MARCH 40 
for a % square or % inch round picket, me¬ 
dium rail, the price being based on a ratio of 
four large posts and one walk-gate to every 100 
feet of fence without extra charge, including 
line posts ©very five feet, all to be measured 
aud paid for at the same price per Lineal foot, 
as fence. This makes a neat and not very ex¬ 
pensive fence which will ornament any farm¬ 
yard or lawn. 
eras require similar treatment to that- advised 
for the elms. 
Poplars and willows also mature their crop 
in early Summer; their minute seeds encased 
in cottony down till the air as Ibey escape; 
they should be gathered by breakiug the spray 
from the trees just as the catkins Is*gin to 
burst. These twigs may be spread out upon a 
tight floor in a close room to ripen, when the 
seeds will soon fall and can be separated for 
storage or trausportatu>n. It. is best, however, 
to commit them at once to the earth by strew¬ 
ing the twigs along shallow furrows made in 
the fresh, mellow soil, and covering them very 
slightly; if favored by a shower these seeds 
will germiuate almost immediately, but if ex¬ 
posed to the bright sunshine they will soon lose 
their vitality entirely. This class of trees is 
chiefly multiplied by cuttings, of which mil¬ 
lions are annually set into the fertile soils of 
our prairies, where they strike root and grow 
thriftily, rising several feet the first Summer. 
They are not usually grown in the nurseries, 
aud thus the lalmr of transplanting them is 
avoided. The well-known facility of this group 
in providing themselves with roots is pro¬ 
verbially expressed by the familiar expression 
of “growing like a willow.’" 
tree. A dissection of the freshly fallen seed 
shows the plumule advanced, and ready to 
burst open the cotyledons with its expanding 
leaves, which are folded together in the ma¬ 
ture seed just as they are in the bursting buds. 
Of course, in such a condition they cannot re¬ 
tain their vitality after living once thoroughly 
dried, as some of us have learned to our re¬ 
gret aud loss. Nature has beautifully pro¬ 
vided tor the self-seeding and self-planting of 
these species by a very pretty device; the ma¬ 
ple keys are double and float buoyantly in the 
ail* with a rotary motion caused by the unequal 
ballast—for only one of the cells contains a 
seed—and when this reaches the ground and 
separates from its fellow, the heavier portion 
being down, the wing or sail pointing up¬ 
ward receives the impulse of the slightest, 
breeze, while the beak, the former connection 
with its mate, enters the loose soil, into which 
t he radicle at once protrudes aud fixes the 
little plant, which immediately advances its 
growth. It is manifest that seeds of such 
characters must be very difficult to transport 
to a distance; if too dry they are killed; if 
damp they will heat aud grow moldy in a few 
ilays; possibly they might be carried if mixed 
with rather damp sand, or packed hxwely 
with alternate layers of damp forest leaves or 
shreds of old sphagnum, in ventilated boxes. 
All su.ii early ripening seeds should be 
gathered from the tree with the spray so soon 
as they hav e browned, and wheu they begin 
to fall; l>eiug then full of sap, it is well to 
house the seeds of maples aud elms in a ca¬ 
pacious aud airy room until they have more 
perfectly matured, when they may be separ¬ 
ated from the spray, but theu they will retain 
more moisture than they should have if left iu 
bulk, or if packed closely for transportation. 
It the trees arc standing on paved sidewalks 
the seeds may be allowed to fall as they can 
then lie swept up anil easily gathered before 
they are finished ordriedup;so also when hang¬ 
ing over the w ater of a st ream, the natural 
habitat of the Dasycarpum. the seeds may be 
gathered with a rake from the eddies where 
they collect, but they will then need more 
careful drying to get rid of their extraneous 
moisture before transportation. 
