AUG. 26 
558 
THE BUBAL WEW-YOBKEB. 
tain a very fair knowledge of the workings of 
the system, and I am free to say that the more 
I studied it the better I liked it. It is true 
there appear to be some faults—that the 
studies are not adapted to the practical needs 
of a people engaged wholly in tilling the soil, 
but these faults will in due time be remedied. 
The most common complaints made against 
the schools are respecting discipline. People 
whose children have grown up unrestrained 
are surprised and indignant when they learn 
that their darlings have been punished by a 
teacher for willful and malicious conduct. 
And they are generally furious when they 
further learn that the directors uphold the 
teacher. From this class of people come most 
of the petty complaints that annoy school- 
directors, and the most summary way of 
dealing with them is the best. 
Many of our teachers are young, and apt to 
be a little hasty, and an occasional word of 
caution and advice from a director has a 
very salutary effect on most of them. If the 
directors are careful, sensible men or women, 
and have the welfare of the school at heart, 
they can be of great assistance in guiding a 
teacher safely through the intricacies of 
school government. They should allow him 
the greatest latitude in the arrangement of the 
internal affairs of the school—in fact, let him 
have his own way in these matters, but in 
discipline they should be his guide and sup¬ 
port, as they truly stand between him and the 
people. They should make arrangements for 
one of them to visit the school once a week, if 
possible, not for the purpose of interfering or 
criticising, but to encourage both teacher and 
scholar, and as a gentle reminder that there is 
“ a power behind the throne.” 
Our school was noted as being a very good 
one, and I think the principal reason was 
because the teachers were alive and progres¬ 
sive, and were well supported by the directors 
and a large majority of the people. In this 
matter “union is strength,” emphatically, 
and harmony means progress. Where there 
are wrangling and division there can be no 
progress even with the best of teachers, be¬ 
cause one party will undo all the good that 
the other does, and the discouraged teacher 
drops into a sort of mechanical routine of 
recitations possessing neither life nor spirit, 
the pupils lose all interest in their studies, and 
stagnation, insubordination and riotousness 
prevail. Only those parents who have the 
best interests of their children at heart are 
interested in the welfare of the school. There 
is little use in trying to interest those who 
treat their children like beasts ot burden. 
In selecting a teacher we aimed to secure 
one that was alive, sensible, progressive, wel 
informed generally, and who desired to 
acquire a reputation as a first class teacher 
We carefully avoided the parrot, the dawdler, 
the smart Aleck, and the transient. Most of 
the teachers employed hereabouts are the sons 
and daughters of farmers and townspeople 
residing in this county, and some of them are 
quite proficient. The best are soon secured 
by the most enterprising districts at $50 to $60 
per month, and the poorest gradually drop ouc 
of the ranks. All the teachers in the county 
meet at the county seat once a year and spend 
three or four weeks, under the supervision of 
the county superintendent and two or three 
learned professors, in preparing themselves 
for the work before them. This interchange 
of experiences, ideas and practices, together 
with the advice and instruction given in the 
lessons and lectures, has been productive of 
much good, and has aroused a healthy spirit 
of emulation among our pedagogues. 
The wages of a teacher are due at the end of 
each month actually taught, and draw eight 
per cent, interest until paid. Contracts are 
printed, with blank spaces for particulars, 
and are iron-clad. The teacher is generally 
assisted by the directors in securing board, for 
which he pays $8 to $12 per month out of his 
wages. I know of no district that boards a 
teacher to save money. Such a practice 
would be regarded as picayunish, and the 
district adopting it would be unable to obtain 
a teacher worth having. Our best and most 
enterprising districts keep a good teacher as 
long as he will stay with them, often ten or 
twelve terms. When the school is running 
smoothly and the pupils are making satisfacto¬ 
ry progress, it is bad policy to change teachers, 
if it can be avoided. I know one young lady 
teacher who taught her first school eight suc¬ 
cessive terms, and the directors offered to 
largely increase her salary if she would con¬ 
tinue with them, but a change in home affairs 
prevented her from doing so. She, like a few 
others I am acquainted with, was not a bril¬ 
liant scholar, but she possessed in a marked 
degree that peculiar knack of explaining a 
lesson so that the dullest pupil could under¬ 
stand it. An old director once said to me ; 
“ I would rather give $50 a month to a teacher 
that barely passes the examination, than $26 
to a scholar that scores the top notch 1” 
As to studies and text books, we have some 
^hat are useful, and some that take up the 
valuable time of the pupil and are of no value 
whatever. Most of our text books are not 
sufficiently practical. I think that Entomol- 
0 gy_that is, the study of a plain, descriptive 
text book on our common insects, explaining 
which are useful and which are injurious, 
should be introduced into district schools at 
the earliest moment possible. Ornithology, 
or a brief study of our common birds, would 
be useful. Botany we have, but it treats 
chiefly of the structure of plants;- we need 
something more in the nature of a dictionary 
—a book that will give such a plain descrip¬ 
tion of trees, plants and grasses as will enable 
the pupil to distinguish them in the field. 
