JUNE 48 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 1880. 
It pays well, as we have often said, to 
pass coal-ashes through a fine sieve—a 
flour sieve, for instance. This sifted 
ashes when perfectly dry, as it should be 
kept, is one of the best substances with 
which to mix London Purple, Paris- 
green or Hellebore for the destruction of 
potato beetles, fruit slugs, ourrant and 
gooseberry worms and the like. Being 
lighter than plaster or flour, it does not 
fall so quickly, but settles upon every 
part of the plant—the stem, the under 
part of the leaf as well as the upper part. 
It may be said also that it adheres to 
leaves for a longer time and is not so 
readily washed off by rains. 
--♦♦♦ ~ 
Hints about work may be useful or 
simply ridiculous. It may even be ad¬ 
mitted, to stretch a point, that farmers 
are so eareless as to need reminding every 
month of what work should be done, and 
reasonably thatmanyvaluablesuggeBtions 
may be made that will really be of ad¬ 
vantage. But these suggestions should 
be timely and in advance of the season, 
that a reader may be instructed in good 
time. It is hardly reasonable, however, 
for a leading journal to recommend farm¬ 
ers to roll their clover fields in May to drive 
any roots that may have been lifted by 
frost back into the ground. All such 
roots will be dead; or, if still living, a 
heavy roller would bend them over and 
break or crush them and certainly finish 
them. In May clover is far too advanced 
for rolling, and in fact clover never 
should be rolled. Grass may be rolled 
with advantage, but to hint that clover 
should be rolled in May argues very little 
accurate knowledge about the plant. 
• ♦- 
The Army Worm is fast disappearing 
from those parts of Long Island first in¬ 
fested, after working an amount of dam¬ 
age which it would be difficult to esti¬ 
mate. Its appearance in many other 
parts of the Island is reported. The 
present hot weather, however, will prob¬ 
ably put an end to their depredations. 
The most efficacious method of destroying 
them has been that of plowing trenches 
about the infested fields. In loose soils 
it is almost impossible for them to climb 
steep ascents. We dug a hole four in¬ 
ches deep with a hoe, placed therein fifty 
and watched them for an hour. Not one 
succeeded in reaching the top, the soil 
constantly giving way under their short, 
stubby legs. Another excellent method 
of catching them is that of laying boards 
about the fields. The Army worm creeps 
under these for shelter from the hot sun, 
and may thus be captured in immense 
quantities. Under one board 20 feet in 
length, we have found, on turning it 
over two or three times a day, as many 
as 500 at once. 
-*-*-♦- 
Poultry and the Army Worm. —The 
most important note of experience we 
have to make respecting the Army worm 
is this : It will be remembered that we 
confined our flock of poultry—about 75 
in uumber—in a fenced garden, about 
half an acre, or a little more, in area. 
Here were two plots of wheat—Silver 
Chaff and Shumaker—and between them 
the Bubal Sorghum and fodder corn. 
The Silver Chaff was perhaps one-half 
destroyed when the fowls were confined 
within the mclosure. The Shumaker 
was not so much injured. But the pestB 
were destroying the corn rapidly, the 
leaves being only a few inches in bight. 
The hens were thus shut in for two days. 
The third day there was scarcely an 
Army worm to be found. Though we 
saw them eat a goodly number, we can¬ 
not believe that the sudden disappear¬ 
ance of the worms was because the hens 
eat them up. One would suppose that 
there were worms enough to supply a 
feast to 75 fowls for a week at least. In 
other fields of our farm not accessible to 
the poultry, the woruiB are at this writing 
(9th inst.) as abundant as ever. 
-M--*- 
Pinching. —Pinching is a species of 
pruning so far as it is used in horticul¬ 
ture. Its fitness for other purposes we 
need not discuss. Daring the month of 
June wonders can be accomplished by 
pinching the young growth of our finest 
evergreens, Buch as spruces, Silver firs, 
pines, etc. Especially do the Silver fiirs 
respond to this treatment. A specimen 
of the Nordmann’s Silver fir, for in¬ 
stance, may be kept in perfect symmetry 
by pinching the leader and a few rampant 
side shoots while in their softest stage of 
full growth; and not only that, but the 
same plant may be made to take on the 
most comely curving and weeping shapes 
by simply pinching a part of the upward 
tending shoots. In fact, in the case of 
many plants, the use of the pruning- 
knife might be almost discarded, if pinch¬ 
ing were practiced intelligently from an 
early age. 
