OCT 24 
747 
THE RURAL WEW-f »*RKER. 
every day and night. We know not how long 
it had been cut from the plant when presented 
to us. Mr. Sturtevant carried with him a 
single flower of Nelumbium speciosum, the 
stem of which was six feet long. The petals 
are about the same size as those of N. luteum, 
of a lemon color at the base, merging into a 
delicate pink towards the edges. This, it 
seems, is hardy with Mr. Sturtevant. We 
have tried often, persistently, but ineffectu¬ 
ally, to raise many of the beautiful water 
plants which are hardy in this climate. The 
water of our little lake is too cold or too deep. 
Mb. N. C. Jessup, West Hampton, L. I. 
reports a yield of over 700 bushels to the acre 
of White Elephants. He would like to apply 
for Pres. Chadbourne’s vacant Professorship 
of potato culture ! 1... 
“Who will say 16 inches for the Rural 
Thoroughbred Flint ?” asks Mr Chas, Harder 
of Hancock Co , Ill. “ Not I,” he continues,” 
but I will say 13 ears of corn from one ker¬ 
nel of the Rural Dent. Who will say 14 ?”,... 
Orland, Steuben Co., Ind., Oct., 9. 
T have one ear of Rural Flint Corn that 
happened to get separated from the stack, 
by accident; it is fully 16 inches in length. 
G. k. w. 
We would be obliged if our friend would 
send this ear by mail to the Rural Office, 
protected by splints or otherwise. Please 
write your name and address upon the wrap¬ 
per so that we may return postage, etc. 
Mr. G. W. Campbell concludes to call his 
new black grape, Juno. It is black and the 
quality if we may judge of it by eating half 
a bunch, is not excelled by any black, hardy 
grope we have ever eaten. We hope it may 
develop as it grows older no faults to upset 
its high promise... 
We have received a diagram of an ear of 
Rural Thoroughbred Flint corn from E. B. 
Rigg, Edgar Co., III., that measures 17 inches! 
He says it is not well filled out. and has had no 
cultivation at any time since it was planted. 
Of course wc are glad to receive such com¬ 
munications. But we cannot count ears 
which are not sent to the office. No doubt 
they will be sent later when better cured. 
John B. Moore & Son, of Concord Mass., 
send us the following particulars of Moore’s 
Early Grape and the new white grape, Fran¬ 
cis B. Hayes, together with specimens of each 
and a bunch of Concord as a means of 
comparison. “All” he says, “were grown 
in the same vineyard. All were raised 
on very poor land for the production 
of fine fruit, it being nothing more than 
a sandy gravel; but even on this soil 
the Hayes, we are satisfied will produce bunch¬ 
es three times as large as those sent you; we 
have this year exhibited and had photo¬ 
graphed bunches of more than double the 
size. This year has been very unfavorable 
for grapes in this State; in my vineyard some 
of the vines were killed outright by the ex¬ 
tremely dry weather.” The letter continues: 
“ In regard to the Francis B. Hayes grape 
we desire particularly to call your attention 
to two points, namely: first, it is a pure na¬ 
tive seedling; second, the quality of the fruit 
and hardiness of the vine. The following de¬ 
scription of this variety is as exact as we are 
able to make it: 
Bunch, medium to large, moderately com¬ 
pact, partly shouldered. Berry, medium, 
globular, with a fine amber yeltow color, 
skin very firm. Flesh, tender, juicy, and of a 
delicate texture, and fine flavor, free from all 
foxiness. Foliage healthy, thick, particularly 
free from mildew and disease. Vine vigor¬ 
ous, productive, very hardy,holding its leaves 
after those of most other varieties are killed 
by frost. Ripens from five to eight days be¬ 
fore Concord. It is our opinion that we shall 
have no difficulty in showing tbatthe “Hayes’, 
will prove a valuable acquisition, inasmuch 
as the vine will undoubtedly succeed where 
any grape will grow, which, taken in connec¬ 
tion with the fine quality of the fruit and 
productiveness of the vine, must recommend 
it. In calling your attention to the “Hayes’, 
it is not with a desire that you may notice the 
same in your paper, but rather that when 
this variety is offered for sale, you may 
know to some extent whether or not the claims 
made for it are the truth.”..... 
As regards Moore’s Early, the Rural 
has never said much about it because it has 
not yet fruited with us. In this one case we 
were behind. This grape is unquestionably 
earlier by from one to two weeks than the 
Concord, while the berry is larger. The 
bunches sent by Mr. Moore are finer than 
any Concords we have raised this season, 
though not so large. As regards the F. B. 
Hayes, we have only to say that in quality 
and size of grape Mr. Moore’s account is just. 
