466 
THE RURAL WEW-YORKER. 
JULY 28 
in the barn. He said the hands would have to 
put on overcoats near the machine. 
He showed me a fine colt which he said he 
had just “broke.” I said that was a pity, and 
asked him where he had broken him. He Baid 
pretty much nil over. I told him 1 hoped he 
would soon Ret over it. He thought he would 
in a few years. A nice colt he was too. I 
was surprised nt seeing some geeselings (be 
said goslings) in the creek, but he said it had 
taken a good deal of work to train them to 
take to water for the purpose of eating craw¬ 
fish that crawled out and robbed hen-roosts, 
and carried off anything loose around the 
yard. We came across a ben’s nest in a fence 
corner, and I told him I had always heard 
hens made their nests like other birds in trees. 
He said they used to do that, but are now get¬ 
ting over it. He had lota of cucumber pickles 
growing. I tasted one and found it was not 
sour. He said they were not fully ripe yet, 
and had uot. time to get sour. I told him I 
was very fond of the ripe ones. He was too. 
We got a drink at a fine spring which he said 
his grandfather had hauled therefrom away 
up the creek. I wondered bow it could have 
been done, but he said be had waited until it 
froze and did it without much trouble. 
He was very kind, and answered all my 
questions which. n« I was anxious to learn all 
I could about farming, were numerous, and 
he even asked me to call again and ask him 
some more. I shall go out Into in the Fall when 
he harvests strawberries. brown. 
A CAPITAL IDKA. 
Out of four agricultural papers which I 
take, the Rural New-Yorker is the first to 
be read, and tbo only one I consider worth 
binding for future reference. When reading 
the Rural,, / have a blue pencil in my hand 
and mark those article a that are most strik¬ 
ing. 1 only mark those that are extra, for 
were 1 to mark all the good ones, I should so 
cover the paper w ith blue marks that I could 
flud nothing. 
Berea, Ohio. w. j, L. 
Remarks.—W e publish the above, not be¬ 
cause of the very friendly reference to the 
Rural, but to impress upon our readers the 
capital ideu of having a colored pencil in 
hand while reading, to mark those paragraphs 
which, for any reason, they might wish at a 
future time to consult. By using different 
letters or characters to designate the subject 
treated, and marking these in the margin, 
using a simple stroke or cross at the para¬ 
graph. one will be able to find articles on any 
particular subject in a very short time; for 
instance, if you mark all articles referring to 
sheep—eh.; to swine—sw.; to the dairy—da., 
etc., you have only to glance at the pages as 
you rapidly turn the leaves. Try this, friends, 
and see how much more valuable the paper 
will be to you; and our desire is to make It 
w orth as much as possible.—E ds. 
CORN IN SOUTH-EASTERN DAKOTA. 
Iu the issue of June the “1st, F. Maealpino, 
of Clark Co.. D. T., says: “ Will corn ripen 
in .South-eastern Dakota, is a question often 
asked but uot very satisfactorily answered.” 
Go ask men who have raised from one hun¬ 
dred to two hundred acres for the last five or 
six years (and there are plenty of them), and 
they will tell you that we can raise just as 
good corn as can be raised iu Iowa or Illinois, 
and better kinds thau flint corn, better in 
fact, thau any except the mammoth lute kinds. 
One would infer from what he says, that it 
is all sod in this country, and that there is 
no old ground, but most of the south-easteru 
counties have had good farms opeuod for ten 
or twelve years and some even longer. But 
Clark Co. is a new county that is just be¬ 
ing opened, and I don’t consider it strictly a 
south-eastern county. 1 think that Mr. M. 
would please the people of the south-eastern 
part of Dakota by extending his experience 
beyond a half a dozen hills of corn before he 
publishes what can, aud what can not, be done 
iu Dakota. a. G. F. 
Turner Co. 
tor Women, 
CONDUCTED BY MlSi. KAY CLARK. 
SOME FEW SUGGESTIONS. 
"A Young Wife’s Grievances” iu an old 
number of the Rural, has interested me 
and knowing something of the longiugs for 
a change that will creep into a too monoto¬ 
nous life, 1 extend the hand of sympathy, 
and hope that the young wife may soon receive 
a satisfactory answer to her query. 
