THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
u 
tie and sheep, the clothing of the family was 
made. Cattle, horses and wool constituted 
the bulk of the merchantable products of the 
farm. Most of the implements, and the farm 
vehicles, with various articles of household 
need were, with a little aid from blacksmith 
and carpenter, fabricated at home. 
My father and mother were Methodists, but 
my wife was a daughter of the Congrega¬ 
tional minister of the village, and since our 
marriage I have usually attended that meet¬ 
ing with her. I do not think my mother 
liked this, indeed I know she did not; yet it 
was never the cause of any trouble. My 
wife and I had been schoolmates at the 
academy, and we neither of us ever had any 
other fancy than for each other. Her ideas 
were rather higher than those our family 
had been bred up in, but this has been but an 
added charm to me. While I have no aris¬ 
tocratic notions, I have always desired to 
maintain a character of steady, plain respect¬ 
ability. My education was not so good as my 
wife’s, and my natural mental endowments 
are not equal to hers, but she has always 
shown me the most perfect respect, as well as 
love. 
The year before I was 21 my father met with 
a serious injury from lifting, which incapaci- 
ated him for work. My mother’s health had 
also failed about the same time. My sisters 
were both married and gone, my elder broth¬ 
er was in a clerk’s situation at Springfield, and 
the younger at school. All these circum¬ 
stances, in connection with my stay-at-home 
disposition, and my early marriage to a girl 
whom all the family knew and respected, 
made it very natural that when it appeared 
that my parents were past work, I should take 
charge of the farm, as I did, although at so 
early an age. I had spent my life at home, 
was steady, industrious, and of a quiet dispo¬ 
sition; at least so far as external manifesta¬ 
tions went. But I really had considerable am¬ 
bition, in a sober way, and a strong desire to 
get out of the old ruts in farming. I was fond 
of reading, and especially of agricultural 
reading. I took several farm newspapers, 
the chief of which was the Albany Cultivator. 
At that time there was a considerable stir 
about new breeds of cattle, and the Durham 
Short-horns were especially lauded as far su¬ 
perior for profit to the common stock, or to- 
the Devons, which had been before the only 
foreign cattle which had been much import¬ 
ed. The fact that the latter made such brisk 
handy draft cattle made them rapidly popu¬ 
lar in the valley, and our own stock was pret¬ 
ty deeply crossed with that blood. The cows 
were not very deep milkers, nor did they hold 
out very well in their milk; in fact, in these 
respects they were often surpassed by our 
common native cattle, but the milk was of 
very superior quality, and its rich, thick 
cream was the subject of much admiring com¬ 
ment with the farmers’ wives. At that time 
dairying was not much of a business, though 
some butter and cheese were made for sale in 
Massachusetts, especially in Worcester Coun¬ 
ty. We could easily sell our surplus of these 
products in the river towns below us, but we 
did not keep what would be called now a dairy 
herd, or make dairying anything like a spe¬ 
cialty. In fact, we had no specialty—we 
farmed to live, and sold our surplus according 
as we had opportunity. Our principal money 
product was our wool, as we kept from 100 to 
125 sheep of the common breed, which my 
father had at different times attempted to im¬ 
prove, first by a cross of the Spanish Merino, 
and again by what were then called the 
“Dishleys,” a long-wooled sheep, since known 
as the New Leicester breed. The result was a 
rather mongrel flock, and the wool did not 
bring a high price, owing to its uneven length 
and fineness. : 
The year that I took charge of the farm 
was the year of the discovery of gold in Cali¬ 
fornia, and my younger brother, three years 
younger than myself, was taken with the 
“gold-fever,” as it was called then, and per¬ 
suaded my father to fit him out for a voyage 
“around the Horn” to the land of gold. As I 
remarked above, my father had finished pay¬ 
ing for his land before he was disabled and 
had some hundreds of dollars in the bank, but 
nearly all of this was used in making up my 
brother’s outfit. It was not a bad investment, I 
for although he remained less than three years I 
on the Pacific Coast, my brother came back 
with money enough to enable him to study 
his profession, graduate at the Yale Law 
School, and establish himself in the home 
where he chose to settle on the eastern shore 
of Lake Michigan, though he afterwards re¬ 
moved to Detroit. 
