430 
JUNE 20 
THE RURAL WEW-YOMER, 
dence has so provided that the'great mass of 
pollen is superfluous.' | It seems to me highly 
probable that the appreciable want of 
strength is associated with a similar, but less 
apparent degradation as regards quality.” 
Since[that time Prof. Planchon, of France, 
has given muchTattention to this subject and 
found that on soils not altogether favorable 
the anthers of grape blossoms would appear 
to be larger and better developed than those 
in normal j condition, yet the' pollen was 
wholly abortive. 
Dr. Stoll of Germany, also assured the 
writer that the anthers of certain’varietn s of 
the apple grown on the black drift soil of 
North Silesia were perfect in appearance, but 
wholly defective in pollen, At our college 
the same'condition of pollen has’been often 
detected in the blcssoms of plums, grapes, 
apples, etc. 
The cause^of this condition of the anthers is 
as yet not wholly apparent; but, reasoning 
by analogy, we may reach conclusions not far 
astray. The Duchess, Hibernal, Silken Leaf, 
or Lmgfield apples;the DeSoto,Wolf,Cherry, 
Wyant, or Early Red plums, the Spate 
Amarelle and some other very hardy cherries, 
the Concord grape, the Downer’s Prolific 
strawberry, etc., have perfect foliage and a 
habit of determinate growth. Irrespective 
of the character of the season and almost with¬ 
out regard to soils, the cell structure of the 
wood is perfectly stored with nutriment for 
sustaining the first growth of spring, with 
enough to spare for perfect blossoms and 
starting the newly set fruit. 
On the other hand, the varieties that blos¬ 
som profusely without setting fruit are no¬ 
toriously those that fail to complete the work 
of cell storage prior to the advent of the first 
severe frosts, yet many of these unsatisfactory 
varieties for common prairie culture develop 
perfect wood, perfect blossoms and perfect 
fruit when grown on soils more favorable for 
perfect maturation of wood, even in our own 
State; yet it is often the case that such showy 
bloomers will set fruit when adjoining varie- 
ties.with perfect pollen will not. Close ob¬ 
servation has shown that the stigmas are us¬ 
ually perfect and that the statements of Lind- 
ley and other European scientists are reliable, 
viz: that when the fertilization of the stigma 
is deferred from any cause,the flowers will re¬ 
main perfect—as Lindley say s—“as if in ex¬ 
pectation of that event for which they were 
created.” When pollenation is deferred on 
account of defective pollen, the stigmas will 
retain their perfection and nectar for many 
hours waiting for the insect, or the pollen 
brought by the breeze, from adjoining varie¬ 
ties. 
Another reason for intermingling varieties 
is found in the fact that some hardy varieties 
with perfect flowers in our climate ripen 
their pollen prematurely: but in mixed plant¬ 
ing the pollen perfected before the stigmas 
are ready to receive it may be just in time 
for neighboring varieties. The effect of ab¬ 
normal heat on the development of the an¬ 
thers should receive more attention from our 
scientists. The close-observing Thomas Mee¬ 
han has stated that in West Europe in mon¬ 
oecious plants, such as English hazel, the “ fe¬ 
male flowers would remain at rest under a 
temperature which was sufficient to excite 
the male flowers to active development. 
Hence a few warm days would bring the male 
flowers to maturity, while the female flowers 
remained to advance only under a higher and 
more constant temperature.” Our liability 
to brief periods of summer-like temperature 
in early spring gives us many cases of this 
kind, where pollen is developed before the 
stigmas are ready T to receive it. But in such 
cases the waiting stigmas may be fertilized in 
mixed planting by pollen of sorts maturing a 
little later. In these notes the object is to 
draw out the observations of others. 
MILK FOR THE BABIES. 
A. L. Crosby, Catonsville, Md.—P. H. 
R. says in a late Rural, that “cow’s milk is 
quite dissimilar to woman’s milk.” That may 
be so, but in the absence of mother’s milk give 
the baby cow’s milk (properly diluted, if it is 
Jersey milk; if it is Holstein milk it is water¬ 
ed about right for little babes) and it will 
thrive. 
I was glad to read Mr. Gregory’s views 
upon the healthfulness of eating diseased 
meat,if it were properly cooked. From what 
1 have seen, and still more fromjjwbat I have 
heard about diseased,cattle being slaughtered 
for food, I try and keep my thoughts off of 
the subject while eating “bought” meat. But 
1 guess Mr. G. is right; if diseased meat is 
thoroughly cooked there is not much danger 
in eating it. But how about milk from dis 
eased cows ? In this case we eat the raw dis¬ 
ease: not only that, but we give it to the ba¬ 
bies. Is it any wonder that there n so large 
a per cent.of deaths among bahies ? It is some¬ 
times like this: The boy is sent to the field to 
drive up the cows and takes the dog along to 
help; the cows come into the barn-yard on 
the full run; the weather is hot and the man 
who milks, being tired and cross, kicks and 
curses the cows because they won’t stand still. 
