THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
(ftorjrtojrra. 
NOTES FROM NORTH CAROLINA. 
Just two weeks ago I reported a partial 
drought that appeared to be ended by the 
longed-for showers. Those showers were 
light, and soon gave place to a rainless season 
of very intense beat. To aggravate the case, 
reports of far more severe drought came from 
many directions. A friend in our village has a 
daughter living in N. W. South Carolina, who 
wrote him that the weather had been 60 dry 
that the water in the wells, &c., was dried tip 
and she had to scud clothiDg three miles to a 
creek to find water euough for washing. In one 
part of Virginia it was necessary to drive 6tock 
a considerable distance to be watered. I think 
there has also been a drought in at leaat a part 
of Georgia. In North Carolina the distress 
has prevailed very extensively, aud the injury 
to crops has been alarmingly great. The cot¬ 
ton has probably been injuriously dwarfed, 
but that plant has seemed to suffer less than 
any other growing crop. The tobacco that was 
planted early—which is relied on for the fine 
quality—is comparatively ruined. The pro¬ 
duct in this state and Virginia has certainly 
been very much reduced both as to quality 
and quantity. The forward corn suffered ex¬ 
ceedingly. That upou the up-laud has been 
dwarfed and, in some caee6, dried completely. 
The summer grass is a dead failure. At last the 
rain has come. Yesterday the first good 
shower fell, and to-day we have had two re¬ 
freshing showers. From all the reports aud 
signs the rain is gcueral, aud the thirsty lands 
are, all around, receiving relief. The clouds 
still lower and promise to continue to be gen¬ 
erous. Verily, these seasons of sweet relief 
beget gratitude iu every faithful heart, '* to 
the Giver of every good and perfect gift." 
How soon privation teaches man bis helpless¬ 
ness and dependence on a higher power! 
After all, there is need of droughts. 
In the State Normal School this summer, 
President Battlo of the University, delivered a 
lecture to a large body of teachers of both sexes 
on the subject of “Higher special education 
for farmers.” He justly taught that as the de¬ 
votees of other occupations thought it neces¬ 
sary to seek special training aud preparation, 
so the farmor, on whom all depend, should be 
carefully fitted and thoroughly furnished for 
his vocatiou. The address was well received. 
In truth, since the late war, there has been a 
great ehauge in opiniou and practice as to the 
proper relation of farming and education. We 
had again, in the Normal, Miss Coe of New 
York, the founder of the American Kinder¬ 
garten. She had a large class of excellent la¬ 
dies and the system is now well introduced into 
this State. Miss Coe is an enthusiastic, uu- 
tiring worker. Her pupils presented to her a 
handsome testimonial, at the close of the ses¬ 
sion. Prof. Ladd, formerly of Mass., now of 
Va., presided again and conducted this pioneer 
State Normal of the South to a most gratifying 
July 28, 1879. 
. - ♦ ♦ ♦- 
NOTES FROM CENTRAL ILLINOIS. 
Just now I am favorably impressed with 
“ bagging grapes.” Old Clinton vines which 
have lost, their fruit for several years by rot 
and mildew, now present nice clusters in the 
bags, while those unprotected on the same 
canes are rotting. 
Another season’s observation confirms me in 
my opinion of the cause of Black-cap Rasp¬ 
berry blight j when the Rural 6 ome time ago, 
hinted at the cause of grape rot and mildew, and 
suggested the remedy, it might have included 
the Raspberry’s trouble too. I think I have de¬ 
monstrated in my garden that the so-called 
“ blight,” is an evil resulting from our method 
of training the briers, by cutting back, pinch¬ 
ing, etc. But how are we to avoid pinching 
back our raspberry canes, and yet eornpel them 
to send out laterals ? I don’t see that we can 
and I hold that the injury is received from the 
nipping back being done improperly. To 
illustrate: Take two stools of Mammoth Clus¬ 
ter. A. comes along when the young canes 
are just the bight at which he desires ihem to 
branch, and with a keen knife he nicely takes 
out barely sufficient to arrest the upward 
growth, and uo more. B. lets his stool alone 
till some day he comes along in great haste 
and, noticing his young canes, says: “My 
canes have grown too high,” and hurriedly 
slashes and breaks them back a foot or so, to 
the point at which he desires them to branch, 
and in a few day6 he can probably tell A. that 
blight has struck his raspberry patch, particu¬ 
larly so If the weather and atmosphere have been 
adverse to the rapid healing over of the large 
andun3ightly wouuds he inflicted upon the 
young, rampant, succulent canes, left bleeding 
out their sap, not only to debilitate the plant, 
but scald the young bark, as it oozes down the 
cane in the blazing sun. The amputation, as a 
rule, of a finger, is not fraught with the dan¬ 
ger that the amputation.of a leg is, especially 
if both should be left bleeding, the finger having 
been taken off nicely, and the limb rudely. 
