JULY 24 
47,0 THE BUBAL NEW-Y0BKEB. 
vigorous growth , and a film of Bap is imme¬ 
diately thrown across the exposed wood of 
the tree and the new bark begins to form. But 
mice and rabbits girdle in Winter, and the 
wood becomes dry before the sap begins to 
flow, and, of course, the tree dies. The matter 
seems to me to be worthy of careful attention 
and experiment by pomologists. under all the 
varying conditions of soil, climate, variety and 
environment. 
[We have been trying the same experiment, 
in a modified form, upon Blount’s corn, the 
results of which we shall, of course, present 
to our readers in due time.—Eds.] 
^rbotintitnral. 
TREES THE WANT OF THE GREAT 
WEST. 
PROFESSOR ELBRIDGE GALE. 
The “ Great American Desert ” is now teem¬ 
ing with a va6t population. The sun shines 
on no more beautiful land. A deeper or richer 
soil cannot be found. But experience has 
taught us that this whole region so iuappro- 
prialely called by our old geographers “ The 
Desert,*’is subject to extraordinary climatic 
extremes. Droughts and floods in irregular 
but certain succession seem, from the exper¬ 
ience of 25 years, to be the normal condition 
of things here. The seamed and gullied up¬ 
lands everywhere show the foot-prints of past 
storms and floods. The timber growing wher¬ 
ever it could find protection from the annual 
fires, gives in the measure of its auuual rings 
of wood growth a wonderful history of elimalie 
extremes, telling of years of famine and years 
of plenty, for 200 or more years. All this 
teaches us that as periods of drought aud 
flood have alternated in the past, we should be 
prepared for a like condition of things in the 
future. 
Our people have sought to ignore the ob¬ 
vious facts in the case. Encouraged by the 
cry that the plow will soon redeem the tree¬ 
less plains, thousands have rushed on to the 
frontier, hoping there to reap the reward of 
toil iu prosperous homes. But to-day they 
turn their faces towards their old homes, or 
come to their Eastern neighbors asking bread 
for themselves and their little ones. The truth 
is simply this: their crop last year was almost 
a total failure, and they will reap at best only 
a scanty harvest this year. Many must have 
help or suffer. Some will leave their lands; 
others will try to stay. Their all is at stake. 
They have come here under the pressure of a 
theoiy, extensively advertised, that by their 
own work they would be able to immediately 
modify the climatic conditions, and secure a 
greater regularity of rainfall. A great wrong 
has been inflicted on these people. As they beg 
for bread, or move slowly and sadly back to 
more Eastern homes, at the sacrifice of their 
all, they appear as the martyrs to a theory as 
false as it is fatal—that the plow alone will ma¬ 
terially change the climatic conditions of the 
Great West. 
The sad experience of 1879 and 1880 so far 
has taught us that no more dangerous doctrine 
has ever been promulgated with reference to 
the great plains. It has proved to thousands 
a 6nare and a delusion, and as a consequence 
they come to their more eastern neighbors 
askiDg bread, i he theory may be a very nice 
one, and a very popular one with those who 
write advertising letters from Eastern cities on 
the climate of Kansas, but to the frontier 
settlers it “ pans out ; no gold. There is no 
question lhat the plow must go first, but tree 
culture must follow. The writer has seen 
within the past few weeks great fields of corn 
cut np aud almost ruined by the driviug winds 
and shifting sands. He has seen young 
orchards standing in great sand drifts, hedges 
half-buried by flue duel from theplowed fields, 
aud many acres of broken prairie left unculti¬ 
vated because of the manifest disposition of 
the soil to take to itself wings. This was toe 
work of the plow alone, and each year in the 
future with like culture the result will be more 
fatal. 
But he saw also alongside of this ruin, and 
under a very slight protection, vineyards 
loaded with grapes, peach, apple, cherry trees 
and various kinds of small fruits growing iu 
great luxuriance. Under the same protection 
he saw line fields of wheat, corn and garden 
vegetables that could hardly be surpassed any¬ 
where. Here there was no drlftiug soil, while 
one quarter of a mile away the young trees 
were standing in banks of drifting sand. 
A late writer says “ We have heard a great 
deal said abopt the power of trees to bring 
rain, but surely it was not trees that changed 
the meteorology of Western Kansas.” No it 
was not, nor was it anything else. The sad 
experiences of both the last and the current 
year prove past all doubt that the climate of 
Western Kansas is still just what it haB been 
for a long period paBt. Our only hope is in 
securing some slight protection from its wiud 
storms, as the first essential Btep towards reap¬ 
ing for our soil the advantages of the rainfall. 
lortirultural. 
RURALISMS. 
