SEPT. 25 
642 
THE SURAL NEW-YORKER. 
of agricultural colleges, shows pretty plainly 
that they themselves—or at any rate the best 
of them—are not quite satisfied with the present 
condition of things there. They seem to be 
constantly on the defensive, withont any visible 
assailant; always excusing, without any ac¬ 
cuser ; setting up men of Btraw, to knock them 
down easily—all of which is likely to beget in 
the public mind more than a suspicion that 
“there is something rotten,” Or at any rate 
not quite right, in the management of our 
agricultural schools and colleges." 
. --- 
BRIEFLET8. 
It is time to make preparations for Spring 
bulbs. Hyacinths should be planted a foot 
apart and six inches deep. Tulips about the 
same distance apart and four inches deep. The 
Boil should be deep and mellow. A mixture 
of ordinary garden loam, muck and sand— 
enriched with old manure—is excellent. The 
little sprightly crocus should not be forgotten. 
Purchase heavy, solid bulbs.“I have 
often noticed that where people are too poor 
to keep a dog, they generally keep two, and 
let them pick up their living where they can 
find it”—says C. R. D-, in the N. Y. Tribune. 
“This is particularly noticeable in sections of 
our country where the colored brother pre¬ 
dominates, there being sometimes a dog for 
every male member of the family, boy and 
man .”.The Crown Imperial may be 
interspersed among the Spring bulbs—so, in¬ 
deed, may the showy narcissus, but a bed of 
hyacinths and tulipB is so pretty in them¬ 
selves, that we prefer to have the narcissus 
and Crown Imperial separated from them. 
Last Fall we planted crocuses here and there 
beneath the sod of the sloping banks of the 
lake. The effect was beautiful. The blossoms 
pass away before it is necessary to cut the 
g ras6 .Rev. Johu Earle long ago wrote: 
“For botany has this great practical advan¬ 
tage over all other sciences as a means of uni¬ 
versal culture, that the materials of it are the 
most generally accessible of any scientific ma¬ 
terials in the world. Within the ordinary 
walking circuit of every habitation, unless it 
be in the heart of a great city, are to be found 
data for the whole study of botany. 
Ellwauger and Barry of Rochester, N. Y,, have 
tested many of the new peaches which have 
been advertised as earlier than the Amsden, 
and they find that Waterloo is as good and 
early as any of them.Prof. Sheldon's 
“Dairy Farming” speaks of a new antiseptic 
which will do away with common salt in pre¬ 
serving butter. It is called Glaeialine. It is 
tasteless, odorless and perfectly harmless. 
Prof. Sheldon has tested it to his satisfaction. 
No doubt it will soon be offered for sale in thiB 
country.The farmers need the im¬ 
mense quantities of fertilizers which cities 
produce and city people cry out for more 
cleanliness. Thus we have the supply and the 
demand. How unfortunate it is that the two 
classes cannot more profitably utilize this rela¬ 
tionship. ..... T. Z. Bullock of Delaware 
Co., Pa., has a hen now in her twentieth year. 
She has not laid an egg in ten years. 
The London Garden in a late number says : 
“It is to be hoped that American raisers, un¬ 
like ourselves, will not worry themselves and 
others by sending out many things, Bach as 
the tomato and melon, in which no real im¬ 
provement and little change is visible.” The 
writer of the above note cannot have seen our 
Acme. There has not been, it seems to us, for 
many a year, a more marked improvement in 
any fruit than is shown in this and the several 
varieties teat have sprung from the seed, all 
of which, as they do not differ materially from 
the parent, are not entitled to distinct names. 
.Mr. John B. Moore of Concord, 
Mass., sends ns by mail a bunch of bis Moore’s 
Early Grape. It is the first we have ever 
eaten, our own vines not yet having borne. In 
quality we prefer this to the Concord. It 
bears a close resemblance to Concord in ap¬ 
pearance and, being earlier, is well worthy of 
general trial.A friend makes the 
remark that he thinks Prof. A. E. Blount as 
much a benefactor to mankind as the origina¬ 
tor of the Early Rose Potato. We think so too. 
