PijscfUanfausi Advertising 
tuberose, some roses, nearly all kinds of ver¬ 
benas. and a great many pinks which the 
Rural sent out, and our little garden looks 
quite gay. 
Papa sowed his Niagara Grape seed last 
j r ear according to the Rural’s directions; but 
only a few came up and they were all cut off 
by a worm. The box remained undisturbed 
until last Spring; he stirred the surface of the 
soil and sowed cabbage seed in it. When be 
pulled up the cabbage plants to set them out, 
he was surprised to find several young grape 
vines just peeping through the soil. They are 
growing and we are watching them with 
great care. 
I feed the young chickens and churn, but 
my greatest delight is to take care of Ernie, 
my baby sister. I wish you could see her. 
She is just seven months old and can call me. 
I have two brothers and live other sisters, and 
we all pet the baby. I will be 11 years old the 
17th of this month, July. Your little niece, 
BETTI K DANIEL. 
Pr. Edwards Co., Va. 
[it is very pleasant to know that you think 
of me when at work in .your flower garden. I 
would like to see your little sister. A year is 
a long time to wait for a seed to come up, and 
I hope nothing will kill the grape plants this 
time. Uncle Mark.] 
Dear Uncle Mark and Cousins:— The 
reason I have not written to you, is because I 
was so busy. Grandma had no cook and we 
had to do the cooking ourselves; my share of 
the work was cleaning up seven rooms and 
washing the dishes alter breakfast; then I 
went to school at, eight o’clock; school lasted 
until one o’clock; after school 1 went to diu- 
ner, after which my Aunt and I washed the 
dishes and cleaned up the kitchen; this done, 
I practiced on the piano one hour, and then 
studied my lessons for the next day; I was 
very tired when l got through. We have a 
cook now. uud I And it a luxury to have only 
the rooms to clean and my lessons to study. 
Some of my flowers are making seed; I wLsh 
I could tell you the names of them, but £ never 
saw any like them before; perhaps if I studied 
Botany 1 could tell you something about them. 
I have a Creole Chicken; I call her Alice; 
and a Brahma Rooster 1 call Dick. 
Tell Pansy I will correspond with her. 
Well. Uncle Mark, I must closp. Next time 
I will write a longer letter. Your loving 
niece, mary sandlin. 
Ascension Par., La. 
[Yes, you could learn the names of all your 
flowers if you studied Botany, though at first 
you would find some of them difficult to ana¬ 
lyze; but others are quite easy. You can learn 
the names of all the common weeds too, and 
unless you know more about them than your 
Uncle did before he studied Botany, you can¬ 
not name many of them now. 1 have three 
nieces in Pansy’s county, aud I cannot tell 
which one is Pansy; will she please send me 
the name of her post-office, so 1 can send her 
Mary’s full address. UNCLE mark.] 
Dear Uncle Mark:—I wonder if the Cous¬ 
ins remember a letter I wrote about peas last 
Summer, and I wonder how many of them 
have experimented, as 1 suggested? I have 
experimented myself, aud l am going to tell 
about it. 1 had some early peas planted on a 
plot through which ran a streak ot gravel. 
There was so much gravel that there was 
hardly any soil at all; but I planted my rows 
right through it, aud put no manure on it. 
Result; less than hair the seed grew, and what 
did grow produced vines four inches high and 
one pod on each vine, bearing one and two 
pens to the pod. 
This seed 1 saved and planted upon good 
soil, manuring It well this Spring, aud from 
this seed have grown vines two feet high, bear¬ 
ing from five to seven pods, aud from four to 
seven peas in each pod. 
Is not this a wonderful example of the value 
of manure? 
The biids tried to eat up all my strawber¬ 
ries this Summer, aud l tried pieces of string, 
with waviug strip j of rags stretched across 
the beds. But this failed after a day or two, 
aud 1 made up a -‘scarecrow” of my oldest 
coat aud hat aud pantaloons, and stuffed it 
out rouud with hay, and the birds will not 
come within three rods of it. 1 move it every 
few days, so that thev may think it alive. 
Try this, if the birds trouble you, rather 
than*shoot them. 1 believe it would be a good 
protection to cherries it it were put up into a 
tree. 
Essex Co.. N. Y. uncle richard. 
quarts. One berry measured seven inches iu 
circumference; it was of the Hharpless va¬ 
riety. 