Dr. Sturtkvant’s Bulletin No. XI. speaks 
of the prolificacy of certain oats and certain 
weeds. Of the former New Australian is 
placed first. Then Washington, Challenge, 
Pringle’s Excelsior Hulless, Bohemian or 
Hulless, Mammoth Russian, White Russian, 
Chinese Hulless and, last, Mold’s Ennobled- 
At the Rural Farm we have tried all of the 
above kinds and the last should be first and 
White Russian about third. The Bulletin says: 
“ On September 28th one vigorous Purslane 
plant (Portulaca oleracea) contained nine 
branches, the average branch 15 branchlets, 
the average branchlet 212 seed capsules, one 
average seed capsule 75 seeds, thus making 
for an estimate a grand total of 2,146,500 
seeds.” Several years ago we counted the 
seeds of pods of Purslane and found the av¬ 
erage 100 to a pod. (See Rural July 26,1869 
p. 476.) It is an inoffensive weed at worst 
and the wonderful rapidity of its increase is 
mainly due to self-sowings of the seed from 
the first to mature. Its extermination is 
therefore very easy if taken in time; other¬ 
wise it gives increasing trouble throughout 
the entire season. We have found that 
Purslane plants, after they are pulled up, 
will form and mature seeds, so that it is not 
sufficient that they should be hoed or pulled up 
and left on the surface to die. The impression 
that the more we hoe or pull up this plant the 
the faster it increases is due to this cause as 
well as to the fact that pieces of the stem 
root and grow readily. It seems a long task 
to rid the soil of every Purslane plant that 
appears in early Summer. Yet it is plain 
that one hour thus employed in mid-June or 
a little later will save many hours of labor 
thereafter when the flowers have bloomed 
and sowed their myriads of seeds.. 
Tomatoes for Liver Complaint. —The 
following remark-s from our esteemed contem¬ 
porary the Mark Lane Express (London) seem 
queer to people in this country. “For people 
troubled with a liver—and everyone seems to 
be conscious of possessing that rebellious 
organ now-a-days—the free consumption of 
tomatoes, raw or cooked, is better than all 
the doctor’s stuff in the world. This is now 
very widely known, and people who have a 
natural or acquired taste for tomatoes find 
this food-medicine so very agreeable that they 
will not willingly go a day without some of it 
during the tomato season. The consequence 
is that tomatoes are dear, and they will 
certainly be very much dearer if the supply 
is not largely increased. When they can be 
grown with advantage at all, they are very 
prolific, and I have no doubt that they can be 
grown to sell with profit at 3d. per pound.” 
Hard Work on Canadian Farms. —Again 
from the same editoral writer in the same 
journal we find the following, which also reads 
odd to farmers of this country: “According 
to a writer in the Ontario Globe, the life of a 
farm laborer in Canada is not remarkably 
easy. He says:— 
Farmers want their men to rise between 
four and five a.m., do without lunch in the 
fields, swallow dinner as soon as possible, and 
take food in the fields at four r.m., in order to 
save time, and keep them toiling until dark. 
Sir, 1 do not hesitate to say that I believe the 
prisoners in our penitentiaries and gaols 
receive better treatment, and are happier than 
hundreds of poor, oppressed Canadian farm 
laborers, whose lives are hopeless and almost 
unbearable. It is not surprising to hear of 
men breaking engagements with these hard 
task-makers, who look like a thunder-cloud 
when the laborers quit work at sundown. 
What wages are paid for all this the writer 
does not state; but he adds that, although 
“tilling the soil is the noblest work of man, 
thousands of farmers’ sons, daughters, hired 
girls, and men are cursing agricultural pur¬ 
suits, and are seeking employment in towns 
and cities, where they can have some time for 
recreation, and be something better than farm 
slaves,” as they certainly are now. 
-- 
Hyacinths in Glasses ought to be more 
extensively grown, says Mr. John Thorpe, in 
an essay read before the New York Horticul¬ 
tural Society. They are easily managed and 
require but little attention. Thereare various 
patterns of glasses, but the pa-terns known as 
Tye’s are the best. To be successful, bulbs 
should lie placed in glasses not later than the 
eud of October, choosing single varieties only 
and using clear water. Drop in one or two 
pieces of charcoal as large as a hickory nut. 
Allow the water to just touch the plate or 
the bottom of the bulb. Place the glasses 
in a dark, cool, dry cellar, occasionally ex¬ 
amining them, and when the water has 
evaporated, filling up as required. They should 
remain until the roots have nearly reached the 
bottom of the glasses, w hen they can be brought 
to the light. The moist, airy and light part 
of a room is the best position for them. As 
the bulbs make growth, more evaporation 
will take place; therefore the water should be 
replenished at intervals. When the flower 
spikes begin to show color, the glasses should 
be kept full to the brim, as at the period of 
flowering the bulbs absorb much moisture. 
