WELLS, RICHARDSON & CO’S; 
- IMPROVED • 
BUTTER COLOR 
Lyman C., New York City, wishes to know 
if we can send him some pink seed instead of 
the watermelon. 
Ans. —No; we have none on hand. You 
will not need much ground to cultivate the 
melon. 
own. Uncle Mark, you are doing a noble 
work for the children—especially the boys— 
a work that will be beneficial to them all their 
lives. The children all love you, and I do not 
wonder. I thank you with all my heart for 
the interest you take in them, and wish you 
much prosperity. Aunt Alice. 
Steuben Co., N. Y. 
gfti0f*Uanr0:u0 
WHAT WILL THE WEA THER BE TO-MORROW? 
POOL’S SIGNAL SERVICE BAROMETER 
Or STORM GLASS and THERMOMETER Combined, 
HILL TELL YOiri 
GRANTED WISHES. 
JOBS O. WHITTIER, 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. 
It will <ietect nnd indicate 
<-i>rret'tly nn.v change in 
1 1 1h« WMfLtbcu J 2 t,, hours 
h rttlmnoe. It will tell 
i a iuil kind of norm |g ap- 
; uroiichinR. und from what 
direction—mi ftluahie to 
U« vicutorr.. I'nriiirrs 
''.in plan fbolt work rc- 
eerdmg to It* predictions. 
Saver. fell tlmre ite cost in 
| a rintflo season Has an 
accurate t hemmrneter at- 
inched, whTrli alone is 
worth the price of the 
combine* mil Thin great 
WSATHEE INDICATOE 
I • endni-red by the most 
cin.iiHnt I’hviiclnns, l-’ro- 
teesi.rs.anilSc lentltlc uien 
of (lie day In be the 
EEC? IK THE WORLD ! 
The Thenmirnetor and 
Barometer ami pot in a 
nicely finished walnut 
Two little girls let loose from school 
Queried wiiat each would be. 
One said; " I’d be a queen and rule,” 
And one, “ the world I'd see.” 
The years went on. Again they met 
And queried what had been. 
“ A poor man’s wife am I, and yet,” 
Said one, •' 1 am a queen.” 
“ My realm a happy household Is, 
My king a husband true; 
I rule by loving services, 
How has it been with you V” 
One answered, “ still the great world lies 
Beyond me as it laid; 
O'er love’s and duty's boundaries 
My feet have never strayed.” 
Ka)nt murmurs of the wide world come 
Unheeded to my ear ; 
My widowed mother’s sick bed-room 
SulBeeth for my sphere.” 
They clasped each other’s hands, with tears 
Of solemn joy they cried, 
“ God gave the wish of our young years 
And we are satlslied.,” 
Dear Uncle Mark: —I have been silent so 
long that I sometimes think you mean such as 
me when you speak of “ silent cousins,” but I 
will break the silence for my part and hope 
that the rest of the “ silent cousins” will do the 
same. We have had scarcely any Winter at 
all here; the weather now is mild aud Spring¬ 
like. We raised a tolerably large crop ox corn 
last year, aud got (iOc. per bushel for most of 
what we sold. Wheat looks splendid this 
Spring. I think your “ Discussions” will be 
profitable and interesting if you choose sub¬ 
jects with which uearly all the cousins are 
acquainted. They have been very good so far, 
and I hope thgy will continue so. I have 
bought a botauy (Wood’s Object Lessons in 
Botany) and a small microscope, and intend 
to study botauy this season instead o£ reading 
novels. To those who adopt some course of 
reading I would say choose books of travel, 
biography and history, rather than books of 
fiction of any kind; the former we read know¬ 
ing that they are true, the latter we read 
knowing that they are not true. It is well 
that a person should be acquainted with the 
works of the greatest authors of fiction, for all 
educated peisons read and talk about them, 
but they should spend part of their time in 
readiug practical books. 
Miami Co., Ohio. Samuel P. Shull. 
Dear Uncle Mark and Rural Cousins. 
