JAN. 8 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
CRYSTAL WHITE BLACKBERRY.—FROM LIFE.—FIG. 15. 
PROFIT IN EGGS. 
too late to think calmly or decide wisely 
New members of the guild seem to think it 
must be very irksome, whereas there is noth¬ 
ing in horticulture more fascinating than 
planning for the future. Perhaps a sugges¬ 
tion in regard to hedges may be useful to some 
reader of the Rural. I have in view now 
a deciduous hedge. I have made hedges of all 
manner of things, from a pear tree to a Japan 
Quince, the interval embracing a good many 
pretty things. For a useful hedge in the 
proper place I prefer the pear ; but only a few 
kinds are well adapted for the purpose. For 
an ornamental deciduous hedge almost any¬ 
where, there is nothing to surpass, if to equal, 
the Japan quince—Cydonia Japoaica. There 
are a number of deciduous plants that make 
pretty hedges, but the most of them are diffi¬ 
cult to form and troublesome to keep in good 
shape and order. The Cydonia is almost 
entirely free from these objections, provided 
only thatyoung plants be used to start with. 
What a lovely sight it is when in bloom, and 
how picturesque at all other times. Those 
who have a faucy for more than one color can 
use the rose and the white-colored to mix with 
the. crimson. There is this farther to be said 
in favor of ihe Japan quince that scarcely any 
manner of neglect can spoil its beauty. It 
can be easily and quickly brought iuto shape 
again. It will always ret&iu its beauty, 
though it may lose its primness by neglect to 
be sheared. No amount of shearing, however, 
can ever give it that hard, solid, expression¬ 
less surface so common to evergreen hedges, 
or take away its negligee beauty, if I may so 
call it, and for that I like it above all others. 
I have heretofore stated that the Japan 
Climbing Fern (Lygodlum scandens) was 
hardy. The top growth has matured and died, 
but the lower fronds near the ground are 
still (Dec. 19) fresh and green, notwithstand¬ 
ing the thermometer has been down to8°, 
and the Winter thus far 
exceptionally cold. As 
we have a fair promise 
of zero weather to give 
the Lygodium a thor¬ 
ough trial, I have not 
allowed so much as a 
dried leaf to remain near 
one plant. If it survives 
after three years’ trial, it 
may safely be regarded 
as a hardy plant; and I 
hope it may, for with 
its enormous growth out- 
of-doors and its beautiful 
fronds, I readily perceive 
what a useful plant it 
will be. What a lovely 
thing it would be in the 
moist climate of Eng¬ 
land, where it would be 
perfectly hardy, if here. 
The best manner of 
growing this plant is 
not yet understood, to 
judge from what I have 
seen. 
ortiraltural, 
CRYSTAL WHITE BL ACKBERRY. 
It seems to me to be about twenty years ago 
that a few plants of a white blackberry came 
from a B oston friend. On trial it proved to be 
of rather poor quality, and was thrown out. 
The CryBtal White may be a seedling of this, 
or it may be something of another origin. I 
have only seen the fruit of the latter, and so 
far as my memory serves me it is of a better 
quality than the former, and of a purer white. 
Still, the little 1 have seen of the fruit has not 
led me to form a high estimate of its quality, 
though there is room to hope that it may 
prove to be the pioneer of a class of white 
blac kberries that shall have excellence as well 
as novelty to recommend them. 
Westchester Co„ N. Y. peter b. Mead. 
[We are Indebted to Mr. J. T. Lovett for the 
branch from which the Crystal is drawn.—Ena.] 
-——♦ -- 
WHITE BLACKBERRIES. 
Some 12 or 15 years ago a friend in the West 
sent me roots of a white, a red and a black 
blackberry which he considered novelties as 
well as acquisitions ; but a trial has failed to 
develop any desirable qualities about them in 
this soil and climate, nniess it be a remarkable 
tenacity of life, as I have not vet entirely sne- 
ceeded in eradicating them. The former was 
truly a white (yellow) blackberry of medium 
size, about an inch in length by three-quarters 
of an Inch in thieknesB in the best specimens, 
of very indifferent quality, and the plants, 
though very vigorous, were not hardy. 
