 11).—Mankind in general and some in¬ 
dividuals in particular, are addicted to the 
habit of wishing for something while at the 
same time they lack the energy, or ability, to 
put, forth a single effort to procure it. 1 am 
frequently reminded of this when heariug a 
farmer Ray that, he wished he had a better 
variety of potato, than the one he is oulti 
vating, or perhaps it is wheat, corn, oat*, or 
some particular kind of vegetable, that docs 
not exactly suit. But how few 
many who express such desi 
Under tho heading “ Spinning our own 
Cotton at home ” in tho Rural Carolinian, 
we find this reference to what some of our 
Southern friends seem to think is going to 
revolutionize Southern industry. Mr. B. F. 
Archer says ;—The Clement’s Attachment 
is used upon tho ordinary card stand, but no 
use can bo made of it unless there is other 
machinery in connection with i '. But it can 
be used profitably and successfully with a 
very small outlay. For instance, suppose a 
man had a ten-horse power, of any kind 
with a good comfortable house that would 
exclude the wind, sufficiently large to hold 
the spinning apparatus, he could work one 
card stand, one double-headed drawing- 
frame, oue spider, and about four hundred 
spindles, which, carefully arranged, would 
give employment, to five or six children and 
one or two hands, and would bo quite a nice 
busiuoBs. It can not be run in an ordinary 
gin-house as some suppose, for where you 
manufacture cotton you must exclude both 
wind aud cold. 
I hope that our people will not be over- 
sighted, but study this great improvement, 
with its many advantages, carefully, and 
endeavor to get at a correct understanding 
of it. Wo set. out to destroy, if possible, the 
inexorable middle man, aud bring producer 
and consumer together. Here the finest 
opportunity presents itself in the one great 
staple ever known to any people on oartb 
More, and better still, all the improved 
machineiy ever known to man for tho manu¬ 
facture of cotton sinks into significance 
when compared to this one Little machine. 
Nothing, however good, can compete in 
safety or quality of goods; and T venture 
among the 
res ever think 
that they could possibly mine the very thing 
wished for. The potatoes come into bloom 
in summer, and the “seed balls” ripen and 
fall to the ground, and the farmer knows 
that Ihey are plentiful enough, but It is too 
much trouble to save a few seeds to sow the 
following season, although no more skill or 
labor is involved in the operation than in an¬ 
nually saving the seed of tomatoes. 
Perhaps it is just as well, as it is, for if 
everybody made a point of trying to pro 
duce the very host things in the world, all 
the time, and every timo, skill and industry 
would not reap so great a reward as it, does 
at, the present time, and incentives for great 
efforts might bo less common. Still I can¬ 
not help thinking that if there was a more 
generally diffused spir t, of independence or 
self reliance Upon one’s own exertions and 
abilities, among our agriculturists, than at 
present, much good might result therefrom. 
There is not that attention paid to tho raising 
of new plants from seed among our rural 
population that its importance warrants • 
and there is too much of this looking out for 
new things which somebody else is going to 
offer for sale. Now, if our farmers will only 
boar in mind that a majority of all the 
various fruits, flowers and different sorts of 
useful and ornamental plants in cultivation, 
are merely accidental seedlings, and were not 
HUNGARIAN ROLLER 
1HE proper preparation of a seed bed is 
one of the most important and frequently 
most difficult tasks the farmer has to per¬ 
form in the cultivation of the soil. Various 
devices in tho shape of clod crushers, pulver¬ 
izers, &c., have been and are used by those 
who fully realize the importance of tho com¬ 
plete pulverization of the soil before seeding. 
From time to time the Engl.sh, Scotch, 
French, Belgian and German devices have 
been illustrated iu American agricultural 
papers. Here is a Himgarian implement 
that strikes us as calculated to do this work 
well. We offer it as a suggestion to manu¬ 
facturers and farmers, hoping thereby to 
promote the better preparation of the seed 
bed, u*id hence the profits of the farmer, re¬ 
sulting from an increased crop. 
H UN Gr Ii I A.N 
every person wifi be successful even under 
the most favorable circumstances ; but then 
there is a pleasure and satisfaction to most 
persons in trying to produce something new 
even if it ends m failure. The late Mr. 
Goodrich experimented with seedling pota¬ 
toes l or many years raising tens of thousands 
without producing a really superior sort 
while Mr. Bueese. in his first alterant in 
ROLLER. 
LOOKING OVER THE BULBS IN THE CEUAR. 
Those who have bulbs and tubers of flower¬ 
ing plants stored iu cellar, or elsewhere, 
should look them over occasionally in winter, 
because there is always danger of injury 
from too much moisture us well as freezing. 
Tuberoses, Tlgrldtu bulbs, are particularly 
sensitive to moisture, and if not kept per- 
fectl}' dry they will surely rot or sprout, 
which is just as bad at a season when they 
.'(uujotbe planted out Dahlias and Gladioli 
Fiei,d Rom-kr vs. Drouth.— A farmer in 
Stearns Co., Minn., reports that while wheat 
generally averaged about 14 bushels per 
acre, the past .season, his own averaged 20 
bushels ; and he is satisfied this difference is 
due mainly to the prevention of injury by 
drouth resulting from thoroughly rolling his 
land, 
