JUNE 26 
THE BUBAL NEW-Y0BKE3 
Mi 
has been badly killed out around here many 
fields having been plowed up and resown to a 
spring crop. Fruit promises to be abundant, 
especially strawberries. Gooseberries and cur¬ 
rants were a little hurt by the late frost. 
A. j. o. 
Illinois, Baileyville, Ogle Co., June 12.— 
The weather the last three weekB has been 
showery and at, times quite wet, with occa¬ 
sional hard wind-storms. On the 4th inst. 
the wind, which blew from the south and con¬ 
tinued for several hours, did considerable dam¬ 
age in this section by blowing down trees, 
6ome wiud-mills, farm buildings, etc., and 
blew a large amount of fruit off the trees. 
Warm and pleasant now. The crops in gene¬ 
ral are promising, but a large portion of the 
winter wheat failed and was plowed up this 
spring and the ground seeded to other crops- 
That which was sowu among corn-6lalks last 
fall did not do so well as what was sown on 
suitable soil in open fields and pat in well with 
the drill. The troublesome experiment of 
seeding among tbe standing corn will not 60 ou 
be repeated bore again, except when farmers 
have no other spare ground for fall seeding. 
Corn, potatoes and garden vegetables are do¬ 
ing well. Our lieuuiy of Hebron potatoes are 
very promising. Most of the surplus grain 
has been marketed of late at lower prices than 
those offered last winter. w. b. o. 
Kan., Fontana, Miami Co., June 7. —Fre¬ 
quent rains siuee May have changed the face 
of affairs materially in this vicinity, Wheat is 
far better than many farmers thought it could 
turn out on account of the drought. Com is 
growing well and, indeed, all the spring crops 
seem to be doing finely. Our gardens are al¬ 
ways splendid. My first ripe raspberries I ate 
on May JO. The weather ruined my straw¬ 
berries, but my raspberries, I tliiuk. can’t be 
beat. i. j. 
Kv., Owensboro, Daviess Co.. June 14.—The 
past week was the wheat harvest week, though 
some was cut as early as May 31st, and some 
remains to be cut. Tbe crop iu this neighbor¬ 
hood is good in quantity and very good iu 
quality, so far as I have examined. Oats are 
low and the crop will be short owing to a dry 
May. Corn is looking well. The weather is 
too dry for tobacco; a great deal will be set 
yet it we have a season; some plants are get¬ 
ting too large. Fruit is a fair crop, except 
budded fruit, wliiefi will be scarce. 
J. w. s. 
Nebraska, Wilsonville, Furnas Co., June 5. 
—The drought has been very severe in this 
part of thu State this season. There has been 
no rain since September last to wet the ground 
more than two inches deep. It is raining 
some now, as I write, and from appearuuces 
there will be a heavy shower. The crops are 
suffering very much. The rain will be too 
late to save spring wheat, but will help the 
corn. Many have not planted yet, the ground 
boiug too dry io plow. Fall wheat was mostly 
killed out last winter, more from dryness thau 
from cold weather, llyc and early-sown fall 
wheat look very well. Fruit trees are in good 
condition. Owing io our peculiar, sponge-like 
soil, ouly the surface of the ground becomes 
dry, except in severe drought, and deep-rooted 
plants becni to bo doing just kb well as though 
we hud plenty of raiu. It is a general remark 
of uew settlers, that they never saw soil which 
would hold moisture like the soil in Nebraska 
and Kansas. Laud that has been cultivated 
eeveral years is iu much better condition thau 
uew laud. Many settlers are leaving on ac¬ 
count of dry wuulhor, being unable to stay, as 
there is little or uo employment to be had, und 
the prospect for a good crop is very discour¬ 
aging. It seems to me Congress ought to 
graut homesteaders leave of abseuee for a 
Buasou instead of making the laws more strin¬ 
gent. It is literally impossible for many 
homesteaders, on the frontier, to subsist with¬ 
out leaving their lands for a while, often buing 
obliged to go from one to two hundred miles. 
