m 
THE RURAL HEW- YORKER. 
of importance to the cultivators of Corn, and 
they oannot do better than to carefully consider 
them the coming season, and endeavor to learn 
how to obtain the largest returns for labor and 
capital expended in raising this and all other 
products of the soil. 
-- 
SOLID STEM COMFREY. 
A new variety of the old Prickley Comfrey by 
Mr. F. Christy of England. The Farmer re¬ 
ports that the new sort is a very vigorous grower 
and that plants started from root cuttings in 
the spring reached a bight of three feet and a 
circumference of nine feet the first season, A 
pamphlet has been lately published by a Mr. 
Doculedat, on the Comfrey, and the author 
claims that instead of the starch found in cere¬ 
als, plants and roots, Prickley Comfrey contains 
gum which is nearly of the same chemical com¬ 
position as sugar, and is intermediate between 
the two (as starch in the germination of grain), 
or when acted upon chemically is first changed 
into gum and finally into sugar. The same 
changes occur in the mouths nnd stomachs of 
animals eating such food. There is no doubt as 
this plant becomes generally known, its cultiva¬ 
tion will bo largely increased. It is by no means 
an expensive crop to grow, for though the first 
cost of planting may be rather more than that 
of cabbages, tho duration of the crop, for fifteen 
or twenty years without renewal, and the Bmall 
expense attouding its cultivation, make it one of 
the least costly crops grown. 
There is another great advantage which this 
solid stem variety haB over the hollow stem in 
propagating. The stem has the nature of a 
Bucculent root, and if pieces of it are cut 
with two eyes, and planted in the ground and 
kept moist, they strike very quickly and flower 
during the summer, throwing down large solid 
roots, producing six or eight crowns tho same 
year. Though tb6 plant cannot be produced 
from seed, this valuable property and its certain 
growth from root and stem cuttings, make it of 
easy culture, indeed it is not exceeded in its 
multiplying properties by the cereal crops; a 
plaut. of a year’s growth will produce in root and 
stem lifty-fold, if taken up and replanted by 
dividing its crowns and roots, besides the cutting's 
taken from each flower stem during the year. 
The plant is propagated by cuttings and sets, 
which can be conveyed sound in earth for long 
distances. The following remarks will explain 
the mode of propagation; 
ffooZ-set.-^Thia is a Bection cut off a tap root, 
and if placed in soil with tho small end down¬ 
wards will throw a large number of heads, 
which do not always bloom tho first, year, but 
yield a largo crop. Another plan is. to 'place the 
seta in a damp sack kept warm and moist in the 
dark; shoots are thrown cut, and when one-half 
inch long the sets may be planted, and the 
shoots will bloom the first year. 
Cset .—This is taken from the root of 
the plant near the surface of the ground, and 
the smallest piece forms a crown-set that blooms 
at once. 
Jfanti (frroitotiij). 
EXPERIMENTING WITH BURNED EARTH. 
Two years ago I had a lot of evergreen brush 
at the nursery used to cover grape-vines for 
winter protection, and having read about burned 
earth for manure, I experimented by slowly 
throwing soil over the burning brush, ’accumu¬ 
lating quite a large pile. When I put out my 
grape cuttings, I scattered a portion of this 
burned earth over one of the beds; ashes, plaster, 
salt and lime mixed a month previous, over an¬ 
other, and well-rotted stable manure over a third, 
and each was well spaded and raked in. I had 
started in the hot-beds potato seed, and when the 
seedlings were large enough, I set. them out, and 
used in the hills the same kinds of manures. 
Now for the results; the grape-vines manured 
with the burned earth surpassed the others in 
growth and health nil summer, but the finest re¬ 
sults wore from tho seedling potatoes. The hills 
in which tho burned earth was used surpassed 
the rest in health arid growth, one hill yielding 
thirteen tnbera, all large enough for the table; 
the hills in which the rotted manure was used, 
were next, and the poorest results came from the 
lime, plaster, salt and ashes, these last tubers 
being rough and scraggy. Do not those experi¬ 
ments point to something peculiar about oxida¬ 
tion in soils, that will bear further investigation. 