—1 thought I would write you again, as I had 
been a constant reader of the Rural ever 
since I was old enough to read. Grandpa 
commenced taking it long before I can re¬ 
member. I am glad to see so many letters 
from the cousins, and 1 would like very much 
to see more, and longer ones. Last Spring 
grandpa gave my brother aud me a plot of 
ground in the field, upon which we planted 
Surprise Muskmelons, potatoes and string 
beans. The muskmelons did well and were 
very nice. We planted two kinds of potatoes, 
viz., Early Rose and Snow Flake, but we had 
very poor success with both kinds. Grandpa 
says the seed is run out, and needs renewing 
from some other soil. Grandpa planted the 
White Elephant (a very small elephant) but it 
had 10 eyes. He cut it iu ten pieces, planted 
in a row-, pieces 15 inches apart,, and the result 
was 40 puunds of beautiful potatoes. He is 
going to give my brother aud me some of 
them this Spring. We had a pilot in the gar¬ 
den where we raised Butter Beans, lettuce and 
spinach. We like the Butter Beans better 
than the white ones, as they are earlier aud 
more productive. Grandpa keeps four cows, 
oueof which he gave us. She had her first 
calf last Spring Our cattle are part Jersey 
and part Durnam. Bob W hite. 
Winnebago Co., Ills. 
Dear Uncle Mark:— 
“ I have wandered long, 
Frorq til® household throng;” 
but I am coming oack to your charming circle 
ag in. 1 suppose my name has been stricken 
from the list of the Horticultural Club mem¬ 
bers for my long silence, but pilease put it on 
again, Uncle Mark, and 1 will try and keep it 
on. We had some very pretty pniks from the 
seeds the Rural s nt last year. 1 did not 
plant the celery seed but am going to plant it 
this Summer. We have received the free 
seed distribution for this year—mauy thanks. 
I am anticipating much pleasure from the 
hollyhock seeds. Cousins, why don’t you 
write often? Let us take a new departure 
and all write until Uncle Mark begs for a rest. 
If you don’t like to sign your name, select 
some nom de plume —a pretty one if you can 
—and write over it. “Ivy,” please write 
often. Rosebud Thorn. 
Wayne Co., Iowa. 
New Members ok the Club for the Week 
ending April 22. 
Elmer Dwyer, Achsah A. Haustray, M. A. 
Smith, Minnie Boyd, Flora E Topping, Clar¬ 
ence Boyd, Walter Boyd, Elmira Houston, 
Martha Wagar, Nora Tilson, Waldo Jackson, 
Imogens Jackson, Eugene Pierson, Mary Pier¬ 
son, Areh. Emmons, Phiiip Crosby, Eddie 
U estcott, Oscar Pierson, Elsie Upson, Peirl 
Ackerman, Edith Brown, Emma Thorn (send 
address), Jay B. Lapman, Ira L. Smith, J. R. 
Smith, Guy Cole, Claude Cole, Roy Cole, Hi¬ 
ram Siegrist (send address), II. J. Jewell, Lib- 
bie Brown, Clara Mersereau, Clarence W. 
Buckley, Jennie Fay, Allie Fay, Newton 
McGraw, Maude McGraw, Clara E Rhodes, 
Jeff. Lee, Truman W. Gerrold, Lillie Parsons 
(send address), Effie B. Ward, Bertha R. 
Smith. 
&NAL 
trimmings,etc., making it 
a ixnatfiul .'in well im u* e - 
lol {.jTiMTient. \Vu will 
send yon a Sample one, 
titlimed Jrf . to j'our 
place m gn.nl order, on 
receipt #1 K1, or six for 
8 *. Agent* arc mating 
lroin $n to if 20 daily s-nll- 
ingthoiu. A fnal niil cun- 
riie unu. Order at once. 
It Sell* AT SII.IIT! 
Just the thine to Bull to 
tnrmers. merchant:-, etc. 
Invaluable to ever.vhmly. 
IT S. Pottage Stumps 
I al;<-n u in good ortW.but 
money pretoi red .Agents 
wanted cveij n Imre 
- Address. ell orders to 
THE MAGNITUDE OF A MILLION. 
