SEPT 28 
64i 
- THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Lawrence and is an exceedingly delicate and 
delicious article. Other excellent imita¬ 
tions of foreign kinds were made by other 
parties. 
The meager show of bread would hardly 
justify the belief that “bread is the staff of 
life.” A dozen of those hungry implement 
men could easily dispose of the whole display 
at a dinner. The show of canned honey and 
fruit was also insignificant. 
{Continued on page 645.) 
P0moiogix.al 
CLAPP’S FAVORITE PEAR. 
I see that the Clapp’s Favorite Pear is very 
highly extolled in a late issue of the Rural. 
With me both the tree and fruit are practi¬ 
cally worthless. Of 800 trees set out in my 
orchard eleven years since, not more than 75 
are living now, the other three-fourths having 
beeu destroyed by blight, although Duehessed’ 
Augoulctne, Buerrd d’Anjou, and other promi¬ 
nent varieties are comparatively free from 
the disease. The fruit usually grows very 
fair and tempting to the eye, but it seems to 
be impossible to harvest it so as to prevent it 
from rotting at the core. One prominent 
dealer of this vicinity refuses to handle it at 
any price on account of the danger from rot. 
Niagara Co., N. Y. W. T. Mann. 
[The same objection is made to it in many 
places, but it thrives well in some States.—E d. ] 
Apple Tree Bark Lice. 
Forty years ago and for, say, 15 years after¬ 
wards, these were the worst pest in the North¬ 
western orchards and threatened their annihil¬ 
ation. But their foes began to multiply and for 
the past 15 or 20 years they have not troubled us 
seriously. Soft soap, strong soap-suds or lye, 
lard, grease or oil of the most common sorts, 
rubbed on iu April,kills every scale touched and 
starts the trees into renewed health and vigor. 
Kerosene oil I have never tried and cannot 
speak of its effect on trees. F. K. Phoenix. 
Delavan, Wis. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH POTATO SEED- 
BALLS. 
Having found three seed-balls on my Bur¬ 
bank Potatoes last Fall—the first I had noticed 
for a number of yearn—I concluded to experi¬ 
ment on u small seale m raising seedlings. The 
seeds were picked out and dried. The first 
week in April a small plot of ground, on which 
a few hills of cantaloupes had been raised the 
previous season, was raked smooth, not dug 
but left beneath the surface in the same con¬ 
dition iu which the frost had left it. It was 
marked out one foot by IS inches, and several 
seeds were dropped at each intersection, the 
seeds having first been soaked 24 hours iu 
warm water. A small stake was next stuck to 
the left of ouch hill to mark the place where 
the plants should appear so t hey might be dis¬ 
tinguished from weeds. A small quantity of 
leaf mold from the woods was sifted over to 
cover the seed. Old newspapers were then 
spread over the top to hold moisture to the 
surface. A frame of boards was set around 
them on which was placed a lot of hot-bed 
sashes. They were left in this condition one 
week, when seed leaves had put through at 
every hill. The papers were then removed, 
and the sash during the day, and replaced 
only when cold at night. As soon as large en¬ 
ough they were thinned out to one plant at a 
place. Quite a number of blossoms appeared 
on the plants as early as June 6. On August 
80, I dug the potatoes, and have 45 varieties 
varying in number from seven tabors to 23 
for each plant, and weighing from one-half au 
ounce to four ounces each. 1 have collected 
oue quart of seed-balls from the 45 hills, many 
of them measuring oue inch iu diameter. No 
other potatoes on the farm produced seed-balls 
this season. They were cultivated by keeping 
the surface of the soil loose until the plants 
were five or six inches high, when they were 
hilled up about two inches and the space left 
between filled even with the surface with 
chip mold from the wood pile. 
Lycomiug Co., Pa. Daniel Stkck. 
have to come to the front and give my experi¬ 
ence. I don’t claim it to be a very profitable 
experience, as J do not make a business of 
poultry raising, but simply keep the fowls for 
my own use; but still I contend that it pays to 
keep them. 
