YORKER 
(Stegtoli m. 
NOTES FROM NORTH CAROLINA. 
This county has a large quantity of grain 
and cotton planted. The rain6 have been most 
timely and not too frequent or heavy. Corn is 
doing excellently, has a line Btand, is clean, 
and. to show the stage of its advancement, one 
farmer about 1} mile from Lowell, is getting 
ready to “ lay by ” one Held. Wheat, oats. etc., 
will mako fair crops; no rust, weevil or insect 
of any kind. The grain crops would be very 
full, but for a strange practice our farmers 
have of pasturing their grain fields all during 
the winter and until late in spring; for here 
all small grains arc sown between September 
and Christmas, and out-of-door farm work 
done every month in the year. Now. if a peo¬ 
ple expect a grain crop to support animal life 
half the year while it is growing, they ought to 
expect short returns for bread findings for hu¬ 
manity. Still, with all this and the shallow 
plowing, want of cultivating and keeping lands 
in order, the yields are very fine—wheat will 
yield over 12 bushels per acre. Cottou fields 
are all clean ; the plant is in healthy condition 
and is considered safe. The fruit crop was in¬ 
jured by a late frost, and peaches will show 
perhaps one-third of a crop. The lands about 
here are chpap and fertile, and the owners de¬ 
sire an yifusion of good, working, self-sustain¬ 
ing Northern people who have some means to 
start with. By working lands bore to any¬ 
thing near the extent and way the farmer 
North docs, he cannot fail to lay up a com¬ 
petency. There are now at Lowell two cotton 
mills, employing over 300 people. These are 
operated by water power, there being two 
dams ; that is. two powers now in use, cither 
of which is, by demonstration, a better power 
than the water power at Rochester, N. Y. 
There are several Northern families now set¬ 
tled at Lowell and in the vicinity, and the 
change in the appearance of things is mani¬ 
festing itself. Some neat six-room cottages 
are being erected, and the owners of the place 
own the. mills and some 1,500 acres of land, 
and want a diversity of industries. 
A cooper who could make a good barrel 
would find a place here where he could sell 
more ware than he could make, and get cash 
for his work. There is not a cooper within 70 
miles, and cooper’s ware is in demand. Tim¬ 
ber, of all varieties, is plentiful; oak, ash, 
pine, hickory, walnut, etc. A good black¬ 
smith who could and would do repair and job 
work, and who could turn his hand to ma¬ 
chinery repairs occasionally in the mills, I 
would find a good, paying business, which 
would grow. Also a good wagon maker, who 
would repair wagons, make and repair wood¬ 
work of plows, harrows, etc., will find a fine 
field. Some one who would make spokes, 
rims, felloes, etc., can be guaranteed a market 
for bis product, abundant material to work on, 
and good terms as to room and power for his 
machinery. A woolen mill is needed, and by 
no means the least worthy of consideration is 
the making of spools, shuttles, bobbins, etc., 
for within a radius of eight miles, are four 
cotton mills besides the two at Lowell, and all 
these send North for supplies, when the mate- 
'ial and power is here on the spot, and within 
radius of 40 miles are over 15 cotton mills, 
j making money, and running night and day. 
.dill-hands' wages are lower thau at the North ; 
but living is cheaper, and no one is extrava¬ 
gant. Building lumber ranges from $8.50 to 
$10.50 per 1,000 feet, while fine building granite 
can be had for but little more thau the cost of 
quarrying. Lowell is on the Air Line Railway. 
16 miles from Charlotte, has a good depot and 
store, and a rich country. Lands are cheap ; 
the cotton manufactory has been in operation 
27 years; a new mill was finished a year ago. 
The place and couutry are very healthful, the 
days are not too hot, and the nights are al¬ 
ways cool and refreshing. Gaston. 
Lowell, Gaston Co., May -29th. 
