cisms, reaches a moderately large town the 
wise ones quietly take him aside and advise 
him to “ move on to some small village where 
they don’t know much.” So the manager goes 
“ barn-storming ” to the small towns. We do 
not hesitate to wain our country readers that 
it is best to inquire carefully into “attractions” 
arriving in their towns the coming Winter 
claiming patronage because of fictitious in¬ 
dorsements from New York, 
The good man bears with the faults of others 
very patiently; the bad man bears with his 
own in the same way.The man 
who plans a barn with modern improvements 
should be careful that his wife has modern im¬ 
provements in her kitchen.—Iowa Homestead. 
, . ... If you wish to bo happy you 
must leam to be just deaf euough not. to hear 
some things and just blind enough not to seo 
others.The difference between 
infidelity and true religion istliis:—The infidel 
tides to make the world useful to himself, 
while the Ch ristian tries to make himself use¬ 
ful to the world. 
(Ebt'xijtul)fte, 
SEARCHING FOR APIS DORSATA. 
[Wb have received the following communi¬ 
cation from Mr. Frank Benton, the eminent 
apieulturist, who lately explored the primi¬ 
tive forests and tangled jungles of Java and 
Ceylon, in search for the famous Apis 
dorsala, which he intends to introduce into 
this country. He is doing a great work, and 
deserves the encouragement and gratitude of 
all who are interested in apiculture.— Eds.] 
LaRNaca, Island of Cyprus, [ 
Mediterranean Sou. Aug. 0, 1881. I 
After having passed some days in the beau¬ 
tiful city of Singapore (Farther India) and the 
vicinity, a land of great palms and evor-ver- 
dant hills clothed to the summits with strange 
forms of vegetation, I staled across the south¬ 
ern point of the China Sea, passing Britang, 
Lingen and a thousand other equally beautiful 
islands, into the Strait, of Banca. We crossed 
the equator near the island of Lingen, but I 
was not fortunate enough to catch sight of 
that very ancient and respectable Great Cir¬ 
cle. 
Crossing the Java Sea, our good ship east 
anchor before the harbor of Batavia, 
the great Handelsstadt of the Dutch 
East Indies and in size the second city 
of Malaysia. A portion of this city (the 
older part) looks much like some town in 
Holland—red tile roof?, a canal, etc., making 
the representation natural. The other part is 
quite East Indian, with its luxurious gardens. 
I traveled pretty well all over the wonder¬ 
fully rich and beautiful island of Java, whose 
length is 600 miles, and whose population is 
over 22,000,000. I have some acquaintance 
with the Dutch language, but I found that 
most of the Dutch residents could speak Eng¬ 
lish, French or German, so I got along very 
well with them in making myself understood. 
But my work took mo into the forests and 
among the natives of remote villages, where 
there were no Europeans. No interpreters 
can be obtained, the European residents all 
having employment, and also all those natives 
who know anything of Dutch. Few of the ua- * 
tives learn the difficult Duteh language, but 
the Dutch all leam Malay. The Superintend¬ 
ent of Public Instruction for the Dutch East 
Indies detailed a Malay student who had 
learned some Dutch at the Government, Agri¬ 
cultural School, to accompany me, but only 
for a few days, since his examinations were 
coming on. Thus with but a few weeks be¬ 
fore roe to spend in Java, I saw myself obliged 
to learn the Malay tongue, or enough of it to 
servo my purpose for the time being, so J sat 
down with a book and studied two or three 
days; then I went into the baznai-s and out 
into the villages and talked all the while. In 
two weeks I could get along very well, for 
the Malay language is the easiest tongue 1 ever 
met with. It is called “the Italian of the 
East,” and is, in fact, largely composed of 
soft vowel-sounds, and its pronunciation pre¬ 
sents no difficulties. 
