THE BUBAL NEW-YOBXEB 
ing, and we ought to improve such opportuni¬ 
ties. My studies, with a few other duties, take 
most of my time. When I rend the letters 
from the Cousins, who write about what they 
do to make home enjoyable for themselves 
and others, I think they have correct ideas, 
and hope they will keep on doing good. 
My school is at home. Besides my regular 
studies I have music—vocal and instrumental 
—and plenty of papers aud periodicals for 
miscellaneous reading. 
The Rural cornea to ns weekly, freighted 
with its usual amount, of good reading. 1 
have botany for one study, aud thin if it is 
very interesting. I think smneof the Cousins 
might find out who IJnele Mark is. aud how 
he looks. Pa had a little chat with him last 
Fall, but he won’t tell me much about it. All 
he says about him is. “he is not very gray, and 
his nose is not much longer than that of other 
folks.” 
Will Uncle Mark please tell me how long 
lemons should be left on the tree, to ripen in 
this climate; also, what powder is nice for 
filling sachets? Your niece, 
Dutchess Co., N. Y. k. mat Cornelius. 
[I remember your papa, and he was quite an 
agreeable person. I am glad he does notthink 
my nose much longer than other folks, as I 
had been told that, it was. But, vou know, a 
large nose is a sigu of great intellect. Why 
don’t you set the example, by railing on your 
uncle? Leave the lemons on the tree as long 
as you wish. You can easily tell when they 
are ripe. For an ordinary sceut bag. your 
aunt, uses about an ounce of powder. Helio¬ 
trope is very good, aud costa 40 cents an ounce. 
You can get almost any odor you wish. 
UNCLE MARK.] 
work as when he first, introduced himself to 
the Cousins—that of studying into the secrets 
of horticulture, under the generous patronage 
of the great State of New York, lie always 
looks for the Rural ou Thursday morning, 
and never lays it down without glancing over 
the Young People’s Column. If he does not 
read every word of it., it is because he has 
many other things to occupy his mind. 
“Uncle Elm" finds a great deal of pleasure in 
his large garden, which last season contained 
CURIOUS GROWTHS. 
ANMIAUSA1.ES. OVER 50,000 TONS. 
This high-grade 
fertilizer produces 
i* Jjfl crops of superior 
•%T- quality and quan- 
: f tity. itisnotastim- 
b' jpSt ulant, but. a plant- 
f ; ^ food The high 
VI \ standard f-i which 
\V. ^ j it has ls.cn noted for 
V v-j ^ TWENTY 
YEARS 
• past will be stiictly 
^ -maintained. 
- For pamphlets, address 
CLIODEN & CURTIS, 
(•eneral Hellinjr Agent*. Hoaiou. Mass. 
cQ> N plant, life, we frequent¬ 
ed 1 y see strange growths that 
< Jr-. differ very much from 
what we are accustomed 
^_ r f{ |h| to seeing. There are typi- 
IE cal fonns for all (lowers, 
^ry /fB jkl fruits and vegetable*, as 
lj well as all vegetation, and 
O whenever the shape of the 
c/f? plant, or whatever it, may 
j LK , i does not conform to 
Cft „ the law or type, it is called 
T\jr)^ abnormal. It, said that, 
C/ 3 o »< ijge produces like,” but 
v> this is not always true, as 
the illustrations shown at Fig. 1<>8, 1M, 170 
The seeds of these vegetables 
but instead 
aud 171 show, 
were sown, and the plants grew, 
of developing into nicely form¬ 
ed roots, like their brothers and 
sisters, they took it into their 
heads to twist themselves into 
ugly shapes, as other boys and 
girls sometimes do, morally. : 
But the potato, turnip, carrot 
and radish had got themselves 
into a tlx, as they found they 
could not get back to their pro* 
per shapes, so they gre w up in- 
to these homely forms, all the : ,1#; gggk 
more noticeable for their ugli- 
nessu ml deformity. Mow, like 
many people in this world, who 
grow up with morals twisted 
an>l turued, so unlike their fel- J\ ' * £ 
low-men, thut the finger of man ' a v 
is pointed at them as objects i * 
worthless and immoral. It. Is radish. Fig. 170. 
much better to conform to the 
law, in growth, morally as well as physically. 
Undoubtedly most, of the Cousius have seen 
many just such forms of vegetables as these 
shown in the engravings, as they are all occa- 
v sionally seen on the farm, the po- 
tato being very common. iSome- 
times very queer growths of flow- 
.- ■■O ers and fruits are found. One 
J Spring,Uncle Mark, when ho lived 
~"J. in the country examined hund reds 
of the Skunk Cabbage flowers, in 
- Vm order to find abnormal growths. 