-♦ ♦ »- 1 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Ohio, Painesville, June 3. —We have had a 
sadly dry time hereabouts, and farmers are 
much discouraged. In view of the probably 
short crop of hay. farmers will do well to sow 
a few acres of corn fodder. Hungarian grass 
is another good substitute for hay and can be 
sown as late as the 20th of June, though from 
the 10th to the 15th is better. It is a very sure 
crop and easily grown, sown like wheat or 
oats. Grape vines need attention at this sea¬ 
son, not only to keep the young shoots well 
tied up. but to prevent their growing so thickly 
as to exclude air and sunshine. On examina¬ 
tion it will be found that two or three shoots 
often start from one bud, and in such cases 
only the strongest one should be leit to grow— 
the others be nipped off while quite young and 
brittle. After another week or two it will be 
time to commence thinning off the clusters 
of blossoms, as the majority of vines incline to 
bear twice as much fruit as they can well bring 
to maturity. Wheat is badly injured by the 
drought, beginning to head with very little 1 
stalk. Many fields, it is thought, will hardly 
pay for harvesting, and with good weather 
_ hereafter the average cannot exceed one-half 
a fair crop. Grass is suffering badly, especial¬ 
ly old meadows and pastures. Those of recent 
n seeding will do fairly if good rains come Boon ; 
5t hut the hay crop must be light, perhaps half an 
j g average. Oats have come up poorly except 
1 the earliest sown, and all are backward; with 
i f . good rains they may yet come on and make 
' nearly a fair crop. Corn, on the best soils, 
Avbere planted early, came up fairly and may 
yet do well, but the majority of fields have not 
come np, and much of the seed has perished 
ig after sprouting, hence the land needs to be re- 
planted immediately. m. b. b. 
c Nbw Hampshire, Winchester, June 2.—We 
r have just had a few very hot days, the mercury 
k being in the neighborhood of 100® some of the 
i- time. Peaches promise well, every tree being 
e in full bloom ; so are most of the apple, pear 
o and cherry trees, etc. Potatoes are selling for 
$1.40 per bushel. A good many have been 
v planted; some are up six inches. Considera- 
s ble planting has yet to be done. Vegetation 
1 has grown rapidly and the season comes as 
s early as usual. The Azalea nudiflora is espe- 
i cially noteworthy, with flowers of various 
shades of pink and deliciously frasrrant. 
r Leaving out the Rhododendron, that grows in 
t only two places here, t his Azalea is undoubtedly 
the finest flowering shrub in New Hampshire, 
and it is a wonder that it has not been intro- 
> duced into cultivation extensively. It grows 
some six feet in bight, and is naturally of a 
roundish form in open places. This is said to 
be the only species found in this State. Of 
i herbaceous plants, in May, Trillium erylhro- 
! carpurn, or the Painted Birthroot, takes the 
> lead. The Painted Trillium is a name well 
given, as all will note who sec it in its native 
haunts. Corallorhiza innata is a rare orchid 
that I have found here.; another rare plant is 
Mitclla nnda, with green, pinimtifid petals, 
found in a swamp. Plants and flowers have a 
freshness here unknown further south. Blue¬ 
berries promise a large crop, and so do Rasp¬ 
berries, Blackberries, Strawberries, etc. At 
Northfleld, in the Connecticut Valley, a few 
miles from this place. Blackberries arc in 
bloom. The valley presents a vivid contrast 
to this section, which is made up of steep hills 
and small mountains, makiug it a delightfully 
picturesque summer resort. e. s. w. 
New York, Elmira. June 2. — Chemung Co. 
farmers have lound little in the weather to 
encourage them this spring. The season has 
been cold and backward, and for the past 
month the weather has been very dry. which 
has been decidedly unfavorable to growing 
crops. We had but one shower during May 
and wheat and spring grains are suffering 
through the lack of rain. Winter wheat was 
generally sown late last fall, and, as the 
weather was dry, it made but little growth 
before winter. Tn consequence of this aud the 
cold, dry spring, the wheat crop will be light 
iu this part of the State. Oats, barley aud 
spring wheat are backward, owing to the pro¬ 
tracted cold, dry weather. Oil the nights of 
May 21, 22, 23 and 26, respectively, we had 
hard frosts, which did considerable damage, 
especially to the fruit crops. Corn and pota¬ 
toes were cut back, and young seedings of 
clover aud timothy are injured iu places. 
