THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
as 
Thousand Islands and north of Cape Sable, where 
it forms quite a large tree. 
Myrtace/e — Eugenia buxifolia, Willd. Iron 
Wood.—Small trees, generally—belonging to the 
myrtle family. Flowers of some species very 
fragrant. Wood cloBe-grained, hard, and suit¬ 
able for cabinet work. The E- monticola and E. 
procera, both also called “ Iron Wood,” are 
found in South Florida. Also, the E. dichotoma, 
or “ Stopper Wood.” 
Psidium pyriforme, L. Guava.—This well- 
known West India fruit tree may be cultivated 
profitably in our State, anywhere below the. frcst- 
line. Dr. Chapman found it in abundance at 
Tampa Bay; and it is probably safe to plant it 
freely south of lat. 29°. 
I^rouul) Hit llcplilk. 
FROM THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 
ICgolestone Park, ) 
Custer Co., Colorado, June 22 , lSTT.l 
Corresponding with the Rural New-Yorker 
from under the shadows of the Rocky Mountains, 
this resplendent June morning, reminds me of 
my youthful companionship on the banks of the 
Genesee, when the Ritual, also in its teens, was 
a most welcome visitor to our farm homestead. 
Now it comes to us wanderers from Western 
New York as a reminder of spring-time and har¬ 
vest, of plowiug, sowing, mowing, cradling, 
reaping, threshing, cutting and husking corn, 
and gathering apples, of cider-mills, sleigh-rides 
with brave boys and blushing girls, school house 
and teacher, and evenings over charades, enig¬ 
mas, and other items you woro wont to publish 
for youthful amusement. We do not loso those 
memories, roam we never so far and mingle wo 
never so much among the rough-shod, uncouth, 
dare-devil miners, cowboys and ranchmen, who, 
in Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico, take the 
place of farmers elsewhere. We are as proud as 
you t hat the old paper has grown handsomer in 
dress, broader in usefulness, and even more 
welcome to firesides than in days of yore. 
Ranching is inseparably associated with rain¬ 
ing operations. No sooner does the prospector 
and his followers announce their intention to 
start a new camp, than the ranchman hastens 
thither to locate his ranch or farm. Even though 
it be bottom or valley lund. but five or ten acres 
in area, he sees his fortune in growing vegeta¬ 
bles for the camp aud foeding cows, that he may 
sell butter and milk at high prices. 
Silver Circle Mining Distinct is one of the 
very richest mineral-bearing belts yet discovered 
and developed on the whole face of the globe. 
It is only eight monthH since Edward A. Eooi.e- 
rton e, for a few years past an omployo of San 
Francisco capitalists in New Mexico, and more 
particularly in the Globe Mining District of Ari¬ 
zona, came here to inspect the country. But a 
few days elapsed after his arrival before lie de¬ 
clared ho could show from this mineral belt 
every silver ore known to the scientific mineralo¬ 
gist, and announced hia determination to or¬ 
ganize a camp and a district here. This was on 
Nov. 1, 1876- A district was formed comprising 
ten townships, or 360 square miles. Its west 
lino is bounded by the now celebrated Hard¬ 
scrabble Mining District of 360 square miles, aud 
the gold district of Cnstoue, with a like area. 
Ponita Camp, in the Hardscrabble District, al¬ 
though but ill its fifth year, has3,500 people and 
a score of mines, each held to he worth $5,000,- 
000 and upwards. In all three of these districts 
the weather is so mild during \\inter, that work 
progresses in the miuos without any interruption 
whatever. This is different from any other belt 
in our country tu nearly all other mining 
camps, fully nine-tenths of the miners are neces¬ 
sarily idle during from five to nine months of 
the year. Wages are very high during the 
working period, but the idleness of the other 
months takes money for living, and encourages 
vice, gambling, and disorder. 
Beautiful valleys or mountain parks intervene 
among these ranges of mountains. This (Eg- 
glestone Park) has 12,000 acres of park lands 
subject to pre - emption and homesteading. 
Twenty-five miles west of us are the fertile lands 
known as Wet Mountain Valley, comprising 65,- 
000 awes. It, like this, is the paradise of the 
tiller of the soil. These lands, fertilized by the 
wash from the mountains, are well watered and 
require no irrigation. The wheat crop of these 
valleys, last year, averaged 45.7 bushels per acre; 
oats, 85 bushels; potatoes, 475 bushels; hay, 7 
tons, and other cereals in proportion. The 
season is not long enough for corn to mature, 
and, consequently, it is nut grown. Cattle do 
extraordinarily well, and require no fe d except 
mountain grazing during winter ; hence beef is 
very cheap for the mining camps. Kausas sends 
us our corn. These crop reports do not refer to 
this particular park, but to South Park, Wet 
Mountain Valley, and the valley east of us— 
Beulah. 
