THE RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
425 
lUroxaiw.ipiiffi 
lected to remove the wooden label which was 
attached to one of the limbs by a copper wire. 
Two years later he found that the copper wire 
was imbedded and out of sight in the bark of 
the tree, aud that year the limb was bo heavily 
loaded with apples that he was obliged to 
prop it np, while there was not a blossom or 
apple on any other limb. Last, year one of his 
neighbors, when his apple trees were in blos¬ 
som, carefully girdled some limbs on several 
trees, and the blossoms produced no fruit on 
the limbs thus treated, but this year those 
limbs have blossomed full, and no blossoms are 
on the limbs that bore last year. Pomologists 
may profit by further experiments in that di¬ 
rection.” 
The Four Indispensables. —To establish 
beet-sugar works with reasonable certainty 
that they will pay, four things are indispensa¬ 
ble, Mr. Gennert says in the Pacific Rural 
Press. These arc: Beets, money, fuel aud 
water. Of each of these it requires a liberal 
supply; if either of them is wanting or but 
scautily supplied, failure certainly will be the 
result. Besides a liberal supply of these four 
articles, all of which exist in great abundance 
in California, it requires men who understand 
the business aud also the English language, 
and know the country well enough to avail 
themselves of the great many advantages 
which the United States offer to the beet-sugar 
industry. 
Bad Examples.—A correspondent of the 
Maine Farmer says that we have a class of 
farmers among us who do not pursue farming 
as a means of support, but simply as a pastime. 
These so-called farmers do not feel the effect 
of an experimental failure as we do who are 
obliged from necessity to count the cost of 
every step before we take it. He is sorry to 
say wc are too apt to follow the lead of such 
farmers. 
Puke Water for Live Stock.— The Chicago 
Times says that the best dairymen aim to have 
a constant supply of pure, cold water iu the 
pastures where eows feed during the day aud 
in the yards where they rest at night. It seems 
to us that there is uo interest so great that is 
looked after so heedlessly by the average farm¬ 
er, as that of pure water for farm stock of 
every kind. 
Dkgenekacv of Agricultural Fairs.— 
“ And so,” says the New England Farmer, “ the 
* farmers’ fairs’ have, in too many instances, 
been given over into the hands of those who 
have very little interest in the welfare of the 
farming community.” 
Michigan has been sending large quantities 
■of strawberries to Ohio, aud the finest fruit 
offered there this season. So says Column's 
Rural World. 
True —Aud those who pause to rescue a man 
or woman ou the downward road, are the ex¬ 
ceptions and not the rule.—The Western Rural. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Twelfth Annual Report of the Secretary 
of the Connecticut Board of Agriculture, 
1878-9. T. S. Gold, Secretary, West Cornwall, 
Conn. This Report, of 408 pages, iB both in¬ 
teresting aud highly instructive. It contains 
much less dry records than are usually found 
in such works; but more instructive matter. 
Among the valuable articles it contains may 
be mentioned a lecture by Prof. W. H. Brewer, 
ou Varieties of Cultivated Plants, occupying 
tweuty pages, and full of valuable informa¬ 
tion ; another, by Prof. D. C. Eaton, on Hy¬ 
brids and Hybridism, in which, iu thirty pages, 
is epitomized the latest and best information 
on tho subjects treated of; Farming as a Busi¬ 
ness, by J. M. Hubbard, in sixty-two pages, 
gives many practical points to practical farm¬ 
ers; while our frieud J. J. H. Gregory, in an 
address of thirty-two pages, tells all about the 
Culture of Vegetable Seeds. An interesting 
extract from this address appeared in the 
Rural a couple of months ago. Seed-breed¬ 
ing. by Dr. E. Lewis Sturtevaut, is probably as 
valuable a contribution as can be found in the 
work, and will well repay a perusal of the 
forty-six pages in which the Doctor expounds 
the results of his investigations. History of 
Animal Concretions; Vitality of Seeds; Propa¬ 
gation of Nursery Stock ; Report on Diseases of 
Domestic Animals ; Report on Farms, together 
with a very useful list of Analyses of Fertilizers, 
etc., etc., make this a work which should be 
sought aud carefully studied by every Con¬ 
necticut farmer. The Analyses of Fertilizers 
are by Prof. 8. W. Johnson, Director of the 
Connecticut Experiment Station at New Ha¬ 
ven, aud are Of the same nature as those pub¬ 
lished nearly every week in this paper. Ap¬ 
pended to the Report of tho Board of Agricul¬ 
ture is a Report of the Experiment Station, of 
198 pages, containing a summary of the work 
done thereat during the year, aud affording an 
excellent illustration of the value of such in¬ 
stitutions to agricultural science and practice. 
