672 
1 
OCT 43 
THE RURAL WEW-YORKER. 
Elm. It belongs to the natural [order Ulrna- 
cete, the same as the elm. 
That a tree which grows abundantly in the 
West, and which Emerson says he found “in 
almost every county in the State of Massa¬ 
chusetts,” and withal, so handsome and orna¬ 
mental, should be almost unknown, probably 
there not being a half a dozen trees found in 
an y artificial plantation, shows that the name 
the Frenchmen of Illinois gave it, should be 
the true one. Nothing could more directly 
show the little general knowledge of trees 
which grow right about us, giving variety to 
our woodlands, adornment to our plantations, 
and interest to every admirer of picturesque 
beauty. Years ago, struck with the beauty of 
the tree, I planted out some two or three hun¬ 
dred young seedlings. They were, of course, 
set thickly together, in nursery rows, aud soon 
began to crowd each other. I called the atten¬ 
tion of tree planters to the tree, and by consid¬ 
erable persuasion I found a few who w ould 
consent to try something besides maples or 
elms; but the number of such tree lovers was 
small. The trees continued to grow, and as 
they crowded each other so much, I began to 
thin them out with an axe; but it was too 
much for me; to see trees which should be one 
of the greatest ornaments to a plantation, 
felled for posts and fire-wood was sad enough; 
yet what could 1 do? After I had thinned 
out the poorest and weakest the remainder 
were allowed to stand, as I thought somebody 
would appreciate the Bois luconuu, but 
nobody did; and one year ago I had the 
ground cleared, a vandalism 1 w ould not com¬ 
mit myself; so 1 put the work in the hands of 
a trusty, honest man who thought potatoes 
would pay me a good deal better than huge 
specimens of Pieea Nordmanniana, Japan 
Laicbes, Pyramidal Oaks, Kentucky Coffee 
Trees, American Holly, Koelreuteria panieu- 
lata, etc., the last of which was destroyed be¬ 
fore I knew it. 
Emerson, who was a great lover of trees 
rarely, so far as I recollect, overrated the 
beauty of any tree aud showed an excess of 
enthusiasm, yet he speaks as follows of the 
Celtis. 
“This fine tree has a strong resemblauce to 
an elm, and is by the careless observers mis¬ 
taken for one. Its branches have something 
of the drooping character of those of the 
common Elm, but much less than they, and 
are more inclined to spread horizontally. The 
trunk is covered with grayish and tough bark 
Douglas says tiiat this tree is found on the 
rocky banks of the Columbia River in places 
so dry that no other tree can grow there. 
Michaux had never observed it north of the 
Connecticut River, 1 have found it, never in 
great numbers, iu almost every county in the 
State, It was pointed out to me at Savin Hill 
by Dr. Bigelow, aud in Dorchester by Dr. 
Hands. It is almost everywhere so rare that 
its name is unknown, aud it might be well 
called as it was by the French in Illi¬ 
nois, Bois Inconnu. In Middlesex County 
it is so rare that a friend, whose eye is open to 
whatever is curious iu nature, and who showed 
me specimens of its leaves, had been unable 
to find any name for it among the common 
people, his neighbors,” 
The Celtis, as one of its names indicates, has 
the general aspect of an elm; but yet it is 
quite different in detail. The tree is more 
slender in proportion to its height; the bark is 
rough er, being apparently full of perpendicular 
ridges, and is much harder and heavier than 
that of the Elm. The leaves are from two to 
three inches long, ovate in general outline, 
acute, rounded, unequal-sided, tapering to a 
rather long point and conspicuously serrate. 
The branches are numerous and slender, the 
branehleta, extremely so. The flowers, which 
are small and white, appear early in Spring 
on long foot stalks, from one to three, at the 
axils of the leaves. The lower flowers are 
usually barren, but the upper ones are suc¬ 
ceeded by a fruit about the size of a wild 
cherry. These berries are sweet to the taste, 
have a large stone, and when perfectly ripe are 
of a dark purple color, not uulike the Tupelo 
berries. Emerson further says: “ The tree 
might be described to one who wished to be 
able to recognize it, as an elm, bearing purple, 
sweet cherries which continued on the stem 
through the W inter. 
