THE RURAL HEW-YORKER 
periment? 2. What is t.lio address of Mr. 
Herrick, whose article “The Blueberry Crop 
in New England” appeared in a late Rural. 
Ans.— 1. We feel compelled to admit that 
the blueberry is like the Indian in being un¬ 
able to adapt itself to civilized conditions. 
But this fact need not prevent our growing 
this fruit nml reaping profits from it. If we 
cannot bring the blueberry over to our 
methods of culture, what is to hinder our 
bringing our culture to the blueberry# Wo 
do not pretend to grow all fruits after the 
same system. If Mr. Herrick and others 
find that the blueberry prospers when left to 
itself in grass, it is enough. There are thou¬ 
sands of acres of just such “dry, barren, 
ledgy pastures” as Mr. Herrick speaks of near 
many of our large cities, that now produce 
next to nothing. If these could bo turned 
into productive blueberry fields by merely 
setting out the plants, as Mr. Herrick thinks 
possible, why may not this he the best way of 
treating sueb lands? If mowing down and 
burning over is the only culture the blueberry 
needs, it is surely cheap enough. By roof ing 
out the plants that bear the poorest berries, 
and permitting the best ones to spread to fill 
their places, the varieties could be gradually 
improved. Wo have still some hope that, the 
blueberry may be so far domesticated as to 
become a staple fruit of our markets. 2. Mr. 
Herrick’s address is New Boston, N. H. 
CROSSING LINCOLN EWES FOR FINER WOOL. 
C. A. K,, Beattie, Kans. —What breed of 
buck shall I use on pure-bred Lincoln ewes to 
get liner wool and at the same time keep up 
the size? 
Ans. —You cannot get flue wool on a big, 
coarse sheep. As soou ns the large Lincoln is 
crossed the size is reduced uud there is no way 
of avoiding it. The Lincoln has l>eeu crossed 
all it can stand without w holly changing its 
character. It has been bred Up by crossing 
with the liner-wooled and bodied Leicester, 
from its original coarse character, and it 
would lie a most dangerous experiment to 
cross it with any inferior sheep. If uuy cross 
at all is used, the South Down ram would 
doubtless be the best, refining uud shortening 
the wool and giving a still better mutton car¬ 
cass. The result wolld be much like the present 
Hampshire sheep. If the Hampshire were not 
a cross-breed sheep, wo should use it us the 
cross; but one could uot guess what the result 
would be. The South Down is a pure breed. 
WHEN TO CRUNK. 
.*?. r. II., Detroit, Mich. —What is the 
proper time to prune fruit trees ? The orchard 
is. not very old, but the trees are full-grown. 
What is the proper time to prune shade trees? 
Ans. —Prune pears, apples, etc., any time 
after the leaves mature or fall. Mr. Barry 
prefers to prune peach trees just as the buds 
begin to swell. The fruit and leaf buds are 
then easily distinguished from one another, 
and “the objects of pruning are accomplished 
with more precision.” Shade trees may be 
pruned at any time—even now. But we pre¬ 
fer to wait until the leaves lull. The pruning 
of maples, etc., should not be deferred until 
late winter, because the wouud will not heal 
sufficiently to prevent copious “bleediug.” 
Mlucellaneoue. 
G. C. M. , Middleton, N. S. —I have a very 
fine plantation of Downing Gooseberries, three 
years out. They are in a rich, clay loam, 
thoroughly under-draiued. They have been 
liberally manured with stable compost, uu oc¬ 
casional dressing of hard wood ashes with a 
little salt. They have borne heavy crops ever 
since they were out, and uro now loaded to 
breaking down; but I notice about one-eighth 
of them have turned a pale yellow. The fruit 
ou them is quite inferior to that on the others, 
and the foliage is less abundant. What is 
thu matter uud what the remedy? 
Ans. —This may be due to several causes, 
over-bearing, borers or other injury or rup¬ 
ture of the stems. Cut off the branches bear¬ 
ing the prematurely-ripened or yellow ber¬ 
ries, and cut the stems lengthwise. This may 
reveal the trouble. 
T. B. M., (address mislaid). —In a field I 
am now pasturing, but which I intend to de¬ 
vote to full wheat, should 1 put ou well-rotted 
manure now or at the second plowing, or af¬ 
ter the wheat has been sown? 
Ans. —If the manure is fine we should har¬ 
row it in after the second plowiug. As be¬ 
tween the first, and second plowing wo should 
prefer to spread the manure for the first. The 
Rural has had such remarkable results from 
equally spreading Hue manure ou the wheat 
as soou us the laud is frozen, that we wish 
our friend would try it upou a part of his 
land. 
