JULY 22 
THE RURAL 
and so (first and third): and a lady for whom 
the name was written when she could not re¬ 
call it, struck another pronunciation, by say¬ 
ing, “Mr! oh! so ’tisl” A window partially 
shaded is best, such a quiet, still place as be¬ 
gonias like... 
C. A. Green asks: “Why should we wait 
until such men as Dr John A. Warder are 
buried before we speak a word of apprecia 
tion?” Whv. Mr. Green, the reason is—but 
yon certainly know what it is—the reason is 
that people can afford to help dead people 
along... 
A city paper’s alleged agricultural col¬ 
umns. in answer to a question, say that the 
question whether weevil-eaten peas will 
germinate, has been largely discussed, but the 
answer is simole: Tf the chit or germ has 
been eatm, they will not; otherwise, they 
will, hut sound ones are best. 
If the Rural has ever proved anything it 
has proven that weevil-eaten peas are so near¬ 
ly worthless that thev should never be sold, 
purchased or planted. It is a fact that the 
cotyledons of the pea, which support the 
germ in starting, cannot be injured without 
impairing the germinating power. Those 
weevil-eaten peas winch do grow generally 
produce feeble plants, as anyone may easily 
determine for himself, while in dry or un¬ 
favorable seasons they fail entirely. 
CATALOGUES, &C. 
Maher & Guosh, SO Monroe St., Toledo, O., 
send us one of their Razor Steel “Common- 
sense” pocket knives. It is precisely the size 
of the engraving in their advertisement; has 
three blades, those shown, viz., a pruning 
blade, budding blade and ordinary jack-knife 
blade. The knife seems to be well though 
plainly made in every way, and is much what 
is needed for those who have pruning or 
budding to do; while it answers, of course, the 
purposes of the ordinary pocket knife. There 
are several styles of these knives, from one 
dollar to 05 cents each, which are shown in 
their illustrated free list. 
George S, Wares, Bannockburn Farm, 
Rochester, In. Y. Price list of Strawberrv 
plants, pot grown and layers.and all the Small 
Fruits, Plants, Carnations, Pansies and Roses. 
Free to applicants. 
Report of the Proceedings of a Convention 
of Agriculturists held at Washington, D. C., 
January 10th td 18th. Published by the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 
Report of the State Board of Agriculture 
and State Agricultural College of the State 
of Colorado for 1880, H, Stratton, Secretary, 
Fort Collins, Col, 
Programme op Second International 
Exhibition of Art and Industry to be held at 
Milwaukee, Wis . September 5th to October 
21st 1S82. 
Florida: Its Climate, Soil, Production 
and Agricultural Capabilities. Published by 
Department of Agriculture, Washington, 
D. C. 
Premium List of Northwestern Industrial 
Association. Exposition to be held at Min¬ 
neapolis, Minn., on September 4 and 1), inclu¬ 
sive. 
Transactions of the Massachusetts Horti¬ 
cultural Society for the year 1881, Partsecond. 
Robert Manning, Secretary, Salem. 
Proceedings op tbe Trumbull Co. , Hort. 
Society. E. W. Turner, Newton Falls. O. 
Secretary. 
The Ailanthus silk worm.— We kBow 
not how much there may be in the following 
from the N. Y. Sun. It says that silk culture 
is awakening a good deal of attention at the 
present time, and here this tree may be made 
to play an important part. The ailanthus 
worm, recently let loose in Brooklyn, is now 
becoming very common. Unlike the common 
silk worm, it is able to take care of and feed 
itself. Given an acre of ailanthus trees and a 
few worms’ eggs to begin with, and 3 r ou may 
soon gather y our cocoons by the bushel. The 
chrysalis is so hardy as to withstand the cold 
of our Winters, and will consequently repro¬ 
duce itself in the form of moths the ensuing 
Summer. For a pasture for this species of silk¬ 
worm the trees should be headed in so as to 
render the cocoons easily gathered. A t pres¬ 
ent the silk is not so readily reeled from these 
cocoons as from those of the ordinary silk¬ 
worm, but when the necessity for a proper 
reel becomes urgent, the ingenuity of our peo¬ 
ple will not fail to produce one. But if not 
retied, the cocoons can be carded, and the silk 
used in that form. The filament is not so fine 
as that of the ordinary worm, but it is strong¬ 
er. In China articles of dress made from such 
silk are seldom worn out in one lifetime. Let 
us, then, hold fast to the ailanthus, keeping 
the good and abolishing tbe bad. 
