the canes and covering them with earth any c 
effect upon the vines in causing barrenness or 1 
uufruitfuluCBS ? Hev. E. P. ItOR speaks as 
though this was the case in his practice. (3.) To 
what extent is bud-pruning, or rubbing off the c 
young shoots as they start in early spring, nec- t 
canary in successful grape growing? (4.) What 
is the average annual product of a healthy grape 
vine in vineyard culture ? I am touting over 
thirty varieties of Grapes in another vineyard 
on my place, and they are fruiting Uns season 
very nicely. Grape-growing here is very inter¬ 
esting, Allow me, in conclusion, to say we are 
very highly pleased with the Rural Nkw- York¬ 
er, and consider its weekly visits as very essen¬ 
tial adjuncts to our hill ot fare. ItB varied and 
judicious teachings are always interesting and 
very instructive. 
Ans. —As you state your case we cannot tell, 
unless there is too much old wood. Would ad¬ 
vise you to try the alternate renewal system of 
pruning or, in other words, cut out every cane 
that has borne fruit. 2. Not in our experience. 
The caues should be lightly covered. 3. If a 
vino is permitted to overhear one season, there 
will generally be an inferior or scanty crop tbe 
next. The object of disbudding, or robbing off 
young shoots, is to prevent what may be deemed 
a superllnous growth of the vino. The object of 
pinching off the ends of shoots is, that the food 
which would otherwise go to their support may 
be concentrated upon the fruit and upon the 
leaves that remain. As to the extent that this 
may be advisable, it will he seen that each grape- 
grower must be Ids own judge. It may be well 
for you to attend to the thinning of the fruit 
more than you have—t. e., removing all weakly 
bunches, as well as those that grow too closely 
together. 4. This depends entirely upon the 
variety of grape, the richness of the soil, the sit¬ 
uation, the system of training adopted, and the 
culture. 
Lorenzo Rouse, Oneida Co., N. Y, I send, 
herewith, floe specimens of plants, which I desire 
to have named. They are growing in my grounds, 
and in sending the several samples, I number 
them for more convenient, reference. No. 1. A 
variegated-loafod plant, is a hardy, branching 
shrub, two years old with me, and has never 
bloomed : bight, 2 ft. No. 2 is a herbaceous per¬ 
ennial, 2>£ ft. in bight, with a profusion of small 
white blossoms, f ally double ; inclined to spread 
very rapidly from the roots; very hardy. No. 3. 
A hardy, herbaceous perennial, higbt averaging 
3 ft..; blooms freely. No. 4. Also a hardy, her¬ 
baceous perennial, having a blue, pea-shaped 
blossom, and baviug its Boeds in pods, like the 
Lupin family; liight about 4 ft. No. !>• An an¬ 
nual rather ornamental in appearance, the plant 
from which the specimen was taken being over 
6 ft. In bight, with many side branches. It bears 
a profusion of seeds, and self-sows abundantly. 
It is properly a hardy annual. It produces no 
blossom except such as yon see on the sample 
sent. I would gladly send ripe seeds of all the 
plants sent, but am not aide at present. 
Ans. - No. I. |S 'ymphoricarpus racemose.s va- 
riegatus. 
No. 2. Achillea, inarmicafl.pl. 
No. 3. Phynostegia Virginiana. 
No. 4. Baplisia australis. 
No. 5. Will let you know. 
Mary IValej, Poquonoc Bridge. —(1. Cau you 
name the plaut from which the inclosed leaf 
was taken ? (2.) When is the best time to col¬ 
lect seeds of the following plants: Eschscholtzia, 
Phlox, Pansy, Gacalta and Coreopsis ? Are the 
two latter ripe as soon as the dower goes by ‘i 
(8.) Are seeds ot Portulaca ripe before the little 
cap that covers the seed-pod lifts ? Last year I 
lost nearly all tbe seeds of the above kinds of 
flowers, by waiting till 1 felt sure they were ripe. 
I should not care so much abont it, as they are 
all self-seeding varieties, but would like to have 
something with which to make exchanges with 
my friends. By answering above, through ques¬ 
tioner’s column of tho Rural, you will much 
oblige. 
