THE RURAL MEW-YORKiiiS. 
^caiuig for % |ou% 
SEED DISTRIBUTION. 
How New Varieties of Fruit are Produced. 
I t vke pleasure in an nounotog that T now have 
ready tor distribution among the members oi the 
Horticultural Club a lot of grape weed, saved ex¬ 
pressly tor vlieui. 'J'lie seed is taken from a num¬ 
ber of our best native grapes, aaoli as Delaware, 
Lady, El Dorado, Martin;, ioua, fcecretary. Salem 
and outers, l distribute tilts seed among "d tlie 
members who have sent me their post oiilce ad¬ 
dresses, though there are some on my list who have 
not taithtully compiled with the coudltlohs that 
were stipulated as necessary to maintain a good 
standing in the elub-that is, they have sent me 
no report of what they have been doing all sum¬ 
mer; and It, therefore, 1 should send seed to 
those only who merit It, l tear there would 
be some who would not get any. in Uie fu¬ 
ture, as the number ot mcihbers Increases, l shall 
be obliged to follow this rule more strictly. For 
those who do not know how to sow the seed 
and raise the plants, I will give the following 
brief directions: Bow it immediately after Its 
arrival, cither lu boxes or pots, idled with a 
mixture oi good garden soil and leal' mold. 
The pot or box should be well drained; that is, 
the hole In the bottom should be covered with pot- 
shreds to give a free outlet to the water, which 
otherwise would sour tliesolL If a pot is chosen 
it should, not be too small, or it will dry out too 
quickly; nil lc loosely to the rim, when shaken 
down to wltiuu an Inch of the rim the soil will be 
of the right lirnmeas; then sow the seed uml cover 
It with a quarter of an inch of soil, water and Set 
the pot away in a moderately warm place. No 
light 13 neadcd until the plants come up, but the 
sod must, of course, always be kept moist. When 
the young plants have three leaves they should lie 
potted singly lh small pots, in which t hey cuu re¬ 
main till next spring, when they snould be plant ed 
lu the open ground. l>o not be discouraged if the 
seed does not come up immediately. It may come 
lu three weeks, audit may also remain dormant lor 
LUree months. I send you this seed in i Ire hope 
you may raise some new varieties. Think what a 
triumph it would be for you, If iu addition to the 
pleasure of oaring lor the young vinos, you arc re¬ 
warded by a new ami excellent variety, whose 
fruit may be better than auy now lu existence. Ad 
new varieties ot j rutt arc produced from seed. I t 
was by suwing grape seed that Mr. lUekeits, Mr. 
Miner and other horticulturists have produced the 
new grapes which are just now being talked about 
all over the country, and these Is no reason why 
any of you may not be equally successful. 
It Is a fact, and why it Is so, no one Is able to 
tell,that the seed of apples, peal's, peaches,plums, 
grapes, etc., will very rarely', and 1 may almost 
say ucver, produce trees and vines that, w i n bear ( 
truit Widen is exactly into t ho fruit train whlnli tin* 
seed was Liken. In the majority ol’ instances the 
seed ting truit lswl a poorer quality than Us parent, 
but it sometimes happens that it Is better, and 
when this does happen the fruit Is muued and pro¬ 
pagated and will henceforth take a place among 
the acknowledged good varieties. Skilled horticul¬ 
turists may help nature In the production of good 
varieties from seed by the process known as eross- 
ferUUzdtion, which 1 have mentioned before In my 
talks to the Horticultural club, it cun.-bis in 
transferring pollen irom one tree or vine to tbe 
pistils of another closely related tree or vine, i his 
la very delicate work and it must be done in suen 
a manner that there Is no possibility ot the dower 
to which the pollen la transferred having been 
fertilized from any other source. Nature cross- 
fertllL.es on a grand scale by the wind and insects 
carrying pollen lroin one plant to auothei, and 
hence it is that the seed does not reproduce the 
plant from which it was taken, But it is now too 
late for this season to cross-fertilize, so perhaps it 
is best to defer saying more about it till next spring. 
Uncle Makk. 
__ 
ADVICE TO BOYS. 
tain, that, as a general rule, the relative Import¬ 
ance of these three qualifications is not rightly* 
estimated; and that there are other qualities of no 
less value which are not directly tested by school 
competition. 
A somewhat varied experience of men has led 
me, the longer 1 live, to set the less value on 
mere cleverness—to attach more and more Impor¬ 
tance to industry and to physical endurance. 
