THE 
t 
Jfitm Coftts, 
NOTES FROM A FARM. 
PRIDE DN THE FARM. 
Three yearB ago my neighbor, Mr- Cow’ell, 
built a very large barn which his neighbors, at 
the time, said he wonld never be ablo to fill 
from his farm with five years’ produce; but 
last year he almost filled it with grain alone. 
Now how did he do it ? Ho sot men to work on 
his farm, cleared it of stone, bought a seed drill, 
used a small amount of fertilizers, and gathered 
with a reaper. The laud in this section being 
about one-third covered with atone, lie was en¬ 
abled with skill, industry, energy and pride, and 
the aid of approved machinery, to reach this re¬ 
sult. Pride is here mentioned, and I wish more 
farmers had it. if only it prompts them in the 
right direction ; that is, to clear their farms of 
stone, bnild good fences, set out trees, paint 
their buildings and keep their stock in good con¬ 
dition. 
ROADSIDE PASTURING. 
Four or five years ago I was much annoyed 
with street cattle and stock, and after losing my 
garden, which was caused by one of my men 
leaving the gate open, I consulted my neighbor 
who had suffered m the same way, and we both 
concluded to take our roadside bars out and 
throw onr fields open to the commons. This wc 
did and soon learnt that the neighbor who had 
pastured the road-side had procured pasture 
elsewhere. To-day our road-6ides are sot out to 
fruit and shade trees as the result, and the road¬ 
side mowed the same as the fields and every¬ 
body happy that there is no stock iu the road. 
At first our course was mnch condemned, but 
we have lived to receive blessings from the same 
men. 
A BLESSING IN A HATEFUL DISGUISE. 
Last Bummer, my neighbors were much sur¬ 
prised at the appearance of my corn field. On 
one quarter of the field the corn was about double 
the size it was on the other three-quarters. On 
their inquiring the cau*e of this, I told them the 
piece had been cultivated for seven years 
on account of fruit trees occupying the ground, 
and that the year before I had Bowed it to buck¬ 
wheat and planted it to potatoes. The largo 
corn was where I had planted the potatoes and 
the bugs had fertilized the land, also perforated 
the ground with numerous holes, and let plenty 
of air into the soil, which scientific farmers say 
is very essential. Any way, tho result was as I 
mentioned. The whole lot received the same 
treatment throughout tho season. Perhaps po¬ 
tato bugs may be a blessing after all. 
INTERCHANGING EXPERIENCE. 
• Brother farmers, please write your experience 
and the result of that experience in the agricul¬ 
tural papers that you take, so that by compar¬ 
ing notes, we may all be benefited. I have been 
much pleased by the “Jottings from Kirby 
Homestead,” and look for them the first thing iu 
the Ritual, and when I cannot find them I am 
much disappointed. Experience is what we far¬ 
mers need more than theory. If we fail in our 
undertakings, do not let ns be ashamed to 
tell it right out juBt as it is, so that others may 
not fall into the same errors. It may be a little 
humiliating to fail in what we try to accomplish, 
but that failure is worth something, to ourselves 
as a caution, and, to the public, for the same 
reason, if it is only made known. w r . h. 
Greene Co., N. Y. 
FARM NOTES. 
S. KOTOS MASON. 
SETTING OUT RHUBARB. 
Digging holes for each plant is a decided 
waste of labor ; better plow out a dead furrow, 
fill in with old manure, in spots three feet apart, 
plow the earth back again, and set out the 
plants. A man could do. ten times as much iu a 
day in this way as by digging, and the work will 
be better when done. 
THE FARM SLATE. 
Keep a slate for the purpose, tie the pencil to 
it with a string, and make a loop to hang it up 
by. Write down upon it every little job to ho 
done indoors aud out. If you have boys, put 
their iuitials opposite such items as you wish 
each one to attend to, then when any one is out 
of a job, the Blate tells him what to do uext. 
MANGEl-WUSIELS FOR PIGS. 
Let every man who expects to raise hut a litter 
of pigs, putiu a few rods of mangel-wurzelB, 
aud begin to feed out the thinnings as Boon as 
they begin to crowd; keep the corn till fattening 
time. Instead of having to fatten a lot of stuntr 
ed shotes, ho will begin on 250 hogs at least. 
NATURE’S FIRST LAW- 
If there is a profession upon earth, which 
must be practised in oTder, it is that of farming. 
There should be a time for everything as well as 
a place, and more depends upon timing work on 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
a plantation than almost on anythiug else. 
