702 
wov n 
bottom of the cellar through the wall below 
the frost line some 200 feet through the earth 
to an opening at the surface. In this way a 
constant ventilation is produced. Many bee¬ 
keepers pack the hives in straw. This method 
does not succeed as well as the cellar method. 
We must be able to control the temperature. 
That is the most important point. At Lansing, 
storing is stopped at the first frost. Six or 
eight frames, nearly full of honey, are placed 
where they are desired for the Winter. A 
short stick above the frames, so the cloth can¬ 
not fit close, permits the bees to walk over. 
When the brood is hatched, remove all other 
frames. Before severe weather, the bees are 
placed in the cellar. If the cellar is not ex 
actly right, it is well to remove them for a 
few hours some warm day and allow them to 
exercise. The bees are not taken out until the 
middle of April. 
The U. S. Dairyman says that a cow that 
calves in the Fall, if decently well taken 
care of, will not only actually produce 
more pounds of milk in a year than one 
that comes in in May, but the milk she 
does give is worth more per 100 pounds, 
for the reason that dairy products are al¬ 
ways worth more in the Winter than in 
Summer. It has also been found by the 
most intelligent, practical dairymen that a 
calf born in the Fall, fairly well wintered 
and given the vigorous growth that grass- 
food gives the following Summer, makes a 
better cow than the spring-raised one, and 
she is two years old, the right time for the 
birth of her first calf, besides. The gain 
all round is found, by those who try it and 
adhere to it, to be as much as $20 per cow 
per annum. But for all this, the “general 
purpose” farmer will not practice winter¬ 
dairying, but will continue to work cheaply, 
by making the bulk of bis production when 
it is worth the least. Nearly all of those 
who are now noted as highly successful dairy¬ 
men, make their business a specialty and 
are winter dairymen. 
and a centrifugal laundry drier.” When the 
butter comes in an ordinary churn to about 
the size of grains of wheat, it is placed in this 
whirling machine, and all the buttermilk and 
water are flung out. The butter comes from 
the machine perfectly dry. 
The Indiana Farmer notes a few dairy 
facts that will do to think over while nne is 
milking. A cow needs pure air and water 
and good food more than she needs exercise. 
No one can ever make bad butter good. Badly 
packed butter will not improve in the pack¬ 
age. You cannot expect a cow that is giviDg 
a rich flow of milk to get fat enough for beef 
at the same time. An attempt to feed the 
cow a week’s food in two days will not in¬ 
crease the flow of milk, but it will make the 
cow sick. 
Pot in every ounce of farm work you can 
before the ground closes up. There will be 
time enough for the vacations after Christ¬ 
mas..... 
THE RURAL’S LUNCH. 
The last month or so of a pig's life has a 
wonderful influence upon the flavor of the 
pork. You can put on the frame all through 
the year, but the taste is determined by the 
feeding at the end. Feed welL. 
The Popular Science Monthly advises usto 
put broken glass into rat holes. The feet of 
the rodents are cut, and at the smell of blood 
the other rats attack th? wouuded ones. Any 
science that turns a pest to fighting a pest 
will become most deservedly popular. 
Some one has written against bee-keeping 
because some persons have been stung to 
death. The Bee Journal thinks it would be 
just as reasonable to claim that stock should 
never be bred and that the butter and cheese 
business should be stopped because many 
persons have been killed by bulls. 
The Farmer’s Gazette says that scarcity of 
water is one great cause of tough beef. 
E. D. Hicks claims that the milk of the 
Devon is superior, for drinking purposes, to 
that of any other breed of cattle. Besides be¬ 
ing very rich in caseine and butter, it yields 
its cream very slowly...... 
The Michigan Farmer thinks if there is any 
woman who deserves the commiseration of 
her sex, it is the one who is married to a 
“shiftless” husband.. 
Meat from cattle slaughtered in a terror- 
stricken condition is found, by investigation, 
to be affected by the frenzied condition of the 
animals immediately preceding their death. 
The N. Y. Tribune says it will be strange if it 
turns out that even after death the cruelly 
slaughtered animals can still inflict some 
retribution on their tormentors. 
The Michigan Farmer wants to enlarge the 
genus Tramp, so that it may include dealers 
in lightning rods, organs, clothes-lines, etc., 
as well as the book agent. This rightly 
places the men who go wandering about the 
country trying to make farmers believe they 
don’t understand their own business. We 
would like to include in this list the “sports¬ 
men” and hunters who provide amusement for 
game, but are sure death to fences and 
orchards... 