Indeed, 1 am much disposed to think that endur¬ 
ance Is the most valuable quality of all, for lu- 
dustry, as the desire to work hard, docs not come 
to much it a feeble frame is Unable to respond to 
the desire. Everybody who has Had to make his 
way In the world must know that while the occa¬ 
sion for intellectual effort ot a high order Is 
rare, It constantly* happens that a man’s future 
turns upon Ids Toeing able lo stand a sudden and 
a heavy strain upou his powers of endurance. 
To a lawyer, a physician, or a merehanl It may be 
everything to be able to work sixteen hours a day 
for as long as Is needful without knocking up. 
Moreover, the patlcuco, tenacity, and good humor 
which arc among the most important qualifications 
for dealing with men. are Incompatible with an 
irritable brain, a weak stomach, or a defective 
circulation. If any of you prize-witmers were a 
son of mine—as might have been the case, I am 
glad to thlnlc, on former occasions—and a good 
fairy were to offer to equip him according to my 
wishes lor the battle of practical lire. 1 should say, 
“ l do not care to trouble! you lor auy more clever¬ 
ness. l’ui in as much Industry as you can Instead; 
and oli! If you please, a broad, deep chest and a 
stomach of whose existence he shall never know 
anything. I should be well content with the pros¬ 
pects of a follow so endowed. The other point 
which J wish to Impress upon you Is, that 
competitive examination, useful and excellent 
as It Is for some purposes, is only a very partial 
test of what the winners will be worth In practical 
life. There are people who are neither very clever 
nor very industrious, nor very strong, and who 
would probably be nowhere lh an examination, 
and who yet exert a great lniluence iu virtue of 
what Is called force of character. They may not 
know much, but they take care that what they do 
know they know* well. They may not be very 
quick, but the knowledge they acquire sticks, 
'l'hey may not even be particularly* industrious or 
efidurlng, but they are strong of will and firm ot 
purpose, undaunted by fear of responsibility, sin¬ 
gle-minded, and trustworthy. In practical life a 
man Of tills sort Is worth any number of merely 
clever and learned people. 
Ot course l do not mean to imply for a moment 
that success In examination is Incompatible with 
the possession of character such as 1 have just de¬ 
fined It, but failure lu examination is no evidence 
ol the w ant of such character. And this leads me 
to administer Irom my point of view* the crumb of 
comfort which on these occasions Is ordinarily 
offered to those whoso names do not appear upon 
the prize list. It. Is quite true that practical life Is 
a kind of long competitive exam!nation, conductor 
| by that severe pedagogue Professor i Ireumsia^jJ, 
I Hut my experience leads me lo conclude that lify 
yuarks are given much more for diamoiev i lain ihr 
cleverness. Hence, though 1 have no doubt that 
those boys who have received prizes to-day have 
already given rise to a fair hope that the future 
may see them prominent, perhaps brilliantly dis¬ 
tinguished members of society; yet neither do I 
think it at all unlikely that among the undistin¬ 
guished crowd there may He the making of some 
simple soldier whose practical sense and Indomita¬ 
ble courage may save an army led by character¬ 
less cleverness to thebvluk of destruction; or some 
plain man of business who by (lint of sheer honesty 
and Jlmmeas may slowly and surely rise to pros¬ 
perity and honor, when Ills more brilliant com¬ 
peers, for lack of character, have gone down, with 
all who trusted them, to hopeless ruin, such 
things do happen. Hence let none of you be dis¬ 
couraged. Those wlxo have won prizes have made 
a good beginning ; those who have not, may yet 
make that good ending which is better than a 
good beginning. No life Is wasted unless It ends 
In sloth, dishonesty, or cowardice. No success Is 
worthy of Uie uarne unless It Is won by honest in¬ 
dustry and brave breasting of the waves of for¬ 
tune. unless at the end or life some exhalation of 
the dawn still hangs about the palpable and the 
The following Is the substance of an address by 
Professor Huxley on the occasion of the distribu¬ 
tion of prizes to me University College .School boys 
on August i. It Is both entertaining anil instruct¬ 
ive and is well worthy of perusal by all the boys 
who read the Rural 
What sort ol lellows are those who w*ln prizes ? 