Can it be conceded that the food for plants in 
soils burned by fire, is bettor than where the 
nitrogenous and other substances are burned in 
it by the slower fire of oxidation by the air ? Is 
it the burning of matter in the soil that feeds, 
plants with the generated gases, that have been 
absorbed and retained ? 
This has been thought the correct theory, but I 
tho experiments go to show that a more rapid I 
combustion leaves the soil in bettor condition, 
finer, more friable, and with tho more chemical 
elements for plant food in bettor Bhape to bo ab¬ 
sorbed. Is it not rather startling that nature 
kindles a smouldering fire under our vegetables 
to give them the necessary plant food, and that 
man can beat nature with a quicker fire In tho 
a, pose of improving its condition and fertility have 
al long been entensively practiced in Europe, and 
>* but little In America. 
■e The Romans practiced it, as you may learn by 
>s examining Virgil, in the first book of his Geor- 
it gics. In Europe at the present time it is prac- 
o ticcd mainly for tho purpose of reclaiming very 
poor, cold soils, or those containing slowly de¬ 
composable vegetable matter, which when burned 
yields a certain amount of potash, a most excel¬ 
lent fertilizer. Laqd is not enriched by burning, 
but its fertilizing properties are made more 
readily available, hence the succeeding crop often 
shows the effect in a most wonderful growth ; but 
it is like a man completoy exhausting hia strengh. 
in running a mile, when he might by walking go 
fifty, without suffering any great inconvenience. 
Slightly scoroLing or heating the soil, by spread¬ 
ing waBto materials over the surfaco, will, of 
course, benefit it to a certain degree, but if 
burned deeply it will be injured more or less.— 
Ed. Rural. 
——-- 
ROTATION OF CROPS. 
A .judicious rotation of crops will keep a farm 
in a good state of fertility without any manure, 
except what is made on the farm. In the first 
place, turn over a field in sod for corn, first 
spreading upon the field what manure you can 
spare, and turning it under as fast as spread, or 
the same day at least. Deep plowing is not 
necessary in plowing sward land for corn ; but 
it should be turned over fiat, and evenly, and 
after harrowing (he land, the corn should be 
planted immediately, so as to get a good start, 
ahead of the grass. The next year this land 
may bear a crop of oats, barley or spring wheat. 
Seed it down to clover or to any other grass 
with it, the clover being necessary to fertilize 
the land t ho third year, by turning under a sec¬ 
ond growth (tho first being cut for hay) early in 
September and sowing the land to wheat or rye, 
and seed it down to grass again, omitting to 
sow the clover seed in this case till the following 
March, when it may bo sown even if the ground 
should be covered with snow ; and as soon aR 
the snow is gone and the land is dry roll it,,and 
tho olover seed will catch well. There is no kind 
of grass so good a green fertilizer as clover, 
as its roots penetrate the soil quite deeply, and 
with the green clover turned under, it is equal 
in fertilizing land to a moderate spread of stable 
manure. 1 
We are now in the fourth year with wheat or ( 
rye and the land properly seeded. The fifth 
year may be a crop of hay, nud the sixth hay or , 
pasture, to be followed when desirable with an¬ 
other rotation of crops. It. is not essential, r 
however, that the above Bystem be strictly fol- i 
lowed, but it is necessary that the clover bo 
grown to be turned under at the proper time, if j ; 
the land is to be kept in a good state of fertility c 
without manuring. T. B. Miner. b 
Linden, N. J. 
By all moans, boyB and girls, send your nice 
bright coins which your kind friends gave you. 
