JULY 44 
ent to his pecuniary interests as to attach too 
little importance to the venture, and, accord¬ 
ingly, he did not improve his opportunity by 
keeping his herd up He might have been the 
latter-day king of Short-horn raisers in this 
State had he done so. 
It does tno a world of good to gabble and 
prattle about progress in this country, for I re¬ 
member that, when I used to sow grass seeds 
out of the car windows for hundreds of miles, 
many a brisk dullard and pert shallow-pate 
used to wonder at my very peculiar phase of 
lunacy: some with coarse and cruel laughter; 
some with a mild flavor of pity iu their open- 
eyed astonishment. They knew me as the 
■“grass man.” 
Dearbrook, Noxubee Co., June 80. m. b. h 
farm Copies. 
SILK CULTURE IN THE UNITED 
STATES. 
PROFESSOR C. V. RILEY. 
There has been of late what may be justly 
■considered a marked revival in the subject of 
silk-culture in the United States. This fact is 
attested alike by the number of private in¬ 
dividuals, of associations and of periodicals 
that, for two Or three years past, have been 
devoted to the promotion of the industry As 
Entomologist of the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture I have watched all that has been said and 
done with much interest. After discussing 
the advantages and drawbacks which the Unit¬ 
ed States present iu reference to sen-culture, 
in the second edition of the Manual on the 
Silkworm published by the Department, 1 felt 
constrained to give these words of caution iu 
mv last annual report: 
Uniter jjresent Circumstances we feel more disposed 
to cheek than to encourage the present growing ii:- 
torest In the (in ject, because of the conviction that 
the majority of persons undertaking the raising of 
silkworms are doomed to disappointment. Those 
who have eggs for sale or who are interested lu the 
propagation and sale of mulberry cuttings, anil those 
who are lnlltteueod by philanthropic or benevolent 
motives, can afford, albeit from opposite motives, to 
stimulate lu every possible way the Interest naturally 
felt In the subject, but the disappointment, under 
existing circumstances, is upt to he great iu propor¬ 
tion as the Interest Increases, so that there Is danger 
or a repetition uf the many reactions from similar 
attempts lit the past. 
This follows necessarily from the Tact that the 
reeled silk Is Imported free of duty, while there is so 
very heavy a duty on the woven goods. There Is a 
duty to dav on wools valued at SJ ouuts of 10 to 11 
cents per pound, and 10 per cent, ad valorem. Still, 
In past years, ns lu isw, wool has been Imported free 
of duty. Now wool Is essentially a raw product, hav¬ 
ing gone through no expensive process of manufac¬ 
ture; yet what would our wool-growers throughout 
the country say ir It were proposed to do away with 
lli duty and allow wool to conic In as reeled silk Is 
now allowed to come in. free? They would, no doubt 
declare thut such action on the part of Congress 
would give the dcatn-ldow to wool-growing In the 
United States. Silk culture is in Just ihe condition 
•that wtiol-growfttg would be lu uudei such elream • 
Stances, and if there Is any advantage to the couutr\ 
lu the protection of one kind of silk manufacture, 
then, logically, thut other branch of silk manufae 
ture, namely, silk-reeling, which would add value ro 
l he eoeoon anil give encouragement to Its production, 
should also be protected, and we earnestly recoin, 
mend this subject to Hie serious consideration of the 
recently appointed Tariif I'onuntssfou. With proper 
duty ou the "raw silk,*’ there would be no question 
of the steady and permanent growth of silk culture 
lu the rlilted States; this Department Would be Jus- 
tilled lu making effort- to widely disseminate the 
eggs, and In the course of two or three.years every 
dollar of the vast sinus-eut out of the country for 
"raw silk" produced In foreign lauds would llttd its 
Way to the pockets of our own people. 
The experience of the year has justified this 
caution. The Tariif Commission felt the force 
of the argument in reference to the importa¬ 
tion of "raw” silk, and placed a duty of 50 
percent, ad valorem upon it in the schedule 
prepared for Congress. This duty was en¬ 
gineered off again iu committee, however, and 
an eloquent appeal by Senator Morgan, of 
Alabama, for a duty of 20 per cent, was subse¬ 
quently disregarded in the Senate, his motion 
being voted down upon arguments singularly 
contradictory, some ol’ the opponents to the 
motion arguing that experience of two centu¬ 
ries had shown that silk, production in Amer¬ 
ica was impossible, while Senator Ingalls iu- 
si tod that it bad been so successful iu bis own 
State (Kansas) as to prove conclusively that 
them was no need of protection. Both asser¬ 
tions wore unfounded, and that of the Kansas 
Senator showed a surprising ignorance of the 
later phases of Monsieur Boissiere’s efforts 
ut Silkville. 