Ans. -1. The leal is that of a Coleus. 
2. They ripen not all at once, but through a 
long period. 
3. No, uot entirely ripe, but sufficiently so to 
collect. They will ripen afterwards. You should 
go over the plants every day and examiue them. 
Thus seeds of Portulaca may be gathered from 
early July till frost. 
Phlox seeds should be gathered as soon as the 
little round pods begin to turn brown or to lose 
their greenness. If delayed too long, they burst 
open, scattering the seeds. Gather tho tiower- 
heads of Coropais as soon as the flower (corolla) 
fades. 
Jennie Huffman— Please answer the following 
questions in tho Rural, if convenient (1.) 
.Does an Agarpanthns ever bloom more than 
once a year ? (2 ) Will it live through the win¬ 
ter in a cellar that is rather dark, and at times 
quite damp ? (3.) What time should Cyclamen 
Pcrsioum be started into growth, to have them 
bloom early in the winter ? (4.) At what season 
of the year do Justleias bloom ? (5.) Will they 
live in a collar through the winter ? 
Ass.—1. Wo have never known it to do bo. 
2. Yes. It would be well, as your cellar is 
damp, to plant it, so to speak, in perfectly dry 
saud. 
3. First of September. 
4. They are tender, winter-blooming plants. 
5. No. 
ER. 
some of tbe buildings adjoining tbe main hall, 
will necessitate the crowding of other depart¬ 
ments into tho main building. Every depart¬ 
ment will be represented as heretofore. 
Tbe State Horticultural Society will make an 
exhibition of fruits and flowers, not as a com¬ 
petitor but to show what can be done in that 
line. They will also bold a meeting for discus¬ 
sion one evening during tbe Fair. There will 
SEPT. \ 
BED /=?. 
/Zk fV 
B ED F?. 
/Z tU.\ 
TO. STOJi.'r 
FOR DESCRIPTION OF ABOVE SEE FIRST PAGE. 
W. W. S., Oassadaga, N. Y .—I find a valua¬ 
ble Strawberry mentioned in your issue of Aug. 
18, that I don’t find advertised in your paper 
elsewhere. I would like to get half a dozen 
plants. It is the President Lincoln. If you 
have it in your Rural Grounds, please send me 
a few and I will remit by return mail. 
Anb.— According to our best knowledge and 
belief tbo Rural Grounds have never sold a 
plant. We will forward your card to those who 
offer the Pres. Lincoln Strawberry for sale. 
Nelly Brown, California. Last year 1 planted 
adot of Locust seed, only two came up. Some 
of my neighbors tell me the seed should be scald¬ 
ed before they will grow. Is this so ? 
Ans.— The seeds should uot bo permitted to 
get dry, but he kept plump in sand or moss. 
Scalding some kinds of seeds qu.ckens g«rn. ;ua- 
tion, but we do uot think Locust seeds are among 
the number. 
L. M. Brown , Klbridge, N. 1'.—Please be so 
kind as to name the enclosed specimens through 
the Rural New Yorker, and you will greatly 
oblige one of its readers. 
Ann,*—-N o. 1. Argenume Mexicana. 
No. 2. Perhaps Pulmonavia - we caunot tell 
from a leaf. 
No. 3. Lipidium Virginianum. 
No. I. Rhus Colinus. 
No. f>. 1‘anwnin capillare. 
T. h. 0., New York .— Oblige me by Btatiug 
how I cau kill an Ailanthus tree other than by 
girdling it. 
Ans. —Wo may uot understand the scope of 
tbe question. Girdling will kill the stem but 
not the roots. It may, therefore, be burnt, or 
the leaves porsistontly pulled off. The tree, es¬ 
pecially the male, suckers considerably ; so that 
to rid one's grounds of the rice it would be 
necessary to destroy the roots. 
S. M. Van Clcef, Seneca 00., N. Y.—lt recog¬ 
nizable. please give name for the inclose! plant. 
Although this beautiful flower is iu many collec¬ 
tions beside my own, its name seems to be un¬ 
known to every one about here. 
Ans. Achillea 1‘tarmica. 
