THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
wards the ground was sown in wheat again 
with the same results. The difference in the 
yields was noticeable up to the very line be¬ 
tween the two sections. In the Spring of ’72 
I planted an acre of cotton on land so poor 
that it would not produce anything without 
manure—one shovelful of a compost consisting 
of stable manure, cotton seed, and red clay 
from a well, was put in each hill. The seed 
failed to grow. The acre lay and grew a heavy 
crop of grass. The balance of the tield being 
in cotton and corn, also ran to grass. I turned 
this under, and since that time the land has 
produced fine crops without any more manure. 
It ruins clay laud to work it too wet. Twelve 
years ago we started plowing a piece of heavy 
clay jnst after a shower. We had to give it 
up, but the part that wasplowed lias been poor 
ever since, in spite of all the manure that has 
been put upon it. If I could ouly get a good 
stand of some green crop to turn under I think 
it would be all right. [Can’t you drain it?— 
Eds.J J- M. m. 
Green Cove, Fla. 
(seven inches) that would weigh as much. 
There were 18 plums, weighing one pound two 
ounces. The Lombard originated in N. Y. 
The color is purplish, with a light purplish 
bloom. The flesh is yellow and juicy, but not 
of the first quality. It clings to the stone. 
This plum ripeus in this climate in late Aug¬ 
ust, The tree is a strong grower and won¬ 
derfully productive. It is a profitable market 
sort, Mr. P. Barry says, and succeeds first- 
rate in Vermont, New York,Michigan, Penn., 
Ohio, Kentucky, Colorado, and moderately 
well in many other States, notably Ark., 
Miss., La., Cal., Ks., Neb., Mo., Ills., Md., 
Minn., Wis., Ont., R. I., Conn., N. S., Me., 
Mass. 
The king winter apple of this region, grown 
in immense quantity for home use and export, 
is the Anis, As it is an ancient variety of this 
region, it naturally has sported into a number 
of sub-varieties differing slightly in color and 
season; but not materially in size or quality. 
The cut, Fig. 326, traced from an average 
specimen of the Pink Anis (Anis alui), will 
give a fair idea of the size of thousands of 
bushels we saw on the trees in Kazan. In 
size and weight it does not differ materially 
from our Fameuse; hut its rich pink color, 
with heavy blue bloom, is more attractive to 
the eye. As to quality Mr. Gibb says; “The 
flesh is fine, white, firm, and it is really a des¬ 
sert apple of fine quality.” Its season here at 
Ames, Iowa, is about that of Fameuse. To 
become a first-class winter apple it must be 
planted as far north as the north half of Min¬ 
nesota and Dakota, where we have the best 
reason for believing it will prove a bonanza. 
If this fails, when grown on hardy roots, at 
the far north, the last hope in our day of 
growing dessert w inter apples profitably may 
be relinquished. 
In tree all the varieties of the Anis are half 
dwarf in the nursery and orchard. When 
three years old in the nursery the Anis is a 
pretty round-topped bush rather than a tree. 
It comes into bearing when the tree is very 
small, and in orchard the trees will not crowd 
each other in 20 years if planted 16 feet apart, 
each way. Whilo it seems to hold perfect foli¬ 
age, and to be free from blight when grown 
south of its natural limits, these notes are 
specially written to attract the attention of 
northern planters when even the Wealthy has 
recently failed to stand the test Winters. 
It may prove useful to Northern readers of 
the Rural to add that numbere 317, 372, and 
987, of the Department list of cions im¬ 
ported in 1870, as fruited at Ames, are true 
varieties of the Anis. They are finely colored 
fruits, yet one is named White Pigeon, an¬ 
other Russian Green, and the last Yellow Auis. 
Possibly these absurd mistakes originated with 
Dr. Regel, who, at that time, was a better 
botanist than pomologist; but it is more prob¬ 
able that the cions and names wore mixed by 
Department clerks at Washington, While 
the nomenclature of Russian fruits is faulty, 
yet this general remark does not apply to 
noted commercial varieties grown by the 
million bushels for use in the large cities, such 
as Anis and Antonovka. We have propagat¬ 
ed but few trees of the Anis which have been 
sent mainly to the North, hence the extended 
trial of the family will depend on the importa¬ 
tion of cions by northern propagators. 
