THE RURAL MEW-YORKER. 
JULY 3 
All animals should be photographed from life, 
and be presented by honest artists just as they 
are. 
SHAMS OF SEEDSMEN AND OTHERS. 
The shams of seedsmen run mostly into early 
varieties of plants. If all our fruits and vege¬ 
tables are to be eaten only in early Spring, 
what are we to do in Summer, Pall, and Win¬ 
ter? Then there is the new-variety sham. 
The potato! The earliest variety of this fine 
vegetable that I remember is the Neshannock; 
every' year since some spirited seedsman has 
been bringing forth some now potato: and now 
at last the old Neshannock is the finest flavor¬ 
ed of all! So of the grape, I began with the 
Catawba, have run through most of the mod¬ 
ern varieties, coming down to my last fruit 
age, the Lady, and the Catawba is the best 
table and wine grape after all. What strains 
upon the constitution of the moral sense! We 
have potatoes that will produce so much to the 
acre, which will not rot in the hill or in the 
cellar, which well stand wot and cold and 
drought, will not mildew, or even lie eaten by 
bugs or beetles! Then we have the log-of- 
wood muskmelon ami the carved seed and 
scale rind watermelon, and the seven-eared 
com, and the plums which the cnculio will 
not bite; then the wheat that came from the 
one-thousand-year-old mummy, and the to¬ 
bacco whicn was born of a single, unknown 
plaut; and the Shaughai chickens, because 
they are big; and the Bantams, because they 
are little! Some won’t lay and some won’t 
sit! and so on. What shall we say of silos and 
ensilage, commercial manure, silk and mul¬ 
berries, ducks and geese, pea fowls and Guinea 
hens, tea and coffee raising, sorghum and beet 
sugar, and all that? What of Angora goats 
and Shetland ponies; of Poland-China hogs, 
of Red Berksliires and Duroe-Jerseys; of 
Short-horns and Long-homs. of Jerseys, De¬ 
vons. Ayrshires and Herefords, and all cattle 
with horns and all without horns? What of 
South Downs and Oxford Downs and Shrop- 
shires, and long-wools and short-wools and 
middle-wools and fine-wools? I say, look out! 
there’s humbug somewhere. Very slightly 
helpful; be slow to touch; “try all things, 
hold fast what is good” on a small scale! Go 
with D. Crockett, “Be sure you are right and 
then go ahead. 
White Hall, Ky. 
CATALOGUES, ETC., RECEIVED. 
Louisiana Agriculture.—Biennial Re¬ 
port of the State Commissioner ok Ag¬ 
riculture. —A very' encouraging pamphlet. 
Too little has been told about the real state 
of agriculture iu the South. It is a section 
blessed with a bountiful soil aud climate, and 
cursed with a degraded labor and a set of de¬ 
cayed traditions. Immigrants have been un¬ 
able to find the happy medium between the 
blessing and the curse. Such pamphlets as 
this will be useful in pointing out the real re¬ 
sources of the State and her most crying 
needs. The four great staple crops in Louis¬ 
iana agriculture are cotton, sugar, rice and 
com. The cotton crop averages about 5<XUXX) 
bales, of which some 65 j>er cent, is produced by 
negro labor. Some 3tX),(KJ0 hogsheads of su¬ 
gar are produced, with 40,000,000 pounds of 
rice, and 12,000.000 bushels of corn. The rais¬ 
ing of fruits aud vegetables for the Northern 
market is a somewhat modem industry that 
proves fairly remunerative. There are splen¬ 
did sheep ranges in this State, but the great 
droves of worthless dogs paralyze the indus¬ 
try. But little fertilizer is URed, except in the 
gardens aud small farms near the cities. Cotton 
seed and cotton-seed meal are used in the drill 
or put around the plant after it breaks the 
ground. Jersey and Holland cattle and their 
grades are high ly esteemed as dairy animals, 
and Devons and Short-horns are valued for 
beef and oxen. Louisiana is an excellent stock 
country, and after passing through the dan¬ 
gers of “acclimation,” all improved breeds do 
well. Most of the deaths of homed cattle are 
due to exposure and insufficient feed. One 
correspondent puts it well when he says that 
most cattle die of hollow-horn or hollow-tail, 
and the cause lies directly between these two 
extremes, viz: hollow belly. In the back 
counties very few improved implements are in 
use. Plenty of laborers still cut bay with 
hoes and cultivate with a stick. There are, in 
the State, 17,584,600 acres of forest lands, con¬ 
taining all kinds of timber known to the 
Gulf States. The United States Government 
owns about 2,000,000 acres iu the State, while 
Che marsh aud swamp lands, 5,198,767 acres, 
are in the hands of the State Government. 
The pamphlet can be obtained from Hon. T. 
