pots in the greenhouse and were protected 
from insects by means of fine netting. All 
blossoms artificially fertilized produced fruit, 
while none of the others gave any appearance 
of fruit. If Mr. Proctor will plant a bed of 
Crescent Strawberries entirely isolated from 
all other varieties he will be perfectly con¬ 
vinced that it is necessary to grow perfect- 
flowering varieties near them in order to ob¬ 
tain even a fair crop of fruit from the Cres¬ 
cent plants. I recall an instance of a small 
bed of Crescents that was grown at the Ex¬ 
periment Station at Geneva, N. Y., which 
was nearly 10 rods from another bed contain¬ 
ing 15 different varieties. The plants pro¬ 
duced an excellent crop of fine fruit that sea¬ 
son. The next year the different varieties 
were all removed and the bed of Crescents, 
three-fourths of which were young plants and 
ought to have yielded an abundant crop of 
fine fruit, produced only a poor crop of small 
knurly berries. 
POTASH IN FRUIT CULTURE. 
Eli Minch, Shiloh, N. J.—I saw in the 
R. N -Y. for July 0th, an article on Mr. Hale’s 
peach crop. I have long held to the views 
expressed in that article, and have advocated 
them in our State Horticultural Society, as 
our reports show. The effect of potash is to 
perfect the pollen and make a perfectly pollen- 
ized fruit that will resist cold and frosty 
weather far better than one poorly pollenized. 
This has been often confirmed in my experi¬ 
ence with potash in peach culture, in the use 
of which I have been a pioneer. My present 
peach crop shows the value of potash in mak¬ 
ing a more perfectly set fruit, being the most 
promising in my section, where the peach this 
year is almost a failure from cold, wet and 
unfavorable weather. The liberal use of pot¬ 
ash is, as I have long held, in many cases a 
preventive of the yellows, and a restora¬ 
tive for many diseased trees that show the 
symptoms of the so-called yellows. Soils nat¬ 
urally deficient in potash, should have an an¬ 
nual broadcast application of at least 400 
pounds of muriate of potash per acre. 
L. C. W., Caldwell, Wis.— A late Rural 
gave a description of the potato pests in the 
Rural Grounds and that neighborhood. The 
same blight flea-beetle and wire-worm are at 
work in the stalks of the potatoes in this sec¬ 
tion. Their ravages are worst among the 
early varieties, more particularly the Ohios. 
Three-fourths of all the potatoes planted in 
this section are early sorts, and according to 
the present outlook there will not be over 
one-third of a crop. Potatoes upon light soil 
are affected worse with blight and also with 
the flea-beetle and wire-worm in the stalks. 
H. A. S., Rock City Falls, N. Y.— In re¬ 
ply to the inquiry of A. R. Q., Farmingdale, 
N. Y., relating to the snap-dragons, I 
would say that a liberal dressing of salt will 
effectually exterminate the pest. It is im¬ 
possible to get rid of it by pulling. 
S. F. W., Allentown, N. J.—I have just 
cut some nice mixed hay from level-worked 
corn ground. The stubs were cut when frozen 
the ground was rolled tc settle the hills and it 
has worked well. 
W hy is not the power of the wind more 
often made available on farms for doing 
light work l asks Henry Stewart in the N. Y. 
Times. The windmill has long been useful 
and in many localities has been synonymous 
with a corn or flour mill, cheaply grinding 
the farmer’s grain and adapting itself auto¬ 
matically to the changeful breezes. And now 
that these engines have been greatly im¬ 
proved they seem to be vanishing out of use. 
This is to be deplored. For the light work of 
pumping water, cutting fodder, grinding 
grain, shelling corn, thrashing, cutting up 
silage, or cutting tire-wood, a windmill may 
repay its cost at least once every year, and 
with careful usage may last 40 or 50 years, 
or be replaced piecemeal, as it wears, in that 
time, and then be as good as new. A wind¬ 
mill attached to a barn or a silo is an evi¬ 
dence of the good sense, thrift, and respecta¬ 
bility of the farmer who owns it, and is to be 
preferred before a great many of those other 
things over which farmers waste money use¬ 
lessly. 