.... Mr 8. D. Fisher, of Illinois, reports from 
Fultz wheat a yield of 43$ bushels per acre. 
. It was drilled in at the rate of but 1$ bushel 
per acre. Fultz is, as he 6ays, a very hardy 
variety, and the straw is strong and not liable 
to rust. 
WHAT OTHERS SAY. 
Dwarf Pears.— Mr. J. J. Thomas, Horti¬ 
cultural Editor of the Country Gentleman, 
has been visiting some of the frnit farms about 
Batavia, N. Y. We commend his remarks to 
the consideration of Mr. Quinn, that un¬ 
relenting enemy of dwarf pears, In the 
town of Oakfield he found several well 
managed and profitable orchards of dwarf 
pears. Lorin Kathbun has a ten-acre pear 
orchard, chiefly of the Duchesse, the treeB 
beiDg sixteen yearn old. They are set 
twelve feet apart, and the outer branches 
nearly touch each other. A few years since 
this orchard bore 1,205 barrels of fine pears, o r 
over a barrel on an average for each tree. 
They were sold at $5 a barrel, giving $6,000 for 
the crop, or $600 per acre for the entiie 
orchard. This was his most profitable return, 
although in other years it has done well. The 
best paying crop on a small area several years 
since was from an older orchard of a little less 
than the fourth of an acre, which produced 19 
barrels, and which sold for $18 per barrel, 
making the sum of $340, or at the rate of 
$1,360 per acre. In the same neighborhood 
Julius Reed has a fine 400-acre farm, with some 
excellent orchards. From one-third of an 
acre of dwarf pear trees—all Duchesse, set 22 
years—he has sold the fruit iu the different 
years since bearing commenced for $2,340. 
Mr. Read has a fine apple orchard, from 20 to 
24 years old. The trees were planted 24 feet 
apart, with the intention of thinning them 
when the tops began to touch each other. 
Fruit Farms in Western N. Y.—Mr. Eli Tay¬ 
lor of the towu of Elba, occupies 420 acres of 
good farm land, and he has an admirable dwarf 
pear orchard of two and three-fourths acres. 
The net profits of the pear trees have, on au 
average of years, been equal to the net profits 
of all the farm besides, and in some years have 
exceeded those of the farm. There are over 
1,000 trees, 15 yearB old, planted 10 feet apart, 
aud their average product has for several 
years averaged about $1,000 a year. Mr. 
Taylor now plants his trees 12$ feet apart. He 
manures them moderately every year, and 
cultivates the ground. The trees are about 10 
feet high, are all Duchesse, and were bending 
under their heavy crops. He furnished 
the following statement of his receipts for 
the past nine years, which shows the con¬ 
tinuous profits: The trees were set in 1865, and 
in the year 1871 they bore 
21 barrels which sold at 810 per barrel, or for .... $210 
Iu 1872, 176 barrels sold at $6.60. -J6? 
1873, 280 “ ** 5.60. l.-fo 
1«74 210 “ “ 6.00.. 1|260 
1875, 330 *• " 5.50. 1,815 
1876, (ro crop). . , 
1877,460 barrels 4.00. 1.840 
1878, (no crop). 
1879, 160 barrels 4.d0. 
$8,072 
1880, crop not yet (fathered, but Mr. T. expects 
400 barrels. 