Condensed cider or apple jelly is about the 
purest sauce for family use. It finds ready 
sale in many markets. It can be eateu as 
sauce, or can be converted into a palatable 
sweet eider by tbe addition of water. It is a 
good way to condense a bulky lot of apples into 
a small compass. Tbe manufacture is easy, 
consisting simply in driving the water from 
the cider by means of evaporation. Tbe jelly 
can be shipped in any kind of package, and 
will keep well in any climate. So says the 
Farm and Home... 
A new dairy machine exhibited at the Eng¬ 
lish Dairy Show is described, by Bell’s Mes¬ 
senger, as a “cross between a cream separator 
Mb, O. B. Had wen spoke of the pear be¬ 
fore a recent meeting of New England farm¬ 
ers, which was well reported in the Mass. 
Ploughman. He said that it is only by good 
cultivation that the pear can be brought up to 
a good excellence and pay ^ profit. It is no 
use to attempt to grow pears in grass land as 
a rule. They must be well fed. He selects 
the Bartlett, Boussock, Sheldon, Bose and 
Anjou as the best five for market.. 
For family use Mr. Had wen would select 
Giftard, which is a little earlier than Bartlett; 
the Clapp’s Favorite, which follows the Bart¬ 
lett; the Urbauiste, Seckel aud Dana’s 
Hovey. He believes the Anjou to be the best 
late pear we have.... 
Among pelargoniums sent to us in a lot by 
the Storrs Harrison Co., of Painesville, O. 
two are especially worthy of mention. La 
Jeannette bears a double flower, pure white 
in color. Queen of the Fairies bears double 
flowers. 1% inch in diameter, the inner part of 
the petals being rose colored, the outer white. 
Tbe flowers are shapely and durable. Few 
flowers have been improved so much of late 
years as pelargoniums, and there are few bet¬ 
ter for bedding or for the window or con 
servatory... 
Editors are a mean, timorous lot, always 
saying they want something original, but 
deadly afraid of it when it comes. So says 
Mr. James, in the Century... 
The most effective method of preserving 
eggs, according to the London Live Stock 
Journal, is first to rub them with a mixture 
of boiled oil and beeswax, and,second,rub them 
with clarified suet..... 
The Independent says that many fill the 
churn half full, but the time it takes to churn 
is lessened nearly one half when the churn is 
filled only one-third full. Many dairymen 
make this mistake by buying too small a 
churn. Wbat is saved in the extra cost of a 
larger churn is lost in extra time In churn¬ 
ing, often in a single week, always in a month; 
hence the folly of this expensive kind of 
economy. But it is like a great many tra¬ 
ditional economies quite too generally prac¬ 
ticed..... 
It is true, as the Mirror and Farmer states, 
that a cow milked three times a day 
will always give more milk than when milked 
but twice. When trials for large yields are 
made, this fact is taken advantage of and 
the cows are milked three or four times with¬ 
in the 24 hours................ 
Limburger Cheese is more profitable to 
the farmer aud maker than any other kind of 
cheese: first, because from a given quantity of 
milk more wright is obtained, owing to the 
mode of making, and also because the price it 
brings is usually from 10 to 40 per cent higher 
than that obtained for the standard Amer¬ 
ican cheese. The California Patron says that 
in neighborhoods where Its manufacture has 
been commenced it usually spreads to the ex¬ 
clusion of other kinds......... 
A writer in the Ohio Farmer refers to the 
fact that Friesian dairymen never allow a 
cow even to sea her new born calf, much 
less to lick and caress it. The cow is con¬ 
fined in a stall and watched, and tbe mo¬ 
ment the calf is dropped it is wholly re¬ 
moved from her sight. 
The roan who wants to lie behind with 
his work and have a late season next year, 
will be idle now, says the N. E. Homestead. 
Everyone knows, says the Prairie Farmer 
that a large kernel of wheat will produce a 
larger and stronger blade and furnish more 
nutriment to support it than a smaller one. 
Its superiority will cause more (illfriug and 
a larger number of better heads. In reply 
to thiRitmay be said that the largest grains 
are often borne by the smallest heads. We 
should always select, if selection is to be 
made, from the largest heads whether the 
kernels are larger or .smaller.,..... 
®tr wcvpxfytxt. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Arkansas. 
