jess 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
274 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Alabama. 
Mobile Co., April 2.—The past winter has 
been very mild compared with some we have 
had—23 degrees being the lowest registered, 
but we have had more rain than needed, as 
the excess has rotted a great many potatoes in 
the ground which were planted a few days 
previous to the rainy spell, causing a great 
loss. Fully one-fourth in some instances had 
to be replanted, causing a great many gaps 
in what are left. We have planted an im¬ 
mense crop of potatoes and cabbages this year. 
There are a few new potatoes upon our mar¬ 
ket now, but the main crop will not be ready 
until between May 1 and 15. Our spring cab¬ 
bage crop is just beginning to come in, and 
having such mild weather and plenty of rain, 
the plants are as fine as could be desired. Peas 
have been here for the last two weeks, and 
beans are in bloom. Tomatoes are all out, 
doing finely. As a fertilizer we generally use 
five sacks of cotton-seed meal containing 100 
pounds to one barrel of potatoes or a bucket¬ 
ful to 35 to 40 yards. We are in expectation 
of realizing good prices for all of our truck 
this season, as the market for potatoes will be 
very nearly cleared up of old stock when ours 
come in, and I expect we can fill all demand 
for them until those grown further north come 
in. Seed potatoes brought from $4 to 84.50 
per barrel. Eating potatoes are 83 25, and 
new potatoes are 83 per bushel. Peas 82.50 
per bushel; cabbages from 81 to 82 per dozen, 
and $3.15 per crate. G. b. k. 
California. 
Petaluma, Sonoma Co.—This winter has 
been a rather wet one, not very wet though, 
dry winters are the exceptions. If we have 
less than 15 inches of rain it is called a dry 
winter. But if the rain fall is well divided up 
in the six months during which we usually 
have rains, 10 inches would be sufficient. In 
this county we do rather the best in dry years, 
many kinds of produce being then higher ow¬ 
ing to failure elsewhere. A failure of crop in 
Sonoma Co. has never been known. Grain 
and grass look well, but a little backward. 
Hired help is very scarce,especially good milk¬ 
ers. The usual wages for good men are about 
825 per month, summer and winter, but this 
summer it will probably be 830 per month 
and board. e n, 
Dakota. 
Alexandria, Hanson Co.—Beautiful spring 
weather. Farmers very busy seeding. The 
snowfall during the winter was much larger 
than usual, and it fell before the ground was 
frozen, so that this spring when it melted, it 
went into the ground. That means, all other 
things being equal, a good harvest for Dakota. 
T. H. Y. 
Kansan. 
Conway, McPherson Co.— We had very 
fine weather during at least two-thirds of the 
month of February; plowing, harrowing and 
other out-door farm work being in progress on 
most of the farms and a little oats sowing 
done. March opened cool, but not stormy, 
and no farm work was done until March 11th, 
when oats sowing become quite general and 
continued until the 17&h. The 18th was the 
warmest of the season, thermometer register¬ 
ing 80°. On the 19th it rained, soon turning 
to snow—the first since in January—and the 
wind raised and the worst storm of the season 
raged the remainder of the day, except that it 
was not very cold. About four inches of 
snow fell, drifting in places to a depth of 
three feet. Next day warm, and snow partly 
disappeared, weather continued quite change¬ 
able until the 23d, when oats sowing was gen¬ 
eral again. A heavy rain with some hail on 
the 24th. To-day below freezing. Some un¬ 
easiness is felt as to the effect of such weather 
upon some of the oats that are sown. Some 
gardening has been done and a few potatoes 
planted. There will be sufficient feed for 
stock. Wheat is looking well. An early kind 
of grass is starting along the roadsides, and 
the little patches of Blue Grass to be seen here 
and there are also starting. J. M. R. 
Michigan. 
