VOL. XLVII. NO. 2014 . NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 1 , 1888. 
PRICE FIVE CENTS. 
$2.00 PER YEAR. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1888, by the Rural New-Yorker In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
A NOOK. 
No matter how velvety the lawn, how clean 
the paths, how carefully clipped the borders; 
no matter with how much taste the flower 
beds are arranged and planted, how striking¬ 
ly beautiful the specimens of shrubs and trees; 
no matter how much money is expended to 
keep everything in perfect order and neatness) 
the grounds about 
one’s home are yet 
not necessarily re¬ 
poseful or constantly 
inviting to those who 
live there. Many a 
costly place of this 
kind may strike the 
stranger as little 
short of a paradise, 
that with a closer 
acquaintance grows 
less and less home¬ 
like and lovable. It 
does nor improve 
with acquaintance. 
The one sight of 
formal beauty has 
been seen and stud¬ 
ied, and it is much 
the same in its gener¬ 
al effect to-morrow 
as to-day—a circus, a 
thrice-told tale. We 
tire of it and long for 
repose — for some¬ 
thing that invites 
one to be seated and 
to tarry—an arbor of 
vines, the shade of 
an old tree in a 
nooky, cozy, shelter¬ 
ed, out - of -the-way 
place where nature 
can recognise herself 
if seen in a looking- 
glass. 
When, 17 years 
ago, we planned the 
Rural Grounds, our 
first thought was to 
have places to go to 
after we had shown 
the visitor about or 
after we had made 
the usual round of 
the place to note the 
daily changes in veg¬ 
etation, or where the 
amily could meet, 
and sit and talk or read. 
Nooky or natural places in new grounds 
are not the products of a single season by any 
means. We had merely an old, worthless 
apple orchard to deal with, and the “nature 1 ' 
of the apple orchard was not just the kind of 
nature that it was desired to preserve. 
The illustration, Fig. 302, is within ten feet 
of the little lake or “ pond-puddle ” (as it was 
once sacrilegiously called by a Californian 
friend) with which our readers may be only 
too familiar. On either side of a curving path 
a hemlock (Abies or Tsuga Canadensis) was 
planted scarcely two feet high at that time. 
In the course of years the branches met so 
that the “ tunnel ”—now 15 feet long—shown in 
the photographic engraving, was gradually 
formed by cutting back the spray as it ex¬ 
tended over the path. In the near view on 
the left is a Devil’s Walking-stick—Aralia 
spinosa—not well focused by the camera. 
Beyond the tunnel is just one of the shady, 
inviting “ rests ” we have dwelt upon. An old 
apple tree with low, spreading boughs, is the 
main object, while about it are a Silver Bell, 
Osage Orange, an Austrian Pine, an English 
Sloe, a bramble or so, a Venetian Sumac and 
several lowlier shrubs. TJ nder the apple tree 
is a homely seat made of undressed Red Ce¬ 
dar and from it, deeply shaded by the trees 
about and with a carpet of Rough Meadow 
grass (Poa trivialis, so well suited to damp, 
shady places) under foot, little glimpses of the 
lake, of the garden and vineyard, etc. are 
caught. 
This is one ot the places our folks like to 
go to. It is one of the “resorts” of the 
Rural Grounds, which though they receive 
but little care from the gardener are as the 
“ nooning ” of the working man or the recess 
of the children let out of school. 
DEHORNING AGAIN. 
It “ makes me tired ” to see so much written 
about “ dehorning cattle.” If it is a good 
thing to have cattle without horns, why 
grow the horns at all? For many years my 
father never raised a calf that had horns. 
The operation of removing them is very 
simple, and is certainly easier when the 
animal is four weeks old than when it is four 
years. If it is performed at the former age, 
there can be no danger from the horns for the 
three years. The best way of doing the job is 
this, according to our experience. When the 
calf is about four weeks old, its legs are tied as 
it lies on its side; with a sharp knife the horn 
(which at that age usually shows as a little 
button) is quickly cut; then an iron, an inch 
or less in diameter, heated to a light red, is 
applied to the horn until the blood ceases to 
flow and the horn is slightly seared. The iron 
should not be held on too long at a time, so 
that it will not heat too far into the head. 
Then a little tar is usually put on, and the calf 
is let up, and will at once begin eating, and 
I have never seen the least ill-effect from the 
operation. It requires no special tool, or 
practice. Does it not cause great pain? 
Presumably some; but how many calves are 
branded ? But branding is not avoided because 
it causes pain. Castration too is painful; yet 
who wants his pork or mutton “ entire ?” So 
if we must have hornless cattle, it seems to me 
to be more sensible to prevent the growth of 
the horns, than to allow them to grow and 
then cut them off. n. h. 
Creedmoor, N. Y. 
CORN-AND-COB MEAR 
WALDO F. BROWN. 
I have been happily disappointed 'in the 
results of my experiments in feeding cob mea 
to cattle. I was prejudiced against it and 
would not feed it at all; but was led to try it 
by the report from one of our experiment 
stations where a careful and impartial test 
established its value. From the experience of 
last winter in feeding it, I am prepared to 
believe that the 12 or 14 pounds of cob when 
ground fine, are worth as much as the same 
number of pounds of corn. In stating this I 
keep in mind the fact that the cob possesses 
less nutriment and much less intrinsic value, 
yet feeding—which is the true test—shows 
that what the cob does furnish is what the 
cattle need to balance the ration. I have so 
far experimented only with cattle, but I hope 
to test the matter with horses and hogs in the 
future. There are 
some horses that al¬ 
ways eat the cobs, 
and most horses will 
eat more or less of 
them when fed corn 
in the ear, and I am 
of the opinion that 
if ground fine, which 
modern mills enable 
us to do cheaply and 
rapidly, the cob meal 
will be better for 
horses than whole 
corn. 
The above item 
suggests two matters 
of importance to far¬ 
mers : 1st, the great 
good which may re¬ 
sult from the experi¬ 
ment stations now 
established, if they 
are put in charge of 
the right men, and I 
know that in several 
States this is the 
case. We are fortu¬ 
nate in Ohio in hav¬ 
ing a man who was 
raised on a farm and 
who is in full sympa¬ 
thy with farmers, 
and will do his very 
best to carry out 
their wishes, and I 
know this to be true 
of several other 
States. I would sug¬ 
gest to farmers who 
read this that when 
they desire some ex¬ 
periment carried out, 
they write to the 
Director of their 
station, and I feel 
sure they will be 
pleased with the re¬ 
sponse they will re¬ 
ceive, and that those 
iu charge of the stations will be glad of 
these suggestions. The other thing sug¬ 
gested is the wonderful inventive genius 
which has been brought to bear on farm ma¬ 
chinery. A neighbor of mine last fall bought 
one of the new irou or steel Scientific grinding 
mills.'with which he grinds from 25 to 60 
bushels of corn and cob per hour—the smaller 
amount when ground very fine. The mill is 
run by a thrasher engine and has given excel¬ 
lent satisfaction. While at the Ohio Centen¬ 
nial recently the agent kindly took one of 
these mills apart to show me the principle on 
which] it, worked, and I found a strong steel 
plate set edgewise and arranged to grind with 
both surfaces. This plate was not more than 
six or seven inches in diameter, and he assured 
me that the entire grinding parts can be re- 
A NOOK AT THE RURAL GROUNDS. From a Photograph. Fig. 302. 
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