“Punch” and Sir John B. L awes. —Re¬ 
ferring to the cut on our last page of last 
week’s issue, re-engraved from London Punch, 
the Mark Lane Express gives the latter the 
following good advice: “Punch has always 
been at sea in his agricultural jokes, and ft 
might be suggested to tbe Editor that some 
one who has seen a faim at least once in his 
life should be consulted before any more of 
these jocularities are perpetrated. In last 
week’s issue there is a striking illustration of 
the most gross ignorance of Punch in relation 
to agriculture. It is a portrait of Sir John 
Lawes wheeling a barrow containing a spade, 
rake, hoe and some flower-pots, explained as 
“the Agricultural Lawel, the new wheel-bar- 
row net.” This would be appropriate enough 
in a notice of a journeyman gardener; hut it 
is simply ridiculous as a “ fancy portrait ” of 
an agricultural experimentalist.” 
A new theory of drowning.— Sec. Cham¬ 
berlain pokes a little good-natured fun at 
would-be scientists in the Ohio Farmer. 
“Humic acid” is one case in point. In an 
unlucky hour Dr. Lawes or Professor John¬ 
son or some other really scientific man wrote 
of the evil effects of humic acid on the roots 
of plants. And forthwith a host of lesser 
lights take up the refrain and chant it to the 
echo. For example, our very wet Winter 
drowned out large areas of wheat in Ohio. It 
is a well-knowu fact, fir-t, that the roots of 
laud plants need and must have air. Second, 
if the ground is flooded or even completely 
saturated very long, the roots cannot get air, 
and so in plain English they suffocate or 
drown, just as surely as a man or rat suffo¬ 
cates or drowns when his head is too long held 
under water! Very well, this seems sufficient 
cause of death. Tile drainage saves the crop 
on such (clayey) lands, because it prevents 
this flooding or saturation. But now come 
some of these “ scientific ” writers and give a 
new cause of death. The wheat died, not of 
drowning, but of “ humic acid!” “ The action 
of the undue humidity on the humus (vegeta¬ 
ble mold) of the soil is favorable to tbe devel¬ 
opment of undue and abnormal quantities 
and proportions of ‘ humic acid ’ which prove 
deleterious to the root life of the plants! ” 
Well, when a rat or cat is drowned we don’t 
learnedly call it an undue development of 
humic acid! Why should we call it so when 
wheat is drowned? Simply because we have 
an itching for that which is deep and myste¬ 
rious. 
In constructing heavy rollers, says an un¬ 
known writer, the workmen should be care¬ 
ful that they have not too great a diameter, 
whatever the material be of which they are 
formed, as the pressure is diminished where 
the implement is of very large size, by its rest¬ 
ing on too much surface at once, except an 
addition of weight in proportion be made. 
By having the roller made small when loaded 
to the same weight, a much greater effect will 
be produced, and a considerable saving of ex¬ 
pense be made in the construction of the im¬ 
plement. 
Experiments in Potato Planting.— Dr. 
Sturtevant (Director of the N. Y. Ex. Station), 
in his late address before the Elmira Farmers’ 
Club, remarked that some of his experiments 
with potatoes have already given interesting 
results. Take a potato, he says, peel it heav¬ 
ily, and plant the peeled potato in dry soil. 
The shoots will grow. This shows that the 
potato shoots penetrate further into the potato 
than we have generally believed. Now plant 
potato peelings. We observe that the plant is 
feeble in early growth, and late in formation 
of tuber. Now plant large, flat pieces of po¬ 
tato. We observe at date a good growth, a 
moderate formation of tubers. Now plant 
single eyes cut deeply. We observe that these 
form vigorous plants, and early and prolific 
tuber formation. Plant now potato shoots 
laid in the row; we observe very early forma¬ 
tion of potato and prolificacy, with moderate 
leaf growth. What do these facts indicate ? 
ThiB, that the depth, of the cutting of the eye 
has more influence on the crop than the size 
of the seed. In like manner, as we investi¬ 
gate the potato crop, w r e see marked indica- 
tioils at date—at date, for we are not report¬ 
ing results, but progress—that single eyes, cut 
deeply, are superior for seed in every respect 
to piecsi of potato or whole potatoes; that 
the deeper the cut the better and earlier tbe 
crop, and hence that large potatoes, if prefer¬ 
able for seed, probably derive their advantage 
from the eyes being deeper than are the eyes 
from small potatoes, for long sprouts give us 
earlier potato formation than short sprouts, 
and the eyes have certain analogical resem¬ 
blance bo the shoots which they originate. 
