81® « THE BUBAL f3£W-¥©BKEB. ©EC.« 
me last Spring that I will take pains to get 
i *-w subscribers and renew. W. C. Belding. 
Swanzey, N. IT. 
Tub Rural i9 the only agricultural paper I 
In the busy season I seldom read even 
. N. Y. Daily, but the Rural is an enjoyment I 
do not forego. Geo. 8. Josselyn. 
Fredonla, N. Y. 
Would that more of our non-reading plant- 
f rs and farmers could see and take the Rural 
New-Yorker. Through your paper we have 
u’ceived many large orders for what we have 
,< old. W. B. Jones, M. D. 
Herndon, Oa. _ 
We are very much pleased with the Rural 
mnl Rural seeds; the only query is how can 
y u raise po large a crop. 
Jtvingston Co., Mich. Mrs. JTknry Cnoor. 
T aw told that the Rural Nb v-Yoricer is 
I' d best weekly agricultural paper in the 
•' orld. but as I never see it, T cannot speak 
f ern personal knowledge. Joseph ITarris. 
Moreton Farm, Rochester, N. Y. 
T wust have the Rural ; It is a welcome vis- 
i 1 nr every week. It seems to get more inter- 
’ ting. I think it one of the most valuable 
p nrrs published, and one that our children 
cm safety read and from it learn something 
worth learning. I consider it one of the very 
1 i st papers ever placed before a familv. 
Ontario County, N. Y. E. F. Mahan. 
It will give us great pleasure to recommend 
the Rural whenever we have an opportunity, 
because it is worthy of it. You are certainly 
making it a first-class paper, and we congratu- 
a*e von upon your success and your bright 
prospects for the future. Your portrait of the 
Naomi Grape in last number is very tempting. 
What are we. to do with all the new and won¬ 
derful grapes? Ellwaisgeu & Barry. 
Mount Hope Nurseries, Rochester, N. Y. 
-the leading agricultural paper in the 
United States. Ex-Gov. R. W. Furnas. 
Brownvllle, Neb. 
My wife says the Rural is really the best of 
all the agricultural papers I get, and I assure 
you I think so, too. I am still Secretary of the 
Board of Trade here, amt Secretary of the North¬ 
western Dairymen's Association. 
Elgin, Ill. R. P. McCmncv. 
RURAL BRIEFLETS. 
We once asked a nurseryman why he gave 
so much of Ills gronnds to the Balsam Fir or 
Balm of Gilead, as it is often called. “ Be¬ 
cause,” said he. ‘ of all trees in my nursery, 
that is chosen first by nine out of every ten 
that come to purchase ” No doubt a careful 
estimate of the different kinds of evergreen 
trees to be seen about country and even city 
hdmes as well as public parks and cemeteries, 
would show that the above experience is the 
rule and'not the exception among nurserymen 
in general. Young Balsam Firs are very cap¬ 
tivating. They look to be the embodiment of 
health and vigor. Their leaves are of the 
greenest and they never present the faded 
hue that those of the spruces and arbor-vilais 
beside them, during a considerable part of the 
year, assume. But this freshness of youth is 
really their only charm. As they grow older 
they become less compact. There is more of 
stem and twig and less of foliage, and, finally, 
at an early maturity the lower branches, as if 
attacked by some disease, begin to decay and 
the tree, at. a time when it should serve us 
best, has lost both symmetry and beauty of 
foliage and is only permitted to remain 
because we cannot afford »o wait another ten 
years for the growth of a better tree to fill its 
place... 
There is now in England a variegated form 
of the Virginia Creeper. The leaves are 
splashed with yellow and the variegation does 
not impair the vigor of the species. There is 
also a variegated tulip described in the Garden 
as golden-margined. But the variegation is 
not constant, solid green leaves occurring here 
and there. ...... . ..... 
