. 7 
THE BUBAL ISEW-YOBKEB 
are concerned. We raise and send to the San 
Francisco and Sacramento markets a general as¬ 
sortment of fruit. First in the season come 
strawberries. This year the crop has been a 
short one, owing to the late frosts and unusu¬ 
ally late cold rains. The variety principally 
raised is the Monarch of the West with some 
of Seth Boydeu, Capt. Jack, Triompbe de 
Gand. and Longworth. The prices have been 
very fair. The Raspberries come on so close 
after these that we have no rest. This season 
we have had au excellent crop and have re¬ 
ceived good prices for them, ranging from 
four to 25 ceuts per basket of eight ounces. 
We pack 15 baskets in a case. At the latter 
part of tbeseason, as apricots come in, they oc¬ 
casionally get down to 50 cents per case, but 
not often. We pay one aud a half cent i>er 
basket for picking. With regard to blackber¬ 
ries we pay one cent for one-pouud baskets, 
and get for Early Wilson from 13e, to 20c. and 
sometimes for the earliest 23c. Kittatinny 
and Lawton usually and (particularly this 
seasou) bear good crops and bring from six to 
10 ceuts per pound basket. Tbe crop of apri¬ 
cots is small. Royal and Moorpark are the 
varieties raised. We have but few peaches 
this year; the late varieties are almost a total 
failure. In some localities there is a good 
crop of Alexander, Downing, Briggs, Red 
May, Ainsden’s June, Hale’s Early and in fact 
of all the early aud midsummer varieties. Fears 
aud apples are short crops; tigs a good one. 
plums and pruues are short; cherries plenti¬ 
ful aud low. All kinds of stone fruit do well, 
and we have no disease or pests. I forgot to 
say that the only raspberries we raise are 
Red Antwerps. One of my neighbors told 
me that the Ritual New-Yorker sent him 
some Cuthberts two years ago. but he did not 
like them as well as ihe Antwerps. “And" said 
he‘‘l have not given them a fair chance." 
Men often, I find, get a new variety of fruit 
from a friend, and as it cost them no money, 
they stick it in some spare corner and per¬ 
haps wholly or at least partially neglect it. 
It does not produce as well as varieties thor¬ 
oughly cultivated aud is prouounced worth¬ 
less. According to my ideas this is decidedly 
unjust. On the other hand, we buy uew va¬ 
rieties that have been tested by high culture ; 
put them out; give them average field cultiva¬ 
tion and they fail to realize our expectations, 
and at once they are pronounced worthless aud 
the originator a gross humbug. This is an¬ 
other case of unfairness. I should have said 
sooner that the grape crop will be large ; the 
varieties raised principally to ship, are 
Chasselas, Sweet-water, Black Hamburg, Rose 
de Peru, White Muscat of Alexandria and 
Flame-colorcd Tokay. j. w. e. 
Can., Colliovlllc, Lambton Co., Out, JuIy 15. 
—Lately we have had some heavy rain and 
wind storms that Hooded the low lands. The 
land hereabouts consists of slight ridges aud 
swales with very little fall, while some of the 
township is swamp. The storm laid a consid¬ 
erable amount of grain Uat. Some of the Fall 
wheat is cut. the straw is slight, but the graiu 
seems good, but late-sown oats and barley are 
at present drowned. Potatoes are mostly 
poor. c. M. 
Cal., Eagleville, Modoc Co., July 30.— 
Wheat will average abont 25 to 30 bushels per 
acre: barley, 10; oats, 35; potatoes, seven 
tons. Corn and sorghum are uot grow a here 
to any extent. Apples, apricots, gooseberries 
and currants are the fruits chiefly grown. The 
prospects for fruit are tolerably good. s. K. 
Col., Alma, Park Co., July 30.—No grain is 
raised in this part of the State. Mining and 
stock raising are almost our exclusive indus¬ 
tries. H. W. H. 
