426 
JULY 1 
tion to silly ideas as to cookery, house clean 
mg, scrubbing, dusting and nonsensical dress¬ 
ing for the children, if not for themselves’ 
than by careful attention to what are the 
essentials in farm domest ic life. Some men, 
of course, are tyrants, fools or beasts, but they 
are hardly as conspicuous in numbers as those 
female cranks who so often pour out their 
souls iu the “Woman’sDepartment”of some 
rural paper, or w ho so love to ah- their sor. 
rows at tea-table gatherings and church 
sociables. More common sense is the reform 
needed.” 
-- 
One man will make plenty of money where 
another will lose, while circumstances will 
favor or frown on both alike, says the Pitts¬ 
burg Stockman, The difference is in the men 
—their energy, their methods, their know¬ 
ledge of what they are doing, their pains¬ 
taking looking alter details, ancl their personal 
management. No one of t hese things would 
seem to be sufficient to account iu itself for 
profit or loss, but combined they are fully 
enough to cover the w idest range of variation 
in results. Feeding is a science, and he who 
would follow it most successfully must master 
all of its details. It is a splendid occupation 
in which to show the possession of brains and 
experience. Do not be afraid of bringing into 
it too much of talent or of education—it 
affords room for the full exercise of the best 
mental training and common sense. 
Eastern Calves for the West.— There 
are doubtless now in the Eastern States 
thousands of calves which, after weaning, will 
be bought by speculators, who wall seek in the 
West, a market for their stock. The Chicago 
Tribune says that these tender young animals 
will bt taken from succulent, shady pastures, 
perhaps from a diet of milk, aud be driven or 
hauled miles over hot and dusty- roads to a 
railroad station, w here they will be placed iu 
stock-ears and hurried over the railroad to 
market. On the w-ay r they will be fed a little 
dry- hay, and will be at, the various stations 
permitted to fill themselves with water vary¬ 
ing in quality aud in effect. Arrived at mar¬ 
ket, they are not infrequently kept in the pen s 
for days, awaiting the appearance of a buyer 
Again they- undergo a tedious journey by rail 
to their new homes. All this time they are 
fed dry hay- only, and are driven and jolted 
about almost constantly,getting no rest except 
possibly at night while aw aiting sale in the lar¬ 
ger markets. No fanner worthy the name would 
consent to taking his young calves from a diet oj 
fresh grass anil milk to put them upon a cuurs e 
of w ater and dry hay. fie would know that the 
calf would be for all purposes of profitable 
beef production practically ruiued. Yet far 
worse treatment than this would be is of 
necessity the fate of the store calves brought 
from the East to the West. 
The editor of the Kansas City Live Stock 
Indicator says that a good colt cannot grow 
into a valuable horse without good care; give 
it enough to eat, especially while it is growing. 
You cannot raise a large, fine, well-shaped 
horse on a scanty supply of food. Far better 
jiiuch him in his provender after he is matured 
and workiug. The idea that roughing it when 
a colt renders a horse hardy- is a mistake: so is 
the notion that if a colt is raised entirely with¬ 
out grain he will require less grain when put 
to service. We do not advocate a forced or 
pampered growth, hut a steady, uninterrupted 
grow-th from the start. A colt that loses it s 
shape badly the first year never seems to fully 
recover it, while one that has alway-s been 
kept in good shape will, when matured, work 
and keep smooth and round easier and on 
less feed. 
over-charges for fertilizers. 
In a late bulletin (viz. 75), of the Connecti¬ 
cut Ag. Ex. Station, “ Peter Cooper’s No. 2 
Bone ” was estimated to cost $7.99 less than its 
actual value. " The Celebrated Ground 
Bone” of Lister Brothers, was estimated to cost 
$12 per ton more than it value. Bowker’s 
“ Fish and Potash,” cost $9.21 more than its 
estimated value; Geo, W. Miles’ “Fish aud 
Potash,” $9.34 more. We give the following 
additional list of costs and valuations: 
Estimated 
Cost, value per ton. 
Jiowker’s Brighton Phosphate.. .$4(1.00 i2'>.?8 
Bradley's Stiperphoapate. 42.00 3S.S8 
Chittenden's Universal Super¬ 
phosphate. 42.00 32.20 
Russell CoeV Superphosphate... 40.00 80.26 
•• “ ... 40.00 28.69 
Soluble Pacidc Guano—.. 42.00 34.59 
Geo. W. Miles & Co. 40.00 33.11 
New Haven Fert. CO. Superphos¬ 
phate. 42.00 21.83 
Quluniplae Phosphate. 4U.OO 33.30 
Paul Thompson’s Mineral Ma¬ 
nure. 25.00 1U.5G 
Baker’s Potato Manure. 50.00 41.55 
Stock bridge’s Potato and Vege¬ 
table Manure... 50,00 85.45 
Buffalo Potato, Hop aud Tobacco 
Fert,..,. 45.00 32.30 
Chittenden’s Complete Pert, for 
roots. 50.00 40.24 
Baker's Corn Manure. 50.00 42.84 
Stoekbridge’s Corn Manure. 5o.oO 38.44 
Chittenden’s Complete Manure 
for grain. 50.00 40: ll 
Stoekbridge’s Forage Crop Ma¬ 
nure.: i 50.00 86:4^ 
THE LATEST AND BRIEFEST. 
