THE EURAL NEW-YORKER. 
ortiraltol, 
SMALL TALKS AND SMALL FRUITS. 
Strawberries. 
Now is the time that “ pussley” will get 
ahead of 3 T ou— especially in the strawberry 
beds—and other weeds as well as pussley, un¬ 
less you are ou the alert. I find it cheapest 
to kill all weeds before they arelarge enough to 
be seen, in fact before they get above ground, 
by going over niv beds with hoe, rake or culti¬ 
vator, every week or ten days. This is also 
quite beneficial to the plants, as it stimulates 
growth and prevents drought from penetrating 
the soil. Plants are npw making runners 
rapidly, and if the largest and finest, fruit is 
desired, they should be pinched off as they 
appear, causing the plants to form large 
‘'stools’’ with mature crowns for fruiting. 
Skotfid plant« be desired, it is well to press the 
small plauts about to form roots iniothe ground 
slightly, and place clods on the stems to hold 
them still. This will cause them to root quickly 
and make large, strong plants, and will pay, 
particularly if you have something new or rare 
that you desire to multiply rapidly. 
Tie Up the Grope Vines. 
Valuable Grape Vines, planted with great 
care, are often left to take care of themselves 
at this season of the year—when they need 
care most. For the first two years a good, 
stout stake, say six feet long, is all that is nec¬ 
essary lor a support. This should be firmly 
set in the ground and Oui vines kept lied toil. 
Should other shoots start from the old wood, 
rub them off and keep lateral shoots pinched 
back to one or two leaves. Remove all injuri¬ 
ous insects by hand, and dust with flour of 
sulphur should mildew- appear. 
What a prince among Raspberries is 
The Guthliert. 
The other day a fruit-grower remarked to 
me: ’’Do you know of any good, reliable rasp¬ 
berry for market?” In answer to which I 
named theCuthbert. “ Well,"hequestioned, "is 
it large?” ‘-yes.” “ Is it handsome ?" "yes.” 
•‘O! is it jinn?” “Yes, very!” “Is it of good 
flavor?—although that seems to make but little 
difference now-a-days." “ Yes, neatly as good 
tie the Antwerp.” “ It isn't a good grower and 
productive, then, is it?" "Yes!’ “Well, 
there! I almost forgot to ask the most impor¬ 
tant question, and I suppose that's the sticking 
point—Is it hardy ?” “Yes!” “It is! What 
is the matter with it, then?’’ To which I was 
obliged to reply that that vros just the thing I ^ 
had been looking for, and although I had 
fruited it two years, the one I had failed to 
find. Don't be afraid to 
Cut Down the Suckers 
of the Raspberries and Blackberries, which are 
now springing up in great numbers. Leave a 
few only of the strongest for fruiting, and 
treat all the rest as weeds. Unless this is at¬ 
tended to, the crop will be small and the ber¬ 
ries small and of poor quality. The suckers 
of some varieties, such as Braudywiue, Turner, 
etc., are their worst weeds, aud, unless kept in 
subjection, render them almost worthless. 
July 11,18T9. " Monmouth.” 
-- » ♦ ♦- 
THE MARVIN STRAWBERRY. 
The plant 1 sent to the Rural Experi¬ 
mental Grounds last fall, and which was 
spoken of in the Rural ot June 28th as an un¬ 
named seedling, was named the Marvin Straw¬ 
berry, after myself, by the Michigan Poino- 
logieal Societi’ ou June 18th. It was the 
largest and finest shown at that meeting. Peo¬ 
ple may talk about the Sharpless or any other 
strawberry, but this berry will outshine them 
ail. I sent some of thend to Rochester, New 
York, in good order. H. Marvin. 
ontological. 
TOO MANY KINDS OF APPLES. 
DR. T. U. HOSKINS. 
