486 
THE EUBAL NEW-YORKEB. 
JULY 31 
Ib this way be escapes the danger of Spring 
drought, and his clover be'mg earlier, he gets a 
great deal of pasture from it the succeeding 
Summer, * 
Mr. Curtis has an appreciative idea of man¬ 
ure. lie believes that it is better for a farmer 
to purchase stock in the Fall and bring them 
upon his farm to consume the fodder, even 
though in the Spring he may not sell them for 
any more than the purchase price, the manure 
repaying him both for what the fodder might 
bring if sold.aud the labor of attending the stock. 
Mr. Curtis, like Mr. Morehouse, has improved 
his cows by Jersey crosses, and his dairy ranks 
among the best. He purchased his fa^m of 
Esquire Davidson, who had brought it to a 
high state of culture. Esquire Davidson sold 
this farm for more than twice as much as he 
originally paid for it. He wisely invested his 
surpluses year by year in ditches, convenient 
buildings aud bother cultivation His farm 
was his savings bank, which Mr. Curtis 
bought, paying the principal aud a much 
larger interest than if the money had been 
invested in the nsnal way. Esquire Davidson 
had a yearly showing which afforded him moie 
satisfaction, besides being more sensible, than 
a few figures in a bank book. Banks might 
break but the farm was secure. 
WESTERN FARMING.—X. 
W. I. CHAMBERLAIN. 
Illinois and Kansas. 
I think the first settlers in any new country 
may safely count on hard times, reverses, 
trials and discouragements. They come in 
many and varied forms, but they are almost 
sure to come. The early settlers of this 
country—I mean of our own wooded eastern 
country—expected it and they were not disap¬ 
pointed. Some one less famous for proverbs 
than Solomon or even "Poor Richard" bas 
said, " Blessed is he that liopeth for nothing, 
for he shall surely receive it.” Now our fore¬ 
fathers expected no ■ ase or luxury at first, and 
they were not disappointed. With stalwart 
blows and long and patient labor they cleared 
the heavy forests and planted their corn 
among the stumps aud roots. The utmost fru¬ 
gality must be practiced, aud eveu iheu they 
were sometimes reduced almost to starvation. 
Years aud years of toil were required to rid 
the fields from stones aud stumps aud fit them 
to raise more than a scanty subsisteuce for 
their owners. 
But when the fertile prairies of Illiuois were 
first opened up to us by the railways, and, 
earlier still, by the rivers, it was supposed 
all this was changed. The soil abounded in 
fertility aud the air in moisture. Ail that was 
uceded was to break np the fertile prairies 
and begin at once to reap rich harvests. But 
soon a new evil was discovered. This very 
fertility of soil and humidity of atmosphere 
were the sure causes 3nd harbiugers of disease 
and death. Malarial fevers abounded among 
the early settlers of Illinois. Chills aud ague 
were the scourge of Illiuois iu early days. 
Health was ruined aad constitutions broken, 
and thousands of the early settlers gave up 
their farms at a sacrifice of marly all they had 
and returned disheartened and impoverished 
to their former homes in the Eastern States. 
But their places were filled by others, and as 
the country became m' re thickly settled and 
the swamps and low lands partially draioed, 
disease diminished and prosperity and wealth 
increased till now it is one of the largest States 
in population, and one of the richest, indeed, 
probably the richest, in all our land in agricul¬ 
tural wealth. But it will not be so healthful 
as some others, nor so desirable for residence, 
until the low portions and swampy spots are 
underdrained so as quickly to remove all 
standing water after rainfalls and iu Spring 
time. Stagnant water either on or in the soil 
will always be hostile to health and to fertility. 
The removal of this stagnant water, too, will 
tend to diminish the rainfall, now too abun¬ 
dant, or at least to distribute it more evenly 
through the growing season I call attention 
to these facts to show that the settlement of 
Illinois, fertile and well watered as it was, was 
by no means an easy task ; but, on the other 
hand, a most disheartening one. Charles 
Dickens long ago set this forth most vividly 
in his American Notes, und still more striking¬ 
ly in his Martin Chuzzlowlt, the swampy sceue 
of which is supposed to have been laid in Illi¬ 
nois. 
Now iu Kansas the conditions were quite 
different. Here drought and not surplus 
moisture has prevailed. Iu most parts of the 
State, especially the western half, there was 
not that rank, tall prairie grass that so much 
abouuded iu Illinois before its settlement, but 
instead a low, tough " fuzz grass " that had a 
most forbidding aspect. Twenty-five years ago, 
as a frieud of mine lately said, the whole State 
was hardly considered worth a nickel for culti¬ 
vation.except along the streams. It was doubted 
whether the soil eveu had the elements of fer¬ 
tility in it. and it was a part of the Great 
American Desert. And then, too, the climate 
was deemed almost hopeless. Kansas was 
about the ‘'divide” between the trade and the 
anti-trade winds ; the place for winds and not 
for rains. But certaiu far-seeing men believed 
the soil to be naturally fertile, and that the 
rainfall would steadily increase, for reasons 
partly given in a former number of this series, 
as the area of population, tillage and growth of 
tree and leat increased enough to bear any 
reasonable proportion to the area of "desert." 
