THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Now, what is to be done ? Am I to conclude 
It is a failure and discard it ? I do not think 
so, but I think I have learned something of its 
nature and requirements. As many of the 
Rubai, readers have doubtless learned this 
season, this corn is a very rank grower, mak¬ 
ing a wonderful growth of both stalk and 
foliage. It is consequently a gross feeder, re¬ 
quiring au abundance of available plant-food 
to meet its requirements. A rich soil deeply 
6 tirred, with plenty of moisture, seems to be 
demanded by this plant. Another condition 
required for success with it, Is abundance of 
room. If I were planting for the best results 
in this part of the country, I should plant at 
least four feet apart each way; and am not 
sure but 4| by 4F would be still better. I 
should then never leave more than two stalks 
in a hill. It grows so tall and has such a 
wealth of foliage that it requires considerable 
roomfor the sunlight and air to pass through It. 
This corn has some qualities that recom¬ 
mend it to tho attention, among which arc its 
prolific character, the smallness of the cob and 
its comparative immunity from the ravages of 
worms. As I have said above, when it does 
well it yieldB enormously. Mr. Blount speaks 
of trying to still farther reduce the size of the 
cob. This seems to be scarcely needed, as 
the cob is already so slender that it requires 
rather careful handling in husking and shell¬ 
ing to prevent breaking the cob near the 
middle. Besides, a small cob is not considered 
so desirable a quality in this country as in 
other places, on account of the fact that corn 
cobs are generally used for fuel, so a large 
cob Is desirable rather than objectionable. 
One difficulty we have to contcud with in 
our corn crops in this region is the spindle- 
worm, which works in the grain on the car. 
Frequently almost every ear is more or less 
injured by this insect. The Blount corn, ou 
account of the closeness of the husk or other 
cause, ie very little damaged by this injurious 
caterpillar. This enables us to market it at 
a better price than can be obtained for corn 
otherwise as good, if not superior. 
My experience with this corn leads me to 
these conclusions:—1, where the conditions 
are favorable, it is a profitable crop to raise; 
2 , its liability to failure iu the absence of 
these favorable conditions, at least in this 
country, renders it unsafe to depend upon it 
for a principal crop. In conclusion therefore 
I would say: those who have been charmed 
with Its vigor, prolificacy, etc., this year, should 
plaut with caution next year, while those 
who have been disappointed in it, should not 
condemn it without further trial. 
Reno Co., Kan. 
Jfacm ®aj)irs. 
AUTUMN WORK. 
Ouk object in this article is not to give any 
definite hints or instructions in regard to par¬ 
ticular work to bo done at this season of the 
year, but rather to offer some suggestions on 
the general principles that should guide us in 
deciding on the method and order of fall work, 
and, from the errors of the past season, to 
point out the mistakes which the careful 
farmer should avoid next year. Prominently 
In the mind of every farmer at this season of 
the year should rest the great fact that 
Winter Is Coining. 
Future rain, wind, snow, frost and steady 
cold, with frozen ground, are, each and all, 
important factors in deciding the question, 
often a puzzling one, what class of work or 
what particular job of work shall be done 
first. Roads, markets and varying prices 
must be considered, too. A general knowledge 
of the condition of the crops throughout the 
country will be deemed essential by every in¬ 
telligent farmer in deciding whether to market 
or hold any particular crop; and to gain this 
knowledge he will carefully read two or three 
good agricultural papers that give reliable In¬ 
formation on this point from all parts of our 
broad land. 
These general principles will become clearer 
by a few illustrations. For instance, take the 
factor, frost. Thousands of acres of hill corn 
this year, in the Middle and Eastern States, 
had the stalks entirely ruined for fodder by a 
September frost. We refer to those parts of 
the country chiefly east of Indiana, where the 
fodder of hill corn is deemed an important 
Item—indeed, the one item that makes corn- 
raising pay at all in competition with the 
“Great West.” Now Ibis corn was sufficiently 
ripe (glazed) to cut up and “6hock” before the 
frost came. But other fall work was pressing, 
and corn-cnttlug was deferred, till finally a 
big September rain cooled the air, and a stiug- 
lng frost settled the fodder question. The wri¬ 
ter chanced to drive 50 miles the day after the 
frost, and saw scores of farmers eagerly cut¬ 
ting up the corn, just one day too late. Almost 
any other fall work might better have been 
deferred. Not a day should have been lost 
after the ears were glazed so as not to shrink 
by the cutting of the stalks, 
Again, suppose that, October 1st, the roads 
are good, weather fair, late potatoes ripe or 
the tops killed by frost, and prices high, but 
the acreage and yield large throughout the 
country. The shrewd farmer, knowing these 
facts, and living within a day's drive of a good 
city market or country shipping station, will 
strain every nerve to dig, team and market 
his potatoes before the roads grow heavy or 
tho market breaks. “The earlybird catches 
the worm." 
