22 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
JAN. 8 
David Shappee, of the Elmira Farmers’ 
Club, said that fourteen yeais ago he helped 
build a fence, the posts of which were Red-ce¬ 
dar set fifty years before, as he was told by 
Mr, Bartlett upon whose farm they were stand¬ 
ing. They were as good as new when he 
helped upon the fence. A great many years 
ago, before he was born, remarked Mr. Hoff¬ 
man, an old resident of the valley set cedar 
posts on a farm that afterwards came iuto 
his father’s possession. Those posts are now 
supporting a fence, and he believes are good. 
Under the Veterinarian Department, refei- 
ring to statements which have been made to 
the effect that pleuro-pneumonla can be com¬ 
municated Ly the virus from inoculation sores, 
the Mark Lane Express (London) says : ‘‘The 
Rural New-Yorker quotes from the North 
British Agriculturist to the effect that'The 
artificially produced disorder may generate 
virus which, it is Mated, may suffice to set up 
the immodifled disease in all its contagious 
activity.’ The italics are our own, and the 
words so emphasized show that our contem¬ 
porary does not take the responsibility of the 
statement. With regard to this matter we can say 
that no case of pleuro-pueumoma communicat¬ 
ed by inoculation has ever yet been authenti¬ 
cated ; in fact, the advocates of inoculation do 
not claim that much, so far as we are aware. 
As the case stands, pleuro-pneumonla has 
never yet been proved to be iuoculable. Cows 
have lost their tails, and lost their lives, 
through inoculation, but not one solitary case 
has ever yet come to light in which inoculation 
conveyed the disease, or uuy modified form of 
it. It produces an effect on tails, and further 
up the body sometimes, but it has never yet 
been’ known to reach the lungs. How, then, 
can the pus from an inoculation sore convey 
pleuro-pneumonia ?” 
Forcibly Pot. —“The only thing certain is 
that the grain-mining of America must come 
to an end,’’says a writer in the London Ag. 
Gazette. “In England we mine prudently, 
and our miners strike sometimes so as to re¬ 
tard the too rapid exhaustion of the coal. In 
America they mine for grain furiously, and 
the laborers employed have neither struck nor 
paused for several years. There is no coun¬ 
try in the world where the gift of a fertile soil 
is 60 fearfully abused. It is very well to 6ay 
that when the prairie land has lost its store of 
plant-toed in the Bod, ordinary farming will 
begin. That is tall talk indeed, for American 
grain will come cheap only so long as it cau 
be mined free of the customary charges. 
When you have to farm for grain you require 
a population close at hand, and the return to 
the land of the plant food the crops remove. 
The American system ravages God's earth, 
and abandons a fair country to the culpable 
cupidity of speculators. The rush is still 
westward, aud Yankees say, with wild humor, 
that if a pioneer went aloft and fouud in 
Heaven no western region to make tracks for, 
he would prefer coming away and prospecting 
In some other place." 
Pruning Trees and other Plants.— There 
are persons who assume to believe that prun¬ 
ing plants is at best an unnecessary operation, 
says the N. Y. Sun. They will tell us that 
nature does not prune trees; neither does she 
train them to stakes or trellises, but every¬ 
thing is permitted to grow unrestrained, 
except as one plant may crowd or overtop its 
neighbor. It is true that plants do thrive 
under certain conditions and restrictions with¬ 
out the aid of man, and so does man live 
without clothes or education, but only in the 
lowest and most degraded condition. Theie 
are few, however, who will claim that the 
highest development of either physical or 
mental powers is found among human beings 
who have never been trained in the artB, or 
subjected to the influence of civilization. 