Is the milk from cows so treated fit food for a 
baby ? Or perhaps a cow is sick, but so long 
as she gives milk that is not bloody, it is put 
in with the rest and sold. How is that for 
baby food ? Or the baby’s mother goes out to 
spend the evening; there is dancing and she 
dances two or three times (“that won’t hurt 
me,”shesays),eatsalate supper finished off with 
ice cream and cake,goes home,baby wakes up, 
mother nurses it; next morning baby is sick; 
next night dead. The doctor calls it “convul¬ 
sions,” but it is not that, it is infanticide 
caused by raw disease in the mother’s milk. 
One of my neighbors who sells milk lost a 
cow the other day. The veterinarian said 
she died of apoplexy of the heart. My neigh¬ 
bor continued the post mortem after the vet¬ 
erinarian had gone, and found that a piece of 
wire had pierced the stomach. The cow was 
“all right” that morning, her milk was good 
(?), was sold as such and honestly too, as she 
showed no symptoms of disease, but there 
must have been some raw disease in that milk 
which, if it found the right breeding ground 
in a baby’s stomach, may have caused a little 
string of crape to appear on some one’s door 
knob. 
ON THE FENCE. 
S. E., Montgomery County, Ohio. —I was 
much interested in reading Prof. Porter’s 
article entitled “ What are the Agricultural 
Colleges Good For ” and 1 am pleased to learn 
tnat the publication of the article has at¬ 
tracted the attention which it deserves. The 
Professor has certainly made out a strong 
case. No one would be more gratified than I 
would be to be convinced that he is mistaken. 
I would be loth to believe that the more a 
boy is educated in the line of agriculture the 
more he will be disinclined to pursue it. 
Yet the logic of the Professor’s article indi¬ 
cates that this will be the usual result unless 
such education is conducted somewhat cau¬ 
tiously and sparingly. On the other hand it 
will be difficult to convince the average farm¬ 
er of the utility or necessity of a technical 
course of training at an agricultural college 
so long as graduates of these colleges do not 
demonstrate their superior fitness for agricul¬ 
tural pursuits, and so ong as our most success¬ 
ful and practical farmers come to the front 
without the aid of the agricultural colleges, 
while they almost entirely ignore our farmers’ 
clubs and institutes. 
effects of the frost. 
J. H. A., Randolph, N. Y.—There is a good 
deal said about the damage done by the late 
frost in this part of the State. The truth is 
that the people are croaking all around that 
everything has gone up or down. It’s true we 
have had a very severe frost and that it has 
done no good if no harm, but what is the use 
of groaning about it. 1 have had no time to 
croak or groan. I made up my mind at once 
that doing so would be of no use, so have kept 
right along and if anything, worked all the 
harder and thought all the more, and I be¬ 
lieve I am all the^better off for it, too; for I find 
my work is well up with the time ot year, my 
grass and grain are looking fine. I can’t see 
that wheat is injured and I find a fair crop of 
apples in the orchard. My corn is nicely up 
again and seems to be growing. I have lots 
of good feed for the cattle in my pastures. 
Now what more could I ask ? If I were to find 
fault at all, it would be that I have had to 
work a little too hard some of the time, yet it 
affords me much pleasure to look around and 
see that the work has accomplished some¬ 
thing. 
A “GENERAL-PURPOSE COW ” MAN. 
J. S., Corning, Iowa.— People are telling 
about the sort of cow that suits them, so I 
may say a little about the kind of cow that 
we think we must have here. We want one 
that will give a good yield of butter and 
whose steer calves make good feeders which, 
when fat, are good enough for export. I have 
been breeding and selecting for 16 years; but 
the cow I want seems a long way off yet. I 
have tried crossing a Jersey bull on grade 
Short-horn cows, but I could not discoverthat 
it helped the butter either in quantity or 
quality, and the steer calves—well, I don’t be¬ 
lieve one could find in Webster’s Unabridged 
all the words my neighbors used in describing 
them. 
ANOTHER DAIRY RECORD. 
