NOV. 27 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
tion of 54 paees, giving a pitby sketch of hor¬ 
ticulture on this side of tbe Atlantic down to 
the year 1829 when the Society was established. 
The first settlers, it seems, found that the Indi¬ 
ans already used fish manure for corn, selected 
the finest ears for seed, possessed varieties 
specially adapted to cold and warm climates, 
and were in the habit of planting their com 
“ when the leaves of the White Oak were as 
large as a mouse’s ears.” In 1639 we learn 
that M thirtie, fortie, fiftie, siitie-fold were 
ordinarie” yields of corn in Plymouth Colony. 
In 1621 we are told the Pilgrims planted 2J 
acres of Indian corn anil six of barley and 
peas, while grapes, white and red, very sweet 
and strong; strawberries, gooseberries, rasp¬ 
berries ; plums, white, red and black ; and 
roses of the same colors, “ single, but very 
sweet indeed,” were all abundant. Of Pere¬ 
grine White’s apple orchard planted at Marsh¬ 
field in 1648, a venerable tree survived until 
it was cut down a few years ago, when the 
land passed away from the old settler’s descen¬ 
dants ; while a pear tree, imported by Gov. 
Prince from Englaud about 1640, and planted 
at his homestead near Cape Cod. bore 15 bush¬ 
els of fruit a year as late as 1836, and though 
the larger of the two Btems that formed the 
tree was blown down in 1857, the remaining 
stem is now five feet around the butt and 35 
feet high; while another pear tree planted by 
Anthony Thatcher in 1840, bore fruit in 1873. 
The Rhode Island GreeDiug apple seems to be 
the oldest of our present favorites, having been 
introduced away back about 1765. Bat want 
of space prevents farther reference to the 
interesting reminiscences with which the 54 
pageB of the “ Introduction," are richly packed. 
The first step towards the present work was 
taken iu 1S54. when, on motion of Mr. C. M. 
Hovey, it was voted by the Society that the 
Committee on Publication should consider the 
propriety of publishing such a history. No ac¬ 
tion, however, was taken until 1861, when a 
committee of six, consisting of President Jo¬ 
seph Brcck, Edward S. Rand. Marshall P. 
Wilder, Charles M. Hoyey, Joseph S. Cabot 
and Eben Wright, was appointed to collect 
and publish a complete record of the proceed¬ 
ings of the Society from 1839 to 1862, inclusive. 
Rev. Luther Farnhatawas appointed editor, 
and prepared the hislory to the close of the 
year 1853. Iu 1862. President Breck, in his 
valedictory, stated that the work would re¬ 
quire revision, but nothing was done until 
1371, when the subject was placed in the hands 
of another committee, embracing M. P. Wilder 
and C. M. Hovey, of the former committee, 
and these appointed Mr. Robert Manning, the 
present Secretary of the 8ociety, to revise and 
complete the work. 
Under his able editorship the history has 
been brought dowu so as to include the first 
half century of the Society, and his laborious 
research, strict accuracy and great application 
have produced a work which for its lucidity, 
fullness and fiuish reflects no small honor upon 
him. The appendix, besides a good deal of 
other information, contains a full list of all the 
officers and members of the Society since its 
foundation, amoug which occur some of the 
best-known names in American horticulture. 
In concluding this brief notice we once 
more strongly recommend all lovers of horti¬ 
culture to secure a copy of this truly excellent 
woik, and to do so at ouce, as we learn the 
supply is limited. The work can be had from 
Mr. Robert Manning, Secretary Massachusetts 
Horticultural Society, Boston, at the moderate 
price of $3. _ 
Michigan Horticultural Society.— The 
tenth annual mating of the Michigan 8tate 
Horticultural Society will be held in Ann Ar¬ 
bor, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 
Dec. 6, 7, 8, in acceptance of an invitation from 
the Washtenaw County Pomological Society. 
