THE BUBAL NEW-YORKER. 
decayed, etc. I planted 128 grains; 124 ger¬ 
minated and oame up; 12 were cut down by 
cut-worms, and one other died from some 
cause, leaving me 112 hills standing. 1 planted 
It the 10th of May. It now looks very flne. If I 
don't get one of the premiums—if nothing hap¬ 
pens to it—at any rate from the present indica¬ 
tions I shall make more corn than I have ever 
seen made on the same sizod piece of land. The 
wheat crop of our section is over an average 
one. The oat crop, however, is under an 
average. The tobacco crop is not a full crop. 
The corn crop, where well worked, stood the dry 
weather well. 1 can’t yet tell how it will come 
in; rather over an average crop was planted, 
owing to the short, crop of tobacco set out. The 
hay crop is short. The apple crop is largo, 
and the peach crop rather over the average. 
J. tu T. 
N. C., Greensboro, Guilford Co., Aug. 1st.— 
After eight weeks of scorehingly dry weather, 
ending about the 33d of July, we have had fair 
rains now for over a week, the ground is now 
moderately wet, just in time to save the corn 
crop. Cotton land never looked better and 
now prospects are good for at least half or 
perhaps two-thirds of a crop on uplands. 
Taking it all together, prospects are good for 
an average crop. Turnips are now being 
sown; this crop is on the increase in this 
country, especially the Swede varieties. 
J. VAN 1,. 
Ga , Atlanta, Fulton Co., July 30 —The 
weather here is damp; it has been rainiDg for 
nearly a week without intermission. Coru 
and cotton arc lookiug very promising. Early 
sweet potatoes are coming into use. We 
thought in spriug that fruit would be scarce, 
but we find at this time that wc even have a 
surplus. Apples are bringing 40 cents per 
bushel; peaches, 80c.; wheat, $1; corn, 75c.; 
labor, from $6 to $10 a mouth. C. d. 
Florida, Rixford, Sttwanee Co.. Aug. 2d. 
Since my last report in June we have had a 
severe drought. Wo were nearly the whole of 
four weeks without rain. 1 estimate the 
com crop damaged 20 per cent. Cotton, how¬ 
ever, is looking well and the recent rains have 
materially improved it. Mercury from 70 to 
85 degrees. o. c. n. 
Tex., McKinney, Collins Co., Aug. 1.—A 
nice rain at last—corn cutting about over. 
Turnip sowing is going on with the best farm¬ 
ers (some never sow turnips). Pearl Millet 
is headiug. “ Kennedy’s ’’ Amber sugar cane 
does well here. Coru is now being injured by 
chinch bugs. Cotton will make half a bate an 
acre on an average, with present prospects. 
This has been an unprecedentedly dry year. 
vv. w. w. 
(Qumst, 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS 
A Swlndliug Trick (1) 
G. II, T., Granville, Mass., says that he has 
received circulars from Gaylord & Co., who 
claim to be proprietors of the National School 
of Dosign, Chicago, 111. With the circulars 
came, a blauk coupon to be filled up with a 
number. He filled in a number and sent the 
coupon back; whereupon the kind-hearted 
Chicago chaps 6eut him a list of what he 
could have on paying “ so much.” For $25 
forwarded, he is to get a prize and an oil 
painting, or, for $15 he is to have the prize 
alone: or, for $3 the painting alone; and he 
inquires if we know whether the concern is 
honest, and its promises reliable. 
Ans. —We know nothing about this concern, 
except -wliat is told in the plainest language by 
their method of doing business, as set forth 
by our correspondent, and that method de¬ 
clares them to be unmistakably a pack of 
bare-faced swiudlcrs. Scarcely a day passes 
without our seeiug iuour “exchanges ’ several 
exposures of the tricks of just such bogus con¬ 
cerns that have assumed “ high-sounding” 
titles the better to entrap the gullible and ig¬ 
norant. Whatever you may want to buy, 
buy close to home, or at any rate where 
you can personally inspect it before investing 
your money in its puvehase. Be sure you 
can get it most cheaply in that way. The 
dealers with whom you are acquainted, or with 
whom you can personally bargain, will soil 
you any article worth having, certainly at as 
low a figure as will those you have never seen. 