Poteau, Soott Co.—Crops in this section are 
hardly an average. Too much rain in the 
SpriDg, and too dry in the Summer. Wheat 
turned out a little better than was expected; 
but tbe crop was less than last year, as there 
was not as much planted. The acreage in 
wheat this Fall will be less than last. Coru 
and cotton are but little over half crops. We 
have been blessed with good weather for gath¬ 
ering crops this Fall. There is a good mast 
crop this year, which will help to make up for 
tbe short corn crop. But most of the mast is 
of the bitter kind, which will not fatten the 
hogs much till late. Some farmers have lost 
nearly all their hogs this year from tbecholera. 
Cattle are cheap; yearlings can be bought for 
from five to six dollars. H. c. b. 
Indiana. 
Deming, Hamilton Co., Nov. 4th.—Crops 
have been generally good. Corn is not in 
good condition for cribbiDg yet—too much 
soft corn. Showers are frequent, consequent¬ 
ly corn cures slowly. Apple crop almost a 
failure. Apple orchards iu this section are 
badly winter killed. Potato crop good and 
sound; worth 25 cents per bushel. Turnips 
and pumpkins plentiful; no sale. The market 
for farm produce is about as follows: Wheat, 
as cents; corn, 25 to 30 cents; hogs. $3 to 
$3 10; cattle, $2 to $4; sheep, $2 to $3 per 100 
pounds; apples. 75 cents to $1; hay, about $8 
per ton; eggs, 15 cents per dozen; butter, 15 
cents per pound. Stock generally healthy. 
Times are close; money scarce. In a late 
Rural you said you dug 0V£ pounds of pota¬ 
toes from one hill, which wa9 a jolly thing to 
do. I agree with you—it is; but it is more 
jolly to dig hills of nine pounds each from 
one eye. I dug 81 pounds from 10 continuous 
hills; three of them made nine pounds to the 
hill; the rest of the variety was equally good. 
They were planted 2x4 feet in trenches four 
inches deep, freshly out to one good, strong 
eye; about two tablespoon fills of plaster 
were put in the hill before covering asbes on 
the hill. I gave them level cultivation. The 
variety was a white sport of the Blue Victor. 
Most of tbe Rural seeds did well. We had 
some as fine tomatoes as I ever saw. Two 
years ago the Rural told me bow to raise 
strawberry seedlings; I saved a lot of Cres¬ 
cent seed fertilised by Miner’s Prolific, and 
I have many fine plants. A small-fruit grow¬ 
er came several miles to see them iu bearing; 
he said one of them—No. 13—bore tbe nicest 
large berry he had ever seen. He had seen 
some Sharpless as large, but they were not 
of as good a shape. Thanks to the Rural 1 
T. E. B. 
Kansas* 
Junction City, Davis Co., Nov. 4.— We are 
having beautiful autumu weather. Wheat is 
looking fine; farmers seem to be elated over 
the prospect. Corn gathering is in full blast. 
There is a good crop, but the price is rather 
low. Many farmers are feeding cattle and 
hogs, thinking thus to realize at least 40 cents 
per bushel for their corn. Potatoes plentiful 
and of a good quality. Vegetables of all 
kinds grow to perfection here. All kinds of 
fruit grow here and ripen under the sunny 
Kansas sky. Farmers are looking hopefully 
into the future for better times. 
Among the half dozen papers we take the 
Rural is always found on top. e. d. 
Kentucky. 
Bowling Green, Warren County.—The 
Rural Peas were a failure. The Flageolet 
Beans proved to be very prolific and very good 
when used as Lima Beans. The tomatoes 
were also good. The Johnson Grass Seed I 
could not give away; as there is some of it in 
our locality, we don’t want any more at 
present. Tbe corn proved to be from very 
early to late, forming a succession. Some 
stalks of the latest maturing yielded as many 
us five fair sized ears each. Stalk short but 
very heavy; grain good though mixed, there 
being both yellow and white grain on the same 
cob, white predominating. n. D. w. 
Maryland. 
Westover, Snm' rset Co., Nov. 2.—Since 
June, though we have had frequent raius, 
they have been very light, and although we 
have not suffered from any protracted drought, 
as we did last Fall, yet we have had, oom- 
paratively speaking, four months of rather dry 
weather. Corn has suffered to some extent 
though I think there will be a fair yield; but 
very little huskiug has been done yet. Wheat 
is about all sown, that which was first sown 
being up and looking nice. Wheat has been 
put in in better condition than it was last Fall. 
