JULY 7 
425 
ripe, the latter averaging as large as the en¬ 
graving, Fig. 374, were received the ‘ilst. The 
berry does not part easily from the calyx. 
Flesh quite firm and in quality no hotter than 
the Manchester, Seeds rather large, deeply 
imbedded Color, bright red (nearly Vermil¬ 
lion) when ready to pick. Ulster we should 
think a good-enough name. 
CUTTING PLANT RUNNERS. 
As soon as strawberry plants cease bearing 
fruit they send forth runners in all directions. 
This provision of nature for relieving the 
plants is mire to become a nuisance if some 
method of checking them is not adopted 
lland-cutting with knife or shears is a slow 
and tedious process. Many gardeners use a 
sharp spade for this purpose, but the best plan 
we have ever seen practiced for saving time 
and labor is the use of a simple contrivance, 
as shown in Fig. 375. It is usually made by 
cutting n piece of heavy sheet-iron in circular 
form, A, with a strong handle, B. The edge 
of the iron-plate should tie sharpened to make 
the work effective. Heavy plated tin, or the 
disk of an old disk-harrow, may lie used. 
When strawberries are grown in stool the ma¬ 
chine is run round each stool twice or three 
times a week; and i f the usual mode of planting 
in long, narrow beds has been adopted, the 
MACHINE'TO CUT STRAWBERRY RUNNERS. 
Fio. 375. 
edge of each side of the walk is cut to prevent 
the plants from mixing, which they are sure 
to do if neglected. We have seen the same 
macliiue used for cutting the edges of walks, 
drives and (lower beds when bordered with 
grass sod. To do this weights should be at¬ 
tached to the handle in order to force the 
wheel through the heavy sod. 
When there are large fields of strawberry 
or other plants to be cut, it is hard work to 
keep t his machine balanced in making it cut 
a straight line. To avoid this trouble the axle 
may lie lengthened and a wooden wheel at¬ 
tached. This will balance the machine and 
greatly lessen the labor of working it. 
Cutomo logical. 
Squash Vine Borer. 
The correct explanation about the position 
where the squash vine borer may be found in 
the vines, and manner of extracting them 
without fatal injury to the vine,as given by that 
industrious and pleasing writer, Dr, H. Stew¬ 
art in Rural on page 375, agrees with my 
management with the Rural Perfect Gem 
Squash last season, From n single vine I ex¬ 
tracted with a pen-knife 12 of the borers, and, 
though I neglected to layer or cover any of 
the lateral vines with soil, it nevertheless 
survived to produce 16 good squashes. All 
vinos found wilting, and those containing the 
larva* in situations by which the vines are de¬ 
stroyed in the endeavor to extract them, 
should lie gathered in heaps and burned. They 
do not quit the vine for the ground immedi¬ 
ately below until some time after the vino is 
dead. The simple way of cutting and splitting 
all dead and wilted vines, and thus finding and 
destroying even’ worm is the surest, however. 
The moth has excellent powers of flight, but 
the garden without a single chrysalis in its 
soil, will be more auspicious than one tilled 
with them. W. L. Devereaux. 
Wire-Worm* and Strawberries. 
There can be no doubt that the wire-worm 
does great injury to the strawberry plant and 
fruit. From personal observation for a num¬ 
ber of years this has been demonstrated. It 
eats the berry badly, and can be found in 
numbers at or near the berry. In the Sum¬ 
mer of 1881, in m bed of Sharpless Strawberries 
some of the berries grew hollow-hearted, but 
of large size. One day, upon opening a large 
berry I found five wire-worms on the inside. 
A fter a day or two none of the largest her 
ries could be used as they had become the hid- 
ing-pluees or homes of the worms. 1 have 
also found them in the crown of the plant and 
iu the flower buds. 
In gardens infested with them the use of 
leaves, either as mulch or decayed to 
furnish organic matter to lie used with iuor- 
gauio fertilizers, furnishes a good hiding-place 
for the worm. Since 1881 [ have used wood, 
ashes or potash in some form wherever the 
worms abound, and have found this to be u 
preventive of damage. To-day I found some 
l’riroos eaten by them where salt hay had been 
lac ed only two days ago as u mulch, j. b. r. 
Battle of Ant and Bee. 
I would like Prof. A. J. Cook or some of 
your subscribers to explain the following in¬ 
cident which to me is a mystery. 
This morning while attending to my bees I 
noticed a bee crawling and tumbling about on 
the ground at a few feet from a hive. While 
watching it I thought there was something pe¬ 
culiar. and on looking more closely perceived 
a small, black ant trying to kill it. The bee 
was doing its utmost to escape, but the ant 
would let go,run around in a circle and pounce 
on it again, always seeming to get away un¬ 
hurt while the bee was evidently getting 
weaker at every encounter. This went on for 
some minutes until the ant, taking a larger 
circle than usual, lost the bee and after bunt¬ 
ing about for some time went away. There 
being no ants nest nea r at hand. 
