THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
' very leaf that plays with the zephyrs, a thou¬ 
sand miniature pumps of marvelous fineness 
and delicacy are at work to maintain its elas¬ 
ticity and grace. Beneath every full-grown 
plant that yields its quota to the farmer’s crop 
lies a system of nature’s plumbing scarcely 
less intricate than the human system which 
underlies New York or London. 
When we contemplate these truths, natural¬ 
ly enough we begiu to feel a sort of reverence 
for the soil, and the processes that are going 
on within it. The advice so often given, to 
put the cultivator down deep between the 
rows of corn is not quite so easily followed. 
We wonder how many tiny service pipes we 
are severing, and how the loss of sap entailed 
is going to affect the foliage. We query 
whether our method of preparation of the 
soil is the best that it might have been. We 
would gladly know how we may best resist 
this wonderful subterranean development. 
Farmer A prefers deep plowing. His 
neighbor B prefers the reverse, C insists on 
shallow culture for corn, while D. eauuot cul¬ 
tivate too deeply. E puts his fertilizer be¬ 
neath the hill, aud F gets better results by 
putting it above the seed. Are not our rules 
in agriculture largely empirical or experi¬ 
mental ? May it not be truly said that the 
science of culture is yet in its Infancy ? Surely 
we do not know 7 enough yet to attempt to lay 
down rules that shall apply to all conditions. 
Geneva, N. Y. E. S. Goff. 
Djflirij fjMsbm&nj. 
SOUTHERN DAIRYING. 
HENRY STEWART. 
Dairying in the South is at present in a 
chaotic state; it is without form and void, 
and darkness is over it. Hei'e and there some 
bright spots are breaking through the chaos, 
and nuclei of order and improvement are 
visible. One of the brightest of these is a 
Jersey Cattle club of which one of the Rural 
subscribers, (Mr. Sbuford, of Hickory, N. C.,) 
is President and for which I recently drew 7 up 
a constitution aud by-laws. Other bright 
spots are occasional herds of Jersey cattle; 
improved native stock; the better class of 
utensils aud sweet-flavored butter. These, 
however, are few "and far between aud are not 
sufficient to lighten the general darkness, but 
serve more to make this more dense by con¬ 
trast. And yet no other part of the Union 
has better 'opportunities for engaging iu the 
dairy business or has a better market. Grass 
of various kinds, clover, and all sorts of fod¬ 
der crops, iu far greater variety than is 
known to Nothern dairymen, grow and flour¬ 
ish. The mild Winters in which pasturing 
is possible with only a few short intervals, 
make dairying at this season very easy, and 
then the largest demand of the year exists, for 
the whole South is then crowded w'ith refu¬ 
gees, as they might bo termed, from the 
Northern cities anxious to escape the rigors of 
the Northern Winters, and the hotels and 
boarding houses furnish a most excellent and 
liberal market: 50 cents a pound can be pro¬ 
cured with ease .for a tine quality of butter 
and every condition for the finest quality is 
afforded. 
1 am now writing from the center of the 
great Southern mountain region, where the 
elevation above sea level is about 4,000 feet. 
Here there is a magnificent dairy country. A 
cool summer climate averaging a night tem¬ 
perature of but little over 60“ aud a day 
temperature of about 75 w ; aud a w inter tem¬ 
perature of over 50;*-'; with rare aud short 
snowfalls and a warm Southern sun which 
raises the noou temperature mostly to 05 or 
even 70 degrees; the fresh aud most abundant 
water from ever-flowing springs and brooks 
which never freeze or vary from a standard 
temperature averaging 50 degrees: a soil and 
climate which produce all the clover and 
grasses to perfection and to which Red Top and 
Kentucky Blue Grass seem to bo indigenous 
coming in spontancouly when the laud is 
cleared, and growing on the mountain 
tops, on the bald, treeless summits in largi 
meadows, some covering inoredhau 100 or 200 
acres; aud a rainfall of_tt0 inches in the year: 
all these combine to make a paradise for the 
dairyman who has been wont to struggle with 
summer beat and drought, and winter frosts, 
and snows in the North and West. Here 
mosquitos are unknown, aud malaria, the 
curse of so many otherwise pleasant places, 
has no abode. What more can a dairyman 
ask for? 
