JULY 16 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
469 
put up or arranged than when the converee is 
the fact, and this is especially true of honey. 
The total amount of honey marketed in the 
United States is very large, and a difference of 
a cent or two on a pound from the price it 
might have brought if neatly put up. would 
amount to thousands of dollars annually. 
Comb honey should be marketed in single 
comb sections and the glass be neatly cleaned 
from all propolis or wax. While accidents on 
tbe way to market cannot always be avoided, 
the honey should, at least, leave the apiary in 
good condition. Extracted honey in large 
quantities can be shipped quite as well in bar¬ 
rels as any way, while small quantities can be 
pnt np in tin pails or cans, or in common fruit 
jars. The crates to contain the boxes shou’d 
be made to hold not more than a dozen of 
them, as they can then be conveniently han¬ 
dled. 3. W. D. 
<&|)e fhttnari). 
THE NIAGARA GRAPE. 
“ Mr. Green, what is your opinion of the 
Niagara Grape, and the method adopted for its 
introduction. A circular was sent me offer¬ 
ing 100 vines for $150, all the growth of 
wood for eight years to be returned to the 
company who send it out. Can you estimate 
how many cuttings a vine will make in eight 
years and what it will cost to cut and pack 
them for shipment ? Stiel Foster, MaBcatine, 
Iowa.” 
I have never heard of any grapes being grown 
from the Niagara other than those on the 
grounds of the originator, and am nf the opinion 
thatithasnotfiuited eleewhete. The usual cuf- 
tunof seeding to prominent pomologists vines 
or plants of new fruits, so that tbeir adaptability 
to different sections of tbe county may be 
made manifest and weak points be discovered 
(and I never saw the variety of fruit that did 
not have some defect), has not been followed 
by the Niagara people, so far as lam aware 
For this reason no one can give an opinion 
of much weight as to how the grape will suc¬ 
ceed over the eountiy at large. There are in¬ 
dications in the character of the vine and fruit 
thal would leed one to presume ibat it was 
well adapted to various sections, but I should 
not care to risk largely on such predictions. 
The natural inclination of seedlings is to suc¬ 
ceed better where thev originate than elsi- 
where. In parts of Un« country where fruits 
from other localities fail, local seedlings 
thrive famously. The Niagara is a great suc¬ 
cess at the place where it originated as regards 
vigor, health and productiveness, and in qnali- 1 
ty it is good enough for the present demands 
of the market, bat critical men, like Charles 
Downing, would not enjoy it. Nevertheless, 
I think the quality will not generally be ob¬ 
jectionable. 
Assuming that it will cost live cents per vine 
each year to cut the word and pack it, we 
must add 40 cents to the original price, which 
makes it $1.90; then estimating the wood for 
eight years to be worth $ 1.10 per vine (it 
would not be complimentary to put it at any 
lees), this bring 6 tbe price of the vines up to 
$3 each. For myself, I should prefer to pay 
$3 for vines of a valua' Is new variety and en¬ 
joy the privilege of propagating them, than 
halt that price and be restricted. When in- 
framed, Feme years ago, of the method pro¬ 
posed for the introduction of the Niagara, I 
said to myself “ It will not be successfulbut 
events have provid that t nndeiestimated the 
enthusiasm of tbe American people. 
The Niugara Grape overshadows all other 
new white grapes as completely as the great 
Falls, healing tbe same name, overshadows 
other like natural scenery. This is, in part, 
owing to Us groat merits as displayed at its 
home, and in part to the fact thal other foi- 
midable rivals have not been very shrewdly 
placed before the public. There are three 
new white grapes offered, possessing remark¬ 
able characteristics— Niagara, Lady Washing¬ 
ton aud Focklingtou. No peiBuu knowing 
these varieties equally well, would hastily 
pronounce on any one as possessing more 
points of merit than the others, yet all have 
their weak points. There are many other 
new white grapes of great promise, ot which 
I have not seen enough to euable me to report 
on their merits; but I believe tbe day is not 
far distant when white grapes will be as 
plentiful and grown as cheaply as those of any 
other color. Chas. A. Green. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. 
‘The Agricultural Press,” and we copy the 
following briefs : 
" Now, modern science, religion and morals, 
let us hope, working hand in hand, are teach¬ 
ing us that culture for onselves and culture 
for our gardens are interdependent and insep¬ 
arable ; joined together by eternal goodness 
and not to be FUndered with safetyby arybody. 