On the 1st of April, 1882, I bought 7 fowls for 
$5.$5.00 
Cost of of keeping fowls and raising 
100 chicks last year and 150 this 
year. $70.34 
Total cost. $75.34 
My receipts have been.$135.80 
80 chicks now on hand. 40.00 
7 fowls “ “ . 5.00 
Total.§180.80 
Expense. 75.34 
Net profit...$105.46 
So when a man says it doesn't pay to keep 
chickens I think he is a little off. My profits 
would have been considerably more if I had 
taken trouble to get the chicks off at the best 
market price. For instance, I sold chicks on 
April 1st weighing two pounds each for $1.50 
per pair when I might just as well have had 
$2.00. I sold eggs for 50 cents per doz. through 
the Winter. If I had been making a business 
of raising chickens, the number would have 
paid me at least one-third more. During this 
time I have been paying from $1.45 to $2.00 
per bag for corn which, if I had had a large 
number of fowls, I could have bought by the 
quantity' cheaper. 
Last Summer in raising 100 chicks the entire 
cost of feeding them till they were large 
enough to eat (two pounds) and the keep of the 
seven fowls, was covered by the value of the 
eggs produced by the seven fowls by actual 
figures which I can produce. Then was the 
time to sell them, as everyday after that time 
the ratio of profit grew less, because they con¬ 
sumed more and more corn every day they 
lived. This I would have done had it been my 
business, but I wauted them for use through 
the Fall and Winter, thus making my r profits 
smaller thau they would have been had I sold 
them at that time. I don’t think there is much 
profit in keeping old fowls, take it the year 
through, but it costs very little to raise a chick 
till it will do to broil, and iu that I claim the 
profit comes. I feed my fowls corn boiling hot 
in "Winter, which they prefer to raw food and 
which keeps them laying continually. 
Now if I can raise 100 or 150 chicks on a 
quarter of an acre of ground, and my neigh¬ 
bors all around me do the same [which they 
do), why can’t one man by having small plots 
of ground fenced off in a similar manner raise 
any desired number. Of course, it will take all 
his time to attend to them, but it is his busi¬ 
ness, and any f business needs the owner’s time 
to prosper. 
Can brother Gibbs tell why it wont work ? 
[We are sorry to have to say that Mr. Gibbs 
died suddenly of apoplexy on August 30.— 
Eds.] 
I can’t see any reason why 10 flocks of chick¬ 
ens belonging to one man wont do as well as 
though they belonged to ten men; can any¬ 
body else t I notice Unde Mark tells oue of 
the Cousins that hens will not lay within ten 
days after leaving their chickens; this is amis- 
take; 1 have often had hens lay while running 
with the chickens. 
Now, Becky, you feel better since you shot 
that off, don’t you ? What is the matter Becky 
Don’t your chickens do well either ? Do you 
raise one rooster a year, or what are you mad 
about, Becky ?—do tell. Becky, you have done 
it; you have got me in an awfully tight cor¬ 
ner. Why. Becky, they buy their chickens of 
their neighbors when they havouu auction, or 
take them for a debt; for, Becky, they think 
they must have chickens on the place although 
they very seldom kill one for table. Becky, I 
am almost persuaded that, you will make 
“acquaintance No. 3” on the same list. I 
wonder that your hairs are not gray, Becky, 
for your astonishment at hatching with a knife 
is certainly worthy of gray hairs; but, Becky, 
old-fogy notions must bo exploded sooner or 
later, ami we will explode this one sootier. 
Becky, if you ever have occasion to contri¬ 
bute to the issue on the poultry question agaiu 
please do not hear on so hard; for, Becky, it 
is simply awful! A. B. C. Salmon. 
fUiscel luneous. 
Poulin) l)avi). 
PROFITS OF POULTRY, ETC. 
Mr. Gibbs in his “Striking Back” charges 
me with being chary of experience, so I will 
JOTTINGS AT KIRBY HOMESTEAD. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
GROWING CHESTNUTS. 
