AUG 25 
blooms. Two hundred bulbs were broken up 
into scales which were planted in sandy loam 
in shallow boxes; they soon formed bnlblets 
and within a year were in bloom. While one 
shoot is blooming, a new bulb is being formed, 
and indue time a new shoot and flower-buds 
are produced, and in this way this Lily has re¬ 
ceived the name of a perpetual bloomer. The 
flowers, although excellent for local trade, are 
easily injured, therefore not considered profit¬ 
able for shipping long distances. 
* * 
Mr. Montgomery tells me that on one or 
two occasions when the Rose-bug grub had 
appeared in destructive numbers in the beds, 
he spread a lot of black soot (such as is ob¬ 
tained from dwelling-house rather than fur. 
nace Chimneys whore bituminous coals are 
used) and hot lime together, and about one- 
fourth of an inch deep, over the surface of the 
beds, and then watered the mixture into the 
soil by a spray-stream from the hose till the 
water thoroughly drenched the bed. This, he 
says, killed every insect— Rose-bug grub, May- 
bug grab, etc., in the soil, did the Roses no 
harm, but, on the contrary, acted asa fertilizer. 
* * 
I observed that the shading used on the 
greenhouses was thin, evenly distributed, and 
white, but not at all objectionable in appear¬ 
ance. Mr. Montgomery told me it was made 
of a little white lead mixed with kerosene and 
applied bv squirting on with a syringe. I 
would here remurk that the prettiest and most 
even shading 1 ever saw on greenhouses is thut 
on Mr. Peter Henderson's, at Jersey City 
Heights. When then? a few weeks ago, L for¬ 
got to ask Mr. H. what it was, but presume it 
is the same as he recommends in his books 
namely,—“ Naphtha mixed with a little white 
lead, so as to give it the color of thin milk. 1^ 
is syringed over the outside of the glass, and 
costs only about 26 cents for every 1,000 square 
feet of surface.’' _ Leon, 
CULTURE OF THE POND LILY. 
It seems the white Pond Lily (Nymphaea 
odorata) will grow and blossom as finely in 
the lawn as in its native pond, if it receives 
the proper treatment, and this is very easily 
given. About the first of April, a year ago 
last Spring, I obtained a few roots of this in¬ 
teresting plant, placed them in a barrel in 
the cellar, covering them with earth, over 
which I poured a pail or two of water. About 
the middle of May l placed a few inches of 
rich garden soil in a tub, made by sawing a 
large barrel in two, in which I planted the 
roots. I then set the tub in the ground so 
that the tup of the staves was on a level with 
tho soil, and tilled it with water of which 
more was added from time to time to supply 
the evaporation. The roots very soon pro¬ 
duced leaves in abundance, and two flowers 
appeured during the Summer. Late in tho 
Fall the tub was lifted out, the water poured 
off and the tub placed in the cellar, where it 
remained without attention until Spring. 
This season the tub was set out in May us In- 
fore. Three flowers have already opened 
(July 21), and a fourth will shortly appear. 
The flow ers are not sickly, inferior specimens, 
but are of full size, as fresh and pure and 
fragrant as I have ever seen. One of them 
opened live days in succession. The beautiful 
green, wax-like leaves form a carpet that 
almost conceals the surface of the water, and 
tho Overhanging grass hides the unsightly tub. 
The i’ond Lily is a fine bouquet flower. Its 
graceful petals open nearly as well in the 
house as in the sun-light. ••Elm.' 1 
I notice A. E. (jr.'s remarks in regard to 
laisiug chicks, in the Rural of August 4 
Perhaps it might help “the cause” if X were 
to explain and not leave A. E. G.'s insinuation 
that what i said was “all theory,” uueontra 
dieted. I have had as many as 1,300 chickens 
at one time anil kept then 800 hens as nearly 
as 1 could over count them, never getting the 
same number exactly twice, so that 1 know 
something about raising chicks, and 1 repeat 
that not oue healt hy chick that is hatched need 
be lost. Either there is carelessness or there 
are not, proper appliances. Last year 1 raised 
88 chicks from 11 pullets and did not lose oue. 
This year 1 have raised 122 from 20 young and 
old hens, 14 only of which 1 sot, and have not 
lost one. 1 find the incubator of much value 
iu taking care of the first young chicks as soon 
as hatched, or even when the egg is broken, 
until the whole brood is out, and so saving 
those which are usually crashed iu the nest. 
Perhaps tho fallowing rules may help A. E. 
