1889 
597 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
{XXiscdlamms* 
CORRESPONDENTS’ VIEWS. 
The Plague of Weeds. —The alarmingly 
rapid increase of all noxious weeds, when al¬ 
lowed to grow unmolested, should be sufficient 
inducement for those interested to use every 
available means for their destruction, though 
it may seem practically impossible to effect 
this when we consider the little effort put 
forth in this direction by a large proportion 
of the farming public. However, there are 
honorable exceptions where the highways, 
fence-corners, yards and inclosures connected 
with many farms present a clean and neat ap¬ 
pearance; but on neighboring farms perhaps 
can be seen weeds of nearly all varieties lux¬ 
uriantly growing unmolested, their seeds al¬ 
lowed to ripen and to be scattered broadcast, 
to produce ten times the number of pests an¬ 
other year. During my daily drive to the 
post-office half a mile distaut, on either side 
of the highway, after passing the limits of my 
own farm, can be seen weeds of the following 
varieties growing in profusion: milkweed, 
teasel, wild carrots, nettles, Canada Thistles, 
golden rod, burdock, mullein, catnip, rag¬ 
weed, yellow dock, sweet clover, broad and 
narrow-leaved plantain. All these force them¬ 
selves on one’s attention while the highway 
laws make it the duty of the overseers to cut 
the pests at least twice during the season 
where the owners of the lands adjoining neg¬ 
lect to do so. But this duty is in many in 
stances entirely neglected; the seeds are al¬ 
lowed to ripen and to be distributed 
by the passing carriage wheels during 
a period of muddy roads from one 
locality to another. It is evident that this 
feature of the highway law should be rigidly 
enforced. Indeed, the New York Central R. 
R Company, to its credit be it said, is doing 
more for the suppression of noxious weeds on 
its grounds than many others who should 
consider it a work of vital importance, are 
doing on theirs; for the road people for several 
years past have regularly cut th°m (evhere the 
line passes through my farm) at least twice 
during the season. Not only are these older 
and well known standard varieties slowly 
but surely gaining a permanent foot-hold in 
all parts of our land, but others with new 
names, and equally objectionable characters, 
are persistently making their way to the 
front, seeming to defy the efforts of the pains¬ 
taking farmer to destroy them. One of the 
most notable, and one that causes much spec¬ 
ulation and anxiety among the farmers of 
Western New York, is the new and alarm¬ 
ingly prolific weed-pest generally known by 
the name of “ Long John,” resembling some¬ 
what the common “ chick-weed,” though 
growing taller with blossoms of a light yellow 
color. Many careful and thoroughly wide¬ 
awake farmers are surprised at finding it in¬ 
truding itself in their wheat fields, meadows 
and pastures. I am creditably informed 
that neither butter nor cheese of a palatable 
flavor can be made from cows pastured where 
this pest abounds. Thus we are admonished 
of the direful results of allowing these 
troublesome strangers, together with those of 
older acquaintance, to fiud a resting place 
among us, and with united effort we can pos¬ 
sibly Keep them iu subjection, if we cannot 
entirely eradicate them. irving d. cook. 
Genesee County, N. Y. 
Betting Iron Fence Posts.— Iron fence 
posts are objected to because *liey cannot be 
set as easily as wooden ones. They are liable 
to be pushed over by the stock, since they 
present a small surface to the earth to receive 
support, as compared with wooden posts. 
Manufacturers have devised various contriv¬ 
ances to overcome this, but the result has 
been that the post is made so expensive as to 
render it impracticable. The iron post has 
so many advantages that I endeavored to dis¬ 
cover some cheap method of setting it which 
would likewise make it firm iu the ground. 
A hole six or eight inches in diameter was 
bored the required depth. The post was set 
therein aud the hole filled with small stones 
pounded iu carefully; a very small quantity 
of earth was mixed with the stones to make 
them “ compact ” more readily. A wagon¬ 
load of these small stones, which may be 
taken from the field or the bed of the creek at 
this season, will fill a large number of holes. 
