THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JUNE 7 
fill the bill. Unquestionably, Vergennes is too 
late for any loculity east and north of the 
Lower Hudson. 
Coal ashes as a rnuleh for currant bushes (ad¬ 
vised by Mr. Swan, p. 284) serve about as good 
a use as they can be put to. But they are not 
a specific against the worms. London-purple, 
applied in water while the bushes are in 
bloom, lasts the whole season, and is far more 
reliable than hellebore, which is much adul¬ 
terated, _ 
“Tho Greatest is Vigor,"says Mr. Devereaux 
(p. 284), and his examples show that he means 
vigor of constitution, rather than mere rank¬ 
ness of growth. Some of the strong varieties 
he names are very slow growers even in rich 
soil, after they begin to bear. But they are 
all vigorous in health. 
Tho Rural is right, as usual, when it says 
(p. 280) that, a full report of the discussions at 
horticultural meetings makes tho moat valua¬ 
ble part of tho record when published, if ver¬ 
batim roportiug ever pays, it pays there. 
Even a little Hhade of expression from an ex¬ 
port, fully given, will sometimes speak vol¬ 
umes. 
Tho Rural’s head is also level in praising 
bone flour (p. 288) as the prince of fertilizers. 
Mixed with ashes, I have never found any¬ 
thing so good. But why will not a plain dis¬ 
solved 8, O. phosphate, with potash salts, do 
just as well, and cost less? The S. C. costs less 
tbuu half as much as the bone. [There is ni- 
trogou in both the bone and unleached ashes. 
E«8.) _ 
Rural, May 10. —Prongy! I should say so. 
W bat is tho good of such a potato as that? 
(p. 801). But, then, the White Elephant is a 
pretty good potato, and doesn’t “cut up” that 
way very often. 
Every one to his taste. “Joseph” (p. 302) 
thinks the Early Rose the best potato that 
ever was; and, in a sense, it may be true,— 
just as the Concord is the best grape, tho Bald- 
„win the l>eat apple, tho Wilson the best straw¬ 
berry, and tho Crawfords the best peaches. 
But as a table potato, except for cheap 
boarding-houses, the Early Rose is hardly the 
standard of excellence. 
Col. Curtis’s remarks on the advantages of 
sheep (p. 302) are Round and sensible. Not¬ 
withstanding the competition in wool, sheep 
are profitable stock on a vast number of our 
hill farms—or would bo, if it were not for the 
ravages of the semi-domesticated wolf, alias 
dog. Our aggregate annual loss from dogs is 
nearly ft,000,000 sheep, or eight per cent., ac¬ 
cording to the last United States Agricultural 
Report. And, by the way, how very badly 
the lsx>k is indexed I Wanting to refer to this 
subject just now, 1 could find neither “Sheep," 
nor “Dogs,” in the index, and had to huut 
half an hour for the page. The only heading 
found under “Do” was “Dodge, Mr. J, R., Sta¬ 
tistician.” _ 
“ Rustic,” under the title “Head or Hams” 
(p. 308), takes Mr. Stahl to task for being in 
favor of u hog that cau root, and cites Essex 
and Berkshire as non-rooting and rooting 
breeds. He gives away his case by this very 
citation. The Berkshires make by far the 
best hams. _ 
This new idea (p. 808) that there is a great 
choice in the variety planted to fertilize non¬ 
stamina te strawberries, may have something 
in it. But I get quite adequate fertilization 
for the Crescent from the wild blossoms, and 
the same occurs with the early berries of the 
Windsor Chief, [We beg to express the opin¬ 
ion, only as a mere opiuiou, until trusty tests 
have been made, that so long as the pistils are 
fertilized, it makes no difference to the quality 
of the fruit or its size what variety furnishes 
the pollen.—E ds.] 
