MOORE’S BUBAL NEW-YORKER 
SEPT.48 
giang of a Utoraliat. 
DAILY RURAL LIFE. 
From the Diary of a Centleman near New 
York City. 
TRANSPLANTING HERBACEOUS PLANTS. 
A up. 'iOlh .—Having a set time to do cer¬ 
tain tilings is all well enough provided one 
admits of variations to suit circumgtauces. 
It, is very easy to get up punctually at five 
o’clock in the morning if you go to bed early 
enough to finish the long sleep of the night, 
and enjoy those little indescribable finishing 
off naps, before the hour named arrives. This 
same principle lias to be observed in all I be 
various occupations of man, and when we 
lay down general rules we have to be con¬ 
stantly admitting the exceptions. Early 
Autumn is the best, time to transplant and 
divide some kinds of herbaceous plants, but 
it would not be safe to say all kinds. 
Those kinds which bloom early in spring 
or lose their foliage soon after flowering, 
may be taken up, the roots divided and 
planted again during their dormant stage bet¬ 
ter than later in the season, or in the ensuing 
spring. In glancing over my borders I see 
quite a number of kinds of ornamental plants, 
which arc at this time in proper condition 
for removal if it were necessary or desirable 
to do so. The pcVcmital Chinese poppy has 
disd down to the ground, and the roots arc 
in a dormant condition, but. a month hence 
new leaves will appear and continue to grow 
until cold weather. 
Now these Oriental poppies are among our 
most showy and hardy perennial plants, but 
they are seldom seen, except in our larger 
nurseries and florist’s grounds, and the cause 
of their scarcity is the difficulty in making 
the plants live when transplanted during the 
usual seasons, devoted to genera! planting 
out of the hardy stock. But the roots may 
be removed during their period of rest, late 
in summer, as readily and with as much 
safety as a potato. Those who have clumps 
of the all White Lily, (LiUuin candid inn,) 
or those of the Bleeding Heart, (Dicentra 
8peatabtU8), arc probably aware that the 
plants are now dormant , the foliage dead and 
brown. If there js to be any dividing of the 
bulbs or roots of such plants, now is the 
proper time to do it. It is also an excellent 
time to take up old clumps of herbaceous 
Peonies, divide the tubers and plant again 
in a new, fresh soil. If it is done now a goodly 
show of blC'Otns may be expected next year, 
but if delayed until spring the flower buds 
are very likely to blight. Of course there are 
hundreds of other early ripening plants 
which are now in proper condition for trans¬ 
planting, but a hint on this point will prob¬ 
ably answer as well as a long essay upon the 
why and wherefore of early transplanting of 
particular kinds. I have found, as a general 
rule, that people know a great deal more than 
they reduce to practice, requiring only a 
“jog” of the memory to set them to work, 
ABOUT TOMATOES. 
If oue is to know anything positive about 
the new fruits and vegetables annually in¬ 
troduced he must take a hand at cultivating 
them. I never, however, throw away an 
old thing until I And something of the same 
sort which is really better. Among toma¬ 
toes the Trophy has been for several yeurs 
the “ standard of excellence,” although not 
quite up to a desirable point in carliness. 
The Conqueror and Victor are two newer 
sorts, claimed to be extra eai iy as wen as ex¬ 
cellent in quality, and to test them by the 
standard, I sowed seeds of the three in my 
greenhouse last spring, giving the same care 
and attention. The plants were re-potted 
twice, and at the time of setting out in the 
garden there was very little if any difference 
in size. Three rows were planted side by 
side, one of each variety, and all given good 
The foliage of Conqueror aud Victor are 
very near alike, boLh being rather sparse, 
and the leaves inclined to roll up during the 
day, while those of the Trophy are very large, 
deep green, and withstand the hot sun with¬ 
out flinching. 
DIFFERENCE IN TIME OF RIPENING. 
The first ripe tomato of the season was 
picked from the Victor, shill the Conqueror 
came in a few days later with a greater num¬ 
ber of ripe specimens, hence I am inclined to 
place it ahead as an early sort. In fact, both 
these varieties appear to be somewhat like 
our earliest sorts of pears, the entire crop ri¬ 
pening nearly at one time. The fruit is of 
medium size, roundish, quite smooth, and 
moderately solid. They are both excellent, 
very early sorts, valuable to the amateur for 
a “ first plate ” of the season, or for the mar¬ 
ket gardener, with whom a few days of ad¬ 
vance may enable him to “make a hit” in 
price, but when it comes to areal “ stand-by” 
sort, give me the Trophy, which, in time of 
ripening, is scarcely ten days behind the very 
earliest sort yet introduced. 
