THE RURAL NEW-VORKER. 
combination in which it is given varies the 
amount of water drank, but varies more radi¬ 
cally the direction in which it leaves the 
body. • 
C, 1. Coarse foods give in the urine a low 
percentage of the water drank. 
C. 2. Concentrated foods increase the per¬ 
centage of the water drank, that is fouud in 
the urine. 
C. 3. Coarse foods increase the amount of 
water that is vaporized from the skin and 
lungs. 
C. 4. As the w r ate.r vaporized requires many 
times the food per pound vaporized that is 
required to warm it up to blood heat, this loss 
is very great. 
C. 5. These are conclusions reached as the 
result of experimentations wiaich I have 
not had the means to continue. 
II. The belief that a pound of organic mat¬ 
ter in green food is worth more than it is in 
dry food is without proof, and contrary to 
much exact data. 
A. The belief that cooked food is more val¬ 
uable than uncooked food, is opposed by the 
solid facts of trial. 
B. The belief that a pound of organic mat¬ 
ter as silage, is worth more than the same 
original amount would have been if properly 
preserved, is contrary to II and II -4, and is 
without demonstration, as yet. 
C. Many silage rations with grain have been 
shown to be more effective than hay, but so 
too have I found that eight pounds of organic 
matter in certain forms of dry food combina¬ 
tions, are as effective as 12 pounds of organic 
matter in the form of hay. 
D. No proof of the superiority of silage in 
certain combinations over certain dry foods, 
hay especially, has been yet given that is su¬ 
perior to other proofs of the superiority of 
similar certain combinations of dry foods over 
certain other combinations of dry foods, hay 
especially. 
D. 1. The law that controls in this domain 
no one has as yet fully found out. The rela¬ 
tion of exit of water, from the system may 
afford some explanation of the matter, and 
may not. It certainly has an influence, but 
its relations are as yet unknown. 
Ag. Coll., Columbia, Mo. 
£arra < 
THAT QUESTION. 
On the first page of the Rural of July 31st 
a question is submitted to its readers con¬ 
cerning the yield of two plots of land 
belonging to a neighbor. On one plot a 
given amount of manure was spread in 
February and on the other plot the same 
amount of manure w r as put out iu February 
in a heap and allowed to remain until April, 
when it was spread. The yield was decidedly 
in favor of the lot on which the manure was 
spread in February, and we were asked why 
this difference ? 
I do not know that I can give a satisfactory 
answer, but I would suggest that manure ex¬ 
posed to rains and snows leaches very rapidly 
and loses to a great extent its fertilizing prop¬ 
erty, and but little if any value Is left except 
the insoluble portion. The manure spread in 
February leached as much as,and perhaps more 
than that iu the heap, but it did so iu the right 
place, aud fertilized the entire lot, while that 
in the heap was confined to the space it occupied. 
Again, there is decided virtue in shading the 
soil during the Winter. I do not know how 
this comes about, yet I believe it to lie a fact. 
Several years ago I planted a five-acre lot to 
corn. In the Fall the corn was cut and put 
up in shocks. It was fed from the lot during 
the Fall and Winter, many of the shocks re¬ 
maining in the field the entire Winter. The 
following Spring the lot was seeded to oats. 
The lot made a fair yield, but on the spots of 
ground covered by the shocks of coni during 
the Winter the yield was extra. On these 
points the oats were twice as tall as anywhere 
else iu the field. No fertilizer was used, nei¬ 
ther was there any leaching of the shock, the 
drainage being perfect aud the corn and fodder 
sound and sweet until all was consumed. I 
believe any covering for the soil, whether 
straw, grass, weeds, brush, leaves or anything 
else, is a decided advantage during Winter. 
There is more virtue wrapped up in the mulch 
than in anything else of the same size and 
strength. A - B - c - 
Kentucky. 
A GOOD GATE. 
I send a sketch of a labor-saving device 
(shown atJFig. 330, 340, 341) for use with slide 
gates. It is simply a new way of hanging the 
old slide gate. The posts are set diagonally to 
each other the same as in the old way, only 
they are set closer together so as to leave just 
enough room for the gat© to swing. This re¬ 
quires but little more than the thickness of the 
boards each way. Just below the top board 
the two posts are joined by a piece of bar-irou 
about oue-aud-a-half inch wide and a quarter 
of an iuch thick, bent, and fastened as shown 
at f Figs. 339 and 341. The upper board of the 
gate has a piece of iron plate fastened on near 
the end, with a notch or slit cut in it, of suit¬ 
able size, so that when the gate is injplace, it 
for sale this Fall, does not, so far as we can 
judge, promise to fill any occupied space.” 