I do not expect to solve this problem, only to 
sp ate a w ord of warning against the dauger 
ot too much work; for an ambitious wife too 
frequently makes the sad mistake of Umtkiug 
s he neglect* her duty if she takes a few mo¬ 
ments for rest while there Is work to be done; 
and what Is worse, usually contrives to crowd 
two days’ work into one. Constant work at 
high pressure soon wears out the best ma¬ 
chinery, and the human body is not exempt 
from the same rule. God has filled this earth 
with beautiful things, and given us u faculty 
for enjoying them, thereby demonstrating the 
truth that He neither intended uor wished this 
to be a life of toil and privation only. Our 
health as well as happiness requires seasons of 
rest and recreation; and it is a mistake to give 
these things up with our maidenhood. There¬ 
fore, I would say to “Young Wife,” consider 
it as much your duty to give those piauo keys 
a daily manipulation, and to see that the 
“Bermuda sod” lies no longer “unbroken,” as 
to prepare the regular meals. Economize in 
your labor, that you may gain the needed time 
for recreation. Make your kitchen a* cheery 
and comfortable a place to work in as you 
can, with flowers and vines, and every handy 
and lalKir-saving convenience: but beware of 
devoting too much precious time to the culi¬ 
nary department. Teach the men folks to 
prefer light suppers. Htudy how to save steps, 
how to do your work the quickest, and easiest 
way. Try Rome of the easier modes of wash¬ 
ing ; they may save time and strength. Oil or 
paint all uncurpeted floors; have a good sink 
and dish-drainer, and stationary wash-tubs, 
and see how many minutes, aud how much 
strength they will save you. Shun that sew¬ 
ing machine, baby will look just as sweet 
dressed plainly, while you will both be hap¬ 
pier in spending the time thus saved amid the 
flowers. 
Having once secured the time for recrea¬ 
tion, you will not be at a loss how to use it. 
True, there is a great difference between city 
and country amusements; but when we be¬ 
come as well acquainted with Nature’s w-orks 
as we are with man s, we will not feel that we 
have lost much iu the exchange. God, w hen 
He would have given Paradise to man, placed 
him in a garden filled with the w-orks of His 
own hands, and would have him find the most 
perfect enjoyment amid beasts and birds, 
fruits and flowers. How pure and refining 
the influence of Nature upon the human 
mind, if wo will but Stop to cull the sweets she 
holds out to us. Of fancy work there is almost 
no limit. Crocheting is pretty and easily 
done; also Kensington embroidery, which 
seems to be quite popular at present. Did you 
ever try making tidies, stand-covers, etc., 
with spatter work, using green, brown, or 
other bright colors of dyes instead of India 
iukf This will do for winter days; but out¬ 
door exorcise in warm weather is best; and 
how pleasant when one can catch up baby and 
go for a short ramble through the fields or 
woods, stopping occasionally for a rest by the 
way; spreading a protector in some shady 
nook for baby to sit on with something to 
amuse it, w hile mamma gathers a few fern 
treasures for a “ raiuy day.” By all 
means have flowers growing around your 
home. Plant the hardier kinds that will care 
for themselves, when you cannot look after 
them. Set out a few vines, shrubs and orna¬ 
mental trees from the woods, trim and train 
into different pleasiug shapes, and you will 
derive pleasure from listening to the exclama¬ 
tions of surprise and delight from passers-by, 
to whom you will be giving a bit of joy, and 
perhaps inspiration through your beautiful 
home. Have a post driven in the yard near 
your sitting-room window, leaving it about 
four feet high: u sugar keg sawed in two, and 
slip the headless half over the post, letting it 
rest, firmly on the ground. Make an opening 
in the bottom of a largo pan, slip it half way 
down the post, aud let it rest on the slats nailed 
on each side ot the post, nail a smaller pan on 
the top of the post, set a flower pot iu it, and 
till all with wood soil,then with wild ferns,moss 
and ground ivy for Winter. Iu the Spring 
plant your post garden with flowers such as 
you thiuk will look the prettiest iu it. Gather 
grasses, mosses, ferns aud flowers during your 
walks; dry the moss aud grasses, aud press the 
ferns; you can find many uses for them. 
