till spring, causing considerable expense to 
carry them through the winter. Another im¬ 
portant duty is to clean out all old and worn- 
out stock, This often prevents sickness and 
leaves more room for the young birds, for 
there is no stock more unprofitable than a lot 
of old, useless hens on a farm. These can 
generally be marketed before the great rush 
of young poultry on the markets. It is also 
a good time to select the male birds for an¬ 
other season. Good young birds of most 
varioties may bo bought much cheaper now 
than alter the breeder has sold all his surplus 
cockerels. One thing ran bo depended upon— 
there is nothing Like pure bred males for put¬ 
ting new life and value into the flock. At 
this season of the year nocturnal vermiu— 
minks, skunks and weasels—are on the look¬ 
out for poultry, and if within their reach they 
play havoc with the ilock. All the corners of 
the sheds aud hiding-places under logs or 
other lumber about the premises should be 
looked into to see that the young stock do not 
hide there at night. Low perches should be 
provided to tempt them to roost, especially if 
they are of the heavier breeds. 
HENRY HALES. 
LIME FOll POULTRY. 
Poultry need lime in some form; unless it is 
provided there will lie shelless eggs and weak 
legs. In the summer, when hens have a free 
range, they will be able to pick up a generous 
supply in their rambles, but in winter when 
the ground is frozen and covered with snow, 
lime must be supplied. Shells, bones and 
mortar are favorite forms for feeding lime. 
Near the sea-shore oyster and clam shells are 
plentiful. They can be ground in a bone mill 
01 beaten in an iron mortar to the requisite 
size. Some farmers throw a great mass of 
shells into the road and depend upon passing 
teams to crush them. Others bake the shells in 
a hot oveu and then crush; when thus treated 
they crush easily and seem to be preferred by 
the hens. Old plastering or mortal 1 of any 
kind, when crushed, will please the hens. 
Many people are obliged to depend upon bones 
for a supply of poultry lime After some 
smashing with a sledge, the bones can be 
ground reasonably fine in a boue mill, but this 
is hard work unless one has a power. 
Tae bones are frequently baked or burnt 
and then reduced in a mortar. The ground 
bone sold by fertilizer manufacturers is ex¬ 
cellent for feeding to poultry. One manu¬ 
facturer makes a “chicken meal,” which eon- 
Great increase in production and decrease 
in prices; still profitable, however; small 
production this year; prices likely to be 
high; best style of package; vessels for ex¬ 
tracted honey; when and how to market. 
Less than a score of years ago the science 
of modern bee-keeping was in its infancy. A 
few energetic bee-keepers saw in their pur¬ 
suit the possibility of a great industry, and 
began vigorously to develop it. Then there 
"as no difficulty in disposing of the honey 
crop at what would now seem fabulous prices, 
for the demand greatly exceeded the supply. 
Rough boxes holding from 10 to -10 pounds of 
honey brought from 25 to 80 cents per pound. 
Ihe prices have steadily decreased, as the 
science developed and production increased, 
until last season the beautiful white one-pound 
boxes sold as low as 10 cents per pound. It 
has now become as much a study how best 
to sell as how to produce honey. If honey cau 
be readily sold there is still more money in 
producing it now than formerly, for thou¬ 
sands of pounds cuu be produced by the new 
methods where hundreds were by the old. 
On accouub of the failure of the small fruit 
crop in many sections, as well as the shortness 
of the honey crop, prices for the latter prom¬ 
ise to be better than for several years past. In 
order to secure the best prices and the quick¬ 
est sales great care should be taken iu prepar¬ 
ing the honey so it will present the most at¬ 
tractive appearance iu the market. Comb 
honey should be taken from the hive as soon 
as capped, as it is much whiter then than if 
allowed to remain with the bees uutil the close 
of the season. The propolis should be scraped 
from the sections to give them a nice white 
appearance. The style of package has often 
M mu '-b to do with securiug good prices aud 
quick sales as the hone} itself. Small pack¬ 
ages, holdiug from ; e ight to 24 pounds, are 
preferred. Such packages are best suited to 
a small market or retail trade. The case 
should be made of white basswood with a strip 
t>f glass two inches wide running the full 
length of each side. This gives the case an at¬ 
tractive appearance,and customers can usual¬ 
ly judge of the quality of the honey without 
opening the package. Cases should be manu¬ 
factured so cheaply that thoy may be sold 
with the honey, without expecting to have 
them returned. An old, soiled case hurts the 
sale of n ico honey more than enough to pur¬ 
chase a new casp. 
