A FEW HINTS FOB THE FARMER. 
Have you got your work all planned for 
May? If so, in carrying it out don’t hurry, 
but do it deliberately, remembering that 
“whatever is worth doing at all is worth do¬ 
ing well. ” As there was more to be done in 
April than in March, so we find that there is 
more to be done in May than in April. With 
this mouth the farmer’s busy season fairly be¬ 
gins. He Iras his lands to prepare and his 
crops to sow; trees to gr aft; an orchard to set 
out; and, in fact, he finds that at last the time 
for action has again come. With the advent 
of this season don't shirk your work 1 Go in in 
earnest and strive to accomplish much. Work 
to pay off that mortgage; to put money in the 
bank for a “rainy day”; to give the children 
an education; and to have a better paying 
farm than any of your neighbors. Brains and 
work will do it. 
Planting. The chief work to be done in 
May is the planting of the crops. Although 
it has often been said before, we do not think 
it will do any har m to repeat it again: Don’t 
attempt to cultivate too much land. Manure 
well as you go, and when the manure gives 
out, stop. Like the rest of animated nature, 
plants must eat to live, therefore, if you ex¬ 
pect to get big crops you must manure accord¬ 
ingly. Too many fanners cultivate 50 acres 
when they ought not to cultivate over 35. 
And remember, whatever land yon do culti¬ 
vate, pulverize it thoroughly. Have the soil 
well stirred so that the roots of the plants may 
easily penetrate it. Don’t plant your seed too 
deep as there is danger of its rotting during 
this month, in which we usually have so much 
rain. Get in all your potatoes during this 
month as there is little need of delay. Try 
some new variety of good promise, if you can 
obtain the seed. 
Manure with wood-ashes or good barn-yard 
manure, if you can procure them. The root 
crops ought to be sown early, and if you 
haven’t them in now, plant as-soon as possible. 
Plant peas and beans at intervals during May, 
n order that you may have them good and 
tender all through the season. Cora should 
not be planted too soon, not before the soil 
shows a temperature of at least 50 0 , although 
60 © is better. Before planting test your seed, 
and see if it is sound and in good condition. 
There has been much complaint in the West 
that corn seed has been greatly injured, so be 
sure that it is good and sound before you plant 
it. It does not pay to plant a crop more than 
once a season. Sow the seed of late cabbage 
the first of this month. Put a little super¬ 
phosphate where each plant is to grow, as it 
■will give it a good start. Although there are 
certain crops that the farmer must always 
grow, it is a wise policy to put in some crop 
that his neighbors are not going to raise. If 
everybody is going to grow early potatoes, 
then you put in early cabbage. It does not 
pay to grow a crop that will glut the market. 
After planting, look out for weeds; fight 
them as you would your worst enemy. 
Orchard and Fruit-Garden. —Much of 
the work in the orchard and fruit-garden 
planned for April, will have to be done now. 
In the Northern part of the country it will 
not be too late to set out the trees and shrubs. 
Use care in setting out young trees ; do not 
reak off the fibrous roots any more than is 
necessary, but save all of the roots possible ; 
do not be afraid to cut the top back. Seed¬ 
beds require shading for a while, as young 
seedlings are unable to withstand the heat of 
the sun after first appearing above ground. 
A slat work of Latih makes a good protection. 
Young grape seedlings also require shading. 
Look over the trees and destroy all Hie insect 
eggs and larvae to be seen. Look for borers 
and cut them out. 
T his is a good mouth in which to set out 
strawberry plants. Be sure you put in good 
varieties. The sucker growth of raspberries 
and blackberries can now be dug up and 
transplanted to form new plantations, Shade 
for a day or so and mulch well. Watch for the 
currant worm this month. Dalmatian Powder 
or Hellebore will prove an effective remedy. 
In the West and Southwest, plant currant 
bushes four feet apart along the north side 
of the garden fence, and mulch heavily with 
straw, bagasse, etc. In grafting exercise care, 
as the bark will now slip very easily. 