What are they worth, compared with what your 
advert ising patron will send you ? Do not cry if 
you never boar from him at all. He may bo so 
busy, trying to avoid detection, that he has for¬ 
gotten to mail your great prize. Wait till when 
vou grow older and wiser, you can laugh at your 
folly. Yon will then have dollars, instead of 
cents, to invest in some grand Bchetne which your 
former friend and benefactor has originated. In 
the meantime he has changed his name, to save 
you unpleasant recollections. He lias been kind 
to you in your youth, and in your old age he will 
not forsake you. I think it would bo very un¬ 
kind to suppose that some of the parties who 
are making such nobio efforts to enrich every 
person—even little boys and girls—were a few 
years ago trying to do tho same thing with lot¬ 
tery schemes and little boxes filled with sawdust. 
Tt is true those who did this failed in making 
their friends very rich : but, it is to be hoped, 
many of them became wiser, and some say “ wis¬ 
dom is mere to bo desired than riches. ’ If this 
be conceded, then the recipients got more than 
they bargained for, and should be thankful. If 
this meets the approbation of the Editor, I will 
shortly give him, for the benefit of hia readers, 
my plan for gaining a fortune ; a discovery which 
cannot fail to place my name among the bene¬ 
factors of onr race. Gratis. 
--»■» »-— 
NEW JERSEY CROPS. 
Fio. 2.— Common Field Corn. 
soil before planting? Does it not follow that 
there is nearly a total loss of manure, when it is 
not mixed with, and burned (oxidized) in, the 
soil, except so far as what, residue is available, 
no better than so much soil prepared in the same 
natural way with decaying nitrogenous matter ? 
Do we not here get near t he very core of the 
scienoe of farming, a peep into unexplored phe¬ 
nomena ? 
Is this all foolishness, or iB it a vein to be 
wrought? If it should be established that it is 
not all folly, then is there not some cheaper way 
than the costly one of oxidation of nitrogenous 
substances in the soil ? and is not every old log, 
brusll heap, stump, pile of weeds, in short any 
refuse that will burn, a treasure to be utilized by 
burning soils with it ? Everybody has heard of 
the value for manure of old coal-pit earth, with¬ 
out knowing the reason thereof, but I set out. to 
ask the learned editor those knotty questions, 
not to argue about them, feeling nmelf incom¬ 
petent, having only graduated in a log school 
house in tho back woods of Ohio. Flease give 
us your opinion. D. S. Marvin. 
Tiie paring and burning of land for the pur- 
RAWDUST AS A MANURE. 
Mv farm is a sandy loam, and near it is an old 
sawmill, with a large quantity of sawdust mostly 
made from hard wood. The whole mass is get¬ 
ting quite rotten. Will it pay mo to haul it into 
my orchard and fields, and especially on sod that 
is to be plowed for a heat this fall? Your an¬ 
swer will greatlv oblige An Old Subscriber. 
Allegan Co., Mich. 
Sawdust contains such a small amount of 
manorial elements that it is seldom worth the 
hauling and applying to land for this purpose. 
But if the land is very heavy and compact, the 
sawdust may improve it by making it more 
porous and friable In working. The sawdust 
might be used to advantage iu your compost 
heaps, also for mulching fruit trees or other 
plants which are liable to suffer from the want 
of moisture during the dry weather in summer, 
and we think it could bo used with far better re¬ 
sults for such purposes than in applying it to 
land, expecting it to take the place of manure. 
Jithstral tfojprs. 
HARD TIMES. 
How absurd it seems, to hear so much com¬ 
plaint of hard times, when every column of ad¬ 
vertisements teems with proposals to enrioh every 
one at short notice and without loss of time. 
