THE BUBAL 
promise. The State of Maine succeeds here 
admirably. The tubers are all large and 
shapely, the yield heavy. It is an intermedi¬ 
ate. 
The reports of our tests for the past season 
will be continued as fast as space can be 
found. 
CRITICAL NOTES ON BACK NUMBERS. 
E. WILLIAMS. 
Hog Feeding. —In the Rural of Jan. 8, 
what a slipshod way of hog feeding is repre¬ 
sented! Where has the farmer lived or what 
has he been thinking about for the last 20 
years, who would practice, such ancient 
methods or recommend them to others? How 
absurd to lift the pail over the fence or to 
bail feed out of the barrel and into the trough 
with such a dipper; and what docile, genteel 
and welI behaved swine! A shute through 
the side of the pen into the trough, 
or, still better, a hinged gate to swing in over 
the trough, affords ample facilities for clean¬ 
ing it and placing the feed with no interfer¬ 
ence from the hogs. 
* * * 
Fay’s and Cherry Currants (page 20), 
identical! Shade of Moses: what next! What 
deluded mortals we Americans are, and how 
stupid too, not to discover this identity after 
three or four years’ trial of this old variety 
under a new name. Well, it is really not to 
our credit to have the discovery made and 
announced from across the border. I have 
grown the Cherry Currant since ’00, I think, 
anil my plants came from different sources of 
supposed “undoubted reliability;” but this 
tact did not always secure the same variety. 
I bought Fays when first offered, and have 
never seen anything among my plants even to 
hint at identity in growth, habit of fruiting 
or fruit. My Fays are different from any 
Cherry Currants I ever had. This I know. 1 
long since became convinced that the habits 
of the Cherry were not fixed; though propaga¬ 
ted from a single stock, the product would 
show variation. 
It would be pleasant to know the “undoubt¬ 
ed source” from what J. W. J. obtained bis 
stock, and if Mr. Roberts obtained his from 
the same source. If so, we should expect they 
both had the same kind; but we should like to 
know and judge for ourselves the “undoubted 
sources” from which their Fays came, mid how 
many removes from first hands. The Fay has, 
no doubt, been counterfeited. I know this to 
lie so. There are few articles of merit in auy 
line that are not counterfeited sooner or later. 
1 am inclined to think these Canadian cousins 
had their Fays taken from a lot of Cherry: by 
mistake, of course. But let us have the “un¬ 
doubted sources.” These are so scarce nowa¬ 
days it would be a comfort to know the few 
that really exist. 
* * * 
The Worden Grape. —The Rural Editor’s 
recent account of this would lead me to doubt 
my own accuracy if I iliil not personally attend 
to the little details myself and know what I 
was doing. He was a little “too previous” in 
reaching his conclusions, that’s all. His Wor- 
deu will in time establish its identity. 
[We beg to differ from our respected friend 
as to the Worden. Wo spoke of the bunches, 
the grapes ami their quality as they existed 
last season. We shall hope to do the same 
thing next season and to emphasize auy 
chang$ that occurs. Whatever the Worden 
may flrove to be in the future as it grows at 
the Rural Grounds, remains to be ascertained. 
Our remarks were confined to the Worden 
from a single (the first) season of its fruit- 
iug.—E ds.] 
2|e $ $ 
While it is a matter of regret generally 
t hat the dtinit of Miss Jessie is to be so sudden, 
her “carrackter” is so well vouched for that 
professionals ns well ns amateurs will bo Green 
e.vough to pay her homage, and assume all 
risk of being V'i'ek-timized by any eoquetish- 
ness she may possess. 
* * * 
The Hatch Bill provides that the Com¬ 
missioner of Agriculture shall tlx the standard 
of values for commercial fertilizer ingredi¬ 
ents. This is centralizing a good doul of wis¬ 
dom and authority in one man. I think the 
several station directors would be better qual¬ 
ified for this purpose. If agricultural, not 
partisan, interests shall control in this matter 
some good may come of it. 
