♦ 
SEPT SO 
670 
THE RURAL HEW-YORKER. 
thus formed over the seed is harrowed down, 
but not until the pieces have begun to sprout, 
so they are protected against cold snaps. 
Cayuga. Nurseries, September 12, 1S82. 
I send the Rural a sample of our new seed¬ 
ling plum, '‘the Shipper’s Pride.” This plum 
has borne flue crops of fruit for the last five 
years, and 1 consider it worth propagating. 
Can you give it favorable mention through 
your columns? H. S. Wiley. 
[This isa large, dark-purple, oval plum, firm, 
juicy and sweet. Should say it is well worthy 
of propagation. Eds.] 
The Champion Grape is the first to ripen 
with Mr. Williams, of Montclair, N. J., who 
sent specimens to this ollloe September '.) 
He picked his first specimen Septembers, eat¬ 
able and salable, but not fully ripe. 
Black Hawk, Moore’s Early, Cottage, 
Worden, Hartford Prolific and Ives’ Seed¬ 
ling follow within a week, all of which ax - e 
better to eat. and for private use are worth 
waiting for . f , .,.. 
Cottage, Mr. Williams says, is a good 
thing. Worden is better and makes larger 
clusters These are all earlier than Corcord, 
and, being fully as healthy and, vigorous 
growers, ranv be planted with safety. 
Cottage fruits this year with us for the 
first. The above shows the average bunch. 
It was the first of our black grapes to ripen 
CATALOGUES. ETC., 
The Agricultural Review and Journal 
of the American Agricultural Association for 
August. The third quarterly issue of tbisyear 
contains articles as follows:—The Composi¬ 
tion of Grasses at their Various Periods of 
Development, by Clifford Richardson, 1'. S. 
Dept, of Agriculture; The Railroad and 
the Farmer, No. 2, by Hon. Edward Atkin¬ 
son, of Boston, Mass; Seed Grain—Barley, 
byT. Bo wick, Esq., Bedford, England; The 
South as a Stock Country, by Col. J. H. 
Moore, Oakley, Arkansas; Corn and Wheat, 
by Prof. A. E. Blount, Colorado Agricultu¬ 
ral College; American Agriculture, by Gen. 
Francis A. Walker, late Superintendent of 
the Census; The South for Immigrants, by A 
Pope, Esq., Richmond, Va.; Forrycliffe Farm 
and its Herd, by Col. Geo. E. Waring, Jr., 
Newport, R. I. Also articles on the New 
York Agricultural Experiment Station, Burr 
Oaks 40,000-acre Farm, Remington and Fern- 
wood Farm?, Dairying and Dairy Improve¬ 
ments, The Tariff Commission, etc. The 
Agricultural Preview is published quarterly 
and devoted to agriculture and industry. 
Terms, $3 per year. Jos. n. Real!, Editor 
and Publisher, 10 University Place, New 
York. 
The Storks & Harrison Co. Painesville, 
Lake Co., Ohio. Dollar collections of plants. 
Bulbs of all kinds for Fall culture, roses, 
fruit trees, grape-vines, ornamental shrubs, 
etc. 
Indiana Agricultural Reports for 1881, 
528 pages. Alex. Heron, Indianapolis, Sec¬ 
retary. 
Hand Book of Farm Engines. Russell & 
Co., Massillon, O. A practical guide to the 
seleciion and management of steam ma¬ 
chinery. 
•-- 
Pkrcheron-Norman Horses, “ They 
give the best satisfaction,” is what A. 
M Stein & Co., Brooklyn, N. Y., Bay of one" 
half and three-quarter blood Percheron- 
Norman horses, according to the Chicago 
Tribune. The firm handles 2,000 horses 
annually, mostly heavy draft. “We handle 
more of the Percheron-Normans than of any 
other breed,” said they to the Tribune corres¬ 
pondent, “There is more demand for them. 
They give the best satisfaction, no matter how 
little of t*>e blood there is in them. Generally 
they have good feet, and last letter on our 
pavements than any of the other breed?.” 
Nearly 1,000 of Percheron-Norman horses, in 
their purity, have been imported from France 
and bred by M. W. Dunham, Wayne, Ill., 
who now has on his farm about 400 of them. 
