BEC. 1 
THE RURAL 
EW-YORKER. 
lorfintlfttral. 
Okolona, Miss., Nov. 19 . 
8ome of the Pelargoniums sent me by the 
Rcbal last year are now large, velvety and very 
pretty. x. j. 
Norfolk, Conn., Nov. 12, I8TS. 
All the seven cuttings of Pelargoniums sent 
me last season started, but two have since 
dimped off, the remaining live, however, are 
flourishing, L . Pi g< 
Received the cuttings of Pelargonuimsin good 
order. Six out of eight are growiug very nicely. 
One of ttie otders we think will start, but the 
eighth is dsad. j, H w 
SpkinoboW, Ohio, Nov. 13. 
Among seed received from the Rural last 
year was a pan**? of Phlox. I planted them 
early in the house, afterwards replanted them 
in the garden where they bor.- a few flowers, 
these were the nicest I ever saw. 
Mrs. W. H C. 
Williamsvillk: Erie Co., N. Y. 
The seeds sent me by the Rural last year 
gave such satisfaction and the plants and the 
flowers from thorn attracted such attention that 
I gladly avail myself of the Rural’s kind offer 
of seeds to its subscribers this year also. 
o. F. A. 
Clvmbk, n. Y., Oct. is, 1ST6. 
\\ e live on a dairy farm and all work hard, hut 
I manage to have a few flowers. I think it restH 
me to go out among my flowers after a hard 
day’s work, and see their wonderful beauty of 
form and color. I have a family to bring up 
and educate, so I do not have money to spend 
for seeds, and so do not have any but common 
varieties, and am, therefore, thankful for the 
Rural free seed distribution. Mbs J. W. G. 
THE HENRIETTA RASPBERRY ONCE 
MORE. 
South Glastonbury, Conn., Oct. 15, l^TS. 
We Dotice, in issue of Oct. 12, a statement made 
by J. T. Lovett that the Henrietta Raspberry 
is nothing but the old Belle de Fontenay brought 
out under a new name, and he goes on to say 
that he would not make such a s atement did 
he not know it to be perfectly correct. Now, 
the fads are there was never a plant of Hen¬ 
rietta sold until the fall of 1877, and Mr. Lovett 
bought a very few for the first time iu April 
1878, which, of course, bore no fruit this year, 
aud as he has never taken the trouble to come 
to Conn, to see it in fruiting seasou, /«? knows 
nothing about it except, what he can judge 
from the plant and foliage. 
That the Henrietta is an entirely new and 
distinct variety we can prove by a large number 
of prominent fruit gr wers who have visit* d 
our grounds, and seen not only the plants hut the 
fruit. 
The first small plant sprang up in the middle 
of a large currant stool, iu a well cultivated 
garden that had not had Raspberries growing 
in it for rnoro than 20 years, showing con¬ 
clusively that it must have been a chance seed¬ 
ling. The above cau bo vouched for by relia¬ 
ble parties living iu the vicinity. 
Hale Brothers, 
-♦♦♦--— 
EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENTS’ 
LETTERS. 
every year up to the present time, and probably 
shall as long as life is spared me. I have never 
seen the day during the whole time, that I re¬ 
gretted the outlay. I don’t expect to take any 
paper many years longer, but mean the Rural 
to be the last received by me during life. Are 
there many among your present subscribers to 
the paper that can boast of such long acquaint¬ 
ance with it, and in this case it has been on the 
part of one who has been an agriculturist hut a 
very small portion of the time. c e. t. 
Alma City, Minn. 
The Geranium seed sent to me by the Rural 
two years ago came up iu a short time after sow¬ 
ing. Two of the plants are very tine; the oth¬ 
ers are as good as those usually for sale. One 
of the best is a very strong grower, the leaves 
very large, with a dark zone iu the center ; the 
flowers largo, bright scarlet. The other is a mo- 
dium grower ; loaves about one-half the size of 
the first, with a very dark zone ; flowers large, 
color between salmon and pink ; they are splen¬ 
did bedders The Hollyhocks were large and 
fine, and the Antirrhinums the largest I have 
ever seen. 
Clyde, Wayne Co., N. y., Nov. 6. 
From the seeds sent me by the Rural last 
year, I obtaiued several flue plants of Cleome 
epinoBa, which bloomed, but did not ripen 
Betds. I also had a fine Ricinus which did not 
succumb to the frost uutil the night of Novem¬ 
ber 5 Mv other plants did not bloom, but I did 
not plant all the set-ds sent me, so that I have 
another chance. One of my Chinese Yims I 
gave to a friend ; another died ; but the remain¬ 
ing two are tine I have dug up oue of them, 
and intend to keep it in the cellar; the other I 
shall leave in the ground M L 
SECOND REPORT OF PROF. C. THOMAS, 
State Entomologist of Illinois. 
