65® 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
OCT. If 
A pleasing feature of the exhibitions of this 
Society (and one that many smaller and some 
large Societies would do well to imitate), which 
adds greatly to the attractiveness of the dis¬ 
play, is the uniformity of the arrangement of 
the exhibits, competing articles or varieties 
being placed in proximity, so that comparison 
can be easily made by jridges and visitors. An 
exceedingly interesting address by Marshall P. 
Wilder, giving a brief history of the progress 
of horticulture from the organization of the 
Society to the present time, was delivered on 
the last day of the exhibition. 
Amherst, Mass. Young Rukalist. 
NOTES ON VARIOUS TOPICS. 
S. RUFUS MASON. 
Breeding for a Purpose. 
Professor Blount is still trying to improve 
his corn, but it will be a diflicult thing to do, 
as it is so extremely susceptible iu its nature. 
I have now growing, from Rural seed sent me 
this spring, a small patch. I also have, some 
500 feet off. a patch of between two and three 
acres from seed grown by tnyself here on my 
farm last season (1878), from seed got directly 
from Professor Blount. My own seed was 
selected from nearly four bushels—the product 
of 120 hills of the original sued—by discarding 
all cars having less than 10 rows. T got about 
a peck of tins seed, and planted it all this sea¬ 
son (1879). 1 made tills selection because 
Western farmers do not like corn with so few 
rows. I am trying to improve in this way at 
first. I don’t thiuk it safe to undertake too 
much at the outset. I meutiouedthat Blount’s 
corn was very susceptible—it is evidently an 
aristocrat. The corn in my large patch is 
doing remarkably well. I put it upon land 
that has never been manured, as I am grow¬ 
ing it for seed, and I want it to be honest seed. 
The Rural patch is on the same sort of land 
on which I put Blount's seed in 1878, and it was 
manured for the first time then by putting a 
shovelful of a mixture of one-third of old hen 
manure and two-thirds of common soil to each 
hill, after,.the corn was up. 
The Rural seed—one seed to a hill four feet 
apart each way—ou this manured land,suckers 
heavily, and most, if not all of it has an ear. 
But corn suekering in a field planted three or 
four grains to a hill, and the hills four feet 
each way, andou heavily manured land, would 
not produce a single ear of corn : it would soon 
be a tluekct and smother itself out, or at least 
turn to a grand article of coru fodder. If in 
this section wc arc going to grow this corn for 
corn, wc must plant thinly, on poorish but on i 
very clean land, and only cultivate just enough 
to keep down weeds. Too much manure or too 
frequent stirriug of the soil,uveites it. sn much 
that we should need a step-ladder at husking 
time. My field of corn does not sucker at all: 
it has grown just as 1 would have corn to grow, 
has met with no mishap so far, is ripening 
fast and is very prolific. Having uow had two 
seasons’ experience with this corn under varied 
conditions of both seed and soil, I give my de¬ 
ductions as above, pro bonu publico. 
A New Trick In llie Trade. 
Last fall i planted some plum stones in my 
garden; they grew about as usual, except one 
plant which is double the size of the rest. 
Close by it came up a parsnip front accidental 
seed. 1 believe the parsnip in its rapid 
growth, shooting its root down by and in con¬ 
tact with the plum roots, kept the soil loose 
and thus favored their growth unusually. It 
is worth further experimeut. 
Road-Making. 
“ There is no royal road to anything,’’it is 
said ; every one must make a road for himself, 
then I ask how came those ruts ?—Few men in 
any pursuit follow it long without making a 
mark of Borne kind ; out of these a very few 
leave their marks above the road, like a tele¬ 
graph wire, the posts representing their pecu¬ 
liar ideas, and the wires, the chain which con¬ 
nects and forms them into a whole. But the 
many, unable to lift their ideas above the com¬ 
mon level, form ruts, going deeper and deeper 
until they engulf themselves, and are smoth¬ 
ered in the muddiness they have created. The 
difficulty lies iu early life; the path upon 
which the youth started in his career, was a 
“blind"one: it was beset and encumbered 
with clumps and stones, which made it a 
“hard road to travel," and the traveler, igno¬ 
rant that, not what was before him, but what 
he left behind, formed his character, rushed 
toward the goal, leaving^ nothing but ruts to 
show his progress. 
ills energy spent, his brain weakened by 
fruitless efforts, his courage lost, retrospection 
commands but a sorry view. In our early 
days, the objects of life seem mere playthings, 
but when wc are near the close of our career, 
we sec that a little more work would have made 
a smooth road for our thoughts to travel back 
upon, aud encourage others to at least follow 
our lead. These remarks have a moral, phy¬ 
sical and iutelleeLual application, and even to 
those who have got well along iu their journey 
I may gently hint—it is not to late to mend. 