— «»» 
SAUNTERINGS. 
A Correspondent of the Loudon Farm 
and Home, writing from Natal, South Africa, 
tells of a Kaffir fowl which he Inis owned for 
10 years, and which has laid two eggs a day 
for 20 days out of every month during that 
time. Shades of Uncle Isaac I where are the 
Light Brahmas now? The much-vaunted 
achievements of Leghorns, Minorcas, Ham- 
burgs, and others with their phenomenal rec¬ 
ords of 200 eggs per annum, sink into insignifi¬ 
cance beside the record of this benighted biddy 
in the '‘Dark Continent.” Should some enter¬ 
prising American poultry breeder secure such 
a breed, the birds would be worth their weight 
in gold, and would pay a high rate of interest 
on the investment. 
The experience of the Kansas Agricultural 
College with a stone silo has been most disas¬ 
trous. During the two years they used a silo 
of exposed stone masonry, their lots of silage 
must have been nearly or quite 50 per cent, 
of its contents. Even where this stone-work 
was brushed over with a thick paste of ce¬ 
ment and lime, there were found six inches to 
a foot thick of rotted silage in contact with 
the masonry. Afterwards the stone-work was 
sheathed over with itch stuff, leaving a two- 
inch air-space between the sheathing and 
the wall. The same silo since has preserved 
its contents without loss. 
D. M. Dunning of Cayuga Co.,N. Y., has 
expressed the belief, in Popular Gardening, 
that he has found a remedy for the cabbage 
uisggot. He found the cabbage roots “entire¬ 
ly encased in maggots.” To 100 gallons of 
liquid manure he adds five pecks of quick¬ 
lime. Stir this for 10 minutes. A pint is 
poured around each plant, the maggots are 
killed and the plants grow thriftily. 
On the fourth of April, Mr. G. "W. Robinette 
sent us several clusters of peculiar apple 
flowers with the following note: 
“ I send you some twigs of a wonderful 
apple tree which bears apples without bloom, 
without seed and without core. The apple is 
good, of mediurfi size, and keeps until late 
winter or early spring.” g. w. Robinette. 
Flag Pond, Va. 
This same apple has several times been re¬ 
ferred to in these columns by Dr. Hoskins, 
we think, and -others. A magnifying glass 
showed that there were petals, though small 
in size and of a greenish color. 
A lecent article in the American Garden 
gives a portrait of these blossoms. Prof. 
Bailey, the writer, says that the pistils, in¬ 
stead of being five, as in normal flowers, are 
from 13 to 15 in number. There are no 
stamens. 
The Holstein-Friesian cow. Lady Baker, 
produced 34 pounds six ounces of unsalted 
butter in seven days. This statement, sup¬ 
ported by a number of affidavits, is made in 
the Breeder’s Gazette by Thomas W. Wales, 
of Iowa City, Iowa. 
So many varieties of grapes have been 
brought forward with extravagant and ex¬ 
traordinary claims which have not been sus¬ 
tained, that the careful and practical grape 
grower views with many grains of doubt, if 
not of suspicion, the new grape which is of¬ 
fered as “earlier than the Hartford; as healthy 
and as hardy as the Concord; better than 
the Delaware; and whose fruit never rots, 
and foliage never mildews. 1 ’ So says the 
conservative George W. Campbell. By clamp¬ 
ing too much, introducers of new grapes have 
often misled and disappointed a generous, 
and perhaps too confiding public. 
We have been striving, and hoping, and ex¬ 
pecting to obtain the perfect grape, with all 
the excellencies, and at the same time suited 
to all localities. We have not found it, and 
we probably never shall. But we have varie¬ 
ties, that with intelligent care succeed admir¬ 
ably in particular localities, and are grown 
with both pleasure and profit to their owners. 
