SEPT 2© 
643 
after the cider has settled for a week or two, 
it should be again racked off. If a delicate 
pink color is desired, a little cochineal may lie 
added, but it requires only a very small quali¬ 
ty of coloring matter for each barrel. Cider 
made in cool weather takes longer to mature, 
but is usually of a better quality than when 
made in hot or warm weather. 
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS. 
Mr. Area Campbell has had experience for 
10 years or more, with concentrated fertilizers 
and he believes that ten loads of barn manure 
used with $6 worth of phosphates and potash 
to the acre are worth more than twenty-five 
loads without the phosphate and potash. 
Bam manure is often short in phosphates and 
potash..... 
No farmer, says W, A. Armstrong, can ex¬ 
pect to realize full profits from manure of any 
kind until he has put his soil into the proper 
condition for sustaining plant growth. That is 
true enopgb..... 
Thorough fitting is the pre-requisite to full 
crops of grain or grass, and this means a 
greater expenditure of labor Miau we give in 
ordinary farming. 
A. M. Miller, of Illinois, is traveling 
through England with his own horses and 
carriage, so as to see the country and people 
at his leisure. T he Press, ol‘ Philadelphia, sug¬ 
gests that it would be well for some of our 
thrifty farmers to follow his example at home 
aud thus study the agriculture of our country. 
“Handle” the celery is now' in order. We 
have merely to hold the celery in one hand 
aud so hill up the soil about the stems as to 
hold them close together. Bleaching must be 
attended to later... 
The Iowa Homestead says that the past 
Winter brought death aud destruction to thou¬ 
sands of the best orchards in the State. 
How generally the agricultural press will 
quote any plausible theory, however absurd it 
may be in fact, if stated in a few lines. That 
“charred com will cure hog cholera,” is at 
present one of these. Agricultural editors 
don’t like to read long articles. 
Ik we would abolish the horse trots at agri¬ 
cultural fairs, let all keep away from them 
aud study the agricultural exhibits. 
*■. Atkinson, of the Farm Journal, of 
Philadelphia, says ho krows it to be a big fact 
that timothy so mi early this month on well 
prepared laud, w ithout grain, will cut a full 
crop next season. 
Have you any old cherry, pear, apple or 
poach trees on your farm that have had their 
day i Would not it pay you to cut them down 
aud cultivate the land now rendered useless by 
them/... 
Again an “off” year for apples. Michigan 
will not have enough for home consumption. 
Kansas is one of the lucky States.. 
Who is the rich man ' The owner of 500 
acres that works himself aud his family to 
ileath and dies worth 350,000, or be who tills a 
50-acre farm, enjoys himself rationally and 
treats his wife and friends like human beings 
aud dies leaving a good farm and homestead { 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
I own. 
Nevada, Story Co., Sept. 10.—My very 
diminutive specimen of the Rural Blush Po¬ 
tato was planted in the garden with the Shoe- 
peg Corn and other truck, and given ordinary 
cure. I dug the product of that little juit-ato 
on Sept. 8, and was very much surprised at 
the yield. The potato received contained 1” 
eyes, and was cut into 1 - pieces and planted 
one piece in a place. Product 45 pounds of 
splendid potatoes. This is the largest yield 1 
have seen mentioned. 1 read of a yield of 
74 V, pounds from two potatoes, making 20 
hills, in the Rural of the 8th inst., but you 
see mine beats that, a little. The Shoe-peg is 
growing finely, heiug now 10 to 13 feet high, 
and I presume “will mature anywhere in the 
United States” if frost holds off till the 1st of 
January next. We have had no frost to in¬ 
jure it yet, although there have been several 
light frosts in the State. The weather being 
very dry, 1 presume is the cause of so little 
damage by frosts. Much of our corn can not 
possibly mature, ns much of that from Kansas 
seed is only just tasseling out. Iowa will not 
have more than two-thirds of a corn crop this 
year. Oats yield from 20 to 60 bushels per 
aCre ' M. R. H. 
Maryland. 
Bolster’s Mills, Cumberland Co., Sept. 
