THE BUBAL WEW-YOBKEB. 
FEB'7 
otherwise injure the fibers of the tree and im¬ 
pede the flow of sap, which usually attends the 
use of the ordinary sap spout. 
The weight of the bucket upon the spout 
hook, not only assistsiu retaining the ?pout in 
position, but also pack* the spout where it 
conies in contact with the tree. The sap 
enters the spout through the inner opening, 
its escape being prevented by the concave 
shape of the inner end. Tne lip on the nose 
of the spout secures a direct flow of the sap 
into the bucket, so that it is not liable either 
to stop at the end of the spout until a suffi¬ 
cient quantity accumulates to force it out, or, 
instead of dropping from the end of the spout, 
beiug earned back aloug its under side. 
To remove the spout from the tree, the spur 
is loosened from the fibers wbich-surround it, 
by raising the nose of the trough. The spout 
can then be readily withdrawn, it would 
seem that this provision at least would be 
some improvement over spouts which are 
firmly driven into tne tree, thereby tending to 
impede the fliw of the sap by the wedging of 
the fibers, and to injure the tree when re¬ 
moved. The Cady patent will expire next 
year. 
We give also illustrations of the Pudigon 
(Pig. 54) and (Fig. 55) the Steele spouts, the 
patents for which will expire respectively 
April 28, 1885, and February 23, 1886. The 
Pudigou cap spout consists of a V-shaped 
metal drip spout which is inserted in the 
"blaze” of the tree made around the hole. 
The front edges of tbi® spout are turned up so 
as to properly direct the flow of the sap to the 
bucket, and the inner edges of the spout are 
knife edged, so as to be driven into the sap- 
wood of the tree. 
The Steele method of obtaining sap consists 
in scoring the tree with a senes of grooves 
which stand in an oblique direction and con¬ 
verge towards each other with a vertical 
groove extending downward at the conjunc¬ 
tion of the oblique cuts At the bottom of the 
scorings is arranged a spout device to carry 
the sap to the bucket. 
I 
Important Expermients in Potato- 
Growing.— One of the most valuable experi¬ 
ments ever made by the N Y. Agr. Exp. Sta¬ 
tion is presented in a late bulletin. In the 
Fall of 1883 the Director selected and laid 
aside for seed the largest and the smallest 
tubers from the most and least produciive 
hills of ten varieti s growing in the Station 
garden. 
On the 8th of May, 1884, this seed was cut 
into single eyes and planted, each selection by 
itself, iu the garden, so that there were four 
short rows of each of ten varieties, the first 
row containing the cuttings of the largest 
tuber from the most productive hill, the 
second those of the smallest tuber from the 
most productive hill, the third row the cut¬ 
tings of the largest tuber from the least pro¬ 
ductive hill, and the fourth those of the 
smallest tuber from the least productive. 
From the most 
pro.iucllve 
hill. Largest 
tuber 
Pounds, 
From the least 
productive 
hill. Largest 
tub r. 
Pounus. 
Mereli 
Total 
MerCb.j Total. 
Rural Blush. 
116 
13s 
102 
123 
Early Sunrise '. 
1(9 
1:3 
51 
62 
C jnqueror. 
91 
11*3 
56 
62 
Deftaaee.. . 
93 
ISO 
90 
116 
Adirondae. 
91 
103 
6-1 
86 
Wall’s Orange . 
75 
92 
55 
72 
Beauty or Hebron ... 
62 
86 
43 
73 
Crandall's Seedling... 
57 
71 
73 
«8 
Early Mayflower. 
51 
106 
54 
83 
Average. 
83 
106 
66 
85 
TABLE I , CONTINUED. 
Mereh., 
Total 
Mercn. 
Total 
Rural B'ush. 
96 
119 
52 
79 
Early Sunrise. 
Conqueror . 
82 
65 
t‘i'2 
78 
27 
27 
55 
42 
Della ce ..— 
57 
88 
28 
72 
Adirondae. 
67 
79 
70 
91 
Wall’s Orange. 
55 
70 
51 
73 
Be iutv of Hebron. 
80 
105 
59 
79 
Crandall's seedilog... 
64 
72 
61 
69 
Early Mayflower. 
54 
84 
84 
61 
Average. 
69 
88 
45 
69 
Smallest luber 
from the most 
productive 
bill. 
Pounds. 
Largest tuber 
fr m he least 
productive 
hill 
Pouuds. 
Mercb. 
Total. 
Mer< b, 
Total. 
Rur.-'l Blush . 
Early Sunrise. 
Conqueror.,. 
Defluuee . 
Adirondae.... 
Wall's Orange. . 
