216 
APRIL S 
•Wisccllimmts. 
CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
The Gould Nursery, Beaver Dam, Wis¬ 
consin. A wholesale price list of nursery stock 
of all kinds. 
Wm. B. Reed, Chambersburg, Pa. Cata¬ 
logue of roses, hardy shrubs, grape-vines and 
small fruits. 
Hovby’s Illustrated Seed Catalogue. Grass 
and clover seeds, insect destroyers, etc. 69 
Tremont St., Boston, Mass. 
P, M. AUGUR & Sons, , iddlefield, Conn. A 
catalogue of fruit trees, grape-vines and small 
fruits of all kinds, and ornamental trees and 
shrubs. 
Fred W. Kelsey, 20b Broadway. N. Y. A 
circular of novelties and very rare plants. 
Specialties among new roses and chrysan¬ 
themums. 
William Rennie, Toronto, Can. An illus¬ 
trated circular of the Elevator Ditching Ma¬ 
chine. with testimonials from farmers who 
have used it. 
R. H Allen & Co., 189 and 191 Water St., 
New York. Catalogue (88 pages) of farm, 
garden and flower seeds; roots, plants and gar¬ 
den requisites; also agricultural implements. 
William H. Moon, Morrisvillc, Berks Co., 
Pa. Illustrated catalogue of large and small 
fruits of all kinds, ornamental trees and shrubs 
—hedge plants, herbaceous plants and roses. 
Waldo F. Brown, Oxford, O. This is Uncle 
Waldo’s eighteenth annual catalogue of vege¬ 
table and flower seeds. It also offers eggs of 
purs strains of Plymouth Rocks and Light 
Brahmas. 
F. C. HEtNEMANN, Erfurt, Germany. A 
large, handsomely illustrated catalogue of 
flower and vegetable 9eeds. Our readers may 
apply for this as for American catalogues, ad 
dressing the above firm. 
Aaron Low, Essex, Mass. An illustrated 
catalogue (70 pages) of seeds of all kinds, im¬ 
plements and fertilizers. Cabbage seed a 
specialty. A well-selected list of potatoes and 
vegetables. Free to all. 
E. H. Upson, Wilraot, Noble Co., Ind. 
Circular of the Cranberry White seed corn, 
which he claims to be the ‘-best variety of 
dent corn grown in the North.” Also Light 
Brahma eggs, warranted fertile. 
The Stores & Harrison Co., Painesville, 
O. Descriptive and illustrated catalogue of 
fruits of all kinds—nuts, ornamental trees, 
shrubs, bulbs, etc. In applying for this cata¬ 
logue, it may be designated as No. 1. 
William Parry, Parry P, O., New Jersey. 
A catalogue of small fruits and fruit trees. 
Oue of the several headquarters of the Kieffer 
Pear. Mr. Parry will be prepared to sell carp 
next Fall, having constructed suitable ponds 
for their propagation. 
Gardner B. Weeks, Syracuse, N. Y. 
Illustrated catalogue of Grappling Hay Fork 
and Railway Hay Conveyor. This was 
given the highest premium by the New York 
Agricultural Society, aud it is claimed to be 
the most complete fork and conveyor in use. 
Jos. Breck & Sons, 51, 53 aud 53 North 
Market Street, Boston, Mass. Tliis is a hand¬ 
some seed catalogue of 112 pages. It claims 
for Brack's Excelsior Pea that, of 22 varieties 
of early peas, this proved to be the earliest 
and most productive—requiring no bushing, 
and beiug of a sweet, delicate flavor. 
We wish that those of our friends who can 
afford to do so would purchase a small quan¬ 
tity of many of the earliest peas in cultiva¬ 
tion ” offered by our seedsmen advertisers, 
and plant them side by side uuder the same 
conditions. The Rural will do its share. Let 
us ascertain which is the best and earliest 
pea, 
E. W. Weld, Jamestown, N. Y. An il¬ 
lustrated catalogue (65 pages) of fruits, orna¬ 
mental trees, grape-vines, small fruits, shrubs, 
plants, roses, etc. A suggestive engraving 
shows two homes, one that does not patronize 
the nurseryman, the other that does. This 
catalogue has a well selected list of novelties. 
T. B. Evkreit & Co , 43 South Market St., 
Boston, Mass, A finely illustrated catalogue 
(60 pages) of Wind-mills, Force Pumps Fruit 
Driers, Butter Workors and Printers, Churns, 
Rollers, Lawn Sprinklers, Lawn Mowers, 
Plows and Cultivators. The Matthews’s Hand 
Cultivator, Drill and Hoe, will please many of 
our friends. 