Ag. College, Ames, Iowa. 
describes this beautiful variety—Crimson 
Cluster. PETER HENDERSON. 
A GOOD WORD FOR THE LUCRETIA. 
I can hardly agree with the Rural in its 
estimate of the Lucretia Dewberry. In mild 
climates where the finer sorts of blackberries 
can be grown without protection, the objec¬ 
tions the Rural urges against it may have 
some force, but not in localities where the 
Lawton, Kit.tatiiury and Wilson winter-kill 
about four years in five. With us there is no 
hardy blackberry that equals the Lucretia in 
size of fruit; hence it. fills a very important 
place. It is earlier than the Snyder and is 
nearly gone before wild blackberries become 
plentiful, therefore it is almost without com¬ 
petition in the market throughout the greater 
part of its season. 
There are some objections to it surely, but 
we can bear with its failings until we find 
something better. When the vines are pruned 
in the Spring some sort of litter should be 
scattered alongside to prevent the fruit from 
becoming dirty. The pruning may be done 
in the Fall and' the litter be thrown over the 
plants and then ralced off in the Spring and 
placed alongside. Whether the cost of mulch¬ 
ing the dewberry is less than that of bending 
down and covering blackberry canes with 
dirt, I am unable to say, but one thing is true 
—that with the system named above the 
Lucretia gives good fruit and plenty of it, 
and for this latitude it is a real acquisition. 
Ex. Sta., Columbus, O. w. J. green. 
THE EAGNARD BLACKBERRY. 
On July 29, we received from Muscatine, 
la.. specimens of a blackberry twig bearing 
four ripe berries. It originated on the grounds 
of Mr. Bagnard, and will be called the Bag- 
nard Blackberry. We are told that it is a 
seedling of the Snyder, and that it possesses 
the peculiarity of not sprouting from the 
roots. It propagates itself from the tips like 
black-cap raspberries. Pruned, the bush is quite 
stocky aud upright in habit. This is the first 
season it has fruited, and when it is taken into 
consideration that the drought there has been 
so severe that the blackberry crop (Snyders, 
etc,), is almost a failure, the specimens w-ere 
excellent. They were received in good order, 
aud were as large as Wilsons and much the 
sani8 shape. Very sweet and tender. The 
plant is reported to be perfectly hardy at 
Muscatine, where it is growing among a lot of 
Snyders. ___ 
MARLBORO AND SNYDER IN KANSAS. 
Marlboro Raspberry partly killed last Win¬ 
ter. The berries are large, but 1 do like the 
flavor; still 1 pi’efer them to the Turner. I 
don’t recommend the Snyder blackberry for 
this section. It is worthless. Half of the fruit 
dries on the bushes when Kittatinny ripens 
every berry. E. M. c. 
Crawford Co., Kans. 
CORRESPONDENTS’ VIEWS, 
We have in mind the kind of paper needed 
in these parts. It should be anti-whiskey, 
anti-political, anti-big-sugar-farm aud auti- 
white-man-sit—on-fence-smoking-pipe-and- 
watehiug-nigger-hoe-cotton. That’s as near 
as I can put it. w, w. G. 
Baton Rouge, La. 
Too many people talk about their successes 
and have too little to say about their failures. 
It is a great blow' about the former and perfect 
silence about the latter, that make a fair av¬ 
erage, they think. There is more to be gained 
in discussing a failure then there is in magni¬ 
fying a success. D. B. s. 
Our Hereford bull on the college farm 
makes a good policeman. We had him at the 
Nebraska State Fair. One hot day, small 
holes were cut in front of cattle in the stock 
stables to give them air. This bull by getting 
a horn in this hole broke off a board. A ne¬ 
gro came along looking for a place to “sly” 
in. He saw this broken board. Just as he 
got ready to crawl in, he saw the big white 
face looking up at him, aud he went back like 
a shot. He stood for a while thinking whether 
the pleasure of the show would compensate 
him for the risk he would run in passing those 
horns. He gave it up and went on. 
Lincoln, Neb. l. e. b. 
I have been poisoned by Poison Ivy and 
have cured myself easily. Take lime, 
slake it as for white-wash, and nib the parts 
affected two or three times. This is a sure 
cure. a. J- 
Lincoln Park, N. J. 