III., Cisne, Wayne Co., July 19.—The wheat 
crop is fine this year; the acreage one-third 
larger than ever before ; the yield is from 8 to 
22 bushels per acre. Corn is promising. The 
chinch bug has troubled but few crops. A 
small hail storm visited the county a mile 
south of me and nearly ruined all stauding 
crops ; it was accompanied by a general del¬ 
uge of rain all over the county. The oat crop 
is small. Very little rye is raised and no bar¬ 
ley. The comparative acreage is: four of 
wheat to seven of corn; five of corn to one 
of auythiug else. Sorghum or millet, as it is 
called here, is ouly raised for home use. The 
fruit crop will be good this year. We have no 
good Winter apples ; Ben Davis and Winesap 
are the most common and successful. The 
people have been imposed upon shamefully by 
tree agents aud do uot really know—uot one 
out of ten of them—what kind of fruit they 
have. a. A. t. 
Ini>., Orlaud, Steuben Co., July 23.—Wheat 
and corn are good, but oats are light. Pota¬ 
toes would have been a good crop it the bugs 
could have been kept down. Perhaps they 
will be one-fourth of a crop. Apples, peaches, 
pears aud grapes are fair crops. o. M. 'r. 
Iowa, Marshallville, Delaware Co., July 23. 
—Winter wheat is a failure hereabouts; no 
Spring wheat. Of corn a great deal was 
planted and the general prospect for it is good. 
Oats will certainly give a tine yield and a large 
area has been sown. Potatoes and grass are 
both good. A considerable amount of Borghum 
was planted here; but the outlook for it is not 
very promising. A sugar refinery for making 
sugar from the cane is being erected in this 
neighborhood, aud a good deal of sorghum 
was planted for this purpose. I have a mill 
for making molasses from it, but now we are all 
in hopes of soon producing our own sugar. 
We have had rather too much rain since May. 
Fruits of all sortsare quite plentiful. n. c. 
Iowa, Iowa City, Johnson Co., July 20.— 
In this section there will be a fair average of 
wheat. The prospect for corn is better than 
laBt year at this time and 25 per cent, above an 
average. Oats arc good and will yield 40 to 50 
bushels per acre. Rye was somewhat winter¬ 
killed, not a full crop. Barley but little grown. 
Prospect for potatoes good. The kinds of 
wheat mostly grown are Odessa and Tea; of 
oats, white German; of potatoes, Early Rose 
and Peaehblow. Sorghum is very little grown, 
but it does very well. Berries of all kinds do 
well. The Concord grape is a success. This 
can hardly be said to be a reliable apple 
country, though we have a fair crop this year. 
Early fruits of all kinds have been plentiful. 
l. u. 
Iowa, Sibley , Oceola Co., July 22.—Wheat 
is rusted considerably. I think it will aver¬ 
age only about ten bushels per acre. Some 
pieces are entirely ruined by the rust. All 
other gi ain crops are in fine condition. Not 
much fruit is grown here yet. My raspber¬ 
ries have done better this year than ever be¬ 
fore. It is only nine years since tbe first set¬ 
tlers came into this county, so there is little 
chance for tree fruits yet. it, a. 
Minn., Howard Lake, Wright Co.. July 20. 
—We are. and have been enjoying the most 
delightful weather for some ten days, just cool 
enough to be pleasant, with a few, short, quiet 
showers interspersed. For four day6, up to 
the closing of the 13th mst, we had intolerably 
hot weather, the mercury being so liigfi as 100, 
at six a m. one day. During this boated period, 
many fears were entertained by farmers that 
rust would 6trike the promising crop of wheat 
in this region, but it is said there are no fears 
of that kind since the cool breezes came. And 
the general opinion is that there has Dot been 
in many years, as good a prospect for an extra 
crop of wheat, as at the present writing. Po¬ 
tatoes, corn and oats, as well as grass are pro¬ 
portionately good. We had in June two weeks 
of almost constant rain, so that those whose 
corn was ready to work, had to be as patient 
and hopeful as they could till the water ran 
off so they coald get in the fields agaiu, and 
those who had intended to plant more on new 
ground had to give it np entirely. Corn is 
sometimes planted here as late as the 10th of 
June. Early varieties are seldom much frost¬ 
bitten before they are ripe. Thurehave been less 
scourges this year than usual—fewer beetles 
on potatoes, and even the squash bugs were 
not as destructive as formerly. There has 
been some loss of small fruits this season, but 
there is a fair prospect for apples, and a fine 
one for grapes, aswell as au abundance of wild 
plums, which are very good wheu we cannot 
raise other varieties. The results of the last 
hard Winter were not as bad as was feared in 
early Spring, as “standard apples” are being 
used for cooking purposes; these are from 
some young trees of our own fruiting from the 
first blossoming. s. a. k. 