Then when one gets the Trophy he has 
something in the way of a tomato that is 
“sound to the core,” none of your puffy, 
hollow hearted sorts which look well on the 
outside ami lack something within. Besides 
this, it goes straight through to the end of 
the season, no “closing” on account of hot, 
dry weather in August or September. 
Wanted .—A variety of tomatoes equal to 
Trophy, and a* early as Victor or Conqueror; 
and this “ want” reminds me of another in 
the way of 
EARLY) AND LATE PEAS. 
I have been looking for a dozen years or 
more for as good a variety as the old Cham- 
pfon of England, and as early as McLean’s 
Little Hem, but i fear this is askipg too much 
of nature. Laxton’s Alpha is a superb early 
wrinkled pea, and 1 may sav, ono iff the very 
befit early sorts, but it lacks size and pro¬ 
ductiveness, besides, not equal to the Cham¬ 
pion in quality. But T suppos3 we must not 
expect to find all t he merits of the great pea 
family in oue individual, at, least 1 have come 
to t he conclusion, after trying nea rly all the 
new kinds which have been introduced dur¬ 
ing the last twenty years, to plant a few of 
the early sorts as an appetizer, and wait for 
a full “ satisfyer ” in the Champion. A few 
days since I met a well known Professor of 
Botany, and a good horticulturist in addition, 
and this question of new varieties of peas in¬ 
cidentally came up, but the Professor put it 
down), with the. remark “ what’s the use of 
trying the hundred and one sorts in the cat¬ 
alogues, so long as we have the old and unap¬ 
proachable Champion of England to fall 
back upon every time, and no fear of disap¬ 
pointment in quantity or quality.” 
A larger pea would need to be carved like 
a turkey before eating ; a sweeter one would 
bn cloying to the palate, and a more prolific 
sort would glut, the home-market. 
PHYLLOXERA ON SANDY SOILS. 
I notice that, one of our old horticulturists 
says that the Phylloxera vostatrix, or grape- 
root gall louse, does not injure grapes planted 
on sandy soils. Well! perhaps it does not 
in some localities, but it does hen-, for my 
vineyard is planted on a sand bank, which is 
fully thirty feet deep, resting on sand-stone, 
and Philloxera have been found quite abun¬ 
dant ou at least fifty varieties growing 
therein. 1 have seen very few of this insect 
during the past year, but formerly they were 
altogether too plentiful for the feeble-grow¬ 
ing varieties. 
It will not do to flatter ourselves with the 
idea that, this pest is going to be at ail par¬ 
ticular as to the kind of soil upon which the 
vines are planted, for it is not so accommo¬ 
dating in its habits. It will, probably, ap¬ 
pear and disappear in our vineyards, as con¬ 
ditions are favorable, or otherwise, the same 
as hundreds of other parasites do in our gar¬ 
dens and orchards. The best rornedy is to 
plant the most vigorous growing sorts, and 
then give them the best culture. Feebleness, 
eithor in plants or animals, invites parasite 
diseases, whether of animal or vegetable 
origin. 
STEAM THRESHING MACHINES. 
Writing to the Am. Agriculturist on this 
subject, Joseph Harris says “ We have 
a steam threshing machine just, introduced 
for the first time into this neighborhood. I 
have long wanted to thresh by steam. Two 
or three days’ threshing hurts my horses 
more than a month’s ordinary work. They 
have to go round and round, the right hand 
side and legs of the horse traveling about 
one-eighth faster than the left side. They 
are constantly pulling ‘on u twist.’ This 
cannot be avoided. J always give the outside 
horse, which has to travel about oue-fifth 
faster than the inside horse, a longer portion 
of the evener. Or rather, we bore a hole 
about three inches from the end of the last 
half of the evener. This gives the inside 
horse, which does not travel so far, a heavier 
load to pulL The threshers never seem to 
take kindly to this arrangement, and do not 
adopt it with their own horses. But they 
give no reason. It seems hardly fair to make 
a horse that has to walk—say 25 miles a day, 
pull as hai'd as one by his side that only 
walks 20 miles. 
But here comes in a difficulty. How about 
the insurance ? I am insured for tliree years. 
I pay $0 per thousand for three years. And 
I use a steamer for cooking food all the time 
and no objection ; but I want to bring on a 
steamer to thresh with I must pay, as I un¬ 
derstand the matter, *10 a thousand extra 
for one year, and am then hedged in with a 
set of the most minute regulations, neglect 
of any of which invalidates the whole policy. 
