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BOBOLINK. 
Cllng-ft-linK-lIng! 
Liuk-A-ltuk-llnk! 
JuBt bear me sing. 
Gay ami fair 
In the dewy air 
T blug and fly 
Through the sky. 
With a ripple, ripple- ripple. 
And a ellng a-IIng-Ung, 
And a merry-merry-ripple— 
Bob-o-Llncoln ' 
The robin sings at break o’day 
A noisy sort of a roundelay. 
Then 1 Jump on my wing. 
And don’t stop when I sing. 
But ripple, ripple, ripple, 
Lincoln, Lincoln ! 
With the dew In my throat 
Liquid note, liquid note 
I pour on the air 
My morning prayer— 
Bob-o-Llncoln! 
Lincoln; Bob-o-Llncoln! 
Just hear that 
Sharp and flat 
Liquid, liquid, liquid flow. 
Nest and mate all Just below. 
That’s why my song 
Runs ripplinjr along, 
While I eltp the air 
Full of Joyful care, 
And rarely stop 
For a tree top. 
Bob-o-Llncoln! 
Morning on the River Banks. Fig. 417. 
FLOWERING SHRUBS. 
DON FOL1NNO. 
A shrub is a woody plant which does not 
form a true trunk like a tree, hut has several 
stems arising from the roots. The following 
varieties bloom from March to December: 
1. Syriaga—or Mock Orange, rightly called 
PI iladelphus. A genus of native shrubs; one 
of the hardiest and most desirable, growing 
to a hight of six or eight feet. Their beauty 
and fragrance make them universal favorites. 
Their dowel’s are small, a very light pink 
when opening, which turns to pure white: 
smell similar to those of the orange. Propa¬ 
gated by seeds, layers or cuttings and division 
of the roots. Are benefitted by a slight prun¬ 
ing in the Fall, Flowers in May. 
2. Spiraea—an extensive genus of hardy 
herbaceous plants and deciduous shrubs. S. 
prunifolia. Double, pure white; blooms in 
May. 8. Reevesii—flowers pure white, and so 
abundantly produced that when a healthy 
plant is in bloom, it reminds oue of a ball of 
snow. It frequently flowers in T,he Fall months. 
S. aurea, 8. callosa, S. alba and S. Thun- 
bergii, are rose colored and white. To obtain 
good results they should be planted in partial 
shade. They are propagated by cuttings and 
layers. 
3. Jusmmum, a desirable shrub for hot 
house, green-house and out door decorating. 
J. uudiflorum (naked flowering jasmine) pro¬ 
duces a profusion of yellow’ dowers early in 
the Spring, before the leaves make their ap¬ 
pearance: is oue of the hardiest, J. officinale 
is a half-climbing shrub, with fragrant, pure 
white flowers. J. graudiflorum is one of the 
best known winter-flowering plants and is 
largely used for cut flowers. It is propagated 
by cuttings. They are greatly benelitted by 
pruning in the Spring. 
4. Weigelia—one of the most ornamental of 
hardy shrubs. W. Rosea is very beautiful 
when grown m rich laud; will produce shoots 
two to three feet in length, wreathed from 
bottom to top with rosy white colored flowers. 
W. aurea variegata has variegated leaves of 
white and yellow; flowers of a deep rose color. 
W. Amabilis is the largest of the spicies 
flow’ers very dark rod in color Propagated 
best in September by cuttings planted in the 
open border. Will give bettor results i f planted 
in rich land 
5. Cercis (Judas Tree) is a low growing 
bash, with very showy flowers that are gen¬ 
erally purple, aud which appear before the 
leaves in the Spring and completely cover 
the bush. The flowers are always produced 
on the old wood C. japonica is a very hand¬ 
some, bush} plant from tour to six foot high. 
C. Canadensis is the best of the North Amer¬ 
ica species, 
6. Cydonia japonica is a popular and very 
hardy, thorn}’ shrub, suited best to a strong, 
clayey soil and produces in the Spring a blaze 
of scarlet flowers that are followed by a 
fragrant fruit from one to one-and-a-half 
inches in diameter. Pyrus spuria has leaves like 
the Elder, which change in the Autumn to a 
deep purple, small black fruit. P. spuria pen- 
dula is the most ornamental, P. arbutifolia, 
P. vestita, P, variolosa, P. terminalis, are tbe 
most ornamental varieties of this shrub; suit¬ 
able for small gardens; is also a very fine lawn 
and hedge plant. It is propagated by layers. 
