JUNE 40 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
>' 
would not; purchase their orders of them. 
Occasional adulterations and careless handling 
by which cotton is shamefully soiled are the 
reasons they do not, The long distance is a 
bar to the adjustment of disputes. In the 
absence of safeguards on this 6ide of the Atlan¬ 
tic, English dealers have to purchase of 
brokers in English markets. 
IMPROVEMENT IN PACKING. 
The Hon. Edward Atkinson, one of the pro¬ 
moters of the Atlanta Cotton Exposition, 
most thoroughly investigated the system of 
packing and reckless handliug cotton in the 
South last year. He quickly saw the benefit 
of revolutionizing the whole system. The 
result is that there will this year be anew 
system of purchasing, baling and shipping this 
great staple. At each railroad station on 
several trunk and on some branch lines agents 
will be stationed for purchasing cotton, with 
seed included, direct from the wagons of the 
planters, paying them so much per pound for 
it. These agents, the company which will 
employ them being already organized, will 
erect gin houses at these stations and will set 
up one or more automatic presses which neatly 
and quickly press 125 pounds into a small bale 
such as one man can handle with ease. These 
small bales will pack better in cars, and it will 
cost less to handle them all the way from 
these agencies to New England factories or the 
mills of Old England. This company, having 
a very latge capital, will place- their brand on 
all they pack, and sell and guarantee that 
each bale contains the cotton named on it. 
They will also erect and operate their own 
cotton seed oil mills. Such a revolution is 
demanded. The observant copitalists from 
the East and North who attended the Cotton 
Exposition, seeing the bungling manner in 
which King Cotton is manipulated, determined 
to profit by their experience. 
DEVICE FOR DESTROYING COTTON WORMS. 
The destruction of immense areas of cotton 
plants by worms has also called fora remedy. A 
cottonworm destroyer, exhibited at the At¬ 
lanta Exposition, received the medal over all 
others. It consists of large India rubber saddle¬ 
bags filled with liquid w Inch is poisonous to all 
cotton-worm pests. This apparatus is placed 
on a horse the same as a saddle. It has a rubber 
pipe an inch or less in diameter on each side, 
with a perforated metal nozzle, the same as a 
water-can sprinkler. A boy is mounted on 
these rubber bags or pouches, whose weight 
causes the forcing of the liquid out of these 
nozzles a distance of ten feet on each side of 
the horse, thus making a thorough shower 
over the plants. It will be extensively used 
this season for the first time, although it was 
sufficiently experimented with last year to 
prove its efficacy. It will work equally as 
well in potato fields. “Waif.” 
Gainesville, Hall Co., Ga. 
&c. 
THE JOHN P. MANNY REAPER. 
Edmiston & Waddell attribute the re¬ 
markable success of their reaper to the fol¬ 
lowing points in its construction : 
1. The knife back being on top of the sec¬ 
tions and the guard having a perfectly smooth 
surface, unlike all other guards, there is no 
groove in it. This gives the knife a perfect 
shear cut. 2. The patent short stroke, which 
saves in the aggregate an enormous amount 
of power. 3. The ability of the machine to 
cut as effectively when driven slow as when 
driven fast. This is effected by the con¬ 
struction of the cutting apparatus as ex¬ 
plained above. Having a perfect shear cut, 
any grain coming between the edges of sec¬ 
tion and guard will be cut, and will not be 
drawn between bottom of section and top of 
guard, no matter how slow the knife is mov¬ 
ing. This is an immense advantage in cut¬ 
ting down grain. 4. The tilting platform, 
which can be adjusted by the driver instant¬ 
ly without leaving his seat. 5. The ability 
always and in all kinds of gruin to put the 
knife to the grain, and thus not waste power 
by attempting the impossible task of trying 
to take the grain to the knife. This is ac¬ 
complished by the adjustable platform by 
which tbe cutting apparatus can be low¬ 
ered to pick up the worst lodged and tangled 
grain, and the ability to drive slow in such 
graiu and cut it all and in standing grain, be 
it tall or short, the reaper is perfectly ad¬ 
justable, and can be set iustautly to do the 
required work by the driver without leaving 
his seat. 
