separated from each other by a hedge having 
a very broad margin of grass on each side. 
About 33 years ago the hedge was removed, 
the grass was plowed out, and the fields were 
converted into one. He had samples carefully 
taken both of the soil upon this strip and of 
that in the middle of the field on both sides; 
these are now being analyzed, but it is by no 
means certain that any appreciable difference 
will be detected in the composition of the soils: 
there is, however, the fact of a marked im¬ 
provement of the crop, due to grass that was 
plowed up 30 years ago. 
Dr. Lawes thinks that the United States 
farmer will be wise in usiug phosphates for 
the growth of corn, so long as they continue 
to give him a good crop; and at all events, if 
they fail to do this, they will remain in the 
soil, and can at any time be made available 
for vegetation by the use of some nitrogenous 
manure; whereas, an application of ammonia 
or nitrates is irretrievably lost, if not taken 
up by the growing crop. 
When Good Farming Didn’t Pat. —It may¬ 
be stated as a fact, remarks the Live Stock 
Journal, (Eng.) that the best farmers have 
suffered most from the wet weather of the 
past two months. Their expenditure in labor 
and manures has produced heavy crops, which 
have gone down under the storms. So also is 
it true that a poverty-stricken crop suffers 
comparatively little from bad weather, both 
before and after it is cut. Well developed 
crops, full of vigor and substance, are much 
more open to the ravages of inclement seasons. 
Thicker on the ground, they dry slower when 
a fine day comes: and the chronic dampness 
promotes fungoid growths and germination of 
the ripe- ed graiu, while not a few of them 
ripen the more “ unkindly ” in the absence of 
the sun. 
The year throughout, the above journal con¬ 
cludes, must be set down as a bad one, and 
the prospect for the winter is gloomy enough 
in consequence Grass is still fresh and 
green for the most pai l, but the land is sodden 
with wet; hay and turnips are far below last 
year’s crop; feeding-stuffs are high in price, 
and stock are low; but, above all, the harvest 
in many counties cannot but be reckoned as a. 
disastrous failure, though not so much so in 
yield as in quality. 
A writer in the Agricultural Gazette of 
England says that milk from good cows, well 
fed and well housed, will contain over 12 per 
cent, of " solids.” Milk from ordinary cows, 
poorly fed, will not contain more than 11 )4 
per cent, of solids. Now it is the solids in 
the milk that produce our cheese and butter, 
aud as the difference between 11% and 13 is 
about 14 j>er cent., it follows that our yield of 
cheese and butter might be thus most mater¬ 
ially increased. 
"Oh, dry up !” as Autumn said to the leaf. 
"I’m not so green as I was,” replied the leaf: 
" so I’ll take your advice.”.One 
hundred and ten thousand dollars for a lot on 
Fifth Avenue, on the corner of Seventy-fourth 
Street, 29x150 feet. This is the highest price 
ever paid for a private lot on this island. . . 
. . . At a trial of the audiphone before the 
authorities of the National Institution for 
Deaf Mutes, at Paris, it w as found to be use¬ 
less.When a man has no mind of 
his own he can always find a woman who will 
give him a piece of here.The New 
England Fanner asks, when will farmers learn 
to provide themselves with more than a single 
year’s supply of food for themselves and their 
stock, instead of throwing themselves upon 
the mercy of speculator's and gam triers. . . 
. . . . In pinning currant bushes, says Mr. 
Bucke of Ottawa, Canada, they should be kept 
moderately open; the red and white bear 1 >cst 
on two and three-year-old wood, never on one- 
year-old; and for this reason a few suckers 
should be allowed to grow up each year, and 
the four-year-old stems should be removed 
with the knife. A stool of six 1 rearing stems 
with three suckers would lie about the correct 
thing for a model plant, but circumstances 
will frequently remodel the idea in all bush 
and tree culture.. . , . 