This Report, which constitutes the seventh of 
the series of Entomological Reports of the State 
of Illinois, is at length printed and will soou be 
ready for distribution. By the Act of the Legis¬ 
lature of that Stite during its last session, this 
Report is made to the State Board of Agriculture, 
and hence is bound in the Proceedings of that 
Board of which it constitutes a part. Although 
this arrangement is not uo satisfactory to those 
who devote considerable atteution to entomology 
and desire these Reports in the separate form, 
yet for the farmers aud horticulturists of the 
State, for whom it is intended, it is a decided 
advantage and allows a much larger number to 
be publiehed than would otherwise be done. 
This is muoh the largest, and also the moat 
comprehensive Entomological Report that has 
yet been issued iu that State, or, in fact, in the 
West. It will contain, when the tables and in¬ 
dices are added, about 300 pages, with numerous 
illustrations. An introductory letter to the 
President of the State Board of Agriculture, oc¬ 
cupying some 12 pages, gives a brief account ct' 
the insect injuries iu the State during the pre¬ 
vious year; the work of the entomologist aud 
his assistants during the year; and next follows 
“Notes on Corn Insects,” occupying something 
over 00 pages, and embracing an account of 
some thirty-five species that depredate upon this 
valuable cereal. Some 30 pages of this portion 
are occupied with an exhaustive account of the 
chinch-bug, giving a pretty full history of its 
operations in Illinois since 1810, drawn chiefly 
from the files of the Prairie Farmer; and a 
careful estimate of the loss on corn occasioned 
by it in 1871, which amounted to about *520,003,- 
000. The cut-worms and wire-worms also re¬ 
ceive a large share of attention 
Next follows the Report of Miss Emma A. 
Smith, who acted as assistant to Prof. Thomas 
during the summer in the northwestern part of 
the State. It contains “Notes of the Year ” on 
injurious insects observed; an account of the 
“ Stalk Borer’’(Gortyna nitela); aud somewhat 
lengthy notices of the Oak-leaf Tortrix and 
Maple-tree Bark-lou?e, occupying in all about 52 
pages. Most of the remaining portion of the 
Report is taken up by Part Seoond of the 
Economic Eutomology of Illinois," (Part First 
in the previous Report included the Coleoptera). 
This part is confined to the Lepidoptera, or 
Butterflies and Moths, and their caterpillars, 
and was compiled by Prof. G. H. French, who 
was employed as a general assistant by Prof. 
Thomas who was engaged during a large part of 
his time as oue of the Commissioners to inves¬ 
tigate the Western Locust. 
Following this is a Synoptical Table of the 
families and genera of the Lepidoptera men¬ 
tioned in the Report, which is introduced for the 
purpose of facilitating in determining species. 
One valuable feature of this work is an alpha¬ 
betical list or index of the various plants and 
other substances injured by the insects men¬ 
tioned, with the scientific names of the insect or 
insects injuring each, placed opposite also in 
alphabetical order. By means of this index or 
table, the labor of hunting out the insect found 
injuring a plant is greatly lessened. The Report 
doses with a very full aud copious general index 
to all the common, generic and specific rhunes 
mentioned. 
lids Report will doubtless prove of great value 
to the agriculturists uot only of Illiuois but 
other sections of the West. 
$ uultrjj garii, 
LEGHORNS AND PLYMOUTH ROCKS ONCE 
MORE. 
Castile N. Y ,,Nov.2. 
I have thought miny times that I would write 
to the oid Rural and tell my experience with it. 
I commenced taking the Genesee Farmer, pub¬ 
lished iu Riches ter, when the first uutnber was 
issued, aud when the Rural took its place, I 
subscribed for it, aud have oontiuued taking it 
Iu my article, Sapt. 28th, page 618, I did 
not mean it to be understood that I thought 
“Anon” to have committed any error by uot 
giving the monthly product of his Leghorns. I 
Birnply expressed my regret that he had not 
done so, in order that it might be compared 
with the table given iu same article. The 
quautity of feed given to my Plymouth Rocks 
was all they would eat; if the quautity named 
by “Anon” was the same, I siill consider the 
Leghorns had the advantage, by the unlimited 
range for foraging; with the unlimited range, 
they will not require or oousume as much food 
as when confined. 
I am aware that many are of the opinion that 
hens can be over-fed. thus producing too muoh 
fat at the expense of eggs ; but I am not aware 
of auy oue having yet learned just the exact 
point between too much or too little. If 
“Anon” believes his method the correct cne, 
Ihe uumbsr of eggs shows the Plymouth Rocks 
to excel in egg production while confined and 
fed all they will eat. as against the Leghorns 
with a froe range, and fed as stated by him. 
