764 
THE RURAL WEW-YORKER. 
their days in singing duets or to be engaged 
in doing crewel work.” That depends. Land¬ 
lords as well as tenants derive their incomes 
from the profits of farming, and it depends 
upon the capital employed whether the latter 
has not as good a claim to the recreations and 
luxuries of life as the former. 
The Editor of the Farm Journal tells how 
Mr. Meech, of New Jersey, makes enough 
manure from one horse to fertilize five acres. 
Just behind the horse stable is a square pit, 
and near the pit is a heap of dry earth and 
sifted coal ashes. The animal stands in a bed 
of this several inches deep. All droppings are 
absorbed and drawn into this pit. When it is 
full it bolds a one horse wagon load; it is 
taken and at once spread on the land. 
and treats of insects, etc., injurious to wheat, 
corn, sorghum, strawberries, apples, etc, and 
mentions remedial and protective measures in 
each case. 
WAS THIS THE RE8ULT OF CROSS¬ 
FERTILIZATION? 
The question of how much effect the pollen 
has upon the fruit produced by cross-fertiliza¬ 
tion, has of late been attracting so much 
attention that we take pleasure in presenting, 
at Fig. 404, an accurate representation of a 
THE PURCHASE OF A REAPER. 
Henry Stewart’s statement (page 652 of 
the Rural.) that some farmers have found 
the purchase of a costly reaper the first step 
on the road to ruin, is one the truth of which 
is more apparent thuu real. 1 presume be 
says this as a warning to wise men; for fools 
never take advice, and may so act as to make 
the purchase ol even a plow the first step on 
the road to ruin. But any sensible farmer 
who has a furm of any size, and has from SO 
to 100 acres of grain, requires a first class 
reaper just as much us he does u plow or a 
harrow. I don’t know 1 what Mr. 8. means 
by a costly reaper, for all the leading machine 
makers charge the same price, and although 
bought on time, the machine will not cost any 
more ouch .year than it would to hire the cut¬ 
ting of, say, 7ft acres. Three such payments 
would complete the purchase of the reaper, 
and as, in all probability, the owner would 
have more grain than I estimate, it does uot 
require much brain power toseetbat it would 
soon pay for itself. This season I had only 
86 acres of my own to cut; but I saw my wuy 
to do other work, and accordingly bought a 
“Wood” with bundle carrier. 1 had no previ¬ 
ous experience in running one; still I man¬ 
aged to make it a success. My team was very 
light, but with a little assistance in the horse 
power, when I could get it, I cut 160 ucres 
with the result that 1 secured $125 for work 
done and my own grain was cut free. This 
is allowing 40 cents uu acre for twine, so that 
I am giving the lowest possible amount I 
would earn for the work done. 1 might with 
equal truth say that the purchase of a costly 
reaper has been to me the first step on the 
road to riches. 1 am a boliever in the first 
Napoleon’s famous saying, “The tools to those 
who can handle them.” Any one who can 
CHERRY TREES ON WET LAND 
WALDO F. BROWN, 
In a recent issue of the Rural I noticed an 
article on “Cherry Tree Planting,” in which 
the writer cautioned his readers against 
plantiug on wet land. 
While his advice is good, and it is true that 
this fruit will not flourish or the trees be 
likely to live long enough to give any profit, 
if planted so that the roots are in standing 
water, it is also true, as I have proved by ex¬ 
perience, that the Early Richmond Cherry 
may be grown at a large profit and to great 
perfection on land too wet to be cultivated 
profitably, and this can be done without 
underdraining. In 1869 I planted 99 Early 
Richmond Cherry trees on live eights of an 
acre of land which I had tried to cultivate for 
some years, and found tbut in wet seusons my 
crops would be drowned out, and that nearly 
every year it would be quite late in the Spring 
before the land could be plowed, and then it 
would be very difficult to put. it in good con¬ 
dition to work. It lay in such shape that it 
would be difllcult to underdraiu, and so I de¬ 
termined to plant it in trees and try surface 
drainage. 