H. W. C., Oromastu, Canada.—A person 
about whom 1 am anxious lives iu Chili; in 
what parts of the country has cholera been 
prevalent i Do mails come through the quar¬ 
antine established against the country? Will 
mail matter sent from here go through all 
right? 
Anh. —The Assistant Secretary of State 
writes ns that the Department has not accu¬ 
rate information as to the extent of the recent 
cholera epidemic in Chili. The latest reports 
indicate that, the disease has been eradicated, 
and it is presumed that quarantine regulations 
will bo suspended. 
O. S., Whitney's Point, N. F.— My quince 
trees are five years old, and have blossomed 
full for two years without bearing any fruit. 
They are protected on the north and west. 
What ails them ? 
Ans. —We think it is not uncommon for 
young quince trees to act iu this way. Is not 
tko land pretty rich ; It is a case of vigor 
versus virility, perhaps. If you were to sink 
a spade in the soil around the trunk and about 
three feet from it, no doubt, fruitfulness 
would be hastened. 
J. W. II., Elizabeth, N, J .—Last spring you 
offered the Farmers’ Friend grain drill as a 
premium at an easy rate. Is there yet a 
chance to get one ? 
Ans. —The drills were all delivered by May 
1. We cannot supply more at the same rate. 
G. W, T., Stelton , N. J. —How' can I get 
rid of the green aphis on cabbages ? 
Anh. —The kerosene emulsion is the best in¬ 
secticide we know of for cabbage lice. 
E. Domain (no address). —We do not un¬ 
derstand the question. 
DISCUSSION. 
INSECTICIDES. 
W. B. A., Ohio Ex. Station, Columbus, 
O.—I have learned to look with a great deal 
of confidence on almost everything from the 
editorial pen of the Rural, and I read the 
paper every week with much pleasure. How¬ 
ever, some lute comments ou the us© of kero¬ 
sene emulsion, it seems to me, would tend to 
make persons over-cautious in the use of a 
cheap and most excellent remedy for some 
purposes. First of all, I do uot have the least 
trouble iu making a perfectly stable emulsion, 
l’rof. Riley’s formula is strictly adhered to. I 
have experimented somewhat, but fiud this 
formula most reliable. Simply stated, it is 
two parts of oil to oue of water with the addi¬ 
tion of enough soap to secure a stable emul¬ 
sion. The quanti l ies generally used by tue for 
one “churuiug” are, kerosene e ght pints, 
water four pints, soap about one-half pound. 
This varies some with the kind of soap used. 
With a little experience no one need fail in 
making this mixture perfectly stable. Oue of 
tho important things about it is that it. con¬ 
tains so much od. For plant lice, scale in¬ 
sects, etc., this mixture has proven most ser¬ 
viceable with me, and 1 believe its use will 
yet be extended to the treatment of some in¬ 
sects operating under ground. It lias never 
harmed the foliage of any plant when diluted 
10 times, uud I have found it perfectly effica¬ 
cious for aphis wbeu diluted 15 times. For 
potato beetles, cabbage worms, etc., etc., it 
has uot been a success. I can fully indorse 
the statement that Paris grecu, Loudou-pur- 
ple, pyrethrum und hellebore are thu great 
specifics now known. Further, I am tully 
convinced that the great good bound to re¬ 
sult from the economic study of insects and 
methods for their destruction is uot realized 
at present, however many are awukeuing to 
this matter. A young farmer of my acquain¬ 
tance could positively inform you how lie is 
able to put several hundred dollars into his 
pocket uuuually by following the teachings of 
experiments in economic entomology. In 
fact, I know several such, and others are 
awakening. The end is not yet. Investiga¬ 
tion and experiment will surely bring the use 
of remedies to such certainty of statement, 
and produce such machinery for their appli¬ 
cation that no mail enu more afford to let tho 
insects destroy his crops for want of attention 
than he can affoul to lot his wheat harvest 
staud ungathored for want of machinery to 
cut it. 
A. W. P., Vineland, N. J.—I thank the 
Rural for its account of its interesting and 
instructive experiences with rose-bug ineecti- 
cides. Doubtless the pyrethrum will be found 
efficacious where the pests appear in auy mod¬ 
erate numbers; but if they come, as they 
have in certain localities here, they will 
defy all efforts to destroy them. They 
were like the army-worm or the Western 
grass hopper, and could take possession of all 
before them. I have seen apples ou tho trees 
devoured by them. Yes, 1 have seen an apple, 
say nil iueb iu diameter, so covered with rose- 
bugs that the fruit could not be seen! The bugs 
covered it three or four deep! And every 
apple on tho tree was thus infested! A large 
cherry tree, crowded with cherries, was cleaned 
up by the bugs in a couple of days—nothing 
left. I have an acquaintance iu Vineland 
whose farm, all in various fruits, was espec¬ 
ially patronized by the pests. They have left 
him nothing! Apples, peaches, pears, cherries, 
blackberries, raspberries, grapes, etc., all were 
swept clean from "10 acres. That a good farm¬ 
er, with a productive arid promising fruit 
farm, should be nearly ruined by a bug seems 
comical. This man told mo he expected, in 
the spring, to ship, perhaps, £4,<J0() worth of 
stuff from bis farm. Yesterday lie said he 
thought ho would uot havo five dollars’ worth. 
