2 
JAM § 
J8iagrxij)l)icrtl. 
CHARLES DOWNING. 
It is with pleasure we present to our 
readers this bold and striking likeness (Pig. 
1) of an old and honored correspondent of 
the Rural; a man the value of whose works 
is known the world over in horticultural 
and pomologieal circles, Mr. Charles Downing. 
Born in 1802, up to 20x631*8 of age, with his 
father, he passed away such time as he could 
employ, in pursuit of knowledge among 
plants and flowers, after which time he suc¬ 
ceeded his father and began and continued 
a ser ies ol' experiments in fruits, which have 
resulted iu placing him foremost among all 
living pomologists. 
From 1836 to 1838 he was engaged in part¬ 
nership with his brother, who afterwards 
began his literary work. In the compilation 
of his book of fruits, Mr. A. J. Downing was 
greatly indebted to his brother Charles for 
information drawn from long experience and 
the accurate knowledge he had obtained 
through fruiting and comparing thousands of 
varieties of fruits. After the death of Mr. 
A. J. Downing, his book. Fruit and Fruit 
Trees of America, passed through several 
editions, each edition having been thoroughly 
revised and enlarged by Mr. Charles Down¬ 
ing, until the present edition furnishes the best 
pomologieal book published. 
The subject of this sketch is of a modest, 
retiring disposition, with quiet and accurate 
powers of observation. On November 9, 18S2, 
Mr. Downing was knocked down by a horse- 
car in Chatham Square iu this city, and two 
of his ribs were broken. As might have been 
expected, considering his great age, the shock 
was very severe, and for a time his life was 
despaired of. But, thaDks to a vigorous con¬ 
stitution, he rallied from the shock, although, 
we greatly regret to say, he has never fully 
recovered from its effects. With the rest of 
the world, we would wish this veteran pomo- 
logist many more years of happiness and use¬ 
ful labor, even though the three score years 
and ten have passed, by more than a decade. 
favm (Topics. 
RESOLUTIONS FOR THE NEW YEAR. 
Go out behind the barn, roll up your sleeves, 
tuck your trousers into your boots, and look¬ 
ing over your left shoulder at the poultry- 
house, resolve— 
That you won’t allow the basement of your 
trousers to wear the paint off the plow beam. 
That you won’t keep a worthless dog. 
That you will be kinder to your wife, fam¬ 
ily and acquaintances. 
That you won’t go in debt. 
That you will be a better farmer than ever 
before. 
That you will live better this year than in 
the past. 
That you will keep accounts. 
That vou will know what your family ex¬ 
penses are. 
That you will know what each crop costs, 
and what it brings in. 
That you will be economical, but not pe¬ 
nurious. 
That you will take an interest in the public 
schools and the education of your children. 
That you won’t pasture the highways, or 
allow your neighbor to do so .if you can help 
yourself. 
That you will let the boys aud girls have 
games, go to parties, have a horse to ride, 
aud a carriage to ride in, if you can possibly 
afford it. 
That you won’t go off to your work swear¬ 
ing when the minister comes to call, and then 
sit in the shade three hours to be flattered by 
the man that get6 you to put your name to 
what; appears to be a simple contract for the 
agency of a sickle-grinder, but which hap¬ 
pens to be a promissory note for two hundred 
dollars. 
That you will keep your- tools in the dry 
when not in use. 
That yon will clean the spade'aud hoe when 
done using them. 
That you will oil the harness twice a year. 
That you will plant only the best varieties 
and use only the best implements. 
That you will plant less aud cultivate more. 
That you will never plant corn on ground 
not properly prepared. 
That you will begin work at .the earliest 
possible seasonable moment. 
That you will cultivate your com at least 
four times. 
That you will prize the compost heap as the 
apple of your eye, and not allow it to burn its 
heart out or the rain to wash it away. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
That you will keep the weeds in the fence 
corners cut down like the profits from bad 
farming. 
That wheu you^are called out to work on 
the roads you will go willingly and labor as 
becomes an honest man. 
That you won’t plant a tree aud then let it 
die for lack of attention. 
That you won’t let the rabbits and mice 
girdle the yoimg orchard trees. 