Quinbi’s New Bee-Keefinu; a complete 
guide to sucessful bee culture, by L. C. Root, 
is the title of the latest work ou bee-keeping, 
published by the Orange Judd Company, 245 
Broadway, N. Y. Price $1.50. Mr. Quinby, 
the late well-known apiarian, published a 
book on bee-keeping in 1800, of which the 
volume before ns is a revised and enlarged 
edition. Many important discoveries and in¬ 
ventions having been made iD the art smee the 
first publication, the author contemplated the 
revision of his work; hut, dying before his 
My suggested experiment of the beads in the 
sand was not intended to he parallel in all its 
conditions to the case of butter globules rising 
iu milk, but only to demonstrate the single 
fact that the globules might be brought to the 
surface without anything that could be called 
a circulatory current; that the only move¬ 
ments really called for by the conditions, are 
design was carried out, this duty fell to his 
son-in-law and business associate, Mr. L. C. 
Root, who has ably completed the task. The 
book gives a lucid and popular explanation of 
bee-keeping, aud is well worthy of a perusal 
by all who are interested iu the subject. It 
contains 270 pages, is printed in clear type ou 
tinted paper, and is handsomely bouud iu cloth. 
■-- 
CATALOGUES, &C„ RECEIVED. 
Mr. J. F. Mancha, formerly of Delaware, 
has, we learn by the pamphlet under notice, 
moved to Claremont, Virginia, where he has, 
with others, formed a colony. Surry County, 
where the tract, of 12,000 acres is located, is an 
engaging spot. Commercial facilities are 
unusually good, and the situation is adapted 
to raising the crops that find profitable mar¬ 
kets in New York and other northern cities. 
The terms, we believe, are extremely reasona¬ 
ble, but any one in a migrating mood, will 
receive gratuitous information in the little 
pamphlet sent us. 
Indiana Agricultural Report for 1878. 
Alex. Heron Sec. Indianapolis, Ind. This is 
a neatly gotten-up work of 432 pages. The in¬ 
the closing together of the milk beneath the 
globule and the moving aside from its path of 
the milk above, as it makes its way upward in 
consequence of the prevailing pressure of the 
heavier milk upon the lower semi-clrcumfer- 
ence of the globule. This will be self-evident 
to any one competent to discuss the question 
at all. 
A correspondent, addressing me directly, 
says that while “ I should expect the milk used 
by you in your experiments” (grade Jersey 
milk) “would conduct itself exactly in the 
manner reported as regards the rising of the 
cream, yet I doubt if the same results would 
be found to follow similar trials with the milk 
of Ayrshire, Short-horn, or common cows.” 
This is fair and courteous criticism, and to 
meet it I have arranged to place my apparatus 
in the hands of one of our most intelligent 
dairymen, who has a large herd of eows, most 
of which have no Jersey blood. He will test 
their milk carefully, aud report for the benefit 
of Rural readers. With that report I will fur¬ 
nish a sketch of the apparatus, aud a descrip¬ 
tion of my method of experimentation. Read¬ 
ers of the Rural will then have all the facts 
in the case before them, and, if so inclined, 
No. 4. 
dex promises well for the contents; but we 
have not yet had time to examine it sufficient¬ 
ly to do more here than to acknowledge its re¬ 
ceipt. 
Descriptive Catalogue of Southern and 
acclimated Fruit and Ornamental Trees, Grape¬ 
vines. etc., cultivated aud for sale at the Pom¬ 
ona Hill Nurseries. Greensboro, N. C., J. 
Van Lindley. proprietor. Early peaches for 
market orders, a specialty. 
American Association of Nurserymen, Flor¬ 
ists and Seedsmen. Our next issue will coutain 
three columns of condensed original reports. 
Baitg guslmitki). 
CREAM RISING. 
T. H. HOSKINS, M. D. 
In my reply to the criticisms of Mr. O. S. 
Bliss (Rural, p. 329), a typographical error, 
at bottom of second coluiuu, makes me say 
that the butter globules are, by the force of 
gravitation acting upon them through the 
milk, •‘extended" upwards: whereas I wrote 
that they were ‘‘ extruded upwards, as we ex¬ 
trude the seeds from a grape by pressing it 
betweeu the thumb and finger." I offer this 
correction as making tho sense more clear, 
on floors where, in five or six days, they open, 
and the seeds are popped or expelled to the 
distance of some feet. Large floors are neces¬ 
sary as the racemes must belaid only one deep. 
Often the floor is made by putting old hay or 
straw ou a square of old prairie sod burning 
it thoroughly, and then sweeping off the sur¬ 
face. The grasshoppers won’t touch these 
plants, the chinch-bug avoids them, heavy 
rains don’t hurt them, and they endure drought 
well. The beans sicken children who are 
tempted to eat of them, and care is taken not 
to have any mixed with the feed given to 
horses. The average yield is 15 to 20 bushels, 
and they sell at about a dollar a bushel. For¬ 
merly, the beau was largely imported from 
India. The demand for the oil increases, 
especially for lubricating purposes. Two 
quarts of seed will plant an acre. G. w. 
fitktslrial fmplfments. 
