JAN. S 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
24 
of the account above referred to, Bays that he 
saw no sign anywhere about Argenteuil of ex¬ 
haustion from over-cutting- On the contrary,all 
the beds and rows seemed to have been cut for 
the permanent good of the plauts rather than 
the produce. A great deal of the asparagus 
was slaked. Each plant was earthed up into 
a compact little hill—" a foot, 18 inches or more 
in hight—"around its 
stems. This was pres¬ 
sed firmly around the 
plants to prevent 
the wind from blow¬ 
ing them about as 
well as to blanch the 
shoots and •* feed the 
roots of the aspara¬ 
gus.” The entire pro¬ 
cess of culture is 
carried out by hand, 
neither hoe, fork nor 
spade, being used. 
The little mounds 
are leveled down to 
the ground in gath- 
'ering and the young 
& shoots snapped off 
] by a sudden twist of 
^ 1 the finger and thumb. 
in a state of almost perfect preservation, and 
they were as sweet and agreeable as they 
looked to be. Mr. Woodward, a few days ago, 
brought us a few of the Niagara which were 
also well preserved, though, we believe, long- 
keeping qualities have never beeu urged as 
among its merits. “What shall we do with 
all of our new One white grapes?" is asked. 
a simple crank movement for the needle, al¬ 
lowing a stationary arm of cast-iron, tubular 
in form, to be brought close to the work to be 
done, giving a rigid support to the needle 
itself and securing great steadiness of motion. 
The driver, without leaving his seat, can in¬ 
stantly move the binding apparatus forward 
or backward to suit long or short straw. 
wise for the farmer to desire to be first and 
foremost in that which is new, for many times 
he has been awakened to a realizing sense of 
the idea that he has been humbugged, or, in 
the words of Dr. Franklin, has “paid too dear 
for the whistle." Now to construct a silo re¬ 
quires an expenditure of labor and money, and 
the question to be determined is, will the 
advantage gained in 
any way balance the 
expenditure ? 
In the first place, 
what is the advan¬ 
tage, if any ? It must 
consist in the pro¬ 
duction of some 
chemical change that 
increases the feeding 
value of the fodder 
or else no benefit is 
derived. It is very 
easy for a person to 
believe what he is 
anxious for, aud so 
any man who has put 
out his money in a 
mew enterprise very 
•earnestly desires that 
faeshonld be benefited 
thereby, and hence is 
ready to believe that 
he really is benefited, 
when perhaps he is 
not. Again, persons 
are apt to speak of 
an enterprise in 
which they are en¬ 
gaged as successful 
because of the morti¬ 
fication that comes 
from acknowledging 
a failure. 
Some years ago there was a great hue and 
cry regarding the advantage of cooking food 
for animals, and yet from the fact that so lit¬ 
tle is said about it now, aud so little food is 
cooked, it Is evident that the benefit did not 
balance the extra expenditure, so that it is 
more than probable that a few years will he 
sufficient to bush the cry about ensilage. Some, 
more honest than others, even now, after a 
satisfactory trial, acknowledge themselves 
disappointed, and express a determination to 
;adbere to the old mode of curing fodder as 
toeing more satisfactory, all things consid¬ 
ered. 
Average farmers should be slow to adopt 
any persou’s cherished hobby until on a small 
6cale it can have been tested sufficiently to 
prove its efficiency and desirability. 
Tolland Co., Ct- William H. Yeomans. 
and is as "fine as an 
Ik ash-heap.” Of this 
V - fineness the growers 
are wonderfully 
^ j a • • proud. They say 
that the weather 
and Winter exposure 
of the soil between 
the rows sufficiently 
enrich the soil. . 
Noth with standing all the labor bestowed 
upon this mode of cultivation, Argenteuil, it 
is said, has become rich upon this special in¬ 
dustry. 
It is from this place, spot, district or what¬ 
ever it may best be called, that we have im¬ 
ported the Argenteuil asparagus seed now 
offered in the Rural's Free Plant and Seed 
Distribution. About a half ounce will be sent 
to each subscriber who applies, and we hope 
that all who thus receive it will follow our 
directions (to be given before Spring) as to 
cultivating it. It may prove no better than 
our own. It may prove in onr soil to 
be essentially the same. But let us give it 
all needed care, hoping that asparagus cul¬ 
ture tuay thus receive an impetus which its 
value to the farmer, either for his home or 
for market, richly entitles it to. ..... 