It is not clear from this remark that the 
Rural has made a personal trial of the vari¬ 
ety, though it may have done so. The great 
point which has boon claimed for the Minno- 
waska, as I understand it, is hardiness com¬ 
bined with the usual vigor of growth, great 
catches on to the bar or strap between the 
posts, shown at b Figs. 339 and 841. At the 
bottom of the gate-posts a block is fastened 
between them so that the bottom board of the 
gate, which is cut to the right length, abuts 
against it. This is shown at {i Figs. 339 and 341. 
That is all there is of it. The gate swings 
as easily as auy gate you ever saw, or is lifted 
out of place and removed entirely if desired 
without trouble. It does not slide like the old 
slide gate, but swiugs like any gate hung on 
hinges. When closed it is held by an old- 
fashioned catch (at Figs. 339 and 341). which 
bolds it clear from the ground. When it is 
desired to open the gate it is lifted out of the 
catch, when it may be easily swung around. 
productiveness, size and quality of fruit. As 
to the latter qualifications, uo one who lias seen 
it thus far will be likely to raise any question. 
As to hardiness, I can only say I never saw a 
dead branch on any new caue in this latitude 
during the three years I have known it with¬ 
out protection—never saw it growing farther 
north. I have a plant of it iu my garden now 
loaded w ith splendid fruit with great thick 
canes growing so high that next season 
I expect to pick the fruit from a 10-foot 
ladder. If asked why I don’t pinch it back I 
may say it was done weeks ago, and now l 
shall “let it go,” and if injured during the 
Winter fruit men shall hear of it. Now, 
among the present needs of fruit growers 
% 4 
Fig. 340. 
This gate hanging was invented by a Mr. 
Healey, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and has 
been in use on his farm for several years. It 
is not patented. V- hodgman. 
■»»»- 
FRAME FOR SLAUGHTERING HOGS. 
Mr. A. Freed, of Lancaster, Ohio, has built 
an arrangement like that shown at Fig. 342, 
which is very convenient at slaughtering time. 
It will pay farmers to put up something of the 
kind before the time comes for killing hogs. 
The best place for the frame is on a low hill¬ 
side where there is a slope of, say, two or 
three feet iu 12. Any good posts about eight 
feet long will answer. These properly notched 
and sunk into the ground make about all the 
north of the 41st parallel is a hardy blackberry 
of good size, quality and productiveness. 
Nothing so far introduced fills the bill except 
in isolated cases in n few favored localities. 
Since 1834 I have been inclined to believe the 
Miunewaska was the variety needed. Let us 
give it a fair trial and then report. 
[By all means. We have eaten the fruit of 
the Miunewaska a number of times. It is not 
as good as that of the Kittatinny. The ber¬ 
ries are no larger. Is not the Kittatinny or the 
Dorchester or the Snyder, Taylor, IV ilson, Jr., 
Lawton, Early Cluster, etc., sufficiently proli¬ 
fic 1 The Miunewaska may be hardier than any 
of the above. That is what we want to know. 
We have tried in vain to procure plants that 
7 ^. 2 , 
Fig. 341. 
labor required. Studding (2xfi) from eight to 
12 feet long are spiked to the top of the posts, 
as in the illustration. They should be about 
two feet apart. Spike the end pieces on aud 
the frame is done. The cross-pieces that the 
scaffold boards are placed on, are three feet 
or less from the top. The scalding tub is 
placed and fastened as shown in the picture. 
RURAL LIFE NOTES. 
THE MINNEWASKA BLACKBERRY. 
Ought we to condemn or speakjdisparag- 
we might test them and report upon them at 
the Rural Grounds. Its value will depend 
upon its hardiness.—E ds.] 
TnE CRYSTAL WHITE BLACKBERRY. 
Regarding the Crystal White Blackberry, 
which attracts many by its novelty, it is just 
as well to have people understand that it is a 
delusion in this latitude. I tried for years to 
grow it, but never got a single berry either 
ripe or green. The canes were killed to the 
ground each Winter. Now the Rural says 
the fruit is delicious but the cane neither har¬ 
dy nor prolific. That settles it. Don’t lot us 
bother with a shy-bearing, tropical fruit at the 
North. Iu fact I don’t believe it would sell iu 
I market if we could raise it. Look at^the white 
ingly of any new fruit iu advance of its intro¬ 
duction before thorough trial and without giv¬ 
ing some definite reason ? 1 am led to ask this 
question after reading the following in a 
Rural editorial on blackberries, page 500: 
“ The new Miunewaska, which will be offered 
and yellow raspberries, delicious aud beautiful 
as some of them really are, their color is against 
them iu market, and yet they are very prolific. 
ABOUT MARKETING FRUIT.—OVERPRODUCTION 
OR UNDER CONSUMPTION. 
