RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Delaware. 
Dover, Kent Co., October 15. —We have 
had an unusually early fall for this section. 
The first hard frost fell on October 2, killing 
all tender vegetation. Corn was late and some 
was cut by the frost. The crop will be a fair 
average. Husking not yet fairly begun. 
Some few fields of wheat are up, but the 
greater part of the crop is just breaking 
ground—some not yet sown. Sweet potatoes 
are a fair crop and worth about 40 cents per 
bushel. White potatoes are hardly up to the 
average. Apples are a very poor crop. Win¬ 
ter apples are not extensively raised here, as 
Fig. 359. 
the climate is not suited to them. The early 
frost cut the tomato crop short about 20 per 
cent. The State Fair at Dover last month 
was a success. Every department was well 
represented and the display did credit to the 
State. We have had plenty of rain this fall 
although not more than was wanted, and in 
spite of heavy frosts, pasture is still good, 
and stock are in fine condition. Taking all 
things into consideration, this has been a pros¬ 
perous year for the people of this State. No 
one that wanted employment, has been with¬ 
out it, and farmers will have a fair return for 
their labor. We shipped 5,951 car-loads Of 
peaches over the Delaware R. R. this season. 
Estimating 600 baskets to the car, it repre¬ 
sents a total of 2,400,000 baskets. At least 1,- 
600,000 baskets were shipped by boats and at 
least 1,500,000 baskets were used by the can¬ 
neries and evaporators. This brings the sum 
total up to about 6,500,000 for the crop of 1888 
on the Peninsula. Prices remained good for 
fruit until the last two weeks of the season; 
then rainy weather set in and the rest of the 
crop hardly paid for picking. Still, thousands 
of baskets netted the growers over $1.00 each. 
Wheat 1 10; corn(old) 55, (new)40; oats 30; po¬ 
tatoes 40 and 50; eggs 20; butter 20; poultry 10 
and 12. a. G. S' 
Virginia. 
Bufoudville, Bedford Co, Oct., 15.— On 
the morning of September 30, we had a heavy 
frost, killing a large portion of tne tobacco 
crop and all of the fodder left standing. 
Some planters lost all their crop of tobacco, 
and much of that saved was cut green. The 
crop will be a poor one. The wheat crop was 
the best we have had for several years, but 
the area sowed last fall was not so large as 
usual. There will be a much larger crop 
sowed this fall. The excessive rains will make 
the seeding of a portion of the crop Jate. Corn 
is a good crop, but in many places it is badly 
blown down, and a portion of the crop will be 
injured. The continued wet weather the first 
part of September caused much of the fodder 
to rot, and farmers who depend on fodder as a 
portion of their winter food for stock, will be 
short of feed. Oats that were sown early 
were badly killed out by the cold and wet 
weather in March; later sowed oats were a 
fair crop. Hay is a fair crop. Cattle are 
scarce and still low. They are a shade higher 
this fall than last. Calves sell from $3 to $6 
per head; yearlings from $10 to$15; two-year- 
olds from $18 to $20, weighing from 675 to 800 
pounds. Hogs scarce. I hear of no hog chol¬ 
era in our county at present. Sheep are very 
scarce, and are being picked up closely by 
speculators, who are paying from $2.25 to $3 
for stock sheep. Our woolen factories are 
paying the farmer from 20 to 24 cents for un¬ 
washed wool per pound, and selling him spun 
yarn to knit his socks at 90 cents per pound. 
(Who makes the money, the farmer or manu¬ 
facturer?) The apple crop in some places is 
very good, and in others very poor, owing to 
local frosts in the spring. On April 24 to 26 
we had heavy frosts, and I have very few ap¬ 
ples. Notwithstanding we make no clear 
money this year, I am more than thankful to 
an all-wise Providence that we have enough 
and some to spare. Would that our farmer 
boys could all read the piece on page 677 
by F. Dye, “Who Gets the Melon?” G. p. l. 
A WELL-ARRANGED HOUSE. 
The accompanying illustration, Fig. 358, 
shows the north and west elevations of the 
houseof Mr. W. S. Lyon, New Rochelle. N. Y. 
Plans of the first and second floors are given 
in Figs. 358, 359 and 360. These show the ar¬ 
rangement of the rooms, and the figures give 
the dimensions in feet and inches. 
