surface will cause the root to spread more 
rapidly. The slight injury to the leaves causes 
new shoots to spring up and in this way the 
number of heads is doubled or trebled. By 
this method of treating barley a very light 
seeding is better than more. As barley grain 
is larger than oats, it is the practice of many 
fanners to sow two-and-a-half to three bushels 
per acre. On rich land to be dragged over 
after the grain is up, one-aud-a-half bushel is 
plenty. If poorer, two bushels or two-and-a- 
half Avill not be too much as we must expect 
fewer heads from a single grain. At the best 
there is usually a smaller yield per aero than 
single grains well cultivated should indicate. 
We may in time learn means for making one 
bushel of seed or less ample on rich soil, but I 
have never dared trust a smaller seeding than 
one and-a-half bushel. 
Much depends on sowing large, plump seed 
of as nearly uniform size as possible, and the 
larger the better. The small, light grains sep- 
the annoyance from its long beards and fine 
dust make it unpopular with many farmers. 
This, by diminishing the area planted, makes 
it all the more profitable for those willing to 
take the extra difficulty that its culture and 
harvesting involve. 
not rust-proof, and I never saw oats that were. 
Wever, la, w. j. s. 
Queen of the Valley and Belle Potatoes 
not Identical. 
I do not see why Mr. Sterritt, in a late Ru¬ 
ral, should think the Belle and Queen of the 
Valley potatoes are identical. With me the 
Queen of the Valley has produced nearly, or 
quite, double the yield of the Belle, The Queen 
grows with vigorous tops, while the B lie is 
quite small in top. especially when first start¬ 
ing; so much so that my son noticed it and 
called my attention to that fact. Among a 
number of varieties, all planted at the same 
time on same piece of ground, the Belle could 
be distinguished by the smallness of tops all 
through the season when compared with such 
sorts as Queen of the Valley, White Star, 
White Elephant and Mammoth Pearl, all 
growing side by side in the same field and all 
yielding more than the Belle. Hence I do not 
think the Queen and the Belle the same sort. 
That they are similar in appearance I admit: 
so are Snowflake. Pride of America and Brow¬ 
nell’s Best; but that does not prove them to be 
the same variety. It shows them to be alike 
in some respects while quite dissimilar in others. 
Rome, X. Y. Jonathan Talcott. 
THE PRAYING MANTIS, 
PROFESSOR A. J. COOK. 
RAISING OATS. 
This odd-looking insect (Fig. 155) is one 
of the very few Orthopteras that are preda¬ 
cious. The grasshoppers, with their green 
vestures and long, graceful antenna?; the lo¬ 
custs, with more sober habits and short feelers; 
the crickets, in still darker dress, though an 
occasional one, like the destructive Snowy 
Cricket (CE can thus niveus) is bright in color, 
and the the cockroaches, which are robed in 
as sombre hues as are the crickets, all feed on 
plants or vegetable substances. The Praying 
Mantis, on the contrary, is so fierce and car¬ 
nivorous in its habits that it not only destroys 
our less formidable insects, hut even the honey¬ 
bee is made to contribute to its support. The 
Mantis uses its awkward, jaw-like front legs 
to grasp its victim, and so the poor honey-bee 
is held off at arms’ longth while it is crushed, 
after which it is devoured by the Mantis with 
a relish. So voracious, indeed, is this insect 
that it sometimes devours its own young; in 
fact, the female has been known to kill and 
eat her own mate immediately after the 
conjugal act. 
The Praying Mantis (Mantis Carolina) is 
more especially a Southern insect, though it has 
been sent me from Indiana and Illinois, whore 
it was observed in front of the hives grasping 
and crushing the bees. The name is Praying 
Mantis, not preying, which would be equally 
appropriate. It takes its uutue from its pecu¬ 
liar devotional attitude, as it seem in gly rests 
on its knees. 
The female lays her eggs (Fig. 154) in a scale¬ 
like mass, which are covered with a kind of 
varnish. Some of these eggs which were pinned 
in one of our cabinets hatched out, aud some 
of those first hatched fell to aud ate up those 
which came from the eggs at a later date. 
Thus their inordinate rapacity is already de¬ 
veloped at birth. The Mantis is a near rela¬ 
tive of the common walking-stick, which it 
closely resembles. It might be regarded as 
a winged walking-stick. 
I read with surprise the recommendation in 
an article headed “Something About Oats,” in 
No 1738 of the Rural. I was trusting we had 
come up out of the times when a writer would 
venture to thrust a slovenly practice upon a 
people because it hastened and cheapened the 
putting in an oats seeding. Certainly the ag¬ 
ricultural intelligence of the present time will 
not receive the advice given in the article by 
putting it in practice. 
A farmer may lie so situated as to be com¬ 
pelled to scratch a seeding into the ground 
as recommended, bpt certainly no force of 
nc/isrd ford 
Seed Corn. 
