THE RURAL HEW-YORKER. 
■ 
shows the flower-bud, which is the eatable 
part of the plant, though sometimes the stems 
of the young plants are also eaten, being fiist 
bleached, like celery, by heaping soil up 
around them. Its cultivation is very simple. 
The plauts may be raised from seed, which 
should be sown on a hob-bed in the latter part 
of February, and by proper care the plants 
will be ready to transfer to the open ground 
in the first days of May; or it may be propa¬ 
gated by suckers from the old plauts in the 
spring. In either case the plauts should be 
well as they now do ? The results are as good 
in every way as could be reasonably expected. 
I am best acquainted with the country schools 
of Michigan, which are acknowledged by those 
who are competent to judge, to be geneially 
poorly supervised. Our villages and citieB, 
however, have graded schools which are a 
credit to the country. The majority of the 
etudents who enter the Agricultural College 
come directly from the country schools. Some 
of them cotne from the graded schools. 
I am informed by those who conduct the ex¬ 
aminations that the students from the country 
are generally better prepared thau those who 
come from the cities and villages. Undoubted¬ 
ly we get the best from the country schools, 
aud perhaps we do not get the best from the 
graded schools. Why should there be this dif- 
fereuce ? In the city children are often kept 
in school from six to nine monihs in the year. 
They are graded, so that those of similar ad¬ 
vancement are placed in classes together. 
There is a good deal of an evening-up of the 
dull and bright. The brightest are often kept 
too long with those who are dullest. In the 
country the largest pupils go to school only 
three or four months iu the winter and the 
smallest for three or four months in the sum¬ 
mer, while a few atteud for six months iu the 
year. The most ambitious of the country peo¬ 
ple feel that their chance for an education is 
not as good as that of their c-ity cousins. They 
work hard, however, improve what time they 
can get, aud often procure a good education. 
The school is not graded to keep any from ad¬ 
vancing. There is nothing to hold them back. 
Iu tiie country school pupils of all ages and 
degrees of advancement occupy one and the 
same room. The youngest and most backward 
CAULIFLOWER 
This very common vegetable is one of the 
market gardener’s most profitable crops. It is 
closely related to the cabbage plant, and, like 
PARASITIC LUNG WORMS 
HENRY STEWART 
For every thing there is a reason, although 
your correspondent, Geu. Noble, (see Rural of 
Jan. 25, page 58) cannot see any good in “ doc¬ 
toring the stomach for a worm in the wind¬ 
pipe." Wheu the true character of anything is 
understood, a course of treatment may be con¬ 
sidered rational that would otherwise appear 
absurd. In the ease mentioned by Gen. Noble, 
the treatment he gave his hen-house might 
seem to some others than himself quite un¬ 
reasonable-doctoring the hen-house for worms 
in the throat—but there is a far closer connec¬ 
tion between the 9 tomach of an animal and the 
mucous membrane lining the luugs aud throat 
than between the latter and the walls aud floor 
of a poultry-house, although even here there 
is a rational connection. The truth of this 
matter is, that “gupes” is really caused by a 
parasitic worm which belongs to a family of aui- 
that, the eatable part forms a bead : but while 
the head of the cabbage is formed of the 
leaves, the head of the cauliflower is formed of 
the flower-stalks, which grow up in one com¬ 
pact, conical mass that, in well-grown speci¬ 
mens, measures nine inches to a foot across. 
There are many varieties in cultivation. Of 
these the engraving shows Lenormand's Short- 
Stemmed. It requires a good gardeu soil, 
richly manured; it is useless to attempt to 
grow it on a poor gravelly or binding clay soil. 
“ Cauliflower is mostly grown as a crop for 
spring or early summer; as a late crop it is 
more apt to fail. For an early crop the seed 
should be sown iu the first half of September, 
and later the plants should be set about three 
inches apart each way, in a cold-frame. Dur¬ 
ing the winter they should be covered with 
sashes, and in cold weather have an additional 
covering of straw mats. On every mild or 
sunny day, air should be given, by raising the 
sashes a few inches, and as early in the spring 
as the weather will permit, the sashes should 
be removed entirely during the day. In the 
latter part of March, or as soon as safe from 
hard frost—a little will do no harm—the plants 
should be set out on well prepared and richly 
manured laud, in rows two by three feet. The 
seed may also be sown on the hot-bed in Feb¬ 
ruary, and by proper care the plants may be 
All these are well known, and their natural 
history is so far clearly ascertained as to theii 
generation by means of eggs. How the eggs 
or the young worms gain access to the lungs 
aud air tubes is not known with such certainty 
as to satisfy a scientific man who will deal only 
with facts—that are facts, and not suppositious. 
