their vines for the wood, and plan tea me out- 
tings in spring, and in two years and a half the 
most of them showed me their first fruit. 
Grape culture is my occupation, and I have been 
brought up on the vino-clad hills of Germany, 
and i hope your readers will not misunderstand 
me, but for the sake of truth, let me tell that 
the Champion is at least ten or fifteen days 
earlier than the Hartford; as good and more 
nual descriptive catalogue of seeds of all kinds. 
Mr. Bridgeman selects from tho general cata¬ 
logue of seeds such species and varieties only as 
he deems worthy of cultivation, to the exclusion 
of all the various sorts that are not adapted to 
our climate. An experience of nearly twenty- 
five years in Horticulture, enables him to make 
such selections, and in this way proteot this cus- 
tliink — to heal entirely over, developing a 
new bark the same season. The stripping was 
done to stop the wood growth and make it hear. 
It answered the purpose. 
The upshot of all this is, that slitting up the 
hide-bound bark is wise. It’s a direct and Bpeedy 
help, that will do till some one finds in the root 
or in the tree-top, the cause of hide-bound, aud 
I send, in answer to It., oi ivavervuei, 
Michigan, a drawing of an apparatus for 
hanging hogs without “lifting until one oan 
see stars.” The post is ten feet high above the 
ground; the arms are made of two-inch plank, 
six inches wide aud six feet long, bolted on each 
side of the post five inches apart, the bottom of 
tho upper ones resting on the top of the lower 
ones crosswiso; tho piece across the top of the 
post is three inches square and six feet long, and 
works on a pivot so that it cau be turned to 
bring the pulleys over either arm; one end is 
fastened to the outer end of the arm, aud the 
pulleys are hung on the other end; the windlass 
is two inches in diameter where it goes through 
the post, and four inches whore the rope winds ; 
it takes thirty-six feet of half-iucb rope and one 
single and one double pulley. A boy twelve years 
old can raise a 400-pound bog. 
A box as presented, sixteen inches wide and three 
and a half feet long, can be made with rollers 
under it, and the hog may be rolled on a plank 
from the scalding platform to the place for hang¬ 
ing without lifting at all; or it may be carried 
by the handles on each Bide. °- 
Jack’s Reef, N. Y. _ 
Yam is much whiter aud somewhat nner 
grained. 
Mr. M. H. Bose, of Dorohester Co., Mary¬ 
land, in a communication to me, says in refer¬ 
ence to the Chinese Yam: “ I have been culti¬ 
vating it for about seven years, and every year 
I prize it more aud more. They are pure white 
when cooked, and are dry and mealy. Wo cook 
them either by baking or boiling. After this 
to cultivate the Irish potato. 
, Indiana, says, “ I 
different parts of 
year I shall cease 
Mr . Petit of Porter Co 
have often eaten them in 
the world, but did not lumw they could be 
grown in thiB part of the country, and often 
wished I could have some of thorn when potatoes 
were scarce.” 
They have no insect enemy, and drought af¬ 
fects them but very little, as they root so deep¬ 
ly. There is no necessity for their being dug at 
any time of the year, except when wanted for im¬ 
mediate use, Thoy are suitable for cooking any 
time in the year. A person can plant enough at 
one planting to do his family for years, each year 
bringing him larger Yams. I consider them safer 
to depend on than the Irish potato which has its 
enemies and is so sensitive to a little freeze. 
I believe their proper cultivation would be at¬ 
tended with success anywhere in theUnitedStates. 
If the masses of the people better understood 
their nature aud were better acquainted with their 
many fine qualities, they would be more generally 
grown. In conclusion I will say that they are 
the most profitable crop that I cultivate. 
Wm. Cruzan. 
Hamilton Co., Ind. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH TOMATOES. 
Rural Grounds, Jan. 1,18T8. 
Earlink^^ Tomatoos is a quality of much 
value, if to^Kich is uot sacrificed in other good 
qualities. So far, however, as our experiments 
extend, there is no earliest Tomato. That is, if 
all known varieties were planted under the same 
conditions, the first to ripen fruit might not be 
the first to ripen undor other conditions. It is 
the same as regards fruitfulness and to a certain 
extent, size of fruit. Each locality must deter¬ 
mine for itself the kind best suited to it. But it 
is the same with tomatoes as with other fiuit— 
there are some varieties that will hold certain 
characteristics in a greater variety of soils and 
situations than others, and it is for this reason 
that experiments such as those recorded below 
are valuable, 
April 1 we planted in 5-inch pots, seeds of ten 
varieties. 
April 10, all had germinated but Little Gem. 
The germination was in the following order: 
Trophy, strongest, tallest, largest cotyledons; 
Conqueror—Arlington—Golden Trophy—Hath- 
away’s Excelsior—Green Gage—Canada Victor— 
Emily—100 Bay. Tuttle Gem made its appear¬ 
ance not until April 14. * 
April 18—Three of each were transplanted 
into 21.(-inch pots—plants about 2inches high, 
all but Little Gem. All wore put out in tho open 
ground May 17- No manure was used—the soil 
rather clayey. Ten days later would have been 
better. Through fear of frost, they were cov¬ 
ered with flower-pots for several nights. 