The beliefs of such men have proved to be well 
founded. The crop statistics of eastern Kan¬ 
sas show that soil and climate now unite to 
make it one of the most fertile spots of earth. 
The splendid display of Kansas products— 
cereals, fruits and grasses—at the Centenuial 
nearly four years ago, opened the eyes of the 
world to the desirableness of Kansas as a home 
for farmers. 
Railway companies united with the general 
government aud the State government of Kan¬ 
sas iu offering inducements to immigration. 
The Kansas Board of Agriculture with Its most 
able Secretary, Allred Gray, now deceased, 
became In effect a bureau of immigration. Of 
course, a strong and even immense tide of 
population begau to set in. all eager to choose 
the best sites before they should be all taken up. 
Many of them believed the first crop would 
pay for cost of its production and pay for the 
land, too. A large area was thinly covered, or 
rather loug, narrow strips along each lino of 
railway were sparsely settled, and the little 
patches aud strips of corn and other grain bore 
no appreciable proportion to the immense 
area of desert plaiu, trodden hard by thou¬ 
sands of buffaloes for ages. Of course, the 
rain area was not perceptibly increased imme¬ 
diately, nor the area of “desert" diminished 
enough to induce any great increase of rain¬ 
fall. Aid uow to this the taet that for two 
years there have been unusually severe aud pro¬ 
tracted droughts, and it will not be deemed 
strange that mauy of the settlers have become 
discouraged. Some are leaving for their 
former home*3, hardly kuowing whether to give 
up entirely o e not. 
Wisely, tLi refore, the State Legislature has 
passed a lav permitting more than a year’s 
absence from claims filed without losing the 
claim. Wisely, too, the railway companies 
are furnishing wheat for the fall sowing, tak¬ 
ing pay, bushel for bushel, from the coming 
harvest. Those measures will, of course, teud 
to retain population. Abundant raius have at 
last come near]y all oyer the State, and Win¬ 
ter wheat can iu all probability be got iu and 
have a good " send-off " for Winter. Those of 
the. new settlers who have means to live it 
through will do so. Those who are obliged 
to give up eulireiy will, of course, be losers ; 
but others will in time come in and take tbeir 
places, aud the Slate will be as well settled and 
as fertile through its wosteru half as through 
its eastern. Indeed the bust wheat lands are 
confessedly in its western half, and it iB only 
a question of time wheil they shall be taken up 
aud tilled aud this part of the State present 
the same appearance of fertility, thrift aud 
real agricultural prosperity that is uow pre¬ 
sented by the eastern half For iu spite of the 
loug aud unprecedented drought there, lasting 
from last November till June of ibis year, the 
fields show luxuriant aud abuudaut crops. In¬ 
deed, the soil of Kansas withstands drought 
most wonderfully. It Is light, deep aud po¬ 
rous wheu properly worked iu Spring, aud re- 
Ulus molBture marvelously, if there is only 
moisture enough in Spring to give the corn a 
good 6tart, it grows aud matures eveu with 
very slight aud infrequent showers. 
To one who now rides through the western 
half of Kansas and the whole of Colorado, for 
the first time, the prospects of agriculture do 
not seem promising. But to those who care¬ 
fully weigh all the historic and meteorological 
facts developed in the last 25 years in regard 
to Kansas, the outlook is hopeful for the 
future. 
THE OUTSIDE AND THE INSIDE. 
Picking vs. Poison. —I have been looking 
over some agricultural journals of the East as 
I get the ehauce of reading, to find the ac¬ 
knowledgment from some Eastern grower, that 
when the Colorado beetle comes in force, it is 
as useless a task to uudertake to subdue him 
by “ picking" as it was for Mrs. Partington to 
try to sweep out the Atlantic with a broom, 
and have fouud it in a recent number of the 
Coumry Gentleman, a correspondent of which 
says, iu a late issue, writing from Syracuse, N. 
Y. "The Colorado pest swarms beyond all 
former examples. Hills are frequently found 
having a huudred bugs. Hand picking iB of 
uo account, uothing but Paris-green is effec¬ 
tual". 