Ample arrangements will bo made by the local 
society for the reception and entertainment of 
members of the State society and delegates 
from branch societies. Others will find good 
hotel accommodations at reduced rates. A 
cordial invitation is extended to all interested 
in horticulture to be present at tho sessions 
and join in the discussions upon the various 
topics presented. 
T. T. Lyon, President. 
Chas. W. Garfield, Secretary. 
HOW TO AVOID THE DOG DISTEMPER. 
be added to it for a better relish. Give a ten¬ 
der bone now and then for the puppy to gnaw. 
Puppies and dogs may be fed all the skim¬ 
med milk they will drink. This should be 
given warm, and then it is not apt to scour 
them. If they get too loose at any time, give 
a little astringent medicine, or change their 
food. Fine wheat flour boiled to a thickish 
mush in milk, is an excellent thing for a 
change of food, and to stop looseness, Per¬ 
haps rye flour might do as well as wheat, but I 
did not happen to have it on hand to try it 
when my dogs were affected with scouring, 
which was never serious with them. 
Kittens may be raised pretty much in the 
same way, and thus kept from disease. Bat 
they can have a little fish now and then. This 
I don't like to feed to dogs for fear of their 
getting choked with bones. Both should have 
free runs in the open air, and where they can 
get at grass during the mild season. This is 
healthful for them, and they like to eat a little 
every day. Cat-mint is alBO excellent to keep 
cats and kittens in good order, and if they can 
get it either green in Summer or dried in 
Winter, they will nibble just what is wanted 
and no more. b. a. 
I have raised many a puppy to doghood, 
and of several different breeds, and never had 
a case of dog distemper. The way 1 avoided 
this was, not to feed the pups any meat till 
they were about nine months old, and then 
sparingly till they were a year old. The best 
food I have found for puppies is a mixture of 
Indian aud oat meal, half and half, or wheat 
grits or Graham meal. With either of the 
above, half and half, aud made into bread, or 
boiled into mush, iho dogs have thriven well. 
With this, when they would eat it, i have 
given some boiled potatoes, turnips or carrots. 
Now and theu a puppy will also take cabbage 
as a part of his vegetable food. Soup made 
from boiled bones is a good thing to mix with 
the bread or mush, or a little pot grease may 
RURAL BRIEFLETS. 
Let us repeat—The Niagara is not yet for 
Bale. ... .. 
Our remark respecting this much-talked-of 
grape that, in quality, it was “ no belter than 
the Concord " has brought out several protests. 
Here is one from our respected contemporary 
The Rural Home: 
“ We have eaten a great many grapes, and, 
although we make no pretensions to a critical 
taste, we know when a grape accords with our 
taste and think we can make compausou be¬ 
tween two grapes with which we are familiar. 
We have long been familiar with Concord and 
are getting pretty familiar with Niagara, and 
we have never thought of putting the latter 
down as low in qnality as tho former. It is 
much pleasanter without loxiness, sweeter and 
richer. It does lack, as we have before said, 
a certain vinous flavor prevalent in the best 
foreign varieties, and it is also free from those 
unpleasant peculiarities of flavor to be met 
with in most foreign or hybrid varieties. . . . 
The Ohio Farmer proposes for nextygsr not 
only a new “ dress,” bnt to enlarge itself. The 
Farmer is a good paper and we are glad to see 
this evidence of its prosperity. 
There is room for the display of a more 
liberal spirit among tbe members of the agri¬ 
cultural press towards one another. A few 
weeks ago we sent the following advertise¬ 
ment to a number of Eastern aud New York 
State Journals for one insertion : 
“ The Fair Number of the Rueal New-Yorker wilt 
bo issued iu September. It will consist of 40 panes 
with oriifinat engravings and articles from our best 
writers. Our readers are invited to send for copies 
which will be forwarded without chariro." 
The New York State papers, to which it was 
6 ent, viz. the Husbandman, (Elmira), Rural 
Home (Rochester) and The Cultivator and 
Country Gentleman (Albany) published it 
promptly. The Eastern papers, with the ex¬ 
ception of one, ignored it entirely. That one 
(the American Cultivator) was polite enough 
to return onr advertisement indorsed “Re¬ 
spectfully declined.”. 