New-Yorkers who think of such things at 
all arc proud of the Central Park, or at least 
have been ; but there is not one of them who 
is proud of the Central Park Commissioners 
as commissioners, whatever he may think of 
them as men. For years past almost every 
thing connected with the Park haB been in a 
muddle, and during most of the time the meet¬ 
ings of the board have been characterized by 
a species of wrangling and personal recrimina¬ 
tions not at all calculated to raise the board in 
public esteem. 
It growB worse daily instead of better, and 
in the meantime the Park suffers. Instead of 
improving it deteriorates. Tim will continue 
till the Board of Commissioners is lifted out 
of the sphere of politics. Almost from the 
beginning this incubus has clung to the necks 
of the Commissioners and everybody con¬ 
nected with the work, from the superintend¬ 
ent down to the tnau w ho cleans the walks, 
has been under Its influence. It Is no won¬ 
der that every thing is going to the bad, and 
that thefaultis shifted from oue shoulder to an¬ 
other, with nobody to blame. Just now there 
seems to be a dead-lock, with a very remote 
prospect of its beiug broken. As there is no 
affinity between politics aud the adornment 
and keepiug of a park for the pleasure and 
benefit of the public at large, the sooner the 
connection is severed the better for the park 
and the public. 
The show of bouquets, ornamental designs, 
etc., at the late exhibition of the New York 
Horticultural Society was very meager, on ac¬ 
count of the scat city of flowers, and the few 
on the table were mostly of that Bolid, unnatu¬ 
ral, aud ungraceful style now so common, in 
which natural effects and fine taste are looked 
for in vain. It gives me pleasure to notice, 
however, one or two exceptions, especially 
the vase of flowers of Mr. Riddle, which was 
a really commendable piece of work, evinc¬ 
ing both judgment and good taste. It is so 
pleasant to see flowerB arranged as nature 
grows them. 
The strawberry show of the New Jersey 
State Horticultural Society was much the best 
I have seen this season, though not as good as 
they usually have. I had the opportunity of 
comparing and testing the seedlings, three of 
which were good, and one of decided excellence, 
which I afterwards learned was raised by Mr. 
Durand. It was a large, ronnd berry, of good 
form and bright color, with a decided vinous 
juice and rich flavor. It was well named 
Superb. 1 know nothing of its habit or pro¬ 
ductiveness. I am told it is not yet for sale. 
Of the other two, one was named Jersey Queen 
(very good), and the other was only numbered, 
but resembled the Bidwell. Another seedling 
was named Getty wayo; but if that unfortunate 
gentleman resembles the fruit, I must respect¬ 
fully decline his acquaintance. 
Among the more recently introduced straw¬ 
berries, I am much pleased with the Bidwell. 
I have seen it growing in different places 
widely apart, and in all it was decidedly good. 
It presented its best appearance, however, at 
Mr. Roe’s, where it seems to be a favorite. 
Large, well formed, and very productive, with 
a flavor somewhat like that of a well-ripened 
Black Tartarian cheriy, it promises to become 
papular. I rather like the Triple Crown, but 
I fail to perceive thefitnets of the name. The 
Glossy Cone is a berry somewhat talked about. 
It presents a pretty appearance. I Baw it at 
Mr. Henderson’s. Mr. Roe’s, Mr. Force’s, aud 
several exhibits at the New Jersey show. It 
is very productive, a goodly portion of the 
berries, however, being small. At Mr. nerder- 
bou’s it was good, but at tbe New Jersey show 
and at Newburgh the flavor was rather flat. 
Horticola. 
-- 
The Caroline and New Rochelle KaHyberrieii. 
Mr. Charles Downing writes us as follows: 
*• As to the Caroline and New Rochelle rasp¬ 
berries, I know very little about them. I was 
at E. P. Roe’s the other day and saw them 
for the first time. The Caroline is moderately 
vigorous iu growth and moderately productive. 
Fruit medium to large, of a deep orange-yellow; 
flesh rather soft, juicy, sweet and rich. 
“New Rochelle, very vigorous and very pro¬ 
ductive; canes strong and branching. Fruit 
medium to large, of a dark maroon color; 
flesh modeiately firm, juicy, subacid—good for 
culinary uses, but not good enough to eat. I 
found many of the berries with a decayed spot 
on them, which, if common to them, will be 
very objectionable; it appeared somewhat like 
sun-scald. 
“ The above is what I saw of them at Mr. 
Roe’s, aud may not be their general character 
of other years, aud it is, therefore, not to be 
fully depended upon.” 
Jam ®ojtrs. 
THE DISCOUNT OF LATITUDE DISCOUNTED. 