The same varieties in situations unsuited to 
their special characteristics would only result 
in failure and disappointment. When the 
fact is fully understood and acted upon, that 
varieties must be selected with reference to 
climate, soil and location, disappointment 
will be less, and success more certain. 
The R. N.-Y. hears first-rate accounts from 
the Eastern States of the Early r Essex Potato. 
We are told that it is decidedly earlier than 
the Early Rose, a heavier yielder and of bet¬ 
ter quality. This was introduced some vears 
ago, as older readers may recall, by R. D. 
Hawley, of Hartford, Conn. 
Orchard and Garden says that there is a 
demand for good home-made jellies and jams. 
This suggests a profitable occupation for some 
women who are earning money at home in 
other and more laborious ways. The jellies sold 
in our stores are mostly artificially manufact¬ 
ured aud a brand of natural, home-made 
goods would soon bring prosperity to the 
maker. 
Bran cakes are a French invention. They 
are largely used by the French government 
as feed for its cavalry and artillery hoists. 
Two bucketfuls of loose bran can be com¬ 
pressed into a tpt.ee but little larger than a 
man’s hand. The compressed process consists, 
first in superheating the bran, and, then, 
second, in submitting it to a heavy pressure. 
Bran can be preserved for any length of time 
by this process. It keeps sound, clean and 
healthy. Cavalrymen in the French army 
put the cakes in their haversacks along with 
their own food and feed it without change of 
cc ndition directly to their horses, one cake be¬ 
ing a Dig feed, for a horse. Mr. George Bain, 
as Colman’s Rural World reports, says that 
the invention might be of great practical 
utility in this country. On account of the 
bulkiness of bran it is impossible to ship it out 
of this country, and the saving that could be 
effected in freight charges and expenses in 
handling, if the bran were compressed, be¬ 
tween points in this country, would amount 
to a very large sum. Mr. Bain is talking of 
putting in a plant in St. Louis for braD com¬ 
pression. The cost of the operation, alter the 
machinery is once procured, amounts to about 
60 cents a ten. All to whom Mr. Bain dis¬ 
played the bran cake were charmed with the 
idea of compressed bran. 
A Correspondent of Farm and Home says 
that the cow that suits him best is a cross be¬ 
tween the Jersey and Holstein. If pure on 
both sides at the start and then kept as nearly 
half-and-half as possible, this will result in 
cows that will retain the good qualities of 
both breeds; that is, rich milk and a good 
quantity of it. The cows will be of medium 
size, very hardy, quiet and good feeders, and 
in his opinion they are better adapted for 
farms than thoroughbreds. 
WORD FOR WORD. 
—• N. E. Farmer: “Winter dairying will 
gradually force progressive dairymen into 
more intensive systems; better cows, better 
maintained, and on fewer acres, and possibly 
with the silo, soiling in some of its forms will 
take the place very largely of the summer 
pasture of wide range.” 
-Southern Cultivator: “He who loves 
home most loves his country best” 
-Dr. Hoskins, in the Vermont Watch¬ 
man: “We truly believe that if it were not 
for a little lingering shame, and if the State 
as a whole would permit it, common schools 
would be abolished by the popular vote in a 
good many New England towns. This is 
what we have been brought to, in great part, 
by 40 years of emigration, carrying off the 
most enterprising, energetic and pushing por¬ 
tion of our population.” 
-“Our grangers havepaidout more money 
to traveling shows and agricultural horse- 
trots, to demoralize their boys, than would 
have made the Grange the leading and most 
useful institution in the State.” 
-Ohio Farmer: “ Despite all the terrible 
statutes and threats, and invectives, and 
abuse that have been fired at the dog for 
years, he grows more numerous, more defiant 
of law, and more of a privileged character 
every year. There is a reason for this, found¬ 
ed in the most noble attributes of the human 
heart. A man loves a devoted, faithful, dis¬ 
interested friend, and that is what a dog is to 
his master.” 