-K«- 
Fair Managers, Attention !—At several 
large fairs of Kansas, says the Live Stock 
Indicator, no uniform arrangements are made 
for instructing visitors as to what they see 
and people who perhaps come hundreds of 
miles, for instance, to view the animals of 
some particular breed, cannot, unless they 
luckily find the owner at hand and in a humor 
to answer questions—which does not occur 
one time in fifty—learn its breed, name, age 
weight, value, owner’s nano or residence, or 
anything else reliable that they would like to 
know, and as a result they go home persuaded 
that the time spent at the fair was largely 
wasted, and continue to breed the same class of 
scrubs bred by their fathers before them. The 
model fair of the future will require exhibitors 
to placard or label each of their exhibits in 
such a way that their principal points of 
interest may be learned without boring any¬ 
one with questions, or being bored in turn by 
discourteous answers, or, no answers at all. 
Over two years ago the Rural on its editorial 
page strongly urged such a practice. 
Mr. Green says that the world can get 
along without the Vanderbilts and Goulds, 
but not without those who labor. If all the 
rich men died to-night the world would move 
on without halting, but if all those who labor 
rest for but one day the wheels of everything 
are blocked. The drays, omnibusses, cars, 
ferry boats, steamships, mills, mines, factories, 
the planting, reaping, thrashing—everything 
is paralyzed. The age that looks down upon 
honest toil, and up to the luxuries that crown 
the wealthy, is lacking in common sense. 
- -- 
Enthusiasm Mr. Green looks upon not as 
a weakness, but as a susceptibility to or appre¬ 
ciation of true beauty of worth. Iu pomology 
there is such a thing as excessive conservatism 
—a timid, halting, almost cowardly condition 
of mind, that prevents applauding or con¬ 
demning—a feeling that no position can be 
taken, no word of encouragement given until 
some other mountain has delivered itself of 
its moose—until some other authority has 
spoken. If these over-cautious persons were 
alone in authority the most valuable fruit of 
the present day would not have been introduc¬ 
ed, for each has its fault, and the fault could 
not be outweighed by good qualities in their 
opinion, no matter how commanding. When 
our enthuiasm for fruits becomes rheumatic 
and we find ourselves as stoical as a stump in 
a frozen mill pond, we propose to engage in 
some other business. 
-»♦*- 
A dusting-shed should be in every poultry 
yard. It luay be a few feet square, according 
to the number of birds, with no sides, but a 
good waterproof roof. A heap of dry ashes 
should be put under this, says a writer in the 
London Chronicle.and it will soon be seen how 
much the fowls appreciate it. No fowls will 
thrive if covered with insects, and the dust- 
bath alone will keep them away. Dry ashes 
should be used; wet material is no good. 
We find the following in the Kansas Live 
Stock Indicator: “An exchange says that 
Edward Blewett, of Fremont, Nebraska, is 
bringing into that State 48,000 Oregon sheep, 
that, in their present condition will average 
115 pounds in weight. A part of the number 
he proposes to make fat on Nebraska corn. 
Last year he put 40 pounds per head on a lot 
of wethers, and thinks he can do equally as 
well agaiu. The magnitude of his operations 
it calculated to make our Eastern shepherds 
start. It has not been many years since Mr. 
Blewett was a penniless boy, wandering 
through Nebraska in search of something to 
do—and he has evidently found it.” 
Emil Deckert. a German essayist, has been 
considering the prediction that North America 
will commercially overwhelm Europe, and 
his conclusion is that Europe will always hold 
its own, through advantages in the way of 
geographical situation, soil, and climate. 
“The foreign commerce of Europe,” he says, 
“is twice as large as that of all the rest of the 
world put together. In all manner of pro¬ 
ductions it likewise predominates. In the mat¬ 
ter of coal and iron the European countries 
produce annually almost four times as much 
as those of North America. Europe still pos¬ 
sesses three times as many cattle as the United 
States, and four times as many sheep; the 
fields of Europe still produce three times as 
much grain and four times as much wheat as 
those of North America, while on this side of 
the ocean the industrial establishments have 
two-and-a-half times as much power in steam 
engines as those of America.” 