To rnb the earth leads, like all wrong, to bar¬ 
barism, as tbe care and culture of tbe earth, 
keeping it holy everywhere, as God pro¬ 
nounced it cord, is the highest evidence and 
natural accompaniment of the truest civiliza¬ 
tion. 
The newspaper of to-day, like the vegeta¬ 
tion of to-day, grows in the ashes of a thous¬ 
and aspirations and a thousand failures. 
.The great question with our 
agricultural journals is, whether It is to 
be a narrow, class affair, or whether it will 
comprehend and understand the entire world 
of legitimate and illegitimate industry it is called 
to support ? Is our coming agriculture to know 
—to use the rough but expressive speech of 
Carlyle—who and what is it that is dancing 
jigs upon its belly ? It is a vt ly curious cir¬ 
cumstance that our wisest politicians, our 
greatest theologians, our most eminent, men 
of science, our aeutest financiers, businessmen 
and politest society, do not succeed in keeping 
the nation from scrapes and pinches that noth¬ 
ing but a draft on the fai m, in some shape, 
will help it out of. 
By your books and newspapers shall we 
know you, and know how your money goes 
when you get any. 
Let the farmer be well infoimed upon < very 
subject. It is a disgrace to his newspaper that 
he should be continually cheated ty travling 
quacks of a bogus scientific, religious, medical 
or financial character. 
Pare agriculture, like pure poikard mo¬ 
lasses, may be a little too rich for some diges¬ 
tions, while a mixture, a seasoning like, might 
be quite acceptable, 
I once knew a hen that had a trick of cack¬ 
ling when she hadn’t laid any egg. All her 
force went to cackle and she set all tbe rest of 
the fowls at it. We didn't continue the exper¬ 
iment long enough to determine the results 
with absolute scientific accuracy. We couldn’t 
afford to. Farmers never can afford to let any 
blamed foolishness go on—they always lose by 
it in the end. Oar hen-yard, in cackling-time, 
became such a theater and circus of make- 
believe action, with running around and crow¬ 
ing. and flapping of wings, so out of all pre¬ 
portion to the business done there, that we 
sent the old hen to pot. 
Publishers sometimes aver that farmers in 
general are as close to deal with as the bark of a 
tree, which is not uncomplimentary or unnat¬ 
ural, considering how they get what they have 
from the ground as slowly as the roots and 
baik of trees and plants do, and bow many 
stones they have to turn, sometimes, to find a 
dollar, and how their risks are always long risks 
■with nothing like wbat a trader would con¬ 
sider the chance of an ad« qna<e profit at the 
end 
In the warm spell following a cold snap in 
Winter (to conclude our quotations from Mr. 
Olcott's address), farm cattle will kick up their 
heels most innocently, and shrewd managers 
will provide suitable occasions for the recrea¬ 
tion. So the masses rf our people—leaders 
and all—iu the joy of prosperity after haid 
times, may be led into extravagances, unless a 
better judgment provides a reasonable vent or 
restraint, in view of the harder times and cold¬ 
er weather possibly in store for us. 
Experiments in Pig Feeding. —From the 
advance sheets of the Second Biennial Report 
of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture 1879- 
30, we are permitted, through the kindness of 
our contributor. Prof. E. M- Shelton of the 
Kausas State Ag’r’l. College, to make extracts 
from the report on his very interesting experi¬ 
ments in pig feeding. The Western plan of 
feeding has often been condemned on senti¬ 
mental grounds, so, to arrive at some facts 
bearing on this question, the following experi- 
iscfUantuus. 
Pen No. t.Farrowed April 12,1879 
Pen No. 5. “ “ “ 
Pen No. 7. ‘ T “ 
Pen No. 2. ‘ July 4, 
gen No. 3. “ 
Pen No. 9. ‘ ‘ . “ 
Pen No, 10. “ March 20 
The three dat*s represent three different litters. 
DoriDg the Summer preceding, and up to the 
time the < xperiment began, all the pigs were 
kept iu a large pasture field—mostly prairie 
grass, but containing a small proportion of 
Orchard Grass at d Alfalfa—receiving au ear of 
corn, per pig, each day. The pigs, as will be 
seen by the tables of weights given below, 
were a remarkably uniform lot, and of very 
excellent quality. 
The pens numbering 1 to 5, inclusive, were 
arranged in the basement of a warm stone 
barn, and pens 6 to 10, inclusive, in an open 
yard on the south side of a cloee board fence, 
five feet high, but without other protection, 
except straw 11 nests,” which were furnished 
both sets as nei ded. A single pig occupied 
each pen, an arrangement necessary to the 
proper apportionment of feed, and distribution 
of the results of the experiment. 