-Western Rural: “When the mechanic 
strikes or does anything else to oppress the 
farmer, he w r orks injury to himself: when 
trusts rob the farmer they are working ulti¬ 
mate ruin to themselves, for when all the 
grped that is robbing agriculture has suc¬ 
ceeded in bankrupting it, grass will grow in 
the streets of our cities, the wheels of the fac¬ 
tories will stop, commerce will be dead and 
desolation will be universal. Prosperous 
farmers make a prosperous people. Bank¬ 
rupt farmers will make a bankrupt nation.” 
-Agricultural Science: “There are 
men in stations, who are born politicians, and 
who do not exercise the proper influence over 
their fellows. The advancement of science 
and practice, is, with them, secondary to ad¬ 
vancement of themselves; in other words they 
are not in love with their work. Their in¬ 
fluence is pernicious. There is another class 
of workers, men honest in all things, yet who 
do their work so carelessly and inaccurately 
their teaching is damaging. They mean to do 
well, but they are not capable.” 
——C. M. Depew: “The best lawyer is the 
one that always keeps his client out of court 
in a bad case and only goes inwithagrod 
one. In every suit one party or the other 
must be in the wrong and come out unsuc¬ 
cessful. It is the business of a lawyer on the 
losing side to discover his error before going 
into court.” 
-Dr. Peabody: “Science has repeatedly 
gone off with the fullest assurance on a false 
scent, and we have no more reason to place 
undoubting confidence in the* theories of the 
10th century than in_thosdofthe 17th.” 
-Industrialist: “The measured acre 
which has grown wbeat without manuring or 
rotation for nine consecutive years will this 
year, on the farm of the Kansas Agricultural 
College, raise its average considerably above 
the 23.4 bushels of the previous eight years. 
Full figures will be given later.” 
-London Agricultural Gazette: “Sir 
J. B. Lawes, Bart., having endowed the Roth- 
amsted Agricultural Experiment Station 
with the sum of £100,000, for the pur¬ 
pose of earrrying on the investigations after 
his death, has now appointed the trustees, who 
met at Rotbarrsted, and elected the following 
officers: Dr. John Evans (Treasurer to the 
Royal Society), chairman: Sir John Thorold, 
deputy chairman; Dr. Hugo Mueller, treas¬ 
urer: and Mr. Herbert Cox, secretary. The 
trustees were conducted over the experiments 
by Sir J. B. Lawes and Mr. C. B. Lawes and 
afterwards discussed the steps to be taken for 
working the trust.” 
-Editor Cheever: “ So in manufactur¬ 
ing establishments, on railroads and in the 
tradesmen are paid even rates for a day’s 
work just as eggs are sold by count, not be¬ 
cause the system in either case is quite just, 
but because the injustice is too small to be 
worth the cost of adjustment.” 
-Prof. Shelton. “ In our trials we found 
the cream a most discordant element. In the 
case of every cow employed with each kind 
of feed, the milk givmg the largest display of 
cream often gave the least butter product.” 
-U. C. Farmer: “The farmer who break¬ 
fasts on fried pork, who eats pork and pota¬ 
toes for dinner and more of the samesort for 
supper at this season of the year, should not 
find fault when be discovers himself to be ill. 
His table should abound with berries and fine 
vegetables. He owes it to himself and to his 
family to see that it is thus supplied. We are 
glad to know that the number of farmers 
who neglect this duty is steadily diminishing, 
but there are still enough remaining to make 
this admonition necessary.” 
-N Y. Herald: “ To the Young Gradu¬ 
ates—Do not let it out that you know more 
than your father. No doubt you do, but 
spare his feelings.” 
When the Energies Flag 
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Dr. T. C. Smith, Charlotte, N. C., says: “It 
is an invaluable nerve tonic, a delightful bev¬ 
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energies flag and the spirits droop.”— Adv. 
Pterftlattwusi 
That Tired Feeling, so oppressive, overpow¬ 
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