JUNE 24 
e 
Quite a number of our farmers who are 
large corn raisers failed to save any seed corn 
and depended entirely upon purchasing. As 
there was considerable shortage in the supply 
here, merchants shipped in com by the car¬ 
load to supply the demand; and a number of 
farmers used this corn for seed, and the con¬ 
sequence is that they are obliged to replant a 
great deal. 
We can, of course, lay part of 'he failure to 
germinate to the weather. We had very nice 
warm weather about the first of April when a 
great deal of corn w as planted, but afterwards 
it turned cool and wet aud some of the corn 
on low lands rotted ; but from my own ex¬ 
perience 1 am compelled to say that the most 
prolific cause of failure has been poor seed. 
I planned my corn on April 18, 19, and 20, 
when the weather was reasonably cool, and it 
came up as 1 have stated. This failure to ger¬ 
minate is a serious damage; it takes nearly, if 
not quite, as long to replant a field where so 
much seed fails to germinate as it does to 
plant at the start, besides ruakiog the growth 
very uneven. Farmers, too, generally wait 
as long as possible before replanting, so as to 
give the corn as fair a chance as possible to 
germinate; and some even plow what is up 
first before replanting, aud where this is done 
the field must of a necessity be very uneven, 
and of course this affects the yield to a con¬ 
siderable extent. All this could, to a great 
extent, be uvoided bj r taking pains in the Fall 
to select good, sound seed. Keep it in a dry 
place until wanted in the Spring; then shell 
off, discarding the butts and ends of the ears. 
It will always pay to try some of your corn 
even if saved in this way, by planting some iu 
a box,counting the grains ami then noting how 
many germinate. By doing this, much disap¬ 
pointment may be avoided and in many cases 
considerable loss of time and labor. By 
this means you are enabled to work on cer¬ 
tainty, while otherwise you are running all 
the risks which every farmer should avoid as 
much as possible. N. J. Shepherd. 
Miller Co., Mo. 
P ain) its baa tir tj. 
THE WAR AGAINST SPURIOUS DAIRY 
PRODUCTS. 
When the Congressioual House Sub-Com¬ 
mittee of Ways and Means w'as preparing its 
bill to lax oleomargarine aud similar com¬ 
pounds 10 cents a pound, the statistics sub¬ 
mitted to it showed that the value of pasture 
aud meadow lands, cows, creameries, cheese 
factories and other dairy property in. the 
country is over four billion dollars, aud 
that the value of dairy products every year 
is greater than that of the wheat crop or 
of the cotton and wool crops combined, it is 
therefore justly a matter of national im¬ 
portance that nothing should be permitted to 
injure by underhand or fraudulent means an 
interest of such great importance. Now Con¬ 
gressman Jacobs of New York complained 
before the Committee that the oleomargarine 
factories cf his State alone produced twenty 
million pounds a year and threatened ruin to 
the dairy industry. In several other States 
also, notably in Maryland, Ohio anti Illinois, 
the manufacture of oleomargarine and kindred 
concoctions has reached enormous proportions, 
so that iu New' \ork aud all the great dairy 
States resolute efforts u re being made either ah 
solutely to prevent the manufacture or sale of 
spurious dairy products or so to brand them 
that purchasers can readily distinguish the 
genuine from the fraudulent. In New York 
laws already in force but poorly executed, 
provide that all packages containing imita¬ 
tion butter or cheese shall be legibly stamped 
with the real name of their contents, Moreover, 
five anti-oleomargarine bills were passed by 
the Legislature ut the session just, closed, and 
are now before the Governor for approval. The 
simplest is that of Mr. Lynde, making it a 
misdemeanor punishable by fine or imprison¬ 
ment to sell oleomargarine, butterine or suiue. 
Mr. Fenner’s complicated bill is aimed at the 
manufacture of colored imitations of butter, 
but a monopoly appears to be given to the 
stuff made under the Mege patent in its 
closing section, which says: 
lfut nothing in this act- shut! be bo Construed as 
to Interfere with or abridge uny right obtained- 
secured, or guaranteed by any law of Congress or by 
any patent duly granted by the fulled States Gov¬ 
ernment." 