Corn is worth 40c.; wheat, $1 25; oats, 50c. ; 
rye, 50e.; millet, 00c.; potatoes, $1; butter, 
15e.; eggs, 8 to 10c. The oldest settlers i'u 
this county have uevur before known a failure 
in the winter wheat crop, which geuerally yields 
from 20 to 35 bushels per acre. Spring wheat 
yields from 15 to 30 bushels ; eoru, 35 to 75 ; 
oats, 40 to 00; rye, 20 to 35 ; barley, from 30 
to 45 bushels. There is a heavy immigration 
coming into the county in spite of dry weath¬ 
er. Nearly all Lhe government laud is taken 
up, and old settlers arc selling out to parties 
who have more money and enterprise. 
w. t. n. 
New Jersey, Lakewood, Monmouth Co., 
June 15.- -If from the Rural office you draw a 
line south 14, and west 44 miles, it will strike 
Lakewood—a post village and station on the 
Southern New Jersey railroad, In Brick Town¬ 
ship, Orange Co., N. J., until receutly known 
as Brieksburg. Its geographical position may 
be further defined by slating that it is nine 
miles weBt from the Atlantic Oecau and the 
6 ame distance due north from Tom’s River. 
Here we fiud a village regularly laid out, con¬ 
taining many attractive residences for about 800 
inhabitants. The hotel has accommodations 
for about 75 gue6ts, and is well patronized by 
persons suffering from diseases of the throat 
aud lungs, who come here in the hope of ob¬ 
taining relief, in which hope they are seldom 
disappointed—and by families seeking a quiet 
healthful abode. 
But I have been most interested in the agri¬ 
cultural resources of the neighborhood. I 
had loug heard of the barreu lands of New 
Jersey, and bad desired to visit them, and here 
they are. Leaving the more fertile sections 
of Monmouth County, with its red, gravelly 
soil from which Red Bank has very naturally 
derived its name, wo rapidly approach a dif¬ 
ferent formation, whore the surface of the soil 
iB mostly as white as the sand of the Bea beach 
and to all appearance as unproductive. But 
looking from the sand to that which comes 
from it, we are surprised to see the luxuriant 
foliage and strong growth of its productions. 
Notwithstanding the excessive drought, all 
crops are looking well, but 1 am told the pro¬ 
duct is not likely to be as good as ou average 
years. Strawberries especially have suffered 
from drought, but the late rains have come in 
season to help all the other crops. There is 
something incomprehensible to me iu the vir¬ 
tues of the sand. With that of other sections 
I have been well acquainted, and judging from 
that, I should expect to find this as barren as I 
was iucliued to believe it from reports; but 
the facts arc otherwise. The sand merely 
turned with a plow—there is no sod to speak 
of—gives, with very little care, fair returns 
for the lubor bestowed upon it. I would not 
be understood as representing that extrava¬ 
gantly, or even what iu some sections would 
be called moderately large crops, can be grown 
here, but that au industrious, frugal man can 
readily make a liviug for himself and his fam¬ 
ily is beyond question. “ Go West ” is not the 
best advice to give those who are seeking 
homes. There ure thousands of immigrants 
passing through New York every week for the 
dlstaut West, who could more advantage¬ 
ously stay witbiu a huudred miles of that 
city. Within a radius of ten miles from Lake- 
wood there is uuoecupied fertile land enough 
to give employment aud livelihood to thou¬ 
sands who go further aud do woise—land 
that can be purchased at low prices aud ou 
long time, aud of which large areas eau be 
readily worked, the product of which, if not so 
much for its acreage, will fiud a ready market 
at much higher prices. The uature of the soil 
aud its favorable location shorten the season 
when the husbandmen cannot work. Vege¬ 
tables and small frails can be raised abun¬ 
dantly, aud come to perfection in time to bring 
high prices in the cities where they will 
arrive, if not quite so early, fresher aud in 
much better condition than from further 
south. 
