DEC. 25 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
of acres for the cereals at the north, and with 
the southern planters, for King cotton, is entire¬ 
ly discarded with ns, and we propose to realize 
an income of thousands, from only acres, 
instead of hundreds of acres. Upon our lands, 
we aspire to have Orange groves yielding at 
10 years old, ©1,000 per acre, and at 30 years 
old, ©3,000 per acre. Rev. Mr. Thomas, of 
Penial, sella from one acre, from ©1.800 to 
©2 600 worth annually from a grove 25 years 
old. I have trees eight years old with 1.200 to 
1,500 flue fruit per tree—some growers have a 
larger yield from trees of the same age. These 
lands are also first quality for garden vege¬ 
tables. guavas, casava, bananas, etc. The 
more tropical localities, Merretts Island 
Hutchinson, and particularly Jupiter Island, 
on the east of Indian River and washed by the 
rolling billows of the ocean on their eastern 
shore, are attracting our especial attention. 
In ten years Jupiter Island will be an extended 
grove of orange, banana, cocoanut, muimuee 
apple, ruaugoe, and sappodiUa with thousands 
of pine apples, aud paying its happy possess¬ 
ors thousands of dollars. Added to this there are 
beautiful sites for residences, 30 to 40 feet in 
bight and ovei-looking the ocean on the eust, 
and fanntd by the balmy breeze of the trade 
winds. I propose to set 500 cocoauuts, 50,- 
000 pines, 1,000 banana aud mangoe, avocado- 
pear, sappodilla, tawariud aud mamuiee 
apple, and would like to procure the cherry- 
moiliei, maugostine and one pound of coffee 
seed. Manatee, northwest aud about two 
deg. colder than Jupiter Island, is raisiug 
coffee quite successfully. We solicit settlers 
from the best class of people from North, 
South, East or West. We need labor and cap¬ 
ital to develop our country into the Eldorado 
of the South. C. B. Maguudkr. 
Texas, Waco, McLennan Co., Dec. 3.—We 
are j usi at the end of a three weeks “Norther,” 
during which we have hud some extremely 
cold weather, as cold as I have ever seeu it at 
any time in the State. The groi nd froze about 
two inces deep, and sweet potatoes that were 
still in the ground have been much injured. 
After harvesting my early crop of Irish pota¬ 
toes, I selected the very small ones about the 
size of hickory-nuts, aud planted in the same 
ground- I had a furrow made by a small 
turning plow and dropped these small tubers 
about 18 inches apart, and owing to a press of 
other business, they were not cultivated at all, 
aud of course I did not expect any potatoes, 
but I never haye had a better crop, aud what 
seems most singular, there were no very small 
tubers. The fact Is, we can always raise two 
crops of potatoes on the same ground, unless 
there is an unusual drought. I planted my 
sweet potatoes iu ground upon which I raised 
a crop of Irish potatoes, and raised a splendid 
crop. My Ennobled oats rusted so badly that 
I Baved but little seed, owing, as I think, to 
being plauted loo late. The Mangels did very 
well, bnt I failed with most of the flower 
seeds, from some cause that I cannot account 
for. I received a few cuttings last Autumn of 
the Le Conte pear, from Mr. H. H. Sanford, of 
Thomasville, Ga., and they have made a most 
yemarkable growth, two or three of them are 
fully six feet high, with strong aud healthy 
trunks. It does seem, that if pears can be 
grown so easily from cuttings, it would be far 
the better plau to propagate them, as you are 
then sore of what you have, aud more certain 
of a healthy tree. Last season I grew the 
SharplesB and Forest Rose Strawberries; each 
of them did well, but the Forest Hose, I think, 
is the hardiest, as it suffered less from the 
effect of drought. I planted tomatoes between 
the rows of strawberries with a view to shel¬ 
tering the grouud from the heat of the sun, 
but it proved to be ail wrong. Wherever I had 
a good staud of tomatoes, the strawberries 
died out, while where there were no tomatoes, 
none died, but coutiuued to grow and remain 
Ireeh and green during the whole season. I 
also planted tomatoes between some of my 
young grapes, and who rever the tomato vine 
was near the grape, the latter made little 
growth, while others separate from the toma¬ 
toes made a vigorous and healthy growth of 
vine aud foliage. My experience is that the 
further the tomato is grown from the grape 
and strawberry, the better it will be for 
ibem. Now, Mr. Rukal, accept a bit of praise, 
if you please, for you keep 60 full abreast of 
the iiine6 that I auxiously await the receipt of 
the Rukal, and read it through at cue sitting 
often times. 1 receive several agricultural 
j'ournals regularly, and have had specimen 
copies of many others, some no doubt of those 
who were not willing to dispel the “biles of 
iguorance*' of tbeir reudors to enable them to 
grow wise by reudiug the best. a. s. 8. 
