THE RURAL HEW-YORKER. 
AUa 1^- 
made by bending up the point of a large pin. 
The grubs can be easily killed in their nest by 
touching each with a drop of kerosene on the 
end of a pointed stick, but a long and tender 
sore will follow before the grub will rot out so 
as to allow the sore to heal. 
Prof. Ma ynakd finds pyrethrum a very val¬ 
uable insecticide for destroying cabbage 
worms, plant lice, currant worms, etc., says 
the N. E. Farmer: but he finds it more eco¬ 
nomically used when mixed with plaster-of- 
Paris. as the mixture can be spread further 
and appears equally effective. For many 
kinds of plaflt lice he uses one part pyrethrum 
to four parts plaster, and on cabbages he uses 
nine parts plaster and rids the plants complete¬ 
ly of the green worms. We wish Prof. M. 
would state whether he has reference to the 
imported art icle or the California Pyrethrum 
sold under the name of Buhaeh. 
According to a table prepared by the Far¬ 
mer’s Review, the following are the colors of 
prize ribbons on winning animals at the fairs 
mentioned: __ 
COLORS, 
WHERE HELD. 
*0vcn)U)l)Cff. 
TRANSCONTINENTAL LETTERS.— 
LX. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
Kc ntucky .. Lexington... 
OhJ". ColUHlbus. .. 
Indiana. Indianapolis. 
Michigan .!. Kalamazoo.. 
Illinois. Chicago- 
Minnesota.. St. Caul. 
Iowa. Des Moines.. 
Kansas. Topeka.. . 
Dakota. Huron — 
Montana I Helena... 
COLORS, 
FIRST. 
SECOND 
Blue. 
Red. 
Bed. 
Blue. 
Red. 
Blue. 
Blue. 
Red. 
Blue. 
Red. 
Blue. 
Red. 
Blue. 
1 ted. 
Blue. 
Red. 
Red. 
Blue. 
Blue. 
Red 
Blue. 
Red. 
Blue. 
Red. 
None. 
White- 
White. 
White. 
White. 
Cream 
White. 
White. 
Yellow 
While. 
White. 
Green. 
There certainly ought to be uniformity in 
these matters, otherwise, as noticed by the 
Breeders' Gazette, an Illinois animal return¬ 
ing from Indianapolis with a red ribbon would 
be set down, by most people, as a second-prize 
winner, and, of course, the same would be the 
case with regard to other States also.. • 
Above the din of the conflict, says the U. S. 
Dairyman, might be heard the voice of science 
as it is the voice of common sense, saying as 
Prof. Arnold has lately said, that the farmer 
may rely on the truth of the statement that 
a cow decidedly poor for butter, is also poor 
for cheese production. 
“All of our kinds of wheat belong to one 
species, aud therefore cannot l»e hybrids one 
with another. They may be cross-bred.” So 
says Prof. Beal, in the Michigan Farmer. 
The attention of the Ag. Ed. of the Weekly 
Press is called to the above paragraph. 
Many thousands of farms in the W est are 
mortgaged to Eastern capitalists, who extort 
10 per cent, interest for the loan, says the 
Orange County Farmer. This is a most out- 
oageousrate. Ten years of interest-paying 
aud the entire amouut of t..e mortgage has 
been paid, but they owe it all the same... 
The tomatoes of the Editor of the above 
journal, which are neatly trained to pole, had 
grown six feet by June 16, and the fruit was 
beginning to ripen. His Turner's Hybrids were 
a curiosity, their foliage being so different 
from that of the standard sorts. On some 
plants of Ibis sort, the fruit is very badly 
wrinkled, while on others they are very smooth 
and fair. The Editor must have written June 
for July. It reminds us that for several years 
we trained both red and yellow’tomatoes to the 
barn, aud the vines grew about 15 feet high, 
bearing au abundance of both yellow and red 
tomatoes . 
