awfully cruel, it shrivelled so, and everybody 
said it would die, but it did’nt,” It is the same 
with CactusoB as with other plants : over-lux- 
urianco is productive of abortive and faded- 
colored blossoms ( plants that ate over-watered 
or lcept in too close and shaded quarters and un¬ 
seasonably or unnaturally high temperatures, 
never boar such brightly colored flowers as they 
otherwise would. This is well illustrated in 
forcing Rosos and other plants ; we cannot get 
too much sun to intensify the color of the pet¬ 
als. Blossoms plnolced from plants out-of-doors 
are brighter and more substantial than they 
would ho if raised in a greenhouse. And in 
order to have intensity of color in a flower we 
must secure a thoroughly ripened constitution 
in the plant, for every florist knows what ab¬ 
surdity it would bo to expect profitable Roses in 
winter from sappy-stemmed plants that made 
their growth in the fall. Last spriug I had a 
good example of the poor color of unseasona¬ 
bly forced flowers ; we bloomed Crassnla ooc- 
ciuea in March, and its flowers were washy 
pick. In June we bloomed some more (in both 
cases the plants were raised from cuttings taken 
from the same plant, therefore unmistakably 
the same variety) when the color was bright 
scarlet. 
- 4 4 »- 
THE TEXAS HORTICULTURAL AND POM- 
OLOG1CAL FAIR. 
Houston, Texas, July 29. 
The Texas Horticultural and Pomological 
Exhibition came off on the 17, 18, and 19 inet. 
At the start the display was rather meagt-r, but 
shortly afterwards the products began to pour 
in from the interior of the country and the nu¬ 
merous tables of the oapacious exhibition-hall 
were soon teeming with the ‘ * fair” products of 
the land. 
FIELD CROPS. 
As to field cropH, fine samples of corn, cotton, 
sugar-cane and tobacco were to be seen from 
the rich bottom lands of the adjacent counties, 
whilo Northern Texas made up the collection 
with every kind of small gTains, as wheat, rye, 
oats, barley, millet, broom-corn and sorghum. 
VEGETABLES. 
The quality of vegetables was not as fine as it 
would have been, if the exhibition had taken 
place about a month or so sooner; for much of 
the garden truck is ont of season at this time. 
Among Jbe most noteworthy exhibits were some 
very flue Peerless potatoes; and a watermelon 
weighing G1 lbs. 
m ~ FRUITS 
In fruit, the leading varieties o? peaches, to¬ 
gether with seedlings no less beautiful and 
promising made a nice display, especially those 
from the more northern parts of the State. 
That section exhibited some apples of pretty 
fair appearance, though in pears it could not 
beat the more central parts of the State*. This 
county exhibited figs, oranges and pomegran- 
a tes, which helped to make the show still more 
diversified. In grapes, Delaware, Herbemont, 
Norton’s Virginia, and others of the mtivalis 
sorts, were models of perfection, while all of 
the Labrnsca varieties were imperfect and in¬ 
ferior. even those from Northern Texas, show¬ 
ing at a glance that this last species is not at 
hom6 in this Stale. 
FLOWERS. 
In the floral department a numerous collec¬ 
tion of pot-plants of the leading florist kinds, 
adorned tho bench :-s, though there was noth¬ 
ing especially novel or striking among them. 
Quite a commotion existed among amotenr 
florists competing for Vick’s premiums for cut 
flowers. The contest was animated; the va¬ 
rieties of flowers were numerous, some parties 
exhibiting from 150 to 180 varieties, including 
annuals, herbaceous, bedding, pot and shrubby 
plants. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
Fort Bend County made an unusually fine 
and most diversified display of its products and 
resources, including 49 sorts of its indigenous 
woods and 9 different kinds of arable soils. 
This was in competition for a prize consisting of 
a silver fruit-stand, worth $100. It did not get 
this prize, however, much to the surprise of 
everybody, except the three sagacious (?) Judges 
of awards. 
As a special feature, all the agricultural and 
horticultural periodicals of the U. S wore on 
file, among which, the Rural took a con¬ 
spicuous rank. Tho patent-bee-gum man was 
there, too; instinctively I looked for his con¬ 
federate with the patent butter-churn, but 
strange enough, I could notice him this time. 
CULTURE OF SMALL FRUITS. 
To purchase strawberries from the South is to 
send m .mey out of tho country. We must raise 
later varieties. The Monarch of the West is 
hardy and profitable. It will not bear high cul¬ 
ture, and must not be set in too rich a soil. The 
berries have a hotter flavor and color than the 
Wilson. They do well on heavy soil; but if you 
desire good flavor, set them ou sandy or gravelly 
soil. The Colonel Gheeny is considered a good 
variety; alBo the Captain Jack which ought to 
be cultivated until it runs out the Wilson. 