Learned Professors may bring to bear upou 
the diseased canes, their most powerful magni¬ 
fying instruments in their search for theoreti¬ 
cal causes, but let the fruit grower nicely nip 
out the tops of his canes as soon as they have 
attained the bight at which he desires them to 
send out laterals, barely taking off the upper¬ 
most bud, and at the sumo time experiment 
with a few by doing as B. did, in our illustra¬ 
tion. and he will arrive at the true cause of the 
trouble much sooner than the microscope will. 
It may be foreign here, and unnecessary to 
say that tying raspberry canes to stakes is en¬ 
tirely needless work since they may bo made 
miniature trees, standing up under their loads 
of fruit at least equal to the peach and plum. 
Douglas Co., Ill. Dr. A. 0. W. 
-- 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Conn., Georgetown, Fairfield Co., Aug, 4.— 
The Blunt corn sent me by the Rural 5s look¬ 
ing fine; it is setting from five to twelve ears 
per stalk; some of the stalks are 12 feet high 
and 10 inches iD circumference. The Pearl 
Millet is six feet high and growing rapidly. 
&. T. o. 
N. Y.. Orangeport. Niagara Co., July 26.—I 
planted my Blunt’s corn on May 27, on a plot 
of ground measured off by itself in my pear 
orchard, .54 feet long and 12 feet wide. I made 
three rows iuBide of this plot, four feet apart 
aud planted the kernels 14 inches apart in the 
rows. 1 planted 141 kernels but only 105 ger¬ 
minated, aud as the weather was cold aud dry 
for three weeks after planting, it “ had a hard 
time of It,’’ and appeared to ne thoroughly 
tired out by the time it had got through the 
ground. I hoed it once a week for three 
v eeks, and cultivated it once, aud now it looks 
grand. It is just settiug tassels, with a stalk 
as big as my wrist. My neighbors laughed at 
me the first month ; but it makes them stare to 
see the change that has lately come over it. 
The prospects for other crops arc very good, 
indeed. Wheat is all harvested aud some, 
have thrashed theirs. One man, near mo, had 
450 bushels of Clawson wheat from 11 acres ; 
another had 670 bushels from 20 acres. The 
straw is short but the ears are well filled. 
H. r. t. 
Rural Farm, East Rockaway, Long Island, 
Aug. 1.—Plentiful rains have insured our 
crops against the drought before it. had injured 
corn or potatoes seriously. It. has been a de¬ 
lightful season, and any deficiency of yield 
will be due entirely to neglect or to timely 
cultivation. Blunt’s corn (at last) has begun 
to set ears, aud is a picture of vigor and health. 
Beauty of Hebron will produce a fine yield. 
New Jersey, Brooksldo. Morris Co., August 
5-—A rain aud wind storm passed over here 
yesterday, aud among other things it laid low 
was my Bluut’s eoi u. Many stalks were broken 
off about two feet from the ground. I had 98 
stalks ; they were about 12 feet high and Just 
beginning to tassel. I think the Acme tomato 
is not as good as it is thought to bo. Mine de¬ 
cay at the blow end as they begin to ripen. I 
have cut some of Lhe vines, some remain un¬ 
cut, but this makes no difference in their de¬ 
caying. The Canada Victor has beaten them 
by ten days in early ripening. ,r. d. t. 