I hope that this enormous irruption of the pest 
may he exceptionable. Tf the rose-bug should 
be thus prevalent next year, and havo as good 
an appetite as usual, many of our fruit grow¬ 
ers will be ruined. I have several thousand 
grape-vines which were very full of bloom, 
and fin which the bugs havo not left a grape. 
Another vineyard on the same farm, the bugs 
neglected. Tho vines arc full of fruit, but 
rotting by wholesale. 
I have undertaken some experiments under 
direction of the Department of Agriculture to 
test the efficacy of solutions or copper sulphuto 
in the prevention of mildew. Have been 
busied to-day preparing the material for 2d 
application to the experimental vineyard. 
Made first application June loth. Have 
proved that the sulphate does uot prevent 
black-rot; aud perouospora is seen on vines 
which have been sprayed with the solutions. 
I anr now curious to see if its spread will be 
checked by the treatment I shall give next 
week. We have had very hot and humid 
weather, and grapes are rotting bailty, which 
are usually free from the disease. I have but 
oue variety which has uever rotted, and which 
is now full of sound clusters with ruin all 
around it. Why it does not rot is a problem 
T cannot solve. The Cottage Grape also rots 
but little among the Concords which rot al¬ 
most totally. Why is it thus slightly affected? 
Noah this year has an occasional berry rotted. 
Many clusters are sound. It is thus with El¬ 
vira. On Wylie’s Hybrids beside them, not a 
berry has escaped rot. There are vagaries 
about this disease which are puzzling. Tem¬ 
perature Is 05 degrees in the shade to-day. 
R. N.-Y.—It is the Rural’s belief that 
even when the rose-bugs exist in such num¬ 
bers as our friend states, pyrethrum would 
prove a remedy. If it pays to use the solu¬ 
tion iu a small viueyard, would it uot pay 
iu a large oue ? The period of the bug’s de¬ 
vastations is short comparatively, and enough 
pumps must be kept in action to meet the 
emergency, if we may judge Horn our experi¬ 
ence iu a small way. The Cottage is the mast 
vigorous of our variet ies of grapes. The foli¬ 
age never mildews; the grapes never rot. 
H. F. M., Baltimore, Md.—A late Rural 
spoke of preserving eggs in salt—I can give 
you a practical illustration of the value of 
the practice. Recently my wife, in looking 
through some salt in which she had packed 
eggs certainly uot later than last fall, found 
several which had been there since that time. 
When put iu hot water they floated, but when 
cooked aud opened were found to be perfectly 
sound, though somewhat shriveled. They 
were packed point down. 
Cirmjwljcre. 
TRANSCONTINENTAL LETTERS — 
LXXXIV. 
MARY WAUER-FISIIER. 
The “Black Country ” of the South; an infer¬ 
tile region; Atlanta and the Kimball 
House; Memorial Day; “down ” oa Jeff. 
Davis; no mincing matters; glories oj a 
reunited country; separation. 
The night’s ride that followed our depar¬ 
ture from Montgomery, was far from being a 
restful one, as soon after midnight we reached 
Birmingham, oue of the most enterprising 
towus of the south of post-bellum develop¬ 
ment. Its great irou fouuderies iu full blast 
were a magnificent sight, and broke upou tko 
startled sleepers iu tho train like a huge con¬ 
flagration. The city has a population of 
20,000, aud its industrial features, factories aud 
furnaces well befit its illustrious uauie. 
Business enterprises like these will rapidly 
make a new South, iu developing the euor- 
mous resources of that region, which would 
have remained undeveloped until doomsday 
uuder the paralyzing hand of slavery. 
All night the ear was filled with coal-smoke 
—there were few people in it—and l was glad 
when day broke at four o’clock, aud we could 
get out for f rash air. The country was roll¬ 
ing, broken and sandy, woods abounding with 
azaleas m bloom, pink, purple. Home-colored, 
brick-red and saffron-yellow, what are some 
times called pinxter-bloom and flaming pinx- 
ters, aud before leaving Atlanta, 1 was enabled 
to got into the woods aud possess myself of 
these glorious blossoms. Coru and cotton are 
the staple crops of this region, the latter not 
yet planted evidently, but none of the soil 
looked fertile, and what the people manage 
to subsist upon was to my m ind a mystery. 
