202 
MARCH 49 
THE RURAL JSEW-YORKER. 
failing for tbf $oung. 
FARMING I OR BOYS AND GIRLS-NO. 15. 
HSNRT STEWART. 
Artificial Fertilizers. 
Plants cannot,live or grow without food. They 
are provided with organs for taking In food, pre¬ 
cisely as animals are. but as they art 1 fived In the 
soil they cannot, like animals, go from place to 
place In search of food, hut this must be brought 
to them And the supply must be liberal, or the 
crops will not be large enough to pay for the labor 
spent upon them. The farm, as a rule, cannot 
keep Itself sup oiled with manure, and a farmer Is 
obliged to look to other sources to make up the 
needed supply Fortunately, we have many of 
these sources from which fertilizers can he pro¬ 
cured, and as these are not made on the farm In 
the natMl'Cti manner, they are called artificial. 
The most commonly used of these fertilizers are 
lime, guano boues. superphosphate of lime, gyp¬ 
sum and the potash salts. 
Lime Is very largely U3ed as 
a manure it is made from 
rimesi one by burning It tn 
kilns, by which the character 
of the stone Is entirely chang¬ 
ed. If we take a piece of mar¬ 
ble, which Is limestone, and 
put It luto watpr, or to the 
tongue, no change occurs, and 
no taste Is perceived But 
when this stone Is burned and 
male into lime, we have a very 
different substance If we put 
It Into water, tr begins to crack 
and swell and tall apart, and 
becomes so hot as to set fire to 
wood that may be In contact 
with It. 1 r we put the tongue 
to It we find It to taste very 
strong, to be hot and pungent, 
and if the contact is prolonged 
It will destroy the skin. If a 
very small piece of It enters 
the eye by accident, the eye Is 
seriously injured and sometimes t he sight Is lost. 
This is because in burning, the lime has been 
made emails. and tn t his slate burns and corrodes 
any moist, org calc tissue which it touches. The 
substance must be moist, because moisture is 
necessary to any chemical decomposition, aud we 
shall see how t his behavior of lime is due to a chem¬ 
ical aci ion. Limestone contains lime and carbonic 
acid, 50 lbs. of the former to 44 lbs. of the latter In 
every 100 pounds. By burning too pounds of lime¬ 
stone the 44 pounds or carbonic acid Is driven eff 
into the air and we have 56 pounds of Ume left. 
But the lime Immediately si rives to get back to 
the condition or limestone which Is natural to It, 
by seizing upon the carbonic acid again, and unit¬ 
ing wii h it,. Therefore if t he Ume is brought Into 
contact with any organic substance, either vege¬ 
table or animal, It bums, corrodes or decomposes 
It in the attempt to take from It whatever car¬ 
bonic acid It may have about, it. 
This is precisely tbe apt Ion of a fire which de¬ 
prives carbonaceous substances of its carbon. 
But Ume has also a very strong afOulty for water, 
as may be seen If we put 33 pounds of water to <>6 
pounds of Ume. The Ume takes up all the water, 
swelling up and falling to aline powder, but jet 
remaining as dry as before. The water has chem¬ 
ically unued with this Ume and we canuot see It 
any more, and la forming ihJs union It has given 
out a great heat., sufficient to inflame wood. 
When, then fore, a piece of Ume comes In contact 
wltn any moist substance, it instantly robs It of 
the water It contains, and in doing this It destroys 
the tissue aud causes It, lo rot and fall to powder. 
This la, then, what la meant by a substance being 
caustic. Now It is upon this peculiar property of 
lime—as well as on account of lie behavior to some 
mineral substances In the soil which may be spoken 
of hereafrer—that Its value to the farmer depends. 
Let us follow up Us action when applied to a field. 
The farmer plows the soil and mixes with It the 
roots of the previous crop and the remains oi for¬ 
mer crops: w eeds, or manure that has been ap¬ 
plied In roi mer years, lie procures some Ume and 
exposes It to the air until It has absorbed some 
water and has fallen to a coarse powder; this is 
done that It may be spread conveniently. lie 
spreads the Ume evenly on the plowed ground, 
and harrows the surface so that the lime and the 
soli may become well mixed, livery particle ot 
Ume that comes In contact with a fragment of 
vegetable matter in the soil begins to corrode it, 
to rot ana eat It away, by taking lts carbonic acid 
audits water from U; and It soon reduces H to 
perfect decomposition. It Is then soluble, and 
when the farmer sows hta seed and the seed 
sprouts, and throws out roots, the root hairs, or 
the plants’ mouths, spread out and open their 
pores to suck In food. A genial shower falls; dls- 
solves the plant food newly made by the lime, and 
carries It to the myriad little mouths open and 
eager to receive It. The plants well supplied with 
food thrive, and show by their bright, deep ver¬ 
dure, and their strength and vigor, how well the 
Ume Is serving Its purpose In the soli. 