The word million to the average school boy 
and perhaps to the average farmer, does not 
convey any definite or compreheusiv e mean- 
ing; and except to those handling lumber, 
shingles, lath, and the like, a million is merely 
looked upon as a large amount. 
1 have often amused my sell by asking my 
acquaintances to guess how much a million 
kernels of corn would measure in the half 
bushel. Not the barley corn of which it took 
three to make an inch according to Daboli’s 
old arithmetic, nor yet such as Burns wrote 
about under the head of ”0'd John Barley 
Coxn, ’ nor the dwarfish Wild Goose or pop¬ 
corn, but honest Indian corn such as we feed 
our pigs. The answers given have ranged all 
the way from “half a bushel” to “two bush¬ 
els.” Web, when they “give it up,” 1 am able 
to inform them, because 1 have twice counted 
two quarts; not the tin measure quarts, but 
an honest sixteenth of a bushel, and found by 
multiplication that m one case a million 
keruels would measure over fourteen bushels 
and in the other over twelve ; the difference 
depending on tbe size of the kernels. 
So when we in our young city of Muskegon 
and its environs, iu the State of Michigan, 
boast of cutting in one year five hundred 
millions feet of pine lumber, around our lake 
of about twelve square miles, strangers say 
“ well, that would make a big pile,” and won¬ 
der how big a building could oe made of it, or 
how long a bridge it would suffice for. Now 
1 don’t know, but if you should spread this 
out on level ground it would cover eleven 
thousand four hundred and seventy seven 
acres (11.477), Young Rural cousins figure 
this up and see if 1 am right I Boys, this is 
my method of teaching the value of numbers, 
and if you like it 1 may some time give you 
some more statistics of this immense lumber 
business, and perhaps tell you what becomes 
of this vast amount of lumber, where the tiees 
grow that it is made from, and how they get 
the logs into the mills, and the lumber out of 
the way. Vikllard. 
Muskegon Co., Mich. 
A NEW DISCOVERY 
. tTSTFor several years vre Lave furnished the 
'Dairymen of America with an excellent arti¬ 
ficial color for butter) so meritorious that it met 
(with great uncross everywhere receiving- the 
hlcrhent and only prizes at »>otk International 
Dairy Pairs. 
1 tJTBut by patient and scientific. chemleal re¬ 
search we have improved in several points, and 
.now offer this new color as the but in the world. 
It Will Not Color the Buttermilk. It 
a week. $12 a day at Some easily made. Costly 
outfit free. Address True * Co. Augusta, Me 
Will Not Turn Rancid. It Is the 
ew |?ubUcatiutt.s! 
Strongest, Brightest and 
Cheapest Color Madei 
r pW-And, while prepared In oil, is so compound 
ed that it is impossible for it to become mneid. 
| nrSEWARE of all imitations, and of all 
other oil colors, for they are liable to become 
’rancidand spoil the butter, 
i CZCIf you Cannot Ret the “improved” write US 
to know where and bow to gel it without extra 
lexpense. (M) 
WIU.LS, UlCU.UtDSON A to., Rurlli>eloa, VI. 
Ihe ONLY BOOK ofthekind" * everpub’d 
XKW EDITION. A HISTORY nf every Ad- 
I— I I I ministration from Washing, 
ton to Ihi, present time, with over VO Steel Porimit. of l.n.Aios 
or the « MW Home, with vlewi of mane of (he Homes ortho 
I resident.. T)d« nrtlui mat salable bonk publUhcd. A rents 
for rir,.nli>e. min. r..u _ .. ° 
To any suffering with Catarrh' 
or Bronchitis who earnestly 
desire relief, I can furnish a 
means of Permanent and Pos¬ 
itive Cure. A Home Treatment. 
No charge for consultation by 
mail. Valuable Treatise Free. 