The method of sending out circulars and offer¬ 
ing marvelous bargains to perfect strangers 
is always adopted by swindlers and never by 
trustworthy dealers. The greater the bargain 
offered by these knaves, the stronger the cer¬ 
tainty of a complete swindle. Often they hiut 
that it is through underhand or dishonest 
meaus they are enabled to make such oilers. 
Yet eveu then they find fools enough to trust 
them with i emlttauces, despite their self- 
confessed roguery; ami in such a ease au 
honest man can ouly rejoice at the certain 
loss and disappointment of the swindled green¬ 
horn. Sometimes they go further, and offer to 
make their iutended dupe an accomplice of 
theirs in some dishonesty—chiefly in passing 
counterfeit notes or coin—and in all such 
cases the unscrupulous raseal thoroughly de¬ 
serves tho loss he Is certain to incur. We 
trust our readers will never iuve6t a dollar or 
a cent in any of the swindling enterprises that 
fatten upon the folly, credulity or greed of the 
community, whether they are lotteries that 
guarantee prizes, mining companies extrava¬ 
gantly generous with their hidden! treasures; 
land companies offering homes in tho finest 
locations for a mere song, or art associations 
promising oil paintings tor the. price of litho¬ 
graphs 
Mtiiliborn Sweet-Scented Shrttlj Seed. 
J. H. S. East Randolph, IV. has trouble 
with a seed of the Sweet Scented Shrub, Caly- 
eauthus florid us. She planted six seeds of 
this lovely shrub, live of which went to the 
dogs,—at least, they have mysteriously disap¬ 
peared—but oue still remains, and being 
anxious to raise a plant, she has coaxed that 
oue to germinate by all the conceivable methods 
aud means that her inventive faculties could 
suggest. She has put. it in rich black loam, 
aud thou again changed it to a saady soil, 
watered it freely and kept it dry, planted it in¬ 
doors and out-of-doors, given it heat and cold, 
shade and sunshine, aud still its temper remains 
unruffled. It has not even been provoked into 
swelling beyoud its ordinary proportions, but 
obstinately continues the same aa ever, round, 
fat, chunky and cheerful, its cook shining, 
black coat scowling defiauce at her whenever 
she takes it out of the ground to look at it ('as 
she does quite often, we understand). Being 
at a loss how next to proceed, the serge suffers 
a temporary suspension aud meanwhile she 
calls upon us for suggestions as to how to make 
it sprout. 
Ans. —Indeed it is no ordiuary seed that can 
with such hardihood baffle those persuasive at¬ 
tempts to make it grow, and what we cau offer 
may be of little avail- In the case of people, 
we find, however, that coaxing is a poor 
means with which to persuade obstinate boys 
or whimsical persons of any age, and this is au 
analogous case. Since there is but a solitary 
seed, wo would, iu order not to loose it, put it 
iu a small flower pot iu quite ordiuary soil, 
sink the pot iu the ground to the rim in a 
shaded place, lay some moss over the pot, keep 
it moist and leave it alone; then, if the seed 
has not exhausted all vitality under its previous 
novel treatment, it will sprout iu due time. 
The Old Potato Beetle. 
W. C. IT.. East Aurora, N. Ik, sends us two 
specimens of a hectic, which he states is a 
new enemy to the potatoes iu that section, and 
he would like to know what it is. It is a 
heavy feeder and quite destructive. 
Ans. —It is Lytta vittata, the old potato 
beetle or the striped blister beetle. Pests of 
the kind are quite abundant in the Southern 
and Middle 8tat.es, hut their visits to the North 
are only occasional. The female lays her eggs 
in the ground from July to October; they 
hatch in about, ten Jays and the larv;e, which 
Prof. Riley states feed principally on grass¬ 
hopper eggs, uudergo five moltinga before they 
pupate, aud having pupated, they remain iu 
this state hut five or six clays, when they 
emerge perfect insects. There is but one brood 
a year. The. beetle is from five-tenths to slx- 
tenths of an inch iu length and rather 6iim. 