No white woman ever saw this parlf until last 
LP 
April. May brought the first plow to tear 
through its deep, dark, rich soil. With the ad¬ 
vent of Mr. Egglestons, all has changed hero. 
Many capitalists sent him funds for locating 
mines, and when t hey came this spring and in¬ 
spected the lands open for settlement, the six 
hot springs of very valuable mineral water, Hie 
hundreds of cold mineral springs, as soda, mag¬ 
nesia, seltzer, chalybeate, and other waters, 
many of them pre-empted ICO acres each, and 
are now busy erecting buildings for summer 
resorts. 
THE SILVER MINES. 
Our prospector has located upwards of four 
bundled claims since November G, 1870. With 
his two stake drivers and chain carriers, he lo¬ 
cated, in one day, nineteen claims on lodes, veins 
or crevices, which lie had previously traced, and 
recorded the same before sleeping that night. 
Each claim is 1500 feet in length and 300 in 
width. On each a discovery stake is located, 
as well as four corners and two side stakes. 
Inscribed on all these must, be a statement 
of the purposes for which they wore erected. 
Where the discovery Htake is located the shaft 
must bo sunk, and at these places, always 
ou the vein or lode, marks are made for 
the miner to go by when ho goes to dig. So 
many of the crevices of this district are plainly 
traceable on the surface by the practical pros¬ 
pector, that but very little difficulty exists iu lo¬ 
cating mines correctly. The most narrow crev¬ 
ice of ore so far found, is eighteen Inches in 
width, and assays (yields) 1600 ounces of silver 
to tho ton. Each ounce Of silver is worth #1.17,hj 
in currency. Tho widest veins or crevices found 
are the Giant and Grand mine lodes, eaefi 22 foot 
in width; assays from the Grand mine run as 
high as $7,500 per ton of 2,000 pounds. 
The ores of silver so far found are native sil¬ 
ver, gray copper, (tetrahodrite.) which, in this 
State, runs as high as #40,000 per ton of ore, 
and as low as #72 per ton. Argentiferous galena 
(lead) with all its variations, ruby silver, brittle 
born and flexile ores, antimonial, arsenical, car¬ 
bonates, sulphurets, telluric (running as high as 
$26,000 to the ton) ; and those ores are varied, 
and in richness carry from $600 up to $10,000 
per ton by selected specimens. No endeavor has 
been made here to sod ores. The object of the 
200 or more men and women who have become in¬ 
terested wi tb Mr.Eooi.Ks roNi: is to secure as many 
mines as possible this year, by merely develop¬ 
ing them as required by law, and to delay more 
extensive work for at, least, eighteen months from 
first of last May. On this account, no attempt 
has boon made to attract, the crowds who have 
come from the East bound for Han .Tuan and 
other far-away mining districts. Crowds in a 
camp, as Mr. Eggleston knows well, mean grab¬ 
bing, thieving, quarreling, killing, and rank in¬ 
justice often to the peaceable. 
The Silver Circle plan Is an original one, and 
thus far has worked so perfectly that those who 
are interested desire to extend it another year. 
It was originated by Mr. Eggleston, who de¬ 
clared his unwillingness to stake out claims for I 
money alone. Ho said any one had the right, 
under the laws, to any mine he could find ; hut 1 
that he would hold an interest, or the wbolo oT 
any mine he discovered here. His proposition 
waH accepted, that ho should have $50 and one- 
hulf interest in all claims he discovered, claimed, 
staked and recorded for different parties. Ho 
was elected District Recorder for 1877 to May, 
1878, by the claimants and miners. On receiving 
the $50, he names the mine as the partner wish¬ 
es, and sets bin own hands at work under bis 
own direction, to open it, Tho expenses of stak¬ 
ing, recording and first year's work, he pays out 
of the $50. His partners will pay annual assess¬ 
ment—#1G to $35—until the end of the fifth 
year, when a patent (deed) can be had from the 
United States Government. After that time, Mr. 
E. pays one-half of all expenses for developing 
and getting out ores. 
In this manner, some 60 farmers, who | 
know nothing of mining or ores, have become I 
interested here. They paid in money, horses, 
cattle, or produce, and were paid so much per 
diem if they worked in their own miues. The 
law requires a specific amount of work done 
yearly for five years. The mining properties are 
I not taxed during this time. It is no expensive 
affair, it will be seen, to become a mine owner 
when you have a guarantee that you have a crev¬ 
ice or vein-claim located. If you go digging 
about the mountains or hire others to do so, who 
are not experienced, you will find mine hunting a I 
costly business. The scientific proBpector se¬ 
cures you 1500 feet along a lode or vein. Yon 
might secure but a fraction of thiB, even though 
you struck the vein after much costly work. 
CLAIMS LOCATED. 