If what is now being sold as “ Crysthl 
White” is identical with, or no better than, the 
above white blackberry, a trial of it will only 
end in dissatisfaction. Having waged a war¬ 
fare with the blackberry briars to a greater or 
It has been always con¬ 
sidered a mooted ques¬ 
tion whether or not hens 
can bo made to pay 
when all the food must 
be purchased. IJ earing 
of a Mr. James Kelly 
who carried a consider¬ 
able flock of hens on a 
small place and bought 
all tbe feed, I was inter¬ 
ested to know how his 
accounts stood. On in¬ 
terviewing him he told 
me he sold all the eggs 
at one store where an 
account was kept, and 
as he purchased all his 
feed at the same store a 
debit and credit account 
thus appeared with his 
fowls. He had 85 hens. 
Last year he made a 
clean profit with them, 
for eggs alone, of $196. 
This year, beginning 
March 15th, and extend¬ 
ing through to Novem¬ 
ber 13'.b, his account 
shows a sale of $116 80 
worth of eggs aud $30 
for chickens, with a debit 
account of $45 80 for 
feed. He has purchased 
just two dollars' worth 
of feed outside of this 
store, and on November 
lSih, had about that 
amount of feed on hand. 
As there are but two in 
his family—himself and 
wife—there can be but 
little aid in feeding from 
table scraps. Everything 
about his place iB in con¬ 
venient order for the 
well-doing of chickens. 
He koepB feed constant¬ 
ly before them, which is 
not always considered 
the best plan, but here there is an abundant 
variety—wheat, corn, broken oyster shells, 
and an abundant rauge on grass land, and dust 
baths at haud, besides a wide-open shed facing 
South to catch the sunshine while enjoying 
shelter from the cold winds of Winter. He 
eel is bis eggs for from 30 to 30 cents a dozen, 
aud as he buys all his feed at one store, of 
course, he does not get the benefit of bargains 
he otherwise might obtain, No artificial heat 
catch it and cram the dose down its throat. 
The process is much easier than most people 
would imagine. The extra labor required to 
supply henf with fresh, wholesome water in 
Winter is a mere trifle, and will be amply re¬ 
paid, not only be the greater number of eggs 
laid, but also by the better health of the fowls. 
No one who has a dne regard for the comfort 
of domestic animals, or even for his own inter¬ 
ests will bs dilatory in this. Fovlthfuam. 
leeB extent for many years paBt, anything in 
this line that receives my commendation or 
toleration must be above mediocrity, which 
none of the above approached. 
Montclair, N. J. E. Williams. 
- 
RURALISMS. 
Winter is the time in which to mature plans 
for Spring improvements. This kind of head- 
work is too often avoided and pat off till it Is 
A recent writer in a 
cotemporary press tells 
how he has succeeded in 
grafting the tomato up¬ 
on the potato. He sup¬ 
poses the operation to be 
new and original with 
himself, and goes some¬ 
what irto detail over 
the difficulties he en¬ 
countered befoie his 
efforts were finally suc¬ 
cessful. There is "noth¬ 
ing new under the sun.” 
This is another zinc 
label case. Somewhere 
about 1S60 I saw the two 
plants growing together 
in this way in the gar¬ 
den of Dr. Siedhof, still 
an enthusiastic horticul¬ 
turist. He wrote me a 
description of his method 
of performing the. graft¬ 
ing, and it was pu'. lished 
in the Horticulturist. 
Whether the writer al¬ 
luded to above ever saw 
this published descrip¬ 
tion I cannot say, but 
his method and Dr. Sied- 
hof’a are the same. The 
result of the grafting is 
that one gets a small 
crop of potatoes beneath the surface and a crop 
of tomatoes above; besides, the experiment is 
curious and interesting. If it would interest 
the readers of the Rural, I would tell them 
how it is doHe. It is very simple. 