Grass is makiug slow growth. Old meadows 
will certaiuly produce sparingly. The high 
prices received for potatoes last fall aud win¬ 
ter have been the cause of a large amount 
being planted this spring, and if the season is 
favorable, the crop will doubtless be large and 
the price low. Tobacco-growers are anxiously 
waiting for rain, so that they can set their 
plants. It is estimated that one thousand 
acres of tobacco were cultivated iu this valley 
last year, aud the high prices realized for the 
crop will cause an increased acreage for the 
present season. Probably 1,500 acres will be 
set to tobacco this year. Some attention is 
being paid to the subject of sugar from beets, 
and many farmers are planting a small quan¬ 
tity of beet seed by way of experiment. 
G. A. G. 1 
New York, Syracuse, June 2.—We are hav¬ 
ing a severe drought in this vicinity. During 
the month of May no rain fell, except a few 
slight sprinkles, hardly enough to lay the dust. ^ 
The ground has not been wet down an inch 1 
since the middle of April. As a consequence. £ 
everything is suffering for rain. Determined 1 
to save my strawberry crop, I bought a force- t 
pump and watered the plants well, but on the 6 
23d and 27th we. had severe frosts that killed s 
at least one-half of my crop, so that, with the *• 
drought aud frost, one will earn his strawber- 1 
ries this season. My pump will fill a barrel in ^ 
four minutes, works easily, but still if is no £ 
light task to water an acre or two of Straw- *- 
berries. Mulch is the cheapest aud best rem- a 
edy against drought. The frost injured my l: ' 
Grapes badly; 400 vines, set last year, look as 
if a tire had passed over them—not a green V 
shoot or leaf is left. 1 am fearful that many of 1 
them will never grow ugain, and as a number b 
of them cost me $1.50 each, it is rather dis- IS 
heartening. Plums, Pears aud Cherries gen- t< 
I erally escaped the frost, and will be a good 
crop. Apples, for the ‘‘off year,” blossomed 
very well, and we shall have a partial crop. 
Grass, wheat and corn look poorly, and the 
potato crop is not as well advanced as is the 
crop of potato beetles. n. r. 
Florida, Tallahassee May 27.—We are hav- 
iug a good season for working crops. The 
increased price of cotton has helped the hopes 
of the planter, as at ten cents per pound, it 
will pay to raise it, but a poor living is made 
by it at seven cents. This is the country for 
the poor as well as the rich man. A small far¬ 
mer showed me a cheek yesterday for $174.20 
received from New York as the proceeds 
of a shipment of potatoes raised on 1£ acre, 
and this after paying freight, commission etc. 
lie has cotton growing on the same land six 
inches high, and expects to make a bale of 
cotton worth $50 or $60. Such land can be 
bought in lots of from 15 to 100 acres at $5 per 
acre. I saw last week by one traiu, nine car- 
loads of cucumbers and tomatoes. Roasting 
ears are plenty aud other vegetables a drug. 
The negro exodus unfortunately has not 
reached us. Every town has a few huudred 
idle ones that could be well spared, and should 
they go, they will be pronounced “true patriots 
who left tlieir country for their country’s 
good.” But I would advise tho chickens to 
roost high where they settle. A Subscriber. 
Rural Farm. Queens Co., L. I., Juno 6.— 
Too much rain. The Blunt corn plot much 
injured. Cool, windy weather. Now is a good 
time to pull up wild radish from oat fields, 
etc., while it is iu bloom. It is impossible to 
do so after the yellow petals fall, when the 
plants, being of about the. same Light as the 
oats, can no longer be determined. Pearl mil¬ 
let has made only about two inches of growth. 
Looking at these slender blades now, it seems 
impossible that they should grow with such 
wonderful rapidity aud vigor a little later. 