By rail, coach and on foot I reached the 
very center of this mountain-land several 
times, made many excursions up the forest- 
covered mountains, and once reached the sum¬ 
mit of an ever-active volcano, the Gede, or 
“The Great” volcano, and gazed down into its 
awful, seething, steaming and thundering 
crater. The ground all about me was hot, 
and steam issued from every crevice. Acres 
of lava and scoria covered the plateau about 
the crater. Looking about I could count 50 
huge mountain peaks, and far away on either 
hand were fertile plains stretching to the sea. 
Surely this was a glorious mountain land. I 
felt well repaid for my toilsome journey up 
the mountain—up, up, all night long, through 
the tangled, dripping vegetation of a luxuri- 
nt tropical forest, through the water and 
over the rocks of the steep mountain path. An 
hour or two after sunrise this great volcano 
shrouds itself in clouds and only comes forth 
in its majesty when another day breaks. The 
descent took us until late in the day. I cannot 
stop to enumerate the twentieth part of the 
wonderful forms of vegetable life that met 
my gaze. Giant tree-ferns, sometimes reach¬ 
ing a hight of fifty feet, and beautiful bego¬ 
nias were numerous, while honeysuckles, vio¬ 
lets, St. John’s-wort, and the Iloyal Cowslip 
were strewn along the way. The beautiful 
flower last mentioned is said to be found no¬ 
where else in the world. 
In Ceylon I passed a month on my way home, 
and met with many adventures while securing 
the Great East Indian bees in the jungles of 
that island, second only to Java in richness. 
I brought with me some colonies of the far- 
famed bees, Apisdorsata, but a severe attack of 
East Indian jungle fever, which I had just be¬ 
fore leaving India, and which accompanied 
me much of the waV on my return journey, 
obliged me to neglect these bees, and many 
of them died after my arrival in Beyrout, 
Syria. , . . , 
My work in this search for the Apis dorsata 
in a distant land is the first of the kind that 
has been attempted, and I am very grateful 
for the words of encouragement from eminent 
American and European bee-eulturists. 
Frank Benton. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Arkansas. 
Beebe, White Co., Sept. 25.—We have had 
two fine rains in September, aud it is cooler. 
They came too late for cotton, but they started 
the grass which the stock is rejoicing over. 
Some have picked corn so as to get the good 
of the grass. Cotton is going to be short. A 
neighbor has 32 acres and will make four 
bales. I have 20 acres and will make five 
bales. My rust-pro of oats were the best aud 
heaviest. The Brown Oats were not so good. 
New Zealand Oats were very good. The 
Wasliington Oats I did not. get in time to give 
them a fair trial; the others wore up about 
three inches when 1 sowed the Washington. 
The Hulless Barley did very well. White 
Russian Spring Wheat and Champlain both 
mildewed. I planted three rows of corn and 
fertilized one with chicken manure and two 
rows with sheep manure and some with un¬ 
leached asheg. I dropped a handful to a hill 
and could soon tell the difference in the rows. 
The chicken manure was best, ashes next. 
Tho rows wer e all in the same field. My 
Blount's Coni did very well aud I am pleased 
with it. In a good season it will yield well 
here. It is a good fodder plant also. My 
Elephant Potato came up well, but while in 
blossom the drought came and just cooked the 
potato tops, and some navy beans right along 
side were totally burned up, while the Branch¬ 
ing Sorghum stood still but was green all the 
time. My Egyptian Corn was planted very 
late and I could not work it at all. It kept 
green all the dry time and I shall get quite a 
little amount of it. 1 think this dry season 
has injured the fruit to some extent. The 
buds are just beginning to swell and the straw¬ 
berries are move than half killed. I had 4,000 
bearing plants and a neighbor had an acre 
and a half, but he will not have 1,000 living 
plants this Fall, aud many of mine have also 
perished. Now if J. A. J., of Grand Prairie, 
who lately wrote to the Rural, hi contradic¬ 
tion of my statements, still doubts my words, 
if ho will come to my house I will keep him 
aud I will prove their truth to him and it shall 
not cost him anything while he stays. The 
people at Beebe Station told mo a year ago if 
I stayed three years I could not get away un¬ 
less 1 had friends to help me, and I believe 
that if I do not get away tins Winter 1 will 
have to stay. I camiot say anything more 
about the country than I have said. J. A. J. said 
there were four rivers in the State, but every¬ 
body cannot live where the rivers are. Cotton 
is 11c. per lb.; flour, $!)<$9.50 per bbl.: corn- 
meal, shipped from the North, f 1.25 per bush¬ 
el of 40 lbs.; meal, made here, 81 per bushel of 
50 lbs., not bolted; potatoes, Irish, 4c. per lb.; 
pork, shipped here, 15c. per lb.; corn, 81 per 
bushel. Fanners are in a dilemma on the 
bread question; if they feed their com to make 
meat they say they will have to do without 
bread, and if they keep the corn they will 
have to do without meat. h. b. 