Mr. Chamberlain’s bill prohibits the use of 
annatto or other coloring matter in imitation 
butter and cheese. Mr. Sheldon’s bill re¬ 
quires that placards with the words " Oleo¬ 
margarine Used Here ” shall be conspicuously 
displayed iu the dining-rooms in all hotels, 
restaurants aud boarding - houses where 
bogus butter is used; while the chief feature 
of Mr. Hunter’s bill seems to be a fine of £500 
for the violation of its provisions. If our 
legislators who pose as friends of the farmer 
or are so really, had the farmers’ interest closer 
at heart than their own political popularity, 
it seems to me they would combine in a single 
comprehensive and decisive assault instead of 
making the anti-oleomargarine warfare a 
laughing-stock to non-agricultural Philistines 
by so very many disconnected, guerrilla-like 
attacks. 
Like several of the other Western States, 
Missouri has a law forbidding the munufa v 
ture or sale in that State of imitation butter, 
w hether under its own or a fraudulent name. 
The oleomargarine interest has made a des¬ 
perate fight against this law, but in a test case 
just decided by the Court of Appeals to which 
it was carried, the constitutionality of the law 
has been affirmed. In deliveriog the opinion 
the Court said; 
"Astatute prohibiting the manufacture and sale 
of an article of foot! made iu imitation of a whole¬ 
some article III common use, which imitated article 
Is so repugnant to the taste uitd prejudices or the 
people that they will not eat it when advised of Its 
real character, hut only whim cheated Into the belief 
that It Is the genuine article In resemblance of which It 
Is made, Is a statute fairly within the Police power of 
the State, not opposed to any provision of the Consti¬ 
tution of theStateorof the Constitution of the United 
States, and the wisdom of which is not to be called 
Into question In the judicial courts, and this Is so 
although particular samples of such imitated articles 
may, in the opinion of scientific men, be us whole¬ 
some and beneficial articles of food us the original 
substance in imitation of which it is made." 
Probably the case will be appealed to the 
Supreme Court, and if this sustains the de¬ 
cision of the two lower courts, the example of 
Missouri is likely to be followed iu many other 
States that are now iu doubt as to the consti¬ 
tutionality of such legislation. 
“ Roundabout.” 
LARGE BUTTER YIELDS. 
I am heartily tired, for one, at seeing the 
agricultural papers constantly filled with ac¬ 
counts of the great yields of butter cows. 
These look to me too much like a series of 
p.-.ffs and brags; and as if the owuers of the 
cows got them inserted as disguised adver¬ 
tisements, and for the purpose of selling their 
stock at extra-high prices. Out of all the 
cows bred in America, it is only of a small 
proportion even of those classed as giving ex¬ 
tra rich milk, that such high records can be ob¬ 
tained; but they are reported iu such a way 
as to make the public believe all of this par¬ 
ticular breed are capable of yielding this large 
quantity of butter, so that when the pur¬ 
chaser of these cows gets them into his pos¬ 
session, nine times out of ten, he finds hirnself 
woefully disappointed, and that he has made 
a very poor investment of his money. 
But to carry out this sort of puffing and 
brag, more generally, suppose the breeders 
of Short horn, Hereford, Devon and Augus 
cattle should be constantly reporting the 
weekly, monthly and annual gaius in weight 
of their cattle, would the agricultural pa¬ 
pers admit such frequent reports? No, indeed, 
they would not. Then why should we hear 
so much of milk and butter records? 
Another thing, it has become dangerous to 
breed these great yielders of butter; for those 
cows that yield so heavily are very liable to 
milk sickness, which often proves fatal; and 
even in cases of cure are attended with great 
trouble, ami considerable expense of medicine 
and time devoted to them, to say nothing of 
the loss of their milk for weeks and some¬ 
times months in succession. Anti-Puff. 
U. h c Cljriarion, 
"DOLLAR" QUEENS AGAIN. 
First allow, me to thank Prof. Cook for bis 
kind words in a late article in the Rural on 
the above subject; they are fully appreciated. 
When an argument is so conducted that at its 
close each party has a higher opiniou of his 
opponent, there is but little chance for hard 
feelings; if every one was like friend Cook, 
all arguments would be so conducted. 