Live Stock. —In Northern regions, turn 
out sheep before the grass lias started much, 
keeping them out a portion of the day, return¬ 
ing them to the barn toward night and feed¬ 
ing them with hay. This will prevent purg¬ 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
MAY B 
ing and sudden debility, which will occur if 
changed entirely from hay to grass. As 
sheep, in spite of all precautions, are liable to 
purge and scour when turned out to grass, it 
is a good policy to cut away the wool around 
the vent and from the roots of the tail down 
in a strip wide enough so that the dung will 
fall to the ground without touching the wool, 
because if this is not done, a filthy mass will 
accumulate on the wool, which is unsightly, 
unhealthy, and to a certain degree dangerous, 
as magots may generate under it. In case of 
a ewe it is a great annoyance, the filth trick- 
liug down upon the udder and teats. Be 
gentle in handling sheep ; teach them to fear 
no injury from man. Place ewes about to 
lamb in a good roomj' stable, well bedded, and 
of a temperature not too warm, or close. If 
a lamb can help itself at the out-set, it is best 
not to assist it at all, but if the lamb is weak 
and makes no effort to suck, iustead of throw¬ 
ing the ewe down, raise the lamb to the natu¬ 
ral posture of sucking, place a teat in its 
mouth, and rub with the fiuger the rump near 
the roots of the tail, imitating the dam’s lick¬ 
ing. If it does not suck, milk a little from the 
teat into its mouth. These efforts will gener¬ 
ally succeed. Too speedy use of the spoon 
or sucking bottle should not be resorted to. 
Sometimes a liealtty-looking lamb seems dis¬ 
inclined to suck, it seizes the teat as if hungry 
but soon drops it. On examining the mouth, 
it will be found that the front teeth are not 
through the gums. Instead of drawing the 
back of the thumb nail acoss the gums so as to 
cut through to the teeth, cut with a keen- 
edged knife or lancet, as it inflicts less pain, 
and the inflammation will subside much 
sooner. 
NOTES AND COMMENTS. 
And so General Noble complains sadly of 
the trouble and annoyance we have from 
blight, mildew, fungoid diseases and insect 
pests. I have never had an opportunity to 
try many experiments in connection with 
these annoyances, but I should think that 
some of them might be prevented by an appli¬ 
cation of sulphur and whale-oil soap during 
the Winter season, carefully removing the 
loose bark and applying the mixture by means 
of a paint-brush. Those of us who cultivate 
peaches, grapes and nectarines under glass, 
always cover the trunks and hrauches with an 
application of the mixture after pruning them 
during the Winter season, and always consid¬ 
er themselves well repaid by the health and 
vigor of the trees and vines and by their free¬ 
dom from insect pests, and if the trees and 
vines under glass are benefited by it, why will 
it not help those outside? 
--- 
I would advise your Newark correspond¬ 
ent (see Rural, Jan. 20, page 39) to destroy 
by cutting out and burning all the canes of his 
Reliance Raspberry the very instant he no¬ 
tices the spots on them; he will save himself a 
a great deal of time, trouble and expense by 
so doing. 
The notes on tomatoes (see page 50, Rural, 
Jan. 37) prompt me to say that the Acme is so 
very subject to that destructive pest, the to¬ 
mato rot, that it cannot be depended upon to 
produce a very satisfactory crop. With me 
the fruit proves to be very soft, and I do 
not think it could be carried to any distance 
unless picked before it is fully ripe. Its pecu¬ 
liar color—pinkish red—is also decidedly ob¬ 
jected to by many persons. 
I only had a dozen plants of the Mayflower 
Tomato last season, and so I cannot decide on 
its merits until I give it a further trial; but I 
regard it as a very promising sort. Nearly all 
the fruit of mine were of a uniform shape and 
size, and the vines were remarkably product¬ 
ive, In this connection it may be well to say 
that I have not as yet cultivated the Paragon. 
- -* 
Yes, Mr. Editor, I quite agree with you in 
saying that nothing can be gained hereafter by 
selecting the first tomatoes to ripen for seed. 
Rather let us save the seed from the most per¬ 
fect and solid fruit that we can possibly ob¬ 
tain, choosing them when the plants are ma¬ 
turing their finest fruit. But are not some va¬ 
rieties better adapted to certain localities and 
situations than others ? Does any one know 
of any certain tests that have been made in 
this direction ? 
-»♦«- 
I have been looking over a few of the cata¬ 
logues of our seedsmen, and notice that each 
and almost all of them offer a new variety of 
potato this season, and all of these, it is claimed, 
are equal or superior to those in culti vation. 
Bliss, as usual, offers three, viz.: Rosy Mora, 
Rubicund and Tyrian Purple; Vick, the Chi¬ 
cago Market and Early Gem; Ferry, the White 
Star and Early Mayflower, while Thorbum 
offers the Rural Blush at the very moderate 
price of $25 per barrel. 