Beauty of Hm-r n. 
Crandall's Seedling .. 
Early Mayflower. 
96 
82 
65 
57 
6T 
55 
80 
64 
61 
119 
102 
73 
83 
79 
70 
105 
7‘2 
84 
inOD^vfi 
o »r, o ot * *n sji t- in 
123 
63 
62 
116 
86 
72 
73 
88 
83 
Average. 
69 
88 
66 
85 
From the most From the least 
productlv • productive 
hill, mallest hiil Smallest 
tuber. 1 tuber 
Pouuds. Pounds. 
The more they are examined the stronger 
does the evidence appear that these tables 
furnish an important clue for progress in t he 
improvement of the potato. They seem to indi¬ 
cate. very clearly, that in order to increase our 
yield of potatoes, it is ODly necessary in dig¬ 
ging our crop to expose the hills separately, 
aud then before harvesting go through and 
select our seed potatoes from those hills which 
show the most abundant crop. 
The experiment also seems to indicate that 
deterioration in a variety, whereby a good 
variety tends to become less and less profitable 
to grow, arises from the entire lack of selec¬ 
tion from the point of view of the prolific 
plant, and that to ooviate this deterioration it 
may only be necessary to yearly select our 
seed from the more prolific hilts, instead of 
hap-hazard from the harvested crop. 
The importance of this experiment justi 
fies the massing of the conclusions in another 
table. 
table m. 
Pounds per 
liO bill*. 
Average. 
1 
Mereh 
Total. 
From l’gest tubers from most prolific 
hill. 
From l’ge«t tubers from 1 ast prolific 
h.ll.. 
S3 
66 
106 
85 
Fri'in smal'at tubers from mor,t prolific 
bill.... .. 
From smal'at tubers from lea t prolific 
bill.... 
69 
45 
83 
69 
The question may arise whether the smaller 
size of tnecuttin's from the smallest tuuera 
may not account for the difference in yield. 
The smallest tubers irom the most productive 
hills, however, did not exceed in size the 
smallest tubers taken from the least produc 
tive hills, and hence the results mui-t be inter 
preted that the tubers from the most produc¬ 
tive hills possess more inbei eut vigor than do 
those of the least productive hills. 
No people in the world are more economical 
than ihe French peasantry, and the French 
workiog classes in tne cities, recruited iD great 
part irom the couutry, are neaily as econom¬ 
ical. It is the aggregate of the small 
savings of the laboring classes in town, 
and country, more than the accumulations of 
rich people, that enabled Fi ance to pay off so 
rapidly the enormous indemnity exacted by 
Gej many at tue close of the late war. Even 
now, notwithstanuing the depression of agn 
cultural and industrial interests, the Paris 
savings bank rtturus for tne past year show, 
as compared with 1883, an increase of 23,292 
in toe number ot depositors, and of 8,385,473 
francs iu tne amount due to them, The total 
number of depositors registered on the 31st 
ult, was 492.928, and the amount of savings 
103,102,989 francs. 
WORTH NOTING. 
This table is re-arranged below in order to 
bring out a most Important conclusion. It 
contrasts the merchantable and the total yield 
from the smallest tuber of the most produc¬ 
tive bill, and that of the largest tubers from the 
lea-t productive hill, whereby it will be seen 
that the smallest tubers from the most pro 
ductive hills yielded more crop than did the 
largest tubers from the least productive hill. 
The veteran Robert Douglas regards the 
wild, Black Cherry, which hebaslabored long 
and hard to bring into notice, as one of the 
most profitable for tree planting. He tells 
the Pniladelphia Weekly Press that one exten¬ 
sive tree planter, who will add 80 acres to his 
plantation in the Spring, purposes to set wild 
cherry seedlings, 12 feet apart, among catal- 
pas, on half of it, and black walnut, 20 feet 
apart, on the other half... 
W. t Chamberlain wishes to know, in the 
Ohio Farmer, the best size and depth for holes 
in tapping maple trees. He would like this 
experiment to be made: Take 100 trees as 
uniform as possible, and tap each with a %■ 
inch hole on one side aud a half inch hole on 
the other; bang a bucket on each and gather 
and measure separately the sap run from the 
100 % inch and tne 100 half-inch holes during 
the eu tire season... 
Mr. Chamberlain also expresses the belief 
after careful observation of 15 years in a 
"bush” of some 1,400 buckets where be has 
used wooden, tin and galvanized iron (Eureka) 
spouts side by side, that the Eureka is the best. 
The wooden spouts soured the 6ap so evi¬ 
dently more than metal that he discarded 
them entirely Dearly 20 years ago. 