Since our experiments with soils of differ 
ent densities we have never had occarion to 
change our mind, that stirring the soil con¬ 
serves moisture not by aeting as a mulch but 
by admitting more waterduring rainfalls and 
by condensing more vapor from the air which 
is the more readily admitted. The able Mr. 
W. A. Armstrong, of the Elmira Farmers 
Club, puts one phase of the question thus 
forcibly: 
“Pass over a field w r ell fallowed during 
Summer by repeated plowines. and you find 
everywhere moist Perth an inch or two below 
the surface. Why? Because the atmosphere, 
charged more or less with moisture, has pen¬ 
etrated, and condensation has taken from it 
the water it carried in. Set a pitcher of ice 
water on this table and in a few moments the 
pitcher will be covered with drops of water. 
The surface has not leaked, there is the full 
amount of water in it, but the colder temper¬ 
ature has operated to condense on the pitcher 
part of the water held by air in the room. 
Precisely the same thing occurs in a drained 
and loosened soil. We cultivate and hoe corn 
and potatoes, not to change the relative posi¬ 
tion of earth with reference to the plant?, but 
to change its character—to make dry earth 
moist through condensation of vapor con¬ 
stantly passing or entering the soil when in 
condition to receive it.” 
The Man of Mark Lane (England) save that 
we apparently delight so greatly in protec¬ 
tion that we are row protecting ourselves 
against immigrants, bv levying a tax of two 
shillings a head upon them. Could anything 
be more utterly mean than such a roll tax? he 
ask?. It is a disgrace to the people of the Uni¬ 
ted States, and a libel upon their hospitality. 
It is their Congress which has levied the tax. 
and there i» yet reason to hope that a great 
majority of the people will repudiate such 
shabby conduct; but until the repudia'ion 
appears, the discredit will rest upon the nation. 
Is America for the future to be “the Land of 
the Free” only “for a consideration?” 
Saving Garbages Till Spring.— The Ger¬ 
mantown Telegraph knows of no better way 
to preserve cabbages through the Winter than 
that which it has recommended for a number 
of years. It is to plant or set them up in 
rowB as they grow—that is, with the roots 
down—fill in with soil pretty freely, then 
make a covering by planting two posts where 
there is a fence to rest on. or four where there 
is not, allowing for a pitch to carry off the 
water; lay bean-poles opposite the way of 
the pitch and cover with corn-fodder or straw 
or hoards In using through the Winter avoid 
as much as possible the sun side and close up 
again. We have not found that setting the 
cabbage upside-down in the rows, as many 
du, of any advantage, as we have kept ours 
through 20 seasons in the way mentioned in a 
sound, perfect condition, into the Spring, and 
could even up to the first of May if desirable. 
We see other methods recommended, and 
they may answer just as well, but as to our 
own we speak from a long experience. Who 
can give a better plan? 
— 
Bulletin VII of the N. Y. Experiment 
Station gives some results from the use of seed 
pieces cut deep and shallow. The deep pieces 
yield at the rate of 152 bushels of merchant¬ 
able potatoes and 32 of small. Ordinary cuts 
yield 127 bushels of merchantable potatoes and 
75 of small. Pacey’s Ray Grass, a variety of 
Loliurn perenne, promises to be, it seems, a 
superior grass for pastures. The Hairy Soja 
Bean, the Director thinks, affords much 
promise as a forage plant. This bean (Soja- 
hispida) was tested at the Rural Farm during 
the Summer of last year and our report was 
far from favorable to this bean as a forage 
plant. The report with a full-page engraving 
will be found in the Rural New-Yorker of 
Jan. 7, 1882, page 9. 
BOILED DOWN AND SEASONED. 
Dr. Hoskins contends that the American 
Racer Pea, in quality, is in advance of all 
other yellow peas... 
Sow seeds of hollyhocks—of all hardy pe¬ 
rennials or biennials—if you hope to have 
bloom next year. 
Herr is a reminder from Bliss’s Garden: 
“Hyacinths, to bloom about Christmas or 
New Year, should be potted now, in rich, 
light soil The pots should be placed in a dark, 
cool cellar, covered with four to five inches of 
sand or light, soil, and kept moderately dry. 
When the pots become well filled with root3 
they may he brought to a light, cool room, 
increasing the temperature gradually and 
giving plentv of water.”..... 
Send for the Fall catalogues, that give full 
listsof all bulbs suitable for Fall planting, with 
explicit instructions as to the doing of it...... 