Abundant circumstantial evidence exists to 
make it highly probable that the eggs of the 
worms are taken into the stomachs of the 
young annuals with the food—with the grass 
in the case of lambs, calves aud pigs, and by be¬ 
ing picked up from the ground, in the ease of 
young chicks. The ground becomes infested, 
most D probably, by means of eggs voided by 
mature animals ; for all these worms may be 
found in the bodies of mature animals, iu some 
cases so numerously as to cause disease and 
death. This is notably the case in sheep, iu 
whose luugs aud air passages myriads of these 
may be often found, as is well known to every 
practical shepherd. The eggs being then in¬ 
troduced to the stomach, are hatched Into 
worms, aud these are sometimes so plentiful 
In the stomachs of animals as to cause trouble 
there. These worms find their wuy from the 
gullet to the air tubes and lungs, and live upon 
the secretions of the mucous membrane, which 
are increased in quantity by the irritation 
caused by their presence— u and thereby hangs 
a tale” of how “doctoring the stomach for a 
worm in the windpipe ” may be very effective. 
If the General or any man will take a dose 
of the old-fashioned sulphur aud molasses for 
ARTICHOKE (Cynara scolymus). 
This vegetable was introduced into Italy 
from Asia Minor in the 15th century, aud has 
|a week, he will find all liis new legal-tender 
or other silver dollars which lie may carry iu 
his pocket, blackened by the fumes of the 
4 sulphur which went luto his stomach. If he 
\had breathed upon the silver, the blackening, 
^4 which is caused by a Bulphide of silver de- 
^ posited upon the metal, would have beeu ap- 
pareut much earlier and more conspicuously, 
because the vapor of the Bulphur escapes by 
the lungs sooner thau it does through the skin. 
^ The same happens wheu turpentine is taken 
as a medicine, as is well known. Indeed the 
action of turpentine is so effective that per¬ 
sons exposed to its vapor and breathing it 
only, are quickly affected by its diuretic qual- 
\ ities acting upon the kiducys ; or the simple 
rubbing of turpentine upon the skin will show 
llJ the same effects. Sulphur and turpentine are 
active poisons to these worms, aud iu the case 
referred to by Geu. Noble, the sulphuious 
fumes escaping from his fortunate applica¬ 
tion, may doubtless have done the business 
“ and he buildcd better than he knew." 
If any medicine can be called a specific, 
turpentine is such in the treatment of these 
lung worms, and I believe sulphur will be 
EXPERIENCE IN PURCHASING PLANTS, 
NOVELTIES, &c. 
A mine that did' nt pay for working ; a tricky 
dealer; a hunt after novelties, that etuis in 
a sideless hole; good returns for cash and 
fine extras; ditto , ditto ; dollar collections worth 
fully 100 cents each ; a reasonable proviso. 
As the time draws near to make up our 
orders for trees, plants etc., we naturally look 
back to see who received our orders last year, 
aud what we received in return for our money. 
Accepting the advice of the Rural, I sent for 
a number of catalogues to see who adver¬ 
tised what I wanted and sold it for the least 
money. I then sent at least one dollar for 
seeds or plants to all who sent me expensive 
and instructive catalogues free of charge. 
Those who required stamps sent to pay for 
their advertisements I felt under no obliga¬ 
tion to patronize. Now I propose to tell my 
success ; first, with three whom I will not here 
ever since been commonly cultivated iu Eu¬ 
rope ; but in this country it is found, as yet, 
only on the larger private places and on the 
tables of first-class hotels. The engraving 
their merits. Now, Messrs. Saul, Henderson 
and Vick are offering them to their customers, 