Well, $25 for a barrel or 165 pounds of po¬ 
tatoes, may seem to some to be a very high 
price, but stall I suppose the supply will not be 
equal to the demand even at this price.—[Wo 
are told they have no more to sell by the bar¬ 
rel.—E ds.] 
And now we are offered a novelty in the 
way of Bush Beans, the Ne-plus-vltra, “a 
variety of dwarf, compact habit, very delicate 
in flavor, very early and enormously product¬ 
ive,” so much so that it appears to produce 
some 20 pods or more to every leaf, that is, if 
the illustrations given in the catalogue are at 
all correct. 
But I must say that I am quite surprised to 
ascertain that the Perfect Gem Squash does 
not do well with Dr. Hoskins. As far as 1 can 
ascertain, it has given universal satisfaction. 
It is equally valuable as a Summer and Win¬ 
ter squash, is remarkably productive and is an 
excellent keeping sort. For this excellent ad¬ 
dition to our list of squashes we are indebted 
to Mr. C. L. Allen, of Garden City, New York. 
—[This was sent to Rural subscribers in our 
Distribution of 1881-2 .—Eds.] 
Queens, L. I. C. E. Parnell. 
ROGERS’S HYBRID GRAPES. 
S. B. PECK. 
The reports of these grapes being so different 
in different localities, tempts me to offer my 
experience with them. I have in bearing nine 
of the numbers, to wit: Nos. 1, 3, 4,5, 9, 19, 
28, 39, 53, and when I am asked which I pre¬ 
fer I am “stumpedit certainly is not No. 1, 
for it will not ripen in this climate, [We have 
rejected it for the same reason.— Eds.] and I 
have never been able to ascertain its flavor. 
The other eight varieties ripen here in ordinary 
seasons if not allowed to overbear, and the 
two earliest are Nos. 3 and 89—Massasoit, red 
and Aminia black. There is a similarity in 
flavor in the whole eight, but still a slight dif¬ 
ference. My friends have generally preferred 
the Salem, (No. 53), and wore it as early as No. 
3, I should not hesitate to give it the prefer¬ 
ence. I find it a trifle later than the Concord, 
but the difference is often scarcely perceptible; 
still it is the latest of the eight varieties men¬ 
tioned. In size. No. 4, Wilder, is the largest; 
still No, 19. Merrimae, is scarcely inferior. 
Requa, No. 28, is a beautiful and high-flavored 
grape, extremely vigorous in growth and gen¬ 
erally ranked next to Salem in flavor; both it 
and the Lindley, No. 9, want a large area for 
their full development. 
The Lindley has very long joints, long, open 
clusters, and rather lacks a good supply of 
leaves; but the fruit is line in flavor. In hard¬ 
iness I see nothing to complain of; they all 
winter safely, tied up to the trellises, and I 
know of no grape that ripens its canes to the 
very tips liettcr than the Salem. It has been 
claimud that No. 5 is like the Salem, if not 
identical; but they are very unlike with me, the 
No. 5 lacking color and vigor and being every 
way inferior to the Salem, but as I have only 
one bearing vine of it, perhaps I should not be 
so positive. 
I have never seen any mildew on the Rogers’s 
Grapes, except near buildings where they have 
hadau excess of water from the roofs, andbuta 
mere trifle even there, till the past season (1882) 
which was one of the poorest grape years I 
ever know. Spring in earnest commenced 
very late, after several warm days that swelled 
the buds, and a frost that followed did much 
injury to the fruit on level ground. The sea¬ 
son of blossoming was three weeks later than 
in 1881, and two weeks later than iu 1880. Then 
we had colder weather and more rain through 
the Summer than usual, and the natural con¬ 
sequence was a great lack of sugar and agree¬ 
able fluvor in the fruit. True, Fall frosts held 
off later than usual, but the leaves seemed to 
have exhausted their power, and began to fall 
about the usual time, lri 1781 I commenced 
marketing Delawares on August SO, but last 
season the first picking was on Sept. 26. 