It is true, as is often said, that those who 
plant orcharda-to have apples to sell, are apt 
to plant too many ‘kinds. In great orchard 
regions, where everybody has apples, and 
there is no local Sale fot the fruit, it would 
often be better to pldut'a commercial orchard 
all of one kind. There are hardly any stand¬ 
ard commercial soi ls that are annual bearers, 
Except under high culture, aud it would be 
best in such orchards not only not to expect 
an annual crop, but to pick off all the fruit 
that seta in the off years, so that insects that 
attack it may not have a cbauce to multi¬ 
ply. In that way, the fruit in the bearing 
years would bo much fairer, and a larger pro¬ 
portion of it bo marketable as first-class. 
There is, however, a large class of fruit-grow¬ 
ers to whom this rule Is not applicable. There 
are extensive regions in the United States and 
in Canada, where fruit-growing is not consid¬ 
ered profitable, and which depend upon other 
localities for their supplies. In such regions, 
there are exceptional spots where fruit docs 
very well, especially in skillful hands, and 
here the rule of planting few kiuds finds its 
exceptions. The rule, also, of only a few early 
trees, will often likewise be found not to apply 
to such orchards. Summer apples will not 
bear long transportation, and where there is 
not much local competition, such fruit will 
often be found to be the most profitable, par¬ 
ticularly where well grown and carefully mar¬ 
keted. There are even eases where it pays to 
make a speciality of summer and early fall 
apples of choice sorts, grown upon rich land 
aud carefully attended to. In the isolated 
localities 8pokcn of, it is important to have a 
supply of fruit every year for market, and 
therefore such are the places In which to plant 
not only more kinds, but particularly the 
annual bearers, giving them the culture that 
will insure good crops, and by particular care 
in destroying insects keeping the fruit large 
and fair. 
For a homo supply, we, of course, want 
apples of every season, aud we want, too, the 
high quality not generally found in the most 
productive commercial sorts. The amateur 
will find pleasure also iu a multiplicity of 
kinds, and in trying promising new varieties, 
or varieties not generally grown. Some of 
our best and most beautiful apples, though 
productive, are not sorts that bear rough hand¬ 
ling, and are therefore unfit for the commer¬ 
cial orchard; but they merit the attention of 
all growers who regard excellence of quality. 
Along our northern borders, tipple-growing is 
limited to hardy or so-called “ iron-clad" varie¬ 
ties, and here, too, an extensive planting of 
ucw kiuds is justifiable, indeed necessary, until 
trial has shown what sorts may be depended 
upon to furnish good crops of marketable fruit 
with certainty under the inclemency of such 
climates. Much can be done by patient experi¬ 
ment to extend the area of fruit culture aud 
give to eacii locality its special sorts that may, 
iu many cases, continue to be very local as 
regards successful culture, yet noue the less 
valuable on that account, to the growers. 
These points all need to be taken into consid¬ 
eration by pumologlsts and fruitgrowers, in 
some cases much more so than they have been. 
•-- 
An Experiment Worth Imitating. —I have 
noticed for a number of years past, iu this lo¬ 
cality, lhat the bark on many young apple 
trees was split open iu the spring, whether 
caused by the freezing of the sap, or from 
some other cause I will not attempt to say; 
but, whatever the cause, when the gyarm 
weather came on, these trees would ‘throw off'' 
their bark, if not clear around, on one side of 
the tree, and the tree was almost sure to die 
before the summer was over, or if not entirely 
killed, it became so badly diseased as to rum 
its future growth. In a case which I treated 
the hark was split open the whole length of 
the body of the tree on one side, and a portion 
of the way on the other side, so I was almost 
certain of its death; but, thinking I would 
make one effort to save it, I cut through the 
bark, the entire length of the body and ou the 
main limbs, and whether from this treatment 
or from some other causes, the growth of the 
tree was never cheeked, and to-day it is as 
thrifty a tree as there is on the farm. Now I 
believe this experiment worth a trial at least, 
as no harm can result from it in any ease. 
E. J. B. 
AXIOMS IN BARN BUILDING. 