(To be Concluded.) 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. 
Dear Uncle Mark: —Thanks for tbe seeds 
you so kindly sent me; I will try and do the 
best I can with thorn. 1 am in hopes they will 
do well. Farmers are having hard luck with 
their corn this year. A great many had to 
replant. Oats and Winter Wheat are looking 
nice at present, but we are having a great 
deal of rain, and Pa thinks they will grow so 
rank that they will all fall down. Ma has a 
nice lot of hoase plants; they are all large 
aud healthy looking. O yes, 1 must tell you 
about my garden. Mother gave me one large 
Elephant Potato. I planted it in eight hills 
and now I have got the largest potatoes on the 
the place. I tell you they are Elephants in 
size. Pa thinks a great deal of his elephant 
and Blush Potatoes. I have an onion bed 
eight feet long aud four feet wide, and also 
beans, lettuce, radishes, and my Surprise 
Watermelons. My onions are very nice. 
My sister says she is not going to raise any 
more vegetables localise 1 always have the 
nicest. Pa said ho would give me a large piece 
of ground next, year for my garden. We have 
about 150 young chickens. Pa works at the 
mason trade, and my brother 18 years old runs 
the farm, so the gardening falls to Ma and I. 
We have about 150 potato seedling plants 
that are looking very nice. 
Kankakee Co., Ills. Noraii B. Bigalow. 
Dear Uncle Mark:—I have written two 
or three letters to you, and never saw any of 
them in print. 1 will try aud stick to the text, 
“try, try again. 15 My subject is, burning lime, 
as I suppose some of the Cousins never heard 
of lime as a fertilizer. They dig lime-stone 
out of the ground something like coal, only it 
is nearer the surface and is much harder than 
coal. It is then sold by the ton to farmers; 
they burn it in kilns, with coal as fuel. A bot¬ 
tom is laid of dry logs, then the lime-stone 
and coal in layers, about eight bushels of coal 
to a ton of lime: from 25 to UMI tons in a kiln. 
It is then set on Are and requires from four 
days to two weeks to burn, being covered wi’li 
dirt to keep the heat. in. The air and ruin 
will slake it in time. Then it is scattered on 
the field. I have a little garden of my own, 
and have some potatoes, corn, beans and peas 
that are in blossom now, and a flower bed. 1 
planted some water melons, but they did not 
grow; our Boil is not good for melons or 
squashes, being cold clay. We received some 
seeds from Unele Mark aud were very glad to 
get them. Many thanks. Some of them are 
growing nicely. I am 10 years old. 
Your niece, Mildred Jack. 
Venango Co., Pa. 
[I shall always be glad to print such interest¬ 
ing letters as this, and hope you will write 
more like it. Uncle Mark]. 
Dear Uncle Mark:— I go to school this 
Summer, a distance of one-half a mile. I am 
taking music lessons too, aud practice night 
aud morning and so do not have much time to 
take care of flowers. Eddy gave me part of 
the flower seeds that you sent him, which 1 
planted, aud they are now up. 1 have planted 
some balsams, sweet-peas, snap-dragons, holly¬ 
hocks, and pansies, and they have all come up. 
I have u little brother three years old. As I 
am only nine years old, I don’t expect to see 
my letter printed in your paper, but I hope I 
am still considered your niece. 
Rushford. Grace Taylor. 
[For a nine years old person this letter was 
very nicely written indeed. 1 shall be glad to 
heoi’ from you any time. Perhaps you can 
think of something interesting to tell the 
Cousins about those flowers that you have 
growing in your garden, as I feel sure that all 
would like bo hear about them. Uncle Mark]. 
Dear Uncle Mark:—I thought I would 
write you a few lines to tell you that I am 
raising pop-corn, beans, cabbage, peppers, 
radishes, peas, tomatoes, aud cucumbers. I 
have poled some of my tomatoes to see how 
they will prosper. My cucumbers are not do¬ 
ing well at all. I don’t see any bugs or worms 
eating them. One of my peppers I found 
gnawed off about one-half an inch above the 
ground; will you tell me the cause of this? I 
will tell you in the Fall how my poled toma¬ 
toes succeeded. I wish more of the Cousins 
would write. Yours truly, k h. 
LeouardsvUle, N. Y. 
