THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
SEPT 45 
You may call wliat I say an old man’s notion, 
but I ask one and all to try it for themselves, 
and report the result. When you have pigs 
that lose the use of one or both hind legs, or 
have drooping of the belly, or cough and chok¬ 
ing and hard breathing, Examine the mouth 
anti see if there are not little, black peg-like 
teeth in the jaw, and if these are removed, 
the pigs in a few days will be as sound as a 
dollar, without the help of medicine. What I 
assert I have not read, or heard, but know by 
experience. I had a hog once that would 
dress 800 pounds' that lost the use of its bind 
parts. Some said it had worms; others that 
its kidneys were affected, but black teeth were 
found in its mouth and these being removed 
in a few days that hog stood square on its feet. 
My father, who was one of (lie oldest settlers 
in Western New York, always followed this 
practice, and, like me, never had hogs or pigs 
affected with any other disease. That black 
teeth is the cause of said diseases I know ; but 
why ? I would like the wise men of the Rural 
to explain d. d. 
[Our friend is evidently very sincere in his 
belief in the efficacy of removing “black 
teeth” in swine, but there is no doubt that the 
disease generally known by this name is im¬ 
aginary, or rather other ailments commonly 
due to indigestion, deranged biliary or uri¬ 
nary secretions, etc., are sometimes attributed 
to the presence of black teeth. In such cases, 
the usual practice is to examine the teeth of 
the ailing hog, and if one is found blacker 
than the rest, it is supposed to be the cause of 
the disease and it is hammered off even with 
the jaw, leaving the broken roots and lacera¬ 
ted nerves of the tooth to increase the suffer¬ 
ing of the animal. Occasionally the hog re¬ 
covers after such treatment, and the recovery 
due to some other cause is pointed to as a proof 
of the existence of such a disease as black teeth, 
and of the benefit derived from the removal 
of the stained teeth. “Black teeth,” however, 
is not a disease; but sometimes a sign of ill- 
health, indigestion, sour stomach and acid se¬ 
cretions. When the pig is made all right by 
proper treatment, the teeth will be all right. 
—Eds.] 
f arm Ccoiiamij. 
TILE DRAINAGE NO. 14. 
W. I. CHAMBERLAIN. 
Special Difficulties. 
Quicksand presents one of the most diffi¬ 
cult problems in drainage. If there is a 
small, miry or spring}- place in a plow-lot, 
considerable expense will be justified in ren¬ 
dering it arable, and preventing the necessity 
of plowing and cultivating around it and 
making short rows. If the quicksand is soft 
and will not hold [together and stand up, but 
will “slump” or slide into the ditch as fast as 
it is dug, the only way is to “crib” as fast as 
you dig; that is, drive down long stakes and 
use planks or boards on each side braced apart 
to keep the quicksand back till the ditch is 
Afire A BpcL 
Muck and Clay Bed.— Fig. 037. 
dug and the tiles laid. If the bottom is soft 
and unstable a strip of board must be laid and 
the tiles laid on that. Then for tiles I advise 
two sizes, one fitted exactly within the other, 
and breaking joints half way. The outer one 
serves as a collar, only far better than a 
narrow collar as it makes the tile double all 
the way and effectually shuts out the quick¬ 
sand and admits the water. As the earth is 
filled in the boards at the sides may be lifted 
out and used for another section or length. 
It is laborious work to drain quick-sand thus, 
but if it is drained to a depth of three feet the 
earth above the tiles will in time become solid 
and the entire field may be plowed and culti¬ 
vated. It pays to do the work thoroughly or 
else not attempt it at all. 
Oftentimes there will be only two or ) hree 
rods of real quick-sand where the water from 
higher ground oozes to the surface, and then 
slowly works its way to lower ground through 
a long “swale” or “run” or “slough.” The 
drainage of the “swale,'’ except the quick¬ 
sand, presents no special difficulties, and re¬ 
pays the work tenfold by rendering the entire 
field arable instead of leaving it in ungainly 
triangles or trapezoids with an unsightly 
crooked strip of Swamp Grass and a nucleus 
of Cat Tails or Sweet Flag at its head. 
Muck. —The drainage of muck swamps pre¬ 
sents no very great difficulties after a proper 
outlet or “outfall” has been secured, except 
to secure a uniform botton for the tile in the 
clay. Sometimes while the upper surface of 
the muck is level, or nearly so, its lower sur¬ 
face, and the upper surface of the clay bed on 
which it rests present a curved or uneven 
contour, as shown in Figure 637 where a ch 
show the line of the clay. In such cases it is 
important to sink the tiles so that they shall 
all the way rest, in the clay, as indicated by 
the dotted line a b, even If the ditch has to 
be sunk four or five feet on the average. 