It is much better to have the posts provided 
with a knob or something of this kind at the 
lower end to prevent them from being drawn 
up easily. Whilo 1 have not given this method 
a lengthy test, yet I feel it will continue satis¬ 
factory. Another objection urged against 
iron posts is their expensiveuess. An instance 
occurs to me where a farmer bought a lot of 
second-hand gas-pipes at a low price. These 
were cut into proper lengths for posts aud 
given a coat of paint. They made most ex¬ 
cellent posts and will last twice as long as 
wooden ones. Wnat we need is that some 
manufacturer should invent a practical iron 
post—something that is cheap and has the 
stability of wood together with that light' 
ness and neatness which can be found only in 
the iron or steel post. R. l. d. 
Green County, 0. 
Waste Land.— While spending a few 
weeks’ vacation recently in Western New 
York, I could not help observing the large 
amount ot valuable land that was actually 
nothing but weeds and briars, and yet many 
farmers were complaining of the very small 
incomes received from their farms. I was told 
that money loaned at five per cent, would pay 
them better than if invested in land at $100 
an acre. Well, of course, in order to make 
land pay a good profit at that price, every 
available foot of it must be utilized. It is not 
an uncommon thing on farms of 160 acres, to 
find three and four miles of fence. Here is 
the point: I found that on many of the farms, 
briars, bushes and weeds had been left to grow 
and spread for years until, by actual 
measurement, I found a space a rod 
wide devoted to a fence-row, where not more 
than two feet ought, to be occupied. Now 
supposing that on a farm having four miles of 
fence, half a rod more ground is given to the 
fence-row than is necessary. Here are four 
acres out of the 160 that are actually useless 
—yes, worse than useless, as they are sure to 
produce weed-seeds to stock the adjoining 
fields. Here, then, are $400lying idle, which, 
at five per cent, interest would produce an in¬ 
come of $20a year; or 2 2 9 per cent, of the 
income from the cost of the entire farm. 
Now there isn’t a farmer in Western New 
York who would think for a moment of al¬ 
lowing $400 or any other amount to lie idle 
without a cent of interest; and yet this is just 
what many of them are doing by allowing so 
much of their land to go to waste. Is it any 
wonder they complain because “ farming 
don’t pay ? ” J. t. 
Early Planting of Cotton.— This year 
has further demonstrated the fact that we put 
off planting cotton till too late a date. It has 
been customary in this section to plant at any 
time from the first to the 20th of April, while 
some advocate planting the first week in May. 
I planted some this year myself on May 21; 
but as very little cotton came up till June 
10. it did not make much difference when it 
was planted. There were in this section a few 
patches of cotton that were planted in March 
—.-omething I have never seen before. They 
got a good stand, and although the whole 
spring was cool and backward and corn was 
bitten down by frost, the cotton was not in¬ 
jured, aud it is the finest in this section to-day. 
Seven years ago we had a cold spell in May; 
people worked in the field with their over¬ 
coats on; corn was bitten down by frost; cot¬ 
ton shed all its leaves, leaving just the naked 
stalk sticking up out of the ground entirely 
denuded of its foliage, still the stand was not 
seriously injured. People had to plow and 
hoe the naked stalks until the weather turned 
warm, when the crop grew right off as if 
nothing had been the matter. This year and 
two years ago I failed to get a stand owing 
to a droughty April and I have resolved to 
profit by experience (which 1 have paid very 
dearly for) aud hereafter, if I can prepare my 
ground in time, I shall plant in March or in 
the first week in April. I also advocate the 
early planting of both sorghum aud Peruvian 
potatoes. I have tried them for years (both 
early and late) and pronounce early planting 
the great desideratum. g. h. f. 
Denmark, Mississippi. 
Experience with Squashes.—I have al¬ 
ways had very good luck with squashes, gener¬ 
ally keeping some until the Fourth of July aud 
some years until October. Last year was an 
exception. On account of the freeze in Octo¬ 
ber they did not keep until April, although I 
had over 60 very nice specimens of the Orange 
variety, which are extra early, (thanks to the 
Rural for them) until this freeze so early in 
the fall. Before the present year I never 
planted until June 20 to 22; but this year I 
plauted June 1, and to get around the mag¬ 
got, I sifted a half inch of coal ashes on each 
hill when planting, and so far they have been 
perfectly healthy. The maggot has been the 
only drawback to early planting aud if coal 
ashes will stop its work, we shall get larger 
squashes, for they will have a longer time to 
mature. I always plant five seeds in a hill, 
and when the vines are coming up they must 
be kept covered with plaster. I look to them 
after every shower—not once a week as some 
do, but every day. I keep the ground mellow. 