is there In all the long list which we have gone 
through to-day the name of a single boy who is 
dull, slow*, Idle, and sickly? 1 am sorry to say that 
I have not the pleasure of knowing any ol the 
prize-winners this year personally—but I take upon 
myself to answer, certainly not- nay, l will go so 
tar as to affirm that the boys to whom 1 have had 
the pleasure of giving prizes to-day, take them 
altogether, are the sharpest, quickest, most indus¬ 
trious, aud strongest boys In the school. But by 
strongest, I do not exactly mean those who can 
lift the greatest weights or jump furthest,butthose 
who have most endurance. You will observe, 
again, that 1 say take them altogether. I do not 
doubt that outside the list of prize-winners there 
may be boys ol keener Intellect than any who are 
in it disqualified by lack of Industry or luck of 
health, aud there may be highly industrious boys 
who are uufortunately dull or sickly; aud there 
may be athletes who are still more untortunately 
either Idle or stupid, or both. Quickness In learn¬ 
ing, readiness and accuracy in reproducing what 
la learnt, industry, endurance—these arc the qual¬ 
ities mixed lu various proportions, which are found 
in boys who win prizes. Now there Is not the 
smallest doubt that every due ol these qualities Is 
of great value In practical life. Upon whatever 
career you may enter, Intellectual quickness, In¬ 
dustry, and the power of bearing fatigue are three 
great advantages. But I want to Impress upon 
you, and through you upon those who will direct 
your future course, the conviction which I enter 
fa milia r; unless there Is some transformation of 
the real into the best dreams of youth, depend* 
upon it w hatever outward success may have gath¬ 
ered round, a man, he Is but an elaborate and a 
mischievous failure. 
-- 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. 
Beak Uncle Mark:— I thought I would like to 
nave another little chat with you about my gar¬ 
den. l sold the last of my radishes about the mid¬ 
dle of duly, with the exception or a lew that 1 left 
for seed; but those that l let remain, do not run 
up to seed at all, the roots keep growl ug larger and 
larger, I fear they will not go to seed, on the 
fourth day of duly 1 received a package of Dolly 
Dutton Sweet Corn. I planted It on the fifth. I 
have now realized about two dollars for my garden 
produce, and have not disposed of everything yet. 
We planted our Defiance wheat about the last of 
April, it grew nicely for a while, but all at once it 
began to turn a little yellow, headed out all right 
but not a kernel of w*heat could be found in the 
heads. Our l'roll tie corn has grown rrom 10 to 12 
feet in hight and still keeps on growing, It. has 
tasseled and begun to silk, but I fear It will not 
get ripe before frost, llow sad it always makes 
me reef to have our garden and bright flowers cut 
down by Dost, i turn my attention to the caie 
of house plants In the winter, f have some flue 
deranlums, among other plants. I have the 
prom lie or three more In a short time, a Rose, 
Halsant, and a fine Double Geranium, they are all 
presents to me, and 1 prize them very highly. In 
a Short time I am going to the woods with my 
mamma to gather leaf mold for repotting my 
plants. I want to tell my cousins that I have 
some chickens and ducks as well as] plants, My 
ducks know their names. I expect to go to the 
fair this fall as we live only a short distance from 
the fair ground. If I do go I will tell you of some 
of the nice things I see there. Good-b3*e for the 
present. Walter Q. Gayhakt. 
Lucas Co., Ohio. 
Dear Uncle Mark My little daughter Elinor 
aged seven, and her brother George six years old, 
are very anxious to join your Ifori lcultural club, 
and they wish me to write for them as they “print” 
with difficulty. They planted corn this year aud 
squashes; and they also have an Interest in the 
flower garden, l think your club is destined to 
accomplish a great deal of good among the youth 
or our country, in stimulating a love for rural 
pleasures. All children naturally love flowers, but 
many have no opportunity to develop this love. 
I remain, yours truly, 
Chula, Va. _ i. w. is. 
Dear Uncle Mark and cousins:— My garden 
has done splendidly this summer atter the rain. 
We had a fine rain the iOth ot August, It was very 
dry before that. This is the third year that we 
have had a drought. Dolly Vardcn, 1 do riot want 
you to scare me like that again; I almost jumped 
out of my boots. Well, I must close or this may 
find its way to the waste basket as my last one 
did, so good-bye. Lake Side. 
Wesley vine, Pa. 
Dear Uncle Mark: —The Rural has been a 
welcome visitor in our house this long time, aud it 
Is a splendid paper. I love to read the “ Reading 
for tne Young ” and the letters from the cousins 
arc interesting. If you will accept mo as a mem¬ 
ber of your Horticultural Club, I will write again, 
and speak about my plants. 1 hope this will not 
find the waste-basket. Yours truly. 
Prospect, Ohio. Milo Oast. 
Uncle M a kk :-I thank you for t he seeds you sent 
me, some grew and some did not. The Asters are 
splendid. The melons, beets and lettuce were all 
nice. The weather was too dry here In May for 
anything to grow well. I have a number of plants, 
some are very nice. Farewell, Uncle Mark, may 
the Lord bless you In thl3 world and in the next. 
Mont. Co., Ohio. Daniel Wauner. 
