OGT. 2 7 
i?U& n u in ri i f 9 'V’O* 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Mary Waley.— The Portulaca seems at borne 
here. 1 bad a good many seed* sent me. last A 
winter, all but three plants from which blossomed Tu 
single. They wero of all colors and large and, Nei 
il' I bad never Been a double one, all, for a l’or- net 
tulaca, I could possibly wish. 1 
Anm Even from the finest strains, a large to 
proportion will prove single. There is but one cor 
way to make a bed of double Portulacaa. Iti« frn 
to sow the best seeds you cun procure and pull roj 
up all plants as soon as they bear single Dowers. 
AY (tie skeels.— Is Hibiscus Syrlacns variogatus bc( 
hardy? Please answer through Rural. A ns. 
—It is quite hardy. 
Lorenzo House. —No. 5 is Cycloloma platy- yei 
pbyllum. ^ 
yt. ( 7 . IP.—By to-day’s mail I send you a worm 
or bug, or sotno other “varmint,” the which I ® 
would bo glad you would name. 1 was applying 1 
cow manure to the compost or manure heap in 
my garden, near which stood a box-alder, and ’ 
when passing under the alder the lower branches ''' 
brushed me on the arm, I was Immediately * 
stung. 1 looked everywhere for tlie aggressor. 4 
but Dually went to work, giving up the search. ro 
The wound inflicted. however, hurt so badly that. ' H 
I began searching the houghs of the Alder foi 
hornets, yellow jackets, etc., and at once found 1 
the Insect 1 send you. Similar ones wero 
numerous on the leaves aud made war-like a 
demonstrations wheu disturbed. Have taken fa 
great care to fix the gentleman up so that he \\> 
will roach you intact and still attached to the A 
leaf. Ui 
Ans.—The insect which you say stung you is m 
the caterpillar of the moth, Unowu to entomolo- ci 
gists as Litnaeodos pithcoium, and the paiu ti 
you mention was the ofl'eot of the hairs of the ai 
caterpillar upon your skin. It is much the cc 
same sensation as when brushing against tl 
nettles, but it iB in no way poisonous. The n 
caterpillars ebunge into chrysalides inside round g 
cocoons and in spring emerge as moths. P 
C. H II I send you, by mail, specimens of a 
worm I observed, devouring the leaves on some p 
youug apple trees, in tbc month Of August, n 
Will you give me their (common) name aud a h 
description of their habits ? Is there any serious S 
danger to apple trees to ho expected from d 
them ? a 
Ans. — The caterpillars found during the 
mouth of August on young apple trees are y 
commonly called the “red-humped,” because c 
of the raised, red spot ou the. Drat segment of v 
the abdomen. The moth ol' which they are the 
young, is known in science as Notodonta con- t 
0 i tm a, Smith. The moth deposits its eggs { 
sometimes in tbe mouth of July iu clusters on 
tbe under side or tho leaf. When Drat hatched, 
the caterpillars eat only tbe underside of the ' 
leaf, but afterward, as they grow larger and ( 
stronger, they eat the entire leaf. They are ^ 
gregarious iu their habits, and when resting, 
cluster together and sometimes entirely cover ■ 
small twigs and ends of branches. The early 
broods come to their full growth by the middle 
of August, the others by tho latter part of Sep¬ 
tember. They are easily destroyed by gathering 
wheu found in a cluster, and although in some 
seasons they may appear iu numbers, if attended 
t ) properly, Urey can l oeasily managed. Since, if 
left undisturbed, they destroy the leaves, aud 
these are necessary to tho health of the tree, 
their unmolested presence is, of course, daugoi- 
ous to the trees they infest. 
TVm. T. T.—l have twenty barr els of cider 
that I want to make into vinegar ; how shall I 
manage it ? 
Ans.— A warm temperature will hasten fer¬ 
mentation. If a little mother from a vinegar 
cask should he put into each barrel of cider it 
would help to change the cider into vinegar, or a 
quart or two of vinegar put into each barrel 
will answer tho same purpose. In either case 
the contents of each barrel should he frequently 
stirred. There is ft process practiced by exten¬ 
sive vinegar makers which will causo cider to 
attain the required sourness to become passable 
vinegar in a few weeks by letting the cider 
slowly drip from the cask through a mass of corn¬ 
cobs which have been steeped in strong vinegar. 
