^tailing far t|x jjomtg. 
MY LABORATORY. 
S. RUFUS MASON. 
My farm of 80 acres ts exactly half a mile long, 
and a quarter of a mile wide, square corners, a 
road on the east and north sides. J am so well 
satisfied that all cultivation must be conducted In 
a scientific manner, that J have converted the 
whole of It Into a chemical laboratory. 1 have 
fitted It up with lurnaces, crucibles, retorts, 
benches, tables, spiders, pots, pans and kettles. 
I employ as assistant s, t hose who have been ac- 
tl vely engaged In the especial business of cultiva¬ 
tion rrow the creation of the world down to the 
present time ; they have vast experience, and are 
very nearly perfect. 
There Is, however, a little room for improve¬ 
ment, and I, as the youngest member of the com¬ 
pany look after that myself. Our operations arc 
continuous, night and day; hot or cold, wet or dry, 
we are always at work. 1 will toll you what we 
do, why we do It, and when we do It. 
As soon as a crop is taken trout t he soil, we be¬ 
gin. if It la one or small grain, wo let the ,s tun and 
ha in act upon the land until the weed seeds have 
all sprouted, we then turn them under with a plow 
and then a second crop of weeds comes up, which 
we leave to the tender mercies of Jack Frost., our 
watch dog, and a deadly enemy to all young plants 
which venture out late. The plow has thrown up 
the soil quite loose, admitting the atmosphere, 
which aerates every particle or it and refreshes it, 
just as a breath ol fresh air does the cousins, 
after a Uvely tussle with the hoe on a warm day. 
As cool weather comes on, Jack Frost steps In, 
he nips the clods and freezes them solid, leaving 
them so till the Min in pity, warms them up, upon 
which they fairly dissolve with gratitude, and 
crumble down befoie him, reduced to line soil, 
suitable for seed growth in the spring. 
Genlle spriny brings In her train a little troop 
of helpers, who In turn moisten, and then dry the 
earth till It Is warm enough lor a seed bed. Seeds 
cannot flourish m a cold, chilly bed, and at this 
time of year must, be well tucked hi, and although 
the Wind Is one of my most valuable assistants, 
he Is sun ethnos boisterous, and in the exuber¬ 
ance his zeal, will blow the covering olf, so we 
have to go along the seed rows and tramp in the 
seed, "now, don’t you forget It,” (how natural il 
Is to use slang right alter the word tramp ) 
About these days, or a little earlier, we start our 
f urnaces. Some of our seeds are foreigners or of 
foreign descent at least, and from hoi, countries. 
They require a very warm bed, and we start a fire 
with fresh manure irorn the horse stable, put it in 
a heap, build a box around 11 to keep Jack Frost 
out, put oji a layer of nice will, and plant the seeds 
ol cabbages, tomatoes, peppers, melons, cucum¬ 
bers and tender llower seeds. 
This furnace Is shut, out irom my out-door help¬ 
ers by a glazed sash, admitting only the kun. We 
don’t want Jack Frost, we don't want Haiti, we 
don't, want Wind,, but we must have Water, so we 
let him in under the sash through the rose of a 
watering pot. (Oh! my ] l hear little Kitty clo¬ 
ver say, •* i never heard before or a watering pot 
that bore rows.") W ell, they do. 
I I Tom this warm bed, the young plants are trans¬ 
ferred lo llower pots, and thence to out-of-doors, 
where the air and earth are warm enough, and 
enjoy the sprimj showers. These showers are 
very different from other kinds. They are more 
gentle, contain more ammonia, and tire of a tem¬ 
perature very refreshing to young plants, which 
toss thell’ heads and liny blossoms up towards the 
geutly falling drops, as If they loved them. Assam- 
mer comesfplong hi Its hot. dusty march, the rains 
are driven away, hut, like every good action, they 
leave a pleasant memory, in this case called Dew. 
The new comes and wafers the plants at, night 
when the nun Is away. These Hews are more len¬ 
der and delicate than the j tarns, more beneficial, 
more coustaut, more timely, more gentle, and 
less powerful. As the delicate Dew Is merely an 
Imperceptible mist, It. has no power to force itself 
through hard-packed soli, we therefore keep the 
surface loose and open by constantly Stirling It 
with plows, harrows, rakes and hoes. 
You will notice that 1 have a capital set of help¬ 
ers ; they work night and day, are extremely zeal¬ 
ous, aud some ol them at times over-do the mat¬ 
ter, but as a general tning they are good, so 1 set 
down Ihoir names In Italics. 