The rows of Doura are now well marked, aud 
the plants are four inches high. Wheat is 
looking magnificently. A large hay crop is 
assured. Dr. T. II. Hoskins, of Newport, Vt., 
has just left us, after a visit of two days, the 
pleasure of which was greatly marred by 
almost iuccssaut rain. While, however, he 
saw less of the Rural Farm aud very little of 
the experiments we are carrying on, we had a 
better opportunity of listening to the results 
r>f his life’s experience, which were freely and 
very pleasingly imparted. 
Connecticut, Berlin. June 3. —The spring 
was quite late, but vegetation is coining forward 
very rapidly now. Pear trees gave promise of 
he greatest yield for years; apple trees, for 
,he uon-beariug year, promised well; but 
luavy frosts on May 9th and 10th injured fruit 
rery much, and, excepting in sheltered local- 
ties, fruit will not be abundant. The small 
ruits suffered some, also wild berries. Grass 
ooks well on rich upland, but on low grounds 
t will be very light. Tiie currant worm and 
mtato hug are very abundant; so, also, are 
•therinjurious insects, except the “tent cater¬ 
pillar,” which is not frequent this year. The 
rost referred to. injured potatoes, corn, beans, 
tc., very much, and some have planted their 
elds a second lime. The dry spell, following 
tie frosts, prevented the corn in some fields 
tom coming up, so that has to he planted 
ver. Ipse. 
New York, Whitney’s Point. June 8.—May 
as been cool and dry—only two light falls of 
tin during the month. Oats were sown from 
ie 1st to the 10th ; potatoes planted from the 
)th to the 17th ; corn, from the 17tli to the 
Lst Cherry trees are in full bloom; apple 
tree buds bursting. Light frost on the 22d, 
23d and 24th ; no damage done to fruit. On 
the 27th there was a hard frost—ice froze £ 
inch thick; fruits of all kinds were damaged. 
Sprouts, three inches long, were frozen on 
grape vines; ash and chestnut trees look as if 
they were burnt with lire. Oats look very 
badly, owing to the drought. Grass is very 
backward, and unless we have plenty of rain 
(luring this month, the hay crop will be very 
light, especially on the hills. Eggs cost at the 
door 10c. per doz.; potatoes, 50c. @ 65c. per 
bush.; haj- $9 @ $10 per ton. Corn aud po¬ 
tatoes just coming up. M. B. B. 
Pennsylvania, Wallsville, Lackawana Co., 
May 29.—The weather lias beeu quite cold for 
this time of the year—three frosts last week 
and another four days ago ; neither of them, 
however, were severe enough to do much dam¬ 
age- Pears, Peaches, Cherries and small fruit 
are in full blossom ; Apples, however, are not 
so far advaueed as the others. Coni aud pota¬ 
toes are nearly all planted. Grass and oats j 
look well. But little winter wheat is sown , 
hereabouts, but that little looks well, especially 
that sown early. The wholesale prices at | 
Scranton, about 15 miles south of this place, ( 
are : corn, 56c.; oats, 45c.; potatoes, $1; but- ] 
ter, 13e. to 15c.; eggs, 12c. w. E. m. j 
Illinois, Deer Park, La Salle Co., May 31.— I 
Weather warm, some days reaching 90 °F. c 
The recent rains have proved very beneficial, j 
but the hay crop in this section will be scant. g 
Nearly every farmer who planted corn prior t 
to May 10th, had to replant—the weather was 1 
so cold and dry that the corn rotted. Cut¬ 
worms have been very destructive on sod, in 
some instances cutting down whole fields. 
Potatoes look well. Rye is headed out aud 
promises a heavy crop. Strawberries are 
ripening; the Wilson seedling seems to take 
the lead, having withstood the drought better 
than other varieties. u. s. e. 
N. Y., Corning, May 28—We are pleased with 
the articles ou cash payments, that have lately 
appeared in the Rural. Wc know of no topic 
the advantages of which it would be more 
beneficial to impress upon farmers and others 
than “Cash" vs. “Credit.” We are glad to 
see the Rural take up the subject, aud believe 
it will do as much good in that direction as if 
it could show its readers some new and suc¬ 
cessful method of getting money out of the 
ground where before they got none. 
b. w. i*. & 8. 