Ferns are pretty grouped in graceful clusters 
beneath pictures, or mixed with moss and 
grasses for hanging baskets, or winter vases. 
A mo.to made of the more delicate ferns and 
mosses, surrounded w ith a wreath of thesame, 
a few- smull shells glued on here and there, looks 
well on a kitchen wall. Cards having your 
uame, ornamented with tiny ferns and flowers 
arranged iu artistic designs, which can be put 
on neatly with a little mucilage, w ill make ac¬ 
ceptable gifts to distant friends. These are 
little things, but then little things often yield 
the greatest amount of happiness, and time 
itself is made of moments. Au exceedingly 
pleasant thing would be to organize if possible 
in your neighborhood a Domestic Club. It 
could be made a source of pleasure aud profit, | 
aud much learned about making our work a 
pleasure, and the rniud stimulated and refresh- • 
ed with the interchange of thought. a. l. 
ANOTHER WOMAN’S EXPERIENCE 
IN GARDENING. 
I have just been reading in the Rural, 
“What one woman did in the garden.” But 
I cannot see bow my friend “V. T.” can do 
much hoeing with au umbrella in one hand. 
It would take me a long time to hoe a row of 
corn in that way, and 1 guess V. T. will have 
to w ait until she gets a little toughened so she 
can drop the umbrella, before she could grow 
corn enough for ensilage. 
But I am glad there is another woman en¬ 
gaged in gardening, I have been very much 
interested in the garden for some years. I 
have two acres fenced but only get time to 
cultivate one, for I must spend part of my 
time in the house. 1 keep one hal f acre in 
strawberries, one-quarter in raspberries and 
blackberries, and one quarter in sweet corn, 
early potatoes, and vegetables for the table. 
I think early spring the best time to set straw¬ 
berry plants. 1 set them three feet by one, 
clip the blossoms and let them run all they 
will, aDd the next year there will be a heavy 
crop if they have been well cultivated and 
liberally manured. I think old farm manure 
the best. I find the more I use. tbe 
larger the crop is. 1 have raised a great 
many Wtlsou’s that measured five-and one- 
quarter inches. 1 grow the Wilson for mar¬ 
ket, and get at the rate of one hundred bush¬ 
els to the acre. 1 have a few Bidwell, 
8eth Boyden, and Jucuuda for the table. The 
Cuthberl is my favorite for a red raspberry, 
aud the Mammoth Cluster for black cap. 
The Snyder is the blackberry for Vermont, 
for it is good size, good flavor, and perfectly 
hardy. I set my bush berries three feet by 
five, and tie to stakes in tbe Fall so that the 
suow will not break them, ami tt. is much less 
trouble to cultivate and pick them. 1 planted 
mv Rural peas the lilth of April, and they 
were ready for the table the Ifitli of June. I 
gathered the n yesterday, and have laid them 
away for seed. The pods are well tilled, they 
are about three feet high. jennik b. 
BATHING DRESSES. 
While visiting a fashionable watering 
place this Summer, we were surprised to see 
no improvement in the costumes worn by the 
bathers excepting whereu few individuals had 
shown their taste by wearing a very neat and 
tastefully-trimmed suit. In a Rural of June 
2. 1883, we gave the cut of au exceedingly 
pretty bathing dress, aud now we venture to 
present another, hoping thereby to make a 
deeper impression than perhaps we did last 
year. 
A more grotesque company never can be 
seen than such as gather ou the beach prepar¬ 
atory to, aud while in, bathing; one would 
, hardly be able to recognize his own wife or 
sister among the crowd. We make mention 
of our own sex because they are more com 
pletely changed by the dress thau the men are. 