Where Is It All to End ! 
Is progress a forward or backward motion ? 
Population increases, it must be clothed and 
fed, meat and grain are the staples, and thede- 
mand is constantly for a better quality. We 
take, a breed of hogs, for instance: it has 
many good qualities, but is not quite perfect. 
We cross it; we shorten the head; we lengthen 
the body; we throw weight into the hams; 
we decrease the offal; we increase the net 
profit on each animal; but do we get ail this 
for nothing ?—I fear not, in fact I know wc 
don’t. Well! what is the cost of all this gain? 
First, answer me this:—How many pigs did 
good sows formerly have at a litter? Answer: 
from 10 to 15, yes, aud raised them all, and 
when sold they would weigh from 400 to 600 
pounds, dressed. Now how many pigs will our 
best improved breeds produce? From five to 
eight only, and if at two years they will reach 
400 pounds, they are called grand. We will not 
consider prices, although they are vastly in 
favor of the past, but are no part of the breed¬ 
er’s especial skill. It is not worth while for 
me to figure up how much money —and after 
all that is the only test, as glory doesn’t pay— 
eau be made by the two sorts ; every one can 
see for himself. Now. will 6ome one please 
answer my question at the head of this article. 
Dodge Co., Neb. 
Jfarm Cojius. 
THE TRUTH ABOUT IT, 
(The object of articles under this heading is 
not so much to deal with “ humbugs” as with 
the many unconscious errors that creep into 
the methods of daily country routine life,— 
Ens.] 
“ SHALL HE BE A PRACTICAL OR SCIEN¬ 
TIFIC FARMER V’ 
In one of the “ Brevities” of the Rural New- 
Yorker of Aug. 16, the words above quoted 
occurred. The inference to be drawn from 
them seems to be that there iB a difference, 
and a sort of antagonism, between the mean¬ 
ings of these terms; that a farmer cannot he 
practical and scientific both ; and that if this 
be true and the practical farmer is the real 
one, the scientific farmer is a sham. Now, the 
writer of that item possibly did not mean nil 
this: but the logic of the sen Id ee is incon¬ 
trovertible, und the deduction must ( and. i u- 
fortnnately, there is a very prevalent iih i i.’i.u 
a scientific, farmer is one who is full of mi- li¬ 
sts, whims and oddities, who spends mou / in 
his farming without any idea of getiir. ! v it 
back agaiu, and who is to be considered as 
an example of all that is wild, foolish, reckless 
and extravagant. 
This idea is uot only erroneous, but injuri¬ 
ous to a class of men who have done more to 
improve the practice of agriculture, and the 
character of the so-called practical farmers, 
than any oilier iullucnco whatever. It is the 
scientific farmer who buys and uses the first 
ton of artificial fertilizer that is brought into 
his locality, who introduces the corn planter, 
the wheat drill, the wheat cultivator, i he 
mower, the agricultural paper, with all that 
the use of that beneficial influence implies; 
who brings into his locality a pure-bred bull 
or rain, or boar, and generously permits the 
neighbors to use it and profit by it; while 
many of these laugh iu their sleeves, and re¬ 
mark that “neighbor Moneybags will soon 
run to the end of his tether; that when he is 
sold out, there will ho a fine vendue;” and 
facetiously quote adages aud proverbs regard¬ 
ing fools and their money. 
This is a specimen of your scientific farmer, 
a man of largo mind usually, generous, liberal, 
of husluess habits, who docs not often spend a 
dollar without knowing where it is going to ; 
hut who is very willing to invest hundreds or 
thousands, if he has them, if he can see iu the 
distance a profitable retnru for his expendi¬ 
ture, and will wait patiently for his reward. 
For years back tbe truly scientific farmers 
have been draining, fertilizing and improving 
their land; have been improving seeds and 
live stock; have been testing implements and 
applying new methods ; and all these innova¬ 
tions have been closely watched by your prac¬ 
tical farmers who have been ready enough to 
adopt those which have turned out to be suc¬ 
cessful. The fact is, the scientific farmers are 
the really practical men in their business, for 
it is surely practical to use every method aud 
appliance for making one’s labor more effec¬ 
tive and profitable, and quite unpractical to 
neglect them, and to be content with half-pay 
for one’s work. 
If we compare other imJustries with agricul¬ 
ture, we shall find the same true of them. The 
most practical electrician is Edison, and he Is 
the most scientific ; the most practical ehip- 
builder of hie time was Ericsson, and his most 
scientific achievement, the building of the 
Monitor, was the most practical, and laid the 
foundation of the present iron-clad navies of 
the world. The most practical engineer of 
the present day is Capt. James B. Eads who, 
by the most scientific application of the prin¬ 
ciples of his profession, has opened the Missis¬ 
sippi River to the fleets of the world by 
removing the bar whieh closed tills highway 
of a whole world’B commerce. 
