oil actual facts. Of course, one can conceive 
of such a thing, and shudder at the thought 
of a favorite animal being maimed; and at 
once the objection theoretically becomes a 
poteut one. but I think very few persons 
have suffered loss in this manner. I have not 
heard of such an instance in this part of the 
country, and there are hundreds of miles of 
barbed-wire fence witlu'u a very few miles of 
this place. I notice that stock generally ac¬ 
quaint themselves with the nature of the 
fence, and after that leave it severely alone. 
The difficulty is largely obviated by the board 
and wire fence, for horses running towards 
the feuce, see + he board aud turn away. 
The most universally despised fence with 
us is the Osage Orange hedge. Our people 
regard it as the poorest and most expensive 
of fences. The thorns are a never-ending 
nuisance; I have knowu several instances 
in which animals and even men have been 
seriously injured bv them. Last Summer a 
fine coit belonging to a neighbor attempted to 
jump a vecently trimmed hedge fence, and 
was disemboweled by a protruding snag. 
Warren Co., Ind. w. p. o. 
EXPERIENCE WITH BARBED-WIRE 
FENCES. 
My experience with barbed wire fences 
extends through four years, and for inside 
fences only, my farm being fenced all round 
the outside aud once across with Osage Orange. 
Four years ago I had a part of one field of 
corn, cut up iuto shocks. The rest of the field, 
stubble, was sowed early to rye for winter 
pasture. The two parts of this field were 
then separated by a barbed wire fence, built 
as follows: Posts were driven into the ground 
20 inches deep aud two rods apart. Upon 
these, two wires were stretched very tightly, 
2 yi and 8*4 feet from the ground. The Win¬ 
ter beiugmild, mules, horses and cattle of all 
ages down to six months, were turned in on 
the rye, aud rau beside the fence all Winter, 
never once breaking into the corn on the 
other side. The rye was seeded to grass, and 
this two-wire fence forms an effective and 
permanent division fence. I have been thus 
particular in describing this fence, because it 
answered the purpose so well that I have fol¬ 
lowed the same plan in building others, with 
equally good results. One barbed wire 
stretched on an old board fence, has giveD 
better results than boards costing twice as 
much. 1 have kept hogs confined from the 
time they were pigs to killing time, with two 
six-inch boards and one barbed wire on top, 
the hogs never getting out once in all their 
lives. 
And now astodanger, accideuts, etc: Since 
first putting up the fence 1 have hud several 
horses cut slightly, but so far have not sus¬ 
tained a single dollar’s worth of damage; and 
this I think is the general experience where 
stock is all kept at home, and not allowed to 
run at large, the danger being lessened by 
keeping the wires taut. Ou large prairies, 
where all kinds of stock run at large, thedarn- 
ages, especially to horses, have been very 
serious. w. H. H. MCV. 
Sedalia, Mo. 
fciural topics. 
©xpeviment <5vmuuV$f of tUe $Umit 
gUui-iJorluf. 
TESTS WITH NEW VARIETIES CON¬ 
TINUED.—OATS, ETC. 
Lady Franklin. Test 78 B. Received from 
Mr. J. Kiesling, St. John's, Mich. Mr. K. 
says: “This is a new, late potato. It grows 
very thriftily until the viues are killed by 
frost. It has yielded the past year (1882 1 , on 
new laud very full of roots and covered with 
tough sod, at the rate of 045 bushels to the 
acre, with poor cultivation. It is a good table 
potato aud a first-rate keeper. As I have kept 
no record of my seedlings, I regret that I can 
give no pedigree.” 
Two eye-pieces were placed one foot upart 
in trenches (spado-wide and four inches deep) 
three feet apart. The pieces were covered 
with soil, and Baker's Potato Fertilizer, at the 
rate of 500 pounds to the acre, was spread 
over them. The trenches were then tilled and 
the laud cultivated Hat during the season. 