I plow twice before planting, and after they 
have been kept clean, just before the vines be¬ 
gin to run, I plow the whole surface between 
the hills and give level culture and that dis¬ 
courages the weeds. I have 100 hills planted 
4x6 feet apart. After the bugs have left, I 
thin out to two plants, and now, July 15, the 
vines nearly cover the ground. Cucumbers 
for pickles 1 plant in drills, six to 10 plants to 
the foot, after they are thinned. I keep them 
covered with plaster when they are starting 
or while young. p. c. 
Milford, N. H. 
Alsike Clover. —This year again proves 
the hardiness and the capacity of this plant 
for remaining in the ground during the win¬ 
ter and early spring, two features of much 
value to the farmer. Although Alsike hay is 
not as heavy when cured as Timothy or Red 
Clover, yet it is readily eaten by all kinds of 
stock. A good stand of this clover 
seems to insure a crop of it for 
years. As an illustration, an Alsike field 
was cut for seed four years ago, plowed and 
planted to com the following year, then to 
barley, with rye in the fall and then 
seeded with Timothy and Red Clover,.equal 
parts, without any Alsike. This year the 
Alsike is thick and heavy enough to warrant 
my saving it for seed. A yield of from five 
to eight bushels per acre pays very well as the 
hay makes good sheep feed after it has been 
thrashed. 
One winter I kept a flock of ewes almost en¬ 
tirely on this thrashed hay with a small daily 
allowance of grain. It must be remembered 
that there is generally considerable well-cured 
Red Clover and Timothy in the hay. Besides 
the hay and seed produced, if the farmer 
will only keep a few colonies of bees, he will 
be repaid many times for all the seed sown, in 
the delicious honey. c. c. 
Joys of the Farmer. —New Jersey farm¬ 
ers have another enemy to contend with this 
season by way of variety. A green aphis has 
attacked their muskmelons in countless num¬ 
bers. The pests infest the young and tender 
ends of the growing vines, causing the leaves 
to curl, and impairing the growth just as the 
Black Aphis injures the young growth of the 
cherry trees. As they are on the under side 
of the leaves they are thoroughly protected 
by the curl so that they cannot be reached by 
the ordinary application ot insecticides. The 
only way it seems possible to reach them 
would be to dip the ends of the vines in some 
killing liquid, which, to be effective, would 
probaoly kill the vines too; besides, owing to 
the labor, it would be impractical and inef¬ 
fectual as the pests are suckers. An army of 
parasites or a dose of dry weather would 
probably be the best remedy;but the damage 
being done already, Nature will probably take 
her own course, and we will go melon-hungry. 
Potatoes—well, they are going and gone in 
many instances—another legacy from the wet 
season. Verily the farmer’s vocation is a 
happy one. Is it any wonder he is envied? 
e. w. 
tPhiumt’s IPflrk. 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY LOUISE TAPLIN. 
CHAT BY THE WAY. 
T HIS summer the low-cut bodices with 
turn-down lace collars are very much 
worn. In some cases they are really too low 
to be lady-like on the street; the prettiest 
style is where the basque has no collar but 
the turn-down of lace, just the least bit open 
in a point in front. 
* * * 
Moire ribbons 'with a picot edge are now 
out of date; the coming ribbon is moire with 
a broad satin edge. Do you know how moird 
or watered ribbon is made ? We saw the pro¬ 
cess recently; the ribbon is woven a plain 
gros-grain; then, in the finishing, it passes 
over pieces of wood set up like a banjo bridge 
and cut into an irregular surface. It is pressed 
upon these so tightly as it passes along that 
the ribbon is deeply marked. It then passes 
between rollers heated by gas, whicd, while 
flattening it, make the marking permanent. 
In making the picot edge a slender thread of 
flexible whalebone runs down either side of 
the ribbon, alternately catching in a certain 
number of threads of the tilling, and then 
dropping them for a space. The piece of 
bone is about a yard long, slipping out of the 
ribbon as it lengthens. 