The only point that I endeavored to make 
in my former article, aud the one that I have 
so persistently argued in the bee papers during 
the past few mouths, is that au unjust dis¬ 
crimination is made by some writers in favor 
of theso-called “ tested” queens, when the only 
difference under the suu between them and 
the so called “dollar” queens, is that the tested 
queens are kuowa to be purely mated, while, 
until the progeny of a “ dollar” queen hatches, 
it is uncertain how she has mated; but in nine 
cases out of ten, “ dollar” queen < turn out to 
be purely mated, aud thus are eventually 
tested queens. As before stated, both classes 
of queens are reared exactly alike, and yet 
column after column of our b.>e papers have 
beeu devoted to thecoudemuationof “dollar” 
queens and not one word has been said against 
tbe tested queens. Tested for what t Tested 
for “stripes” and-£2; “only this and noth¬ 
ing more.” Does not friend Cook think that 
the rearing and selling of tested queens for 
$2, or even £3, have cheapened queens fully as 
much as the “dollar" queen traffici 
As to how a queen should be tested, friend 
Cook says: “I would have him wait to see if 
the requisite number of eggs, bees, and pounds 
of honey are forthcoming, and then, when 
such assurance was gained, I would pay him 
£10 for the queen and make money.” I heart¬ 
ily agree with him, but I fail to see bow or 
why tbe “dollar queen traffic” prevents any 
breeder from testing his queens iu this man- 
nei and then asking a corresponding price for 
them. In fact, some breeders have already 
taken a step in this direction, as they offer for 
sale “dollar” queens, “ purely mated” queens, 
“ tested” queens, and ‘ selected tested” queens. 
If some reliable breeder will ke- p his queens 
until they are a year old aud test them thor¬ 
oughly, I do not think that he will experience 
auy difficulty in selling his “selected tested” 
queens at almost any reasonable price. 
Friend Cook says: “Does Mr. II. think that 
our JShort-hora cattle would possess their 
present excellencies had there been no greater 
inducements to hard ami persistent effort than 
that held out to the bee-breeders of to-day l” 
Candidly, friend C., I do not, and until the 
mating of our queeu bees can be as easily con 
trolled as the mating of cattle, sheop and 
other stock, I do not think that there will ever 
be auy greater inducements held out to the 
bee-breeders to improve their bees than there 
are at present, even if the “dollar queen 
traffic” should be swept away. There is some 
inducement to buy, even at enormous prices, 
improved breeds of cattle, sheep and horses, 
because, with ordinary care, the offspring of 
such stock will be pure, and will, likewise, 
command a high price; but there is no such 
inducement to the purchase of an improved 
strain of bees, because, even with the greatest 
care, the young queens may mate with drones 
from some scrub swarins in the woods. 
I do not wish to be understood as saying 
that there are no inducements to the purchas¬ 
ing of improved strains of bees; far from it. 
The inducements are many, but they are not 
so great or so many as to the purchasing of 
stock the breeding of which can be controlled. 
To a certain extent, of course, the mating of 
queens can be controlled; we can Italianize 
all of the bees in the vicinity of our apiary, 
but to have each stock within three or four 
miles produce number one drones, would be 
au almost herculean task. When fertilization 
in confinement, or something of the sort, is 
made practicable, then, I doubt not, there will 
be plenty of breeders who will sec to work and 
will succeed, in producing a superior strain of 
bees. At present, however, in order to obtain 
positive results aud know how they were ob¬ 
tained, so chat it can be done again and again; 
it is necessary to adopt the plan put in prac¬ 
tice by Mr. D. A. Jones—that of breeding bees 
upon isolated islands. 
