230 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. APR 6 
forward] explains a remark one of my stu¬ 
dents made to me: “ Those ticks seem to lay 
eggs from their mouths.” 
The thoracic shield (Pig. 82) is broad, convex, 
cream-colored with brown lines, dots, and 
center, in front. This brown center in front 
is marked off by deep furrows. This shield is 
really shield-shaped. The head (Fig. 82) is short 
and broad with two pits one on each side. This 
terminates anteriorly in the rostrum, which 
consists of five parts (Figs. 82 and 83),the out¬ 
side jointed palpi, the mandibles, which are 
toothed at the end, and the labium, which is ex¬ 
tensively barbed beneath, (Fig.83). From above 
we see only the palpi and mandibles. From 
below (Fig. 83) we see the barbed labium, the 
mandibles with their terminal hooks, and the 
labium with its rows of barbs. We now see 
how these ticks work. They anchor by driving 
the barbed labium into the skin of the animal 
attacked. The barbs h old them so securely that 
thej 7 break into two parts or lose their heads 
before they will let go their hold. They also 
hook on with their mandibles which are tub¬ 
ular, and so serve well to suck or to catch on. 
There the palpi which are semi-cylindrical 
by closing up, form a third suction tube. And 
thus we have a triple-acting pump, that draws 
faston the blood and vitality ot their unlucky 
victims. Horses in Van Buren and Lenawee 
counties of this State, were so gouged and 
bored by these ticks that they were literally 
raw, and blood not only oozed from their 
skin but actually fell in drops from their 
bodies. 
REMEDIES. 
An ointment made of lard and kerosene is 
quick death to these blood-thirsty ticks. .’The 
proportion should be.one of kerosene to five 
of lard, so as not to be too harsh. Indeed the 
more dilute the better, so long as it kills the 
enemy. Mr. L. H. Bailey, South Haven, 
Mien ,washed his cattle and horses with Lon¬ 
don-purple and water—one pound of the poi¬ 
son to 50 gallons of water—and was entirely 
successful in ridding his suffering animals of 
the ticks. Even though these pests suck, they 
have such large mouth organs that the solid 
poison is drawn in ana they are poisoned. 
Cattle lice have been killed in the same way. 
Of course the ticks cannot be easily scraped 
off, as they are so well anchored. By far the 
best way is to practice prevention, by keep¬ 
ing the ponies away, except when they are 
brought to us in the late autumn. We must 
not only not purchase them, but we must not 
even give them pasture. The ticks are very 
prolific and give rise to several generations in 
a season. Thus if they once gain a foot-hold, 
they soon, unless promptly attended to, cover 
our animals with severe lesions and may do 
exceeding damage. These beautiful draw¬ 
ings were made by F. H. Hillman. 
HON. NORMAN J. COLMAN. 
As the first Secretary of Agriculture of 
the United States of America, we present a 
portrait of Norman J. Colman at Fig. 80. The 
subject of this sketch was born near Richfield 
Springs, N. Y., in 1827 As a boy on his 
father’s farm he learned the various details of 
farm woi k and received a good academic ed¬ 
ucation. In 1847 he went to Kentucky, where 
he studied law, taking the degree of Bachelor 
of Law at the Louisville Law University. 
He commenced the practice of his profession 
at New Albany, Ind., and soon became dis¬ 
trict attorney. In 1853 he resigned his office 
and removed to St Louis, bought the “ Valley 
Farmer,” which, under the changed name of 
“ Colman’s Rural World,” he has since owned, 
and edited until he assumed the duties of 
Commissioner of Agriculture. He took a lead¬ 
ing part in organizing the Missouri State Board 
of Agriculture, the Missouri State Horticultu¬ 
ral Society, the Missisippi Valley Dairy Asso¬ 
ciation and the National Sugar Growers’ Asso¬ 
ciation, and has been repeatedly elected 
president of these bodies. In 1865-66 he was 
a member of the State legislature. In 1874 
he was elected Lieutenant-Governor of the 
State. When he entered upon the discharge 
of his duties as Commissioner of Agriculture 
four years ago, he established the Divisions 
of Ornithology, Mammalogy and Pomology, 
and a section of Vegetable Pathology. Under 
his immediate direction the process of man¬ 
ufacturing sugar from sorghum by diffu¬ 
sion was perfected and placed upon a pay¬ 
ing basis, thus preparing the w r ay for the 
saving of at least $100,000,000 now expended 
annually for imported sugar. 
