358 
THE RURAL WEW-YORKER. 
DEC. { 
TABLE OF OONTENTS, 
Practical departments: 
Vegetation, Australian. 351 
Biid ami Fruit Question. The. 352 
Notes from Maplewood I'lirrn... 352 
Irrigation, A I'rojeclof. 352 
Farm, l.ayli g (Jut the.352 
Farm unit Ouroen Notes.3.53 
(’orre* iundo is’ (.otters, Extracts from.);53 
DraefeOa Goldteuoa. 353 
Violet. A N mv Double. 353 
Cottage A Small...... 354 
Poultry Pay? Hots. 354 
Brahma Fowl. The . 364 
Corn anrl Feed (irln.ling. 354 
Iteek. eper*' Association, National. 351 
Anliirlsi. Duties of an .355 
Silk-worm. The Ceeropla... .355 
Urloflets. 355 
(’oiree That . 356 
Recipe, ’J’hat Hud. 3W 
Question... 35(1 
DipliUieclSr. 656 
Alkalies. 855 
Marvel. A Mechanical... .. 353 
Rural Special Reports. 353 
Answers to Correspondents.... 857 
Milch Cows In Warty Winter. Treatment of. ... 357 
Editorial Pack: 
Clawson Wheat...... 858 
Farmers' Clubs. 35H 
The • li I Id ran. 35k 
Hide-Hound Trees. 356 
Notes—Brevities.358 
Literary : 
Poetry. 359, 360. 361 
Ladles' Portfolio. 359 
A Protest....'. 359 
That Dress of .Mine.355 
A Forenoon at the Furriers... 559 
King Wsar’s Slave.. ..360 
Copper . 861 
About Dancing. 361 
Bnc-u-Bruc... lull 
Heading t"r the Young . 362 
The Game of Qnatnrnions... .. i'6‘2 
Letters from Hoy* and Girls. 362 
Puzzler.362 
Habna'li Heading. 362 
Christ’s Kingdom. 362 
Golden Aluxims . 362 
i’ublisher's Notice*... . 363 
Markets.,... 3153 
News ul the Week... 364 
Personals. . 3 K 5 
Humorous. . 360 
Wit and Humor... 306 
Advertisements.363, 365, 366 
tiie 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
PCBL1&HED EVERY SATURDAY. 
Ad drees 
RURAL PUBLISHING CO., 
78 Duane Street, New York City. 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1877. 
We particularly request that all communica¬ 
tions shall be addressed either to the Rural 
New Yorker or to the Editors. If addressed to 
individuals, they eomeiiutoB unavoidably re¬ 
main unopened for weeks—and even for mouths, 
greatly to the annoyance of the writers and our¬ 
selves. 
CLAWSON WHEAT. 
Prof. Ingersoll of the Michigan 
Agricultural College, was requested by 
Dr. Kkdzik to institute a comparison of 
Clawson with other varieties of wheat as 
raised in various portions of Michigan 
and we deem his report of sufficient im¬ 
portance to present its leading conclu¬ 
sions in this place. The report was 
“ made up after holding communication 
with men from every central and southern 
county, and in addition to these, with 
men from the counties of Saginaw, Bay, 
Tuscola and Montcalm." 
The first inquiry -was : Is Clawson 
wheat equal or superior to other varieties 
in withstanding frost, wet and drought ? 
Ninety-seven per cent, answered “equal " 
and eighty per cent, said “ superior to 
other varieties.” 
To the second inquiry as to its power 
of withstanding storms so as not to lodge, 
about ninety-nine per cent, said “supe¬ 
rior.” 
As to “ the yield on summer fallows as 
compared with the yield of other varieties 
under similar circumstances,” ninety- 
five per cent, said Clawson yields from 
ten to fifteen bushels more per acre than 
other varieties. 
Fourth, as to its yield when sown after 
other crops, “ such as corn, oats, or bar¬ 
ley,” about seventy-seven per cent, said 
equal tu other varieties, and sixty-five 
per cent, said superior. 
Fifth, as to its power to withstand 
insect enemies, mentioning the Hessian 
fiy and wheat midge particularly, over 
fifty per cent, said that it withstood 
Hessian fly, in localities where that insect 
worked, better than other varieties. 
Nearly ninety per cent, spoke of it as 
being almost midge-proof, the midge 
having worked in it very little, while 
Diehl and other open and erect-headed 
varieties were Quite badly injured in 
t many localities. 
