DEC. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
pot. According to the positive statement of our 
friend, it will at once kill all the insects with 
which it comes in contact, without in the least 
harming the plant. We cannot test it for our¬ 
selves at present, as we are not troubled with in¬ 
sects of any kind; but it may be worthy of a 
trial on the part of our readers, since it can do 
no harm in any event. 
It has also been frequently noticed that worms 
which happened to be under newly-laid gas tar 
walks, would, soon after the walks had been 
made, appear lifeless along the edges. 
fmiltrj) Jarir. 
CAPONIZING. 
Dairp Dusbanitri). 
'■‘5 .’O' ■<> 
PERFECT CHEESE. 
T. H. H03KINS, M. U. 
TIME INJURES BUTTER, BUT IMPROVES WELL MADE CHEESE. 
Butter is never better than when the manu¬ 
facture of it is finished. Every day that it is 
kept, though the fact may not be apparent to the 
senses at first, deterioration is at work, and the 
money value declines. Bat this is far from be¬ 
ing the case with cheese. When taken from the 
press, indeed, bandaged and annotated, the first 
process only is complete. The chomical changes 
which, in bntter, work to lessen value, will in 
cheese, when properly conducted by art, develop 
value. Bat this cm occur only when the oheese 
has been properly manufactured from pure, 
fresh and uncontamiaatod milk. Nor can it oc¬ 
cur in the best made oheeBe from the best ma¬ 
terials, unless the necessary conditions are un¬ 
derstood and the proper facilities are at hand to 
secure such conditions in their perfection. The 
cu ing, no less than the manufacture of cheese is 
a high art, and must have for its basil a thorough 
science. 
NECESSITY OF MORE STUDY AND PRECAUTION?. 
These facts are only gradually becoming 
known. The studies in practical operations, as 
in organic chemistry, wLieh have brought forth 
knowledge upon this matter, have only lately 
reached up to positive conclusions, and even yet 
upon many minor details, the genius of our 
Edisona of the dairy has work to do. With the 
best of care in the dairy and factory, cheese is 
not always the same when it comes from the 
press. To recognize these differences, and give 
to each its right treatment, whereby the highest 
value is developed, require skill and knowledge 
of a h gh order. And besides these unavoidable 
variations, it is well known that by different 
methods of making up and curing, very different 
ulterior products are obtained, each of which 
has its peculiarities or taste, smell and appear¬ 
ance, and each commending itself to a particular 
market, and bearing a special value as a com¬ 
mercial product. 
The recent triumphant successor our exhibits 
of cheese in Eugland may be regarded as the 
first fruits of the improved methods recently in¬ 
troduced among us, especially in curing; and, 
although the English papers excuse their defeat 
on the ground that their own oheese as exhibit¬ 
ed was not np to the highest mark of their man¬ 
ufacture, yet they concede that the American 
cheese was very fine, and well deserving of the 
premiums accorded it. 
HEED OF BETTER CURING ROOMS AND PURER MUX. 
Ihese results are most enoouraging, and 
should lead to the rapid investment of a large 
amouut of capital in oaring vaults, where the 
temperature, moisture, and other accessories 
can be kept under that perfect control which 
alone insures a perfect product. It is said that 
quite satisfactory results in this direction have 
been attained by the use of Wilkinson’s sub- 
earth ducts for modifying and controlling the 
temperature of the air admitted into butter 
dairies. It would not be strange if this inge¬ 
nious method should find its most profitable ap¬ 
plication in connection with the curing of oheese. 
It Is certainly worthy of thorough trial. But it 
oanuot bo too earnestly impressed upon the 
minds of oheese makers that such an invest¬ 
ment of capital as I refer to, can never bo justi¬ 
fied by a profitable success unless the makers of 
oheese, by requiring of the dairies the utmost 
oare in feeding, in milking and in handling the 
milk on its way from the udder to the vat, secure 
for them selves a raw material of the first quality. 
A man onoe, in tho market-house of a western 
city, asked of an ogg-dealer if his were good 
eggs. The reply was, Well, middling good.” 
“This is the first time,"exclaimed the would-bo 
purchaser, “1 over heard of a middling good 
egg." And just as there is no such thing as a 
middling good egg, so it is more true that there 
is no such thing as middling good milk, when 
either butter or oheese making is in question. 
The rigid exclusion from a cheese factory of 
every dairy in which every possible care is not 
given to the making of good milk and its delive¬ 
ry unimpaired to the cheese maker, is essential 
to the manufacture of a good cheese, and espe¬ 
cially of a cheese capable of being profitably 
cured for exportation. This point needs to be 
impressed upon the minds of our cow-keepers 
by line upon line and precept upon precept, un¬ 
til no oavil or doubt remains possible. 