The average bight of the tree in its native 
locality is from 00 to 70 feet (the size which 
Michaux ascertained by measuring them on 
the banks of the Savannah River) and 18 or 
20 inches in diameter. It prefers a cool and 
rather shady situation with adeep and fertile 
soil. The European Celtis (C. australis) is a 
very valuable tree, having extremely com¬ 
pact wood, which takes a place between that 
of the Live Oak and the Box for density and 
hardiness,resembling Satiu wood when polished 
and, so far as I have carefully observed, of the 
C. occidentals such as I cut down, this has all 
the valuable characteristics of the European 
species. It makes capital wood for fuel, and 
for supports of any kind it appeal's almost as 
strong as Box Wood. My tree which is about 
25 years old, is 85 feet high and one foot in 
diameter at the base with a full rounded 
head. The Celtis was introduced to France 
nearly two centuries ago, as Loudon (in 1822) 
enumerates among the lajgespecimens in Eu¬ 
rope one in the Jar din des Plantes 30 years 
old 68 feet high aud 20 inches iu diameter. The 
largest around London is one at Fulham, 70 
years old and 50 feet high. At Munich in 
Bavaria, the largest tree, 24 years old, 
is fifteen feet high. Iu the Botanic 
Garden in Berlin, Prussia, one 30 years 
planted is 15 feet high; but the specimen in 
Hanover at the Botanic Garden at Gottingen, 
only 30 years planted, is 30 feet high, aud iu 
the University Botanic Garden at Vienna, a 
tree 00 years planted is 55 feet high. The 
old Bartram Garden of Philadelphia and per¬ 
haps some of the other old residences around 
that city, may have some good old trees; but 
it is a shame that London, Paris, Vienna, Ber¬ 
lin and other cities on the Continent should 
possess larger specimens than can be found 
in its native locality, the United States. 
As I have already stated, I, long ago, urged 
amateurs and tree planters to introduce this 
very handsome tree into their grounds. I only 
hope the coming generation will appreciate it 
more than their fathers do, and will try to see 
a little beauty beyond an elm or a maple. 
£ I) t Stpittritm. 
BEE NOTES FOR OCTOBER. 
The bees should now be prepared at once for 
Winter. If not a Iready done, we should see to 
it at once that every colony has at least thirty 
pounds of capped stores. If to secure l his we 
need to feed, it is just as well to feed granu¬ 
lated sugar sirup as to feed honey. If feed¬ 
ing is necessary, let it be clone at once, so that 
the bees may get it capped over before it is 
too cold to do it. I have found by actual ex¬ 
periment that bees do better when the pollen 
is mostly excluded from the hives, and so 
would advise that, frames containing much 
pollen be left out of the hive. The}' will be 
very valuable if returned when breeding 
commences uext Spring. Let all see, too, 
that only as many frames are left in the hive 
as the bees will cover. Use a division board 
or two division boards, so as to make the 
chamber for the bees only large enough to 
contain these frames. All these frames should 
be covered by a piece of factory cloth, aud 
this by an ample sack of chaff or dry sawdust, 
which may come well down over the division 
boards. It may be thought that repetition in 
these matters is the order of the day; but it is 
called for. as neglect in these points is the 
rock on which many—and some of them our 
ablest bee-keepers—split. 
In working with our bees at this seasou, 
after gathering is over, we cau hardly fail to 
observe two things—first, the propensity of 
the bees to rob; and secondly, the even greater 
tendency to sting. To prevent robbing, we 
should handle the bees no more than is abso¬ 
lutely necessary; we should leave no honey 
where they can get at it. and if we see that 
any colony is being robbed, we should close 
the entrance so that only one or two bees can 
pass at a time. This last precaution is also 
wise as during the cold nights of October less 
heat will escape. 
To prevent both robbing and stinging, I 
have found the bee-tent most efficient. Tins 
is a wire gauze tent, which entirely covers 
bees, operator and all. I made my own, which 
has square ends, with the other faces rectan¬ 
gular. The ends and top are covered with 
cloth, while the sides ure formed of wire 
gauze. When not in use, the sides cau be 
brought close together, and so it can be car¬ 
ried easily through a common door. Mine is 
large, giving ample room to work. Iu this 
the operator handles even Syrians without 
receiving any stings at all. Of course, as the 
other boos are all kept away during the ma¬ 
nipulation of any colony, there can be no in¬ 
centive to rob, caused by handling the bees. 
October is a good time to prepare our honey 
for the market. The extracted honey should 
be put up iu neat bottles, cans, or tin pails, 
each with its bail and large, handsome label, 
showing prominently the producer’s name, 
aud stating that granulation is no injury, but 
rather a test of purity, also giving directions 
as to reliquifying the honey. It is astonishing 
how much extracted honey can be sold when 
pains are taken to put it up with neatness. 
