440 
Mr. Woodward said Baldwins, Bartletts 
and Seekels were not the productions of na¬ 
ture, and that improved fruits demanded 
improved culture. He thought those who so 
greatly feared damage to roots by plowing, 
forgot that the feeding roots of every plant 
were the young roots of the current year’s 
growth, and that these died with the fall of 
the leaves each year, so that if the plowing 
were done in early Spring, and no large roots 
were injured, the tree was not in the least hin¬ 
dered in obtaining its food supply. He 
thought the great defect was a want of ma¬ 
nure. We forgot the constant demand upon 
the soil, and neglected to return to the soil 
what was removed in the fruit. With enough 
manure he could keep a healthy and produc¬ 
tive orchard, with or without cultivation. 
It was idle to talk of the inadequacy of the 
manure supply so long as such immense quan¬ 
tities of rich feeding stuffs were being sent 
abroad. 
Prof. Roberts thought many orchards were 
being literally starved to death by the con¬ 
stant cropping with grain while no return of 
manure was made. Mr. Bronsou, of Ontario 
Co., said no good crop of plums could be pro¬ 
duced without a large use o£ manure. The 
plum is a gross feeder. A perfect remedy for 
the premature shedding of the leaves is plenty 
of barnyard manure, and Kainit at the rate 
of 200 pounds per acre. 
Prof. Gr. C. Caldwell, of Cornell, in a paper 
on the effect of fertilizers, said that he had 
found that where potash had been freely ap¬ 
plied to grapes, the proportion of acid was less, 
and that of sugar greater. He reported an 
experiment made in Germany wherein soak¬ 
ing the stakes of vineyards in a solution of 
blue vitriol (sulphate of copper) had proved a 
preventive of mildew, and asked vineyard- 
ists to give it a trial. 
Mr. Batchelor, of Utica, recommended a 
lawn dressing composed of 150 parts phos¬ 
phate of lime, 150 parts of salt, 50 parts of 
nitrate of soda and 50 parts of kainit, and 
said lawns should not be mowed too often un¬ 
less freely watered. To kill white grubs, 
make holes with an iron bar, six inches deep 
and the same distance apart, and fill with 
strong lime water. 
Mr. Curtice, of Rochester, in speaking of 
the importance of the canning industry, said 
that this new branch of business, connected 
so intimately with horticulture, had assumed 
enormous proportions; in the country east of 
the Rocky Mountains there were canned last 
year 4,450,000 dozen cans of tomatoes alone, 
and of fruits and vegetables more than 15,000,- 
000 dozen—an enormous amount. For canning 
he preferred the Wilson. Strawberry, the 
Spanish BigSrrean Cherry, and light-colored 
plums. He considered the Damson the best 
colored plum for canning. 
Of Russian apples, the Yellow Transparent, 
the Tetofsky and the Arabskoe (all of which 
the Rural has illustrated) were well spoken 
of. Among new grapes the Vergennes was 
favorably mentioned, as was .the Duchess; but 
without an exception, those who had fruited 
the Niagara, many of whom were present, 
spoke very highly of it, and the good opiuion 
of the Rural was more than confirmed. It 
was conceded, without a dissenting voice, that, 
ali things considered, it is the most valuable 
grape we now have. Mr. Hubbard feared 
that grape production would outgrow con¬ 
sumption, and counseled moderation in plant¬ 
ing. Others said the price of good grapes 
was constantly advancing, and thought there 
was no danger, 
Messrs. Elwanger & Barry showed 70 varie¬ 
ties of apples and 15 of pears, among which 
was as fine a basket of Anjou as we ever saw. 
What a pity that this splendid society, situa¬ 
ted as it is in the midst of the finest fruit re¬ 
gion of America, has not 5,000 instead of less 
than 500 members! 
for fPotnnt. 
CONDUCTED BY MISC BAY CLARK. 
A WOMAN’S THOUGHTS ON FICTION 
IN LITERATURE. 
