DEC S 
THE BUBAL MEW-YOBKEB. 
Corliss Matchless Potato.—From Nature. Fig. 690. (See Page 802.) 
If, like the editor of the Rural New- 
V orkkr, wo could raise 1,000 bushels of po¬ 
tatoes per acre, wo could smile at Bismarck 
aud the low price of pork. 
As it is, this is no laughing matter. Com 
is high and pork low. In these circumstances 
wo are now making short work with the pigs. 
But iu point of fact there is nothing par¬ 
ticularly discouraging in the outlook. Prices 
have been much lower than they are now, 
aud in a year or so they were higher than 
ever. So it will be again and again. 
What we should do is to get l id of the poor 
hogs and keep none hut the best sows for 
breeding. This is simply what the books call 
“carefulselection.” If preferred, it maybe 
called “judicious slaughtering.” The first 
aim of the pig breeder should be to get healthy, 
vigorous pigs. 1 keep nothing but pure-bred 
pigs on my own farm, and have never had 
any disease among them. But one of my 
neighbors has a common part Chester White 
sow that he brought, this Spring to one of my 
hoars, and he has now a litter of pigs healthier, 
stronger, more vigorous and more profitable 
for pork-making than any litter on my farm, 
aud so far as my observation goes this is the 
general result of crossing common, vigorous 
aud healthy sows with fine-boned, pure-bred 
hours. 
I will not assert it as a fact, but I am in¬ 
clined to think that good common—what we 
may call “native”—auimaLsare healthierthan 
pure-bred animals. 
AV e want the good qualities of both com¬ 
bined iu one animal. We want the health, 
vigor, hardiness and powerful digestion of the 
native united with the quietness of disposi¬ 
tion, fine bones, small offal, early maturity 
and fattening qualities of the pure-bred. 
I feel confident that to a large degree this 
can bo accomplished by selecting the best na¬ 
tive or grade sows aud breeding them to the 
finest aud best pure-bred boars. 
Moreton Farm, N. Y. 
farm topics. 
MORE LIGHT WANTED. 
PROF. I. P. ROBERTS. 
I. V. Roberta, M. Aar.; 
Dear Siu: I take the liberty to write to ask if you 
can direct me to a slmplo treatise on agricultural 
chemistry. I have got to Just that spot where my 
farm needs a little more knowledge, I think, of that 
kind. It is unite aggravating to wait till one Is 24 
to llud out what a fool he was at 30: and If you “have 
the bossing” of any agricultural student, give him 
just all the chemistry he can hold. Tell him it will 
add Beveral bushels to his yield of wheat. c. D. b. 
In the ttbove letter there is nothing particu¬ 
larly new or startling. It is simply a fair 
sample of scores which I receive every year. 
This young mau knows how to plow aud hoe, 
but liis active mind tells him that he is work¬ 
ing blindly—that his profits are cut down for 
want of just such knowledge as is freely given 
at the agricultural colleges. He renlizesthat 
he is only half equipped for the battle of life. 
He eveu foolB so humiliated because he lacks 
what is by some contemptuously called “book 
knowledge,” that he calls himself a fool. 
These kind, plain Jotters of young farmers, 
with the dust of the field upon them, asking 
for instruction and guidance, cheer me. They 
give courage to bear with the prejudices, mis¬ 
conceptions and fault-finding of those who 
npjiear to take pleasure iu pulling to pieces 
that which has been so hard to create. If the 
grumblers had the will or the ability to rear 
something better upon the ruins, one could 
look on with equanimity; but when nothing 
more desirable or useful is offered, is it uot 
the part of wisdom to hold on to that which 
we have secured through so much labor aud 
odium, eveu though it may not be perfect# 
This letter is helpful, because it givesone faith 
that the modern experiment of training the 
head and hand simultaneously will succeed. 
It cheers otto because it puts knowledge above 
mere animal dexterity, and thought before 
action. 
Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 
-- 
ALFALFA AS HOG FEED. 
Alfalfa is, iu my opinion, the best forage 
plant in the world, producing more and bet¬ 
ter feed to the acre than any grass or clover 
I am acquainted with. It is a splendid suc¬ 
cess iu Colorado, and will solve the problem 
of cheap pork hero. I cut and hauled tho 
green Alfalfa to my hogs until Ocfcotier 16, 
when I separated those I wished to fatten 
from the stock hogs, and commenced feeding 
with shorts and hay. I cut the dry Alfalfa 
hay iu half-inch lengths, and fill a barrel 
half full of tho cut hay, then put in about 50 
pounds of shorts and fill full with water, stir¬ 
ring all well. I feed this to the fattening 
hogs three times each day, giving them nil 
they will eat at 11. I never saw hogs fatten 
faster. To my s ock hogs I feed nothing but 
dry Alfalfa hay with water, three times 
daily. 1 built a small silo 10x10x10 feet and 
filled it with the third cutting of Alfalfa, 
pulling it into the silo just as it came from 
tho field. I intend to experiment -with the 
ensilage in feeding hogs aud cows, and will 
report the facts through the Rural as they 
OCCtir. H. STRATTON. 