Harrisville, Alcona County, April 3.— 
We still have lots of snow—105 days of contin 
uous sleighing and as good now as at any 
time during winter. But there are signs of a 
break-up and in eight days we may expect 
bare ground and pasture for stock where any 
grass was left last fall, as there has been no 
frost in the ground and grass and grain ap¬ 
pear to have improved under the snow. Crops 
of all kinds here were immense, especially hay 
and potatoes. Alcona is a new county and 
has never experienced a failure in crops. Hay 
brings 810 to 812 per ton; potatoes 75 to 90 
cents; oats 50 cents; wheat 85 cents not much 
grown as course grains pay better at lumber 
camps where.most are„used. wm. a. 
New York. 
So. Dayton, Cattaraugus Co., April 9th.— 
Winter wheat has come out in fine shape and 
we consider all danger from winter now past. 
The make of maple sirup has been very light, 
with little prospect for any more to speak of 
unless it is a bud run. Good sirup brings 
about 81 per gallon. No. 1 sugar 10 cents; lower 
grades from six to eight cents. Fancy 12)^ to 
15 cents. New butter brings 24 cents for No. 1. 
Around here we have one of the finest dairy 
counties in Western New York. We are right 
at the head-waters of the Alleghany River. 
The hills are good grazing lands and the val¬ 
leys are very fertile, with an abundance of 
pure water. We are on the line of the B. and 
S. W. R. R. Pine Valley is a thriving little 
town where I think a creamery would thrive. 
A. H. L. 
General Purpose Animal. —The horse 
that can trot a mile in 2.30, run in 1.50, plow 
patiently in rough ground and haul draught 
horse loads, is still an ideal; for nature' and 
art combined have not yet succeeded in pro¬ 
ducing him. Nature does not tend toward the 
development of general-purpose animals, and 
when man tries to improve on nature he can 
only effect a compromise with her. A horse 
may trot in three minutes, be a fair plow 
horse, pull all he is able before a load and per¬ 
haps be passably good under the saddle, but 
the better he is in any one of these respects the 
more deficient will he be in the others, and 
there will always be special-purpose animals 
that will excel him in the performance of 
any of his diverse duties. But still, the highest 
type of the farmer’s horse is perhaps the near¬ 
est approach to a “general-purpose” animal 
on earth. But after all he is neither a trotter, 
a draught horse, nor a saddler, but simply a 
“jack-at-all-trades,” excelling at none. The 
horse that will do the most things fairly well 
is the one that the farmer wants, for usually 
he cannot afford to keep different classes of 
animals best adapted to various kinds of work 
which he has to do. The case of the cow 
is quite different. Her duties are limited. It is 
neither necessary nor wise to expect such a 
diversity of gifts in her. She is kept or should 
be for one of three things, milk, butter or beef 
production. As soon as we attempt to com¬ 
bine any two of these qualifications we produce 
an animal that cannot excel in either. We 
may strike a fair average, but cannot expect 
to attain the highest results. The extra money 
that the special-purpose cow will cost her 
owner during the first year of her usefulness 
will more than pay for her carcass. Breed for 
beef, milk or butter, but don’t try to combine 
the three. It is a kind of mixed farming that 
does not pay. So, in substance, says the Press. 
It is a fact, as the Breeder’s Gazette states, 
that but for the manure produce upon the 
farm all farmers would have to incur consid¬ 
erable expense every year in the purchase of 
artificial fertilizers. It is their live stock 
which saves them from the necessity of in¬ 
curring this expense. In counting up the 
profits from keeping this stock it should in all 
fairness be credited with the money it saves 
in the shape of manure. 
A writer in one of the English papers 
claims that the practice of ringing swine is 
one of the principal causes of the production 
of disproportionately fat pork, and that an in¬ 
dulgence of the animal in its natural desire 
for digging and rooting is “highly beneficial 
to the proper development of the sinews, 
which is very essential in the produce of lean 
or streaky meat, now so much desired.”. 
