cuttings two inches—more or less—in length 
in furrows several feet apart. We find that 
cattle and horses display peculiar fondness for 
this grass. Mr. Kfflebrew, in his excellent 
work “ The Grasses of Tennessee,” states that 
“ ic is used to bind tho levees on the banks of 
the Mississippi and of railroads." Again he 
says “ no other grass will yield such an amount 
of valuable hay ; surpass it in nutritive quali¬ 
ties ; support on an aero of pasture such an 
amount of stock, or so effectively stop and fill 
up a wash or gully.” “But, on the other 
band, its extirpation, when once well estab¬ 
lished, is almost impossible.” We shall pre¬ 
sent engravings of this grass in due time, show¬ 
ing its manner of growth, its rigid shoots, and 
its fine leaves. 
Oats. 
Of the ten different kinds of oats tried at 
he Rural Farm the past season Pringle’s 
rossbetween t he Excelsior and Chinese Ilulless 
rere the first to ripen. They were headed out 
June 24, and cut July 15. These oats do not 
yield very heavily with us, and we fail to see 
wherein thoy differ materially from the Chinese 
Huffcss. One pound of seed was drilled on one- 
fortieth of an acre. The yield was twenty- 
four quarts of lnilless oats, or at the rate of 
t hirty bushels per acre. 
Tho Russian White Oats, so extensively ad¬ 
vertised during the early part of tho year, were 
the latest of all and not ready to harvest un¬ 
til July 29. Tins'sort resembles the Black Tar¬ 
tarian Oat, being of a dark color and produc¬ 
ing ontvsided panicles. From the beginning 
these oats were behind the Washington grow¬ 
ing on one side and a kind of English oat on 
tho other. But while at harvest thoy yielded, 
we think, rather less than the others, it may 
l ie said in their praise that though the straw’ is 
not so thick as that of the other kinds men¬ 
tioned, they stood up, until they w ere cut, the 
best of any, The straw grew to the liight of 
four feet, the panicles averaging about sixty 
spikclets. The crop) has not yet been measured. 
The Washington Oats seem to be merely a 
selection of the English White Oat. The straw 
is heavier and taller by half a loot than that 
of tho Russian White, and the field u’us cut 
July 20. The panicles averaged seventy-five 
spikclets. 
We received from the Department of Agri¬ 
culture a package of White Australian Oats— 
sixteen quarts, w hich weighed 52 pounds 
to the bushel, by far the heaviest oats we had 
ever seen. These were drilled in on a measured 
pilot, one half of which was manured with 
chemical fertilizer, the other half not at all. 
On tho first the oats grew to tho liight of six 
feet; on the second, about five feet. Tho straw 
was very heavy ; the panicles when fully 
. headed out w’ere a beautiful sight. All lodged 
as soon as tho oats began to fill, and at harvest 
were one entangled mass of straw and half- 
ripened grain. 
Mold’s Ennobled Oats yielded the heaviest 
of any in measure though in weight they are 
light, weighing but 28 pounds per bushel. They 
ripxm w ith the Russian White. Those grew to 
the liight of five feet and six inches, and yet 
did not fall, though growing beside the White 
Australian. The straw- is remarkably large and 
strong, the one-sided panicles often bearing 125 
spikeiots. Upon oue-fortioth of an acre, fer¬ 
tilized with seven and a-half pounds of concen¬ 
trated fertilizer, the yield was, plump) measure, 
two and a-half bushels, or over one hundred 
bushels to the acre—the heaviest yield of oats 
we have ever obtained on this farm. Upon 
one-twentieth of an acre, not manured, the 
3 ’ield was but two and a-hulf bushels, or half 
as much as on the manured pilot. 
Upon other measured plots several kinds of 
oats w’ore sown without manure, which w r ere 
sent to us for trial by Rural subscribers. 
Notable among them were Mammoth Russian 
Rust-proof and Red Rust-proof, which seem to 
be nearly alike. The oats are very large, 
though the panicles bear fewer spikelets than 
the others mentioned. As there was no rust 
upon any of our oats the past season, w r e had 
no opportunity to try their rust-proof powers. 
The Mammoth Russian yielded upon one- 
fortieth of an acre one bushel and a half— 
twenty-eight pounds to tho bushel. The Red 
Rust-proof yielded twenty-eight quarts. Of 
the former two pounds of seed were drilled 
in ; of the latter, one-half pound only. 
Bearded and Beardless Wheats. 
We believe it is a disputed question whether 
beardless kinds of wheat do not, or may not, 
occasionally bear beards, and whether bearded 
kinds do not sometimes bear beardless heads. 
