DEC 22 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
843 
els per acre on an average; it is soft owing 
to heavy rains and warm weather, but 
farmers are harvesting it at present. Wheat, 
per bushel, $1; corn, per bushel, 30c.; oats, 
per bushel, 35c.; hay, per ton, $10; hogs, 
$4.75; beef, 4 to 5c.; wood, per cord, 84; coal, 
per bushel, 11c.; raspberries, per quart, 30c.; 
blackberries, per quart, 15c.; gooseberries, per 
quart, 10c.; strawberries, per quart, 15c.; 
apples, per bushel, 50c.; flour, per barrel, 
$0. P. E. v. 
Plainfield, Will Co., Dec. 5.—We are hav¬ 
ing beautiful weather. Farmers are plowing. 
Corn was very uueven, the best not half a 
crop. Oats were good; some pieces that were 
badly lodged went 00 bushels to the acre. 
Potatoes were very fine. Markets:—Corn, 
45c.; oats, 80c ; clover seed, $5.30; potatoes, 
35c.; hogs, live weight, $4.25 per 100 pounds: 
butter, 25 to 38c.; eggs, 25c. m. e. c. 
Indiana. 
Butler, De Kalb Co., Dec. 5 —Our corn 
spoor; wheat poor; oats, hay and potatoes 
good. w. c. B. 
Missouri. 
Greenfield, Dade Co., Dec. 1.—Crops are 
all good except wheat, which was not half a 
crop. Oats the best for years. Corn an aver¬ 
age crop, and now selling at 85c. for yellow 
and 80c. for white. Potatoes above an aver¬ 
age and selling at 35 and 80c. in stores. Hogs 
scarce at 4c. gross. Cattle high with plenty 
of feed, and nobody disposed to sell. The 
early sown wheat looks well, and above an 
average acreage is sown. This country is well 
adapted to all kinds of products, and fruit is 
as good as can be raised anywhere in the 
West. The climate is mild, and the Winters 
short, and frost very seldom comes in time to 
injure corn or vegetables. We have the K. 
C. F. 8. and G. Railway at our doors, and 
have a ready market for everything we wish 
raise. Land is from $5 to $30 an acre, accord¬ 
ing to improvements and nearness to rail¬ 
road. J. M. A. 
West Virginia. 
Tannery, Preston Co., Dec. 6.—Crops 
pretty good except corn. Oats excellent; 
worth 40c; wheat pretty good, $1.15; hay 
good; no sale; potatoes flue, 40c.; apples, an 
ordinary crop, 50c. J. T. 
Wisconsin. 
Kktcham, Fond du Lac Co., Dec. 6.—We 
have enjoyed a beautiful Fall. The weather 
up to this time has been mild and dry. Sheep 
and cattle are grazing in the fields, not caring 
much for fodder. Our corn crop was complete¬ 
ly cut off by the early frost. No corn and no 
fodder for our milch cows. Oats a fair crop. 
Barley two-thirds of a crop. Wheat two- 
thirds. Potatoes half a crop. Hay a full crop. 
Apples, none. Cows have done medium well. 
Butter has averaged through the season 80c. a 
pound; it is now 24c. Cheese has averaged 
9c., and is now llj^c.; hogs hove ruled low 
through the season, but prices are better now; 
live 4t^c., dressed 5j-£c. Beef on foot, 4% to 
5c. Wheat, oats and barley rule low. Corn 
is 55 to 60c. The Rural comesregularly each 
week, loaded with rich things for the formers. 
H. D. P, 
RURAL SEED REPORTS. 
Connecticut, 
Pomfret, Windham Co.—My Blush Potato 
did splendidly in yield, and two tested were 
first-class for the table. I have nine nice vines 
from the Niagara seed; they ore covered up 
for the Winter. The Shoe-peg Com was too 
late for us and did not ripen. The water¬ 
melon seed did not produce well. I think the 
seasou too dry for them. Other kinds I had 
planted did poorly. The Garden Treasures 
did well. B. 8. w. 