(I'ntomo logical. 
ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES OF THE 
YEAR. 
PROF. C. V. RILEY. 
The following notes of interest, and touch¬ 
ing experience hitherto unrecorded, are 
gleaued from various sources, but chiefly from 
the correspondence of the Department of 
Agriculture. 
Mr. William Plumer, of Lexington, Mass., 
has found means of causing insecticides to ad- 
i are to tho leaves in spite of the washing 
caused by rain. 
Mr. Joseph Voyle, of Gainsville, Fla., has 
experimented on killing scale insects by sub¬ 
jecting them to great cold. 
Messrs. S. C. Wells, of Manhattan, Kan., 
and R. W. Jones, of Oxford, Miss., find that 
growing pyrethrum plants do well in their 
respective localities, but that it is difficult to 
get the plauts started. 
Mr. H. A. Moseley, of Camden, Ark., found 
the larvae of saw-flies destroying the foliage 
of pines. They belong tc the genus Lophyrus, 
but have not yet been bred, ID-. Jacob Davis, 
of Rowe, Mass., found saw-fly larvae destroy- 
ing the foliage of his larch. Thespecies is the 
Nematus erichsonii, and is treated of by Dr. 
A- S, Packard in my forthcoming report. 
Mr. J. C. Hostetter, of Minerva, Ohio.,found 
saw-fly larvae destroying the kernels in wheat 
heads, a habit hitherto unobserved in this 
country. The species is unknown, as the 
worms died without transforming. 
Dr. J. J. Brown, of Sheboygan, Wis., found 
the larv* of a tineid moth as having bored 
through several folds of paper to reach speci¬ 
mens of dried fungi within. 
Mi. U iliiam Heard reported the ravages of 
the Wheat Midge iu Prince Edwards Island. 
Mr. S. E. Frisbie, of Milford, Conn., con¬ 
siders that the Apple Maggot is as great a pest 
as the Codling Moth in his State. 
The ravages of tho Texas Screw Worm were 
reported from Kansas by Mr. H. S. Newton 
of Oswego, in that State. 
A Fly Maggot mining the leaves of wheat 
has been discovered by Mr. J. K. P, Wallace 
of Audersonville, Tenu , not having been no¬ 
ticed by any one previously; but its identity 
is not yet established. 
The West Town Farm and Garden Club, 
of West Town, Orange County, New York! 
reported through its president, James B.' 
isher, the ravages of Lachnosterna tristis on 
the foliage of fruit trees, and of what appears 
to be Typhlodromus pyri, producing rust¬ 
like blight of the foliage of pear trees, Messrs. 
Joseph A. Harper, of Blackshear, Ga., and C. 
Menelas, of Brookhaven, Miss., complained of 
the ravages of the Grape Vine Colaspis (Co- 
laspis flavida) on the foliage of their vines. 
Mrs. George Schall, of North Wales, Mont¬ 
gomery County, Pa., reported her strawber¬ 
ries injured by a common Bone-beetle (Steli- 
dota strigosaj. Mr. James Franklin, of West 
Apopka, Fla., reports the Green Soldier Bug 
(Rhaphigaster hilaris) exceedingly destructive 
to garden vegetables and to orange trees. 
The Apple Plant-louse (Aphistnalii appeared 
in great abundance in Monmouth County, 
New Jersey, in the Spring, as reported by 
Rev. Samuel Lockwood, but, as usual, it soon 
disappeared without doing material damage. 
Dr. J. H. Melliehamp, of Bluffton, S. C., 
afforded us an opportunity of adding one 
more instance to the many previously no¬ 
ticed of the preference of bark Hoe for en-.’ 
feebled trees or portions of trees; this being a 
colony of a probably undescribed species of 
Lecanium which had settled on a partially 
severed twig of an oak tree, sparing the other 
parts of the tree. 
An instance of the wandering of a cattle- 
tick to the body of a woman was reported by 
Mr. H. C. Beardslee, of Paiureville, Ohio. 
Mr. Joseph Voylo, of Gainesville. Fla., reports 
the Meulv Bugas bo destructive toorauges in 
the neighborhood of Orange Lake, Fla., that 
it absorbs all the attention of orange-growers 
to the exclusion of the consideration of the 
other insects and diseasre, although the 
Orange Rust Mites are found upon the trees 
in very large numbers. At Micajaopy he 
found several trees drying from a disease of 
obscure nature, which is believed to be due to 
the penetration of the tap-root into the 
stratum of water beneath the soil. 
farm (£cononuj. 
“COLD STORAGE” A SUCCESS. 
A few months ago the Rural gave an ac¬ 
count of a new project in Ulster County, 
N. Y., for the temporary preservation of 
fruits by cold storage, with a promise of fur¬ 
ther account when the result should be known. 
In fulfillment of that promise, and in the be¬ 
lief that the system is destined to become an 
important factor in the fruit problem, and 
consequently of interest to many readers, the 
following particulars are given. The enter¬ 
prise referred to is the erection of a large 
refrigeratin' aud ice-house by the Highland 
Fruit House Company at Highland. Ulster 
County, N V. The ice-house has capacity for 