It is our imj)ression that well established varie- 
4 ties of w-hcat rarely, if ever, change in this 
f y spect. We should never look for a bearded 
i C'awson or a beardless Black-bearded Cen¬ 
tennial. Crosses, however, of recent date may 
change from the one to the other. We can 
show bearded and beardless heads from the 
same seed and every gradation between them. 
Our Tests With Green Peas 
the present season, as has boon stated, show 
that the English Telephone should take rank 
among the very choicest peas in cultivation as 
an intermediate variety. The pxxls are very 
large, well filled, and the p)eas are sweet, ten¬ 
der and delicious, while the vines are abun¬ 
dantly productive. This is said in England to 
be the same as the Telegraph Pea—still, hav¬ 
ing tested both kinds, we prefer the Tele¬ 
phone. Day’s Early Sunrise is a wrinkled in¬ 
termediate pea of fair quality. The peas are 
large, though the po<L are only of medium 
size. We planted one-twentieth of an acre to 
this pea without manure, and they were given 
very little cultivation. When the vines were 
collected, it was diffcult to find them, so over¬ 
grown with weeds were they. The yield, how¬ 
ever, was five pecks of seeds. The vines grow 
from three to four feet high, and their pro¬ 
ductive qualities should insure for this pea an 
extended trial another season. 
Progress of Rural Wheats. 
In last year’s Fair Number of this journal, 
an account was given of the remarkable change 
wrought in a Spring wheat four years ago by 
sowing, in the Fall, seeds so shriveled that it 
was supposed they would not germinate. In 
fact, the object of the experiment was to ascer¬ 
tain to what extent wheat might be shriveled 
and still retain life and germinating power. 
The result, as then stated, was that, though the 
land was by no means rich and received no 
manure, the heads and straw grew to au un¬ 
usual size, thousands of the former measuring 
six inches ; hundreds, nearly seven. The en¬ 
tire character of the grain seemed to have un¬ 
dergone a change, as it ripened later by ten 
days than the same wheat from plump seed 
sown in an adjoining plot, also in the Fall, 
while the kernels were of a darker color. The 
longest, heaviest heads were selected for seed 
and sown last year, and from this crop the 
head as shown (Fig. 42(1) is but a fail - average of 
the best. Our engraving in last year’s Fair 
Number was of Defiance, or that which was 
originally Defiance ; the present sketch is of 
changed Champlain—so changed, indeed, that 
wo are confident that Mr. Pringle himself—the 
originator—would not recognize it. Both 
Champlain and Defiance were sown together in 
the first instance, the seed having been equally 
shriveled, and both kinds seem to have been 
changed in the same way. It may be worthy 
of remark that the kernels of the present crop 
are heavier—larger than those of last year or 
the year before. The best heads of each have 
again been selected for sowing separately, 
while the main crop will bo sown in the usual 
way so that the effects of selection may be 
further noted. 
FARM NOTES. 
WALDO V, BROWN. 
Work for a slack time,— When it gets 
too dry to plow, as is often the case in early 
Fall, farmers are sometimes at a loss as to 
what they had better put the hands and teams 
to doing. This is the time to attend to little 
things which are likely to bo neglected. In 
the permanent pasture there are often washes 
starting, and if in addition there are some 
loose stones, here are two things that ought to 
bo put together. Make a brush dam occasion¬ 
ally ; put a little straw above it—flax straw is the 
best, and it will pay you to go ten miles for 
a load of it—and then put your stone on the 
straw, and you have a barrier that will catch 
the wash and stop the gully. 
Seeding! bare spots. —Occasionally there 
is a bare spot in the permanent pasture, or a 
half-acre patch in the clover field has failed to 
catch, and how to remedy it is an important 
question. I have found that to seed with rye 
and grass seed, about the middle of September, 
is tho best way to manage these spots. If, as 
is often the case, it is poverty of soil that 
causes them, I would sow a little bone meal, 
or scatter some fine manure over them. It 
will pay to spend ten dollars an acre, or more 
if necessary, to redeem a barren spot in a per¬ 
manent pasture; for such places are not only 
eye-sores, but yield no profit, and the interest 
on ten dollars is a small amount. In seeding 
poor spots, always use an extra amount of 
seed, as it is not as likely to grow as on richer 
land. 