I am insured for say $10,000. 1 pay $00 for 
three years. I want to thresh for tw'o days. 
‘ Well, wo will give you a ‘ permit,’ provided 
you do so-and-so. You must have a pit, of 
water under the fire-box and have water 
constantly near, and you must keep a special | 
watchman every minute, night and day, and 
at meal t imes.’ That is all right, I say. Any¬ 
thing to pay J * Oh, yes, we charge $1 per 
hundred.’ What, for two days i ‘ No, for a 
year, but you must, only thresh one harvest.’ 
But 1 do not want it fora year. 1 am already 
insured with you for three years. I can 
thresh all I have to thresh in two or three 
days and the steam engine will then be re¬ 
moved. How much extra must 1 pay for 
two days ? ‘ One hundred dollars In other 
w-ords, they ordinarily insure me on ten 
thousand dollars, at the rate of eleven rents 
tor two days, but for two days’ threshing 
with a steam engine I must pay one hundred 
dollars extra! A flashy insurance agent, 
with a cigar in his mouth, matches in his 
pocket and no brains in his head, is a much 
more dangerous article among farm build¬ 
ings than a steam engine. I think farmers 
should keep the ground on which he stands 
well saturated with water, and be very care¬ 
ful not to wet the choice specimen of hu¬ 
manity.” 
She floitllrn fat[i 
BEST BREEDS OF POULTRY. 
It is often asked which is the best breed of 
fowls to keep. This is like asking which is 
the best horse. If you want a horse to run 
for the Derby, you would not choose a cart¬ 
horse, and if you wanted a dray-horse, you 
would not choose a fine bred blood. The 
same with fowls ; if you want egg producers 
you want one kind, and if you want flesh or 
good hatchers you want another. 
About common fowls, or mongrels, this is 
just the difference between them and pure 
bred—the ono lias no distinguishing proper¬ 
ties, while the other has. it is impossible to 
combine the prolificacy of the egg-producers 
to retain it with the feeding and hatching 
properties of the other. For the. food that 
is converted into producing eggs will cer¬ 
tainly not produce fat and flesh; aud con¬ 
versely, the elements of nutrition which go 
to building up the body cannot be converted 
into supplying eggs. The properties and 
qualities of thoroughbred fowls have been 
attained by the same attention to breeding 
that has brought other stock to perfection— 
by observing the qualities most developed 
in the animal. 
In the egg-producing class the Leghorns 
stand pre-eminently above all others. This 
variety consists of the white and brovyu. 
The browns appear to be the favorites, being 
hardy, easily raised, aud maturing quickly— 
the pullets often laying at four month?. Pul¬ 
lets of this breed frequently lay as high as 
2G0 eggs during the year; their large combs 
and pendants require a warm house during 
our rigorous winters. 
The next in high favor is the black Span¬ 
ish ; these, like the former, are non-setters 
and prolific, but. not so easily raised. They 
do not, until nearly grown, get their full 
feathers, being generally half naked for a 
considerable time after hatching. These, 
like, the Leghorn, require comfortable win¬ 
ter quarters, owing to their large comb and 
wattles. 
The Houdans, a French breed, come next 
as layers and non-setters. This is what they 
call a made breed between the Poland and 
Dorking, showing the characteristic crest of 
the former and the fifth toe of the latter. 
Although not m continual layers as the two 
varieties mentioned, yet they possess points 
superior to the others, as size, delicacy of 
flesh and hardihood. 
The small breeds, the different varieties of 
Hamburg-, and Polands have their admirers 
as fancy fowls. They are excellent layers, 
partially nou-incubator3, but are not recom- 
mendable, owing to their size, as likely to 
improve our present stock of common fowls. 
The Dorkings, as a class, maybe considered 
the standard English fowl, and combine 
more general qualities than any other ; regu¬ 
lar sitters, huge size, plump, square bu.lt, 
delicate flesh, and highly flavored. They lay 
a full supply of eggs, and are probably the 
beat table fowl raised. They likewise have 
large-combs and wattles, like the Leghorn 
and Spanish. They do not thrive well on 
damp soiL 
The Asiatics are the most extensively bred 
and most fashionable class at present raised 
in America, and, on the whole, are probably 
better adapted to the rigorous winters of the 
United Wtnt is and Canadas than any other. 
iff ( §unnD-Det;(l 
WEIGHT OF PIGS FOR MARKET. 