During the latter part of summer and early' part 
of fall, the tsun overpowers all the rest ot my 
workers, the plants turn pale, Dowers droop, irult 
and seeds mature, and all vegetation passes into 
the "Sere aud Yellow Leaf,” and here my most 
Important ally begins his duties, lie Is called Hccay, 
he gathers all the dead leaves, stems and branches, 
he packs them close to the ground, then Moisture, 
his right-hand man. arises Horn the earth, the 
herbage turns brown, then black, then crumbles 
down to a line unctuous mass, containing all the 
elements ol plant food for next season’s crops, and 
this we call Mold or Humus. 
In the late fall aud winter, this is attacked by 
Jack Frost, Wind, .situ and kata by turns, which 
thus prepare it, and by spring It is plant food. 
My active band of helpers do lids sometimes In an 
Irregular way, and at uncertain and unseasonable 
times, and It is the cultivator s business to Inter¬ 
pose aud regulate, of winch l shall treat tully in 
another article. 
Dodge Co., Nebraska. 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. 
Dear Uncle Mark.— While reading my letter 
to-night In the children’s department, of the Ru¬ 
ral, it occurred to me that i never told you ol' the 
“ China Tree,” the seeds of which I sent you. 'They 
bloom as I said before, In spring, and are of a lilac 
color. They form In clusters on a single spray. 
The leaf Is composed of three leaflets, that Is,there 
are three leaves so arranged on the stem that 
they form one leaf. I have looked my botany 
through, but I cannot find the name of “China 
Tree," from end to end, so of course I am unable 
to tell the botanical name of the tree, I never 
rrom childhood to womanhood heard the tree 
called by any other name t han the “ China Tree,” 
> as 1 always learned that. It. had first, been Imported 
L from <’htua and hence its name. There were some 
1 “Refugee Negroes” in iny garden tills summer, 
and they recognized t he t ree At once and exclaimed, 
“ Law, missus, you’se got ( htna Trees up bar’ I do 
declar.” At t he first appearance or the tree from 
the seed, It looks like a W60d. only the color Is a 
lighter green. After awhile It somewhat resem¬ 
bles the Elderberry bushes, but. as It grows to 
maturity. It takes on a dark green. It I had 
only thought before the leaves fell, I would have 
sent you one, so you could see what It looked like. 
Now, with your permission I ho ve a proposition to 
make to the little cousins, and I want them to 
vote on It. 1 love children and would do almost 
anything to please them, so I propose to write 
them a story of a little girl 1 knew well and will 
cull It *• Reminiscences of a little Olri," I will 
try my best to Interest you. The best part of the 
story will be that It is all true. We will follow her 
from Infancy to womanhood and «ee what, you 
think of her. l am writing like a “steam engine,” 
for fear baby Fred should wake, for that would 
seriously interfere with all my calculations. What 
a splendid paper the rural is ! good print, good 
paper, and Interesting reading matter, It is surely 
all it claims to be, a lirst-elass journal and family 
paper, and deserves all the commendations be- 
stowed on It.hy i lie Chicago Inter mean. Hark 1 
what Is that noise y Tls baby waking, so good¬ 
bye to tilts letter and all concerned for to-night, 
and some day we will meet again. 
Yours truly, 
Marshall Co., Kan. Mrs. M. J. Galpin. 
[Let Us have the story by all means, I am sure 
the cousins will all be glad to read It. —U. M.J 
Uncle Mark —The grape seeds were received 
and carefully planted, and now l am anxiously 
watching for them to appear above ground My 
window-plants, which occupy two windows and 
number some forty varieties, require much atten¬ 
tion, but they well repay me for the trouble In their 
beautiful foliage and biossornH. 
A tnong my choicest, plants are the Oleander and 
a Cal la lily. The former has been in bloom since 
last, June. I also prize very highly my Madeira 
vine, which last summer filled the upper half of a 
window, and bore a lot of delicate white flowers. 
On bringing the plants Into the house, the first of 
October, I cut It ail down, and now there are sev¬ 
eral shoots that, reach the top of the room, rrom t he 
window-sill, and have been nipped back a number 
or times. Having read considerable about the 
germination of weevil-eaten peas, I thought l would 
test It, for the curiosity of It; hence, I sijsecied 
seven that very badly eaten, anil planted them lu 
a (lower-pot; the result is that lour came up look¬ 
ing strong and healthy; two are now making a 
luxuriant growth In the window, the other two 
having been pulled up. Emily. 
