The refuse of the hay, straw, or corn-stalks 
still covers the floor. Hens, pigeons, and other 
farm stock are allowed to run over this cover¬ 
ing. They should all be cleaned out, and the 
contents placed in the manure pile. Most of 
it is too filthy for bedding. workman. 
pomologies L 
THE LICKLY APPLE. 
Last October we received specimens of the 
apple shown at Figs. 230 and 281, from J. D. 
Licbly, Jefferson, Michigan. He has in his 
orchard seven trees of the sort, planted 28 
years ago, which came originally from Orleans 
County, N. Y., having been grafted before 
they were sent to Michigan. The trees are as 
vigorous as any in his neighborhood, and more 
so than most. They resemble the Baldwin in 
upright growth, but are much hardier and 
healthier. Not one of the sort has died since 
they were set out, though Northern Spys, 
Baldwins and Tompkin’s Kings have died be¬ 
exf house illustrated at Figs. 235-6-7, p.[3.53.3 It 
was designed by Mr. Clarence B. Cutler, of 
Troy, N. Y., and is to our mind a very ideal 
of comfort and convenience. It cost, in round 
figures, *5,000. ~ It stands in an exposed posi¬ 
tion, consequently much heavier timber is re¬ 
quired than would be needed in a more shel¬ 
tered place. The cellar wall was made two feet 
thick, as the stone, could be had in any quan¬ 
tity for the hauling. The outside walls are 
formed of 2xt‘,-inch studding, lath and plaster¬ 
ed inside aud hovered on outside with spruce 
flooring matched, then two thicknesses of 
heavy paper, and six-inch siding. The outside 
is fitted with three coats of white paint- The 
inside wood-work is nibbed smooth find pol¬ 
ished. The kitchen and pantry wood-work is 
oiled and varnished. The roof is covered with, 
shingles double-coated with Cabot’s creosote 
wood stain. The flooring in the kitchen and 
pantry is of Georgia pine smoothed and oiled; 
in the dining-room, office, and hall, it is of ma¬ 
ple, polished and oiled: and in the sitting-room 
and parlor, of clear white spruce. All the 
floors are laid on sub-floors, with two thiek- 
LICKLY APPLE. From Nature. Fig. 230. 
side them. They bear annually, with very few 
exceptions; but they bear more fruit some 
years than others. They are the heaviest 
bearers in his orchard. Insects do not seem to 
injure them. The fruit is famous for its excel¬ 
lence in that neighborhood, being less gnarly 
and wormy than any other sort. It ripens 
ana keeps like the Northern Spy, and is con¬ 
sidered an excellent dessert and fair cooking 
apple. 
As received, it was conical and long, and a 
little irregular. Stem short (% inch), slender, 
planted in a small regular cavity, the inside of 
which was covered with russet. Calyx large, 
opeu segments, erect, situated in a shallow, 
slightly corrugated basin. Color, ground, a 
russety yellow -greenish about thp calyx, and 
the whole apple nearly covered with a bright¬ 
nesses of heavy paper between. The partition 
studding is all braced, and the flooring timbers 
are all bridged every eight feet. Ventilating 
flues run from the floor of every room to the 
peak of the house, up near the heater flues. 
These latter flues warm the air and thus keep 
up a perfect circulation, and the air in every 
room is kept pure. A tank is placed in the 
attic, and a force pump is in use on the kitchen 
sink. Water is warmed by the kitchen 
stove, in a boiler, for the bath-room and 
kitchen purposes. This well built house surely 
comes very near to the ideal family residence. 
It is stroug, attractive, convenient and com¬ 
fortable. From illustrations of this kind in¬ 
tending builders may obtain many useful sug¬ 
gestions without following exactly the plans 
described. 
LICKLY APPLE. Cross Section. Fig. 231. 
troiuced. It does hot yield well with us.— 
Eds.] _ 
I see that Ellwanger & Barry have been 
kindly reminding their patrons aud novices 
in fruit culture that peach trees always bear 
their fruit upon wood of last season’s growth. 
Now that is in fact the old accepted notion and 
belief. But here along the Hudson River we 
have about lost faith in the doctrine. For two 
years in succession we have had no peaches on 
wood of any sort, and now the trees are dying 
in large numbers, and some of the impatient 
growers are beginning to doubt, whether peach 
trees are likely to produce fruit even upon 
wood of future growth. Can it he that our 
modern peach buds are more sensitive than 
their ancestors, or are they subject to greater 
trials? 