It has been taught and accepted that cropB 
in ripening are coverned, in a great measure, 
by latitude, and that there is scarcely a well- 
marked exception to this rule. However, thiB 
year there have been so many and such varied 
cases in which crops North have ripened be¬ 
fore crops South, aud such a simultaneousne6s 
iu maturity over several degrees of latitude, 
as to assure us that some uuusual forces have 
beeu at work, concerning which we have no 
clear ideas. 
Going south from Central Illinois to New 
Orleans during the last half of March, I no¬ 
ticed, after having reached the southern line 
of Tennessee, in latitude 35 deg., there was 
little difference in the measure of development 
of the fruit bndB of the peach over the more 
than five degrees of latitude between this point 
and New Orleans. Stopping off at Brook- 
haven, Miss., a week or ten days later, I ob¬ 
served that the buds of the apple trees and 
some other fruits and 6hrubs were still nearly 
dormant, while some of the native oaks were 
half out in leaf—strawberries were getting ripe, 
early potatoes and peas were in blossom, and 
market gardeners were shipping produce 
North. At this date, too, av.d in spite of the 
advanced stage of indigenous vegetation, little 
or no plowing had been done for cane and cot¬ 
ton, but the work of clearing up the fields was 
going on. And lately, to show that I was not 
deceived by appearances, I find in tbe. Planters’ 
Journal for July a communication frcm Mr. F 
M. Brewer of Crystal Springs, Miss., who, re 
ferring to bis crop of Turner raspberries, says: 
“They were like the peai h this season, late in 
starting to grow. Tbe same variety of berries 
was shipped from Southern Illinois to Chicago 
two days ahead of me.” But Crystal Springs 
isin Miss., about latitude32 deg., and the South¬ 
ern Illinois fruit region lies between 37 or 38 
deg. Here we have the singular anomaly of 
fruit ripening two daysearliei in the Northern 
than in the Southern situation,with the distance 
of nearly 400 miles between the two. Here is 
an example of “ibe discount of latitude dis¬ 
counted” of a most significant kind. 
Ceutralia in Marlon Co., HI., is the center 
of a great wheat and fruit producing country. 
But its strong poiut is the strawberry crop, of 
which 1,000 acres weie gathered there this 
season, and to which additions have been 
made to increase it to 1,600 acr s in 1881. 
Formerly Centralia strawberries had a mon¬ 
opoly of the Chicago market for a week or ten 
days, because they made their appearance 
before the crop of the black soil counties and 
that from the sandy lands of Michigan, which 
usually ripen about the same time. But this 
year the strawberry crop from Centralia, in 
latitude 38, to Michigan, in latitude 43 deg., 
seemed to ripen almost at the same hour, and 
the fruit growers, for a distance of three hun¬ 
dred miles north aud south, sent the best of 
their crops forward at nearly the same time. 
And so far as concerns the Winter wheat and 
early potato crops, the same sjmultaneousness 
In time of ripeniug has been remarked. 
No doubt a good share of the earliness of 
Northeru crops over Southern ones and the sim¬ 
ultaneousness of the epoch of maturity over 
long distances north or south, are due to the 
differences in soil of the two or three regions. 
Thus the compact, lightrcoiored, sandy loams 
of the South absorb heat slowly ; the gray clays 
of Southern Illinois faster ; the black soils 
faster still; and the yellow sands of the Michi¬ 
gan fruit region fastest of all. And since the 
growth of plants depends more on the tempera- 
tnre of the earth than on that of the surround¬ 
ing atmosphere, the soil, owing to its greater 
absorptive power North than South, matures 
crops earlier, or at nearly the same time, over 
great intervening distances. 
But these paragraphs have' not been written 
for the single purpose of making tbe state¬ 
ment of the fact, nor with the Intention of 
ignoring the existence of certain great and 
unknown cosmic causes which have operated 
the present year aud made it one remarkable 
alike for unusual rainfall, au excessive quan¬ 
tity of thunder and lightning, high winds, 
cyclones aud tornadoes, and a very extraordin¬ 
ary measure of vigorous vegetation, more or 
less associated with fungus germs; but rather 
to suggest to the Southern fruit grower how 
he may and can get all, or more than all, the 
advantages of his Southern situation. He 
must tile-drain hiB lands, and manure and cul¬ 
tivate iu the most thorough manner, and in 
that way he will be able to bring the tempera¬ 
ture of the soil up to that of the surrounding 
atmosphere, and bo ripen his crops according 
to the measure of his latitude. The fruit bus¬ 
iness iu the South is just in its infancy, but 
we shall never know what it 1b capable ot bo- 
coming until some of the best forms of modern 
agricultural practice have been applied to the 
business. The advanced men among the Cen¬ 
tralia fruit growers are already aware they 
must tile-drain their Btraw berry fields In order 
to compete with their northern brethren, and 
it will not be long before tile-drainage will 
have become the custom of that country and 
of all countries which hope to make great and 
abounding crops. 
