DEC S3 
837 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
we must be called untidy, according to Hen¬ 
derson, for though we smoke the plants and 
use whale-oil soap we can only subdue and 
not exterminate the green aphis, that destroys 
the young buds. A long spray of Lamirque 
is very satisfactory, and its pale-green foliage 
is fresh and vigorous. Did any amateur ever 
try Laurenciana or the Fairy Rose? It is a 
curiosity and the delight of the children who 
enjoy contemplating its "tiny, tiny bods.” 
Some of the hanging baskets are very pretty, 
not owing to their rare flowers but on account 
of the very familiar look they have. Clover, 
Base of Bacon’s Hive.—Fig. 484. 
grass, and a dandelion here and there, a bit 
of periwinkle aod some liverworts and wild 
vines from the woods, living among the 
fuchsias and geraniums that brighten the 
baskets, are very pleasant to the eyes now. 
In full bloom now is a plant of pomegranate, 
its brilliant scarlet flowers attracting a great 
deal of attention from those who are stra gers 
to its blossoming. Mignonette and 
alyssum, too, are very satisfactory, 
and the primroses and a white verbena 
are very much admired. Some people 
pity us for having such a care, but 
there are plenty of young and will¬ 
ing hands in our household, who en¬ 
joy this oasis iu the wintry weather, 
and we do not find it a trouble. 
Vines of Lophospermum and Cobsea 
scandens, with smilax and clematis 
cling to the rafters and are trained 
across the glass here and there, and 
feathery sprays of White Jessamine 
are showing the beauty of these 
pure, starry flowers. A root of "for¬ 
get-me-not” and several of pansies, 
are in a cool corner near the glass 
and bloomiDg abundantly. It is a 
comfort to know that the aesthetic 
craze is over and that our old-time 
favorites are coming to the front as 
first and best. 
-- 
BEAUTIES OF WILD FLOWERS. 
I am very fond of flowers and have culti¬ 
vated the exotics for years, but had always 
rather looked down on our native plants, 
though admiring them occasionally in a pat¬ 
ronizing way, as much as to say "pretty 
good for ivild flowers but then you should 
see our garden flowers.” Occasionally, how¬ 
ever, something more striking than usual 
would take my fancy and get transplanted 
to the garden, and in roost cases cultivation 
would improve the transplanted beauties so 
wonderfully that I would be astonished; in 
fact would hardly recognize them in their 
improved state. As an instance, the Lobelia 
syphilitica when wild seldom has more than 
one spike and from two to four florets open at 
once, but in the garden half a dozen plants 
forming one row across a bed five feet wide, 
was a solid maRS of blue SO inches wide and as 
many high for more than a month; Aster Novte- 
Anglice grew seven feet high and four feet 
across, and the plants are now a perfect blaze 
of rich purple, a solid mass of color. Last 
Spring I began in earnest to collect such na¬ 
tive plants as were worthy or pleased me, 
and 1 have prospected all the season as I had 
leisure—which was two or three hours once a 
week, or once in two weeks, as circumstances 
admitted of and weather permitted—and 
now I have some 70 to 75 species of native 
plants in cultivation. There are still a number 
of unprocured species that I desire to get 
and probably still more that I am not ae 
quainted with, but I anticipate much pleas 
ure yet in collecting them. 
Taking the whole collection through, there 
are flowers constantly in bloom from earliest 
Spring till the grouud freezes in Autumn. 
Tn my collection are four violets; three phloxes; 
four or five asters; seven or eight ferns and 
Asclepias tuberosa, one plant of which bears 
the most vivid scarlet flowers it is possible 
bo conceive, very different from the ordinary 
orange shades. Add one Solomon’s Seal and 
three or four False Solomon’s Simla; the beau¬ 
tiful MerteflSia Virginica, or Smooth Lung¬ 
wort in several different colors; one colum¬ 
bine; two lilies, besides Blood Roots, trilliums, j 
ing Beauties and many others about the 
names of which I am uncertain. Verily 
there is in the wild garden a pleasure the 
culture of garden flowers cannot bring, and 
I trust the articles the Rural has given us 
from time to time on the subject will tend to 
make the interest more general. I think that 
groat possibilities are lying dormant in this 
direction to be properly developed. 