Lots of sense in that “Chat with a Farmer” 
(p. 804). A farmer who could be hired not to 
take a paper- like the Rural for $25 would be 
a fool. And yet bow many take no such pa¬ 
per 1 _ 
Regarding the question of ensilage for 
horses (p. 804), it will not. do to give a horse all 
he can eat, or nearly so much, but a little 
good ensilage, like a mess of carrots or pota¬ 
toes, occasionally, is good for a horse—at 
least for work horses. 
Seeing the notice of the Japanese Rosa Ru- 
gosa on p. 804, leads me to ask if our horticul¬ 
turists Lave ever done anything to improve 
any of our own wild northern species by selec¬ 
tion and crossing? 1 mean the fragrant sorts. 
Some of them growing about here are very 
beautiful and very sweet, and show, even in 
the wild state, a tendency to doubling. 
“Stockman”is always sensible, and shows 
the fact in the way he talks (p. 304) about “sei- 
utifle” charlatanism. There is a raft of it 
punished by it. Cases are numerous, where 
horses stabled for some time and turned out 
nights, have been permanently blemished, 
even though the wires were nothing new to 
them. 
In the earlier discussions on barbed wire, 
when the sentimentalists were having things 
pretty much their own way, it was urged 
that wires without barbs would answer just 
as well as those with them. Smooth wire was 
tried thoroughly iu Champaign Co., Ill , 25 
years ago, end found completely ineffectual. 
Cattle pushing their heads through between 
the wires in searching for forage, would push 
upon them until they gave way. On this ac¬ 
count, smooth wire was abandoned. The Illi¬ 
nois Central Railroad first built barbed fence, 
consisting of five wires—three barbed and two 
smooth—but after several years’ experience, 
the latter were removed, and barbed substi¬ 
tuted. 
ERGOTISM. 
This is the name given to the disease which 
broke out at various points iu the Western 
States late in the Winter. It not only caused 
a great sensation among Btockroen, but had a 
serious effect on the markets, ruinously depres¬ 
sing prices for weeks, and, of course, inflicting 
serious losses on dealers. At first supposed to 
be the dreaded foot-and mouth disease, it took 
weeks to get the true state of the facts before 
the country—that it originated from feeding 
ergoted bay and forage; that is, hay and for¬ 
age on which the fungus growth ergot had 
developed, either before or after maturity. 
This fungus growth is nothing new iu the 
stock history of the West, and especially of 
Illinois, though it* effects have never been so 
marked, or of so fatal a character. The Sum¬ 
mer of 1881 was remarkable for high temper¬ 
ature and a sustained drought, which was not 
broken till late in September. The wheat and 
in milch cows, and especially when it has ap¬ 
peared epizootically in large herds. But if to 
the causes which produce the first, we add 
ergotism, which may come of many forms of 
fnngus growth, the mystery which has envel¬ 
oped this scourge of the dairy may be, per¬ 
haps, cleared up. 
It ought to be borne in mind by every stock- 
man, grain-grower and general farmer, that 
much more radical and Important changes 
have taken place in our surroundings than we 
are aware of; that what has been may never 
again be; that that may be which has never 
been: and that we must prepare ourselves to 
take new departures as soon as they are clearly 
indicated, though the books are silent and the 
fathers protest and shake their heads, and keep 
on the old way. 
Pomfflogicai 
RAWLE’S JANET AND AMERICAN 
GOLDEN RUSSET. 
A NOTE FROM GOV. FURNAS. 
I agree with Mr. Beecher in what he 
says relating to the Rawle’s Janet 
apple, and also with his remarks on 
the American Golden Russet, as far as I 
have had experience with it. As to the fruit 
of the former having remained uninjured 
when put in the cellar after having been 
frozen hard on the tree, that is true of any 
good Winter apple; that is, if put in the cel¬ 
lar while frozen hard. I know men who bar¬ 
rel their apples iu the orchard, and leave 
them there all Winter. When they are frozen 
“bard as rocks,” they are covered with straw, 
to keep them frozen. When a barrel is want¬ 
ed in Winter, it is taken into the cellar, or 
“When the Kyk Come Hamk.” 
afloat, and we see it every day, touching dis¬ 
eases of man and beast, the so called adultera¬ 
tion of food products, bacteria on money, and 
all this running of the “germ theoiy” a long 
way Into the ground. The youngsters from 
the scientific schools are bound to immortalize 
themselves for a week apiece, any way. 
