OCT 14 
early enough the Fall previous to get well es¬ 
tablished before Winter, it had made a fine 
growth in the Spring, and at the time the ber¬ 
ries were in bloom it was three to three and- 
one-half feet high and was cut with a scythe 
down level with the tops of the plants in the 
row and as closely as possible between them, 
and the green straw placed carefully around 
and between the plants. 
It being a new idea to me, I write this 
brief note to the Rural, not so much to 
recommend it as to bring out, if possible, the 
ideas of others that may have tested it, and 
to have them tell the readers of the Rural 
what objections, if any, there are to this 
plau, for it seems to me that if no very se¬ 
rious objection can be made to it, rye may 
prove of especial value here in the East where 
mulching material of all sorts is very scarce 
and high in price. J. H. Hale. 
South Glastonbury, Conn. 
-- 
Tbe "Everlasting’’ Raspberry. 
I have cultivated an “ Everbearing Rasp¬ 
berry ” for some years, and think it quite a 
treat to have a nice dish of berries every day 
or two, till the snow comes, off our bushes. I 
have not seen a description of this or any 
similar berry, so will send tc-day the point of 
a cane with berries and a side branch with 
blossoms. The original was found by Dr. 
Wbippo, of Newcastle, Pa., growing wild. 
He took it home and cared for it some years, 
but did not increase the stock. At his death 
it passed into other handaand has been cultiva¬ 
ted in Lawrence and Beaver Counties in this 
State. The bearing canes do not root, so it 
does not increase as rapidly as other black 
caps. A few canes will be found prepared to 
root, and these keep up the stock. It requires 
good cultivation in open ground; does not 
bear well in the shade; yields an average crop 
in the berry season, and about the close, be¬ 
gins to ripen fruit on the new canes. There is 
a constant succession of blossoms till frost 
comes. I have picked the largest berries I 
ever saw from these or any other raspberry 
vines, this month. The fruit is solid, rich and 
sweet, but not quite as juicy as other black¬ 
caps. It is not the same as the “monthly 
raspberries;” this is a better bearer. 
Lawrence Co,, Pa. Anne Satterfield. 
[The cane sent is full of berries, ripe and 
unripe. W e have never seen the like of it at 
this season. Would not Miss S. sell us a plant 
for the Rural Grounds ?— Eds ] 
The Crescent Strawberry. 
I cannot see the Bense of the apparent 
wholesale condemnation of the Crescent 
Strawberry. With me it is larger and more 
showy than the Wilson, and escaped the late 
Spring frosts the best of any variety I had. 
It yielded very largely and briught good 
prices. What more can we expect for a 
market berry } The Sharpless was badly 
killed by frost, fulW one-third of tbe bloom 
having been ruined. It is a very large berry, 
but it will not come up to the Wilson or 
Crescent in yield. Bilwell gave a good crop 
of early and very beautiful fruit. It is one 
of the most vigorous plauts I have ever seen, 
no rust or blight. The Green Prolific does 
very well here. I find it is good to withstand 
the grub, as is also the Kentucky and 
Crescent. This alone is no small item when 
growing fruit for market. E. Engle. 
Beaver Co., Pa. 
THORN HEDGE. 
Farmers in most parts of the coun¬ 
try have more time in the Fall of the 
year that they can take for making im¬ 
provements on their farms than at auy 
any other season. Then would be the time 
for the farmer to commence to rear a perma¬ 
nent fence by settiug out small thoru bushes 
that are about a foot in hight, which would 
in a few years make a fence that stock would 
not get through, wind would not blow down, 
and time would have but little impression on. 
Thirteen years ago 1 set out a hedge of 'he 
Belted-leaf Thorn. I call it the Belted-leaf 
on account of a narrow strip of leaf along 
either side of the stem of the leaf on its entire 
length. [This appears to be the Dotted-fruit 
Thorn [Cratiegus puuetata), a common spe¬ 
cies in the Atlantic States, growing naturally 
along tbe borders of rivers, and capable of be¬ 
ing easily transplanted. The fruit is dull 
red or yellowish and dotted, and the leaves 
are wedge-shape, tapering below into a slen¬ 
der leaf stem. Properly trimmed and man¬ 
aged, it makes au excellent hedge.— Eds.] 
In eight years from the time of setting the 
hedge, it made a fence that cattle could not 
get through. 
In this vicinity we have three kinds of na¬ 
tive or American thorn. In 1871 I set a hedge 
of the Mountain or Round-leaf Thorn, and in 
six years it made a fair fence. This thorn is 
found along the brow of high hills, and when 
planted in fertile soil grows very rapidly; but 
does not make as strong a fence as the Belt-leaf. 