In pens 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 and 10 shelled corn ex¬ 
clusively was fed ; in pens 3, 4, 8 and 9 a rr- 
tion of bran, in addition to the corn, was fed, 
the amount varying but little from two pounds 
per day. In all of the pens all tbe corn that 
the animals would eat was fed, great care beiDg 
taken that none was left over iu the troughs 
and wasted, or, on the other hand, that the 
animals were insv fliciently supplied. The 
pigs were fed twice daily, at 8 A. M. and at 4 
p. m., the feed being weighed out accurately 
to each pig at evety feeding. If at tbe time of 
feeding the previous feed had uot been con¬ 
sumed, the surplus was removed, and a pro¬ 
portionate reduction made in the amount of 
the next feed. All of the pigs received what¬ 
ever water they required. 
The bran was fed dry or mixed with water, 
to suit the tastes of the different pigs. At first 
this was eaten with apparent relish, but as the 
pigs increased in ripeness they seemed to care 
less for the bran, finally refusing it altogether, 
wheD, about the eighth and ninth weeks, the 
bran ration was discontinued. 
All the pigs were weighed at the close of each 
week, a little before tbe time of the first feeding 
of the wees following. In the table below is 
shown in pounds aud decimals of a pound the 
weight of each pig at the beginning of tbe 
experiment, the total gain, the total gain per 
cwt. and the t verage gain per cwt. 
TABLE NO 1, 
Showing the weight of each pig at the begin¬ 
ning of the experiment, and at the close of 
each week, the total gain, the total gain per 
cwt. of eech pig. and of the two sets. 
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Tbe remarkable uniformiiy of this lot is 
strikiDgly shown by the “ total gain ” in both 
sets, in the table, but. particularly in the case 
of the five pens in the barn, the difference be¬ 
tween the greatest 3 nd least gain being only 
ten pounds. The following table shows the 
total increase in weight, the total amount of 
corn and bran consumed and also the amount 
for each 100 pounds live weight. 
table no. 3. 
Total l Total 
Total corn con- bran eon- 
increase i sumed ' sumed 
We have been much interested while reading 
tbe address of Mr. J. B. Olcott, delivered be¬ 
fore the State Board of Agriculture of Connec ¬ 
ticut. It is quite out of the liue of the hashed 
up, dressed-up generalities so frequently pre¬ 
pared for such occasions. The subject 
Pons, 1. 2 and d in 
Feed, corn ^ the barn., 483 00 , 2,487 50 
Pens, 6, 7, and 10 in 
I open yard. 418 00 2.29 1 00 
■pens, 3 and 4 in the 
Feed, corn I barn.. . 330 00 1,589 00 
aud bran j Pens 8 and 9 in 
[ open yard. 240 00 1,386 50 
ment in feed lug was undertaken, in this ex¬ 
periment ten pigs were employed, all pure¬ 
bred Berkshires of good pedigree. The ex¬ 
periment was begun November 1, 1880, and 
ended January 10, 1881—a period ot eleven 
wheks. The ages of the pins employed were) 
Corn con- Bran con- Corn con¬ 
sumed sumed sumed 
for each for each for each 
loo tbs. too tbs, 1 1 tb. of 
live wt. live wt. increase 
Bran 
consumed 
for each 
1 lb. of 
increase 
•2109 4 13 4 81 
0 70 
1 19 83 4 14 5 77 
0 83 
It will be observed that the pigs fed “oiP- 
side,” besides giving much smaller returns for 
feed consumed, in all eases gave less “ total 
gains,” and ranch less “gain per cwt.,’’ as 
shown in table No. 1. and consumed much less 
feed than'those fed in the barn 
The total loss from feeding in the open yards 
was quite marked throughout, and the varia¬ 
tion in individual cases was considerable. It 
was noticeable that the quietest animals, the 
best feeders of those fed “outside,” endured 
the severe weather the best, and gave the hu¬ 
gest returns for food consumed. 
The importance of a ration of bran or other 
coarse feea in connection with corn, for fat¬ 
tening pigs, is frequently urged by writers, on 
theoretical grounds. It was chit tiy to test this 
question that bran was used with corn in pro¬ 
portion as before detailed, in two of the pens 
of eaeh of the two series. The value of bran 
fed in this experiment may be shown in a brief 
summary and comparison of tbe results ob¬ 
tained. In pens l, 2, 5, 0, 7 and 10, in which 
corn exclusively was frd, 001 $ pounds of in¬ 
crease cost 4 778 5 pounds of com, and in pens 
3, 4, 8 and 9, in which corn and bran were fed. 