H. Stewart says that if a farmer finds the 
horns of his cattle inconvenient and trouble¬ 
some let him cut them off close to the head 
with a fine saw and as little compunction as 
he would pare his own finger nails when they 
become overgrown, if a farmer is ever 
troubled in this way. For the horn of an 
animal is very much of this character and is 
perfectly devoid of sensation, the inner core 
of it only being supplied with nerves and 
blood vessels, and a wound to this is not severe 
and quickly heals. 
A writer tells the Farm Journal that in 
setting a gate post a good plan is to dig the 
the hole for the post three to three and a half 
feet in diameter, put the post in the center of 
the hole and fill it up with concrete. This 
will keep the post in its proper position as long 
as it is a post. He had two heavy gates to 
hang a few months ago, and put in the hang¬ 
ing posts on this plan, and the result is they 
have not sagged a quarter of an inch. The 
gates are eighteen feet wide, and are opened 
and shut at least twenty times a day. 
The following we have seen in several jour¬ 
nals, this^time in the Farm Journal: 
“Alfred Rose, the noted potato grower of 
Penn Yan, N. Y., uses the following mixture 
to prevent scabby tubers: With two bushelsof 
lime mix 65 pounds of sulphur, and slake them 
together. Then add 100 pounds of fine salt, six 
bushels of wood ashes, 200 pounds of plaster, 
and mix all well together. This is for one acre 
and is to be spread along the trenches after 
the seed is dropped. Mr Rose considers this 
to be a good fertilizer as well as a sure pre¬ 
ventive of scab.” 
With all respect for Mr, Rose’s method, we 
believe there is just one thing in the above 
mixture that will prevent scab and that is the 
sulphur. From our own experience we know 
that neither lime, plaster, salt nor wood ashes 
will prevent scab. Wood ashes seem to favor 
it in our soil. 
The cal>x is that part of the apple opposite 
to the stem. When the apple forms, the 
calyx end is up. It is this calyx or cup which 
is to be filled with poisoned water, because it 
is usually in this cup that the egg is laid which 
hatches into a grub; and it is this grub which 
eats into the apple. Spray the trees when the 
little apples are standing on their stems, so to 
speak. 
Geo. P. Rowell & Co. say that the num¬ 
ber of newspapers in this country which 
never deviate from their published schedule 
of advertising rates hardly exceeds the num¬ 
ber of fingers on one hand. We regard that 
as a pretty sad commentary upon the integ¬ 
rity of American publishers. 
The Farm and Garden has the following: 
“The Rural New-Yorker says, ‘Don’t 
use superphosphate in the hill as a starter for 
corn.’ Why not? In somo parts of the coun¬ 
try corn does not start as readily as in others 
and farmers in those localities find that a lit¬ 
tle phosphate in the hill will make the com 
ripen at least a week earlier than when it is 
applied broadcast.” 
We think our friend is wrong. Superphos¬ 
phate is a corrosive mixture and will surely 
injure any seed with which it comes in con¬ 
tact. Simple phosphate in the hill would do 
no harm, though the seed would sprout more 
readily if not in contact with it. Our experi¬ 
ments show that seed is retarded in germina¬ 
tion when any of the so-called chemical fertil¬ 
izers are placed either in the hill or drill, 
though later the fertilizers, of course, have 
their effect. They have less effect, however, 
than when spread broadcast. The roots of the 
corn plant very soon grow beyond the fertil¬ 
izer in the hill, so that it can be of little ser¬ 
vice when the plant stands most in need of 
food, viz., during the grain-forming period... 
TROUT AND SALMON FISHING. 
I. 
We can unreservedly commend the book .— 
Nation, N. Y. 
F LY-RODS AND FLY-TACKLE. Sug¬ 
gestions as to their Manufacture and 
Use. By Henry P. Wells. Illustrated. 
Square 8vo, Cloth, Illuminated, 82.50. 
Of great value. It will take Its place as a standard 
authority. We cannot commend It too highly.— 
Forest and Stream, N. Y. 