•Most °f you have seen the little 
hood, or spat he, of this plant, that 
cornea up early in Spring. Well, 
’af iu several plants he found right 
h&j® inside of this hood, another hood 
X * just like the one on the outside. 
^ It wa m almost like one peanut. shell 
a® "" growing within another. I think 
that was a strange growth! One 
. f * day a gentleman brought t,o the 
Rural Office, nn orange that be 
t had bought. When lie bit into it, 
!• what do you suppose he found? 
Why. he had bitteu right into au- 
Carrot. Fig other orange! He found, nicely 
tucked uway within the big one 
another orange, about an inch-aud-a half in 
diameter, that was nearly perfect That was 
a very funny place for au orange to grow in. 
The vegetables, of which illustrations are 
given, grow upou the farm of Uncle Rufus 
Manufacture,! by the Novelty Hone W orks, at West 
Trov, N. Y.—E>MibU*be<l In i4*i. Tills In a Pure Bone 
Phn«pb»te. ami there I» no better In market- it is a 
complete Standard Manure Dealers wlsblnn the 
sale of the best Phosphate in market, will e»LL on or 
address WILLIAM It. WILLIAMS, 
IJeneral Asreni, W eat Troy. N. V. 
Turnip. Fig. 1611. 
about 1,100 varieties of garden vegetables. 
He is not onlv findiug out which of these are 
best, but he is trying to Hud the true ways for 
improving them. You all remember the 
huckleberries! The seeds sent by so many of 
the Cousins came up nicely, but as “Uncle 
Elm’ did not. know the proper way of treating 
the young plants, they made very little 
growth, though many of them are still alive. 
He feels confident that he will be able to get 
fruit from some of them; but. as he remarked 
to the Cousins two years ago, it takes a grant 
deal of time and patience It give.<“Uncle Elm” 
pleasure to know that the Cousins have not 
forgotten him. 
Geneva, N. Y. “ uncle elm.” 
CHURCH BROTHERS. 
Tiverton, R. I. 
Manufactured by 
Send for Circulars 
gubUcatiothS 
Dear Uncle Mark and Rural Cousins: 
—Since I wrote my last lester to you, we have 
moved from LaPaz to Plymouth, lud., a town 
of 2,570 inhabitants. There are very good 
schools here. There is a graded school, con¬ 
taining nine rooms aud nine grades, exclusive 
of the High School, which contains three 
classes, named respectively, Senior, Middle, 
and Junior Classes. 1 am in the third grade. 
I have a very good teacher. My sisters—Net¬ 
tie. 11 years old. and Fannie, six—attend the 
schools here. Fannie started last Fall, end is 
now in the highest class in her room. There 
are about 550 pupils attending the schools now. 
One of the Cousins, Julia Steppe, spoke of 
the Touch-me-not and Forget-me-not as the 
same plant. From what I know of them, 1 
think them very different. The Touch-me-not, 
as she says, grows on a bushy stalk uearly two 
feet high, but l think the Forget-me-not might 
be classed w r itb such plauts as the verbena, 
aud has clusters of light-blue flowers, while 
the Touch-me-not has red, white, and other 
colored flowers. Am I right* 
Your niece, JM.ORXNCE a. e. 
Marshall Co., lnd. * 
[The Touch rne-uot belongs to the Geranium 
family, and gets its name from the sudden 
bursting of the seed pod when touched The 
plants grow in moist, shady places, and are suc¬ 
culent, tender aunuals. somegrowingastallas 
four or live feet. The Forget-me-not belongs 
to the Borage family, and Is a little plant, hav¬ 
ing a cluster of light-blue lloWei's, as you de¬ 
scribe. UNCLE MARK. 
NOTES BY UNCLE MARK 
L. O. EMEKXON and W. V. HHKRWIN 
Price 35 eemsj li.'lll per hundred. 
Uncle Elm is heard from. Read his letter. 
Perhaps that letter of yours wasn’t put 
into the waste basket after all. Wait and see. 
Don't let any weeds grow in your garden. 
A good farmer never grows weeds. 
Can you write a different letter from any 
body else? If you can, let me hear from you. 
If you can't, I want to hear from you just the 
same. _ 
One of the Cousius wanted to learu how to 
grow peanuts. There are two letters ou pea¬ 
nut culture in the May 10 number. 
Did you plant any huckleberry bushes, and 
how are they gettiug on? 