Speaking of tenants’ rights the Mark Lane 
Express says: It is a kind of religion—a fet¬ 
ish-worship. “ Fear God, honor the king, and 
knuckle down to your landlord ”—that is the 
piousa djuration still current ..... It 
has been a kind of “ Open your mouth and 
shut your eyes, and see what Providence, in 
the shape of your landlord, will send you.” 
The moral effect has been similar to that of 
the hope tliat something " may turn up,” so 
well satirised by Dickens. 
When nothing more tha n justice is asked for, 
there is no occasion to beat about the bush. 
The mealy-mouthed season has been perennial 
too long ...... In a wooded ravine 
near Egbertvi 11:, Staton Island, says the 
Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, there 
is a vine of Vit.is cordifolia (Winter or Frost 
Grape) having a circumference of 2534 inches 
at a point three feet above it base. It 
completely covers three cedar trees, each 
at least 30 feet high, and is a very beautiful 
plant. 
Cum)to I) ir e. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Cnimiln. 
Lis TOWEL, Out., Oct. 12.—Most of the seeds 
of last year were unsuccessful, but the Hibis¬ 
cus Syriacus, and Hibiscus Moseheutos both 
grew and died down for the Winter. I care¬ 
fully covered them, and in the Spring I was 
glad to see them again come up, and by the 
latter end of June could see the flower buds, 
but a cool day or two seemed to check them 
and they turned yellow and fell. The imusally 
hot weather of August and September brought 
others forward, of which only one opened and 
that was imperfect, and so the H. Syriacus 
has disappointed me much as it seemed to 
prove that this climate was too cold for it. 
Mold’s Ennobled Oats were again sown, but 
though the yield was good they were very 
light. The Washington Oats were good and 
did not rust at all. So much for the old seeds. 
The Giant Purple Dutch Asparagus came up 
veiy thin and Argenteuil hardly grew at 
all, not making over six plants. The seeds of 
the dianthus started early in the house and 
were planted out; they have flowered well 
and been muchadrnired. The carnations, too, 
look well. 1 raised quite a number of the 
plants and shall look forward anxiously to see 
them bloom. The Rural Branching Sorghum 
seems to have come up better with me than 
with many others, as only six hills missed out 
of 36, and when I cut it at the end of Septem¬ 
ber it ranged in hight from two to four feet, 
and when the frost came on Oct. 3, the tallest 
bunch was just coming into head. The cow I 
fed it to liked it much. I think I have a few 
seeds left, and will try again, but am afraid 
the season is too short to get the full benefit of 
it. The White Elephant Potato also did well. 
I kept the seed potato in dry sand all winter 
and it came out quite fresh in the Spring, 
and I cut it into nine pieces, an eye to each, 
and planted them at the end of May, hoed 
them well and dug them the last of September. 
1 did not weigh them, but should put them at 
about half a bushel. There were 59 tubers, 
the smallest as large as the seed. Though they 
do not yield like the Beauty of Hebron, Rvalue 
your last collection very much. The crops 
round here are all housed and thrashing has 
been going on for some time. Wheat is turn¬ 
ing out much better than expected, and the 
Spring crops are unusually good; so is the 
potato crop in spite of the bugs which, though 
numerous in the Spring, did but little mis¬ 
chief; some even did not pick them at all. The 
White Elephants were infested the worst as 
they were greeu when all the rest were dead- 
ripe, and the pest literally swarmed on the 
vines. Wheat £1.37; peas, 70c.; potatoes, 50c. 
to 60c. per bushel; eggs, 15c. per dozen. Peas 
are very free from bugs this year, but t he 
caterpillars swarmed on the cabbages, and 
where not picked the pests in some cases 
about ate them up. A. j. c. 
Trenton, Ont,, Oct. 17.—The White Ele¬ 
phant Potato, cut to single eyes, I planted on 
April 17, in 12 hills, one eye to a hill, in good 
garden soil. I am somewhat disappointed in 
the crop, for, judging by the growth of the 
tops, I expected an immense yield. I dug them 
September 12, and got 14 pounds. The aspar¬ 
agus seed germinated nicely and is doing well. 