10.— \ ery wet in the first part of the season 
nuil very dry in the latter part. Growing 
crops have been badly damaged by frosts the 
last two nights. Hay a very good crop. Small 
grains fair. Com will be light on account of 
the dry weather. Early' planted potatoes 
very good. Blush not fit to dig yet, but l 
think the Blush with the White Elephants, the 
best I have. r. s. j. 
Mlrhlgnn. 
Litchfield, Hillsdale Co., Sept. 3.—My 
Centennial W heat as a Spring wheat was a 
failure. It came up all right and grew' nicely 
till the last of June; then it rusted and died. 
I The Shoe-peg Corn came up all right, hut the 
chickens got iu and destroyed it. The Blush 
Potatoes are still growing, and seem to be 
nice. I planted the Niagara Grape seeds early 
iu May in my garden. I watched the place 
till the end of Juno, but no vines appeared. I 
bad given up all hopes when, about the mid¬ 
dle of July, I discovered some strange plants 
with little leaves like those of buckwheat 
(three-cornered), and I concluded they must be 
the grape-vines. I watched them till t he third 
and fourth leaves hail made their appearance, 
and by that time I saw they were grapes. I 
now have 13 nice little vines from two to six 
inches high. Each stalk seems to have dif¬ 
ferently shaped leaves. I showed the flower 
seeds to my wife; she laughed, and said they 
w'ere nothing but w-eeds, and as I am no great 
hand for flowers, I did not pay much attention 
to them, but made a little bed at the east end 
of the house, and sowed them all there. It 
was a long time before they came up, but sev¬ 
eral different, sorts did so at last. My wife 
still laughed at my weeds; but, by and by, 
they began to bloom, and a nicer set of little 
flow ers I never saw. Then my wife claimed 
them, and told some of the neighbors what 
pretty flowers she had, and how she was going 
to save all the seed: but she was sadh' disap¬ 
pointed, as t he chickens got round the corner 
and picked them all off and spoiled them. 
She was so grieved for her flowers that she 
said she could pull the chickens’ heads off. Of 
course, it was my turn to laugh now. Wheat 
a fair crop; corn will be light—does not ear 
well; oats a fidl crop; potatoes good. a. c. 
South Lyon, Oakland Co., Sept. 12.-The 
last day of April 1 planted in my garden four 
hills each of Early Ohio, Beauts' of Hebron 
and Early Rose Potatoes, 20 inches apart iu 
a drill, putting four eyes iu each hill, using 
no fertilizers of any kind. I ran through 
them once with a cultivator and hood them 
three times, hilling up. No perceptible differ¬ 
ence in the ripening of the Hebron aud Rose. 
The Ohio 10 days earlier than either. I dug 
about August 15 of Ohios, 81 tubers, weight, 
13 pounds one ounce: six small ones, seven 
ounces; all, 12 pounds and 8 ounces. Allow¬ 
ing the hills to occupy 20x30 inches, the yield 
was at the rate of 458 bushels per acre. Of 
the Beauty of Hebron I dug 59; weight, 10 
ixjunds; aud 4 small ones.4 Ounces. All weighed 
163i pounds. Yield at the rate of 589 bushels 
per acre. Of the Early Rose I dug 63, weight. 
13 pounds and 4 ounces; 22 small ones, one 
pound two ounces; all, 11 pounds and six 
ounces: yield per acre 521 bushels. In regard to 
quality for table, I think the Hebron ahead of 
the Rose, while the Ohio is of a courser texture 
aud now and then there is a hollow one. The 
Blush Potatoes were planted May 24 and killed 
b}' frost Sept. 7; quulity good. Pigs rooted 
up some of them so l can’t report yield; size 
fair. The Shoe-peg Cora came up well: it 
stands from 9 to 11 feet high, amt is poorly 
eared; some ears were still in the milk when 
the frost took it. About one-third of the 
grape seeds came up, but all the vines have 
died since transplanting. One watermelon 
ripened, so I have some seed saved, n. b. d. 
New Hampshire. 