Texas, Dallas Co., Dec., 5th.—November 
ha6 been a disagreeable month with us away 
down in Dixie; we have had two severe snow 
storms dui ing the month, and the rest of the 
month cloudy, drizzly, aud cold; and now the 
mud is so deep the roads are almost impassa¬ 
ble. The coru crop was good so far as it weut, 
but there was not enough planted. A good 
many planters think they can raise cotton to 
buy coru and meat and make more money than 
they can by raising corn and hogs, but I 
tbiek Eome of them have already Been the 
error of so doing and more of them will, I 
think, before they make the cotton crop pay 
for their corn and hogs for another year. The 
yield of cotton was an average one bnt a con¬ 
siderable portion of it is yet in the patch, and 
Is badly damaged, and unless December is an 
open month it will remain in the patch. The 
hog crop is rather short, pork is selling at 
from eight to ten cents per pound, coin 35 to 
40 cents per bushel, the sweet potato crop 
was very heavy, but a good many of them got 
frozen before they were dug. So they will 
not keep but a short time, (hose that did not 
freeze will not keep well on account of their 
being chilled in the ground. n h. 
Texas, Belle Plain, Callahan Co., Dec. 6 — 
We have had unusual cold weather for the 
past four weeks. Sweet potatoes all frozen. 
Much of the late cane frozen ; of five varieties 
the Early Amber takes the lead for feed. I 
cut three crops from one planting. My man¬ 
gels were a failure as the bugs were too fond 
of them; the Raspberries were so long ou the 
way that they also perished. -Corn crops very 
good and selling for ©1 per bushel; wheat but 
little sown aud that for pasture, will plow up 
and plant to coru iu the Spring. This place is 
filling up with sheep, mostly Improved Mexi¬ 
can, we use Merino bucks. The last cold 
spell has developed a few cases of scab, other¬ 
wise, flocks look well. p. p, 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and 
address of the writer to Insure attention.] 
Soil, Climate, etc. or pf. C. 
Note. The letter of inquiry to which the 
following is a reply was forwarded to I)r. D. 
E. McAboy, who resides iu thesectiou of North 
Carolina, inquired about. The Doctor returned 
to us the answers appended, but not the letter 
of inquiry—so that the usual initials, County 
and State of the writer are necessarily omitted. 
The letter of inquiry requested that the Editor 
of the Rural New-Yorker should, himself, 
answer the questions contained therein. But 
he begs to state that ill-health, which induced 
his visit to the so called “ Thermal Belt ” pre¬ 
vented his acquiring a sufficient knowledge of 
the Conn try to enable him to answer several of 
them. The Doctor says: 
I have your note with letter to be answered 
enclosed, and I hasten to give yon all the light 
I have on the soil, climate, productions, etc., 
of North Carolina. Should your correspond¬ 
ent want authoritative information, he wilt 
find it in the Hand Book of the State, publish¬ 
ed by the Commissioner of Agriculture of the 
State of North Caroliua. 
1. What part of Polk County did you visit ? 
Aus.—Tryon Township, at the foot of Tryon 
Mountains—Lynn P. O , N. C. 
2. Is it a clay or loam 6oil ? Ans.—The up¬ 
land has much clay mixed with sand and mica. 