While viewing Mrs. Annie Jack’s remarks 
on “Books, and the Reading thereof,” with 
respect and appreciation, is she not a little 
sweeping in her distinctions? Granted, that 
the flood .of cheap editions does injure the 
book-trade, to a certain extent, but a very 
large proportion of readers must either buy 
cheap editions, or go without. The Franklin 
Square Library contains, not only the best 
fiction of home and foreign lands, but the 
best of contemporary thought, in history, 
travels, biography, and political science. 
I must confess, with deep humility, that I 
aui an inveterate novel-reader. Bnt I can 
lay down James Payne, or Wiliam Black, or 
“The Duchess, ’—cherished friends all three, 
—and read Hugh Miller, or Herbert Spencer, 
or E. P. Whipple with equal zest. What— 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
FEB 44 
excepting always the Book of Books—can 
minister to a mind diseased like a clever 
novel? I am here reminded of James Payne’s 
clever doctor, called to prescribe for a young 
lady who is nervous and overwrought. It is 
suggested that much novel-reading has in¬ 
jured her. “Pooh!” says the doctor, “Novels 
won’t hurt her. If she has any mental 
trouble, they will mitigate it; I always read 
novels myself when I’m in love, and then it 
blows over somehow.” 
Science, travels, or biography, may fill many 
weary hours, but they appeal to the intellec¬ 
tual side of our natures, while novels, from 
their abiding human interest, appeal more to 
our affections. I think we all have some 
favorite volume of poetry or fiction, a familiar 
friend, whose pleasant words cheer us when 
tired and worried, but who, save Thomas 
Gradgriud, would calm his ruffled feelings 
with entomology or political economy? 
A varied range of novel reading will do 
much to eradicate a tendency to proviueialism 
or narrowness of view. A country girl may 
be as secluded as Miranda in her island borne, 
but knowledge of men and things obtained 
from the best fiction will do much to prevent 
her from elevating every stray masculine into 
a Ferdinand. The best fiction—“Ay, there’s 
the rub.” We may know enough to steer 
clear of such trash as Mrs. Mary J. 
Holmes and Mrs. Alphabet Southworth, 
but who, among the innumerable candidates, 
should we select as guide, philosopher, and 
friend? We need practice a wide catholirism, 
and choose the best of every one. When we 
want to meet pleasant, picnicing, irresponsi¬ 
ble people, we may read “The Duchess;” her 
creations are clever, wholesome, and essen¬ 
tially well bred—her women are well-dressed 
English gentlewomen; her men, for the most 
part, honest, clean-lived gentlemen, If we 
want a braeiug moral tonic, we may study 
Kingsley and his muscular Christianity. Who 
can read “Westward Ho!” without catebiug 
something of Amyas Leigh's indomitable 
spirit, or feeling most keenly the agonies of 
Frank Leigh and the Rose of Torridge ? 
Kiugsley impresses bis vivid personality upon 
us so strongly that “Hypatia’' seems a trag¬ 
edy of yesterday,painful in its impressiveness. 
We may visit English homes with Mrs. Olipb- 
ant, and American homes with W. D. Howells; 
view our follies through the looking-glass 
upheld by the genially cynical author of “The 
Book of Snobs;” see our teuderest home affec¬ 
tions doubly dear under the gentle hand of 
Dickens; or see the mystic side of New Eng¬ 
land development in the jiages of our own 
“Autocrat." 
Truly, he who writes a bright novel is more 
to be commended than he who taketh a city. 
What a dreary world this would be without 
Betsey Trotwood or Dick 8wiveller, Mr. Boffln 
and Little Dorrit, or the bright faced girls 
and earnest men of Black’s many pages. The 
poets most read and loved offer in their poems 
the familiar human element of the novel; ab 
stract thought appeals to the few rather than 
the many. The brightest and most delightful 
people we know are those who make high 
comedy of life, gilding the commonplace with 
delicate humor, and to those who wish to 
practice this difficult, delightful art, we say: 
Study the virtues, follies and foibles of our 
common humanity through the kaleidoscope 
of fiction; it need not spoil your appetite for 
solid reading, and it should make you sympa¬ 
thetic, bright and genial. 
Maywood, N. J. EMILY L. TAPLIN. 