But It should not be forgotten that lime Is Itself 
a necessary plant food. In 1,000 pounds of clover 
there are 19 pounds of Ume; in 1,000 pounds of 
corn stalks, 5M pounds; In l.ouo pounds of tobac¬ 
co, 7.3 pounds. There Is much more Ume than 
potasU In wood ashes, and If H were not for the 
Ume that exists In the grass a grazing animal 
could have no bones. 8o that while tor this rea¬ 
son alone, n Is necessary for i he soil, yet Its great¬ 
est value Is derived from the chemical action upon 
organic matter, which has been explained, as weU 
as upon a very similar action which it has upon 
some mineral matters, to be explained hereafter, 
THE ARCHER FISH. 
uncle make. 
Probahlyalmostallof the boys and girls, who 
will read this Utile sketch, have seen the common 
brook trout, jump out of the water after files and 
hugs Having such a slender form and great mus¬ 
cular power. It, can leap almost Its whole length 
above the water to catch the unwary little fly 
which has ventured too near Its unseen enemy. 
Indeed, a young friend of mine has a tine, pet 
trout which Is kept in a tub. and he has to lay 
y<«*es of board across the tub to keep t he spotted 
beauty from jumping out, and becoming a meal 
for the cats. Sometimes a piece or meat Is put on 
the end of a stick and held a foot or so above the 
surface of the water, but the trout likes no better 
fun than to.lump up after It, and he scarce ever 
falls back without the dainty morsel. 
But It Is quite otherwise with the archer 
fish. Poor, clumsy, heavy- bodPd fellow, he likes 
fll'8 and bugs just, as well as the sprightly trout, 
but he can’t Jump. That's quite out of theques- 
tlon with him, so he might often go without bis 
breakfast or dinner had not the same wise Power 
who gave him the appetite, provided also means 
whereby it might be gratified. Yet he gets his 
THE AllCHEK K1S11.— V 1U. 175. 
fly or his bug quite as often as the trout, and that, 
too, at a distance over which no trout could Jump. 
The little fly which has just been sipping the 
Bweets of ihe ihyme cr water lily, sails bravely 
homew ard,so high above the water that, he thinks, 
no danger maj r be reared from u trout, however 
agile, but he does not mistrust auother enemy. 
Perhaps It Is the noise of his wings; perhaps It Is 
the shadow of his body that attracts the attention 
of »he little archer flub as he swims among the 
weeds and pebbles of the pond; but slowly the 
little huoterapproaches the surface, and so di¬ 
rects his course that when his nose rises above 
the water, as we see him In the picture, he Is at 
tliatpolot which Is nearest to his game. Then, 
without warning, he shoots a little crystal bullet 
from his mouth—a drop of water—aud down 
comes the fly. It has been said that this little 
archer Is so sure of his game that he has been 
known to secure it at a distance of three 
leet, and triumphantly bear it away to Ills home 
among the pebbles. There are few, If any, speci¬ 
mens of this archer fl3h In this country, as his na¬ 
tive place la In the tresh- water lakes ot Japan. 
LETTER FROM THE C0U8IN8. 
Uncle Makk As I have not written a letter 
berore lor the cousin's department (not having 
been a member of the club), I thought 1 would 
send you a lew lines, hoping they will prove Inter¬ 
esting enough for publication. I am a tam¬ 
er's boy living on a pleasant farm In the east¬ 
ern part of Columbia county. 1 have three flue 
sheep w hich were given me by a neighbor when 
they were little laiubs, and also a full-blooded Jer¬ 
sey calf, which i bought with my own money. My 
mother has some house plants, bur. during the 
very cold weather we have had they nearly all 
froze, at least the prettiest of tin in. The country 
about here abounds In foxes, and 1 can hear them 
barking almost any night. Hunters are out after 
them nearly every day, and they kill a great 
many. They can get from one to tw’O dollars 
apiece for their skins. The weather now Is quite 
mild, but we have had a very severe Winter. I 
shall be glad when Spring comes. 
Canaan, Columbia Co., N. Y. Porter Harrow. 
Dear Uncle Mark ;—I am a little girl and live 
at Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin; my step rather 
takes the Rural. My mamma takes great delight 
in tue flower and fruit department, and although 
she has very poor health she loves to cultivate 
flowers, ae that la about all she 13 able to do. I 
thought, It you would allow me to become your 
little niece, that perhaps you would remem¬ 
ber me in your seed distribution, so that I might 
help Lhls Summer to make mamma's life pleasant 
and bappj'. 1 have grown up atsiers aud brotherr, 
also a little hair sister that 1 love dearly. Her 
name Is Flora Steele, we named her after the 
flowers, for my mamma worships flowers and her 
baby. Dora Brown. 