# * * 
An eruployd says Rural No. 2, for ’87, is 
the best and most interesting number he has 
seen for a long tune. I am inclined to think 
his head is nearly level in this resect. 
Watcii the oleo bogus butter dealers. Boy¬ 
cott ’em. They are on a par with coin coun¬ 
terfeiters. 
♦ * * 
Tiik Alice Grape is auotber plump, new 
horticultural wonder. Taken up from its 
birthplace in the spring of ’84 and reset in 
more congenial soil, it fruited in ’85. Was 
that the first crop? This is the natural infer¬ 
ence. Well, iu ’86 visitors say there were 
about a dozen vines in fruit. Where did they 
come from? Not propagated from this origi¬ 
nal one since ’84, certainly? And certainly 
not propagated before the original fruited, so 
as to know what it was going to be. Even if 
the original foretold its value in any way so 
as to induce its propagation, what was the 
use of removing it when “about a dozen” new 
vines were already in position and fruiting? 
Reading further, it appears that by particular 
request the statement is made that these 
grapes were from vines fruiting the second 
time. That seems to settle the first fruiting 
in ’85. Now, these dozen vines fruiting in ’86 
could not certainly have been grown in one 
year, and what motive could exist to propa¬ 
gate them without knowing anything about 
their qualities, even whether barren or fruit¬ 
ful? Perhaps they are of the same Topsycal 
character as the Alice, and “growed” up in 
some spontaneous way. On the whole, I 
think that gun exploded rather prematurely— 
went off at half-cock. 
IRRIGATION OF MEADOWS.—No. 1. 
HENRY STEWART. 
The past season has exemplified the great 
necessity for saving all the surplus water of 
the fall and winter for use upon the crops in 
the spring and summer. There is a great scope 
for enterprise iu this respect. Thousands of 
farms have springs, brooks, and rivers 
which might be turned into reservoirs cheaply 
made for irrigating the crops. There are 
thousands of river and creek bottoms which 
might be brought under irrigation at a small 
cost, compared with the benefits received. 
Many more meadows lie in such a position 
that water from higher ground could be turn¬ 
ed on to them and made to meander along the 
slopes ami water the grass. There is scarcely 
a market garden or a small fruit farm or 
vineyard, but could provide a tank or large 
cistern into which water from a well or brook 
could be pumped from a wind-mill or steam 
engine, and spread over the land by channels 
or pipes, and so secure a full crop of fruit 
every year. The profit from such an enter¬ 
prise would be verygreat in dry seasons, when 
there would be a brisk demand for all the pro¬ 
duce, and iu ordinary seasons the tine quality 
and large yield of the fruit would insure very 
profitable returns for the cost and labor. 
It is scarcely necessary to enforce or argue 
upon this subject. Every farmer aud fruit 
grower will realize the importance and value 
of a steady supply of water and the means of 
distributing it over his land in dry seasons. 
The only difficulty is in providing these means 
for the collection and distribution of the 
water, and these require some engineering 
above the power of inexpert farmers’ experi¬ 
ence, and professional skill to lay out to the 
best advantage. 
The first necessary is the storage dam, be¬ 
hind which the reservoir is situated. Unless 
this is constructed properly, it will leak con¬ 
siderably aud s<> lose the water,or it will give 
way under the pressure aud ruin the work and 
waste the labor and money spent. A small or 
low dam that will stop a stream aud raise the 
water a few feet is not difficult to make if it 
is begun right. The first operation is to dig a 
trench not less than two or three feet wide 
down to the solid day or hard-pauso as to cut 
off and step any underground leaks or water 
channels. The surface earth is thrown out on 
the inside three or four feet from the dam. 
The next thing done is to make sheet piling in 
the center of the trench by driving short 
planks sharpened at the edge, firmly into the 
bottom, dose together, and nail a strip of 
board three or four inches wide on each side 
at the top to hold them in line aud strengthen 
them (see Fig. 94). This is to prevent musk 
rats and crayfish from burrowing uuder the 
bottom of the dam. Solid .earth—no surface 
soil—is then wheeled from, the inside of the 
dam into the trench and packed firmly by 
ramming aud throwing water upon it. This 
filling is carried up in the form shown in Fig. 