Having seen in the Rural an article on 
making capons, I here give my method of per¬ 
forming tho operation. I learnt it, when a 
child, from my mother as I held the birds while 
she operated on them. Sitting on a chair or 
stool, with his hands resting on his knees, 
the person in charge of the bird holds il upside- 
down, pressing its feet against bis thighs with 
his thumbs, while his bands are placed over the 
wings and around the body. Then the operator, 
supplied with a sharp penknife and a long, 
slender needle threaded with common cotton 
sewing thread, plucks out feathers enough to 
lay the skin bare midway between the end of 
the breast bone and the anas. Then with the 
left hand he pinches up the bare s un, and with 
the penknife makes a gash large enough to 
admit easily the fore-finger of the right hand. 
Then, holding the needle in his left hand, be 
catches the membrane covering the bowels and 
cuts it, and straightway slides the fore-finger 
of the right hand between the bowels and the 
walls that inclose them down to the spine and 
then forward until tho testicles are distinctly 
visible. Then bend the right fore-fiDger until 
the tip of it rises in front of the testicle, which 
can be readily removed Ly drawing the finger 
baokwards and bringing out the testicle in the 
hook formed by the bent finger. Afterwards 
operate on the other organ iu the same way, in 
both oases holding the baok of the bird against 
the palm of the left hand to facilitate the 
manipulations. Theu grease the wound with a 
little fresh lard or bntter, together with just 
enough carbolic acid to make its odor percepti¬ 
ble, and sew it up. 
ir the person who may wish to operate, will 
first examine Borne chickens that are being 
dressed for the table, he will readily understand 
this description of the operation, and a few 
trials will make him proficient enough to do the 
tiling in less time than it would take to tell how 
it was done, and with no more danger to the 
bird than usually attends the castration of other 
animals. j 
South Family Shakers. 
Jflonrultural. 
1HE USES OF THE CLEMATIS. 
W. 0. L. DREW. 
Of all the beautiful olimbiog and trailing 
plants in cultivation, none are more worthy or 
deservedly popular than the many varied and 
beautiful varieties of Clematis. I speak of 
these plantB as ohmbers, but let not the enter¬ 
prising amateur be confined to the old-fashioned 
notion that these beautiful vines are only to 
be trained over tbe veranda, or summer arbor— 
though for this purpose the Clematis stands un- 
equaied-,inasmuch as the uses to which this 
plant may be applied, and to which it is in every 
way adapted, are almoBt innumerable. It is to 
some of these uses I would now call the reader’s 
attention. As 
CUMBERS 
few plants will give more satisfaction for cov¬ 
ering trellis-work arbors, etc., than the va¬ 
rious sorts of Clematis, but for this purpose it 
is well to combine with them some pretty and 
contrasting vino. I have found the Passion vine, 
[Not hardyhere. —Eds.} or GbineseHoneysnokle, 
to give good satisfaction when so blended. But 
of the uses of the Clematis as a climber I will 
speak no further, as nearly all amateurs know 
their value. For 
P1LIAR PLANTS. 
I havo yet seen nothing so well adapted as the 
beautiful, large-flowered varieties of the Cle¬ 
matis ; yet I have seldom Been them used in this 
way whether from a laok of knowledge as to 
their desirability for the purpose, or from not 
knowing how to grow them as pillar plants I 
cannot say. The pillar arrangement is extremely 
simple, and easily managed by any enterprising 
amateur. Plant a neat polo with five or six 
short arms attached, where you desire the plant 
to grow it will be well to tar the end of the pole 
in the ground, to prevent decay—then plant 
strong, healthy Clematis, of some large, showy- 
flowered variety, of the Jaokmanni type if to 
hand ; if not, any variety will do. Train tlie plant 
to the pole and if it shows any tendency to become 
lanky or bare or new shoots at the base, it 
should be pruued down to about three feet, 
which will force new growth below. The usual 
hight to which it is desirable to train the vines 
in this way, is about five feet. 
Another purpose to which they are admira 
bly adapted, strange as it may seem to some is 
as ' 
BEOOINQ PLANTS. 