Have you a good walk from the house 
to the bam? Is not this a good time to make 
one ? I think that on a majority of farms, 
during an open Winter, or a Spring thaw, 
farmers wade through mud. Try throwing 
up a walk six or eight feet wide so that the 
center will be eighteen inches higher than the 
ditches; then put one thickness of flat stone on 
the middle of it at least three feet wide, and 
cover it with flue gravel, and you have a walk 
that will last as long as you live. If you are 
near a tannery and can get spent tan-bark, it 
will pay you to coat the walk with it in the 
Fall, as it never gets sloppy or tracks into the 
house in a thaw, and is very easy on sole- 
leather. 
How about stock water on your farm ? 
Are you short and afraid all the time that if 
the dry weather continues, you will have to 
drive the stock a mile or two for driuk? If so, 
now is the time to make a good large cistern 
or two. You can locate them wherever you 
want them and fill them with surface water in 
the Spring, when the water is cold and pure, 
or even in a wet time in Summer. I have 
two of these on Highland Farm, and have no 
trouble in filling them, and have found them a 
great comfort in times of drought. 
Pulverize the wheat land, whatever 
you do or fail to do: go on the principle of the 
woman making gooseberry pie, who sweetened 
it all she dared—and then shut her eyes and 
put in a handful more. Work your land till 
it is fine enough, and then go over it again. 
If you do not think this will pay, try it on a 
strip through the field and contrast it with 
the balance. Lastly— 
Attend your own County Fair, and 
get your neighbors to subscribe for The 
Rural New-Yorker— and be happy. 
Seven subscriptions at Two Dollars each 
(our only price) entitle the sender to one copy 
of the Rural New-Yoi'ker for one year. 
ifidir Craps. 
HOPS. 
CHARLES A. GREEN. 
Billy Barlow planted hops. Hops were 
worth 40 cents per pound, and he figured the 
income from ten acres, and said to his wife: 
“Maria, we’ve struck a gold mine, and its 
name is Hops. You can order the piano now, 
and we will trot the boys off to college.” 
“ But do you know how to grow hops, 
William ?” 
“ Don’t be a fool, Maria; hasn’t the old vine 
in the corner of the garden borne hops since 
Tom was a baby, with no help but the dead 
butternut to twine on ? Do I know how? 
Why it is harder to kill a hop vine than a 
burdock. But just think— forty cents a 
pound !” 
Barlow paid a high price for hop roots, 
for they are always scarce when hops are up. 
His neighbors sold him hop poles at about 
their own price; for how could he banter when 
each individual pole was destined to bear, be¬ 
fore the sunshine and the wind, a tasseled ban¬ 
ner of hops—otherwise gold. Then he built a 
big hop kiln, with a gilded fish, six feet long, to 
keep the ventilator before the wind. Then 
Barlow sat in the shade and made plans as to 
what he should do with all the money. Sud¬ 
denly hops went down, down, down. Tho 
lower they went the less buyers wanted them, 
and the more particular they became as to 
quality—and Barlow’s were not above criti¬ 
cism. Then ho said to his wife: 
“ Maria, I am busted on those blamed hops 
as sure as shooting. If it hadn’t been for you 
and your wanting the piano, and teasing to 
get the boys off to school, I would have kept 
out of this miserable pickle.” 
Barlow’s fancy hop bouse is now a pig¬ 
pen and hen-house combined, and Barlow has 
gone into beans—wiser and sadder but poorer. 
Hopkins planted hops. He bought Barlow’s 
hop poles at half price, with all the hop roots 
he wanted thrown in. 
“ How is it you plant hops when they are 
so cheap?” he was asked. 
“The price is likely to be better by the 
time mine are ready for the market,” was the 
reply. “ Father and I grew hops years ago 
Down East; father was never frightened 
about the price of hops.” 
Hopkins did not get rich on his first crop— 
hops recovered slowly, but he kept right on, 
extending his field, giving the best culture, 
and producing a first-class art icle, I pass his 
place often and my wife and I always notice 
the beauty of the hops and the careful atten¬ 
tion given. The last time we went by, we saw 
that Hopkins hud been painting his house, 
had put on an addition thereto, with wide 
comice and blinds; that he had cut down t he 
windows level with the ground floor, had put 
in double black-walnut front doors, with cop¬ 
per knobs and bell handle; that he had planted 
ornamental trees and shrubs on his grounds, 
and kept the lawn mower whirling. Hopkins 
drives a nice-looking rig on the street, and is 
said to carry a saviugs bank pass-liook, into 
which the hops are entered when converted 
into hard cash. Hopkins is consulted on im¬ 
portant questions of church and State in his 
community ; his bo}- has manned the rich 
widow’s pretty daughter, and all goes as salu¬ 
briously as strawberries into the small boy’s 
stomach. Whether hops go up, or hops go 
down, Hopkins plants hops. Barlow knows 
beans—Hopkins knows hops. 