Good seed, good sowing, good plowing, good cul¬ 
tivation, are good only when employed at the 
right time, and many a man, if he looks back 
over 1877. will see that his failures arose from a 
disregard of Nature’s first law. 
ONION SETS FOR HORSES.! 
Ever sinco the epizootic year I have given my 
team a pint of onion sets every morning during 
winter and epring: they kept off the epizooty 
then and twice since, when it became threaten¬ 
ing. I am satisfied they are very beneficial in 
other ways, as my team are never sick or off 
their feed. I use the “ top onion,” merely be¬ 
cause they are plenty with us, and cheaper than 
other kinds, otherwise they are no better. They 
are always eaten before the corn. 
-»- 
QUERIES ABOUT MAPLE SUGAR MAKING. 
I head, this morning, Hector Bertram on 
maple sugar making, and agree with him on all 
points but one. Do not use the ax to make the 
box, but take the ax in the right hand and a 
sharp inch-and-a-half ohitiel in the other; hew 
off the rough bark with the ax ; set the chisel, 
with flat side dowu at such an angle as you wriBh; 
strike lightly so as to cut through the bark, that 
it may «ot pull off about tho cut; then place the 
chisel a half inch up the tree, driving it some 
distance into the wood ; once more return to tho 
cut at the bottom and drive the chisel in as far 
as you wish to go; now returu ouc© more to 
the top slit, and a blow or two on tho chisel there, 
will bring the sloping outs to an angle, making a 
neat and small cut that can le freshened at will 
with the ehisel, and when the season is through 
you have hut a small Bear that will soon heal. 
Such, I behove, to be the very best way to tap 
the treos, hut there are other things I would like 
to learn about maple sugar making: First, how 
long will tin pails last, with good care, for catch¬ 
ing sap only ? I have alwayB, since the days of 
treughs, used wooden pails and believe them 
not what is wauted—too much work to clean 
them on putting them up aud out, and moreover 
they are liable to fill up with sweet that will 
sour and hurt the sap with the host r.f care—am 
I right or wroug ? Are our common sheet-iron 
pans the best for boiliug the sap iu, considering 
cost ? How do the galvanized iron last, and is 
the motal free from all poisonous substances ? 
Let those posted, answer, that we may make 
this most delicious sweet as pure as possible. 
New London, Ohio. b. p - 
•--- 
GETTING RID OF ARTICHOKE^. 
I notice in Answers to Correspondents, March 
23d, you say artichokes once established are 
troublesome, to get rid of. There is nothing 
easier to eradicate than artichokes, if you try 
the right way, which is to cut off the tops when 
they are two feel, high—some people who have 
used tops for fodder have learned this fact when 
they least intended it. Keep the tops of any 
plaut cut in and the mots mast die, as eertainly 
as a man without lungs. n. a. k. 
| Killing plants by cutting off the tops is a 
pleasant sort of theory, and as a rule efficacious, 
but there are hundreds of plauts that are not 
appreciably harmed thereby. Their stems take 
the place of leaves, generate chlorophyll and 
elaborate sap. Artichokes may he eradicated as 
onr correspondent states, especially if growing 
in poor, sandy, bottomless soils. But, as a rule, 
we think it fair to say, even by the decapitating 
process, that “Artichokes are troublesome to 
get rid of,” when once established.—Er>s.] 
AN EXHIBITION OF DAIRY PRODUCTS. 
J. M. PETERS. 
TnE project to repeat this year, at the East, 
the National Dairy Fair, which was held at Chi¬ 
cago last December is one which should com¬ 
mend itself to tho dairymen of tho State, and 
should secure from them a stronger support than 
they acccorded either to the Philadelphia Centen¬ 
nial Exhibition or to the one at Chicago. The use¬ 
fulness of conventions is pretty generally admit¬ 
ted, aud our more enterprising aud progressive 
dairymen find profit in visiting tho meetings hold 
in other counties than their own and even iu 
other States. The West and Canada learned tho 
rudiments and much of their proficiency in dairy¬ 
ing from New York Stato, and it must bo admit¬ 
ted that the pupils are now in a position to give 
somo valuable hints to their teachers. The 
plan of holding the American Dairymen’s Asso¬ 
ciation Convention at Cleveland, this year, was 
inteuded to afford the East and West an oppor¬ 
tunity of meeting on central ground, and if the 
object was not as successful as it should have 
been, it proved an entering wedge for wider in¬ 
tercourse in the future. Now that the Western 
men proposo to bring their products East next 
October to exhibit in competition with tho goods 
of tbis section, it is to be hoped that, their enter¬ 
prise will meet the hearty co-operation of all 
Eastern producers, and that the latter will be 
represented by such a display of their best goods 
that their Western competitors will not carry off 
the laurels, as they have heretofore done, for 
either the extent or excellence of their ex¬ 
hibits. 