I sowed the Washington Oats April 30, in 
drills 12 inches apart, seed four inches apart 
in the drill. They grew splendidly, being five 
feet high, and many of the panicles having 
from 150 to 170 grains. I had the misfortune 
to have them badly ruined just as they were 
fit to cut. I was, however, still able to save 
one peck of seed for another year. I plauted 
the Rural Branching Sorghum on May 27 ; but 
it was a failure, for what few seeds germina¬ 
ted made a very poor growth—not over four or 
five five feet iu hight, not nearly as good a 
growth as corn planted alongside, I sowed 
the flower seeds in a box in the house. I think 
every seed germinated. They were trans¬ 
planted to garden as soon as the weather per¬ 
mitted, and we were well rewarded for our 
trouble, as we had a magnificent display of 
pinks. The seeds are worth much more than 
the price of the Rural. w. h. l. 
Illinois. 
Volo, Lake Co., Oct. 18.—I have lived on 
this farm for 36 years having come from Long 
Island, Then this place was in a state of na¬ 
ture; now it is the handsomest country I have 
ever seen, and the beet land for mixed farm¬ 
ing. It is like a nobleman’s park in the Old 
Country, throughout. The county is bounded 
on the east by Lake Michigan; on the west by 
Fox River, and on the North by the State of 
Wisconsin. There are 40 lakes in it with the 
Oplain River crossing it, so there is a good 
supply of water and timber here. Some of 
the lakes are Summer resorts for the Chicago 
people. Fox Lake, which is the principal one, 
is five miles from here. We have hud no frost 
here yet. The last week there was very heavy 
rain. The month of September had the boat 
of July with April showers all through it. 
Our drought was of short duration here. The 
grass was only about one week turning brown 
when the Fall rains came; then it commenced 
to grow; now it looks as it did in June. Not 
much Fall grain is sowed hero, but what is 
looks good. There will be an abundant sup¬ 
ply of fodder for the coming Winter, although 
a great, quantity of hay in swath and cock was 
lost in July on the bottoms from the heavy 
rain we had then. Potatoes a light crop. 
Corn about 80 per cent, of last year’s crop. 
Most of the oats were lodged from the heavy 
rain and wind iu July, so they did not fill well. 
Wheat a poor crop. The Washington Oats 
I planted in drills on a clay knoll in my or¬ 
chard—I put them in the poorest place I could 
find so that they would not grow too much 
straw; but theraiu aud wind in July laid them 
flat on the ground. There were a few blasted 
ears among them. 1 had five pounds of very 
nice oats; I think they will do well in this cli¬ 
mate, Of the Rural Branching Sorghum only 
a few seeds grew, but they made a wonder¬ 
ful growth; they branched so from the roots 
that they covered about half the ground, and 
that would not do, but they must, when the 
seed began to turn white, commence to branch 
from the upper joints and from four to five of 
these branches on each stalk have seed heads; 
but 1 do not expect they will mature; it is too 
late in the season. I have a quantity of heads 
tied in bunches and hung up for seed well 
matured. I think the Rural Branching Sor¬ 
ghum the thing to have in a dry time to keep 
cows to their milk. T cut a few hills the 10th 
of September; the cows relished it although 
grass was flush. Those hills grew a second 
growth throe feet high. The asparagus did 
not appear until July. The plants are grow¬ 
ing finely now, The baby elephant 1 received 
weighed about two ounces. I dug them the 
first week in September. I got 27 pounds. 