Mason, Hillsborough Co., Sept 7.—My two* 
small Rural Blush Potatoes were cut to 11 eyes 
on April 19, and planted iu 11 hills, 8 feet by 1 
apart alongside of the White Star, Beauty of 
Hebron, Clark’s No. 1 and Hodgman’s Seed¬ 
ling (u variety originated in this town a few 
years ago.) 1 he White Star, Beauty of Heb¬ 
ron and Hodgmnu's Seedling wore planted 
whole, each tuber weighing about one pound. 
Clark’s No. I wero transplanted from '•vol¬ 
unteer” potatoes of the previous Fall. All 
were dug Septembers, being fully ripe except 
the Blush, which had been struck by a very 
severe frost. 
Here is u table of the yield of each:— 
Yield 
Yield, 6 Largest. 1 Large, per acre 
1 White Star, l Hill 
* 
L138 tb 
oz. 
1,694 l»us 
3 B'uty Heh’u 1 •• 
.1.08 
3.01 
8 “ 
1,881 “ 
8 Hodgniau's 3 •' 
18. 
3.08 
8 “ 
1,573 “ 
4 Clark's no. us “ 
35. 
6.10 
17^“ 
1.310 •• 
5 R’al Blush It " 
35.09 
4.06 
161$ " 
781 *• 
No. of potatoes to acre of Rural Blush 138,968 
" Marketable “ “ •« 101,640 
“ Potatoes to 11 hills “ ** c r, 
“ Marketable “ “ •• "jy 
W ith me t he Blush is a very late potato, and 
has two defects—straggling iu the hill to a 
distance of 18 inches on each side, aud hol¬ 
low heart. Ei A H< 
New York. 
Baker’s Mills, Warren Co., Sept. 8.—I 
have just dug the Blush Potato with the fol¬ 
lowing results : Number of large potatoes, 43, 
of small, 32: weight of large. 17’pounds, of 
small, two lbs., and of the five largest, three 
pounds seven ounces. The seed potato weighed 
about 3J<; ounces, and contained 11 eyes. Soil, 
sandy loam. Superphosphate w'as used at the 
rate of 500 pounds per acre. Mammoth Pearls 
under the same conditions yielded of large po¬ 
tatoes, 28, and of small, 29. Weight of large, 
12Vo pounds; of small, two pounds five ounces: 
and of the five largest, four pounds. All 
ripened about the same time. w. t. m. 
A'irginia. 
Newbern, Pulaski Co., Sept. 3.—Our gen 
eral corn crop has been ruined by the long 
drought. The average throughout the county 
will not be over five bushels per acre. My 
Shoe-peg Corn, grown on alluvium, will not 
make over 45 bushels per acre. It would have 
made 100 in a good season. I am inclined to 
think this will be the most popular corn the 
Rural has ever distributed. h. l. w. 
<£l)C (Querist. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
IKvery query must be accompanied by the name 
and address of the writer to Insure attention.) 
WHEAT NOT A BERRY. 
L. 8., A*. Y. —A. contends that wheat is a 
berry, and founds his belief on the fact that 
it is spoken of as such in commercial and ag¬ 
ricultural papers. B. contends that it is not 
a berry in any souse, and has none of the char¬ 
acteristics of a berry, and that if spoken of 
as a berrv iu the papers it is decidedly wrong, 
as the following definition from Zell’s Ency¬ 
clopaedia will show: "-Berry (Bot.l see Bacca— 
A berry; usually a succulent fruit containing 
several seeds. In its more exact application 
it is a succulent fruit filled with a pulp, in 
which the seeds lie loosely, as in the goose¬ 
berry.” Webster’s Dictionary defines a berry 
as “Any small, pulpy fruit containing seed.' 
Please decide who is right.' 
Ans. —B. is right. The wheat kernel is a 
true fruit, but it is not a berry. Botauieally 
it is called a Caryopsis iu which the seed com¬ 
pletely fills the cell. Its coat is consolidated 
with the thin pericarp. A “berry” is a fruit 
in which the pericarp is fleshy. Grapes, 
goose berries, cranberries, tomatoes, etc., are 
familiar examples. 