Among the mines developed sufficiently to hold 
them one year, and which have become noted in 
camp, are the Prize, Bonanza, Crown Princess, 
Lizzie 8. Burch, Esther-Dolora, Mining Board, 
and many others too numerous to find a place 
here; and beside these, there are upwards of 
three hundred others in progreBs of development. 
The majority of claimants are Eastern people. 
Nearly all the tourists who have called here have 
become interested in ono or more mines. 
Neither drought, nor storms, nor floods, nor 
panics, nor grasshoppers affect the crevices of 
precious metals They begin at or near the sur¬ 
face and extend downwards to the earth’s cen¬ 
ter, growing richer at every foot of depth. Men 
ignorant of mines And mining, who do not know 
silver ores from broken stones, are often en¬ 
gaged to locate or manage mining properties. 
Losses naturally follow. Tho science of pros¬ 
pecting is one at which few will succeed. It 
takas a keen, observing eyo, and a memory al¬ 
most as perfect as memory can he, as there aro 
so many ores and each bus so many variations. 
Each of those ores and their variations have dif¬ 
ferent signs or blossoms on the earth’s surface, 
and keen is tho eye aud sharp tho memory of 
one who points hero and there, as he gallops 
over rirlgeB, saying, "There is a Galena lode; 
there a tellurium vein; there a gray copper 
crevice,”—just by the signs on rock or on sands, 
or decomposed material which has floated off 
from tho surface of lodes. You follow, but see 
nought odii to you, Yet when ho tolls men to 
dig here or there, a fow hours' work shows forth 
a gaping crevice, tilled from the Plutonic regions 
below, when all, molten and cooling, became part 
and parcel of the earth. 
LOCATION AND SCENERY. 
From Pueblo it iB about thirty mileB to this 
Park. At that city is tho western termination of 
the Atohison, Topeka and Santa Fo Railroad. 
Tho eastern boundary lino of our district is but 
twenty-two miles west of the terminus of that, 
road, and between them is iv level mesa, gradu¬ 
ally rising until it touches tho foot-hills of the 
mountains. Sixty miles north is Pike’s Peak, 
crowned with everlasting snow, and sitting, day 
and night, on its highest pinnacle, is an operator 
belonging to tho weather bureau. Southward, 
seventy miles, are the Spanish Peaks, beautiful 
in their white toilettes. Yet so rare and trans¬ 
parent is the atmosphere here, that a strangor 
might thiuk he could roach them in a very fow 
hours’ walk, so near-by do they appear. An¬ 
other atmospheric effect is noticed in breathing. 
At first there is an unusual heaving of tho chest. 
It is tho effort of the lungs to grasp enough air 
to furnish the necessary amount, of oxygen. 
This endeavor is swelling tho air oells, opening 
places closed for years, perhaps, and expanding 
the chest. I n a few days it is natural work. In 
three months, measure your chest., aud you find 
It has grown from three to nitio inches larger 
around. This is all there is to cure incipient 
pulmonary complaints. 
As you approach the Greenhorn Mountains, 
every rod forward shows peaks, ridges, canons, 
gorges, at all angles. Vast parks of evergreen 
trees, groveB of aspen brilliantly bright in sum¬ 
mer, and anon bare and bleak spots meet your 
eye. A herd of Antelopes rush across the road 
and are away. A wild deer flies like the wind, 
as ho snuffs your presence. But enough now. 
Of the fertile spots which lie nestled among tho 
mountains, and which men hunt for as for game, 
I will tell you iu another letter. u. h. n. 
CULTIVATION OF CORN. 
A correspondent of tbo Scientific American, 
in writiug of tbo cultivation of corn, says: 
June is the month for cultivating onr crops, 
and on this process, very much depends. 
Whether the hand-hoe or the horse implement 
is used, depends on the habits of the individual, 
and his facilities; but the work to be accom¬ 
plished rests on other circumstances than those 
of the individual. Thus the nature of the corn 
crop requires that the cultivation should be deep 
as possible and close to the plants as may be, be¬ 
fore tho bloom. After the bloom, the ground 
wants to bo disturbed as little as possible, so 
that the growth of the plant may not be inter¬ 
fered with unnecessarily through the cutting or 
breaking of the roots. Hence a horse-hoe is 
capable of more efficient work than the hand-hoe, 
at the first stages af the crop, or up to the time 
of bloom, and its use means increase of crop. 
Let us investigate the reasons which underlie 
this advice. 
PHYSIOLOGY OF CORN CROP. 
