Mr. Charles A. Green (in the N. Y. Tri¬ 
bune) states that he has discovered that by 
the use of strong manilla bags grapes may be 
kept on the vines in splendid condition long 
after the season for grapes out-of-doors has 
gone by. Passing through his vines on Octo¬ 
ber 31, three weeks after the frosts compelled 
him to gather the crop, and after the leaves 
had all fallen, he found a few clusters pro¬ 
tected by bag3 that had been overlooked, be¬ 
neath the leaves. The Brighton opened as 
fresh, bright and beautiful as ho had ever 
seen it, with bloom undisturbed, the color 
dark rich maroon. He never ate such rar 
specimens of this flue grape, and yet the freez¬ 
ing had been severe. They were the nearest 
approach to a raisin he ever saw on vines. 
The juices near the skin had condensed and 
there was a temptation to chew the skin to 
secure the rare flavor. It would seem that 
by the use of such stout paper bags we may 
keep grapes on the vines several weeks later 
than otherwise would be possible, and that 
we may enjoy ripe specimens in this way, 
from varieties not usually fully matured in 
this latitude. . . . He says that raspberry 
plants will endure much more hardship in 
transit than strawberries. He has sent them 
by mail to England with perfect success. . . 
. . Mr. Green scattered a little straw 
over Lady Washington vines last Winter and 
they came out safe, while where not protected 
they were injured. We have already stated 
our Lady Washington (not protected) wa 
killed nearly to the ground. It has made a 
surprising growth the past season. 
The Michigan Farmer says that the “polled ” 
breeds could be used with great advantage on 
the Western plains to put symmetry and qual¬ 
ity into the present style of Texan or Western 
cattle. It would shorten up their horns, make 
them better feeders, and the meat would be 
far superior to what it is at present. It would 
also enable feeders to put their stock into 
market in ripe condition fully six months ear¬ 
lier. ..... The gardeners of Kalama¬ 
zoo, Mich., have adopted a very different 
method of raising celery from that of the 
Eastern gardeners. The Brairie Farmer says 
there is being more raised from the same land 
each year, as the gardeners become proficient 
in raising it, for it is a comparatively new in 
dustry for Kalamazoo. Instead of the rows 
being five or six feet apart, as the books ad 
vise, they are raising it successfully three feet 
apart, and instead of five and six inches apart 
in the rows, it is raised half that distance, and 
as close as one’s fingers for the last or Winter 
crop, so double the crop is raised from the sarnF 
land.The London Mark Lane 
Express comments approvingly on the grow¬ 
ing feeling in America in favor of polled cat¬ 
tle. It suggests that good results might ne 
obtained by breeding off the horns of native 
stock—by searing in calfhood, or similar 
means to start with. There are well-autben 
ticated instances, it says, in which mutilations 
and injuries have been inherited.. 
One of the best things in the world to give a 
horse after he has been driven is a quart of 
oat-meal stirred iu a pail of water It re¬ 
freshes and strengthens him, relieves his im¬ 
mediate thirst and prepares his stomach for 
more solid food. So says Joseph Harris, after 
20 years’ trial of it, as the N.Y. Herald reports. 
A White Elephant Potato.— We find the 
following in the Boonesville (Yu.) Heruld: 
Mr. Ed. J, Hayes planted one potato last 
Spring, weighing some two ounces, and dug 
from the fourteen hills planted, one eye in 
each hill, thirty-five pounds and two ounces. 
He showed us twelve potatoes of the crop 
which weighed eleven pounds and a-haif. The 
variety of potato is called the “White Ele¬ 
phant,” and was sent him by the editors of 
the Rural New-Yorker. We have heard of 
large yields before, but this should surely 
take the prize. We did not learn the excel¬ 
lence of this variety, but the yield was cer¬ 
tainly enormous.The farmer 
that “ ran rapidly through his property” wore 
a red shirt and had bis brindle bull behind 
him.Said the lecturer: “The 
roads up these mountains are too steep and 
rocky for even a donkey to climb; therefore 1 
did not attempt the ascent.”.A 
Massachusetts farmer who has cultivated an 
acre of onions this year, reckons that he has 
crawled twenty-two miles on his hands and 
knees weeding them. A kneesy way to get 
a living, but weed rather not adopt it.—Bos¬ 
ton Transcript.Says an ex¬ 
change: “So much space is to-day given to 
editorial matter that a large amount of inter¬ 
esting reading is crowded out.” The editor 
is frank, at ail events, and should l>e honored 
accordingl 3 r .Old Pete’s wisest 
remark : “ Ef de descendants ob de rooster 
what crowed ot Peter whs to make a noise el>- 
ery time a lie is told dar would be sich a noise 
in de world dat you couldn’t beah de hens 
cackle. ..... The man who can see 
sermons in running brooks is most apt to go 
after them on Sundays when trout are biting. 