Plants in their wild state require little aid 
from man to produce natural results. If man 
could be satisfied with wild grape3, crab pears 
and apples, we might let the plaats grow 
wild, unpruned and without care, for under 
such conditions they would produce as much 
fruit as would be required to supply the de¬ 
mand. If our only apples were those gath¬ 
ered from wild trees, very few would produce 
fruit enough to supply the demand. But with 
an improvement in quality there usually 
comes an increased demand, not only because 
a superior article is preferred, but because the 
higher-flavored and more tender the fruit the 
greater is the consumption without injury to 
the consumer. The moment a plant is sub¬ 
jected to cultivation it begins an artificial life, 
and it then requires treatment to correspond 
with its unnatural surroundings. 
-*-*-♦- 
CATALOGUES, ETC., RECEIVED. 
-‘■he Massachusetts Arms Co., Chicopee 
F Je, Mass. A beautifully illustrated, descrip¬ 
tive catalogue of the Maynard Breech-loading 
Firearms. The fine qualities of these firear ms 
are well-known. Those desiring sporting, 
hunting, target-shooting rifles or 6hot-guns 
would lose nothing, certainly, by sending for 
this catalogue and examining it before pur¬ 
chasing. 
Announcement of Ninth Annual Meetingof 
the Wisconsin Dairymens Association, at 
Waukesha, Wis., Jan. 12, 13, 14. 1881. 
Fifth Report of the Montreal Horticultu¬ 
ral Society, and Fruit Growers’ Association of 
the Province of Quebec, for 1879. 
An Illustrated Price List of the Lamb Knit¬ 
ting Machine Co., Chicopee Falls, Maes. 
NOTES FROM VIRGINIA. 
After 23 years’ experience in farm matters 
in Central New Jersey, the writer has already 
had three years of like experience in the lower 
part of Virginia, together with fair opportu¬ 
nities for observation, so that he i6 in a posi¬ 
tion to state facts candidly as he observes 
them. 
The climate—which necessarily has a good 
deal to do with agricultural production,—is 
here far more agreeable personally and more 
favorable to vegetation than that of Middle 
New Jersey. The regular daily breezes of the 
warmer part of the year temper its heat, and 
the brief term of c-old weather is considerably 
in favor of a more thorough working of the 
soil, and a bettor growth ol hardy crops than in 
the North. The genera! lay of the land (or its 
topography) is quite superior to any that I 
huve ever seen in sncli wide areas, and I have 
inspected that of all the 8tates on a line Horn 
the Eeaboard at New York City to St. Louis, 
Mo., and along the whole course of the Ohio 
River and a part of the lake belt in upper New 
York, Pennsylvania aud Ohio. There are here 
no swampy districts save along the coast line, 
and the gently undulating surface of the land 
makes the natural drainage almost perfect 
neither is there any large area too rugged for 
the convenientuse of farm machinery. 
The general character of the soil is worthy 
of especial mention and will bear close and 
thorough investigation. It is utterly impos¬ 
sible in ahasty trip across the State or through 
some portion of it to get at anything like a 
con ect conclusion in regard to it; but its i iver 
and creek bottoms ; its chocolate lands; Its 
sandy basins; its virgin red-clay lands are all 
really good soils, yet too often a 6ortof whole¬ 
sale condemnation is given the farm lands of 
this State because some of its fields are badly 
run down from too long cropping with little or 
no attempt at manuring. When 6table manure 
isspread on the land out of a basket—as I have 
frequently Been here—it is evident it is putting 
it on “ a little too thin,” as the JokerB wonld 
say. Norwill 100 pounds of ordinary com 
mercial fertilizer per acre do. If the lands of 
Virginia were treated in the same way in 
which the New Jersey or the Pennsylvania 
farmer treats his land, the crops here would 
prove ol excellent character. Already there 
is some evidence on this point, for here and 
there Borne poor, Borry-looking fields have 
been fairly treated, and now bring forth “some, 
thirty; some, sixty and some a hundred-fold. 