Prairie du Sac, Sauk Co., Wls. 
Dear Uncle Mark : 
If you please, I would like to join the Horticul¬ 
tural Club, as I am Interested In Horticulture. I 
exhibited at our last fair 12 kinds of grain in the 
head, 20 kinds of grasses and 30 kinds of apples, 
and got the premiums on them. The specimens 
were all properly named, except the native 
grasses. 
1 am 13 years old and go to school and study 
reading, writing, spelling, geography, grammar 
and practical arithmetic. A. S. Emmons. 
-— ♦ ♦ ♦ - 
Drowsiness, biliousness, pains and aches, and 
ague, Hop Bitters always cures. 
^abbai| ^railing. 
THE UPWARD FLIGHT. 
MRS. L. S. HAGNEB. 
implements Rtd Parhineeg. 
UFFALO Pin$ 
THRESHING MACHINERY 
Are we almost there ? 
Have we scaled the hivht ? 
Are those the bome-liylits which gleam afar ? 
Have we bade farewell to the shadowy night, 
And entered the realm of the morning star ? 
Faint to my ear come the sounds of earth, 
The wailmif of anguish and wild despair; 
The hollow ring of her hollow mirth 
Is lost in the deptbB of this upper air: 
Vibrating Threshers 
Endless Apron Threshers 
Horse Powers 
Mounted. or Down. 
Farm Engines 
l-'lain or Traetitm. 
And now a breath like the breath of morn, 
A liirht—a radiance, spreads around, 
Aud forms of that mystic radiance born 
Seem floating luthar. glory crowned ! 
Oh angel ! lend thy sheltering wing, 
I see the portals of light unrolled, 
With songs of welcome their arches ring, 
The ransomed are sale in the Heavenly fold. 
PIETY. 
The reputation that our 
BUFFALO PITTS APRON THRESHER 
lias sustained for over 30 rears as the 
KING OF THRESHERS 
is a fillAHANTKE tliat our new Vibrating 
Thresher anti Threshing Kngine will he 
Better than any others in the market. 
the PITTS ACPICULTORAL WORKS, 
Cutalo/fiies ncut/rce on application Buffalo, N. Y■ 
The touchstone of piety Is love to God. "The 
greatest of all the commandments Is this. Thou 
sbalt love the Lord tby God with all thy heart, with 
all tby soul, aud with all thy mind, and with all 
tby strength.” To a good man, God, though un- 
t-.ee d, is a distinct personality, a being whom he 
loves. And It Is no exaggeration fer n man whose 
heart Is all on flame with devotion to look up 
to the Great Presence and say, *• Whom nave I in 
heaveu but Thee - / and there Is none upon earth 
that l deBire beside Thee,” the deaiest ones, both 
nn eart h and In heaven, though dearly beloved and 
desired, being lost sight of In the absorbing con¬ 
templation of Him whose love, shed abroad In the 
heart, commands its supreiutst affection and Us 
warmest delight. 
But if. is not every one who can say this dliectly 
he begins to serve God, nor even after he bas made 
some way In the Christian life. The Divine life in 
the soul Is a growth. The way of a Christian Is a 
“Pilgrim's Progress;” It a Christian Is standing 
still In the way he Is losing his religion. If agodly 
man is not becoming better, he Is almost certainly 
becoming worse. But if tbe glow of devotion Is 
more tervld, and love to the Great Father la be- 
eomlujg more Intense, the man is surely advancing 
In the life of the soul. The warmth and fervor of 
devotion to God are therefore the measurement ot 
the soul’s progress In godliness. Here, then, is the 
milestone by which to mark the soul’s advance: 
can I say, " Whom have l in heaven but Thee 7” 
If so, I am miking way In my religion. 
-- 
A FULL CUP. 
When the saintly Payson was dying, he exclaim¬ 
ed, “ 1 long to hand a full cup of happluessto every 
human being.” This was the language of a heart 
thoroughly purged of allseitlsh affection and filled 
with the spirit of that love, which led our adorable 
Jesus to give his life for human redemption. If 
every Christian would go out dally among men, 
filled with such longing for human happiness, 
what marvelous changes would soon be wrought 
in human society! The selfish element would be 
eliminated from the dealing* of the Christian bus¬ 
iness man. Not Justice merely, but benevolence, 
would enter into his every-day trade. The same 
splilt would rule his home and church life. He 
would become an Incarnation ot good will toward 
all, and would so preach ihe Gospel by his deeds 
that man would see his good works; and glorify 
bis Heavenly Father. The spirt' of Payson is 
worthy ot every man's Imitation. Happy he who 
can truthfully say, " I long to hand a cup of hap¬ 
piness to evejy human being.”—Zion’s nerald. 