Clicnjiu I) erf. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
ArKnnau. 
Poteau, Scott Co., Dec. S,—We are being 
blessed with a very mild W inter here thus far. 
Cattle are in good condition and will require 
very little feed this Winter. Hogs are so poor 
that all that are not fed will die. There is gener¬ 
ally a mast here every year which keeps hogs 
in fine condition all Wiuter, but this year 
there is noue. Prices are about as follows: 
Corn, *1 per bushel, wheat, $2; oats, 60c: 
flour, $3.60per cwt.; pork, 0 to 8c; beef, 3^' to 
4c; cotton, lOj^'c. H. c. b. 
Canada. 
Quebec, P. Q., Dec. 9.— I was much pleased 
with the dianthus and Chinese pinks, and had 
some very fine varieties. I expect the carna¬ 
tions to do well next Summer. I regret that 
the White Elephant Potato did not do well. 
The bugs were too many for it. My whole 
crop of potatoes was a total failure, w. M. M. 
Dakota. 
Swan Lake, Turner Co., Dec. 5.—The 
Washington Oats rusted and lodged; did not 
do as well as the White Belgian in the same 
field. The flower seeds 1 gave away. The 
asparagus did splendidly. The Rural Branch¬ 
ing Sorghum made a most astonishing growth 
In locations where fodder is an object it must 
be a most desirable acquisition, but native 
grasses fill the bill here. H. L. 
Illinois. 
Bailkyvillk, Ogle Co., Dec. 5.—The 
drought ended here about the 10th of Septem¬ 
ber; since then wet weather has prevailed 
most of the time; pleasant now, and some are 
plowing. Roads are muddy. Corn husking 
began about the middle of October and is 
nearly finished; the yield varies greatly, but 
is below an average, though better than ap¬ 
pearances indicated during the drought. Most 
of the corn that was planted early and well 
cultivated produced well, the late and weedy 
was light both in yield and quality—a lesson 
worth remembering. Early potatoes also did 
better than the late ones. My Beauty of 
Hebron potatoes did well—bettor than the 
Early Rose; my Peach blows (late) were small 
aud scarce. Some late potatoes failed entirely 
iu this section. My White Elephant Potato 
was cutiuto 16 pieces, with one eye each, and 
nlanted carefully May 13; yield fair of me¬ 
dium-sized tubers, but not so great as some 
of your correspondents have reported; will 
plant them next season, as 1 have enough 
seed now to test them fairly. Fall seeding 
began the middle of September and lasted 
till in October. A large acreage of rye was 
sown, but only a small amount of Winter 
wheat. These crops have a very promising 
appearance now. Pasturage has been very 
good this Fall since the rains set in, and farm 
animals are entering Winter iu fine cuudition. 
I have heard of no serious complaints of 
disease among stock this Fall, except that a 
few cattle have died, after being turned into 
the corn-stalk fields, from eating too much 
corn and husks. Thrashing has been pro¬ 
longed on account of the wet weather, and 
some damage has resulted to grain in stack, 
but it is about all thrashed now. The Winter 
wheat nearly all failed and Spring wheat was 
light; rye a fair yield but small acreage; bar¬ 
ley an average yield but discolored; oats va¬ 
ried greatly, but were mostly light; some 
fields were entirely' destroyed by Army- 
worms. Business has been, and is yet, brisk; 
prices fair; wages remunerative. Success to 
the good Rural New-Yorker. Allow me 
thus early r to wish you aud your hosts of 
readers a Merry T Christmas and Happy Ne*w 
Year. w. B. d. 
Springfield, Sangamon Co., Dec. 5. —The 
seeds 1 received from the Rural New-York¬ 
er last Spring came in good order, and all 
grew nicely, but uwiug to the drought they 
did not do well except the asparagus, w Inch 
did very finely and made good plants. The 
White Elephant and Rural Branching Sor¬ 
ghum did poorly, but I will give them another 
trial next season. I prize the Rural New- 
Yorker very highly. w. h. l. 
Indiana. 
Leesburg, Kosciusko Co., Dec. 5.—My 
White Elephant Potato I cut into seven pieces 
one eye to the piece, planted iu good, sandy 
soil in May and dug in September half a bush¬ 
el of very nice tubers. My Washington Oats 
did well; so did the pinks. The sorghum did 
all that was claimed for it; plenty of seeds got 
ripe. T. J. w. 
Iowa. 
