twirls and shimmers In the morning sun, each 
crystal becoming a prism and producing all the 
hues of the rainbow. 
old, but I learn you take In members In the twen¬ 
ties. My little boy Is nearly eight years old, he 
has had a little garden of his own for two years 
and Is very proud of the dowers and vegetables he 
has grown. 1 have cultivated dowers and vegeta¬ 
bles lor 15 years and like to work hi the garden* 
We located here In an open Held, after building a 
house and barn 2a months ago; not a tree was 
here, no garden or yard was Inclosed; we made a 
garden ol nearly half an aero and I have growing 
GO gooseberries, T5 strawberry plants, 30 cherry 
currants, and 37 grape vines. 1 raised 20 of the 
grape vines myself, also the currants. Last spring 
was our first experience In grafting. I grafted too 
apple trees, 35 pear - trees and six cherries, out of 
the lot 85 apples, 20 pears and three cherries grew 
finely, nearly every one started to grow, but owing 
to the severe drought, many died. We are pleased 
with the result of our grafting, all are of the 
ilnest kinds of fruits. Upwards of so peach 
trees, we raised since we came here, which 1 
budded last September, are doing well. Besides 
the above, we bought and set out upwards of 200 
fruit trees, since we came here. Some of the cher¬ 
ries were tull of fruit last summer. 1 also grew 
about 200 apple seedllugs this summer, for grait- 
lng next spring. I must close by hoping you had 
a merry Christmas and wishing you a Happy New 
Year. Success to tbe Hurt au, tne best of papers 1 
long may It live! Respectfully yours, 
mks. p. s. w. 
Newmarket, Shenandoah Co., Va. 
Deak Uncle Make :—As my other letter was 
kindly received I will venture to write again. I 
have not seen uuy letters lately from the “ Blue 
liens’ Chidkena." That reminds me, we have a 
chicken that crows every night at nlue o’clock. 
Won’t some oi the cousins please tell me how It 
knows jusi when that hour comes around? We 
nad such UeauLlful weather all the rati and even 
now It is warm and pleasant, but 1 bope we will 
have a snow storm about Christmas. We do not 
have much sleighing here, but I like to see the 
trees and the ground all covered with snow. I am 
reading Joseph cook a lectures now, ana wish all 
the larger cousins could enjoy them, it Is so much 
better to cultivate a taste for good solid reading 
than light novels. I am also very much Interested 
In Unde Mark’s Horticultural club as Hove flowers, 
over a year ago J commenced to study botany but 
am sorry to say 1 have not made much progress 
In it. 1 did not flnd It lnl cresting studying all 
aloue, having no teacher but dame nature and my 
text book. 1 wish tbe cousinscould have seen my 
plate oi flowers Thanksgiving Hay. I had some 
lovely Roses, (the Queen of flowers), some in bud 
and some In full bloom, and a wnite CameUla, 
white and red Bouvardia, Btevla, Fuchsias, car- < 
nations, Geraniums, Ferns and different kinds or 
Geranium leaves. 1 must not make my letter too 
long or it may find Its way to the waste basket. 
Your loving cousin, Heliotrope. 
MAGAZINES FOE JANUARY 
RURAL” TELEPHONE 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. 
cess with Small Fruits, K. P. Roe; Young Artists’ 
Lite In New York, William 11. Bishop; The Graud- 
Isslmes, George W. Cable; TheAcadiansof Louisi¬ 
ana, If. L. Uanie-la; Commence, Ueury James, Jr.; 
A Madonna oi Fra Llppo Lippi, Klcliard Watson 
udder; A Revolutionary Congressman on Horse¬ 
back, Thomas Wentworth uiggtuson; The Spi¬ 
der's Lesson, Julia Ward Howe; Extractsirurnthe 
Journal of Henry J. Raymond, Henry VV. Ray¬ 
mond ; Cor cordlum, Henry Terrell; Thirza, JuHa 
Bcayer; To Sorrow, Julie K. Wetherill; American 
Arms and Ammunition, William C. Church; A 
“ Personal," and What Came of It, Barbour T. 