Illinois. 
Prairie Center, Lasalle Co.—My very 
small Blush Potatoes, planted in the garden, 
ripened after the White Elephants, Largest 
five weighed five pounds; total yield 81 
pounds. The Shoe-peg Com did uot ripen. 
The White Elephant did finely this year. I 
planted five bushels which yielded 350 bushels 
of very large potatoes; the largest one weighed 
■J'j pounds. The Rural Treasures did finely. 
From the package of Niagara Grape seed 
about 20 grew. J. p. w. 
Indiana. 
But LER.DcKalb Co.—My ShumakorWheat, 
50 grains, was sown in the Fall, yield, 0 l £ 
pounds; of Surprise 47 graius were sown; 
yield, 12 pounds. Of Fultzo-Clowson 500 
grams sown yielded 7 1 ., pounds, with common 
tillage for all alike; no manure or fertilizer. 
Clover sod. The Blush Potato, having 11 
eyes, was planted in 11 places, and yielded 
seven pounds; all large, nice potatoes. 
small, owing, I think, to too much rain and 
too large a growth of stalk. They were rather 
late with me. The Shoe-peg Com does well 
here; there are thousands of bushels raised 
in this country. My wife is delighted with 
the flowers. J. m. a. 
New York. 
North Walton, Delaware Co.—My very 
small Blush Potato was cut in four pieces 
and planted in the drill in a field of 
White Stars. The field received a light 
dressing of horse manure, while plaster and 
ashes were applied to the hills. Yield was 
16 pounds, all suitable for table use. The 
Shoe-peg Corn did not take kindly to the cli¬ 
mate in this section. It probably would have 
been about right for roasting purposes on 
Thanksgiving Day if there had been no hard 
frosts. A. L. w. 
New Jersey, 
Stephensburq, Morris Co.—My two 
Blushes yielded 11 pounds of nice tubers. The 
Shoe-peg Corn grew to au average bight of 
12 feet. I got 41 nice ears weighing 81 
pounds. I think it will prove a good variety 
for heavy land in this section. Rural wheats 
did not do very well here, as they winter- 
killed. As to hardiness they stand as follows: 
Surprise, Fultzo-Clawson, Shumaker. Yield 
as follows: Fultzo-Clawson, one pound six 
ounces; Surprise, eight ounces; Shumaker, 
three ounces, Watermelons a failure. Flower 
seeds also failed. I have 23 fine Niagara 
Grape seedlings. B.-b. Centennial Wheat was 
planted as a Winter variety. J. 'V. w. 
Wyoming. 
Tie Siding, Albany Co.—This place lies 
among the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains 
on the Colorado and Wyoming line. Our 
season was too short for most of the seeds 
scut, The Black-bearded Centennial Wheat 
headed out nicely, but did not ripen, so the 
beautiful heads grace a Winter bouquet. My 
Blush Potato contained seven eyes and was 
planted in seven hills, receiving no special 
attention. Yield, 74 tubers, most of them of 
fair size. I am carefully preserving them to 
plant another year, hoping, of course, to make 
a “fortune” from them. Price of potatoes in 
our Laramie market is one cent per pound, 
butter three cents and pork 10 cents, l. c. w. 
W. C. R. 
Missouri. 
Greenfield, Dade Co.—Of my Blush Po¬ 
tatoes. planed about April 20, the yield was 
QL\)t €htmst. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name 
and address of the writer to insure attention^ 
THE PHYLLOXERA. 
.1. 0. Y., Oneida, N. Y. —1. What is the 
Phylloxera? 2. Are California vines troubled 
with it? 8. Where can I get information 
about Government lands in Southern Cali¬ 
fornia? 