Or, again, suppose the general acreage and 
yield to be small, or the roads bad and the 
weather “catching.” Now the shrewd farmer 
will use his best endeavors iu fair weather to 
get his potatoes out of the wet ground and 
into tire dry cellar or Btore-liouee. He will let 
the marketing go, lest old Winter freeze his 
potatoes in before he yets them in. All other 
work will receive the "go-by.” 
In general, it Is well to drive the work and 
not let the work drive you. Once behind, aud 
it is hard to catch up. We know some farmers 
who were born two weeks too late, and have 
irever yet made up that fortnight! Aud a 
farmer trying to catch up with his oustriding 
work, is like the belated passenger trying to 
catch the departing train—both find it “np-hill 
work" even on level ground. The farm, like 
the “steam wagon," will always have a pas¬ 
senger aboard that it has “left behind.” It is 
far better, we repeat, to drive or he a little 
ahead of the work. For example, it is well to 
have the marketing of early apples, potatoes, 
etc., as well as all cutting and curing of after- 
math, Hungarian grass aud fodder corn—in¬ 
cluding hill corn—well out of the way in the 
pleasant weather of August or early Septem¬ 
ber, before the late potatoes and the winter 
fruit arc ready to handle. Then these can be 
promptly finished before the time for husking 
and other late fall work. When two pieces of 
work are both ready to be done at the same 
time, the general rule would be, of course— 
unless it he possible and wise to increase {he 
working force temporarily—to defer the one 
that cau be postponed with the least risk. For 
example, there is little risk iu deferring turf- 
plowing or tile-draining in October, hut great 
risk iu deferring the digging of potatoes, or 
the pulling, drying and housing of field beans 
after they are ready. And so 
The Lazy Man’s Motto, 
“Never do to-day what can be done just as 
well to-morrow ,” is often sound philosophy for 
the farmer iu deciding on the order of fail 
work. In general, wc should say that it is well 
to get ready for winter before beginning on 
tile draining, clearing rough pastures, plowing 
turf and similar work that can be suspended 
at any time or continued more or les6 through 
a mild winter. 
SALT AS A PREVENTIVE OF RUST AND AS 
A FERTILIZER. 
B. S. WY60R. 
It is worthy of note that the present fall has 
brought cut many inquiries through the col¬ 
umns of the agricultural press in regard to 
the virtues of common salt as a manure. Iu 
the columns of the Rural especially, I notice 
several questions as to when salt should be 
applied, and how much. As much Interest 
seems to bo manifested iu the subject, perhaps 
the following information, collected mainly 
from Johuson’s Encyclopedia of Agriculture, 
may prove of value. 
Salt u« a Preventive ami Destroyer of Rust. 
Salt, if not a complete preventive, is au 
effectual cure of the mildew. Mr. Chattcrion, 
a Lincolnshire fanner, 6ays, in the 44th vol. of 
the Anuals of Agriculture : “ On the seaside 
wheat is little damaged by the mildew, yet 
within three miles inland, the crops arc as 
much affected as those still further from tht 
sea. This fact can be supported by the ex¬ 
perience of most farmers whose fields skirt our 
native shores, aud unquestionably it iB owing, 
not only to tbe fact that soil contains a 
greater proportion of common salt than is 
found in more inland soils, but because the 
sea-breeze, which rises almost nightly in tbe 
summer season, bathes, as it were, tho crops 
iu the immediate viciuity of the coast, and this 
haze holds iu solution a portion of salt." (Has 
the Rural any information on this point 
in regard to the wheat fields bordering on our 
sea-coast?) [We have never raised a crop of 
wheat without rust, aud the Rural Farm is 
close to a salt-water bay. Spring wheats of 
last year were sensibly injured by it.— Eds.] 
It is well known, as it is an experiment 
which has been repeatedly tried, that a solution 
composed of one pound of salt to a gallon of 
witter—a safer solution would be 8 oz. of salt 
to the gallon of water—laid ou with a plaster¬ 
er’s brush, has completely subdued the rust 
after it had already considerably affected the 
wheat plant. It is said that two men will get 
over about four acres a day with thiB mixture. 
(It is evident that this application is not prac¬ 
ticable except on a very email scale.) The 
straw recovers its original color and brightness 
In less than 48 hours after the solution has been 
applied. The action of the salt is thus ex 
plainedMildew, being a parasitical plant of 
the fungus tribe, its principal constituent is 
water, and when salt is applied to it, the 
aqueous portions are immediately absorbed 
aud their vitality destroyed. 