Mr. Hovey, in some thoughtful aud enter¬ 
taining notes to the London Garden, speaking 
in opposition to the prevalent fondness for 
creating double flowers, says : 
" I think Lindley once raided upon culti¬ 
vators for their attempts to spoil some of our 
prettiest flowers by making them double ; and 
though T cannot agree with this as a rule. I do 
think that uaturo has placed in our hands 
some few flowers which it would be as great a 
mistake to improve upon as it would be to 
make a double-headed horse.” 
The beauty of many flowers has been en¬ 
hanced by the change fiom a single row to 
many rows of petals as, for example, pelar¬ 
goniums, balsams, portulacas, roses, camellias, 
petunias aud asters. But there are many 
others which are far prettier with single 
flowers, as, for instance, the Rose of Sharon 
or Shrubby Hibiscus, the violet, lilies of all 
kinds, the gladiolus, tulip, hyacinth, mock- 
orange, lilac, clematis and many others . . . 
Several years ago we spoke of having seen 
several spikes of blue (light blue) gladiolus 
which were exhibited in the show room of one 
of our city seedsmen. This announcement 
was received with some incredulity by several 
of the English horticultural journals. Little 
has been heard of them since and upon in¬ 
quiry the reason seems to be that the corms 
are not very vigorous, rarely more than re¬ 
producing themselves and never forming 
bulblets. Unless, therefore, a more rugged 
blue variety should agaiu he grown from 
seeds, it must he a long time before a blue 
gladiolus can be offered for sale. 
Tub editor and assistant editor of the Amer¬ 
ican Entomologist havedi6solved that relation¬ 
ship. The interests of the latter, it. appears, are 
liable to call him at any time to New Mexico. 
For the same reason we hope it may not ne¬ 
cessitate his retirement from the agricultural 
editorship of the N. Y. Sun. 
It has been suggested to Sarah Bernhardt— 
and the advice is jnst as good to all thin 
people—that if she wants to get fat she should 
board at restaurants or second-class hotels 
and help herself freely to the butter ! A ques¬ 
tion may arise whether firsl class hotels would 
not answer. . 
Puck says that It is the impulsive pullet 
that very, O vary often docs the heavy work 
for the farmei’s basket. The thoughtful, 
brooding old hen may cackle-late, but she 
doesn’t lay early and often. 
It appears that the wheelbarrow is now called 
the unioycle. But the Boston Postthinks thatitis 
just as hard to run with a big trunk on it as it 
was under the old name.. . 
We have received a letter from an esteemed 
correspondent, who has often placed us under 
( bligation by the freedom and sincerity of his 
criticisms, in which we find the following: 
You ask for something new and valuable 
upon the subject of corn growing. Corn has 
been grown in America since 1493, to our 
knowledge, and long enough previously to 
shroud its origin in an impenetrable clond of 
mystery. How can there bo anything new 
upon that subject? I think, before we tell the 
farmers anythiug more about its cultivation, 
we should teach them the commonest princi¬ 
ples of plant growth in general. I don’t think 
you know how many farmers read agricultural 
journals out of more curiosity, to see what you 
say, withont the smallest idea of practising 
your precepts, or taking the least pains to 
understand them. Your contributor, Mr. 
Stewart, is on thu right track, but although he 
is perfectly well posted on the subject, he 
doesn't know how to handle it. He is alto¬ 
gether too abstruse for children, and, in fact, 
even for three-fourths of the farming commu¬ 
nity of adults. He is not the first writer by 
any means who knows all about his subject, 
but who has not the faculty of communicating 
his ideas clearly and concisely. Often the best 
professors arc {he poorest teachers; they have 
the knowledge, but it hangs fire, it is bottled 
up and the cork wired down.. , 
Mr. Samuel L, Boakdman was for lfi years 
editor of the Maine Farmer, six years Secre¬ 
tary of the Maine Board of Agriculture, and 
recently agricultural editor of the American 
Cultivator, lie is now Ihu editor aud one of 
the proprietors of a new paper called The 
Home Farm published at Augusta, Maine. Mr. 