Whiteside Co., Ill. C. B. Paddock. 
WASTE OF FODDER. 
With the exception of the needless waste 
of cattle manure there is probably no more 
common loss sustained by the average farmer 
than that which occurs in feadingoorn stalks. 
Often the shrinkage in this valuable crop, ex¬ 
pensively grown and harvested, begins in the 
field. The corn is uncut till a sharp frost cuts 
the verdure of the corn and also the sensibili¬ 
ties of the grower. Now, all hasde Is made to 
cut a depreciated crop, which for a week or 
two had vainly awaited the coming of the 
corn knives. The first disaster is supple¬ 
mented by another when the wind prostrates 
the weak stocks that were carelessly set up, 
and in the burry of other work they are left 
to soak and rot with each Autumnal rain. 
A quantity of moldy stalks taken from a 
tight barn, where they have been closely 
packed, completes the depreciation of a valu¬ 
able crop of well-grown fodder; so that in 
many instances it is necessary to discount 
one-half the value before the fodder goes to 
the cattle, and here the waste continues on an 
extravagant scale, and the last evidence of 
Bullard’s Hive.—(See Page 866.)— Fig. 485. 
mismanagement is seen when the unrotted 
manure, interlaced with long corn-stalks, is 
lifted by hard tugging, and tediously and un¬ 
evenly spread upon the fields in Spring-time. 
When the stalks go to the cattle (if a re¬ 
corded experiment does not deceive me) 40 
per cent, of the weight of the fodder is in 
stalks and 60 per cent, in blades and busks. 
About fifty per cent, of the fodder is actually 
eaten, and the remainder surrendered for ma¬ 
nure. So that the case of waste against econ¬ 
omy stands about as follows: After a valuable 
crop is grown by the use of the best fertilizers 
and the most thorough culture, one-half is 
discounted in quality by the frost, the rain 
and mold from storing. The crop is again 
discounted one-half in quantity in the feed¬ 
ing; because the cattle are unable to convert 
their single set of incisors into a cuttiug-ma- 
i 
, Bingham's Hive.— Fig. 486. 
chine which will sever the leathery husks and 
glazed cones for mastication, making a total 
loss in such cases of about three-fourths of 
the fodder. 
To estimate the loss in money we will sup¬ 
pose a good crop to produce 4,500 pounds of 
dry stalks, equal in feeding value to two- 
thirds as much hay of average quality. The 
bay may be worth $15 a ton. Two-thirds of 
4,500 pounds is 8,000 pounds, which at $15 a 
ton makes (23.50 the valuation of an acre of 
stalks. A waste of three-fourths will then 
represent a loss of $16 per acre. Surely no 
business manager in any other line would 
easily tolerate such a financial leak. Only 
" gilt edge ” farm can afford to sacrifice so 
much, if good management and a small cost 
in labor and fodder-cutter can prevent it. 
Ocean Co., N. J. c. E. l. 
--- 
Receiving and Giving Information. 
The information I received through the 
Rural with reference to sowing turnip- 
seed among early potatoes after the last 
hoe'ng and allowing the turnips to re¬ 
main after the crop of potatoes was dug, 
enabled me this year to raise sufficient 
turnips—where otherwise I would have 
had nothing but potatoes—to pay my 
subscription to the Rural for several 
years to come, to say nothing about all 
the other information gleaned through¬ 
out the year, and also without reckoning 
the valuable seed distribution. Perhaps 
it may be to the advantage of the Ru¬ 
ral’s numerous subscribers to know 
that brine will kill hogs almost instantly 
if they are allowed to drink it. One of 
my neighbors last week lost seven fine 
Berkshires, just ready to kill, by a care¬ 
less attendant giviDg them a pail of 
pickle. They all died within a few hours, 
the proprietor being powerless to render 
any relief. A. a. w. 
Renfrew, Out. 
ran/ * - kt - - -i* - mimbrus 
hand, usually. The exterior dry air presses 
into the vacuum, cooling and drying the hay, 
and is in its turn drawn out until the heat of 
the stack, as tested by a thermometer stick 
thrust into it, is reduced below 100 degrees. A 
very few minutes is usually sufficient to effect 
this in a stack of 18 or 20 feet diameter. The 
grass is well shaken out ' and wilted in the 
field, and can be saved if put together while 
wet with rain, but with considerable extra 
use of the fan. The fan and accessories cost 
about the value of from two to four tons of 
hay, or 50 to 100 dollars. A committee ap¬ 
pointed by the Royal Agricultural Society to 
examine the operation of these fans reported 
iiTisciUanoms. 