Several attempts have beeu made iu this 
neighborhood to grow chestnut trees ou the 
ground where they were wanted, by planting 
the nuts and leaving them to take care of them¬ 
selves. In every case such efforts have been 
failures. At Kirby Homestead a different 
plan was tried several years ago by thoroughly 
preparing the land and planting the nuts in 
hills four by six feet apart. It was so late in 
the Summer before all the chestnuts came up 
that the grass and weeds got such a start of 
them that any attempt to cultivate them was 
given up with the hope that they would out¬ 
grow the grass, or at least live through the 
season and the next year get ahead of every¬ 
thing and in time make a nice grove. A con¬ 
siderable number did struggle along through 
the Summer, but the next year there were 
none left and our improved experiment 
proved a failure. We are now, however, 
succeeding in starting chestnut trees. They 
were planted a few inches apart in rows, 
which have been kept clean and mellow with 
the cultivator and hand hoe. We shall 
leave them in these rows until they are four 
or five years old and perhaps older before they 
will be transplanted to the hill-side where we 
propose to have a chestnut grove. It is the 
best wav to prepare the ground in the Fall 
and put the nuts in the rows where they are 
w anted to grow. When kept in a box through 
the Winter, they are apt to get moldy and to 
rot, but if put in the ground and covered 
about an inch when first gathered, nearly 
every one will grow and if taken care of each 
one will make a thrifty tree. There are a 
great many unprofitable hill-sides and rocky 
places, which may be made both ornamental 
and profitable with a little labor, as I have 
pointed out. 
SHADING MAKES THE GRASS GROW. 
A dozen years ago a grove was started on a 
slaty bill-side where the rocks were so plenti¬ 
ful and the soil so light and dry that very 
little grass grew. Now since the trees have 
got to be quite large and the ground well 
shaded, the grass has come in and now af¬ 
fords ten times the pasture that it did before 
the trees were planted. Here is a decided, 
gain—a handsome grove of nut and locust 
trees and a large increase of grass. The trees 
keep the surface moister and cooler than form¬ 
erly and this causes the grass to grow. The 
grove also makes a nice, cool place for the 
stock to lie in during the heat of the day. 
This grove is one of the most attractive spots 
on the farm and will prove one of the most 
profitable. The strong-growing nut trees, 
such as Butternuts and Black Walnuts, may 
be planted where the grove is to be. The 
nuts, however, should be kept near the house 
through the Winter to prevent the squirrels 
from eating them, as they will surely find 
them if planted in the fields in the Autumn. 
The nuts should be spread on the ground as 
soon as gathered and covered with straw or 
other litter, a few inches deep, and then 
planted as early in the Spring as the ground 
will allow. It is so easy to clothe rocky 
places iu this way with verdure and beauty 
that I wonder when I see so many of them 
neglected. A day’s work will give years of 
pleasure and profit. 
DUTY TO FAIRS. 
Farmers often complain that the fair 
was “not much of a show.” When I 
hear such growling I always feel like ask¬ 
ing them how much they did to make 
it interesting. Every one should do some¬ 
thing. It is then our fair and this is the right 
sort of a basis. It is remarkable how fail's 
succeed when thus conducted. Take, for in¬ 
stance, tho Walworth County, Wisconsin 
Fair which had an income last year of $8,000. 
This must be the “ banner” society. The 
right kind of determination among the peo¬ 
ple anywhere will always make the fair a 
success. This feeling should not be in the 
sense of being martyrs to a good cause; but 
it should be a feeling of pride and emulation 
coupled with a desire to learu something and 
have a good time. 
A MISTAKE. 
I seem, after all, to have lived for 
some purpose, for Stockman finds in me a 
text for quite a discourse. He should 
read his text more carefully. I never said I 
was going to let a calf run with the heifer in 
order to manipulate the teats and make them 
longer. Jumping to this conclusion, gave 
Stockman the premises to make an argument 
against the practice, which l accept. In the 
care of the heifer alluded to, the calf was kept 
in a box-stall and allowed to suck only nights 
and mornings. While the calf was sucking, 
the heifer had four quarts of wheat middlings 
and as soon as this was eaten she was turned 
out. Stockman is right—it does injure heifers 
to let the calves run with them and keep the 
bags empty all of the time. It prevents a full 
mammary development, and they will not 
make so good cows. I do not think any the 
less of Stockman for what he says. I have 
given him un opportunity to do justice to 
Jerseys and with justice all around I bid 
him speed on, and speed well, as he does. 