As a consequence, the many who liave for 
the past two months, from one influence or 
another, been raising the “worm that spins 
the queen's most, costly robe” are doomed to 
disapp ointment if they expected their labors 
to prove us protituble as the more enthusias¬ 
tic have nuiinterned they would he. Some in 
divuluals, aud some companies, have gone into 
the business from sincere conviction that it 
could bo made a profitable investment; there 
are others who advocate it from more selfish 
motives—they have eggs or mulberry seed or 
cuttings for sale, and speculate ou the gullibil¬ 
ity and credulity of the average farmer. 
Several manuals liave also been published. 
One, which T have in mind from Philadelphia, 
and for which 25 cents are charged is a hold ap¬ 
propriation of the Manual which the Depart¬ 
ment publishes for free distribution. So long 
as the manufacturers can afford to publish 
organs devoted to their interests and opposed 
to the encouragement of silk production at 
home, or ean mother ways influence Congress, 
disappointment must, necessarily follow all 
attempts to unduly stimulate silk culture; 
while all that tends to this artificial stimula¬ 
tion will in the end retard the cause and post¬ 
pone the establishment of au industry for which 
the country is in every way admirably adapted 
by climate. Festina lente (make haste slowly) 
should be the motto of all who have acquired 
the silk fever. 
CROSS-BREEEDING; HYBRIDIZA¬ 
TION, ETC. 
PROFESSOR A. E. BLOUNT. 
To the science of cross-breeding and hybridi¬ 
zation are we indebted not only for our finest 
aud most useful stock, but also for line fruits, 
vegetables, flowers and cereals. Inasmuch as 
nature does not hybridize or cross-breed her 
•species under ordinary circumstances, and 
inasmuch as almost every individual plant in 
its wild state is inferior to those man has cross¬ 
bred and domesticated, there seems to be a 
wide field for improvement to be made by him. 
To some extent this field of improvement is 
already occupied. It seems to me to be only 
a beginning as yet The apple of to-day—once 
the unsavory, distasteful sour crab of a eeu- 
tury ago—is the leading fruit of the world. 
All honor to the art and science of man,' The 
grape of 1853 has become the most delicate 
and healthful fruit in existence! The time 
will come when our cereals in all respects will 
be as much better than they now are as they 
now are better than those of a hundred years 
ago. 1 think 1 can see a field open to a va¬ 
riety of corn that will be adapted io every 
locality ami a wheat than will resist, under 
all ordinary conditions, all enemies superin¬ 
duced by atmospheric influences; a garden in 
which there shall be a tomato without wrinkle 
or core; a potato subject to no diseases, of line 
quality aud a sure cropper; an orchard iu which 
fruits of all kinds will be far superior to any we 
now have, and a lawn upon which will grow 
flowers that will equal any iu the tropics for 
beauty and fragrance. All this I belive will be 
eousuiuated ou one condition, viz; that the 
farmer by careful selection shall keep his 
cereals from deterioration; that the gardener 
by observing the natural laws that govern 
vegetation shall keep ids seed pure and im¬ 
proved: that the orchardist by systematic 
propagation of seedlings aud cross-breeding 
shall keep the best quality to the frout. and 
that the florist by au intermixture of species 
having the greatest number of valuable ehur- 
aett ilstics, shall keep in harmony all those 
changes of color that so pleasantly greet us 
everywhere. Had not a few such men as 
Wilder lived in the orchard; Pringle and Ar¬ 
nold among the cereals; Bliss, Gregory aud 
Landretb among the vegetables, aud Hender¬ 
son, Vick aud Parsons among tbo flowers, 
where. I usk. ami iu what condition would have 
been our wheat an dc.)ru, our apples aud pears 
our potatoes and beets, our roses and choicest 
flowers? We would certainly have been eu- 
joying the products of the same old ideas en¬ 
tertained bv our great-great-graml-fathers. 
