NOV. 23 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
changed and the very necessities of our lives 
are different from what they were even 20 or 
30 years ago. The railroad, the telegraph and 
all the modem improvements in business and 
6oeial matters, have worked a wonderful 
change which we must conform to or stay 
behind. We must take advantage of every 
facility offered to us to improve our methods 
of working. I believe the owner of a farm, if 
he is au intelligent man, and knows his busi¬ 
ness, is worth more than a dollar a day. But 
if he is working in the field, hoe in hand, with 
a hired man by his side, he is simply earning 
a dollar a day or whatever he pays his hired 
man. But there is more valuable work to be 
done on the farm by the owner than laboring. 
Every farmer should try to find out for him¬ 
self what this is ; it is there, and the intelli¬ 
gent farmer will soon fiud it, if he looks for it. 
I would not make radical changes; such, for in¬ 
stance, as trying to farm with chemical fer¬ 
tilizers only, or growing corn continuously, 
or such risky novelties in farming. But Wil¬ 
liam is on th6 right track. He needs to make 
haste slowly. If he has not mauure to make 
his land rich enongh lo grow 80 bushels of 
corn or 40 bushels of wheat per acre, he should 
try to get as near to that as he can with arti¬ 
ficial fertilizers, to help out the manure; feed 
his cows richer food and make more butter; 
spend five dollars wherever he can see that he 
can get back ten ; keep an extra man in his 
coru fields killing weeds for two months 
after planting, and by so doing add two or 
three times the amount paid, to the value of 
the crop ; grow a few acres of mangels instead 
of the turnips he raises, and raise a few heifer 
calves into cows, and keep these on his extra 
roots, in place of selling veal. There are other 
ways that will open out as soon as he gets on 
the broad road, and he can take his choice as 
to which he will follow ; for they will all lead 
to one end, urid that is better crops, richer 
laud, more stock, more manure to keep the 
land more productive, and more profit. There 
is a certain yield which the land will give na¬ 
turally which may be increased by better cul¬ 
ture and some judicious expenditure, and this 
increase may be expected to repay its cost 
with 100 per cent, profit. That is where good 
farmers must look for their profits now. The 
land may return a bare liviug under certain 
circumstances, and a haudsome profit under 
others. To discover what are the methods of 
doing the latter is the busiuess of the farmer 
of to-day, who caunot live as did our grand¬ 
fathers 50 years ago.” 
‘•You might live worse,” remarked the old 
gentleman. “ I don’t think the world is a bit 
better for all these new-fangled ideas, for all 
the gold and Bilver there may be flowing into 
people’s pockets. Men are never contented. 
Where are you goiDg to stop ? Get all you can 
now, and what will you want 20 years to come ? 
Maybe you may hear your grand children talk¬ 
ing of things then as you talk now. Why 
not? Things have changed lu the last 20 
years as much as in 50 before, and where will 
you be 20 years from now ?” 
“Let us wait and see, and not fret about that 
just now," said Mr. Martin. ‘Sufficient for 
the day is the evil thereof;' and a farmer’s 
busiuess is not so brilliant, after all, to-day as 
folks are bragging it la. Crops are good no 
doubt, and prices are good ; but the specula¬ 
tor have the cream of the profit from the 
high prices, and we have the pleasure of seeing 
the money we worked for falling into the pock¬ 
ets of meu who never worked a day in their 
lives." 
“That was not one of our troubles in my 
day” remarked the old geutlemau, “ that comes 
of your new ways, and is one of your modern 
improvements. ” 
FAMPHLET8 AND CATALOGUES. 
The Native Flowers aud Ferns of the Uni¬ 
ted States; By Thomas Meehan. Puoli6hed 
by the American Natural History Publishing 
Co., Philadelphia. We have now to acknowl¬ 
edge Parts I., If., III., IV., of the second series 
of Vol. I. Referring to the colored plates with 
which this work i6 embellished, Dr. Asa Gray 
thinks that they compare “ not unfavorably " 
with those of Mr. Sprague who is plaeed at the 
head of our botanical draughtsmen. Consid¬ 
ering the extremely low price at which this 
work is offered, this is indeed high praise, as 
Mr. Meehan remarks. We have recommended 
this work to all of our readers, without re¬ 
serve. To the botanist; to the amateur; to 
the lover of flowers, it is alike a work that can 
not fail to please and instruct. Each series is 
complete in itself. Those, however, who pur¬ 
chase one series could scarcely rest content 
without the others. The colored plates in the 
Parts uow before us are as follows : Part I, 
Drummond’6 Pitcher-plant (Sarracema Drum- 
moudii); Cut-leaved Englemann Flower (En- 
gelmaunia pinuatifida); Sandpaper Star wort 
(Diplopappus linarifolius); Sensitive Fern 
(Ouoolea sensibilis). Part II. Parrot-headed 
Pitcher-plant (Sarraceuia psittaeiua); Ameri¬ 
can Yellow Lily (LUium Canadanse); Torrey’s 
8olanum(Solanum Torreyi); Californian Poly¬ 
pody (Polopodium Californlcum). Part. III. 