“ Articles as staple aB flour,” and twice as use¬ 
ful; “ Samples worth five dollars sent free,” on 
receipt of four dollars and ninety-nine cents and 
“ postage stamp “ one million salesmen want¬ 
ed" at one thousand dollars a month, “‘hotel and 
traveling expenses paid—no peddling." What 
amount of self-denial some parties must inflict 
upon themselves, in attempts to enrich the en¬ 
tire human family. Even boys and girls are 
offered opportunities to make fortunes without 
leaving home or neglecting home duties. A few 
leisure hours, mornings and evenings, and the 
small change hoarded, probably the accumulated 
savings of several years. 
rt New JhbHEv does not rank quite so high as 
sor « ft of her sister States in the fertility of her 
’ t soil, still sho manages to make a good show 
when there is anything to be made out of an ex- 
se ° f bor A T ricultural products. It would be 
well, therefore, for those who have been Inclined 
L to snoor at Jersey Band-banks to look carefully 
ln over the following awards made by the New 
e> Jersey Agricultural Society at their last meeting, 
° aad note how they compare with similar pro- 
'fj ducts in other fcstatos . 
E. Burrough, 1 acre strawberries, second 
picking, yield *567.13)*,'; premium, *25 ; same, 
lf ' 1 acre strawberries, first picking, yield *570.91; 
1,1 premium, $50. 
J. Kelton, 1 16-100 acres egg plants, yield 
“ *920.25; special premium, $30. 
ll *1. Cooper, if acre onions, yield 110 bushels ; 
le premium, $15. 
J. W. Roberts, )f acre grapes, yield 3,300 lbs.; 
ir premium, $50. 
h J - D. Chisms, acre grapes, yield 2,843 IbB.; 
r premium, $25. 
K T. Quinn, if aero pears, yield $218.70 ; pre- 
’> mium, $50; same, 1 acre currants, yield 426 
* bushels ; premium, $15. 
o E Roberts, 12 acres Fultz wheat, yield 33}^ 
f bushels per acre ; premium $30 ; same, 25 acres 
7 corn, yield 72)$' bushels per acre; premium, $30 ; 
same. 2 acres cabbage, 10,500 heads, yield $598; 
premium, $15. 
It may have required a little more manure and 
cultivation to produce tho above-named crops 
than would have been necessary in the rich soils 
! of the Western States, but the difference is 
probably more than made good in tho prices ob- 
i tainod for them in the Eastern markets. 
A CHEAP WASHING MACHINE. 
After using several improved styles of wash¬ 
ing machines, including the Doty, which we 
reckon a very good one, we conclude that a 
■ pounding barrel" is as good as any, to say 
nothing of its being within the reach of almost 
every woman. I procured a barrel that had 
contained cement, at a cost of 15 cents, a piece 
of wood 4 inches iu diameter arid 7 inches long, 
with n. hole bored in one end. and a broom-han¬ 
dle stuck in for a handle, the whole costing 25 
or 30 cents. With this any bov, girl, or woman, 
who can operate a Doty, can pound the clothes 
as easily, as quickly, clean them as well, and in¬ 
jure them as little as with any machine we have 
ever used. The main thing with any machine is 
plenty of hot suds. The wringer can be attached 
as readily to the barrel as to a machine or tub. 
If this information helps to lighten the labors 
of any tired woman. I shall be glad. e. w. t. 
We are inclined to think E. W. T. has been 
‘•bored” too much with peddlers of washing 
machines, and that out of pare revenge npon 
the entire class he haa gone back to the old 
"pounding barrel” of our younger days, when 
the boys had to give an hour or two on waahing- 
I day mornings to help mother and sisters to get a 
I good start with the dirty clothes. But there is 
some hope for E. W. T. yet, for he holds on to 
the wringer, thereby saving many an aching 
wrist. 
-♦♦♦ 
MAKING RUSSIA LEATHER. 
The following story of how our late Minister 
to Russia discovered the method of manufactur¬ 
ing the celebrated Russia Leather is a good one, 
if true, as told in tho Now York Tribune: 
When Gon..Jowell was our Minister in Russia 
he visited tho tanneries of that country and 
found out the secret in the manufacture of 
Russia Leather. The secret is in tho use of 
birch bark tar, with which the skins are dressed, 
✓ 