Board wau is well known as an able agricul¬ 
tural writer, and we hope that his work may 
meet with a hearty response from the farmers 
ol Maine, who it seems to us, etaud in much 
need of a live, liberal-spirited farm journal. , . 
Our friend and valued contributor, Mrs. 
Annie L Jack of Canada, asks us the follow¬ 
ing question: 
•• What percentage of split beans, broken in 
thrashing, will be likely to grow ?” Can any 
of our readers answer ? We cannot. . . . 
WHAT OTHERS SAY. 
Mr. Hyde remarks in the New York Times, 
that if one wishes to cultivate his farm like a 
market garden, it may pay to plow in the 
coarse manure and harrow in the fine, but as 
a rule he would recommend the application of 
the manure to the surface of the soil. This is 
nature's method, and is the most successful 
for common practice. 
“If you want to enjoy a green old age," 
says the New York Herald, “ live on your in¬ 
come while you are young. A debt is like a 
drizzling ruin, which makes you uncomfort¬ 
able all the time, while bill a all receipted and 
a lucky penny laid up for bad weather make 
the heart warm when the mercury is at zero.” 
Mr. J. S. Woodward discourses in a late 
New York Tribune upon the care of stock 
during Winter. He thinks that any man who 
lets his cattle stand shivering in the lee of a 
straw-stack, or old fence, or under an open 
shed, should be tied in the Bame place and be 
compelled to slay one night with the thermom¬ 
eter at zero and the snow flying thick and fast 
about him , if this does notconviuce him of the 
necessity of good warm stables, he is not fit to 
be called by the noble name of farmer, and 
the quicker he gets out of the business the 
better for it and himself. 
Mu. Woodward thinks that Iho subject of 
ventilation is as little understood for stables as 
for dwellings. He says that it is next to im¬ 
possible to open windows or ventilators at the 
sides of the stable without some animal tak¬ 
ing cold or suffering from a draft. Another 
fact we should remember: every day we keep 
a young animal with no growth, and every 
day a mature animal is allowed to get poorer, 
we are keeping them at a Joss and cau't afford 
it; we should see to it that they are so well 
cared for and fed that they are constantly 
thriving, and to this end we should feed plenty 
of good nutritious feed and plenty of some sort 
of roots or other green food. But above all 
things keep them rearm. 
Improving Coffee.— It is rarely the case 
that adulterating material improves the arti¬ 
cle adulterated. The Grocer remarks that the 
stimulating properties of coffee, while they 
make, it a popular article of consumption, are 
unfortunately the sources of a multitude of 
nervous diseases. Consequently it was found 
necessary, after many years' experience of its 
baneful effects when used in its full strength, 
to discover some means of ameliorating these 
by the admixture of a harmless substance re¬ 
sembling coffee in flavor as nearly as possible. 
An article was finally selected for this pur¬ 
pose after careful experiment, which is now 
extensively employed, not only for diluting 
and partially counteracting the injurious 
qualities of coffee, but for imparting a more 
agreeable flavor to many brands which would 
otherwise be unpalatable by reason of their 
sharpness and generally unpleasant taste. It 
is hardly necessary to say that this indispen¬ 
sable requisite in Ilia preparation of coffee, is 
chiccory, a simple, harmless vegetable sub¬ 
stance, which materially lessens not only the 
bad qualities, but also the high cost of an un- 
mixed coffee. It is stronger than pure coffee 
and gives a good color to the decoction. It is 
used largely at European hospitals on account 
of its superior qualities of uutrition and total 
absence of nerve-stimulating agentB. The 
nutritions matter in chiccory, according to 
analysis, amounts to (10 per cent., while that 
of coffee is but 81. 