The black wing-covers have a yellow stripe 
along the middle aud are margined with the 
same color. The thorax is longer than broad, 
tapering a little forward and ornamented with 
three yellow stripes. The autemne and legs 
are black and the body blaek. covered with a 
grayish down. They are quickly destroyed by 
Paris-green, and it is eveu stated that flne 
lime or plaster-of-Paris will drive them off. 
Cultlrntlng Corn tu llie Tassel and Silk. 
H. IF., Richmondnille, Schoharie Co., IV. V., 
asks is there any danger in “working” corn 
when the tassel Is in blow and the silk just 
coming out. lest the pollen should be jarred 
off, aud fertilization be iu this way prevented 
by the loss of the proper connection between 
the tassel and the. silk; is there any other rea¬ 
son why corn should not be worked while iu 
the above condition; his is grassy and he wants 
to cultivate i.t with a horse. 
Ans.— The silk (female) is ready to receive 
the pollen from the tassel (male) when it 
matures. Jarring, therefore, is rather advan¬ 
tageous than otherwise. Corn may be culti¬ 
vated even up to the time of the first stage of 
ripouiug of the cars. But it would in auy stage 
after the silk appears be injured by auv inter¬ 
ference with the roots. Horse cultivation 
would, therefore, be injurious. Better let the 
grass remniu. 
Gone Where the Woodbine Twineth. 
J. L. T., Mecklenburg Co., Virginia, wishes 
to know what has become of the Now York 
Day Book Co. They advertised largely, offer¬ 
ing great inducements to subscribers, aud ob¬ 
tained u goodly number from his section, but 
the paper very soon stopped and the subscri¬ 
bers have seen nothing of it since. 
Ans. —So far as we can learn, The New York 
Day Book Co. had au office at 06 Reade St., 
from which a few numbers of a weekly jour¬ 
nal were published, but it has not been Issued 
for a couple of months, and we understand 
that the company is broken up, so it will be 
useless for subscribers to expect the paper. 
Miscellaneous. 
I). M., Hawleyton, Broome Oo., N Y., asks, 
1. what kinds of Magnolia would be likely to 
prove hardy in that part of the country; 2, 
where can they be procured; 3, when should 
they be planted; 4, how near can pumpkins 
be planted to squashes without danger of their 
mixing. 
Ans. —1, Magnolias glauca, Fraseri, acu¬ 
minata, tripetala, mao4ophyll«, cordata. M. 
Lennei, which is hardier with us than any 
other of the Japan or Chinese species thus 
far fairly tested, might, bo tried. 2. 411 exten¬ 
sive nurserymen offer Magnolias, 3. Spring. 
4. They cannot mix tho first season, that is, 
the edible part. If it is desired to plant both 
near together, so as to save seed of but one 
kind, it would only be necessary to plant it 
earlier than the other and then save the first 
fruit that ripened. Of course, the flowers of 
the later planted would stand a chance of be- 
iug fertilized by the other, so that seeds of it 
might prove to be “ mixed,” Bees etc. carry 
the pollen from ono flower to another, so that 
a considerable distaucc must intervene to in¬ 
sure purity—at least 100 yards. 
W. S. T., Upper Red Hook, N. Y. asks If 
there is any market for wild cherries, and the 
price of them. 
Ans. —There is no general market for wild 
cherries, although they are used to some ex¬ 
tent for medicinal purposes. The demand thus 
being local, there is no established price,. 
J. L. D., Meridian, Basque Co., Texas, sends 
a grass and asks its name. He describes it as 
growiug from six to ten feet high, branching 
from every joint, making a heavy sod and 
that bogs fatten oa the roots. 
Ans. —Guinea Grass,—Sorghum halepense. 
COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED FOR THE WEEK ENDING 
Saturday, Ado. flth 
W. H. N.—G. H. O.—H. K.—F. C. K.—J. H. G.— 
G. 8. D.—W. M. 8.—J. B. A., thanks.—J. B. L., 
many thanks.—G. T. O-—J. W. W.—E. A. H.— 
W. I. C.— N. R.-J. D. T.-J. H. L.—J. P.—W. C. 
G—W. n. M.—31. Me. N—G. C. 15.—A. W. 31.— 
A.C.— H. J. B.—F. D.C.—J. 31.—J3. C. D.—L. E. 