Luthrop; Hymn to the Sea, Richard Henry Stod- 
dard; Topics of the 'lime.—British and American 
Farming, From Country to City, Flat Money, 
communications.—Ah ObJccUon to English speU- 
lng Kelortu, N. L., with a Reply from Prof. Louns- 
bmy. Home and Society—General Principles of 
cookery; II. stewing and Making soups, Catnerine 
Owen ; Two Kinds of Hecoration, M. E. E. culture 
and Progress. -Arnold s Light of Asia, The Letters 
of Charles Dickens, Taylor’s Studies in German 
Literature, Farrar's Lueof St. 1'aUl, Bret Hartes 
hwina of Table Mountain, Miss Phelps's sealed Or¬ 
ders, An Earnest Trlfler, Guernsey’s Thomas Car¬ 
lyle, Abbott on John. The World's Work—New 
Drawing Apparatus, New Tube-cleaner, Steam 
Pavement-rammer, Electric Balance, New Csesfor 
the Flexible Shaft, New Method of Obtaining a 
Temporary Blast, Memoranda. Brle-a-Brac.—The 
star, W. T, Peters; Dictation Exercises, Virginia 
S. India; Les Moris Vont V ile, J. B. Al.; A Reply 
to "Speaking Features," P. 0. S.; Song, WUliam 
M. Briggs; Epigrams, Geoige Birdseye; Is LUe 
Worth Living ? G. J. A. 
Cousin “ Kin 
George ” on KniiHax Orchards. 
Uncle mark.— 1 write you although I am not a 
cousin, or, at least, 1 have never asked to become 
one; bui my brother is a subscriber, and I look 
forward to each paper with pleasure, lor l am get¬ 
ting Interested In horticulture, agriculture and 
floriculture. 1 have studied botany and am very 
much interested in It. 1 have also had some ex¬ 
perience in the vegetable garden. I am not ac¬ 
quainted enough with any' one branch or horti¬ 
culture to make a very long letter, so if 1 make a 
mixture you must not scold. First I will tell a 
little about Kansas orchards. The most Kansas 
apples are not so solid and juicy us those we used 
to nave In Massachusetts, such as the Ba Idwln, 
Porter, Rhode Island Greening, Russet, Non such, 
etc. The standard winter apples In Kansas are 
Rawle's Genet, Wlnesap, Ilutchlug’s Pippin and 
Kansas Keeper. There Is a great deal of discussion 
about trimming orchards, but the best orchard 1 
have seen In Kansas never was trimmed at all. 
The owner has always taken pains to bead the 
limbs down to tbe ground aud hold them there by 
putting logs and sticks and brush on them, lie 
says horizontal limbs bear more rrult than upright 
ones, and 1 think lie Is right. The trees in Kansas 
cannot be lert, to grow so large as those In New 
England, because tne high winds we have here 
would Injure them and very likely ruin them. The 
trees In iho orchard or which I spoke do not aver¬ 
age over eighteen Indies from the ground to the 
lower umbs. Tne southwest wind is the strongest; 
and nearly all apple, peach, pear and plum trees 
leau to the north and northeast, if not trained 
right when they are young. We have as many 
enemies of our apple trees here as In the East. The 
root borer, the Umb borer, codling moth, leaf rol¬ 
lers, aud a lot or others that have to be looked 
after aud kepc from doing as little damage as we 
can. It takes a great deal of time and work to 
keep an orchard as It should be, but if one likes 
the work, even If he Is tired, he Is not discouraged, 
but he will go to work the next day when he is 
rested, ana work as hard as ever. The pear trees 
were blighted very badly last year. I do not know 
from experience whar, is the cause. I have s^en 
some articles la the Rural on the subject. 1 will 
give a theory or one of my friends. He says It Is 
lightning, and the reason of li is that pear trees 
never blight In Oregon, and they have no lightning 
there (i>. But l like what the Rural says, lor It 
looks more as If it was so. 1 fear Uncle .Mark will 
say my letter la too long; but it It Is not published, 
I know there Is no great loss without some srnaU 
gain. Father says the more I try to put my 
thoughts on paper, the more aud bettor I can 
write. 
A great many of the peach orchards are seed¬ 
lings, aud the farmers don’t take any care of them. 
They are glad enough to get the peaches, and the 
more they get the‘•gladder" they are, but stUl 
they don’t cultivate them, or dig the borers out of 
their roots, and so they last but a few years. There 
are a great many borers, and the trees need con¬ 
stant attention. The limbs should not get Loo 
long- aud straggling. A seedling tree wIII not form 
so nice a head as a budded one, nor will It have so 
nice, large u nit. The cUng-stoues are richer and 
juicier, 1 think, than the free stones, but if a per¬ 
son is In a hurry, he is apt to strike his teeth on 
the stone, aud then he thinks he likes free stones 
the best. 
There are three lands of cherries that do weH In 
Kansas, aud I don’t know but all kinds will, but 1 
have seen these kinds do well. The Early Rich¬ 
mond, English Morello and Black Tartarian. The 
May Duke is not counted a good cherry here. We 
can a good many cherries and 1 like them much 
better if they have been pitted. I have learned 
Fun lor the Cousing. 
