JUNE 14 
is formed much like that of the Cone-Flower 
(Rudbeckia) with which all of our readers are 
familiar, except that the receptacle is not 
conical—or, perhaps, we might better say, 
the Ox-eye Daisy with which many of our 
fields are too profusely decorated. But the 
foliage is finely cut, as our illustration of 
Mch. 11 showed, and of a dark, glossy green, 
while the rays of the flower which are often 
more than one inch in length vary from white 
through delicate rose shades to a rich crim¬ 
son. Many of those flowers now blooming 
measure two-and-one-half inches in diameter, 
the discs being yellow as in the Ox-eye Daisy 
Pyrethrum roseum will unquestionably be 
cultivated in our gardens both as a bedding, 
hardy perennial and for cut flowers, as few 
others blooming at the same time display 
such brilliant colors, or are more suitable for 
table or mantel bouquets. 
In regard to the identity of the Manchester 
and Hovey Strawberries, our friend, Mr. John 
S. Collins, writes us as follows: 
‘ I noticed in a late Rural your remarks in 
reference to the similarity of the Manchester 
and old Hovey, a fact which seems more ap¬ 
parent now as I see plants growing. I called 
the attention of a few men to the same fact 
at Manchester last Sumner. My Spring Cata¬ 
logue mentions the same subject. I merely 
call your attention to it, as ray views on the 
matter were certainly in print before the Ru¬ 
ral’s remarks were noticed by me, and several 
thousands of the catalogues had been sent out, 
one of which was seut te the Rural, I fruited 
the old Hovey Seedling for about 10 years— 
until about 1805—when it seemed to lose its 
vitality, and other now, better growing sorts 
(at that time) coming up, I let it drop out_ 
The following is the marked passage in Mr. 
C.’s catalogue, to w hich he refers: 
Manchester (P)—A new' variety of much 
promise, originated by Jesse Beatty, of Man¬ 
chester, N. J., who has grow’n and fruited it 
for seven years. Plant a vigorous grower, 
very productive; berries large, uniform size, 
very firm; ripens medium to late. In ex¬ 
amining a plantation of it in bearing at the 
home of the originator, on sandy soil, I was 
reminded of its great similarity in color, size 
and shape to the old Hovey Seedling, which 
was also a pistillate, and a fine variety. My 
first crop of Hovey, grown in 18.55, yielded at 
the rate of over 8,000 quarts per acre. 
-- 
Grubs in Grass Fields —Around Mr. 
Campbell’s farm there has been much com¬ 
plaint these years about destruction of grass 
roots by grubs. Week before last he examined 
his all over and could not fiud a grub. He can 
account for it by uo reason except by the lime 
and potash that have been put on it for two or 
three years. Last year, his neighbor next 
adjoining bis home farm, had his fields overrun 
by Army worms. He looked over a neighbor’s 
farm and they were creeping over the grass 
in thousands, tens of thousands. He got to 
talking about where they came from; there 
w'ere none of them that knew much about it; it 
was quite a new thing; so he said, “they seem 
to be going north; let us see if we can find 
where they start.” They went to the pasture 
below and turned over the droppings of the 
cow’s; they were full of the worms, from a 
quarter of an inch to an inch-and a half long, 
all creeping out and coming to this field of 
oats, to destroy them. Mr. Campbell had a 
pasture field with thirty head of cattle on it 
and in it not u worm was to be found. There 
was no appearance that there had been one. 
In the other case the appeal ance was that 
there had been eggs laid on the grass and these 
had passed through the cattle and gone out 
with the droppings. 
Putting ur Hay.— Many instances of spon¬ 
taneous combustion in the hay-mow have oc¬ 
curred because the grass when packed away 
was not sufficiently cured, says the Husband 
man. The safe practice is to let the crop lie 
as loosely as it can be left until thoroughly 
wilted, then rake and put it up in cooks to re¬ 
main one or two days, if the weather will 
permit. In this way the curing is safely 
effected while the crop is in cock, and the risk 
of heating in the mow averted. Clover, the 
most difficult of all Summer forage crops to 
cure, should stand two or three days. A little 
care in putting hay up will avert damage 
from rains if they should occur. It is just as 
easy to pile up the cooks with flat forkfuis as to 
roll them up, and if so piled, they shed rain so 
well that they may stand during a storm of 
two or three days without material damage. 