There is certainly one drawback to this sec¬ 
tion—it is not naturally a grass-growing 
region. This sand although it bears well at 
first, will require fertilizing. Nature has, to a 
certain extent, provided for this by deposits 
of green sand marl which seem excellently 
well udaptod for the purpose, and I have 
no doubt the luxuriant Cow-pea, when plowed 
under, will prove as advantageous as iu the 
Southern Stales. Still the want of good stable 
manure will be felt, and this will only be had 
iu any quantity when grass is grown, unless 
the system of ensilage, now being ex peri- , 
uientcd with in New Euglaud, shall be success¬ 
ful. 1 see no good reason, however, why 
moderate crops of grass should not be grown, 
particularly in the lower places. I have omitted 
to say anything of the extensive cranberry 
bogs in the neighborhood, of which there are 
many, because these do not seem to be direct¬ 
ly connected with the general agricultural fea¬ 
tures ol the country. 
My impression is that for a man with small 
capital this is a good section. It is often said, and 
probably with truth, tlial the most mouey can 
be made where the laud is the best; but to get 
such land and to work it is of ton out of the power 
of the mau who has little to begin with. By 
loeatiug here he has the advantage of good 
society, churches aud schools, all of which 
many pioneers sadly feel the ueed of. He is In 
the midst of the highest civilization, instead of 
iu u rude aud uncultured country where his 
children must grow up iu keepiug with the 
surroundiugs. Aud not the least consider¬ 
ation is, he Is iu a locality where he will not 
be likely to lose time ou account of illness, aud 
the doctor’s bill for his lamily will not eat up 
what he eau save by his labor, for there is 
probably no more healthful location than this 
in the entire country. L. a. r. 
Penn., Milford, Pike Co., June 13.—Report 
just received here from the counties of North¬ 
ampton, Monroe, Pike, aud Wayue, Pcun.; 
Sullivan, Delaware aud portions of Orange, N. 
Y., aud Sussex, N. J., show that the crops will 
be far better than was anticipated a few weeks 
ago. For the past two weeks copious raius 
have fallen iu most of the comities uarned, aud 
gruiu ol all kinds, and vegetation geuerally, 
have taken a sudden leap and are uow growing 
finely. Previous to two weeks ago there had 
been uo rain for several weeks, and grass aud 
grain seemed to remain stationary. Grass 
stopped growing, and fearing the crop would 
be almost an entire failure, many farmers in 
the remote districts of the Pennsylvania coun¬ 
ties began Belling their cattle. But the change 
within the past two or three weeks has been 
very marked- Although tbe stalks of rye and 
wheat will be considerably short, the heads are 
of fair size, well filled, aud farmers still hope 
for a good yield of these staples. The oat crop 
will be unusually light, and in some places will 
be hardly worth harvesting. Corn aud pota¬ 
toes are nearly two weeks late. The former, 
it Ib thought, will yield nearly the average 
crop. The yield of potatoes is doubtful, from 
the fact that the Colorado beetle has made its 
appearance in the Delaware Valley in great 
numbers, and is already at work stripping tbe 
leaves of potato stalks at an alarming rate. 
These destroyers first made their appearance 
in this section four years ago, when the crop 
was an almost entire failure. Two years later 
they also did much damage, aud it is feared 
the crop this year will also be greatly injured 
by these pests. The lemedy resorted to by 
many farmers is Paris-green, while other tar- 
mers will not use it. Owiug to the loug-eou- 
tinued drought, with the exception of apples 
the fruit and berry crops iu this seetiou will 
be light. Along the upper end of the Delaware 
Valley the fruit was injured by the frost, aud 
will be very scarce. R- h. m. 
Pa., New Lebanan, Mercer Co., June 17.— 
We are blesBed with plenty of rain uow aud 
everything looks well and promising. The dry 
weather has hurt the grass crop somewhat aud 
also kept the eoru back a good deal. It was 
planted early euough, but did not come up for 
so long that it looks small tor this time of 
year. Wheat will be a good average crop, if 
nothing occurs to injure it in auy way. From 
present appearances, fru't is goiug to be plen¬ 
tiful. Of small fruits, such as berries, there 
will be a large amount picked aud sold. The 
farmers of this section are go-ahead people ; 
they take an interest in everything aud try to 
improve and see who can have the best sort 
of stock, crops, etc. A good many sheep are 
raised, and brought a good price in the spring. 