Steuben Co., N. Y. 
Dear Uncle Mark:— I would like to join the 
Horticultural Club, If you will please put my name 
down. 1 am a little girl nine years old. learned 
five dollars last summer packing berries for my 
father, and three dollars roping onions for my 
oldest brother, aud I raised one-half bushel of pop¬ 
corn. Your niece, Mahy E. Wr.de. 
Ottawa co., Mich. 
[That, Is very well done for a little girl nine years 
old. 1 think Mary promises welt to be an active 
working member of the Horticultural Club.] 
Dear Uncle Mark:—! would like to join the 
Horticultural club, if you will please [ua my name 
down. 1 raised six and one-half bushels of jjop- 
eorn aud several bushels of sweet corn, and one 
bushel of potatoes—three different kinds—viz.; 
Brownell’s Beauty, Peachblows anil Early Rose. 
And I have a white cult and five ducks. I must 
close now for this time. If tills does not find the 
waste-basket, you will probably hear from me 
again. Thomas E. Wilde. 
Ottawa Co., Mich. 
Dear Uncle Mark:—I am a little gill nine years 
old. I live In UlO country. 1 like to read t,bo Ru¬ 
ral, especially the boys’ and girls’ letters. I’apa 
has taken the Rural longer than I have lived, 
and most of Lhe time It whh the only paper we 
were taking. J have to go one mile and three- 
quarters to school. I like flowers. I, with my 
sLster J’earl, should like to join your Horticultural 
Club. Your niece, 
Mason Co., Illinois. Fannie E. A km a lino. 
• - 
Dear Uncle Mark:—I have read the Rural 
for almost one year, and am very well pleased 
with It, especially the letters written by the little 
folks and aunts. Tell Pocahontas that perhaps 
she has her Oleander in too large a pot,, l find 
they bloom best when the pot Is full of roots, t hen 
they will not. grow so freely. 1 cannot boast much 
on ray Rural seeds, as the weather was so dry, 
that but few came up to any good. The tomatoes 
were splendid. E. Dawson. 
Wor. Co., o. 
Dear Uncle Mark:— As my other letter was In 
print, 1 write again, I received the grape seeds, 
and am much obliged for them; but they are not 
corning up yet; I hope they will soon. 1 live on a 
farm, and can have rny garden anywhere. Our 
farm Is almost level. Had I better select my 
gardrn spot on high or low land ? I did not have 
a garden the past year. I will close. Your nelce, 
McLean Co., ills. Laura Furman. 
HIDDEN GROCERIES. 
1. Is your watch silver, Sandy ? 
2. Get me some tape, Essie. 
3. Has t he course of soup past. Ella. 
4. lie brought me an apple, but termed it a 
pear. 
5. ITa, ha, Min ! Cent eats raw ham. 
<». Tell me, Nick, how chowder does taste. 
7. Mnssa de saps agoing to waBte. 
8 . Ah, Asa usage begets forgetfulness. 
9. In fastening clothes, pins must be used. 
10 . Let every tub stand on Its own bottom, 
u. Do they wash board walks. 
Answer in two weeks. L. 
DIAGONAL PUZZLE. 
l. A personal pronoun ; ». To act (reversed); 3, 
Very small; 4. A lady’s name. Prlmals form a 
western State. Diagonals form a thought. 
Answer In two weeks. Little One. 
DROP LETTER PUZZLE. 
P.l-ss tli-m wh-ch p-rs-c-t- —; bl-ss -nd c-rs- 
n-t. Fill each blank with a vowel and find one or 
Christ’s glorious beatitudes, found In the sermon 
on the mount. 
B w*Answer m two weeks. l. o. 
A PYRAMID PUZZLE. 
A consonant; To bo able; part of a flower; A 
clown; Centrals form a young animal. 
Answer m two weeks. l. o. 
A NAME PUZZLE. 
Place nine female names so as to form a tenth. 
Answer In two weeks. o. 
PUZZLER ANSWERS.-Dec. 20. 
Hidden 8oun»s.— 1. Seomshy: 2. J ura; 3. Whala; 4. 