HOW TO MAKE CIDER VINEGAR, ETC. 
D. J. C., 1. asks for a cheap and effective 
cure for coughs and colds: 2, how to turn 
sweet cider into vinegar. 
Ans. —1, A good cough candy for recent 
colds is made of tincture of squills, two oun¬ 
ces; camphorated tincture of opium ami tinc¬ 
ture cf tolu. quarter ounce each; wine of ipe¬ 
cac, null-ounce; oil of sassafras, three drops; 
oil of anise seed, two drops. Any druggist 
will furnish the compound to a confectioner to 
tie put into five pounds of candy just taken 
from the fin?. A mixture that has been tried iu 
our own family with success for colds of long¬ 
er standing is:—Dissolve in alcohol as much 
of the red spruce gum as it will take. Mix 
with it one ounce of laudanum, and two oun¬ 
ces of ipecac which has been previously 
stirred into four ounces of strained honey. 
Let it stand two or three days, or till all is 
dissolved, and take half a tablespoonful in a 
little water three times a day. Wear flannel 
next the skin, and bathe frequently. 2, Have 
a room where it will not freeze; place on end 
as inunv casks as you wish; fill them one-third 
full of soft water, the other two-thirds with 
apple cider, aud allow two quarts of yeast to 
each cask. In a few weeks you will have good 
vinegar; but if you omit the yeast, it will 
take all the season to effect the change. Draw¬ 
off into laurels for sale, leaving oue-oighth; 
if you w ish more, and if the barrel is tilled 
up as before, the couteuts will become vine¬ 
gar much sooner than the first lot. 
SELECTING SEED CORN. ETC. 
Amateur, Washington, D. C., —1, In select¬ 
ing corn for seed, should I select from the 
stalks containing two ears, taking the best of 
the two? 2. Is it preferable to take from the 
tall stalks or the short ones, both fodder and 
corn being desirable? 8. I have some Blount’* 
Prolific eleven feet high, some bearing two 
ears, but mostly only one; is this common! 
Ans. —1. That depends. If you select for the 
purpose of obtaiuing one ear to a stalk and 
that of the largest size, select your *ee»ls ac¬ 
cordingly -that is, select the largest ears you 
can find, no matter whether the stalk bears 
one ear or more. No matter what the variety 
of corn, we have found that selecting or breed 
ing to increase the number of ears to a stalk 
reduces the size of the ears. 2. Always from 
the short ones, all else being equal. Tall 
stalks are undesirable in every way. 3. You 
have not the true Blount’s, or else you had 
poor seeds. 
II. A. G., Hartford, Conn.. —l. What is the 
best breed of fowls for laying and where can 
they be had? 2. What is the best feed for 
fowls? Is “egg food” better than scraps and 
bone to make hens lay? 
Ans.—1 , The Rural has tried all of the pop¬ 
ular breeds of fowls, and here is its judgment: 
For eggs. Black Hamburghs or White Leg¬ 
horns, the first preferred. For table, market 
and eggs, Plymouth Rocks. Ourseeoud choice 
would be Light Brahmas. Hon. C. S. Cooper 
of Scraalenburg, Bergen Co., New Jersey, 
makes a specialty of Plymouth Rocks and 
Light Brahmas, and he can be trusted. All 
poultry fanciers catalogue the above men¬ 
tioned kinds. 2. We do not care for “prepared 
oods.” Wheat is the liest food for fowls— 
corn twice a week in cold weather. Give 
them table scraps—lots of grass, cabbage 
leaves and green food, fresh water and clean 
houses. In cold weather let their feed be hot. 
They will then lay their best—aud what more 
can you expect them to do? Bone meal for 
forming the shell (lime) is the best. It is bet¬ 
ter than broken clam or oyster shells. 
S. G, IF.. McDonald Co., Mo.— 1, Which 
is the better time to set out fruit trees—in 
the Fall or SpriDg? 2, What is the proper 
distance apart for standard pear trees? 3, 
Give the name of a few pears that would be 
likely to do well in this latitude. 