Many know what an influence on the 
size and quality of grapes is exercised by 
a system of well devised pinching. The 
sap may be thus forced back from the 
mere production of excessive wood, and 
employed in nourishing embryo grapes 
by simply pinching off some of the young 
growth beyond the newly formed bunch. 
Nor is pinching less valuable for the de¬ 
velopment of the beauty of ornamental 
trees. 
But let us utter one word of warning 
against pinching too much and removing 
too many leaves. Our hot, changeable 
summers bear heavily on plants thus 
treated. Europeans can pinch very 
closely in their more equable and moiBter 
climate. But when Europeans come 
over here and treat our piauts as they 
have been accustomed to manage their 
own at home, something is sure to suffer. 
HONOR TO WHOM HONOR IS DUE. 
Gratitude has been defined by a satir¬ 
ist as “ a lively sense of favors to oome.” 
The sharpest point in the best satire is 
its close approach to similitude with 
truth, and the edge of the above adage 
lieB in its very close application to the 
common events of human life. It is said 
that “ the good that men do lives after 
them,” and “ the evil they have done dies 
with them. ” But this is far from true in 
ordinary affairs, indeed the contrary is 
the more frequently true. Perhaps one 
of the most useful men was Benjamin 
Franklin, to whom we owe the introduc¬ 
tion of many of our commonest but most 
valuable household and industrial con¬ 
veniences, many scientific discoveries 
and a vast amount of practical sense and 
wisdom bound up in small packages and 
known as proverbs, which are only in¬ 
ferior in the aggregate value to the prov¬ 
erbs of Solomon himself. 
As an agricultural nation, we should 
never forget, as we use plaster or dilate 
upon its value as a fertilizer, that it was 
to Franklin’s observation and ready ap¬ 
plication of valuable things to practical 
purposes, that we owe the introduction 
of piaster for this use. He observed the 
effect oi' this mineral upon the grass at 
the gypsum quarries, near Paris, and on 
returning home he tried it with remark¬ 
able effect, and thus brought it into use 
as a fertilizer. This truly scientific ob¬ 
server was the first to disoover that light¬ 
ning was simply an electrical discharge, 
and his discoveries led to the use of 
lightning rods as means of safety from 
the lightning stroke. We recently re¬ 
marked that it was to his sagacity we 
owed the introduction of Broom corn, and 
it is but just that now and then our in¬ 
debtedness to such men should be recalled 
lest their services may be forgotten and 
our gratitude fail to be bestowed as it 
deserves to be. 
— - -»♦■»- 
OUR CEREALS. 
The Bureau of Statistics has lately 
published some interesting data in re¬ 
gard to the production and distribution 
of cereals in this country. In the 10 
years from 1868 to 1878 our total pj educ¬ 
tion of cereals increased from 1,450,000,- 
000 in the former year to 2,302,000,000 
bushels in the latter. Of tiie whole na¬ 
tional supply only three per cent, was 
exported in 1868 and ten per ceut. in 1878, 
while in tlietwclvemontliH ending June 30, 
1879, nearly eleven per cent, of our entire 
yield was sent abroad—246,000,000 bush. 
Of com we keep for home consumption 
93^ per cent, of ail we raise; of barley, 
88 per cent,; of rye, 80 per cent.; of 
wheat, 75 per cent.; of oats, 99 per cent.; 
while the whole amount of our buck¬ 
wheat is kept for home use. 