No one would be more pleased than myself 
to see an improvement in our bees. I try to 
be unprejudiced iu the matter, but to me it 
appears that the rearing and selling of “ dol¬ 
lar” queens does not “retard the progress of 
American apiculture” or “ stand in the way of 
the best achievements," any more than the 
rearing aud selling of native cattle, sheep and 
horses preveut or hinder the development, 
breeding and dissemination of improved breeds 
of these animals. Instead of being a damage, 
I think that dollar queens have been a benefit 
and a blessing to apiculture. Thousands now 
have the peaceable, industrious aud beautiful 
Italians, who would yet have the native bees 
had the prices of Italian queens been kept at 
a high figure, while any breeder is free to im¬ 
prove his bees as much as he pleases, and if he 
succeeds in producing a superior strain, he 
need have no fears but what he can sell his 
queens at a high price. W. Z. Hutchinson. 
Rogersville, Genesee Co., Mich. 
Dollar Queens. —Our contributor Mr. G. 
M. Doolittle, one of the most expert beekeep¬ 
ers of the country, writes us that the article 
iu a late Rural on “Dollar Queens” by Pro¬ 
fessor Cook, is one of the best articles ever 
written on bee culture. He says he wishes 
that it could be read by every beekeeper in 
the country. He evidently sees and feels 
deeply the tendency of the cheap queeu traffic 
to depreciate the quality of our bees. 
form (Topics, 
THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE’S 
SEEDS. 
For the hundredth time at least, the ques¬ 
tion is asked, Why are the people of these 
United States taxed for the support of a de¬ 
partment for the distribution of common 
seeds, by politicians to their constituents l 
Why should the seedsmen, in preference to 
other trades, be favored with the privilege of 
unloading upon the Government their surplus 
merchandise ? Why not give the grocery and 
dry-goods trade a chance ? Or the boot and 
shoe trade, or the book publishers—all respect¬ 
able, aud deserving of “Government” pap as 
well as the seed trade ? A pair of stout boots 
or a pair of trousers would, in most cases, be 
an acceptable present for even the farmer. A 
pound of genuine tea to cheer without ine¬ 
briating, and a book to while away a leisure 
hour would be suitable not only to tbe fanner 
but also for our politicians’ constituents of 
other occupations. Why this suggestion has 
not occurred to our astute Representatives in 
Congress iu these times of an overflowing 
Treasury, is beyond one’s comprehension. 
To the innocent and uninitiated the idea is, 
that the Government, through its Representa¬ 
tives and Senators, distributes seeds of rare 
aud new varieties not obtainable by purchase 
from dealers. Is this so ? Far from it. The 
very opposite is the fac6. The printed list of 
the Government’s stock of seeds of about 100 
varieties contains the names of only ordinary 
staple sorts obtainable at most country stores. 
Here it is: 
SEEDS FOR DISTRIBUTION BY THE DEPART¬ 
MENT OF AGRICULTURE, SEASON OF ItSttj. 
VEGETABLES—Am i'akaous—V auSieklon'g Colossal, 
Colossal. 
BK.tNs Diva l‘l 
Golden Wax, Early Red Valentine, 
_• Turtle Soup, Golden Wax, Large Luna, Golden 
Duller-, ivory Pou Wax, Moliaivk. 
Early 
* title 
BROCCOLI, 
Bebt.—B astinn s Half Long, Early Egyptian Turnip, 
Hatch s Early Blood, Dewing a improved 'Turnip, 
Early Blood Turnip. 
Carrot—D anvers, Improved Long Orange, Large 
Yellow Belgian. 
(.Leeam mr— improved Extra Long VVldto Spine, 
Early Frame, Long Green. 
Lxbbai.u—H enderson s Early, Earlv Jersey Wake- 
Held, Premium Flat Dutch, Nort li Carolina Buncomhe, 
Stone Mo .ihuIu. 
Cauliflower—H askell’s, Extra Early Dwarf, Al¬ 
giers. 
Cons - Mexican Sweet, Early Minnesota Sweet, 
CrosOy’s Early Sweet, Improved Evergreen Sweet, 
Roalyu Hybrid sweet. 
OBlkuv—H enderson's Half Dwarf, Boston Market, 
Dwart Will to. 
Em) Flam—N ew York Unproved. 
LlirTlicK—Black - Seeded Simpson, Early Curled 
Simpson, Bo-iton curled, Early curled, White Tennis 
Ball, Uurled India. 
Music u«lon— daekeusaok. Cassaba. 