Hot Springs, Garland Co., Sept. 23.—This 
has been a fearfully dry Summer, a few nub¬ 
bins of com, a few bolls of cotton; no vege¬ 
tables; and the only full harvest we gather is 
that from our hot water; but for that we’d be 
“ gone up.” Of the Rural seeds 1 sowed my 
dianthus in full hope of enjoying their sur¬ 
passing beauty, but alas for my hopes ! the 
elements have conspired to blast them. Tho 
White Elephant produced tubers about the 
size of the seed. 1 planted for a second crop, 
watered thoroughly and rested in hope of rain, 
but it has not come. I have a half peck of 
very poor Wasliington Oats. The Branching 
Sorghum and asparagus have done no better, 
nor could they. With perfect propriety we 
may adopt for this section the description 
given by a Beebe, Arkansas, correspondent 
some time ago, so far as farming is con¬ 
cerned. But our thermal waters can beat the 
world in miracles and our mines will yet show 
up. T. J. B. 
Connecticut. 
Woodmont, New Haven Co., Sept. 24.— 
From the seeds of the Washington Oats I 
obtained seven pounds; should have had more, 
but cows got into the field and destroyed 
over one-half. From the seed of White I 
Elephant sent me 1 dug 70% pounds of pota¬ 
toes, very few of which were too small for 
market. I inclose specimens of two of the 
largest, though they run very uniform in 
size. G. a, 
[Tho two referred to weigh one pound two 
ounces each.—E ds.] 
Illinois. 
Dover, Bureau Co., Sept. 21.—The season 
here is dry and warm so far. Wheat light; 
oats a fair crop; corn two-thirds of a crop; 
grass light. My Rural Branching Sorghum 
came up well and branches wonderfully, but 
I am afraid it will not ripen here; it is just 
beginning to head out. The Washington Oats 
were drilled and I have one-half bushel by 
measure, but rather light; they rusted badly. 
The White Elephant Potatoes were nice, con¬ 
sidering the thy weather. I had 24% pounds 
of smooth potatoes, besides some small ones I 
did not weigh. I am well pleased with them. 
My asparagus grew finely, both French and I 
Dutch, and I will have enough to plant quite 
a good plot of it in the Spring. The flower 
seeds I gave to one of my neighbors. The 
Surprise Muskmelons, from seed received last 
year, were all destroyed hut one, but I saved 
the seed and planted it this year and have a nice 
crop of fine melons, inch and good. The 
Beauty of Hebron Potatoes are the best 1 have. 
They ripen with the Early Rose, but the yield 
is one-fourth greater. Both were planted the 
same day, side by side, and the cultivation 
was the same. Only one Cutbbert Raspberry 
grew and that did not show any fruit this 
year; but there are a number of suckers from 
the roots, so I shall have plenty in a year or 
two; but I think they will not suit our prairie 
soil. I have tried several kinds of red rasp¬ 
berries here, but have not succeeded very 
well, though the Black-caps do well. I mean 
to give them a fair trial and if they do not suit 
me I will dig and burn them. J. b. 