As to Turner’s Hybrid, t)4- Editor may be 
interested to know that we have planted three 
different lots of tomatoes under differ- 
names all of which are the same, viz: 
Mikado. Turner’s Hybrid and plants sent to us 
by AH'. Livingston of tomato fame. 
Of thirteen varieties of grasses sown late 
this Spring, May 15, by Mr. Stiles, Tall Oat 
Grass has made the most vigorous growth, 
standing straight up two feet high. 
Johnson Grass—S orghum halapense -lias become 
an lnexternilnable pesi In some parts of California, 
says The Rural Fress. The farmers find that as they 
tear the roots in pieces each one sets up on Its Indivi¬ 
dual book for a new plant, 80 that the more it Is 
backed and hoed the more It spreads. The Press gives 
an Illustration of a potato which has been pierced 
clean through by a millet root. This Indicates a mur¬ 
derous energy beyond that of any weed with which 
we are acquainted. 
We find the above in the Philadelphia 
Weekly Press. In at least a dozen cases 
we have had our potatoes “pierced” by 
Quack, Couch, Quitch, Quick or Rye Grass— 
Triticum repens. Speaking of Johnson Grass 
reminds us that a little pateh sown four years 
ago in a comer of our garden is now five feet 
high. In this case cultivation prevents its 
spreading. 
Prof. Sanborn, of the Missouri (Columbia) 
Ag. College, prefers Fultz to any other kind 
of wheat, though he has tried 150 kinds....... 
Trials with flint com have always given 
Prof. Sanborn as much corn when it is put 
into shocks at the glazing period, as wbeu al¬ 
lowed to ripen on the stalk. The dents must 
be well dried, he thinks, to the center, before 
cutting up the stalks.... 
A nursery near San Francisco; bearing ayes ^ 
and prices of fruit trees; California • 
grape-growing; Chinese and white labor, , 
the rainy season: malaria; the u ytorious 
climate ” of California. , 
Wf. went one day to visit a large nursery a 
few miles out of Oakland, and found that the 
foreman had come from Ellwanger & Barry’s, 
Rochester. New York. He very kindly gave 
us considerable information, of which 1 made 
notes at I he time, as being of possible interest 
to Rural readers. The nursery contains 200 
acres, and the number of shipments of trees 
last year was half a million. For long dis¬ 
tances the trees are packed in tule a tall, 
coarse growth of marsh land. For more deli¬ 
cate packiug, considerable Oregon moss is 
used. More fruit trees have been planted 
within the last two or three years than in the 
previous 20. The greatest foe to fruit trees 
is a spidery-looking iuseet known as the San 
Jos6 scales—a scale forming over the insect— 
aud as yet no effective remedy has been found 
beyond burning the tree. This scale destroys 
a tree in about three years. The one fruit 
tree which it. has not yet attacked is the Black 
Tartarian Cherry, frees are delivered, as a 
rule, one year from the bud. 
Deciduous trees remain dormant from two 
to three mouths, while evergreens grow all 
Winter. Apple trees bear at ten years of age 
(from the seed): apricots and cherries at four 
years; pears at five; peaches at six(f); and 
oranges at eight years. Apple trees sell for 
$12.50 per 100; grapes range from $8 to $40 
per 100. Three hundred varieties of grapes 
are raised in this nursery, but there are about 
400 varieties in the State. Wine growers put 
in their own cuttings where they are to re¬ 
main, and all grape stocks are cut very low 
aud so kept that a California vineyard is a 
very prosaic-looking sjiectacle. The Califor¬ 
nia seedless raisin is said to have originated at 
Riverside, near Los Angeles, and is mostly 
cultivated in Fresno. But very fine raisin 
grapes are raised in many parts of the State, 
and the drying is largely done in the open air. 
Apples have been invariably inferior as to 
quality, and the foreman spoke of eating a 
Bellflower which was about equal to eating 
a sponge. The great hindrance to fruit-grow¬ 
ing has lieen the cost of transporting fruit by 
rail, and last year it cost $600 a car to freight 
it East. This year the cost will be not 
over half those figures. 