We have tried the seed com and found that 
every kernel sprouted. It was put in a pan 
with sand and kept moist by spreading a wet 
cloth on the top. The pan was placed by the 
side of a coal stove and the cloth was wetted 
each day. Iu three days it sprouted. No 
special care was taken of this com, except to 
get it thoroughly dry before it was cold enough 
to freeze. The Rural Dent, planted in June, 
germinated and will make good seed. Late- 
planted and late-maturing com will grow if 
Plan of Poultry Yard— See Page 159— Fig. 153 
arated in thorough cleaning will grow; but 
the plants will be much less thrifty. Most 
farmers who sow three bushels of barley per 
acre do it without cleaning out the small 
grains which are crowded so that they make 
only a feeble growth. Thus the evil of having 
small light grains of barley perpetuates itself. 
There are exceptional instances of good crops 
of barley grown from poor seed, but it was 
sown thinly and under very favorable con¬ 
ditions. As a rule, barley that does not hold 
out weight 48 pounds per bushel is unfit for 
seed. One of the best ways of cleaning barley 
is to throw it in brine strong enough to hold 
up light grains and oats that may be mixed 
with the seed. The brine is then drawn off 
apd the barley quickly dried and sometimes 
gypsum strewn on it. The small amount of 
salt that will adhere to the barley is very help¬ 
ful. In this way a plump full weight barley 
may usually be secured. 
We do not usually manure for barley except 
with commercial fertilizers drilled iu with the 
seed. Phosphates, especially those which con¬ 
tain most ammonia, are especially adapted to 
this crop, the more so as it is, or should be, 
sown so early that it needs something to give 
it a vigorous send-off. Tho ammonia for 
barley is supplied at a time when least is de¬ 
veloped iu the soil, and the phosphate is nearly 
as much needed for barley as for wheat. I 
have often seen streaked fields of liavley caused 
by imperfect distribution of the fertilizer 
through the tubes of the drill iu seeding. 
With barley this streaked condition is more 
objectionable than with any other grain—for 
the uneven ripenin g which it causes makes the 
grain of variable quality. As barley is usu¬ 
ally sold for malting it is very important that 
the grain be uniform, so that it will mult evenly. 
More failures in growing barley result from 
leaving it to stand too long than from any 
other cause. It should be cut while quite 
green, the juice of the stem and leaves going 
into the grain better than if allowed to stand 
longer. This makes barley a very inconve¬ 
nient crop, as tho four or six-rowed variety 
circumstances should compel him to get upon 
it with the plank drag, which the writer took 
pains to enla rge upon. While the drag crush¬ 
es the clods and levels the ground to some ex¬ 
tents it also shoves the seed from the place 
whe™ care has cast it, depositing it where it is 
not needed. The only excuse for using the 
drag would lie m not having a roller. I would 
advise such an unfortunate farmer to buy a 
roller if it cost him a sacrifice to do so. 
That that which is worth doing at all is 
worth doing right, is a principle the farmer 
must advocate. With thirty years’ experience, 
directly and indirectly, in husbandry in its 
various branches. I am prepared to advocate 
that principle in the seeding for crops. 
There is no work the farmer is called upon 
to do that promises so sure a return as a thor¬ 
ough preparation of the soil for the seed to be 
put into it. Taking oats for an example, my 
method is to plow the ground to its usual 
depth as soon as the season will permit. I 
may add, I exact from ray plowman as skill¬ 
fully-executed work as though the ground was 
to be planted in any of the small varieties of 
garden truck. I prefer broad-casting the 
seed, following with the harrow well lapped, 
cross-harrowing and rolling nicely. 
I am not particular as to the crop grown on 
the ground the previous year. If the ground 
has uot been manured witliiu oue year, I man¬ 
ure during the Winter or immediately preced¬ 
ing the plowing. Sod is my preference. I put 
down a piece of land last Spriug that had re¬ 
cently come trailer my care. In the ten years 
I had known it, though worked along in the 
usual manner of cropping ground, it had never 
yielded a return for the labor, etc., expended 
upon it. I had it prepared and seeded accord¬ 
ing to my practice, for oats, and as a return 
thrashed a trifle over 40 bushels to the acre. 
I had clover and Timothy put in with the 
oats, and when the cattle were turned on, 
about November 1, the grass came to their 
knees. I have grown as much as 
70 bushels to the acre of the Wash¬ 
ington variety, weighing 30 
pounds to the bushel. I have wit- 
nessed my neighbors pursuing the I \ 
lazy methods in seeding, and am fXki'S 
proud to be able to say to all who 
seek agricultural pursuits for gain, J \ 
that my experience recommend 
that a thorough plowing, harrow- / 
ing aud rolling, along with a 
careful casting or drilling of the 
seed, will pay in oats at well as in any other 
grain. b. f. k. 