The experience of orchardists through this 
region of country (around Batavia, N. Y.,) 
giveB the strongest preference to the Baldwin 
among apples for profit, and to the Duchesse 
among pears. The large size of this pear 
makes it profitable in market, and its hardi¬ 
ness aud resistance to the blight add greatly to 
its value. Where pear orchards were planted 
maDy years ago of different leading varieties, 
it is common to find that all have disappeared 
by disease or feebleness except the Duchesse ; 
and fine orchards of this sort, covering several 
acres, with scarcely a vacancy, the trees from 
10 to 20 years in bearing, show its general re¬ 
liability. A single variety, however, ripening 
nearly at a fixed period, can never give a full 
supply for the market through an entire sea¬ 
son, and experiments should not be reliu- 
guished to obtain a succession, at least through 
Autumn and Winter, of equally reliable sorts. 
Tub Soiling Cattle Question.— Major 
Freas would like to know what progress the 
principle of soiling cattle i6 really making in 
this country. The question has now been be¬ 
fore the people for many years. Our agricul¬ 
tural papers have teemed with editorials 
recommending it, and correspondents have 
from time to time given glowing accounts of 
the advantages to be derived from its general 
adoption. In fact, we have even seen figures 
from those who have tried it, showing that 
nothing in the whole range of farming opera¬ 
tions had heen so very profitable as the prac¬ 
tice of feeding cattle—or soiling them, as it is 
called—over the old plan of allowing them to 
roam at will over the pasture-fields. That this is 
a wasteful way there is no doubt. The cattle 
tread down a good deal; their manure spoils 
much more; they are exposed to heat and 
drought and plagued by flies; they tread the 
land down hard and solid, which is unfavora¬ 
ble to vigorous vegetation; but worst of all is 
the heavy outlay in fencing required. Then 
the manure they make is scattered about, 
dried up by the winds and mostly wasted, 
while, when the cattle are fed iu a yard, the 
manure-pile which follows is by no means to 
be despised; indeed, it is the best bank account 
a farmer can have. 
With the many advantages which can thus 
be shown, aud which are unanswerable, why 
is not Boiling more popular ? The Major sus¬ 
pects it is the labor question over again. An 
extra hand has to be employed to cut and feed 
cattle so treated, and it is likely that the farmer 
who cannot at times get hired help at anj 
price, will not be powerfully captivated with 
figures which he canuot realize, however cor¬ 
rect they may be. He has of necessity to get 
along aB best he may, with no help or little 
help, letting go the chances to make larger 
profits, which he could do if he could get men 
to work for him at moderate wages. 
The labor question is indeed the great ques¬ 
tion of the times. It is worse now than it was 
before the era of improved machinery. Most 
people could manage to find profitable work 
for a man or two all the year round; now the 
temptation to do without manual labor, except 
at seed-time and harvest, is great. If this is 
not the secret why soiling has failed to become 
generally popular, the Major would like to 
know what it is. 
Patent Flour. —The American Miller gives 
in a few words the gist of how this is manu¬ 
factured : The best flour used to be made of 
Winter wheat. Spring wheat yielded either 
much less in quantity, or else so much of the 
bran got into the flour iu its manufacture that 
itB color was intolerably dark. The wheat 
would be ground and then bolted. In the re¬ 
fuse—the bran and middlings—would be in¬ 
cluded a large proportion of the weight of the 
Spring wheat, aud this would sell more particu¬ 
larly for food for horses. Now the best of flour, 
and the most expensive, is made of this very 
refuse of the old-fashioned process. It all 
came out of the discovery of a way to draw 
out the brau. Under the new process the 
wheat is ground about as before. The first- 
result, is an ordinary flour sold for exportation. 
Then the remainder is taken and put upon 
great horizontal sieves, and while agitation 
is going on there, an ingenious system of 
draught is rushing np through, and carries off 
the bran. What is left are the glutinous por¬ 
tions of the wheat, the most nutritious and 
most productive, and out of these, purified now 
by the drawing off of the bran, we get our new- 
process flour. The result of the discovery of 
the process has been to make the poor Spring 
wheat of Minnesota and upper Wisconsin the 
most valuable kind of grain. 