M. M. B.— Many thauka. Those articles for 
prizes will not be published, as a rule, iu several 
weeks. We mention this that you may not think 
your MBS. neglected. 
Q. K., Addison, N. Y. We cannot make out 
your question. 
C. H. M., Cincinnati —Will answer next week 
if we cau. 
[Several questions and answers remain over.] 
Jnhstrial j&oxixtus, 
INDIANA STATE FAIR. 
Our Indiana friends have the most flattering 
prospects concerning their State Fair, which will 
be held at Indianapolis, Sept. 24 -23. From pres¬ 
ent indications, the immense exposition building 
will be well filled and make u line display, espe¬ 
cially so aB the destruction by fire, last winter, of 
also be meetings held each evening during the 
fair week, by one of the State Industrial Associ- 
tions; i. e., Short-Horn Breeders, Swine Breed¬ 
ers, Wool Grower* and Poultry Breeders. 
The Board of Agriculture will leave nothing 
undone to secure success, and merit the approval 
of exhibitors and visitors. Premium lists cau 
bo procured of members of the Board, the Sec¬ 
retaries of Agricultural Societies in the State, or 
by sending the address to the Secretary of the 
Board of Agriculture. 
---* 
NEW JERSEY STATE FAIR. 
This Fair will be held, as usual, at Waverly, 
on the grounds of the N. J. State Agricultural 
Society. 
The Society has been uncommonly successful 
in the past, and the indications point to a very 
largo attendance of exhibitors and spectators 
this season. During the Centennial year, when 
other Societies declined to hold Fairs, or opened 
the grounds at a loss, this Socioty bod then - Fair, 
and had a flattering bank balance at the close of 
the week. 
As nothing succeeds like success, we feel no 
hesitation iu welcoming Jerseymen, in advance, 
to probably one of the most brilliant meetings 
of the Society. Remember, Sept. 17 24 are tho 
dates; and exhibitors who have not received 
premium lists, etc., will receive the most courte¬ 
ous treatment, aud all necessary information, by 
applying to Mr. Wm. M. Force, Newark, N. J. 
CHOOSING COWS. 
Tue object of this article is not to puff auy 
particular breed of cattle, but to try to convince 
those farmers who keep a few cows, of the im¬ 
portance of keeping better animals than they 
usually do at present, Very many farmers, after 
milking their cows, use the milk for various 
purposes, without ever testing its richness or 
finding out how much butter or cheese it would 
make; nor do they ever inquire whether they 
have the breed best adapted for tbe use they are 
making of them. Yet it is well known that cer¬ 
tain breeds are most profitable for butter and 
cheese making, and others for supplying the 
milkman. Some believe that a cow that will fat¬ 
ten a fine veal calf cannot be a good animal for 
butter aud cheese makiug, but my own experi¬ 
ence convinces me that auy good dairy cow will 
do this, and that it is only rarely that a cow 
worthless for other purposes, cau do it, 
I It would well pay ail farmers to get rid of all 
cows of an inferior breed by sending them to the 
butcher so soon as they have been brought to a 
good condition ; and it is therefore desirable to 
know tho lowest capacity of those that should 
be kept. A good cow will make, at least, two hun¬ 
dred and fifty pounds of butter per year, aud one 
that will uot do that is not worth keeping on the 
farm. Indeed, at the present price of dairy 
produce, it will eoBt nearly that to pay the ex¬ 
pense of care and keeping. As to the best breed 
to keep, I presume the Jersey would be the most 
profitable where butter-making was the chief 
object, as a cow of that breed often gives, in 
thirty days, milk enough to equal her own weight; 
and moreover this is very rich in butter of that 
line fiavor aud golden hue which commands a 
high price iu the market. 
But where i^ock-raismg can be combined with 
this, as is the case on most farms in this part of 
the State, Short-Horns would undoubtedly 
prove a bettor breed, or at any rate a cross be¬ 
tween the Short-Horn and an inferior animal, 
for such a grade will give more, and better beef 
at any age than tbe common scrub Btock 
which far too many farmers arc cursed with. A 
neighbor of mine sold, last spring, at five cents 
per pound, four grade two-year-old steers which 
weighed a trifle over 1.100 pounds a-picce. while 
another farmer, a short distance off, sold a scrub 
beast which, when four and a half years old, 
after having cost much more to keep, only 
weighed 900 pounds and brought only four and a 
half cents a pound ; and 1 have known greater 
differences than that. 