The sections of comb honey should now be 
crated. It is well worth while to scrape off 
all the propolis, that the sections may be neat 
and clean. If the market will be better 
pleased, “glass” each section. In crating the 
sections to ship, see to it that all sections are 
perfect, and that no breakage of the cappings 
permits leakage. Each crate should be lined 
with heavy paper in making large shipments, 
to make the loss by leakage as small as possible. 
Cattle Trade Cruelties. —The shocking 
barbarity of live stock transportation is a sub¬ 
ject which meat-eaters will do well to consider 
in sheer self-defence, says the N. Y. Tribune. 
A writer in the Railway Register says that 
he saw a livestock train upon one of the trunk 
lines, which made him heart-sick. The cattle 
were crowded into a ear as closely together 
as they could stand; it was a hot day; all the 
animals had their tongues out, gasping for 
breath; some, exhausted, had fallen, and 
were lying upon the filthy floor under their 
fellows. Whenever the train started it jerked 
them back, aud when it stopped it threw them 
forward. In this way they were to be carried 
a thousand miles, aud when they arrived, 
bruised, sick aud fevered, at their journey’s 
end, the survivors wore to be butchered to 
furnish meat for human beings. The London 
Mark Lane Express says that during 1882, the 
report of the Veterinary Department tells us 
that of cattle shipped from this to the other 
side of the Atlantic, 2,797 animals were thrown 
overboard, 195 were landed dead, and 138 
were so much injured or exhausted that they 
had to bo killed at the place of landing, mak¬ 
ing a total of 3,130 animals drowned, killed or 
injured. In 1881 the total was 9,321. This is 
not only horrible, but disgraceful also. With 
such heavy casualties, the sufferings of the 
survivors must have been very great. 
M l 
No farmer, says the New York Times, 
should omit to steep his seed wheat in some 
caustic solution that will destroy the germs of 
rust and smut. A solution of four ounces of 
blue vitriol—sulphate of copper —dissolved in 
a gallon of water for each five bushels of seed, 
whieh is steeped in it till it is absorbed, has 
been found the most effective. Strong lime- 
water, salt brine, aud old chamber lye, which 
contains a large quantity of ammonia, have 
all been used with benefit. Burnt is rapidly 
increasing. Few grain crops are free from it, 
and all we can do to help ourselves to prevent 
it is to use these precautions. 
A great mistake that some sirup makers of 
the North make, says a writer to the Rural 
World, is that of being afraid of scorching the 
sirup during defecation. The fact is, as all 
good sugar makers Jcnow, that uo burning 
takes place till the sirup is reduced too thick 
for sugar; but if they have failed to make a 
good defecation, the foreign matter in the 
sirup will burn, while the sirup itself will not 
be burned at all. Learn to properly defecate 
the juice, and then the hotter the fire the 
better will the sirup please. 
-Ml- 
Mr. J. J. Thomas, the horticultural editor 
of the Albany Cultivator, notes an interesting 
fact in connection with plum culture. This 
year the t rees have been unusually subject to 
the early dropping of the lea ves, some of the 
later sorts not having foliage to finish the 
growth aud maturity of the fruit, A part of 
his orchard was top-dressed last Winter with 
stable manure, which wassubsequently worked 
into the soil. Ou this portion of the orchard 
the trees retained their leaves. On the un- 
mauured part most of them lost their foliage. 
-Ml- 
Mr. N. J. Shepherd is so well pleased with 
his plan of bushing Lima Beans that he tells 
the Farm and Garden he shall hereafter dis¬ 
card poles. A libera] supply of manure is 
placed in deep plough-furrows, mixed thor¬ 
oughly with the soil, and seed dropped every 
four inches in rows 3)^ feet apart When well 
up, the plants are bushed with heavier stuff 
than for tall peas. Thu vines having reached 
the top of the support are pinched in, which 
repression results to the advantage of the crop. 
By this method lie gets a larger product from 
a given space than iu the old way, and lias a 
smaller surface to hoe. We find this item in 
the N. Y. Tribune. 
•» » • 
In the same journal Mr. Farquhar makes a 
note on the imposition farmers are subjected 
to by manufacturers who put their machines, 
plows, etc., together with rouud bolts having 
round Leads. He bus a plow of a noted pattern 
the bolts of which are rouud with roundheads, 
to fit a counter-sunk hole, and the only way 
to tighten them is to cut the nuts off with a 
cold chisel and replace with new bolts. Many 
of our wagons and machines are open to the 
same objection, which is certainly a very 
serious one aud should be remedied. 