To grow them successfully in this way is'a lit¬ 
tle more difficult. The bed in which they are to 
grow should be made convex; that is, raised iu 
the oenter ; for only in this way can the blos¬ 
soms be displayed to the best advantage. Hav¬ 
ing made the soil rich with a liberal dressing of 
decayed manure, set the plants, but not too 
thickly. As they begin to grow and send out 
shoots, they should receive attention. They 
must be looked after weekly, and trained and 
pegged down as recommended for Verbenas and 
Nasturtiums taking pains to train them where 
most required to cover the surface. As the plants 
do not throw up blossoms from the lower por¬ 
tion of the stems, Ih at is, within a foot or so of 
the roots, the points of one aeiies of plants should 
be trained so that they will over-lap and cover 
those portions of the other series which would 
otherwise remain bare and detract, therefore, 
from the beauty of the bed. Pegging should 
be attended to early and often, as they cling so 
closely together by their clasping leaf stalks, 
that the young shoots might be injured if tbey 
became united and an attempt were made to 
separato them in order to train them aright. 
If these directions be properly attended to, the 
bed will soon become brilliant with blooms, and 
will be a constant source of pleasure until frost. 
As soon as frost stops their blooming,they should 
be closely cut back. Here, iu California, they re¬ 
quire no covering, but iu the East no doubt a 
slight protection will be required. If the season 
be warm and dry, like our summers, the bed 
should be well soaked several times during the 
season. Another way in which they show to great 
advantage, but which is only adapted to large 
grounds, is to let them grow in their own sweet 
way, Bor&mbling and climbiug over rock-work, 
etc; thou the regal beauty of the Clematis is 
given fall sway, and the gorgeous blooms show 
remarkably well. 
El Dorado, Cal. 
Dorfuttltural, 
THE BEARING YEAR OF APPLE TREES. 
There is a good deal said and written about 
changing the bearing year of apple trees. After 
a number of years of observation, I believe that 
it is best to take the fruit when we can get it. 
There may be some philosophic reasons for try¬ 
ing to change the bearing year of young orenards, 
and good results may follow the attempt, but 
when an orchard gets of considerable size, the 
labor and the uncertainty of tho results of such 
an undertaking place the matter in an unfavor¬ 
able light. We have an old orchard of about 
fifty trees, all of which used to bear the same 
year, until there came a frost or cold wind that 
killed all the blossoms except those on a few 
trees that were sheltered by the building. Ever 
since, some trees in the orchard have borne on 
the odd years and the remainder on tho even 
years. This year, however, the fruit crop was a 
general failure. 
I also notice that trees of certain varieties 
among those whose beating year has been 
altered, from some unaccountable cause have a 
tendency to get back to tbe year on which they 
originally bore fruit. Baldwins have been noted 
as bearers on even years for a long time; the 
Smith e Cider has had the same tendency to 
bear on the odd year, and taking into considera¬ 
tion the great range of country where this apple 
comes to perfection, I think that the question of 
bearing years will soon be settled by the orchard- 
ists selecting varieties whose natural habit is to 
bear on the even or odd year, as may be desired. 
Bucks Co., Pennsylvania, the home of the Cider 
Apple, was weli supplied with apples last year ; 
whereas, this year there are very few. I think 
that seventy five per cent, of all the trees set in 
Pennsylvania and New Jersey are of this variety, 
and for years it has been scare iu the nurseries! 
Oat of 1,500 trees in oar orchard, 800 are of this 
sort. I know orchards in which 90 out of e\ ery 
100 trees are of this single variety. I believe 
that the Cider Apple oould not be treated so as 
to boar permanently on even years; nor, in my 
opinion, can the bearing year of any other 
variety be permanently changed from the year 
on which it was originally accustomed to bear. 
Last year hundreds of barrels of apples were 
Bhipped from this section to England , this year 
Trenton is supplied from New York and Phila¬ 
delphia. I. j Blackwell. 
Mercer Co., N. J. 
-- ► 
PROFESSOR BEAL’S REPORT. 
The Michigan State Agricultural College 
unquestionably has earned the reputation of 
being one of the best institutions of its kind in 
the country. We have before us Prof. Beal’s 
Report of the Horticultural Department for 
the present year, and notice particularly the 
good work the institution is doi.ig in the line of 
experiments. For the elucidation of a few of 
these wo quote from the Report: “We aro 
trying by selection and cultivation to improve 
one variety of Indian corn, two or onions, one 
of beans, one of tomatoes, and one of wheat.” 
--We have planted about seventy-live varieties 
of oorn, over twenty of onions, and about 250 
named varieties of potatoes, besides about as 
many more unnamed seedlings whioh have 
originated at the College.--We have pruaed 
some limbs from two apple trees on the twenty- 
fifth day of each month in the year, to see 
which will thrive the best.-For experiment 
we have planted pita of peaches diseased with 
the yellows.-We have small samples of hedges 
of Honey Locust, Osage Orange, Pepperidge, 
wild Crab-apple, wild Plum, Hawthorn, Prickly 
Ash; also of Arbor Vitro; Siberian Arbor Vitro; 
Austrian Pine, Norway Sprnce, Lilac. Spiiroi, etc. 