If a stalk of corn be taken, just before the ap¬ 
pearance of the tassel or flowering stalk, and a 
cross cut be made at each joint, a small ear of 
corn will be seen at each cut, and if carefully 
dissected, it. will he seen to be perfect in all its 
parts. If now, another stalk be taken, a little 
further advanced, so that the tassel may bo 
readily seen, and the same cuts now made, wo 
shall find no appearance of an embryo at the 
lower joints, but shall End some at the upper, 
A third stalk taken when the tassel is in readi¬ 
ness to bloom, will shovy the ears which are to 
fled last year in various fields of corn, and ex¬ 
plained and demonstrated to many individuals, 
can receive only the following Interpretation : 
Nature has made provision for an ear of corn at 
each joint of the stalk: but as the stalk devel¬ 
ops. from some unknown reason. tho ma jor num¬ 
ber of these embryo ears aro absorbed into the 
plant, and but one, or occasionally more, are de¬ 
veloper!. 
Now if, through human interference, these em¬ 
bryo ears aro to be developed into crop, the re¬ 
quisite action must take place before the absorp¬ 
tion takes place, in which these ears aro present 
in the plant to ho developed. Theory indicates 
that, a check to the vegetative luxuriance of tho 
plant at this period, would have an influence in 
promoting the prolificacy. Experiment has 
shown that, root-pruning the plant does check 
tho growth for a short season, docs prevent in a 
measure the absorption of these cars, and docs 
therefore increase the crop. Hence deep and 
close cultivation which root-prunes, ami which is 
applied before the absorption of those curs in 
embryo has taken place, must, bo 1 cncllcial. 
This root-pruning idea, originating with our¬ 
selves, is receiving development, in (be articles 
entitled, ‘‘A Now Theory of Tillage,” and wc 
shall not, therefore, develop it more fully here ; 
but. will only say that last year we obtained 
twenty-three oars of corn from otic kernel of 
corn planted, and also a largo increase from a 
small area of a field treated comparatively. Un¬ 
fortunately, the excessive drought of last season 
prevented us from experimenting on a largo 
scale, and in an excessive and exclusive manner, 
as wo desired. Yet onr garden experiments, and 
house results, were of sufficient promise to carry 
with them a conviction that wo were working on 
an untried and important subject of tho most 
promising character for practical application. 
WHEAT CULTIVATION. 
If wheat shall ever again take a prominent po¬ 
sition in onr eastern husbandry, we are con¬ 
vinced it must bo through its treatment as a 
cultivated crop. When planted in drills, and 
thoroughly worked between with a horse imple¬ 
ment iu the spring, wo would anticipate an in¬ 
creased yield, brought about through tbo influ¬ 
ence of space and root-pruning. Wc but men¬ 
tion this matter In this place on account of its 
importance, but refer to onr more elaborate 
article for its fuller treatment. 
dfarm (jgtonomg. 
PASTURES BECOMING POOR WHILE 
GRAZED. 
When this occurs the cause should be investi¬ 
gated and a little thought over the past manage¬ 
ment, with all tho little circumstances attending 
tbo stock grazed upon it, will soon throw light 
on tho subject. For instance, yesterday as 1 
was attending to some matters In my field of 
roots, a gentleman who lias a farm in Massa¬ 
chusetts came to mo and commenced converging 
on root-growing in England, and tho wonderfully 
beneficial effects produced when the crops are 
eaten by sheop. This caused mo to explain bow 
the immense quantity of urine from animals 
living chiefly on swedes or turnips, enriched tho 
soil. 
The gentleman, who is probably a merchant in 
Boston, had not paid very close attention to the 
details of agriculture, for b© said he had noticed 
that where urine was voided on the grass it ap¬ 
peared to kill it, and the grass would look as if 
burned, so that ho thought it was injurious. 
Talking of a pasture which lie had, it appeared 
it had been gradually losing till he was advised 
to plow and reseed it. On close inquiry I found 
there were three clear causes for the poverty of 
the soil. In the first place, working cattle were 
put on it at night and taken away to work again 
the next morning. Thus all the dung and urine 
voided from G o’clock A. M. till 7 or 8 M. were 
lost to the pasture aud, of coarse, the land was 
robbed to that extent. Then, secondly, the 
dairy cows were kept in the yard at night and, of 
course, their manure, both Boiid and liquid, was 
lost to the pasture land as much as if it hud been 
stolen ; and now the third cause of poverty is 
that the whole of the animals lying ou forty 
acres of pasture while eating or resting iu cool 
weather, have a piece of woods to run in at 
pleasure, and for hours at a time, the cattlo will 
be crashing through the brush or roaming over 
30 acres which contribute nothing toward their 
support, but receive more than half of the 
dung etc., left after the two former mentioned 
Iobscb. 
Ib it any wonder pastures should bo inferior in 
the Uuited States to those in England which, 
though occasionally weakened by the taking of a 
crop of hay, yot are never subjected to three 
direct causes of impoverishment ? As meat, will 
be the most remunerating produce from the 
laud, now that a regular system of exportation 
is established, it will be well for all farmers to 
be developed into the crop, but no others. 
This observation, which was repeatedly veri- 
duly consider the advantages of treating pastures 
fairly. George Gardner. 
