crop for each field. I seeded down fields to 
clover, which was a mistake, for the land was 
lowish, aDd the spring frosts heaved the clover 
out completely. I subsequently seeded 
with Timothy in addition to the clover, and 
the Timothy has never been heaved. In seed¬ 
ing down 1 sowed fields to wheat, that should 
have been sown to rye, being too low and not 
sufficiently well drained for the production of 
wheat. Another mistake was in supposing 
that the rolling lands required no drainage. 
I have since found that drainage is of great 
benefit to nearly all of the fields, although not 
absolutely necessary. Another mistake 1 
made was spending more money than was 
necessary for commercial fertilizers when the 
soil was already rich in plant food, requir¬ 
ing only the plowing under of green crops to 
render the supply available, it will be no¬ 
ticed from my experience that no pforson can 
move from one farm to another without meet 
ing with considerable loss. The farmer who 
has tilled his farm for 10 or 20 years is fami 
liar with every foot of the ground. He knows 
how to handle each field to the best advan¬ 
tage; he knows what kind of fertilizer is re¬ 
quired, and what kind of tillage; whereas on 
a new farm he might be compared to a 
mariner sailing over a strange sea without 
anything to direct him over the rocks and 
shoals, or like an engineer running a train 
over a strange railway, not knowing the posi¬ 
tion of the curves or the dangerous places. 
Different farms have peculiarities that are 
rarely appreciated. Two farms side by side 
may be entirely unlike, owing to differences 
in exposure, elevation, or the character of 
soil. 
iarm Ccottoimj. 
FIRM THE SEED IN THE SOIL. 
PETER HENDERSON. 
THE NECESSITY OF FIRMING THE SOIL 
around seeds after sowing has been insisted 
upon by me so ofteu, that i am afraid some of 
my readers will think 1 am getting a little 
weak on the subject. That millions are 
annually lost on our own crops of nearly 
every product of the farm, from failure so to 
do, 1 have never doubted; but uatil visiting 
England the past Summer, 1 had no concep 
tiou that there the farmers ever suffered from 
the same cause, never having seen any refer 
enceto it in any journal devoted to farm or 
garden work published there. 1 had believed 
that in the cooler and moister climate of 
Britain what was so imperative for us here, 
was not necessary, yet the past Summer, the 
loss on the root crops in Britain, such as tur¬ 
nips, mangels, etc., must have been enormous. 
Toe rainfall from the first week in J uue to the 
end of August in most of the southern counties 
of Scotland and nearly all of England was 
hardly enough to lay the dust, and in conse¬ 
quence in every direction there were to be 
seen crops of these roots, that, after all the 
trouble of plowing, harrowing, manuring, 
sowing and thinning, would not pay for 
gathering. Now one of the great reasons for 
such wide spread disaster, was, in my humble 
opinion, nothing more or less than that the 
seed was drilled in in the ordinary way, and 
covered with a roller over the whole ridge or 
drill; the part where the seed was dropped 
was no more firmed, by the roller following 
tbe drill, than the other parts of the ridge, 
which is not sufficient if the soil in dry. 
No doubt, in most seasons in Britaiu, the 
ordinary rolling by the seed drill is sufficient, 
but in protracted droughts with this compar¬ 
atively loose covering, the seed shrivels and 
hardens, and wbat would germinate in from 
two to tour days remains as many weeks, and 
if it germinates at all, it does so feebly in con 
sequence of the seeds being hardened and 
shriveled, and many of the plants die after 
‘•brairding;" while if the soil had been closely 
firmed over the seeds, germination would have 
commenced at once, aud, of course, a vigorous 
growth of young plants would have beeu the 
result. ISot only would the germiuation have 
been three or four weeks quicker; but the 
plants would, tor that reason, have rooted 
deeper, and consequently would be better able 
to withstand tbe long urought, and have a far 
greater chance of maturing a crop. 
