648 THE BUBAL NEW-YORKER. SEPT 8 
Though the records of the more or less 
regularly recurring seasons of drought and 
heat followed by' other seasons of heavy rain¬ 
fall and low temperature, do not begin earlier 
than 1848, if we take the trouble to count back 
by sevens twenty-eight years, we shall come 
across some curious and interesting facts in 
respect to two or more remarkable epochs. 
Thus, counting back from 1843 and 1844, the 
former of which was hot and dry, and the 
latter cold and wet , we have 1S36-37 for the 
first period, 1829 30 for the second, 1822-23 for 
the third and 181518 for the fourth. In the 
absence of anything more than very meagre 
records of temperature and rainfall, we know 
very little about the weather character of the 
three first periods, but the fourth was so re¬ 
markable for its low temperature and the fail¬ 
ure of crop*, the year 1810 has become a 
landmark in the history of the country. But 
the period of 1886 87 was equally remarkable 
for a great commercial revulsion and for high 
prices followed by prices fnliing so near to 
their lowest limits, that we have good reasons 
to infer the same causes operateo as after the 
great droughts of 1850. 18G7, 1S74 and 1881. 
Hereafter the subject of the weather and 
its relation to crops is not likely to be neglect¬ 
ed ns formerly .and an observer will be suffered 
to druw conclusions from facts gathered, 
without incurring the discredit of settingup as 
a prophet, or a soothsayer. Already the great 
newspapers of Chicago give daily a third of a 
column of their best space to records of the 
weather and if they neglect the mean of the 
barometer and thermometer and fail to give 
the total daily rainfall, and therefore lose 
half their value for agriculture they are a 
great deal better tlmu silence, and such are 
important matters and will soon be reformed. 
Tnen, beside the National .Signal Service 
stations, scattered throughout the country, 
the Ohio Legislature has provided for a 
Meteorological Bureau iu connection with the 
Agricultural College at Columbus, which, be¬ 
side a main olllce at that point, will have a 
station for each one of the twenty Congres¬ 
sional Districts iu the State. From these re¬ 
ports of the weather will be daily forwarded 
to the main c fiice, there collated and there¬ 
after given to the newspapers. Other States, 
will, no doubt, follow this wise example; the 
National Signal Service will be enlarged and 
by the time of the approach of the next great 
drought and rainy period lor the Valley of 
the Mississippi, the Bubal Nbw-YoBk.kr and 
other wide-awake agricultural papers, will 
have months before warned us of it, and some 
of the w isest w ill have prepared for its coming. 
But after such a text and so much time taken 
up iu explanation it remains to make the ap 
plication as clear and forcible as may be. 
So far into the growing seasou for the West 
and East both April, May, June and July 
have bail a lower mean temperature than 
since 1810, and since in other cool years fol 
lowing great droughts the corn crop of the 
country has failed to a greater or less extent, 
w e may pretty safely count upon another f >r 
1882. But the corn crop failed to such a de¬ 
gree in 1881—tue price of corn and wheat at 
this time (July 24) iu Central Illinois is only 
10 cents apart, viz., 90<§,95o. for wheat and 
80 (aSx\ for corn—a second failure is pretty 
sure to result in a condi'ion of things we can 
only guess at, because we have no parallel 
within our recollection for comparison. 
How much the cost of beef, pork aud lard 
will be advanced over the present prices it is 
impossibl > to tell, or what the result will be 
of practically partially etoppiug the consump¬ 
tion of leading f aid products; but it is enough 
to say that corn and all that depends upon 
corn will be scarce and high, and it will be 
the part of wisdom to discount as much as 
possible these disasters. Iu the first place, 
let the farmer provide seed corn for next 
year’s crop from the giow th of 1881, and then 
let him beware of selling ‘short’’of wheat and 
other small grains and hay and forage aud 
vegetables of all kinds. In Central Illinois 
many farmers have so little confidence iu this 
year’s corn crop they have already secured 
the seed for 1883, and are withholding from 
market a much larger portion of their sur¬ 
pluses than usual. 
In regard to the future, almost auything 
might be hazarded in the way of prophecy of 
very unusual thiugs agricultural happeuiug 
within the next twelve months, such is the 
extraordinary character of the present agri 
cultural situation. But if, a year ago at this 
date, one had hazarded the prophecy that 
corn would be within 10 cents of the price 
Cl wheat within a yetr, that the best b*f 
would sell iu Chicago for nine cents a pound, 
live weight; that (Hitatoes and other vege¬ 
tables would be imported from Great Britain 
into Illinois and sell for $1.50 u bushel in 
large quantities, he would have been regarded 
as little belter liau a visionury half fool; so 
aow, were one to predict a rise iu the price 
of alcohol of 50 cents a gallon, 50 cents for 
beefsteak in Eastern cities, lard by whole¬ 
sale at 14(&15 cents a pound, and pork aud 
beef products equally high, the price of corn 
exceeding that of wheat nearly as much as 
the rule has been the other way, and finally 
the importation, from at home or abroad, of 
corn into Illinois, that venturesome one 
would have just us good, if not better, rea¬ 
sons for bis imagined programme of the 
fut ure us the seer of 1881. 