C. E. VERNIER. 
In the Rural of June 28, appeared an arti¬ 
cle from Mr. W. I. Chamberlain, in defence of 
a series of previous articles of his, entitled 
“Axioms in Barn Building.” In this last arti¬ 
cle, lie admits the justness of the criticism I 
ventured to make on his “ axioms,” in the issue 
of May 17, but pleads in his own defence that 
although he knew the axioms were false, ex¬ 
cept under certain conditions, ho had made 
some mental reservations regarding them 
which he expected everybody to take for 
granted, though he did not state them. Fur¬ 
thermore. since one Michigan man foolishly 
supposed he meant what he said, he infers 
that all the farmers of Michigan are like his 
critic in that they do not possess common sense. 
ITe will probably claim the same privilege 
in regard to this last article, and we shall 
doubtless learn that his meaning was quite 
different from his statements. lie seems to 
think my statement that the upright posts of a 
barn, if doubled in length, need to contain 
nearly four times (in the example I presented 
it was over three, but in some cases is even 
over four times) as much material, only true 
when they stand without lateral bracing, aud 
not true in any barn frame where “girts” are 
used. 
Although my former statement was made 
under conditions which do not exist when 
much trussing is done, still this much is true > 
as the girls are pul into an ordinary bam they 
weaken rather than strengthen Qw upright posts. 
Without entering into any general discussion 
of this, one or two illustrations will show that i 
the post 5s prevented from beuding laterally 
only iu the plane of the frame, and. for a direc¬ 
tion at right angles to this, it is as weak as 
though no girts were used. If the girts are 
pinned into the corner post and do not push 
against it, they may give it some support later¬ 
ally in every direction, but to preveut the post 
from bending outward, they will interpose only 
the shearing strength of the pins. Unless the 
side posts are braced with girts from every 
direction, they are as weak, so far as bending 
in or out is concerned, as though no girts ex¬ 
isted. Again, girts cannot he fastened into a 
post without weakening it somewhat; if the 
joints were perfect there would he no weak¬ 
ening, hut a perfect joint is Impossible, and 
the joints usually seen are so poorly made, 
that the upright post is weakened by the whole 
amount of limber taken out iu making the 
mortise. 
Let Fig. 1. represent a portion of an upright 
post of a barn, and G.H, girts which are let 
into mortises with the posts. They are usu¬ 
ally set so that their faces are flush with that 
of the post. If a weight is placed on top of 
the post, it will tend to bend it laterally, the 
girts will prevent it from being bent towards 
G. or H. but will exert no force whatever to 
prevent it from going into the position E. F. 
for a component if any force acting at right- 
angles to the force, is nothing. “ As the 
weakest spot must stand the strain" the post 
will bend as easily as it formerly did,in two out 
of four directions, and is no stronger than be¬ 
fore for that very reason. 
In Fig. 3. is shown a corner post. In this 
post there is nothing to resist the push of the 
girt E. or the girt F. except the post itself, 
consequently the girts are a source of weak¬ 
ness rather than of strength to the post. This 
is also seen from the fact that any tendency 
of any of the other posts to bend in the plane 
of the frame, is resisted by the girts; this re¬ 
sistance is transmitted through the girts to the 
corner post, which must be large enough to 
withstand this thrust without falliug. Conse¬ 
quently it is evident that each post must be 
constructed of sufficient size to stand all the 
weight put upon it; otherwise the frame will 
not possess stability. All that Mr. Chamber¬ 
lain said in regard to the effect of putting 
girts in a barn, is hardly true for any barn 
frame that ever came under my observation; 
though 1 do not wish to be understood to 
say, that it is not possible so to brace the up¬ 
right timbers of a barn, as to make them much 
stronger. 
Mr. Chamberlain makes another plea for his 
“axioms” from the fact that farmers in Ohio 
build “Dutch barna,” and use timbers many 
times larger than are necessary, and conse 
quently the barns could be made twice as high 
or twice as wide without much extra expense. 
I may say here that though that argument is 
doubtless a good one iu Ohio, it is of no weight 
whatever in Michigan. 8o far as my exper- 
1 ience is concerned, the farmers of Michigan 
loug ago ceased to build barns with timbers 
so large that they would not season through, 
and for some years have built (us a rule) barn 
frames with timbers somewhat in proportion 
to the strains that would be thrown on them. 
The present tendency is to build frames too 
light rather than too heavy. Again. Mr. Cham¬ 
berlain speaks of the tensile strain on a post. 