A gentleman of Albemarle County this year 
without any special effort, raised 115 bushels of 
corn from the acre on measured land, while 
several others, who might oe named, obtained 
fully 100 bushels per acre. It is no very un¬ 
common thing for some bottom lands to yield 
75 to 80 bushels of corn per acre, and I have 
seen some wheat that had measured forty bu¬ 
shels per acre, and was informed of one field 
that had yielded 42$ bushels. Oats sometimes 
reach 80 bushels per acre, and I have from 
the mouths of two credible witnesses that they 
have made from 65 to 70 cwt-s. of hay per acre; 
nor are 300 bushels of round potatoes such a rare 
yield per acie here as might be supposed. 
By this it may be seen that good crops are 
within the reach of such as choose to treat the 
land fairly well—the climate and soil are in 
noway in fault. As for prices of products. I 
Lave fouud them fully as good as at the North, 
and about 50 to 60 per cent, better than at 
the West. In fact there are quite a number of 
products that bring higher prices here than 
the 6ame kinds do in Essex County, New 
Jersey, speaking within my personal knowl¬ 
edge. 
The cost of fai in lauds in Southern Virginia, 
is so very low that any person can very soon 
earn for himself a farm of good size. Thou¬ 
sands of farms are to day offered for about 
what the improvements are worth, or, in other 
cases, what the wood thereon is worth stand¬ 
ing. Thus the land is given away. As a gen¬ 
eral rule, unimproved land can be purchased 
at ten dollars per acre in desirable neighbor¬ 
hoods, while most of the farms now offered 
must be sold at scarcely half that price, on ao 
count of the legal pressure to turn them into 
money so as to get rid of the encumbrances on 
tLein. Thousands of acres can be bought at 
the present time for less than a single crop 
thereon should clear for an intelligent and 
skillful worker. 
A period of transition is now upon ns; the 
former condition as it existed UDder slave la¬ 
bor is passing rapidly away, and within a few 
years these same lands will be held at double 
and quadruple their present prices. The 
question is not unfrequently asked why is it 
that bo many Northern settlers here fail, and 
often lose all they brought with them, get dis¬ 
couraged, and in many cases desire to return 
or remove to other parts. Let me unfold the 
secret—the cheapness of the land incites them 
to buy too large an area. It is very hard for a 
man who haB come here from where land is 
selling at $150 per acre, or perhaps still more, 
to restrain himself when he is offered line¬ 
looking land at $10 per acre, or if improved 
fairly well, at -15. In nine cases out of ten he 
will overload himself with land, thinking of its 
prospective increase In value. It has been a 
surprise to me to see bow readily the poor, 
sorrv-looking fields can be restored and how 
cheaply it can be done, It is no longer a se¬ 
cret that clover, gypsum, lime and aehe6 will 
work a complete and desirable change in all 
these poverty-stricken fields, eo that three or 
four years’ time will bring them up to the 
standard of fair paying crops—say 20 bushels 
of wheat, or 50 bushels of corn per acre. Some 
new ideas have to be learned by the newcomer 
wheresoever he may choose to locate, and yet 
in no email number of cases do men think 
they can do the same in the new placeB as has 
been their wont in the old. From this canse 
alone come no small number of failuree in 
farm operations here. 
The social condition of farm life in Virginia 
deseivcs favorable notice, as do its schools, its 
churches, its moral sentiment, its law-abiding 
citizens,its convenientstores, mills,sinithshops, 
railroad stations, Post Offices, etc. Its roads 
are not altogether what they might be—espec¬ 
ially when it is considered that timber is very 
plentiful, so that streams could be readily 
bridged if there were a little more public spirit 
and enterprise. With gravel beds, too, con 
venient to almost any point, bad places could 
be made quite passable for loads fully double 
aB heavy as are now customary. Wood and 
water abound and are of excellent quality for 
all required purposes. Stone, clay, gravel, 
marl, coal, iron ore and a dozen other valuable 
minerals are to be found in abundant supply 
at points not remote from valuable farm lands. 