“You will be interested to know,” says a 
writer in the London Fancier’s Gazette, “that 
some two or three years ago a dealer sued a 
farmer in a County Court for a manure bill 
for nitrate of soda. The farmer paid into 
Court the value of agricultural salt, and said 
that the so-called nitrate was of no more 
agricultural value. The dealer retorted that, 
at the price charged, the farmer could not 
expect pure nitrate of soda. The judge asked 
by what name he sold hi3 manures. The 
dealer replied, “Nitrate of soda.” “Then,” 
said the judge, “you sold under false pre¬ 
tences. No matter the price. You profess to 
sell a certain article, at a certain price. If 
you substitute a worthless article, then you 
are an impostor; and as such my decision is 
against you. Such men as you are pests to 
society at large.” Would that there were 
more consistent farmers; we should then have 
fewer rogues. It is to the apathy of the former 
that we owe the prevalence of the latter. 
The Ninth Bulletin of the N. Y. Station 
says that the influence of stirring the soil in 
conserving the moisture to the soil receives 
illustration from the lysimeters. These instru¬ 
ments comprising three sections of soil, three 
feet deep and one ten-thousandth of an acre in 
area, are set level with the surface of a lawn. 
One is covered with sod, a second is kept bare 
but untilled, a third has its surface keot stirred 
to a depth of from one-and-one half to two 
inches. At the date of writing, September 
14, no water had passed through the first and 
second since the opening of the month, but in 
the third, the one cultivated, quite a little 
water had percolated. This shows, says the 
Bulletin, that No. 3, possessing more water 
than the others, was more quickly saturated 
with the rains. But we shoul 1 ' think it showed 
that being a mellow surface more moisture 
from dew and rain was retained to pass 
through the lysimeter. The Rural’s theory, 
we confess, makes way slowly. But we ask 
Dr. Sturtevant respectfully to consider it in 
his experiments. The same fact, the Bulletin 
continues, wao also noted for August. No. 1 
percolated water equivalent to a rainfall of 
0.00 inch; No. 2, 0.135 inch; No. 3, 0.575 
inch. Thus we note that soil covered with 
growing grass evaporates and transpires more 
water than do«3 hard soil, and hard soil more 
water than that kept tilled. 
The New England Farmer mentions a very 
successful case of corn and potato raising 
together. The yield of the corn is not men¬ 
tioned any further than to say that it was not 
excelled in the State. The potatoes yielded at 
the rate of 200 bushels per acre. The variety 
was Early Rose, planted May 1st in hills three 
feet apart. They were hoed the 1st of June 
and corn was planted between the hills. The 
potatoes and corn were hoed together once, 
and the corn received another hoeing when 
the potatoes were dag, “ free of cost”—the 1st 
of August when they were dug. From the 
above and from our own tests with shading 
potatoes, it would seem they do not require 
uninterrupted sunshine during the entire day. 
The Early Ohio would be a better potato to 
grow with corn because the tops are small, 
and they mature 10 days before the Early Rose. 
-»-*-»- 
Tell Both Sides. —The Galveston News 
(Texas) says that some agricultural papers 
tell only of extraordinary yields and great 
successes. As their profession is to instruct * 
and benefit the farmer, one may suppose that 
this constant presentation of lofty examples 
is given on the principle of aiming at the sun; 
not with any hope of reaching it, but because 
the arrow will fly farther for the lofty aim. 
It does not answer, however, to be always 
looking up, for there are occasional pitfalls 
before the feet, and troublesome, if not dan¬ 
gerous, influences larking around. The Rural 
New-Yorker sets an admirable example of 
presenting the experience of failure as well as 
of success, and details the failure, total or 
partial, of plans and methods that seemed in 
their conception hopefully fair with promise, 
as well as many that were mere tests of unde¬ 
termined points, and tests but in one locality. 
Cure for Rattlesnake Bites. —All snake 
poisons being more or less acid (that of the 
rattlesnake being intensely so), the right rem¬ 
edy must be one that will neutralize the poi¬ 
son in the blood and render it inert. In the 
iodide of potassium we have that remedy; we 
find it from experience to be just the remedy 
needed. It will, If promptly given, says Dr. 
Alexander in the Sun, in from two to fifteen 
grains, dissolved in water, twenty grains to 
the ounce of water, neutralize the poison in 
from fifteen minutes to one, two or three 
hours, and should be continued for four 
to eight days, once in four hours ; at 
the same time cover the bitten part, as also 
the whole of the swollen parts, with a 
poultice prepared by beating green onions to 
a pulp, in which dissolve one-tenth by meas¬ 
ure of common salt; repeat onei in four hours, 
and, the Doctor’s word for it, a speedy and 
certain cure will be effected in less time than 
with all the whiskey or brandy in the world, 
as recommended by the Sun. All persons 
bitten by venomous serpents should be care¬ 
ful not to cut themselves, or in any way bring 