The single State of Pennsylvania seemed to 
me to possess more wealth and resources than 
all of the South that I bad seen or afterwards 
was to see, and that such a long aud costly 
war bad boon waged and sustained by the 
South for so long a time appeared more than 
ever marvelous, and more than ever utter 
foolhurdiness. Some features changed for the 
better as we boro northward, the outside 
chimneys of sticks laid up iu mud gave way to 
outside chimneys of brick, built up from the 
ground. All along through the country, 
buildings generally were unpainted and never 
once a tasteful little cottage, of which 
one sees at least one in a day’s ride any¬ 
where else iu tho country. 
Iu entering Atlanta we passed her Cotton 
Exposition Building, and immediately there 
was that in the appearance of things that un¬ 
mistakably indicated a city of exceptional 
character. The train ran into the very heart 
of the town, and it was a few steps from the 
station to the new Kimball House, a superb, 
admirably kept hotel, eight to ten stories high 
—of brick and gray stone—700 rooms and 80 
colored waiters to attend to the service of the 
dining-room. An elevator carried us up to 
the third floor, where the laddie and I, in a 
quiet room, slept for half of the day. We had 
time, however, to take a ride into the country, 
diversified in surface and admirably fitted for 
building sites, but tho soil so miserably poor! 
My eyes longed in vain for a truly verdant 
field; but leaving out yards of green grass, of 
which there are none worthy the mention, we 
were delighted with Atlanta. Its churches are 
magnificent, large and costly and fine in archi¬ 
tecture; its post-office is in Venetian style and 
a novelty; its business blocks and its private 
dwellings are elegant beyond anything we had 
seen in the South—a modern city, abounding 
in energy', increasing rapidly in wealth, 
streets well paved and clean, and electric 
lights in general use. 
It was Memorial Day in the South, and An¬ 
aximander went out to the cemetery to hear 
the speech-making and to seethe decoration of 
t.hi- graves of Confederate soldiers. He re¬ 
ported quite an imposing procession, tasteful 
disposition of flowers, many ill-behaved, dis¬ 
orderly negroes, and discreet, reasonable 
speech making. Jeff. Davis was coming here 
from Montgomery, aud there were already 
preparations on foot for his reception. While 
the general expression was one of satisfaction 
at the results of the war, still we fell iu with 
two or three unreconstructed persons. I re¬ 
marked to a woman—a lady too—that I was 
surprised at the feeling of veneration and re¬ 
spect manifested for Jeff. Davis; that one 
would think that not only would he desire to 
remain in strict seclusion and be forgotten by 
his couutrymen, but that his countrymeu 
would also never more wish to see or hear of 
him. .She resented that very emphatically, 
and said that no one should feel surprised; 
that not only did all who suffered with him in 
the Lost Cause honor him, but tliat they 
should teach their children to love and revere 
his memory to the end of time! She said 
sho had never thought slavery was right, 
aud was glad it was abolished, but the 
Cause for which the South fought and lost 
it would never cease to mourn! Of course, I 
could well afford to hold my tongue oven at 
such ridiculous uonsouse as that, but I didn’t, 
aud proceeded to assure her that all the world, 
with the exception of herself—kuew that 
slavery was the sole cause for which the South 
fought, and was all there was of the Lost Cause 
—although that silly, rebelious old traitor, and 
fool, J. D., was tottering through the eounti-y 
aud prating about “constitutional liberty.” 
She had much to say about the sufferings of 
the South—bow she thought that Gen. Grant 
might have done so much for them, they were 
so utterly at his tuerey, etc. At tl at I couldn’t 
refrain from reminding her that m the records 
of all history no conquered States had ever 
been treated with the leniency accorded to the 
South by the North, and that any other gov¬ 
ernment but this would have either exiled its 
traitors or hanged them in ignominy! We 
had our talk in a railway ear, and when she 
reached her station, she gave me her hand at 
parting, with some friendly words. We both 
laughed at our heated conversation, but as a 
final salutation I added “You should go down 
on your knees every day of your life, iu fer¬ 
vent thanksgiving, that you are again uuder 
the old flag.” But she shook her head at that, 
and said sho didu’t feel that glad; uud so she 
had the last word after all! But if the South 
is uot that glad, it is because of its ignorance 
of what the country is, uow that, under the 
Old Flag, it is everything, and out from under 
it, nothing, aud worse than nothing! If any 
Southerner doubts this, let him cross the con¬ 
tinent, through the great North-west with its 
tremendous development, and he may make 
his observations from a railway car all the way 