A. R., Notre Damk* Ind.— On an Indiana 
farm on January 1, 1889, it was found that 
l,7u2 pounds of milk made 87 pounds of butter 
and again on February 12, 1889, 249 pounds of 
milk made 120 pounds of butter, the ther¬ 
mometer standing at 62 degrees Far. On 
May 17,1889 the usual test showed that 768 
pounds of milk produced 31 pounds of butter, 
thermometer at 70 degrees and finally,,\ou 
May 21 it was found that 800 pounds of milk, 
made 36 pounds of butter, the thermometer 
being between 59 and 60 degrees Far. The 
cows producing this amount of butter are of 
common stock, with the exception of a few 
Holstein grades, and their feed was Timothy 
hay, with ground corn and oals. 
O. T., Elizabeth, N. J.—J. J. H. G. on 
page 398 of the Rural, makes some very in¬ 
teresting, though I must confess, to me not 
very attractive statements. Are all the ef¬ 
forts of legislators, boards of health and 
others in authority to protect the people at 
large from danger incurred by eating diseas¬ 
ed, decayed, and tainted pleats, and other 
foods, the result of ignorance, bigotry, and 
prejudice ? Are we so far behind the natives 
of Northern India ? Are we, with our boasted 
civilization, to far behind the times as the 
statements of J. J. H. G. would imply ? It 
may be all “sentiment,” but I don’t want any 
diseased or rotten meat on my table, and, 
further, my eyes and nose are not “all the 
police” I need. In the case of the car-Pad of 
cattle afflicted with “lump-jaw” mentioned in 
the news columns of the Rural recently as 
having been seized at Buffalo, a physician 
who examined them said they contained poi¬ 
son enough to kill all the people in the State, 
and we are told, further, that after such 
cattle are dressed, it is impossible to 
tell their carcasses from healthy meat. 
In New York only a few days ago, 
the authorities closed up a lot of stalls on 
one of the piers, on the ground that the exha¬ 
lations from the sewers emptying into the 
river under the piers, rendered the meats and 
vegetables there exposed, unfit for food. This 
was done “in deference to public sentiment." 
Are not all the laws against adulteration of 
foods enacted in deference to this same senti¬ 
ment? The average legislator cares about as 
much for the health of the community as hi 
does for the tariff, which is very little. His 
chief concern is to be re-elected. So it is best 
not to discourage this sentiment. 1 don’t 
want any diseased or decaying meat on my 
table, and when I cannot get that which I am 
reasonably certain is healthful, I shall live on 
fruits and vegetables even though they be 
raised on such “disgusting substances” as 
night-soil. 
A. C. P., Binghamton, N. Y.—On page 
403 of the Rural a correspondent asks how 
to dry rose petals. Spread the petals on a 
sieve in shallow layers, dry in a cool dry place 
out of the sud. For perfume jars where the 
looks are of no account, mix layers of leaves 
with fine dry salt between. The whole pro¬ 
cess is very simple, but requires care and some 
skill. 
To Several Inquirers.— The R. N.-Y. 
sold the entire stock of the Rural New-York¬ 
er No. 2 potato to J. M. Thorburn & Co., sev¬ 
eral years ago. They propagated it and 
placed it on the market the past season. All 
the other seedsmen in the country who offer 
it for sale were obliged to purchase their stock 
of that firm. 
Fertilizers. In the proceedings of the 
Western New York Horticultural Society we 
find a most interesting and instructive essay 
on fertilizers. For an imaginary experiment 
Dr. Caldwell, the writer, says let us bore 
some holes in the bottom of a pail, and lay a 
piece of coarse flannel over the bottom, mere¬ 
ly to keep the sand or soil with which we 
afterwards fill the pail, from running out 
through these holes; then we will nearly fill 
the pail with some clean sea-shore sand, and 
pour in some manure water; in a very short 
time some of the liquid will appear at the bot¬ 
tom of the pail, havingsickereddown through 
the sand and through the flannel. We ex¬ 
amine the liquid, and so far as appearance 
goe6 it is the same kind of a liquid that was 
poured in, and if the chemist makes an analy- 
sisof it he will find that it contains every thing 
that was in the manure water to begin with. 
Now if we change the experiment a little, and 
in the place of manure water use a weak so¬ 
lution of potash, or of a phosphate, or of sul 
phate of ammonia, or of nitrate of soda, we 
shall get just the same result practically; the 
water that comes out at the bottom will con¬ 
tain just as much potash or phosphate or am¬ 
monia as that which went in at the top; only 
a close chemical analysis could show any dif¬ 
ference. 