I ha ve sent out. all the seed l had. To all of the 
Counsins that sent in their names after Janu¬ 
ary 1, I sent seeds. No one is a member of the 
Club, unless having sent iu his or her name 
since that dito. 
The advent of a Of w Sunday-School Souk Book by 
two such men a.i arc the gentlemen above named. Is 
a notable event. 
Mr. Emerson stands confessedly Iu the very front 
rank of church music composers, and Mr StmtwiN, 
also emlneut as a composer, has had gre-nt success in 
the compiling of the best known spin)ny-School 
music bonks, and has for years had Charge of the 
musical department at 
CHAUTAtJQtTA 
and other famous assemblies of Sunday School work 
ers. The music and words of sd.NU WORSHIP 
mark a step In advance b**Ink far above the ordinary 
Sunday School “Jingle*," ant) ure dignified without 
being dull. 
The Hymns are bv eminent writers, and are full of 
the best religious truth. 
The Mt'sie is of a high order. Superintendents will 
be pleased with the Inpex c>K Bouncis. of which there 
t» u k r<'«t variety. 
Minister*, cannot fall to like the hymns. 
One specimen copy mailed post free for twenty-five 
cents. Specimen pages free. 
OLIVER OITSOM & CO t j Boston. 
C. H. DITSON & CO.HOT Broadway. New York. 
£m,$, amt £*la»t.$ 
Most of the members of the Club eud their 
letters by saying: “ l think this letter is long 
enough,” 1 don’t! Write long letters! If 
they are too long, they can easily be short¬ 
ened; but if too short, they caunot be so easily 
lengthe ned. _ 
There are Cousins in 88 States and Terri¬ 
tories. A pretty widely scattered family, 
isn’t it? 
IF.Y0UJSAHX.I0 KN0W.,Si l u ,- , !! , l [55“,' 
send to HEADQUARTERS for Pamphlet. Address 
HERBERT POST, 
Postburgh, Ilullun Co., Alnbnnia. 
Sweet Potato Plants 
Dear Uncle Mark:— In 1882 we grew 14 
pounds of Washington Oats from Rural 
seeds These wesowed last Spring, aud raised 
from them eight bushels of grain. All other 
oats in this neighborhood made very poor 
crops. While oar Surprise Wheat was in 
bloom, a hen with chickens destroyed it; but 
we saved six pounds of Shumaker, aud four 
pounds of Fultzo-Clawson, which we sowed. 
Shoe-peg Corn was a failure; LheBJush Potato 
yielded welL We had only 15 hens last year, 
but my little sister, 10 years old, raised about 
200 chickens; she also raised a flock of geese, 
1 have a beautiful Jersey heifer named Daisy, 
that I think will be as handsome as Mistletoe. 
We have petted her so mueh, she is perfectly 
gentle. We had spleudid Icing Watermelons 
last Summer. J udge W. L. Dulaney, of Ken¬ 
tucky, seut papa seed of the Carter Melon, 
which he recommended so highly in the Ru¬ 
ral. We will take great pains in planting 
and working them, and report the result. The 
Perfection yielded well with us, but is very 
late. Papa plants tomatoes between all his 
watermelon bills. Some of our vines were 
eight feet long, and we gathered at least a 
bushel of ripe tomatoes from one vine, and it 
was full of green ones when frost killed it. I 
do all the plowing, and my brother, who is 
younger than 1, milks, and does the hoe work; 
we hire some help during the busy season. 
We eut aud shocked all the corn last Fall, and 
housed both corn aud forage without any 
help. Our young Wiuesap trees bore a few 
apples last year for the first time; the old 
orchard bore heavily, and we made those 
apples into cider. Y ours most respectfully, 
GEORGE W, DANIEL. 
Prince Edward Co. Va. 
ISy Mail, By Kxpresn. 
Yellow Nunaeuiotid, .75 N 100, #*J.50 e l,(no. 
Red “ 1.00 " 3.00 
For lanre quantities, uoOrcss 
JOEL IIOUNE1I A. 'ON, Merciiaiitville, N.J. 
THE DINGEE & CONARD CO’9 
BEAUTIFUL EVER-BLOOMING « 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS 
I thought I would 
Dear Uncle Mark 
write to you, and tell you about my flowers. 