Cl. to be more successful. 1 don’t know what 
he calls “ ordinary appliances;” but if he has 
the right cues he cau raise all of 100 healthy 
chicks that are hatched and a good proportion 
of the weak ones; — 
First: The house must be conveniently ar¬ 
ranged and the yard must be kept safe from 
strange cats, a small-mesh wire fence with a 
cat guard of barbod wire will keep the cats 
out; and a small rifle will prevent them from 
trying to get in. 
Second: The sitting hens should have nests 
in a place by themselves where nothing can 
interfere with them. The nest should have no 
more eggs thau the hen can cover well. When 
the first chick is hatched remove it from the 
nest to a warm place until all are hatched. I 
find a small incubator an excellent thing for 
this purpose, and can rear every chick by its 
help without tho hen and with much less bother 
if I take the time. The chicks will eat with¬ 
out any teaching when they want. 
Third: Have large, roomy coops, and while 
the chicks are small let them rim in a board 
pen with a piece of wire guaze over it. Do 
not let the lien out until the chicks are a month 
old. 
Fourth: Feed the chicks on corn meal and 
middlings made into a thick, stiff mush. 
Cracked wheat is also good food for them. Give 
them a run in a garden where they can be 
watched aud protected from hawks, etc. 
Where hawks abound aud cannot be kept off, 
these rules wont work, and some loss will be 
sustained; also where troops of starving cats 
are running around, or where broken windows 
and open doors let them into barn floors, where 
the chicks should not. lie. 
Fifth: Tho hatching business should not be be¬ 
gun when the thermometer is 10“ below zero; or 
if it is, the chicken house should have a stove 
iu it. A chicken has a good deal of vitality 
as long as it Ls kept warm, but there is not bulk 
enough of it to keep itself warm, If 100 cau 
lie raised in one house and yard under certain 
conditions; 10 hundreds cau lie reared m 10 
houses aud yards under the same conditions. 
By and by I will give the balance-sheet of 122 
reared in one yard without loss of one. Just 
now I am beginning to sell the cockerels for 
broilers at 40 cents a pound. Two sold to-day 
for $2.10, the pair weighing5pounds. There 
may be accidents which all one's care cannot 
avoid, such as a heavy torrent of rain and hail 
when one is not at home and which may chill 
young chicks. Such a case happened to me, but 
on reaching home I counted the chicks, found 
live missing, hunted them up and found them 
nearly dead under a rhubarb bush: but the in¬ 
cubator, quickly warmed up with some boiling 
water, brought the chicks round again very 
soon. A young chick has an enormous amount 
of vitality for its size w hen it is managed just 
right. I would try to eucourage A. E. G. and 
other •• forlorn and helpless brothers,” by 
saying that 1 have lieeu nearly 80 years gain¬ 
ing experience through many losses auddisap- 
IRiintments, and it is only iu a very few years 
past that 1 have bean able to say as l do with 
perfect truth, “ iu roaring chicks by hand (or 
uniler heus, or both together) there is abso¬ 
lutely no necessity for oue to be lost after it is 
hatched from the shell.” Perhaps l ought to 
say that I don’t refer to chicks hatched in in¬ 
cubators. I have not, had experience enough 
with them; lam only experimenting as yet 
iu that way. H. Stewart. 
OH BECKY! 
While reading A. B. C. Salmon's article iu 
the Rural for July 21. my gray hairs did uot 
rise, as 1 have but two or three of that shade 
and they have too much regard for my feelings 
to assume any other than a recumbent jiosi- 
tion, even under tho most trying circum¬ 
stances. There is oue point in Mr. Salmon's 
letter upon which 1 wish he would enlighten 
myself aud others, including 1 aiu sure, Mary 
Martin Coles. Mr Salmon—omitting the in¬ 
itials only for brevity's sake—speaks of two 
acquaintances each ol whom keeps a flock 
of 100 fow ls. Should one of these heus he tells 
us, happen to hatch hall a dozen chicks the 
little thiugs are immediately oaten up with 
lice, or if perchance one escapes the hen is al¬ 
lowed to s(>ond the whole Summer running 
with it, and it turns out to be a rooster auil 
by Christmas will weigh two pouuds. 
Now tho query in my miml is this: How- 
do these lucky farmers manage to keep their 
flocks of 100 intact frem year to year.' Judg¬ 
ing from Mr. S’s remarks these fowls were 
bought when the owners first settled down to 
farming, and one would thiuk that oeeasion- 
ally one or more of the flock, either from old 
uge, or from being so intensely lousy, would 
suecumb, aud “shuffle off the mortal coil.” 