Planting Cabbages.— Mr. Geo. S. Wales 
prepares the ground for cabbages by plowing 
under a good coat of coarse manure, dragging 
and rolliag the ground until it is fine and free 
from clods. Mark out the rows about three 
feet apart; plant tbe small-heading kinds two 
feet in the row, and the large kinds two- 
and-a-half to three feet. Planted two-aud-a- 
half by three feet, 5,800 are required; two by 
three feet, 7,2(10 are required for an acre. A 
boy to drop the plants, and a mau following 
to plant them, will plant from five to eight 
thousand per day. Make a hole with a dibble 
and set the plants in deep, neirly to the leaves. 
In planting on an extensive scale it is well for 
a man to go ahead with a light crow bar and 
make the holes, a boy follow and drop the 
plants and another follow to set them. If the 
land is not rich a small handful of bone-dust 
or guano to each hill, after planting, will be 
of great benefit; but, next to manure, nothing 
will help so much to make a good crop ns fre¬ 
quent hoeing or cultivating the soil. Mr. 
Wales believes it pays to cultivate once a week 
during the hot weather. 
We would add to the above that cabbage 
plants may be set as wtll in dry as in wet 
weather, provided a man keeping just ahead 
of the one setting the plants fills the holes with 
water. 
The following is going the rounds without 
any credit. It originally appeared in the 
Rural New-Yorker about two years ago. 
The experiment was made upon a young May 
Duke: 
“No doubt many failures of fruiting in 
trees and plants are due to an unsuspected 
lack of impotency of pollen, or to the washing 
away of the natural supply by untimely rain; 
which, however, very seldom causes entire 
loss of crop. The case is mentioned of a 
young cherry blossoming for the first time 
without setting any fruit. Next year, when 
in bloom, two flowers were fertilized by 
pollen from another tree and marked. They, 
alone of all, bore fruit. 
Pot-grown Strawberries. —Mr. Wales 
thinks that the advantages of pot-grown 
strawberries are as follows: 
First. —Within nine or ten months from 
time of planting a full crop of extra fine ber¬ 
ries may be gathered. Some of the finest 
berries of the variety that he ever grew were 
from potted plants. 
Secondly. —They may be planted after a 
crop of early vegetables has been gathered, 
thus saving tbe expense of two or three months’ 
cultivation, besides gaining the crop of veget¬ 
ables. It will oftentimes pay better to spade 
under the old straw berry bed and set out pot¬ 
ted plants rather than to clean and care for it, 
Thirdly. —Being but little disturbed in 
transplanting, there is but little danger of loss 
of plants from dying out. 
Twenty-four Hundred Dollars’ worth 
of Premiums from the Com. ok Agricul- 
TURJB.—As we have already informed our 
readers in our News columns, the manufacture 
of sorghum into sugar and sirup Com. Loring 
has found so very expensive that he has de¬ 
termined to have tbe work done elsewhere. 
He refers the work to the manufacturers 
themselves, to whom he submits this proposi¬ 
tion. Each must furnish to tbe Department: 
1. An accurate account of the number of 
acres of sorghum brought to his mill; the 
number of tons of cane manufactured ; the 
yield of sorghum per acre; the mode of fer¬ 
tilizing ; the time of planting ; the time re¬ 
quired for maturing the plant; the value of 
the crop as food for cattle after the juice has 
been expressed, 
2. The amount of sugar manufactured; the 
amount yielded per ton of cane; the quality 
of the sugar; tbe amount of sirup manufac¬ 
tured ; the process of manufacturing ; the 
machinery used ; the success of the evapora¬ 
tor, the vacuum pan and the centrifugal in. 
the work of manufacturing. 
3. The number of hands employed in the 
mill; the cost of fuel; the cost of machinery; 
the wages paid for labor ; and the price of 
sorghum at the mill if not raised by the man¬ 
ufacturer. 
The returns, when received, will be sub¬ 
mitted to a competent committee for exami¬ 
nation, and in order to compensate the manu¬ 
facturers for the work of making these re¬ 
turns, the Commissioner proposes to pay for 
the ten best returns the sum cf $1,200 each, the 
decision to be made by the aforesaid commit¬ 
tee. Each return must be sworn to before a 
competent officer. 
Sugar Beets. —The Commissioner has dis¬ 
tributed to 90 persons a supply of the best 
sugar beet seed which be could obtain, and he 
would request each person having received 
this seed to send to the Agricultural Depart¬ 
ment a statement of the amount of land 
planted by him; tbe yield per acre; the fertil¬ 
izers used; the value of the crop in the murket. 
He also requests each person making this ex¬ 
periment to for ward to the Department a 
sample of the crop for analysis. The direc¬ 
tions for this will be issued hereafter. An 
accurate statement of the process of manufac¬ 
turing beet 6ugar in this country is of great 
importance, and he proposes to compensate 
the manufacturers for preparing such state¬ 
ments by the payment of a sum of $1,200 for 
each of the two best returns submitted to a 
committee, as in the case of sorghum. 