Mr. James Vick thinks, and we fully agree 
with him, that fine specimens of vegetables or 
fruit grown in any way that is impracticable 
for a general crop ought not to be allowed in 
competition at our fairs and shows. The great 
value of a fine exhibition of garden or field 
products depends upon Its demonstration of 
ihe worth of the method, or methods, em¬ 
ployed in producing it. This fact should al¬ 
ways be kept in mind by examining commit¬ 
tees, and when any entries are made of arti¬ 
cles grown under conditions not available in 
general cultivation, they should be ruled out 
of competition. 
A writer in the Ohio Farmer says that he 
is not an old wheat raiser, but has not lived 
these last few years to no purpose, and thinks 
he has struck the key note of success in rais¬ 
ing wheat, in a thorough fitting of the soil 
before sowing the seed, and he is convinced 
that a poor piece of land, dragged, rolled and 
then refitted until the ground is as mellow as an 
“ash heap,” will produce a better yield of 
wheat than a rich piece of laud poorly plowed, 
half dragged, and the seed scattered among 
the lumps and clods, and a portion of it with¬ 
out covering or any chance to germinate and 
obtain a hold. 
Swindlers at Fairs. An editorial in the same 
excellent farm journal speaks of the number of 
professional swindlers who attend the fairs, 
whose sole business is to rob unsuspecting 
people of their money. They travel from one fair 
to another, the entire season, and where- 
1 ever they can gain admittance to the grounds 
with their devices, they are sure to reap a rich 
harvest. This is evident from the large license 
fees they offer for the privilege, varying from 
$50 to $2,000, according to the nature of the 
device they operate with- One of the “ Wheel 
of Fortune” men, last year, told the the writer 
of this that he paid $1,500 for the privilege of 
three days at a certain fair and then cleared 
$1,500! And this iB only a small per cent, of 
the money lost by the persons who patronize 
the wheel. The fortune wheel is only one of a 
thousand ingenious and deceptive devices used 
to entrap the unwary, every one of which is an 
outrageous fraud. We beg our readers, now, 
at the outset of the fair season, to frown down 
this swindling and robbery, in every way pos¬ 
sible. Don’t go near them, and keep all others 
away over whom you have any influence. 
Perhaps the heaviest returns ever obtained 
in this country from a single sheep were se¬ 
cured la6t year by Daniel Smith, of Hinsdale, 
N. H., says the Germsntown Telegraph. He 
raised from a Shropshire ewe three lambs, 
which he sold for $18, and the wool of the 
ewe for $1.50, making the total income from 
one sheep $19.50. 
To Call Sheep. —“ Our friend, C. B. Eaton,” 
says Col man s Rural World, “who prefers to 
live on the cheap hillB of the Mississippi River, 
with enough rich bottom lands adjoining, 
rather than go to Texas or New Mexico to 
raise Bheep, has taught his flock to come by 
blowing a horn. His 400-acre pasture is every 
part ot it within easy hearing of his conk 
shell- The Bheep will lift their heads at the 
firBt toot and come on the full run so see what 
is wanted of them. They expect and always 
get salt or corn for their obedience at the call. 
It saves many a long tramp.” 
Harvest potatoes always in cool, clear, 
weather and when the soil is dry, that the po¬ 
tatoes may come out clean. Whether un¬ 
earthed by hoe, patent digger or plow, give 
the outside moisture time to evaporate pre¬ 
vious to storing. Moisture is favorable to 
heating, which in turn induces decay; hence 
it Ib necessary to have the potatoes thoroughly 
dry, especially when a considerable quantity 
is to be put away in bulk.—Farm and Fireside. 
September Management of Bees.— This is, 
in our opinion, the best time in all the year to 
introduce Italian queens, or to change queens 
in any hive where the bees are not in all re¬ 
spects what you wish, or if the queen is not 
prolific. Even if you have good Italian stock, 
it pays to get an imported queen or a queen 
from a new strain from a reliable source. 