The third variety would be known best by its 
large leaf, which is about four inches in width. 
Thisthorn is not as suitable for a hedge on ac¬ 
count of its tendency to grow up a single stalk 
and form a tree. The small thorn bushes can 
be set from six to eighteen inches apart in the 
line of the hedge, and should be trimmed back 
every year or two, to cause them to spread 
and fill up the space between. Where the 
land is moist a ditch should be dug along one 
side of the hedge and the soil throwu around 
the bushes. In parts of the country where 
the thorn does not grow, the better way to se¬ 
cure a hedge of it would be by getting thorn 
apples and sowing them where one wishes to 
have a hedge. The thorn apples are only 
worth the labor of picking them. 
In 1873 I sowed about 80 rods of the English 
Hawthorn. I got the thorn apples 18 months 
before sowing them, put them in a box and 
buried them beneath the reach of rrost, so 
that the ston° might decay sufficiently to open 
and permit the sprouts to issue; but a year’s 
time can be saved by putting them in che cel¬ 
lar. In most cellars they will decay enough 
so that they will grow the following Spring. 
The Hawthorn hedge has been trimmed 
back 1 hree times to one, two, and three feet, 
each time, which leaves it rather small after 
nine years’ growth. It is nearly twice as long 
in growing large enough to make a good 
fence as our native thorn, but its foliage is 
much prettier than tiat of auy of the Amer¬ 
ican thorns that I have seen. Where the 
thorn apples are to be sown for a fence, the 
laud should be thrown up into a large ridge, 
which can be done by back furrowiug a few 
furrows on each side. Manure and harrow it, 
clean it well of all grass roots, make a mark 
in the center of the ridge, then drop the seeds 
thickly; cover them one inch with fine soib 
and the work is done. E. D. c. 
Cherry Valley, N. Y. 
Missouri Agricultural College. 
I am very sorry I did not have this report 
out in time for your last week’s paper, but 
perhaps you can use it now. 
During 18S1-82 twelve varieties of wheat 
were grown on the College Farm. The laud 
selected for testing the comparative merits of 
the different sorts was a portion of the white- 
oak ridge east of the farm house where the 
soil was of very even character, and lying in 
such a position that each variety of wheat was 
sown upon the top of the ridge and also upon 
land slopirg to the north and to the Bouth. 
The land was subsoiled in 1877. and in 1S78 
received about ten wagon loads per acre of 
stable manure; since that time it had been 
in wheat constantly, this being the fourth suc¬ 
cessive crop without manure. 
In August, 1881, the land was plowed and 
afterward rolled and harrowed to put the soil 
in as fine condition as possible. The laud was 
laid out in plots containing one-fourth of an 
acre each, one variety being sown on each 
on September 20th at the rate of one-aud one- 
half bushel per acre. During the Winter the 
field, containing 2(5 acres, was closely pastured, 
40 hogs being kept upon it until April 1st. 
Some of the results of the trial are shown in 
the following table: 
b roni tbe table above it will be sc 9 n that the 
best yields were from the Fultz, two plots of 
which were sown, one near each extremity of 
the trial ground. Of the newer varieties the 
Ostery seems the most promising; although its 
yield iu this trial was less than the average. 
The seed was received from Russia in 1877 and 
its average yield since then has beeu thirty- 
two and ouo-fourth bushels per acre, aud it8 
average weight sixty-two pounds two ounces 
per bushel—heavier than any other white 
wheat we have grown. Its extreme hardiness, 
the stiffness of its straw, and its early ripen¬ 
ing are strong points in its favor. 
The Spark’s Swamp, received last year from 
the U. S. Department of Agriculture, seeni 3 
to be identical with the old Mediterranean. 
Washington Glass ripens too late to be of 
value here. Bennett makes too heavy a 
growth of straw in as rainy a season as the 
last, but may do better in drier Summers. 
As a general farm crop fifty-five acres of 
wheat were grown,mostly of the Fultz vat iety i 
giving an average yield of twenty-five bushels 
per acre. Small amounts of Dallas and Wysor 
wheat were sown, but with unsatisfactory 
results, both varieties ripening too late for our 
climate. 8. M. Tract. 
-- 
Black-bearded Centennial Wheat. 
The Rural’s encomium on the Black- 
bearded Ont«nnial Wheat coincides with my 
experience with it. I procured in the Autumn 
of ’SO, 2>£ pounds of that variety from a 
gentleman in Baltimore, Md , and sowed it 
the same Fall. The Winter being a severe 
oue, it winter killed quite badly, and I only 
harvested seven pounds in the Fall of ’81. I 
sowed that and it was up six to eight inches 
and looking very promising in April of this 
year, when the frost struck it and froze it to 
the ground. I thought it was gone, but it 
stooled nut and I harvested 90 pounds of as 
fine-berrieI wheat as I ever had. It is certainly 
tbe largest-heiried wheat I ever saw, of a rich 
amber color, and when growing it is the ob¬ 
served of all observers. “Farmer.” 