Then there are many other points that will 
commend themseves to progressive farmers. 
The rake follows close behind the bats. 
Other advantages are: No scattering be¬ 
tween bundles; no treading on bundles at 
corners; the ability to cut right-angle 
corners; the confluing of each part to its 
legitimate work; adjustable knife-head; and 
the patent guard that can be sharpened with¬ 
out being taken off. This, too, is tbe 
only modern reaper that only needs and only 
uses one rake, and which is perfectly and 
practically controllable. The machine also 
is made and finished in a thorough and work¬ 
manlike manner. 
Circulars and information will be furnished 
by the manufacturers, whose reputation is 
such that farmers need not hesitate to place 
confidence in them. 
Our edition of May 27, 1882, contains a 
handsome advertisement and picture of the 
machine shown above. This machine is at¬ 
tracting the attention of the farming com 
munity to a remarkable extent, and a glance 
through the testimonial book of its manu¬ 
facturers, Edmiston & Waddell, of this city, 
shows letters from practical farmers in va¬ 
rious parts of the country speaking in the 
highest terms of the field work of this popular 
machine. w. h. k. 
i^tiscetloneous. 
ODDS AND ENDS. 
The Rural is so different from all other 
agricultural journals I ever saw that I cannot 
but regret that I never read it before this year. 
The papers to which I have been accustomed 
are—if I may be allowed so to say—“ all tarred 
with the same stick.” 
The Rural seems to be “otherwise,” If 
only one side is represented one week, the 
other is heard from immediately, and away 
they go, “nip and tuck.” 
“Stockman’s” strictures on those who 
dissent from him and bis governmental pamph¬ 
lets on hog cholera are rather severe, as in 
the case of Mr. Boggs, of Kansas. Stockman 
and Mr. Boggs are evidently both elderly men f 
each taking for granted that he knows best 
Stockman’s jibesonsuch little things as “ coal-, 
oil” for “ kerosene” (which by the way, is defin¬ 
ed by Webster as an oil extracted from bitu¬ 
minous coal) are beneath tbe dignity of a gen¬ 
tleman of his years and wisdom. 
[The name “kerosene" was first given in 
1846, to an illuminating oil made from coal, in 
Piince Edward Island, by Abraham Gesuer; 
but a patent for extracting a somewhat sim¬ 
ilar oil from bituminous shales was granted in 
England as far back as 1694 to Martin Eele, 
Thomas Hancock and William Portlock. Sev¬ 
eral other patents for extracting the oil from 
bituminous coal, bituminous shales, asphaP 
turns, wood, resin, fish oil and candle tar were 
subsequently granted, but no manufacture 
worthy of mention was established until that 
of James Young of Glasgow, Scotland, about 
1850. The first factory of the kind in this 
country was that of the Kerosene Oil Com¬ 
pany, at Newtown Creek, Long Island,opposite 
the upper part of this city, which began oper¬ 
ations in June 1854, under Mr. Young’s patent 
which had been granted to him iu this country 
as well as in England. It * as designed to ex¬ 
tract the oil from Boghead cannel, a mineral 
containing an unusual quantity of bitumen 
and found abundantly in Nova Scotia and 
New Brunswick as well as iu some of our Wes¬ 
tern coal mines. Soon other coal oil works 
sprang up in several of tbe Western States, 
there being 25 in Ohio alone at the close of IS60. 