Do you ask, is it a pasturug ecounty ? I an¬ 
swer it is not quite equal to New York, if com¬ 
pared with Orange, Herkimer and Oneida 
Counties; bat, taken as a whole, it will com¬ 
pare favorably in this respect with New Jersey 
or Pennsylvania. What are its real draw¬ 
backs? Want of skill and enterprise ; the ah 
scence of email land holdings; lack of capital, 
cattle and sheep; too much hunting; too much 
of politics; too much of social “imbibing,” 
too much reliance on the colored hands. 
Henrico Co., Va. a. t. b. 
RURAL 8PECIAL REPORTS. 
Iowa, Wyoming, Jones Co., Die. 24 — In 
this eouuty corn was a little below the average 
—the dry weather about Midsummer having 
injured the crop somewhat. The average 
yield was about 40 buBhels per acre on poor 
farms, while it ran as high as 75 bushels on 
well cultivated land. Oats, too, were a little 
below the average; while potatoes were a fail¬ 
ure. Fruit was more plentiful than for years, 
so that a great deal was left to rot on the 
ground. Wheat was almost a failure, except 
on a few sheltered patches. Still, quite a large 
acreage was sown this Fall. a. b. t. 
Iowa, Monticello, Jones Co., Dec. 25.—My 
seeds did very well last season, especially the 
raspberries, for we had as many as three or 
four dozen berries from the vines this year, 
and they were the best berries I ever tasted. 
Corn did very well this year, but not as well as 
last. It is worth from 28 to 30 cents; oats 
from 27 to 28 cents ; hay from $6 to $8 per ton. 
Wheat was an entire failure. A. B. T. 
Kansas, Butler Co., Dec. 26.— Your corres¬ 
pondent. H. L. J., in the issue of Nov. 27th, 
has struck the key-note to all the suffering in 
Kansas. His article will be indorsed by nine- 
tenthB of the industrious and intelligent citi¬ 
zens of this 8tate. 
I lived here from ’72 till ’75 when I left the 
State temporarily, but circumstances detained 
me elsewhere till this Fall, when I returned, 
because I had faith m Kansas. I am told by 
the better class of citizens that they are wil¬ 
ling to endure such a season as this j ust pass¬ 
ed, j ust to get rid of the class of people that 
have moved out. 
There is no starvation, and but little suffer¬ 
ing amongst the industrious class. My observ- 
vation convinces me that the hard times have 
fallen heaviest upon those who could not get 
what tobacco and whiskey they wanted! 
d. e. s. 
Mien., Bear Lake, Manistee Co., Dec. 27.— 
My Beauty of Hebron potatoes, sent in 1879— 
through the tribulation of sprouting too much 
during the Winter, a June frost, drought and 
beetles—came near being a failure; but last 
Spring I planted 33 eyes, one eye in a hill, in 
good, rich sandy loam, and beside them the 
same amount of Early Rose. They received 
the same care, were cultivated in the same 
way and kept equally free from weeds, and the 
beetles hand-picked everyday when necessary 
till the tubers were ripe. We dug one and a 
half bushel of the Beauty of Hebron—nice 
ones too—and alittle over two bushels of Early 
Rose. I think I cut the former into too small 
pieces, and thus they grew more spindling at 
first.. The cow-peas had grown about a yard 
high and were in f l il bloom when a frost came 
on the 6tb of September and laid them low. 
They were grown on rich soil, as our garden 
patch was previously a barnyard. The Ovoid 
Mangels were large and nice, but as our gar¬ 
dening necessarily was later than that of some 
of your subscribers, I concluded it would not 
be worth while to strive for the premium. I 
chanced to receive four Cutbbert Raspberries, 
but only two of them lived, f hope to see the 
fruit next Summer. The willows did not 
grow; they were badly withered when I re¬ 
ceived them. I put them iu water for a few 
days, but they did uot freshen up, and all my 
care did not prevail upon a single cutting to 
send forth a single sprout. Two Mauroot 
seeds sprouted and the plants grew nicely till 
Autumn, when the tops died. I never dis¬ 
turbed the roots, hoping they would sprout in 
the Spring after all. Several iris seeds came 
up and made very fine plants. One hollyhock, 
of seed sent in 1879, came up and made a very 
fine plant. Those I sowed last year were 
destroyed, either by moles or winter-killed. 