Domestic Ccouomi) 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY MAPLE. 
THE FIRST TO STIR THE PUDDING. 
-*-♦-*- 
FARM LIFE AND HEALTH. 
PHILIP SNYDER. 
City people go into the country each Sum¬ 
mer for their health and that implies that 
farm life is healthier than city life. But is 
it? Cun we reach this conclusion by a care¬ 
ful look at country people? Are farmers and 
their children more vigorous and healthy; 
better developed physically and longer-lived 
than city people? Without having statistics 
at hand, my impression is that in the matter 
of longevity there is a slight difference in the 
farmer’s favor when he is compared with all 
the people of the city, those living in squalor 
and dirt as well as the cultured classes. But 
if there is any great value iu an abundance 
of fresh air and exercise, fresh fruits aud 
vegetables, and every possible opportunity 
for room aud ventilation, the difference ought 
to be greater. Perhaps it will be profitable 
to consider the matter. 
CONTRASTS. 
It will hardly be disputed, after one has 
looked over a city audience and then over 
one in the country, each “taken as they 
tun”—that is, indiscriminately—that without 
regard to dress, the city audience has the ad¬ 
vantage. Not only have the men and women 
more regular features, but they are better 
proportioned, and better developed. The dif¬ 
ference is less when we look over an audi¬ 
ence of city working men and their families, 
but still, on the average, they are rather 
more erect, and quite as healtby-looking as 
the farmers. Iu contrasting business men 
and their families with the farming classes, 
the latter are quite a good deal at a disadvan¬ 
tage, and this without taking manners or 
dress iuto account at all. Among the farmers 
there wifi be considerable angularity of feat¬ 
ure aud person, a good mauy hollow cheeks 
and wrinkles, aud quite a proportion who 
are round-shouldered and hollow chested. 
But with so mauy advantages in favor of 
country life, is this necessary? 
TOO MUCH HARD WORK. 
It may be in part, but not entirety. WHere 
there is a debt on the old homestead, or where 
the living depends entirety on the farm, the 
family, as a rule, work very hard. They 
work more hours than the mechanic, in all 
seasons except Winter; they have fewer holi¬ 
days, and, of course, there is lees time fox- 
physical reaction. Work with the farmers’ 
sons commences at au early age. A good 
deal of the work requires a stooping posture, 
and before he is aware of it the parent ox- 
child has acquired a slightly stooping figure. 
Sufficient attention is not given to children 
iu this matter, and from early youth the 
stoop is carried through life. The habit is 
often strengthened at school by seats with 
improper backs, or no backs at all, where the 
seat is a slab bench, as was the fashion forty 
years ago or less, and is yet iu backward sec¬ 
tions. Some attention to this at the stated 
times by parents and teachers, would work an 
agreeable change, and lengthen country life. 
But llie excuse for the neglect of it has a bet¬ 
ter basis than some other rural disabilities. 
The farmer starting without capital, must 
work hard and persistently, at least until be 
knows his rights aud fights for them with 
more pexsistence than now. Of all the wealth- 
producing classes he has least to say about 
the prices of his products. The whole busi¬ 
ness world depends upon him for its life aud 
being, and yet, while all other classes have 
their “Unions," and other organizations, by 
which to help each other against oppression, 
he has almost none. He works fifteen hours 
a day from April to December, pays taxes on 
all his property (because it is all iu sight,) and 
sells his products for what he cau get without 
one effort to get a price that is sure to pay a 
certain profit. No wonder he has to work 
hard. (It must be admitted though, that he is 
getting a little restless, and means to have 
things changed some time or other.) 
NIGHT AIR AND SLEEPING ROOMS. 