You will never see a choice musk-iuelon 
with a long stem on it, says C. W. IdeU in 
Bliss’s Garden. 
No vegetable raised iu the temperate zone, 
except mangels, will produce so much food to 
the acre both for man and beast as the cab¬ 
bage, says J, J. H. Gregory. 
“It is, 1 believe, a favorite assertion and oft 
repeated that a dash of good Short-horn 
blood improves any breed of cattle,’ - says a 
writer iu our esteemed contemporary the Iowa 
Homestead. 
Guinea hens are allowed upon all the fields 
of the Laudreth’s seed farm—liens are ex¬ 
cluded...,... 
An owner of a fine Jersey bull, which cost a 
large sum of money, remarked to the editor of 
the Pittsburg Stockman, that but few horses 
would do the amount of work on the farm that, 
his bull did. and that he was a much surer 
aud better breeder in consequence of it. To 
enable them to stand the hot weather it is a 
good plait, lie thinks, to clip them like horses 
arc sometimes clipped to prevent them from 
getting too hot on warm days. But this 
would not answer on Long Island where horse¬ 
flies and mosquitoes would drive the bulls 
crazy.. • • 
The past Winter at th • Kaunas State 
Agricultural College proved too much for the 
Johnson Grass, Sorghum halepeusc. It is pe¬ 
culiar that it should have stood (iu one case at 
least) the Winter of Michigan. Prof. Shelton 
calls Bermuda Grass a much-puffed fraud. It 
is true that Bermuda Grass is a pest in many 
parts ol the South, but not iu all.. 
Cucumbers for pickles may stall be planted. 
It is best, as the Garden recommends, to plow 
a deep furrow and spread old manure. Tramp 
this down and cover with a couple of inches 
of soil. Then scatter the seeds two inehes 
apart and cover with an inch of soil. Tliiu 
the plants to one foot apart and keep the 
ground mellow. Pick the pickles as soon as of 
proper size aud allow none to go to seed. 
The New York Experiment Station states 
that of butt kernels of corn 091$ per cent, ger¬ 
minated : of the central kernels 77 per cent.; 
of the tip kernels 79 per cent... 
Mind your business. 
A GOOD saek, says the Northwestern Miller, 
never costs more than two cents more than a 
pour one. To save this paltry sum the Ameri¬ 
can miller buys the cheapest sacks he can get, 
and quiets his conscience with the thought 
that they are as good as his neighbor uses, 
anyway.. ... 
In garden culture, says Prof. A. J. Cook, in 
the Ohio Fanner, the tomatoes, cabbages, etc. 
may be saved by wrapping the stems close 
with sized paper, like ordinary letter paper, 
which may be held by keeping earth about it. 
We may say to Professor Cook that thin wrap¬ 
ping or even newspaper will answer just as 
well as 1 'sized” paper. We have tried it in 
field aud garden.i. 
The Loudon Garden thinks there is little 
difference in the- flavor of different kinds of 
rhubarb. It, however, recognizes green soz-ts 
and crimson sorts, coarse aud fine-textured 
kinds. 
The Garden also alludes to the fact that 
lawn-mov ers were never designed to cut long 
grass—that is, five or six inches long. The 
idea of the mowing machine was borrowed 
from the cloth manufacturers’ snippers, an ex¬ 
actly similar machine in use for shaving the 
pile of certain fabrics... 
It would appear that while the staple neces¬ 
sities of life in Europe are higher than those 
prevailing iu the United States, the average 
rate of wages paid the laboring classes is much 
1 *ss than those prevailing iu America. 
NOTES FROM CHEROKEE COUNTY- 
KANSAS. 
A Large Strawberry Bed.— There are a 
large number of strawberry growers m ound 
Columbus, the county seat of Cherokee 
County. Mr. S. A. Childs has thirty acres of 
strawberries in cultivation, mostly in a bear¬ 
ing condition. He expects to pick, during the 
liiglit of the season. 150 bushels of berries per 
day. His crop will run into thousands of 
bushels. Besides supplying many Kansas 
towns with berries, he ships large quantities 
to Kansas City, Omaha, aud other more 
Northern cities, lie has about 20 varieties in 
cultivation. For general market purposes, 
he prefers Charles Downing, as affording a 
laiger proportion of marketable berries than 
any variety he cultivates. The Crescent 
Seedling also does well on his grounds. There 
are other strawberry growers around Colunr 
I bus, cultivating from one to ten acres each' 
Bee Culture. —Mr. H. Scovell, of Colum¬ 
bus, is largely eugaged iu bee culture. He has 
at present, ISO colonies. The queens are all 
pure bred-Italians. The workers are mostly 
of the same species. Last, year he took 
from 112 stocks and their progeny, 11,700 
pounds < if honey. This amount was mostly ex¬ 
tracted honey, taken from the comb by a new 
process invented by Mr. Scovell. 