[Probably your pepper was cut off by some 
variety of cut-worm. Perhaps you did not 
manure your cucumbers enough to make them 
do well, or perhaps the land upon which tboy 
are growing is not of the right nature for 
them, to do well. The best soil for cucumbers 
is a light sandy loam. Uncle Mark], 
Dear Uncle Mark:— Many thanks for the 
seeds you sent me. I sowed them but so few 
came up, l think I must have covered 
them too deep. Mamma gave me some 
mignonette for my bed, and some asters, phlox 
and pansies. I have a large bed of top-onions 
that I mean to sell next Spring. I have a 
Niagara Grape-vine that cauic from seed sent 
to Papa from the Rural. The fourth of July, 
I went to a picnic at Fish Lake, on the T. V. 
& C. R. R. 1 enjoyed it very much, if it did 
rain some. I was eight years old last May. 
This is the first time 1 have written you, my¬ 
self. I hope I can write a better oue next 
time. Your nephew, E. r. t. 
Rushford, N. Y. 
Dear Uncle Mark:— I have written yon 
one letter, and desirous of keeping my mem¬ 
bership with the Chib, I will write you a few 
lines in regard to our success with the Rural 
seeds, etc. The seeds which my father re¬ 
ceived with the Rural, have grown well, with 
few exceptions. The seeds of the Perfection 
Watermelon did not germinate, although 
planted in good soil. Our Niagara Grapes are 
nice. The Chater Hollyhocks are growing 
splendidly. The Shoe-peg Corn is two 
feet high. Some of the seeds of the Garden 
Treasures have come to light, and the rest 
will probaoly appear in their season. The 
Summer is late, and we cannot tell what good 
weather will do l'or them. We shall wait with 
patience and pleasure to see the result. The 
Rural is a very welcome guest at our 
house; we all read with pleasure the writings 
of Mrs. Jack in her Canada home, aud Mary 
Wager-Fisher in her Pennsylvania home. All 
the contributors are interesting, but the two 
named are tny favorites. Excuse me for 
specifying. Mv father consults the Rural 
for everything pertaining’ to farming, garden¬ 
ing, or fruit-culture. Our house is surrounded 
by over 200 fruit trees, and the birds come 
from the adjacent forest, and build their nests 
in the vicinity of the house. Three or four 
pairs of wrens have their uests within 10 rods 
of the house, in old boots aud other recepta¬ 
cles which my brothers have nailed up for 
them. Yellow wrens build in the apple trees, 
hut the house wrens select some secluded 
place in which to build. King birds, yellow 
birds, blue birds, cherry birds, robins, aud 
many others build near our house, and their 
songs uud their varied plumage make it very 
pleasant. 
in answer to Young Historian in Rural of 
June 80, I would reply, that Frederick the 
Groat was King of Prussia when Washington 
was General. “Millions for de fence ” was 
first used by a colored man when followed 
through the pasture by a pair of ugly horus. 
“Millions for defense,” etc., was first used by 
Charles Cotes worth Pinckney, an Envoy to 
France, during the rule of the Freuch Direct¬ 
ory; and afterwards used by Henry Laurens. 
The United States Flag adopted by the Com¬ 
mittee appointed by Congress to consider th.s 
subject, was hoisted over Washington’s head¬ 
quarters at Cambridge, on January 2nd, 
177li, aud used until June 14, 1777, tv hen Con¬ 
gress adopted a new one. Nathan Hale, who 
was executed as a spy by the British during 
the Revolutionary War, said, ’neat1 1 the 
apple tree on which he was hung, “I only re¬ 
gret that 1 have but one life to give for my 
country.” 
I am only 13 years old, anil perhaps I have 
not road history correctly; but these answers 
are the result of my reading. Your niece, 
Stockbridge, Wis. Blanohie C. Buxton. 
Dear Uncle Mark:— Though it is Sunday 
I have been working a good part ot the day. 
It has been so wet here that nothing could bo 
done. I have pulled all luy ouions—one bush¬ 
el. Father gave me the grape seed to attend 
to. 1 have 18 grape plants now, some of them 
six inches high. 1 planted the seeds in a flow¬ 
er-pot in rich soil aud sunk it in a hot-bed. I 
have 22 strawberry seadliugs. Most of them 
will produce fruit next year. The wheat sent 
sent out by the Rural is ripe. Out of the 
three kinds—Surprise, Shumaker and Fultzo- 
Clawson, l like the Surprise best. I will send 
live of the heads but dou’t think I will win the 
prize for it. There 132 hoods from 12 grains. 
The soil in which they grew is a clay loam 
and lifts uever been cultivated since planting. 
Yours, Wm. Jackson. 
Madison Co., Ill. 
[The heads of wheat were received all right. 