Are none ever killed for the table? or is that 
fate reserved for the sole survivor of the half 
dozen < 1 presume he is sacrificed to make a 
Christmas roast, lti telling how nicely he 
hatches chicks with a pen-knife. Mr. S. re¬ 
minds me of my uext neighbor, a voluble 
Irishman, who assures me that iu case of a 
derelict hen leaving the nest, ho has repeated¬ 
ly hatched the eggs by keeping them in the 
oven during the day and taking them to bed 
with him at night, ls it uot possible that 
Nature made a mistake in evolving these tw° 
men? I think she meant them for first-class 
hens, but forgot to put the feathers on them. 
But might not the mistake be turned to ad¬ 
vantage both to them and others? It might 
prove remunerative if Mr. S. and my friend 
from the Green Isle were to hire out to their 
near neighbors as sitters. Think of the 
number of eggs an able-bodied man-hen could 
hatch in this way! Oue could afford to pay 
a round sum for every clutch they might 
bring off. Thm with Mr. Salmon's directions 
for after care of chicks to go by, the question 
of “chickening” for profit, might fairly be 
considered as settled. “ Becky Bidwell.” 
NOTES AND COMMENTS. 
The Green Prolific Strawberry is the most 
productive variety that I have ever met with; 
but it is open to the objection that the fruit 
is below the medium size, and when fully 
ripe rather soft. The plant, is perfectly hardy 
and of robust growth, flourishing in situations 
where other varieties would scarcely live. I 
believe that the size of the berries varies con¬ 
siderably with the soil, situation, etc.; but 
with me, on light, sandy soil they are below 
the medium size. However, this is scarcely to 
be wondered at when we take into considera¬ 
tion the immense number of berries the plant 
produces. 
The Agriculturist I shall reject from culti¬ 
vation on account of the rust, which so affects 
it as to render it utterly worthless, and the 
Hovey is such a miserable-growing variety 
that it is not worth one’s while to attempt its 
cultivation. It is my intention to abandon its 
culture. 
The Triomphe de Gand is the best of the for¬ 
eign varieties with which 1 am acquainted. It 
requires a good soil and liberal treatment to 
enable it to do its best and to produce satisfac¬ 
tory results. If a liberal treatment Ls given it, 
it will give satisfaction to all, the fruit being 
firm, of good color, and excellent quality. 
W hen all is favorable, it is found to be of 
healthy growth, aud is moderately productive. 
On the whole, 1 should say that it is desirable 
for amateur or garden cultivation only. 
What with the damp, wet weather, and 
that destructive pest, the Rose Bug, my crop of 
cherries proved an entire failure this season. 
I was iu hopes that I would be enabled to give 
a few notes on cherries this 3 'ear. as my crop 
was a promising one in the early part of the 
season; but I will have to abaudon the idea. 
By the way, are not the cherries sadly neg¬ 
lected in our various horticultural publica¬ 
tions, and are they not justly deserving of as 
much attention as is given to our other fruits? 
And so the Rural has at last discovered a 
reliable trap to catch moles, and so have I. I 
do not know what the Rural’s trap is, but 
mine is the Isbell mole trap, auil it can be ob¬ 
tained of Young & Elliott, 18 Cortlandt St., 
N. Y. [That is one of them.—E d.] But moles 
have been scarce this seasou. 
I wonder if the Rural has given the Dolly 
Dutton Sweet Corn a trial this seasou [Not 
this seasou.—E d.], and if so, what does it think 
of it. I am very much pleased with it as a 
variety for the amateur's garden. As a mar¬ 
ket variety l do uot consider it suitable on ac¬ 
count of tho small size of its ears. [But we 
shall never find the earliest varieties with 
large ears.—E d.] It is a very dwarf-growing 
sort, the stalks seldom attaining a hight of 
four feet. As might be expected, the ears are 
of small size, from four to five iuches in 
length; but the kernels are of good size, sweet 
and tender. This season it ripened ten days 
earlier than the Minnesota, which 1 have al- 
ways considered as our earliest variety. 
1 presume that most, if not all, of the 
readers of the Rural have at one time or 
the other cultivated some Zonal Pelargoniums, 
or, as they are popularly called, Geraniums. 
If they do now, l would like to cull their at 
teutiou to these superb varieties, novelties of 
the present season, ami deserving of beiug 
found in all collections, even where two or 
three plants are grown. They are—Pouch 
Blossom, the flowers of which have dark 
centers, auil are shaded and marbled with light 
and dark piuk; James G. Murkland.tlio bright, 
peach-colored flowers beiug broadly margined 
with white, and James Vick, a variety well 
worthy of the name, the flowers being of a 
large size and of a deep flesh-color aud having 
dark bronze shadings. 