Minn., St. Paul, Ramsay Co., July 31.—The 
weather during the past few days lias been 
cool and clear and could not have been Liu 
proved on for the maturing crop of wheat. 
The daily reports from the stations along the 
St. Paul, Sioux City it Omaha railway indicate 
a great change for the better in wheat, and the 
best infoimed and most reliable observers now 
estimate an average yield of from 12 to 15 
bushels per acre along this particular road. 
As the plant is rapidly heading the danger of 
blight or a shi iveled berry by reason of a hot 
sun is growing slight. And if we are to be 
blessed with good weather iu harvest operations 
Minn, may be relied on for at least 35,000,000 
bushels. The Secretary to the State Board of 
Immigration estimates the yield as high as 
45,000,000, but past experience has demon¬ 
strated that popular estimates of the wheat 
crop are at this time of the year too high. All 
reports agree that oats and flax never looked 
better. The acreage iu flax in Southwestern 
Minnesota a ad Northwestern Iowa is double 
that of any preceding year. Farmers of 
that regiou have learned the adage “Never 
put all of your eggs in one basket.” and are 
yearly more aud more getting out of the notion 
of exclusive wheat growing. The experiment 
of sowing flax on uew breaking is highly satis¬ 
factory, aud it has heeu largely done this year 
with promising results. j. b. c. 
Minn., Forest Mills, Goodhue Co., July 21.— 
Of wheat the average yield in bushels per acre 
hereabouts will be IS; ofcoru,35; of potatoes, 
200; of oats, 50; of barley, 40. No rye is 
raised here. Fife, Rio Grande, Lost Natiou, 
and White River are our chief varieties of 
wheat. The acreage of sorghum is increas¬ 
ing every year, aud it is now grown by a great 
many. The fruit prospects are fair. The 
limbs of a great many trees, however, are 
partly withered, and no cause has been dis¬ 
covered for the mishap. t. m. 
Neb., Silver Creek, Merrick Co., July 19.— 
Wheat is a poor staud on account of early 
drought. Corn is very good and a great deal 
was planted. Potatoes are fine. Oats do.; rye. 
medium. Barley not good. Tea, Odessa and 
Lost Nation are the principal varieties of 
wheat. Acreage large. Of sorghum none is 
planted. Our apples include the various 
crabs, N. Spy, Winesap, Ben Davis, Maiden's 
Blush. We grow all small fruits, and in fact 
auy fruit that is senn-hardy. Our peaches do 
not winter-kill, but the present season killed 
the fruit. Plums, cherries, and small fruits 
are good. J . H. 
N. J.. Montclair. Essex Co., July 20.—The 
rain is falling splendidly to-day. The an¬ 
nouncement in my weather note, of May 29th, 
of the end of our heated term, was premature. 
It was ouly the end ot the first session. 
The second session followed immediately end¬ 
ing on the 5tb of this month. June goes on 
record as the hottest and driest month ever ex¬ 
perienced here. It surpassed May in tempera¬ 
ture, scoring 106 deg. on the 25th. On the 13th 
a portending shower accompanied by vivid 
lightning, heavy thunder and high wind, ended 
with only euough rain to fairly lay the dust. 
Promises of showers were frequent duriug the 
last half of the month hut they only inspired 
our hopes and passed around. A field of corn 
near me, planted on June 8, did not come np 
till after the drought ended, July 5, when we 
had a fine three hours’ geutle rain. Now we 
are having the promise if not the reality of the 
other extreme, ample rainfalls occurring at in¬ 
tervals of three or four days. Vegetation of all 
kinds, weeds not excepted, is “ booming.” 