2 Sixth, as to its general desirability for 
•i the farmer, viewed from the standpoint, 
of growth alone, ninety-eight per cent. 
I said it is superior to other varieties. In 
\ making up this last estimate, Prof. 
{ Ingersoll calls attention to some of the 
!| points mentioned by various parties : 
;| The Clawson Wheat is a vigorous grow- 
jj er. While it does well on rich fields, it 
does better in proportion on poorer fields, 
is not liable to rust, iB hardy, stands win- 
J ter well, stands up well, heads well. The 
heads bend over, and thus are better pre- 
s pared to withstand warm, wet, harvest 
k weather by roofing the berry over, while 
m the upright heads catoh and hold the 
moisture. It yields better under similar 
' circumstances with other varieties, and it 
U is better to raise on account of better 
•J yield, even if compelled to take ten cents 
| below the market value of other w r hite 
J wheat, by reason of the grading by buy- 
■j ere and shippers. 
As to the quality of the flour and the 
] general excellence of the grain, Dr. Ked- 
3 'air says that compared with flour of stand- 
j ard varieties raised in Michigan, Clawson 
is holds a good rank. For food value and 
\ palatability, he askB no better. 
In the Rural farm, for the past two 
years, wo have sown about eight acres to 
Clawson Wheat, and our opinion, which 
we have before expressed, is quite in ac¬ 
cord with that of Dr. Kedzie and Prof. 
Ingersoll, so far as yield and quality 
are concerned. 
-4 4 ♦- 
FARMERS’ CLUBS. 
At this time of year, the club should 
be in active operation with plans for a 
vigorous winter campaign. If no club 
exists near you, unite with some of yonr 
most enterprising neighbors and organize 
one. The expeuseB need not be large. 
But few rules will be required. The 
first thing after organizing, is to make 
plans and get everybody interested, even 
if there is no new thing brought out in 
the papers or discussions. Select the 
officers for a year and if fears are enter¬ 
tained that the interest will soon run out, 
set the time for meeting once in two to 
four weeks. It is better to make thor¬ 
ough preparation or have a good meeting 
once in three weeks, than to have them 
oftener and have little interest. Let 
some of the bSsfc men as a committee of 
arrangements make out at once a pro¬ 
gramme for every meeting of the year. 
This should be adhered to. Every mem¬ 
ber can have a copy on a card and if he 
happens to miss a month or two, he may 
know just what is to come up at any 
meeting. When once tried, this plan 
will not be abandoned for the more fickle 
one of meeting without any definite sub¬ 
ject for discussion or for the mode of 
choosing a subject at the previous meet¬ 
ing. 
It often works well to have standing 
committees to continue for a year to look 
after and occasionally make brief reports 
on certain topics, as a committee on live 
stock, or cattle, or farm crops, buildings, 
roads, etc., etc. Members may the next 
year, if desirable, be assigned to other 
committees on other subjects. To inter¬ 
est all, care muBt be used in selecting i 
topics to get those on a variety of sub- < 
jects, and these should be suited to the 1 
time of year. It may sometimes be best i 
to have two topics or more for one meet- 1 
ing, though often more interest will be 1 
awakened by adhering to one subject. ] 
Whether a subject is started by a report < 
of a committee or otherwise, some one < 
should always be appointed to lead off. 
A question box will serve to enliven the 
meeting. Into this may be placed ques¬ 
tions or short sentiments which may be i 
read for answer. i 
If wheat is the subject for discussion c 
let every one bring a sample or two, in t 
the straw or threshed, and bo of each g 
subject. Specimens on the table will f 
always interest and call out questions, r 
Once a year it may be well to hold a t 
neighborhood or town fair. At another a 
time a sheep-shearing festival, or a plow- v 
ing match. Strive to make everything d 
thorough, lively, aud on time. Some v 
field meetings will be profitable, held on ‘ b 
different farms about the country. The after the day’s labor should be the signa 1 
matter of eating together will always in- for rejoicing, and not a wet blanket on 
crease the enjoyment and be a desirable the joyous spirits of the little ones Is 
feature in all field or day-meetings, if too this not worth thinking about ? 