In this nursery at the time of our visit 18 
white men were employed, aud from 30 to 40 
Chinamen. The latter do budding and graft¬ 
ing, and weed aud hoc. For the plow a white 
man is required. The Chinamen were paid 
80 cents per day and boarded themselves. 
The white men were l<eing paid 75 cents a day 
and board, their usual wages, however, being 
$30 per month with board. The foreman said 
that in New York $1.25 were paid for the 
same work. He was evidently not friendly to 
Chinese labor, and we questioned him as to 
then- employment. “The trouble with white 
men on this coast,”he said, “is that they drink, 
aud can’t be depended upon. They are worth 
more, and are in the long run cheaper; but 
employers can't depend uijou tfiem in pressing 
times, as upon the Chinese. For the latter we 
always have a white foreman, and as for 
honesty, they are not as conscientious as the 
lowest of the whites. We can’t leave a knife 
or a tool about but they will appropriate it, 
if they can. They do exactly as you tell them 
to do, never varying their methods according 
to circumstances.” 
This nursery is in Alameda County, in 
rather a sheltered locality, near the'bay. The 
foreman said that the mercury rarely fell be¬ 
low 2-8 degrees above zero. Iu some localities, 
such as Fruitville, near Oakland, where the 
elevation is greater, frost is comparatively 
unknown. The shipping of trees from the 
nursery begins in November, aud planting 
continues during the Winter—called Winter 
because it is the rainy season on the coast. 
For cold and snow, one must go into the 
mountains. California has 20 different cli¬ 
mates—the climate depending altogether upon 
the locality. It must not be inferred that 
during the rainy season it rains continuously. 
When it rains, however, the fall is heavy aud 
steady, succeeded by days of cloudless skies, 
so that Winter is by far the most agreeable 
season. 
As the Rural in answer to some- inquiry 
in a February issue concerning California 
climate, stated there was no malaria on the 
coat touched by the sea breezes, it. may uot be 
amiss for me to say that, Californians suffer 
greatly from malaria, even iu Ban Francisco 
and some parts of Oakland. This may be due 
to bad sewerage alouc, but the practice of ir¬ 
rigation in most parts of the State, breeds 
malaria—at least this explanation is offered 
for its prevalence. 
The equability and mildness of the coast 
climate are altogether delightful. But after 
a few years' residence so various persons 
have assured me—the physical system suffers 
from lack of the tonic that is supposed to 
belong to a marked change in the seasons—the 
snapping cold aud terrible blizzards of the 
Eastern Winters. As for myself. I am very 
sure I should tire of the sameness of things— 
unending flowers the year around and eternal 
beauty. The popular idea of beaven is to me 
wearisome in the same sense. But this is to 
be said for California mildness—one need not 
lose any time in trying to keep warm: I think 
in the East, too much time goes in shoveling in 
coal, piling up wood, thawing ice and remov¬ 
ing snow—work that has no permanent value. 
I think, too, California is a good climate for 
intellectual activity. Business men complain 
that it is peculiarly hard on them, as there is 
no dull season for a vacation, but one un¬ 
ceasing grind. Wherever the sun shines it is 
warm ; wherever it does not shine it is damp 
and cold. A little fire is needed in San Fran¬ 
cisco, for example, the year around, partic¬ 
ularly in the morning and evening. The wo¬ 
men make more distinction iu dress—there are 
fewer seal-skin coats and lace shawls brought 
into juxtaposition in the streets in January, 
than formerly. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Canada. 