The other maples ripen their seeds in the 
Autumn when they may be gathered from the 
trees, usually after they fall off the leaf. These 
mav be stored in a cool, airy room or laid up¬ 
on the smooth surface of the ground, lightly 
covered with litter or forest leaves, nature's 
method of wintering), aud protected from ex¬ 
cessive moisture; or, perhaps better still, let 
them be at once planted in the seed-beds. 
file Soft Maple should be sowed iu shallow 
drills so soon as they are prepared after har- 
vastiugthem; cover rather lightly with mellow 
soil or prepared with woods’ earth, if at hand, 
and, with good culture, you will have the 
plants large enough to set out iu the field by 
the end of Summer, unless where too thickly 
sowed. The Red Maples do not grow so freely 
aud may stand another season or be trans¬ 
planted into nursery rows the next Spring— 
so may the smaller plants of the Water Maple. 
Iu all these Summer seedlings there is a crit¬ 
ical period after they have vegetated and be¬ 
fore their expanding leaves have performed 
their special functions, aud before the slender 
rootlets have been able to reach the moisture 
of the soil. The plantlets either wither aud 
dry up, or they “damp oft’” and die. This 
latter accident, usually attributed to mildew, 
is located at a point of the Stem lie tween 
“wind aud water,” or stem and root. It is 
generally treated by sowing dry earth or sand 
among the plants, bagmen-, of the Forest 
School of Nancy, France, advises sowing in 
shallow furrows or narrow drills, into which 
the earth is carefully drawn so as to fill up the 
drill and thus protect the naked stems which 
are liable to attack. A light mulching with 
freshly-mown lawn grass furnishes the shade 
that is desirable at this critical period, but 
lids soon dries up and admits the light, aud 
air as the tender little plants can bear and 
need these important, aids to plant growth. 
The elms usually ripen their seeds in the 
curly Summer, except the Cedar Elm (Ulmus 
erassifoliu). a rare tree of the Indian Territory 
uud Texas, again found by Mr. T. V. Munson, 
ot Dennison. Texas, m the original habitat 
described by Thos, Nuttall in IMS. Elm seeds 
are less sensitive than those of the Soft Maples, 
but they should be kept dry, close aud cool, if 
not planted at once or soon after being har¬ 
vested. They tnay be put into drills, beds or 
boxes, anil tightly covered with mellow earth. 
If not too thick in the drills they will be large 
enough for the planter by the end of the first 
season. When taken up iu the Fall, all these 
seedlings should lie assorted for size, and the 
long roots shortened for convenience in plant¬ 
ing. Thu larger seedlings can then be planted 
out iu the o;m‘u ground, or they may bo heeled 
in until Spring; those loss ban a foot high 
will be preserved for lining out in the nursery 
ows to grow another season. Do not hrow 
hem away, as you art* never ure of a eed 
rop the following ear The outhern Plan- 
Kissena Nurseries 
Trees and Plants. 
Parsons & Sons Go 
LIMITED. 
Flushing, N. Y. 
Riding and Walking Cultivators Sulky 
Plow. 
A correspondent of the Rural from North 
Carver. Mass., lately inquired alioiit riding 
cultivators. My experience shows they will 
do good work among potatoes, cabbages, or 
any other crop that is planted in drills or 
check-rows: with rows from three feet, six 
inches to four feet apart I use what is called 
the Disk Cultivator. It has six disk coulters 
which revolve and run at. any angle you may 
wish, three on either side of the row. It pul¬ 
verizes the soil, i think it would work well in 
any soil free from stone. 1 prefer the walking 
“shovel” cultivators to the riding, although 
many of the riding ones are used. One can 
handle the walking cultivator better and work 
close to the growing crop to a better advant¬ 
age. After passing through the crops the first 
time, I think a riding cultivator would answer 
just as well. 1 have used both. 
1 don't agree with one of the Rural cor¬ 
respondents in his advice not to invest in a 
sulky plow if one has a light team. I advise 
one to invest if he has a light tea m. My team 
is light, not one of the three horses will weigh 
overnine hundred-weights, yet I eau plow from 
three to four acres jier day with ease. 
Kaukakee Co.. Ill. Isaac H. Stone. 