J. Bird, Baton Rouge, La, 
Salt Savings.— Pamphlet from E. S. Fitch, 
manufacturer of Fertilizing Salt, Bay City, 
Michigan.—An interesting pamphlet filled 
with quotations from various authorities as to 
the value of salt as a fertilizer. This fertilizer 
salt differs from the ordinary article in the 
fact that it contains small amounts of potash, 
lime and iron, so that it is a richer fertilizer 
than common salt. Some excellent results 
have been obtained from the use of this fertil¬ 
izer, the most notable being its effects upon 
grass or wheat crops. With wheat, not only 
has the straw been rendered larger and stiffer, 
but the heads and grain have been improved 
perceptibly'. The use of this material is in¬ 
creasing, and the farmer who aims to inform 
himself regardmg the more intricate processes 
of his business, should by all means send for 
this pamphlet aud study it. The use of sa lt in 
agriculture dates from the earliest times, 
yet its proper place as a fertilizer is perhaps as 
little understood ns is that of any fertilizing 
element. A small amount is beneficial, par¬ 
ticularly upon certain crops and certain soils. 
A large quantity' is worse than useless—it is 
harmful. Just the proportions and conditions 
necessary to produce best results have never 
been exactly determined, and the study of the 
matter will prove both interesting and useful, 
leading to a better understanding of the value 
and behavior of other elements of fertilization. 
It is generally believed that the mechanical 
effects of salt are most valuable, that it 
helps other elements rather than supplies 
needed food itself; that it pursuades rather 
than forces. 
Common Plants and Their U ses. —A chart 
compiled by the class in economic botany at 
the Missouri State University. This class, con¬ 
sisting of two young women aud 15 young 
men, have been working under the direction of 
Prof. S. M. Tracy. In fact, the chart is really 
an epitome of the lectures delivered before the 
class. The work has been well done, aud the 
chart, is well placed as a bulletin from the Ag¬ 
ricultural College. If we mistake not it will 
be found fully as valuable as any of the pre¬ 
vious bulletins. The chart gives the order, 
botanical and common names of each plunt, 
where found, whether used for food drink or 
fiber and the quality of its timber etc. 
Over 200 plants are thus treated, and the 
amount of information that is concentrated 
upon this space is surprising. The design is 
an excellent one, most admirably' executed. 
BLACKWOOD. —Circular descriptive of this 
fine stallion which w ill make the season at the 
stables of H. R. T. Coffin. Glens Fulls, N. Y.— 
Blackwood is by r Alexander’s Norman, He is 
half brother of Lulu, 2:15, and May Queen, 
2:20, He lias a record of 2:81 as a three-year- 
old. Among other fine colts he has sired 
Rosewood, 2:27 at five years, Blackwood Jr. 
2:22^ at five years, and Proteine. record 2:18. 
Blackwood is a fine horse and his colts will 
surely give satisfaction. 
VUomrm 5 XDorli. 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY L. TAPLIN. 
NEVER MIND. 
Never nilnd if your clothing is threadbare and worn 
And the colors beginning to fade; 
Such trifles are easier by far to be borne 
Thau the thought of a bill to be paid; 
For debt I* a master relentless and grim, 
He grants you no rest or repose; 
If ouoe you are sold into bondage to him, 
No pencil can picture your woes. 
Never mind If your neighbors woudor and guess 
Over tilings you don't choose to make known; 
Your motives anti notions would tumble them less 
If they would attend to their own. 
There's nought to require one to make his affairs 
Of neighborhood gossip the theme; 
If a man breaks no laws, what he eats, drinks aud wears, 
Is his own special business, ’twould seem. 
Never mlrnl, let the world move along ns it will. 
Life’s changes arc certain we know; 
And the man that's to-day at the top of the hill 
May soon grope in the valley below. 
Live rightly, and slauder and gossip wtll fall 
To harm you, and soon you will ilnd 
That the very best armor whene'er they assail 
Is to say from the heart: "Never mind!” 
Palmer I, Mass.) Journal. 
OF INTEREST TO WOMEN. 
Milliners are reriving rosettes of narrow 
ribbon loops. Low-crowned toques are trim¬ 
med with a mass of them in front. 
Says Good-Housekeeping: “ Women were 
patterned by nature to be housekeepers, and 
good ones. Let them vote, if they will, let 
them go into professional life and the lubors 
that were once monopolized by men, let them 
do wbat they will, they are yet physically, 
morally, and feelingly best fitted to reign as 
Queen of the House.” 
Fuller’s advice may be commended to all 
good women: “A good wife is none of our 
dainty dames, who love to appear in a variety 
of suite every day new; as if a good gown, 
like a stratagem in war, were to be used but 
once. But our good wife sets up a sail accord¬ 
ing to the reel of her husband's estate; and if 
of high parentage, she doth not so remember 
what she was by birth that she forgets what 
she is by match.” 