Pa., Factoryvillc, Aug. 1.—I notice in Rural 
for August 2 a report of the growth of Blunt’s 
corn. Visitors to my grounds to-day express 
wonder at tho number of cars set as high as 
-well, higher than they can reach; but 
they can point t j them, and thiuk there is 
more room above, and a good prospect of a 
considerable space being filled above, beneath 
aud all around, and the roots, like teeth, as 
high as one foot, are grinning to think that 
there is more in the ground than has ever been 
'brought to light. The Rural must have sent 
out. this giant feeder and space-cousumer to 
wake up the drowsy powers of the busband- 
mau, and draw on tho resources beneath our 
feet and above our heads, and to be happy in tho 
contemplation of what book-farming has done 
and is doing for tho rising young men of 
America. j. w. w. 
Ohio, Bloomville, Seneca Co., Aug. 4. —To¬ 
day we dug our Beauty of Hebron potatoes. 
From the one sent, us, which had six eyes, wo 
raised 45 potatoes, the largest measuring 11J 
by 7$ inches, aud there were but few small ones 
among them. The coni is still growing; some 
of the stalks are 11J feet high. Seven ears are 
the most we have counted on a stalk. The 
tomatoes are flue; but of the flower seeds very 
few came up—a mishap that causes some mur¬ 
muring among the female portion of the family. 
The season has been pretty good—a little dry 
at times. Thrashing is now tho order of the 
day. Wheat is turning out from 20 to 80 
bushels per acre on the best land, and is sell¬ 
ing at one dollar per bushel. M. mc. n. 
Illinois— Balleyville, Ogle Co., July 30.— 
The harvest is closing here. Some have their 
gram all in atacu; others have some oats to cut 
yet, but soon will have finished. The weather 
has been favorable since the 10th inst., aud 
harvesting has progressed rapidly. I have 
never known so much harvest work to be done 
In so short time and with so few hands. Im- 
i proved machinery and good weather have 
cansed this. The crops are variable, hut mostly 
good. Winter wheat and rye arc excellent, 
both in yield and quality. Spring wheat and 
barley were injured considerably by the spring 
’ drought aud chinch bugs, so the yield will be 
below an average, but the quality is generally 
better than usual. The. hay crop was quite 
heavy iu this section, but a large amount of 
that which was cut early was damaged by the 
wet weather. The corn, potatoes, etc., are 
doing well and promise bountiful yields. The 
Beauty of Hebron potatoes wo planted are 
proving very satisfactory. Some potatoes 
planted during the hot dry spell in May, failed 
to grow. Gardens arc in flue condition, and 
vegetables are plentiful and cheap. The sow¬ 
ing of turnips, etc., etc., is now in order. We 
had timely refreshing showers on the 2lst and 
28th insts. Market- steady, though there have 
beeu recent fluctuations in the Board of Trade 
in Chicago. w . B . v , 
Illinois, Kankakee, Kankakee Co., Aug. 4. 