It was only a few ycai's ago that swine 
feeders were vieing with each other for the 
greatest weight of carcass, but this is now all 
changed. Hogs that will weigh 500 pounds 
are sold at a less price per pound than those 
of 240 to S00 pounds. The market in England 
has long favored light weights. London is 
chiefly supplied with pigs of less than 200 
pounds weight. And this tendency of the 
market to pigs well fatted, but of small 
weight, is just, what the farmer should en¬ 
courage, for it is exactly in the line of his 
interest. If costs more to make the second 
hundred pounds on a pig than the first, to 
make the third hundred pounds than the 
second, and so every pound added becomes 
more expensive. 
Several years have proved that well-fat¬ 
tened pigs of 250 pounds weight find the 
greatest favor in t he market, and this fact 
should change the whele system of pig-rais¬ 
ing and fattening. Instead of keeping them 
till eighteen or twenty months old, they 
should never bo kept beyond twelve months, 
except for breeding, red seldom beyond nine. 
1 or ten months. The great effort should he 
to induce early maturity in our pigs, and 
thus shorten tin* period of feeding, and con¬ 
sequently lessen the cost per pound of pro¬ 
ducing pork. This is a matter of much 
greater importance than pork-raisers gener¬ 
ally really realize. We think any well-con¬ 
ducted experiment would show that ten pigs 
carried over tlio winter in store condition, as 
is usual, and fattened at eighteen or twenty 
months, cost, per pound of live weight, twice 
as much as another ten of equal quality, full 
fed, and fattened at nine or ten months. 
There would not be so much difference in 
cost per pound if the pigs were full fed for 
the whole eighteen or twenty months : but 
even then the difference would be at least 50 
per cent, in favor of early maturity. And 
this mutter of early maturity is entirely 
within the control of the breeder. A cross 
of Berkshire, Essex, Suffolk, small Yorkshire, 
or other early maturing breeds upon our best 
common sows will produce the desired result. 
But this system has no period of storing ani¬ 
mals ; it must be one constant progress from 
the first to the last day in the life of the pig. 
— Buffalo Live Stork Journal. 
■ --- 
SAVING PIG MANURE. 
It is not an easy matter to save all the 
manure from pigs. I have allowed for a loss 
of seven per cent.; on many farms, I pre¬ 
sume, seventy per cent, loss would be nearer 
the truth- Thu food of cow? and sheep con¬ 
tains a large proportion of woody fiber. 
This is voided in the faeces. But the food of 
pigs contains very little woody fibre ; nearly 
the whole of tlio food is digested, and conse 
quently we get a small amount of solid 
ffeces avid a very large proportion of liquid 
manure. Now, a pound of nitrogen in tho 
urine is worth more than a pound of nitrogen 
in the crude, undigested matter found in tho 
fteces. And this is true to a still greater ex 
tent in regard to phosphoric acid. Professor 
Johnson estimates soluble phosphoric acid 
at sixteen and a quarter cents per pound, 
and insoluble phosphoric acid at. six cents. 
The nitrogen and phosphoric acid in the 
manure from pigs, therefore, is usually 
worth much more than that in the manure 
of cattle, sheep and horses. It is worth, 
probably, about as much as that found in 
hen manure, in the heu-mnnure, however, 
it is an easy matter to prevent loss, but in 
pig manure there is so much water that it is 
necessary to take special pains to prevent its 
running to waste. If we can save the urine 
of pigs, it will be found a very active and 
powerful manure. 
On my own farm I keep on an average 
about, one hundred and fifty pigs. I have 
not yet used dry peat or muck as au ab¬ 
sorbent, but I propose to do so. I use more 
or less dry earth about the pens, and. 1 have 
two cellars that are only partly dug out. I 
keep twenty or thirty pigs in each of thr-e 
cellars, ami we wheel out the saturated 
earth from time to time and use it as manure. 
This is an economical way of digging a 
cellar, We gather everything on thu farm 
that can be used for bedding—sin-h a=> potato 
vines, leaves, etc.,-and it W 
what a mass ol manure can he made 1 1 • 
wav. Then we save all the droppings of the 
horse, stable, aud u&e the droppings toi j. 
ding the pigs. I need hardly sav that nor»e- 
droppiugs, saturated with pig urine, wake a 
powerful manure. YVu cut all oui straw 
and coru stocks into chaff, and we tod that 
this cut straw makes far better bedding tb a 
long straw. It absorbs more liquid and the 
manure is more easily handled. Cor. fit* 
ern Rural. 
—J&i 