E. P. Roe, Coruwall-on-the-Hudson, Orange 
Co., N. Y. A catalogue of small fruits of all 
lauds, and a well-selected list, of grapes. Mr. 
Roe’s “ Last Chat with Patrons.” makes us sad 
that one who has done so much to bring about 
the present appreciation of small fruits, should 
now feel constrained to turn his business over 
to other persons. 
Challenge Wind-Mill and Feed Mill 
Co. Batavia, Illinois. A catalogue of testi¬ 
monials setting forth the advantages of this 
wind mill, together with directions and war- 
ranty. The Company warrant the Challenge 
Mill for one year iu every way\ and should it 
blow off the tower agree to furnish a new 
mill free of charge. 
HENCH & Dromgold, York, Pa., aud Or¬ 
ville, Ohio. A catalogue of Hench s Improved 
Riding or Walking Cultivator, with double¬ 
row corn-planter aud fertilizer attachment. 
The warranty is given that if any machtue 
cannot be made to do good work, the defective 
parts will be replaced or the machines taken 
back, and the money (or note) returned. 
E & J. C. Williams. Montclair, N. J. A 
catalogue of the best of the small fruits— 
strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, cur¬ 
rants, grapes-, and leading varieties of apples, 
pears, etc. A colored plate of the James V r ick 
Strawberry aud Fay’s Currant. The lists are 
made out from a careful experience, and the 
plants will prove of the first quality aud true 
to name. 
Whitman Agricultural Co., corner of 
Eighth Street and Clark Avenue, St. Louis. 
Mo. A valuable catalogue of 112 pages, aud 
200 illustrations of Hay Presses, Horse 
Powers, Cider Mills, Corn Shellers. Road 
Scrapers, Levelers, Feed Cutters, Feed Mills, 
Wheelbarrows, Trucks, Cars, Wagons, etc., 
etc. Send for this catalogue. It is valuable 
as a book of reference. 
Thurston & Brigham, 617 Pearl St.. Buf¬ 
falo. N. Y. An ill ustrated catalogue of pocket 
knives aud razors of all sorts, ranging in price 
from 20 cents to $1.50. Every knife and razor 
is warranted. If not satisfactory, the money 
will be refunded. The knives and razors are 
sent by mail, the postage paid by the above 
tirra. Those who send in orders for 45 are 
entitled to a 60 cent knife free. The catalogue 
will be sent free to all applicants. 
Ellwanger & Barry. Rochester, N. Y. 
A supplementary list of novelties and special¬ 
ties of fruits, roses, hardy shrubs, etc. A col¬ 
ored plate of a Dew gooseberry named “In¬ 
dustry.” The firm thinks that this variety is 
destined to revolutionize gooseberry culture 
in this country. Although a foreign sort.it 
has, during three years, proven a vigorous 
grower, an immense yielder.and has shown no 
sign of mildew. The berry, as shown, is deep 
red in color, measuring one-and a-half by one- 
and-a-quarter inch in diameter. 
Belcher & Taylor, Chicopee Falls, Mass. 
Descriptive and illustrated catalogue of Self- 
sharpening Feed Cutters and other cutters in 
great, variety; corn shellers; plows, conical, 
cylinder, double mold-board, subsoil, reversi¬ 
ble iron-beam or swivel; harrows from the 
old A harrow-, through various kinds to the 
disc and spring-tooth: cultivators, hoeing ma¬ 
chines, tobacco ridgers and cultivators, graiu 
thrashers, fau mills, etc. Catalogue free to 
all of our readers who apply totbeabove firm 
U. S. Wind Engine and Pump Co. Ba¬ 
tavia, Illinois. A catalogue of Halladay’s 
Standard Wind-Mill *‘l X L” and “Corn- 
King” Shellers, teed mills, horse powers aud 
jacks, hay carriers, horse hay-talks, pumps, 
itc. The Company warrant the Hulladay 
iViml-Mill to be a good, durable, self-regula- 
ing machine; to do good work in all 
linds of winds; to be more reliable In storms 
ind to possess more power than any other, and 
,hey agree to furnish, free of charge, the part 
>r parts necessary to make good any defect 
n workmanship or material used for the term 
/r oue year from date of erection. Those in- 
;erested should send for and examine these 
jatalogues. 
A Primer ok Horticulture for Michigan 
Fruit Growers, for the use of beginners iu 
Horticulture, by Secretary Charles W. Gar 
leld. Grand Rapids, Mich. This little pam¬ 
phlet of 55 pages, contains short, etear ar¬ 
ticles on 15 different subjects pertinent to 
Horticulture. Tho writers on the various 
topics are among the best posted men that 
jould be fouud in the whole country. We set 
DUt to make a few extracts that should give a 
general idea of its contents; but we found the 
task like selecting the best parts of a perfect 
card of White Clover honey, we would ha ve to 
eat the whole to tell which was best. No be¬ 
ginner, or older grower either, should fail to 
send for it. We know they will read it. 