S.—T. D—R. L.—W.C. L.—A. E. .J.—Ivy.—E. E.— 
H. S.—I. S.—B.S.—G,M. G.-O. F. L.-P. E. T.— 
\V. E. W., thanks.—C. A. P.—K. T. S.—R. H. C., 
thanks.-J. T-—H. J. B.-J. T. L.—A. W. 3f.— 
VI. J. B.—P. 31. A.—L. B., thanks.—L. C. W.— 
CIRCULATION OF AIR IN THE EARTH. 
S. RUFUS MASON. 
Having shown how moisture circulates 
through loosened soil, it remains to explain 
the aerification of the same. Upon the per¬ 
fectly unobstructed circulation of water and 
air through tbesoil, depends alm<>st entirelyits 
ability to give up its fertilizing properties at 
the demand of the plant. All water contains, 
In a greater or less degree, some air, but this 
quantity will not be considered in this article, 
because it Is never In sufficient veltime to be of 
much value to the process of germination and 
fructification. 
Supposing a soil in early spring to be satu¬ 
rated with water, there can be no air in it, 
because the two cannot both oecupy one space 
at the same time. As the water subsides, the 
atmosphere must follow it, or tliere would be 
a vacuum. .Vs the air occupies the space thus 
vacated, it acts chemically upon the soil, and 
thus evolves heat, and at the same time im¬ 
parts its own natural heat to the soil. 
Here we have the first effort to bring the 
earth into a condition favorble to plant life. If 
at this time cultivation takes place, a greater 
volume of air is admitted, and the soil becomes 
warm proportionably faster- At this time the 
moisture from below rises, and is, in the shape 
of what might be called a subterranean dew, 
mingled with the air from above, and by a 
chemical exchange, it is at once rendered a 
perfect solvent of the earth’s fertilizing con¬ 
stituents. 
Constant changes of temperature above 
ground, cause a circulation perpendicularly of 
moisture and air, each refreshing and invigo¬ 
rating the other—there, cau be uo stagnant 
water, uo stagnant air, as long as tho sun’s 
heat exerts its usual power. It is evident that 
iu a solidly-packed soil, this circulation could 
not take place; that the earth would soon 
become dead, sour and totally unfit for living 
herbage. It is also evident .that t he unobstruct¬ 
ed circulation of air and moisture in soils is 
absolutely essential to healthy growth. 
As a proof of this, scop up the hole at the 
bottom of a flower pot, contiuue to water the 
plant as usual ; and note how soon the roots 
are destroyed by dead water. Again, place a 
glass shade over a pot full of earth, having the 
hole at the bottom opeu; water from below, 
and uoto how soon the shade is filled with a 
fungus growth which will smother auy plant 
growing in it. 
Cultivation of the soil is the key to success¬ 
ful farming, qnd if applied at the time of need, 
never fails to pay amply for the labor spent. 
The time to cultivate (without having reference 
to the destruction of weeds), is whenever any 
cause so packs the soil that it cannot breathe 
freely. From the reasons given, it is also evi¬ 
dent that frequently cultivated soil is both 
warmer and more moist, than that which is 
allowed to pack and bake. 
Dodge Co., Feb. 
-* 4 -«- 
WHAT OTHERS SAY. 