95. The earth put in the dam should be free 
from stone, roots, or vegetable matter. The 
surface soil may bo thrown on the top and sides 
so as to get these well set in grass and prevent 
washing by heavy rains, but the center must 
be made permanently solid aud free from all 
matter that may decay and make vacancies. 
The inner slope of the dam should be two feet 
for each foot of perpendicular rise; thus a darn 
four feet high in the center should have a slope 
of eight feet on the inside and the outside 
slope should be 1)4 foot to one in hight. 
A very good dam for three feet high and 
less, is made as follows: The sheet piling is 
driven closely on the surface as high as is de¬ 
sired. A strip of 2x4 is bolted on the outside, 
or nailed with 20-penny nails from both sides. 
Braces are then put outside as shown iu Fig. 
96, and supported by ‘stakes driven in the 
ground. The earth is dug out from the inside 
and heaped against the piling, being well 
trodden down and made solid by throwing 
water upon it as it is built up. Afterwards 
the dam may be enlarged or strengthened by 
filling up on both sides. All dams should have 
a level top as wide as the bottom of the trench 
and this should have a slight slope inwards 
If any stoue is used in a dam it should be laid 
carefully, as a pavement is laid, on the inside, 
after the earthwork is finished, where it will 
help to prevent washing of the earth and hold 
it in its place against erosion. 
The waste-way should be made of plank 
and inclosed on both sides with sheeting and 
two posts placed so that retaining planks may 
be put in between them to hold back the wa¬ 
ter in a dry time, and taken out when the wa¬ 
ter is high enough to make a way of escape 
for it without washing the dam (see Fig. 90). 
Fig. 97. 
Rural at least twice a year for the last half 
dozen years or more. So have some other 
swindles with wheat, barley, etc., of a like 
character! ] 
An Excellent Change. —We started a 
farmers’ club some years ago that was a great 
help to us. We have lately changed it into a 
Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, and are 
well pleased at the change. The Grange, we 
think, stands far above any farmers’ club in 
moral, social and business advantages. We 
are convinced that where grange principles 
in buying and selling are carried out, success 
is sure. A better class of farmers and farm¬ 
ers’ hands are sure to folk >w. Farmers’ wives 
and children attend more regularly at church, 
and the education of the little ones is made 
more of a success. We believe the Grange is 
a wonderful power for good, and we are sure 
our farmers’ club has been bettered by the 
transformation. For the beuefit of those who 
are not well acquainted with the order I may 
say that the various officers are Master, Over¬ 
seer, Lecturer, Steward, Assistant Steward, 
Chaplain, Treasurer, Secretary. Gate-keeper, 
Ceres, Pomona, Flora and Lady Assistant 
Steward. Membership fees: men, 83; wo¬ 
man, 81. Nine men and four women can re¬ 
ceive a. dispensation to organize a Grange, as 
the smallest number; 20 men and 20 women 
is the highest tor charter members. The 
charter costs 815; a small fee quarterly is paid 
as dues, to provide a hall, library, and other 
incidental expenses. a. w. s. 
Whigville, Conn. 
R. N.-Y.—After carefully noticing the com¬ 
position, principles and working of various 
agricultural societies for years, we haven’t a 
shadow of doubt that the Grange is the best 
of all. It is an educational, refining, human¬ 
izing agent wherever it finds a foothold, and 
properly managed, is a fruitful source of in¬ 
struction aud profit. May its membership 
increase! 
ijst cUancou.s’ 2V tlmti.sing. 
[How to Cure 
Skin &Sca!p 
Diseases 
with the 
CuticUr/\ 
Remedies. 
T orturing, disfiguring, itching, scaly 
aud pimply diseasesof the skin, scalp, and blood, 
with loss of hair, from Infancy to old atre. are cured 
by the cuticura Remedies. 