The late severe weather has finally browned 
and destroyed the foliage on my pretty Spirasa 
Thunbergii, which I lately spoke of as being 
almost an evergreen. It gave me a great deal 
of pleasure up to the 18Lh of December. 
is used in Winter to aid the hens when eggs are 
highest, so that this is a successful effort un¬ 
aided by any special preparation or outlay. 
THE 8TJPPLY OF WATER- 
Bummer is the season when fowls, like most 
other animals, require the largest supply of 
water, yet just now is the time when they 
are most likely to suffer from the need of a 
fresh and wholesome Bupply of it. Those who 
have never kept fowls in confinement have no 
idea how much water they drink in 24 hours. 
They take but ouo or two sips at a time, but 
those sips are taken so often that in a day the 
aggregate amount consumed is quite large. 
In Winter, when water freezes so read¬ 
ily, it is quite a problem how to keep fowls 
in confinement well supplied. Many devices 
for this purpose have been invented which 
have turned out more or less successful. 
Probably tie best and only guarantee against 
absolute freezing up is to have a running 
Btream, and to secure this on a small scale, the 
best method is to have a barrel of water well 
protected from frost with a wooden faucet in 
the end, and to allow this faucet to leak at 
about the rate of two drops a Becond into a 
basin just so deep that the kens can reach the 
bottom of it when no Ice is in it. They can 
drink from this until it is full of solid ice, 
when the ba6in must be thawed out and emp¬ 
tied. Everyone knows that hens cannot lay 
without a full supply of water ; but few know 
how readily they are made sick by having to 
drink the water from melted snow or to eat 
snow. 
I have never found it a good plan to add red 
pepper, Douglas Mixture, or any other com¬ 
pounds to the water. The fowls are too wil¬ 
ling to deny themselves the necessary supply 
of water if it has a repulsive taste to them. 
The only rational way to doctor a chicken is to 
be considered tbe proper temperature. Motion 
carried. 
-» » »— — — — . 
MR. TALCOTT AND THE DUCKS. 
Mr. Talcott wishes to know how large and 
deep a pot for young ducks to feed out of 
should be. It was always my custom to take 
any pot or pan that was convenient, lay aaold 
stone over it after burying it in the ground, 
and then put water enough iu it to just allow 
the ducks to roach the bottom with their bills, 
The larger the pot tbe better, as It requires 
filling with water less frequently. It is my 
custom to keep the young ducks penned up 
or confined to the chicken yard until they are 
six or eight weeks old, as they are sure to be 
lost if allowed to go to tbe pond. 
In regard to their eating whole corn, or, as 
Mr. Talcott puts it, " at how young an age will 
the ducks fish out corn and eat it if so provided 
for them;” that will depend upon the breed 
and growth of the ducks. I have never no¬ 
ted the exact ago at which they will swallow a 
grain of corn, and all I claimed was that it 
would amuse them ; but I think at four weeks 
of age they will keep the trough or pot clear 
of corn; but this was never iutended to be re¬ 
commended as the sole feed. On the contrary, 
I 6tated that this would amuse them. The 
ducklings should have their regular feed of 
coarse corn meal, bran and boiled potatoes all 
mashed together, twice a day with a grass run 
if possible. They are excellent foragers in the 
garden where they will hunt slags and bugs 
all day and nearly ali n'ght, and do but little 
harm to fruit or vegetables. 
It was never my good fortune to have a 
small creek for the ducklings to wade in $ but 
if allowed even that with unlimited range, I 
should expect to lose a large number of them 
Water is of no service to them until well 
feathered when about iwo months of age, and 
if their general wants a- e attended to and a 
good range in grass and 
shade Is allowed them 
they will do qnite as well 
without as with a large 
supply of water. The 
flavor of the flesh is then 
better than when they 
get most of ihe feed from 
the pond. L. 8. Hardin. 