Montreal, Can. N. R. M. 
A Pretty Sound Opinion. 
I had been reading the article in a late 
Rural on root-pruning, deep plowing and top 
cultivation, and as it met my views I was con¬ 
tending with the “natives” about it. “Oh,” 
they said, “what does the Rural know about 
farming in Iowa ? All it knows is from scientific 
men.” I told them you knew more about Polk 
Co., Iowa, than they did: that you got your 
information from various sources, and ir they 
would take your paper and read it, and follow 
your directions and cultivate the soil, cease to 
shoot the birds, and let the gophers ditch the 
land and eat the wild morning glories, they 
would have more corn to sell at 50 cents a 
bushel than they now have. a. w. l. 
Des Moines, Iowa. 
London-Purple for Melons. 
I would advise Mr. Wysor to try London- 
purple on his melon vines. I have used it for 
two seasons and so far it drives away the 
striped bugs, and the othei’s not troubling 
them, I suppose it keeps them away also. I 
mix it with gypsum the same as for potatoes* 
On watermelons I think it ought to be a little 
weaker than for cantaloupes, os I noticed it 
burnt some of the leaves. It can be applied 
when the vines are dry. I apply by taking a 
piece of coarse bagging, which I spread out, 
put on some of the mixture, take a notched 
stick, gather the ends of the bag around it, 
tie up and shake. a. l. c. 
Rockland Farm, Md. 
CATALOGUES, ETC., RECEIVED. 
Hasty Notes on Trees and Shrubs of 
Northern Europe and Asia. By Charles 
Gibb. Abbottsford, Quebec, Canada. 
Peter Henderson & Co., 35 and 37 C-ourt- 
landt Street, New York. Summer Price-list 
of Celery Plants for setting out in July and 
August. Cabbage plants and seeds for pres¬ 
ent and Fall sowing. Mr. Henderson men¬ 
tions White Walnut, Boston Market, Major 
Clarke’s Pink, London Red. Golden Dwarf and 
Henderson’S Half Dwarf as the best varieties. 
Plants of any of t he above sent by express on 
receipt of price as per list, and safe arrival 
guaranteed, if time iu transit does not exceed 
three days. 
The Moline Road Cart Co., Moline, Illi¬ 
nois. Circular of Road Carts It is to be re¬ 
gretted that the word “cart,” which conveys 
the idea of a rough, box affair, is given to 
these elegant two-wheeled buggies which for 
many purposes take the place of four-wheeled 
vehicles at about half the cost . The}' are easy 
upon the horse, easy to get in and out of: easy 
to ride in. 
• ♦ » 
The Bee-keeper’s Guide, or the Manual 
of the Apiary. By Prof. A. <J. Cook, Lan¬ 
sing, Mich., 836 pages; price $1,25. This is the 
eighth edition of Prof. Cook’s work, uud we 
may safely say, the best. It has boon re¬ 
written to a great exteut, so that to-day it is 
without doubt the best work upon the honey bee 
and its management now before the American 
public. The book is divided into two parts, 
the first, treating of the Natural History of 
the Honey Bee and the second of the Apiary, 
its Care anil Management. Iu answer to the 
question, what bees shall we keep, the author 
says: “The beginner had certainly better keep 
Italians. If the Syrians maintain their ap¬ 
parent superiority, 1 would certainly advise 
the experienced bee-keeper to give them a 
trial.” He prefers the Italians for the follow¬ 
ing reasons; 1st, they possess longer tongues, 
and so can gather from flowers which are use¬ 
less to the black bee; 2d, they are more active 
and with the same opportunity will collect 
more honey; 3d, they work earlier and later 
than other bees; 4th, they are far better able 
to protect their hives against robbers; 5th, 
they are almost proof against the ravages of 
the bee moth's larva*; 0th, the queens are de¬ 
cidedly more prolific; 7th, they are less apt to 
breed in Winter, when it is desirable to have 
the bees very quiet; Sth, the queen is more 
readily found, which is a great advantage; 
Oth, the bees are more disposed to adhere to 
the comb while being handled; 10th, they are 
(in his judgment) less liable to rob other bees: 
11th, iu bis estimation, a sufficient ground for 
preference, did it stand alone, is that Italiau 
bees are far more amiable. He believes, after 
two years' experience with the Syrians, that 
they will soon be as pleasant to manage and 
handle as the Italians, They arc not subdued 
with smoke, and require careful handling; are 
astonishingly prolific, and keep up the brood- 
rearing whether there are nectar-secreting 
flowers or not. Tne Cyprian bees he fails to 
find superior in any way to the Syrians. The 
subject of honey plants is thoroughly dis¬ 
cussed in a chapter of over 40 pages, in which 
is given a list of a goodly number of plants 
which produce nectar of value to the honey 
bee. The volume contains 102 illustrations, 
and is welj printed. Every bee-keeper should 
possess this very valuable addition to Ameri. 
can apiarian literature. 