The young women composing a majority of 
the graduating class from the high school at 
Vincennes, Ind., have rendered themselves 
conspicuous, in a somewhat unpleasant way. 
They have “struck,” aud refuse to attend 
commencement, because a colored girl who 
has passed the required examination with 
great credit is, or wftg to graduate with them. 
A similar unpleasantness in the high school at 
Paterson, N. J., a few years ago, was prompt¬ 
ly crushed, the public showing their sentiment 
at commencement by applauding the colored 
graduate so vigorously that she could scarce 
read her essay, and loading her with flowers, 
while the remainder of the class received the 
most luke-warm of receptions. 
A square or angular looking parlor is often 
improved by pulling out the piano from the 
wall, and placing it “catty-cornered,” as 
children say. In English drawing rooms an 
upright piano is often put this way: the back 
being towards the room, is usually decorated. 
This gives scope for much ingenuity. A pop¬ 
ular style is to haug curtains from a rod at 
the top, and then place flat Makart bouquets 
of grass aud peacock feathers against the cur¬ 
tains. 
If we would be happy, we should return to 
"That time the sturdy English middle class 
Was not bo fine as now; 
Daughters and wives would wear a last year’s gown 
Without a fume, because the gay beau monde, 
Had slashed its sleeves and dipped an Inch of skirt. 
And housewives citing to old receipts, old ways 
Of ordering this and that, their mothers taught; 
And most of all, eschewed the petty tricks 
Of show to make the little seem the much.” 
WHAT’S YOUR OBJECT? 
This heading looks rather abrupt and un¬ 
compromising in cold print. Perhaps it would 
seem better if we called it “Advice to Young 
Women,” only it isn’t. We do not offer ad¬ 
vice ; we want to ask a few pertinent questions. 
Tell me, maiden with a new diploma and a 
new graduating gown, have you any clearly 
defined object in life? That “object in life”— 
what a bugbear it is to the foolish virgins! 
To echo the query of a famous or rather 
infamous rascal, “What are yon goiug to do 
about it?” Shall you sit down in golden 
dreams until the fairy prince comes galloping 
along? Small doubt of the object then; the 
prince holds out his hand, the dreamer mounts 
behind him, and off they go into “that new 
world that is the old.” But if the prince never 
comes! He always did iu the old tales, but, 
alas! we don’t live in the Golden Age now; 
“this is au unjust world, and virtue is trium¬ 
phant only in theatrical performances.” If 
the prince never comes I Then we only have 
a web of gossamer fancies, “trifles light as 
air,” to protect us from the storms of this 
work-a-day world. The years we should have 
spent in gathering strength and imparting it 
to others all gone in idle tlreams; all the 
dignity of mature womanhood unripeued; all 
the crudities of girlhood in full bloom. Truly, 
our last state is worse than our first. 
Not that a girl needs blame for all her inno¬ 
cent dreams and fancies about the prince who 
will some da}' seek her. It is a part of her very 
womanliness. But she need not fold her hands 
and let those dreams take full possession of 
her. And the very qualities that make her a 
worthy helpmate will make her a happy and 
useful woman—if her prince does not come. 
Here let me make au heretical remark in a 
stage whisper. Said a clever girl: “Oh, yesl 
I know I’m bright, but I try not to ‘give it 
away,’ as my small brother says. A reputa¬ 
tion for cleverness is such a handicap on one’s 
matrimonial chances.” 
Now, according to general opinion, the re¬ 
mark quoted contains some truth; but, dear 
girls, a man who reganis a girl as undesirable 
matrimonially because she is well dowered 
with intellect is, to say the least, unwise in his 
generation. But any mau is right to view 
with iudifference a woman like the cultured 
heroine of a popular poem who 
“Knew the reasons of things— 
Why the Indians wore rings 
In their red. aboriginal noses," 
but who, according to her veracious chronic¬ 
ler, “didn’t know chicken from turkey.” 
“A perfect woman nobly planned” is one who 
turns her ripened intellect to the best interests 
of home life, and who, should her fairy prince 
tarry or never come, will so order her life 
work that tho title of old maid becomes to her 
a very crown of bicasing. 
WOMEN’S WORK. 