He saysthat it is the boring of the bole, and 
not the exhaustion of the sap that injures the 
tree. Hence he would rim out the hole rather 
than bore a new one, about the middle of the 
season. 
Another thing that seems to him impor¬ 
tant, is to keep the bucket banging on the 
spout and covered during cold and windy 
weather when the sap is not running. It 
keeps the wind and cold f om drying up the 
boles. A hole bored in March and left en¬ 
tirely open, will be dried aud seared in the 
wind iu a week so that, the sap will scarcely 
flow at all. If a bucket is hung it keeps out 
still more wind, and finally, if the bucket is 
covered and kept banging on the spout, the 
bole will keep fresh and in good running or¬ 
der for the longest time.. 
"Not so good as our hopes—not so bad as 
our fears.” is the way the Mark Lane Express 
s ums up the farm results of 1884 in England.. 
Mr. Hale likes pine needles for mulching 
strawberries. The N. E. Farmer prefers any¬ 
thing that can remain on the ground during 
tne fruiting season to keep the berries clean 
and the soil moist. Sowed coru is first rate 
for mulching strawberries. 
Mr. A. W. Chekver says that no pure-bred 
cattle can ever drive the natives out of the 
country.......... 
We have in mind an occasion when 300 
busy and intelligent men—many of whom had 
come 1,000 miles to a convention of nursery¬ 
men—were kept for nearly an hour listening 
to a paper utterly barren of any interesting 
fact or helpful suggestion. This was more 
than a mere waste of time. It was the squan¬ 
dering of a priceless opportunity. These men 
bad met at great pam3 and expense, and it 
was robbing them of all the chance of instruc¬ 
tive intercourse. Such papers murder all in¬ 
terest in these meetings, and they drive away 
the men whose attendance makes them of the 
greatest use. 
The above is a portion of an article upon 
"Farmers’ Meeting.” which we find in the 
Weekly Press. It is very true—don’t you 
think so. Rural readers? . 
The article in the Press further states that 
in most cases the "proceedings” of these so¬ 
cieties are published. All of these reports 
contain much that is of pe< manent value. But 
it is plain that this vast undigested mass of 
crude statements could be improved by careful 
editing. The amount of this literature is 
swelling into formidable bulk, vv hat- if it 
were carefully boiled down every year? The 
expense of printing would be lei-sened, and so 
would the labor of searching for any ueeded 
information. This search isoften unrewai ded, 
because ihere is uothing to guide it. For the 
most serious lack of these reports, after all. is 
careful indexing. Indeed, not one in ten has 
any index at all worth the name, so tnat what 
is good in them is practically lost.. 
G. W. Hoffman remarks, in the Husband¬ 
man, that he cennot afford to compel cows to 
eat anything that is not good for them. All 
farm stock to be kept in the best condition, 
must be fed enough, the feed be given often 
enough, and what is rejected taken away, for 
mussing it over spoils it for other use. 
Pres. Lyon speaks In the Michigan Farmer 
of the inferiority or English apples, shown at 
New Orleans, in quality, color and size, as 
compared with ours...,...... 
Oregon and California apples are very 
large, but they are less highly colored than 
those of other States, aud have lost their dis¬ 
tinctive flavor, having become either neutral 
or positively sweet. 
The mere politician thinks of his party and 
the next election; the Statesman thinks of 
his country and the next generation. We 
shall know under which head to class Mr. 
Cleveland when his Cabinet is announced, 
perhaps....... 
If animals are not fed at regular hours 
they are iu alternate conditions of hunger and 
surfeit, and noauimal can thrive in that way 
Moreover, if the feeding is long delayed, 
there is a worry that causes more waste from 
the system than would result from actual 
hunger. 
A letter by Sir J B. Lawes has appeared 
in the Loodon Times, in which he claims that 
the sewage of large towns, when deposited 
in the sea, has a decided influence upon the 
production of fish, and that while the value of 
sewage upon the land has been exaggerated, 
its value in the sta has been ignored. 
It seems that the Empire State Potato of 
W. Atlee Burpee & Co., of Philadelphia,origi¬ 
nated with Mr. E. L. Coy, the originator of 
Beauty of Hebron, sent out by the Rural 
New Yorker. Mr. Coy says the Empire 
State will prove as good in every way for a 
late potato as the Hebron for an early. Mr. Coy 
sent us the Empire State as No. 99 last year, 
but the test was interfered with aud no report 
rendered... 