That you won’t neglect to manure the orch¬ 
ard as you do other crops. 
That you will grub out a tree as soon as it 
dies and put another in its place the next 
Spring or Fall. 
That you will put the ashesJ’uround the 
orchard trees. 
That you will never plant another tree on 
laud not underdained, if it needs draining. 
That you will prune when the sap is not 
flowing, aud cover the wounds with wax or 
paint. 
That you won’t let a traveling ageDt with a 
book of wonderfully colored plates take you 
in again. 
That you will not make a mule pasture of 
the orchard. 
That you will keep a register of the trees 
you plant. 
That you will attend good horticultural 
meetings. 
That you will make the berry patch twice 
as large as it is. 
That you will cultivate the raspberries. 
That you won’t let the weeds hide the black¬ 
berries. 
That you will reset the strawberry bed. 
That you will keep the dead canes out of the 
currants. 
That you will give the grapes a more eleva¬ 
ting trellis than the earth. 
That you will send for specimens of all the 
rural journals, carefully compare them, and— 
subscribe for the best. 
That you will eat more fruit and be hap¬ 
pier. 
That you won’t sell the best fruit and keep 
the inferior for your family to eat. 
That at all times you will give your stock 
plenty of pure water. 
That you will provide shelter in Summer 
and in Winter. 
That you will not feed with a sparing hand. 
That you will keep only the best breeds. 
That you will change litter frequently. 
That you will gjvethe hogs a chance to be 
cleanly, and if that don’t suffice you will com¬ 
pel them to be so. 
That you will provide a variety of whole¬ 
some food at seasonable times for your farm 
stock. 
That you will not abuse your horses and 
allow their shoulders to remain sore. 
That you will not dose your horses with all 
the vile decoctions the fiendish ingenuity of 
ignoraut, superstitious quacks has devised. 
That you will not make a cow feast on corn 
stubs and depend on a rail fence for shelter, 
and then wonder why she does not give milk. 
That you will have good clover pasture for 
your hogs. 
That you will not raise cockle-burrs to spoil 
the wool of the sheep or the manes of the 
horses. 
That you won’t force the swine to drink a 
gruel of tadpoles and mud. 
That you will have an early garden. 
That you will eat more vegetables aud pay 
fewer doctorVbills. 
That yon will not allow the manure to ac¬ 
cumulate in the poultry house during Winter, 
but mix it with soil, sand or muck in a shel¬ 
tered place. 
That you will keep a chicken-proof fence 
around the garden and yard. 
That you will have a beautiful home. 
That you will accept the Rubal’s advice 
as above given in a kindly spirit, its sin¬ 
cere thanks for your support in the past, and 
its sincere wishes that you may enjoy a thrice 
Happy New Year. 
ARTESIAN WELLS. 
The artesian well costs much more to sink 
than any other, but in every case this in¬ 
creased expenditure has been made worth the 
while, by reason of the amount of water fur¬ 
nished and the constancy of the flow. The 
flow has been known to vary very slightly in 
case of an extraordinary drought, but never 
to any great degree. 
The artesian well-sinker commences to bore 
on the very spot where the water is needed, 
without making any preliminary diggings or 
soundings, on the supposition that persever¬ 
ance will bring him at length to water. He 
does not pretend to say how deep he will have 
to go, or the kind or quality of the water he 
will obtain, but be asserts truly that every 
artesian well that has ever been sunk has at 
last come to water. [Thousands of vain at¬ 
tempts have been made to reach water by 
boring; but after penetrating to a great depth 
the attempts have been abandoned in dispair. 
Sometimes no water whatever has been struck, 
while at other times only seep veins that were 
soon exhausted have been found. Many such 
fruitless efforts to obtain water by means of 
artesian wells are chronicled every year. 
“Dry holes’ 1 are not confined to the “oil re¬ 
gions.”— Eds.] There is a layer of chalk con¬ 
taining water which varies iu its distance 
from the surface, in one place it may be but 
200 feet from the surface, in another it may 
be 2,000, but this, once reached, gives a uni¬ 
form aud steady flow. 
The first, thing to be done is to erect a high 
staging over the spot where the we(l is to be. 