Sliding doors separate the front from the 
back parlor, and the east windows of the 
parlors extend to the floor, so the long piazza 
is easily reached through them. Both piazzas 
are inclosed by a neat railing. The style of it 
can be seen on the piazza shown in Fig. 358. 
From the east piazza there is a fine view of a 
beautiful stretch of country, and beyond it 
the waters and boats of LoDg Island Sound 
can be seen. 
Across the hall from the parlors are the 
dining-room and kitchen; the latter opens into 
a roomy pantry into the cellar and through a 
short passage into the yard; a dumb-waiter 
connects the pantry with the cellar. The 
cellar extends under the whole house; it is dry 
and well lighted and is fully utilized. The 
furnace is here, that heats the whole house in 
the winter, and a large coal bin is near it. 
There is one room inclosed for vegetables and 
another for milk and food. 
The south end of the cellar has been con¬ 
verted into a basement kitchen with a range 
and stationary tubs. 
In the kitchen above, an oil stove is used for 
the ordinary cooking and baking, and a fire is 
lighted in the range only for laundry work or 
haps a few notes on the subject might inter- 
estsome ofyour readers. As to natives, “the 
woods are full of them.” Not in many years 
have the trees been so loaded, and the woods 
resound with the voices of men and children 
who gather from all the villages, and even 
come from the city. Some of these pickers 
are so independent that they almost attempt 
to order the owners off the grounds. Getting 
the owners’ consent to gather the nuts is never 
thought of here. Pickers Ret like squirrels in 
this respect. 
I regret that I cannot give a better report 
on my Japan nuts, but the pla ; n truth is I am 
not so enthusiastic as I was a few years ago, 
when my trees began to bear at two years of 
age. 
The trees are very pretty and come in bear¬ 
ing at a very early age. 1 should judge that 
they never will make a very large tree. I 
have some 14 feet high and spreading like a 
plum tree. Some of them are very prolific; 
others seem quite shy; but I am in hopes they 
will improve with age. I find I have made 
the mistake of letting them stand too thick in 
the rows where they were propagated. I 
shall remedy this in the spring. 
The past season, the crop of nuts was almost 
all destroyed by the rose-bugs, at the time of 
blossoming, as there was a swarm of bugs 
feeding on the blossoms the whole time they 
were in flower. Whether this was due to their 
standing alone, or to their being more desir¬ 
able food than the natives, I cannot say. One 
tree standing near where I passed which I fre¬ 
quently jarred, set a few nuts, the others have 
burrs but no perfect fruit, as the young burrs 
were shorn of the pistil so the fruit could not 
become fertile. 
The sample sent is like what frequently 
occurs holding from four to six nuts. The 
tree last year bore a heavy crop; so I had a 
photo taken of it. 
Although the nuts are not as nice as ours as 
food, being covered with a bitter skin which if 
not removed is too astrignent for most tastes» 
yet boiled or roasted they are very nice. 
Try them, Mr. Editor, and give your opinion. 
On the whole, I would advise planting them 
for their early productiveness and bearing! 
tfjv xr-Jial 
^ irtfv'alsEa’* 
A WELL-ARRANGED HOUSE. Fig. 358. 
when an extra demand is made for stove and 
oven room. The bed-room on the first floor is 
in an extension only one story high. 
On the second floor is a bath-room fitted up 
with all the modern fixtures and supplied with 
running water. The back room on the west 
is fitted up as a sewing room, a great con¬ 
venience in any house where a room can be 
spared for the purpose. 
The other three rooms are bed-rooms. The 
front rooms have each an ample closet. There 
is no attic for storage, but a room fitted up for 
that purpose in the carriage house takes its 
place. Vines beautify the piazzas and young 
trees are growing into beauty and shade for 
the grounds. 
Report from one who has had much exper¬ 
ience with them; he is not so enthusiatic 
as he was; beautiful as drawf trees; they 
bear early. 
As chestnuts are in season, I thought per¬ 
but any one who says they are as sweet as our 
natives I should differ from. 
They are easily propagated by grafting. I 
find that the splice-graft on the yearlin root 
stock is the best. The same cut on the tops of 
small trees that are nearly the size of the 
cion. Cleft-grafting in large trees does well 
sometimes, but is more difficult, as often the 
union is made and the cion will grow awhile 
and then a wind will trip it out as the union 
is not perfect: but don’t be discouraged; they 
will not all do so. 