A note from Mr. J uues J. H. Gregory of 
Marblehead, Mass., to the Rural reads as 
follows: “ As a friend of Blount's White Pro¬ 
lific Corn, it may please you to know 
that it is a success iu far-off India, just below 
the Himalaya Mountains, in the Hooloo Val¬ 
ley. A friend residing there writes me that 
it has done capitally aud is an acquisition. 
1 was glad to read your hearty words of com- 
medation of Commissioner Le Due. I admire 
his energy aud pluck, aud as to his enthusi¬ 
asm, we want oceans of it in that office, with 
a country of such magnificent possibilities as 
ours.” .. 
The controversy between Gen. Le Due 
Com. of As;.,) Prof C. V. Rilev and the Ru¬ 
ral New-Yorkkk is still fresh in the minds of 
those of our readers who interested themselves 
in it. It may be remembered that Prof. Riley 
expressed bimself at the time that he feared 
the Rural was prejudiced in favor of Gen 
Le Due aud that it was not willing to present 
the ease strictly according to its merits. The 
following extract from a note to the editor will 
show that Professor Riley must, in the end, 
have beeu well satisfied with the impartiality 
of our course. "I cannot too strongly ex¬ 
press my satisfaction at the increasing evi¬ 
dence of prosperity and enterprise which the 
Rural New Yorker exhibiis.” 
MANUFACTURERS 
AKROty OHIO_ 
ISIS 
miller's buckeye BINDER.—FIG. 19, 
Bundles are delivered regularly at intervals of 
nine or eleven feet, or by means of a loot-lever 
the size of the gavel may be regulated at will 
by the driver, and large or small bundles 
bound without change of adjustment. When 
properly adjusted the Buckeye will bind as 
tightly as may be desired, the limit being not 
the capacity of the machine, but the strength 
of the wire. While the cry of the farmer is 
still for twine binders, they have not as yet 
been so thoroughly perfected as those that use 
the wire. Suitable twine has also beeu hard 
to get in sufficient quantities to meet the de¬ 
mand, should our country again be favored 
with another large harvest. Farmers should 
prepare early and thoroughly to post them¬ 
selves on labor-saving implements which they 
will have to buy for the coming season. 
Beppo. 
It will be a good while before we shall have 
that bridge to cross. During last season we 
were unable to procure hardy white grapes 
of any kind except Rebeccas, and they were 
sold at a high price and scarce at that. "Why 
don’t you get them ?" we asked at several 
grape stands. “Because we can’t," was the 
reply. 
We have received a note from one of our 
most experienced stockmen, and the follow¬ 
ing extract from it is gratifying to the Rural 
New-Yorker, aud m-iy interest its readers : 
“Your animal portraits are magnificent as 
works of art, and all the better because they 
are true. Now let ns see if truth and honesty 
in animal portraiture will not prevail. It is 
the breeders who have been inllictiog plefconal 
monstrosities upon the public, but breeders 
canuot live upon themselves, and must fall 
back upon the public for support, aud the 
public have been taught by their own good 
sense that the absurdly foolish pictures of ani¬ 
mals. that have heretofore been published 
could only be considered as suspicious cir¬ 
cumstances carrying with them taints of de¬ 
ceit. For if the pictures were deceptive might 
not the originals be so too? The good sense 
of sensible breeders, like General Cuitis and 
others, will, however, prevail, and support 
honest journalism, which rests upon the truth 
in all things.”.. 
AProsi-erous Firm. — How fortunate it is 
that no honest, enterprising dealer or manu¬ 
facturer can benefit himself without at the 
same time benefiting his customers. His own 
prosperity depends on his supplying the public 
with wares of the best design and make at 
reasonable prices, and in doing this he helps 
every one who buys his produels. There are 
few firms iu the country who have been more 
successful than the »ermont Farm Machine 
Company in benefiting themselves aud the 
farming community in this way. Beginning in 
a comparatively small way at Bellows Falls, 
Vermont, in 18?i, their prosperity has since 
been steadily increasing, owiug to the con¬ 
stant increase of their trade due to the 
excellence of the goods they manufac¬ 
ture, so that lately they have been ena¬ 
bled to transfer their business to much 
larger aud more convenient quarters. Of 
their manufactures, the Cooley Creamer has 
won a first-class reputation, not only in this 
country, but also in Europe, and wherever the 
best appliauees are used in the dairy; the 
Davis Swing Churn, without dashers, lioats 
or inside gear, has become popular wher¬ 
ever it has become known; the Eureka 
Butter Worker hus obtaiued a sale almost as 
world-wide as that of the Cooley Creamer, 
while the improved Evaporator is gaining a 
line reputation not only for making maple 
sirup and sugar as well as apple jelly, but 
also in the growing industry of sorglium sir¬ 
up aud sugar making. Lynx Eye. 
