on the vine. He thinks it will flourish where- i distribution of seed. So far for the French ad- 
ever the Muscadine or Scuppernong will in the ] vocaey of the nettle as an economic farm- 
open air, and that it will do well in the North plant. Our tall, native bland nettle, with 
if protected, as it is so very early and not sub- strongly-veined alternate leaves, lias very 
jeet to blight or mildew.”. . strong fiber and has been proposed as a sub- 
“Don’t you think it has a sort of tantalizing stitute for hemp. Like their near relatives, 
effect for a man to advertise a grape largely, the hop, the mulberry and the Osage Orange, 
send the fruit to shows, etc., and then when the nettles have the sexes in separate flowers, 
asked the price to return the answer u not for and usually on separate plants, 
sale?" After hearing so much about the Pough- *** 
keepsie Red, I thought it was to be for sale; At a large meeting of the Penobscot Farui- 
but the owner says not. It reminds me of a ers ! Club (Maine), reported in the Home Farm, 
child who has discovered something nice, and the first meeting of the season, the leading 
who holds it up in order to become the envy of subject for discussion was the applicability of 
its companions. A strange spirit is prevailing the teu-liour system to fnnn-work. Nearly all 
among fruit growers—they must form a coin- the speakers favored its adoption, believing 
pany, or sell by contract—or invent some that the w orkmen would accomplish as much 
method of making exorbitant profits. Why work as if required to work from sun to sun, 
show us the fruit if we are not to become pur- and that they ought to have some spare time 
chasers! Annie L. Jack. for rest and improvement. The farmer would 
We would say to our respected friend that l 1(1 relieved himself from incessant labor and 
the originators of new and good fruit are oversight,and there would be fewer bent forms, 
certainly entitled to a goodly compensation. stiff joints, aching bones and dragging steps. 
Unless they bring such new fruits to the notice The improvements in the fields and the im- 
of the public in some way, how are they to plements, in general management, and the^nar- 
writes that the observation of Koch has found 
a brilliant confirmation in his factory, where 
a large quantity of sulphur is evaporated 
daily. That in this process a great deal of sul¬ 
phurous acid is formed can easily be imagined. 
During the 14 years that his factory has ex¬ 
isted uone of the many laborers have ever been 
affected by tubercular consumption, nay, more 
frequently, enough persons in the beginning 
stages of this disease applied for admittance 
and were cured within a few weeks, simply by 
inhaling the sulphurous acid. If not too far 
progressed, these individuals became strong, 
stout, and perfectly healthy again. All dis¬ 
eases zymotic in character, even cholera, stay 
away from Ins factory and those working 
there. Persons affected with bronchial catarrh 
are rapidly cured. Phthisical patients should 
live in rooms where hourly one to two drachms 
of sulphur are evaporated on a warm stove. 
The first eight or ten days there is increased 
irritation of cough and expectoration; then 
these cease,and the individual rapidly improves. 
Chas. A. Green (page 5) asks: “Why do 
not farmers more frequently occupy seats in 
Congress and in other legislative halls ? ” I 
suppose the reasou to be that their time and 
talents are fully occupied in attending to their 
own affairs. The man who devotes himself 
thoroughly to his own business has little incli¬ 
nation to join in the general scramble after 
office. Many intelligent men are content to 
do their duty humbly, and in a quiet way, de¬ 
siring no conspicuous positions; and as there is 
not room for all in public places, it is well that 
there are many such. Most farmere have too 
nuch self-respect to adopt the means consid¬ 
ered necessary to procure office. In a word, 
as R. D. Blaekmore says: “They lack the fun¬ 
damental nastiness, without which they would 
never get through t he job.” Many incompe¬ 
tent men sit in our legislative halls, and many 
competent ones fail to do so. Failing to hold 
office is no evidence of a lack of wisdom. “ A 
man may be a very great man and still be less 
than Julius Csesar. 7 ’ 
Again Mr. Green asks: “ Why do not pro¬ 
fessional men look up to the fanning class with 
greater respect f 1 It is a very grave mistake 
to suppose that professional men despise farm¬ 
ers. Farmers and their occupation are held in 
very high respect by all sensible people of ev¬ 
ery profession. There may lie occasional 
weak-headed individuals who will sneer at 
farmers, but they are too insignificant in num¬ 
ber and too weak in intellect to cause us any 
uneasiness. Farmers despise them in return, 
and which are the greater losers? 