What a blessing it is upon America’s 
daughters that there is a department in pa¬ 
pers devoted especially to women. Hero are 
topics of almost every description that is of 
an edifying and instructive nature freely dis¬ 
cussed. Almost every Rural contains some 
useful information, or some hint that will help 
the housewife in her daily routine of labor to 
perform her duties iu a lietter way. Aud at 
the same time the literature within ite pages 
awakens the heart to a higher action aud in¬ 
spires us with zeal to look ever onward and 
upward; for if we do not press onward with 
this active world, we shall be left Itehind in 
utter darkness. As we read over the lives of 
the truly great men aud women, we see that 
they did uot sit, with folded hands, but like 
the scriptural lesson, “What-so-ever thy haud 
fiudeth to do, do with thy might,” they went 
to work, aud work indeed they did, to achieve 
what they have. So it is for us, no matter in 
what sphere we may live or what may be our 
vocation in life, the object should be to excel. 
Excel not by crowding others down, but by 
elevating ourselves to that high standard in 
using the advantages offered by others. 
It should be our greatest theme in life to be 
something and to do something that will be to 
the advancement of society, that this people 
will not go backward. There is much in this 
wide world for each and every one to do, and 
if prepared to do this work, it seems uo great 
task. We should, then, influence the young 
to a higher and nobler work. It should be in¬ 
stilled into their minds in infancy, then, when 
they have ripened into early manhood and 
womanhood, it will lie no difficult task to do 
the duties of life in the best possible manner. 
MARY D. THOMAS. 
MIDSUMMER FASHIONS. 
As the season advances we see few' changes 
in the prevailing modes, save that some of the 
more startling eccentricities are a little modi¬ 
fied. We arc told that hat and bonnet crowns 
are to lie lower and altogether more modest 
in their dimensions, n fact which appears to 
be flatly contradicted at every concert or 
promenade. At present one meets e very where 
multitudes of bats whereof the model appears 
to have beeu a Gainsborough for the brim and 
Mother Goose's sugar-loaf chapeau for the 
crown—a startliug headgear, only bearable 
above a pretty face. But, as the French 
novelist says, all young women are pretty. 
Styles in gowns are but little altered; tho 
fancy is still for simplicity in trimmings, with 
heavy artistic folds for di-apery. Not that 
this seeming simplicity implies inexpensive- 
ness by any means. 
Etamine, or canvas cloth, plain, striped and 
embroidered, is still in favor, but 1 fancy it is 
ou the wane, as many New York houses are 
selling it off at greatly reduced rates. It is 
very handsome, particularly when embroid¬ 
ered or woven iu lace stripes, and it drapes 
beautifully, but it is very difficult to makeup, 
as it frays dreadfully, and is as hard on thread 
and fingers as wire netting. Albatross cloth, 
something like a finely finished nun’s veiling, 
Ls very nice for woolen summer gowns. 
The crinkled seersuckers seem to grow 
prettier os the season advances; they are very 
effective with dark velvet trimmings. A 
pretty gown of this material was pale blue 
and white stripes; the basque had collar, cuffs 
and revere of black velvet with vest and 
skirt trimmings of white embroidery. Cream 
and brown stripes trimmed with brown 
velvet would bo very effective. 
Among white frocks, a very pretty one for 
seaside or mountain wear is of cream-white 
allmti-oss cloth, w ith pleated drapery of white 
wool lace. In tlnn white fabrics, the choice 
is of infinite variety'- A white frock is al¬ 
ways pretty, be it ever so simple, and now it 
is equally inexpensive. PiqutS or Victoria 
lawn should not be chosen, however, for it 
cannot bo depended on in washing. India 
lawn is reasonable iu price, and washes as 
well as mull or organdy—it is always fine and 
smooth in texture. Nainsook embroidery is 
the best t rimming for general wear, but ex¬ 
cept for very fine occasions a white frock 
should always be simple in make—that is one 
of its special charms. 
Cast on 88 stitches, and knit across plain. 
First Row.— ta) Slip one, knit oue, thread 
over twice, purl two together, knit five, thread 
over three times, purl three together, knit two, 
thread over twice, purl two together (a), knit 
foui* (b), purl one, thread over, purl two to¬ 
gether, thread over, purl two together, thread 
over, purl two together, thread over, purl two 
together, thread over, purl two together, 
thread over, purl last twu separately (bj. 
Second Row.—S lip one, knit seventeen (c), 
thivad over twice, purl two together, knit one, 
narrow, make three stitches alternately plain 
and purled in loop formed in preceding row 
by casting thread over three times, knit five, 
thread over twice, purl two together, knit 
two (c). 
Third Row (d)—Slip one, knit one, thread 
over twice, purl two together, knit ten, thread 
over twice, purl two together (d), knit five, 
repeat from (b) to (b) first row. 
Fourth Row.—S lip one, knit eighteen ?e), 
iRteUaucou* pUUwtii&ittfl, 
When Baby was sick, we gave her Castorla, 
When she was a Child, she cried for Castorla, 
When she became Miss, she clung to Castorla, 
When she had Children, she gave them Castorla 