The creeks and rivers are a loam soil with mi¬ 
nacious Band. We have red clay aud yellow, 
and in some places, the white or blue used for 
Btone ware. 
3. Can raise cotton. The cotton belt runs 
up half way to the top of the mountain. We 
are proposing to put in 50 acres of cotton next 
year. 
4. Can raise peanuts. They are not grown 
largely here for the markets, but ou our sandy 
land they grow finely. 
5. Cannot answer from my own knowledge 
how many can be raised per acre. 
6. The climate is healthy. Free from all 
malaria and malarious diseases, and is now 
considered as one of the most popular health 
resorts for Summer or Winter. 
7. Have no long-continued droughts. The 
mountain's attract the rain showers. 
8. The water is soft. 
9. There are mauy Springs, some of them 
highly mineral. 
10. No limestone in Polk County; good 
limestone is found 28 miles north, near Hen¬ 
dersonville, and south in Spartanburg. South 
Carolina, 50 miles due south on the Air Line 
Kail Road. 
11. Lime ia easily obtained by railroad from 
Henderson County, North Carolina, or from 
South Carolina. 
12. Good oottom land, is hardly ever offer¬ 
ed alone, geuerally the farms consist of hill 
and upland as well as bottom land. When sold 
alone they are valued all the wav from ©25 to 
©100 per acre, while 51) acres of bottom land 
with 300 or 300 acres of fait upland (cotton 
land) will be offered at ©10 per acre. 
14. The land titles are good, very little litiga¬ 
tion about titles. 
15. The Spartanburg and Ashevillle Rail 
Road runs through Polk Couuty, with its Tryon 
Station on this farm. 
16. Produce realizes good prices here. Corn 
at our Station 55 cents per bushel; wheat* 
©1 25 ; hay, ©20 per ton. We are at the head 
of the upland cotton belt and corn is always 
high and all the other products, for the simple 
reason, that everybody is engaged in cotton 
raising below, and they come up to these rich 
valleys for corn and produce. 
17. The local freights are high. We pay 
from 12 to 25 cents per 100 for onr goods from 
Spartanburg, South Caroliua, 27 miles. But 
freights by the great through Hues are very 
reasonable from New York this way by Rich¬ 
mond, Virginia, or by the ocean route by 
Charleston from New York. Passenger rates, 
local, five ceuts per mile, tourist rate three 
cents per mile. 
18. The Public School 8ystem of the North¬ 
ern States is the law of the laud, but here, as 
they have large districts, and schools kept 
but a few months, we depend mostly on pri¬ 
vate schools. Churches are not plenty. The 
Baptist and Methodist Churches predominate. 
The country is too thinly peopled yet for 
churches and schools. The farms are too large, 
think of it, for seven miles along this highway 
there are but three farms, one of 2 460 acres 
one 600, and the other, this of 2 250. On these 
lands are over 300 people, and except three or 
four families, they are not the class to support 
either schools or churches. 
19. The white population predominates in 
Polk County, and more so in the counties north 
of ns. When you get in South Carolina the 
black race predominates, so also in the coas 
regions of the North State. 
20. Labor is plenty and cheap, average of 
males $10 per mouth with board, and ©13 to 
©15 and board themselves. Females, ©6 per 
month and board. 
21. Good laud is found in very many places 
all along the base of these mountains. The 
land on North Paccotoe is considered richer 
because it runs along the base of the moun¬ 
tains, and the valleys are made of the moun¬ 
tain debris and washiugs constantly coming 
down year by year. There are may desirable 
sections for corn, eotton, wheat, peanuts, and 
tobacco, and many that have flue water. All 
the Piedmont lands of N. and S. Carolina are 
well-watered, and on the top of the mountains 
there are abounding springs of the very best 
water. 