"His remedies are tho outgrowth 
of hia own experience; they are 
the only known tm-ans of per¬ 
manent ottre.’’— Bnp ti.il 
and year after year, the standard and beau¬ 
tiful collections of MUSIC published by Oli¬ 
ver Ditson d*- Co. keep their hold on public 
favor, simply by the excellence of their con¬ 
tents. Such books of bound music as 
OE MS OF ENGLISH SONG ($2) NORWAY MUSIC 
ALBUM <*2.3.). l-’BANZ'd ALBUM i$>) BEAUTIES 
Ob SA- REU hON'G ($2), and »i to -li) others <si?nu for 
lists) coiitetlu a perfectly Immense aniouut of the 
best unci most ; op ill nr music, at the lowest price. 
Such standard Opera* an 
MJGNGN i Ail. AIDA (SO CARMEN ($2), MEFISTOKELE 
(*2), FAIINIIZA ($2), MANOLA OK DAY AND 
NIGH I (*., .in), HELLS OF uOKNELLVILLE ($1 Su), 
nud llie well known tighter und easier ones (send 
lor lists), have in them a large proporllun of all the 
popular melodic. 
Such good Temperance Hauls* as 
TEMPERANCE LIGHT (12 els ) TEMPERANCE JETV- 
ELS te.i CIS.) and HULL’S TL.WFEKaNCE GLEE 
BOOK Odets ). cannot well be Improved upon. 
Sui'li capital kunditv School and Praise Meeting 
Book* as MALI: voice atom tsn ent( with gos- 
A vo LIFE eta.), ana BANKER 
OF Vlt iOHY (.fi eta.) 
Any Hook mailed for Rktail Price. 
OLIVKK DITSON St CO., Boston. 
C. H. DITSON A CO,, 843 Broadway, New York. 
teOl.D dl.KU A I, AWARDED 
tbe Author. A new and great 
Medical Work, warranted the 
beet and cheapest, Indispensable 
to every man, endued ” The Sci¬ 
ence of Life, or Self-Preserva 
tionbound In finest French 
muslin, emboiwed. full gilt, 300 
pp., contains beautiful steel en- 
w* Kravlngs, 186 proscriptions, price 
,7 only *1.36, sent by mall; lllus 
» trated sample, 8 cents: send now. 
F i Addrtutr Peabody Medical Insti 
.tuteor l»r. W. ft. PARKER. 
4 Kntflnnfc Hr.. Kmioh. 
THE AMERICAN FRUIT DRIER, 
S Practical, 
Portable, 
THE YOUNG QUERIST, 
i. KI vlu* much 
—valuable Infor¬ 
mation/res, 
AMEKIt AN JJIAN’F ID., 
Waj'iie*boro, Pa. 
L. B., Remimjton, hid., wants to know 1, 
what to do with the squash and melon vines 
to protect them from tbe striped bugs. Would 
Paris green be good l 2, Wbat is that bone- 
flour mentioned in a late Rural '{ 
Ans. 1 .— Paris-green would doubtless be 
effective, but we do not like to advise tbe use 
of it in cases where tbere is any liability to 
poisoning ruan or animals. Covering the 
vines with a cloth or fine wire screen tacked 
over a box frame, or putting mosquito netting, 
after being soaked in oil aud dried, on a frame 
and over the plants, are the surest remedies. 
Powdered charcoal, lime-dust, plaster and oys¬ 
ter-shell lime, sprinkled on with a sieve while 
the leaves are wet, has proved effectual. To. 
bacco dust is also good for these pests. 2. 
Bone-dust or bone-flour is simply ground bone. 
Eugene. E., Kelleyoille, 111., asks how to ap¬ 
ply hen manure to crops. 
Ans. —Mix it with dry earth or coal ashes 
in the proportion of one part of the manure 
with four of tbe earth or ashes. Dry muck is 
a good thing to mix with this fertilizer. Un¬ 
less considerably diluted it will prove too 
strong for many plants. Do not put it in 
direct contact with the seed. 
Flora E., Bancroft. Mich., is raising some 
apple seedlings ami wishes Uncle Mark to 
name his favorite sweet apple. 
Ans. —-U. M. is quite partial to the Golden 
Sweet, though it is hard to say just what va¬ 
riety is most preferable. 
