FEB. 24 
THE BUBAL HEW-YOBKEB. 
424 
It is plain from the foregoing, that if the 
manufacture of coke in England were con¬ 
ducted as carefully as is asserted to be econ¬ 
omically possible by the Belgians, the manu¬ 
facturers would gain a great increase of profit, 
and the land might be made to yield an in¬ 
crease of ciops equal to some forty millions of 
dollars. 
Dr. Smith suggests, furthermore, that means 
may be discovered some day of cheaply con¬ 
verting the ammonia to a nitrate in which 
form still more advantage may be derived from 
it as a fertilizer; or even that the nitrogen of 
the air and the hydrogen of water may be 
made to combine, so that the available supply 
of ammonia may be immeasurably increased. 
But for either of these results special inven¬ 
tion is required. 
With an unlimited supply of ammonia, such 
as the invention last suggested would make 
possible, so enormous an increase of crops 
might be obtained that American produce 
would no longer need to be imported into Eng¬ 
land. 
^uiioriniltiirat. 
BIRCHES. 
SAMUEL PARSONS JR. 
Coleridge calls the Birch “ the Lady of the 
Woods.'' The image 6eems indeed very apt 
when we contemplate the refinement of the 
Birch, its grace and litheness, its varying 
moods and altogether delicate appearance. 
The wood is light and not always easily trans¬ 
planted; that is, it needs to be treated with 
discretion and not planted late in the spring. 
Some trees,like the Poplar, Maple and Willow, 
will stand almost any amount of ill-timed 
planting and come out remarkably well; but 
the Birch, though amenable to good manage¬ 
ment, has its mauners aud habits which must 
not be slighted. 
As a lawn tree it is in truth a fair lady, orna- 
meutal at all times. In early spring, the 
bright green satiny leaves unfold in dainty 
fashion. Later ou the tender gray-green fol¬ 
iage delicately s'fts sunlight aud shadow, 
giving, in white Birches at least, sundry 
glimpses of staring, cbalky-looking bark of 
striking character. In fall, tbe leaves of the 
same trees turn yellow, at times a beautiful 
yellow, and in winter delicate tracery of twigs 
and brauchcs combine with strange-lookiug, 
white trunks to make a truly remarkable pic¬ 
ture. Did you ever see a large Birch, particu¬ 
larly a weeping white Birch laden with icicles 
shining in the suu ? If you have seen such a 
tree you will readily agree that it is one of the 
sights of winter to remember. Most Birches 
become eveutually tall tress, although while 
young they do not always grow specially fust. 
Their comparatively slow growth, while young, 
aud great beauty, entitle them to au isolated 
position on any lawn. The Birch tuay be 
planted effectively near a group of trees of 
broader contour aud heavier foliage, or ad¬ 
joining some arbor, bridge or bit of rustic con¬ 
trivance. Masses or irregular rows may be 
properly formed of the commoner sorts 
along the edges of pools or streams, but ordin¬ 
arily the tree is worthy of more distinguished 
treatment thau employment iu mass. On the 
whole, tbospriug is the best time to plaut the 
Birch—early in the spriug. Pruning greatly 
helps it, just as pruning helps all trees that 
have a tendency to weep. Its value is especially 
great in this case, because, if not pruned often 
in the young wood for some years, the Birch 
loses its lower branches, becomes top-heavy 
with ovorhanging boughs, and even some¬ 
times falls iu consequeuce to the ground. To 
give any idua of the various aud numerous 
kiuds of Birches, would require the description 
of half a hundred trees aud shrubs- 
Mainly we must have to do ou the lawn with 
the European White Birch aud its varieties. 