Eggs—Fig. 154. 
it is dried perfectly before it becomes frozen. 
Sweet com, while in the milk}' state, will grow, 
as we have demonstrated, if gathered and 
dried by the heat of a stove. f d. curtis. 
The Queen of the Valley Potato. 
I have raised the Queen of the Valley po¬ 
tato for two years and they are planted quite 
extensively in this vicinity, They yield well: 
grow uniform in size, with few small ones; 
quality excellent, but rot badly in the Winter. 
Danville, N. Y. l. h. i 
THE GROWING OF BARLEY, 
W. J. FOWLER. 
Experiment has shown that barley will 
germinate at a lower temperature than oats, 
and this accords with my own conclusions and 
the observation of farmers generally. We can 
scarcely put in the barley crop too early. 
There are several reasons for this—tho chief 
ones being that early seeding gives a longer 
season and usually secures tho filling of the 
head before the hottest weather of midsum¬ 
mer. The best barley ls grown in localities 
where extreme heat rarely prevails, as in the 
Bay Quiute region of Canada. Tho whole 
lake region on each side stretching from \\ is- 
consin to the St. Lawrence is suited to the 
production of barley, and it is here that the 
bulk of what is produced in this country is 
grown. Farther away from these great bodies 
iiUscfUnnmts 
SHUTTING UP INDIAN TERRITORY. 
GEN. W. H. NOBLE. 
I see by the Rural of January 17th it in¬ 
dorses the policy of shutting out adventurers 
from the Inilian Territory. Of course, Indian 
politics or Indian rights are not exactly in the 
line of agricultural discussion; but it strikes 
me that this business of shutting out adventur- 
Praying Mantis—Fig. 155. 
ers from unexplored territory, whether they 
go for gold or to farm or to trade, is one of the 
most blind-eyed policies which the Government 
can be guilty of. 
It was bad enough when the Indian was con¬ 
sidered to be the proprietor of just as much 
j territory as he could wander over, and privi¬ 
leged to kill and scalp all who intruded on his 
domain; or, when in some broad-cast area, as 
big as a State, he was clothed w ith Govern¬ 
ment raiment and fed with Government ra¬ 
tions: but when you claim to have the Govern¬ 
ment hold it as ceded Indian territory, what is 
the good of keeping back these adventurers 
from a thorough recounoiss&uce < 'f every re¬ 
source of its lamls ! Why not allow them to 
dig and plow and delve and hunt and mine ! 
t This is the way to populate and occupy the 
| land. What docs the great public gain in 
I principle or in money by the great loss to these 
adventurers of their time asul outfit ; The ar¬ 
ticle to which 1 allude says it has cost the Gov¬ 
ernment *2U0,IXM heretofore to keep those ad¬ 
venturers out of the Territory, to which may 
be added the cost of chicking the present raid. 
General Sheni mu, and more than a handful 
of others, are said to think that "more strin- 
| gent laws should be enacted for the punish¬ 
ment of these invaders.” I think, and have 
always thought, that the whole Indian business 
was a blunder and a horror. There was bluu 
Experience with White Russian Oats. 
Last Spring I broadcasted oue peck of 
the much-lauded White Russian Oats upon 
nicely-prepared sod land |w hich had been 
turned the previous Fall) and harrowed 
in. Tho oats came up well and grow finely, 
considering the weather, which was very wet 
and cold. After the oats had headed several 
of my neighbors came to see them, and all 
pronounced them the finest they had ever 
seen, and ventured to estimate the yield at 
not less than from 20 to 35 bushels per acre; 
but continued wet weather made serious work. 
Rust api>eared and fully 25 per cent, were 
spoiled, and what remained wore fully two 
weeks later in ripening than our common oats 
and yielded no better, while the berry was not 
nearly so plump and heavy as those sown. 
Yet, with such serious results as I had, I shall 
try them again on soil better adapted to oats. 
They are such a promising variety that I am 
anxious to test them again before condemning 
them. Oue thing is sure—with me they are 
Chicken House—Side View—See Page 159 
—Fig. 156. 
of inland water Summer heats are more in¬ 
tense, and not only is the yield lessened, but 
the barley is of poorer quality. Wo have had 
this difficulty in the best barley regions when¬ 
ever the early Summer was too hot aud 
brought the grain forward too rapidly. 
The tendency of barley to shoot up into 
head too soon is so marked that whatever keeps 
tho top back and promotes the spreading of the 
root so as to seud up now stools, greatly in¬ 
creases the yield. If tho ground Is rolled at 
seeding time, us it should be, u light harrow- 
iug and then again rolling a week or two after 
the barley is up will bo found very helpful. 
Dragging with the smoothing harrow will not 
uproot any of the grain, but the stirring of the 
fJiJv 11 A 
HQ 
H 
L* 
\JL~L 
* A 
F F 
H H H 
2L_3_H_ 
H 
F 