The place at which the Fair is to be held, is 
not yet decided, but the choice probably lies be¬ 
tween New York City aud Utica. There should 
be uo question. I think, as to which place should 
be selected. Utica, as the center of an impor¬ 
tant dairying section of New York State, aud as 
a largo interior market, is all very well for the 
meeting of dairy associations in which consum¬ 
ers are not at all interested, aud which are not 
very largely attended by merchants, bnt for an 
exhibition of the dairy products of all the States, 
audit is to be hoped of Canada and European 
Dairying Conventions as well, New York is by 
long odds, tho better point. The Rink, at 63d 
street aud Third Avenue, whore the exhibitions 
of the American Institute are held would be an 
admirable place for an exhibition of butter and 
cheese, and such a fair as is proposed to be held 
would certainly attract the attention of a larger 
number of consumers here than could possibly 
be reached at Utica. This would bo a most de¬ 
sirable result, aud would add materially to the 
value of the exhibition, which should be not 
only a competitive display of the produots of 
different sections of this and other countries, 
for the benefit of producers, but should also be 
an advertisement of dairy products such as they 
have never before received. It is an unfortunate 
fact that the majority of people iu large cities 
know very little about the best American butter 
and cheese, and if a chance were offered them to 
learn the highest standard set up by dairymen 
themselves, it would doubtless be very largely 
improved. Visitors and exhibitors from out-of- 
town can find accommodation in New York as 
cheaply as they can at Utica or any other inter¬ 
ior city, and tho slight additional expense of 
railroad fare which would fall upon a few who 
reside near the latter plaoe. would be more than 
compensated for by the increased benefits to the 
daixying interest from having the display in the 
commercial metropolis, aud should be williugly 
incurred. This city being, also, neutral ground, 
bo to speak, would be likely to attract a fuller 
exhibit than could be obtained at Utica from 
which local jealousies might keep many who 
would be willing to meat the dairymen of Herk¬ 
imer away from home. 
An effort should be made to obtain samples of 
English and Irish cheese as well as of other for¬ 
eign dairy products for comparison with our own. 
This could be easily accomplished through some 
of the English shipping houses here, aud it 
would form an attractive feature of the exhib- 
tiou. 
Butter Color.— I have read several articles 
in the Rural on butter-coloring. For tho 
benefit of the Rural readers, I would iiko to 
give them my experience in the matter. All 
butter-makers know that there is a time in the 
summer and winter seasons when they cannot 
make handsome yellow butter of the natural 
color. I know that if they would use WellB and 
Richardson's Perfect Butter Color, they need 
not have any poor, white, unsalable bntter. It 
gives a natural yellow and a good flavor without 
any extra work iu using it, and the butter will 
not become streaked or lose its flavor by being 
packed in the usual way for any length of time. 
I wash the buttermilk out of the butter with 
cold water, then put in the salt. I then turn 
the color on the salt and work it all in together. 
Let it sot over night, work over thoroughly, aud 
you will have beautiful yellow butter that any 
good housewife need not he ashamed of, I can 
recommend it to all as being just wbat it is 
represented to bo, and after you have tried it on 
one churning or white butter, you will not want 
to he without it. [Onr correspondent rofers, 
probably, to the color made by Wells, Richard¬ 
son & Co., Burlington, Vt.J 
A. D. Richardson. 
Washington Co., N. Y. 
-» ♦ - 
Abortion in Cattle has been exciting a good 
deal of attention and disoussion of late in 
England, and among the causes of the mishap 
one of the most common in some districts is 
found to he the presence of ergot on ryo and 
several other grasses either ou pasture or 
meadow lands, for tho post iB equally injurious 
either on grass or hay. The spociiio action of 
ergot on the womb has long been known to 
medical men who have often employed it with 
beneficial results. In addition to its tendency 
to product) abortion, it is also a frequent cause of 
gangrene as well as of several minor derange¬ 
ments of health. 
,—--- 
A Method of Improving rancid butter and 
restoring it almost to its original excellence, 
long ago mentioned in the Rural, has at length 
fonnd its way into German agricultural papers. 