Mr Purdt says in effect: Cut the grapes 
from the vine with a pair of scissors or grape 
shears, so as not to rub off the bloom. Carry 
them to the cellar. Remove all green berries 
from the bunches by the use of long-pointed 
shears. Pack in small boxes bolding five 
pounds each. Pack the bunches one at a time, 
and so that when the cover is removed the 
- stems will not be visible. 
Tue ever guarded Prof. 8. W. Johnson says 
that he thinks ensilage and silo expenses well 
enough for fancy farmers who have plenty of 
money to spend, but he doubts if a poor far¬ 
mer would be able to pay money and interest 
applied to building silos and saving ensilage. 
Rural readers! wo think you will one day have 
occasion to thank us for our conservative 
course in this ensilage matter.. 
The French Minister of Agriculture has 
placed at the disposal of M. Pasteur a further 
sum of 50,000 francs, to enable him to continue 
bis researches in connection with contagious 
diseases of animals. 
The spectacle of able-bodied men (“ tramps”) 
roaming the country in a pretended search 
for work, while honest folk are toiling for 
bread and the fields are crying aloud for work¬ 
ers, is scandalous. So forcibly says the Lon¬ 
don Gazette. 
Hill up the celery to be u?ed first—bank 
up in a week after. But do not hill up the 
Winter celery.. 
A top dressing of fine manure for wheat is 
thought to be a very economical expenditure 
by many good farmers... 
Manure for coin, applied and well spread 
on the ?od in Autumn, to lie turned over for 
corn in the Spring, always acts beneficially 
by enriching the soil more effectually than if 
applied in Spring. Seme of the best farmers 
estimate the benefit double, says the Albany 
Cultivator. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Dakota. 
Bridgewater, McCook Co., Sept. 9.— 
Wheat averages about 23 bushels, thrashers’ 
measure; by weight, 26 to 28 bushels to the 
acre. Flax, oats and barley, 14, 60 and 40, 
respectively. Corn, where properly tended, 
will average about 40 bushels, and is out of 
the way of frost. Potatoes yield from two to 
three hundred bushels to the acre. w. 
Ranann. 
Parsons, Labette Co., Sept. 10.—Our largo 
wheat crop is going on to consumption rap¬ 
idly at about 80 cents per bushel. Some was 
used for feed ; unusually much is going for 
seed, and some loaned and sold to neighbors 
who sowed none for fear of the Chinch Bugs. 
There will be a large area put in wheat this 
Fall; not much yet in; a good crop and good 
prices have given the farmers a slight craze. 
Castor Beans are in large acreage, but the 
yield is smaller than usual, chiefly owing to 
the cool Summer. The corn crop is made and 
the results are more than an average crop in 
the three eastern tiers of counties; proceeding 
thence westward the effects of drouth increase. 
The Kansas corn crop will be found to have 
been exaggerated. Of oats while the crop is 
large in bulk, all through the West the weight 
is sadly wanting and therefore the value. The 
crop of late potatoes is uncertain, as our rain¬ 
fall for two months has been light. Dairy 
products, eggs and chickens are 40 per cent 
above average prices. Fruit and vegetables 
unusually plentiful and good; apple#, “10 to 50 
cents per bashel, and peaches 50 cents to $1.20 
per bushel for the best. Hay, good crop; 
prairie, $3 per ton. J. u. 
New York. 
Guilford, Chenango Co., Sept. 12.—With 
us the past has been a peculiar season. May 
was very dry; June and the first week in 
July was very wet; since then only one soak¬ 
ing rain and that about a week ago. Hay a 
good crop; worth $10. Corn a poor crop; 
also potatoes; no after feed, and corn fodder 
the poorest crop I ever saw. A dismal out¬ 
look for farmers with a large stock of cattle 
and short pastures. M. k. u. 
Mayfield, Fulton Co., Sept. 7.—I think 
quite a number of my neighbors will try wheat 
this Fall. We have used commercial fertili¬ 
zers in this town and vicinity quite largely, 
and farmers begin to see it pays well to use 
them. Our crops are looking quite well 
wherever fertilizers have been used. Com 
will be about an average crop if frost holds 
off till about Sept. 20. Buckwheat is looking 
quite well. Potatoes will not be a large yield 
with us; the tops look well, but there are few 
tubprs in a hill. My White Elephant will be 
the best of all the twelve different kii.ds I 
have planted this year. S. w. 