Iowa. 
Lynn, Dallas Co.— My asparagus has done 
finely and the R. B. Sorghum also; but the 
hail and bugs took the W. E. Potato, and the 
hail and rust ruined the oats. s. w. 
Maine. 
East Machias, Washington Co., Sept. 23.— 
The White Elephant Potato sent to me last 
Spring weighed six ounces. It was planted 
May 10. On Sept. 18,1 dug from it 17 pounds. 
Some were very large and quite a number of 
small size. The season for potatoes has been 
very poor and the crop light. One of the W, 
E. Potatoes was boiled, and as Eustom Maine 
is the habitat of the potato, and the locality 
where it reaches perfection, it was found to 
be of most excellent flavor and as fine ms 
flour. J- a t. 
Lewiston, Androscoggin Co., Sept. 24.— 
Some six or eight weeks ago I wrote to you to 
know at what time and in what manner to 
plant out the tips of Blaclc-caps, not the time 
to layer them. I have not had very good suc¬ 
cess in the planting of them. In 1880 I plant¬ 
ed 50 Greggs and 22 lived. In 1381 I planted 
out 175 plants and five or six only lived out of 
that set. I did not do the work myself; 1 had 
to leave it for the hired men to do, us I had to 
be absent from the farm. I want to know if 
I should buy plants six months old, and if tips 
transplanted last Spring would uot be better 
and surer to live than tips planted in the 
Spring. [We do not exactly understand the 
question.— Eds.] I have the Clark, Herstine, 
Turner, Cutbbert and Pride of tho Hudson. 
The Hudson was the best of them all. It is 
one year old and has borne a crop of large, 
nice-flavored berries. The next is Cutbbert, 
large and good. There was very little differ¬ 
ence in the hardiness of the different varieties 
on my grounds. Clark is a very nice, large 
berry and hardy, but it suffered most from the 
climate. Of grapes, Adirondac Is as good as 
any with me, but a very slow growor, and 
mildews some; but, on the whole, it is the 
best I have. The Rogers’s No. 8 is next. Eu- 
melan stands third. 1 am inclined to think 
that the Whitehall would he a good grape, as 
1 understand it is the same, or about the same, 
as Adirondac. The Concord is called early 
in your State, but it is late with us. It ripens 
about one year in five here. Delaware is good 
and ripens a little earlier with me than the 
Concord. 1 want some very early grapes that 
are good. The Moore’s Early has proved a 
very slow grower with me; how is it with 
you ? [A rapid and vigorous grower.— Eds.] 
I had thought of four Moore’s Early, three 
Whitehall, three Telegraph, one Eumelan, one 
Prentiss, the last one trained on the south side 
' of the house under the piazza, so that when 
the piazza is glassed in I can keep them warm 
from the sitting-room stove, and yet expose 
the vine to the full rays of the sun all day. I 
would like to know more of the Niagara, 
Duchess, Prentiss and Lady Washington, and 
which is best for me to plant, the Lady Wash¬ 
ington or the Prentiss or Pockliugton. [All 
are good. You can only ascertain which 
would be “ best" in your soil and climate by 
making the trial.— Eds.] c. a. h. 
lHlcliitfan. 
Platte, Benzie Co., Sept. 21.—I would like 
to let you know how we are doing in the 
woods of Michigan. Hay is very good; wheat 
middling; rye and oats very fair; early- 
planted potatoes good, and corn yields about 
10 bushels per acre. We have plenty of straw¬ 
berries, and all the other small fruits grow 
wild here. We raise a good many grapes and 
make wine from them. I have a seedling 
which ripens its fruit two weeks earlier than 
the Hartford Prolific. This grape is excellent 
for the table and for wine, and the vine is a 
very rampant grower. No one here knows its 
right name. I like to read your paper very 
much, and I always find something to learn 
from it. a, g. 