Booth; f). Davy; «. Cross; 7. Wolsteuholfai; 8. Huy It old ; 
9. Hey wood; hi, Collins; ||. Ml Deport, 12. Vineyard; 
18, Tangier; 14, Currituck; 15. Core, It). Cali bog-lie; 17, 
Sapclo; 18. Cumberland; 19. AHanmha; 20. Gron; 21. 
Jesuit. 
Acuostical Enigma.— E. 8. CARMAN. 
Hour Glass Puzzle: 
Subt tAneous 
8 t u in B 1 lug 
8 w c E t 1 y 
B a It a h 
P I t 
8 
A T e 
K o W e 1 
T r a I p a o 
8 w 1 f T ness 
Sweet H eart s 
Centrals form “ Aberitstwith," 
BRIEPLETS. 
The British Medical Journal tells of the 
successful manufacture of artificial eggs. The 
Scientific American suggests that incubators 
be invented to hatch them. . , M r. Keppler, 
in Puck, presents the average plumber's bill 
like this: Looking for leak, $25 ; loss of time 
looking for leak, £50; making leak larger, 
£100; studying the size of the leak, £200; 
making new leaks, £300; assistants, £500; 
paper for making out bill £600 ; etc., etc. . , 
Park Benjamin wauls criminals to be killed by 
electricity instead of a rope. Are not execu¬ 
tions shocking euougli already P—Buffalo Ex¬ 
press. . . The nutritive power of parsnips 
is higher than that of beets, carrots or tur¬ 
nips. . . The Editor of the California Hor¬ 
ticulturist says: “Persuade others, also, to 
plant gardens, and to make beautiful bomes, 
for this is one of the very best ways in which 
to brighten the world of men and women.'’ 
. . The American Cultivator In an editorial 
calls Alfalfa a variety of Lucerne. They are the 
same. We show everywhere that it has proved 
hardy in Canada during several years past. 
. . Mr. Samuel B. Parsons proposes a Na¬ 
tional Horticultural Society. . . Prof. ILus- 
mauu estimates the Elvira Grape as among the 
best for Missouri. . . Mr. Purdy says: “ Take 
out tbe grubs; head back the pcuCh-trees; 
then they will live to old age and bear tlie best 
fruit." ’ . Mr. Beecher thinks that religions 
papers are no more ready to acknowledge then 
errors than secular papers. , . Our respect¬ 
ed friend, Mr. James J. II. Gregory, says lu 
Land and Home, that the cheapness and avail¬ 
ability of kerosene lor keeping frost from 
rooms above ground or below ground is a mat¬ 
ter well worthy the consideration of the pub¬ 
lic. . . Wc liave a little conservatory which, 
during very severe weather, is not sufficiently 
heated. An ordinary German student lamp 
has proved effectual iu keeping out frost dur- 
iug such weather. . . And now for u Happy 
New Year, good readers ! Has the Ritual pro¬ 
moted the well-being of your home during the 
past year ? We hope so, because it has tried 
so to do. The way to have many friends is to 
prove worthy of them. Write to us freely. 
Wc will thank you for any suggestions or criti¬ 
cisms. If any question perplexes you, see if 
we can not clear up the perplexity. If you 
desire auy topic treated more freely tliau we 
have treated it, let. us know what it is. . . 
What is the best food to make hens lay in win¬ 
ter, Mr. Ritter ? . . Tbe strongest objec¬ 
tion to discourtesy and arrogance in argument 
is that they defeat the very object of the argu¬ 
ment. They create distrust, dislike or even 
disgust.—Mr. Chamberlain in Ohio Farmer. . 
. The Cincinnati Gazette of Dec. 17, has the 
following: The Rural New-Yorker is oneof 
the handsomest and most liberally conducted 
agricultural journals among our exchanges, 
and it was never so good as at present. We 
never open its well-filled pages without a wish 
that our columns were even more numerous 
aud broader than they are, that we might 
transfer a measure of its good things for the 
delectation of our readers. . . Considering 
the distinguished source, we think the fore¬ 
going the best compliment of the season. . . 
The Farmers’ Club, of Onondaga Co., declines 
to take any active interest in the forming of a 
National Agricultural Society, as former ex¬ 
perience has shown that they do not pay for 
their cost in time and money. . . Restrict 
the time for the reading ol agricultural and 
horticultural essays at our clubs, State and Na¬ 
tional Societies to teu minutes. That’s long 
enough for ninety-nine out of a hundred of our 
orators to tell all they know that hasn't been 
published many times before. . . Our friend, 
Nelson Ritter, says that oil meal is the best 
tiling that calves can be fed on, but lie finds 
natives do not do so well on it as Short-horus. 