It is tbe same with all others: the scientific 
men are the truly practical ones and keep the 
practice of their professions and arts in con¬ 
stant progress, and to these really practical 
men aro we mdebted for all the advance which 
the world has made hi the past half century. 
It is time now that the term scientific farmer 
should lie held to mean something more than 
that formerly reproachful term, “ hook farm¬ 
er,” and that ii should be given at least a 
parallel meaning with the term practical. 
There are working farmers w’ho are not prac¬ 
tical, but a scientific fanner is eminently a 
practical farmer and can be nothing else; for 
if he Is uot practical, he is a quack and a hum¬ 
bug, aud no scientific man at all. s. 
Remark*. 
It strikes us that there is a good deal of fal¬ 
lacy in the above article, which comes to us 
from one of our most papular agricultural 
writers. What makes a scientific man? Is 
he scientific who is engaged in the pursuit of 
pure knowledge? No, the knowledge must lie 
gained. Science is true knowledge. Of what? 
Of one thing, or of all tliiugs? It is well to 
understand the difference between science ami 
art, and to keep the plain distinction in mind. 
Our farmers can never be scientific, farmers in 
the right sense, of the word. It would be im¬ 
practicable for them to become so. The pur¬ 
suit of any single branch of science, with a 
view to original results, requires an amount 
of time and labor which the average farmer 
cannot give, even though his investigations 
ended in important inventions or discoveries. 
A good fanner is uot necessarily a “scien¬ 
tific” farmer, though good farming is neces¬ 
sarily based upon scientific principles. A good 
farmer has the intelligence to apply the teach¬ 
ings of science; to understand and to accept 
the conclusions which scientific investigations 
have revealed. The average farmer—by which 
term we mean him who depends upon his farm 
for support—lias no time to inquire aud to ex¬ 
periment for the sake of knowledge, hut for the 
sake of production, lie can he a scientist only 
to tbe extent that he is quick to apply the sys¬ 
tem of rules which science establishes. Sci¬ 
ence must be n profession in itself. 8 den title 
truths of great importance are rarely ascer¬ 
tained by chance, and only (hose who devote 
their lives to scientific, research have been 
eminently successful iu adding materially to 
our kjiowludgo. Tho good ortudicnl farmer tg 
he who knows liow to adapt scientific teach¬ 
ings to his own surroundings and circum¬ 
stances. He ha the practice, the skill, the 
education, the art to do this. He may follow 
rules, but he has little time for original in¬ 
quiry. 
Wo assert that the agricultural scientist 
would starve if he were dependent upou the 
products of Ills own farm for support. Can 
“S” tell us bow much it cost to prove that 
artificial fertilizers could be profitably used in 
agriculture? How mncli did the corn planter, 
tlie wheat drill, the mower cost those who in¬ 
vented them aud caused their usefulness to be 
made known ? Such men are scientists. There 
is no science iu being early to make use of the 
discoveries or inventions of others. “All these 
innovations have been closely watched by your 
practical farmers, who have been ready enough 
to adopL those which have turned out to be 
successful." says “S.” That is precisely what 
we want our farmers in geueral to do. We 
want them to hasten to avail themselves of the 
benefits of scientific research. But we want 
specialists to make those researches. Noother 
journal has been more earnest than this in 
advocating that farmers educate themselves as 
lar as may he, aud that, especially, they ed¬ 
ucate their sous—not, however, with the view 
of making them scientific farmers, but hi order 
to enable thorn to take advantage of agricultu¬ 
ral science as it develops. 
Ur. J. B. Lawes is a scientific farmer, aud 
he has spent fortunes in chemical researches 
which have brought to light valuable facts 
which muBt benefit agriculture everywhere 
and for all time. Hoes “8" advocate that 
every farmer should become a chemist? that 
laboratories, rain-gauges, etc., etc., should he 
established or constructed upou every farm ? 
We would that we might hear loss of scientific 
agriculture anil scientific farmers. It is use¬ 
less to reply that scientific farming merely 
means good farming. It means something 
else, or it means nothing. Educated farmers 
will hasten to avail themselves of all methods 
which will increase their crops with the same 
or less labor. But a farmer’s life is inimical 
to scientific investigation to the extent which 
makes that Avoid applicable to his pursuit.— 
Eds. 
-♦-*-*■---— 
Farm Hints. —A correspondent from Berlin, 
Conn., says, that the best purifier of cistern 
water he haB ever tried is a bag of charcoal. 