Oshtemo, Mich. 
BREEDS AND CROSSES OF HOGS. 
WALDO F. BROWN. 
As I am to confine myself to a single arti¬ 
cle on this subject, it is manifestly impossible 
for me to describe even briefly all breeds. 
My object will be rather to show how the 
improvement of hogs was begun, and to 
give some hints as to how to cross to pro¬ 
duce the most profitable pork bog. When I 
was a boy I lived for ten years on the White 
Water bottoms in Union Co., Ind., in a re¬ 
gion where t e leading interest with nearly 
all the farmers was the rearing of hogs. I 
well remember how our hogs looked. They 
were generally long-legged and muscular, of 
every shade of color imaginable, the prevail¬ 
ing colors being black and white, with oc¬ 
casionally a blue or gray, and quite a per¬ 
cent of them some shade of red. Between 
tbe extremes of pure white and jet black, 
there was every variety of spotted hog im¬ 
aginable. In those days a hog that would 
dress 175 to 200 pounds at one-and a-half to 
two years old, was considered profitable. 
There was no effort made to improve the 
stock for two reasons: 1st, the hogs suited 
the style of farming prevailing, and, 2nd. 
there we*e difficulties in the way which made 
it next to impossible to improve the race if 
the owners had desired to do so. The hog 
the farmer needed in those days was one that 
could live in the woods on mast and roots 
until fattening times, and when fattened 
transport his own carcass a hundred miles 
or more to market. 
It was a matter of indifference to the farm¬ 
er whether it took 20 or 30 bushels of corn to 
fatten a hog, for there was no market for 
corn except at the com try still-houses, or a 
distant city market, to which the corn must 
be wagon* d over mud roads, as railroads, 
canals and turnpikes were still a thing of the 
fnt 're. I have known corn to sell as low as 
10 cents a bushel, and wheat at ‘67}^ cents and 
a farmer to be ten days making a round trip 
to the city 40 miles distant with a four-horse 
team and 35 bushels of grain for his load. 
The only way he managed to get home with 
a cent of money, was to take horse feed and 
provision along, aud sleep in his wagon. A 
hog that could condense 25 bushels of corn 
and carry it to market and bring from |3 to 
♦5 was a godsend to the farmer. What were 
the obstacles in the way of improving the 
hogs ? First, want of facilities for transporta¬ 
tion. There were no pure-bred hogs west of 
the Alleghanies, and to send this distance for 
stock when there were no railroads or express 
companies, was out of the question. Even 
the postage on a letter previous to 1840 was 
25 ceuts, and the only way possible to bring 
hogs would have been to have brought ttaemiu 
wagons, and this was the way the few were 
brought which were first introduced. 2ud. It 
would have been almost or quite impossible to 
have kept the stock pure, for the woods were 
full of boars, many of them old, savage chaps, 
VARIETY. 
Date of 
Ripening. | 
"Weight 
per busheL 
Bn. V 
acre. 
Lbs. straw 
per bu. 
Col. of 
grain. 
Smooth 
or beard. 
Length 
straw. 
Benuett. 
Clawson. 
Juue 26 
•» 25 
61 lbs. 6 oz 
30.9 
31.1 
lu. 
39. 
35.8 
32.6 
31.9 
33.9 
30.5 
30 7 
33.5 
33.5 
82,4 
179 
124 
1 Red 
White 
Red 
bearded 
smooth 
5 feet 
Fultz. 
u 21 
“ 21 
*' 24 
•' 36 
“ 19 
■' 21 
“ 23 
“ 25 
“ 23 
“ 25 
' 23 
4^3 “ 
4 “ 
4 % “ 
4s;; 
M 
64 •' 8 oz 
63 “ 4 OZ 
5y - 12 oz 
87 
86 
163 
187 
97 
133 
123 
145 
135 
154 
130 
German Amber.... 
Gold Medal. 
It 
W t hlte 
II 
Ostery. 
Rlee. 
64 M 8 oz 
64 •• 10 oz 
60 •• 6uz 
64 •' 4 oz 
57 “ Hoz 
61 “ 6 oz 
Amber 
Red 
White 
Red 
White 
“ 
Shumaker. 
Silver Chaff. 
Spark's Swarnu... 
Wash ngton Glass 
White Rogers. 
M 
it 
bearded 
smooth 
bearded 
4 W “ 
4M “ 
4« '* 
Average. 