GROWN AND IMPORTED EXPRESSLY FOR 
MARKET GARDENERS 
Wholesale Price List sent free to all engaged In 
growing vegetables for market. 
All. CO WA N &■ CO., ill Chambers St „ New-York 
Beauty of Hebron. Burbank’* Seedling, #2 per bushel; 
tie et*. per peek; by mail, 35 els. per lb. Early Sunrise, 
New Conqueror, tjv mail, 80 et«. per lb. CLAYTON H. 
BIDELMAN, Albion, X. Y. 
NEW NICOTIAN A A F FINIS. 
A splendid new annual with large white flowers as 
fragrant as the Tuberose, and In bloom all Summer. 
Seeds l.ie. per plct.. post-paid. iSee "Rays," by Leon, p. 
II l of Rural ) All the best novelties In flower seeds. 
New seed Catalogue free to all. L. W. GOODF.LL, 
Seed Grower, Amherst. Mass. 
Black Walnuts Poisonous to Near-by 
Vegetation. 
In the Rural of Jauuarv 13th, 1883, W. \V. 
and D. E. G. raise the question whether Black 
Walnut trees are poisonous to anything grow¬ 
ing near them. Here is my experience: Some 
30 years ago I concluded to plant an orchard of 
about “00 apple trees on one of my farms— 
open prairie. Having quite a lot of three to 
four-year-old walnut trees growing from the 
seed, I concluded to plant a few rows of them 
on the north as a wind-break. Both did well 
for some time, and now some of the walnut 
trees have reached a bight of 30 to 40 feet. 
The first row of apple trees bus long since been 
killed out; the second row nearly so; the rest 
of the orchard is doiug well with a large crop 
of fruit the past season, and is generally fruit¬ 
ful. With my experience I should as soon 
think of feeding poison to my stock as of 
planting such trees near enough to apple trees 
to subject the latter to their influence. My 
grove of walnut trees is much admired by 
passers-by. 
1 settled down here in 1888 on the open prai¬ 
rie, without, a tree near, nor in some directions 
for milep, and being much attached to tree¬ 
planting when a boy, necessity and pleas¬ 
ure have induced me to plant timber and fruit 
trees, so that uiy arlioreal surroundings have 
grown with my years—now juissed Tti. On my 
farm I have now growing most kinds of trees 
belonging to this region, as well as a great 
many thousands of foreign sorts, all doing well, 
and in season we have abundance of fruit of 
all kinds that will thrive hero. 
Several years since I paid a visit to some 
friends “Out. West”—iu Iowa and Nebraska. 
It was strange to see people settled down on 
some of those long stretches of prairie without 
a bush or tree in sight, and in some places it 
was evident they had been staying there for 
many years—certainly long enough to have 
had a grove of trees sufficient to shelter them 
from those blizzards that so often visit those 
regions, aud fruit in season. Having gone 
through all those trials consequent to a new- 
country, I could say much more. T. L. 
[We should gladly receive uotes of your ex¬ 
perience.—E ds.] 
For the purpose of promoting pro 
grossive agriculture. we desire !<• pro 
IT Hill LU cure stocks of seed of all uewand Ini 
proved varietlps.eMpecially Pu re Seed Corn and oth¬ 
er grains. Now varieties should have f heir characterls 
ties nxed b\ it course of ftveyear* or more of oareful 
selection and breeding. Any person having such will 
please send sample, with his own address plainly 
marked upon the package, and write careful descrip¬ 
tion, with history, to 
iilKAM S1BI.EY & CO., Seedsmen, 
Rochester, N. Y„ aud 1’hieniro, 111. 
Plenty of Grapes for* the Farmer. 
For 3d years I have had my annual feast on 
delicious grapes trained on walls of barns, etc. 
My experience is that, grown in this way, 
they attain to a much more tender and sweet 
quality and also never rot aud are almost se¬ 
cure from Spring frosts—so much so that you 
can often have a full crop on the wall when 
all are killed on the open ground. Varieties 
that are not hardy in the field may do well 
trained in this way. After the vines get 
a good start, they need no care except one an¬ 
nual pruning and the gathering of the fruit. 