Champaign Co., Ill. 
-■ 
SUBDUING CANADA THISTLES. 
That Canada thistles are a great pest to the 
farmer no one can deny and it is a disgrace to 
our farmers and to their system of farming that 
they are allowed gradually to spread over the 
Northern States till every breeze that sweeps 
our fields is charged with the downy globes 
bearing the pestilential seed to still other 
fields beyond. It surprises me that so much 
Mdo is made and that such an easy thing as 
killing, utterly killing, a Canada thistle 
should be magnified until most people who 
happen to be so unfortunate as to have u plot 
on their farms at once give up and say the 
pests can’t lie exterminated. To show that I 
have had some experience and that 1 know 
what I am talking about, 1 will state that I 
have owned four farms that, when bought, 
were badly infested with these thistles; but in 
every case 1 have succeeded in ridding all cul¬ 
tivated fields of them and 1 do not ask but a 
single season to effect this. 
I have harvested this year a fifteen-acre 
field of wheat that eight years ago I seeded 
with clover and the next year, as the thistles 
were just show ing a little bloom, 1 mowed it 
and got a very heavy crop of thistles and a 
fair crop of clover mixed In; well cured it did 
not make lwd hny. After mowing I applied a 
little plaster. This started the clover much 
quicker than the thistl«s I and these, by the way, 
were much weakened by mowing just at this 
time, and when they did begin to show they 
were very weak and yellow. As soon as the 
clover had a (pod start and was about knee- 
high—say here about the first or middle of 
August—I put in the plows and carefully plow¬ 
ed it all over. No balks, skips or cut and 
covered places can now lie excused. After 
plowing I had it harrowed and if any thistle 
was left uncovered I had it cut off below 
ground. As the entire success of this method 
depends upon thoroughness, I watched the 
ground carefully and when the thistles began 
to show I hid it gone over with a broad, 
sharp-toothed cultivator which cut every 
thistle. Two duyfPMP^^rrds I sent a trusty 
man over the field and with a sharp hoe he cut 
off all plants of the thistle that happened to es¬ 
cape the cultivators. It will be seen that each 
time the thistles start they will lie paler and 
weaker, aud if followed closely with cultiva¬ 
tor and hoe, they will soon give up the 
struggle and life together. Just before freez 
ing up, the land should be well plowed and it 
will form the finest kind of a field for barley, 
oats, early potatoes or mangels. 
We shall also by this method be enabled to 
secure a crop ou our land every year and on 
our high-priced land of Western New York, 
this is very essential. I am aware that there 
are many way* by which Canada thistles have 
been killed in single instances, such as mow¬ 
ing, hoeing, aud plow ing, and this has given 
rise to the popular belief that certain signs of 
the zodiac or certain conditions of the moon 
have something to do with their extermination; 
but the method I have described above has 
never yet failed, and does not depend at all 
on signs or state of the moon, but only on 
thoroughness, and if well done there is no 
such w ord as fail. 
Besides this, it will be found to be much 
more effectual in cleaning the land from all 
weeds than the summer fallow. By the early 
mowing everything will be cut off before it 
has had time to perfect the seed, and by the 
subsequent plowing and frequent cultivating 
all seeds in the soil will be brought tiear thesur 
face and induced to germiuate and be killed 
and the land will be made very clean and put 
In the very' best possible condition for a Spriug 
crop. We shall also be enabled to grow a 
crop on our land each year, and on high- 
priced land this is very essential to profitable 
farming. 
Where a man has only a small plot of 
thistles on his farm, he can get rid of them iu 
many ways—continuous plowing and eultiva 
ting; putting tt fence about the plot and 
using it for a hog pasture with occasional 
plowing; covering the surface deeply with 
stiaw, and should a thistle come through the 
mulch, pitch it over soas to either break it i tf 
or cover it up. Any treatment that shall pre¬ 
vent the pests from perfecting any leaves must 
result iu exhaustion aud death. Where there 
is only a single spot ora very few spots of 
thistles on a farm, the owner cannot be too 
careful to prevent the root-stalks from adher¬ 
ing to plow or cultivator in working them aud 
thus toeing transplanted to some other part of 
the farm. With the most constant watchful¬ 
ness and careful cultivation, should you hap¬ 
pen to live iu a couutry badly T infested with 
thistles, you will find them continually ap¬ 
pearing here and there over your farm, grow¬ 
ing from seeds lodged thereby the wind from 
the field of some careless and slovenly neigh¬ 
bor; but when once subdued, with generous 
manuring, good cultivation and full cropping 
with both grain and grass, and by occasional 
ly fall-fallowing a field, as 1 have above de 
scribed, y’uu may sleep soundly and contented¬ 
ly—the thistles will never amount to much 
and good crops will be uniformly secured. 