much pains are not taken in preparing _ t , t __ 
the food. In such case, the trouble of HIDE-BOUND TREES 
preparing dinner becomes irksome. _ 
After a field meeting may come the dis- The practice of slitting the outer bark 
cusston. It will add importance and of fruit trees perpendicularly has its 
variety to have now and then a speaker friends aud enemies. We are of the 
from abroad, or io W* tb* W ™vmf B lftttcr j t (]eals with the effecfc of 
the cause. The cambium layer is that 
from which a zone of growth (in exogen¬ 
ous plants) is annually added both to the 
sap-wood and to the inner bark. The 
outer bark is finally exfoliated or rent in 
fissures and scaled oil by the action of 
the weather. Trees that are starved in¬ 
crease in growth slowly and the outer 
bark becomes so indurated as to resist, to 
a certain extent, their growth by retarding 
the upward passage of the crude sap from 
the root to the leaves and of the elaborated 
sap from the leave* downward. But we 
think it, may be questioned whether it is 
not well that its growth should bo re¬ 
tarded. Surely if it is true that a tree 
becomes “hide-bound” because it is 
starved, increasing its size is not going to 
remedy the evil since we do but furnish 
more months, so to speak, to bo fed by 
the same amount of food. J 
We have seen many trees thirn treated. 
The stems would noticeably increase in 
size the next year or so, but there was 
no corresponding evidence of vigor ap¬ 
parent. In most instances it has seemed 
to us their vigor was impaired. These 
perpendicular slits, moreover, afford con¬ 
venient lodgments for water or moisture, 
and insects seek such crevices for shelter 
or for depositing their eggs. It seems to 
us that the natural remedy for hide¬ 
bound trees is to enrich the earth as far 
as the roots extend, and that then the 
cambium layer, increased in quantity and 
in nutriment, will so form new liber and 
alburnum that the outer bark must expand 
aud the stem soon become evenly and 
sufficiently developed. 
THE CHILDREN. „ ~ * *- 
_ Repairing Itoiuls.—The question 
a . . . has been asked a million of times imnw 
^ YEKY compre^hensive expression, and or less), why farmers will persist in re- 
^ aU m ' 10 h that is pairing roads in the fall ? The reason is 
delightful and many things that are disa- that it is more convenient to do so at that 
gr«able To tlie average wile and moth- , im6 . There is no writer upon agrie d 
SOU “ d ’ *““ 1 ‘°r“ «“* know hotter than tfrmera 
lte . r V '^certain age or themselves that the work ono-ht i™ 
different farms about the country. The 
matter of eating together will always in¬ 
crease the enjoyment and be a desirable 
feature in all field or day-meetings, if too 
much pains are not taken in preparing 
the food. In such case, the trouble of 
preparing dinner becomes irksome. 
After a field meeting may come the dis¬ 
cussion. It will add importance and 
variety to have now and then a speaker 
from abroad, or to have the best points 
of the discussion reported for the local 
paper. Send a delegate now and then to 
s >me other wide-awake club to gatln r 
new ideas and let him make a full report. 
To make the meetiugs profitable, some 
men must do a good deal of hard work. 
Will it pay ? An effort of this kind will 
always react for good on the person 
making it. In this way people become 
well acquainted with each other. They 
become more social and less selfish. 
They can hardly fail to pick up many 
new ideas. They become accustomed to 
expressing themselves in public and learn 
parliamentary rules. At, first, a meeting 
should not be too stiff aud formal, but it 
should always be orderly. The chair¬ 
man should never fail to be at his post 
and call to order on time at the opening 
of the session, and he can use much skill 
in encouraging beginners and in check¬ 
ing those who talk too much. 
There is a wide range of topics to select 
from, as the various kinds of domestic 
animals from the horse aud cow down to 
birds and bees. Then other topics are 
equally appropriate, as drainage, rotation 
of crops, fencing, tools, best way to 
manage weeds, the construction and 
management of hot-beds, tree planting, 
making roads, each of the farm crops and 
orchard crops and garden crops. If there 
are some qualified to iustrnot, a talk on 
some scientific subject ’null not be out of 
place. A place and time must be g v. n 
to household topics, aud music aud s ug- 
ing occasionally work with the pro¬ 
gramme advantageously. 
while to the spinster of uncertain age or 
the bachelor of settled habit, it is suggest¬ 
ive of noise, confusion and misery gener¬ 
ally. 