Strawberries require moist land, but not land 
out of which the water oozes. Sawdust does 
not make a good mulch, as it forms a harbor for 
ante. Leaves from the forest or straw keep 
the plants moist and clean. 
Raspberries ought to be set four by seven feet 
apart, as their roots reach far and form a com¬ 
plete net-work underground. Leaf mold and 
chip dirt should bo put around the roots. More 
cherries should be raised. Pears do best on the 
hills. Coal ashes could he used with success 
around the roots of apple trees to prevent 
borers. m. b. d. 
Blaghampton Fanners’ Club. 
CALIFORNIA FRUIT NOTES. 
Oijb orchardifits are busy getting the early 
fruit into market, tho Red Astvaehau and Early 
Harvest apples were in great abundance. In 
quality they wore choice, and yet they sold at 
only six dollars per ton, the purchaser picking at 
his owu expense. Early peaches are coming in 
in large quantities, and bring a fair price; the 
quality is fine. Of aprico’s there was the larg¬ 
est crop ever raised in this vicinity—tho trees 
were loaded. Blackberries nro fine and in 
abundance—from 25 cents to 40 cents a gallon, 
delivered. W. C. L. Drew. 
El Dorado, Cal. 
Jfam (Ebjuls, 
JOTTINGS AT KIRBY HOMESTEAD. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
We want to suppose a case.- Suppose some 
morning we should find the worms rapidly strip¬ 
ping tho currant bushes of leaves, and although 
white hellebore had been used for a dozen years, 
yet none being now on hand, would it not be a 
good idea to try something else ? soap-suds, for 
instance, aud if it 6avod the currant bushes, tell 
of it. [We presume this is a reply to the criti¬ 
cism of S. Rufus Mason.—E ds ] 
The kinc-pox after keeping the cow's teats 
sore for three mouths, has at last run its course 
aud the pustules are all dried up. It cannot bo 
cured, but tho soreness of the pox may be less¬ 
ened by the application of oil or any kind of 
grease, and they will dry up sooner if a weak 
solution of carbolic acid is applied. 
The summer grass has come up so thickly in 
the rutabaga patch that it is a tedious job to 
grub it out. Thero are no weeds, but tho moist, 
growing weather has started tho summer grass 
as thick as it can he. With tho cultivator, 
with the three square and hooked teeth, it can 
all be destroyed except a narrow strip, and this 
must be demo by hand. This is a trouble v>e 
did not anticipate, and it will add one-fourth to 
tho cost of growing the crop. As soon as they 
rug weeded out wo shall sow plaster on them 
and then again iu a week. The blood phospha te 
did not arrive in time to put into the drills, and 
so we scattered it on the top of the grouud on 
each side cf the roots. Plaster was mixed with 
it to prevent the ammonia from escaping. The 
buckwheat where the phosphate was sowed and 
harrowed iu has come up with a hroad loaf and 
evidently feels the effect of the strong stimu¬ 
lant. We expect it will double the crop. 
The potatoes dropped on the sod m tho baby’s 
nut grove and covered with straw, are now'a mass 
of vinos, and have received no attention except 
to pull out the thistles which forced their way up. 
Paris-green has been sprinkled on twice. The 
young potatoes are forming under the straw 
thickly and the crop gives line promise. The 
grass is all dead and the trees show the favorablo 
effects of the abundant mulch and no sod to 
rob them of tho moisture and other nutriment. 
The potatoes come up equally well through the 
buckwheat and oat-straw and seem to grow 
alike vigorously in either. Many door-yards 
might be utilized in this way to the advantage of 
the trees, and the potato-bin. We cut our Meed 
into very small pieces of one or two eyes and 
dropped them about a foot apart. Planting in 
this manuer will cause the entire ground tube 
covered with tho vines and help to keep down 
weeds. 
There will not he more than one-third of a 
crop of pears in this section of tho country. 
Apples are dropping badly, but notwithstanding 
thero will be a large yield. 
Webb's Swedish turnip kept sound and hard 
in the pig-house cellar until the last of July. 
This is the best variety to keep we know of, aud 
it is au important item. 
A number of our quince trees are blighted. 
Thus far, only a few twigs have been affected 
on the pear trees. The frozen-sap blights in 
the bark on tho bodies of the small trees, in 
many caseB, are becoming hea'ed by the growth 
of new wood. Wherever the bark ou the whole 
body is black inside, there is no use of hoping 
for a good tree, and the sooner such a tree is 
replaced by a sound one the better. They may 
live for two or three years, but are sure to die. 