Let luxury, sickening in profusion’s chair, 
Unwisely pamper his unworthy heir; 
And, while he feeds him, blush and tremble too. 
But love and labor, blush not, fear not you! 
Your children (splinters from the moimtain 
side), 
With rugged hands shall for themselves pro¬ 
vide. Nelson Ritter. 
Cheap Plants and Trees.— There is as 
much difference in the quality of plants and 
trees as there is in horses, pigs, cows, clothing, 
•houses and farms, says C. A. Green in his Small 
Fruit Catalogue. Few men would write: 
“Dear Sir—I want to buy a home, and will 
buy of the man that will sell eheajiest. I have 
not seen your horse, nor the horse of the other 
men to whom I apply for prices, but suppose 
that oue horse is as valuable as another. Send 
me your price and if it is the lowest I will buy 
your horse.” No, because his experience lias 
taught him that oue horse may be dear at $10 
and another cheap at $100. But there is so much 
ignorance about plants and trees it would seem 
that nurserymen often get letters respecting 
them much like the above—they will buy of 
the man who sells cheapest, and do not consider 
the question of quality. Poorly grown, small, 
weak, stunted plants or trees are worse than 
worthless; they are vexatious and abominable. 
Good nurserymen, therefore, do not desire a 
reputation for handling anything but the best. 
It hurts any man’s reputation to send out poor 
stock. But remember that cheap trees mean 
poor trees, cheap plants, poor plants. 
Yield of Amber Cane. —Mr. Compton says 
in the Husbandman, that he has made thous¬ 
ands of gallons of molasses from the Amber 
Cane. The best yield he obtained last year 
was 77 gallons of molasses, over It pounds in 
weight, from a little lass than 35 square rods. 
That would give about 342 gallons to the acre. 
A fair average crop of cane should reach 10 
tons to the acre, although twice as much is 
easily possible. The average product of a ton 
in molasses is 16 gallons. He worked one crop 
last Fall—Mr. Bowman’s—that gave 21 gallons 
of good molasses to the ton of cans—but he had 
taken a great deal of pains to fit the stalks 
for the crusher. 
HOW TO START SMALL AND DELICATE SEEDS. 
The following is the best method that I have 
ver tried for germinating small and delicate 
seeds: Fill a common flower pot with fine 
loam. By jarring the pot, set the soil moder¬ 
ately firm, leaving the surface finely pul¬ 
verized. On this scatter the seeds and jar the 
pot again to settle them into the crevices of 
the soil. Then place the pot in shallow water 
in a warn, sunny window or plant-house, 
and see that sufficient water is kept in the 
saucer or basin in which the pot rests to keep 
the surface of the soil in the pot sufficiently 
wet. Any fancy pot with saucer attached 
will answer equally well if the drainage hole 
is sufficiently low. 
Treated as here suggested nearly, if not 
quite, all good seeds will grow, even those 
which happen to remain in full view on the 
surface of the soil. The plan is easily adopted 
and necessitates no troublesome expedients to 
prevent the washing out of the seeds or the 
packing of the soil as when water is applied 
directly to the surface as is usually done; and 
no glass need be placed on the top of the pot, 
for by capillary’ attraction the surface of the 
soil will keep sufficiently wet if enough water 
is kept at the base of the pot. Seeds need¬ 
ing little moisture for germination should be 
treated accordingly. Only a little water should 
be applied to the base of the pot. The above ma y 
prove instructive to a portion of the younger 
readers of the Rural if not also to some of 
the older ones. Iudeed I have never known 
anyone but myself to employ the above 
method. F. E. Aspinwall, m. d. 
[The Rural is employing just exactly that 
method with grape, potato and strawberry 
seeds.— Eds.] 
True Mangrove—Fig. 92, 
rowing of the culture to particular specialties 
make this measure more practicable now than 
formerly. 
make the fruits known ? ‘ ‘Not for sale” in such 
cases, we presume means simply that it is not 
for sale at retail or else that the stock is not 
yet large enough to offer. We agree, however, 
with Mrs. Jack that it is tantalizing for the 
time. It has been announced, however, that 
the Poughkeepsie Red is not yet, for sale, a 
statement that has escaped her notice. 
The Nebraska Farmer says that if close at¬ 
tention were given to raising corn and hogs, 
Nehraska in ten years could show the wealth¬ 
iest farmers of an}’ State in the Union. It 
deprecates wheat raising. 