Wbat about the figs ? Considering the de¬ 
liciousness and healthy character of the fruit, 
the demand there is for canned figs put up 
after the manner of a well-reputed New Or¬ 
leans establishment, and considering the fig 
is perfectly hardy in all that broad belt of 
country known as the “ Piney Woods region,” 
it is at least eurprieing bo small crops are made 
and we hear so little about them. I suspect 
tbe truth to be that though the tree is a hardy 
one up to 33 degs., even 35 degs., and attains 
the size of a half-grown apple tree (which as 
to form and contour, though uot as to foliage, 
it considerably resembles), the difficulty 
lies m the fact that, in most cases, these 
trees are barren and as such are regarded 
as cumberers of the ground. However this 
may be, 1 should like to hear from South¬ 
ern correspondents of the Roral a relation 
of the factB in the case. We know that, 
as commonly reputed, the fig, as a general 
thing, demands to have a dry, deep aud not too 
rich soil, and in that respect resembles the 
olive; but we know, further, there are varieties 
which will stand as much moisture as a duck or 
a turnip, and will revel in a soil of the greatest 
depth and richness. Possibly the trouble with 
the fig in the South is, that the varieties In use 
and cultivation are not of the right kind, and 
where those which suit the soil have been se¬ 
lected and propagated the result will be more 
satisfactory. But hear a foreigner—a French 
savant —on this point: “The fig will live and 
flourish on all boi ts of soil where it ie not too 
wet during winter, but it prefers those which 
are calcareous, and ou these it pioduces its 
best fruitp, except ou those which are schistous 
or slaty ; but oo these we often see it suffering 
from drought. There are varieties which re¬ 
quire to be placed where they can get the bene¬ 
fit of irrigation, or at least, where the soil is 
moist, cool aud deep, in order to produce large 
crops. Such as the Bamissote, the Servuntine 
and tbe Ballone ; and others do well in a deep 
and cool, but not too rnoiBt soil, like the Mouis- 
sane aud the Yei-dale. Finally, some species 
easily withstand high and dry lands which are 
not schistous, and here they produce better 
crops than on richer, deeper, cooler and mois- 
ter soils, aud this is pirticularly the case 
with the Marseillaise variety.” 
It strikes me the agricultural rehabilitation 
of the South will come rather through the cul¬ 
tivation of crops which latitude and climate 
give it a monopoly of and through industries 
related to them rather tbau in competition 
against Northern agricultural production and 
Northern manufactures; and, therefore, it is 
I suggest the extentiou of fig cultivation as 
well as that of all other sub-tropical fruits. 
And in conclusion, to come down to the facts 
of the case, in what possihle way, in what 
tried or untried crop—the present state of the 
6 oil heing considered—can the cotton States 
make as good aud sure a return for their labor 
as in continuing to make cotton the base of 
their agriculture ? b. f. j. 
Champaign, Ill. 
Jam Qrxonomij. 
THE USE OF SOILING CROPS. 
There is a great economy in the right spend¬ 
ing of what is earned or saved. So one may 
grow crops for soiling successfully and waste 
his opportunity in the usiDg of them unless 
they are fed in a proper manner. When par¬ 
tial soiling is practiced for the purpose of help¬ 
ing out pastures, or with the intention of man¬ 
uring a poor piece of land by keeping cows 
and feeding the crops upon it eo that the man¬ 
ure may be spread over the surface, two ends 
are served. But the method is somewhat dif¬ 
ferent from that practiced for complete soiling. 
In the one case a field that provides some pas¬ 
ture is used for what it is worth and the fodder 
is cut aud carried to the cattle and fed iu 
rackB; iu the other the cows are kept in yards 
and stables, the fodder is carried lo them, and 
their quarters are wull littered aud bedded with 
abeorbants and materials for composts and 
manure. There is more labor involved in the 
latter method, but the larger product derived 
froruj the cows, through the high feeding; 
the quiet rest aud absence of unnecessary 
and wasteful exercise; the freedom from 
troublesome insect pests and the saving of 
time and waste of material and product in 
driving the herd back and forth to pasture, 
all these lepay the extra labor liberally and 
tii# food is all paid for by the large quantity of 
manure made. Therefore the practice is profit¬ 
able upon dairy farms, grain farms, aud fruit 
farms; anywhere in fact, except upon such 
farnifl as cannot be plowed and must, there¬ 
fore he devoted, solely or chiefly to pasture. 
In either case the gain by avoiding the waste 
and cost of fencing the whole farm into fields 
is to be considered. 