Muck can be dug very easily—five feet in it 
can be dug as easily as three in clay; and, be¬ 
sides, after muck is tiled and cultivated for a 
few years, it often settles to one-half or two 
thirds its original depth, and if the tiles are 
laid no deeper at first than in clay soil, after 
the muck settles, the drains will be too near 
the surface. When muck is first drained, and 
until it is settled, it seems to be too light for 
crops, and not to stand drought well. Often 
it will grow luxuriant weeds but not mature 
corn or wheat, at least not more than one crop 
of either. This is not the fault of the drain, 
age, but of the muck. Usually it has nitro¬ 
gen iu excess, and the mineral elements, phos¬ 
phoric acid and potash, seem to bo deficient. 
Plain rock superphosphates, or with a little 
potash added, will help wonderfully. And 
after the muck is well settled, and the roots 
of crops begin to get down to the clay beneath 
and bring up its mineral elements, these muck 
lands often come to be of great value, es¬ 
pecially for grass and for root crops, turnips, 
onions and the like. The point I make is that 
no one should be deterred from tile dr aining 
muck, by the apparent lack of the best re¬ 
sults for a year or two. 
NEW GRAPES ON THE HUDSON. 
The readers of the Rural have been in 
other years and from time to time informed 
that there is a region favorable to the cultiva¬ 
tion of the grape on the west bank of the Hud¬ 
son from Newburgh as far north as Kingston. 
Cultivators of this fruit have, until the last 
two or three years, confined their planting to 
the Concord, but the city markets are here¬ 
after to be supplied, at least in part, with 
other varieties A few which ripen earlier 
than Concord are of better flavor, while 
there are others more flagrantly foxy, that 
have been planted because they are extremely 
hardy and abundant in fruit, and hence 
“there’s money” in them. 
A recent examination of the vineyard, and 
a conversation with Mr. Nathaniel Barns, a 
highly intelligent gentleman and practical 
culturist, satisfied me, so far as a cautious ob¬ 
server can be satisfied in one season, with 
reference to several of the new and old grapes, 
their habit of growth and fruiting, as well as 
their chances of coming into popular favor. 
It must lie understood that the grower will 
plant and bestow bis care upon the grape that 
gives him good market returns, whatever he 
may think or know of its quality. 
Vergennes is a sturdy and a rapid grower: 
purely native; thick, leathery, large leafed; 
berry large, and clusters large and compact. 
Ripens fully several days in advance of Con¬ 
cord, and is superior to it in quality. In 
every way as Mr. Baras remarked, it “looks 
like business.” Grows readily from cuttings, 
anil will be planted as fast as it can be propa¬ 
gated. 
Hartford grows and fruits well, but will be 
cut off for something better. 
Brighton is a superior grape in quality, 
and rijicns with Hartford; ought to bring twice 
as much in the markets; a hardy, good grower, 
fairly profitable at a medimu price and will 
steadily increase in favor as a table grape. 
Ulster Prolific, as grown by Mr. Barns, 
must certainly receive most favorable men¬ 
tion. The vine is of the unmistakably hardy 
class, and the f nut Is attractive. My impres¬ 
sion is that it will attain a large clientage as a 
black grape. The 1 jerries are of medium 
size and the clusters large to veiy large. This 
seems to me a pure native, and will grow 
readily from cuttings. It had its origin with 
Mr. A. J. Caywood, of Marlboro. 
Moore’s Early has had great praise at dif¬ 
ferent periods, but now that we have the 
Vergennes within reach, there is no reasona¬ 
ble plea left for planting Moore’s 
Bacchus, introduced by Mr, Ricketts as a 
wine grape, and the name is suggestive of 
its pur]lose, is also a fine late table grape, far 
superior to Clinton, one of its parents. It is 
not cloying iu its sweetness, like the Delaware 
when fully ripe, but melting, brisk, winey. 
The berry is larger than Clinton, and the 
hardy vine is loaded with solid clusters. 
Wilder appeared superior to the other 
Rogers’s grapes on Mr. Barns’s grounds, and . 
BENSEL. 
received his highest commendation. Cluster 
and berry large, and vines prolific. 