He has earnestly advocated such changes in 
the seed distribution as would enable him to 
carry on the work of testing and distributing 
seeds to the direct agency of the Experiment 
Stations recently established in the various 
States and Territories. He has manifes a 
warm interest in the success of the Experi¬ 
ment Station work, by establishing in the 
Department of Agriculture an “ Office of Ex¬ 
periment Stations ” which is intended to serve 
as a medium of communication and scientific 
progress. 
THE TWENTY-SECOND SESSION OF THE 
AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL 
SOCIETY. 
(R. N.-Y. SHORT-HAND REFORT.) 
Improvement of native grapes ; Vitis rupes- 
tris ; remedies against mildew and rot ; 
Florida for grapes; Ives seedling ; grafting 
the cultivated on the wild grapes ; honesty 
m packing fruits; frauds in selling ; sug¬ 
gestions for packing. 
Geo. W. Campbell, of Ohio, read an instruc¬ 
tive and carefully prepared paper on the 
“Improvement of our Native Grapes.” He 
said: “ The improvement of our native grapes 
has engaged our attention for the last 30 
years. We can remember when all the native 
kinds could be counted on the fingers of one 
hand. The pioneers in this good work were 
the Catawba and Isabella. Concord was first 
exhibited in 1853 The Delaware still main¬ 
tains the highest position of the American 
varieties. By judicious hybridization or 
crossing I am sure we can equal the 
best varieties that are grown in foreign 
lands. But we cannot expect a variety 
that will suit all localities; that is im¬ 
possible. Look at the Pocklington grape 
and the very conflicting reports about 
it. One extols it highly, another condemns it 
utterly, depending upon the locality. I have 
rooted out and destroyed hundreds of grapes 
that in other places would have been of great 
value. Some experiments in crossing with 
the Rupestris vine which is very hardy and 
resists mildew attacks, have been made. In 
crossing, my experience has shown that the 
staminate parent generally governed the qual¬ 
ity of the fruit. Some of these hybrids re¬ 
crossed upon the Southern Rupestris are very 
promising indeed. The Rupestris planted at 
the North has proven absolutely iron-clad 
against our severe winters, having stood 30 
degrees below zero wholly unharmed, and it 
resists mildew in the most unfavorable situa¬ 
tions. Recent crosses of some of the best 
natives and hybrid grapes, so far as they 
have fruited, have produced new types of a 
most Interesting character. The vines have 
more vigor and the fruit is excellent in char¬ 
acter and there is considerable variety. My 
experiments indicate that this is the rule with 
rare exceptions. It is my firm belief that 
through intelligent and continued crossing 
and hybridizing we must look for the most 
rapid, successful and important improve¬ 
ments in the character and value of our 
American grapes. For by these means the be6t 
of all varieties from every quarter of the 
globe can be brought together and their best 
elements united to form new types of every 
character and degree of excellence and adapt¬ 
able to all situations where the vine can be 
successfully grown. 
Another element of great importance for 
tne future ot grape culture Is the recent dis¬ 
covery of successful remedies against mildew 
and rot. During the last two years it has 
been demonstrated that at a mere nominal 
expense vineyards may be protected, vines 
remain healthy, and the fruit abundant and 
perfect, where without the remedy wholesale 
loss would have occurred. The use of sul¬ 
phate of copper, and lime remedies has 
proven effectual. They have been fully tested. 
These facts are significant even beyond the 
protection of the present vineyards. For by 
the use of these remedies at a cost of no con¬ 
sequence compared witn their benefit, the 
finer varieties of our improved hybrids can 
be successfully and profitably grown in thous¬ 
ands of localities where they could not be 
without them. Grape culture in this fair 
Florida and in the South generally, I believe 
to be in its infancy as yet. With its charm¬ 
ing climate and wonderful variety of soil and 
situation I see no reason why, with proper 
selection of varieties and the aids at com¬ 
mand from horticultural societies and scien¬ 
tists, the sunny South should not be both the 
garden and the vineyard of the North Ameri¬ 
can Continent.” This concluding sentiment of 
the veteran grape man was of course highly 
enjoyed by the Southern delegates, and every¬ 
body applauded the paper. 
Mr. Brackett, of Iowa, then started a lively 
discussion by alluding to the Ives Seedling 
and its success in the West. He said it was 
excellent in and about Burlington, and was 
the most valuable grape grown there. “ The 
trouble with the Ives is, people do not leave it 
long enough upon the vines to ripen. It 
should be left three or four weeks after it is 
fully colored.” South and North joined in de¬ 
fense of what was termed a much abused 
grape. Among the energetic speakers was 
Mr. E. Williams, of New Jersey. Said he, 
“The Ives is not an early grape, though it is 
sent to the New York and Boston maricets 
early, and long before ripe. Of course, it is 
not good then, almost unfit to eat in fact. 