Land for his dwelling costs the farmer vir 
tually nothing, aud so he is not obliged to live 
in a basement or sleep on the fifth or sixth 
story. If his building material and the labor 
cost no more than the laixd, he need never 
sleep in one of those preposterous cages called 
a “bed-room,'’ with one small window closed 
with paper, curtains, and other rubbish, aud a 
door for the entrance. I have seen bed rooms, 
however, that had no window at all, aud no 
room for anything but the bed, and in that 
bole the farm boy, or girl, or guest, must 
pi-ay, sleep, shut the door, and suffocate. The 
ordinary bed-room is a trifle larger than that, 
but not very much. The window is practical¬ 
ly immovable, aud has no pui-pose for its ex¬ 
istence, except that it is the fashion to have 
one. By day it is closed to keep out the light, 
the heat, aud the iusects. and at night to keep 
out “the night air”—as though something be¬ 
side night air could be hud at night! There is 
less fear of it now, or less inclination to speak 
of it than formerly, but still, by the way that 
light aud air are barred out by green paper 
cux-tains, sashes that won’t budge without a 
“jimmy,” and closed blinds or shutters on the 
outside, it is plain that ventilatiou Is still re¬ 
garded much as a thief in the night; and light 
—bright, glorious sunlight—as a sort of nui¬ 
sance only fit to exist out-of-doors. Right 
here the reader should “stick a pin,” aud be 
a trifle reflective. It is this monstrous system 
of ventilation—or of no ventilation—which 
injures aud ruins a great deal of farm health 
The windows had better be bx-oken out with a 
ci-ow bai\ and the curtain fixtux-es burned, 
than allow them to remain as they ai-e 
in many homes. The night air is all 
the air that circulates at night, and we 
had better use that which is fresh from 
out-of-doors than use over and over 
again the little stock bottled up in the 
room since the last house-cleaning. When one 
has worked bard all day and drawn upon the 
best air in the fields, it causes a great reaction 
to the system to be deprived of good air at 
night, and especially when it is close by arid 
costs nothing. If the Almighty had not made 
air wonderfully elastic, so that it squeezes its 
way iuto evei-y vacuum and nook aud corner, 
through knot-holes, nail holes, augm- holes, 
rat holes, gimlet holes, cracks and crevices, 
farm lauds would be cheaper than now for 
want of occupants. The mortality would be 
frightful. No airing of a sleeping room dur- 
iixg the day will compensate for the absence 
of air at night. The lungs need it every mo- 
• ment, aud must have it if the sleeper’s rest is 
to be sweet aud refreshing; if it is not, the 
day is doubly bard. Good air at night makes 
good blood; good blood gives vigor, appetite 
aud strength, and makes work easy. A morn¬ 
ing of dullness, headache, lassitude and want 
of appetite genei-ally tells its own story as to 
the night air. 
A PROTEST. 
Being a wife and mother, I have been sorry 
sevex-al times to find in “Domestic Recipes” 
cake flavored with wine. 1 thought our 
R. N.-Y. was a tempei-auce, or rather teetotal, 
paper. Does Aunt Rachel know or tb ink how 
far-reaching the evil may be from these re¬ 
cipes? how a farmer's wife thinking every¬ 
thing good that the Rural publishes, may 
try these cakes, not realizing that they may 
cultivate a taste, or perhaps revive a taste 
once conquered, and thus cause much misery 
and sorrow? Even if only one family of all 
the Bubal’s readers should suffer through 
thoughtlessness or ignorance iu using these 
cakes, would it not he sad? 
I believe that the Rural is realty trying to 
help farmers aud their families. The paper 
has given us many rich and wholesome cakes 
without wineor brandy; why insert the liquor 
when it is a stumbliog block in some form or 
other to so many of our farmers? 1 do not 
like Marion Hai-land’a recipe books, for many 
of her recipes contain either wine or brandy. 
I always wished to possess one of her cook¬ 
books, but after seeing one which a friend 
had, the desire perished. Her talks with 
housekeeper* are so good, but the wine spoils 
it all. As she was one of xny heroines, the 
gHtecrUanrousi 
The combination 
of the Oils and Al¬ 
kali (Soda) must 
be complete to 
form a perfect or 
true soap, such as 
will not burn the 
fibre, or redden 
and irritate the 
skill. The Ivory 
Soap is 99 ^ % 
pure, which insures 
its being perfectly 
harmless, and will 
leave the skin 
clear, white and 
velvety. 