One of the Cousins asks if any of us experi 
ment with seedlings. 1 have lily, dahlia 
and geranium seedlings. The geraniums and 
dahlias are budded. I gave one geranium 
seedling to a lady friend; it blossomed, and 
was pure white and siuglo. 1 have straw berry, 
cherry, and Niagara Grajie seedlings—Hi In 
all. Two years ago I sent, 80 cents for a Pock- 
lingtou Grape-vine: it is now about five feet 
high. The Rural wheat is ripe; we will get 
nearly enough to plant au acre next Fall- 
There are not many apples, and no peaches 
here this year; we will have a good crop of 
red and black raspberries: Turner and Brandy¬ 
wine are the best red raspberries; Doolittle 
and Gregg are the best black raspberries. We 
will have a full crop of Snyder and Taylor 
Blackberries, aud about one-third of a crop of 
Kittatinuy. The it. N.-Y. and Hereford's 
Market Garden Peas were planted April 16. 
The R. N.-Y. flowered May 21 and was ready 
to eat June 12. Hereford's flowered June 4, 
and was ready to eat June 27. The American 
Racer Pea beats anything 1 ever ku w for yield¬ 
ing. We had two rows about 150 feet long; 
they bore about five or six bushels of green 
jieas. They ripen about the same time as the 
It. N.-Y. We are going to keep all the Rural 
Peas for seed 
Yes, sir; I do any kind of work without 
being told. 1 am harvesting the P.ural 
wheat; it is very heavy. Borne of the heads 
Of Fultzo Clawson are W/ t inches long. 
In the Rural Treasures are to bo found 
snapdragon, carnation, agora turn, sensitive 
plant, poppy, and amarauthus. One is very 
pretty; it has long, narrow leaves, is red next 
to the plant and green at the tips. Wo have 
also Sweet William, Bachelor’s Button, phlox, 
foxglove, marigolds, asters, zinnias, and 
hollyhocks; the hollyhocks are pink, white, 
light-yellow, dark-yellow, and one is nearly 
black; all are double. I had one bulb of L. 
auratum; toll all the Cousins to get one. The 
flower was six inches across the top when 
open. 1 will close with thanks for the seeds. 
Your nephew, wm. jackson, jr. 
Madison Co., 111. 
[That “Yes, sir,” sounds well. I am glad to 
hear it. Lillum auratum is, indeed, a beau 
tiful flower. Got a bulb of Lillum lancifolium 
rubrura, and you will have another fine, hardy 
lily, UNCLE mark ] 
Dkaii Uncle Mark: —Among the "wants” 
of the Rural I notice “100 very interesting 
letters from the youug people etc." Now I 
dare not aspire to the position of one who can 
write an interesting letter, but thinking it just 
possible that you may have no correspondent 
in our quiet, little village. I have decided to 
ask admission into the home circle as one of 
your nieces. 
Liberty, the shire town of Union County, is 
a very pleasant village containing many tasty 
residences, and is noted for its well kept lawns 
and yards and its artistic display of flowers. 
Our ow n yard cannot boast of many novelties 
in the floral line, but with our Ascension Lilies 
in full bloom, the air laden with their sweet¬ 
ness; with our Scarlet Geraniums, almost min 
iature trees covered with brilliant tufts of 
bloom, aud encircled with deep borders of 
the Dust}' Miller; with our roses and early 
blooming annuals; with our veranda embow¬ 
ered in the different kinds of clematis, water 
ivy, and other vines—we feel that our home 
presents a cosy and attractive appearance. 
But I forgot, Uncle Mark, that gentlemen 
are not apt to be interested in floral descrip¬ 
tions. 
Now, Uncle Mark,you know children like to 
see their names in print, to surprise their 
papa, or mamma,or some other friend.and also 
desire an answer through the printed column, 
so if you see fit to publish this, you will oblige 
your loving niece, Nannie Faulkner, 
Union Co. Ind. 
[ Your uncle is very fond of flowers. He saw 
a great, many at the Rural Farm not. long ago; 
among the rest a beautiful clematis', almost 
white, tiutod faintly with lavender. No one 
can study Botany w ithout beeomiug interested 
in descriptions of flowers Can you not try 
some novelties another year and report to us 
your experience? uncle mark,] 
Dear Uncle Mark:—I am afraid you did 
not receive a letter 1 wrote to you some time 
ago; and write again, asking you to receive me 
as a mem tier of your club. 
My brothers aud my sister received the seeds 
you sent them, and they are very much 
obliged to you for them. Papa made us a 
nice little flower garden last Spring, We 
sowed the seeds, aud have been busy nearly 
every evening setting out the young plants 
aud cai ing for them. 
The zinnias, petunias, mignonettes, candy¬ 
tufts, pansies, and several other flowers quite 
new to us are in bloom. Don’t you know that 
we are constantly reminded of you when we 
are enjoying our floweret We have a flue 
SAVING FLOWER SEEDS. 
AVE you noticed, among 
the vegetable seeds,what 
a variety there is in 
shape, size, and color— 
white and black, rough 
and smooth, large and 
small seeds? But it is 
the flower seeds 
y° u will the great- 
v fccffijjL est variety. The first. 