Halt as a Manure. 
It would be, perhaps, difficult to name any 
other substance In the catalogue of modern fer¬ 
tilizers, whose powers have been so often and so 
warmly disputed, as common salt. The follow¬ 
ing conclusions, which I merely summarize, 
seem, however, to be established: 
1. In small proportions it promotes the de¬ 
composition of animal and vegetable sub¬ 
stances. 
2. It destroys vermin and kills weeds, which 
are thus converted into manure. 
3. It is a direct food of some plants; audit 
has been clearly ascertained that if salt is 
applied 10 the soil, the vegetables afterwards 
grown on that laud, are found to contain an 
increased proportion of common salt. 
4. Salt acts on vegetable substances as a 
stimulant. 
5. Salt preserves vegetables from injury by 
sudden transitions in the temperature of the 
atmosphere. That soils, when salted, do not 
freeze as readily as usual, is well known. (I 
have myBclf observed that in places where 
cattle arc wont to be salted, the ground seldom 
or never freezes.) 
0. Salt renders the earth more capable of 
absorbing the moisture of the atmosphere. 
Salt ruroly causes the wheat plaut to grow 
larger or taller, but it fills up the ear better, 
and brings the weaker plants forward. Mr. 
Sinclair tells us that salt appears to lessen the 
production of straw and increase the w eight of 
the grain. Salt should be applied some time 
before sowing the ,'seed, not less than ten or 
more than twenty bushels per acre. This 
quantity gives an increased yield of six bushels 
per acre. The subjoined experiment was con¬ 
ducted by Mr. Johnson himself in 1820. 
Produce per Acre. 
No. 1. Soil without rnamire for 4 years.^IS*' ' 26 
“ 2. Soil manured with stable dung- to 
the previous crop (potatoes). 26 52 
2. Soil with 5 bushels of Balt per acre, 
aud no other mauure for 4 jeare. 26 12 
As refuse salt cau be purchased at compara¬ 
tively cheap rates, I trust the experiments con¬ 
ducted this coming season, will give us more 
satisfactory evidence of its value. 
€ntomolo(jical. 
VINE-LEAF HOPPER.—(TettigoniaVitis.) 
s. B. RECK. 
Except the codliug-moth, the above-named 
insect pest is the most uncontrollable and uncon¬ 
querable I have ever encountered—and if any 
one can, through the Rural, give me and many 
others any valuable light on the subject, he 
shall have my most hearty thanks, and can call 
on me for a basket of grapes, taking his choice 
of my 25 bearing varieties. By a correspond¬ 
ence with Professor Riley, I learu that there 
are several generations of the vermin in a sea¬ 
son ; that the eggs are probably inserted In the 
veins on ^thc under side of the leaf; that the 
insect hibernates in the perfect form in any 
shelter ufforded by cracks or loose bark of the 
trellises or stakes and under the fallen leaves. 
I have for the two past seasons raked up all 
the fallen leaves and primings and burnt 
them, and on the appearance of the winged 
insect the past season, I drenched the viues 
with a solution of 10 pounds of lime with two 
ounces of sulphur, and with one drachm of 
carbolic acid to a gallon of water, aud one 
spoonful of beuzine to a pail of water. These 
two are supposed to mix with water, aud are 
used with a syringe; I also used kerosene 
poured onto water und skimmed off and ap¬ 
plied with a whisk. Moreover, I drenched the 
pests with tobacco tea; but it was all to no per¬ 
ceptible effect. I have burnt tar aud tobacco 
stems under them; put vinegar on chloride of 
lime under them; huDg sprigs of tauzy, of 
cedar, tomato vines and stramonium among 
the vines; burnt torches of fat pine, dipped in 
kerosene, among them by night aud by day, all 
of which, although the treatment has evidently 
disturbed them somewhat, has failed to dimin¬ 
ish their numbers or ravages. 
That they have a choice In the varieties of 
Grapes, like the rest of us, is quite evident. 
They seem to prefer, for first 4 choice, the Clin¬ 
ton, next the Taylor aud Winslow, leaving the 
Franklin, which is similar in fruit and leaf, 
preferring to that the Delaware, Iona and 
Israella. I find plenty of them also ou the ten 
varieties of Rogers’s Hybrids that I have, but 
the leaves of these being large and thick, their 
ravages on them are not so plain. They like 
tho Isabella much better than the Catawba or 
Diana. The Concord alone seems invulnerable to 
them, though the Hartford and Ives’s und a 
few others having similar leaves, are not 
much injured. The last remedy tried was 
firing an old Revolutionary musket under 
them, hoping to kill them by the concussion, 
as had been proposed ; but It only jarred some 
to the ground and astonished them, but seemed 
not to have hurt a hair of their heads. 