Although corn is grown in all parts of 
the country and constitutes five-eights of 
our whole cereal crops, less than one- 
fourth of the States grow more than they 
require. Nearly all the surplus is pro¬ 
duced by the single group of Ohio, In¬ 
diana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, 
and Missouri. Michigan, Wisconsin and 
Minnesota produce hardly enough for 
home use, while the seven States above 
named yield at the average rate of sixty- 
two bushels to each inhabitant. As late 
as 1859, the fifteen slave States produced 
52 per cent, of the whole corn crop; but 
at present it is doubtful if any of them 
grows enough for home consumption, for 
in 1877 all the Southern States produced 
only10,000,000 bushels more than in 1859, 
while the yield of the other States had 
swelled in the same period from 400,000,- 
000 to 900,000,000 bushels. The center 
of production has moved west more rap¬ 
idly than north, until now forty per cent, 
of the entire yield is raised beyond the 
Mississippi. 
In the great corn belt the number of 
swine and cattle raised is proportionally 
much larger than in other sections, es¬ 
pecially in Indiana and Illinois, and here 
most of the surplus com is concentrated 
in these animals for shipment to other 
States and to Europe. Owing to the de¬ 
ficiency of capital to buy animals in the 
more newly settled States, much of their 
surplus corn is exported in the bulkiest 
form, and that, too, over the greatest dis¬ 
tances, owing to their remoteness from 
market. 
Of our wheat the Atlantic States pro¬ 
duce only 17 per cent, against 30 per 
cent, in 1860. The central States in the 
same period have fallen from 54 to 40 per 
cent.-, while the trans-Mississippi States 
have risen from 14 to 42 per cent. The 
New England StateB produce only three- 
tenths of a bushel of wheat to each in¬ 
habitant ; the Middle States three and a 
third bushels per head; that is, only a tri¬ 
fle over half what they need; while Ken 
tuoky and Tennessee produoe about six 
bushels ; the Southern, Atlantic and Gulf 
States nearly as much ; and are there¬ 
fore over self-supporting, for owing to 
the large amount of corn consumed by 
negroes aud others in the South, an aver¬ 
age of about four bushels of wheat per] 
head is held to be enough from Maryland 
toTexas. The area suitable for wheat in 
the Far West is much larger than that 
adapted to com, inasmuch as the former 
can be grown from 2,000 to 5,000 feet 
above the level of corn culture, so that 
vast regions in Washington Territory, 
Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, 
from which com growing is virtually ex¬ 
cluded, are admirably adapted to wneat 
culture. 
-*--*--*-■ 
BREVITIES. 
Professor Riley says: “The worms (Army 
worms) abound during wet springs, preceded 
by one or more very dry years.” This is evi¬ 
dently Incorrect In the present ease. 
One of our plots of wheat, Yellow Missouri, 
presents a remarkable appearance. It consists 
of stems aud heads only, every leaf having 
been devoured by the Army worm. 
There is no plant that the Army worm 
Bcems more fond of than Timothy. There is 
scarcely a head left in the vicinity of the 
Rural Farm. During a short ride last Friday 
there were so many worms in the road that 
the tires of the wagon wheels were “muddy” 
with their mashed bodies. 
We have ascertained that there is an atro¬ 
cious amount of swindling going on (here¬ 
abouts at least) in the matter of selling hay by 
weight. For instance, a load of bay sold a 
few days ago was honestly weighed near the 
Rural Farm aud a certificate given for 1,700 
pounds. The purchaser, upon reaching Brook¬ 
lyn or at some intermediate place, had It 
weighed again, and this load of hay under that 
certificate, as we ascertained by following it 
up, was sold in Brooklyn for 3,100 pounds! 
A correspondent (8. G. C ) writes us: 
“ 1 think the Aquilegia is a humbug. I could 
send seed that Is much ahead of those In color, 
size aud beauty.” Our correspondent Is mistak¬ 
en. The BebVs Hybrid Aquilegias will not bloom 
until the second year. We distinctly slated 
that this seed was mixed with common and 
perhaps worthless sorts, but that enough of 
the ** Bebb’s Hybrids” would be found in each 
package to enable each subscriber to grow 
several plants. 