OSGOOD’S PATENT SCALES. 
The application of steel bearing stirrups 
and sockets, adjusted for at- 
ffjft tachmeut to wooden beams for 
scale levers, so materially re- 
duces the cost of large scales 
Bl | as to bring them within the 
II * reach of farmers, and prove to 
|pk pH J them a profitable investment! 
^ . urr** * Thm low price at which they 
No. l. are sold may make it of interest 
to farmers to know something about their con¬ 
struction. 
Cuts Nos. 1 and 2 show the stir- 
rups, which arc fitted with steel 
pivots for attaching to wood 1I 
beams, in order to sustain and ae- 
curateiy transmit weights to the 
scale-bar. No. 2. 
Cut No. 3 shows a lever with the irons fitted 
to it. A tenon is made on each end of the lever 
to fit into the stirrups ; and the measure which 
fixes the distance between these irons is repre¬ 
sented on the top of the lever, extending be¬ 
tween the irons. 
Four levers thus fitted are shown in Cut No. 
4 , and these are then attached to the wood 
frame and brass weigh-bar, as seen in Cut No. 5. 
may repeat and verify them for themselves. I 
study and write upon these subjects solely for 
the advancement of my own and others' knowl¬ 
edge; and though I have no objections to the 
criticisms of parties like Mr. Hardin and Mr. 
Bliss, I address myself chiefly to the intelligent 
and practical dairymen who read the Rural. 
Cvojis. 
GROWING CASTOR BEANS. 
A paper in the Report of the Kansas State 
Board of Agriculture, describes the methods 
of growing castor beans, now one of the sta¬ 
ples of that productive State. Some of the 
peculiarities of the process will interest many 
who have ouly been accustomed to see how 
“ Oats, beans, peas, and barley grow.” 
Tho smaller bean—the sort grown as a crop— 
attains to a high! of eight or 10 feet in upland, 
and has purple stalks, bluish green leaves and 
green spikes. Tho ornamental kind, of rich 
purple and scarlet, grows like a tree, and 
children climb in the brauchcs six or eight feet 
from the ground. The field beans are planted 
four feet apart and thinned to one in a hill. 
The. wagou into which the ripe spikes are 
thrown, goes along every seventh row bending 
bqt uot breaking it, if it always goes in the 
but not in the hopo that Mr. Bliss will thereby 
be made to understand my illustrations any 
better. What L write upon this subject is for 
the consideration of fair-minded if uot impar¬ 
tial readers, aud therefore I trust that Mr. 
Hardin will see that 1 answered iu that article 
some, at least, of the points iu my previous j 
communication to which he seemed to except. 
same direction. Sometimes this row is planted 
with a low crop, as white beans. 
The racemes are gathered as soon as part of 
the pods open and discharge their seeds, as they 
do under the influence of the sun. A great 
many are scattered and lost in this way, al¬ 
though five or six successive gatherings are care¬ 
fully made. The gathered racemes,are spread 
No. 6. 
Cut No. 6 shows one of the stirrups with the 
rubber-packed self-adjusting sockets on the 
fulcrum pivot. There are four of these steel 
sockets attached to beams upon which the load 
rests. 
When the parts are put together, as seen in 
Cut 5, each lever is adjusted and sealed with 
1,000 pounds of U. S. S. Weights, so that it will 
weigh accurately on any part of the platform. 
The irons are then marked, detached from the 
wood, and boxed with the measuring rods, so 
that the parts can be attached to any wood any¬ 
where, and weigh any load as perfectly as if 
the levers were all iron. 
The difference between this and all other 
wood lever scales is, that the stirrups and sock¬ 
ets are constructed in a new and ingenious 
manner, which admits of their being sealed at 
the shop aud reset anywhere with the same 
trustworthiness as iron lever scales. 
The wood levers when suspended and cov¬ 
ered by tbe platform, can not warp or twist to 
impair their accuracy, and we canuot see any 
more objection to the use of wood levers with 
these iron fittings, than to iron levers with a 
wood frame and platform to which the irons 
are attached. We should suppose the wood 
levers would last longer than any other part of 
the scale, as they are in contact with nothiug 
but iron. 
The direct action of each lever with the 
scale-bar is so plain and simple, that if the 
pivots are properly fitted so that the scale will 
weigh correctly when set, it must continue to 
do so until the bearings are worn out; this, of 
course, depends upon how hard the scale is 
used. For farm uses one of these scales with 
rubber-packed bearings, will last twenty years 
by renewing the frame and platform ; and the 
entire coat of timber and scale will not often 
exceed $40. The directions for building are 
plain and simple, aud the scales ean be set in 
complete order iu two days. They are manu¬ 
factured solely by Osgood <!fc Co., at Bingham¬ 
ton, N. Y., who send them on trial, desiring to 
have them subjected to the most severe tests 
before payment is made. 