Champion is grown for market and for that 
alone. It is the first of the blacks, and though 
disgusting to the fancier on account of its 
aroma , brings from eight to ten cents a 
pound iu the ?arly market, and is shipped be¬ 
fore the Concord is ready to be gathered. As 
long as it is endured at that price, the Cham¬ 
pion will be placed upon the market. It is 
immensely productive, and “it pays.” 
Poughkeepsie Red, claimed to be a seed- 
bug of Delaware aud better by Mr. A. J. Cay¬ 
wood. the originator, makes a poor show by 
the side of the Delaware on the same ground, 
It is not so large in berry or cluster, and not 
a good grower. 
Lady Washington and Duchess are both 
lacking in the essentials of a profitable grape 
for market. The latter especially shows 
tenderness in the growth and a disposition to 
rot in the cluster. 
Martha, another white, has been cultiva¬ 
ted to some extent by Mr. B,, but on account 
of its l'oxiness aud general low quality he will 
discard it to give place to the 
Empire State, which shows magnificent 
clusters this season. It is a superb grower, 
aud the vines are “a sight worth seeing.’ 
Being a cross of hardy natives, the vine is all 
that could he desired, aud will carry to per¬ 
fection as much fruit us the Concord. This 
is the white grape the stock of which was 
sold last Winter to the late Mr. Stone, of 
Rochester. 
Mr. Barns’s vines are as near as may be on 
one plot of ground, and receive the same 
cultivation, In the description I have given 
more of his impressions than my own: aud 
this is not in the interest of any nurseryman or 
grower, but rather as a medium of comparison 
for growers on other soils outside of the lati¬ 
tude of the Hudson River Valley. 
Newburgh, N. Y. A. a. bensel. 
[Mr, Bensel writes us that in his direc¬ 
tion for pinning fruit trees in a May Number 
of the Rural, ho did not anticipate the ob¬ 
jection raised by the editor aud by Dr. Hos- 
kinds, but wrote for orchardists who never al¬ 
low wrongly placed branches to grow large 
on their trees. His amendment is accepted. 
Eds.] 
-» ♦ ♦- 
THE JEFFERSON GRAPE. 
I have between 40 and 50 varieties of 
grapes fruiting in my vineyard and occasion¬ 
ally take pleasure in giving my experience 
with some new variety to those who may be 
unacquainted with it. 
I propose this time to mention the Jefferson. 
In the Spring of 1881 I set a graft of this 
grape, taken from a young vine in order to get 
a specimen of the fruit sooner. It threw out 
strong arms, and last year gave a crop of 
fruit which made a fine display for a young 
graft, attracting the attention of visitors, 
among whom were nurserymen and vine 
propagators, some of whom insisted on taking 
a specimen cluster with them at any price to 
exhibit, until the fruit was aii gone save a 
couple of clusters which I reserved for my 
own use to sample aud compare the quality 
with that of other varieties. 
1 must acknowledge 1 was most agreeably 
sin-prised with the grape, some of the clusters 
fully equaling the finest advertising cuts I 
have ever seen, which I supposed were exagger¬ 
ations, as is often the case when introducing 
new grapes, and l came to the following 
conclusions: 
We have in the Jefferson a grape possessing 
the exquisite flavor of the Iona, witb double- 
shouldered clusters sufficiently compact for 
beauty, but not enough to endanger cracking, 
and ripening early enough to insure safety 
from frost. Then, too, its keeping qualities 
are equaled by those of few varieties which 
attain such a high standard for excellence. 
The foliage is strong and free from mildew. 
And, still further, 1 observed that it escaped 
the ravages of the Rose-bugs, while vines of 
other varieties iu the same row had their 
foliage completely nddled, and others were 
deprived of all their fruit. Then, too, it is 
said the vine is sufficiently hardy to with¬ 
stand the frigidity of our Winters without 
protection, which is certainly a great advan¬ 
tage; for when vines attain age aud become 
stiff it is not only tedious and laborious to lay 
them down, but the loss is often considerable 
by having the vines cracked or split by too 
short bending. If this variety continues to 
fulfill in years to come what it has promised 
last year, it will certainly stand second to 
none on the list of red grapes. 
Dutchess Co., N. Y. J. B. Waldo. 
NIAGARA GRAPE SEEDLINGS. 