All proposals to enter upon this work for 
the Department must be laid before the Com¬ 
missioner on or before August 1,1882. 
About a year ago Robert Chadwick, of 
Jewell, Nebraska, purchased fourteen steers, 
paying therefor $325, says the Pioneer. Three 
weeks ago he shipped them to Chicago and 
sold them for $6.40 per hundred, which netted 
him, above all expenses, $835.20—a very 
handsome profit upon the original investment. 
Green Rye as Fodder —In regard to the 
actual value of green rye used as a fodder the 
past season, the following facti may be con¬ 
sidered, as given by a writer in the Times: 
Seven youugcows in full flush of milk, having 
calves from two to six months old, and having 
no distinguishing circumstances by which a 
change of feed should fail to act upon the pro¬ 
duct of milk and butter with one more than 
another, had been fed for gome time upon 15 
pounds of mixed clover and Timothy hay and 
common meadow hay mixed, cut. wetted, and 
mixed with 10 pounds of mixed corn-meal 
and wheat middlings daily. The yield had 
been very regularly 112 pounds of milk per 
day and 48 pounds of butter weekly from the 
whole seven cows. The rye became ready 
for cutting on the 10th of May, when the first 
heads began to appear. The daily ration was 
60 pounds, part cut and wetted and mixed 
with the meal as before, and part fed whole, 
but all was eaten up clean. The second week 
after feeding the rye the yield of milk was 
168 pounds per day, with very little variation 
from day to day. and the weekly make of 
butter increased to 65 pounds. It will be seen 
that the fresh, green fodder, while it largely 
added to the produce of milk, did not quite 
increase in proportion to tbe yield of butter, for 
while on dry feed 16 pounds of milk made a 
pound of butter, 18 pounds were required 
when the rye was fed. As the rye approached 
to blossoming and became heavier, and the 
weather became warmer, the ration of meal 
was decreased gradually until but six pounds 
of the mixed feed were given daily, and at the 
present writing the yield of milk is slightly 
decreased, but the weekly churning has under¬ 
gone no diminution. 
American Pomologioal Society.— The 
report of the Boston meeting is before us, 
the first effort of the new Secretary, Profes¬ 
sor Beal, says Green's Fruit Grower. The 
treasurer’s report shows that the Society has 
no surplus funds. Indeed, if staunch friends 
had not stepped promptly forward, the pub¬ 
lication of the present report would have 
left it in debt. While so many millions are 
being given by individuals to endow colleges, 
is there not one sufficiently appreciative of 
the good work done by this Society to be 
queath it a few hundred thousand dollars ? 
Come, Mr. Jay Gould and Mr. Vanderbilt, 
you cannot build for yourselves a more en¬ 
during monument. 
Marketing Fruits —From an essay read be¬ 
fore the Missouri State Horticultural Society 
on the subject of Marketing Fruits, by Mr. 
P. M. Kiely, of St. Louis, we condense a num¬ 
ber of good suggestions: 
It should be borne in miud that there is just 
the same expense attached to marketing an 
inferior crop of fruit that there is in putting 
a crop of choice fruit in the market. The 
gathering, packing, hauling, box material, 
express charges and other expenses are just 
the same on your inferior as on the finer 
fruits. But this is not all. Your commission 
mau has to devote much more of his time try¬ 
ing to get rid of it, and you usually have to 
wait longer for returns........ Every commis- 
missiou house has a number of shippers (a lim¬ 
ited one, however) whose brands or names 
are well known to its patrons. These are first 
sought, and though the highest price is placed 
on them, they are the first to disappear. It is 
not necessary to open every package of such 
goods to sell, one sufficing, as the fruit is uni¬ 
form and the packing straight.The 
nights being cooler, the fruit suffers less while 
in transit during the night ;thi9 should always, 
whenever practicable, be taken advantage of. 
.As tbe gooseberry heats readily, some 
attention must be given to appropriate pack¬ 
ages. A barrel of them will commence heat¬ 
ing in about twenty-four hours ; therefore, 
smaller packages should be procured—that of 
a bushel being most suitable. The strawberry 
crate and quart boxes are also convenient and 
safe for parties at a distance...There is 
a growing scarcity of currants, and why such 
is the case is rather strange, as the price is 
usually a paying one—growers in this vicinity 
receiving from 40 to 50 cents per gallon for all 
they grew the past two seasons. Fill your 
boxes well, for they sink down to a woDderf ul 
extent after leaving you.Ingathering 
pears as well as peaches, the greatest care 
should be exercised to avoid bruising. The 
sliiiisss b mus, sjjirjji./ dUJjrmjis 