"Why propagate the hybrid between wheat 
and rye, spoken of by the Rural —so much 
talked of by that journal? We can see no 
reason for this, provided a genuine hybrid 
has been produced ” Thus comments the Bos¬ 
ton Traveler. Why, the Rural would ask, 
should we cultivate any hybrid or cross-breed I 
The most valuable plants and fruits of to-day 
belong to one or the other class. 
No doubt the Champion is about the earliest 
grape; but it is a question whether its earli¬ 
ness makes a sufficient amend for its worth- 
lesness....... 
Mr. E. Williams slates, in the Philadel¬ 
phia Weekly Press, that while Cottage is but 
a few days later, it is far superior in quality, 
being rich and sweet. The vine is, with us, 
hardy, but the bunches are small. 
As before stated, Mr. Williams places the 
Worden at the head of the list as the best 
variety of the dark grape. He says it is bet¬ 
ter than the Concord in every way.and earlier. 
If called upon to select a variety of each color 
combining iu the highest degree health, vigor 
and productiveness, sizp, beauty' and quality 
of bunch and berry, he would name Worden, 
Brighton and Niagara. To double the list, 
Wilder, Jefferson and Lady Washington 
would be about the addition he would make. 
We are surprised that Mr. Williams should 
add Lady Washington. At the Rural Grounds 
it is killed to the ground in severe Winters 
and seldom ripens a bunch fully.. 
(tua'ifiuhm. 
TRANSCONTINENTAL LETTERS. 
XXV. 
MARY WAGER FISHER. 
Until about the middle of December, we 
continued our rambles about Seattle, as the 
woods were in the bight of their beauty. 
Mosses, ferns and general vegetation lake on 
anew growth after the rainfall in October, 
and the wild strawberries aud wild yellow 
violets continue in full bloom. A beautiful 
shrub, which bears an edible berry, which is 
pronounced sallal, or saleel—an Indian name 
—I found in some places in profuse bloom, and 
beautiful beyond description. Everywhere 
in the wood* the scene was as moist, fresh 
and dainty as in June in Pennsylvania, but I 
have never an) where found such beautiful 
forests as those here. The mosses are exqui¬ 
site, and tb y cover stones and fallen timbers 
with the greatest daintiness, and luxuriance 
as well. Although the varieties of trees are 
limited, the forests have e tropical luxuriance, 
and if we extended our w alks for two or three 
miles, we could enjoy the perfect silence that 
only re.gus where the trees have been grow¬ 
ing for hundreds, and maybe thousands, of 
years, and nature remains undisturbed. 1 
huve been told of one tree, a cedar, cut on the 
SouDd, which had 2.897 rings, exclusive of the 
center, which w as decayed. None of the ex¬ 
hibits, 1 judge, which have been seut to 
New Orleans from this Territory, con¬ 
veys n just idea of this country, in regard 
to its special products, and partieulaily ita 
timber Wood is used here in the most lavish 
manner,as nothing is more plentiful and stone 
is scarce. A very handsome stone is brought 
from a place on tbeBouud, called Bellingham 
Bay, and is used by the wealthy builders of 
modern houses for foundation walls, iu- 
closures, steps, etc. A foundation wall under 
a house is almost a curiosity in this country. 
Houses are very quickly built, aud stand on 
wooden piles, or short timbers stood on end; 
there are no cellars, aud when the space under 
the house can be utilized, it is boat ded from 
the ground up; but it is often left open, so 
that the floors are in Winter cruelly cold. 
With very few exceptions, all bouses, except 
the best class of modern ones very recently 
built, stand on timbpis placed oti the ground, 
taken directly from the hand of nature, with¬ 
out nny preparation whatever. A common 
excuse made by the people is, "Oh, in this 
climate we need no cellars, you know, and do 
not require warmly built houses.” This ex¬ 
cuse amounts to nothing at all, as one feels 
the cold at times very severely on Puget 
Bound. Seattle is an extremely favored lo. 
calitv, aud is almost entirely sheltered from 
winds. Indeed, during the weeks I have 
spent here—uow lengthening iuto months—1 
recall but one night iu which the wlud has 
blown, and but a veiy few days. It Is just 
the reverse of Tacoma, which is exposed both 
as to land and water, and the boats there, 
with their poor anchorage, often drift far 
from their moorings. 
But about the middle of December snow 
fell to the depth of a few inches, furnishing 
fine coasting, and the adventurous boy could 
start his sled on ibe highest terrace in the city, 
up as far as Twelfth Street, and "scoot” u> 
the very w harf. One youngster pirforuied a 
feat that 1 venture lo say he will never he 
able to repeat. As be passed on his sled ft 
street through which run horse-cars, he shot 
under a car, between the wheeie, and went 
through unharmed and untouched, although 
the car was in slow motion. The newspapers 