They are very good looking heads. Let us 
know the result of your experiments with 
strawberry seedlings.— Uncle Mark.] 
Dear Uncle Mark:—I fear I am too old in 
years to be a “cousin” but I am much too 
young a farmer to be an “uncle,” so I do not 
know what I am. I am running n diminutive 
truck farm which I bought last Spring, The 
seasons are so short here in the mountains, 
one has to be quick to seize opportunities in 
order to get good crops, Being absolutely 
without auy guide as to climatic effects upon 
crops, I have started an "information book” 
which I would earnestly recommend to the 
Cousins. I give below a copy of the only 
record 1 have completed, and though it is not 
as good a showing as it ought to be, it will 
illustrate the method. These records aie 
already of much service. This is a copy of a 
I/eager account. 
Peas. —Henderson's First of All. Planted 
May 171 h; up May 25th. Bloom Juno 18th. 
Began harvest, July 0th. Cleared, July 11th. 
8oil, light and poor. Fertilizer, none. 
hr. Cr. 
1SKS. 
April 23 2 qtS- Reed $.7!> July 6, l pit. pods $.40 
May 17. :(lira, work ,4r> July S, 2 pits, pods .SO 
.luni'i tO OU " 44 tri ilnfr* .Iniv 11 *1 tilru ikuIu Oil 
uuc is, uaic ..>n uun ^ pivrv puun .ou 
July 11, 2 “ “ “ .SO | 
$1.SS $2.00 
Profit. 12 
$2.00 $2.00 
One row brushed. Yield increased 20 per 
cent. Work charged on June 12 is for hoeing. 
An average row iu center of patch left with¬ 
out hoeing at oil, shows that this work was 
useless, as the yield was the same. Hoed one 
row six times without effect If every Cousin 
would keep such accounts they would be 
very useful, not only to themselves but to the 
entire circle of relatives. It is too late to be¬ 
gin now, but a word in time may be of value 
for next year’s operations. 
Yours sincerely, 
Essex Co., N. Y. Richard Ferris. 
[That the Cousins will all be glad to read 
this letter and many more like it 1 have no 
doubt. We are always grateful for such com¬ 
munications, and trust that yon will favor us 
again, as their contents may prove of much 
value to their readers. Uncle Mark.] 
-- 
Dear Uncle Mark. —As you are having 
dry weather, iu your vicinity, I should like to 
loan you a bit of our wet weather here in 
Michigan, but notwithstanding the “ moist” 
weather, wo have a fine garden of potatoes, 
cabbage, onions, beets, radishes, spinach, car¬ 
rots, parsnips, salsify, sweet corn, etc., etc. 
Our cabbages are bothered with a small spotted 
bug, which is exceedingly wild. We have 15 
Niagara grape-plants, The Blush Potato and 
Garden Treasures are doing well. Of 52 ker¬ 
nels of the 8hoe-peg Corn 50 sprouted, but a 
half-dozen hills had to Ik: helped lift on account 
of being covered with gravel, I am trying to 
raise some large melons and will write and tell 
my success when they ripeil. I live near Lake 
Michigan, aud there are some very large berry 
patches in this vicinity. One man will have 
70 acres of strawberries to pick next year. 
Wilson is the variety generally raised. I in¬ 
tend trying the Rural’s advice of using 
liquid manure. 
Can some of the Cousins recommend a book 
on vocal music—self-taught? 1 wish the 
Cousins could see some of our Shumaker 
Wheat; it stands nearly six feet high. Wo 
have raised it for six or seven years. The 
Surprise and Pultzo-Clawson are heading out. 
The Surprise has enormous heads. 
Steveusville. Michigan, Corn-Stalk. 
Dear Uncle Mark: —I am afraid if I do 
not write I shall be expelled from the Club. I 
have received the seeds yon so kindly sent me, 
and thank you very much. 1 hope I shall 
have better luck than 1 did with the melon 
seeds. They all came up, but grew rather 
small melons owing to the dry weather. I 
have a little garden in which are planted pota¬ 
toes, sweet-corn, squashes, melons, lettuce and 
radishes. My father has taken the Rural a 
great many years, i like’to read the Cousins’ 
letters very much. 
From your nephew, w. f. 8. 
Whitney’s Point, N. Y. 
Communications Received for Week 
ending July 28,—“Dark Eyes”— R. F.— L 
C.—J. B.—B. C. B.-E J3.—F. F—W. J. Jr. 
Thanks; send them a!o ig.—C. C. G,—C. 8* 