Fur those who raise their own tomatoes, wo 
commend the plan of starting tho seeds in flats 
or pans of good earth, and transplanting them 
into small pots of light soil as soon as they are 
apparatus for r 
hunts up a better cure. Doubtless some Wash 
on the tree trunk will ward off, and at some 
stages, relieve the hide-bound state. Bet is 
there any way so quick aud Bure as slitting up 
the bark ? I have had success by this, time and 
time again. Such was also the experience of an 
extensive nurseryman here who, by the slitting 
tomors against loss and disappointment, 
catalogue (which is free to all) is a model of neat¬ 
ness and plainness. 
Mrs. J. B. Boot, of Bookford, Ills., whose 
catalogue we noticed as free to applicants, de¬ 
sires us to corroot the error, and to state that its 
price is ten cents. This we do with an apology. 
EARLY CHAMPION. 
G. W. Caotbkll of Delaware. O.. wishes in the 
Rural, of Jan. 10th, to have the matter cleared 
up regarding the “Early Champion ' Ac. Now, 
in the first place, I would say that there is no 
such grape as Early Champion. Second, I 
know that the Champion and Tallman Seedling 
are one and the same thing. Now, 1 for my 
part, should not waste time, paper, ink or stamp 
if I did not know this to bo a very important 
subject. I, for instance, having had about thirty- 
five kinds, should have been very much annoyed, 
to say the least, if I put out vines which are re¬ 
commended to me to bo about two weeks earliti 
than the Hartford, and then, after two years 
of waiting have to find to my sorrow that they 
are the same, or something later. Now in order 
to confine myself to tho subject, I will give Mi. 
Camvbell and those interested, the true history 
of the Champiou. Only this much I would say, 
SLITTING THE BARK ON HIDE-BOUND 
TREES. 
The hide-bound 
J. M. Thobbubn & Co., 15 John Street, 
jj- y > —There is no catalogue that we look over 
with more interest than the above, because we 
know from our own experience and that of many 
acquaintances, that everything it offers is the 
very best of its kind. This house was established 
in 1802, aud we know of no other in this country 
more favorably known for conscientious and 
liberal dealings. The present Catalogue com¬ 
prises 95 pages, descriptive and omunerative 
of seeds and bulbs for the vegetable and flower 
garden, for the lawn, farm and nursery, and 
probably represents one of the largest collec¬ 
tions in the world. The Catalogue is free to all 
applicants. 
John Saul, Washington, D. C.—Catalogues of 
rare and beautiful flower and garden seeds 
for the spring of 1878. Among the newer 
plants of which seed is offered, are Tuberous- 
rooted Begonias, Torenia Fournieri, Aquilegia 
chrysautba and caerulia, Ai'undo Donax, var., 
Zebra-striped Eulalia, Miles’ now hybrid spiral 
Mignonette, and many others. Those who have 
files of tho Rural for the past year will find 
many references to the above plants. 
Also a catalogue of Roses. Both are free to 
applicants. 
Wm. H. Carson, 125 Chambers Street, N. Y., 
issues a very attractso catalogue of vegetable 
I believe in the surgery. 
Btate, if sometimes, is not always the outcome 
of barren soil or starving culture. 1 have had 
it come on and stick to trees in deep, rich soil 
every year, well manured and opened up with 
the fork. It may be as Prof. Beal says, that 
“ Hide-bound comes from trouble at the root " 
Or it may come from tho air, or from insect 
B ting—who kuowB ? Until some one does, he has 
no right to guess, and to put out that guess as a 
fact. Even a right guess at the cause, uuder or 
above ground, does not support disbelief in hide¬ 
bound, or prove that ripping up the hark will not 
cure it. What means such unbelief and doubt ? 
Not, surely, that such an ill condition does 
not befall trees, either bringing, or mated with, 
unthrift. You might as well disbelieve in a fe¬ 
verish skin, or in the sharp neuralgic pain, be¬ 
cause they are perhaps only the register and 
symptoms of some deep, inner ail in life a ma¬ 
chinery. 
That some tree truuks take on a hard, tough, 
leathery bark, is beyond dispute. The trouble 
is sometimes brief ; but it often clings and clogs 
all thrift for years. There it is—“ What are you 
going to do about it ?” Wait till the tree, fiom 
leaf and root tendril, gathers a force to rend the 
gripe ? Or will you give quick help by Blitting, 
more or less in depth, that hide-bound bark ? 
The duty should be done at the season when 
the full foroe aud vitality of tho tree starts out 
for its summer’s work. It will not do to slit the 
hark when tho tree is dormant, or after the 
growing season has gone by. Trees, at the time 
of laying on their new wood, show a wonderful 
faculty for healing over any gash or rip-up of 
the bark. I have known a whole apple tree 
trunk stripped of its hide—along in June, I 
decayed—sour and fermenting. Aug. 2d—HW, 
same as others, but are firmer than those which 
ripened earlier. This is the earliest of all, ana 
in the sandier, drier soil of the Rural jtoW 
grounds, cracked aud rotted less than recorded 
above. , 
Conqueror (J. M. TnoRBURN)-Aug. 1-Two, 
ripened evenly, large, and curved like a horse¬ 
shoe. Aug. 3—1 entirely ripe to the calyx, 