The cider in this way becomes thoroughly im¬ 
pregnated with the acid aud fermentation con¬ 
tinues rapidly. 
Lyman Church, Huntingdon, Mass .—I wish 
to ii quire, through your valuable paper, the 
cause of -pi ars cracking and ft remedy for it. I 
have two treeB that have never borne any fruit 
except v.bat was so cracked as to render it 
entirely useless. 
Ass.—It is thought by some to bo occasioned 
I by a minute parasitic fungus. Whether the 
! I fungus Duds suitable conditions for its growth 
after the disease has manifested itself or j F 
whether the disease is caused by the fungus may ^ 
bo a question. Some pears are more sub j ect to it # 
than others; some seasons it is generally 
prevalent—others not. Old, very prolific trees 
or those growing in confined places suffor most. ^ 
We know of no remedy. g- 
M, a.- You need hardly fear keeping the o 
Tuberose bulbs too warm during the winter. s 
Neither sand, moss, nor anything of lhe kind is ( 
needed. fi 
jr a B —Your request has been forwarded j, 
to Mrs. Maple who will doubtless be happy to t 
comply. We arc always happy to hear lrom our ri 
friends, though with the beBt disposition to J 
reply, wo cannot always do so. ( 
Whj, J. W. B. EL. send lull address. It has t 
been mislaid. 1 
j ,s. James, Ohio.—I purchased the plant of 
which I seud you a flower and t wo leaves, several , 
years ago aB TricyrLis grandiflora. It lifts never ( 
bloomed before. The flowers resemble those of f 
Orchids. What is it and why lias it not bloomed • 
before ? A ns. -It Is TricyrtU grandiflora—a re¬ 
lative of tbo Lily and not of tho Orjhid, unkvs ( 
an original relationship has been wiped out by ( 
long years of evolution. It is a hardy, coarse, 
odd plant with axillary flowers an inch or more 
In diameter, speckled with purple; Your season 
is too short for it. The lateness of frost account* 
for its blooming with you for the first time. Tt 
is placid in tho order Melauthacc®, differing 
from tho Lily in the anthers and dehiscence of its 
fruit. 
Amos N. Clarke, Ohio.—I am going to plant 
a few apple and pear trees on my back lawn tins 
fall. How large ought the holes to be made - 
What, kind of earth is best to fill in with t 
Ass-—You do not state whether you intend to 
use dwarfs or standards. However, let us say, 
make the holes as large as your time aud mean* 
enable you to malm thorn. Tho larger the bet¬ 
ter unless tho soil underneath the sod Is rich 
aud deep. The roots of a tree soon extend to n 
considerable distance—ns far as or further than 
the bight of the tree. In any event, they must 
not be less than three feet in diameter. Any 
good soil. Use no manure unless well decom¬ 
posed. 
A Subscriber, Loraine Co., Ohio .—Will you 
please give me the address of a responsible cnui- 
misfiion house in New York or Philadelphia that 
handles wool. Ans. - Samuel Thompson s 
Nephews A Co., are among tho most trustworthy 
dealers in the city wo believe. Wo do not know 
any Philadelphia house. 
i .4. 11. Ueightler .—Tho plau requested by 
, y 0 „ wa s handed to and has been returned by 
j our architect. It will be published as soon as 
’ wo can find space. It may ho several weeks. 
) j fi //,_Will you please inform me, through 
' the columns of your paper, how to make sugar 
* out of the Chinese sugar-cane ? 
1 Ans.— In the districts where sugar cauo was 
' extensively grown during the war, apparatus of 
i various kinds was invented to distil sugar from 
1 sorghum. In the absence of these improve- 
3 ments, there is no way except to boil tho cauo 
’ jnico until tho sirup is produced, and then 
r in turn slowly boil this the sirup, stirring it often, 
y until tho sugar is granulated. An old 
0 Hcrai. of about the year 1863, contained 
diagrams and a full description of the improved 
k process. __ 
French elections give 814 Republicans and 201 
Conservatives elected. The latter consists ot 99 
Bonapartlsts, 45 MacMahonltes, 44 Legitimists, 
and tl Orleanlsts. 