What “bosh” it is to say that no one “has 
yet been able to produce untainted butter” 
from ensilage-fed cows! (p. 805). Several of 
the samples iu the first rank at the last meet¬ 
ing of the Vermont Dairymen's Association 
(and there were over sixty competitors) were 
from cows so fed. This is as bad as Bailey's 
bosh on the other side. 
That New Hampshire correspondent, “E. 
A. H.,” who says (p. 306) that “the average 
farmer is about as penurious and short-sighted, 
penny-wise-ond-pound-foolish a man as we 
would wish to see,” may testify to facts as he 
knows them; but such a statement is a gross 
libel upon American farmers as a class. They 
are, in fact, the most progressive and wide¬ 
awake working agriculturists that the world 
has ever seen, and skilled European visitors 
testify to the facte freely. 
Rural, May 17. Mr. Beecher speaks of 
Rawle’s Janet as the only apple he knows that 
will bear freezing without harm (p. 322). Two 
years ago the 8th of last October, all tbe 
apples on my trees were frozen solid, aud re¬ 
mained so nearly 24 hours. They thawed out 
tbe second night, and were unharmed, keeping 
nearly, if not quite, as well as usuaL 
Parker Earle’s rules for strawberry plant¬ 
ing (p. 522) are, substantially, those I have 
followed for many years. If good plants are 
used, fresh dug, and trimmed to but one leaf, 
and the blossom buds pinched out, the result 
is always a perfect success. I do not sot until 
the blossom buds are out long enough to be 
easily nipped off. 
There is no difficulty about the cultivation 
of drilled corn (p. 224), if intervals of 10 inches 
are left botweeu tbe plants. A common hoe 
will take out the weeds neatly. Of course, 
where horse culture exclusively is used, the 
smoothing harrow will clear out all weeds in 
the drills as well as elsewhere. 
Orleans Co., Vt. 
Cl )t 
STOCK NOTES. 
BARBED WIRE FENCES FOR STOCK. 
The efficiency of barbed wire to turn neat 
cattle, must be seen and experienced to be un¬ 
derstood, and being understood, there is a com¬ 
plete explanation of its extraordinary popu¬ 
larity and the rapid pace at which it is super¬ 
seding every other kiud of fence. Three cases 
iu point, will help to enforce the truth of this 
broad statement. 
I am no «v repairing a fence along a street 
where town cows are numerous, aud wherein 
the street the grass and herbage are scant, 
while inside the lot there are clover, Timothy 
and Blue Grass half-boot-leg high, of the 
sweetest and best kind; aud yet a single barbed 
wire, fixed to posts eight feet apart, 2% feet 
from the ground, has proved an effectual bar¬ 
rier the length of a block. A neighbor of 
mine, a good farmer and feeder, owns very 
large pastures, which were hedged with Osage 
Orange some years ago, before tbe property 
came into his possession. Tbe pruniug was 
neglected, and breaks developed in the hedges, 
through which young steers of an inquiring 
turn of mind would push, especially early in 
the season before the leaves were out. At the 
suggestion of a friend, he drove jioste, using 
about 20 to every 80 rods, along inside the 
hedge and about three feet from it. Upon 
these posts he stretched a single barbed wire, 
about three feet from the ground. This made 
so complete a barrier that no steer has ever 
broken through, and the proprietor is inclined 
to the opinion that the barbed wires are all 
that is necessary for a complete stock fence. 