MANURE IN THE WEST. 
I have just had a letter from a man who 
left our town and went out West. He bought 
a farm that had just about starved, the last 
ruan to own it. Wheat, and but little of that, 
had beeu raised on it Tbe man I speak of 
found a great pile of manure, almost as large 
as a house, in the barnyard. It liad never 
been carted out. Ho began at it aud spent 
the best part of a month hauling that manure 
out on to the land. The neighbors all laughed 
at him at first. At last they came aud said 
they would haul their own manure out on his 
land if he would only say the word. They 
hated to see a man suffering for manure. So 
he had about all the manure in the neighbor¬ 
hood dumped on his farm. He raised a crop 
of wheat that beat anything ever seen out in 
that country. People who gave him manure 
then are like misers over it now. They see 
that when prices go down the point is to raise 
a bigger crop on the same or on n less area of 
laud, aud get their profit in labor saved. 
NOW SOW RYE FOR GREEN MANURE. 
On nearly every farm and garden there are 
beginning to be vac suit places growing up to 
weeds where the crops have been gathered. It 
is too late to sow turnips, but if wanted for 
nothing else, such places may now be sown to 
winter rye. This will keep down weeds, pre¬ 
vent washing, aud furnish a heavy growth of 
green manure in time for next season’s crops. 
The best crop of musk-melons I ever grew 
had no other manure than two feet of green 
rye plowed under. Tbe best patch of early 
cabbages I have seen this season lias just been 
marketed from land where a heavy growth of 
rye was turned in May, as it was beginning to 
head. Rye is to the gardener what clover is 
to the farmer. It is nearly equal to clover as 
a manure plant, aud is specially adapted to 
the needs of the gardener, as it can be grown 
in montlis when the laud is otherwise idle. 
It may be sown at almost any time when 
the laud can he worked, but is sometimes 
uncertain if sown too late in the Fall. I 
once sowed a piece on heavy soil, on Novem¬ 
ber 7, and n long cold rain coming on, it 
nearly all rotted, though the seed was grown 
the same season. But whenever weeds will 
grow, rye will. Keep the land doing some¬ 
thing. It loses its fertility faster when lying 
naked than when growing the most exhaus¬ 
tive crop. Weeds are better than nothing, 
but rye is better than weeds. 
Kent Co., Mich. A. a. crozier. 
SPREADING MANURE. 
In regard to the question submitted to 
Rural readers on page 493, I would say: 
The manure spread in February acted primar¬ 
ily as a mulch; frost came out slowly, leaving 
the soil open aud porous, and the covering pre¬ 
vented heavy rains from beating it down aud 
packing it. All the active constituents of 
the manure were leached down through the 
pores to the sub-soil, where their chemical 
action set free valuable plant-feeding elements 
lying there inert, aud these wore quickly ap¬ 
propriated by the roots of the plants, and 
caused the luxuriant growth. On the other 
side of the field, frost came out of the soil 
rapidly, leaving it in a semi-liquid condition. 
Rains packed it solid aud closed the pores, 
effectually preventing such of the active con¬ 
stituents of the manure as remained in it when 
upplied. from leaching dowu to the sub-soil 
and acting us in the other case. These con¬ 
stituents remained near the surface, and wore, 
to a great extent, dissipated by sun and wind. 
Nature, through the agency of frost, opens 
the soil for the reception of the active elements 
of manure. If the manure is on the land when 
the pores are open, and the soil is in a recep¬ 
tive condition, wo obtain the full benefit of it. 
We can, in a small measure, imitate Nature 
by plowing the manure iu, but no such results 
are obtained os when it is absorbed through the 
pores of the soil by Nature’s own processes. 
Mauure spread upon the soil when its pores 
are closed, is, to a considerable extent, wasted. 
Its active chemical constituents are dissipated 
by the action of sun and air, which at that 
time are very powerful, aud ouly the humus 
remains. fred grundy. 
Morrisonville, 111. 
THE ROBINSON PLUM. 