Address, 
V*T AN TED—AGENTS fo- (hi- conijili-tr tmd authetl- 
r, , tk ' 2 ? Hlnky W I .on. .fellow, by P. H. 
Uatlenvootl. Illusirati-.l Thu pro. i-i? are ready for 
It* B. U. RUSSELL, 67 Uorublll, Hus on, Musa. 
GOLD MEDAL, PARIS, 1878, 
BAKER'S 
-j, 67 Uorublll, Bos on, Mass. 
Telegraph Operator, H-ud 26 
YOU want Id l»- 
cl-, d r (In- Most Ci 
in the world. E 
ph Instructor 
Ciiiomtiall, O. 
AGENTS! AGENTS! AGENTS! 
GEN. DODOES' brut)' new book, jutl publuJtcd, entitled, 
THIRTY-THREE YEARS AMONG 
Warranted absolutely pure 
Cocoa, from which tho excess of 
Oilliatibecn removed. Ii has three 
times the strength of Cocoa rnixi-d 
with Slareb, Arrowroot or Sugar, 
and ia therefore far more economi¬ 
cal. It U delicious, nourishing, 
strengthening, easily digested, and 
admirably adapted for invulidB aa 
well aa for persons in health. 
Sold by Grocers everywhere. 
Dear Uncle Mark. — I thought I would 
wri. e my second letter so not to be in debt for 
my seeds when they come. I hope they will 
be as good as those sent to papa. He raised 
130 Wnite Elephant potatoes and *aved 35 
pounds of' Washington oats ; the asparagus 
grew nicely. We have the Lady Washington, 
Duchess, Eldorado and 15 ocher kinds of 
grapes; the Bid well, Manchester, Jersey Queen, 
aud 20 other kinds of strawberries; the Lost 
Rubies, Cuthbert, Carolina, Bouhegan aud 
several other kinds of raspberries. If cousin 
Barah Miller will send me her address 1 will 
send her some strawberry and raspberry 
plants to cultivate and write about. 
Buffoik Co., N. Y. Percy G. Tuthill. 
11 /I n nint ”" G' nt sold : in new, uo two alike, Chro- 
n fi K ' ‘“Ring Curds, mimo f ,n. in eta Agents 
VT Mil wanted, L. Jones & Co,, Nassau, N. Y, 
Q l \ SAMPLE CARDS. ALL New, nsme on lOo. Agts 
nit n„t«, ,„ (-4 1/11 V* (IRK - Rlfn.in.i.dm n! 
«• 4 'I IlKK - Plwlnirhim Pt 
IIAremaklng4/lllU SELLINCCD 3 m illustrated OIUUK DUUIV 
■WBecuuso every fanniii- uoertsit. It In the latest and inosl complato woik ever i-nedin Aiin-rn-i. iit-nMne uf llurac*. uf. 
tic, Sheep, etc., their hre-ertn, breeding, training, causes ut dln-ahu. symptoms, and reuic-dl, ... Ov..r 1,000 mure*. 400 
Jlluatrutlo"*. Highly endorsedby tnoh.eminent authoritum as the Tr.ddenl Vice President,mid Secretary nlPblladeluhla 
Collage of \etednary Surgeons, Hon. J. W. Gxdsdk.n and others. Farmers, ilu-lr suns, and uui-.iitM desiring prntltablework 
should send at nnco for full particular* and terms. Address llUltlt AI: f> BROS., ?gx cReal nnl si." Vl.ll,.(l.. 1 . 0 . 1 ,, 
Uncle Mark. —I take the Rural and think 
it one of the best papers published. My little 
boys like the paper very much, and want me 
to ask you to let them join the Horticultural 
Club. They like to work in the garden, and 
always have a little plot of ground of their 
rotato Hug JLiUIU JJUIU Jkf UKFJLi^. Pualu Bug 
Poisou. TRADE MARK. Poison. 
deal e r has not got it, wried to HSUCNT WAY’S LONDON FURPLE CO. (Limitbd), P. O. Bo 1 
utm No. tW. Watsu Stuckt, Nsw Yoait, wU> will saal prlodj aai teiti nyaiaU. v 