Our best wheat would still be confined to 
the old boarded Mediterranean; our best corn 
would be the exhaustive aud inferior one¬ 
eared maize of the American Indian; our 
best fruit the sour crab of Spitzbergeu, the 
old red cherry, the cast-iron pear, the old 
Chickasaw plum and the poor, bitter, dried- 
up seedling peach; our best vegetables, a pota¬ 
to full of o\es aud sap; beets long and course: 
carrots small aud stringy; our best turnips 
would lx' long-rooted aud strong enough to 
make the tears come; our best flowers the com¬ 
mon single Marigold the single Pink and the 
China Aster, 
Some distinguished writer has stated that 
“hybridization takes place between two 
species of the same genius when they are 
nearly allied to each other.” Every variety 
of corn then is a hybrid, and the offspring 
coming from crossing one wheat upon another 
is a hybrid, t am not prepared to accept, the 
statement as u fact. The same writer says: 
“ hybridization and cross-breeding are the 
same.” Cross-brooding is included in the 
former; but the former is not included in 
the latter. 
Crossing the Short-horns upon the Jerseys, 
the Cue hi as upon the Dorkings, smooth wheats 
upon bearded, red roses upon white is cross¬ 
breeding but by no means hybridization, inas 
much as the offspring are still cattle, chickens, 
wheats and roses, aud, moreover, they arc ca¬ 
pable of reproduction. Now if the sheep is 
crossed upon the goat, the turkey upon the 
guinea, the muskmelon upon the cucumber, 
the rye upon the wheat, the rose upon the 
cherry; the apple upon the pear, the offspring, 
if any, are hybrids, being, neither sheep nor 
goats, turkeys nor guineas, muskmelons nor 
cucumbers, wheat nor rye, roses nor cherries, 
pears nor apples, and. moreover, they seldom 
if ever reproduce. 
State Agricultural College, Colorado. 
[Our own opinion as to this has often been 
expressed, It is that crosses between different 
varieties of the same species and genus should 
be called cross-breeds. When between differ¬ 
ent species of the same genus, or between dif¬ 
ferent genera, hybrids. Otherwise we should 
prefer to adopt Sachs's definitions which have 
been presented twice in these columns. Eds.] 
THE BARBERRY AS A HEDGE AND 
ORNAMENTAL PLANT. 
Perhaps a good many loaders of the 
Rural New-Yorker have never seen a Bar¬ 
berry hedge, or have never heard of this use¬ 
ful plant. The Barberry is the best shrub for 
a hedge. It never winter-kills; it grows on 
any soil; lives over a hundred years, and will 
turn cattle, horses, sheep, hogs, and even 
chickens, if planted in the right way. 
I have a Barberry hedge eight feet high, 
loaded every Fall with beautiful scarlet 
berries, which make the very best of preserves 
and jellies. I have made a very good wine of 
the berries every Fall. The yellow blossoms it 
bears in Spring in the month of May and June 
are very sweet-smelling. The golden yellow- 
roots are used for dyeing. My hedge is eight 
years old, has never been pruned yet, and is 
to-day as close as 1 want it to be. Last year I 
raised from 15JOOO to 8*1,000 plants, and about 
ten bushels of the berries. This year ruy 
hedge w r ill be, if nothing happens, loaded 
again with scarlet berries. There is no hum. 
bug about it. I can recommend the Barberry 
hedge to every farmer in the count ry living 
either in the timber or prairie. It saves a 
good deal of hard labor in making those costly 
rail fences which always need repairing and 
always cause trouble from cattle or hogs tbat 
push their way through. The Barberry hedge 
has numerous sharp thorns as a protection. 
Even if it is destroyed by tire, it sprouts out 
from the roots again and makes as nice a 
hedge as ever. That it can be planted in new or 
old ground 1 know, because I have tried it. 
The richer the ground the smaller the yield of 
fruit. It makes a beautiful oruameutal hedge 
around town lots. 
The best time for sowing the seeds or plant 
ing the plants is iu the Fall or early iu Spring, 
The seed grows better if subjected to the 
action of the frost. During November or 
early in Spring is a good time for sowing the 
seed in a nursery bed in row s two feet apart, 
covering the seed from U , to two inches. I 
have planted Burberry seeds as late as the 
middle of April, which mode nice plants. The 
plants can be put in during September aud 
October, aud even as late in the Spring as the 
15th of June, The young phuits need no pro. 
teotiou whatever during the Winter months. 
Of course, Fall planting gives them au early 
start in the Spring. The Barberry is very 
hardy ami is sure to live when transplanted; 
it is very seldom that one plant in a thousand 
dies if planted iu the right manner. 