Michigan hardly realizes what a treasure 
she has in the .Secretary of her State Horti¬ 
cultural Society, who is devoting his life to 
the education and elevation of her horticul¬ 
turists. Oh, how we wish every State had 
such a man! 
The Home and Farm Manual. By Jona¬ 
than Periam. Price, $5 in boards, and $6 
in leather. A work of this kind has long been 
a desideratum among the farmers of the coun¬ 
try. It is an excellent cyclopedia of farm, 
garden and household information, besides 
furnishing a large fund of useful knowledge 
on architectural, legal, medical and social 
topics. We do not know of any investment 
which a farmer can make, which is likely to 
prove so profitable and satisfactory as the 
purchase of this work. Its arrangement is 
admirable, its language clear and concise, 
while its scope embraces almost every subject 
of interest in rural life. It contains 1,087 pages 
in one strongly and handsomely bouud volume, 
nearly square in shape, in size a medium 
quarto. It is printed in large, clear type, on 
fine calendered paper, and is copiously illus¬ 
trated by over 1,129 appropriate engravings, 
including 10 chromo-lithograph plates aud 
charts, and u full-page portrait of the author. 
It is sold only by agents, w-ho are sought 
everywhere by the publishers, N. D T. botnp- 
son & Co., N. W cor. 8th Street, Broadway, 
New York, and 1105 Olive Street, St. Louis. 
Report of the State Board of Agri 
culture of Pennsylvania for 1883. 
Thomas J. Edge, Secretary, Harrisburg, Pa. 
Pages 383. The contents of this volume are 
extremely interesting. Among other articles 
is a very thorough treatise upon the Guenon 
System by Willis 1>. Hazzard, the Secretary 
of the Pennsylvania Guenon Commission, 
which commends itself to all interested in se¬ 
lecting cows by the escutcheon. The Guenon 
system was based upon t he discovery that, 
on the posteriors of the bovine race, reaching 
from the vulva, and extending down over the 
udder aud on the inside of the thighs, a por- 
tion of the hair grew upwards, ainl was easily 
distinguished from the surrounding hair 
growing downwards. In so doiug, the up¬ 
ward hair takes different, shapes, which are 
called escutcheons. According to Guenon, 
tenpoiuts must conform to make a first-class 
animal—viz., 1. The skin. 2 Hair. 3. Con¬ 
formation. 4. Age. 5. Period of Gestation. 
6. Health 7. Feed. 8. Breed. 9. Size. IU. 
Escutcheon. The tenth poiut. has been well 
illustrated in Mr. Hazzard’s article. The sub¬ 
ject of Peach Yellows is handled by Prof. D. 
P. Penhallow, of Montreal, Canada, while 
that of Diurnal Rapacious Birds, In B. Barry 
Warren, is worthy the attention of all farm¬ 
ers whose flocks suffer from these pests. The 
balance of the volume is made up of short, in¬ 
teresting essays—boiled down and seasoned, as 
it were. 
THE KANSAS RAILROAD COMMISSION. 
Tbe Kansas Legislature enacted a law at its 
last session authorizing the appointment of 
three Railroad Commissioners, to carry out 
the provisions of a law to regulate freight aud 
passeuger rates, and with power to remedy 
any other grievances that might be pre¬ 
sented to them iu accordance with the law. 
The Commissioners were appointed, and 
have been employed for 18 mouths in theb 
duties. They wore supposed to be the right 
kind of men, and have been diligent in en¬ 
deavors to comprehend the situation: but to 
some of us it has seemed to occupy much at¬ 
tention to comprehend it. Vi c hear that one or 
two of tho important railroad branches of the 
northern part of tbe State have been com¬ 
pelled to ameliorate thiugs with some vigor, 
but beyond this no benefit has been made ap¬ 
parent to the people. 
We look upou this appointment of a com¬ 
mission as a success of the railroad lobby, aud 
acquiesced in by the Legislature to shift the 
responsibility of putting down the monopoly 
from the Legislature upon the Commission. 
The best we are disposed to hope f rom t he <_'om- 
mission, would seem to lie a full development 
of all the facts bearing on the question, with 
suggestions and recommendations, to be re¬ 
ported by them to the Legislature for action. 
It is impossible for the Legislature to make 
another shift without scorching comdenma- 
tion.—Parsons, Kan. B. 
RELIEVING CHOKED CATTLE. 
I read the articles under this title iu a late 
Rural, aud thought, if 1 was an old grand¬ 
mother, I knew a better way than any yet 
given; better because it is quicker, easier, and 
doesn’t hurt the poor creatures in the least. 