As a number of your correspondents have 
given their experiences with seedlings from 
this notorious grape, my own may have some 
interest for the many more who have planted 
seeds from the Rural Distribution. I have 
seedlings from three years’ successive plant¬ 
ing, and,so far as appearances go, they do 
not differ in character from seedlings of other 
varieties whose tendencies are to produce 
plants of little or no value. With a single ex¬ 
ception, all my seedlings of the Niagara have 
developed an extraordinary disposition to mil¬ 
dew of the foliage, rnanv of them having at 
this date, August 15, lost nearly all their leaves 
through its effects. The one exception noted 
above, is now in its third year of growth, aud 
it is vigorous, with healthy foliage, Iu habit 
and general appearance it is so nearly like the 
parent vine, it might easily be taken for the 
Niagara itself. This vino will probably fruit 
next season, when we shall, perhaps, know 
more about the prospective and probable 
value of Niagara seedlings. After an experi¬ 
ence of more than 80 years in planting grape 
seeds, I am obliged to say 1 have found no 
variety which has shown auy marked tenden, 
cy towards reproducing itself accurately from 
seeds; aud, as a rule, the better the grape, 
the less likely its seedlings are to show any im¬ 
provement upoD the parent. The only results 
I have been able to produce, which promise to 
be of interest or value, have been through 
careful crossing or hybridizing, and although 
my efforts in this direction have not been 
crowned with the success I have hoped for 
the valuable results which have already been 
attained through this agency, increase my 
confidence in still greater improvement in our 
native grapes in the future. 
Delaware. Ohio. Geo. W. Campbell. 
Pomvlogiml 
McAFEE’S NONE SUCH, PARK’S KEEP 
ER AND LAWVER. 
T. H. HOSKINS, M. D. 
These Western apples are somewhat mixed 
up, aud I have been trying to straighten out 
the facts. As I formerly lived in Kentucky, I 
was familiar with the old Nonesuch, or 
“McAfee’s Red.” as ic was often called. 
Some dozen years ago, while 1 was editor of 
the Vermont Farmer, J saw in my Western 
exchanges a good deal about a new apple 
called “Park’s Keeper," said to have originated 
iu Missouri, but which some, even then, de¬ 
clared to be the MoAlce, which originated 
at McAfee’s old Fort, near Uarrodsburgli, in 
Kentucky^ About the same time, the same 
Mr. Park called attention to two other “new” 
apples, one of which, called “Campbellite,’ 
turned out to be the White Winter Pearmain 
of Indiana. (See Fruit and Fruit Trees, last 
edition, page 405.) The other was called 
“Lawver,” and this, though almost identical 
in tree, is decidedly distinct from McAfee i n 
fruit. The shape of Lawver is roundish, in¬ 
clining to oblate, color a rich reddish purple 
(without stripes) where fully exposed, aud a 
very slight bloom. McAfee is striped and 
splashed with red of a lighter shade t.hau Law¬ 
ver, and in form is round, or slightly conic 
sometimes almost oblong. The remarkable 
identity of the trees of these two varieties cso 
great that they cannot be distinguished except 
by their fruit) points with much certainty to 
the conclusion that the Lawver is a seedling 
of the widely disseminated and popular 
McAfee. 
When Mr. Park called attention to his 
“Park’s Keeper,” he stated that it was a seed¬ 
ling found in an old Indian orchard. This was 
c f course incorrect, the ‘ ‘ Keeper” being iden¬ 
tified as McAfee’s Nouesuch. This Is indorsed 
by Mr. Downing, who writes:—“The Park’s 
Keeper 1 hud from Kansas is McAfee’s None¬ 
such, yet some doubt it.” Mr. Downing gives 
but oue syuomym to this apple iu “Fruits and 
Fruit Trees,” the old oue of the McAfee’s 
Red, but Mr. It. J. Black, of Bremen, Ohio, 
in an instructive article in the New York 
Examiner upon Southern Apples gives, besides 
Park’s Keeper, Large Striped Winter Pear- 
main, Missouri Superior, aud Wyandotte in 
addition. 
The “Indian orchard” origin of Park’s 
Keeper is also attributed, in “Fruits and Fruit 
Trees,” to the Lawver, but this is corrected iu 
Mr. Downing’s “Selected Fruits,” and the true 
origin (with Mr. Henry Burichter, near 
Parksvillo, Missouri), is given. 
This matter of straightening out the facts 
iu connection with the history of valuable or 
remarkable fruits is of much interest and im¬ 
portance, aud all accurate information ou 
such points is extremely acceptable to students 
of pomology. 1 should have added, above, 
that iu "Selected Fruits” there is a full list of 
the synomyms of McAfee, aud also mention 
Dr. Howsley’s investigations establishing the 
identity of McAfee with Park’s Keeper. 