A good many were bought iu the expectation 
that a high price would be paid for wool; but 
there is not much excitement about wool 
buying yet; uo buyers are out, und it iB selling 
for 35 and 40 cents per pound. Produce prices 
are as follows; wheat, 11 10 per bushel; corn, 
30 cents; oats, 30c.; butter. 12^0. per pound ; 
eggs, Sc. per dozen. J. e. 0. 
Pa., Wayuesborougb, Franklin Co., June 17. 
—In a few days some wheat will be cut. It 
has ripened u week earlier thauiu other years. 
It is somuwhat straw-broken by files; also 
damaged somewhat by the Army worm, which 
is doing much injury to the growing corn and 
grass (except clover) iu some sections. These 
worms ure greedily devoured by the awiue 
where they can get at them. The potato bugs 
Beem to be more numerous than for a year or 
two past. The fruit crop has a good prospect. 
D. it. M. 
Rural Farm, June 15th.—We have rain at 
last—though not enough. But the clouds look 
as if a steady rain were at hand. Timothy 
aud clover between the Army-worm and the 
di ought will not harvest one-eighth of the usual 
crop. Coru Is growmg finely. Shumaker and 
Fultz are the first of our wheats to begin to 
»ipcu. Potatoes are growing finely, and we 
are much less troubled with beetles than in 
years past. Iu spite of Army-worm, Rose- 
bugs and myriads of other insects ; in spite of 
drought, we shall, from present appearances, 
harvest au average crop of everything but 
hay. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and 
address of the writer to iuaure attention.! 
Phosphoric Acid. 
H. M., SteubenoiUe, Ohio, asks what is the 
precise difference between soluble, reverted, 
and insoluble phosphoric acid. 
Ans. —As clear a deliuiiiou of these terms 
as auy we have seen, is that given by Prof. S. 
W. Johnson, of the Connecticut Experiment 
Station. He says: — 
Soluble phosphoric acid implies phosphoric 
acid or phosphates that are freely soluble iu 
water. It 16 the characteristic ingredient of 
superphosphates, in which it is produced by 
acting on “insoluble’’ or “ reverted” phos¬ 
phates with oil of vitriol. It is not only read¬ 
ily taken up by plants, but is distributed 
through the soil by rains. Once well incor¬ 
porated with soil it shortly becomes reverted 
phosphoric acid. 
Reverted (reduced or precipitated) phospho¬ 
ric acid, means strictly, phosphoric ucid that 
was ouc© freely soluble iu water, but from 
chemical change has beeome insoluble iu that 
liquid. It i6 freely taken up by a strong solu¬ 
tion of ammonium citrate, which is therefore 
used in analysis to determine its quantity, 
“ Reverted phosphoric acid” implies phos¬ 
phates that are readily assimilated by crops, 
but have less value than soluble phosphoric 
acid, because they do not distribute freely by 
rain. 
Insoluble Phosphoric acid implies various 
phosphates not freely soluble iu water or am¬ 
monium citrate. 1 u some eases the phosphoric 
acid is too insoluble to be readily available as 
plant food. This is true of the South Carolina 
rock phosphate, of Navassa phosphate, and 
especially of Canada apatite. The phosphate 
of raw bones is nearly insoluble lu this Bouse, 
because of the animal matter of the boue which 
envelopes it, but wheu the latter decays in the 
soil, the phosphate remains in essentially the 
“ reverted” form. 
Mailing Cider front Summer Apples. 
T. I)., Hois City, Idaho, asks can any cider 
be made of summer apples, so as to keep dur¬ 
ing the winter. 