I remember when 1 was a little girl that our 
cow got choked with a potato, aud father 
hired TOO to run my hand and arm down 
Bossy’s throat and pull out the potato. It was 
not a bit pleasant. We have u better way 
now. If a creature gets choked, take some cold 
water and a rubber syringe and squirt a 
stream of cold water into one of its ears. It 
gives the nninml a surprise, and it shakes its 
head with a vengeance, that starts the obsta¬ 
cle from its throet with a jerk. 1 have seen 
it tried lots of times, even after hoe handles 
and broomsticks and divers other plans had 
been tried ineffectually, aud I never knew the 
cold water stream to fail on cattle or horses, 
or even hogs, gkandmotuku. 
♦ 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Indiana. 
Bruckville, Knox Co., March 17.—We 
have just experienced the coldest. \V inter on 
record here. The coldest day at sunrise was 
28 degrees below zero—24 degrees below hav¬ 
ing been the coldest ever known before. The 
weather has been fine for the past week, and 
the roads are getting good once more. Wheat 
is looking very bail. Everything will have to 
be iu its favor to produce an average crop this 
year. Clover has frozen out badly on heavy- 
clay lands, worse than at any time within ten 
years before. Peaches and blackberries are 
killed. Apples, plums, cherries, raspberries 
and strawberries are all right yet. Grapes 
also are uninjured. Farmers are busy sowing 
clover seed and planting early potatoes; will 
commence sowing oats this week. There will 
be au average area under corn. Farmers have 
full cribs hero, and they all look reasonably 
happy. Stock of all kinds look well. Cattle 
and hogs are scarce; nostockcrson the market. 
We want three tile factories, a man that under¬ 
stands cranberry farming, a gravel road, and 
then there will be a boom here; for we have 
the rest. J- M - 
Maryland. 
St. Michael’s, Talbot Co., March 12.—Win¬ 
ter closed very severely, the weather during 
February being cold, wet aud disagreeable. 
Mauy farmers allow their stock to run at large 
in their barn-yards a II Winter, and tbe animals 
have suffered greatly. Market produce is low, 
especially potatoes, which are bringing only 
25 and 30 cents in the Baltimore market; corn, 
60 cents; wheat, $1.16; butter, 30 cents, in good 
demaud ; blade fodder, $1325 per hundred¬ 
weight. Lambs are very plentiful; farmers 
are being offered $4 per head for them as soon 
as they weigh40 or 50 pounds. Beef is selling 
on the farm at 8k; cents dressed. Sweet pota¬ 
toes scarce aud high. Apples, $3 and $4 per 
barrel. Clover seed,-86.25 per bushel, Eggs, 
28 cents per dozen. Oats, 40 cents. ,t. h. s. 
Tennessee, 
Crooks hanks, Washington Co., March 8.— 
We hud some very cold weather in January. 
Peaches were all killed. We are now having 
another cold spell, with plenty of snow. Fann¬ 
ers very backward with Spring work. j. a. j. 
Texas. 
Cove, Coryell Co., March 11.—Last year was 
one of the driest and worst for crops that we 
have had for many years, and the farmers 
generally- were behind with their work in the 
Spring; but it is quite different now. They 
are all in fine spirits, and think we are bound 
to have good crops this year. Their lands are 
generally broken and iu line condition for 
planting, and a tew have already planted corn. 
Oats are generally up. Some that were up 
before the last freeze were killed out pretty 
badly. Wheat looks well,considering the cold 
Winter, aud prospects arc good fur u fine crop. 
Cattle look very well, very few having died 
through the Winter. Yearlings are selling tor 
about the same as last Spring—for from $12 to 
$14; cows aud emves which sold at from $5 to 
$10 less than a year ago, uow sell at from >25 
to $30; corn, 60 cents; wheat, $1. G. J. B. 
RURAL SEED REPORTS. 
OIlnncAotn. 
Chippewa Falls, Pope Co.—The Rural 
Blush Potato, cut into seven pieces, with one 
eye to a piece, yielded 24 pounds of nice, large 
tubers. The flo wore were splendid. The other 
seeds did not do well, as the season was too wet 
and cold. J. a. r. 
Wisconsin. 
South Byron, Fond Du Lac Co.—My small 
Blush Potato was planted in seven hills, iu com¬ 
mon soil, and received no extra care. The 
vines kept green until frosts; yield, 31 pounds 
of fair-sized tubers. The Shoe-peg Corn did 
not ripen. I have 20 Niagara Grape seed 
liugs. w. A. 
Communications Received fok the week ending 
Saturday. March 39 
K. H. 8.—1>. S. P. T. E. A.-G. J. G.—H. A.—W. R, 
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