—A welcome shower visited this place this 
morning—the first rain we have had for about 
four weeks. The corn crop had begun to suffer 
from drought., also the late potatoes. The 
harvest is finished and most of the grain and 
hay well secured. Some farmers have thrashed 
their wheat, and find it to be excellent in qual¬ 
ity. plump and bright, yielding thirty bushels 
and over to the acre. Corn promises a largo 
yield. Fruit, with the exception of apples, is 
scarce. Blunt's Prolific, what came up for 
me, is from ten to twelve feet high, aud has 
from four to seven ears set on a stalk—whether 
it will all make corn is yet to be seen. The 
Beauty of Hcbrou potato received from the 
Rural had twelve eyes, which I planted on 
the 10th of April. Tho tubers have been ripe 
some three weeks. I dug them to-day aud 
had a peck of very nice potatoes, I have not 
tested the quality of them to know if they will 
compare with the 8nowflake which are very 
hard to beat. j, M- 
Iowa, Frcdonia, Louisa Co., August 5th.— 
My Beauty of Hebrou potato 1 cut to single 
eyes—there were fifteen of them. For the sake 
of comparison I selected an Early Vermont of 
the same size, with eyes started to about the 
same extent; but as it only had thirteen eyes, 
I had to take two from another potato. Both 
sets were planted about the middle of April, the 
pieces ubout two feet apart in the row, the 
rows about three feet apart. The soil was a 
Hlack, sandy loam, manured with common 
stable mauure, at the rate of eight, or ten loads 
to the acre. Early Vermont came up first, and 
looked rather the better for two weeks. The 
Beauty, however, finally passed it; its stalks 
were larger and more branching than those of 
the Vermont, but the leaves and blossoms of 
both looked jnst alike. The cut-worms took two 
hills of Hebrou, aud it was a long time before 
they sprouted again, and then were pretty slim, 
the two hills yielding not quite as much as one 
of the others. I dug them the first of August, 
and picked them up in an ordinary wooden 
pall. Of the Beauty I had the pail once heap¬ 
ing full and once not quite even full; of Ver¬ 
mont, I had a pall heaping full and about ouo- 
quartor full. Hebron had a little advantage in 
being planted on the back furrow, but I think 
the cut-worms offset that. It was the biggest 
yield, for the amouut of seed, I ever beheld, 
and I never saw anything but tho Harrison 
equal it for the amount of grouud occupied. 1 
canuot perceive any difference in taste, or qual¬ 
ity of Hebron aud Vermont, and I don’t thiuk 
there is fifteen minutes’ difference in eariine6s. 
They were hoed once and plowed once with a 
double shovel. 
Blunt s Corn was planted the last Saturday 
in May, on dark, sandy loam. It came up m 
five days, a big. dark-green sprout, and grew 
faster for a while thau any corn I had. 1 
planted some deep-grained, brown corn (I sent 
you a sample) the day before on similar grouud, 
but not so good, a part of it being quite light. 
It was longer comiug, and did not look as well 
as the Blunt when it came, but it is now a loug 
ways ahead, is all tassoled aud some of the ears 
begin to top, whiio the Blunt does not begin to 
show tassel yet, and some of It is eight feet and 
some lour feet high. I judged from the short¬ 
ness of the grain it was not a tall-growing or 
late variety. 1 hoed it once — something not 
usually doue to corn in this country—plowed 
ouce with double shovel aud cultivated ouce 
with a two-horse cultivator The other 
(Brown Canada) corn I cultivated onee with 
a two-horse rig; the second time I found 
1 was breaking so much while driviug astrad¬ 
dle of the row that I had to finish it with a 
small one-horse plow,so it only got tended twice. 
Guess you will have to count, me out of the pre¬ 
mium list. I have sixty-four hills of Blunt corn, 1 
three feet apart each way, two grains having 
been dropped to each hill, and three grains in 
three hills. I believe every grain grew ; it has 
not suckered at all. The plaining was the last 
work of the week and I did not stop to measure t 
the ground, but planted with a hoe, by step ] 
ouo way and by furrow tho other way, and i 
* 
> guessed it was within the required limits. I 
could not decide sooner where to put it where 
i it would have a fair chance, and be where it 
would not mix with either my neighbor’s corn 
or my own. 
8inoo I commenced writing I have been to 
look at the corn; about half of it sbow6 tassel, 
though it did not on Sunday, the 3d Inst. Corn 
never looked better than at present all through 
this region. Early potatoes are a big crop and 
very fine. It has been a very hot, aud some of 
the time, a very dry season; but when things 
begau to need rain very much, it came, and 
plenty of it. Wheat, rye and oats were pretty 
good crops about here, but. in this part of the 
country the chinch bug ha3 done considerable 
damage—a large proportion of wheat hardly 
paid for harvesting, and a number of farmers 
did not cut theirs at all. 