Professional as well as amateur rod and tackle mak¬ 
ers will find this work Invaluable. It contains a vast 
amount of Information not to be found In any other 
work.— Fishing Gazette, London. 
This handsome book ought to delight fishermen, who 
will read every page and call for more — N Y. Herald. 
A book without which every sportsman’s library Is 
Incomplete.— American Field, Chicago. 
The author has earned the gratitude of anglers- 
whose name Is legion.— American Angler, N. Y. 
H. 
A complete treatise by an expert.— Satur¬ 
day Evening Gazette, Boston. 
T HE AMERICAN SALMON-FISH ER- 
MAN. By Henry P. Wells, Author 
of “Fly-Rods and Fly-Tackle.” With 
Illustrations and a Map. Square 8vo 
Cloth, 81.00. 
It gives a vast amount of information both as to tha 
best fishing localities and the best methods of taking 
fish.— Boston Traveller. 
Mr Wells speaks with an authority which will 
scarcely be questioned. Above all he is the salmon- 
flsher par excellence.—N. Y. Sun. 
A careful study of the book would go some way 
toward making a man a complete angler for the sal¬ 
mon.— Saturday Review, London. 
Published by HARPER & BROTHERS.New York. 
The above works are for sale by all booksellers,or will 
be sentby Harper & Brothers, postpaid, to any part of 
the United States and Canada, on receipt of the price. 
Harper & Brothers’ Catalogue sent on receipt of 
Ten Cents postage-stamys. 
ABSTRACTS. 
UNEQUALED 
For House, Barn, 
J. N. Muncky: “I insist that the queen of 
cows is the one that gives milk and butter, 
and not the one that converts a part or half 
of the food into beef. It is milk and not beef 
that pays the greatest profit, and the cow that 
gives an average profit of 27 to 30 pounds per 
day for 300 days is a profitable cow regard¬ 
less of the breed she represents.”-N.Y. 
Tribune: “What atmosphere filled the room 
where the cigar was made? What vile dis¬ 
ease may have been clinging to the fingers 
that rolled it, or lurking in the saliva of the 
tongue that wet the wrapper? Persons who 
will smoke use a wise sanitary precaution who 
adopt the cob pipe and burn what virus may 
adhere to the leaves, but even with this care 
there are few people who cannot remember 
some tobocco-consuming relative whose pain¬ 
ful death from throat or gastric trouble tells 
us the poison that eventually and agonizingly 
eats away the last thread of life.”-Orange 
Co. Farmer: “No more vicious scheme can 
be conceived than that of spending a hundred 
millions of dollars on our coast defences. Ad¬ 
ditional forts and guns mean additional troops 
and that in the end fosters the military spirit. 
No greater calamity could happen us.”- 
Husbandman: “Every good working day lost 
on the farm in spring is like a treasure drop¬ 
ped in mid-ocean never to appear again.”- 
Farm Journal: “April fools take off their 
under-clothing or take the stove out of the 
sitting-room this month.” . . . “Put all 
agreements between tenant and landlord, 
between farm band and employer in writ¬ 
ing.” . . . “If potato seed are spread out 
in single layers, and in a light place, three or 
four weeks before planting, the buds will 
grow short and stout, and are ready for busi¬ 
ness when put in the ground. Not so if left 
in barrels or bins in the cellar.” . . . “An 
efficient dog-law in each State would do 
more for the sheep industry than all 
the tariff tinkering of a century.”- 
Ptewnaamtsi gUUtertitfittfl. 
How to SAVE re-shingling, STOP 
leaks effectually and cheaply in 
roofs of all kinds, or lay NEW roofs. 
Particulars FREE if you mention this paper. 
ER ROOFINC . 
The new illustrated weekly journal of Hor¬ 
ticulture, Landscape, Art, and Forestry has 
been universally pronounced by the press of 
the country to be the best and most attractive 
journal of its class ever published in the 
United States. Every one who cultivates 
flowers or ornamental trees or shrubs at his 
home should read it. 