Dear Uncle Mark and Rural Cousins I am 
very much interested in the boys’ and the girls’ 
letters. 1 have been readlug them this morning 
aud 1 thought I would write one. I like to tend 
the flowers aud the vegetables. I would like to 
join the Horticultural Club if you will accept me. 
Wash. Co., Oregon. Okin Gould. 
Dear Uncle Mark:—1 should like to Join the 
Horticultural Club, If you will put my name down. 
I have a few plants, one Is a Castor Oil plant. 1 
like to read the cousins’ letters. Yours truly, 
Norfolk Co., Mass. Alukkt Thorpe. 
Dear Uncle Mark:—I received the book last 
Monday and return many thanks. 1 have read It 
nearly through and am very well pleased with It. 
HIDDEN PARTS OF A FLOWER. 
1. That raaca-ly Xerxes shot a sick man. 
2. Ico RoUand Is very sick. 
3. My pet, a lie is a slu. 
4. This tame Nanny goat. 
5. Philip, 1 still love him. 
c. Poll enticed me to play truant. 
7. Don’t bunny Jump oddly? 
S. Eric Otyle done a mean trick. 
9. See the caps U len wears. 
10. Pet, 10 left us In rage. 
11. The perl car passed fairyland. 
12 . The race Meta won. 
13. Make It toped, uncle. 
14. Can’t her word suffice ? 
15. Who “ R. L.” is, 1 wonder. 
ssr Answer In two weeks. Little One. 
GEOGRAPHICAL DECAPITATIONS AND 
CURTAILMENTS. 
l. Behead an English river, and leave a ridge In 
cloth. 2. curtaU a town near Minneapolis, and 
leave a military cap. 3. Behead and curtail a 
New England city, and leave a kind of liquor. 4. 
Behead a Scottish lake, aud leave to assert. 5. 
Curtail a river in south America, and leave raw 
herbs cut and dried. <5. Behead and cmtall a 
Spanish town, and leave a luminary. 
Answer in two weeks. Uncle Will. 
IH - 
DROP LETTER PUZZLE. 
W-b- t-e-i-k-d -a- t-r-o-h -w-y -r-m-i- w-c-e-n-s- 
w-l-h h- h-t- c-m-l-t-d -n- d-e-li -h-t -h-c-1- 1-w-u- 
a-d -1-U-, h- s-a-l -a-e -1- s-u- a-l-e. Fill the blanks 
and And a text of Scripture, 
car Answer in two weeks. l. 
DIAGONAL PUZZLE. 
l. A consonant. 2. The ending of many words. 
3. Even (npostrophied), 4. A metal (reversed). 5. 
A style of architecture. 0. A Scottish dukedom. 
Prlmals and diagonals form two European cities, 
car Answer in two weeks. l. o. 
——-♦♦♦--- 
PUZZLER ANSWERS—Sept. 27. 
Enioma.— 1“ Alice A. Harrison.” To find the answer, 
take the letter of each line cor responding in number to 
the number of the line -time; the first letter ut Uie nist 
line, the second of the second, nod so on to the torn - 
teeutli.J 
AcbohtioalEnigma.—FAITH RIPLEY. 
Hidden Channels.—L Kennedy; 3 Wellington, ?. 
Coekburn; 4. Bahama; 5. Owen; 6 . Efcfrfpo; 7. Talanti; 
S. Trikiri; 9. Meleda. 
Puzzler.—J uly, August, September, October, No¬ 
vember, 
0CT. U 
^abbatljllfabuuv 
THE PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF 
CHRIST. 
The following Item Is circulating through the 
papers, and it has Inspired the comments which 
accompany It: 
“M. Mezlere’s doubt ot the authenticity of M. 
Renan's description of the personal appearance of 
st. I’aul appears to have set the Paris book¬ 
worms at work delving among the works of the 
early church fathers. The result is not only the 
justification of Renan, but a good many curious 
discoveries of which the fOUowlng are perhaps the 
most notable, st. Clement of Alexandria, thus 
sketches the Saviour; “Jesus had no beauty of 
face; his person offered no physical attractions; 
he only possessed beauty of soul, which Is the 
true beauty.” “St. iremeus. a disciple of St. 
l’olycarp, who was a disciple of St. John, wrote 
that his master had Often heard the beloved dis¬ 
ciple say that tlm hair of Jesus had already turned 
white when he began ills mission.” 