Stan wood. Cedar Co., Dec. 5.—The method 
that seems to me best for the West at present 
is to feed out hay under cover to uncontlned 
cattle, allowing the manure to lie in the shed 
where it is made until the following Fall; then 
spread it on clover sod or stubble ground and 
plow it under as soon after spreading as possi¬ 
ble. Land thus treated is to be planted In corn 
the next Spring. I see that some Eastern 
farmers do not plow their sod in the Fall, but 
wait till Spring. My method is to sow only 
clover; cut it one season for hay'—sometimes 
two cuttings, generally but one—then plow in 
the Fall. This plan gives me winter forage 
for my cattle and is of great benefit to the 
ground. My rotation is three or four crops of 
corn; a crop of oats; clover one crop, aud 
three of corn again: manure on clover sod 
before planting. w. t. r. 
Kansas. 
Edcierton, Johnson Co,, Dec. 5.—This has 
been a very poor crop year in this part of 
Kansas; corn not more than half a crop; 
wheat not half a crop; oaks good; early pota¬ 
toes fair; late ones, not half a crop. I planted 
my White Elephant, on April 25, cut to 13 
eyes, one eye to the MU. Only nine came up; 
they grew finely but the drought dried the 
vines up in August. I dug them in Septem¬ 
ber and got 30 good-sized tube in and several 
small ones. The Washington Oats I planted 
with great care on good land I put them a 
good way from the house lest the chickens 
should destroy' them, and they came up nicely 
bnt the rabbits eat them off as fast as they 
grew and only r two heads ripened. The aspar¬ 
agus I planted in April; it came up and grew 
well; there are two long rows of it nearly 
two feet high. I can see no difference as yet 
between the two kinds. The pinks grew well; 
but they were put on low ground and there 
came a heavy ram soon after r.ney came up 
which washed a lay'er of dirt on them two 
inches deep: I saved two which were very 
double and beautiful. The Rural Branching 
Sorghum 1 planted in May; it grew about 
six feet higli branching wonderfully'; but it 
never headed out. A year ago last Spring, I 
got three pounds of Beauty of Hebron pota¬ 
toes for which I paid $1. From these three 
pounds, cut to one eye, I raised a little more 
than six bushels of as nice tubers as level - saw. 
Wheat is worth $1,20 per bushel; oats, 40c; 
corn, 57c; butter, 25; eggs, 20c; potatoes. $1; 
apples, $1. j. c. b. 
Minnesota. 
Mansfield, Freeborn Co., Dec. 5.—I plant¬ 
ed the White Elephant Potato May' 10, on new 
land. It was cut to seven eyes and all did 
well. I dug them ou October 15, and got 50 
pounds of good sized tubers; some of them 
weighed 2j*a pounds apiece. h, t. 
New York. 
Westhampton, Suffolk Co., Dee. 5.—The 
asparagus grew finely. Of the Rural Branch¬ 
ing Sorghum there was a large growth of 
stalks, but no seed. A hard fro-t on the night 
of October 5 killed it; it was just beginning to 
blossom. I do not like it, because, first, one 
has bo wait too long for the ground to get 
warm enough for the seed to come up; second¬ 
ly, one has to plant more seed than is needed, 
so that it has to be thinned to one stalk in a 
place; third, it takes too much work to keep 
the weeds out before the plants get started, as 
they start very slowly. I have tried every kind 
of com I could get, and I believe the chicken 
or pop corn—some call it rice corn—is the best 
for fodder. The stalks are tall and small, and 
have more und larger leaves than any r other 
coni that I have tried. I believe fodder corn 
is best for feed or ensiluge when it has the 
most sugar in it. I think it is put in the silo 
too soon, if it will keep as well if stored when 
nearer maturity, as there would be more sugar 
in the stalk. My calves would eat the pop¬ 
corn fodder better than the sorghum. People 
I have advised to try the pop corn this season 
say it is the best they ever saw for fodder. 
When the sorghum is in blossom tbestalk gets 
hard and flinty. I think that 1 should plant 
the row's three feet apart and from a foot to a 
foot-and-a-haif in the rows, eight to twelve 
kernels in the hill, and use plenty of manure, 
and some in the hill or drill. Try it. N. c. ,1. 
Pennsylvania. 
Ramy, Clearfield Co., Dec. 6.—My luck 
with the Rural seeds is not very flattering in 
comparison with the results reported from 
other places; but I would not take the price 
of the Rural to-day for my r W hitc Elephant 
Potatoes and asparagus. The potato I re¬ 
ceived weighed l)f ounce and had nine eyes, 
which I planted in three hills about the middle 
of May. Eight pieces grew aud, Iwtween bugs, 
frost and drought, they had a hard time of it; 
but by picking bugs, covering the plant against 
i frost aud watering them against drought, I 
had six pounds of tubers—eight large und 
twelve small ones. The asparagus htts done 
well; I believe every seed grew and made a 
growth of a foot. The sorghum grew about 
four feet, when the drought set iu and water 
got scarce and we let it go in order to have 
water for more valuable crops; it dried up 
where it stood. The Washington Oats grew 
4>fc feet, smutted badly, and when in the milk 
the blue birds went for them aud took every 
grain. c. c. B. 