The yield was at the rate of 450.88 bushels to 
the acre. Among the best, five weighed two 
pounds 11 ounces, Of large and small there 
were at the rate of 116,160 to the acre, or eight 
to the hill, Skin buff-white Shape, as shown 
hv different artists iu Figures 110 and 111 , 
oblong, not much flattened. Eyes not deep. 
A handsome potato. Eaten Sept. 25, flesh not 
quite white, a little watery. It is a late potato 
and a splendid keeper, as judged March 20. 
In a drier soil, the quality may prove to be 
good. As often stated iu these notes, the 
quality of potatoes raised on this plot is gene¬ 
rally inferior. 
THE OLD MERCER. 
Mercer. Test 54 A. In order to compare 
the yield and quality of this once favorite 
potato with those of our latest varieties, it was 
planted beside North Star, Dunmore, Corliss’s 
Matchless and Hall’s Early Peafebblow, and 
as possible. He deems the Australian one of 
the very best varieties fn general cultivation. 
On the experiment grounds of the firm, 11 
bushels of Welcome Oats were grown from 
24 ounces of seed, planted in rows three feet 
apart, the seeds six inches apart in the row. 
The plants tillered freely and made a mag¬ 
nificent growth, the straw attaining a hight 
of six feet and a diameter of one-quar- 
Lady Franklin Potato. From Nature. 
treated in the same manner. The yield was 
at the rate of 484 bushels to the acre, averag¬ 
ing 11 4-7 tubers to the hid. The best five 
weighed two pounds 15 ounces. The skin is 
purple, with deep purple eyes: the shape flat- 
oblong. There were many small potatoes, as 
will be seen by comparing the number to the 
hill with the yield; they straggle consider- 
ter inch. The straw rusted somewhat, and 
was badly discolored by wet, but the grain 
kept white and beautiful. 
Sex in Asparagus —We ask Mr. John B. 
Moore to bear in mind that we still claim that 
there are perfect-flowering asparagus plants, 
i e., flowers which, though they may seem to 
be purely pistillate, will, nevertheless, form 
Lady Franklin Potato. From Nature 
ably. As regards its time of ripening, it may 
be designated as an “early intermediate.” 
Figure 112 shows the characteristic shape from 
a front view. A side view would show it to 
be what is hest described by the word “ shal¬ 
low,” or flattened. Eaten March 20, the flesh 
was yellowish, the quality nutty and excellent. 
Welcome and Australian Oats.—R e¬ 
fruit without the aid of pollen from the pure¬ 
ly male flowers We claim to have found 
scores of such plants at the Rural Farm. We 
further claim that these flowers are cleisto- 
gamous, i. e., that the fertilization occurs be¬ 
fore the flowers open. In our discussion with 
Mr. Moore, he asked of what use then were 
the male fl ivvers. We do not claim that all 
Old Purple Merger. From Nature. 
ferriug to our remarks of some mouths ago 
respecting the similarity between the White 
Australian aud Welcome Oats, Mr. Libby, of 
Hiram Sibley & Co., writes us that he flnds 
longer awns ou the latter than on the former. 
He refers to parties in Vermont, that are sell¬ 
ing the Australian for the Welcome at a high 
price. The seeds, he says, are as nearly alike 
the flowers not male are hermaphrodites; but 
that the latter do exist, and are common 
enough iu some places. 
In the grape-vine we have here no purely 
pistillate flowers, we believe. They are 
either hermaphrodite iu the fertile plant or 
else sterile, having stamens only. What are 
the male plants for? The fertile flowers do 
J 
not need their assistance. We hope Mr. 
Moore will take the pains to protect a few 
female (?) asparagus plants from the pollen 
of male plants, and see if fruit do not form. 
Hill vs. Broadcast Manuring. —Do you 
want to exhaust your land? Do you want to 
waste your manure or fertilizer? Then 
manure in the bill. Suppose you have two 
plots each 10 feet square. One of these is 
manured plentifully every season, the other 
not at all. Here we have an exaggerated 
case of hill-manuring. After all our experi¬ 
ments, it will be difficult for anybody to make 
us believe that it is wise to feed the young 
plant to surfeit, and to leave the maturing 
plant to starve. 