The vine with its load of fruit improves the 
aptyorance of such buildings and does no in¬ 
jury to the wall iu any way. So I would say 
to any readers of the Rural who have not an 
abundance of this fruit, try a few (or mauyi 
vines trained in this way. and you will in due 
time reap a rich reward in this best of all the 
fruits. e. E. 
I lf [j, perh. Hansel), Cuulson, Beauty 
auil Reliance Kaspheeriesj Jus. 
Vk'k. Old Iron Clad, Big Bob, ilaucnester and In 
dlaua Strawberries $ Stay men’s Early Blackber¬ 
ries. Long list of other Fruits* Plants. Price list free 
to all. S.C.Det 'Ot ,Monre*ro\vu, Burlington Co.,N.J. 
UNDKKHM.E IMF KEEPS*IE, N Y 
111 IT P bAM's. Gregg, Vick- a a i »i 
) 1/ V -Chester, Bob, ami till. Ill n M 
1 it 1 My Berry JLeal. with III H ll' 
IAI X prices.advices, etc., fret, m m i 
Raspberry, the best. Every one should 
have it. Ail Small Fruit, send for fata 
Iogue free. 
J. I JIVIN' JOHNSON, 
BALM YRa, Wayne Co., N. Y. 
Bidwell, Manchester, James Viet, Nharpless 
and uver one hundred other 
STRAWBERRIES 
for sale in large or small quantities. .-vlso a full assort 
uient of K:i-pbe< ries Currauth, Puierberrieii 
Blackberries. and Grapes, true to name and care 
fullv bandied and packed. New and promising vane 
ties a specialty. Brice Ust tree to ail applicants. 
T. 1'. LYON. Smith uaveu, Mich. 
Grub-Worm Preventive. 
One of my neighbors covered his strawber¬ 
ries with very coarse horse-manure. In Spring 
he raked it into the paths, where it was trod¬ 
den quite hard. On examination after awhile, 
it was found to contain myriads of very small 
grub-worms, which were care full}- removed 
with the mauiire and destroyed, thereby near¬ 
ly clearing the grounds, which had been in¬ 
fested badly. Similar results have been ob¬ 
tained in other trials. J. R. G. 
. rinrn i if you love rare floivkrs, c/ioiv, - «f 
P lAUlIi ! only, address ELLIS BROTHERS, 
Keene, N. H. It will astonisli and please. FREE. 
C. B. ROItERS. 
No. 13ft Market Street, Philadelphia. 
Dealer in all choice and new varieties of 
FIELD. GARDEN AND FLOWER SEEDS. 
All the approved varieties of Seed Potatoes, Seed 
corn, Seed Oats and Barley, etc. 
Send for new Catalogue. 
1 •>,! , lit, L RASPBERRY PLANTS FOR SALK. 
lOl'jUDo The Gregg and Improved Doolittle, 
two of the best Black Cap varieties known to the 
trade. For terms address _v. W. YOGLESON, 
Columbiana, Ohio. 
The Subsoil Plow. 
1 have used the subsoil plow in the nursery 
for fruit trees with excellent results. I am 
satisfied it will benefit any t-rop where the sub¬ 
soil is clay. When this plow is used on such 
land the crop is less liable to lie injured by too 
much or too little water. That it will pay for 
labor in such crops as nursery, garden aud 
small fruits is lieyoud any reasonable question. 
There is a great difficulty in using it to any 
extent upon the farm. It requires an extra 
team, and most fanners have not any more 
than is necessary to do their work in the usual 
way. Where several hmulred dollars per acre 
are produced from a single crop it pays to 
incur the necessary expense, while with the 
ordinary farm crop it may be different. 
Where a heavy soil is plowed cure with this 
plow there is reason to expect an improv e¬ 
ment. iu the crops for a number of years. 