Mr. Edmund Hathaway, says in a forcible 
and touebiug essay on the treatment of ani¬ 
mals: “The effect of the barbarous treatment 
of inferior creatures on the minds of those 
who practice it is still more deplorable than 
Us effects upon the animals themselves. The 
man who kicks dumb brutes kicks brutality 
into his own heart. He who can see the wish¬ 
ful, imploring eyes of half-starved creatures 
without making earnest effort to relieve them, 
aud feeling a twinge of conscience, is on the 
road to lose his manhood, if he has not already 
lost it. And iho boy who delights in torturing 
frogs or insects or despoiling birds’ nests, or 
dogging cattle and hogs wantonly and cruelly, 
will generally prove a worthless creature, or 
worse than worthless, when growu up." 
Ligurian Honey Bees.—A year or two since 
many of our apiarians were quite euthusiastic 
in regard to the merits of the Ligurian honey 
bees, as it was claimed that they were more 
industrious than either the common bee or the 
Italians; but it seems that the Ligurians have 
some faults as well as other varieties. A Mr. 
Watts, who has recently issued a revised edi¬ 
tion of Mr. Taylor’s book upon the apiary, 
says that if the LiguriauB gather more honey 
than the common bees, it is because they do it 
by robbing the hives of the latter. This is cer¬ 
tainly a serious charge against the new favor¬ 
ites, and it would be well, remarks the New 
York Sun, for apiarians to investigate the 
matter thoroughly before introducing them in 
any considerable numbers. 
The Detroit Free Press says that the papers 
of France are rejoicing about the excellent 
prospect of there being lots of champagne this 
season, because the grape crop is good, just as 
if there was any connection between plenty of 
grapes and plenty of champagne. In America 
chemical science has reached such a state of 
perfection that it really makes very little dif¬ 
ference. as far as wine is concerned, whether 
grapes are plenty or not. 
There are certain bits of advice that can 
scarcely be repeated too often. We find the 
following in the New York Herald: Nothing 
i6 more important for a young man than to 
stand well with his employer, and there is no 
better general rule than this, to do every task 
with a thoroughness and faithfulness which 
make criticism impossible and excite admi¬ 
ration. _ 
From 1857 to 1878, says Mr. C. M. Hovey, 
writing to the Loudon Garden, there wa6 not a 
single failure of the pear crop. Butin 1878, 
from some cause, there was a great failure j 
not more than one-sixth of a crop. It was 
not owing to any severity of the Winter, for it 
was a mild one; and the cause has been gen¬ 
erally attributed to the three years of continu¬ 
ous heavy crops, which had tasked the trees 
beyoud endurance. From a record which he 
has kept lie fluds that the averuge price of 
pears in 1870 was about $8.50 per bushel; in 
1875 about $2.75; and in 1879 about $1.35— 
that is, for choice, selected fruit, gathered 
from an average of 150 varieties, including 
such fine sorts as Beurre Superfin, Hardy, 
Doyenne du Comice, Beurre Clairgeau, B. Gif- 
fard, B. Langelier, etc. 
An amateur neighbor, remarks Mr. Hovey in 
another part of the same article, whose garden 
of about half an acre is directly across the 
street, and planted with pear trees, often 
inquires about the new pears and their value 
in the market, hinting occasionally at our en¬ 
thusiasm for the new sorts while he sticks to 
the old. His trees are all Bartlett and Scckel, 
aud for years he has disposed of his whole 
crop to one dealer, who takes them away 
without auy other labor tbau that of gathering 
the fruit, and at almost double the price of Mr. 
Hovey's 200 varieties of all the finest pears. 
Having as long ago as 18fi8 obtained all the 
information he wanted in regard to these 
kinds, Mr. Hovey began to graft them over 
with Bartlett, Beurre Bose. Daua's Hovey, and 
BeumS d’Anjou; and he really feels relieved in 
the pear season that, he has no longer to see 
time wasted in gathering such a motley lot of 
unsalable pears, to set aside the disappoint¬ 
ment when ho had expected something near 
the description, to find it comparatively in¬ 
ferior. 