Corn has more than doubled its bight since the 
4th, and is looking splendid. The light hay 
crop has been supplemented by a large breadth 
of corn fodder which since the rains, has come 
up and promises well Pastures arc agaiu 
looking green and we hope soon to suspend 
feeding which we had to resort to. Late pota¬ 
toes look well. Grain is very short in the 
straw aud head, but generally well filled. With 
economy and a favorable Fall, we hope to 
bridge over the los6 from drought. e. w. 
N. Y., Attica, Wyoming Co,, July 22.—Our 
apple crop last season was excessive in yield, 
but the fruit proved a miserable, failure, owiug 
to premature decay,caused by unequal ripening 
in our super heated and abnormal atmosphere. 
However carefully handled, fruit, whether in 
piles or m the barrel, rotted rapidly, and the 
little that was saved hardly paid the coat of 
handling and marketing. This year the trees 
show a comparatively small yield; the fi uit is 
of imperfect shape and is fast dropping from 
the trees. Pastures are fair; the hay crop is 
considerably less than last year. Dairying 
pays well. 3. b*. 
Vt., Middlebury, Addison Co., July 23.— 
We have had a very warm and dry Spring and 
Summer. The thermometer has stood at 100 
degrees several days. We have had showers 
occasionally since tbe first of July. The hay 
crop was light, ouly about one half the usual 
amount. Fall-sown wheat was killed out very 
badly last Winter. Clawson is the leading 
variety here. Not much Spring wheat was 
sowed. Oats are looking nice and are about 
ready for harvest. Corn promises to be a 
good crop, and potatoes a fair one. No sorg¬ 
hum is raised in this vicinity. The small-fruit 
crop was very light on account of the dry 
weather. There will not be very many apples, 
as it is not the “ beariug ” year. w. m. e. 
Wash. T’y., Lopez Island, San Juan Co.. 
July 17. Crops look well. Not much wheat 
is raised on this island; although all grains do 
well here, except corn which cannot be raised 
to advantage. Potatoes are the main reliance 
of uew settlers. Thu yield is from three to 
fifteen tons per acre. No sorghum is grown 
here. All fruits except peaches and grapes do 
better than iu Pennsylvania or New York, es¬ 
pecially small fruits. r. j. h. 
Wis.. Darlington, Lafayette Co., July 19.— 
Corn, oats and flax are very promising. Wheat 
rye and barley are not as good. The first 
three are much the most largely grown here; 
the others come iu the ordei named. Interest 
in the growth of sugar cane is rapidly spread 
ing, but it is not growc much yet. Fruit 
prospects here were scarcely ever better than 
now, but we are mostly coufined to apples and 
small fruits. Of apples. Russet, Northern 
Spy, Ben Davis, Faiueuse, Duchess and Astra- 
chau have proved most satisfactory, w. j. b. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must bo accompanied by the name and 
address of the writer to insure attention.] 
X Native Silk-worm. 
A. M. Van A., Fort Howard, Wis., sends a 
large worm which he found on a gooseberry 
bush, and asks for its name. 
Ans. —The larva was received alive, though 
rather starved from its long journey without 
food. It is the larva of a native silk-moth 
known as Attaeus Cecropia. It belongs to the 
family Bombycidie, and is among the largest 
of our insects, the larva measuring three in¬ 
ches or more when full-grown, and the moth 
expanding its wings five and a half to six in¬ 
ches. The larva is a great feeder and is found 
on apple, cherry, plum, oak and elm trees, 
and sometimes on currant, gooseberry and 
barberry bushes, during July and August. At 
first the young worm is of a deep yellow color, 
with black warts on the back, but it gradually 
changes to a clear, light green. On each of 
the second and third rings are two large, 
globular, coral-red warts, and on each of the 
seven following rings are two yellow warts, 
with a single larger one on the eleventh ring. 
On each side of the body are two rows of light 
blue warts, and an additional short row below 
them along the first five rings. In early Sep¬ 
tember this caterpillar spins a cocoon about 
three inches long, of strong, yellow-brown 
silk, and it remains in this form till the follow¬ 
ing June, when the moth appears, mates and 
lays its eggs, which again go through the same 
cycle of changes. If they were numerous they 
would be quite destructive, but they are hap¬ 
pily found iu small numbers. 
Miscellaneous. 
