A 
Parnell, that there is n Gooseberry Society at 
Paterson, N. J., tho members of which grow 
the English Gooseberry very successfully, as 
their annual exhibitions abundantly show. I 
am not familiar with their method of culture, 
but should bo glad toseoit described. My own 
experience with tho foreign kinds, like that of 
most others, has been mildew and failure. 
The strawberries, especially the Sharpless, 
are giving a woeful account of tho drought. 
By way of experiment I have just been pre¬ 
paring in several ways some young plants with 
tho hope of overcoming tho necessity of re¬ 
peated waterings. It will require several weeks 
to reach a conclusion. I am satisfied, however, 
that pot-grown plants have a peculiar value 
in time of drought, as being better able to sus¬ 
tain themselves than “ ground runners.” It 
seems to mo unwise to order plants while the 
drought continues, unless the means for water¬ 
ing are abundant. Anything less than a 
soaking does but little good under our present 
scorching sun, which speedily converts the 
water as it were into steam, and scalds the 
plants. 
It is quite true, Leon, as every body knows, 
that the Ox-eye Daisy is a troublesome weed, as 
are other pretty things. That, however, is 
quite be&ido the point I made. Thousands of 
ladies -wore tho Ox-oyo Daisy last Winter, and 
seemed to bo quite as much pleased with it as 
with tho Paris Daisy. Do you not sco the 
point in that ? As to tho one being fit to force 
and tho other not, tho New York florist seems 
to havo overlooked the fitness of things in this 
case, and forced tho Ox-eye ; and, from what 
I can learn, ho will do it still moro extensively 
next Winter. I used to be skeptical; but I 
have learned that tho florist, just so soon as he 
can see money in a plant, wall soon learn how 
to grow and force it out of season. It may 
seem stranger still , but I am told that the dan¬ 
delion will also bo forced next Winter, 
the “ prospect,” as the florists say, being very 
good for a demand next Winter, as it was 
early last Spring. I do not know what next, 
but am prepared for almost any thing. 
Horticola. 
-- 
TWO NEW BLACK-CAPS. 
CHARLES DOWNING. 
Skowhegan is a fine, new, early variety 
which originated in the garden of John A. 
Carleton, Hillsborough, New Hampshire, and 
has tho reputation of being tho hardiest of 
the Black-caps as well ns the earlist to ripen, 
bearing very abundant crops of large, bright, 
black berries, without bloom ; it also contin¬ 
ues longer in bearing than most others. The 
flesh is moderately firm, juicy, sweet, rich and 
separates readily from tho stom. The canes 
are strong and vigorous, moro or less branch¬ 
ing, with many strong, sharp spines. 
Centennial, another quite now variety, 
was raised by a Mr. GrahiU, of Springfield, 
Missouri, about tho time of the Centennial Ex¬ 
hibition, and hence the name. Tho plant is a 
strong and vigorous grower, somewhat 
branching, having a few strong, sharp spines; 
leaves large, light-green, whit© beneath, deep¬ 
ly veined. It is very productive of large, jet- 
black berries, without bloom; flesh moderately 
firm, juicy, very sweet and rich; it separates 
freely from tho stem and ripens soon after tho 
Skowhegan, being somewhat similar to that 
variety. 
This and the Skowhegan, being hardy and 
earlier than any of tho Black-caps, strong 
growers, very prolific bearers, of berries of very 
good quality, aro likely, for those who prefer 
raspberries of this class, to pi-ovo val¬ 
uable additions and acquisitions for home use, 
and also for a near market, where earliness is 
an object. These do not sucker but are pro¬ 
pagated from the tips. While they are earlier 
and better for homo use and near market, 
they aro not so firm—do not “stand up” so 
well, in tho language of tho dealers— as the 
Gregg and McCormick or Mammoth Cluster, 
and therefore are not so profitable for a dis¬ 
tant general market crop. 
-- 
THE. JERSEY QUEEN STRAWBERRY. 
peter b. mead. 
In speaking of strawberries I have hereto¬ 
fore ignored tho existence of Mi-. Durand’s 
Jersey Queen and Superb, simply because I 
supposed, for reasons not necessary to name 
here, that they would never bo given to the 
public. I am very glad to know that I was 
mistaken, at least in regard to the Queem 
now being sent out by Mr. Henderson, and 
an excellent portrait of which is given on 
tho next page. 
Tho fruit of tho Jersey Queen is the nearest 
approach to tho ideal strawberry that I have 
yet seen. Tho berry is very large, broadly 
conical, and the color a fine shade of scarlet. 
The flesh is firm and melting (like that of the 
Seckcl Tear when ripe), and is full of a rich 
vinous juice, with a deliciously spicy aroma. 
It ripens late, is very productive, and a 
stocky grower. It may bo added that the 
berries run quite uniformily large. I have no 
every- section is liable every few years to bo 
afflicted with a drought that stops the growth 
of grass and cuts off tho necessary supply, from 
those especially who depend wholly on graz¬ 
ing; and here is where the security of insur¬ 
ance discloses its importance and merits recog¬ 
nition, but often fails to receive it. Men seem 
strangely indifferent and dull in appreciating 
tho liabilities of their situation, even after re¬ 
peated losses havo been endured. A man 
whoso houso stands but one chance in a thou¬ 
sand of being annually- burned will not allow 
it to go a day without being insured, while the 
income from his daily, often worth much more 
than his house, and which stands about one 
chanco out of five of being cut down every 
year, will bo allowed to run indefinitely with¬ 
out making any effort to secure himself against 
oft-recurring losses. Where scholars are so 
inapt and tuition so expensive, experience may 
well be said to keep a dear school. 