Onondaga, Co., N. Y. A. M. Williams. 
RELIABLE SEEDS 
Of the very best strains for MARKET GARDENERS, 
FARMERS, FLORISTS, and FAMILY GARDENS. 
Seeds scut by mall all over the country and guaran 
teed to return purchasers. Catalogues free on appll 
cation. HLOVEY A CO>l PAN Y. 
Importers aud Wholesale and Retail Dealers In 
farm (£xtmoiuij 
A GOOD FENCE 
IB South Market St., Boston. Mass. 
[For Illustrations see page 1-til.] 
Nothing adds so much to the attractiveness 
of the lawn or farm-house yard as a neat fence, 
either of wood or iron, or both. Passers-by 
are apt to judge u farmer’s geueral methods of 
farming by the surroundings of his home. If 
things there have a shabby appearance; if old 
rubbish, sticks and stones are scattered over 
the lawn; if the fence is in a dilapidated con¬ 
dition and things generally are at loggerheads, 
the farmer is branded as “shiftUWin all his 
farm operations. Like charity, a neat high¬ 
way fence often hides a multitude of sins, and 
the unattractive appearance of the farm-yard 
is made less repulsive by the intervention of 
an ornamental, and, at the same time, substan¬ 
tial fence. 
It is to the end that such improvements as 
this may be made when necessary thut atten¬ 
tion is directed to the illustrations at Figs, 103 
and 103, which show a section of Mast, Foos & 
Co.’s two-niil, plain-top picket fence, made of 
wroughtrlron with double-walk gates. The 
Buckeye fence is both ornamental and sub¬ 
stantial, and is furnished iu panels of five feet 
each. The pickets are 8fi inches long, though 
any length can be furnished. The style shown 
may be obtained at one dollar per lineal foot 
WALL’S ORANGE POTATOES 
White Star, White Blepbunt. Belle Mammoths, Pearl 
and all other leading varieties l sell reasonable. Ail 
ilress L. H. SMALL. Stout Alto, Franklin Co., Pa. 
POMONA MRSERY.-5.OUS 
KIEFFER'S HYBRID PEARS In Or 
chard and 30,000 tn Nursery, pro pa 
gated exclusively rrom stamiarvls. 
No Buds or Scions taken from Dw.iws. 
NIGH'S st 1'ERB strawberry. HAN 
SELL Raspberry, Blackberries. New 
Grapes and Cur ran is- Fruit, Shadc 
and Ornamental Trees, Vines and 
Plants in variety. Catalogue free. 
W.M. P A KHV, Purry P. O., N. J. 
A Good Word for Stanchions. 
In a lute Rural a correspondent objected to 
the use of stanchions for cattle. 1 have had 
them iu use for HO years and in the meantime 
have used 140 other fastenings; but 1 can make 
tuy cattle do better, improve faster and (as. of 
course, must followl be more comfortable in 
stanchions than iu any of the others. In uiy 
exporiments I lost enough by cattle iujuring 
each other iu patent tics'to build another row 
of stanchions. F. P. M. 
Plants Free by Mail. 
In good Dollar Collection*. Send for Illustrated 
Catalogue of new uud tine Green house Bedding and 
Haroy plants and Seeds Address 
E S. Mll.LKK, Wading Hirer. N.Y. 
BIG BOB and NIGH'S SUPERB 
"Are the BIGGEST and BEST St raw berries yet Intro 
duced " For Descriptive Circular, lowest prices, and 
best stock, address proprietor, J. W. NIGH, Piqua, O. 
Bees Fertilizing Asparagus.—P erhaps it 
will help to explain how the asparagus* at the 
Rural Farm was fertilized, by stating that I 
noticed the bees were very numerous around 
my bed at the time that it was in bloom; they 
seemed to lv gathering (Hillen. H. B. s. 
N ew seedling plum—shipper’s 
PRIDE. Inclose l cent stamp to the undersigned 
for description, etc. WILEY * MERSMAN. 
Cayuga, N. Y. 