The main requirement is that the work shall 
be executed from the beginning to the end 
with such care as to save ail the nutriment in 
the best condition. 
Mr. Goodman, in the Mass. Ploughman, 
says that he is always amused when calling on 
his tailor to find him shabbily dressed instead 
of making himself the mold of fashion by 
whom his customers would desire to pattern 
themselves. The same sort of feeling comes 
over him, mingled with regret, when visiting 
his brother farmers, to find them partaking 
so largely of pork in various shapes, fried 
beefsteaks, and eschewing nearly all vegeta¬ 
bles but potatoes and grains entire!y. 
Sweet Potatoes. —At a late meeting of 
the New Jersey' Horticultural Society, Mr. 
A. P. Arnold communicated some experi¬ 
ments which he had made in growing sweet 
potatoes. In une series of experiments the soil, 
without any application, gave 101) bushels per 
acre; with nitrate of soda the product was 
158 bushelsiwith bone black it was 152 bushels; 
with muriate of potash, 188 bushels; with 
common manure, 203 bushels; and with soda, 
boneblack, and potash together, the product 
was 222 bushels. In the above experiment 
the special manures, when alone, were ap¬ 
plied about 200 pounds to the acre; common 
manure, twenty one horse loads per acre. 
Large Flocks of Poultry, —We are very 
apt to ask why it is, that if a person can suc¬ 
ceed in keeping a hundred fowls with satis¬ 
factory profit he cannot keep ten times as 
many with ton times as much profit, or even 
more, as the cost of labor is proportionately 
reduced. A writer in the Times, commenting 
upon the subject says that figures lie dread¬ 
fully about poultry matters, and calculations 
somehow or other always arrive at a delusive 
result, the uuknown element of the equation 
ever turning out a minus quantity by some 
unexpected change. 
The most frequent causes of failure in keep¬ 
ing poultry are want of room, by which 
cleanliuess, the sine qua non of success, is 
made impossible or difficult, and the laxity of 
self-discipline of the poultry-keeper after a 
short experience in the business. At first too 
much care cannot be given to the fowls; they 
are fed and watered and cleaned and attended 
to with the greatest assiduity. After a while, 
however, one is apt to get tired of the mo¬ 
notony of the work, and the fowls are neg¬ 
lected for a day; then for two or three, until 
very soon vermin take possession of them; 
filth produces disease, disease contagion, and 
contagious disease soon sweeps away the flock. 
The first element of success in poultry-keeping 
on a large scale is a good location. This 
should be large enough to give abundant 
room, so situated as to be sheltered from bit¬ 
ter cold winds and open to the genial sun 
shine from the South, provided with shade 
and coverts, furnished with abundant pure 
water, and last, but not least, the soil should 
be dry on the surface and thoroughly well 
drained at the bottom. A poultry farm for 
1,000 fowls or more should have an area of at 
least 35 acres, and 40 acres would be better. 
The colony method is the most successful, in¬ 
deed, the only one that has been found prac¬ 
ticable. There is no trouble whatever in 
keeping a number of flocks if each has a sep¬ 
arate feeding ground and a separate building. 
And there is no difficulty in raising thousands 
of young chicks if separate hatching-houses, 
with separate pens, are provided for each 
brood, and a large, warm, dry, sheltered field 
for the young chicks to run in while the hens 
are confined in convenient coops. It all de¬ 
pends upon arrangement aud execution. 
The French produce more poultry and eggs 
than any other people, and their syste n is 
precisely this of colonizing the flocks and 
ke'-piug them separate. The French poul¬ 
try raiser devotes himself to this specialty, 
aud by giving his undivided attention to it 
achieves success in the only possible way. 
Now for this latitude make plantings of 
celery for early use—mid-July for late . . 
. . . . A writer in Vick’s Magazine uses 
flowers of sulphur for cabbage worms. . 
. . Continue to plant sweet corn. . . 