THORHTuv, Oct, is.—From Washington comes 1 
the report that the President Intends to act i 
without reference to any party in or out of Con¬ 
gress, merely performing executive dunes witu- 
out any personal effort to influence the action of 
Senators or Congressmen. 
so complete has been the defeat, of Mouktar 
Pasha’s nr my that three divisions and thirty guns 
have surrendered, and as a fighting entity, it no 
longer exists. Mouktar hiinseir acknowledges de¬ 
feat, but. lessens Its force. Osman Pasha’s com¬ 
munications are. sold to be cut off. Suleiman 
Pasha Is about to attack the Czarewlrch. In 
France, the Ministers are about to use tlielr Influ¬ 
ence again In the election of the Municipal and 
State officers whoso duties It will bo to elect one- 
third of the members of the Senate. 
Friday, Oct. to —The cotton report of the Sta- 
t latlclan of i lie Rep mmem ot Agriculture for Oc¬ 
tober, makes the average condition nearly as high 
as In into. Ii Is 81.1, against 82.7 last year, and 
the year before. The decline In condition dur¬ 
ing September la leas thlsyear than last. Georgia 
and Tennessee make the same average ns In Sep¬ 
tember onast year; North Carolina higher, and 
oil other States lower, though Arkansas declines 
but ouc per cent. 
The Stab' Percentages. — North Carolina, 85; 
South Carolina. 79; Geoogla, 77; Florida, 88; Ala¬ 
bama, 8S; Mississippi, 80; LouLlina, 77; Texas, 
64; Arkansas, os; Tennessee, 100 . 
Cleopatra’s needle, lately launched at. Alexan¬ 
dria, Egypt:, In a special coffer to be towed to En¬ 
gland hud. a few days ago, to be cast adrift In a 
gale, by the towing vessel, but It has been recov¬ 
ered by ai’ijtli' r ship. The Russians arc prepar¬ 
ing lor a speedy attack on Plevna, 
Saturday, Oct. 20.—At Kansas City, Mo., a 
gigantic swindle has been brought to light by the 
arrest of Messrs. 11am, Stevens and Miller, on a 
requisition from the Governor of Texas. These 
were the principals In a widespread system ot 
forging land titles and Issuing fraudulent deeds 
Tor large tracts of land In Texas. An Immense 
amount of land lias been fraudulently conveyed 
by them under different aliases and to different 
parlies. Sixty arrests Of confederates have been 
simultaneously made In different parts of the 
country. During the past, year 13 Court houses 
have been burnt, down by them to destroy tho 
evidence against thorn. They have been acting 
now tor a couple of yours, and as all seals, forms, 
deeds, and official signatures wero forgeries, 
thousands of purchasers of Texan lands, in various 
parts of tin; country, have been swindled by the 
1 rascals. 
' in Asia tho Russians have got between Kara 
' and Erzcroum. They have within the last few 
weeks received 40,000 fresh troops, Hence their 
, success. The Turks are now hurrying forward 
reinforcements also. The Czar declares lie Dill 
' remain with the Bulgarian army. They have 
5 added 10,000 men to their forces before Plevna, 
and have lost to Oct. It, 59,434 men. 
a-«*■*♦-— 
r HOME NEWS PARAGRAPHS. 
Kansas is almost exactly in the center of the 
United States. 
One Harvard student is paylnghls way through 
college by turning his room Into a stationery and 
bookstore; and another, a graduate from Wesley¬ 
an University, Is meeting his expenses at. the law 
school by working In a barber's shop. 
The combined value of butter and cheese ex¬ 
ported from New York miring the week endiug 
Wednesday. Oct. 10th, was $156,391, which was 
equal to rme-forlleth of the aggregate exports 
from this port, during the period referred to. 
Fort Dodge claims to be the greatest butter 
market in the Statu of Iowa. From May t to 
September l there was bought and shipped at 
that point over four hundred t housand pounds of 
that article, for which over $50,000 In cash was 
paid out. 
A new fish-hatching establishment In Plymouth 
j N. 11., is nearly finished, aud 500,000 California 
salmon eggs uro to be received for hatching. 
By next. May 20,000 land-locked salmon and 
several thousand brook trout will be ready for 
distribution. 
The experiments at New York with a view to 
the destruction of garbage by burning In a blast 
furnace are considered successful. Eighty per 
cent of the garbage was consumed, and the resi¬ 
due was a hard slag, which It Is thought can be 
utilized for road-making purposes. 