In some cases, such a tree will send up a vigor¬ 
ous Buclter from tho base, and if this is near 
tho ground, the old tree may be cut off and the 
earth being heaped up around the sprout, it will 
make new roots and sometimes a valuable tree. 
These are the exceptions, and generally it is 
best to replace all sickly or diseased young trees 
with a new one as soon as possible. 
The bugs and worms were thick in the cab- 
hage-hoads and injuring them. They were 
more partial to the younger ones, which they 
were fast destroying. Powdered sulphur has 
been thickly sprinkled in, and on the crowns of 
all the plants, and we expect to save them. 
Snuff would be more effectual but it is too 
costly. White hellebore would do it, but it is 
too poisonous to risk. Sulphur won’t hurt any 
ono—the little which might ba eaten. 
Mr. David Smith and a number of other 
farmers cut their oats with a mowing machine. 
They begin before they are dead ripe and do the 
work while the dow is on. They also rake them 
up with a liorse-rako. They think tho waste is 
not equal to the cost of hand labor. 
Mr. Hovt kept seven sheep, grade Cotswolds, 
and raised thirteen lambs. He Hold bis wool for 
thirty cents a pound and bis sheep averaged six 
pounds each ; this makes an averago income 
from each sheop of $8 30 or a total of $58.10 
from the flock, rating tho lambs at the market 
price, $3 50 each. Tho Beven sheep can bo kept 
on the same feed as one cow, and with ever so 
much less trouble they will afford a greater 
yield. Where there is a good market for lambs, 
farmers ought to keep more sheep. 
-— - 
AGRICULTURE-PAST, PRESENT AND FU¬ 
TURE. 
The past shows plainly enough to all who are 
intelligent, that, there are many very stupid peo¬ 
ple living at the present day, for, although there 
are men who assume to find fault with every¬ 
thing done by our forefathers, yet there is much 
being done now far more reprehensible.. The 
good old folks would not plow and cultivate 
without manuring poor, worn-out soil, nor were 
they silly and prosumptoua enough to advise 
young men to wear themselves out by snch long 
days of wearisome toiling and broiling while 
cultivating land which had lost its fertility. No! 
they liked to have something to show for what 
^they did, and if any of their soil began to grow 
light crops, they would thoroughly renovate it. 
At the preseut, cultivation is relied on to 
make a good crop, aud the soil is worked back¬ 
ward aud forward and across, this way and that 
way, and whoever fails in having au average 
number of bushels, is spoken of as being lazy. 
The facts of the ease, however, generally are, 
that t he soil and the owner of it have both been 
worked nearly to death, which is tho case every 
year with hundreds of good, honest meD, who 
ate bringing themselves and their farms to a 
pitiable state of poverty, gradually getting 
poorer aud poorer, and yet, before becoming 
totally discouraged, working harder and harder. 
Every bit of meadow having any sod upon it is 
plowed uuder with faith iu its being able to feed 
a crop of corn, aud with a forlorn hope of its 
growing good timothy, after a round of corn, 
oats aud wheat. 
Look at New England, where a few years since 
I saw, in New Hampshire, bits of two and three 
acres of the best portions of the meadows 
plowed and planted with corn, potatoes or grain, 
it being well known the rest of the fields were 
exhausted by annual mowing, and a few monthB 
ago, one of tho agricultural papors claimed that 
New England was in a high state of fertility, 
because these little plots of one, two or three 
aores, being little dells of deeper soil, had grown 
as much per aero as the States where whole 
fields are not dotted out in this way but planted 
to ono crop. Look again at States in other 
parts, where farmers have worked early aud 
lato, aud led their hands from sunrise to sunset, 
all through the broiling sunshine, till every par¬ 
ticle of fat has run out of their bodies in sweat 
and every atom of fertility has gone from the 
land in the crops so industriously worked out 
of it. 
The future can be foretold: all tho best of 
this poor, exhausted laud, must lie in weeds and 
such grass as will grow, aud sheep will havo to 
run on it till time has thickened the grasses aud 
lessened the weeds, while the worst and irre¬ 
claimable, poverty-stricken aide-hills and barren 
districts, will have to bo planted with trees to 
meet tho future scarcity of timber. In the fu¬ 
ture, cattle, also, will bo raised in greater num¬ 
bers, so that they, along with tho sheep, will 
restore to the soil much of tho fertility of which 
it is now recklessly robbed. Geo. Gardner. 
- 4-*-4 - 
NOTES FROM MAPLEWOOD FARM. 
HECTOR BERTRAM. 
PREMIUMS FOR THE BEST PR00UCTS. 