Lower it into the cistern with a stone attached 
to it,to keep it down. The amount of charcoal 
should vary with the size of tbe cistern. To 
change it once a year is often enough. For 
scaly legs in poultry he lias found an effective 
remedy in a mixture of common kerosene oil 
and lard, to be applied freely every second day. 
He has found by experience that this Avould 
cure the ailmeut in a short time. 
MUTTON AND WOOL. 
PROFESSOR E. W. STEWART. 
Tueke are many considerations which seem 
to poiutto a great increase iu the consumption 
of mutton by the people of this country, in the 
near future. The farming class is a very large 
proportion of the whole population—embracing, 
directly and indirectly, more than eighteen mil¬ 
lions of people. This class now consumes much 
more pork than is conducive to the best health, 
not perhaps because pork Is preferred to beef 
or mutton, but because it is more easily pre¬ 
served during hot Aveatlier. A beef animal is 
too large to be used by the farmer in hot 
weather, hut sheep arc well adapted to furnish 
the farmer’s summer fresh meat, as, with a 
proper refrigerator, he can use the carcass of 
a sheep at any time, and the introduction more 
generally of mutton into the farmer's summer 
diet would not only greatly promote health, 
but would create a large home market. It 
would soou lead to a vast extontion of muttou 
and wool groiving throughout the country. A 
few sheep could be accommodated ou a large 
majority of farms in the older States without 
much interfering with other operations, aud 
no doubt with an increase of profit. The 
host system for most farms is variety of pro¬ 
ducts, not ^trustiug the “eggs all in one 
basket.” Variety leads to great ecouomy of 
resources. A small flock of sheep Avill bring 
into use neglected spots and fence corners, 
will turn to account the gleanings of grain 
fields and consume many things not as well 
relished by cattle. 
Portable Hurdle Fence. 
And as we are treating of improved culture 
from a better marshaljng of all the undevel¬ 
oped farm resources, let me say that one of 
the first improvements needed iu sheep-keep¬ 
ing on all the farms in the older Slates, is 50 
» KX) rods of movable hurdle fence. By using 
ib hurdle, any piece of after growth or stubble 
growth, maybe surrou uded hi an hour, and 
tin- teep or other animals confined; then the 
hurdles may lie moved over the field till every 
pa i of it is eaten and turned into flesh aud 
v- :>ol. This will have a double advantage— 
turning the green food into money and killing 
many weeds. Tbe portable or rolliug hurdle 
is most convenient, as it is placed so quickly, 
aud rolled so easily along, day by day, to sup¬ 
ply fresh herbage, that its slight additional 
cost may well he afforded. 
In this way a flock of considerable size may 
be kept all the tall upon stubble-fields, without 
interior fences. With small lloeks thus kept, 
it is also easy to add a small grain ration, 
whieh, in the warm season, will fatten them 
rapidly for market. It should always be a 
prime consideration iu feeding sheep for mar¬ 
ket to do as much of it as possible lu warm 
weather. And if they are to bo kept till Jan¬ 
uary or February, still, the feed Bhould be very 
generous in the fall, ’that they may he fat 
enough for the butcher at the beginning of 
cold weather. It Avill then be easy to carry 
them to February in fine mutton order; and it 
will require much less food to do this than if 
they are only in a growing condition Avheu 
cold weather begins. A small grain ration iu 
September and October, on grass, will push 
them faster than a large one iu cold weather. 
Where only small flocks are kept—and these 
should he upon most farms—the only profita¬ 
ble system will be that of early maturity and 
quick returns. A given amount of food will 
produce more live Aveight on a sheep in oue 
year than in two; it must, therefore, be most 
economical of food to keep sheep, Intended 
for mutton or wool, ou full rations at all 
times. 
Early Lambs. 
The farmer Avitli a small flock lias them so 
under control that he ought to he able to pro¬ 
duce the most profitable result. He may un¬ 
derstand the needs df each animal and pro¬ 
vide for each. He Avill find oue of the most 
satisfactory items of profit iu tho sale of 
lambs. They will bring a belter profit for the 
food expended than older sheep. It costs less 
to grow the first hundred pounds upon a lamb 
than the second hundred, or any proportion of 
it. Tbe food of support is less iu the young 
than the grown animal. Hence a large pro¬ 
portion of Avhat the lamb eats, goes to in¬ 
crease its weight and the consequent profit. 
Early lambs Bell for the best price, and where 
the shelter lsAvarm enough to insure the safety 
of lambs comiug iu January,February and early 
lu March, the extra price will well repay the ex¬ 
tra core aud lood. It la but a few years since 