That many insects have a dislike to certain 
odors or perfumes and will avoid them, I am 
well satisfied. The evidence is quite strong that 
the presence of hogs aud sheep keeps away the 
codling-moth from their immediate neighbor¬ 
hood; but lhat the destruction of their larval 
by tbe eating of the uuripened fruit by these 
uuimals, has any perceptible effect in reducing 
tbe number of the pests, I cannot believe; for 
of the fallen unripe Irnit I venture to assert 
that not one in 50 falls with the worm In it. On 
my grounds a row of 24 Clinton vines of one 
year's growth, hud tomatoes transplanted 
between them. Before that there were evi¬ 
dences of these pests; but since a few days 
after that, not one has been seen there. The 
conclusion I arrive at is, that though these 
odors and appliances may keep off the parent 
insects, they have little effect In destroying 
their progeny, if applied: only after the hatch¬ 
ing of the eggs. I resolve therefore that in 
the event of no further light being thrown on 
this subject, I shall, before tying up the vines 
next spring, bespatter the wooden part of the 
trellises with the solution of lime and sulphur, 
using a garden 6yrlugo, and during summer, 
supplement this with the other strong-scented 
washes and sprigs. 
The cut-worm, the plum cnrcullo, the pear 
and cherry slug and the potato-beetle I know 
how to manage; the cabbage worm I never saw, 
because 1 neither raise nor eat cabbages : the 
lice on trees and plauts generally leave of them¬ 
selves after a year or two, as little Bopeep’s 
sheep carne home; hut these leaf-hoppers aud 
the apple worms steadily increase on my hands, 
or rather on my plants, in spite of all my offorts 
to diminish them. 
Muskegon Co., Mich. 
EXPERIENCE WITH FL0WER8. 
I lost three Coleuses ®f different kinds by 
not being ready for cold weather and Jack 
Frost. I had brought tbe plants I intended to 
keep up-stairs onto a south porch. The 
weather was so warm that I put off day after 
day the taBk of putting them in their winter- 
quarters—two shelves at a south window in 
my sitting-room. One night I was up rather 
late, and stepped on the porch before going to 
bed. The air seemed a little sharp, as though 
there was a touch of frost in it. We had had 
none to harm even the tomato vines, and they, 
you know, generally give the firBt sign of Jack 
Frost's presence. I was tired, it was late, and 
it would be no little work to carry all of the 
pots into the house, so I persuaded myself there 
would he no danger if they were left where 
they were. But to guard against risk, I picked 
up a table-cloth lying near, and spread It over 
the plants. In the morning—well, the ground 
looked as if snow had been sifted over every¬ 
thing, and my heart grew heavy at the thought 
of the beloved plants I had beeu so proud of. 
I hurried to ascertain how much harm they 
had suffered. I lifted the cover; all seemed 
right hut one Geranium, which was nearest 
the front and had been accidentally left un¬ 
covered. It was frozen stiff. I set it on one 
side, supposing, of course, it was killed. No 
Buch thing. As the sun gradually came up 
and rested upou it, and the air grew warmer, 
it thawod out, and now I do not know which 
one was frozen. The sun which saved my 
Geranium showed, as the day advanced, that 
more serious harm had been done. Three of 
my finest Coleuses gradually drooped and 
died. Of over 20 different kinds of plants, 
they were the only ones which perished. I 
had been told they were tender, but I supposed 
no more so than Salvias, Begonias, Achyran- 
theses aud others. 
Can Smilftx be grown luxuriantly in our 
common sitting-roomB? [Hardly.— Eds.] Mine 
troubles me considerably. It was sent to me 
last spring—a fine, large, dry bulb. I potted 
it and sank it in the ground. It started to 
grow finely. All at once it stopped growing ; 
the leaves turned yellow. I imagine it was 
because I did not water it enough. Again it 
started, aud thu potato bugs ate every leaf off 
of it. I cut it back, and now, a third time, it 
i6 trying to get a start, but it has not grown 
Bix inches in as many weeks. How do florists 
manage to raise it by yards, as they certainly 
do ? [Florists who grow Smilax largely have 
greenhouses in which they grow little or 
nothing else, and the soil, temperature aud 
moisture are made to conform to the require¬ 
ments of the plants.— Eds.] 
I found something queer, or at least it was so 
to me, on a small Abutilon. It had seemed to 
droop for several days, I thought perhaps from 
lack of water, but, as after watering it did not 
seem to recover, I picked It up one day to ex¬ 
amine It To my surprise the stem of the 
plant and even the leaf stems were all rough 
and knotty-like and brown in color. I took * 