Now let us vary the experiment, and put 
some good loam in the pail in the place of tne 
sand, and begin as before with manure water; 
we Bball no longer find that what comes out 
*' ^«Vv.V.V*; 
a? 
is just like what goes in; instead of being 
dark-colored and bad-smelling it will be much 
lighter-colored, if not as clear as well water, 
and as odorless; we can tell by our senses 
that it has given up much of something to the 
loam, and a careful chemical analysis will 
show at once that there has been much of a 
loss that we can not make out by sight or 
smell—that, in fact, nearly all the potash, 
phosphate and ammonia is wanting. If, as 
before, we vary the experiment again, and in¬ 
stead of manure water pour a weak solution 
of potash over the soil, almost no potash will 
come through, and so it v ill be with the phos¬ 
phate or the ammonia salt. Further, if we 
take this pailful of soil after it has been 
charged with anyone of these substances,and 
drench it with water, we shall find it almost 
impossible to wash out the potash, phosphate 
or ammonia salt, left there from the solution 
that was poured through in the first place; we 
may wash the soil with a hundred times as 
much water as that which was first poured on 
and still not get out again all that was left 
there. 
The wonderful property'of the soil,by which 
some of the most valuable constituents of the 
food of plants are seized hold of at once.as soon 
as presented to it in solution, and securely 
stored up till called for by the proper parties,is 
one that has a very important bearing on the 
farmer’s work. It is this that makes it safe 
for him to spread his stable manure in the fall 
for a crop in the spring; it is this that makes 
it safe, within limits, to put on a rich dress¬ 
ing all at once without fear of so charging the 
soil water with plant food as to damage the 
plants; it is this that distributes the food uni¬ 
formly in the soil, so that the plants will find 
it wherever they go, thus inducing a good 
and wide-spread root growth, that is so much 
more serviceable in time of drought than a 
growth would be confined in spots here and 
there, where the roots might chance upon a 
rich deposit of phosphate, potash, or nitrogen 
compounds. And with all these advantages 
there is not coupled the disadvantage that 
would be fatal, that this food is put beyond 
the reach of the crops; for they have with 
them the key to unlock the bank, and they 
can get all the food that they have vitality 
and energy enough to work for. 
But there is one feature of the case that 
must be noticed: nitrogen, as nitrates, is one 
of the most useful forms in which to supply 
this very important food; many say it is by 
far the most important of all. Now, in this 
experiment with the pailful of sand in the first 
case, and of loam in the other, if we pour in a 
solution of nitrate, we shall get nitrate at 
once in what pases through in both cases, and 
as much in one case as the other, and we may 
try the experiment with any kind of soil with 
the same result; we shall not be able to find 
any one that can store up nitrate, while any 
and every one will store up potash and phos¬ 
phate in quantities far beyond the most lib¬ 
eral dressing that would ever be applied to it. 
This fact has an important bearing on the 
use of any fertilizer containing nitrates, and 
the lesson it teaches is that such a manure 
should be applied to the ground while the crop 
is growing, and in moderate doses at a time, 
never in the fall tor a spring crop, and not 
even all at once in the spring,but at two,three 
or foui 1 times during the rapidly growing 
season. Scattered on the surface of the soil, 
not even the highest heat of the midsummer 
sun can convert any of it into vapor so that 
it will pass off into the atmosphere; it will be 
secure there till the rain comes; then it is 
quickly taken into solution and carried into 
the soil, where there must be an abundant 
root growth of vegetation to take possession 
of it on its way down; for on its way down 
it will surely go as long as any water flows 
through the soil to carry it. 
It seems to Dr. Caldwell almost certain that 
a dollar invested in nitrogen, as nitrate of 
soda, with the proper management of its ap¬ 
plication to the crop, will yield a better re¬ 
turn than a dollar invested in nitrogen in any 
other form. 
The lesson is, that nitrogen in every form is 
liable to loss by leaching through the soil. 
Potash and phosphate, when once put on the 
soil, the farmer can forget and yet not lose; 
but as to the nitrogen he must ever be on the 
watch, and his aim must be to get it back 
again in bis crops as soon as possible. The 
fewor the weeks or mouths iu the year, iu the 
warmer season when the bacteria are produc¬ 
ing nitrate most rapidly, that the soil is bare 
of any growing crop the better; and the rich¬ 
er the soil the greater the uoed of constant 
vegetation on it, from spring to fall, to catch 
the nitrate. This may be an advantage, per¬ 
haps, that market gardeners have over the 
ordinary farmer, that they have their ricn 
and well tilled soil, in which nitrification 
must be going on very rapidly, so well cov¬ 
ered with crops during the warm season that 
there can be very little loss; and we may find 
there an argument against summer fallow 