HOW TO BEST FIRM SEEDS 
when drilled in, is the question. 1 only state 
the necessity, and let those who are better 
posted in agricultural machinery find tbe rein 
edy. In our mai ket gardens, in small areas, 
when we sow seeds by hand, we tread in with 
the toot every inch of the line in which the 
seeds are sown. Or sometimes we run over 
the line with a heavy wheelbarrow, the wheel 
following in the line of the seeds. On laige 
areas on the farm this would uot, of course, be 
practicable; but either additional weight 
should be put on the seed drdl so as to com- 
a I _. iLa urniiri ,1 Ihu mamIr. or 
else a separate machine should be used 
having a narrow roller on each drill, 
which should pass immediately over 
the line of seeds. Had this been done tbe past 
season with the root crops iu Great Britain, 
depend upon it, there would have been tens of 
thousands of acres covered with fair crops 
where now there is scarcely enough to pay for 
harvesting. 1 have just returned from a three 
months’ visit in Europe and had ample oppor¬ 
tunities for observing the immense loss by the 
droughts on these root crops upon which they so 
much depend; and the idea that this loss was 
occasioned, in a great measure, because tbe 
soil was uot sufficiently firmed around tbe seed 
is my excuse for again referring to this sub¬ 
ject, as ic cannot, in my opinion, be brought 
100 ofteu or too forcibly before every culti¬ 
vator of tbe soil. Our Auiericau farmers can 
have but little conception of the immense area 
devoted to root crops in Great Britain, and the 
loss they have sustained this season must have 
run into many millions of pounds steriing.and 
that much of it could have been avoided if the 
suggestions 1 make could have been adopted, 
1 have hardly a doubt. Any farmer or gar 
dener can very easily test tbe value of firming 
the soil over seed by a very simple experiment. 
Let him prepare a small piece of ground, say 
about the middle of May and draws few shallow 
lines a foot apart, in these lines let bun sow 
two rows each of corn, mangel, turnip, carrot, 
grass seeds, or any of the ordinary farm seeds. 
After sowing let him tread in one line of each 
and leave the other untrodden but covered in 
the ordinary way, and note the results. Not 
only will the •'firmed" seed come up quicker, 
but the plants will keep stronger throughout 
the wuole season, that is, provided the season 
proves a dry one. Of course, if wet there 
would be no perceptible difference; but as tbe 
majority of tbe seasons with us are dry, it is 
always safe to apply tbe remedy. It can never 
do harm if the soil is moderately dry when 
tne sowing is done, and sowing should never 
be done unless the soil is fairly dry. There is 
many a poor farmer that mourns the loss of a 
corn crop, and many a poor gardener that can 
ill afford to lose nis cabbage or celery crop, 
that would have saved their lost crops hid 
they known that a stamp of the foot iu the mil 
of corn, or that a press of the foot along tne 
roots of the cabbage or celery would have 
proved the salvation of the crop in each 
case. 
was planted with early peas for market with 
a moderate amount of manure. As soon as 
the peas were matured, the ground was sown 
to buckwheat, which was plowed uuder, the 
effects of which were apparent, as the patch 
next year was extended beyond what received 
green manuring. The field is now in clover 
and grasses, and the yield is wonderful com¬ 
pared with that from it in its former condition. 
Buckwheat aud rye have some advantages 
over clover. First, clover is so valuable for 
hay that it would be bard work to induce 
many to plow it under; while the straw of the 
buckwheat is worth but little for feed. Again, 
buckwheat has long been noted among old 
farmers as a cleanser of tbe soil, smothering 
all other growth, and is also considered sure 
death to worms in tbe soil, as crowding out 
other growth leaves only the buckwheat, 
which it is said no insect in the soil will feed 
upon, consequently they die Then again, 
buckwheat or rye will grow on the poorest 
soil, where clover could not be induced to 
grow, and by means of these the productive¬ 
ness of the ground can be increased so that 
clover and the grasses can be grown. The seed 
also of buckwheat or rye costs but little for an 
acre. Some who have never tried it have an 
idea that if you turn under a ton of green stuff 
you can get back only a ton; but even if that 
were the case, when I can turn under a ton of 
green buckwheat or rye. costing but a few dol¬ 
lars, and get a ton of caobage worth $30 or 
$40, I consider it profitable. There is a me¬ 
chanical effect on the soil, making it mellow 
and friable. everett K. brown. 
Monmouth Co., N. J. 
Crops. 
GREEN MANURING. 
The Rural Fertilizer “Special” was to me 
and many other farmers by far the most 
valuable “Special" of tbe year; treating, as it 
did, of the foundation of good farming. But 
there is one branch of the fertilizer question 
which did not receive much consideration in 
that number, which, from my experience, 1 
deem important, viz.: green mauuriog. 
From an experience of several years past 1 
consider it very valuable on Eastern farms, 
especially in connection with chetrical fei til- 
izers. One of the points of superiority of 
farm manure over chemical fertilizers is the 
vegetable matter it contains. 
Green manuring in a measure supplies the 
deficiency in chemical fertilizers. Some of 
the most profitable crops I ever raised were 
with green manures and chemicals. Most 
of my experience iu this line has been on a 
Connecticut farm, not far from Mr. Bartholo¬ 
mew, spokeu of by Prof. Atwater, aud 
though 1 have not carried on as extensive aud 
continuous experiments as be, yet, from some 
experimenting and observation 1 have found, 
quite uniformly, that a high-grade bone su¬ 
perphosphate has been a paying investment 
on all farm and garden crops. 