570 ponnds of inertase cost 3 975 pounds of 
corn and 433 pounds of bran. That is, 100 
ponnds of Increase, in pens 1.2 5. 0 7 and 10, 
cost 530 35 pounds of com : 100 pounds of in¬ 
crease, in pens 3. 4, 8 and 9, cost 531 93 pounds 
of corn, and 75 78 pounds of bran. Or 8.42 
pounds of corn had, in this experiment, a 
feeding value equal to that of 75 78 pounds of 
bran—a fact which seems to show that corn 
alone era be more profi ably used for fatten¬ 
ing hogs than a mixed feed consisting of corn 
and bran. 
Mr. Peter Henderson favors us with a 
printed copy of his essay read before the an¬ 
nual Meeting of the American Association of 
Durservmen, florists, and seedsmen, held at 
D ay ton. Ohio, n Juoe last. From it make 
the following seketious: 
Mr. Henderson is inclined to believe that, 
whatever kind of horticultural product is 
grown, whether fruit, flowers, or vegetables, 
he that is nearest the market, other tb’ngs 
being t qnal, has a d<cided advantage; so 
much so ihat. in most cases, a man had better 
pay $50 or ev> n $100 per acre rent, if within 
one or two miles from the market of a large 
city, than to get laud ten or twelve miles away 
for nothing. 
The past season Mr. Hendersou’s firm raised 
nearly half a million of cabbage and lettuce 
plants, wheh tin y told ai $5 per 1 0(0. l’h> y 
sowed tbe seed tbe first week in February, on 
one of their greenhouse btnehes, so thick that 
thty stood twenty plants to the rqaaie inch; 
tftese Lb- y b> gan to thin out, to prick in hot¬ 
beds, justas the first rough leaf appeared, 
placing 1 000 plants in a 8*6 sash. The 
handling ol that quantity was a big j b, but 
Mr. Henderson doubts if one plant in a thou¬ 
sand failed, owing, he thinks, to a plan used, 
in preparing the bed on the greenhouse bench 
for tbe seeds—a plan that is well worthy of 
imitation in preparing a bed for reeds that 
have to be transplanted, of any kind, wuether 
outside or under glass. He used oi y two 
inches in depth of the '* soil ' for the siod-bed 
which wus made up as follows : the first layer, 
of about au iueb, was a go“d friable lornn, ran 
through ft half-inch, sieve. This was patted 
down with ft spade and made perfectly level 
and moderately firm. Oa this was spread 
about in -fourth of au iueh of sphagnum 
(moss from the swamps), which had been 
dried and run through a sieve nearly as fine 
as mosquito wire, so that it was of the coud. 
tion of tine sawdust. Ou the top of the mos s 
the ordinal y soil was again strewn to a deptL 
of about thr r< -fourths of au inch. fit 
being leveled, ibe seed was sown very thick¬ 
ly, and then pressed into the soil with a 
smooth board. On this the fine moss was 
again sifted, thick enough to cover the Feed 
only. The bed was then freely watered with 
a fine rose, and in a week cvey seed, that had 
life in it, was a plant. Wneu the seed of most 
plants genuiuHte, where they are quickly 
sown, the stem strikes down into tbe soil, the 
roots forming a tap-root with few fibers, un¬ 
less arrested by something. Here comes the 
value of tbe one-fourth cf an inch of sifted 
moes, placed ihm -quarters of an Inch from 
the top. As soon as the rooilejts touch the 
moss, they ramify iu all directions, so that 
when a bunch of seedlings is lifted up at d 
pulled apart, there is a mass of rootlets, to 
which the moss more or less adheres, attached 
to each. To the practical gardener, tbe ad¬ 
vantage of this is obvious: the tiny seedling 
has at once a mass of rootlets re^dy to work, 
which strike into the soil at once. The advan¬ 
tage c f the moss covering of the feed is not 
so apparent in the matter of a free gei minut¬ 
ing seed, such as cabbage, as in mary others, 
but in many families of plants it is of the 
greatest value. For example, Mr. Henderson 
last November, took two lots of 10,000 seeds 
of Centaui ea caudida (one of tbe Dusty Mil 
ler plants so much used for ribbon lines); 
both were sown ou the same day, and exactly 
in the same manner, in boxes of soil two 
iuchta deep; but the one lot was covert d 
with the sifted moss and the other with fine 
soil. From the moss-covered lot were got 
over 9,000 fine plants, while from that covered 