To us, the last sentence ot this stray waif float¬ 
ing upon the sea ot newspaper comment Is ex¬ 
tremely touching. We have read nothing for a 
long time which we have thought of so often. It 
expresses what we had not conceived before see¬ 
ing it In thlsform. Tbecondemnatlon ottlieJews 
aud their cry of “ cruelty him,” the arraignment 
before Pilate, the bufferings of the Roman sol¬ 
diery, the last utterances upon the cross and the 
dying cry, are tearfully familiar to us all; but 
that the weight ot his great mission boro upon 
him with such magnitude that ho became pre¬ 
maturely gray, awakens a new thrill of compassion 
within us. 
It Is plain to understand from so many discrep¬ 
ancies in the testimony of those ivho wrote on the 
subject that there Is no authentic description of 
Christ as he appeared on earth, lu spite of the last 
comments of a sympathizing commentator. That 
of Lentleulas Is plainly made up from imagination, 
credible as it may seem. Still Ills singular that 
there should be no written description preserved 
by one who must have known him face lo face and 
who seemed to have failed to have written out, for 
preservation, the characteristics of so wonderful a 
being. The fact of existence is autheniicatod In 
profane history, but his appearance Is nowhere 
described so as to bo reliable, lrenaus wrote from 
hearsay. The gospels are silent, also the apostolic 
fathers. A hundred years had elapsed before the 
discussion arose as lo Ills fairness or ugliness. 
Justin Martyr, Terlullieii aud cyril took die home¬ 
ly side of the argument, because ot the passage In 
Isaiah which reads that lie had no form of comeli¬ 
ness and no beauty that wo should desire him. 
Ambrose, Jerome and their coterie declared the 
opposite, that, he was beaut If uL lleasonlng from 
analogy the artistic and moral world have pro¬ 
nounced him the most beautiful type of a human 
.being, and there it seems the mutter must rest, 
iuntil some stono tablet, like the llosd.ta stone, 
shall be unearthed to tell us the truth. But for 
some cause the real physical appearance or Christ 
bids fair not to be known to his most devoted fol¬ 
lowers.— Christian AUvorate. 
--♦-*-•■- 
“WHAT MEANEST TH0UT” 
“ Wuat meanest thou 7” were the words ad¬ 
dressed to Jonah, when, under the displeasure or 
God, he was sleeping lu the midst of the storm. lie 
was a Christian, but a Christian asleep. Duty 
called him, danger threatened him, hut the apathy 
ot sleep was upon him. He was not awake to 
either the duty or the danger. The fact that ho 
was Inert and sleepy did not remove the duty, nor 
in t he least diminish the danger, lie was sleeping 
when any sane man should have been awake aud 
putting forth aU Ills efforts to save lives in such 
a storm. 
What wonder that, In astonishment, they shake 
aud arouse him, crying to him, *■ What meanest 
thou?” None but God and Ills own heart then 
knew the story of his disobedience lo God’s com¬ 
mands: aud yet, these people seem intuitively to 
have concluded that sleep, under such Circum¬ 
stances, was in Itself evidence of criminality. 
They riled the lot, and the lot tell on guilty Jouah. 
Alas! how many Christians sleep 1 Worldly peo¬ 
ple regard them with astonishment. If their lallh 
is no fictlon.how cun such a stupor rest upou them? 
The duty ol acti ve service to God Is a reality, the 
danger to impenitent souls Is Imminent, and to 
such poor, apathetic Christians, who cannot realize 
cither of these facta, God win send some voice, lu 
his providence, which shall startle them from out 
their stupor with the call, “ What meanest thou?” 
Bo Jonah saw great and sore trouble; but “when 
his soul fainted within him,” then he remembered 
the Lord, and said, “ I will pay what I have 
vowed.” 
Disciplinary trials await drowsy Christians. They 
are sent by a loving Father to recall us to a sense 
of our duty; and an aroused Christian conscience 
can only respond iu this one way, and in penitence 
for past failure In duty cry with Jonah, “I will 
pay what I have vowed.”— American Messenger, 
--- 
A whiter In the Evangelist has called attention 
to a small but very common error wblch older peo¬ 
ple ns well as children make In repeating the 
familiar little prayer, ” And now 1 lay me down to 
sleep.” Urobably there are few persons who do 
not use the definite article •* the” before the word 
“Lord” lu the second and fourth lines. By so 
doing they simply make an affirmation and not an 
invocation. Tlita writer with very good reason 
holds that the prayer should be given as follows: 
Aud now 1 lay mu clown to Bleep. 
I i>ruy Tlmu Lord, my soul to keep ; 
If I should die before 1 wake, 
I pray 7V<\ Lord, my Boul to take. 
---♦» » —- 
No man can be provident of Ms time who is not 
prudent In the choice of Ms company, 