The plot was about 10 rods square, and 
sloped a little to the east, giving a foot or 15 
inches fall. 1 plowed it in lands one rod wide, 
back furrowing, so as to make the lands as 
high as possible in the center. Then, instead 
of digging holes for the trees, we spread the , 
roots out on the surface, and shoveled earth 
from the dead furrows and raised broad 
mounds around them, sufficient to cover the • 
roots as deep as they grew in the nursery. 
In cultivating the trees for the next two 
years, we used a light turning plow, and 
turned the soil towards them. After two 
Pear shaped Strawberry Apple. Fig. 464, 
fruit produced upon an apple tree upon the 
premises of Mr. John C. Marin, of Westfield, 
N. J. The tree on which this fruit grew, and 
which produced several others very like it, 
was one of a row of Early Strawberry Apples. 
A Bit of Experience.— When using an 
axe or hammer, instead of spitting on the 
hands to get a firm hold on it, use a little lurd 
or other soft grease or oil—never use linseed 
oil, as that will glaze it and make it more 
slippery. Also, if you have dry, bard wood 
to split, grease the ax with bacon rind. 
W. H. C 
Normal Shape of Apple. Fig. 465, 
A normal apple of this variety, taken from 
another tree, is shown at Fig. 465. There 
were none of these abnormally-formed apples 
on any other tree of the row except on this one, 
and only on one side of that. The row was so 
situated that the tree which bore the pear- 
shaped specimens stood on the end and ad¬ 
joining ft Bartlett Bear tree, and very close 
to it. Mr. Marin stutes that for some reason 
the pear and apple trees blossomed at the same 
time, uud for some reason, on that side nearest 
the pear these apples were produced. In 
color the specimen was slightly less red than 
the Early Strawberry, and in quality there 
was decidedly less acid, and we thought a 
trifle of the Bartlett flavor. We do uot claim 
that this was tbo result of hybridization; we 
ouly show the cuts us a matter of curiosity, 
and have told the facts as given to us by Mr. 
Marin, and as to the appearance and taste of 
the fruit from our own observation. The 
question is, was this result produced by the 
pollen of the Bartlett? 
Agricultural Education!— Our young 
neighbor, Puck, says, “The Rural New- 
Yorker asks this grave question: ‘How shall 
we educate our children agriculturally?’ 
“Why,” replies Puck, “the only way to do is 
to throw aside all fancy theories and do it 
with a club. If your hoy. whom you desire 
to develop into an agriculturist, sleeps later 
than four in the morning, go to him and yank 
him rudely out of bed, and hammer him into 
his clothes, and drive him down-stairs to milk 
20 cows, and feed the stock, and fetch iu a 
lot of wood, and clean up the harness, and 
wipe the surface of the army mule with a 
handful of straw. Then give him a breakfast 
of corn bread and weak coffee, and work him 
all day long behind the plow or in the corn 
field, and hurry him off to bed at eight in the 
evening, that he may secure all the sleep he 
requires, before four o’clock in the morning. 
CATALOGUES, ETC., RECEIVED 
Annual Report of operations of the 
United States Live Saving Service for 
1884, being a detailed statement of wbat is be¬ 
ing done by the Government to save life on 
the shores of the ocean uud inland water ways. 
Transactions of the Department of Ag¬ 
riculture of the State ok Illinois for 
1888,being the 21st volume. We have to thank 
the Secretary, Mr. 8. D. Fisher, for this neat 
volume of 550 pages, containing the transac¬ 
tion of the Board of Agriculture for the year; 
also a report of the State Fair, and the Live 
Stock Show; also the proceedings of the 111. 
Swine Breeders’ Association at the 15th annual 
meeting. Accompanying this report and 
bound with it, is the I8th annual report of 
the Illinois State Entomologist, Prof. S. A. 
Forbes, on the noxious and beneficial insects 
of the State. This report fills some 200 pages 