Less than a week ago we received from 
Messrs. Albertson &, Hobbs, Bridgeport, Ind., 
a box of Robinson Plums, taken from trees set 
out four years ago when very small. The 
above firm say; “They were planted 12 feet 
each way. and now average eight to ten feet 
in hight and nearly ton feet in spread of top. 
Every tree in the orchard of over 100 trees is 
loaded with a very heavy crop of fruit, bend¬ 
ing the limbs almost to the ground, every tree 
being supported by five to twenty props, to 
keep the fruit from breaking the branches. 
This extremely heavy crop has caused the 
plums to be a little under size. The trees 
where not propped are in many instances 
breaking. It is hardly likely the Wild Goose 
would be much, if any, larger if loaded nearly 
so full. We think there is much less 
\ astringency in this thun iu the Wild 
Goose or any other of the Chickasaw 
family that we have tested. For this 
reason it is much preferred by the 
women for jellies, preserves, or ean- 
the finer plums or 
THE ANIS FAMILY OF THE APPLE, 
PROF. J. L, BUDD. 
We have reason to believe that the hardiest 
race of really good winter apples in the world, 
for the far North, is found in the Province 
of Kazan on the upper Volga, in Russia. A 
f ning. Where 
gages, etc., do not succeed, this will 
be welcomed. The trees this season 
are all loaded, regardless of any care 
or protection from curculio. We be¬ 
lieve this plum to be more nearly 
free from the curculio than any yet 
introduced. The trees iu this orchard 
planted four years ago are now bear¬ 
ing their third crop, having also 
borne a full crop the second year 
after planting. 
The Jurgc green cluster we send is, 
we think, a Lombard. Did you ever 
see a load to beat it—18 large, fine plums on 
about six inches? This was taken from one 
of three trees in the back-yard,from 12 to 15 
feet high, and spreading almost to breaking 
with their heavy loud of fruit, having to be 
propped up. There were four to six bushels 
of perfect plums ou them, without the slight¬ 
est care or protection against the curculio. 
Remarks: The Robinson Plums average 
l}% inch in diameter. The flesh is tender, 
sweet and juicy, the skin papery and bitter. 
The flesh immediately about the pits is sour. 
As to the Lombard, we have never before seen 
plums crowded upon the same length of stem 
RYE A POOR GREEN MANURE. 
I shall have to give my vote on rye as a 
green manure with A. C. G., page 479. I have 
plowed under heavy crops of it at various 
times but never could see much benefit from 
it. We need something besides hulk to im¬ 
prove our soils. I fail to see why green man¬ 
ures may not differ as widely as do other 
manures. V. h. j. 
Orange Co., N. Y. 
ANIS ALUI APPLE. Fig. 326, 
glance at the map will show that the city of 
Kazan iu near the 57th parallel of north lati¬ 
tude, and fully one thousand miles inland. It 
is difficult to imagine a more trying climate, 
as the prevailing winds of Summer are from 
the desert plains of Central Asia and South¬ 
east Russia, and the extreme cold of Winter 
often reaches 50 to 58 degrees below zero with 
little or no snow; yet on the bluffs and high 
prairies, within 12 miles of Kazan, may be 
found hundreds of orchards—some of them 
covering at least 30 acres—which rarely fail 
to produce bountiful crops of fine, high-colored 
fruit of really good quality. 
WHEN TO SPREAD MANURE. 
The Rural’s inquiry as to spreading man¬ 
ure reminds me of an experience of mine 12 
years ago on laud iu Alabama. The lower 
part of a 20nacro hillside tield was planted to 
corn; the upper part was put in cow peas. In 
our manner of planting corn, one stalk to the 
hill, Grab Grass always comes in and tills the 
ground after “laying by.” The corn was cut, 
and the whole field plowed, turning under the 
grass and peas. Wheat was sowed. The part 
that had been in corn produced twice as much 
wheat as the other part. Three years after- 
SAVE AT HOME FIRST 
I am satisfied that the best manure the 
farmer can secure is what he can make ami 
save ou the farm, provided, of course, that 
proper pains are taken in the making aud sav¬ 
ing to secure all the valuable properties. You 
can save and apply manure made On the farm 
and receive hut a very small amount of bene¬ 
fit; while, again, a very large amount of ben¬ 
efit can be derived iu a short time if the work 
s properly done. In order to get all th 