1 62 lbs, 9 oz. 
1 33.5 
129.5 1 
with no respect for fences, and the chances 
were that a sow would be served by one of 
them rather than by a thoroughbred, if the 
farmer owned the latter. A few enterprising 
farmers bad bought some Berkshires before 
the advent of railroads, and it seems that even 
at this early date these hogs were pure-bred, 
but not so fine as at present. 
Although it is denied by some breeders, I 
think the point is settled beyond controversy 
that in the early history of the Pt land-Chinas 
the Berkshire blood was liberally introduced, 
and that it contributed largely to the make-up 
of this valuable breed. The history of the Po¬ 
land China is encouraging to st<ck-breeders, 
for it shows that by patience and keepiug con¬ 
stantly in view a desired end, there is a cer¬ 
tainty of success. I have lived for a third of 
a century near ueighbor to some of the best 
breeders of these hogs in the country, and 
have seen that any change in form or color 
desired could soon be brought about by our 
breeders, I have bred these hogs pure and 
also crossed with the Berkshire and when a 
male of the latter breed is used on a Poland- 
China sow, I believe it gives tbe bpst pork 
hog in existence. I am told by breeders who 
have tried it, that as good results come from 
a cross upon Chester-White sows. The three 
breeds above named and three crosses comprise 
more than nine-tenihs of all the hogs raised 
in the West, and among breeders who have 
taken the greatest pains with them there can 
be found hogs of all these breeds, that 
scarcely vary in size and form. I have seen 
Berkshires as large as the Poland-Cbinas and 
Chesters, and of perfect form, and hogs of all 
these breeds that varied only in color. 
If I was going into the business of pork 
production I would use thoroughbred Poland- 
China sows, and for my pork hogs cross with 
a Berkshire male, but should not use the 
grades as breeders, no matter wbat excellence 
of form they might show. I should give the 
preference to the Poland-Chinas over the 
Chester Whites, because, as I have seen them, 
they are of a more uniform type and less lia¬ 
ble to mange or skin diseases. I know that 
there are those who advocate other breeds, 
such as the Essex, Suffolk, Yorkshire, Jersey 
Reds, etc., but I have failed to discover any 
merit in them which cannot be found in the 
breeds I have named above. The cheapest 
and best way to improve hogs is by the use 
of thoroughbred moles, and it is best to have 
the latter of a smaller breed than the former. 
An Essex or Berkshire male used on coarse, 
native sows, if you have not Chesters or Po¬ 
lands, will given pork hog greatly improved. 
The reader will notice that I use the term 
pork hog, and I do this because I do not be¬ 
lieve it either necessary or profitable in most 
cases to grow thoroughbred bogs for pork, 
the use of sires of this character giving, all 
things considered, better satisfaction than 
when both parents are thoroughbred. 
Butler Co., Ohio. 
Cttlfiroclmtciil. 
v 
REMARKABLE FELTING CAUSED BY A 
BEETLE. 
PROFESSOR C. V. RILEY. 
A few weeks ago I received from Mr. Hen¬ 
ry Hales, of Ridgewood, N. J., a piece o 
pillow-ticking, the inside of which was felted 
with a fur-like coating made from particles 
of the feathers with which the pillow had 
been filled. The felting is remarkably dense, 
evenly coating the whole surface of the piece 
of ticking sent to us, and resembling in 
smoothness and color the fur of a mole. I 
give Mr. Hale’s own words: “Inclosed I 
send you a piece of pillow-case which was 
filled with chicken-feathers of various colors 
in a neighbor’s housa The pillow was no¬ 
ticed fo shrink down smaller, and when 
opened, to ascertain the cause, It was found 
that a little kind of beetle had bred and mul¬ 
tiplied in the pillow, stripped all the soft part 
of the feathers off the stems and felted the 
pillow-case inside with the feathers, making 
it uniform in color, as you see by the piece 
inclosed. The whole fabric, over a yard square, 
was all as evenly covered as the inclosed 
piece which was cut from it. Do you know 
the insect? Is it an unusual occurrence, I 
should like to know ?” 
The insect is the common Dermestid beetle, 
Atta genua megatoma. An examination shows 
that the short, downy particles of the beard 
of the feathers are all inserted by their basal 
ends, and the explanation of the felting is, nf 
course, simple enough when the barbed nature 
of these fiue feathers is rememl ored, the barbs 
all directed toward the apex. The beetles, in 
feeding, had cut up all the finer parts of the 
beard or vane and devoured the coarser and 
more pithy portions of the stem. In the regu¬ 
lar shaking of the pillow, each of the minute 
particles of the beard, whenever caught in 
the cotton fabric by its base, became anchored 
