4 
25 * 
APRIL *§ 
discouraging. I am confident that I lost three- 
fourths of my grape crop last season through 
tho bees alone, and what I did get I bad to 
take off before they were perfectly ripe. Last; 
Boason we had no peaches; but in 1880 fully 
three-fourths of my early peaches were ruined 
by tho bees cutting tihe skins and sacking part 
of tho juice, the rest of tho peach rotting. 
When bees once take possession of a vine, 
neither birds, wasps, nor any other insect dares 
attempt to get at the grapes on that vine, and 
in the coursu of two or three days nothing of 
the fruit is left but the dry skin and seed. I 
am perfectly convinced that bies do cut yrape 
skins, and do it very artistically too 1 And 
all the entomologists or scientists in the coun¬ 
try could not convince me that bees—the Ital¬ 
ian variety at least—do not cut the skin of 
grapes as naturally as they suck honey from 
flowers. A Grape grower. 
Columbus, Pa. ] 
RAISIN GRAPES PROM NATIVE VINES. 
My short note in the Rural upon this topic 
has brought me several letters, and I observe 
it has been alluded to by Horticola. I fear 
I have excited too much expectation, and 
got credit for more skill than I possess. lean 
see more difficulties to overcome than others 
seem to find. It may be many years before a 
really valuable native raisin grupo cun be de¬ 
veloped; but it is sure to come in time. The 
Iona has too much acid; my new Centennial 
is better, seeming to have more grape sugar 
than even the Delaware, still it is a good way 
oil' w hat is desired. What is wanted is a large, 
tough ski Lined grape, with small seeds, much 
grape-sugar and pulpiness, and the pulp must 
adhere to the skiu, instead of to the seeds. So 
long as 1 confined my experiments to the 
Northern type of our Labrusca grapes, 1 could 
see no hope for a genuine raisin grape. Their 
foxiuess and lack of vinous flavor cause them 
to be ill adapted to such use. Our Cordifolia 
grapes are no more promising, and while the 
Southern type of our Labrusca grapes has 
greater promise, it is to our -•Estivalis grapes 
that I judge we must look for developing 
raisin grapes. All I rueaut in my note was 
that I saw sporting in this direction in one of 
my new unnamed seedlings, for it is to sport¬ 
ing that we must look as the principal factor. 
Prepotency is tho main obstacle in our path; 
every process calculated to overcome this 
Bhould be practiced. Grafting has been the 
most powerful aid I have been able to use for 
weaken iug and breaking up prepotency ; it 
seems more reliable than cross-fertilizing or 
hybridizing. The methods to be pursued must 
be something the same as breeders of cattle 
have practiced to gain distinct, breeds, taking 
advantage of a sport in the direction desired, 
and then growing and selecting “seedlings” 
from the same stock until the desired qualities 
are developed, always aiding by ameliorating 
conditions. This will indicate that time is an 
important element, and just how much time it 
will require no one can now determine, but it 
is something to make a beginning. 
After writing the above, I happened to re¬ 
member that L had laid a cluster of the above- 
referred to grape down cellar, to see how it 
would keep; I have been down stairs aud got 
it, put it in a box, aud will mail it to you. It 
belongs to our Vitis tcstivalis class. As you 
will observe, it is more pulpy than our other 
grapes, and has a sweet, vinous flavor; but it 
has lost much of its flavor by keeping and by 
freezing before it was picked, on the night of 
Oct. 4ib, when the thermometer went to six 
degrees below freezing here, yet you can see 
that it has sported towards the raisin stand¬ 
ard. [Deeidedly so.—E ds.] I will tie able to 
tell more about it after the second year’s fruit¬ 
ing. D. S. Marvin. 
The Owosso Grape. 
This grape, which may very possibly be the 
“Owassoe”of your querist, J. M., of Dan¬ 
bury, Conn., on page 78, of your i-aue of Feb¬ 
ruary 4, is reputed to have originated at 
Owosso, Shiawasse County, Michigan, several 
years since. A cut aud circular have been 
issued and somewhat disseminated by the 
alleged originator ; but, so far as I am 
aware, the variety has not been tested beyond 
the place of origin: nor am l aware that the 
fruit has ever been shown at a public exhi¬ 
bition. These circumstances would seem to 
indicate either that the originator has little 
confidence in its success, or, otherwise that he 
lacks experience in the matter of introducing 
novelties to the public. 1 have not seeu 
either the plant or the fruit; and cunuot, 
therefore, say good or ill respecting it, from 
personal knowledge. The opinion has been 
publicly expressed that it may not, in fact, 
prove to be a new (variety. I huve no 
knowledge of the factsbearing upon this ques¬ 
tion: and have only the i mpreesiou, derived 
from general repute, that it is a variety of 
doubtful value. T. T. Lyon. 
farm topics, 
IMPROVING A POOR FARM. 