Many of our common text books have been 
greatly improved within the past few years, 
but they are yet far from perfection. 
In a district school containing more than 40 
pupils the teacher should have an assistant, to 
hear classes recite, aid younger pupils in their 
studies, etc., etc., one or more hours each day, 
as agreed upon. This assistant should be 
selected by the teacher and directors from 
among the most advanced scholars, and 
should be paid a small salary for the services 
rendered. The work of a thoroughly good 
teacher is severe, aside from the mental strain 
of governing the school; and if the classes 
are large and numerous, as they often are 
in district schools, some of them must be 
slighted. 
Christian Co., Ill. 
SEED CORN. 
When to save, what to save, how to save. 
FROM JOHN GOULD. 
I have no iron-clad rule about saving seed 
corn. I mark some part of the field where the 
corn seems of most perfect growth, and gather 
my seed corn from the shocks there. When 
husking, 1 sort out the most perfect ears keep¬ 
ing uniformity of size and development as well 
as similarity of appearance in view. This corn 
is then put in half busbel market baskets, and 
placed near the top of a room that has fire- 
heat. There it remains all winter. The room 
is a small unused room through which the 
pipe of a wood base-burner stove passes, and 
is therefore always warm and free from 
moisture. I never shell until ready to plant. 
Such corn will sprout 99 per cent, of vigorous 
shoots, as tested several times at the experi¬ 
ment station. I have sprouted 98 per cent, of 
100 grains. Such corn never rots in the 
ground. 
Portage Co., Ohio. 
FROM PROF. SAM’L. JOHNSON. 
I have practiced the following method of 
selecting seed corn for many years with satis¬ 
factory results : 
When husking, the most perfect ears are se¬ 
lected and sent to the drying-room. A second 
sorting follows, when all ears not up to the 
standard are rejected. The corn is then tied 
up with wool twine in lots of 50 ears or more, 
or strung on wire with “ Smith’s device for 
hanging up corn.” The ears are then hung 
up in the drying-room. The room below our 
drying-room is heated by a coal fire and the 
chimney from this room passes through the 
drying-room, thus securing a dry and even 
temperature. 1st. Selection of perfect ears 
when corn is husked. 2d. A careful second 
selection. 3d. The hanging up of the corn. 
4th. A dry and even temperature in the 
drying-room. 
Agricultural College, Mich. 
FROM JOSXAH RUSSELL. 
We do not always follow the same rule; for 
instance, should the corn crop be ripened 
before the time of early frosts we are saved 
the expense of gathering seed corn as a special 
work. If indications point to an untimely 
frost we cut up a few shocks of corn from 
which to gather seed corn, but if, as usually 
happens in this section, the corn cannot be 
harvested by frost wo wait till the time of husk¬ 
ing corn before selecting that for seed. A 
good plan is to hang a box behind the wagon 
driven by the boss, into which as he 
husks the standing corn, he throws, as he 
conies to them, such ears as please him. If 
the proprietor is otherwise engaged he goes to 
the crib as the corn is hauled in and selects 
the ears that fill his eye. You already under¬ 
stand that the method of corn gathering here 
is for one man only to go with each team and 
wagon; one row at a time is husked by the 
driver and thrown into the wagon. If at noon 
the wagon and top box are full, which needs 
25 bushels, it is usually accepted as a fair half¬ 
day’s work; some men may gather 60 bushels 
a day, but an average of 50 bushels a day is 
“ good enough.” 