Cdticcra Rksolvest. the New Blood Purifier.cleans¬ 
es the blood and perspiration of dispose-sustaining 
elements, and tbits removes the cause. 
Cut tern a. the great Skin Cure. Instantly allays itch¬ 
ing and inflammation, clears tile skiu auti scalp of 
crusts, scales and sores, and restores the hair. 
OuTlCLitJi Soar, an exquisite skin Beatitifler. is in¬ 
dispensable tn treating skin diseases, baby humors, 
skin blemishes, chapped and oily skin. Cuticuba 
Remedies are llir great skin beauttflers. 
Sold everywhere. Price, C t ticcra. 50c.: Soap, 25c.. 
Resolvent. 81. Prepared by the Potter Drug and 
Chemical Co., Boston, m iss. 
t3f~ Send for “now to Cure Skin Diseases.’’ 
The planking is made on both sides and is 
closed in on the sides to prevent damage from 
rapidly flowing water going over the dam. 
A water-gate is also made at one or both sides 
of the dam in the same way as the flume of a 
mill; but care is to be taken to make the 
woodwork before the earth is put in and con¬ 
nect it tightly with the sheet piling, and then 
till in with solid earth to prevent leakage. 
This flume is connected with the distributing 
ditch, to be hereafter described. 
CORRESPONDENTS’ VIEWS. 
A “Chestnut” Swindle.— The first bill 
presented in the Michigan Legislature this 
year proposes to make the selliug of Bohe¬ 
mian Oats a felony aud upon conviction the 
seller is to get five years or less in prison and 
to he fined not over 81.000, or both. This bill 
ought to be pushed right through, aud it can 
tie if Michigan farmers will take hold of it. 
The farmers of this county have lost 8300,000 
through this swindle, aud other counties of 
the State have suffered heavily. These figures 
are given me by an insurance agent- who has 
been all over the country, This Bohemian 
Oat arrangement is the greatest fraud ever 
perpetrated upon the American farmer. 
Agents are now selling the oats at §15 per 
bushel to all the foolish farmers they can And 
iu New York State. They can buy the oats 
here at 50 ceuts. I am not a vict im, but hun¬ 
dreds have been bitten who can ill afford it. 
Oakland Co., Mich. a. r. HOPKINS. 
[It is strange to think that intelligent farm¬ 
ers will still allow themselves to be caught iu 
this trap. The papers have exposed the fraud 
over and over again. If the farmers of Oak¬ 
land County had invested §10,000 in farm 
literature, they would be $290,000 better off 
to-day as nearly as we can see. The fraud 
has been exposed by the “Eye-Opener” in the 
TIN 
TED with the loveliest delicacy is the skin bath¬ 
ed with CnncntA Medicatbd Soap. 
FOOD 
FOR INFANTS AND INVALIDS. 
The ouly perfect substitulo for Mother's Milk. 
The most nourlshinK diet tor Invalids and nursing 
mothers. Keeps In all climates. Commended by physi¬ 
cians. Sold everywhere. S.-nd for our book “The 
Care and Feeding of Infants.“ Sent free. 
DOURER. GoODALE & CO., Boston, Mass. 
MILtf 
RREN 
BOTTLE 
March 23d, 1880 
Adapted for the Delive 
if Milk in all t ities 
and Town&T* 
A lONQ'MEEOED WA 
AT LAST SUPPLIED 
A. C’» XV HITEMA1 
Ta Murraj St., NEW l’ORJ 
T HE AMERICAN GARDEN is an Illus¬ 
trated Magazine of Horticulture, cov¬ 
ering all departments of Gardening, 
Fruit-Growing , Market Gardening, Land¬ 
scape-Gardening, Floriculture, Greenhouse, 
Conservatory, Window Gardening, Women 
in Horticulture, etc. For amateurs and prac¬ 
tical gardeners and fruit growers.. Experi¬ 
ment Gardens on Houghton Farm. Send for 
free specimen to E. H. LIBBY, Publisher, 47 
Dey St., N. Y. Price reduced.tolSl a year. 