Lockport, N. Y. J. S. Woodward. 
POSSIBLE PROFITS OF SILK CULTURE. 
So many farmers’ wives and daughters 
have written me from this part of the coun¬ 
try as to the profits of silk culture that 1 beg 
to answer them through the Rural columns. 
Ever/ woman, no matter if she have only a 
city lot, can make money in silk culture, and 
an acre would be quite a little farm, and to 
some women a fortune, for one acre planted 
in mulberry trees (500; will feed 100,000 
worms; 100,000 worms will spin 100,000 
cocoons; 100,000 cocoons will give 50,000 male 
and 50,000 female moths; 50,000 female moths 
will lay 500 ounces of eggs; 500 ounces of 
eggs will bring, at $2.00 per ounce, wholesale, 
$1,000; 200 pounds of pierced cocoons (those 
that the moths have come out of) at 50 cents 
per pound are worth $100, making a total of 
$1,100, all for eight weeks’ work, provided care 
has been taken and the race of worm Pyre- 
nian. 
Unless raisers are certain the race is un¬ 
mixed and Pjrrenian, they had better stifle 
their cocoons, for if a dealer bought mixed 
eggs of them once he would never buy of 
them again. 
The same number of worms would yield 
about 271 pounds of dry cocoons, which at 
the present low prioe of one dollar per pound 
would yield $271. But what crop or occupa¬ 
tion would yield more for eight weeks’ work? 
Any Northern State is good for silk cul 
ture. provided the eggs are kept at a temper¬ 
ature of about 40 degrees until the leaves are 
out on the mulberry trees; and eggs raised 
North are the healthiest and hardiest of any 
eggs raised. Vegetabl -s planted between the 
rows of the mulberry trees will do well, and 
the trees will be the better for the cultiva¬ 
tion. Less than $50 should start one in silk 
culture, if he already has the land. The 
eggS should not cost over $4 per ounce or $25 
per 1,000; and the finest Morus Japonic* Mul 
berry trees should not cost over $3) per hun¬ 
dred. 
Some have written me they have paid from 
$4o to $160 per ounce for eggs. He who 
charges such a price is a swindler. 
L. Capsadkll, 
Secretary of New York Silk Exchange. 
[The writer, it will be seen, states what can 
be done providing there is no failure any¬ 
where; but novices should bear in mind that 
some eggs may fail to hatch from one reason 
or another, and many worms may die, thus 
materially lessening the number of cocoons 
and the profits therefrom, so we simply' state 
that begiuners should not expect too much. 
Experience in silk culture is necessary to the 
best success Begin on a small scale.—E ds.] 
ABOUT THE MARLBORO. 
A LETTER FROM ITS ORIOINATOR. 
In a late issue the Rural gives its opinion 
of the Marlboro Raspberry', and Mr. Hen¬ 
dricks also tells the readers what he saw of it 
when he visited it. My chief purpose in writ¬ 
ing is to contradict a current report that the 
stock of the Marlboro had been sold. As Mr. 
Hendricks states, there was something said by 
a gentlemen about a “refusal,” but all that 
has occurred thus far iu regard to sale has 
been random talk. 
In the notice the Rural gave of the boxes 
and branches of fruit I sent it, the Editor re¬ 
marked that he "hoped it would produce just 
such fruit iu less favored localities.” This 
sentiment of hardy' fruits widely differing in 
different localities has obtained throughout 
the couutry generally,without facts to support 
it aud without knowledge. It is true of a cer¬ 
tain class of fruits, born with some constitu¬ 
tional weakness, or carried too far from their 
native clime, yet I believe that most of the 
failures are owiug more to the handling than 
to the locality. In my immediate vicinity 
certain parties succeed with cereals and fruits, 
and adjoining neigh bora, with soil and loca¬ 
tion the same, totally fail with the same 
varieties. 
Our native fruits succeed everywhere the 
same, excepting when land is too light and 
poor to produce fruit at all, as in some parts 
of Long Island, New Jersey', Maryland and 
Delaware. By "uative fruits” I mean, such 
as Concord, Clinton, Northern Muscadine, 
Ulster Prolific, and Delaware for grapes, 
nearly all of the cultivated blackberries and 
Black cap, Turner, Highland Hardy, Brandy¬ 
wine, C-uthbert and Lost Rubies raspber¬ 
ries, etc., etc. 