Fashion reaches as far as she can, aud cov¬ 
ers more ground thau she ever ought to, espe¬ 
cially when she dictates what shall be worn 
upon a corpse; for we know of instances 
where the undertakers, or their assistants, 
have labored for an hour or more to put on 
the cold, stiff, unyielding hands, white kid 
gloves. Here, we think, is where fashion’s 
sway should oea«e. But so long as life lasts, 
we are in favor of listening to the voice of 
this frisky dame, unless she takes advantage 
of our interests aud tries to make us look 
ridiculous; then we must insist upon using a 
more modified style. 
It is not an uncommon thing to see at water- 
ing places, both among the printed rules and 
on cards separate from them, this caution: 
“ Ladies will uot appear in an unbecom¬ 
ing bathing suit.” “No person wearing a low- 
ueeked, short-sleeved dress, allowed on the 
beach;”—and it is very humiliating, too. Yet 
there is no reason why women should don a 
suit that is too short and too narrow in the 
skirt, and too large in the waist, nor that it 
shonld be made of any cotton material, for 
every one looks unpoetic enough coming up 
out of the ocean, when dressed modestly. 
We would suggest that tbe material of such 
a bathing dress as our cut represents be blue 
or brown flannel, and the pointed trimming 
of yellow, on either color; gray, with scarlet 
or brown, makes also a pretty contrast. The 
materials are inexpensive, and no lady would 
regret the little trouble it might be to make 
one, when she had the satisfaction of knowing 
how- much better she looked in the crowd of 
bathers than did the great majority. It is 
always a comfortable feeling to know we are 
suitably dressed, especially where contrasts 
are great. c. 
During the past year the young ladies of 
Vaarnr College ate 94,158 pounds of meat, 
which cost $15,556.52, and used 86,591 quarts 
of milk, worth $4,644.05. They also made 
away with 58,600 pounds of flour; 14,567 
pounds of butter; 2,638 pounds of coffee; 1,800 
bushels of potatoes; 92,000eggs; 36,200 clams; 
209 bottles of pickles, and vast quantities of 
other food supplies. Pancakes are a very 
favorite dish, and a griddle 10 feet long by 
three foot wide is used to bake the 2,400 pan¬ 
cakes that are consumed at a single breakfast. 
The milk used at the college comes from a 
dairy of from 40 to 50 grade cow-s, which are 
kept on the college property. 
Domestic Cconomi) 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY MAPLE. 
PITHS. 
Never do a wrong thing to make a friend 
or to keep one. 
A good or a bad housekeeper can be told by 
one look at her broom.' 
Study to be frank with the world—frank¬ 
ness is the boon companion of honesty and 
courage. 
Don’t take for granted that what belongs to 
your children, belongs to you also, aud use it 
as if it were your very own. Encourage in¬ 
dividuality in your family, aud no more thiuk 
of using an article belonging to one of your 
children without asking permission first, than 
you would of using your neighbor’* 
Bad habits of every kind can be nipped in 
tbo laid, if one wills. 
The world is led away by stereotyped phrases 
and stock sentiments, w hich sound well and 
are never tested. 
Why it is that a seemingly sensible girl will 
buy and wear shoes and gloves too small for 
her feet and bunds, is something that we can 
never understand. 
Unless the morning is very warm, open the 
blinds, draw up the shades, raise the windows 
and let in the air and sunlight long enough, 
at least, to dispel the unwholesome, musty 
odor that pervades all closely shut-up apart- 
meuts. 
Why have fine rooms handsomely furnished, 
if you never use them; why have a dining¬ 
room and eat in the kitchen; why buy delicate 
china, if it be too fragile to be eaten from; 
why own elegant table-linen and napkins, if 
your three meals a day are taken from off an 
oil-cloth or a coarse brown or red table-cover? 
In tact, why have anything too good to be 
used by ourselves or children? Why this con¬ 
stant hoarding-up of treasures for the benefit 
of some one else, when we are gone* We 
do not countenance extravagance, but we 
have little patience with people iu comfort¬ 
able circumstances who pinch and scrape and 
save, depriving themselves aud families of the 
actual decencies of life, aside from the com¬ 
forts and niceties, for the sole purpose of in¬ 
creasing their dollars and cents! 
THE COUNTRY LAUNDRY AND 
BAKERY. 
How many tired mother^, this hot July day, 
are obliged to wash and iron fora large fami- 