Siu:rman, Wexford Co,, Sept. 24. — The 
season here has been, taking all things 
into consideration, very favorable for the 
fanners. This is a new county; it is only 
18 yeai-s since the first settler moved into it. 
The soil is mostly of a sandy loam heavily 
timbered with elm, maple, beech, basswood 
and some hemlock, except along the Manistee 
River and its tributaries where there are pine, 
cedar and hemlock. It is well watered with 
clear pure water; all the streams are cold and 
clear, the water running over gravelly beds. 
This season opened up later than usual with 
us. Winter wheat was killed out somewhat 
by smothering. We had too much snow and 
the wheat was thin on the ground, but of 
most excellent quality. The yield is from 
eight to thirty-two bushels per acre as far as 
heard from. There has been no thrashing in 
this neighborhood yet. I think the average 
per acre of wheat null be about 12 bushels in 
this township. Oats about 30 bushels. Corn 
is about two-thirds of a crop. Tho weather 
was a little too dry and scorching in the latter 
part of July and first of August. Potatoes 
will be about an average crop. Not much 
fruit; very few orchards have yet come into 
bearing and this is an “ off ” year for apples. 
From the Rural Branching Sorghum I suc¬ 
ceeded in getting only n few hills and the 
stalks have made but a slender growth, being 
only about three feet high. The White Ele¬ 
phant I received weighed two ounces. I cut 
it into nine pieces and planted one piece in a 
hill. I have dug them and they weigh 14 
pounds of fair-sized tubers. My Wasliington 
Oats were all oaten up by grasshoppers. The 
flower seeds were an entire failure. There is 
a larger acreage of wheat sown this Fall than 
ever before here, and most of it is up and 
looking first-rate. Wheat is $1@1.10 per 
bush,; oats, 40@46o.; potatoes, 50@00o.; hay, 
$18@22 per ton; cows, ?25@45 each; work 
oxen from 8110@ 175 per yoke; sheep, ?4@5 
per head; calves, |5@10 per head; hogs, 5c. 
per lb.’, live weight; pork, fresh, I2e. per lb.; 
beef, 8@12e, per lb. for fresh. x. n. c. 
Union City, Branch Co., Sept 29.—I wish 
much to thank you for the seeds sent us in 
the last seed distribution. Wo have a goodly 
number of asparagus plants and some beauti¬ 
ful pinks (wish you could see them). Planted 
only a few bills of Sorghum but am well 
pleased with it. Cut one hill down as you 
suggested and am convinced it is one of the 
best fodder plants—better than com on account 
of second growth and standing the dry weather 
splendidly. The oats were good and so were 
the Elephant potatoes. I had fifteen hills (one 
eye to a bill) and had 37 pounds of tubers. The 
Pentstemons you sent in 1879 have failed to 
blossom as yet, though I watched them care¬ 
fully. L. b. T. 
iM imiPMOta. 
New York Mills, Otter Tail Co., Sept. 19. 
—I have dug the White Elephant Potatoes 
and find they weigh So pounds, from 13 eyes 
planted one eye in a hill. One potato weighed 
a pound and three-quarters. My asparagus 
looks splendid. The sorghum did uot amount 
to much. Washington Oats yielded well. I 
saved one peck; birds destroyed some. a. p. 
Winnebago, Faribault Co., Sept. 20.—The 
present season has been one of the wettest ever 
known hereabouts. All small grains are 
scarcely paying for tho labor of harvesting 
them. The corn crop, however, is promising 
a fair return, but owing to the backward 
Spring not more than a quarter of the usual 
number of acres was planted. Hay, or, rather, 
the grass crop, is excellent; hundreds of tons, 
however, are rotting on the ground for lack 
of fine weather to cure it. The Blue Earth 
River, which flows from north to south 
through this county, never was known to be 
as high at this season of the year. Now it is 
causing back-water to many of the grist mills 
on its banks. Not much thrashing done yet. 