We have been having quite a lively competi¬ 
tion as to who should or could produce the 
largest head of Timothy grass. Mr. Cooper led 
off with one nine inches in length, and challenged 
any one to match it. The resnlt was a general 
search for heads of Timothy of large size, and 
Mr. Cooper was soon loft out in the cold. A 
number of sped mens wore gat hered ranging 
from nino to thirteen and a half inches. This may 
not he of interest to many of the Rural readers, 
but the general interest manifested by each of 
the farmers iu this vicinity to discover the 
largest head on bis own premises, suggested an 
idea which, would others look at the matter as I 
do, might be of general good among farmer folk. 
It is this, that wherever a majority might bo 
willing, a vote should he cast, at the annual town 
meeting, for an apuropriation to be held by the 
Supervisor, as premiums for tho best field of 
corn, tho best orop of fruit, the heaviest fat 
hog or ox, eto. ; that the Competitors should 
Belect a committee to visit the premises of each, 
aud make a roport in writing as to tho merits of 
each entry; and that a general meeting of all 
interested, be called at such time as may be 
deemed most expedient, when the reports shall 
bo read, and premiums awarded. Now, I am not 
sure that tbiw, if carried out, would prove suc¬ 
cessful; but I think it might, and that it would 
tempt farmers, generally, to endeavor to raise 
tho best of everything. Write about it, Rural- 
ists, and let us know your minds in regard to 
the matter. 
STRAW MULCH IN ORCHARDS. 
Mr. Lewis utilizes in's extra straw, left about 
the yards in spriDg, by spreading it under the 
apple trues to the depth of a foot, as far from 
the trunk m the branches extend. A few pieces 
of rails or a few stones are sufficient to keep it iu 
place until it becomes so settled that hard winds 
will not scatter it about. It makes an excellent 
mulch for tho trees, exterminating the grass en¬ 
tirely wherever it is deposited, leaving the ground 
perfectly cleau and mellow. Besides, tho wind¬ 
falls are uubnusod, and are kept perfectly dean 
by falling on tho carpet of straw. It would be 
safest, however, to clear it away front about the 
stems of the trees in fall, as it would afford an 
excellent harbor for mice during the winter. 
PROFIT FROM RAKING STUBBIE. 
It pays to rake tho stubbles. No matter how 
carefully the work is done, much of the grain 
will slip through the rake, or be scattered while 
binding, shocking, and drawing the crop. A 
neighbor was visited by an agent desiring to sell 
him a wheel-rake. The farmer demurred. The 
agent, as an inducement, proposed that he take 
the implement, carefully rake all his stubble, 
properly curing storing and thrashing what he 
mlbht gather, aud ho agreed to take tho grain 
thus obtained, as payment for tho rake. In this 
the farmer imagined he saw an easy way of ob¬ 
taining the tool ho needed, but did not feel able 
to purchase. They shook hands on the contract, 
and the agent went his way. In the fall he called 
again. Tho farmer bad concluded to pay the 
money for the rake, begging tho other to release 
him from his former promise, which wau done. 
The grain obtained by raking tho stubbles was 
worth nearly double the price paid for tho rake— 
and this in a single season ! 
A BURDOCK EXTERMINATOR. 
For years we have been troubled with bur¬ 
docks, aud, notwithstanding repeated mowing 
during the summer, they would form seed in the 
fall. After many experiments, a certain and 
speedy remedy for the peats has been discovered 
in kerosene oil. If a small quantity be poured 
into tho lioarti of the plants, directly after cut¬ 
ting, they will disappear entirely, roots aud 
stalks, leaving no trace or their former existence 
save a small hole in the earth where they stood. 
This may be styled by Gen. Noble, a crude idea, 
but refined or crude oil will accomplish tho pur¬ 
pose equally well. 
A BOON FOR HORSES. 
If horses are rubbed, morning and noon, with 
a handful of smart-weed, tho Hies will not trouble 
them in the least through the day. 
jfitOi Crops. 
THE TOBACCO FLANT.-No. 2. 
E. R. BILLINGS. 
VARIETIES. 
The tobacco plant, though an American pro¬ 
duct, lmB been transplanted to all lauds, its culti¬ 
vation seeming to follow its nso, which has now 
become world wide. It is doubtful, at the first 
discovery of America, whether there were more 
than one variety of tobacco cultivated or not; 
but it is altogether probable that there were 
several sorts, inasmuch, os tho plant was grown 
not only in North and South America, but also 
in the West Indies whore tho groat Italian navi¬ 
gator first saw tho plant aud its novel mode of 
use. SomQ writers on tobacco place the number 
of varieties at upwards of forty, all of which 
have sprang from the varieties grown in Ameri¬ 
ca. The numerous sorts owe their variety to 
the various soils on which they are cultivated as 
well as to the effect of climate. 
Late writers on tobacco place the number of 
kinds grown in tho United States at fifty. To¬ 
bacco is now grown more or less in twenty-five 