Over a wheel, at the top of this staging, runs 
a stout cable, to one end of which is attached 
a drill, und the other end of which passes over 
a drum worked by steam power. The drill 
consists of a mass of the hardest steel, of the 
width of the bore, and of the bight of the 
staging. This is hauled up a few feet aud 
then quickly let go, steam power being used, 
and in this mauuer it forces its way into the 
earth until the bore reaches the solid rock, 
which forms the crust proper of the earth; a 
stout iron pipe is sunk in the hole so as to 
prevent gravel, sand end dirt from falling 
into it and thus obstructing the working of 
the drill. The work is quite difficult until 
the strata of solid rock are reached, but after 
that it becomes comparatively easy and un¬ 
interesting. The drill penetrates about 24 
feet in as many hours, hut this figure varies 
according to the hardnessof the rock. After it 
has been worked for about three hours it is 
hauled up and another sharper drill isputin its 
place, while the former one is heated in a fire 
aud re-sharpened. Between the times of chang¬ 
ing the drills a sand-pump is inserted into the 
bore for the purpose of clearing it of gravel, 
dirt and sand. Inasmuch asthe sand is heavier 
than the water, it sinks to the bottom of the 
bore. The sand-pump is a length of pipe which 
remaius closed until the bottom is reached 
when it opens by a mechanism which is 
operated as soon as it strikes the bottom. 
The sand aud water flow into the pipe, which, 
as soon as it leeves the bottom, closes, and 
thus carries its load to the surface, w'here it is 
discharged. This operation continues uutil 
the bore is comparatively clear of sand. 
Then a fresh drill is inserted and worked for 
three hours. These alternate operations con¬ 
tinue until the desired water stratum is 
reached. 
Here in the East, the water does not flow 
with sufficient force to be brought to the sur¬ 
face without the aid of u pump, but in the 
West, and Far West, the water often flow's 
with such force as to render a pump unneces¬ 
sary. 
In Boston a well had to be driven 2,600 
feet before water was reached. In some other 
places, tw-o, three, four and five hundred feet 
have been sufficient. But everywhere, whether 
the surrounding country has been flatoi hilly, 
or mountainous, perseverance lias brought its 
reward, in the object sought after, obtaining 
always a large and constantly flowiug stream. 
These two latter facts, being always of vital 
importance, should influence us in the choice 
of what kind of well we should have, and we 
should cheerfully go to this extra expense, 
knowing that it will be justified. h. p. 
Uural (Topics. 
Experiment ©rountijs of the griteal 
|Xeu’-\l other. 
TESTS OK NEW VARIETIES CONTINUED. 
Mayflower. Test 9«. —This was received 
from D. M. Ferry & Co., of Detroit, Michigan. 
It was planted in trenches a spade wide and 
four to five inches deep. A little soil 
was drawn over the seed pieces which 
were cut to double eyes and placed one foot 
apart, the trenches being three feet apart. 
Potato chemical fertilizer at the rate of *>00 
pounds to the acre was then spread In the 
trenches, and somewhat between them and 
the trenches were then tilled to the surface 
of the soil, which was not hilled up during 
the season, but cultivated perfectly fiat, as in 
our other tests. The seed potatoes received 
were beautifully smooth and shapely, nearly 
white, with eyes on the surface, and in form 
about twice as long as wide. The yield was 
544.50 bushels to the acre. There wen- large 
aud small potatoes at the rate of 159,720 to the 
aero, or an average of 11 to a hill. This ex¬ 
cluded all tubers less than one inch in diame¬ 
ter. The quality is mealy and dry—the flesh 
nearly white. Our cut (see page 5, Fig. 17) is a 
true port rait of the largest of the crop. 
Long-Kekpino Grapes.—Mi*. E. Wil¬ 
liams, of Montclair, N. J.. brought us bunches 
of different kinds of grapes on December 15, 
which he had preserved in paper boxes in his 
carriage-house. The bunches of Barry were 
compact and broad, the berries larger than 
those of any Concords ever raised here. The 
quality' is to our taste better iu every way than 
that of the Concord. The berry is black with 
a heavy blue bloom. 