Ans.—T he terra phylloxera designates not 
only the insect but also the disease it pro¬ 
duces. The phylloxera insect occupies a posi¬ 
tion intermediate between the plant lice 
(aphidm) and the bark lice (coecidre), though 
in most respects more closely allied to the for¬ 
mer than the latter. Although the genus was 
first discovered in Europe by Prof. Planehon 
in 1868, it was more largely represented on 
this than on the other side of the Atlantic, 
for while there are only two discovered spe¬ 
cies indigenous to Europe, there are 16 de¬ 
scribed specie* here, most of them inhabiting 
galls upon the leaves and twigs of hickory, 
oak audgra,<e-viues; but none of these, except 
the phylloxera of the grape-vine, seriously 
affects man’s interests. In 1869, Mr. Lichen- 
stein. of France, suggested that the insect 
which was ravaging the vineyards of his na¬ 
tive land, might he the same described by Dr. 
Fitch, State Entomologist of New York, as 
making galls on the leaves of American grape¬ 
vines, and in 1870 Prof. C. V. Riley proved 
that this suggestion was correct. At the same 
time he also proved—what was discovered 
simultaneously in France—that the grape 
phylloxera (Phylloxera vastatrix) presents 
itself in two different typos, one (Gallicola) 
making galls on the leaves of grape vines, 
and the other (Radicicola) affecting the roots. 
The gall or excrescence produced by the 
former is a fleshy swelling of the under side 
of the leaf, more or less wrinkled and hairy, 
with a corresponding depression on its upper 
side, the margin of the cup being fuzzy, and 
drawn together so as to form a fringed 
mouth. It is usually cup-shaped, but some¬ 
times greatly elongated or purse shaped. 
Those that appear iu the early Spring are usu¬ 
ally large, and ou opening one of them the 
mother-louse can be seen diligently at work 
laying eggs, of which from 200 to 500 have 
been found iu each gall. The eggs begiu to 
hatch, when six or eight days old, into active 
little, six footed insects, which, issuing from 
the gall, scatter all over the vine, most of 
them finding their way to the tender terminal 
leaves, where they pump up the sap, forming 
other galls in which other broods are gener¬ 
ated. there being five or six generations dur¬ 
ing the year. The lice also settle on the ten¬ 
drils, leaf-stalks and tender branches, where 
they form knots much like those formed on 
the roots. Wheu the leaves become dry and 
less succulent late in the season, the lice that 
have survived the attacks of their numerous 
enemies, seek other quarters, many of them 
going to the roots, to which they attach 
themselves singly or in groups, and thus pass 
the W inter, subsisting by suction, their punc¬ 
tures resulting in abnormal swellings on the 
young rootlets, which eventually decay. 
When this occurs the insects seek the larger 
roots, which, under their attacks, in turn 
waste away. 
The root-inhabiting type hybernates mostly 
as young larva attached to the roots. In 
Spring it moults, increases in size and begins 
to lay. The eggs, which are very numerous 
and somewhat larger than those in the galls 
produce young which soon become virginal, 
egg-laying, wingless mothers. Five or six 
generations of these follow each other, and 
then, about the end of July or early in 
August, some winged female insects appear. 
These fly to new vines or vineyards where 
they lay eggs, usually two to five in number, 
and then die. The winged insects are most 
numerous in August and September, but they 
continue to swarm out of the ground till the 
vines cease growing in the Fall. The eggs are 
of unequal size, and in about a fortnight they 
produce sexual individuals, the larger pro. 
ducing females and the smaller males, accord¬ 
ing to some authorities, the males being wing¬ 
less and mouthless. The impregnated females 
produce eggs, which in their turn give birth 
to virginal, egg-bearing, wingless mothers, 
which begin again the same round of repro¬ 
duction. 
The insects spread in their winged state by 
flight from vineyard to vineyard: and in 
their wingless state they travel from vine to 
vine, or even from neighboring vineyard to 
vineyard either through underground pas¬ 
sages or over the surface. 