Hogs are dying of tho cholera to some extent, 
though not very alarmingly yet. My nearest 
neighbor, out of a herd of forty has lost fifteen, 
aud still they die. I have lost none, I have but 
a few aud they are shut in pens and yards aud 
can get nothing to eat or drink bat what I feed 
them, and I hey have no place to wallow in the 
mud. I have but little fear of the cholera— 
though I may lose my pigs for all that. I 
know that beets aud cabbage wilt less if the 
larger leaves are taken off when transplanted, 
but it. takes too much time to clip them. They 
wilt and the sun burns off ail the leaves they 
can’t support} sometimes there are none left, 
but the plants live and thrive for all that. I 
never water sweet potatoes or auy other plants, 
and I lose none. I think sweet potatoes do 
much better without watering, though the wa¬ 
tered plants will look the best for a few days. 
1 never use a dibble for settiug sweet potatoes 
or tomatoes, but use it for other plants always. 
n. i. b. 
Iowa, Conway, Taylor Co., July 29.—Rye 
aud oats are good. Wheat has been somewhat 
damaged by chinch bugs; It is nearly all cut. 
Hay is three-quarters of a crop. What few 
fruit trees we have in this part of the State do 
not bear much, but our orchard prospects are 
fine so soon as the trees come into bearing. 
Corn never looked better at this time of the 
year. Flax is not good, owing to dry weather 
in May. n. w. b. 
WiB-, Osseo, Trempealeau Co., July 27.— 
Wheat suffers from rust and chinch bugs ; 
other crops are very good. j. o. E. 
Missouri, Memphis, Scotland Co., July 28.— 
Our Blunt’s corn is worth looking at. I have 
ju6t measured some of it—one stalk, bearing 
four cars., measures to end of tassel eleven 
feet five inches, while another stalk having 
eight ears set, measures ten feet ten inches. 
These are, perhaps, just a trifle above the aver¬ 
age. The Beauty of Hebron potato 1ms done 
splendidly for us. This is comparatively a 
uew country and “ hard times” are harder upon 
beginners thau upon those who are older set¬ 
tlors ; our prospects, however, are excellent. 
M. O. 
Neb., Grand Island, Hall Co.. July 27.—The 
weather continues very wet. Wheat is a fair 
erop. Corn never looked belter. My premium 
corn is about eight feet high. It is of a dark- 
green color. My Pearl Millet 1 planted a lit¬ 
tle too early ; it did not come up well, but 
what did come is doing finely. It is about three 
feet high. Prices here are as follows: wheat, 
65c; oats, 33c; corn, 33c ; rye, 25c ; eggs, 10c ; 
butter, 10c ; hogs §2 to $2.50. w. H. m. 
Oregon— Forest Grove, Washington Co., 
July 22.—We are having our dry spell here 
now. Haying is nearly over, and fall wheat is 
nearly ready for the harvester. The seed sent 
me by the Rural came safe and was plauted 
with great care. I have eight plants of the 
Aquilegia, eight of Amorpha frutfeosa ; two of 
the Pinus edulis; some very nice beets aud the 
very fiucst lettuce I ever eaw. Everybody 
wauts seed from it. Throe weeks ago every 
leaf, except just the heart, was picked off from 
five of my plants, aud now I haye j ust measured 
them—well, two of them measure 36 iuches, 
and the other three 34 Inches, and they have 
had only common soil at that. I have a great 
many house plants, aud the more L cultivate 
them the more 1 love them, aud when by some 
mishap I lose a plant, it seems its it 1 had lost a 
friend. I well know that, for the working 
classes to buy and cultivate (lowers, means 
fewer lino clothes as well as less plaiting and 
rutiles. But, I say “ Give me my flowers and a 
plain dress.” I find plenty of my more dressy 
neighbors glad to get slips from me, for they 
cannot afford to buy thorn. I do not wish to 
say that even I buy all my plants, for 1 get a 
great many by exchange, which, 1 think is a 
very friendly wav. My husbaud 6ays, the crop 
reports in the Rural are worth all it costs. 
For ourselves, we are both from, your Empire 
State, which we left only seven years ago, and 
with the exception of a brother, all our rela¬ 
tives still live there in Delaware County. 
Mbs. m. e. g. 
Va., Mecklennurg Co., July 30.—The seeds 
sent me by the Rural, are all doing well. Of 
Blunt’s prolific corn I received 140 grains of 
all descriptions, 15 were worthless, cracked, 