Virginia. 
Disputanta, Prince George Co., Dec. 4.—1 
am so will pleased with the Rural that I ex¬ 
pect to renew annually as long as I can raise 
$2. We have had short crops in this section; 
peanuts about half a crop; cotton, two-thirds; 
coni, three-fourths of an average crop. We 
have not had rain enough yet to start the 
country mills. Wheat aud Winter oats are 
looking well. Quite warm for the season. 
Many good wishes for the continued prosper¬ 
ity of the Rural. g. w. p. 
Wisconsin. 
Spafford, Lafayette Co., Dec. 4.— 
The season with us has been a favorable 
one compared with the experience of many 
others throughout the country. Our Spring 
was late, the snow lying on the ground late in 
April, but it left under the influences 
of mild weather and waim suns. Our last 
frost was on May' 3 and the first frost on 
October 5. Corn a fair crop, except ou low, 
flat lands, where, on account of frequent 
rains, it could not be worked. Oats au aver¬ 
age yield. Very' little wheat or barley was 
sown, as the chinch bug is very' destruc¬ 
tive to them. Prices have been very good; 
live hogs have sold as high us $0.30 to $0.40' 
per 100 lbs.; oats, 40c. per bushel; butter, 30c.. 
to 44j*jC, per lb. The Rural seeds have done- 
very fairly. The White Elephant Potato I cut 
into 12 pieces with an eye in each, and planted 
in 12 hills; 11 grew and yielded an even half 
bushel of tubers. Wo had a dry and hot 
spell that ripened them off prematurely or I 
think there would have been a larger crop. I 
used no manure and gave them two hoeings, 
just to keep the weeds down. The Rural 
Branching Sorghum I planted the last day of 
May, putting four or five seeds in a bill; they 
came up readily,but only one in a hill, except 
that in two hills there were two plants, and 
there were from five to 10 or 12 stalks to a 
hill. No manure was used, except a handful 
of ashes thrown around each hill. I planted 
one row on very poor ground, another on 
better; that on the poor grouud was from five 
to six feet high; that on good ground, eight 
feet high. I cut two hills near the grouud; 
one put out 19, the other 20 sprouts. I was 
experimenting with it. The Washington 
Oats grew well; no smut. The flower seeds l 
divided into four parcels and gave to as muny 
lady friends, who are well pleased with them. 
The asparagus seeds have done well, many of 
the plants having put up a second set of 
sprouts. I am well satisfied with the seeds, 
and also with the paper. w. 8. 
Slfc (Querist 
S 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name 
and address of the writer to Insure attention ] 
ACTION OF A SIPHON, ETC. 
F. L. L., Smithjleld , Fa., asks, 1, what is the 
motive power in a siphon; will it draw water 
from a well in which the water varies from 
eight to twelve feet from the top. 
Ans.—1. The pressure of the atmosphere, 
which amounts to about 15 pounds to the 
square iuch at the level of the sea, when 
water boils at 212 degrees. Under such con¬ 
ditions the atmospheric pressure is capable of 
sustaining a column of water 38.8 feet high. 
The siphuu acts on the principle that the flow 
will be in the direction of the leg wMch con¬ 
tains the greatest vertical bight of liquid. It 
w ill act only when the bend at the top is not 
higher above the level of the water in the res¬ 
ervoir than the column of liquid which the, 
atmospheric pressure at the locality is eap-- 
able of sustaining. For water this could bei 
only a trifle over 33 feet at the sea level, and! 
less than 80 feet at u bight of 15,700 feet, for 
the higher one goes the less is the pressure of 
the superincumbent atmosphere. In practice 
the outer or discharge leg is usually longer 
than the one immersed in the liquid; but the 
only requirement is that the discharging ori¬ 
fice shall be lower than the level of the liquid. 
The air in the siphon must lie exhausted be¬ 
fore it operates so as to allow the pressure of 
the atmosphere on t he surface of the reservoir 
to act as a motive power iu raising the water 
into the siphon from which the counter-bal¬ 
ancing atmospheric pressure has thus been re¬ 
moved. For this purpose it is convenient to 
have a pump attached to t he outer leg of the 
siphon, the lower orifice of that leg being 
Closed w hile the action of the pump is produc¬ 
ing exhaustion. 
THE PIOSCOPE. 
M ., Pulo, 111., referring to the description 
and cut of the Bioscope milk tester lately pub¬ 
lished in the Rural, supposes that a “close- 
fitting cap covers the central cuvity like a 
ball and socket, as it w ere,” and that when 
the milk is put in the cavity the bull presses 
out all but a thin film, so that the more milk 
left in the cavity, the lighter-colored will the 
black vulcanite appear through it; and he ob¬ 
jects that if the “ ball” is not made uniformly 
close-fitting, through bad material or work- 
manship, the film of milk will be either 