I think the usage of this word is probably as 
original as his use of the word axiom. Greek 
ma 5 r sanction it. but the usage of engineers 
does not. 
Lansing, July 3rd 1879. 
Bainj IjusbantU]). 
HISTORY OF A POOR FARM—No. 13. 
A Young Lady’s Opinion of Some Matters in 
Regard to Milking, Etc. 
It was a beautiful evening in June ; the scent 
of the newly-mown bay from hundreds of 
fields around pervaded the air, and here and 
there one could still hear the rattle of the 
mowing machines of farmers who chose to 
work in the cool evening rather than under 
the burning midday sun. Wc hail promised 
to inspect Miss Martin's dairy, and that young 
lady welcomed us to seats on the pleasant 
porch, shaded with sweet-scented Honeysuckles 
and climbing Roses and furnished with seats 
and tables upon which were displayed bowls of 
strawberries aud sweet cream. What a restful 
occasion it is when, after a day’s work in the 
field, the farmer and his family can gather in 
the evening and spend an hour or two in chat¬ 
ting, reading, or amusement, surrouuded with 
all those circumstances which make country 
life desirable! Here, on the verdant lawn 
spread before us, the little Martins romped 
and enjoyed themselves—their oldest sister, 
who filled the place of a lost mother to them, 
keeping a watchful eye upon them while she 
gracefully entertained her guests. After a 
short rest we proposed to visit the dairy- 
“ First you must see my cows aud calves," 
said Miss Martin. The cows were turned out 
for the night in a yard well littered w, di straw 
and having an open shed at one side, in which 
they might seek shelter during heavy rains. 
The shed was furnished with a feed-rack and 
ties, by which the cows could be fastened to be 
milked, when desirable, 
“ I would rather do the milking in the shed 
in the summer," remarked Miss Martin ; “Tom 
cleans it out aud litters it down well so that 
everything is as eleau as a new pin. Here is 
my pet cow, Jenny," going up to a grade Jer¬ 
sey, which rose as she approached and licked 
the baud held out to her. “ This was the first 
calf I ever owned, and no one has milked 
Jenny but myself. I milk four of them; Tom 
milks four and Hannah milks two. We each 
milk the same cows; If we woe to change 
cows we should not get so much milk by sev¬ 
eral quarts. I think it a bad plan to change 
milkers.” Wc followed our hostess to a yard 
near by, with a number of pens opening into 
it. The pens had half-doors, and the upper 
halves were opened. Here were a number of 
calves and yearlings preparing for the dairy. 
Everything was cleau; the yard aud pens 
were well bedded with cleau straw, and the 
manure was neatly heaped iu a pile in the cen¬ 
ter of the yard. The calves were evidently 
pets, and each came to the door and reached 
up its head to be stroked by its mistress. 
“ I have fed ail these calves,” said Miss Mar¬ 
tin, “and with Tom’s help to carry milk and 
wheel the milk cart, I can give the whole their 
milk iu less than half an hour. All our calves 
have skimmed milk until they are four months 
old, and Tom gives them each a little mess ot 
grass and a handful of bran or meal when 
they come in at night. Each calf has u sep¬ 
arate peu. That prevents them from learning 
tricks, such as sucking each other’s ears, 
which 1 don’t like to see. Here is the stable. 
I like stanchions the best; the cows are much 
cleaner iu them than when fastened any other 
way. I want father to build a new cow stable 
with separate pens, one for each cow. It 
would be much more convenient to milk in.” 
“How do you manage your milking?” I 
asked. 
“ Wc have th«se stools " (plain three-legged 
ones) “and milk into tin pails. The milk is 
strained through a second strainer into the 
deep pails, and those are taken to the milk- 
house in a small cart, which Tom has for that 
purpose. He can take all the milk at once iu 
that, and it saves several trips back and forth, 
and I dou’t care about carrying two pails with 
80 pounds of milk iu each, if I can help It. 
Each cow’s milk is weighed on those scales, 
which hang there, and the weight iB marked 
on the slate; I copy it once a week into my 