Tho indifference seems all tho more strange 
since it is so easy to insure one’s-self against 
such losses by planting every y-ear a piece of 
fodder com, or other green crop, which will 
be sure to withstand drought and furnish a 
supply- to bridge over a dry time if it comes, 
but which, if not wanted for such an emergen¬ 
cy, will pay more than its cost to lay by for 
Winter use. 
The folly of attempting to go, year after 
year, riskiug the profits of a whole year on the 
uncertainty of the weather, was well illustra¬ 
ted last Winter on the plains in the West. 
Thero is a large extent of territory on which 
cattle can ordinarily.squeeze through the Win¬ 
ter without foddering. But every few years 
an unusually snowy Winter occurs and snow 
covers the ground so long that stock perish i f 
notprovided foi-. Hist Winter was one of this 
kind, and it swept off hundreds of thou¬ 
sands of cattle by starvation, and millions 
of dollars were lost which might havo been 
saved by a little precaution in collecting 
fodder, which would have made grazing a suro 
and lucrative business. It is the boast of civ¬ 
ilization and intelligence that they can control 
tho very elements and mold them to their use; 
but this risking everything on a turn in the 
weather, whether on tho plains or on a dairy 
farm, is in the end a costly- way of farming, 
and seems a sort of reversion from the pru¬ 
dence and forecast of civilization back to the 
uncertainties incident to savage and barbaric 
life. 
These remarks have been suggested by fre¬ 
quent notices in the papers of localities in 
which the crop of butter or cheese is now being 
seriously cut short by prolonged dry weather 
—a circumstance which 6eems to advertise 
want of common prudence, we may almost 
say inexcusable neglect, in failing to provide 
suitable food for the cows to meet a common 
emergency, and one to which dairy stock all 
over the country aro always liable. It is a 
good time now for those who are suffering by 
such needless losses to consider how easily all 
their losses might have been prevented; and, 
when they do so, it is to bo hoped they will 
frankly take the blame home where it be¬ 
longs, and not wickedly- charge it to Provi¬ 
dence. 
be avoided. He will leave open or unguarded 
no avenue liable to lead to loss. Ho would 
rather pay insurance where there is but one 
chance in a hundred for him to lose than to 
take that chance. 
A prudent dairyman should be as cautious. 
He should insure not only his buildings and 
ether combustible property, but ho should ef¬ 
fect an insurance on his annual income os well. 
It happens that unless special precautions are 
taken, tho income of a dairyman is liable to 
great and 'frequent fluctuations, but it runs 
very evenly when properly regulated. A dairy¬ 
man is said to lie a manufacturer, and cattle 
food his raw material. Milk is his manufac¬ 
ture! product, and cows aro his machines. 
They- are compound machines, combining both 
motive power and executive or mechanical 
apparatus. When properly- supplied with ma¬ 
terial, they run with all the regularity and 
hesitation in adding the pomological quality 
“ best." So much I can say of the fruit from 
personal knowledge, now far tho plant will 
adapt itself to a variety- of soils I cannot say 
personally, but I know enough to warrant me 
in saying that it promises to do so to a large 
extent, and I can not help washing that it 
may. 
PROFESSOR L. B. ARNOLD. 
A prudent business-man eliminates from 
his business every- possible element of uncer- 
Sevent y-seven different kinds of wheat ivere 
raised at the Rural Farm the past season. 
Most of these ivere new variet ies , the best of 
which are to be cultivated for future Free 
Seed Distributions. 
HOW TO HAVE EGGS IN WINTER, 
Just now the old hens are inclined to brood. 
A hen is not a perpetual-motion machine for 
converting corn into eggs, and sometimes she 
will require a rest. This is absolutely neces¬ 
sary for the production of the ovules in the 
ovaries, from which the eggs proceed. 
It has been said by- some persons who pro¬ 
fess to know more than they really do know, 
that a hen has a certain number of these K 
ovules or egg-germs in the ovaries and that 
she will lay just so many- eggs, and if properly 
foil and kept will keep on laying until the 
ovaries are exhausted and the original stock 
of germs is used up. Then her occupation is 
gone. This is not correct. It might as well be 
said that all tho feathers of a hen, produced 
during her lifo and after her annual molts, 
are existing in the skin at one time, and if the 
hen should live so long as to exhaust the sup¬ 
ply she must wear her last coat continuously 
or go naked. 
The fact is that the egg-germs or ovules are 
continually produced from the cell substance 
furnished by the blood, just as the flesh and 
fat and feather's aro formed when new sup¬ 
plies are required. It is a parallel ease with a 
vegetable as with un animal, for as the annual 
loaves end blossoms and fruit are formed 
of ceil matter furnished by- tho sap at 
tho right season and under the force 
of circumstances, so the cell matter 
for the formation of eggs is constantly 
7 — “ PROGRESS OF RURAL WHEATS.” FIG. 420 . 
certainty of any- other machines, but, when 
out of supplies or scantily furnished, both 
power and product at once diminish. 
One of the misfortunes of dairying is that 
CHANGED CHAMPLAIN. FROM LIFE. SEE PAGE 
tainty. He not only secures his capital and 
investments against loss, but he mukes suro 
that his income shall not fail of being re¬ 
ceived. Nothing is trusted to chanco that can 