I was sick nearly all Summer, so I did not 
have much time to care for them, but I had 
quite a large number blossom. Mamma 
brought ouo of my foliage plauts into the 
house last Fall, but it died a few days ago I 
have a pair of rabbits: one is white, aud has 
pink eyes, while the other is blaek-aud- white, 
with dark eyes. They are very tame, and 
have a large house to run in. They are very 
fond of dandelions, and when I give them 
some, they stand upon their hind legs while 
eatiug. I call each of them Bunny, as I think 
that is the best name for a rabbit. 
I went to Cortland last Fall. While there, 
papa and i went to see the Tioughnioga River. 
Four weeks later 1 weut to Floyd, a town 
seven miles from Rome, and 15 from Trenton 
Falls. While at Floyd, we went into the 
woods, aud had a very nice time rambling 
about, aud gathering pigeon berries. 
Papa cauie near dropping me while carrying 
me across a brook. While on the way home, 
we saw the monument erected in memory of 
General Herkimer. Yours truly, 
Ouondaga Co., N. Y. carkik a. hitter. 
Esteemed Uncle Mark: —1 like to read 
the letters of the Cousins. It seems like visit¬ 
ing around in different sections. Pa thinks 
the practice of letter writing is a good school¬ 
The only eeabUshmrni making a SPECIAL 
BUSINESS Of ROSES. 60 LARCE HOUSES 
for ROSES alone. WoCIVE A WAY.fu Premi¬ 
ums xniT Extras, more ROSES tWimofit s-ntab- 
llMUmeiils gTcw. Strctur Pot Punts suitable for Imme¬ 
diate bloom debv^redsaff-ljr. peeti^d teariy j.oet-nffice- 
5 RPlendid varieties, your choice, alt labeled,for SI; 
12 for $ 2 ; lo fur $3! 23 n r *4; 35 Tor *5; 75 for 
ilO; IOO for *13. Our NEW CUIDE,Ji<'* m F , l<f« 
Treufiseon (heBose, 70pin clcjartfly illusxrate>i _b ; _fc</IEIE 
9 THE DINCEE 4 CONARD CO. 
Sow Grower*. Watt Grovo. CiwUr Co., Pa 
Pi,$ceUau*QUSi ;3uUcrti.*ing 
-Tfl 11 iVrTl] r iRfel Uiho ill Gfdil or uju hoy refunded, ia 
jT* melo-iai i vrlvi't-Diwd Clinkct. »<■•»£* 
JT VT F j y T TlTw J u i ramj.le.of our Bt-oulltVi 1 <'llrd*,»od_ 
til .iar ! Ilutrtted 1'r.nuau Lblwithagt'o 
tertui, Ac.,»U Mnlport.o^af«0W.,Jfor|I.K6. Oflof made to se¬ 
cure new tro-ufiT !f»t. W» will prhiljpout namtln new type on 
0<f Beaut lew, 60 tlltww Ckraimw. Hie, 11 pwkt foril.00, 
and the ahvve riuel'K KKI» club. W StTOt . 
poiv-pthl. CAPITOL CARD CO.. HARTFORD, CONN. 
m n New Style Imported Cbronto Cards: beauties, 
lLI I try them: name on. lfie. Elegant premiums for 
*'^Airente. KTN A PHI N IT NG CO., Northtord, Ct. 
y*'' 
Potato. Fig. 1<58. 
Ferris, who made drawings of them, and sent 
to the Rural. If any of the Cousins come 
across strange vegetable growths, if they will 
make sketches of them and send to Uncle 
Mark, he will lie pleased to have them repro¬ 
duced for the beuetit of the Cousius. 
UNCLE mark. 
f co per hoar at home. No peddling. 
Dvbi LO No liuiubutf. The Secret re- 
ealcd, and 15 Saniplen, worth $.*i. for 10<*. Ad- 
ress H. E. Slaytox, Montpelier, Vt. i Name R N. Y.i 
Thw eltyur t aolld r lKa r'-iff, made or 
Heavy IK K. Hulled Gold, packed la 
-*jVelnt Lbwket, vimuilei & yearw, 
lw*t-p*i<i, 45c,, 8 for *1.25. SO 
Card*, “llemillta,” ull Gold, Sil¬ 
ver. Roue*. Llllcm Mottocw. Ac.,»>llli name on, 10c., 11 
pack* *1.00 bill, and dun Gold Ring Free. 
U. 8. CARD CO.. CENTJSRBROOK. CONN 
A LETTER FROM “UNCLE ELM.” 
No! “UDcle Elm” has not “got lost.” He is 
still at Geneva, and is engaged in the same 
it Tlomb and Board for 3 live young 
Men or I adles, In each county. Address 
P. W. ZIEGLER &. CO., Philadelphia, 