. . . Properly cured and placed beside 
the best Timothy hay, Hungarian Grass will 
be preferred every time, says a writer in the 
National Tribune.Again let us 
call attention to Prof. Bndd’s suggestion for 
killing the cabbage worm the use of gas-tar 
water. Keep the sprinkling up once a week 
from the time the heads begin to form until 
nearly grown.Professor Tracy 
finds that a piece of phosphorus placed in the 
ground just above the roots will keep squash 
borers away.Gas-tar water is 
now successfully used, in place of hellebore, 
to exterminate the currant worm, . 
. . The weight of the Booth bull Duke of 
Buckingham, 14,428 was over 21 cwt. 
Puck says that nothing makes a woman crazier 
than to plant mignonette, and, when It comes 
up, to ascertain that the seedsman put cabbage- 
seed into the wrong envelope. 
A little Tresh lime in the water is good for 
chicks, says the N. Y. World. So it is. Give 
pure water. Feed the chicks early in the 
morning and five times during the day in 
small quantities. Keep them out of the grass 
while it is wet. 
0wcrijiul)ac. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Georgia. 
Grovetown, Columbia Co.—Prospect for 
oats, wheat and grain of all kinds surprisingly 
fine. We are now harvesting. Indian corn, 
potatoes and grass very good. Peaches, ap¬ 
ples and fruit generally good. Few pears 
cultivated here. In a word, crops of all kinds 
are unusually good. Acreage of above very 
much larger than usual, and the yield being 
very much larger, we are “all right" for the 
coming year. a. h. 
* Iowa. 
Hillsboro, Henry Co.—Fall wheat 
acreage two-thirds to three fourths of an 
average, Rye full acreage. Oats same. 
Potatoes not raised for market. Prospects 
for all good. Corn, owing to the rain 
is threatened with weeds, but a fine crop 
can yet be secured if the weather permits. 
Meadows will make an average crop. Pastures 
are good. j. M . T . 
Kentucky. 
Butler, Pendleton Co.—No Spring wheat 
raised in this section. Acreage of Winter 
wheat much larger than usual, looks fine, and 
promises good returns; the same as to rye and 
oats. Meadows look well, but none is of large 
area. Corn up and with good growing weather 
good crops may be expected from an unusually 
large planting. Potatoes promise well, and 
have been largely planted; on an average 25 
per cent larger acreage of the above grains, 
etc., are now growing than last year. c. w. 
Bowling Green, Warren Co.—The acreage 
of wheat is about 50 per cent above the aver¬ 
age and the prospects are better than we’ve 
had since ’61, though the Army-worm has 
damaged it somewhat—all Winter wheat. 
Oats 25 per cent, above an average, and pros¬ 
pects good. On account of the Army-worm, 
grasses for hay will be almost an entire failure. 
Corn 20 per cent, above an average in acreage, 
and never looked better at this season. Pota¬ 
toes above an average and look well. The 
apple crop will be short, but we shall have an 
abundance of peaches and pears. Farmers 
are well up with their work, and are very 
hopeful. j, d. s. 
Maine. 
Manchester, Kennebec Co., June 10.— 
Owing to cold weather all vegetation is 
backward. Nothing has thriven hut grass, 
and that is not yet tall enough to hide the old 
fog in old mowing fields. The early and 
middle parts of Maj' were uncommonly dry, 
but the latter part was very wet. The first 
tree to bloom here is the wild pear or 
shad-bush. It first opened on May 26; wild 
cherry and domestic plum soon follow, 
later came the domestic cherry and the apple. 
In 1877 all the cherries and plums were in 
bloom on May 18. In 1881, on May 22. Work 
backward. Some farmers who have flat; 
clayey or undrained land, had to wait some 
days in June before they could plant. G. a. 
Michigan. 
Watson, Allegan Co., June 4.—Business 
of all kinds is blooming, no one need be idle 
if he is willing to work. Produce is high— 
and in good demand for cash. Such societies as 
the Grange, Farmer’s Alliance, etc., are elevat¬ 
ing the masses, and the term “mudsill’’ which 
used to be applied to the laboring classes, is 
becoming obsolete. It is everyday becoming 
apparent, (thanks to the Rural and other 
kindred papers) that brains are an attribute 
of i he progressive farmer and when actuated 
and cultivated by such tutors as I have just 
mentioned the farmers become a mighty 
power in the land. Whej I reflect on the 
position we occupy as tillers of the soil to-day 
compared with 20 years ago, I feel like call¬ 
ing the late lamented H. W. Longfellow to 
my aid in closing this effusion. H. d. e. 