Ans. — 1, In the Spring. 2, 12 feet. 3, 
Bartlett, Belle Lucrative, Beurre Clairgeau, 
Beurni d’ Anjou, Beurrc Superfin. Buffum, 
Flemish Beauty, Easter Beurrt, Duchesse d? 
Angoulthne. 
S. L. 8., Boston, Mass .—A worm or gray 
bug eats all my squashes: name a remedy. 
Ans. —As you give no description we cannot 
tell what the insect is.so we can give no specific 
remedy as there is quite a variety of squash 
bugs. Soot or gypsum sprinkled on the vines 
is, as a rule, repulsive to insects troubling the 
squash. If your patch is not a large one, it 
will pay to go over the vines every day and 
kill what bugs you can find. 
J. W. C„ New Castle, Pa,— Is it better to 
sow good wheat seed from the crop of 1881, 
than a poorer sort from the crop of 1882. 
Ans.—M any regard old wheat as good for 
seed as any other. We have used two-year- 
okl wheat and fancied it was slow to germin¬ 
ate. Still we w’ould prefer good seed from 
the crop of 1881 to inferior seed from that of 
1882. 
J. H. D., Cooperstown, N. Y., 1, sends for 
nauie, pods of a bean that grew from seed 
found among that of the Challenger Lima 
Bean. He says it is extremely healthy as 
well as prolific, and splendid either as a slice 
or shelled bean. 2, How did the Stratagem 
Pea turn out this year? 
Ans.—1, It is the Dutch Case-Knife. 2, 
Excellently. It was as good as last year. 
Housekeeper asks if there is anything bet¬ 
ter than chicory or dandelion roots to mix 
with coffee? 
Ans.—T here is nothing equal to rye, which 
should be rinsed, ilrained, aud immediately 
browned. It is more healthful and better 
flavored than auy of the ingredients com¬ 
monly mixed with coffee. 
F. M., Oak Hill, N. F, and many others, 
ask how to protect their Niagara Grape seed¬ 
lings through the coming Winter. 
Ans.—T he canes may be carefully bent to 
the ground aud covered with mulch, or soil. 
If the vine is attached to a stake, tie a wisp of 
straw about both stake aud vine. 
H. B. C., Colfax, D. T. —What does the 
Rural know of the Big Tom 8>trawberrv? 
Ans.— Big Bob is probably the variety of 
strawberry referred to. From some places 
we have heard favorable reports. With us 
the foliage burns badly and the plants make 
a feeble growth. 
Gardener asks how to destroy weeds in 
walks? 
Ans.—T en gallons of water, 30 pounds of 
lime, ten pounds of salt. Boil together, let it 
settle, and apply the clear part to the walks, 
taking care it does not touch edgings or 
flowers. 
Communications Received for the week Ekmino 
Saturday, Sept. 33. 
A. F. B. —M. H. H.—E. K.—L. S.— B Is right; see Q 
A A.-N. Q. U.-L. S. H.-C. F. F.-S.Vf. H.-C A — 
J.C.A.-M. M. W.-J. H, R.. thank*—C. E. P.-G. E. 
M.—J. H. D.—J. H R.— M. B. H.—W. T. M. —E. A. H 
-M. T.-G K.-A. J. C. * S.-C. D. R.-O. W C.-e! 
H.-C. L. P , thank#—M. E. H.-W C. Jr —E. B.—T 
H H.—J. R. W.—G. W. St. J., thanks—J. S. McC.—N. 
B- U.—B. F. J.— - *OUl Blaster."—J M.S.—J. S G.—J. 
F. M.-R. F., thank#—E. P. P.—A. B. B.- J W. K.—H. 
A, G.-J. H.—H. B. C -J. W. C.—J. W. C.—S. E. L.— 
H. T M —Mrs. L. G. T.-G. W.—L. N. T.—M. W. F.— 
H. W.— a , VcD.. thanki-C. H. W.-A. F. W.- S. I s 