For some years past I have grown several 
acres ol' cabbages and other truck crops for 
tbe local market, and needing more manure 
than 1 could make from the farm stock, 1 was 
led to experiment with something else. Two 
years ago I raised one of the best paying 
crops of cabbage l ever had, with nothing but 
green manure and bone phosphate. Tbe 
ground had been for several years in grass, 
which was “run-out" so that the year before 
uot over half a ton of hay per acre was cut. 
It was mowed early and immediately 
plowed and sowed with buckwheat, which 
was well blossomed in time to be plowed un 
der for rye, which in turn was headed out 
next season in time to be plowed under before 
setting fall cabbage. It was treated to from 
1,000 to 1,200 pounds of as good, high grade 
bone phosphate as the market afforded. The 
soil was a rather daik loam, aud retentive of 
moisture, which was a help. The crop was 
good, and as cabbage brought, that Fall, from 
$30 to $40 per ton, when the low cost of the 
crop was considered, it was the most profit¬ 
able crop I bad raised for a long time. L hud 
another piece of lighter ground on a hill side, 
which had been pastured for 25 years or more 
without plowing, uBtil the sward was anout 
„ .This for several years 
EXPERIMENTS WITH NOVELTIES. 
I have been testing some of the novelties of 
the season, and suppose the Rural friends 
will be interested iu the results of my labors. 
I find the Vanguard Potato fully a week 
earlier tbau the Sunrise, which has heretofore 
proved the earliest of all. 1 have raised the 
Sunrise to an eatable condition in 60 days. It 
is worthy of general cultivation, beiug dry, 
mealy and fine-flavored. It has yielded 800 
bushels to the acre with me, in ordinary field 
culture, and sold at top prices. The same is 
true of the Vanguard, which yields somewhat 
more. This wet year the Vanguard shows a 
little rot; Sunrise does not. 
Henderson’s Earliest Red Valentine Bean 
does not prove any earlier than the old Valen¬ 
tine, aud is more than two weeks behind the 
Green Flageolet Bean. I have sold many of 
the latter for first early snap beans while 
young. The pods soon become fibrous, how 
ever, but they are earlier than the Feejee and 
Mohawk. 
Tbe Eclipse Beet is not as early as the Egyp 
tian by two weeks; but it is really a good deal 
better in flavor than the old Turnip Beet. 
Thorburu's Perry’s Hybrid Corn is three 
weeks later than the Marblehead, and cannot 
compare with it in flavor. Indeed, 1 have 
yet to find any variety of sweet corn which 
can excel the Marblehead in flavor aud curli¬ 
ness; but there i9 a wondrous difference in 
the seed. 
The Rural crosses of corn were all too late 
to ripen up here among the mountains. 
Henderson’s First of All Peas deserve great 
praise. 1 put my earliest crop on poor land, 
and afterwards give manure generously, aud 
have splendid crops of excellent peas on my 
later plantings. 
The Blue imperial Pea is ranking h'gher 
every year, in my estimation, as a market 
pea. The Abundance will probably prove 
valuable in tbe same direction. Both repay 
generous fertilizing. 
The King Humbert Tomato is very disap¬ 
pointing, but our climate and season have 
beeu against it. 
Essex Co., N. Y. richard ferris. 
-pornu logical 
THE BLIGHT. 
C. M. HOVEY. 
The blight, so called, has ceased to be a 
terror to the pear cultivator. The time was 
when it was looked upon as the greatest ob¬ 
stacle to the growitig of this delicious fruit, 
and a great loss to the cultivator. Then a 
good, thrifty pear tree 15 or 20 years old, was 
pretty sure to produce, year after year, an 
average of three or four bushels of fruit, 
worth $2 per bushel, or, say about $5 for eoc-b 
tree. Now the same crop would only firing 50 
or 75 cents per bushel, or about $2 per tree — 
scarcely enough to pay iutereat on laud and 
taxes, to say nothing about gathering, assort- 
t,nxin?. marketing, aud other expenses, 
so that whether tbe trees die or not is of little 
consequence. 