Connecticut, Poquonoe Bridge, June 2.— 
Weather cold aud dry ; no rain to speak of 
since the first of last month. We had two 
severe frosts last week, and farmers claim that, 
considerable damage was done to their crops. 
What potatoes are up are already attacked by 
the beetles; the pests will make quick work 
with the whole crop, if it is not attended to in 
season. Money is very scarce hereabouts. 
Corn, 75c. per bush.; potatoes, $1.50 ; butter, 
20c. per pound; eggs, 12o. per doz. m. w. 
Alabama, Selina, May 29.—The weather 
here is warm and dry. Crops are suffering 
from want of rain ; yet all are still doing pret¬ 
ty well and folks are hopeful. I began picking 
strawberries ou the 4th of April, aud I am 
picking them yet. My vines are still covered 
with young ones together with plenty of 
bloom. Fifteen miles north of here, however, 
strawberries have already “ given out.” 
J. M. 
Wisconsin, East Troy, May 30—Weather 
very dry here. We have had only one good 
rain this spring. What winter wheat there is 
here is looking well. Early-sown spring wheat 
appears poor, but late sown is good. Spring 
has been very backward. n. a. t. 
Kentucky, Sherburne, May 26— The wea¬ 
ther here has been very dry; many farmers 
have planted corn a second and even a third 
time. The prospect for the wheat crop, how¬ 
ever, is fine in this sectiou. c. e. r. 
Pennsylvania. Laceyville, Wyoming Co., 
May 26.—We are having splendid weather. 
Crops look well except wheat, which was part¬ 
ly winter-killed. Corn is mostly planted. 
P. M. L. 
New York, Rochester, May 31, — I deem the 
Rural’s editorials ou “Cash vs. Credit,” time¬ 
ly and exceedingly good. They “hit the nail 
on the head” every time. h. t. j. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
To all Uuurists. 
\Y e are in receipt of numerous queries from 
persons who sign either their initials or a 
notn-de-jilttme. It is the regular rule of jour¬ 
nals to pay no attention whatever to such 
communications. The full name and address 
are always required to insure notice, seldom 
for publication, blit as a guarantee- of good 
faith and for other reasons. For instance, 
many of the queries signed in this way ate not 
of such geueral interest as to deserve a place 
in our columns, while wc should be willing to 
answer them through the mail were the full 
addresses given. We wish, therefore, that our 
friends should in future give their full addresses, 
in writing to us, and thus comply with the rule 
which all papers have established for very ex¬ 
cellent reasons. 
Chiccory for Coffee—lu-unil-In Breeding. 
U T. H., Bear Canyon, Colorai.lo, asks, 1, 
how to prepare chiccory for coffee; 2, has it 
ever been proved that iu-aml-in breeding of 
stock is as injurious as is often supposed. 
Ans. —As a substitute for, addition to or 
adulterant of coffee, ehlccoiy is largely used 
both in Europe aud this country. For this 
purpose it i6 growu extensively in Yorkshire, 
England, as well as in Belgium, Franc© and 
Germany, and of late has been largely natural¬ 
ized on this side of tho A tlantic. For the pre¬ 
paration of the article, the old, stout, white 
roots are selected, aud, alter having been 
washed, are sliced up into small pieces and 
kiln-dried. Iu districts where this industry is 
largely followed, the material in this condition 
is sold to the chiccory roaster, by whom it is 
roasted until it assumes a deep brown color. 
It is then ground, when, in its external charac¬ 
teristics, it is very much like ground coffee, but 
entirely destitute of its pleasing aromatic odor. 
Neither does tho roasted chiccory possess auy 
trace of the alkaloid coffeiuo which gives their 
peculiar virtues to coffee aud some other diet 
drinks. Chemical analysis shows that chiccory 
possesses few elements in common with coffee, 
aud contains very little of the nutritive proper¬ 
ties often claimed for it. Where it has beeu 
largely used for a long time, it is said to be 