A convenient power for dog or goat is 
shown at figure 80. Such a power can be 
bought cheaply, or made at home by a neigh¬ 
boring carpenter or handy member of the fam¬ 
ily, «nd wjif, in the course of a year or two, 
FIG. 20. 
save many times its cost, in labor and worry. 
A little ingenuity will eaeily attach it to a 
churn of any sort, or to a eider press; and if 
more power is needed, a couple of dogs or 
goats may lie used, or that auimul so common 
across the Atlantic, but so rare here—a donkey. 
SUMMER ROSE APPLE, SHOWING VARIATION 
in size. (See page 20.) —Fig. 32. 
We have on several occasions discour" 
aged the use of the. immense quantities of man¬ 
ure which are by many thought to be necessary 
to the production of fine sparagus either in 
the field or garden. Wo have referred in sup¬ 
port of our view to the immense areas under 
asparagus cultivation within a few miles of 
the Rural Farm, that have received no man¬ 
ure for years and we have been unable to 
learn that they were ever heavily manured. 
Upon these highland, sandy farms there is no 
other crop that can be raised with so little 
labor that returns a larger profit. 
We have just been reading in the London 
Chr.miele, an accouut of the mode of culti¬ 
vating asparagus in the Argenteuil district of 
France. There the amount of labor given to 
the crop is prodigious, though it would ap¬ 
pear that manure is no more valued there 
than here in the Long Island asparagus belt. 
In Argenteuil they are far more careful, also, 
not to over-cut than we are here. The writer 
MILLER’S BUCKEYE BINDER 
A Good Report, —The Warrior Mower Co., 
of Little Falls. N. Y , put 479 machines into 
the State of Michigan last year. They were all 
sold aud settled for before the first of January. 
This 6peuks well for the eompauy, for their 
machines, and also for the farmers ot that State. 
In the large wheat-growing sections of the 
country the self-binder is a most desirable 
machine, aud is every year coming into more 
general use. With last year's harvest the 
Buckeye machines celebrated their twenty-fifth 
birthday, huviog been first brought out by 
their inveutor. Mr. Lewis Miller, in 1855. One 
of Mr. Miller’s last aud most important intro¬ 
ductions has been the Miller Buckeye Self- 
Bindiug Harvester, as represented in figure 19 
The aim of the manufacturers of this binder 
(Messrs. Aultmau, Miller & Co., Akron, O.) 
has been to secure, as far us possible, the ut¬ 
most simplicity. It lias been thoroughly 
tested in the fields, and from the reports we 
heard from farmers at the fairs last Fall we 
should say it has stood every test well. It has 
While Bristish agriculture Is in a transition 
state, says the Live Stock Journal, would it 
not be advisable for cottagers to iay to heart 
the hints wo publish now and again, on the 
advantages of goat keeping ? If thedepressed 
Irish farmers, for instance, were to keep 
goats as they do pigs, ihev would soon fiud 
that the one would, at little cost, assist the 
other to “ pay the lint,” and also afford a 
palatable and nutritious diet to their children. 
Goats can be kept by people who cannot af¬ 
ford a cow : and if they would only be less 
short-sighted, onr milk supply might be 
greatly increased, ami the health of cottagers’ 
and laborers’ children much improved. 
RURAL BRIEFLETS 
It is a great satisfaction for us to receive 
fresh, sound, native, white grapes at this sea- 
sou. A small box of the Prentiss has beeu re¬ 
ceived from Mr. Hubbard, of Fredonia, N. Y. 
The several bunches which it contained were 
_'V'/l 
u 
tool pok 
1 tj 
4 
— - —« 
L. 
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