Extracted honey should be sold in vessels 
which will he of use to the housewife after 
the honey has been used. Glass fruit jars are 
found to be very good. Jelly cups also meet 
with a ready market. A tin pail bolding 
from 10 to 12 pounds with bail and cover, 
sometimes sells well, but not as well as glass 
vessels as they do not present so attractive an 
appearance. It is not advisable to use bottles 
or tin fruit cans in marketing extracted 
honey. The style of packing best suited for 
marketing extracted honey in jelly cup 3 is a 
crate holding 18 clips, arranged in three rows 
of six cups each. The crates should be con¬ 
structed of white basswood or {fine, with solid 
ends of half-inch stuff, and two thin strips on 
each side and three strips on top and bottom. 
The bottom strips should be heavy enough to 
support the weight of the honey aud two 
inches wide. This style of package is quite 
attractive and meets with a ready sale. 
The best time to market honey is during the 
fall and winter after the season of perishable 
fruits and vegetables is over. There is usually 
a limited demand at all seasons,, but care 
must be exercised during summer and early 
autumn or the market and prices will be in¬ 
jured for the fall and winter. 
CORRESPONDENTS’ VIEWS. 
An Anti-Book-Farmer’s Blunder—A 
neighbor who is bitterly opposed to agricul¬ 
tural papers readily assented that, if farmers 
would occasionally meet and discuss the dif¬ 
ferent modes of planting, cultivating and har¬ 
vesting and exchange views on topics of gen¬ 
eral interests, they would be greatly bene¬ 
fited- E. K. M. 
Stuart, Kans. 
R. N.-Y.—When he admits this he spoils all 
his arguments against agricultural papers. 
The good agricultural paper is nothing but a 
farmers’ club on a large scale. Instead of 
bringing the minds i, a neighborhood, a town¬ 
ship or a county to bear upon a topic the agri¬ 
cultural paper firings the best minds of the 
whole country into play. No man “Knows 
it all” by any means. When a man gets into 
such a state of perfection that nobody can tell 
him anything he is in a pitiable condition. 
Disposal of Old Horses.— It often be¬ 
comes necessary to dispose of a faithful old 
horse. It is hard for a man who lays much 
claim to generosity to sell a worn-out oid 
horse, knowing what its life must be. I have 
had horses that seemed like members of tbe 
family. They came to tbe farm when they 
were colts and worked faithfully and honestly 
as long as they were able. I never could have 
felt right had I sold those old horses when 
JEWEL GRAPE. 
The honey consumption iu nearly every 
community can be greatly increased if only 
one sets about it in the right way. The bee¬ 
keeper should aim to have his houey on sale 
at every grocery store in his community. 
Oft times grocery men of small experience will 
not care to buy the “stntf,” at first, especially 
if none has been sold in the place before. The 
beekeeper should leave a case both of comb 
and extracted honey with these inexperienced 
groeerytnen, and collect the money after the 
houey has been sold, allowing the salesman a 
liberal commission. Leave a spoon aud an extra 
jelly cup of houey with the grocery man, to 
allow customers au opportunity to sample it 
if they choose. Request that your honey be 
exhibited iu a conspicuous place, and if prop¬ 
erly prepared for market it will not fail to at¬ 
tract notice. If proper care aud thought be 
given the preparation and marketing of honey, 
the demand will in a short time lie greatly in¬ 
creased. Usually the groeerymau will be 
willing to pay cash for the second lot. 
A good thing, nicely put up, only needs to 
bo known to create a demand for it, so that it 
pays to go to some trouble and even a little 
expense to open a home market, which is al¬ 
ways the best, because there are no freight or 
commission charges to eat up the profits, aud 
no risk of dishonesty to take the whole. 
ChautauguaCo., N. Y. o. L. hbrshiser. 
TLuraL 
From Nature. Fig. 341. 
they got feeble from years. Many d 
so, but I never could bring myself to do il 
Still, a poor man cannot feed au old hors 
that is idle. The mast merciful way out o 
the trouble is to kill biui as soon as he become 
useless. A bullet iu his brain will put an cm 
to him at ouce. I think it best to shoo 
horses. If a man is any marksmau at all h< 
can put a bullet into the head, just below th 
ear, so that the animal will not suffer at all 
The body can be buried, or cut up and throwi 
into the compost heap—the latter I like best 
’ihe flesh will be decomposed and the boue 
will be made tit for burning or reducing witl 
acid. Small animals,like dogs or eats, I woult 
poison. | j i 
Columbia Co., N. Y. 