And as a postscript to thiB piece of testimony 
to the efficacy of Paris-green, I have been sur¬ 
prised that it was not used to a greater extent 
than ills, to subdue the Anny worm aud other 
insect enemies of the cotton plant, in the up¬ 
land cotton regions, cotton is mostly plauted 
in comparatively small patches, as potatoes 
are in the North, aud there is no reason why 
this crop cannot be saved from its numerous 
enemies as easily, and in the same way, as 
potatoes. Moreover, I have the impression 
that where one crop, or generation, or inva¬ 
sion of any insect has been met and overcome 
or destroyed by the use of substances like 
Paris-green, there is much Icbs fearof asecoud 
serious invasion. At any rate. I find the Colo¬ 
rado beetle ten times less formidable than ten 
years ago, and I have found that one thorough 
going over of a field about the middle of June, 
discourages the bugs in a most encouraging 
way. But too much cannot be said in condem¬ 
nation of the drug if used on cabbages aud 
other vegetables cooked in tho 6ame or a sim¬ 
ilar way, and, if need be. its use should be regu¬ 
lated by a stringeut law. I say this because 
several cases of violeut and sudden attacks of 
sickness have come within ray knowledge 
following the eating of early cabbage which I 
fear had been saved from the Cabbage worm by 
the use of Paris-green. 
The Scuppernong Grape. — There is no 
reason why, after having furnishtd our friends 
across the water, with bread, meat and fruit, 
we may not, in the early hereafter, add “ And 
drink, too," as per form and spirit of your 
editorial ou page 420. But unfortunately for 
us of the northern portion of the country, our 
grape-vlues aud our vineyards have becu at¬ 
tacked with diseases, which if they are not as 
destructive as the Oldiutn and the Phylloxera, 
we have at least not been able to treat 
successfully, as they have in ease of the former 
wita sulphur, and the latter by (ioodiug the 
vines. From present appearance there can be 
no great iucrcase iu our vineyards, nor profit¬ 
able production of wine from Northern varie¬ 
ties in northern latitudes, until the problem of 
grape blight, mildew and rot is bettei under¬ 
stood, nor until wo understand grape growing 
as well as we do that of tho cereals, and can 
produce both good grapes and pure wine with 
as much certainty as sweet and sound ludiau 
com and high-grade Hour. However, we are 
begiuning to comprehend that atmospheric 
conditions and influences and the phenomena 
of radiation and evaporation have a great deal 
more to do with successful grape growing than 
we had reason to suppose—hut for further in¬ 
formation on this point, I hope you will per¬ 
mit me to refer the reader to so much of Dr. 
McMurtrle’s report, as refers to the diseases of 
the vine, to be found iu the Report of the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture for the year 1877, 
pages 81 to 89. 
But if Northern varieties of the grape are 
subject to blight, mildew and rot, and if those 
introduced from abroad cannot be grown in 
the open air, there is at least one hardy uative 
of the South, which, if under ordinary aud care¬ 
less treatment that does not consult tbc uative 
habits and peculiarities of the vino it occasion¬ 
ally shows these diseases under a mild form, 
is at least the hardiest of all the grapes we 
have domesticated. This is the Scuppernong 
of the South, which is not frost-proof North, 
nor seen iu its best form north of the southern 
line of Tennessee, iu latitude 35 deg. I should 
not venture to assert on my own authority 
that the Scuppernong was capable of produc¬ 
ing a dry wine of first-rate quality, aud equal 
to the best Northern Catawba of the same kind, 
but having drank it at the tables of amateurs 
of undoubted judgment iu such matters, i-oth 
iu Central Mississippi aud Mobile, 1 am pre¬ 
pared to accept taelr conclusions, aud espe¬ 
cially since I was informed that both speci¬ 
mens were what all really good wine is—the 
pure juice of the perfectly mature grape, aud 
without enrichment with sugar, dilution with 
waler or reinforcement with spirits. Those 
who have never seen the Sjuppernong iu its 
perfectly mature stage, and therefore asso¬ 
ciate with it the foxy or vulpine acridity of 
taste aud smell common both to the musca¬ 
dines and the fox grapes, cannot uuderstaud 
how wine can be made from it, without retaining 
a repulsive arriere gout. But the best wine ot 
this kind shows nothing of that nature and 
hardly a peculiarity which to average drinkers, 
would distinguish it from Catawba. 