The method of curing seed-corn with us va¬ 
ries as does the picking. If the corn is very 
dry when the first loads of corn are husked, 
’tis quite safe to throw the selected ears above 
the drive-way between the corn-cribs where 
some loose boards make a loft under the roof- 
peak. The air has free access and when we 
do throw our corn there we know it is O. K. 
If the corn is not absolutely dry when gather¬ 
ed, we put the ears for seed in a plastered upper 
chamber of the house through which a stove¬ 
pipe goes to the chimney, or we make use of 
the smoke-house. In either case the corn is 
laid in tiers, on lath nailed to 2x4 uprights, 
one re'” of corn to each lath or rather a lath 
at each end of the corn rows. To make it 
plainer, it takes two laths to hold one row of 
Bars side by side. This method is quite a sav¬ 
ing of expense over any hangers we have 
;ried. To keep the rats or mice away we have 
zats. No one hurts a cat on our place and we 
never have less than six; they are our best 
paying animals. The smoke-house plan we 
like best of all, and think the smoke we put in 
it times during the winter renders the corn 
jbjectionable to the ground squirrels in spring. 
We last year planted corn from the house- 
jhamber, that had been gathered then 19 
months, and it grew as strongly as any we had. 
[f you had asked how the Soup Crickers or 
Sioux bottom renters save seed corn, I could 
tiave answered in less words. They don’t save 
it at all. Every 15 year-old boy prides himself 
an his ability to go to the crib in spring and se¬ 
lect ears on which he bets $1 that every 
kernel will grow. He loses a good deal of 
money—fiat money—this way, but he keeps 
on all the same. 
Dunlap, Iowa. 
GARDEN AND ORCHARD NOTINGS. 
T. H. HOSKINS, M. D. 
The Tolman Grape.— This is certainly, a 
* first early.” with a very vigorous and pro- 
luctive vine. It is sure to ripen in our 
joolest summers, at an altitude, of 1,000 feet 
ibove the sea, on the Canada border. I can 
;row these grapes more easily and cheaply than 
currants; and for jelly and jam they are un¬ 
surpassed, in fact much superior to any 
iessert grapes. As a strictly culinary grape, 
the Tolman is the best in cultivation for the 
“ Cold North.” There are people who can eat 
these grapes uncooked, but not I. 
Moore’s Early Grape.— This is but a few 
days later than the Tolman, and ripens to 
dessert quality in all but our worst seasons. 
It is simply an earlier Concord, with a 
smaller bunch and a larger berry, The vine 
is healthy, vigorous and productive here. 
[We hope Dr. H. will try the Eaton.—Eds.] 
The Telephone Pea, as received by me> 
when first introduced, was mixed with a smaller 
podded pea of the same season and growth. 
I have tried to select pure pods for seed, and 
yet occasionally I still find vines of the small 
sort. Is this a case of reversion ? The 
Telephone is a very popular market pea, 
coming in third in a succession with Rawson’s 
Clipper and Vermont Wonder. 
Aroostook Marrowfat Pea, as a mil¬ 
dew-proof late sort, is my favorite. It has 
not the characteristic black eye of the old 
Marrowfat, and the seeds are sometimes green¬ 
ish, and more or less wrinkled, showing a 
cross; but the vine is a true Marrowfat, and 
never has mildewed. It is very productive, 
and sells well in market. It is not quite so 
late as the Champion of England, but much 
more profitable. 
Bone for Peas.— I find no manure equal 
to ground bone and unleached ashes, to give 
us a stocky,dark-colored growth and plenty of 
well-filled pods. 
The Polaris Potato is decidedly not so 
early as the Pearl of Savoy, by at least a 
week; but it is a meritorious variety and has 
come to stay, without doubt. 
The Pecan Potato, for my home use, has 
taken the place of its full brother, the Snow¬ 
flake.. They were produced by C. G. Pringle, 
of Charlotte, Vt., from seeds of the same 
ball. In quality the Pecan is even better, and, 
as yet, shows none of the proclivity to rot, 
which makes the Snowflake unprofitable to 
me. Mr. P. rejected the Pecan as less produc¬ 
tive, but I am thankful that Mr. Macomber, 
to whom he gave it, preserved it. 
Fay’s Currant is fulfilling all its promises, 
and I find it quite as productive as the Red 
Dutch. The fruit sells readily at 50 per cent, 
advance on that variety, and pickers willingly 
gather it for one cent per quart. Versaillaise 
and Cherry have never paid the cost of the 
plants and cultivation on my soil, though 
near-by on rich clay, they are better; yet 
there they are not equal to my Fays. 