Frauds. —It is about time for some rasea 
to start another gigantic fraud like the ‘ ‘Britisl 
American Claim Agency.” Farmers should In 
on the watch for such scamps. Last year tin 
frauds had a rich harvest, “W. Orlaudi 
Smith” and his free evaporator, the “B. A C 
A,’’Bohemian Oat meu and other minor fraud: 
took many thousands of dollars out of tin 
farmers. They have been comparatively 
quiet this year. It looks tome like the “lul 
before tbe storm,” and I believe that evei 
now some rascal is hatching out a new sehenn 
£oy a big advertising. Some people here ,v> ° 
81.50 each on the B. A. C. A., and I actually 
believe that they are all ready to bite at 
another bait. I. h. f. 
Rockland Co. N. Y. 
I like the Rural’s idea of the farmer 
pitching out all trash at an agricultural fair. 
Bradford Co., Pa. j. b. j. 
R- N.-Y.—The point to be remembered is 
that if the farmer is to be rid of this “trash” 
he has got to do the work himself. Nobody 
else will do it for him. When self-respecting 
farmers find that fair managers propose to 
form a combination with rum, “fat women,” 
“skeleton men,” and all the rest of it, they 
should stay away from the fair and urge their 
friends to stay away. Try it this year. 
For all early varieties of potatoes I plant 
about the middle o July, and thus get ihe 
benefit of the fall rains. This has been my 
practice for 30 years, with flat culture, the 
same as the Ritra is now recommending, 
and it is the best w y to grow any plants, ex¬ 
cepting on wet ground or in a wet season. I 
get a larger yield than from early planted 
plants—any time from the first to the middle 
of July. RISBEE. 
Geauga Co., Ohio. 
Strawberries. —We are overrun with or¬ 
ders for strawberry plants of some varieties 
and have to refuse orders frequently. The 
demand for the Sbarpless is a continual sur¬ 
prise to us, when there are st> many better 
kinds. If people would look over our trial 
beds, certain varieties would soon be con¬ 
signed to oblivion, which are yet in demand. 
Next year we hope to have several hundred 
new and old sorts arranged to show their com¬ 
parative merits. j. vv. Ai 
Hampden Co., Mass. 
I had 100 Taylor blackberry plants set out 
in the spring of 1886. They grew fairly well 
and froze to the ground in the winter, so I 
had no berries. They made a good stand 
this summer. I don’t know why they froze. 
The Kittatinny did the same, while the Gregg 
raspberry fruited in the same location. 
Middletown, Pa. e. c. brinser. 
^ 
<T!)e XHiTfijartr, 
BURR’S NEW GRAPE. THE JEWEL. 
We have received the following account of 
this grape from Staymau Black, of Leaven¬ 
worth, Kansas r 
“The specimens of the Jewel Grape, sent 
to the Rural, were not up to the stand¬ 
ard in size of bunch, berry or quality because 
we have had a very dry season that has re¬ 
duced the size of all our grapes and, at the 
time the Jewel was uearly ripe, we had a very 
hot spell—100‘s to 1U5° in the shade—with a hot 
south wind which shriveled the grapes be¬ 
fore they had arrived at their best quality, 
making the skm thicker and the berry more 
pulpy than they would have been. This is 
proved by the testimony of disinterested 
parties. 
We procured this grape from Mr. John 
Burr,of this place, as soon as it bore, on trial. 
The present is the sixth year of its bearing on 
our place, and we have seen it bearing on Mr. 
Burr's grounds every year since it first fruited, 
it has been so healthy aud free from rotor any 
other disease, and so extremely early, pro¬ 
ductive and hardy that we consider it, without 
doubt, not only the best early grape of high 
quality, but the most valuable commercial 
market grape kuown maturing so long before 
any others. 
This is what Mr. Burr says of it in the Kan¬ 
sas State Horticultural Society's last report, 
by the request of Mr. Brocket*, Secretary. 
‘Jewel—Bunch medium, often shouldered, 
compact; berry medium, black, with a heavy 
fine bloom, handsome; skin thin, tough; pulp 
tender, rich, spicy, sprightly aud sweet 
to the center; seeds few and very small; 
quality best, pure, equal to the Delaware; 
vine vigorous, hardy, healthy aud very pro¬ 
ductive, never kuown to rot or mildew; season 
a week before Victor, aud of decidedly better 
quality; will hang on the vines long after ripe 
without wilting. A seedling of the Dela¬ 
ware ’ 
THE JEWEL GRAPE. 
SEC. GEO, W. CAMPBELL. 
I send the Rural a small sample of the 
Jewel Grape from a young viue in its second 
year of bearing. This grape, I think, has 
much to recommeud it, as the vine and foli¬ 
age seem very hardy and perfectly healthy, 
having shown no signs of mildew or rot. Its 
extreme earliness will render it specially val¬ 
uable for those localities so far north that the 
Concord does not ripen, and its flue flavor and 
really good quality will commeud it to all 
lovers of tine grapes. It was well colored 