The gall lice are found on all sorts of vines; 
but least ou the European vine (Vitis vinifera), 
and most on the River Bank Grape (V. eordi- 
folia), and especially on the Clinton and 
Taylor. The root lice are most disastrous to 
the European vine, and least injurious to 
our Summer Grape (V. asstivalis) and the 
Scuppernoug. Indeed, all the Southern Fox 
Grapes lY. vulpina), are said to be entirely 
free from the phylloxera in any form. Of na¬ 
tive vines the most liable to the pest (the 
Catawba, Iona. Delaware and Goethe), belong 
to the North Fox sort (V. Larbusea). The 
puncture of the roots causes knots and swell¬ 
ings which begin at the tips of the rootlets 
which eventually die, when the lice migrate 
to fresh feeding ground with equally fatal re¬ 
sults. During the first year there are scarcely 
any signs of the disease. During the second 
year all the fibrous roots disappears, and the 
formation of others is prevented by the lice 
which settle on the larger roots, which 
their ravages cause to rot. The symp¬ 
toms of the disease are now seen in the 
sickly, yellowish appearance of the leaves 
and the small growth of the canes, and about 
the third year the vinos die; but then an ex¬ 
amination of the roots will generally fail to 
discover any of the pests, all of which have 
by that time sought “fresh fields and pasture*; 
new. 1 * 
2. Yes, especially the European varieties, 
which are largely grown in California. 3. 
Write to the United States Land Office at 
Los Angeles. 
FRUIT, QUERIES, ETC. 
M. S., Esse.wille, Mich, —1. How can Para¬ 
dise dwarf apple trees be raised from seed, 
aud where can the seed be obtained; 3. 
Would Jennie Lucas and Golden Beauty 
Plums do well here? 3. Give name aud ad¬ 
dress of some Michigan nurseries near this 
place. 4. Would the Pocklington, Duchess, 
Delaw are and Prentiss Grapes do well here ? 
5. Would Osage-Orange hedges thrive in this 
section ? 
Ans.— 1. Paradise Apple stocks are usually 
grown for cuttings or layers, as is done with 
the quiuce, currant aud other plants. Seeds 
of Paradise Apple are very rarely called for 
iu the market, aud would doubtless be only 
obtained with difficulty. Pluuts come large¬ 
ly from Europe, und are for sale by many of 
the leading Eastern nurserymen. 2. We 
have no special knowledge of the plum, 
named. Very possibly by Jennie Lucas, the 
Precoee de Lucas of Downing's Secoud Ap¬ 
pendix, may be (intended. Both are doubt¬ 
less varieties of the European or garden plum 
and if so will doubtless succeed anywhere 
in the vicinity of Saginaw Bay, on suitable 
soils, if the curculio is kept in subjection.* 3. 
There are nurseries at Monroe, Detroit, Grand 
Rapids, Lansing, Adrian, and several other 
places; hut we are uot informed as to their 
ability to supply the stocks wanted; We are 
unable to give names. 4. The Delaware Grape 
is generally successful throughout. Michigan; 
and there is no apparent reason why it should 
not be equally so at Essexville, under the lee 
of 8aginaw Bay. The other three are com¬ 
paratively new, and less is known as to their 
adaptation to the climate and soil of that State. 
We see no reason to doubt their success, how¬ 
ever. unless the alleged liability of the 
Duchess to the attacks of mildew shall 
prove an objection to its cultivation. 5. 
Osage-Orange will doubtless succeed with you, 
unless on wet soils. Honey Locust is quite as 
good; and is, moreover, indigenous to Michi¬ 
gan and entirely hardy. 
Miscellaneous. 
H. M. Chester, IU. — Of the various kinds of 
hens tested by the Rural, which are the best 
Winter layers? 
Ans. —As our older readers are aware, we 
try first one breed, then another for two 
years—always confined in hen yards. We 
have now tried all of those breeds (except 
Wyandottes) which are suited to this climate. 
We have had a greater number of eggs from 
the Black Hamburg hs during the Winter than 
from any other bleed. With regal’d to the 
prolificacy of all breeds in Winter, however, 
a great deal depends on the care and feeding 
they receive. 
E. S. S,, Eagle Harbor, N. Y. —Of whom 
can I get cotton-seed meal and linseed meal, 
and at what price per 100 pounds? 
Ans.—O f almost any large dealer in feed. 