The Beer of the future.—a writer in the 
London Ag. Gazette says that, owing to the 
partial failure of this season’s English hops, 
together with a large demand to supply our 
market, values have advanced to such an ex¬ 
tent that substitutes are eagerly sought after 
in the Mincing Lane market; and drugs which 
can, on account of their bitter qualities, be 
used in the manufacture of beer have been in 
speculative demand to such an extent that in 
some cases the values have advanced 300 to 
400 per cent. It has generally been supposed 
that beer could only be made "bitter” through 
the medium of the hop plant; but this inno¬ 
cent delusion must be given up. the laws of 
supply and demand having tanght us that 
there are other plants, not familiar to Kent 
or Surrey, which can be used for the same 
purpose. Colombo root, well known for its 
tonic qualities, has advanced In value from 
22s., at which it was obtainable a month since, 
to 95s per cwt.; camomiles, from 40s to 120s. 
quassia, from £5 to £40 per ton; Guinea 
grains, which have always been more or less 
in use for brewing purposes, from 32s. to 60s. 
per owt ; and, the most surprising of all, 
cheretta, a drug which a month since was al- 
mozt, unsalable at 31. per pound, has ac'ually 
been sold at 3s. to 3s. 6d. per pound. 
The Artificial Curing of Hay.— Profes- 
i sor Scott said in a lecture before the London 
1 
i 
Farmers’ Club, that the harvest fan, for cur¬ 
ing hay or grain in the stack, is likely to 
prove invaluable to farmers, and to effect a 
complete revolution in the methods of hay¬ 
making and harvesting. The stacks are built 
with a central cavity, out of which the air 
can be drawn by a portable fan, worked by 
Bullard’s Hive.—Fig. 488. 
adversely to them as an economy to the ordi¬ 
nary farmer. 
Potato Experiment.— The last bulletin 
of the New York Experiment Station will 
greatly interest our readers. The ques¬ 
tion of hilling, ridging or level culture 
for the potato seems to be one mainly of 
conditions, the object to be attained being 
the same in all cases. The results of certain 
experiments made this year seem to add force 
to the hypothesis that the conditions under 
which the potato becomes of the best quality, 
and most prolific, are those which secure dry¬ 
ness and warmth for the tuber, moisture and 
coolness for the roots. 
The examination of the growing potato, the 
soil being a strong clay, shows that the tubers 
under field culture, and under field conditions, 
are borne above the seed, while the roots ex¬ 
tending from the eye pass downward into the 
soil to the depth of 20 or more inches. But 
few roots are to be seen oceopying the upper 
and warmer layers of the soil, and, in general, 
we may say that, with us, the major part of 
the roots passed below the region of soil 
which would be disturbed by the ordinary 
processes of cultivation. In cases where the 
upper surface of the soil was purposely kept 
of friable texture there was a marked ten 
teuey of the tuber to approach the surface, 
but in a strong clay soil this tendency was 
not manifest. 
Ridging or hilling in a clay soil brings the 
formation of the tuber into that region of the 
soil kept dry by position, and kept warm by 
the sun’s rays. Cultivation with ordinary 
hoeing has a tendency to furnish a mulch of 
fine earth that protects the roots wh’ch are 
below the tuber from the heat of the sun’s rays 
and checks the evaporation of the moisture 
from the soil below the stirred portion. Upon 
sandy laud Dr. Sturtevant assumes that level 
culture will fulfil similar conditions of beep 
ing the tuber in a warm, dry, upper soil, and 
forcing the roots deeper into the cooler and 
moister strata below. However the theory, 
the facts of expression based upon this view 
have given interesting results. Plata were 
! marked out and kept under different con¬ 
ditions—ridging in some cases; level culture 
in others; ridging and the intervals mulched 
with straw, the seed laid upon the surface 
and covered with six inches of straw; the seed 
laid upon the surface and covered with four 
inches of sand in one case, and with six inches 
of sand in another. In the plat of the pots* 