JOTTINGS. 
Who is to furnish the victims for all the 
new small fruits now coming out? Would 
not a little rest in this branch of the business 
be healthy ? I would suggest a commission to 
thoroughly test all new things and then issue a 
license to the proprietors of such as are better 
than any old sort, on receipt of which they 
could go ahead and sell at such prices as 
suited them. Perhaps this would reduce the 
evil to a minimum. This view is from the 
standpoint of one who does not sell plants, but 
who cultivates small fruits by the acre for 
market Perhaps some one can suggest an 
improvement on this idea; at all events some¬ 
thing ought to be done to check the specula¬ 
tion in this line of business. 
My experience with hens is that if you give 
them plenty of grain and the run of the farm, 
they will return the favor by laying abund¬ 
ance of eggs—a fair exchange, eggs for oats 
corn or wheat, just as it is convenient to feed 
any of these grains. I had to learn this for my¬ 
self, and it is worth knowing. This will hold 
good for eight months out of the twelve at 
least. 
My experience with wheat is that where the 
ground is plowed before heavy or soaking 
rains, the plants come up better and thrive 
better than on freshly plowed land. The 
rain firms the soil and it keeps moist longer 
than freshly plowed land. 
The best way I have found for keeping 
apples in the cellar is to store them in bins 
six to eight feet deep and as wide and long as 
one pleases. Few rotten ones will then be 
found in the bottom or center of the heap. 
Beaver Co., Pa. E . E . 
Ant and Bee. 
It is very likely that the ant found by your 
correspondent N. R. M. (Rural for July 7) on 
one of his bees, attacked the bee while it was 
momentarily resting on some part of a plant 
brushing the pollen from its body after hav¬ 
ing visited a number of flowers. Ants are 
found on most plants, attracted either by 
their wards, the aphides or scale-insects, or by 
honey-glands on the leaves or other parts of 
the plants, like those of the pseony, cow-pea, 
cotton and poplar. When they are in attend¬ 
ance upon either, they are very pugnacious, 
and readily attack anything that disturbs 
them, rearing, and clashing their little mandi¬ 
bles in a perfect frenzy at their inability to 
reach one’s finger wheu it is pointed at them 
after the plant has been shaken. Indeed, 
some naturalists believe that the glands re¬ 
ferred to are specially provided by Nature 
for the purpose of maintaining a body guard 
of ants or wasps on the plants for the protec¬ 
tion they afford against other insects and 
even larger animals. 
WM. TRELEASE. 
Remedy for the Rose-bug'. 
Supposing some of the readers of the 
Rural might be interested in our experi¬ 
ments with the Rose-bugs the past season we 
are prepared to say that none of them has 
been so successful as dry, slaked lime. There 
were oae or two other preparations which pre¬ 
vented the attacks of the pests; but they 
are too expensive. The lime can be bought for 
from 15 to 20 cents per bushel at the kiln, and 
one bushel of stone will make three when 
slaked. It can be applied broadcast and 
rapidly. II applied after rain, we are satis¬ 
fied that it is a sure preventive. We never 
had so little damage done by the pests 
since they began to come in force. It is useless 
to attempt to destroy them, as their presence is 
everywhere while they stay—on trees and 
vegetation of all kinds. To repel them with 
something offensive seems to be the only 
remedy. A. J. cay WOOD. 
A Simple Remedy for Ringbone. 
Here is a simple but effective remedy for 
ringbone :—Take two or three quarts of strong 
cider vinegar and mix it with salt, adding 
from one-third to one-half as much urine, and 
stir all well together. If the vessel is of wood 
or earthenware, put in’a small piece of iron to 
rust; if of iron, it will make rust enough. Tie 
a piece of cloth to a broom handle or any 
other long stick, and with this mop rub the 
mixture ou the ringbone every morning and 
evening, using the “chamber lye” or urine 
freely. It will be some time before a cure 
will be effected, but keep on using it for six 
months if the ringbone has not disappeared 
sooner. Some may call this a simple or fool¬ 
ish remedy, but with it I cured a ringbone on 
my horse that was so lame he couldn’t trot 
for many rods after storting, anil he would go 