Moral. —Look before you hop, but, having 
once considerately hopped, stay hopped. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. 
- 
Salt for Wheat. 
The use of salt to prevent rust cannot be 
overestimated by the wheat raiser. One 
bushel to six of salt per acre, sown broad-cast 
when the wheat is well up and stealing, will 
almost invariably prevent the ravages of the 
rust. After the rust has appeared on the 
leaves, of course, the salt will do no good 
Besides being a good preventive of rust, it is a 
good fertilizer. Professor A. E. Blount. 
State College, Fort Collins, Col. 
ijorticultnrol. 
Mr. Parsons’s article on the Japanese 
Maple in a late Rural is very accept¬ 
able and to the point. An article that 
I had intended to prepare on the subject 
would have been very much to the same ef¬ 
fect. I feel an additional interest in the 
hardiness of these maples from the fact that a 
number of friends have planted them on my 
recommendation. I have therefore made dili¬ 
gent inquiry in regard to their hardiness, lie- 
sides personal visits, and fiud the facts to be 
very much ns Mr. Parsons lias presented them. 
In some places they were more or less injured 
(not killed), and in others not at all; and what 
is remarkable is, that those forms which were 
seemingly the most delicate and tender have 
in reality proved to be the most hanly. There 
would, therefore, seem to be good reason to 
hope that these beautiful maples may still 
prove to be hardy except in Winters of great 
• severity, but probably not on low ground, 
where the thermometer usually ranges several 
degrees lower than on those above them. 1 
have found, os the result of comparing ther¬ 
mometers with my neighbors lower down, for 
three Winters, that the temperature in the 
valley (about 150 feet below me) averaged 
about six degrees lower than at my elevation. 
I believe it to be an accepted fact among ob¬ 
servers that the temperature of the valley is 
always lower than that of the surrounding 
hifis, a fact that is seldom taken into consider¬ 
ation by farmers and gardeners in speaking of 
the effects of the Winter on vegetation. Any¬ 
body who has traveled much at night over the 
hills, as I have, will remember how cold he 
•has felt on descending into the valleys. These 
familiar facts, if given their proper place in 
estimating the hardiness of plants, would r.o 
doubt save us many mistakes in planting. 1 
will repeat bore what I have more than once 
said before, that trees and shrubs of doubtful 
hardiness should be planted in a poor and dry 
soil, or at least in one that has not been arti¬ 
ficially enriched. 
Have any readers of the Rural used the 
Thomas Potato Digger? I saw one at work on 
the farm of a friend, while riding along tho 
road, and it turned the potatoes out very fast. 
I had no time to examine it, but asked my 
friend how he liked it and his reply was, 
“first-rate.” He lias since informed me, how¬ 
ever, that it bruises the potato badly; and his 
man, not noticing this, piled them in heaps, 
and his loss from rot, in consequence, was very 
considerable. His man, of course, should 
have thrown the bruised potatoes aside; but it 
detracts greatly from the value of any digger 
that it bruises badly a considerable percentage 
of the crop. It may not, however, have been 
properly used. How far the fault is inherent 
in the digger perhaps some of the readers of 
the Rural can tell us. It bears some resem 
blanee to a sulky plow’, is fitted with a revolv 
er, and is drawn by two hoi’ses. 
I have often wondered why sea-kale is not 
more commonly grown. It is surprising, in¬ 
deed, how few people, aside from professional 
gardeners, know what the plant is. It is sup¬ 
posed to be difficult to grow, and to involve a 
good deal of labor; but this really is not so, 
and even if it were, it is so delicious as to be 
worth it. Those who have a little glass can 
easilj’ force it during the Winter. 
Dr. Dunlevy makes an earnest appeal to 
the public authorities and others for the sup¬ 
pression of the ailunthus, on the ground that 
it is the cause of much sickness among per¬ 
sons of a delicate and nervous constitution. 
The complaint has often been made by others 
and is well founded. I have an impression 
that its planting has been prohibited in Phila¬ 
delphia. I havc known it, when planted near 
cisterns and wells, to fold the water so as to 
render it totally unfit for any purpose what¬ 
ever. Still it Is a beautiful tree, possessed of 
wonderful vitality und will grow generously 
in sand and on the sea-shore where many other 
trees will not live at all, and its wood is not 
without value. It has been suggested that if 
only tho female plant were grown, we should 
get lid of the sickening odor so generally 
complained of. 
X would state, fog the information- of Ma, 