* * * 
Now is the time to think about Christmas 
presents. They should be decided on months 
beforehand: whenever the purse allows it, 
some expenditure may he made. When 
fancy-work is selected, it should be begun 
early, so that there will be no hurry at the 
last. It is not at all a bad idea to make a list 
of the articles required or thought of, and 
somehow, things seem to cost so much less 
when they are bought by degrees than when 
everything is spent at once. Those round 
Japanese baskets make pretty and inexpen¬ 
sive gifts; the small ones are handy to stand 
on a bureau, and the larger ones as scrap- 
baskets or receptacles for odds and ends. 
They should be gilded in any color, and trim¬ 
med with ribbon bows. 
* * * 
A very pretty and very cheap wall decora¬ 
tion consists of a Japanese paper banner 
slanting diagonally; across the top five tiny 
paper lanterns are hung, while several little 
fans are laid across the bottom. 
AFTER-THOUGHTS. 
OLIVE E. DANA. 
W E are often willing to do anything for 
each other save to exercise continual¬ 
ly that willing forbearance, that generous 
thoughtfulness, that quiet, self-forgetful, bur¬ 
den-bearing love, which, in exercise, is the 
best gift we can render. We are often ready 
to make great sacrifices when we cannot bear 
patiently or in silence some petty misunder¬ 
standing of our mood or motive, and will not 
yield our will or way without complaint. 
Ah! the little thorns! How they prick and 
sting and pain us! They wear away the good 
purposes, and waste the strength, and chill 
the love, and dim the trust; and they put 
frowning faces and sharp words in the place 
of our coveted serenity. They torture the 
nerves and rasp the temper, and put the soul 
in tumult. The little thorns—how do they 
grow so fast and thick? And do we not all 
of us help plant and tend them? 
It seems to me that one of the worst things 
about our little fretfulnesses and despond¬ 
encies is the way they are perpetuated and re¬ 
produced in others. We pass them on by the 
very expression of them, ana without mean¬ 
ing to. And have we not noticed, sometimes 
how the complaint or repining did not spend 
itself in the utterance? Even the one that 
listened—willingly or unwillingly—and tried 
to give only the soft answer, yet very likely, 
afterward, could neither get rid of it nor 
away from it. And very likely she was more 
easily upset by the next small grievance that 
came to her. Haven’t we seen a petulance 
passed on so from member to member of a 
household, changing in each from fretfulness 
to depression, from repining to hasty speech, 
from unwonted gloom to unusual nervous 
irritability, according to the disposition or 
temperament of each, as it went the rounds ? 
And how much better it would have been if 
it had not been passed on at all! “Woe unto 
the world because of offences! for it must 
needs be that offences come; but woe to that 
man by whom the offence cometh.” That is 
one warning we need to remember. And there 
is another we might oftener recall about the 
forgiveness without which, often repeated, 
there can be little real forbearance—“not un¬ 
til seven times, but until 70 times seven.” 
That is a pleasant and a suggestive passage in 
“Mary Clemmer’s Memorial of Alice and 
Phoebe Cary,”—when she says:— 
“ Nothing could have been more absolutely 
harmonious than the daily abiding intercourse 
of these sisters. This was not because they 
always thought alike, nor because they never 
in any way crossed each other, nor was it 
based on their devoted affection and perfect 
faith in each other alone. People may believe in 
each other, aud love each other dearly, and yet 
live in a constant state of friction. It was 
chiefly because each cherished a most consci¬ 
entious consideration for the peculiarities of 
the other and because in the minutest particu¬ 
lar they treatea each other with absolute po* 
liteness. There is such an expression used as 
* society manner.’ These sisters had no man¬ 
ner for society more charming in thejsligbtest 
particular than they had for each other. No 
pun ever came into Phoebe’s head too bright 
to be flashed over Alice, and Alice had no 
gentleness for strangers which she withheld 
fromPnoebe. The perfect gentlewomen which 
they were in the parlor, they were always, 
under every circumstance .... Each 
obeyed one inflexible law. Whatever she felt 
or endured, because of it she was not to inflict 
any [suffering upon her sister; uo, not even if 
that sister had inadvertently been the cause 
of it. If she was out of sorts, she went 
into her owu room, shut her door and had it 
out by herself. Whatever shape her Apollyon 
might take, she fought with him, and slew 
him aloue. When she appeared outside it 
might strike one that a new line of pain had 
for the momeut lit upon her face; that was 
the only sign of the foe routed. The bright 