Remove honey boxes as soou as filled, or 
small frames from boxes. When removing 
tbem it is useless to put on au empty box now 
as you would do earlier in the year, as bees 
seldom begin in a new one. But remove a 
partially filled box to the place from which 
yon took the full one, as the bees that have 
been engaged in sealing that one over will go 
on with the same work iu another. 
As soon as frost comes (the very next morn¬ 
ing if possible) remove all boxes, for in a 
short time the bees will begin to take honey 
from them.—Bee Keepers’ Magazine. 
(Continued on page 647.) 
RURAL 6PECIAL REPORTS. 
Fla., Ocala, Marion Go., Sept. 5.—Sunday 
morning, 29th, ult., opened with one of the 
most severe and violent cyclones or tornadoes 
ever seen in this portion of Florida, at least. 
I have never before witnessed anything to 
compare with it. Jt was awful, fearful. It 
blew a perfect tornado all day and night until 
Monday evening, when it began to relax. At 
times the Storm seemed to shake the very 
earth, bringing down the unripe oranges in 
showers, so that they covered the ground, and 
battering the trees to pieces. So terribly vio¬ 
lent was the wind that every shade tree in 
town—oak, hickory and sycamore—are pros¬ 
trated, giving the place a forlorn and wrecked 
appearance. The orange crop of the whole 
State must have Buffered greatly, and been 
entirely ruined in many sections. Cotton, too, 
has been whipped to destruction, and the 
bolls are scattered everywhere. There are 
sad reports, too, of shipwrecks and loss of 
life along the coast. w. h. 
Illinois, Bailey ville, Ogle Co., Sept., 10th.— 
“ What will the harvest be ?" might now be 
supplemented with “What has the harvest 
been ?’’ Haying began here about the 15th or 
20th of June ; but as the weather was showery 
and at times quite wet until after the Fourth 
of July, a large amount of hay was damaged; 
and as most of the old clover was killed or 
eaten by cut-worms in the early part of the 
season, the hay crop throughout this section 
was light and the quality poor. The late 
crop has proven better tbau the early; and as 
straw is plentiful and corn-fodder will be 
abundant (if the farmers will save it), there 
will be no scarcity of "rough’’feed for stock 
the coming Winter. The winter wheat and 
rye harvest began the 2nd. and 3rd. of July, and 
was followed by the barley, Spring wheat and 
oat harvest, which continued until about the 
5th of August, by which time all, or nearly all, 
had been put in stack. As a large portion of 
the Winter wheat failed last Winter, and was 
plowed up in the Spring, and a considerable 
amount of what escaped winter-killing proved 
thin and weedy, the Winter wheat yield 
throughout this region is light, yet It aver¬ 
ages better per acre than the Spring wheat. 
The latter was injured by the hot humid 
weather and chinch bugs at the time it was 
maturing, aud Ib not over half an average crop. 
Some fields were not worth harvesting; others 
were tolerably good. The rye was generally a 
good crop—it seldom fails here. Barley, an 
average yield, but badly stained. Oats are 
light in weight, but measure out well. Thrash¬ 
ing began here about the 5th ult,, or as soon as 
the harvest closed, and the machines were all 
busy for some two weeks, when wet weather 
set In and no thrashing has been done since. 
The weather has been extremely warm and 
wet the past two weeks. This wet spell was 
preceded by a drought of a few weeks’ dura¬ 
tion, so the rain was needed and has done 
much general good to the Fall crops and the 
pastures and by putting the ground iu fine 
condition for plowing; hut it has also done 
some harm, mildewing the grain in stack, etc. 
The loss to the farmers from their grain grow¬ 
ing that was not securely stacked or iu barns, 
will be severely felt- Those were fortunate 
who got their gralu thrashed before the wet 
weather set in. From what was thrashed we 
learn that the yield varies greatly. Winter 
wheat yields from 10 to 80 bushels per acre—will 
probably average about 18 or 14 bushels. 