— * 7 p sight of any variety of 
J flower seed is almost 
J certain to be a surprise; 
Qj C if you have a small mog- 
Cl/ nifying glass, and ex¬ 
amine them through it, your wonder will grow 
as you see their shapes and markings. While 
you are gathering the seeds notice these things, 
and your work among tbo flowers will seem 
like au exploration in a new country. 
Flower scuds are, most of them, small, and 
must be put away with care, or they will be 
scattered and lost. Small pasteboard boxes, 
with lids, will answer, and the boxes must be 
put in a safe place, where they will not be 
upset. 
Nearly all of our garden bloomers will give 
the most flowers if the blossoms are gathered 
as fast as they bloom; the strength of the 
plant goes into the seeds instead of into new 
flowers, if the blossoms are left to mature. If 
you want flowers more than seeds, you can 
have them by being generous with the blos¬ 
soms, gathering them as fast as they Open. If 
you want showy plants, let the flowers stay on 
until they begin to fade; then gather them 
Ik: fore they begin to make seed. But if you 
want seeds, leave the flowers and wntoh them, 
lest, the seed should ripen and scatter before 
you know it; for nearly every plant has some 
way by which it sows its seeds when they are 
ripe. You have seen this in the Balsam, or 
Touch-me-not; when the pods curl up sud¬ 
denly, they scatter the seed in every- direction. 
Other plants have other ways by which they 
sow their seeds. The portulaca has a cup 
with a lid; when the seeds are ripe the lid 
falls off, and many of the little seeds fall with 
it, uud those left in the cup ure shaken out by 
any motion of the plants. Buch seeds will 
need watching, or, like youug birds ill t.henest., 
they will be gone before you know it. 
When you have planted seeds and watched 
them grow, given them good soil, aud good 
care, you hope for beautiful flowers, and if the 
seed has been carefully saved you will have 
them. In saving your own seed, remember 
that you want beautiful flowers another sea¬ 
son. If there are colors you do not admire 
among the phlox, verbenas, portulaeas or 
zinnius, pull out the plants as soon as they 
bloom, or t hey will mix with the others, and 
seeds saved from plants having the finest, col¬ 
ors may produce homely flowers. Among 
double flowers, os balsams, zinnias, portulac- 
us, or piuks, the very double flowers will not 
bear any seed: and if your plants are all dou¬ 
ble, you will not have seed, but if some are 
half double they will probably mature seed 
that will grow double flowers next season. 
Flora’s Paint-brush and ageratum are flowers 
that seem double: but if you look at them 
very closely, you will see each one is a head of 
little flowers crowded closely together, and 
there will be a great many seeds in each head; 
the thistle and dandelion have such blossoms; 
you will have no trouble getting seed from 
them, although they look like double flowers 
If among your flowers you have one plaut 
that, is some rare color, you can save seed 
from it, and by planting the seed separately, 
and pulling out all that, are not true to the 
color when they bloom, yon can keep it from 
year to year; but unless you enjoy it, y r ou need 
not do this, for you can buy seeds carefully 
selected of almost every color aud shade. I 
once saw seed saved from a yellow phlox that 
appeared in a l*ed of mixed colors, and every 
plant from that seed had y ellow flowers the 
next year. 1 have only given you a few hints 
about flower seeds, and I leave you to find out 
a great mauy things for yourselves. Those 
among you who live near wood lots might 
gather some or the wild flower seeds and sow 
them in a shady place this Fall, Covering them 
with leaves us if iu the woods. The wild 
flower seeds are as odd and interesting as cul¬ 
tivated seeds, hut will be more difficult to 
grow. 
With a uico collection of common flower 
seeds of your own next seasou, you can afford 
to buy some rarer kinds, and make your flower 
garden the most interesting spot on the farm. 
uncle mark. 
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FRANKLIN S4HABE, ltOSTON, MASS 
SEED WHEAT. 
Boys, I hope you have all read that article, 
“Words to the Boys of the Rural Family,” 
ou the editorial page [4861 of the Rural of 
July Iff, aud that you will make it a point to 
earu at least a half bushel of the Cross-bred 
Diehl-Mediterranean. We believe you can 
get one bushel i£ you should try right bard, 
aud tlieu by sowing it right you should get a 
nice lot which you can sell to y our neighbors 
at a good price. The editors think a great 
deal of this wheat, and 1 am anxious that my 
nephews should avail themselves of every 
honorable opportunity to make something for 
themselves. If you have not read that article, 
do so at once, aiid then see what you can do 
for yourself and the Rural, uncle mark. 
4GEXTS WASTED for the lives 
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LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. 
Dear Uncle Mark:— We have finished 
picking strawberries; we had about 5,000 