Price varies according to quantity: about 
$27 a ton for cotton-seed meal and $34 for lin¬ 
seed meal free on board, and less by car-load 
of 15 tons. Hollister, Crane &: Co., 90 Broad 
Street, and D. D. Mangam. 90 and 92 Broad 
Street, New York, can furnish them. 
W. R., Rapid City, Manitoba. — (Yhat is the 
earliest kind of wheat? Is the Genessee 
Wheat still in existence ? 
Ans. —We have never heard of the Genessee 
Wheat, Would recommend Red Fern Spring 
Wheat or Lost Nation, Wm. Rennie, of 
Toronto, Canada,can supply the first—perhaps 
the second. Dr, Hoskins, of Newport, Vt r , 
can supply the latter. 
J. T. C., Lockport, N. Y, —Where can I 
get vines of the Victoria and Rural New 
Yorker Grapes? 
Ans. —Geo. W. Peck, of Roselle, N. J., has 
what is probably the true. Victoria. We do 
not know whether he will sell vines or cuttings 
or not. D. S. Marvin, Watertown, N. Y., isthe 
originator of the “ Rural New-Yorker” 
Grape. 
“ FelineLongmont , Col. —What good work 
is published on forestry, and where can it be 
obtained? 
Ans.—T he Elements of Forestry; by F. B. 
Hough. To be obtained of Robert Clarke & 
Co , Cincinnati, O. Yon can also obtain valu¬ 
able forestry reports of the Department of 
Agriculture, Washington. D. C. 
A. E. H.. Westfield, X. Y. —What is Para¬ 
dise apple stock? 
Ans. —This is a distinct species of apple. 
The tree is cif small size, never attaining over 
three or four feet in hight. It is used for 
stocks for dwarf trees or bushes that occupy 
but a small space in the garden. 
G. S., Peterborough. —I have had a Kieffe 
Pear tree for four years, and it has not grow 
15 inches, though it is on a soil in which grap 
and plums do well. It barely lives: wtat ails it 
Ans. —Our own Kieffer grew very little 
until the third year. We hear of similar ac¬ 
counts trom others. 
J, A. L., Pittsburg, Kan. —1. Where can 
barberry plants he obtained? 2. At what age 
will they come Into bearing? 
Ans.— 1. We know of noplace nearer you 
than Ellwanger & Barry, Rochester, N. Y. 
2. Under favorable conditions, at three years 
of age, 
J. M., Aban. Canada. —Will readers of the 
Rural who are not subscribers bo allowed to 
compete for the premiums offered for the best 
articles on various agricultural topics? 
Ans. —Any body can compete for the prizes, 
whether his name is on our books or not. 
Communications Received kor the week Ending 
Saturday , Dec. 15. 
G. S.-G.S.P.-J. H. K.-J. H, H.-A. W. Smith.— 
Thanks. We shall be glad to hear from you again.—H. 
C. y. O.-T. B. W.—G. N. S.-C. A. G.-W. F. W.-G. 
w. F,—thanks.—X. S. it., pear received—answer by 
mail.—J. F. 31.—C. H. G.-C. M. C.-J. C.-J. W. H.-J. 
M. S.—J. D.—L. E. 31.—J. E. P.—J. v D. V'.. thanks for 
carp experience.—T. H. H.—J. A. B.—T. W. N.—J.—J. 
O. , Cobiien Union Co., Ills.; for prizes.— Grotchen.— 
Marah.— D. E. B.—0. L.—H. 31. —J. N. T., for prizes.—D. 
W. L.—A. L. J.—E. S. S.-J. W. A.-R. J. W. 3I.-L H. 
P. —J. S.—B. F. J.—W. E. 31—T. H. H.— for prizes.—J. 
P.—A. B. A.—J, S. Mc.C., would like notes as suggested. 
—J. W. W. Lucy 31. W.. for prize.—H. P.—S. Y. K.-C- 
0 —W. H,Cornell.thanks.—A H.P.—L.L,s.~W. H. 