Mb. W. I. Chamberlain is preparing to 
make an extended tour of agricultural obser¬ 
vation through the great West and examine 
carefully the work done and the methods em¬ 
ployed in some of our wide-awake Western 
States. After his return, the Ohio State Board 
of Agriculture, of which Mr. Chamberlain is 
now secretary, will hold a consultation with a 
view to decide more definitely as to Its future 
work, so as best to promote the true interests 
of Ohio agriculture. In this work the Board 
asks and should receive the hearty co-opera¬ 
tion of all. 
Tornadoes have been unusually numerous 
and destructive during the past week. One in 
Iowa killed 30, chiefly women aud children, 
and wrought an enormous amount of mis¬ 
chief over a course half a mile broad; Illi¬ 
nois was visited by another; Texas and 
Maryland by others, and yesterday (Sunday) 
we had a juvenile one in this city and 
neighborhood. The aggregate loss in demol¬ 
ished homesteads, ruined crops, fences, barns, 
etc., must be up among the mllhous—to 6ay 
nothing of the still more deplorable loss of so 
many human lives. Thu latest accounts from 
northern Texan tell us that the tornado and 
rain-storm uoticcd last week were far more 
disastrous and destructive of life and property 
than the first accounts represented. 
A friend in Monmouth Co., N. J., writes us: 
“Rose bugs, for the first time since I have been 
here, have badly attacked my grupes. I could 
find no remedy for them in the books, except 
picking them off by hand. The servant girls 
and all turned out to do this, for it was a seri¬ 
ous job. A tsecond picking we did not get near¬ 
ly so many as at first. I think a third picking 
will clear them out, Do you know any reme¬ 
dy for them ?” We do not know of any butter 
remedy. A good idea is to plant, near vines, 
plants which they prefer; such for example, 
as Sassafras, Spiraea sorbifolia and others. At 
the Rural Farm, Rose bugs have never before 
been so abundant. Ripe and ripening cher¬ 
ries are crowded with them and the same may 
be said of young corn plants and even potato 
leaves. 
It costs but little more, to raise Pereheron 
horses than common animals, and the half- 
breds bring double prices; three-quarters to 
seven-eiglithp-bred. three to four times as 
much; full-biedsall the way from 5*500to$3,000 
each. Next to Percherona, hue carriage horses 
pay best, aud the West has a little material on 
hand to produce such, and cxn rapidly multi¬ 
ply it if disposed. Trotting horses are always 
a complete lottery, and the general breeding of 
them—especially by farmers—is attended in 
the long run with a heavy loss. It is, more¬ 
over, demoralizing to farmers' sous now grow¬ 
ing up. and we want to turn their attention 
from this gambling business. 
Gardening Illustrated” is the name of a 
tloricultural weekly journal of lti pages pub¬ 
lished in London by Mr. Win. Robinson, foun¬ 
der and editor of tbe Garden, which is now 
well known and justly esteemed in America. 
This “ Gardeuing Illustrated,” though first 
published but two years ago, we learn from 
trustworthy authority, has reached a circula¬ 
tion of 50.000 copies per week, which is pro¬ 
bably a greater uumber tban that of all the 
other journals of the same class published in 
England combiued. We congratulate Mr. Rob¬ 
inson wbo, for liis never-faltering love of "The 
art which does mend nature—” has wrought 
great good in the horticultural world. 
The Agricultural Gazette of May 24 says, 
referring to the Royal Speech upon the open¬ 
ing of Parliament :—“it has not one word in 
recognition of the straits of British agricul¬ 
ture. It is certainly no wish of ours that agri¬ 
culturists should be treated in any way differ¬ 
ent to other classes. Aud that legislation 
should be carried on for the general interests 
of the nation, and not for those of any particu¬ 
lar section, is a truth we do not care to dispute. 
Yet the cheap satisfaction of knowing that 
their trial has not been unnoticed—as well as 
the good faith and spirit with which that trial 
has been endured—might have been afforded 
to the ten*mtry of Great Britain without any 
one beiug the worse for this acknowledgment 
having been conceded." 