We would state that the columns of the 
Rural New-Yorker are open to the announce¬ 
ments of any of Us agricultural or horticul¬ 
tural contemporaries. And we should not ob¬ 
ject to adding the recommendation to our 
readers that they send for specimen copies of 
(he j ournalB so announced. If by such a course 
we were to inj are the interests of the Rural 
New-Yorker, we should at least have the 
satisfaction of knowing that we had placed 
them as subordinate to the Interests of agri¬ 
culture. -j.. 
It may bo supposed that the province of 
rural journals is to serve rural people. Is this 
best effected by seeking to ccnflne them to the 
reading of one rural journal only ? . . . . 
Those who are inclined to sit in judgment 
and who delight in drawing odious compar¬ 
isons might dwell upon the harmony of things 
as between the mnch-talked-of, worn out fields 
of New England and the tolerant, great¬ 
hearted spirit of her Agricultural Press. 
Our advice to our readers—to all—is to send 
for as many specimen copies of different farm 
journals as it is practicable or pleasant for 
them to examine carefully, and then subscribe 
for those which seem best suited to their sev¬ 
eral requirements. . 
It would seem from Prof. Storer’s note on 
page 769 that his opinion of the U. S. Agricul¬ 
tural Reports formerly and now published, is 
different.. 
Quassia is recommended by a Western 
paach grower as a remedy agaiust blight and 
green fly. A weak solution only is advised. 
Some people are so gloomily disposed that 
they are unhappy when the moon is full be¬ 
cause they can’t see the dark side of it. . . 
Several of our readers have complained 
that these “ Briellets ” are too crowded. Here 
is one from onr esteemed friend Dr. F. M. 
Hexamer: “ Please do print the Briellets in 
separate paragraphs. As it is, the reading of 
them is hard and a great strain upon weak 
eyes.”—Hence the change. The Rural is con 
ducted to please its readers and we have only 
to learn of their wishes to respect them. . . . 
Dr. Hexamer at the same time pays ns a 
compliment: “Your grape illustrations,” he 
says, “ are splendid.". 
Read Prof. Storer’s article on the Preserva¬ 
tion of Apples. 
WHAT OTHERS SAY. 
Mr. W. I. Chamberlain has remarked—in 
the Cultivator, if we remember rightly—that 
as a mere child he recited Greek in a prepara¬ 
tory school, to a learned college professor. 
One day the professor remarked that out of 
300 English grammars already published, there 
was not one really good one, and in the sim¬ 
plicity of Mr. C.’s heart he asked him why he 
did not write one himself! He was not of¬ 
fended, but immetlsely amused at his childish 
innocence, and only said “ it is far easier to 
criticise others’ grammars than to make a good 
one yourself!” Kindly criticism is always 
welcomed by managers of fairs, and is some¬ 
times useful. But criticism of fairs and of 
State and county boards often comes from 
non-exhibitors, and even non-attendants— 
from those who do not put their own shoulder 
to the wheel in honest effort to help. Shaks- 
peare makes one of his characters say, in sub¬ 
stance, “I could easier teach twenty men 
what it were well to do, than to be one of the 
twenty to follow my own teaching.” 
Small Potatoes.—A correspondent of a 
leading publication writes that he made an 
experiment the past season which he thinks 
fully explodes the theory that small seed po¬ 
tatoes will only return a small crop of small 
potatoes. Any theory of that kind was ex¬ 
ploded, the Germantown Telegraph supposes, 
before that writer was born, and the whole 
letter is an admirable illustration of a class 
who are continually fancying they are explo¬ 
ding something when there Is really nothing 
to explode. 