IIow many Rural readers have planted 
seeds of the Chinese Primrose? Seeds sown 
now in pots, placed in a gentle hot-bed make 
fine plants, which will come into bloom in 
November or December, and remain in full 
flower all Winter and Spring. Nothing is 
more charming in a sunny window. The 
plants themselves, as they develop from the 
seed during the Summer, are beautiful aud 
interesting in their wild-wood freshness. 
They should he protected from the direct rays 
of the sun and kept cool. Water sparingly 
at first, and keep the pots in a frame on the 
north side of a wall, or other similar protec¬ 
tion. until ready to bring in for flowering. 
Get the very best seed. I already have a fine 
lot of little plants just showing the third leaf 
from imp< >rted seed—choicest strains. Beauti¬ 
ful double flowers are oftefi obtained in this 
way. 
Minnewaska Blackberry. —This new 
blackberry, not yet disseminated, I believe, 
has again emerged from the Winter alive to 
the tips, here in the Hudson River Valley. 
This feature of hardiness has loug been the 
pressing need of blackberry growers at the 
North. If with the exceptional productive¬ 
ness. good size aud quality so far evinced by 
the Miunewaska it shall continue to combine 
iron-clad vigor, it will be a valuable acquisi¬ 
tion. H. H. 
Kingston-on-tlie-Hudson. 
farm (Topics. 
FARM NOTES. 
Too Many Cocks. — I have been examining 
the poultry ou some of the furrns about me. 
On one I found one rooster to every live hens, 
and on another one to every four hens. The 
average seems to be about one rooster to every 
seven hens. What the extra roosters are for 
is a question. They are of all sizes and ages; 
they are constantly lighting aud chasing the 
liens about, and are of uo use whatever 
There are too mauv roosters on every farm. 
At least 50 per cent- of them could very pro¬ 
fitably bo killed off. 
Garlic Flavor in Milk. —Many dairy 
cows are giving “oniony” milk. This comes 
from eating the wild garlic which is too fre¬ 
quently found in our pastures. The taste is 
worse nt night, and passes away somewhat as 
the milk cools. The butter appears to he 
slightly affected. Cows seem to prefer the 
weed while It. is youugand tender; as it grows 
older and tough they care less for it. This 
suggests one means of shortening its power to 
do damage. Keep the cattle out of the pas¬ 
tures until the grass has a better growth. The 
garlic is hard to eradicate when once it gets a 
footing in the pasture- Sheep nibble it down 
hut will not wholly drive itout. It can be kill¬ 
ed only as other weeds are destroyed—by hand 
digging, or by using the ground for hood crops 
and practicing elenu'culture. This plan is im¬ 
practicable in mauyplaces, as pastures are hired 
or of such poor soil tliat no docent, hoed crop 
could be raised without all the manure that is 
produced on the farm. 
Need of Weeding Jerseys.— Let a poor 
Jersey hull go into a neighborhood, and he 
will spoil the reputation of his breed for ever. 
There are Jerseys and Jerseys, but common 
farmers will uot understand it yet. Some fa¬ 
milies of Jerseys are but little better than 
scrubs for milk or butter. Every time a hull 
of one of these families is sold, the brood is in¬ 
jured. A fanner near me paid $20 for a Jer¬ 
sey grade ealf which, at three years old, is 
hardly able to pay for her keeping. She was 
bought simply because she was a “Jersey.” 
Her owner will uow do his best to convince all 
hearers that “Jerseys” are good for nothing. 
The Jersey breed will never be able to reach 
its proper place uutll breeders muster up cour¬ 
age enough to conduct a systematic killing of 
all poor hull calves. 
Glean Out the Refuse.— Many lofts aud 
sheds have not beeu cleaned out this Spring. 
red, thickly streaked with dark-maroon red 
stripes, somewhat irregular, with many small, 
gray dots. Core small and sparsely filled 
with small, plump seeds. Flesh firm, fine¬ 
grained, juicy, mild sub-acid and very pleas- 
aut- Color of flesh white, slightly tinged w ith 
a creamy hue. Skin very solid and hard. 
Quality very good, spicy aud pleasant. A 
handsome aud good dessert apple. 
Clrrljilccliirf. 
A COMFORTABLE ^RESIDENCE. 
Through the kindness of Mr. W. C. Good¬ 
rich, of West Troy, N. Y., we are enabled to 
how our readers the exceediugly well arraug- 
ftwrat (Topics. 
Experiment <$ rounds of the it aval 
gtero-$}otkex. 
Mikado and Turner’s Hybrid the Same. 
—During the present season two new tomatoes 
were placed before the public as the Mikado 
and Turner's Hybrid—the first by Fetor Heu- 
derson & Co.; the second by W. At.lee Bur¬ 
pee & Co. Both firms speak of it as entire¬ 
ly distinct, enormously productive of extra 
large, solid fruit, which isunequalcd in flavor. 