T. 8. (r-, St. Johnsville, IV. Y., asks which of 
the following strawberries are the best: Cre¬ 
scent Seedling, Downing, Great American, 
Forest Rose. Monarch of the West, and are 
there any better; 2, which arc the best Black¬ 
cap raspberries and the best blackberries ? 
His land is a sandy loam and muck on a level 
bottom in a valley; 3. what new kinds of 
fruit trees and plants would be likely to do 
well there ? 
Ans. —We have during the present year given 
in our columns very explicit information re¬ 
specting the kinds inquired about, and eugrav- 
iDgs and descriptions were presented last year. 
Our friend is referred, therefore, to back num¬ 
bers for detailed information. The present 
issue also contains much information ou the 
subject. Crescent Seedling is prolific. The 
berry is soft and of poor quality. Charles 
Downing Is excellent in every way. Great 
American is generally a failure. Forest Rose 
is large, firm, and of good flavor. Monarch 
of the West is an old sort, but excellent in 
every way. There are few of the newer varie¬ 
ties which will equal it in size, quality, pro¬ 
ductiveness or adaptability to different soils 
and situations. 2 Gregg is a new and first- 
rate Black-cap. Try the Snyder and Taylor 
blackberries. They are productive and hardy. 
Of the better-known kinds Ki.tatinny is the 
best. 3. As to “ trees aud plants,” our inquirer 
must consult our columns from week to week. 
Everything new and at all meritorious is 
placed before the reader, oftentimes with en¬ 
gravings from life. 
M. A. II. B., Plymouth Union, Vt., has two 
tea plants and an orange tree, and he wants to 
know how to cultivate them and how to cure 
the tea leaves. 
Ans. —Orange trees and tea plants eanuot be 
grown in the North except in a green-house, 
and then they will have no value otherwise 
than as curiosities and for ornament. The 
curing of tea leaves is an intricate process, 
which requires experience and special appa¬ 
ratus to make it a success, and it would hardly 
be justifiable to procure these necessities for 
the crop of two small plauts. The culture in 
the green-house of the two kinds of plants is 
much the same. Keep them iu about 55 deg. 
to 00 deg. F. in winter aud transplant to larger 
pots la the Spring when needed. Give moder- 
erately rich soil, and keep them clean of 
scales. 
8. O., Aihen, S. G., asks what is the best 
time to sow canary seed ? 
Ans. —Canary grass yields from 30 to40 bush¬ 
els of seed per acre. When it is young cattle 
eat it, but as it is au annual and not a luxuriant 
grower, it is not much valued as a fodder crop, 
but is mainly grown for its seed for bird feed. 
It* should be planted early in Spring in the 
above section. 
O. M. T., OrUtnd Ind., asks how peanuts 
should be cultivated and raised; his soil is 
a sandy loam, and he thinks it would be well 
adapted for their growth. 
Ans.—W e have answered this query so often 
of late that we will refer our friend to pages 
59, 218 and 490 ot the Rural for 1879, and to 
page 299 of the current volume. 
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COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED FOR THE WEEK END! N 0 
Saturday, July Slst. 
j. L.—P.—8. W.—J. S.—A. A. W.—H. R. S.— 
HL A. P.—S. II.—M. E, G.—S. J. V.—W. H. E.— 
T H. H.-M. J. G.—H. A.-S. K.-O. M. T. -D. J. 
a.-k. l b.-a. h. w.-s. a, m.-r. g.-l. s.-g. 
II. F., thanks.—A. B. A.—T. B. C.—S. F.— 
“Reader.”—W, 8.—A. C. M.—E. C. P.—A. E. S.— 
A. AL, thanks.—G. MeF.—C. J. P., thanks.—J. W. 
C.—L. R. AlcA.—N. J.S.—H. G. XI.—II. G. H.—8, 
B. P„ thanks.-W. J. C.-H. D. E-L. il.-W. S.— 
C. 8. N—R. 8.—A. G.—F. L. T.—R. S.-S. T.—W. 
H.-H. E. T.-J. P.-R. S. W.-M. 8.—J. W.-S. T. 
H.—James V., thanks.—L. W.—A. L. T.—J. G.— 