It is so easy to sit in the deeply-cush¬ 
ioned chair which graces the editorial 
themselves that the work ought to be 
done in the spring; and nobody knows 
better than they how much more valua¬ 
ble their time is in the spring than in the 
fall. If, after a fair consideration of the 
pros and oms, the farmer still prefers to 
sanctum and tell people of their faults, 'repair the ^l inlhe FalT, and smi he 
. cannot Jnt yie 1 to the tampta- himselfisthemostputoutbytheprefer- 
tion to ran onr rendni M nvAr 16 a LnnnLL. _ . .. *5 .. jiioitr- 
tioo to rap our readers over the knuckles 
on this subjoct, Ol course we are pciter 
farnilias, otherwise we should hardly dare 
to grupple the intricate problem. 
Too little thought is given to, and too 
little brains are exercised upon children. 
The cares of the business of life with the 
father and the manifold duties of the 
household with the mother, are generally 
paramount to the oare aud attention which 
the children need. Of course, the over¬ 
worked mother and the ever-busy father 
will exclaim, “What time do I have to 
devote to my children ?” but that is an 
insufficient excuse. 
Children differ so much in the essential 
elements which go to make up character, 
that they should be studied carefully and 
closely as to their natural disposition. No 
two of them can be treated alike, but each 
requires a special method suitable to its 
peculiar disposition The great mistake, 
however, generally made by parents, is a 
failure on tbeir part to give to the child 
such sympathy in its little matters of life 
as will produce in its confiding mind that 
trust and faith which is a necessary ele¬ 
ment in parental influence. Filiaraffee- 
tion is a great safeguard against evil in¬ 
fluences, as well as a great civilizer to its 
possessor. Do not forget, too, that the 
childish mind in process of devel¬ 
opment absolutely needs the cheerful 
and happy influences which are produced 
by amusements, as sure as the plant 
needs sun and light for its proper growth. 
And who can be better persons to afford 
recreation than both pareuts ? Too fre¬ 
quently does the stately father, filled with 
the cares and responsibilities of life, for¬ 
get that his little one is yearning for that 
familiar love which induces a game or a 
romp between them. Too frequently is 
the conscientious father looked upon with 
awe and fear by his little child, whose 
whole future life might be changed by a 
daily display of that familiur affection 
which should exist between all the mem¬ 
bers of a family. The father’s entrance 
ence, we suggest that the subject be per¬ 
mitted to take a nap. 
BREVITIES. 
There will be a special meeting of the N. Y, 
State Fanners’ Alliance hold in Syracuse N. Y.' 
December 20th. The aim and objects of this 
association have been fully explained in previ¬ 
ous issues. 
Nov. 21st. The most noticeable object among 
deciduous plants in the Rural Grounds at this 
time, is the Golden Oak. The thermometer as 
we make this ncte is 18°. Its loaves are kb 
golden as gold itself. 
A land of musicians. If wo would devote the 
eapie timo to practicing upou the piano, organ, 
flute, fife or jowsharp that we do to blowing our 
own trumpets, there is little doubt but that this 
‘•Laud of the Free” would in timo also become a 
laud of first-class musicians. 
Salsify is not half so much cultivated as it 
deserves to be. It may be cooked in a number 
of different ways and becomes, like celery, when 
one has come to appreciate it, one of tlio indis¬ 
pensable vegetables. It may be taken up and 
placed in trenches and used as wanted, or left in 
the ground until spring. 
Our contributor, Col. Ccaxis. tells us that 
the Clawson Wheat will not make as good flour 
as other varieties of white wheat. The poorer 
quality is in a measure compensated for by a 
heavier yield. It will probably improve in 
quality as it is longer cultivated. * We refer him 
to the" leading editorial of this page. 
Professor Kedzie's report in answer to the 
request or the farmers of Michigan to investi¬ 
gate the merits or demerits of Clawson wheat 
which had been disparaged by the Millers’ Asso¬ 
ciation of that State, was published in full in 
the Lansing Republican. We rnuoh regret that 
we have not space to publish the entire report. 
BUSINESS NOTICES. 
A paper for Young People. —The Youth’s 
Companion ot Boston employs the same writers as 
the best Knullsh aud American luajmzluea, and no 
other publication for the family furnishes so much 
entertainment and Instruction of a superior order 
for so low a price. Amons its contributors are Dinah 
Mu loch Cuaik, Miss Yonge, . 1 . t. Trowbridge, 
Louisa M. Alcott. henry W. Longfellow. Wm. 
Cullen Bryant. John g, Whittier, am} nearly 
fifty ol the best story-writers. 