. . Mr. Nottingham says that raw eggs 
will stop scouring. 
-- 
AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
The next meeting of the Michigan Pomologlcal 
Society will be held at Hillsdale, February llth, 
12th and 18th. . . On Christmas day Santa 
Claus whirled down from the pole in the midst of 
the most widespread cold storm of the year. 
Away In California, udvleesto San Francisco from 
all parte of the Pacific coast tell of an unprece¬ 
dentedly cold spell. The cold wave reached St. 
Paul, Minn., early lu the morning, anil straight¬ 
way the thermometer rushed down to 40® below 
zero. At Chicago, the day was the coldest of the 
season, t he thermometer standing about zero all 
day and dropping six or seven degrees lower at 
night. Down at Cincinnati, the fall of snow pre¬ 
vented extreme cold, but the thermometer sank 
steadily all day. At st. Louis, cold set in on 
Christmas eve, and this thermometer marked 
seven to eight, degrees below zero all the next day. 
Here some heavy falls of Bnow showed how ex¬ 
tremely filthy the Streets were, and added deeply 
to the universal slush; but the weather, while 
wretchedly uncomfortable, was not cold. All over 
the north, however, the cold wave ts reported to 
have prevented a green Christmas. , . The an¬ 
nual meeting of the Ayrshire Breeders’ Associa¬ 
tion, for the election of officers, members, etc. 
will take place at the Tremont Douse, Boston,' 
Mass , on Jan. ir>, ihhii, at 12 at. It Is expected that 
essays of interest, to breeders and producers will 
be read at the meeting. . . Chicago has 21 ot 
the largest grain elevators In the world, with a 
total storage capacity of 17 , 000,000 bushels, on 
Dec. 18 these elevators contained 0 , 049.0155 bushels 
of wheat, 2,531,079 bushels of corn, 1 , 090,118 bushels 
of oats, 2 «i),s «2 bushels of rye, and 707,897 bushels 
of barley, making a grand total or 11 , 149,101 bush¬ 
els, against 10,120,252 bushels ft week before, and 
8 , 013,579 bushels at that period last year. . . 
Louisiana sugar planters are trying lo bring about 
the repeal of the reciprocity treaty with the Sand¬ 
wich islands, so as to prevent the free Importation 
of sugar from that, quarter. . . A meeting of 
wagon-makers from all parts of the United states 
was held In Chicago, lately. An advance or from 
fit; to $18 on farm wagons was decided upon. 
About $ 20 , 000,1100 were represented. , . The 
Mobile Register thinks that $ 20 , 000,000 will be 
made tiffs year by southern planters, by the rise 
in crops over what they expected to get for them, 
and It urges that part Of this be put into the es¬ 
tablishment of manufactories In the south, espe¬ 
cially for those spinning yarn firtm seed cotton. 
. . The Vermont, state Grange Is out lu a vigor¬ 
ous protest against railroad discriminations In 
freight. . . The entire capacity of the Boston 
grain elevators Is only 1,TOO,000 bushels; 1,081,000 
bushels arc now stored in them. . . The Louisi¬ 
ana sugar crop for 1879 Is said to he worth $25,000,- 
000 . . . An elevator, Avlib a capacity or 2,500,000 
bushels, Is to be constructed at Baltimore. . . 
Lack ot corn and railroad transportation have 
forced the Madison (lnd.) starch factories to shut 
down. . . Tlic rice crop of South Carolina Is 
estimated at + 1,000 tierces, and that of Georgia at 
20,000 tierces. . , In southern Indiana and Ken¬ 
tucky the Hessian fly ts threatening destruction to 
the fall-sown wheat. . . Norfolk, Va., Is the 
first pea-nut port In the world, receiving the entire 
crop 01 Virginia, Which is much larger than the 
growth of Tennessee and North Carolina. 
NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
Poktraitok Dr. Holmes, The publishers of the 
Atlantic Monthly have prepared for subscribers to 
any of their periodicals a superb life-size portrait 
of Oliver Wendell Holmes, uniform in size and style 
with the portraits ol Longfellow, Bryant, Whittier, 
anil l.owell, heretofore published. 
This excellent port rait, or any one of the others 
above named, Is furnished to subscribers, for one 
dollar, by the publishers, Houghton, Osgood & Co., 
Boston, Mass. 