Here Is something that will Interest every boy 
and girl who reads the Rural. Of course, aU of 
you have heard of telephones, as they are now 
getting into very common use, and know that they 
are instruments for conveying sound from one 
place to another. Thus with a good instrument 
one can converse with persons several tulles away 
Just as effectually as if they were all In the same 
room, aud the tones of musical instruments, sing¬ 
ing, laugnter, etc., arc conveyed with equal dis¬ 
tinctness. At the American Institute Fair, recent¬ 
ly held la New York city, the visitors might listen 
to music and conversation carried on six miles 
distant, simply by holding a telephone to the ear. 
The “ Rural ” telephone is made for and supplied 
to us by li-or. W. R. Brook’s, of Phelps, N. Y., who 
is the Inventor and manufacturer. He sella them 
for $3 aud dollars a set (two), according to size; 
I , , , .Cjjg; 7 ~ a reliable, durable and 
tefljk--aSyG | perfect Instrument for con- 
IlfeiHil? I ve y ln S the direct human 
l'm g J v uice over Hues varying 
illllllilfeii^Say from 5t> to 5,ooo feet In 
engtu, wueu eroded according to the directions 
accompanying each set, which are very simple aud 
can be can-led out by any intelligent person. 
These instruments use the direct sound wave con¬ 
veyed over a copper wire, dispensing entirely with 
costly batteries and all magnetic appliances which 
are employed with more expensive Instruments. 
The pattern Is entirely new, and the mo»t durable 
yet produced, being constructed of hue Iron and 
hard wood neatly linJshed. The metal diaphragms 
are equal to those of the most expensive Instru¬ 
ments. By means oi two screws they can be fast¬ 
ened to the -window frame, or other Convenient 
place. A small hole is usually maae In the window 
sasli, through which the w ire passes to the distant 
station. The voice Is conveyed not only with great 
distinctness and volume, but retains all its Indi¬ 
viduality, so that the person speaking can be 
recognized. 
As a ’•call ” when you wish to send a message, a 
few sharp taps Upon me specially constructed sen¬ 
sitive disc, are distinctly heard at the other end of 
the line in all parts of au ordinary room The 
sfralghter the line can be run the better, but a few 
angles, noi too abrupt and kept from contact with 
trees and buddings, will not interfere with the 
proper working ol Imu-umcnl 
PUKENOLOOKAL JOURNAL FOR JANUARY, 1SS0— 
Contents: James G. Blaine, with portrait; Accu¬ 
racy ol observation; studies in Comparative 
Fhrenulogy, chap. J.—The Skull in Alan aud the 
Lower Annuals; intemperance In History; My 
Wicked Friend; FHZ-Greeue Haueck—The Man 
and the Foet, with portalt; The Old and the New 
Education; The Robin, illustrated; The Young 
Folks ol cherry Avenue, Chap. L; Magnetism and 
.Somnambulism Ui Faria; Poisons as medicines; 
W hat shall our children Eat? Position In Sleep; 
Poetry, Lite Pictures; Duty ; 'Trust the ChHdreu; 
Editorial items, lsso, Commendable Independence; 
Don i Grinniiie. 
Notes in Science and Agriculture—The End o 
the World; The Deepest Well in the World: The 
Rain Tree; The Time to Sow Seeds ol Fruit Trees; 
important Applications oi a Waste Material; The 
Panama Canal, au Did idea; Recent Studies on the 
Skulls of Murderers; Lubricants; Egypt’s Gilt to 
America; A Vegoteriau sbludig; Simple Way to 
Cook Eggs; Dairymple Farm; Effect oi Different 
Colors on Animal and Plant Lite; Dumesllcalion 
and Brain Giowth. 
Answers to Correspondents—Morphine; Phys¬ 
icians aud Surgeons; Accountability and Pnren- 
ology; Aiorbld organization; Clairvoyance; Effect 
of Hard Study; Pronunciation ol Words; Topics 
lor Essays; caprice; Executive Ability; Diet lor 
Leanness and Fatness, etc. 
What They Say—Natural and Acquired Talents; 
A Dream; Family Letter No. 3; An old Soldier’s 
Experience. 
Personal—Wisdom—Mirth—Library. 
s. The girls and 
hoys can have no end of amusement, and establish 
the most complete communication with the houses 
of all their dearest I rlends. 
Now we propose to present every boy aud girl 
with a set of these telephones (two Instruments, 
one for each end of the line) who will send us 
Uoe, or eight subsorlooi-s, at S2 each. For fl ve sub¬ 
scribers we give size A, winch is used on lines 
from 50 to 2,000 feet In length. A set of size B, will 
be given lor a club of eight subscribers. This size 
Is of sufficient power to be used on lines up to 5,ooo 
feet In length. The wire used Is known as soft 
copper wire, and may be purchased at any hard¬ 
ware shop. For the loug dlstauee purchase No. 