It is curious to observe that the more ene¬ 
mies there are to couteud with, the greater the 
crop. Potatoes were never more plentiful or 
cheaper of late years than they were after the 
attack of the potato beetle; and so with fruit: 
plums, which it has been feared would be a 
lost fruit from tbe attacks of the curculio, 
have beeu so plentiful this year, they certain¬ 
ly did not pay for gathering and marketing, 
and pears, which, before any blight was 
known about Boston, were a paying crop, are 
now comparatively worthless. Peaches, 
which nearly a century ago were considered 
as about run out, aud the most intelligent cul¬ 
tivator was unable to contend against the 
yellows, are now so cheap that they pay a 
very small profit. And grapes, which the 
mildew and rot not long ago attacked so viru¬ 
lently that it was almost impossible to raise 
them, are now a drug in the market, the 
finest Concords selliug for $20 to $30 per t n. 
Our only conclusion is that our country is so 
large, and the injurious cuuses so local, that 
the pests do not iu the least diminish the sup- 
pl y. 
It is easy to theorize on the cause of the 
blight; but experience is, after all, the best 
teacher. The experienced cultivator wnose 
trees are attacked, and whose crop is not 
diminished, ought to feel as safe in his treat¬ 
ment as the theorist whose trees are killed 
and whose crop under bis theoretical treat¬ 
ment is a failure. Such, however, are the 
facts. Years ago (1844) the Rev. H. W. 
Beecher, then residing in Indiana, wrote an 
exhaustive paper on the subject for tbe Maga¬ 
zine of Horticulture, entitled “The Blight in 
tbe Pear tree; Its Cause and a Remedy lor 
it," filling 15 pages. I can not, of course, in a 
brief article, give anything like a synopsis of 
his able paper. It is wel worth reading, espe¬ 
cially in the light of 4C yeais’ additional ex¬ 
perience, for we know no more about it now 
than we did at tbai lime. As Mr. Beecher 
says, in closing his article, “In bud blight 
there is neither iu this (the remedy he pro¬ 
posed) nor in anything else, that 1 am aware 
of, any remedy 
Tbe conclusion that Mr. Beecher arrived at 
by very careful observation, and tbe large 
experience of old orebardists whom be con¬ 
sulted, was that pear blight was caused by a 
late summer growth aud an early, hard Win¬ 
ter, when “the fluids were suddenly frozen— 
the growth instantly checked.” So convinced 
was one large cultivator, Mr. Reuben Reagan, 
of Putnam Co., N. Y., of this, that he could 
mark the trees that would be attacked by the 
blight tbe following season, and his “prognos 
tications were strictly verified." But all this 
was like the theories of the cultivators of 
1,000 yeais ago, of Theophrastus, Pliny, Po 
tanus, and Columella. Diogenes had a theory 
that plants were generated from putrid water 
aud earth. If he had said “grown’' instead of 
“generated," bis theory would have proved 
correct. By all who care to know the history 
of blight and its virulence in Indiana, when it 
took off whole orchards, Mr. Beecher’s paper 
will be found highly interesting. 
Very recently 1 have read an article on the 
blight by Prof. Arthur, of the New York 
Agricultural Experiment Station. After giv¬ 
ing the details of his experiments in inoculat¬ 
ing trees, he concludes as follows: “These are 
the facts. They explain the phenomena of 
pear blight in this way: the disease is due to 
living germs. The germs can live aud multi¬ 
ply indefinitely iu any damp spot where there 
is decomposing vegetable matter. From 
such places they are raised into the air when 
dry, or carried up by moisture. From the air 
they lodge upon the trees, aud when the con¬ 
ditions are favorable, pass iuto the tissues and 
cause the blight." Here we have the cause, 
aud Prof. Arthur remarks: “Does not all 
this suggest some thoughts regardmg preven¬ 
tion and remedies.' Do not force the trees 
into too rapid growth by heavy fertilizing or 
otherwise; place uo confidence in sulphur, 
lime, or washes and applications of any sort. 
Promptly remove every trace of the disease a 
foot or more below the lowest spot where it 
shows, aud burn the branches.” 
Prof. Arthur should road what Mr. Beecher 
says, as follows: “Others have attributed the 
disease to over-stimulation, by high manur¬ 
ing, or constant tillage; aud ic has been said 
that covering the roots with stones and rub 
bisb, or luying the orchard down to grass, 
would prevent the evil. Facts warrant no 
such conclusions. Pear trees in Glbsou Couu- 
ty, Indiana, on a clay soil, with blue slaty 
subsoil, were affected this year more severely 
tbau auy of which we have heard. Pears iu 
the southern part or this State, on red clay, 
where the grouud hud long been neglected, 
suffered as much as aloug the rich bottom 
lauds of the Wabash aud Vincennes. If there 
was any difference It was in favor of tbe rich¬ 
est land. . . . Aside from these facts, it is 
well known that pear trees do not blight iu 