These nearly all used cannel coal, rich iu 
bituminous matter. In the same year the 
factories on the Atlantic coast produced 200,- 
000 barrels, while the value of all the kero¬ 
sene made in the country, according to the 
census of I860, was $2,143,693. Although petro¬ 
leum, or rock oil, was known and used for 
illuminating purposes long before the Chris¬ 
tian era, it did not attract much public atten¬ 
tion until Col. E. L. Drake “struck oil" at a 
depth of 71 feet at Titusville, Pa., on August 
26, 1859. His well pumped 1,000 gallons a day ^ 
and soon the whole country had the “ oil 
fever.” The marvelous production of petro¬ 
leum during the following years led to the 
abandonment of coal as the crude material of 
kerosene. The factories that had been using 
coal rapidly changed to petroleum refineries 
and a host of new refineries were erected, 
although coal continued to be used in a couple 
of establishments for four years after the 
grand discovery of petroleum. For many 
years, however, this has been almost ex¬ 
clusively the crude material of kerosene. 
As the chemical composition of kerosene 
from petroleum is the same as that of ker¬ 
osene from bituminous coal, etc., the old 
name of “coal oil” is still frequently applied to 
it by all classes—scientists as well as “ordinary 
folks.” Eds.] 
Stockman’s assertion (page 306) that ex¬ 
cessive corn feeding is a primary cause of hog 
cholera, for all I know to the contrary, may 
be perfectly true; yet I will give a few facts 
for him to think on and determine their value. 
Occasionally in this section hog cholera is 
quite prevalent and very destructive. Com¬ 
plete isolation and good care are the only re¬ 
liable preventives. Some farmers feed corn 
all Summer, and yet never lo9e a bog, owing 
to isolation, as I believe. Otliers feed corn, 
but their pastures are bordered by the “ com¬ 
mons” and they frequently lose many if not 
all. A farmer had nine pigs intended for 
stock hogs, and eleven to be fattened apd killed. 
The eleven were about ten mouths older 
than the nine, and were fed heavily on com. 
Both lots ran in the same pasture, yet theniue 
pigs (about six moutl is old) died from cholera 
and the eleven fat ones entirely escaped, Now 
the class In which most loss occurs are fed lit¬ 
tle or no corn, but are turned into the woods 
to shift as best they may. I make no infer¬ 
ences; I merely present facts. 
When the Rural published its method of 
corn culture I determined to try a small por¬ 
tion in that manner. Although my corn 
ground was ready for the usual manner of 
planting, I harrowed it level, broadcasted 
about 125 pounds of fertilizer on about one- 
fourth of an acre, and planted it in drills, and 
intend to cultivate as the Rural directs. 
The mode of corn culture in this section is 
as follows, with some exceptions: Four slices 
of sod are thrown together, the first two form¬ 
ing the “single list,” and the others being 
“lapped up,” constituting the “double list.’’ 
This is rolled or “dragged” (harrowed) and 
the ground “crossed" (markedat right angles 
to the “ lists”) and the corn dropped at the 
intersections of the top of the “ list” with the 
“ cross." Shortly after the corn is up, it is 
“ barred ” or harrowed across the list or land. 
Another harrowing or cultivation is given, 
and then the plow is used to “cross-plow;" 
that is, to throw’ dirt to the com. This is 
followed by two cultivations with a three¬ 
toothed cultivator, and is called “ fluking,” 
or harrowing with “flukers,” and the crop is 
then “laid by,” usually about the time the 
com tassels. Dorset. 
Dorchester Co., Md. 
■-♦ » ♦- 
RURAL BRIEFLETS. 
We have been trying the effect of Dalma¬ 
tian Insect Powder (Pyrethrum or Chrysan¬ 
themum cinerarmtolium) upon potato beetles. 
One hundred were placed into a tomato can 
with several stems and leaves of potato and 
one small potato. Two “pinches” of the 
powder were sprinkled upon the beetles at 
uinep. m.. In a few minutes they began to 
move as if to get away from it. In ten min¬ 
utes all were crawling as fast as they could 
as if panic-stricken. This continued for half 
an hour when their legs seemed to become 
paralyzed. They moved about as if druuk— 
staggering on two legs—rearing up and fall¬ 
ing over. In another half hour, all but lialf- 
a-doz°n were quiet as if dead, asleep or “ play¬ 
ing possum” as they usually do when handled. 