Farming Does Pay. —When I learn, says a 
writer in the New England Farmer, that only 
one farm in twenty-five is paid for when 
bought, the wonder to me is, not that so many 
fail, but that so many succeed. When Richard 
Roe buys John Doe’s farm for $7,500, pays 
83,000 down, and gives a mortgage for $4,500 
at eight per cent., expecting to make a iiviog 
for himself and family, pay Mr, Doe $30 a month 
interest, and have a net three or four per cent¬ 
al the end of the year on $7,500, it brings no 
surprise to me that Mr. Roe finds such farm¬ 
ing don’t pay. What does the man own in 
fact ? Just 83.000. That figure represents his 
capital. There is uo kiud of business to be 
found to-day, other than farmiug, in which 
$3,000 can be made to yield auv kind of a liv- 
iug to a family without drawing on the prin¬ 
cipal. Men undertake too much on too little 
capital, and inevitably fall. It is not for the 
general good that farmers of this class should 
parade their misfortunes at every opportunity, 
misleading public opinion on a matter that lies 
at the very foundation of our national pros¬ 
perity. Farming does pay. and pays well on 
the capital actually invested, with such general 
intelligent management as would be necessary 
in any other business. There is no other busi¬ 
ness which offers as good security for the in¬ 
vestment: there is no other business which 
brings more contentment and less wearying 
anxiety of mind. The man who owns his farm 
and ba3 three or four per cent, at the end of a 
year on the paid-up capital, after supporting 
his family, is actually iu better condition than 
nine-tenths of the men in auy other calling. 
Influence of Milk-cooling.— In the Milch- 
Zeituug, M. A Kirchner communicates the 
result of his recent observations on this point. 
He sets his milk for cream in two portions, 
oue of which was unoooled and the other had 
been passed through a milk-cooler. Each por¬ 
tion was set partly in wooden troughs and 
partly iu tinned-iron pans, and the experi¬ 
ments were carried on in winter, spring, and 
summer alike. The general conclusions ar¬ 
rived at were as follows:—1. There is no 
essential difference between cooled milk and 
uncooled milk, so far as cream-raising capac¬ 
ity is concerned. 2. The tinned-iron pans give 
a higher percentage of fat than the wooden 
receptacles. 3. In summer the yield of cream 
from the cooled milk is greater than that of 
the uncooled, because its souring is longer re¬ 
tarded. It is at this time oi the year that the 
tin pans serve better thau wooden troughs. 
The butter made from cooled milk keeps far 
better than that from the uncooled. 
Tendency of the High Breeding of Fowls. 
—So things are coming to this pass, says a 
writer in the London Gardeners' Chronicle, 
that we are likely soon to have in England 
beautiful birds, “too good to be eaten,” kept 
like race-horses, not for their utilitv, but to 
gain prizes—while our markets will be sup¬ 
plied with birds of no breed at all. For if, as 
I suspect, exhibitions tend to produce pam¬ 
pered. tender birds, whose eggs and chickens 
cannot be depended on in a bad winter like 
our last, those who rear fowls for market will 
gradually cease to buy their eggs, and will 
content themselves with hardier, commoner 
birds; and the fiue birds, of superior size and 
excellence, which were to have been intro¬ 
duced iuto every farm-yard aud cottage-garden 
when exhibitions had drawn attention to them, 
will but find their way to our tables. 
Capt. Jack Strawberry.— Of all the differ¬ 
ent sorts on our grounds, this passed the winter 
and appeared the freshest and greenest in 
spring. Thu deep green of the leaves con¬ 
tinued all through spring and afterwards. It 
bears profuse crops—more so than any sort 
except the Wilson, and is fully equal to that 
variety at Its best. It has two defects—the 
berries are hardly large enough to be popular 
in market, and it is rather acid and not higk 
flavored. Perhaps the Crescent may come nj 
to it In bearing another year, but it has not 
yet, while it is larger and better in quality, 
judging from this year’s trial. So says the 
Editor of the Country Gentleman. Capt. Jack 
is worthless with us—small, sour and unpro¬ 
ductive 
Encouragement of Dairy Works. —With 
a view of eucouragiug the native dairy indus¬ 
tries iu Germany, the Minister for War decided 
some weeks ago, that cheese should henceforth 
form a part of the soldier’s ordinary ration. 
It is also stated by the London Farmer that 
similar arrangements have been made by the 
Minister of the Interior in the dietary of pris¬ 
oners under confinement, and that the various 
agricultural societies have been requested to 
point out to the authorities the dairies in dif¬ 
ferent parts of the country which are prepared 
to supply cheeses for prison use at low prices, 