I last spring received some nuts direct from 
Japan, that exceed in size any I have ever 
seen, but they were so wretchedly packed that 
few germinated. The packing was wet clay and 
many started and the sprouts died. In some 
the meat was good and these were eaten. The 
quality was somewhat like the best Spanish or 
Italian. Their size was immense, six nuts 
weighing eight ounces. I am in hopes that 
these will prove of value as their great size 
will always recommend them though the qual¬ 
ity may not be first-class. Large fruit, even 
if poor, sells, and that with some is enough. 
Should time deal gently by me I propose to 
cross with the large ones some of our natives 
and see if there can be any improvement in 
the quality of the m. 
I have never .tried to boom., the Japanese 
chestnuts. I have thought from the first the 
quality did not seem to warrant it, and I did 
not care to be a party to introducing a poor 
thing; yet I do think a few trees desirable in 
starting a new place. 
Creed moor, L. I. 
TWO NEW DEVICES. 
T. B. TERRY. 
The stock must pump their own water; a 
machine to make them wait on themselves ; 
a device for elevating loads of hay or 
grain; a barn elevator for the boys to ride 
on; not satisfied with the hay-fork. 
The display of farm tools and machinery at 
the Ohio Centennial, was doubtless the fiuest 
that Ohio people overlooked at. For the mo-t 
* S200J3 
Fig. 360. 
i part, of course, they were machines that 
farmers who read the papers know of, but 
there were two I noticed that were quite new, 
and bid fair to be useful. One was a stock 
pump, with which”the animal pumps its own 
water. And it was a Jvery simple affair too, 
so simple that the wonder is, that it was never 
thought of before. Imagine a platform, say 
four feet wide and 12 or 15 long, one end over 
the well and the other pivoted. Then suppose 
a cylinder to be placed in the well, closed at 
the bottom, except that a small pipe conn°cts 
it with the water tank above. Now fit a 
piston or plunger to this cylinder, having a 
rod connecting it with the platform above. 
The action you will now understand. The 
* cow or horse coming on to the platform, to get 
to the tank for water, sends the plunger slow¬ 
ly down into the cylinder, as the platform is 
pivoted at the other end. This action forces 
the water out of the cylinder and up to the 
tank. 
When the animal gets enough, it steps off 
and [the platform rises, by means of a simple 
contrivance, land [tbe| cylinder refills for the 
next thirsty beast. Now when 'one gets hi s 
stock taught how to do this work, please tel 1 
me how far in the shade is the windmill left* 
Each animal pumps itself fresh water, you 
see; no drinking of stale water from the tank; 
Would the animals learn to go on to get wa¬ 
ter? I think so. A friend has a platform of 
nearly this shape at the edge of a soft-bot¬ 
tomed water hole. The platform is pivoted on 
land. The stock go out on.it as it lies on the 
water. It sinks so as to let them drink, but of 
course, keeps them out of the mud. They can 
get at the water in no other way, as they are 
kept away by a fence. This invention hails 
from away off in Oregon. 
The other new thing was a hay unloader_ 
no not exactly that eithor, but rather an 
arrangement for hoisting the entire load of 
hay, rack and all, up into the top of the barn, 
where the man on the top can pitch it off 
down hill. Just slip your team off_the wagon 
and hitch on to a rope, and away goes your 
load to the top of the barn. One can fill the 
barn to the very top with ease. Loads of grain 
go up the same as hay. What is the ad¬ 
vantage over a hay-fork? Well, I didn’f;see 
the intent; but should say it was'just'as 
practical for bundles of grain [as for hay. 
And then a very important point "would be 
no over-packing of the hay in the. middle of 
the bay, where it falls when a horse-fork is 
used. Those who grow clover, find fault with 
the borse-fork, saying it^will spoil much of 
their hay in deep bays. L. N. Bonham, Sec¬ 
retary of our State Board of Agriculture, told 
me last winter that he had given up the use of 
the horse-fork on this account. I have heard 
very much complaint in this line at our 
institutes. This invention does away with all 
the labor of pitching up, and still sends the 
hay into the bays in the best shape. I do not 
know whether the load can be moved hori¬ 
zontally, after being drawn up, but if it can¬ 
not now, some one will find a way to do it, if 
such an arrangement is called for. 
Now, I believe this is a tip-top thing, al¬ 
though for a time I should probably choose 
to do the moving away, myself, and let the 
boys ride up to the roof; but I heard of a way 
last winter, in which clover hay could be 