There are noble varieties iu America, aud kin¬ 
dred aud equally beautiful kinds in India aud 
different parts of Asia, but the Birch for lawns 
is essentially the European White Birch. It 
has in fullest perfection the “sparkling white 
bark and streaming branches arching like a 
fountain shower’’ so admired by every one for 
ages. Tliis excellence, therefore, gives the 
European While Birch a first claim on our at¬ 
tention. Thu variableness of the appearance 
of different specimens, oven where they are 
not distinct varieties, makes, perhaps, a prom¬ 
inent characteristic. Every where, in fact, we 
see specially weopiug forms which, if they 
were only purruanent, would preclude the ue- 
cessity of grafting pendulous sports for the 
sake of perpetuity. The finest of tbe weeping 
varieties retained by grafting, is Young’s 
Weepiug Birch. Vigorous, dowu-sweeping 
curves of the most persistent, decided nature 
characterize its branches and the foliage Is of 
fair size, vigorous aud thrifty. Betula alba 
peudula elegans, the Elegant Weeping Birch, 
of French origin, is very pretty and graceful, 
but less thrifty and vigorous. The European 
Birch takes on, moreover, distinctly and finely 
ent-leaved forms, and combines this peculiar¬ 
ity with the weeping form in a quite unusual 
way. 
All through the north of Europe, far up into 
Lapland, we find dwarf European Birches 
shrubby, small-leaved, and well suited to the 
lawn. In both America and Europe we have 
Betula nana, a very dwarf Birch, seldom over 
three feet high, and bearing numerous leaves, 
little, round, smooth aud sharply crennlated. 
The veins are beautifully outlined, especially 
on the under side of the leaf. 
In speaking thus highly of the European 
White Birch, I don't wish to underrate the ex¬ 
cellence of other Birches. American varieties, 
for instance, are very beautiful. There are, 
first the brown or yellowish-grey Birches. Less 
like our ordinary conception of Birches, they 
are yet lovely trees after their special manner. 
Betuta lenta, the Pliant Birch, otherwise 
called the Sweet, Black or Cherry Birch, does 
not look unlike a cherry tree ou a casual glance. 
It grows large and prefers moist ground like 
many of it« relatives, but also, like most of its 
relatives, adopts itself readily to most soils, 
even the moat sterile. The leaves put forth 
early and are downy, and the bronze red twigs 
are aromatic. Indeed, many Birches after a 
shower or dew give forth a taint, delicate but 
delightful odor. Neither should I forget to 
mention the beautiful yellow “ pussies ” or cat¬ 
kins that appear on this, as well as many other 
Birches early iu spring. 
Betula lutea. the yellow or gray Birch, has a 
trunk yellowish gray, almost silvery in hue, 
with leaves more downy and less heart-shaped 
than the last. 
Of the white-trunked Birches of America, 
there arc two noteworthy species : Betula alba 
populifolia is decidedly attractive and valu¬ 
able ou the lawn. It is a moderate-sized tree, 
bearing triangular, taper-pointed, smooth and 
glossy leaves. The Canoe Birch (Betula papy- 
rifera) is perhaps the most noteworthy Ameri¬ 
can Birch. It makes a large tree with quitt 
ovate or heart-shaped leaves. These leaves are 
dark-green, which makes a strong contrast 
with the distinctly white older portions of the 
trunk. The bark peels readily iu ample sheets, 
whence its use for canoe building. B. alba pop- 
ulilllia peels readily also, but uot in such 
masses as the larger papyraeoa. B. Bhojpatlia, 
called the Indian Paper Birch, is a beautiful 
Iudian species, not unlike our papyracea. B. 
acumiuata of Nepaul is another Asian species, 
with very taper-pointed, smooth leaves and 
beautiful, pendulous, oval shape. These Asian 
species generally are very like our American 
Birches. I should have mentioned, perhaps, 
among the European White Birches, the vari¬ 
ety Pnbesceus, bearing leaves covered with 
beautiful white hairs, as well as B, a. urtici- 
folia, i, e., nettle-leaved, a deeply-cut, serrated 
aud hairy variety, aud a variegated kiud of the 
same with leaves blotched with yellow. 
I do uot pretend to have mentioned all Birches 
valuable for the lawn, but only a few of the 
most distinctive. No lawu is perfect without 
some of these Birches, and any lawu is graced 
by their light and airy presence. They look 
aud do specially well along the banks of 
streams, as already noted, aud, as should be 
noted also, equally well on hill-sides and in 
nooks of rocks. 