St. Giles, July 27, 1876.—The frost of last 
Winter was so severe that neither strawber¬ 
ries, raspberries, gooseberries, nor, in fact, 
auy newly planted shrubs or canes came 
through, and the ground was frozen to a 
depth never seen before; but, strange to 
say, comparatively little grass was winter¬ 
killed. The snow went away very early and 
we had a dry Spring, so that the work was 
done early and a great deal of grain was put 
in, but in very had order, there being no rain 
at all until June 17. The first inch or so on 
top dried, but t-he remaiuder was too cold ; in 
consequence the ground was quite lumpy and 
hard, and we have a very poor stand of corn 
and potatoes. My potato field is a river 
bottom,and I have lost certainly one-quarter 
of my seed, Fiom June 17 when we had 
a day and a night of rain, we nave had a suc¬ 
cession of showers ; but never enough to satu¬ 
rate the soil. Except on two occasions in June, 
when for three or four days tho thermometer 
marked up to 100"' to lOO*, the weather has 
been quite cool. Everything is quite late. 
On the first of July last year we had potatoes 
and other vegetables in abundance ; as yet we 
have only lettuce, nulls lies and peas. I gener¬ 
ally commence haying on July 5 or 6; now 
Timothy is only fairly in bloom: there will 
be rather above an average crop. All the 
grains, of which there is rather more than au 
average quantity' sown, are splendid, oats 
especially. I expect fully one-quarter more 
than an average. Late roots look well. Stock 
is in splendid order, but everything is much 
too low. Pork, $3 50 to $5.00; beeves and 
sheep can scarcely be sold : butter from 8 to 
12X cents ; eggs were 13 cents till last week ; 
now they are 15. Old (votatoes went down to 
15 cents. Garden truck commands somewhat 
better prices, but we Lave little to sell as yet. 
Georgia. 
Social Circle. Walton Co., July 31. — 
The Rural melons all did well. Peas a 
grand failure for this climate. Flower seeds 
gave great satisfaction. Angel of Midnight 
Corn, planted April 20, is now matured, and 
a second crop has been planted. Longest ears, 
10*^ inches; 364 grains to the ear. Who ex¬ 
cels that I Corn on low lauds a failure; on 
up-lands, good. Cotton, poor, M. R. s. 
Illinois. 
Pleasant Valley, Jo. Daviess Co., July 
26.—Some of your surplus rains would be 
highly prized here, though diming last Sum¬ 
mer and Winter we got more than our share. 
On May 12 a severe hailstorm passed over 
this section from four to six miles wide, killing 
many young pigs and other stock. Many 
hailstones were from three to three-and-a-lialf 
inches m diameter. It was thought then that 
wheat was ruined, but both spring and win¬ 
ter wheats are fine crops, though they did uot 
stool much—heads well filled with plump 
grain. Since then we have had two showers, 
but no soakiug raiu, and lots of liot, smoky 
weather. Hay Is nearly all cured und stack¬ 
ed, aud though a light crop, there has been 
more first-class hay secured t han ever before 
in one season. Many arc feeding hay* to tlieii 
cattle, which are thin in flesh. Creeks and 
wells arc uot so low as iu some former sea¬ 
sons, but the surface is parched so that the 
stubble in some meadows would burn over if 
set. on fire. Corn is in tassel aud looks bad. 
Fruit mostly spoiled by bail and drought. 
Hottest day, July 6th, 105 degrees in the shade. 
Potatoes. 50 cents to $1 per bushel; oats, 25 
cents; corn, 30 cents; wheat, 70 ; live bogs, 
$3.50 per hundred. w - s - s - 
Michigan. 
Silvercreek, Cass Co., July' 31.— It has 
been very dry this season in Southwestern 
Michigan, but not so dry as in other local i tits, 
for we have had a few sprinklings to moisten 
the parched ground; still we are pretty nearly 
dried up. If we could have rain even now, 
corn that is not too far gone, and late pota¬ 
toes would be helped. Wheat crop a good 
one. Those that have thrashed report a yield 
of from 20 to 40 bushels to the acre and of 
splendid quality. Oats are light on account 
of the dry weather. Fruits of all kinds plen¬ 
tiful. Apples have fallen off badly owing to 
the hot weather. The blackberry harvest is 
now iu full blast' a fair crop considering the 
dry weather. Clover seed will be scarce in 
this part of the country. Pastures are almost 
entirely dried up, and cows are shrinking in 
their milk. Some farmers are feeding their 
covrs mill feed-bran and meal. Hogs are 
being shipped out of this county at a rapid 
rate, owing to fear of failure of our corn crop. 