Still there is some misapprehension as to 
this small potato seed business, and it may be 
worth while to set it right. It is not the size 
of the potato, bnt the vigor and streugth of 
the eyes on the potato, that make up the 
case. These are often as large on a potato of 
moderate size as on a very large one. If the 
eyes are of the same strength—of equal vigor— 
it 18 the same as if they were all cut from the 
same tuber. A 6trong eye starts to grow and 
almost immediately sends out roots of Its 
own, and has no farther dependence on the 
old piece. It gets Us food wholly from the 
earth. If it is a weak, puny sprout of course 
it takes a whole season to get strong, ‘and in 
the meantime can only send out very weak 
threads that must be able to form nothing but 
very small potatoes. 
Profes8ob Hill of England, in a lecture 
upon the cart horse, observes that the face 
should have an intelligent and good-tempered 
expression, and this is usually found in horses 
with abroad, flat forehead, astraightly-incliued 
nose, a moderately square muzzle (in brown 
horses a tanned one is preferred) with 6ome 
expansion of nostril, full and prominent eyes, 
and thin lids. A small, sunken eye, particu¬ 
larly with a Roman nose, gives a horse a 
sulky, piggish expression, and often denotes 
obstinacy and bad temper. Again, the sub- 
maxillary space, or distance between the 
branches of the lower jaw, should be moder¬ 
ately wide, aud not bulging or lumpy towards 
the chin, otherwise a profile view is considera¬ 
bly depreciated. The ears also, which are in¬ 
dicative of alarm, temper, or play, demand 
attention. They may be directed forward, or 
as it is termed, “pricked,” from excitement 
fear, or inquiry, or be laid backward from play 
or vice, while frequently you may observe one 
is carried forward, the other backward, espe¬ 
cially when going. This is for the purpose of 
collecting all sounds, and such an animal is 
usually attentive to all that goes on around 
him. 
Prof. Sheldon writing to the Live Stock 
Journal of Loudon from Canada says:—“ Bat 
Canadian cheese has obtained a high reputa¬ 
tion, aud mo6t deservedly so, in England. It 
has great body, a good flavor, plenty of quali¬ 
ty, and as a rule is well made. I visited sev¬ 
eral factories iu the neighborhood of lngersoll, 
and also the Tavistock factory, which belongs 
to Mr. Ballaniine, M P.P., and is situated a 
few miles from the city of Stratford-on-Avon. 
This is one of the most conveniently arranged 
factories I have seen, and the cheese made in 
it is excellent. The milk received daily at the 
time of my visit was about 17,000 pounds, from 
nearly 1,000 cows. The temperature of the 
curing room is kept, for Autumn cheese, at 
65 deg.; for Summer at 75 deg. j and Spring 
fodder cheese at 80 deg , there or thereabouts.” 
Again he says:—“The graud secret of the 
Cheddar system of chcese-makiDg—which, by 
the way, is probably the best system the world 
knows—consists in the ripening which the 
curd gets after separating it from the whey, 
and before salting and pressing it. Bat even 
in the Cheddar system it is well known that 
the Antumn cheese does not matnre like the 
Summer’s, and this Mr. Ballaniine declares is 
owing to theniuht’s milk of Autumn not ripen¬ 
ing like that of Summer. Now, to those who 
have studied the question of cheese-making in 
its scientific as well as practical aspects, this 
argument of Mr. Ballantine appeals at once 
to the suffrage of one’s judgment. He, at all 
events, is thoroughly convinced of its sound¬ 
ness, and I have had other testimony to the 
same effect. The expedient is worth trying in 
England ; it is simple enongh in all conscience; 
try it.” 
Mr. C. E. Thorne, ot the Ohio Stale Uni¬ 
versity, makes a very interesting report in the 
Farmer of wheats which were sent out to a 
number of persons in various parts of the 
State. The following is a summary: 
COMPARATIVE YIELDS. 
Fultz. 
Clawson. 
Stiver chnff. 
Velvet chaff. 
Goli mertal. 
Sandomirka 
24 reports; average bu. per acre. 