Inconsequence of the disregard whi'h has 
been exhibited by many parties in whose 
hands I have placed my new frifits for trial, 
and there being no adequate law to protect 
me, I have refused to put out any more to any 
person, but as the Rural is testing all the 
fruit9 of the country' strictly for the benefit of 
its readers, I w-ill say that I will place the 
Marlboro in the Editor’s hands. I think those I 
have refused will not think this a breach of 
my rule, as the Rural’s testing is in all re¬ 
spects similar to a government trial, which is 
now advocated, and then I think its test 
would be all the more important as I am in¬ 
formed that raspberries do not succeed w ell in 
the locality of the Rural Grounds,aud I have 
confidence enough in the Marlboro’s iron-clad 
character to place it there. 
A. J. Cat wood. 
[\Y t k have found that iu 19 cases out of 30, 
we are very safe in commending to the 
general public any small fruit that succeeds in 
the New Jersey Ex Grouu Is, w hetber it be a 
grape, raspberry, blackberry', strawberry or 
currant. This is owing, as we believe, to the 
springy character of the land. Our main 
road is called Spring Valley road from the 
liuudreds of springs which exist within a 
diameter of half a mile of w hich the Rural 
premises are the center,—E ds ] 
-- — 
MARKET STRAWBERRIES. OLD AND 
NEW. 
During the strawberry season of 1882, I 
traveled some 5,000 miles visiting most of the 
leading berry districts of theeountry', gaining 
whut information I could from growers, ship¬ 
pers, commission men, and retail dealers, and 
thus had ample opportunity to study the 
comparative merits of the different sorts both 
in the field and market; and from notes made 
at the time as well as from our o« n grounds, 
where we had more than 100 varieties in fruit¬ 
ing, 1 will as briefly' as possible try to give 
some idea of what to me seem to be the lead¬ 
ing aud most profitable varieties. 
Of the older sorts, such as were grown eight 
or ten years ago, only' the Wilson, Charles 
Downing, und Kentucky are now' grown to 
any extent, and as the Downing and Wilson 
during the past two years have suffered worse 
from rust or leaf blight than others, they are 
rapidly being supplanted by newer and more 
vigorous, if uot better varieties. 
Of the newer sorts, Crescent Seedling, 
Windsor Chief, Miner’s Prolific, and Sharp¬ 
less are the sorts most grown, and while there 
are many others grown for local markets, I 
think it safe to say that nine tenths of all the 
strawberries sent to market were of the seven 
varieties named—two-thirds of the amount 
being Wilsons and Crescent Seedlings, and 
the other third being about equally divided 
betw'een the other five. 
While the Wilson is yet grown to such an 
extent it is a fact worthy of mention that in 
looking about the leading markets of the New 
England, Middle, aud Western States, I was 
only able to find one single crate of really choice 
fruit of that vurlety, and that came from 
Barnesville, Ohio, and sold in Chicago at 35ets. 
per quart, wholesale. 
Many fine aud showy Crescents were found 
selling at good paying prices, but the general 
verdict of the market-men was: “We don’t 
like it; it’s too soft, and we hope it will soon 
be driven out of market by some berry that 
will at least keep over night.” For near mar¬ 
ket, however, where it can be sold aud eaten 
the same day it is picked, it is a very profita 
ble, early berry, especially' on light, dry soil. 
Of the very new sorts, while there area num¬ 
ber that may pi ove of value in certain localities 
aud on some soils, the only ones that promise 
to be of great value as market sorts, are the 
Manchester and Finch’s Irolifie, both of 
w bicb possess shipping qualities not found in 
any other sorts, old or new, except the Wil¬ 
son, and as that variety seems to have lost 
its health and vigor of former years, produc¬ 
ing only moderate crops of inferior fruit both 
in size und quality, it is my opinion as well as 
that of many of the fruIt-growersthat 1 found 
testing these two sorts with others, that one 
or both of them will very' soon be the leading 
market berry or berries of the country. 
Finch’s Prolific, as seen on the grounds o 
its originator, in Ohio, reminds me of the 
Wilson of twenty years ago, except that it is 
a little brighter in color, and uot quite so 
acid. Manchester haslieen so fully described 
iu the Rural, during the past year, that it 
would be time and space w asted for me to say 
more than that in the fifteen States and the 
Canadas where 1 have seea it in fruiting ou 
Fall set plants, it is fully sustaining the 
claims made for it last season, of being the 
most productive, of the largest average size, 
as well as the firmest berry in cultivation, 
and as said bv the Editor in his report from 
the Ruraj. Grounds, on July 8th, "Webave 