But when fully ripe it compares very favor¬ 
ably with other good grapes, being better 
than Corcord.” 
An important point developed during this 
discussion was that the cultivated grapes 
could be grafted successfully upon the Musca¬ 
dine type of wild grape. President Berck- 
mans said this had long been considered im¬ 
possible by all pomologists, and he inquired 
very carefully as to the precise facts. Sev¬ 
eral Florida members testified to having ac¬ 
complished it frequently, getting large 
growths and even some fruit. 
Mr. E. Williams then followed with a prac¬ 
tical paper on, “ Honesty in Packing Fruits.” 
“ A man who desires to build up his reputation 
and a demand for his products will be care¬ 
ful to grade his fruit and see that every pack¬ 
age shall be just what it purports to be. His 
merchant can then count on his fruit every 
time. Those most ready to charge fraud need 
not go beyond their own doors for the cause 
and the remedy. Purchasers know a good thing 
when they see it and can detect an attempt 
to deceive quite as readily as see the merits of 
an article. Placing grapes on the market in 
an unripe condition is another method of 
fraud. The fruit itself favors it. With other 
fruits the eye is the expert detective; not so 
with the grape. Sampling is the only true 
test, and this is difficult to carry out, as it 
would soon render the packages unsalable. 
The eagerness to be first in market and get 
the almighty dollar brings this fruit on sale 
weeks in advance of its maturity. Confidence 
is thus destoyed and prices depressed beyond 
recovery. I have heard people inquire for 
some ‘ real sweet grapes once more.’ This 
fraud has been practiced so long now that 
people begin to doubt whether the 
grape grows here now equal in sweetness to 
those of former days. Near me are two 
growers. One gets his grapes in market as 
soon as they are colored, whether ripe or not. 
He says he is after the money and the people 
may have his grapes green for all he cares. 
The other refuses to gather until ripe, packs 
and sorts carefully, puts in nothing but per¬ 
fect clusters ot number one fruit, warrants 
each package to be uniform all through, puts 
his name and brand on each. His number 
two fruit goes unbranaed and sells on its 
merits alone. The latter sells for more than 
the branded fruit of the first grower. His 
merchant says he can sell his fruit under any 
condition of the market. Early in the winter 
the New York market was flooded with Flor¬ 
ida oranges and the merchants told me they 
didn’t know what to do with them. These 
things carry their own moral. Remember, 
first, the cost of the box, labor, packing and 
transportation is the same in one case as in 
the other: second, that every box of number 
two fruit reduces the general average of the 
whole, that appearance, quality and uniform 
size are all important passports to profit, and 
that in this business “honesty is the best 
policy.” 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Iowa. 
Wirt, Ringgold County, March 21.— Far¬ 
mers have commenced sowing oats; there has 
not been any rain here this spring. There 
was very little snow during the winter. All 
binds of stock are very low and as the farmers 
in this county depend upon stock-raising to 
make a living, money is very short with 
them. Corn, 20 cents per bushel; oats, 18 
cents; hay, no sale; cows, $18 to $25 per head; 
horses very low and of slow sale. If people 
were out of debt they could do very well with 
low prices, but when there are payments to 
meet it goes pretty hard with them. j. d. 
Missouri. 
Clarence, Shelby County, March 10.- Crops 
last season were very satisfactory to the far¬ 
mers as far as quantity is concerned. Corn 
yielded bountifully and is worth at present 
25 cents per bushel; but with No. 2, worth 
only 29 cents in St. Louis, farmers would 
hardly realize more than 20 cents were it not 
for the large number of cattle being fed in 
this vicinity. Oats were a good crop, but 
were damaged to a large extent by lodging 
before harvest. They are worth now at the 
railroad station 18 cents per bushel. Wheat 
averaged from 15 to 30 bushels per acre and is 
worth now 80 cents per bushel. Potatoes and 
apples are drugs in the market—worth nomi¬ 
nally about 20 cents each per bushel. When 
we consider the cost of labor in producing the 
above-mentioned products and the prices ob¬ 
tained for them we must conclude that the 
Parrot is right and that “ Farmin Don’t Pay.” 
NORMAN J. COLMAN, 
First Secretary of Agriculture. Fig. 80. 