But the climate of this valley is peculiar, 
sui genei'ia." Yesterday, December 7th, the 
mercury stood 25 deg., while 10 miles above 
at Saluda, it stood at zero, and at Henderson¬ 
ville. the same. We are in mid Winter with 
no sign of snow yet, though the mountains 
north of us have several limes been white with 
snow. Our railroad facilities are now very 
good, we have a daily mail each way. To 
those who seek a country for agriculture, all 
the south side of these mountains offers great 
inducements. But for fine fruits, which sel¬ 
dom fail, good air and water and health, we 
are honestly of the opinion this Tryon regiou is 
not excelled any where. Yours truly. 
Lynn P. O., N, C., Dec. 9. Da. D. E. McAbot. 
Four illoolliM too Long to Go Dry. 
V. B., Canaseraga, N. T., writes, I have a 
Jersey cow 5 years old. She has been milked 
a year and seven months continuously, and 
will come in again 13lh next March. She is in 
good order, but gives only a teacup of milk 
twice per day. If now dried she will go dry 
about four mouths. She has no slop. Shall I 
slop her and milk her or let her go dry now ? 
Ans. —We wish our correspondent had men 
tioned whether she was a large or small milker 
when fre h in milk, what her feed now is etc. 
Jerseys usually hold out their milk remark¬ 
ably well—it often being more difficult to dry 
them off than to keep up their milking. Four 
mouths are too long fora cow to go dry, unless 
in the case of a very deep milker that has 
given milk as long as this cow, and may need 
rest to recuperate. This cow, however, seems 
to be in no need of a long rest, and it may be 
an injury to go dry so long. Should advise 
that she be fed oue quart of oil-meal or six 
qiarts of bran or middlings per day, wet up 
with hot water and allowed to cool. This 
should be given la two feeds with about 1$ 
ounces of 6alt. Begin with half this quantity 
and gradually increase so as to reach this 
amount in one week. The greatest care must 
be taken to milk the cow peifectly clean. 
Milking has much to do with a cow’s holding 
out her milk. If this plan had been adopted 
a month or six weeks earlier it would have 
fully accomplished the object. Jf the cow 
shall have become so near dry before this 
reaches our correspondent that her milk can¬ 
not be recovered, then the beet plan is to give 
her one pint of oil-meal per day until five 
weeks before coming in. when she should have 
a slop of about three quarts of bran per day in 
one feed until the last week, when this should 
be reduced oue-ha f; and, the first week after 
coming in, she Bbould have a slop of a pail 
full of tepid water with one quart of bran, 
morning and uveo'ing. After that 6he may be 
fed well. This plau will be likely to develop 
her milking capacity. 
Miscellaneous. 
Newton Batcher, Dallas Co., Texas, asks, 1, 
what ails toy land, my sweet potatoes will rot 
iefore they are half matured! the vines even 
will rot off justbelow the surface of the ground. 
The cotton plant will die on the same spots 
before the plaut, matures half a crop*. Apple, 
cherry and pear trees will not live three years 
on it. The peach and plum will thrive on the 
same spots six or seven years and then die, 
they die first just below the surface, on the 
main root, the bark, both the inner and the 
out Bide will he dead commencing about one 
inch below the surface, running down three 
or four inches, then there will be live bark be¬ 
low and above; the guru exudes fiom the tree 
by the pint, so thin U will run on the ground, 
and the bark peels off of the dead - part and has 
the appearance of being frost bitten when the 
sap starts in the spring. Now don’t sav borer 
for 1 hunt the borer twice a tear and know 
how to find him. Besides other trees, the um¬ 
brellas, china, catalpa are effected in the 
same way; and the borer don’t like eilher of 
them to my knowledge. Now whit is the cause, 
and the remedy ? 2, does the borer come out 
of the tree as a fly or a beetle, if so how long 
does it remain iu the tree as a grub. 