More about Ensilage.— Prof. S. Johnson, 
of the Mich. Ag. College, from his second 
year’s experiments with ensilage, is confirmed 
in the belief that three tons of the ensilage are 
equal in feeding value to one ton of hay. The 
yield of ensilage corn was 18 tons per acre, 
equivalent in feeding value iu a combined 
ration, to six tons of hay. Ensilage means the 
growing of an equivalent to six or ten tons of 
hay per acre. Admit, only, that three pounds 
of ensilage will take the place of one pound of 
hay in a mixed cattle ration; even then if 
animals fed with it thrive, arc healthy, and 
present a general appearance, much like that 
resulting from grass feeding, coming out after 
four or five months’ confinement with sleek 
coats, with not much, if any, loss of weight, 
aud with no more shrinkage of milk yield than 
we ought reasonably to expect as the time from 
calving increases, we must conclude that there 
is some virtue In fodder prepared in this man¬ 
ner. Claim ouly this, aud is it not a profitable 
aud a practical method of securing large yields 
of corn, sorghum, and other forage crops, 
and preparing them for convenient and econ¬ 
omical feeding? It is_J;o be regretted, he 
thinks, that so many extravagant statements 
have been made in relation to the value of 
ensilage—the number of cattle that could be 
kept from the product of a single acre, etc. 
Practical, thinking men have been deterred 
from investigating this subject and giving it 
such attention as it really deserves, because of 
the wild statements of impractical enthusiasts. 
Experience confirms the statement which 
he made last year that any material may be 
used in the construction of silos, that will ex¬ 
clude the air; that it is better to have several 
silos, or divisions rather than a very large 
one; that weighting with stone, barrels of 
earth, or sacks of grain is likely to be more 
satisfactory t hau a screw which may not re¬ 
ceive attention at the right lime; and that the 
silo is one of the most economical methods of 
providing shelter for fodder. In no way i 
perhaps, cau the same equivalent in dried 
fodder be seemed with so little expense. 
Several silos were built of wood in Michigan 
last year, aud he has yet to learn that auy one 
of lhem has proven a failure. He is more than 
over convinced that the idea he suggested two 
years ago, that ensilage will prove a cheap 
substitute for roots, will be approved by any 
farmer who will make the trial. Farmers 
who have had experience in feeding stock 
know how desirable it is to have some succu¬ 
lent food as a part ration at least, during our 
long, cold winters. Roots are a desirable 
cattle food, but an expensive crop for the 
average farmer to raise aud handle. But few 
farmers have the facilities for storing them 
in any quantity. They must be buried in the 
field; and in the winter with the thermometer 
below zero, digging out the roots aud getting 
them to the stock is not a desirable task. I f 
ensilage will give us the succulent food at less 
cost, in shape to be easily handled and occu¬ 
pying but a small space in storage, it must 
prove of value. ** 
«♦« - 
To detect adulterations in seeds we must use 
the sieve, water aud microscope, says Prof. A. 
E Blount of the Ag. Coll, of Colorado. Hot 
water dissolves powder aud dirt, aud washes 
off the coloring matter. The sieve makes the 
separation of the true seed from the impurities, 
and the miseroscope discovers the shape, natur¬ 
al indentations, protuberances and discolora¬ 
tions. To determine the vitality of the seed,put 
10 or 109 inside of three or four sheets of blot¬ 
ting paper, which wet and keep whereit will 
be warm all the time, and iu the dark. In ten 
hours the radish will germinate; cabbages, in 
eighteen: wheat, in twenty six; and corn, in 
thirty-two hours. These rules are simple, 
and will cost nothing. They may save you 
much. 
— » » » -- 
He also remarks that we can not afford much 
Iouger to thrash seed iu steam or horse thrash¬ 
ers; the force with which the wheat, in being 
thrashed, is thro wu by the coucave or cylinder 
against the further end of the thrasher, is so 
great that at least one-quarter aud often one- 
hull' of the grain is either broken in two or 
fractured, consequently it is entirely uufit for 
seed. 
-- 
WHICH REMINDS ME. 
'[’he Michigan Farmer thinks that good 
apples will be worth $7. or £8. a barrel before 
Spring... 
Truk, friend Chatham Courier, the cellar of 
mauy a farm house has caused disease which 
could have been avoided with a little care 
A load of earth, daily, hauled in for pig¬ 
pens, stable, and yards, might count 365 loads 
of manure yearly, on some farms, says tie 
Conn. Courant... 
It is said thul the cultivation of peppermint 
is a success in certain parte of the South and 
that the oilcan be produced there cheaper than 
at the North. 
The “Dairy,” alluding to butter, remarks 
that the packer very often sells inferior 