<£j)t ilutmrii. 
THE EUMELAN GRAPE. 
It is now nearly a decade since this Grape 
was given to the public with a nourish of trum¬ 
pets, and the disseminators are said to have 
made a fortune out of it, and retired from 
business. The public were at first greatly dis¬ 
appointed with it, solely because of defects ia 
its reproductive organs, the filament part of 
the stamen being generally aborted and the 
pollen insufficient, so that it does not fertilize 
well, causing the clusters to be emasculated. 
But fortunately the defects are in part confined 
to young vines; a6 they acquire age the pollen 
increases and the clusters become compact. 
The variety is therefore gaining in popular 
favor, the vine being hardy. The fruit is 
black, and the berries of medium size, high 
quality and flavor. The grape ripens earlier 
than the Delaware, the Adirondac and Cham¬ 
pion only exceeding it in earliness; it never 
drops from the cluster, or becomes stale, but 
improves in flavor until frost, and keeps well 
for winter nse. It belongs to our best botani¬ 
cal class, the /Eetivalis. and is probably the 
earliest good grape of Its class. It is more 
valuable for the table ttan wine. It succeeds 
better far North than any other Grape of its 
class. 
If it were not for the inherent defect of 
emasculated clusters, I should consider it our 
most valuable native Grape. Even as it is, no 
collection is complete without it. For the 
hybridizer and amateur, it is invaluable ; used 
as the pistillate parent, Its defects do not ap¬ 
pear in its seedlings more than in the case of 
otber varieties with perfect reproductive or¬ 
gans, and in the seedlings its high quality 
seems refined and improved, not reverting or 
deteriorating «o often as many other varie¬ 
ties, especially those of our Labrusea Grapes. 
It seems strong, vigorous and healthy under 
all circumstances, but perhaps it will not en¬ 
dure frost quite as well as some of our Labrus- 
ca vines of the Concord type, and neither 
can do this as well as the Cordifolia Grapes of 
the Clinton type. The Eumelan suffers little 
from the depredations of Phylloxera, and sel¬ 
dom suffers from mildew. The clusters were 
more perfect the past season than ever before, 
the weaiher happening to be propitious at 
blossoming time, and I fancied the pollen was 
more abundant. D. S. Marvin. 
runts. 
BRITISH AGRICULTURAL NOTES. 
Few Americau farmers realize iu any full 
degree the magnitude of the British agricultu¬ 
ral imports. I have just been examining the 
returns for the year 1870, aud have found much 
of interest to me. Broadly stated, the value 
ot the imports of some leading articles, which 
are also produced by the farmers of the coun¬ 
try, during 1870 was as follows: 
Wheat and flour....£10,000,000 
Other grains. 30,750,000 
Animals, meats, lard and tallow. . 22,000,000 
Butter, cheese and egKS. 16,500,000 
Wool. 23,260,000 
Seeds. 7,000,000 
Potatoes. 2,700,000 
Adding the value of other minor agricultural 
imports, w© have a total of over .£140,000,000, 
and at least $680,000,000 valuation of the agri¬ 
cultural articles imported by Great Britain last 
year. Of the wheat and flour the United 
States supplied a little over half. One item 
which might not attract attention is yet worthy 
of special notice. The value of the importa¬ 
tion of guauo iu 1870 was a little over £700,000; 
the imports iu 1878 were valued at a little over 
.£1.800,000, or a decrease iu one year from nearly 
*9,000,000 to something less than *3,500,000. 
I do not recall any one fact which more 
clearly shows the feeling of depression among 
the agriculturists of the couutry than does this. 
As a whole, the imports for last year were 
” little larger than those for 1878 or 1877. In 
some articles there was an increase; in others 
a decrease. 