Having withiu the last thirty years had 
experience with two farms that have been run 
down by bad management, 1 will venture to 
say what I would do, had 1 a third farm in the 
same condition, as the quickest and cheapest 
way to renovate it. 
1. The first Fall after coming into possession 
of it, I would see that all the plow land %vas 
thoroughly plowed from one to two inches 
deeper than it had ever been before. 
2. In the Spring, I would seed down to 
clover every acre sowed to small grain; mix¬ 
ing Timothy seed with what I would not be 
obliged to plow up in the coming Fall. 
3. Use at least a bushel of land plaster to 
the acre on the whole of it. 
4. Let the clover grow undisturbed till Oc¬ 
tober on the ground you wish to plow in the 
Fall; then plow it under, It will be as good 
as a medium dressing of barnyard manure. 
5. From what is not plowed up in the Fall 
take off, the next Summer (by the4thof July), 
a crop of hay aud plow under the second 
growth in October. Use land plaster freely 
as in the previous season. 
6. The second seat on seed down what was 
plowed up the previous Fall, and from that 
take a crop of hay, and plow under the second 
crop as on the other portion of the farm. 
Keep up the use of land plaster, and if you 
have the means to add one or two barrels of 
salt to the acre, it will pay. 
7. If the farm has been badly run down re¬ 
peat the above process, using at the same 
time, on your hoed crops, all the barnyard 
manure you can make, and you will find the 
laud in a condition to carry out any judicious 
system of a rotation of crops. 
Waukesha Co., Wis. Tueron Looms. 
-♦♦♦- 
Chess or Cheat. 
To the best of my know ledge, there is no 
section of country more severely' afflicted with 
the notion that wheat and rye produce Cheat 
or Chess. Seventy-five per cent, of the farmers 
in our community have repeatedly harvested 
from 75 to GO per cent, of Chess in their 
wheat and rye crops. Cassius H. Francis 
Esq., and myself have lived in this vicinity 
since 1873, During this period we have raised 
no Chess, except that which we sowed with 
the wheat, which, on an average, was about 
one grain of Chess in a good handful of wheat. 
This is admitted by all of our neighbors, who 
claim that this result follows the particular 
manner in which we cultivate, or prepare 
our wheat ground. All, or at least a good 
many of them, arc particularly desirous to 
convert us to the belief that wheat and rye 
produce Chess. In this effort, one of these 
Chess farmers receutly confronted me with 
the inclosed article which he claimed was en¬ 
tirely conclusive as to his theory of the pro¬ 
duction of Chess. These erroneous opiuions 
occasion great losses, not only in our county, 
but throughout the entire land ; and I think 
that the Rural New-Yorker cannot apply 
its “ammunition” to much better purpose 
than in exploding this Chess delusion. 
Effingham Co., Ill. Levi Swarm. 
[The article referred to we read in the In¬ 
ter Ocean at the time of its publication. This 
question has been SO frequently and tumultu¬ 
ously discussed, that we prefer not to open it to 
further discussion. A knowledge of botany is 
all that will convince people that neither rye 
nor wheat nor any other distinct grass or plant 
ever turns into another distinct plant. Few 
farmers could be made to believe that a 
chestnut could change to a beech, or oak ; 
a plum to a cherry ; a cherry to an apple ; a 
golden-rod to u sunflower, and these are 
parallel cases. Whenever Chess appears in a 
wheat or rye field, it is because Chess seed w as 
sown there.—Eos.] 
Making 1 a Poor Farm Rich. 
My farm was so poor that it would not sup¬ 
port one family and keep 15 cows. To-day 
it produces enough to keep 30 cows, four 
horses and 1U hogs, besides a large family. It 
also contains 15 acres of hops. Here is the 
of their farms and manure them; it costs but a 
little more to raise a good crap than a poor 
one. J- C. Warner. 
Madison Co., N. Y. 