22 guage, tor short distances No. 20 guage. 
nave not had much spare time. My bulbs had 
sLxteen flowers each on a stalk. I was very much 
pleased with them. Aly radishes were large but 
strong. T he soil was very dry. I would be very 
niuoii obliged It Uncle Mark would teU me If 
drought have any effect on radishes in regard to 
their taste. I hope l shall iiave better luck next 
year. The corn ripened nicely. When 1 was in 
the hay lolt pitching hay l accidentally stabbed 
my lelt root with the pllcii-lork and have been 
obliged to remain in doors lor over two .weeks. 
We have tried many remedies but found none to 
do any good until we poulticed with onion and salt 
which has had the desired effect to be w ell In a 
short time. We have had several snow storms. 
1 hope I have hot offended Bertha A. Weeks by 
the remark 1 made some time back, 1 like such 
letters as those ol ivy, Lilly Lee, Solomon Sap, 
Barney ulackscone, Young Tom and several 
others. 1 wmuld like the oounslns to write an n 
PRESERVING SOUVENIRS 
Sr. Nicholas—' Contents; Frontispiece, “The 
Beggars are (Joining to Town,” drawn by Jessie 
Curtis; The Proud Little Grain ol Wheat, Frauds 
Hodgson Burnett; Japanese Top-Spinning, J.Eeed 
Sever; The Dolls’ Baby-show, B. M. B.; Bidding 
the Sun “Good-Night" In Lapland. Poem, Joy 
Allison; Jack and Jill. Chapters Hi. and IV., 
Louisa M. Aicotl; The Three Copecks. Poem, Paul 
H. Dayne; The Land ol Short Memories, s. S. Colt; 
The Catcher caught. Pictures; The Practical Fairy, 
Charles Barnard; Popping Corn. Poem, Jeunle E. 
T. Do we; The shepherd-Boy of Vesplgnano, Agnes 
Elizabeth Thomson; lno and L’no. Verses, Jose¬ 
phine Pollard; How Hal Went Home, Louise stock- 
ton; The Relay In the Desert, li. G. M.; Plums. 
A Fable, Paul Fort; The Boys’Own Phonograph, 
John Lewes; “ mere was u young lady Brooking.” 
Nonsense Verse, Frederic Palmer; The children’s 
claim, Mary ilallock Foote; Sow, Sew, and So. 
Verses, Rosa Graham; A strange Music, Louis o. 
Elsou; Blodget’s Orders, George Klingle; TUne 
Will TeH. Picture drawn by Isaac Porter, Jr.; 
The Sprig of Holly, Frank li. Stockton; Among 
the Lakes. Chapters VII. and Vlli., William O. 
Stoddard; Snow-Ball Warfare, Daniel c. Beard; 
The Sleeping Princess. Operetta, John V. Sears; 
For Very Little Folk; Trot, Dot ana Bunny, Jennie 
E. Zimmerman; Jack-ln-Uie-Pulplt; Ways ol Cut¬ 
ting Oranges and Apples; The Letter-Box, illus¬ 
trated ; The Riddle-Box. 
During the mystic days of Indian Summer I vis¬ 
ited one ol the greatest natural curiosities ot Vir¬ 
ginia—a lake ou a mountain i,uju feet above the 
sea. I sailed above its mysterious depths, whose 
margin bristled wain a tuousaud guosuy plues, 
bleached by the wash of hail a century, j saw the 
sun rise lu glorious divinity upon old Bald Knob, 
aud I stood beneath the leap of the cascade lu that 
lern-clad whd ol primeval forest. Thu music oi 
those waters, the luxury of those shades, the form 
and color oi thum rocks, produced au effect which 
the mind perhaps can receive but once, but will 
retain forever. And, Luouglt l cannot transfer it 
to canvas, 1 can Imitate nature by piling up rocks 
and covering tuem with mosses, green and velvety 
llcheus streaked with liguta aud shadows, aud 
clumps pr waving ferns, which grew into beauty 
beneath those eternal shadows. Thus my east 
vvindow-slLl has become a miniature Hold Knob, 
with its mirror j lake and glassy cascade. I crys- 
tafflzed the mosses, some branching as gray aud 
bare as an oak loresi in waiter, some as green aud 
feutnery as the moaning pines, some as short and 
dark as mountain heatuer, and arranged them 
upon rocks lq r epresent tne peaks, in wnose basin 
I placed a bit ol inhror, in shape of the lake, with 
wnite stalagmites standing upon the margin aud 
reflected lu tne depths like tuose submerged pines. 