The Growing Crops.— In Eastern Kansas 
the coming wheat crop must be light. It. is 
generally very thin on the ground, and small 
for the season. It, cannot make, even with 
favorable weather, more than two-thirds of an 
average crop. Many fields of wheat, have been 
plowed up this Spring and planted to corn. 
Other spring grains are looking well. Corn, 
the great staple of this region, has been 
planted to an unusually large exteut. It 
stauds well. 
Fruit. —The prospects are favorable for a 
fair crop of all kinds of fruit. Peach trees are 
loaded with young fruit. Grapes, raspberries 
and blaokiterries withstood well the unusual 
cold of last Winter, and give every indication 
of an abundant harvest, 
A Botanical Ramble.— On the tenth of 
May. I w alked over the prairies around Colum¬ 
bus, to see what 1 could find new or interest¬ 
ing. The creeks were full of the yellow water 
lily already in blossom. Mine rarely the 
white water lily and the “Nelumho,” 
were pushing their leaves to the surface of the 
water. Along the banks of the streams, were 
Sassafras. Spice-bush, and Corn us Florida. 
On the prairies, the beautiful aud fragrant 
Dodecathoon, Shoot,iug Star, or American 
Cowslip, lifted its head of drooping flowers 
above the grass. Associated with the more 
common white variety, ono with purple 
flowers is occasionally found. Foreus inter¬ 
mediate 1 mt,ween the two, are sometimes seen. 
The scarlet heads of the Painted-Cup contrast 
finely with the Dodecatlieon, while the vary¬ 
ing blossoms of the numerous Spiderworts 
appear on all sides. Frequently the more 
beautiful rose-colored ones will blossom, when 
not more than two inches above the sod. 
Many other species begin thus early iff the 
season, to light up the prairies with bloom. 
They will soon become a vast flower garden, p. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
I own. 
Creston, Union Co., June 18 . — I planted 
my Niagara Grape seeds in March after my 
tomato seeds had come up under glass. 1 
planted the grape seeds at one end of the 
tomatoes and there are now 11! up anil prob¬ 
ably more to come up. A. M. 
Midi iff mi. 
Holland, Ottawa Co., June 14.—The season 
so far as been cold and wet. Corn anil wheat 
are poor in this vicinity. Potatoes good. n. w. n. 
Minnesota. 
Lambekton, Redwood Co., June 19.—We 
are having a cool and rather damp season here 
so far, with but two or three "corn days” to 
date. All small grain, where not drowned 
out, is bettor than the average. Corn, owing 
to poor seed, cold and wet cannot make more 
than one-third of a crop. Stock of all kinds 
arc doing well. Farmers generally are quit¬ 
ting the suicidal policy of trying to raise all 
wheat, ami are turning their attention more 
to stock and diversified fanning. Many put 
off the change too long, aud the “machine 
man,” followed by the mortgager has cleaned 
them out, und their homes can be bought for 
less than the improvements cost, in many 
cases. All the odd-numbered sections in this 
region belong to railroad companies, blit there 
is a dispute as to its division and lias lieen for 
the past 11 years. It is now in the Supreme 
Court to stay for an indefinite time: conse¬ 
quently over one-half of the country is free 
range, making it very convenient for owners 
of'stoclc. Hay costs in stack on ground where 
cut only 50 to 75 cents per ton; pasturage only 
the cost of watching, improved land from 
$2.50 to $15 per acre. Some Government 
claims still to be had second-hand. None 
otherwise. W. W. K. 
Missouri. 
/ 
Sedalia, Pettis Co., June 15.—On March 27 
I put two-thirds of my Niagura seeds to soak 
iu hot water. 1 planted them aud ten dry, 
unsoaked seeds on March 29, and on April 25 
1 had 21 little plants, fon r of which came from 
the unsoaked seeds. A11 are doing well and 
getting the third leaf. 1 forgot to mention 
that I set them out-of-doors u day or two lif¬ 
ter planting aud they got quite u freeze. J. 8.M. 
Fisher, Polk Co., June 11.— Wheat pros¬ 
pects are No, 1; promise of a large crop. 
Wheat, No. 1. Hard, 90 cents; No. 1, 91 cents; 
oats, 40 cents; potatoes, 50 cents. This is a 
great potato country: no bugs at all. u. o. d. 