“ Let us then uo and doing 
With a heart for any fate, 
Still achieving,still pursuing 
Learn to labor and to wait.” 
(Querist. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name 
and address of the writer to Insure attention 1 
SCAB IN SHEEP. 
J. H., Mechanicsville , N. What is a good 
remedy for scab in sheep? 
Ans.—T he scab in sheep is due to the pres¬ 
ence of a minute mite known as the Scab 
Insect—Aearus scabiei. This mite attaches 
itself to the skin and penetrates the surface, 
causing severe irritation and itching and the 
secretion of an exudation which dries on the 
surface, forming a scab. It is the most for¬ 
midable of all the external parasites of sheep, 
aud as a single female can produce 1,500,000 
Of progeny in 90 days, the disease to which it 
gives rise spreads rapidly through a flock any 
member of which has become infested. 
Prompt and euergetic remedies should there¬ 
fore be adopted on the first appearance of the 
malady. The earliest symptoms are a rest¬ 
lessness and uneasiness among the sheep. Soon 
the infested animals can be noticed rubbing 
themselves against trees, stones, fences, etc. 
scratching themselves with their hoofs and 
biting or nibbling among their wrol. If, on 
examination of the part rubbed or bitten, 
“ scab’’is present, the skin will be found at 
first white in color and of a thicker texture 
than the rest as well as moist and covered 
with a yellowish exudation. Later on these 
spots are covered with a scab and the wool 
The Sugar Cane Beetle.— Fig. 192. 
(See page 420.) 
becomes loose. Unless relief is afforded, the 
scabs and sores constantly enlarge and multi¬ 
ply, the wool becomes ragged and falls off in 
patches and the wretched sheep rapidly pines 
away and perishes. As the disease spreads 
from sheep to sheep and from flock to flock 
not only by direct contact, but also by acari 
left adhering to pos’s, fences and other sub¬ 
stances against which diseased sheep have 
rubbed themselves, healthy sheep are lia¬ 
ble to become diseased if turned out on pas¬ 
tures previously occupied by scabby sheep, 
even though a considerable time may have 
elapsed since the departure of the latter. As 
a single scabby sheep will soon infest a whole 
flock, in purchasing additions to one’s flocks 
care should be taken that the newcomers are 
absolutel free from this vexatious ailment. 
The treatment must kill the mites. This is 
effected by dipping the sheep in any one of 
various preparations which have been found 
effective. Of these the best and most con¬ 
venient is Little’s Chemical Sheep Dip sold by 
D. Lawton, Baltimore, Md. Another is com¬ 
posed of tobacco and sulphur in pro¬ 
portion of four ounces of the former and 
onenf the latter to a gallon of water. The 
water is brought to a boiling heat and the 
tobacco—either coarse, cheap leaf or stems— 
is steeped, but not boiled, uutil its strength is 
extracted. The sulphur is then stirred into 
the liquid. When the temperature falls to 
120 o the decoction is ready for use. It must 
be kept at this temperature, by the addition 
of fresh, warmer decoction from time to time. 
The sheep are entirely immersed in the liquid 
except the head. The hard crusts or scabs 
must be broken up and carefully removed so 
that the raw surfaces can be thoroughly 
reached by the decoction. The use of a 
stiff brush, or. better, of a corn cob, Ls the 
best meaus of breaking up the scabs. To in¬ 
sure a complete cure, the dipping should be 
repeated after about 10 days to kill any 
newly hatched mites. The dipped animals 
should be kept in a yard till their wool has 
dried, lest the pasture s-hould become foul from 
the dripping of the dip. 
SPINAL MENINGITIS. 
“A Subscriber ,” Herkimer , N. Y. Among 
our Spring calves this year there is a disease 
which is uuknown to us dairymen. The first 
symptoms are a dropping of the ears, stiffness 
and weakness of the limbs,a running from the 
mouth of water aud slime that will destroy 
the hair wherever it touches. After two or 
three days thick matter ruus from the uostrils 
and ears aud a general weakness seems to 
pervade the system. The calves are generally 
attacked when three or four days old, and 
after the first attack they live,sometimes,three 
or four weeks. Most of them keep a good 
appetite till they die. 