Another table just at hand has decidedly in- 
I terested me: that giving the sunshine during 
the years 1878 and 1S79 at Greenwich Observa¬ 
tory. Last year there was bright snnshine 
983.8 hours; in 1878 for 1,249.8. The first is 
less than one-fourth of the possible snnshine 
for a year. During January and February, 
1879, there were but 45.5 hours of snnshine, 
and but 71.6 hours in November and Decem¬ 
ber. In July last there were but 99 3 hours of 
sunshine. Both iu 1878 and 1879 June had the 
most snnshine of any month. For the first full 
week of this year there were but 3.9 hours of 
sunshine out of a possible 56- 
The great falling off in the demand for En¬ 
glish farms is well shown by the fact that one 
number of one English paper contains adver¬ 
tisements of 80 farms, aggregating 17,000 acres, 
which are to let. In prosperous times it has 
been the rule to have several applicants for 
each vacant farm ; now there are several farms 
from which each applicant can choose. 
The Mark Lane Express has published re¬ 
ports as to the harvest of 1879 from 453 corre¬ 
spondents, representing every county in En¬ 
gland and 10 of the Welsb counties. The re¬ 
ports are the most discouraging ever pub¬ 
lished. One farm reported an average wheat 
crop and only two barley crops were above 
average, with 51 reported as average. Oats 
were much better, more than half being aver¬ 
age or better. 
The same number of the English Agricultu¬ 
ral Gazette, from which the above notes have 
been collected, reports recent auction sales of 
forest trees. Thus in Hampshire 887 trees, of 
beech, elm, ash, fir, oak, poplar, etc., brought 
£775. In Gloucestershire 133 trees brought 
£397; 71 black poplars, £133 ; 740 beech trees, 
£600; 90 elm, £184; 1-44 oak, £755, This last 
sale of oak was at the rate of about $35 per 
tree. 
I take much iuterest in such evidences of 
the condition of agricultural affairs in Great 
Britain, and it occurred to me this collection 
of notes on a single number of a weekly agri¬ 
cultural paper might interest Rural readers. 
G. E. Morrow. 
Our Animal Portraits. —The accompany¬ 
ing cut represents the yearling heifer. Lady 
Wildeyes, 15th winner of the Lst prize at Kil- 
burn, when ten months and one week old. The 
little beauty was then considered almost an 
ideal Short-horn calf. She is the property of 
Lord Fitzhardinge, and the daughter of the 
Duke of Connaught, of tbe celebrated Bates 
Dutchess tribe. The Wildeyes tribe, whose 
blood she largely shares in, dates away back to 
about 1832 when Mr. Bates bought from Mr. 
Parrington, of Middleboro’ farm, the fir6t of 
the tribe, then called Wildair, but afterwards 
christened Wildeyes. 
Industrial Implements. 
THE “PRIDE OF RICHMOND” MILL. 
This neat, little 30-inch mill has proved a 
success where a small mill of from two to six 
horse power has sufficed. It has a capacity of 
from 4 to 15 bushels of corn, and from 10 to 25 
bushels of feed per hour, depending on the 
power and number of revolutions. The pulley 
is 14x7, and the number of revolutions per 
minute should not be less than 350 and may be 
as high as 800. The buhrs are of best Anchor 
stock; the husk of iron cast in one piece, 
turned quite true to receive the bed-stone cap, 
which is also turned true and provided with 
hinges, so that tbe mill can he opened for ex¬ 
amination or dressing the stoue. The bed¬ 
stone and cap are held in position by bolts 
passing through rubber springs, which yield 
when any hard substance passes in with the 
graiu. thus preventing breakage. The spindle 
Is of the best wrought iron, with steel 
cock-head aud toe; the tram pot is adjustable 
with throe tram screws: the runner-stone has 
improved self-adjusting irons, and before 
leaving the shop the stone is put into perfect 
running and standing balance. The mills are 
made with silent feed or a damsel hopper and 
shoe, aud the delivery spout may be readily 
changed to either side. We have heard very 
good accounts of these mills from several quar¬ 
ters. They will be furnished on short notice 
and all information about them at once by the 
Richmond City Mill Works, Richmond, Ind. 
LADY WILDEYES, 15TII. —EIG. 56. 