---- 
Winter Wheat Sown in Spring, Etc.— 
This is my experience in sowing W inter wheat 
in Spring. When we moved to Iowa seven 
years ago, my father brought from Pennsyl¬ 
vania enough of Fultz wheat to sow about 
half an acre. We sowed it in good prairie 
soil: I never saw Spring wheat look better nor 
grow faster than it did. It did not get over 
two feet high. It never headed out; there 
was not one head on the whole piece. I think 
IT. D. W., whose query was answered in a late 
Rural, will injure his trees if he fastens wires 
to them to make a fence. I saw nice maple 
trees ruined in that way near Storm Lake, 
Iowa. The wires weakened the trees as these 
grew larger, and the wind broke them off 
where the wires were fastened to them If he 
will nail pickets to his trees with a couple of 
long nails he can fasten wires to them, and it 
will not hurt the trees.. Do not drive the 
nails in very far; leave about three-quarters 
of an inch or more of the nail sticking out of 
the picket. The trees will draw the nails 
through the pickets as they grow. As good a 
wav as any, I saw in the Forestry Annual of 
the Iowa State Horticultural Society. Wind 
spirally a piece of smooth fence wire around a 
stake driven firmly into the ground, so as to 
form a coil spring; with these pieces of coiled 
wires of suitable length the pickets are 
attached, at the top and bottom wires, to the 
tree. J. 8. b. 
Lost Nation, Iowa. 
[Prom what our correspondent says about 
the injury done to trees by fastening wires to 
them for making a fence, it seems to us that 
the wires must have been tied around the 
trunks; but our suggestion was that staples 
should be driven into the trees and the wires 
fastened to these. Eds.] 
Making Hog Manure.— About the first of 
October, I built a pen 60x40, with an old 
double stable on one side for sleeping quarters. 
The first thing 1 did was to put 100 one-horse 
loads of woods’ litter in the bottom. I then 
penned there 45 head of shoats every night. 
They had the run of the fields in the day. 
About the middle of December I killed 15 and 
sold 4, leaving a balance of 20, which I shut in 
the pen altogether and kept them there until 
February. By that time there were 400 loads 
of manure, worth here at least $75. I never 
let the pen get wet, but it is plentifully sup¬ 
plied with woods’ litter and pine straw. The 
manure from these is as good for general 
purposes as any we make. f. s. l. 
Smithfield, Va. 
-*-<--♦- 
Improving Poor Land. On page 44 of the 
Rural, is the query how' to improve poor 
land. My plan is to make all the manure I 
can iu the Fall after I get through with my 
crop. I make from 400 to 600 one-horse loads 
every year. I have three tenants aud every 
foot of land they cultivate, they have to mx, 
uure or “ trash,” that is put woods’ litter on it. 
In short I put on all the manure I can, aud 
take off as little as possible. It will not do to 
put manure on laud and think that will make 
the crop, it must be cultivated too. F. s. L. 
Smithfield, Va. 
—____ 
Keeping Potatoes in the Sooth.— Pota¬ 
toes that ripen in June in the South require 
the best of care for tbeir sound preservation 
until September. They need to be kept dry 
and from contact with the air, and also cook 
These requirements may be met*as follows, 
viz.: by keeping the potatoes in a deep dry 
cellar, tightly closed, and kept dark; spiead- 
ing them on the earth floor quite thinly; dust¬ 
ing a little fresh, dry air-slaked lime over 
them toabsorb the moisture,and keeping them 
dry and then covering with dry sand. I 
would suggest a trial of this method. J. m. 
Just So.—I have greatly enjoyed reading 
the Rural, aud so have several of my stu¬ 
dents—sous and daughters of weulthy parents 
from different parts of our country and from 
foreign lands. It is an object with me to de¬ 
velop and encourage in them a love for agri¬ 
cultural and horticultural pursuits, that their 
inherited property shall tie used beueficially 
and not squandered, as it so often is by aimless 
and objectless children of wealthy parents. 
Nathl. T. Allen. 
pounds to the measured bushel. I had mine 
ground and scalded with boiling hot water, 
the same as a bran mash—two pailfuls of the 
dry meal at a time: then, while it was still 
warm, I fed it to 20 six-months-old pigs, 
mixed with kitchen slops. The pigs grew and 
fattened well. F. R - 
Sioux Falls, Dakota. 
£k I'D Crops. 
White Russian And White Zealand Oats. 
In the Spring of 1880 I obtained from seeds¬ 
man Gregory one bushel of White Zealand 
Oats; sowed them about the first of May on 
gravelly loam, and got only a small crop on 
account of the severe drought. Although I 
I paid a high price for the seeds, there was 
quite a sprinkling of other varieties mixed in; 
but before thrashing I sorted out enough for 
two bushels that I called pure. Last Spring 
I sowed them broadcast on the same ground 
as before, without manure except a little top- 
dressing on one corner, and got a splendid 
crop. They stood about five feet high and 
stood up well while other oats of as strong 
growth in the neighborhood lay flat on the 
ground. I also procured from D. M. Ferry 
& Co., one pound of White Russian Oats and 
sowed them alongside of the Zealand; they fell 
down badly and did not fill well. The heads 
of the two varieties are very similar, except 
that the heads on the Zealands were generally 
longer and ripened a few days earlier. 