I gathered my Doyenne d'Ete pears a few 
days ago. my three trees producing but little 
fruit. It is about the best early pear with 
which I am acquainted, the tree beiug of vig¬ 
orous, upright growth, and an early and pro¬ 
fuse bearer. The fruit is really very attrac¬ 
tive, having a fine yellow skin shaded with 
bright red on the sunny side, the flavor being 
sweet and pleasant. A few trees of this variety 
should be found in every amateur’s garden. 
C. E. Parnell. 
Weak-tho rned Blackberry. 
In a late Rural in answer to a correspon¬ 
dent it was said there was no such thing as a 
thornless blackberry. Strictly speaking, this 
is right; but I have bushes growing on my 
grounds the thorns on which are so weak and 
few that oue cau pass among them and gather 
the fruit as easily as among currants or 
whortleberries. B. A. 
Rockland, Mass. 
Big Bob and Ohio Black-cap. 
I notice on page 505 of the Rural what is 
said of these two sorts. The Big Bob is dis¬ 
tinct lg a pistillate sort, and will not grow 
fully developed fruit unless properly fertilized 
and with such universal wet weather in time of 
blossoming, as we had the past Spring. I do 
not wonder that it has not succeeded better in 
most localities. Such a Spring may not hap¬ 
pen again in 30 years, and I hope all will wait 
another season before passing judgment on 
this really valuable sort. The "Uiuo” Black¬ 
cap is the old Miami—nothing more and 
nothing less, I cau give proof of it if neces¬ 
sary. It is not as early as the Davidson’s 
Thornless with me by four to five days. With 
me the Chas. Downing Strawberry is one of 
the best, and such are the general reports I 
have of it the country over. A. M. Purdy. 
Piling 
RAISING CREAM. 
In the Querist Department of the Rural of 
July 28, iu answering an inquiry by T. O., of 
Howe’s Cave, N. Y., with regard to the multi¬ 
plicity of different teachings with regard to 
the raising of cream, the writer says some 
things which are so much at variance with the 
facts aud with my own experience that 1 think 
1 am justified in making a reply. The writer 
[ referred to says he knows that cream raised in 
i 12 hours at a temperature of 45 degrees makes 
I precisely the same quality of butter as that 
raised in 24 hours at 50 degrees, or in shallow 
pans at 02 degrees iu 36 hours; and, again, he 
says there is not the slightest difference in 
quantity or quality of butter made from either 
kind of cream. Now, after years of experience 
in butter making, 1 claim that the above as¬ 
sertions are uot correct. From the time when 
I I was eight years old until over 50, I have 
been in the dairy. For the last. 20 years I have 
had the hamiliug of most of my milk, and in 
that time have seen to the making and pack¬ 
ing of my butter, and 1 think 1 know what 
butter is. Now, I believe 1 cau prove to any 
one any day that there is a great difference in 
the quality of the butter made from cream set 
in the different ways above mentioned, and 
when it comes to quantity 1 am satisfied that 
any man keeping ten cows will pay for a 
creamer in one season with the proceeds of the 
excess in quantity of cream obtained from set¬ 
ting the uiilk iu it. 1 can make just as much 
butter now in Dog Days—and with no trouble 
about gathering it, either—from the same 
quantity of milk as I din iu June. 
Again, the writer says, it is all a matter of 
convenience. Well, if perfect freedom from 
bad odors, flies, taint, white specks in the cream 
aud many unavoidable things in the best regu. 
la ted dairy, is only a convenience, then I fail to 
understand the meaning of the word. He fur¬ 
ther says, a Very sudden change cannot be 
made in the temperature of milk. Now I don’t 
know what he calls a sudden change; but I will 
tell what I did only yesterday with my milk; 
but I don’t think 1 could do the same with an¬ 
other can—I use the Channel Can. I set my 
milk at a temperature of D4 degrees (not 80 
degrees) in water at 38 degrees, iu 18-quart 
cans. Iu oue hour the water was 40 degrees, 
and the milk H0degrees; iu four bom’s the water 
was 42 degrees, the milk 45 degrees, aud at this 
time the cream was just as deep as it was at 
4 o’clock r. M., when i skimmed it, showing a 
perfect sejiaration of cream in four horn’s. 
Now [ call that sudden cooling. Now, I claim 
if the milk ls cooled to 00 degrees in an hour, or 
before the cream rises euough to hold the heat 
in it, there will l»e no trouble to get the cream 
every day in four hours, if the water is kept at 
42 degrees or below. It is a fact not generally 
known that cream rising on top of a can or pan 
of milk prevents the escape of the heat—that 
is just the reason why milk strained in 
cans in a cellar, the air being at 50 degrees, 
would bo so long in throwing up its cream, or 
cooling to the temperature of the cellar, that 
cream and milk would both be bitter. 
The writer of the answer also says, it is so 