The early numbers have contained articles 
by Mr. Francis Parkman, the historian, Pro¬ 
fessors Sargent, Farlow, Goodale and Wolcott 
Gibbs of Harvard; Prof. Packard of Brown 
University; Prof. Hilgard of the University of 
California; Prof. Beal of the Michigan Agri¬ 
cultural College; Charles A. Dana, the Rev. 
E. P. Roe, Dr. C. C. Abbott, Robert Douglas, 
Peter Henderson, John Thorpe, William Fal¬ 
coner, F.Goldring, Edwin Lonsdale and many 
other well-known specialists. 
It is the only horticultural weekly published 
in the United Slates. Its illustrations are 
original, and of the highest artistic excellence, 
and include pictures of plants which have 
never been figured before. 
For sale at all News stands. 
10 Cents a Number. #4.00 a Year, 
Agents wanted in every town and village 
in the country. Liberal terms to clubs and 
agents. Address 
GARDEN & FOREST PUB. CO., 
Tribune Building, New York. 
D. A. Miuiro, Manager. 
Tie 1B C of Potato Culture. 
By T. B. TERRY, Hudson, Ohio. 
How to grow them in the largest quantity and of the 
finest quality, with the least expenditure of time and 
labor. Carefully considering all the latest improve¬ 
ments in this branch of agriculture up to the present 
date. It has had an Immense sale and has been print¬ 
ed in foreign languages. Price, postpaid, 38c. 
Mention this paper. A. I. ROOT, Medina, O. 
T&xm, and 
CHOICE FLOWER SEEDS. 
Grown and sold by MILTON E. FISK, Lunen¬ 
burg, Mass. Send for Catalogue and receive a sample 
packet free. 
DEATH to insects in house, garden, orchard and 
fields; also Poultry and Cattle Lice. Illustrated Cir¬ 
culars free. THOMAS WOODASON, 
451 East Cambria St., Philadelphia, Pa. 
KT 
BLUE AND 
Orchard Crass 
P. CARROLL, LEXINGTON, KY e 
INDIANA 
and all out-buildings. 
ANYBODY CAN PUT IT ON. 
PRICE LOW. 
Write for Sample and Book. 
143 limine St., New York City. 
PAINT & ROOFING CO. 
A FEW THOUSAND 
Choice No. 1 Marlboro and Cuthbert Rasp¬ 
berry Plants for sale at #5 per thousand. 
WM. H. GOLDSMITH, Newark, N. J. 
OM1I | CDIIITfiT Plants, Vines, etc. 
oIyIALL rnUIIOl leading New and Old 
varieties at reasonable rates. Catalogues lree. 
IRVING ALLEN, Springfield, Mass. 
■ an ■■ ■■ fk The best hardy Rhododendrons. Az 
IILli W aleas, Japanese Maples, and all Or 
I namental Trees, Street Trees, Ever 
greens. Shrubs, Roses and Vines of selected quality 
at lowest rates. Also iYuits See Catalogue. 
FREI». W. KELSEY, 208 Broadway, N. Y, 
STRAWBERRY PLANTS FOR SALE. 
Buhacb N o. 5 and Belmont, $1 per 100; $0 per 1,000. 
Jessie, $2 per 100; $18 per 1,000. 500 at 1,000 rates by 
freight or express. JAMES LIPPINCOTT, Jr. 
Mount Holly, N. J. 
1 A varletie® CHOICE KI-OWERSEEDS 10c. 
A" pACKKTOtfeSt’vP.Paid.J.HUNT.Blnghamton.N.Y. 
WANTED. Everybody to try our magnificent 
collection, 20 plants #1.00, all different. Illus¬ 
trated circular tree. Send for It 
F. E. FASSETT & BRO., Ashtabula, Ohio. 