I hope for better success from this root. Last 
year I sowed my Hibiscus Moscheutos in a 
box. The plants grew to be about six inches 
in bight, when I transplanted them into the 
garden. This year some of them grew about a 
foot. But last Spring I put rut some more 
seed in very rich soil, and put sash over them, 
and one of the plants grew to be nearly three 
feet high, and in September it budded for 
blossom, but the buds could not mature. Then 
I have one lot of shrubs of which I flo not 
know the names, as the heavy rain washed the 
pencil-marks from tbe wooden label, but I 
know they are seedlings from the Rural 
Grounds. There are four plants, measuring 
from five to six feet in hight, all one season’s 
growth. Some o', them must be an inch and 
a half in diameter at the ba6e. The foliage is 
very handsome. (This is perhaps Hibiscns 
militaris, a hardy herbaceous shrub of much 
beauty.— Edb.] The magnolias have not yet 
made their appearance. I have some seeds 
left over of the other varieties to sow next 
Spring, and may be more successful with them. 
I had three quarts of Mold’s Ennobled Oats ; 
they were sowed in drills on good, rich sandy 
loam. 
Our Winter set in about the 12th of Novem¬ 
ber, and we have had very cold weather for 
the time of year; the snow is 16 to 18 inches 
deep, and more comiDg. 
Potatoes, 85 cents per bushel; butter, 25 
eents per pound ; eggs, 17 cents per dozen. 
M. E. A. 
Mich.. Clinton Co., Dec 24.— We are having 
steady Winter weather; it is uot very cold, 
however, the mercury being only alittle be¬ 
low the freezing point. It has not been lower 
than 8° below zeio here this Winter. That 
was in Novemner. Wheat does not look very 
well; it was sown so late that it did not have 
a chance to get a good start before cold 
weather set in. The farmers were not in a 
hurry about sowing on account of the fly. 
Then there was so much rain they could not 
get their ground ready. Those beets from the 
Rural were a succeBe. m. e. b. 
Neb., Papillon, Sarpy Co. Dec. 25.— I have 
now an orchard of 100 bearing fruit trees and 
lastBpriag I planted 2,000 on Arbor Day, 1,100 
apple and 900 peach trees, and now I think I 
must not stop planting. My trees have dona 
very well, considering the very unfavorable 
season. I do not think I shall lose over 100 of 
the apple trees. The season has been very 
dry, and corn in this county has averaged 
about 40 bushels per acre; wheat, about 10 ; 
oats, about 25. The hay crop was very light. 
Prices are: corn, 23c.; oats, 26c.; wheat. 65@ 
80c.; potatoes, 80c.; butter, 25c.; eggs, 25c. I 
came to this State 23 years ago and I like the 
climate better Chan that of any other State I 
have lived in. Cold weather commenced this 
year earlier than at auy time m my past ex¬ 
perience. The Missouri River closed on the 
18th of November, and it has been steadily 
cold almost every day since. On the advent 
of cold weather many farmers had not alt their 
potatoes dug, and only a few had their corn 
gathered on account of scarcity of help. 
b. e. s. 
N. Y., Elmira, Chemung Co., Dec. 20, 18S0. 
Cold weather has continued with little inter¬ 
ruption since Nov. 15th. Very little snow has 
fallen, and that little disappeared during a 
few mild days, ending Dec. 6th. Since then 
the ground has been bare, and tbe roads as 
smooth almost as glass, which is favorable for 
teaming. The greater proportion of the to- 