A refrigerator car, so arranged that thirty car¬ 
cases can be hung up, as In shambles, and kept 
at. a few degrees above freezing point, has been 
Bent by some Nevada cattle dealers as an experi¬ 
ment. if R Is successful, the dealers will ship 
meat to the East, tills fall and winter. 
At. Laelmte, Canada, the other day, while two 
or three men were trying to lift, a in avy sluice¬ 
gate, a young man standing by bantcrlngly offered 
to raise It alone for fifty cents. The money was 
paid and he did raise It, but Immediately said, •* I 
have killed myself for fifty cents,” and died soon 
after. 
The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Rail¬ 
road Company have paid for slxty-flve of the 
elghly-one lives h s', at the Ashtabula disaster, at 
a rate averaging $5,000 apiece. The most expen¬ 
sive life sacrificed cost, tho company $9,000, and 
a newly-married couple were appraised at only 
$3,000. 
About 250,000 pistols have been made at Nor¬ 
wich, CL, this year. Orders are increasing, and 
i many of the works arc running nlglit and day. 
i Tho Bridgeport cartridge works make some 700,- 
000 cartridges a day. They have supplied Russia 
. with 40,000,000, Turkey with 70,000,000, and have 
i just got un order ror 80 , 000,000 from Italy. 
1 There Is a st ation on the Michigan Central Rall- 
‘ road called Tlltabawasscc. One day a stuttering 
hrakeman caught hold of the name, struggled 
5 with It until the train was five miles out. of tho 
' station and all the people who had wanted to get 
r off there were carried hopelessly by, and then, in 
1 a superhuman effort, lie fell on the floor of the 
l car and died ou the “ bawass.” 
TERMS FOR IB'77, IN ADVANCE, 
INCLOOIXO pilSTAUE, WHICH I'UBiJSMBBS PREPAY 
Blrarlo Copy. $9.50 per Year. To Clubs -Five Copies 
snd one copy tree to Agmt or getter np of Otoh.tOT 
8il yi • Seven Cop' (si*, and one free, for 816-05 1 on coi - 
Ids," arid ono frr $ 20 -ouly *2 per copy. The above 
rates inOuile jio» f ai/c (under the new law) to any part 
of fcJw United State?, uud t)*o AiueWvan lu.-taco ou a 
cop', re mailed to Canada. Ou paper- rn.viod to Europe 
by ntaswer, tile postage wlU be Si oeut* extra for each 
subscription. 1'rafts. Fost-Offloo Money Orders and 
Registered Letters may be malt'd at our risk, t f Lib- 
wal Premiums to all Club Agents who do not take 1 r«o 
copies. Hprettuen Numbers, Show-Rills.&e.,sent free 
IJrtus of tjjc (Wlcrlt. 
CONDENSED NEW YORK TELEGBAMS. 
Tuesday, Oct. is.—Mr. Randall of Pennsylvania 
has been elected .Speaker ot the House of Repre¬ 
sentatives. In t he late battle the Indians lost 25 
killed and 46 wouuded. * 
The Russians In Armenia having been heavily 
reinforced are becoming aggressive. In Bulgaria 
the Muscovites say that the more Turks enter 
Plevna, tho better satisfied they are, as they In¬ 
tend to capture them ulL 
WKPNE8DAV, Oct. IS— The commission to Sit¬ 
ting Hull is hurrying forward, having Just learnt 
that he is just now peaceably Inclined. 
Moukhtar Pasha Is reported to have been se¬ 
verely defeated In Asia, and his army to be re¬ 
treating ta three directions, while ho lias been 
cut off from Kars. The latest returns from the 
The Direct Cable Company Is said to have lost 
$20,000 by the late break In Us line. 
<* Topeka,” the mime of the capital of Kansas, 
is an Indian word signifying “small potatoes.” 
A pure Merino sheep will carry from 40,000 to 
48,000 wool fibers on a single square Inch ot skin. 
Cornell U nlverslty has rlt ty female students t his 
year— seventeen of those being in the freshman 
class. 
A North Carolina girl pierced her ears In order 
to get a pair of ear-rings, and got instead a four 
and a-half pound tumor. 