Barry's Fruit Garden, by P. Barry, of 
the firm of Ellwanger & Barry, Rochester, N. 
Y. Revised Edition. Price $2.50; 505 pages. In 
the revisal of this work the author has made 
but few changes except in the lists of fruits. 
The fruits are separated in to four divisions,viz., 
1st, Kernel Fruits—apples, pears and quinces; 
2d, Stone Fruits—apricots, cherries, peaches, 
nectarines and plums; 3d, Small Fruits—cur¬ 
rants, gooseberries, raspberries, barberries, 
strawberries, blackberries, mulberries, grapes 
and figs: 4th—almonds, chestnuts, filberts and 
walnuts. The following additions have been 
made to Division L To the list of select Sum¬ 
mer apples nine varieties have been added, 
viz., Family, Fanny.Foundling, Julian, Repka- 
Summer Pippin, Summer Queen, Titovka and 
Yellow Transparent. To the Autumn apples 
three additions have been made, viz.. Men. 
agere. Red Bietigbeimer and Stump. To the 
Winter apples 29 new varieties are added, viz., 
American Beauty, Belle de Boskoop, Blue 
Pearmaiu, Colef Sweet, Danvers Winter 
Sweet, Disharoon, Fall Queen, Granite Beauty. 
Hall, Hoover, Hurlburt, Jewett’s Fine Red, 
McAfee’s Nonesuch. Maun. Milam, Missouri 
Pippin, Pewaukee. Plumb's Cider, Red Rus¬ 
set, Ridge Pippin. Roman Stem. Shiawasse 
Beauty, Stevenson's Winter, Sutton Beauty, 
Virginia Greening, Wealthy, Western Beauty, 
Wolf River and York Imperial. To the list 
of ornamental or preserving apples, the fol¬ 
lowing varieties have been added: Briers 
Sweet. Chicago, Coral Currant. Dartmouth. 
Lady Elgin, Lake Winter, Marengo, Sylvan 
Sweet, Vau Wyck and Whitney. Under the 
select list for the Eastern and Middle States 
one Summer variety has been added, viz.. 
Primate; two Autumn, viz., Keswick Codlin 
and Stump; one Winter, viz., Sutton Beauty, 
lo the list of select Summer Pears have been 
added Audre Desportes, Petite Marguerite aud 
Souvenir du Congres; to the Autumn varie¬ 
ties Bonne du Puits Ansault, Duchesse Precoces 
Frederick Clapp, Hoosic, Kieffer, Le Conte 
and Pimaston Duchess: to the Winter varie¬ 
ties, Belle Epiue Dumas, Columbia. Duhamel 
du Mouceau, Mount Vernon and Pound. In 
regard to the Kieffer Mr. Barry says, “As 
grown by us it Will scarcely rank as gOod\ the 
quality or the fruit does not rank high enough 
to make it a popular variety with the am¬ 
ateur. ’ To the list of select quinces Cham¬ 
pion has been added. The Second Division 
has had the following added to its lists. The 
New Large Early and Royal to the list of 
apricots; W indsor to the Bignrreau Cherries; 
Empress Eugenie, Lieb, Montmorency Large- 
Fruited, Montmorency Ordinaire, uud Olivet 
to the Duke and Morello Cherries; Lord Napier 
to the nectarines. As might be expected, 
quite an addition has beeu made to the select 
peaches, they amounting to 41 in all. For 
select garden varieties the following are re¬ 
commended; Waterloo, Alexander. Early 
Louise, Early Rivers, Hale's Early, Large 
Early York. Cooledge’s Favorite, George the 
Fourth, Early Silver, Foster, Crawford’s 
Early, Conk ling, Old Mixon Free, Princess of 
Wales, Crawford’s Lite, and Ward’s Late 
Free. To the list of select plums. Belle do 
Scptembre, Blue Impemtrice, Bryauston's 
Gage, Goliath, Orange, uud Oulliu’s Golden 
Gage have been added. Prince Englebert aud 
Fcllemberg have found a place in the select 
list far the garden, and Fellemberg and Ger¬ 
man Prune for the market. The greatest 
additions have been made in the Third Divis¬ 
ion, Fay’s Prolific and Lee’s Black Prolific 
find a place in the select currant list; Herstiue 
aud Parnell under foreign raspberries, aud 
Brandywine. Caroline, Cuthbert, Gregg, High¬ 
land Hardy, Reliance, Souhegan, Thwack and 
Turner in the American list. Eleven varie¬ 
ties not yet sufficiently tested to be put in the 
select list are given. Eight select rtrawberrie, 
have been added to that list, viz., Bidwell, 
Crescent Seedling,Cumberland Triumph,Duch¬ 
esse, Monarch of the West, Neunan’s Pro¬ 
lific, Sharpless and Windsor Chief. A fifth 
class, consisting of 19 varieties not sufficiently 
tested to he put in the select list has been 
placed in the strawberry section. Agawam, 
Ancient Briton. Snyder anil Wachusett Thorn¬ 
less have been added to the select blackber¬ 
ries, and a class of five varieties added that 
have not been thoroughly tested yet. Cham¬ 
pion, Monroe, Moore’s Early and Worden have 
been added to the black grapes; Brighton, 
Gaertuer and Rochester to the red varieties; 
Duchesse, Lady, Lady Washington, Niagaras 
Poeklington and Prentiss to the white grapes. 