Spotted Touch-me-not (Impatiens fulya); 
8pring IriB (Iris yerna); Common Woodsia 
(Woodsia obtnsa); Red-flowered Trumpet Leaf 
(Sarracema rubra). Part IV. Bipinnate 
Phacelia (Phacelia bipinnatiflda); Brilliant 
Cone-flower (Rudbeckia fuigida); Stemless 
Moccasin. Flower (Cypripcdium acaule); Walk¬ 
ing Leaf (Camptosorus rhizophyllus). 
IJotnoIogiral, 
THE JAPAN PEAR. 
This remarkable pear tree, Mr. James Hogg 
informs ns, was originally imported into this 
country from France about forty-five years 
ago. One of the first specimens that were 
grown in the vicinity of New York, was planted 
in the nurseries of Messrs. J. & T. Hogg, in 
the upper part of the city, near Second Avenue, 
in 1841 or '42 : but the tree is now frequently 
met with both in nurseries and private grounds 
all over the country. The tree is a very vig¬ 
orous grower with long chocolate-colored 
branches, and bearing large white flowers, aud 
very large, deep-green, shining leaves. It is 
handsome, aud its conspicuous flowers, rich 
foliage audsymmetrical fruit—of which It annu¬ 
ally hears au abundant crop—combine to make 
it oue of our most beautiful ornamental trees. 
It Is also very hardy, and is uever affected in 
the least by blight, for which reasons it has 
sometimes been recommended as a stock on 
which to graft more tender and sickly varie¬ 
ties ; but it Is not suited for this purpose; the 
wood seldom or never unites with the graft, 
though the bark. doe6, and the graft is there¬ 
fore easily broken off and the growth impeded. 
The leaf and fruit shown in the illustration, 
are drawn from specimens sent us by Mr. T. 
S. Force, of Newburgh, N. Y. As will be ob¬ 
served, the fruit is of a spheroidal form, 
smooth and regular and marked with numer¬ 
ous minute dots. The color is green, but 
changes to yellow by keeping. It has a some¬ 
what astringent, slightly acerb taste, which 
does not improve by keeping, and it is never 
eatable uiBfess cooked. For cooking purposes, 
however, it is fully equal to the quince, and 
when properly preserved, it ha6 the consis¬ 
tency of Canton preserved ginger. 
The tree commenced bearing in this country 
from seedlings, and some pseudo varieties have 
been advertised as being great acquisitions to 
our orchards ; but none of them is better 
than the original species. 
- - ■» 4 ♦- 
MICHIGAN STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
Annual Meeting In Allegan, Dec. 2, 3, and 4, 
1879. 
In acceptance of an invitation from the Alle¬ 
gan County Pomological Society, the 8tate 
Society will hold Its annual session in the vil¬ 
lage of AUeiran, December 2d, 3d, and 4th, 
opening with an evening lecture at Beven aud 
one half o’clock, Tuesday the 2d proximo. 
The following list comprises the main topics 
for discussion daring the day sessions : 
I. Pruning pear trees. 
3. Scale of points in judging fruits and 
orchards. 
3. Is the grape rot doing damage in our 
State ? 
4. Growing native Ferns. 
5. Mutual relations of nurserymen and fruit 
growers. 
6. IIow to use flowers in the home, the 
6chool-room and the church. 
7. Culture of the Quince in Michigan. 
8. Distances apart for planting fruit trees 
and plants. 
9. Habits of observation a practical assist¬ 
ance to the fruit-grower. 
10. Native aud introduced climbers. 
II. Influence of local horticultural societies 
upon communities. 
12. Practical workings of the yellows’ law. 
13. Grape-vmo tbripa and how to battle the 
pest. 
14. Management of young orchards. 
15. Horticulture at the Agricultural College. 
16. Are we not lowering the pomological 
standard of merit by too often applying tiie 
market test? 
17. Describing Apples by their flowers. 
Aside from the above topics there are two 
resolutions laid over from former meetings to 
be taken up at this session of the society as 
follows :— 
Resolved, That the Michigau State Pomologi¬ 
cal Society recommends the use of hedges for 
fencing in Michigan. 
Resolved, That the name of our Society be 
changed to accord with our work, that hence¬ 
forward it shall be known as the Michigan 
8tate Horticultural Society and that the presi¬ 
dent be instructed to so modify the constitution 
as to accord with this resolution. 
The annual election of officers will occur 
during the afternoon of Wednesday, Decem¬ 
ber 3d. 
The Allegan people will be prepared to en¬ 
tertain all the members from abroad who no¬ 
tify the Secretary of their intention to be there. 