We ordered seeds of each and sowed them. 
The plants are uow two feet high. The leaves 
are distinct from all other tomatoes we have 
ever seen, but it is impossible to distinguish th« 
Mikados from the Turner’s Hybrid. Mr. Hen¬ 
derson, in, reply to* our question, says that 
the variety was obtained from a man near 
Jersey City. Mr. Burpee obtained his seeds 
from a man named Turner, whose address is 
lost. Certain peculiarities of the stems, color 
and hairs of the leaves, as well as their odd 
entire shape, lead to the inference that the 
Mikado aud Turner’s Hybrid are one and the 
same, though evidently coming from two 
different sources. The true origin of this 
variety is a matter of interest in the future 
improvement of the tomato, as it is plainly a 
decided departure from those in cultivation. 
Early Asparagus. —Our neighbor, Mr. 
W. Williams covers his asparagus bed before 
the severe frosts of early Winter with six 
inches of manure. In the Spring it is re¬ 
moved. The shoots are then found to be 
pushing from the protection they have thus 
received, and he secures asparagus a week or 
so earlier than others who raise it in the usual 
way. 
G'atalpa Speciosa. —Tliis, as we have re¬ 
marked, is growing near the house on the 
north side, securing oidy the early morning 
and late afternoon sun. The Common Cataipa 
enjoys a full southern exposure. Neverthe¬ 
less, the Western or Hardy Cataipa, as it is 
called (C. speciosa), broke bud about one week 
before the other. We have never had the 
least doubt as to the distinctness of these two 
trees since we have had the opportunity of 
comparing them, and we dare say that doubts 
exist only in the minds of those who have 
taken but little pains to inform themselves. 
PITHS FROM SUBSCRIBERS. 
Too many farmers kill their calves or sell 
them for a song. My best cows are the ones 
I have raised. I want to know the record of 
a calf’s mother, grandmother and great-grand¬ 
mother. I don’t want to read this record in a 
book, but to milk it out with my own hands. 
My calves never kuow what it is to suck the 
cow. I feed them on new milk for three 
weeks and then gradually “taper off” to skim- 
milk. Oats or bran are the best grain food. 
I won’t let a calf run out to be tortured by 
flies. Common bread soaked in water and 
boiled into a gruel, makes a fine calf food. I 
always castrate my bull calves before they are 
10 days old. I would never let a young calf 
that I cared much for stay oat in the dew, 
rain or wet. I breed my heifers as young as 
they will stand. I prefer to do this and then 
let them rest after their first calf. It pays to 
make cows out of them as soon as you can. 
Feed them well aud there will be no lack of 
vigor. Dairymen are too stingy with their 
sweer milk. They won’t put a few quarts of it 
into a good calf. That is where they make a big 
mistake. dairyman. 
Steuben Co., N. Y. 
My mortgage is off. I believe the tile drains 
I have put in helped carry part of it away. 
Most people here have failed with Delaware, 
Brighton, Lady Washington and Duchess 
(i rapes, while mine, over tile, have done extra 
well and jmy better than common sorts. Onions, 
asparagus and rhubarb are all from seed, and 
are successful—thanks to the underdrains. 
Putting money out at drainage is like putting 
it into the bank. j. k. p. 
Knoxville, Tenn. 
I saw in the Rural, last year, an account 
of an experiment made with “floats”—finely 
ground South Carolina rock. It started me 
into a little experiment. I got a bag and put 
it on my wheat, I took one strip through th e 
field and I can pick it out uow without any 
trouble. It may not be the “floats,” but some¬ 
thing has done the business for it. 
Orange Co., N. Y. h. m. c. g. 
WE’get a “fancy” price for our poultry and 
eggs; that is. we get just twice as much as 
farmers do who send their produce to the com¬ 
mission men. A lady who boarded with us 
one Summer liked our eggs and chickens so 
well that she asked us to send her some after 
she weut back to the city. We did so, and 
she gave us lots of free advertising; that is, 
she told her friends about the pure, fresh, 
country eggs she was getting. The result was 
that her friends wanted some too, and this 
list of customers has grown until we have all 
we can do to supply orders. I suppose most 
“fancy markets” are started in about this 
way. There are always people who want the 
best and air ready to pay well for it. The 
trouble is to gniu the confidence of such peo¬ 
ple and make them believe that you are honest 
and careful. It costs much time and patience 
to gain such customers, but it is a paying 
business. j. h. g. 
Queens Co., L. I. 
The Wire-Grass region of Georgia and the 
Carolinas is recommended, as a sheep country. 
These localities are better for sheep raising 