Thirty-three varieties insufficiently tested have 
been put in a class by themsel ves; they embrace 
many new as well as some old varieties. The 
following are the additions to the select 
foreign grapes; Champion of Hamburgh, 
Gros Colman, and Purple Constantia to the 
Black or Purple list; Rose Cliasselas to the 
Red Grapes and Gen. Della Marmora, Gol¬ 
den Hamburgh, Muscat St. Laurent, and Pri- 
mavis Frontignan to the White Grapes. No 
appreciable changes are made in the fourth 
division. 
Orchard Grass. —The agricultural editor 
of the New England Farmer, has raised Or¬ 
chard Grass for nearly 20 years. It starts 
early in Spring, grows continuously through 
the entire season, and is preferred above most 
grasses by animals. It will do well in the 
shade, and will endure hot, dry soils under 
full exposure, and “holds in " many years in 
the same locality, both upon its old roots, and 
by self-seeding. It blooms and ripens its seeds 
so much earlier than many other grasses that 
it is likely to remain where it once obtains a 
foothold until the sod is killed by cultivation. 
As a meadow grass, it ought to have a moist, 
but not wet soil. Land that overflows in 
Winter, or upon which ice gathers and re¬ 
mains. is unsuited to it, but good grass lands 
such as may be expected under generous treat¬ 
ment, to produce two good crops every year, 
is just what Orchard Grass needs in order tc 
develop its good qualities. 
Mr. Cheever has sown the seed in April 
upon a drained meadow, and cut three heavy 
crops of hay the same year, but he does not re¬ 
commend the practice. The roots were so 
weakened by such exhaustive growth that 
many of them failed to start again the follow¬ 
ing Spring. He much prefers sowing the seed 
in July, or early in August, or just late enough 
so it will not require cutting the same year; 
then it will go through the Winter and start 
strong in Spring. Two bushels of seed should 
be sown to the acre, and as it always grows 
somewhat in bunches, he prefers to fill the in¬ 
termediate spaces with Kentucky Blue Grass, 
(Poa prateusis) using one bushel of seed per 
acre. If clover is sown at the same time, it 
will add to the weight of the crop the first 
year of cuttiug. These three grasses all ripen 
nearly together, and there is no loss from cut¬ 
ting under-ripe and over-ripe varieties at the 
same time, as would be the case if Red-top or 
Timothy were sown with them. 
Orchard Grass ripens nearly a month earlier 
than Red-top. Iu Southern New England it 
is fit to cut every year as earl}* as the second 
week in June, aud forward seasons, still 
earlier. 
If the land is rich, and the grass is thick on 
the ground. the crop will he as heavy as Red- 
top or Timothy, under like circumstances. 
Quite frequently, however, the seed stalks are 
thin and scattering, owing to a thiuuess in the 
soil or previous heavy cropping. The great 
superiority of this grass consists in its habit of 
continuous growth after the firs* cutting in 
June. 
An Orchard Grass soil should be liberally 
top-dressed every year, as it will pay well for 
the application in the increased yield. The 
first crop must be cut early, while in the first 
bloom, or, like other grasses, it soon becomes 
hard and woody, and less palatable, especially 
to daily cows. 
- $44 - 
wE copy the following, word for word, from 
the Phila. Weekly Press : “ Did any one ever 
know of a woman, whose health was ruined 
by farm life, who didn't do a great deal of 
useless cooking to please herself in order to have 
fancy dishes, and who didn’t spend a great deal 
of time iu fixing up her girls’ dresses, so that 
they would compare well with the neighbors 
“not be quite out of fashion ?” We believe 
not often. More women are killed by devo- 