We can sow our wheat much later than the 
farmers of the North (New Jersey or Pennsyl¬ 
vania), with the same degree of. success; we 
cannot,however,sow as early as in these States 
without running much risk of damage from 
the ravages of the fly. We have had light 
rain very recently; tbe weather is now quite 
cool, and we are having heavy frosts. The 
first ice was seen about ten days ago, but we 
look for mild weather during a part of the 
present month. Farm help will soon be gettiug 
scarce owing to the fact that the oyster catch¬ 
ing season began the first of this month, and a 
large portion of the laborers (colored) are hired 
by boat captains to go on board their vessels 
where they receive higher wages for tbe 
Winter than they can get upon the land. 
s. c. 8. 
Ohio. 
Yankee Ridge, Coshocton Co.— I sowed, 
or rather plant'd the Diehl Mediterranean 
Wheat last Fall on September 10; it came up 
and looked nice for some time, but the fly got 
in it and injured it very badly; then the 
severe Winter damaged what was left; but, 
notwithstanding all these drawbacks. I suc¬ 
ceeded in raising almost a pint of very nice, 
plump wheat, which I sowed this year on 
September ID; it looks better now than the 
Fultz or Martin Amber sowed at the same 
time. I think it grows more compact iu the 
head than any bearded wheat lever saw; I 
counted 82 grains in one head; others bore 70, 
others 60, and so on. I think it worth more 
than a year’s subscription to tbe Rural. I 
let a neighbor sow the rye; it did well; but 
the grain is very small and dark-colored. He 
has sowed it again this Fall. I plaated the 
cross-bred corn May 16; it all matured well, 
I had one bushel of ears. It grew from five 
to 13 or 14 feet high. I saved six ears of yel¬ 
low dent, which suits my fancy for bight of 
fodder, time of ripening and size of ear. If I 
live to plant corn next Spring, I will plant it 
and see what it will do again. The beans did 
well; we had several messes and saved plenty 
for seed. The peas were almost a failure. 
The tomatoes did well; King Humbert was 
rather small. Flower seeds did as well as 
could be expected. j. h. d. 
Texas. 
Houston, Harris Co.,—I inclose a blade of 
Johnson Grass, second crop, from the Rural 
seed [It is remarkably vigorous and must 
make a large amount of forage where grow¬ 
ing so rank.— Eds.]. 1 am now using beaus 
from the second crop from the Rural seeds. 
The flower seeds did not succeed well on ac¬ 
count of our severe drought. The tomatoes 
rotted before they were ripe. There is no 
paper that reaches me that I enjoy so much 
as the Rural. t. b. 
Wisconsin. 
Shxwano, Shawano Co., Oct. 30—The 
Flageolet Beaus grew, ripened, aud produced 
well, but were rather small. The Rural 
crosses of coru planted June 2, grew, some of 
them, 15 feet high, but noue ripened or scarcely 
formed kernels. The King Humbert Toma¬ 
toes were perfectly worthless. The wheat, 
rye, oats, etc., will be tested next year. 
w. s. w. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS 
lEvery Query mast be accompanied by thename 
and address of the writer to insure attention. Before 
askiug a Question, please see if It Is not answered in 
our advertising columns. Ask only a few questions 
at one timo.1 
something about swine. 
R. P. Eaton Rapids, Mich, —1. How do 
Red Berkshire and Chester White swine com¬ 
pare in size with the Roland China ? 2. Can 
the two former be readily made to weigh 200 
pounds when six months old i 3. In what re¬ 
spect are the Imported Ohio Chester Whites 
an improvement upon the common Chester 
Whites? 4. In what manuer should a sow 
and pigs bo handled and fed iu order to 
make profitable pork, to be sold on foot at 
six to eight months old ? 
An 8.—1, They are larger. 2. Yes, with 
good keep. 3. In having loud talkers on 
their side. 4. The sow should be fed wheat 
middlings or some kind of brau, with vege¬ 
tables, aud very little corn, or noue ut all for 
a week or two before the pigs are born. After 
the pigs are farrowed, the sow should be 
given two or three quarts, according to her 
size, of warm slop with a little bran stirred in, 
and some coarse food, vegetables or apples, 
the object being to fill the stomach aud 
appoase hunger, aud not to increase tbe flow 
of milk. It is very injurious to a sow and 
pigs to feed her so much, when the 
pigs are first boru, that the udders are in¬ 
flamed and the milk made feverish. After a 
fow days the food should be iuoreased gradu- 