My first adventure in the way of improve¬ 
ment after taking up the full management of 
the farm, was in the purchase of a bull and 
two cows for the establishment of a Short¬ 
horn herd. We generally had from three to 
four yoke of oxen on the farm, and with an 
occasional cow, turned off several head fo 
beef yearly. The Short-horns were highly 
commended for both milk and beef, and I was 
much taken with those I had seen exhibited 
at the fairs which I attended in Albany. The 
prices of this stock were not nearly so high as 
they became afterwards, but I had a good deal 
of trouble getting my father to come into my 
plan of starting a herd of thoroughbreds. He 
thought the sum I proposed to invest ($500) 
too much, and more than we could afford, 
though I was assured that both the bull and 
the cows were of a superior strain, and ex¬ 
ceedingly cheap at the price. They were cer¬ 
tainly in very nice order when I bought them 
in the fall, and I drove them myself, with 
great care, from the Hudson River across the 
hills to my home, with much pride. When 
turned into the yard they made our small red 
cattle look smaller. My father shook his 
head, and said it would take a great deal of 
feed to keep them. I had paid $200 down for 
them, and given my note at one year for the 
balance, with interest. This was the begin¬ 
ning of my going in debt. I feel sure, now, 
that it would have been much better for me if 
it had been the end, but unfortunately it was 
not. I paid the note at the end of the year, 
but not without the necessity of borrowing 
$100 from my father-in-law, which, however, 
was paid the next season. 
I may as well say, right here, that I never 
really got a dollar back from that investment. 
I found out, almost at once, that without ex¬ 
tra care and a good deal more feed than our 
other cattle got, these Short-horns could not be 
kept up to their original condition. I had to 
sell off some sheep in order to have hay enough 
to carry them through; and I had to buy 
grain, also, before spring, to feed to them. I 
was determined that they should not fall back 
for want of proper care and feeding. This 
had been strongly impressed upon me by the 
seller. Both cows calved in the spring, and I 
found it was necessary to let these calves take 
all the milk, in order to keep them growing. 
The bull was used upon our common stock, 
and I had hopes that our neighbors would be 
willing to encourage my enterprise by bring¬ 
ing their cows to us, but they would not. They 
preferred to use the “scrub” bulls, whose ser¬ 
vice cost them but 50 cents, when they had 
none of their own. 
(To be Continued.) 
SUGGESTED BY THE ROSE SPECIAL. 
I HAVE just received the Rose Special, and 
have been much interested in its contents, 
having cultivated all but 12 of Mr. Parsons’s 
list of Hybrid Remontants. 
You do not particularly recommend some 
favorites of mine. Souvenir de la Malmaison 
will produce buds worthy to deck a queen, 
and has the merit of withstanding changes of 
temperature much better than La France. 
Gloire de Dijon has grown for me (once only) 
to be a magnificent pillar rose, 18 feet high, 
with a stock more than an inch in diameter, 
but finally winter-killed. Of dark red roses, 
Charles Lefebvre and Baronne Bonstettin 
are particularly valuable for producing late 
autumn blooms. The finest climbing rose I 
ever saw your contributors do not seem to 
mention, though Mr. Lonsdale, for one, is 
familiar with its merits. I refer to “Reine 
Marie Henriette.” It has but one failing—it 
blooms only iu June, but no one acquainted 
with it will reject it on that account. The 
plant was procured from John Saul, is bud¬ 
ded, and is a strong grower, and retains its 
foliage in good condition during the summer. 
This may be owing to the care bestowed upon 
it, as the owner values it highly, and sees that 
it is well fed. 
Please advise your readers who purchase 
pot-grown and forced roses from florists to 
try my plan, after the first bloom is done. 
Cut back severely and remove all side shoots. 
The result will be that new buds will be 
forced into growth, and iu a few weeks flow¬ 
ers will appear instead of having to wait un¬ 
til autumn, or possibly next season. 
To leave roses, let me give my experience 
with some other plants, brought to mind 
while reading Dr. Hoskins’s article in the Ru¬ 
ral of March 25th. Last year I wanted some 
strawberx-y plants of the new varieties, and 
made out my list after reading all the accessi¬ 
ble catalogues, and then on a pleasant Satur¬ 
day afternoon started to walk across country 
a few miles to a nurseryman of whom I had 
determined to buy. His catalogue was large 
and well illustrated, and his grounds were ex¬ 
tensive, running up into the hundreds of 
acres, so by a personal visit I naturally ex¬ 
pected to be able to get fresh stock. It hap¬ 
pened that a public sale near-by had taken 
away the proprietor and all the hands except 
one man, who was engaged in packing, so I 
was obliged to wait, and passed the afternoon 
in watching the process of packing fruit trees 
small and large. But what surprised me most 
was that instead of selling stock taken direct 
from the soil, everything was gathered in ad¬ 
vance and ready to hand. There stood bar¬ 
rel after barrel of strawberry plants made up 
in packages of dozens and hundreds, 
and boxes of blackberries and rasp¬ 
berries and grape-vines, all stored away un¬ 
der a long shed, ranged in rows, with passage¬ 
ways between. Everything was dry, roots 
and tops, and the only wet thing around was 
a hogshead of moss used in packing. Not lik¬ 
ing the looks of things, I did not buy, but con¬ 
cluded to mail my order, conditioned upon 
getting fresh plants. It is only proper to say 
that when they came to hand a few days later 
I had no fault to find; the order had been 
honestly filled, but I fear the purchasers of the 
barreled stock did not fare so well. Doubt¬ 
less the express companies got more blame for 
their condition than they deserved. 