Wisconsin. 
Delavan, Walworth Co., Sept. 14.—Corn 
ripening magnificently—many early pieces 
now fit to cut. Potatoes an immense crop; 
now bringing at the cars 25 cents per bushel. 
Apples light, but with seedlings and all shall 
make out passably well for Fall use; good 
apples, 60 cents per bashel. Weather superb. 
What a glorious season, after all! f. k. r. 
-- 
RURAL SEED REPORTS. 
Dakota. 
Bridgewater, McCook Co., Sept. 9 —Tne 
Rural Dent Corn is certainly a great curiosity. 
I have 100 hills, the smallest stalk measuring 
eight inches around, and ears ns large in pro¬ 
portion (two to every stalk); will require three 
week? yet to get out of the way of frost, w. 
Kansas. 
Hkdgewood. Norton Co., Sept. 12 —Your 
efforts in behalf of the American agricultur¬ 
ist, not only in publishing so valuable a paper 
but in disseminating such a variety of new. 
choice seedR and plant?, are worthv of much 
praise. Well may you be “vain!” But, as 
we take the bitter with the sweet, while others 
have good success with the seeds and plants, I 
have nothing but failures. Plea«e don’t ac¬ 
cuse me of lacking industry or good judgment. 
I wifi not detail last year’s failures, hut this 
year’s. I trenched a piece of ground, Foll- 
pl< wing with the comer of my hoe, and 
sowed therein, four and six inches apart, the 
different kinds of wheat, and covered about 
half m inch deep, stepping on It to “ roll ” it. 
It came up nicely. After it had tillered some¬ 
what T plowed it with a sulky corn plow and 
hoed it. It never jointed, and the rust killed 
it. The Rural Flint Corn was planted on 
Spring plowing. Nearly every kernel grew, 
and from the way it suckered I think one 
kernel in a hill is plentv. I plowed it twice 
and hoed it. Not a weed wa? in it. It grew 
about eight feet high: but few ears set and 
filled—not one to a hill. Drouth killed the 
corn. The corn is a splendid fodder plant. 
The Perfect Gem Squash seeds grew and we 
hoed and watered the plants, being careful to 
draw a little dry earth up after watering, so 
thal the ground should not pack. The vines 
blossomed but not a squash set, Mv wife is 
delighted with the flowers; she says “They 
are just splendid Shall save every kernel 
of the Flint Corn for next season, d. e s. 
[We are obliged for so kindly an apprecia¬ 
tion in the face of such disappointment?. One 
unpleasant thing about our seed distributions 
is that they fail in many places, though, of 
course, this is to be looked for.—E ds.] 
New York. 
MALC0LM,8eneca Co.,8ept.!).—I have eleven 
fine seedling dentzias, three years old, from 
Rural seed. I was obliged to transplant 
them last Spring, so only two of them 
bloomed. One was double and the other sin¬ 
gle. Both had a pink flush on the under side 
of the petals. The Cutbbert Raspberries prove 
themselves prolific hearers. They have been 
the pride of the household. You deserve 
great credit for disseminating so valuable a 
potato as the Beauty of Hebron. We kept 
ours this season for late use, and they were so 
good that we were in no burry for new pota 
toes. We used them till August 1st. 8. A. L. 
£I)C (Oucvbt. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Evi rv querv must be accompanied by the name 
and address of the writer to Insure attention.] 
GARGKTEI) udders. 
W. S, B., Madalin, N. Y .—I have two 
heifers with diseased udders—one. a three- 
year-old dropped her first calf in February. 
She was fleshy at that time and her udder 
much swollen, but it yielded to treatment and 
she has given milk ever since. About two 
months ago an unpleasant, fetid smell was 
discovered while milking. No sati-factory 
cause could be assigned for this. The milk 
Beemed at times to be impregnated with the 
odor. Presently a running sore was dis¬ 
covered on the front part of the udder near 
its junction with the body. From this came 
a fetid discharge gradually thickeniug until it 
scabbed over and dried up; but only to re-ap- 
pear. The other heifer is a two-year-old, has 
given milk four months and is affected iu the 
same way. Both are in apparently good health. 
The sore commenced with an irregular crack 