They are a nice sample of potatoes; the heavi¬ 
est, weighed one pound a piece. The flower 
seeds did nicely. I have a nice lot of Cuth- 
bort Raspberry vines. I am going to trans¬ 
plant them shortly; they bore a fine lot. of 
fruit this season, having stood the Winter 
well, though one day the thermometer went 
down 25 © below zero, with no snow on the 
ground. I like the Rural New-Yorker 
very much. I would not be without the seed 
I have raised of the Rural Branching Sorghum 
for the price of the paper for one year. t. d. 
Indiana. 
Elkhart, Elkhart Co., Oct. 16.—Just as in 
most of the other parts of the country, it has 
been a very dry season here. The ltura 
Branching Sorghum is doing finely; nearly al 
the seeds came up. The Washington Oats di< 
well. Old fanners to whom I have showei 
them say they never saw such oat heads 
This year I have taken more pains with nr 
garden than ever before and find it pays 
Before this year I never attended a fair; bu 
acting on the Rural’s advice I went, to ou 
fair the other day, with 30 different varietie 
of vegetables, and came away with 34 pre 
miums. I spent three days at the fair, beheh 
many new things, learned a good deal anc: 
saw the people, some of whom 1 had not seei 
for 30 years; and the visit paid well, too 
This pleasant and profitable change lattribut) 
entirely to your paper. Never has the groiuu 
been so wet as now, and it is still raining 
Potatoes rotting somewhat. \y. r. 
I own. 
Arlington, Butler Co., Oct. fft.—The Wash- 
ington Oats I sowed in the garden. I cannol 
speak very highly of them; think the straw is 
too weak for this place and would be liable tc 
lodge. The Rural Branching Sorghum I think 
fully equal to your recommendation; but if 
ought to be put on very clean ground, on ac¬ 
count of its slow growth when it is young. 
My White Elephant came all right, but when 
I dug it out of the sawdust 1 thought it a 
mouse instead of an elephant. Its weight was 
just one ounce. It had eyes enough for an 
elephant, however—eight of them—which were 
planted one in a hill. They had the same care 
as my other potatoes and no more. This Full 
from those eight hills I dug 70 tubers, which 
weighed 17)4 pounds. I think that is a pretty 
heavy increase. We are having a very wet 
Fall. Grain is not half thrashed. Crops of 
all kinds are very poor. Com is broken down 
very badly, and is growing in the field on ac¬ 
count of warm, wet weather. There are but 
very few farmers who know the value of 
pumpkins. It costs nothing to raise them 
with corn. Feed them to hogs; there is noth¬ 
ing better for them than the seeds. Try it and 
see how quickly their cough will stop. l. e. e. 
Earlvillb, Delaware Co., Oct., 21.—The 
flower sew Is I handed to the domestic depart¬ 
ment. We anticipated the pleasure it would 
give to see them in blossom, but, alas ! they 
were destroyed by chickens and mice when 
they were about to blossom. The asparagus 
I put in drills one foot apart, so that I might 
hoe them. After putting in the seed I put 
some radish seed and some small sticks also in 
the drills and then covered the seed with a 
garden rake. The radish seed grew. I hoed be¬ 
tween the drills but the asparagus did not make 
it sappearance. Will it lw likely to gl ow next 
Spring? [Think not,—Ens.] I planted the 
Oats on one perch of ground ; they grew strong 
with a stout straw. From their appearance 
in July I expected nearly one bushel; but black 
smut appeared and then red rust followed 
very bad. Soon after they broke down and 
lay flat on the ground, I have not over one 
quart of good oats. The potato I cut into ten 
pieces, with one eye to each. I plauted them 
the first week in May. One plant was very 
weak: the others grew strong. I dug them 
September 1, and had two common buckets 
full of good tubers, some very large, and 
nearly all of good marketable-size potatoes. 