Cedar Co., Neb. Chas. Doeller. 
turm Ccorionti}. 
TILE DRAINAGE.—No. 9. 
YV. I. CHAMBERLAIN. 
Laying Out the System. 
The Outlet.— The first thing is to secure 
or determine the proper main outlet, or “out¬ 
fall,” as the English term it. Their term is 
expressive, for there should be a fall so that 
the water may elear well from the mouth of 
the tiles in high water lu very le\ r el land 
this outlet may need to be into a broad, open 
ditch dug at the county expense, auff furnish¬ 
ing drainage for many thousands of acres But 
most of tne land, except swamp and very 
level prairie, is rolling enough to remove all 
doubt as to the proper location of the outlet, 
and the location and direction of the mains 
ami laterals. At least, after very heavy rains 
the course of the flood w ater will unerringly 
show the location aud direction of the mains, 
and suggest that of the laterals. For example, 
take field A B C I>, Fig. 383, 40x00 rods, and 
slightly dishing toward the center and inclin¬ 
ing towards the side B C. After a heavy ram 
the Yvnter forms rills more or less crooked 
from G and H, joining at F, ami flowing iu 
a single stream to K. The main drain should 
follow this general course, somewhat straight¬ 
ening its crooks, as shown in the cut. If the 
field is 40x150 rods it will contain 15 acres, and, 
as the tiles at K will have to discharge the 
water from the whole field, they should be 
eight iuches in diameter according to a rule 
given in a previous article: “ £5 juare the di 
ameter and divide by four to find the numb¬ 
er of acres a given size Yvill drain.” Thus the 
square of Nt- 4=10, the number of acres are 
eight-inch tiles will drain. The eight-inch may 
be continued up ten rods, and then seven-inch 
ones will do for ten rods, and then six-inch 
ones up to the point F, and then four-inch 
ones will do for the branch mains to G and to 
H. The direction of the laterals is shown by 
the single lines in the cut. The rule is that 
the laterals should ran straight down the 
slope at right angles to the mains; but it is 
quite an advantage to have them run parallel 
with the sides of the field, so that a paid of 
the digging and filling may be done at the 
time of regularly plowing the field. And so 
unless the slope is quite steep or the surface 
quite irregular. I should lay off the -drains as 
l-l- 
Plan of A Drained Field.—Fig. 383. 
in Fig. 383. Two-inch tiles will be large 
enough for all the laterals if there is a fall of 
an inch or more to the rod. 
Of course, the field (Fig. 383) is only one 
case out of many that present themselves. 
The field may be cromning instead of dishing, 
and require a mam along the sides A B and 
C D. or the sides A D and B C ; or it may be 
a “side-bill.” aud slope all in one direction, 
and require simply one main aloug its lower 
side ; or the swale or dry brook may run diag¬ 
onally across the field exactly from corner to 
corner, or at any angle : or there may be tw o 
lines of depression clear across the field ; or 
oue main drain and more branch drains than 
I have indicated with knolls that shall render 
any perfectly regular system of laterals im¬ 
possible. 
If six, seven and eight-inch tiles cannot be 
obtained for the main in Fig. 383. then a five- 
inch (or even four-inchi oue may be laid from 
F to K. aud an additional four-inch one be 
laid two rods distant and parallel, as indicated 
Plan of Laying Tile Together. —Fig. 384. 
by the dotted lines in Fig. 3S3. These mains 
will receive all the laterals below the fork F, 
and, of course, the laterals will uot need to he 
extended to the central maiu F 1 K, for the 
side maims will drain the ground between 
themselves and the central main. French, in 
his hook on drainage (which is ou the whole 
the best work I know of, though published 
more than twenty yeare ago), recommends 
laying three four-inch tiles together, as shown 
in Fig. 384. But this is very objectionable 
for several reasons. It leaves a loose space out¬ 
side of the tiles. which is liable to wash and 
gully in high water aud get the tiles out of 
place. Only one drain should be laid iu each 
ditch, whatever be its size, and the earth should 
be packed tight about it. AU sizes of tiles up 
to 10 inches iu diameter ean now be obtained 
at most of the large tUo factories. 
More of the location and construction o 
drains will be given in the next number. 
FRONT-YARD FENCE : IMPROVEMENT 
(3n HAY RACK. 
As the Rural requested farmers to write 
communications for its columns,! send a sketch 
of a front-yard fence (Fig. 385) I have iu front 
of my house. I thins, it is a very neat and cheap 