The subject of marketing our fruits to the 
best advantage is, if I mistake uot, one of the 
most important—if not, indeed, the most mo- 
mentous-which confronts the fruit-growers 
of our country to-day. For years and yeaxs 
we have been hotly discussing the merits and 
defects of varieties, raising new sorts and im¬ 
proving the old, trying new methods of cul¬ 
ture, increasing the yields, fighting insect 
enemies and warding off insidious diseases. 
Now we get the fruit in abundance, and what 
shall we do with it ? How shall we market 
the crops at a profit, or even without becom¬ 
ing iu debt to either the picker, carrier or 
seller ? These questions may seem frivolous, 
and even sensational, to many. But when the 
grower of small fruits here along the Hudson, 
in the. shadow of the great metropolis of the 
Union, with its niillion-and-a-half consumers, 
is forced to let his fruit rot in the field for 
want of a market, the question becomes of seri¬ 
ous import, Beginning with the strawberry 
crop this year, if the uumher of bushels that 
were sold at a loss, together with the quantity 
which it dul not pay to pick, were knovvu, few 
would believe the statement. I recall an in¬ 
stance Where 109 crates were sold at $L for the 
lot—one cent a bushel—while the poor grower 
stood by protesting that it cost him 8'>4 to 
have the fruit picked. It was on Saturday, 
aud an exceptional case, doubtless ; but nearly 
every strawberry grower in this valley can 
pro l .ably produce instances of like nature from 
his returns of 1880. Then, as to raspberries, 
which have usually been so remunerative in 
past yearn, bushels and bushels have been al¬ 
lowed to remain uugathered I .©cause the 
grower could uot afford (!) to market them. A 
large part of the cherry crop has sharejj. a like 
fate ; and tons aud tons of currants have been 
left to rot upon the bushes for a similar rea¬ 
son many of which are still hanging there, 
sound and good. A Highlaud grower says he 
came out S4 in debt to the seller on a consign¬ 
ment of one ton of fine fruit. Aud now what 
shall tie done with the large grape crop which 
is maturing ( I have no desire to discourage 
growers of small fruits, nor am 1 prepared to 
admit that there is in reality an over-produc¬ 
tion it the annual supply could bo properly 
distril .uted. But the question to be solved lies 
right here. Thousands of people everywhere 
are yet scantily supplied, if at all, with fresh 
fruits in their season, and yet tons of fruit rot 
in the fields or on the way to market without 
a buyer. The American Horticultural Society 
is soon to meet; other associations of fruit 
men aud growers will gather in every State 
and county. Is there a more important ques¬ 
tion to growers and consumers, which should 
be fully discussed, than the proper adjustment 
of this difficulty ? H - n - 
Kingston, N. Y. _ 
fwlfo Crops. 
SQUANTUM SUGAR CORN. 
I SHOULD like to speak a good word for the 
Squatum Sugar Corn. Among the many nov¬ 
elties that are continually being introduced, 
so many are worthless that often a good thing 
is catalogued by seedsmen for several years 
perhaps before its merits are generally known 
to the public. How much of a novelty the 
Squnnturn Corn is 1 cannot say, but it is not 
planted to any great extent in this section thut 
1 know of, and I notice that it is not generally 
catalogued by seedsmen, or if it is. it does uot 
appear under this name. I have planted this 
corn now for several years, aud no other is ac¬ 
ceptable on my table while it is in bearing. If 
it has any faults 1 have never discovered them. 
It is what I suppose would be called a second 
early, coming iu after the Early Minnesota. 
The ears are about the same in size as the 
latter—perhaps a trifle larger—well tilled with 
eight to twelve straight rows of pearly-white 
grains. It is exceedingly productive bearing 
three and often four ears on a Stalk, and re¬ 
markably sweet; in fact the flavor is wherein 
it principally excels. What more a person 
wants 1 eauuot sec, and I know of nothing 
more delicious than a dish of this corn fresh 
from the garden. Some may prefer the larger 
ears of the Evergreen,Egyptian and Mammi>th, 
but they are more fond of distending theii 
jaws than I am. As long as corn is sold by 
the hundred, however, 1 suppose the larger 
eared, late varieties will gftiu the preference m 
the market, although for my part, if 1 had 
to buy my corn, I would rather have the 
smaller ears of the Squantum even at the same 
price per htiudred. 1 have sent some of this 
corn to the grocers on several occasions ca ;b 
seasou, and It is the same old story evei J l ll |' 
—the customer sends back word that, ho wants 
some more of that kind of corn, aud one even 
went so for as to say that he would have no 
other. It seems to me that if our farmers 
would pay more attention to quality some- 