Buyers are paying from $3.75 to $4.25 for 
them, according to quality. The people of 
Niles District are making preparation to at¬ 
tend the camp meeting at Crystal Spring, 
I jmmcncing August 10th aud lasting 10 days. 
. great many of our farmers go there to spend 
few days in the woods and rest from the 
rery-day toils of the farm and to enjoy the 
leetings. From 1,500 to 2,000 people take up 
leir abode on the grounds. J. m. f. 
Montana. 
Bozeman, Gallatin Co.. July 25-Stockrais- 
ig is so nearly the exclusive business of this 
-hole section that no other industry attracts 
ride interest. All our talk is about the con- 
ition and outlook for stock in this neighbor- 
ood, aud in the other parts of the Territory 
ributary to this place. On account of the 
evere and continued drought the grass is 
nuch shorter and drier than ever before 
:nown at this season. Cattle are not suffering 
o any great extent now. but grave fears are 
ntertained regarding the coming "W inter. If 
he snow should be deep great loss will inevit- 
ilily result. The shortness of the grass has 
Iriveu the stork out on the uplands and the 
isual winter ranges, so that the outlook is 
omewhat discouraging. If heavy rains 
hould fall early next month it would materi¬ 
ally change matters for the better. It would 
start the grass to a vigorous growth before 
Winter sets in. l. h. 
Xorth Carolina. 
Henderson, Vance Co., July 26. — The 
jxcessive raius of June and early July in¬ 
jured all, or nearly all. crops. Where not 
iirectly injurious, they prevented proper cul¬ 
tivation, consequently much corn is “laid by” 
well set with grass and weeds. We never had 
finer w'cather than the past 10 days, and with 
occasional showers expect average corn, cot¬ 
ton aud tobacco crops. Grapes light. Ap¬ 
ples and pears better than last year. Water¬ 
melons drowned, especially the earl}' planted 
and those on low lands. Will commence ship¬ 
ping grapes this week; a few sour Champions 
already gone. Some of our grape-growers 
are so crazv to be first that 1 think they in¬ 
jure the reputation of our fruits by shipping 
them before they are ripe. M. B. p. 
Rocky Point, Pender County, July 30.— 
The huckleberry (whortleberry) crop of this 
county is immense this year. The berries are 
large and perfectly sound and the bushes are 
loaded down. The gathering and exportation 
ot this crop is now one of tho moneyed indus : 
tries of Pender, Sampson, New Hanover, 
Cumberland, aud several other counties iu 
Eastern Carolina. During the past six weeks 
the huckleberry fields and swamps have been 
crowded wit h negroes, who have deserted the 
cotton aud corn fields for the increased wages 
they get. for these berries. Great quantities 
aro eaten here, and more still are expressed 
North for immediate consumption and to be 
put up as other canned goods. The swamps 
whence these berries are obtained are in¬ 
capable of drainage, and the money from this 
source is all the revenue obtained by the own¬ 
ers from these swampy lands. R. m. l. 
Olilo. 
Dent, Hamilton County, Aug. 3. — V heat is 
all harvested, and the early sown is yielding 
well. Clover, a large crop; Timothy, three- 
quarters of a crop. Potatoes and oats good 
Corn promises to be a fine crop. Weather 
dry. but threatening ram soou. 1 curs ana 
apples about half crops as compared with last 
year. The experience of L. D. C., page 407, 
with the Alaska Pea is the same as mine. 
The rest of the Rural seeds are ail right. 
J. H. 
I’pmmvlvania. 
Chambersburg, Franklin Co. — Busi¬ 
ness in tin* Cumberland Valley is verj gooj > 
and the crop prospects haven’t been better m 
years. In some respwts this is the best fann¬ 
ing seotjou in America. J * lI - 
R. M. L. 