The missing name and address of the per¬ 
son who sent us the Jordan Prolific Potato, 
the results of our + est of which appeared in 
these notes in the Rural of February 23, is 
J. D. Kruschke, Piqua. Obio. 
MAIDEN-HAIR-TREE AND PAULO WNIA 
IMPERIALIS. 
I notice in a late Rural a note concerning 
the pruning of Salisburia adiantifolia. In 
front of the office where I write is a fine speci¬ 
men of the Maiden-Hair-Tree, which was 
planted in 1876 as a street tree, being then 
about a year old. In the Spring of 1880 it was 
dug up by mistake and immediately re¬ 
planted, having first been severely cut back. 
It made some growth the same year, and has 
since pushed up vigorously, receiving an¬ 
nually a pruning for shape. It is now about 
five inches in diameter at the base, and about 
twenty feet high, and forms a most interest¬ 
ing aud conspicuous object during the Sum¬ 
mer. with its beautiful and distinct foliage. 
Inside our grounds is another comparative¬ 
ly rare tree (at least in this section) Pau¬ 
lo wnia impel ialis. Two years ago it bloomed, 
being entirely covered with large racemes of 
beautiful deep-lilac flowers, of the style of 
Wistaria Sinensis, and wonderfully fragrant. 
Although its perfume could be distin¬ 
guished for a distance or 50 feet or more, it was 
not overpowering but delicate and agreeable. 
The bloom was succeeded by an enormous 
load of seed pods of peculiar appearance, re¬ 
sembling somewhat gigantic clusters of green 
grapes. While ripening the seed, the tree, 
although of exceedingly vigorous growth, 
made no new blossom buds, and sent up but 
one leader of about ten feet. At this writing 
its angular branches are tipped with clusters 
of next Spring's flower buds, which I hope are 
not frozen. Altogether the tree is most inter¬ 
esting and useful for shade—its leaves are 
large, heart-shaped, and resemble those of 
Catalpa speeiosa. Is the Paulownia common 
or esteemed in New York? j. h. m c f. 
Harrisburg. Pa. 
[It cannot be said to be common, though 
one sees it here and there. Young trees are 
tepder north of this.—E ds.] 
fttiscfllatwous. 
CATALOGUES, ETC,, RECEIVED. 
Baugh & Sons, 20 South Delaware ave., 
Philadelphia, Pa. Circular of Baugh's Eco¬ 
nomical Fertilizer for all crops. This is made 
from slaughter-house bones and is rich iu pot¬ 
ash. The firm guarantees the analysis, which 
is printed on every bag. The price is $ 3 o per 
2,000 poimds, in new bags, delivered to boat or 
cars. 
W. P. Andrus, 44 Park Ave., Rochester, N. 
Y. A very interesting circular of potatoes, 
corn, oats, Meusury Barley, &e. A colored 
picture is given of the Dakota Red Potato, 
which, of 125 different kinds tested in the 
grounds of Hiram Sibley & Co , stood at the 
head of the list as to yield, quality and free¬ 
dom from rot. 
Peter Henderson & Co., 85 and 37 Cort¬ 
land St., New York. A finely illustrated cata¬ 
logue of implements and machines for the farm 
and garden—64 pages. This is the first imple¬ 
ment catalogue we have seen issued by seeds¬ 
men. The implements are by no means con¬ 
fined to those for nse in the garden exclusively, 
since potato diggers, all sorts of plows and har¬ 
rows, rollers and coru-huskors are offered. 
. Field Force Pump Co., 58 and 60 Market 
St., Lockport, N. Y. Desci iptive catalogue of 
force aud lift pumps. This catalogue should 
b : examined by all in need of pumps. The 
Field combined cistern and force pump, it is 
said, w ill throw a stream 60 foet. The smaller 
sizes an? well adapted tor spraying fruit trees 
and sprinkling poisonous liquids. An attach¬ 
ment for hose comes with every pump. 
Purdy’s Small Fruit Instructor. By 
A. M. Purdy, Palmyra. N. Y. Price 50 cents. 