It makes little difference what breeders gen¬ 
erally allege, if they cannot substantiate their 
assertions with facts. I was led to try the 
White Leghorns on just such pronounced 
opinions, ouly to dispense with them after two 
years’ experience. In my experiments it was 
not for the purpose of profit by sale of fowls 
or eggs, but for my own family use. Whatever 
breed may be best for this purpose may be 
justly cousidered the best for all practical pur¬ 
poses. When I am convinced that fowls of any 
breed combine more essential qualities iu this 
respect than the Plymouth Rocks, I shall not 
hesitate to adopt them; but I shall want some¬ 
thing more than breeders’ pronounced opinions 
to make auy change. a. D . B . 
Rutherford, N. J. 
Httsrel lanterns. 
WHAT OTHERS SAY. 
“New England begins to fell the need of 
some of the money and a good many of the 
young men she has sent out West.”—N. E. 
Farmer. 
Decline of the Wheat Crop in England.— 
That the increased depth of plowing may en¬ 
hance the crop is highly probable, but we can¬ 
not help arriving at the conclusion that wheat¬ 
growing is, year by year, getting loss successful, 
and we fancy the time will come when oven at 
better prices than at present wheat-growing wiP 
hardly be able to be done at a profit.—London 
Ag. Gazette. 
Sheep on Roots Alone.— Professor Church 
of Cirencester says that many experiments have 
been made to ascertain how far sheep conld be 
fed on roots alone. Mangolds, swedes and tur¬ 
nips have been used, but chiefly mangolds, in 
the Continental trials, and the general conclu¬ 
sion aeomw to be, that not only must one lose 
a very largs proportion of the feeding material 
in roots when he employs them alone, but that 
the rate at which animals iucrease in weight 
when bo feu, is exoea-ively slow. 
“Beauty ok Hebron” says the Weekly Tri¬ 
bune, is the resouaut name of a new seedling 
potato circulated for test by Messrs. Thorburn° 
of John street. It “originated in 1874 from 
seed-balls of Chili Red, and reports from vari¬ 
ous quarters where it has been tried, indicate 
that it may be the 1 coming potato.’ ” One says 
it is ten days ahead of Early Rose, a better crop¬ 
per and of better quality than that famous kind, 
and is more easily harvested, as the tubers lie 
very close together in the hill. -[The Rural 
New-Yorker is circulating this potato for test, 
though we are free to express our obligations to 
the Messrs. Thorburn for their liberality in sup¬ 
plementing our own supply, which is quite in¬ 
adequate for our purpose,— Eds.] 
Axe-Grinders. — Horticulturists are usually 
men of generous instincts, but not all. There 
are among them a number who watch constantly 
for opportunities to griud their axes gratuitous¬ 
ly on somebody’s grindstone, and especially to 
get their advertising free. They will send a 
small sample of some now variety of plant, fruit 
or vegetable, to some prominent member of the 
profession, or some editor, with the request 
that he will “ give it a trial and report”—the 
“ report ” being their objective joint. Aud if a 
truthful report is unfavorable, then they are 
“mad, while if it is favorable, they make ex¬ 
tensive use of it in circulars, etc., without a 
word of thanks or acknowledgment. We have 
had a wide experience with these gentry, and 
our good-uature has led us to tolerate, and even 
encourage them much more than we are likely 
to do in the future.—Vermont Watchman. 
Worth Thinking About — The Monetary 
Times says that farmers, as & rule, capitalize a 
larger part of their earnings than most other 
classes. A farmer and a professional man make 
equal incomes; bnt while the professional man 
spends his whole inoome and often necessarily 
and unavoidably, the farmer adds largely to his 
means of reproduction. The man who spends 
relatively the larger part of his income in the 
cost of living, does most for trade in the mean¬ 
time ; the man who spends the smalior part, is 
conquering the leisure which affords opportuni¬ 
ties of higher education to his offspring, or 
leaving to his descendants a capital-power by 
which labor can bo moved aud further material 
progress made. It is just when the farmer 
spends with the freest hand that he does most 
for trade; but when he kills the goose that lays 
the golden eggs, retribution must follow. 
Fenny Wise, Found Foolish.—D r. Hoskins 
says in the Vermont Watchman: “ We hear it 
said, on every side, that the immense shipments 
of agricultural products from this country to 
Europe are making ns rich. But are we uot 
selling more than the corn and the wheat, the 
butter, the cheese, the cotton and the tobacco ? 