Nunda, N. Y. d. l. b. 
-♦ - 
The Burbank Potato for Sandy Soil. 
Last seav n l planted the Burbank Seedling 
Potato, with four other kinds, on sandy land, 
to see which wonld grow best on that kind of 
soil. The Burbank seems to be just the potato 
for it. Its vigorous-looking stalks continued 
green till in September. The rest were all 
partially blighted the first week in July. The 
Burbanks grew mostly to a marketable size 
and most; of them were large. In the best 
spots I dug a bushel from fourteen hills. An 
acre of land contains 4,840 square yards, and 
with the same number of potato bills planted 
three feet apart, giving at the rate of a bushel 
to fourteen hills, the yield would considerably 
exceed 300 bushels to the acre. I should put 
its productiveness at from two to three hun¬ 
dred bushels per acre. It is a white, late po¬ 
tato, and is long and rather slender. I do not 
think one will find a hollow one in a car-load 
of them, and it is not inclined to grow ill¬ 
shaped or “ nubby.” It is a fair, smooth and 
a very good potato. G. H. c. 
Little Falls, N. Y. 
-« » ♦- ■ 
Success witli Potatoes. 
I take great pleasure in testing new seeds, 
and raising new seedlings. From Pringle’s 
hybridized potato seed I have 19 varieties of 
seedlings, some of them extra-fine. First pre¬ 
miums were awarded me last Fall for the best 
collection of seedling potatoes, at the fairs at 
Newcastle, Lawrence Co., aud at Mercer, 
Mercer Co., Pa. Out of 35 varieties of pota¬ 
toes tested last year, the following, varieties in 
the order named, proved the most productive: 
Late—Mammoth Pearl, St. Patrick, Belle, 
White Elephant, Perfection, Genesee County 
King, Burl»ank Seedling, Pride of America, 
White R se, Flake Nose, EarlyOhio, Watson 
Seedling, Early Vermont, and Beauty of 
Hebron. The best table varieties and late 
keepers were the Late Genesee Co. King, Early, 
Early Ohio and Early Vermont. dr. b. b. 
---- 
The Best Potatoes. —In a late Rural 
E. S., of Ephrath, N. Y., asks what va¬ 
riety of potato is most profitable. I test from 
one to SOU varieties each year, and the follow¬ 
ing l have found the best on my soil—a sandy 
loam : early, first, Brownell's Early Tel¬ 
ephone ; second, Clark's No. 1 : third, 
Beauty of Hebron : late—White Star, Late 
Ohio, White Elephant, Belle, Grange. Am. 
Magnum Bonuni is a fine potato, but with me 
the yield was light. Brownell’s Early Tel¬ 
ephone is the best early variety I have ever 
grown for appearance, quality and yield. I 
have none for sale of any variety. 
Harrisou Co., Iowa. J. L. Perkins. 
way by which this improvement was made. 
First, I cleared off tho stone from one lot of 
about 15 acres, which was plowed in the 
Spring aiul manured with barnyard manure. 
This was done until 75 acres were cleared, and 
in producing order. For the last two years I 
have cleared up 25 acres more, making 100 
acres in all. These 100 acres ore manured 
with barnyard manure, muck, salt and lime 
mixed as follows: 100 loads of muck, 50 loads 
of barnyard manure, 10 loads of lime and two 
tons of salt. The muck and manure should be 
well rotted before being mixed with salt and 
lime. Funning pay s if farmers will take ewe 
jv to Kill Quack Grass.— Here is the 
alopted in Suffolk Co., N. Y., for killing 
est. With a No. 21 New York or a No. 
u-beam plow run a furrow two inches or 
aid -one-half inches deep ; follow in the 
furrow to the required depth with a No. 
jw York plow, always turning the soil 
e top of the first furrow. Then with the 
iary use of the burrow, cultivator cr 
i-hoe, there will be no further trouble 
Foxtail Seed. —Last Fall I had 150 bushels I 
of Pigeon or Foxtail grass seed, weighing 57 | 
Statements of experience in farming from 
farmers, where true experience is given, are 
beneficial, but where a large part is theory 
only, they are not worth much. Of this kind 
are some of the Notes by a Stockman: 
In tho Rural of October 1, last year, for 
instance, page 668, he puts land at $->0 per 
acre, and taxes at 50 cents per acre. New if 
the land is worth but $50 per acre, the taxes 
are about one third of what he estimates and 
the interest about one-half, for laud interest 
should not be estimated higher than United 
States bonds; for laud is as good security as 