The hotels will grant reduced rates to others 
who shall attend, aud from the importance of 
this meeting there is no doubt but the attend¬ 
ance will be large. 
It is important that all who are to attend 
shall notify the Secretary at Grand Rapids at 
once, that he may if possible secure arrange¬ 
ments for reduced fare on the railroads. With¬ 
out the names of those who are to be in 
attendance, no progress can be made in this 
direction. 
Any further information that may be desired 
will be cheerfully given by the Secretary on 
application. T. T. Lyon, President. 
Chas. W. Garfield, Sec’y. 
f nimstriai Jmplrarats. 
SHELL YOUR CORN ON THE FARM. 
Most Western farmers understand the ad¬ 
vantage of shelling corn at home; most Central- 
Western and Eastern farmers don’t compre¬ 
hend the saving at all. We shall try to demon¬ 
strate it by a few figures. Corn on the cob Is 
computed at 70 pounds to the bushel. Shelled 
corn is sold at 57 pounds to the bushel. Now, 
suppose it becomes desirable to sell one hun¬ 
dred bushels of corn, we will see If we cannot 
demonstrate that it is wise and more econo¬ 
mical to sell the shelled product- 
Hauled to market luO bushels—or...7,000 Jbs. 
Oobs and chaff weigh.1.150 lbs. 
Clean corn weighs.5.850 ** Total 7,000 " 
100 bushels shelled corn; legal 
weight...,...6,600 “ 
Total 1068 on 100 bushels.... 260 “ or 4)4 bushels, 
besides which you haul to market (five, six or 
ten miles, as the case may be,) 1,100 pounds of 
cobs which you give away, and possibly haul 
back coal at $3.50 to i>5 00 per tou. For fuel, 
100 pounds of cobs are worth as much as 100 
pounds of coal; therefore we figure your loss 
on this 100 bushels of corn, as follows : 
4)4 bushels Bhelled corn at 40 eta. (say).$1.80 
1,100 lbs. cobs at $4.00 per ton (say). 2.20 
liauling 1,100 ttw. cobs to town (say). 1.50 
Total loss......$5,50 
These figures are worth pondering, as it is 
by just such savings that farming is made to 
pay. 
One of the best ehellers is made by the Sand¬ 
wich Mfg - . Co. There are various sizes made, 
and there is the chance of making it pay as an 
investment, if several elub together, bay a 
power sheller, aud after shelling their own 
corn, do the same for their neighbors, apply¬ 
ing the profit made on the work to paying 
for it. 
- -»—-■»- 
In the long ago it was much cheaper for a 
farmer to take his graiu to the miller, and by 
paying him one-eight or twelve and one-half 
per cent., have his grinding done at a fair price. 
Now, the miller will obligingly exchange from 
18 to So pounds of flour for a bushel of wheat, 
so that if the wheat is worth 50 cents a 
bushel, the farmer pays the miller 16 bushels 
of wheat for a barrel of flour, or nearly 70 per 
cent, ot his wheat for the griudiug. The charge 
for grinding corn is 10 cents per bushel; that 
is, the husbandman is permitted to pay the 
miller one load of corn for grinding another. 
Such being the ease, an agriculturist cannot 
afford to feed stock ground food, or indulge 
very liberally in wheat bread, unless he does 
his own grinding. Good farm mills are now 
so cheap, that it is real ecouomy to buy one. 
ThoseusiDg wind power will appreciate a 
little iron oscillating mill made by the Stover 
Wind-Engine Co., of Freeport, Ills., and Green 
Castle, Pa. It is a novel and ingeniously ar¬ 
ranged grinding mill, made to attach to ten 
aud twelve-foot pumping wind mills, operated 
by an elbow connected with main pumping 
rod in such a manner that it can be attached 
or detached in a minnte, so that one can either 
pump or grind, or do both at the same time. 
It works with a reciprocating lever, so ar¬ 
ranged that it grinds on the up motion of the 
wind-mill. The grinder consists of a double 
meial case and three burrs, two remaining 
stationary aud oue revolving in the center, 
producing a double grinding surface, and it will 
grind more than the ordinary farmer needs. 
It can be changed from griuding coarse to fine 
by simply turning oue screw. It can be 
attached to any wind-mill. We would recom¬ 
mend that the four main tower posts be board¬ 
ed up, say from six to eight feet, aud covered 
with a hipped or pointed roof, in which a bin 
or hopper can be made to hold as much grain 
as desired, aud which can be tilled at leisure, 
leaving the ground feed to iuu into a box, or 
on the floor of the grinding room, as desired. 
This convenient little mill griuds constantly, 
day and night, and it costs, complete, only 
twenty dollars. 
FRUIT AND LEAF OF THE JAPAN PEAR.—(FROM LIFE.) 