However weil butter may be washed and worked 
a small portion of casein is retained, the de¬ 
composition of which is accompanied with the 
formation of butyric acid which is the cause of 
. the unpleasant taste aud smell known as ran¬ 
cidity. This butyric acid is readily soluble in 
fresh milk, and hence tho rancidity it produces 
can be easily got rid of by kneading well the 
tainted butter iu fresh milk, and then washing 
it thoroughly in cold water to which a little salt 
has been added. 
€i)c |oultnj garlr. 
BROWN AND WHITE LEGHORNS. 
HENRY HALES. 
Although both these varieties of fowls are 
oallcd Leghorns, they diffev iu some essentials. 
After keeping the two varieties under the same 
treatment as near as could be done, to test their 
comparative merits, from my own observations 
I have come to some conclusions which may be 
interesting to Rural readers. 
The White, no doubt, originally came from 
Europe, but their original color aud form have 
been so transformed that they vary very much 
from the type now found in Spain, or Mediterra¬ 
nean countries. Climate and breeding have 
worked a great chaugo in thorn ; so much so, 
that iu England they are considered an Ameri¬ 
can rather than a European broed. Tuscany 
seems to lay no claim to them—we will. They 
are as much an American breed as the Plymouth 
Rock with its Cochin back, tail, and comb. Yet 
in the prize-lists of our poultry shows, Leghorns 
are classed with Spauish, while Plymouth Rocks 
aud Dominiques are the only two varieties 
claimed as American breeds. The large eggs 
laid by these hens make them a favorite stand¬ 
by on the farm. Nothing pleases the farmer's 
wife more than to bring in a basketful of large, 
clear white eggs. 
Tho Brown Leghorn is much nearer its origi¬ 
nal European type. I have seen imported birds 
very similar to the usually accepted typo of our 
show birds; but woe to the pains of those who 
breed from them with the idea of improving 
tlieir stock by such imported birds ! As far as 
color is concerned, they breed off to all kinds of 
splashes aud mottles, and their combs are very 
variable; one lot I know of, bavo cup-shaped 
combs, almost, making a crown on tlieir heads. 
They did not breed true to color ; but they were 
a line lot of strong, heavy, prolific hens. The 
fancy demands dark-hackled birds, but I have 
notioed finer, larger specimens with hackles 
rather light. 
Now for the comparison between the Brown 
aud White r the Brown lays at an earlier age 
tbau the White or any other breed, lays rather 
smaller eggs, also lays the most eggs, according 
to my experience ; but taking weight of eggs for 
a given number of hens for a considerable time, 
tho advantage would thou rest with the White. 
Bat the greatest drawback to tho Browns is a 
disposition of the cocks to fight; partaking of 
the color of their original progenitors, the wild 
game (Qallus Ilankiva), they naturally share 
Borne of their traits. Eveu when they have many 
hens aronnd them, they will fight, while the 
White are much more docile under the same cir¬ 
cumstances. As to hardiness, the Brown chicks 
are the strongest, but I do not think they main¬ 
tain stronger constitutions when grown up; 
some of the Brown will sit. 
--- 
POULTRY NOTES. 
M. It. PRINCE. 
DEATH TO THE POTATO BEETLE. 
The plan for destroying the potato beetle by 
the use of Guinea fowls, proposed by that neigh¬ 
bor of Ool. Curtis, as stated by tho latter in the 
Rural of January 12th, brings t.o my mind a 
little experience of my own in that lino. W hen 
first the “bugs" mode their appearance in North¬ 
ern Pennsylvania, I was breeding several varie¬ 
ties of fancy poultry mostly in confinement, and 
among others Sebright Bantams, whose coop 
was just at oue sido of the patch of Early Hose. 
When the vines were nearly roudy to bloom the 
beetles made their appearauce in strong numbers 
and onr hopes of early potatoes wero dismal. 
We knew of only two modes of relief, namely : 
hand-picking which w'o had not the time to at¬ 
tend to, and an application of Paris-green, but 
this was thought to bo unsafe so near tho house 
where the children were wont to play and it was 
also feared that the poultry might get a taste of 
this deadly poison. A friend said, “Turnout 
the Bantams” which we accordingly did, though 
without faith, as we bad road that uo member of 
the feathered or any other tribe could be induced 
to touch the ravagers. What was our surprise 
j to see tho little beauties march directly among 
| the potatoes and greedily devour the insects as 
3 