-We aro testing tea or more of the best 
varieties of tomatoes, and have crossed the Con¬ 
queror (best of all last year), with a smooth, 
early sort.-We have crossed the flowers of 
Clawson Wheat with Diehl, and have root-pruned 
these also.-We have crossed flowers of two 
vaiieties of Gooseberries ; also Black-Cap Rasp¬ 
berries with red Raspberries.--We have saved 
seeds of some old plants of red clover to try to 
establish a perennial variety.-We have crossed 
Duke and Morello Cherries.-We are testing 
forty varieties of new and promising named 
varieties of Strawberries ; we also li ive a fine lot 
of Beedling Strawberries, some of which have 
borne this year; also some seedling Goose¬ 
berries, a few of which have bjrne this year for 
the first time.-Many other experiments too 
numeious to mention are given in the Report. 
People who are unacquainted with the char¬ 
acter of, and the difficulties attending t xpert¬ 
inents, are apt to be in too great a hurry for tho 
results. Reliable conclusions can be drawn only 
after a protracted series of expeiiments under 
varied circumstances. Under the careful man- 
agement of Prof. Beal, conclusions will uo doubt 
be reached that will be of lasting benefit to all 
cultivators of tho soil. We hope the institution 
will continue its good work. 
isceUanrous. 
IMPROVING BACKWARDS. 
There are many grand improvements new 
before the public intended to enable b.zy, shift- 
loss people to farm better than tlioir more sen¬ 
sible and induBtriouj neighbors, Patent cow- 
miikers are an abomination ; they unnaturally 
distend the natural orifice of the teat, final¬ 
ly permanently ruining the cow by rendering 
her unable to hold her milk at all. Patent egg- 
food is a; other, forcing hens to lay out of sea¬ 
son, aud finally preventing them from lay ing in 
Beaeon. Any tool, instrument or treatmint 
which violates nature must rapidly lessen the 
real value of the animal upon which it is used, 
far beyond any temporary advantage from its 
employment. 
Good hsalth among stock is the best secunty 
that the animals will yield well; aud sensible 
people who own good animals cannot be wheed¬ 
led it,to the use of any quack nostrum or quack 
machine. On the other hand, those folks who 
own poor stock, and expect to sad iealy make it 
valuable by the use of these foo!i<li devices 
show how little they know of their business. 
8. B. M, 
Defiance Wdeat. —A correspondent from 
Providence, It. I., had the same experience with 
this variety of wheat during the past season, 
that we, ourselves, had, as detailed some time 
back. With aching back he deposited U 000 
kernels separately four by twelve inches »pait 
used 100 pounds of Darling’s animal fertilizer' 
and kept the ground absolutely free from weeds! 
The straw was five feet long, and the heads 
from to 0 inches. The leaves, however 
were destroyed by rust aud the yield was oulv 
09 pounds of light wheat. He is'not disposed 
to consider this test decisive as to its uietits, 
however, bat intends to plant another pound or 
bo next April. 
WHAT OTHERS SAY. 
Amsden. —Mr. John Powell (Dayton, O.,) says 
that this peach fipeued the 4th of July ; that it 
does not rot; aud that it is large and handsome. 
There would not have been any milk in the 
coeoanut if some of our dairymen had had the 
construction of it, says the Cincinnati Saturday 
Night. 
Too Bad.— The Germantown Telegraph says 
that in the next law against vile weeds, for which 
fine and imprisonment are the penalties, the Jeru • 
salem Artichoke should be inserted by all means. 
It knows of a grass field, the past bummer, in 
which the vile thing has nearly half ihe ground 
through some former owner, perhaps fifty years 
ago, having been seduced to give it a place. 
Temperature of Sleeping Rooms;—' Tbe rale 
should be everywhere, duriug the part of the 
year when fires are kept burning, to avoid hoist¬ 
ing outside windows. It is safer and better to 
leave the chamber door open, as also the fire- 
place; then there is a draft up tho chimney 
while the room is not so likely to become cold! 
If there is some fire in the room all night, the 
window may be opened an inch. Hall’* Journal 
says that it is eafer to sleep in a bad air all night 
with a temperature over fifty, than in a pare air 
with a temperature under forty. The bad air 
may sicken yon but cannot kill you; the cold air 
can and does kill very often. 
A Comparison of Breeds or Sheep, with re¬ 
gard to weight of fleece and carcass, percentage 