Ans.—I t can; but only ripe apples should 
be used, aud such varieties as produce cider 
containing a large percentage of sugar. Such 
cider wheu properly fermented and refined, 
being handled in the cool and even tempera¬ 
ture of a good cellar, will keep very well 
through the next winter. In the Middle States 
crab apples ripen in August, and make cider 
of 25deg to 30 deg. of strength which will keep 
for years without refiuiug. Generally speak¬ 
ing, it is poor policy to make early apples into 
cider for winter use ; it may be done, but it is 
only profitable with a few varieties like the 
crab Harrison, etc. A large share of early 
apples are imperfect and unripe. The cider 
contains too much starch aud albuminous sub¬ 
stances and too little sugar. Fermeutation is 
strong and rapid. The weather being warm 
makes it still more unmanageable; while later 
in the season all these conditions are changed. 
The starch of the apple is ebanged to sugar by 
nature’s process, enriching the cider. When 
the weather is cool fermentation is slow 
and easily managed, aud the business which, 
early in the season, would have proved un¬ 
successful, becomes, later on, safe and profita¬ 
ble. 
Miscellaneous. 
L. n. li., Fairfax, Fa., asks what is the 
best remedy for Rose-bugs besides hand-pick¬ 
ing. 
Ans.—W hen they infest the bushes in great 
numbers it is sometimes practiced to shake 
them off ou a sheet aud burn them, Again, 
it is recommended to haDg about the plants, 
open-mouthed bottles half-filled with a mix¬ 
ture of sweeteued water and vinegar 1 . Mauy 
may also be killed by pouring boiling water ou 
the ground under the bushes, but this must 
be done ou the first appearance of the insect 
before the wings are formed. 
A. ./. O., Listowell, Out., wants to know how 
to raise pines. Horse-chestnuts, Mountain Ash. 
etc., wheu to gather the seed and wheu to 
sow it. 
Ans. —Gather the seed iu late summer, fall 
or winter; all kinds of tree seeds do not ripen 
at the same time. Just when they may be 
gathered can easily be learned by keeping an 
eye on the sorts it is desired to propagate. 
Sow in rows as soon in the spring as the 
ground can be worked. 
H. I). E., Palmer, Mass., would like to know 
howto dry hard soap; he can make it well 
enough but it shrinks all out of shape when it 
dries. 
Ans.—T his is a trouble that has puzzled 
more thau one amateur soap maker. Do not 
dry it in the sun, but iu a shady place, as in an 
airy garret and the cakes will retain their 
shape. 
E. W. S. Fortlandoille, N. Y., asks whether 
it would be safe to remove the roots of au old 
asparagus bed at this time to another place 
aud whether the moved plants will produce a 
crop next year. 
Ans. —Fall would be better. The roots are 
strengthened by allowing tbe foliage to ma¬ 
ture. It will produce next year sparingly; 
but should not be cut. 
Inquirer, Sharon Center, N. 1'., asks which 
way should the rows of drilled corn run so as 
to get most benefit from the sun—north and 
south or east and west. 
Ans. —If planted in drills running east aud 
west, the south side gets more sun than the 
north side. We should prefer to have the rows 
wide north and south. 
D. li. Me. A., Lynn N. C. sends a rhododen¬ 
dron for name. 
Ans.—R hododendron maximum. 
-- 
Communications received for the week ending 
Saturday, June 12th. 
C. M. thanks.—B. 8.—E. B., we shall Investigate. 
Thank you tor Information.—u. D., New market, 
the name ts indistinct.—S. L.—A. B. A.—L. A. W.— 
G. A. O. Jr.—M. E. S.—F. U. 8.—A. S. S.-F. D. 
C.—S. W.- M, E. 11. -L. U. M’A. A. o. G.—C. W. 
H. —B. F. J—D. C.-R. G. Jr., R. D.— E. J. B., 
Yes please let us hear from your oftener.—S. F.— 
E. Il.A.-J. R. C.—W.H. C.—C. P.-D. B. M.-C. 
1 H. B. M.-J. W.—A. L. P.-S. R. T-—Nellie B.- 