New York. 
Nelson, Madison Co., June 13—1 flirt 
soaked my Niagara seeds in warm water for 
three days) then filled a Viox, about 19*16 
inches, with good, rich earth, making the sur¬ 
face as flue as possible; then planted the seeds 
about three-quarters of an inch deep; spread 
a thin layer of sawdqgt over tlie surface; set 
the box behind iht- stove, watering with wmm 
water as efften ns needed. In about three 
weeks the’ vinelcts began to come up, and have 
kept coming up one or two at a time until 1 
now have 80 plants from one inch (o 4% 
inches high, most of them looking uice. I 
shall set them out in open ground and think 
they will be as likely to do well as in pots. 1 
live on about the’ highest land in the ytate of 
New York, and have grown some very fine 
grapes of different, varieties anil I expect to 
obtain something magnificent from these 
vines of mine, although 1 am about 72 r ears 
of age. a. G. 
Ohio. 
Chardon, Geauga Co , June 16.—Wheat 
about half a crop. Oats look well. Corn is 
rather yellow ou account of the wi t. Pota¬ 
toes are good; not many bugs as yet Grass 
bids fair to be a heavy crop. The fruit crop 
will he a failure. It rains nearly every other 
day. a. t. 
Pennsylvania. 
Utah, luelinna Co., June 19.—I planted my 
Niagara Grape Bevels iu the garden April 6., 
after having soake l them iu warm water for 
a few days. Twenty-five are up: a few have 
the fourth leaf. The season here is quite wet- 
and somewhat backward for com Wheat at 
present promises a full crop. Rye good- 
Grass abundant for haying and pasturage. 
Oats aud com promising; but it is too early to- 
estimate the crop. The potato and cucumber 
bugs have put in their appearance in full- 
force at last; but the early potato vines have 
got a good start ahead of the bugs. The cu¬ 
cumber bugs injured my melons considerably 
before I knew they were aliout. I hope read¬ 
ers of the Rural in all parts of the country 
will not fail to give reports of their crops. 
The “Everywhere” column to me is very into r- 
esting reading. J. G. M. 
Watson, Atchison Co., June 11.—The B-b 
Centennial wheat is surprising all. It is the 
strongest stonier yet tried iu this locality. The 
increase for three weeks, when first counted, 
was 42, 65. 90, 95. The last week’s gain was 
five; one more stool was counted, containing 
92. It was sowed March 16, in ch ills 1C inches 
apart, and the grain six inches distant in the 
drills. The wheat now stands crowded; its 
average flight is 16 inches. It seems to lie a 
late wheat which may go against it on rich 
bottom lauds, which are more weedy than 
uplands. Golden Grains wheat sowed March 24, 
has a stronger stem than the B-b Centennial: 
average bight 14 inches, best stool 42 in num¬ 
ber—also a late variety. Prospect fair for 
wheat. Rye good. Cora in a few fields shows 
a good stand; but in some it is very poor aud 
in others there is none—cause, poor seed. It is 
too wet for cultivating com, and lioeiug is re¬ 
sorted to. h. s. h. 
Virginia. 
Farmville, Prince Edward Co., June 13.— 
Crops are late. Wheat hardly' half a crop. 
Oats a failure. Tobacco plants very scarce— 
destroyed by the fly. 1 sowed half a bushel 
Washington oats this Spring: they are look 
iug well: they are the only good oats 1 have 
seen. All others seem to be played out. On 
the 14th of last October 1 planted the Rural 
wheats. Fultzo-Clawson aud Surprise are 
wonderful wheats; heads of Clawson, seven to 
eight inches long and well tilled: will be cut iu 
a few days. My geese and chickens got nearly 
all the Surprise: have only a few heads, but 
they are wonderfully line. Can I get seed of 
it this Fall, anil from whom? [It will doubtless 
be advertised,— Eds.] w. d. 
&l)c (jhtmgt. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPOND BINTS. 
LEvery query must be accompanied by the uume 
and address of the writer to insure attention.] 
WIRE-WORMS. 
L. G <?., Canastota, N. 1'.—What is the 
remedy against wire-worms? We read of very 
old pastures iu England that are far superior 
to new ones; how do the owners keep the wire 
worms out Of them? Is there anything that 
can be applied to seed that will keep wire- 
worms from eating it? Will it do to use poi¬ 
son? Can the pests bo starved out? Are 
there any crops they will not attack? How 
far will they travel for food? What beetle 
produces them and how long do they live be 
tore transformation? Can the lieetle bo de¬ 
stroyed so as to prevent the production of 
wire-worms? 
ANSWERED BY W. L. DKVEREAUX. 
Laying land under any system of rotation 
of crops, with perfect tillage and the use of 
barnyard or commercial fertilizers, always gets 
rid of wire-worms. Remedial measures against 
the )>ests in meadows and pa«ttires have 