Smith’s Seedling Gooseberry is, on sev¬ 
eral accounts, preferable to Downing, being 
not so rigid of limb, nor so lacerating to the 
picker’s fingers. But I find the plants lacking 
in vigor and productiveness. It is the earliest 
of the natives, and the best as a dessert sort. 
If it were half as productive as Houghton I 
would discard the latter for it; but, as it is, I 
find no money in it as a market sort; while as 
for Downing’s, it is very hard to get them 
picked. When are those improved Canadian 
sorts, illustrated some time since in the R. 
N.-Y., to be put on the market? 
The De Soto Plum.—I do not find it to bear 
heavily so young as Western growers repre¬ 
sent, but the trees bear better as they get 
older. The size is much smaller than that of 
some of my own selections from our native 
“Canada” plums, and the quality not superior. 
Still, it may be a valuable market sort. The 
curculios like it rather too well. 
McIntosh Red Apple would be extremely 
valuable where it does not spot. V/ell culti¬ 
vated it grows as large as the Baldwin, and in 
quality and beauty of color it exceeds its 
parent, the Fameuse or “Snow Apple.” The 
tree itself is quite as hardy as Wealthy; but, 
like the St. Lawrence, the fruit buds are not 
so hardy as the tree, and consequently it is 
not a reliable cropper with me though else¬ 
where in Vermont it proves a heavy bearer. 
Switzer Apple. —No handsomer or more 
vigorous and symmetrical apple tree can be 
found than the Switzer; and if it did not drop 
so much of its fruit before maturity, it would 
be very profitable; for the apples are hand¬ 
some, very good, and abundantly produced. 
In health of bark and foliage it is a model 
tree needing very little pruning. In this it is 
strong where Wealthy is weak, and I believe 
it will prove just the thing to top-graft that 
excellent variety upon. It is as iron-clad as 
Oldenburg. 
The Wealthy must positively be top-worked 
to become a success far north.. In one sense 
it is pretty nearly iron-clad,—that is, the trees 
do not winter-kill here. But they become un¬ 
healthy in the trunk and forks, and in conse¬ 
quence of this, and the tendency to bear and 
overbear while young, the trees soon become 
useless. With me their life is almost ended 
when they are ten years old. To be perma¬ 
nently profitable, the Wealthy must be top- 
grafted,—as The Baldwin has to be near its 
southern limits. 
Russian Plums.— One tree of the Budd- 
Gibb importation has fruited this year, and 
bears a prune shaped fruit of good size, not 
yet ripe. These plums, like the Russian ap¬ 
ples, are going to succeed one or two hundred 
miles further north than any we have, except 
the natives. 
The Longfield Apple, like the Wealthy, 
bears very young and full, and it is about the 
same in hardiness. The fruit will average a 
little smaller, and has not so much color, being 
in this respect about like Maiden’s Blush. 
Prof. Budd says it is a considerably better 
keeper in Iowa. The quality of the fruit is 
very good,—I think equal to Wealthy. 
Orleans Co., Vt. 
WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH 1888 
FARMING ? 
II. A. WHITTEMORE. 
Greater outlay for fertilizers, labor, house¬ 
hold expenses, farm appliances, and all 
necessaries as well as the superfluities 
than forty years ago; invention and im¬ 
provement, and indeed general progress 
have brought heavier expenses without 
corresponding advantages to the general 
faimier ; less thorough work now ; and more 
need of fertilizers and economy in all things. 
Were the question asked me, why is not 
farming more profitable in 1888 than 1850, I 
would very readily answer that the farming 
of the past was much more simple with less 
expense in machinery, fertilizers, etc., and 
with a soil less worn and more fertile the same 
or better crops could be produced with less 
labor than in 1888. The machinery of the 
average farmer of the past could all be pur¬ 
chased for from $50 to $100; while the farmer 
of to-day will think himself behind the age if 
his does not cost into the hundreds if not over 
$1,000.—The average farmer of 1850 was more 
thorough in his tillage, thereby producing 
better results, without the extra expense of 
commercial fertilizers. When in a day’s travel 
at that time would you see a field of corn that 
had not received its first and second hoeing up 
o the time when the tassels appeared, and 