Ans. —The trouble is doubtless due to what 
is known as alkali in the soil. Alkali spots 
are frequent through all the prairie regiou 
from Texas to Colorado. These alkaliue salts 
are usually sulphate of magnesia, an impure 
kind of Epsom salts, with which the soil is 
more or less saturated; they are usually 
spriogy, and the salts are deposited by the 
water iu which they are sometimes so plenti¬ 
fully contained as to be unfit and dangerous 
to drink. The remedy is to drain the spots, 
to plow deeply, to summer fallow, stirring 
often, and to have patience until the soil is 
slowly freed from the impurity. Further 
west in Texas many hundreds of square miles 
are made barren by the same cause. 2. As a 
beetle. It remains as a grub about 15 months. 
It throws off its grab skin and becomes a pupa 
usually at the close of the second summer. 
Thus it lies through winter, changing to its 
perfect form the following spring. It then 
cuts with its jaws a smooth round hole of the 
exact size to enable it to crawl out of the tree. 
The sexes then pair, and the female deposits 
another crop of eggs. 
D.E. S. Norton, Kas ., asks, will yon de¬ 
scribe in the Rural, your mode of “ flat” cul¬ 
tivation ? 2 Which do you prefer, the Doura 
or Branching Sorghum ? 3. The B. S. is such 
a vigorous grower, are not the roots worse to 
get rid of for next crop than those of common 
sorghum or broom corn ? 
Ans. —1. There is little to describe. We use 
a shallow cultivator which does not throw the 
soil into ridges. The hoe is the only other 
implement used. The men are instructed not 
to hill up in the least. 2. The “Doura.” as it 
is called, is not worth sowing as a forage plant. 
It has but one stalk and that is large with 
fewer leaves than corn. The seeds (which 
ripen freely in this climate) are good for 
chickens. The flour may prove of value when 
mixed with other flour or treated in some new 
way. 3. No, we think not. 
R <7., Upland P, O ., Ontario, says that in 
the Rural a lew weeks since I noticed “In¬ 
sect Powder Pyretbrum," highly recommend¬ 
ed as a protection against mo?quUos. On 
referring to my dictionary I find Pyrethrum is 
an order of plants to which Feverfew belongs. 
Is the common Feverfew obnoxious to mos¬ 
quitos ? How is the Insect Powder prepared 
and how need ? 
Ans.— The Chrysanthemum Roseum is the 
variety used for the preparation of the Persian 
Insect powder It is from Persia and North 
Asia, and grown somewhat as an ornamental 
plant. The pulverized flower-heads furnish 
what is used to destroy insects. 
U. L. W., Neicbern, Va., wants to hear 
something of the Queen of the Prairie corn, 
knowing we tried it at the farm last year. 
Ans. —We did. But the fence of the field in 
one part was broken down and the catlle de¬ 
stroyed it. 
A. B. C-, Rock Spring, N. 0., asks where 
he can obtain seed of the Rural Branching 
Sorghum. 
Ans.— At present it cau only be procured 
through the Rural Free Seed Distribution. 
A. -J. J., Midland Co., Mich., sends a leaf of 
a plant for name. 
Ans —It is a Stonecrop — Sedum—but we 
eaunot give the specific name from a leaf 
alone. 
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Communications received for the week end¬ 
ing Saturday, Dec. 18. 
M. W. F,—E. L. S.—A. C. B.-S. It. M.—E. N.— 
W. H. B.—J. H. Me.—E F.—F. D. S —E. R. 8.— 
J. G. L.—H. 8.—A. W.—J. S.—O. M. T,—H L W 
-E. A.-W. M.-W. E. M.-E. B. R.-R. M. P._j‘ 
E. Du B., thanks—A. S. 8.—D. E. McA.—A P A. 
thanka—“CItoton,'thanka—A. 8. G.-a b a — 
C. E. T.-S. C. M -F P.-J. R. J.—R, E.-W C 
-L. W.-C. W. Y.-S. P. Jr.—J. w. K.-H. w! 
F. —W. W. D.—F. M. H., thanks-O. E. D.—J. B. 
M.—W. B. D.—B. F. J.—B. McC.—A. L. J .—\\ r 
C. A. G.—C. B. A.—B. D. G. 
—-- 
All Monthly prostration and suffering by ladles 
Is avoided, by using Hop Bitters a few days to 
advance. 