Watermelon — Rattlesnake, Haskell's Excelsior, 
Green Citron. 
Onion -While Naples, Giant Delia Uocea, Danvers 
Yellow Globe, Giant Red Della Rucea, While Lisbon. 
Okra—I mproved Dwni I', fall Green, Long Ureeu. 
Peas—A tnrrieau Wonder, Little Wonder, improved 
Daniel O'KoUitce, Cleveland s Best, Telegraph. Extra 
Early, Haskell's Extra Early. Advancer. 
Parsley— Moss curled 
PtUTMii—Largo Red or Cayenne, Bull Nose, Sweet 
Mouutautr 
Parsxif— Long Smooth, Long Smooth or Hollow 
Crowned, Abbott's improved Hollow Crowned. 
ttAbisn-French Breakfast, Carter's Long Scarlet, 
Scarlet Turnip, Golden Yellow Olive-shaped, Califor¬ 
nia Mammoth, Hcnoarson'*. 
syl Asil— Boston Market, Early Yellow Bush Scal¬ 
loped, Hubbard, Inter Crookneek, American Turban. 
SlUNACH—Savoy Leaved. 
Salsify. 
Tobacco-—W hite Burley, Vuelta do Abajo, Havana, 
Big UTlBOCO, Gold Leaf, Maryland Broad Leaf. 
jOMAro - Iruphy.Acme, Paragon, Perfection, Alpha. 
F LOWERS—Au a-.Horuueut. 
TREES—uatalpu, hardy. 
FIELD.—BoeKAVulfAT-sHrer Hull, 
Corn—C hester County Mammoth, tltieen of the Prai¬ 
rie, White Flint Prolific, Peabody, Large White, 
Montgomery, Y ellow Fdut. 
Cotton—Z eJIner. Long staple Silk, Champion Pro¬ 
lific, improved Prolific, Improved llerloitg. 
Flax—T ree, White Flowering, Yellow seeded, 
Hline-Piedmont Tall, Glunt Chinese. 
Oats—R usskih White. New Brunswick, Washington. 
Puiii-mx—^Connecticut Field. n. c. 
^rbovicfiltural. 
TREE-PLANTING ON ROUGH, HILLY 
OR ROCKY LANDS. 
DR. JOHN A. WARDER. 
W here at all possible to plow the land, do it 
as a valuable preparation, because of the ad¬ 
vantage ic gives to the young plants that are 
to be in trod need. W here t here a ro steep declivi¬ 
ties, rocky, protruding ledges, or other obstruc¬ 
tions, how valuable soever suck lands may be 
for pasturage, it may be well to devote them 
entirely to timber growth, as has already been 
urged in the “ Woods-Pasture” article in issue 
June L0. This is especially applicable to the ab¬ 
rupt outcrops of the shales, particularly che 
so called Devonian, which often occur in “the 
knobs;’’ these should never be cleared of their 
timber, or, if cleared, they should be imme¬ 
diately replanted with trees. 
Now in all such situations, as in similar 
difficulties everywhere, if we cannot have all 
the advantages we desire, it is the part of 
good philosophy to embruce and make the 
most of the conditions by which we happen 
to be surrounded. Thus where, instead of an 
open prairie or well-cleared land, capable of 
being thoroughly prepared for culture, we are 
restricted to abrupt hill-sides or to rocky 
ledges which should certainly be covered with 
trees, let us uot be discouraged but adopt the 
more expensive and the less promising plans 
that have been extensively practiced on the 
hills of Scotland aud the mouutain ranges of 
Germany and Austria, where the most exteu- 
sive and profitable forests have been produced 
upon wide areas on which the plow had never 
broken the soil, where only the simplest prep¬ 
aration was practicable, and yet where some 
of the most magnificent and most profitable 
forests have been established, 
Iu such cases the planting is done by 
“ notching,” for small nursery trees, that are 
inserted into the slit made with the heavy 
planting spade, and firmed by the same instru¬ 
ment, or with the foot, an expert planter set¬ 
ting one thousand in a day. Or, with larger 
trees, the plan of “ pitting” is pursued, opening 
holes a foot or more in diameter, into which a 
smaller number of plants may be set out In a 