The Pacific Rural Press of April 17th. is a 
double number. That is, it is just about twice 
the 6ize of the Rural New-Yorker. YVe are 
always pleased to see evidences of prosperity 
and enterprise in our agricultural aud horti¬ 
cultural press, which, according to all accounts 
(with a very few exceptions), is not so well 
sustained by the farmers of our farming coun¬ 
try as it should be. The pressure, of farm work 
at tliis season often renders it difficult for us 
to look through our exchanges promptly. 
Hence it is that the Rural Press of the above 
date escaped us until now. The editors thus 
modestly refer to the number, “ It has cost a 
long pull on the editorial oar; it has gone 
down into the publishers’ pockets to the lower 
hem. If it is good, we are glad of it. If it is 
poor, no harm will be done except to our own 
conceit.” 
Sunstruck Hemlocks. —Having enjoyed 
special opportunities tor observing the effect of 
the recent drought aud excessive heat on many 
thousands of evergreens, we wish to express our 
sympathy for the hemlocks. They have been 
in many cases literally sunstruck. The ground 
was hot and dry and the hemlocks just in their 
tendere6t growth. Under these untortunate 
conditions, the Sun’s rays, made fiery by the 
heat of 95 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, 
struck many hemlocks to the heart in an hour. 
In one Instance we observed a broad-leaved 
hemlock (Abies Canadensis macrophylla) that 
bad grown vigorously three years In the same 
spot utterly dead, Sunstruck. And this case is 
only one *if several similar casus we have 
noted. Other evergreens suffered at the same 
time, and even the young growth of ueciduous 
plants was burned in spots, yet nothing has 
been, according to our observation, as much 
Bcorched and killed as the hemlock and its va¬ 
rieties. 
We have recently had the pleasure of visit¬ 
ing two of the most successful small fruit¬ 
growers who ship fruit to this market, namely 
Mr. J. T. Lovett, Little Silver, N. J. aud the 
Rev. E P. Roe, Cornwall-on-the-Hudson. 
Mr. Lovett is now thoroughly established and 
his well stocked nurseries are kept in excel¬ 
lent order. Both places had suffered from the 
recent, severe drought, especially the straw¬ 
berry crop. We found that the strawberry sea¬ 
son in New Jersey was at least eight or ten 
days earlier than at Mr. Roe’s place. Mr. 
lioo has about 100 varieties of strawberries, 
aud some of the newer sorts are very promis¬ 
ing. Oue plant of tbo Bidwell picked out at 
random, was ladeu with a fruitage of 75 ber¬ 
ries, ripe and green, besides abortive flowers; 
auotherplant of the Beneca Queen, also taken 
at random, had 48 berries. Mr. Rot’s ideal 
strawberry culture is hill culture with the 
rows three feet apart aud the piauts oue foot 
apart in the rows. We have-Imd a uumber of 
the best new strawbetl ies eugruved aud shall 
iu due time present them to our reuders. 
Typhoid Fever from Milk Affected by 
Impure VVatru —An outbreak of typhoid fever 
recently took place in Eugland, caused by 
using milk contaminated with fever germs. 
A physieiau was sent to the farm Irom which 
the milk came, to ascertain the cause of this. 
The farmer showed him the brook where he 
washed his milk cans, and the water looked 
clear and without any 8igu of pollution. But 
the physieiau was uoi satisfied with this ex¬ 
amination, aud being confident that there 
must be pollutlou somewhere, ho followed the 
stream up for two miles, aud thou fouud pol¬ 
lution euough to poison a large towu. A 
sewer emptied here iulo the brook, a stagnant 
cesspool overran into it in wu weather, and 
near-by in the water, lay a number of putrid 
carcasses of pigs and calves, which had died 
probably of typhoid lever, for that had been 
prevalent lately among the domestic animals 
around. This shows the wicked carelessness 
of people iu not immediately burying dead 
aniinalB deep in the ground, at a distance from 
auy well, spring, or stream. It should also 
incite all wnere a fever breaks out, to search 
instantly for the cause and persevere till it is 
ascertained and removed. 