Camden Co., N. J. geo. w. logan. 
THE FARMER’S FLOWER GARDEN. 
More artistic taste needed in the farmer's 
flower garden ; a lawn the best place, and 
a circle the best form ; management of the 
beds. 
I have seen quite as good individual speci¬ 
mens of flowers in the farmer’s flower garden 
as anywhere, but as a whole his garden or 
flower plot is not a thing of beauty. The rea¬ 
son is not far to seek—it wants arrangement 
and an artistic setting or grouping that we ad¬ 
mire so much in city gardens. At a fair we 
appreciate a stand that has a tasteful get up, 
and many a successful exhibit owes its suc¬ 
cess to an artistic arrangement and neatness 
superior to its fellows. Just such an artistic 
arrangement is what is chiefly lacking in our 
farmers' wives’ flower gardens, for it is usually 
they who run that part of the farm. In the 
multitude of their duties wo cannot expect 
much time to be devoted to the flower gar¬ 
den, hence we cannot compete with city gar¬ 
dens in their carpet-bedding and other elab¬ 
orate designs; but we can use the simplest 
flowers in such a way as to make even city peo • 
pie admire and wonder at our products of 
beauty and simplicity. 
To be practical, I think the best place' for a 
flower plot is on a lawn anywhere round the 
house, so long as it has plenty of sunlight. Cut 
out a plot any shape or form you choose; a 
circle is the best; you can theii make a square, 
a diamond, star, or any form your fancy may 
su K8 es L Suppose we take a circle five feet in 
diameter or thereby, that allows you to reach 
every part of it from the lawn. Six inches 
from the edge plant a circle or border of 
pyrethrum or golden feather, as it is usually 
called; have the plants quite . close, so 
that they will make a complete border when 
full grown. Inside this plant Phlox Drum- 
mondii, all colors. After they are about six 
or eight inches high, peg them down with wire 
bent like a lady’s hair-pins (the latter will do 
as well). This makes them branch out, and as 
these grow up, peg them down also till you 
have the ground covered with a net-work of 
stems. Keep pinching out the flower buds 
and give them plenty of water right along till 
you get a host of vines about six inches high. 
Then stop watering them and in a few days 
you will have a mass of color that will sur¬ 
prise and astonish you. Pinch the flower 
buds from the golden feather whenever they 
appear, as it is only for the foliage or leaves 
you want it, and remember if the flowers are 
allowed to bloom, it is the death of the foliage. 
As it grows, trim them a uniform hight, keep¬ 
ing in mind that neatness and symmetry are 
indispensable. Cut the lawn quite short, es¬ 
pecially round the inside edge of the plot; and 
then you will have a thing of beauty and a 
joy till Jack Frost comes along. Of course, 
both the Phlox D. and the golden feather have 
to be raised from seed in a hot-bed and treated 
in the ordinary way. Another good plot 
would be the border of blue ageratum and a 
center of portulaca. If you want larger flow¬ 
ers you require larger plots, and it would add 
variety to have a double border, such as gold¬ 
en feather outside, then Phlox, with a center 
of asters, zinnas or calliopsis. Such is an out¬ 
line of what would make quite a revolution in 
the flower garden. The characteristic feature 
of the idea is making the lawn a frame-work 
which hightens the beauty of the flowers and 
makes each plot complete and intelligible in 
itself, not a confused mass of everything in 
the floral world. We all know the difference 
between a picture framed and uuframed, or 
a jewel mounted or unmounted, and there is 
just such a difference between a flower plot 
of the old style and the new, which I have 
tried to outline. t. m. 
Raymond, Dakota. 
A NOTE FROM MR. HENDERSON. 
I notice in the Rural’s Rose Number (page 
235, first column) in one paragraph Mr. Parsons 
says “Plauts from the open ground are always 
to be preferred by the purchaser”—and this 
the editors indorse as “good advice.” Now, if 
the Rural will remind me about the first 
week in May, I will send it six Hybrid Perpet¬ 
ual and six Tea Roses for its Experiment 
Grounds—and at the same time (or perhaps, to 
give them every advantage, 10 days sooner) 
let it get a dozen of roses from the open ground 
—let them be planted under the same condJ- 
Fig. 108. (See first page.) 