.10 “ *• 2SV “ “ 
.15 “ “ 2'iw “ 
.11 ” 14 2« 44 
,19 14 44 21 % 44 44 
. 7 .* .< jjgg 44 « 
Of ClawtOD, Mr. Thoroe speaks as follows: 
“ A further inference which seems fairly de- 
ducible from our tables, is that the Clawson is 
not our most productive wheat. We have 
noticed on this farm that its straw appeared 
to be losing its stiffnees. while the grain 
seemed to be improving in quality. This im¬ 
provement in the grain has not been main¬ 
tained this season, however, while the buyers 
of tbe vicinity have finally executed their 
threat of lowering the price of Clawson from 
five to ten cents per bushel below that paid for 
red wheats. The importance of a very small 
increase in the productive power or in the 
market value of a variety of wheat will be 
realized when it is remembered that the wheat 
crop of Ohio for 1878 was nearly thirty-five 
and one-quarter million bushels, from two and 
one-eightb million acres of land, an average of 
sixteeu and one half busbels per acre. An in¬ 
crease in productiveness of one half bushel per 
acre would add more than 1,000,000 busbels to 
the total crop, while an advance of five cents 
per bushel in the market value of the whole 
would amount to a total of a million and three- 
quarters of dollars. 
Tasteless Cod Liver Oil —Dr. Peutevee, 
in La France Medicale, recommends, in order 
to render cod liver oil tasteless, to mix a table¬ 
spoonful of it intimately with the yolk of an 
egg, add a few drops of essence of pepper¬ 
mint, and half a tumbler of sugared water, so 
as to obtain a lait de poule. By this means the 
taste aud characteristic odor of the oil are en¬ 
tirely covered, and the pa'iente take it with¬ 
out the slightest repugnance. Besides, the oil 
being thus rendered as miscible as the water in 
all its proportion, Is in as complete a state of 
emulsion as the fats at the moment they pene¬ 
trate the chyle vessels, consequently absorp¬ 
tion is better assured. 
Keeping Cider.— In 1869, a writer in the N. 
Y. Sun, says that he purchased a small farm in 
New Hampshire, and in 1S70 (the bearing 
year) made 23 barrels of cider, averaging from 
36 to 48 gallons each. He bought in Boston 
very sound, empty, iron-hooped whisky casks. 
In making his cider, he filled the casks him¬ 
self, as the cider came from the press. To al¬ 
low the pomace to be any considerable time in 
the trough causes the spirit to evaporate, 
and the cider turns red; but if it is at once 
barreled as it comes from press, it is nearly 
white and will keep for years, tbe spirit being 
in it. He banged the barrels at once on filling ; 
if they burst he let them go. He never lost 
but one. He sold some of his cider tbe next 
Spring for bottling without racking off, and 
after two years drank some at a gentleman’s 
table in Boston. It was white, clear, and far 
better and more delicious than Rhine wine. 
His apples were natural fruit, aud all No. 
2 Northern Spies. Baldwins, and Spirzenbergs. 
(No rotten ones ) A3 apples are plentiful this 
year, try his method and yon will have clear, 
spirited, and fine cider, with nearly double the 
strength of ordinary cider. As long as the 
liquor is otosely buoged from the air it will be 
sweet. As cider is the natural wino of our 
country, he is astonished that some scientist 
has not taught our countrymen to make and 
preserve it properly long since. 
How TO GET ON IN THE WORLD. —To show 
what can be done by industry and pluck, 
a writer In the Ohio Practical Farmer re¬ 
fers to what a young German has done un¬ 
der his own eye. He hired him in March, 
1875, for one year, at $18 a month, for seven 
months, and $15 for the remainintr five months. 
He could not. speak a word of English, had no 
moiiey, aud not even an acquaintance in Obio. 
He saved about $150 tbat year, and then rented 
lour acres of land and went to gaidemng. The 
writer does not kuow wuat be is worth to¬ 
day, after five vents of gardening, but he has 
a good horse and wagon, hot-bed sash and 
frames that must have cost him over $200, 
plows and tools, and comfortable furniture for 