How natural and how beautiful was that old 
Greek idea which gave a gracelul spirit to each 
stately whispering tree, aud held It au act of 
piety to plant a sapling where the felled trunk 
had stood, lest, the pretty dryad should go home¬ 
less on the wold. 
•• But ah .' my friend, the days were brief 
Whereof tbe poets talk ; 
When that, which breathes within the leaf, 
Could slip its bark and walk ” 
FortreeB and leaves do, really, breath. They 
seem, also, to loss their arms and sway, and bend 
towards each other, as though there were an earn¬ 
est language in their murmurous sound, which 
cannot shape Itself Into words. 
Tfik stars grow brighter as the night darkens. 
As the lights of earth are put out one by one, the 
countenance of heaven makes plainer revelations, 
Grace makes a very sunset of what to nature is the 
most impenetrable darkness, and tbe plaintive 
strains of the Miserere merge tn spite of humility 
into songs or triumph; for the walls between the 
dying souland the heavenly Jerusalem arc so nearly 
fretted through that, the loud Alleluias mingle with 
the contrite love whose eyes are closing on the 
cross. Precious In the sight or the Lord Is the 
death of Ills saints.—F, W. Faber. 
Now - , I say the times are full of promise. I look 
over the earth, and nearly everything Is hopeful. 
Christianity la growing stronger. To-day there are 
more Bibles, more Sunday-school children, more 
teachers, more spiritual songs, more sermons, than 
there ever were on any Sabbath since the light of 
the sun dawned on the Garden of Edeu.—Bishop 
Simpson. 
-- 
While we are looking at unseen and eternal 
things. Christ, Christ only, la our sole foundation, 
lie will be with us through the Valley. He will 
receive us when It la passed through, He will pre¬ 
sent us faultless to the Father. His blood. His 
righteousness. H1b spirit His Image—these are the 
glorious dress He gives. Let us, day by day, put 
on cnrlat; so shall we be round clothed with the 
garments of salvation,—Blckersteth. 
Manure Spreader, 
Pulverizer und Cart Combined 
Will spread ev only all kinds of Manure found bathe 
farm, from thecoursest to tbo finest, inatudimr Dime, 
Ashes. Muck. .Marl. Cotton-seed and other like fertiliz¬ 
ers, in iiny desired quantity u*r sore, wet or dry,without 
manual labor, tn oNE-foNtTi TIIE TIME done by 
IihmiI, and In ii manner tliat no intelligent farmer will 
doubt the fact that he uniat realize 
23 to 4.0 Per Cent. More Benefit 
than by pilohLuif It out tbo ordinary uneven way. Hence 
the > hi cl merits lie in QUALITY OK WORK. 
AGENTS WANTED. Send for Circulars. 
Manufactured bv tbo KEMP At BCltPKK MANU¬ 
KA 1 TIKI SO CO., owners and manufacturers tor the 
United States except NewEttKlami.autl the N.E states 
by the lUCUAKDSON MANUF.VUTO GNG Co , 
Worcester, .Make. 
KEMP & BURPEE M’F'G CO., 
SYUACUSE, N. r. 
TIIE BELCHER & TAYLOR 
A.Q’L TOOL CO. 
Manufacture this 
Plow of the be Jit Car 
Wiwr.l Iron i also of 
J'aleut Hunt Metal. 
The bandies vibrat¬ 
ing from one Hide to 
the other us the plow 
lu turned at the end 
of the furrow, ena¬ 
bles the plowman to 
walk milieuely behind 
tile plow- a I nature 
not possessed by any 
other Side-Hill Plow, n does us Rood work as any 
Lond-Side Plow, for further particulars and prices 
neiid for our new Illustrated Catalogue. Address 
GEO. S. TAYLOR, A«out f 
Chicopee Falls, Alas*. 
SAVED- 
saved. For Illustrated Pamphlet, gt 
ticulars, address The Thomas Harrow Co,, 
Hi', imt Imshfl 
on toils and 
20c.0nWIlEAT 
be 
ar- 
Y, 
ng lull pi 
eneva, N. 
01 EUREKA MOWER 
Cuts a SIX FJ5ET swath envi rr than a side rut mower 
cuts four li.i t,and leave* the cut vw -tundiiiH liirht 
and loose, curiuu In Imlf tbe turn . Send for Circular. 
EUREKA MOW Kit COMPANY, 
TOVVAMH, I’lA.VA. 
MEADOW KING 
Mowing Machine, 
In all that eoes to make up a Mowing Machine, the 
MEADO W KING has no equal,- The simplest, strong¬ 
est aud most durable Mowrx in the world. No Side- 
Draft. no weight on the horse’s neck. Send for Illus¬ 
trated Circulars. Address 
GREGG & C0„ Sole Manufacturers, 
Truiuuuiburg, N. Y. 
Also Manufacturers of Lawn Mowers, Plows, &c. 