Iu the matter of the cultivation of the vine, 
it has u loug lime sluee been demonstrated 
that, in warm climates ,aud in southern lati¬ 
tudes, the heat of the suu accomplished that 
for growth aud development, which, iu cold 
climates and uorlheru latitudes, is effected by 
strong manuring and high cultivation ; aud, 
therefore, ou the worn aud poor soils of the 
South we see the native Scuppernong attain¬ 
ing a measure of healthy extension aud fruitf ul- 
uess, which, to Northern eyes and experience, 
is quite surprising, considering the poverty of 
the soil and the meagrenees of tho manurial 
aud fertilizing additions made to It. But in the 
peculiar manner of the planting and training 
of the Scuppernong iu Southern vineyards and 
guldens, oue is surprised to recognize the 
facts as staled iu the article alluded to above 
from Dr. McMurtrte, as to the importance of 
providing against too much evaporation from 
the leaves of the viue aud the soil, aud too 
much and too sudden radiation ot beat from 
the earth's surface. Ordmarily Scuppernong 
vines are planted from 20 to SO feet apart each 
way, aud trained to stout stakes having a 
bight above tho surface of seven or eight 
feet. Upoc these a horizontal lattice is ex¬ 
tended from one stake to the other, so that 
when the vines have reached their bearing 
stage they form a green and level mass of 
herbage, making an arcade from which the 
rays of the sun are largely excluded. But 
while the. roof of this arcade Is sufficiently ele¬ 
vated to admit of the free circulation of tbs air, 
so much of the sun’s rays are excluded as to 
prevent rapid evaporation of moisture from 
the earth’s surfare during the day-time, while 
during the night the same mass of herbage 
acta as a protecting cover and prevents that 
rapid radiation of heat from the soil which la 
so detrimental to viue vitality. But this screed 
is getting too loug, and I conclude It in offer¬ 
ing the suggestion that if Northern vines and 
varieties were trained something after the 
manner of the Scuppernong, they might, in 
that way. be made to furnish that protection 
from those atmospheric influences which is 
fouud in temporary half-roofs and other artifi¬ 
cial means of shelter. 
Wine Making — I presume a considerable 
quantity of wiue will be made from the Scup- 
pernoug the coming vintage season, for the 
area of Southern vineyards is now considerable, 
and is increasing in a most promising fashion ; 
and I should like to have the opportunity to 
say to Southern wine-makers they must bear iu 
mind that true and good wiue is uothing more 
or less than the pure juice of the fully- 
matured grape, and that they must avoid any 
and every form of sophistication with sugar, 
or water, or alcohol. The first great error of 
those who do not know the world’s judgment 
as to what constitutes good wine, is that it must 
be sweet; and the second, that it must he 
strong in alcohol; and they are apt to think 
that tho must of unripe grapes cau be made 
into good wine if snlTloh-nt sugar is added to 
conceal tho acidity and furnish the saving com¬ 
plement of alcohol. There never was a greater 
error. The acid in the must is not lessened 
by sugar, though it may bo concealed, aud the 
alcohol produced from added sweets has a de¬ 
leterious effect on the coDsumor out of all 
proportion to thesame amount eliminated from 
grape sugar through natural processes. By ail 
means, then, lot those who have Scuppernong 
vineyards and Intend to make wine wait on their 
grapes until full and perfect maturity is at¬ 
tained, and then adopting the simplest, which 
are both the oldest and the best processes, 
make their grapes into wiue, aud they will 
have a product which will come as uear per¬ 
fection as their experience will admit of, aud 
one which will rise to a bight iu the world’s 
estimation parallel to the rank held by Ameri¬ 
can meats, breadetnffs and fruits in European 
markets b. f. j. 
RURALISMS. 
For a couple of seasous there have been a 
difference of opinion and some controversy as 
to the identity of the Champion and Windsor 
Chief strawberries. At the East the conclu¬ 
sion seems to have been generally reached that 
they are oue und the same. At the West straw¬ 
berry growers differ, as 1 learn from the press 
aud private correspondence. Such a veteran 
grower aud observer as Samuel Miller insists 
that they are distinct, and that we have uot 
got the true Windsor Chief at the East. 
To do something toward settling this ques¬ 
tion I gave them another very caref ul com¬ 
parison during the season just past. Learniug 
that Mr. Lovett had the Windsor Chief from 
“ head-quarters," I procured some of the 
plauts, aud placed them by the aide of the 
Champion of the same size and age, that they 
might grow under the same conditions and be 
handy for close comparison. 
Over and over again, and at every stage of 
growth. I carefully and critically compared the 
foliage, the flower, the fruit, the yield, und the 
general habit of the plants ; and the conclu¬ 
sion was irresistible that they arc identical. 
The Windsor Chief is said to be a seedling of 
the Champion. H so. it Is an exact reproduc¬ 
tion of Its parent; and It is siugular that both 
should bear pistillate flowers of the same size 
and form. My conclusion, of course, is baaed 
upon the supposition that I have the true 
Windsor Chief. Under this view of the ease, 
the Windsor Chief should be withdrawn. Cata¬ 
logues are already too full. 
Is there In reality, as there is iu name, a 
Board of health in New York, and, for that 
matter, in every city aud town in the Union? 
If so, I would call their attention to the fact, 
that green, gnarly, wonn-eaten apples and 
pears have already (July 3) appeared iu our 
markets, aud the death-rate among children 
will soon, in consequence, be doubled. 1 have 
no words to designate those who send such 
fruit to market. They are either very thought- 