Farther ou, to represent the leap or the moun¬ 
tain-torrent which fell like a silver veil Horn 
the brow ol majesty, l arranged a lull ol white 
spun-glass, and lmLLated the wild, untamed 
aspect oi the surroundings by little bowlders oi 
gray stone aud rock crystals crowned with bits ol 
drooping ituns, mosses and glasses crystallized to 
represent tnusc eternal damps. Now every bright 
mornlug, 1 have a winter scene lit up by the same 
day-god whloh rises la such majesty and might 
upon old Bald Knob, when snow and lee and a 
million cry stal drops, make it so beautiful and at 
the same time au impossible lor me to behold, aud 
my tropUles are preserved Inviolate, 
Just above this hangs an airy phantom basket 
made ol spirals aud beads auflyg alternately, lUl si 
of eaeiiare shaped lulu a basket with wire, another 
Is made ol :;i, and another oi 24 spirals with beads 
between. Tuese are lasceued equidistant to bugle 
suspenders, (throe; tbe smallest at the bottom ter¬ 
minating in a tassel. This triune affair is ilffed 
with crystallized grasses, colored according to 
Flpsey’s directions, and resembles an Inverted 
fountain, in shape, while it possesses all the qual- 
tles of the kaleidoscope lor varying colors as It 
Goon ConrANY—CoNiENia.—old Town Fireside 
Talks of the Revolution, Harriet Beecher Stowe. 
A Kind of Co-operatlou, John Bascom; His Birth¬ 
day, a poem, Lucy Lareom; Certain Men of Mark, 
II,, Gainbetta, Geoige M. Towle; Tom Hardy, a 
story', Rebecca Harding Davis; The Indian Work 
at Hampton Institute, Helen VV. Ludlow; iheFire¬ 
side Christmas—Twilight, Mrs. D. H. R. Goodale; 
Lamplight, Dora Read Goodale; Daylight, Elaine 
Goodale; Roman Alosalcs; Ills Granffuoher, a 
story, Caroline cornweli Wright; False Methods In 
Temperance Reform, Beverley Ellison Warner; 
Haw the Debates ol congress are Preserved, Henry 
R. Elliot; The Colleges lor Women al Ciuubrluge, 
Emlley F. Wheeler; Weeds, Mrs. Edward Ashley 
Walker; Estes Park and Long’s Peak, Allred Terry 
Bacon; The Old Men ol the Bear aud Ragged staff; 
A Remarkable Book, Elizabeth W. Denison; An 
Evening at a “Workman’s coffee-Room” in Eng¬ 
land; David Ker; obed’sSubscription, Mary Wager 
Flsber; Editor’s Table—la this Flat Treason? 
Father Scully and the Schools; The ClUldxeu’a 
Friend; Recent Collisions ol church and State; la 
the Indian Ever the Aggressor v Literature. 
Uncle Mark; —W1H you please add my name to 
the Horticultural Club, i cultivate many flowers 
and shrubs In tbe garden aud some in tbe bouse. 
Have Roses, Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, &c., as bouse 
plants My Utile boy ol six, li, F. Thatcher, sends 
thanks to Uncle Mark lor seeds, and has to report 
that he raised a bushel ot beets, nine and a hall 
bushels ol potatoes and some other vegetables last 
summer, which he planted, cultivated aud har¬ 
vested nlmsell. Yours truly, 
Meeker Co., .Minn. M. Nellie Baldwin. 
Uncle Mark;— WU1 you Lake a nephew from 
California ? 11 so, yon can put my name down. 1 
am a farmer’s son, and am 15 years old. Will you 
please to tell me the cause ol curl leal In the peach 
tree. ? From your C alifonia Nei’iiew. 
Penryn, Placer Co., cal. 
I You are welcome to join the Club. I wish I was 
able to answer your question in regard to curl In 
the peach leaf. No one knows exactly what is the 
cause.— Uncle Maaulj 
Uncle Make 1 have for some time wished to 
write and acknowledge tbe receipt or the cuLhbert 
raspberry plants you editors so kindly sent. I am 
under many obligations to tbe senders, aud highly 
pleased with tUu excellent manner In which they 
were put up lor mailing. They were very flue 
plants, and the ouly improved raspberry plants I 
have planted here as yet, consequently 1 prize 
them much, and was tliaukiul to receive them. 
Will you accept myself aud “ little boy,” as mem¬ 
bers ol your Horticultural club? lam 28 years 