Of several bunches of Pockliugton those 
raised in bags were of a pea-green color, 
while others not bagged, were of u. dull golden 
1 hue. The skins were soft, and the quality iu 
no way superior to that of the Concord. 
The Duchess was sweet, meaty, without 
any pulp whatever. The Vergennes was 
very plump and of a beautiful pink color 
with a rich bloom, the size of the bunches 
being scarcely larger than that shown on 
page 70s of the Rural, Herbert, closely re 
sembtes Burry in size, color and quality, with 
jiorhaps rather less astringeney about the 
skiu. The berries held very' firmly to the 
peduncles. 
Goethe was of a claret-red color, with not 
much pulp. This fails here on account of rot, 
mildew and lateness, and it often fails with 
Mi*. Williams for the same reasons. The 
bunches of Early' Dawn were long, slightly 
shouldered and compact; the berry small To 
medium in size, black with a blue bloom. The 
pulp had nearly changed to juice which was 
sweet and pleasant. 
Judging these grapes as they appeared on 
the above date, we should say the Vergennes 
would keep longest; then Herbert, Barry, 
Duchess, Poeklington, Early Dawn, and 
Goethe. 
Mr. Williams regards the Wilder, Herbert, 
and Barry, as the best of Mr. Rogers’s seed- 
liugs, ranking in the order named. 
Carp at the Rurxl Grounds.— We have 
received from the TJ. S. Fisb Commissioner 
16 carp, which have been placed in the little 
lake of the Rural Grounds. There is not 
much mud in the bottom, so that we do not 
suppose they will thrive. Still it will be an 
experiment, and that is what we are after. 
The LAbel Problem Solved.— Let us 
once more refer to the matter of obtaining 
the best label for marking plants. We prefer 
zinc for lubels and common lead pencils to 
mark them. The writing is at fii st faint, the 
same as if made on glass; but. soon becomes 
distinct when exposed to the weather. "We 
see no reason why the letters should not re¬ 
main distinct for 50 years or more The 
labels should be supported by copper wire 
passed through the hole twice, and pulled 
until the loop holds the zinc firmly. There is 
then no motion whatever of the label on the 
wire and the only objection which can be 
made to these labels is removed, viz., that the 
gradual swaying of the zinc on the wire final¬ 
ly wears the hole larger and larger until the 
zinc falls off. 
Long strips of zinc narrowed towards one 
end may be preferred by many, in which case 
the narrowed end is coiled about the plant to 
be marked; but after trying both kinds, we 
prefer the wire, for the reason that with it 
the label Is more easily adjusted to all sorts 
of plants aud stakes and held more securely iu 
place. 
<L\)i XHtmjarib 
GRAFTING THE GRAPE-VINE. 
For copies of the engravings illustrating 
this article we are indebted directly to the 
valuable Bushberg Catalogue, published by- 
Bush, Son & Meissner, of Bushberg, Jefferson 
County, Mo., and indirectly to M. Cbampm, 
to whoso book (“ Trait r tjitorique et pra¬ 
tique du Grejfoge de la Vignr') the Bushberg 
Catalogue expresses its obligations for the use 
of these cuts. We have, however, hod them 
re-engravod and, iu parts, redraw n. For most 
of the text wo have to express our obligations 
to both the Bushberg Catalogue and t,o M. 
Champin. 
Grafting the grape-vine is uow practiced ou 
a gigantic scale in Europe, where the contin¬ 
ued iuroads of the phylloxera have carried 
devastation and destruction over an immense 
area of vineyards, once thrifty aud blooming. 
Many methods have boon tried; untold sums 
of money have boon expended in vain attempts 
to check the march of this terrible euexny' of 
the European grape; but, alas! these attempts 
have practically proved to bo failures. By 
the application and continued use of chemical 
insecticides some vineyards have been kept up 
in a state of comparative health and produc¬ 
tiveness; but. unf jrtunately, the cost of these 
annual applications is too high for general use. 
Millions upon tnillionsof vines are now grafted 
in Europe every Spring, some ou simple cut¬ 
tings, some on nursery plants, and other*, in 
vineyard plantations; but iu all cases the 
grafting stock is of American descent. The 
stocks most generally employed for this pur. 
pose are types of our wild Vitis riparia, which 