The old saying that “it is an ill wind that 
blows nobody any good” was plainly verified 
in 1882. The lessons taught in relation to the 
grape crop are that to get maxim am crops 
with maximum flavor we must have early and 
warm seasons, and must plant only such kinds 
os have proved themselves able to ripeu iu 
ordinary seasons with an ordinary quantity of 
fruit, for It has been plainly shown during the 
past year that overbearing is fatal to perfect 
ripening and perfect flavor. Every customer 
at the fruit stands complained “Your grapes 
are sour,” and it was a noticeable fact that the 
latest varieties were the most complained of 
and every grower noticed that the vines that 
bore the smallest crops (other things being 
equal) ripened the earliest and were of the best 
flavor. The rage for the new white grapes I 
cannot but consider a curiosity rather than a 
display of good judgment; still, I am not in¬ 
sensible to the beauty upon the family table, 
or the dealer's fruit stand, or at the pomolog- 
ical fair, of a dish well filled with the intensely 
black fruit of the Champion or Winslow, the 
bright red of the Massasoit or Requa, the 
darker red or maroon of the perfect Delaware, 
the mahogany color of the perfect Salem, the 
beautiful pink of the Iona with the many 
shades of dark purple and creamy white of 
other kinds, and I think as much taste could 
be displayed in their arrangement as in that of 
the most artistically arranged bouquet. Still 
in the eating—which is said to be the test of 
the pudding—I think the reds in their differ¬ 
ent shades would be preferred, as containing 
the most satisfactory arrangement of fruit 
elements. I have some statistics showing the 
income per vine during the season, 1882, of the 
Concord, Delaware and Rogers’s Hybrids, 
which I may give hereafter. [Thanks. Eds. ] 
Muskegon, Mich. 
-» - 
NIAGARA GRAPE SEEDS. 
My Rural Niagara Grape seeds are doing 
finely: 10 of them have sprouted and the vine- 
lets are now one inch high. I planted them in 
a hoi-bed on March IS, after soaking them in 
warm water for four days. s. m’d. 
Aledo, HI., April 18. 
On March 17 my Niagara Grape seeds were 
put iu warm water which froze solid on the 
night of the 18th; but they were planted on 
the 21st, and began to germinate on April 11. 
The seeds were kept in a warm room from 
February 26 until planted and were very dry. 
Midland, Mich., April 12. E. R. R. 
I planted my Niagara Grape seeds March 15, 
after soaking them, and now 1 have 15 nice- 
looking plan to, several of them two inches 
high. I planted them in a box in sand and 
have kept them on a window near the stove. 
Windsor, Conn., April 18. s. k. 
Of the Niagara Grapes 16 are about two 
inches high, w. H. H. 
Wall’s Coiners, Ind., April 17. 
The Niagara Grape vines are just beginning 
to show themselves. We put the seed iu a cup 
of warm water and kept them there for three 
days, and then put them in a flower-pot and 
placed it in a saucer in which we kept plenty 
of water, and stood it on the mantel back of 
the stove, where it keeps warm. d. j. f. 
Wykoff, N. J., April 14. 
farm (Ilctmomij. 
SULKY PLOWS AGAIN. 
Having read in the Rural the several ar¬ 
ticles on sulky plows with a good deal of inter¬ 
est, I give my experience in the same line. 
I am satisfied that a sulky plow will prove 
as easy on a team as any other plow il' prop¬ 
erly adjusted to the work to be performed. 
When I flirt used my plow, or tried to, I just 
gave it up and sent the dealer word to come 
and get the implement or make it do good 
work; the result was that an expert came and 
adjusted the plow for sod ground. I used 
two horses; one of which was 24 years old, 
but good; 1 could plow right along. A 18- 
year-old lioy to turn at the corners was all the 
driver needed. Since then I have plowed all 
kinds of soils for all kinds of crops. I adjust 
the plow to the kind of work to be done and 
go right along. When the implement works 
right there is no need ever to pull on a line; 
if you wish to plow in a circle either right or 
left, a lover designed for that kind of work is 
used, not the lines. For plowing in a straight 
line a boy can walk a rod behind the plow and 
do as good work as if he were riding; but boys 
are not very apt to walk when they can rido. 
If the plow is all right the slant wheel will hug 
the land close all the time; the tongue plays 
entirely free if the team stays in the furrow; 
the plow will do the work easily if the ground 
is level; on hill-side it would require attention. 
According to my experience the share on a 
sulky will wear twice as long as that on an¬ 
other plow. For plowing sod the plow must 
have less boldness of mould-board than for 
loose or truck ground. W r e have as many dif¬ 
ferent styles of plows as can be found in any 
country, and 1 do think my sulky works as 
easy as any plow and does as good work. Last 