What is the recorded history of that section of 
our country that in years past exported the bulk 
of its agricultural productions? Are we not 
now transporting over sea not alone the pro¬ 
ducts, but the productive power, of our corn 
and wheat and grass lands, as in former days 
the productive power of Virginia's tobacco fields 
and of Carolina’s cotton fields went to Europe 
aloog with the crops themselves ? Are we not 
etl K a god in the diffusion of barrenness and of 
leanness over the country for a little money in 
band,—a little “ balance of trade,”—that will not 
make our farmers rich, though it will leave their 
farms poor ?” 
Increasing the Value of Kainit.— The Lon¬ 
don Chamber of Agriculture says that a quantity 
of fresh horse dung was taken to the science 
school (Cirencester), and placed in a large stone 
cistern, «od between different beds of manure 
of a few inches thick, the kainit was scattered. 
The smell of the dung was strong and offensive, 
and the pupils complained of it on the day en 
which it had been mixed, but in a few hours 
the smell entirely disappeared. Oa the follow¬ 
ing day and subsequently no smell was observed, 
and when the manure was tested chemically 
about three months after, it was found that a 
mutual exebauge had been effected, and instead 
of sulphate of potash and carbonate of ammonia 
evolved from decomposed manure, there were 
carbonate of potash and sulphate of ammonia. 
It is unnecessary to say that the value of both 
of these bodies is considerably greater than that 
of kainit, and that both of these ha*e a certain 
and prompt action. 
Fair Enough.— The Smith’s Falls News (Oat.) 
of laBt week has the following:— “Editor's 
Troubles.— A late number of the Rural New- 
Yorker, the prince of good papers for farmer? and 
their families, contains a complaint that a New 
York daily, nig enough and old enough to know 
better [N. Y. Suu — Eds. U. N Y ]. stole an ar¬ 
ticle from its columns, gave it a new heading, aud 
published it as original, The same paragraph 
states-that numerous lesser journals are iu the 
habit of appropriating their matter without 
credit. Well, the Naivs uses its matter and 
says nothing about it, but does not palm it off, 
or any other selections, as origiual. The entire 
mitside of our paper is made up of carefully 
selected and boiled-down reading from number¬ 
less exchanges, and no one comes under the 
scissors oftener than the Rural— the fact is, so 
mari\ really excellent articles are taken from it 
that it would become seriously monotonous to 
give the regular credit every time. Perhaps a 
good plan would be, whenever rural readers 
find anything exceptionally interesting or profit¬ 
able to them, to just say: ‘That’s from the 
Rural,' and take it all for granted.” 
CATALOGUES, &c., RECEIVED. 
The third annual exhibition of the Berks 
Co., Pa., Poultry and Pet Stock Society, will be 
held in the city of Reading from the 24th to the 
28th of December next. The exhibition pro¬ 
mises to be the finest of the character held in 
that city. 
Annual Report of the Secretary of the In¬ 
terior on the operations of his Department for 
the year 1878. These Reports from the differ¬ 
ent governmental Departments often contain 
matters of interest and always of instruction, 
though their dry form is a trifle uninviting. 
But during the leisure of long winter evenings 
their perusal might help to pass time profitably 
on the farm. This is a pamphlet of 48 pages, 
issued free to applicants by the Interior Depart¬ 
ment, Washington. 
Institute. —The College of Agriculture of the 
Illinois Industrial University will hold an Agri¬ 
cultural Institute, at the Uuiversity, from Mon¬ 
day, January 27, to Friday, January 31, 1879 j 
which all interested iu Agriculture are invited to 
attend. The Institute will opeu on Monday 
evening with ad ii esses by the Rogem ef thq 
University and others. During the foreuoous of 
the four succeeding days courses of lectures— 
four in each course—will bo given by mem hers 
of the faculty, on the following subjects : Soils 
and their Management: Animal Husbandry; 
Diseases of Animals; Plant Growth ; Oheui- 
iatry; Rural Architecture aud Hygiene. The 
afternoons will be devoted to more General 
Lectures ana Discussions ou Agricultural topics 
by mombera of tbe faculty, aided by representa¬ 
tives of the leading agricultural interests of the 
State. In the evenings a course of lectures on 
the Political Economy of Agriculture will be 
given by the Ragout. Opportunity will be given 
for the examination of tlu> L diversity Museums 
and Collections, and the Library will be open 
for use by those in attendance. There will be' 
no fees or charges of any kind. Reduced fare 
on the railroads running through Champaign is 
expected. Board cau be had at a coat of not' 
exceeding one dollar a day. Full programmes 
will soon bo issued. For these or any special in¬ 
formation address Prof. G. E. M >rrow, Deanof 
the College of Agriculture at Champaign ; to 
whom those purposing to attend the Institute' 
are requested to send their namos 