The Sweet Potato. —Growing sweet pota¬ 
to plants for the more northern section of the 
country has developed into quite a business 
and in all our large towns and cities the hot¬ 
houses are largely devoted to raising the 
sprouts and slips. The}- are started about the 
find of April, and their growth will largely de¬ 
pend upon the condition of the soil and the 
quality of the seed planted. The plants should 
be ready for the market from the 15th of May 
to the 1st of June. The way to plant is given 
in the Am. Garden as follows: Cut the pota¬ 
to lengthwise, and put pieces, cut side down, 
close together, in the drill previously made, 
and cover to a depth of two or three inches. 
The soil will need watering with tepid water 
every few clays, so that there will lx- moisture 
enough for the sprouts to start and grow; but 
too much water must be avoided, or the pota- 
The Michigan Farmer say’s that in the great 
coni contest of the Rural New-Yorker, A. 
F. Barnes, of Ovid, Clinton County, had nu 
average yield of two and 12-10 pounds to a 
kernel, and 2061 £ bushels of shelled corn per 
acre. He was awarded the third prize, a farm 
feed-mill valued at $00. This shows that Mich¬ 
igan farmers can compete successfully in grow¬ 
ing coni when they determine to do it. 
[This was according to our first award. —Eds.] 
The Gazette Medicale speaks up for the net¬ 
tle—the hated, stinging nettle—as a food plant. 
The Farm Journal does not recommend any 
farmer to skin his laud, hut if ever he should 
do that, this season of good prices is the time. 
If ever more is taken oil’ a farm than is put ou 
this is the period. Make the land rich when 
products are cheap, so that it will make you 
rich when prices are high! How will this do 
in the long run f 
The Live Stock Indicator says that oats are 
not only the most natural food for horses, but 
are decidedly the most nutritious. They are 
the cheajiest, because there is less danger iu 
feeding them; and experience has proved that 
horses properly fed on oats and Timothy hay 
can, with regular exercise, good grooming 
and proper sanitary regulations, he brought to 
the highest state of physieul culture, and can 
perform more work with less evidence of fatigue 
than when fed on any other article of food. 
Remedy for Caked Udder in Cow.—I 
have found the following to be an almost un¬ 
failing remedy for caked udder in cow’s. In 
a pint of water put about one ounce of poke- 
root, and to this add two tablespoonfuls of 
lard. Steep 12 hours, then apply warm and 
nib in thoroughly. Relief will soon follow. 
Kensico, N. Y. R. s. 
Cabbage Palmetto—Fig, 
of substantial value. It is said to be unex¬ 
celled even by green rye as a promotive of the 
quality and quantity of the milk; while it is 
quite as early and abundant in its yield, and 
possesses the advantage of far easier culture, 
being perennial, as lucerne, constantly inviting 
the mower to “ cut and come again.” It is a 
special food for turkeys and almost essential to 
success in raising them. The tender tips of its 
growth are used in soups and ragouts and have 
quite an agreeable flavor, not inferior to chic¬ 
ory, sorrel, poirec-bects, or even spinach, and 
at no cost. As a weed among garden plants, 
the nettle would be embarrassing, but where 
it occupies its own permanent corner, and is 
regularly mowed off and fed there will lie no 
RURAL BRIEFLETS. 
Mr. E. T. Avery, of South Carolina, writes 
us regarding a new grape he has produced 
from the seed of the Malaga. He describes the 
bunches as eight inches long; berries large; 
about the size of Catawba: color greenish gold, 
with bronze cheek, fleshy, transparent and 
almost seedless, ripens two weeks earlier than 
Concord. He made last season a fine box of 
raisins of this grape, equal to any foreign 
raisins in the market. At the North he fears 
it will winter-kill unless put down. He claims 
that this is the earliest grape in existence, 
ripening July 1st, and it will keep until it raisins 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS, 
Illinois. 
Malcomjct, Champaign Co.—The Winter 
has been quite cold. Now every leaf, twig, 
limb and thing exposed is covered with an iucli 
of ice, and the ground is covered with from 
three to six inches of nearly solid ice. Peach 
trees nearly all smashed down; large cherry 
trees the same; nearly all forked apple tices 
are split down; shade and fruit trees that are 
Sulphurous Acid in Consumption.— Many 
are aware that sulphurous acid is one of our 
most important bacillicides. and the more to 
be recommended as it can be inhaled with im- 
^..nity. Mr. Julius Kircher, a pupil of Liebig, 
and owner of a chemical factory in Brooklyn, 