Another neighbor owned an unruly bull, 
which no common or uncommon rail or board 
fence would stop. One day he broke out of 
his stall, burst the bam doors open, crashed 
through the strong gates, and started for a 
herd of cattle in a neighboring pasture; but 
being separated from it by a three-board and 
two-barbed wire fence, he tore alongside it, 
never once attempting to break through, till 
he reached a heavy board gate, which he 
smashed aside and went through iu less time 
than it takes to tell it. But in all these cases, 
the wires were strong and good, having sharp 
and fixed barbs every three inches, capable 
of inflicting great punishment if once pressed. 
Cattle are rarely seriously wounded or even 
hurt by barbed wire, unless they are forced 
upon it. With horses it is different. They 
are liable to injury until they have once been 
bay harvests were accomplished under very 
favorable conditions; and so dry was it, there 
was hardly any discoloration of stubbles, 
wheat-stalks, hay ricks, and the yellow and 
mature com, standing in the field. But Octo¬ 
ber was wet, moist, an 1 very warm for the 
season, and by the middle of the month stub¬ 
bles, stacks, ricks aud corn-fields were turned 
from a light straw color to a dark-brown, by 
a suddenly developed fungus growth which 
covered them. 
Little attention was paid to the phenomena 
at the time, and no care was taken to separate, 
when feeding, the fungus-infected hay and 
forage from the souud portion. Iu course of 
tbe Winter “pink-eye” prevailed extensively 
among horses, and it was remarked that cattle 
did not do well, except where they had extra 
care and abundant com. But early in the 
Spring, it began to be uoticed that more than 
the usual proportion of females had failed to 
breed ; that cows aud ewes dropped their 
young prematurely; that sows did poorly with 
their pigs; aud, on summiug up at the end of 
the season, there was found 50 per cent, less 
increase by births than usual. It was even 
reported at the time, but privately, that of 
the hundred heavy draft mares bred at one 
establishment, not over 23 had live foals. 
Similar accidents have happened in different 
parts of Illinois two or three times since. 
Medical men tell us many, if not all the fun¬ 
gus growths produce similar effects on the 
animal economy as ergot does, though not a3 
powerfully; and that after feeding these fun¬ 
gus covered forages, serious results are pretty 
sure to follow. It is too late, now, to offer 
advice as respects the feeding of stores on 
hand, but not too late to counsel breeders to 
watch the development of fungus growth in 
seasons when warm, moist weather succeeds 
long aud severe droughts, and to warn them 
against feeding to breeding animals anything 
but clear, bright grain, hay, straw and forage. 
“Arrested development” has never been 
quite a sufficient cause to account for abortion 
cave, aud there thawed out. The operation 
must not be repeated; one freeze and thaw 
must suffice; repeated, the apples soften and 
decay. They must not be haudled until thor¬ 
oughly thawed. 
The Janet is one of our “iron clads” in the 
West. Its characteristic of being a late 
bloomer, meets an emergency with us. We 
lose more fruit by the early moving of the 
buds in Spring, and their being caught by 
late freezing, than in any other way. Our 
seductive February aud March warm sun¬ 
shine cannot move Janet buds from winter- 
quarters. They reinaiu dormant until Spring 
comes, and then “come to stay.” Wheu all 
other apple trees are in leaf aud bloom, the 
Janet trees look as lifeless as in mid-win ter. 
But they leap, as it were, into place, and keep 
company with all others through the season. 
Russets are not popular iu the West; at 
least in this State. What is known as the 
Perry Russet stands best. 
Brownville, Neb. 
Strawberries. —Mr. J. T. Lovett, in the 
Michigan Primer of Horticulture, says, a 
greater mistake was never made than in ad¬ 
vising to plant strawberries on light, poor 
land. Although the strawberry will do the 
best it can under such circumstances, it is, nev¬ 
ertheless, a gross feeder, a perfect gourmand, 
and not at all particular as to its diet, wheth¬ 
er it be stable manure, ground bone, wood 
ashes, hen manure, night soil, or hog ma¬ 
nure—nothing comes amiss, and it will thrive 
on any or all. The greater the amount of 
m an ure given the plants, the greater will be 
the yield and size of the fruit. Besides being 