I had a few cooked, and they were of splen¬ 
did quality. The Rural Branching Sorghum 
I planted May 10. About one-tliird grow. I 
did not follow your directions but experi¬ 
mented on it., but I state with confidence it is 
a veiy valuable plant for cattle feed, if first 
cut in August, I cut one-quarter of it Sep. 
tembert, about six inches from the ground^ 
I also cijt a few two feet from the ground. In 
a few days shoots started out in a thick cluster, 
and it would have produced a large amount of 
feed had I cut it one month sooner. The re¬ 
mainder I let stand for seed, as 1 wanted more 
for next year. It grew eleven feet high with 
abundance of seed; it is not quite ripe but 
I cut it to-day when it was quite greeu, fear¬ 
ing a frost might destroy it. The seed is hard 
so I think it will germinate. I think I have 
enough for an acre or more. To raise seed 
yearly I think in this latitude we must raise 
plants in boxes and then transplant them 
after frost is gone. None of these seeds 
had any manure. They were grown ou a 
rather light, sandy loam. The ground for 
potatoes was manured last year. The first 
frost to affect tomato vinos came this morn¬ 
ing. Oats not half our usua l crop. Potatoes 
the same. Early planted corn good for the 
year, but by far the greater part of it was 
planted late. Many pieces will not yield over 
ten bushels per aere. w. c. c. 
Rock Falls, Cerro Gordo Co., Oct. 17. - 
The weather around here has been very wet 
for the last six weeks, and we have been del¬ 
uged with rain the last few days. There has 
been hardly any thrashing or plowing done 
this Fall. The seeds from the Rural have 
done well except the Washington Oats, which 
rusted and never filled; and the pinks were 
destroyed by the black potato bugs, just as 
they commenced to flower. The asparagus 
has done very well, and we will have a lot to 
transplant in the Spring. The Rural Branch¬ 
ing Sorghum seeds all grew, but the stalks 
were not cut off in time for another growth. 
The White Elephant Potato was cut into 21 
eyes, but only 15 came up. I dug IK) good- 
sized tubers, weighing 22 pounds, w. w. w. 
Kansas. 
Granada, Nomalm Co,, Kan,, Oct. 26.—As 
in most ull other p'aces, it was very dry here 
until recently; now, however, we are having 
fine showers which are causing grass and wheat 
to make a fine growth. Our chief crop, corn, 
will be but about one-third of a full crop. My 
Rural Branching Sorghum is about seven feet 
high and green. I gathered ripe seeds from 
it three weeks ago. My White Elephant Pota¬ 
toes did well considering the drought; but they 
resemble the Eurly Rose in every particular, 
They ripened as soon and blossomed at the 
time. L. h. s. 
dlassnehusef.ts. 
Chicopee Falls, Hampden Co., Oct. 18.— 
The White Elephant potato you sent me I cut 
to single eyes; ten eyes made ten hills. I put 
barnyard manure in the hill. 1 dug them about 
Oct. 1. Number of potatoes, 195; largeH>5, and 
small 3(i The largo ones weighed 43)4 pounds, 
which l call a large yield, as they had only 
common cultivation and the season has been 
very bad for potatoes. I planted two pounds 
of 'Mammoth Pearl potatoes and had (1% 
bushels of large and one bushel of small tubers. 
The corn crop has proved better than we ex¬ 
pected, on account of the warm weather in 
September. Potatoes above one-half a crop. 
Grass and rye were first-rate this year. The 
first frost we had here was on Oct. 5, and it 
froze the ground a little. We like the Rural 
first-rate. The White Elephant potato alone 
is worth the price of the pnpor. e. w. c. 
Michigan. 
Maplkton, Grand Traverse Co., Oct. 17 .— 
The past season has been very dry here, 
though not as bad as in many other places we 
read of. The Rural’s seeds all did well. I 
consider them well worth tire price of the 
paper. Wheat about half a crop; oats and 
hay good; early-planted corn and’pota toes are 
a light crop, but late-planted are good. Prices 
are: wheat, No. 1, $1.22; oats, 50c.; corn, 70c.; 
potatoes, 75c.; barley, 75@80c. butter, per lb.. 