It should be strongly impressed on the minds 
of all farmers that if they cannot afford pure¬ 
bred cows, they should buy a full-blood bull- 
calf from some good herd, a thing that can 
be done at a price within almost any one’s 
means ; and then they should grade up their 
stock as faBt ns possible, and keep no cows on 
the farm that will not yield a pound of butter 
a day for ten months in tho year. I am confi¬ 
dent most farmers could, without difficulty, do 
this—by careful management and by selecting 
the offsprings of good milkers and crossing them 
with bulls of a well-known strain. At any rate, 
tbe improvements effected by this means would 
soon rid this section of the country of the many 
worthless cows that now keep too many farmers 
poor instead of enriching them. h. j. 
Starkey, N. Y. 
—-♦♦♦-— 
THE WEEKLY RECORD OF A GOOD COW. 
I have seen several records of remarkable 
milking cows published in your columns from 
time to time—notably that of “ Old Creamer," 
who gave a fabulous quantity of milk. Subse¬ 
quently, however, when the question was asked 
whether she was not fed upon her own milk, ac¬ 
companied with the suggestion that a cow that 
can be induced to drink her own milk may be 
made to produce the same over and over again 
several times a day, no answer was given, so far 
as I can ascertain. Now, how much milk a cow 
can be made to yield in a day by feeding her all 
of tho fresh product she oau drink, iu addition 
to her other allowance of feed, is a question in¬ 
teresting to many. The feeding of milk is not 
usual, however, nor is tho quantity of milk ob¬ 
tained from a oow under such feeding a fair test 
of her value as a milk producer, oven if the milk 
is of average quality. I propose to give a week’s 
record or my cow *' Polly," which is truthful aud 
fair, and I boliove deserving of notice. I cannot 
give tho dates.'but it was in the month of June, 
when her calf was two weeks old. 
Monday MorniiiK. kmIIb.; Evening,4W Ka)ls-7^ 
Tuesday do. W do. -7b 
Wednesday do, 3,b do. in 
Thw*day do. do- 
Friday do. 3y-l<5 do. 4v-Ik 
Saturday do* Styf do. X 
Total number of trillions X°r *'* days.44b 
Her feed consisted of fair pasture on au old 
pasture field, with one quart of brau aud meal 
mixed, sprinkled upon half a bushel to three 
pecks of cut green clover night and morning. 
This cow iH of large size, with excellent points. 
She is out of a polled (or Buffalo) cow by a Short- 
lloru hull; pedigree unknown. Her milk is of 
more thau average butter-producing quality. 
She was raised by me, aud is now six years old. 
Her calf at two years old this Bpring gave three 
! gallons daily. E. W. Clark, Jk. 
Washington, D. c. 
BLOODY MILK. 
Mr. Chas. E. Qautman’s beitor, which gave 
bloody milk, has probably been iujured by an¬ 
other cow’s horns, for some animals iu a herd of 
daily cows never miss au opportunity to hook a 
cow, and a favorite way with a quarrelsome beast 
is to dash at another when she has no chance to 
avoid the attack, and putting both horns under 
the flank lift her up and shake her vigorously, so 
as to bruise and rupture the flesh and veins under 
the skin. I have often had cows give bloodv 
milk and generally have found the cause to be as 
Htated, aud iu such cases there are two courses 
to pursue—either put a board on the cow's horns 
so that she cannot injure other cowb, or got lid 
of the beast. 
Horns, indeed, are useless appendages, ana 
cause very many casualties, such as abortions 
and turning up tire calves in cows, thereby caus¬ 
ing difficulty at tbo birth. A groat many fatal 
injuries caused by horns are never suspected, 
because tbe hooking was not witnessed. Some¬ 
times the milk will continue to be bloody for a 
week or two, and in some oases from weakness 
In the cow or her frame, she may at intervals 
come to give milk not fit for use. I had one am- 