A Maine postmistress was fined only five dol¬ 
lars for reading an unsealed letter and gabbling 
Its contents to her neighbors. 
New York uses 70,000,000 gallons of water dally. 
This gives an allowance of about six gallons to 
every man, woman and child In the city. 
There were i2,8t)o bushels of potatoes weighed 
on the Cumberland House scales at Plnttsburg, 
N. Y., lately. The heaviest load weighed s.eoo 
pounds. 
Six teen hundred sheep were sold lately In San 
Bernardino, California, lor four hundred dollars, 
or twenty-five cents a head on account of the 
drought. 
San Francisco justly boasts of having a smaller 
debt than any English or American city of Its 
glxp,_$ 4 , 320,000 for a population of 200 , 000 ,—net 
debt only $3,500,000. 
The beach at Galveston, Texas, is the largest 
and broadest In the world, extending twenty-flve 
miles, fronting the unbroken tide of the Gulf of 
Mexico on the south and east. 
A firm of undertakers in San Francisco caters 
to the desire of lfs poor patrons by hiring to them 
a very costly coffin. Alter the funeral Is over the 
body is secretly transferred to a cheap coffin. 
Barney Donohue, the leader of tho strikes on 
the Eric Railroad, who got off so easily In New 
York, has had a quartette of indictments found 
against him In New Jersey, and lies In prison in 
default of ball. 
In Texas, recently, a Judge broke down with 
emotion, while sentencing one Longly, a despera- 
. do, to bo hanged for murder. Longly was sur- 
i prised at this, and remarked, on going back to 
5 jail, “ I reel lor the Judge.’’ 
FOREIGN NOTES. 
Several districts la Cblua, especially near the 
coast, have had extensive visitations of locusts. 
IL Is estimated the famine has cost the Indian 
government f 45 ,oou,uoo, exclusive or the loss of 
revenue and other Indirect effects. 
Tho bop crop is a good one at almost all points 
on the continent 0t Europe, and It Is with some 
difficulty t hat prices are sustained. 
Heal estate is ns quiet in England as It Is in 
ibis region, in Liverpool a few days ago thirty 
four lots were offered at auctlou, and notone ex¬ 
changed hands. 
“ oh, that piano, next door !” A new police reg¬ 
ulation at NVelmer, Germany, prohibits the open¬ 
ing of windows during pianoforte practising un¬ 
der penalty Of two marks. Happy Weimar ! 
The annual value of the agricultural produce 
of Great Britain Is double that ot the produce cf 
her looms, three times that of her forges, and rour 
or five times that of a year’s produce of her mines. 
Her agricult ural produce has an annual value cf 
about $ 1 , 500 , 000 , 000 . 
m Mlunette,” a pretty white cat, “ with a pen¬ 
sive eye,” won tlic great eat race 111 Belgium, 
heating “Lolo” tho favorite, a large tortoise¬ 
shell, who became demoralized, “ Jumped tne 
course” and has not since been hoa rd of. Distance 
four miles. Time not given- Brize, a sliver 
coffe-pot-. Inducement, getting home. 
The best land In the Neltberlands consists of a 
tract, of 45,000 acres, which 25 years ago was cov- 
iTed by the sea. it wus rectalmed by the govern¬ 
ment at, an expense of nearly $ 8 , 10 ) 0 , 000 , and Bold 
to settlers ror nearly enough to meet the cost. 
More than 13,000 people now live upon this land, 
and It has increased la value from *so to $500 an 
acre. 
Tbe “ Rlt-tershattllcbe Bank” Is the latest fail¬ 
ure in Germany. It had a Capital of $3,000,000 
deposits of $ 6 , 000 , 000 , and has discounted bills to 
the amount of some $18,000,000. There Is great 
excitement over the failure, and stories of su.- 
cldes and absconding directors are as rife as they 
1 are in America under the same circumstauces. t 
- owed the Emperor ot Germany personally, *.5,uuu. 
Happy ridings for nervous sufferers, and those 
who have been dosed, drugged and Quacked, 
vermaclier’s Electric Belts effectually cure P re - 
mature debility, weakness and decay. Booka 
I Journal, with Information worth thouswids, maU- 
ed free. Address Porvkbmache* Galvanic Co., 
I Cincinnati, Ohio. 