Among new pears Dana’s Hovey holds a 
• prominent position. A counterpart of the 
Seckel, fiom which it was probably raised, it 
has held its high price for ten years firmer 
than any other new pear. Mr. Hovey thiuks 
that, whatever catalogues may show, as com¬ 
pared with twenty five years ago, the new 
pears are not superseding the old, but are 
rather supplementing them in the most satis¬ 
factory way. 
The Double Horse Chestnut.— Speaking 
of this in another article of the same journal, 
Mr. Hovey, whose residence is Boston, Mass., 
says that he has two very Due trees of it, some 
40 feet high, and 15 inches in diameter, which 
were selected during a visit to Euglandin 1844, 
with many other, at that period uew and rare 
trees. They flower abundantly, and the huge 
heads of double blossoms are scarcely sur¬ 
passed, if equaled, by those of any garden 
shrub. If the blooms were upon a bush no 
larger than the Hydrangea pauicolata, they 
would be almost as attractive, andbeis uotsure 
they would not vie with those of that plant; 
unfortunately, they are so fugitive that their 
beauty is soon gone—the only drawback to its 
more extensive cultivation. 
Butter Test of Jersey Cow, Eurotas.— 
—The accompanying table of the butter 
record of this remarkable cow, the property 
of Mr, A. B. Darling, near Ramsey, N. J., is 
given by the New York Herald. 
Eurotas. 3.454. Dropped call Oct. 31, 1879, 
has calved again Nov. 4, 1880. The interven¬ 
ing test for butter commenced with Nov. 10, 
1879, and ended with Oat. 15, 1880 (period, 
eleven months and six days), at which time 
she became dry: 
Mon tti 
No. of 
Weight 
Weight of 
butter. 
1879. 
days. 
of milk 
)1)S. 
0 z. 
November.. 
461 
40 
1 
December. 
755 
74 
u 
ihso. 
January... 
740 
79 
o 
February . 
067 'A 
77 
T 
March. 
.31 
653)6 
75 
6 
April. 
t02 
68 
it 
May.—. 
.31 
770)6 
87 
u 
June. 
837 
88 
6 
July. 
76016 
704 
80 
5 
A u y list. 
7 
September. 
October. 
.30 
454 K 
32 
5 
123)6 
8 
10 
TotalH. 
7,525 
778 
01 
The total yield, it will be secu, amounts to 778 
pouuds one ounce of butter for the year, 
which is the highest yield on record. The 
greatest previous recorded yield was that of 
Jersey Belle of Scituate, owued by Mr. C, O. 
Ellms, of Scituate, Mass., which made 705 
pounds of butter in a year, lu the present 
case no account was kept of the milk and 
butter made during the first ten days of her 
milking period, aud, as her la6t calf was 
dropped a few days within a year from the 
date of the commencement of the test, she 
would be entitled to the additional time had 
the trial commenced five days earlier. The 
weights of milk and butter were taken at 
each milking aud churning, the butter being 
weighed before adding the salt, but not until 
the buttermilk was thoroughly rinsed and 
worked out. in Winter she had all the hay 
she wanted and in addition a pail of gruel or 
bran aud oat-meal, thin enough to drink, three 
times a day. When grass came to stimulate 
the milk-secreting organs, she was fed three 
quarts of corn-meal daily iu two feeds, corn 
having previously been fouud to teud rapidly 
to flesh. Iu hot weather she was stabled from 
the midday sun, and fed grccu fodder while 
up, with the choicest pasture while turned 
out. _ _ 
Consumption of milk in the British 
Islands.— Our occasional contributor, Prof. 
Sheldon, in a late address before the Wilts aud 
Hants Agricultural College, stated that each 
man, woman, and child in the LTnited King¬ 
dom consumes, on the average, as milk and in 