Upon being shaken the legs would move a 
little showing there was still life. The next 
morning, all were still alive. In the evening, 
they seemed to have recovered somewhat and 
the powder wus deemed a failure. Tbe pow¬ 
der was also sifted upon potato plants in 
the garden. For awhile the beetles avoided 
those plants but the next day the plants were 
attacked as before the powder was applied. 
Another test was made upon currant worms. 
A number of twigs in full leaf were placed in 
a can with about 50 worms. A pinch of the 
insect powder was thrown in, and the can af¬ 
ter being covered was well shaken. After 
10 hours the worms were alive. The tinc¬ 
ture of the Dalmatian insecticide was used 
and diluted with five times its quantity of 
water without iujury to potato beetles. 
We also tried hellebore upon potato heetles. 
The leaves and stems of potato plants were 
first immersed in water and tbe powder 
sifted upon every part. These with 50 beetles 
were placed in a can and after 10 hours the 
beetles eating all the while, were as frisky as 
ever..... 
Sec. Garfield writes from Grand Rapids 
(under date of May 20) that ne has not failed 
even so far north in getting Nicanor Straw¬ 
berries by May 26 each year for a long time; 
but a succession of frosts killed all the early 
blossoms and there would Dvobablyhe no ripe 
berries before June 1st. This will be earlier 
than any berries will ripen at the Rural 
Grounds'.... .. 
Among purple-lea veil trees, there is none 
whose leaves are of a deeper color than 
Schwerdler’s Maple when it first unfolds. 
This is a variety of the Norway. 
Da. Sturtevant writes us that they are 
now getting settled dowu to work at the N. 
Y. Ex. Station , though the principal work thus 
far has beeu the caring for petty details, 
training labor, etc. Still the fields and garden 
have not been neglected. 
Silk Culture in America.— At different 
times during the past hundred years attempts 
have been made to introduce silk culture in 
this country, but without success. The fail¬ 
ure has been attriouted to various causes, 
either one of which would ia itself have been 
been sufficient to insure it. Upon this sub¬ 
ject the N. Y. Sun gives some good in¬ 
formation and suggestions whiih we offer 
as supplementary to our articles on the 
same subject iu Rurals of May 13 and 20. 
One of the chief encouragements is the 
growth of silk manufactories iu this country 
which have increased so rapidly in the past 
twenty years that they now produce between 
$45,000,000 and $50,000,000 worth of goods 
every year, importing the raw material used, 
amounting to about 4,000,000 pounds a year, 
every ounce of which takes money abroad 
than it would be well to keep at borne. These 
manufactories then have made a demand 
that at present is supplied from abroad. 
Can it be answered at home i 
The worm from which the best silk com9s 
is known to science as Bombax Mori , a Ch 
nese silkworm that feeds on mulberry leaves, 
and was derived originally from the moun¬ 
tainous provinces of China. It prefers for 
food the leaves of the White Mulberry, and 
of all tbe species likes best the Atoms multi- 
cmUis, a tree that grows rapidly to a hight 
of twenty or thirty feet, with large leaves; 
it is hardy as far north as Philadelphia, 
and sometimes endures the Winters of New 
York. Further uorth, to furnish food for 
worms the trees must be raised from layers 
or cuttings every year, which adds so much 
to the expense as to render silk culture un¬ 
profitable, for it is only by using labor that 
cannot be otherwise profitably employed 
that there is any gain in this direction. 
In some situations in the Middle and South¬ 
ern States, where there is suitable land for 
a mulberry plantation, that can be had at 
little cost, a family in which there are women 
and children without special or remunerative 
employment may well set themselves about 
preparations for silk culture. The trees may 
be raised from the seed, but as cuttings can 
be readily and cheaply obtained, and a year’s 
time is saved by using them, they are to be 
recommended. The mulberry likes a light, 
rich soil, and in such a cutting will make a 
growth of four feet the first year. The cut¬ 
tings can be set in rows a foot apart; the naxt 