But where nature does the most, meu do the 
least, aud it is the rule among Southern farm¬ 
ers—to the manner bora—with a very few 
exceptions, to do as little as they can, and do 
that little only when they are forced by ne¬ 
cessity to do it. Hence the Southern dairy is 
in a state of chaos from which only Northern 
dairymen can lift it; and thousands of them, 
now shrinking with fear from the bugbear of 
oleomargarine and its numerous kin, might 
find room in the South, where this enemy 
could not make them afraid. Winter dairy¬ 
ing is the best for the South. The Summer 
should be devoted to those special crops which 
are exceedingly profitable when rightly mau- 
aged, as cotton and tobacco; and to making 
sufficient hav and corn and curing enough 
fodder to carry the cows through the short 
Winters. Pasturing might begin iu Septem¬ 
ber when the cows w r ould be coining into milk 
after running in the woods from May or June; 
where they find abundant aud excellent feed¬ 
ing on the luxuriant undergrowth. By re¬ 
serving some aftermath of clover, or Orchard 
Grass, or a Blue Grass pasture for Fall and 
Winter use, the yard feeding would be very 
short; indeed it would be lengthened pur¬ 
posely for the object of making as much 
manure as possible. In places where the Sum¬ 
mer lingers in the lap of Winter, silage of 
the abundant fodder crops, corn, millet, peas, 
Pearl Millet, Teosiote, Johnson Grass, aud 
many others, with clover, which grows as it is 
rarely seen iu the North, would supply the 
most liberal feeding where the pastures arc 
barren aud parched waiting for the lute fall 
rains to restore their verdure. There is no 
difficulty of climate to stand iu the way that 
cannot be overcome; no want of fertility in 
the soil; no waut of a market; no trouble to 
sell the product at good prices; only men are 
wanted. The harvest is great but the laborers 
are few, and the dairy iu the South is just 
waiting to be developed. 
Macon Co., N. C. 
Cl )t p.ouUrt, ljrtvti. 
THE FALL CARE OF POULTRY. 
P. H. JACOBS. 
At this season of the year, when prices are 
usually low, many are prone to look upon 
the dark side of poultry-keeping, but as such 
depresssion is caused by a desire to reduce 
stock, a point is reached late in the year at 
which shipments become less frequeut, and 
prices for poultry aud eggs rise until the hens 
begin to lay abundantly in the Spring. 
Before reducing stock, select all the hens 
that have moulted or show signs of moulting, 
as they will complete the process aud begiu to 
lay before cold weather comes on. Though 
the rule may not be infallible, yet the hen or 
pullet that begins to lay on the approach of 
Winter will generally make a good winter 
layer, while the one that does not commence 
before cold weather usually postpones Opera¬ 
tions uutil Spring. The hens intended for 
market, therefore, should be those that have 
not moulted, as moulting requires about three 
months. 
Another point is that a moulting hen is 
usually fat. This is because she stores in her 
system the fat of the food, while the mineral 
and nitrogenous elements go to the formation 
of feathers. Hence, a heu may be very much 
debilitated by the shedding of new feathers, 
and yet be very fat. The best food for a 
moulting hen is oatmeal, with meat aud milk, 
whenever such can be procured. Feed very 
little corn, as she should not be made very 
fat. 
As the Fall begins to pass over and Winter 
approaches, by careful management the hens 
may be made to lay all Winter, and the begin¬ 
ning of the Winter preparation should be 
made in the Fall. Iu some sections the season 
is not very severe until January, aud advan¬ 
tage should be taken of the warmer weather. 
Lice must still be kept down, and the poultry 
house must be made as comfortable us possi¬ 
ble. To get the hens in good laying condition 
those that are very fat should be separated 
from the others, and be fed upon oats, as the 
only food, compelling them to hunt and 
scratch for the grain in cut straw, leaves, or 
some kind of litter, as the consequent exer¬ 
tion will reduce them in flesh and keep thorn 
in health. As soon as the hens begin to lay, 
they may be fed well on plenty of food, pro¬ 
vided, there is a variety, as the production of 
eggs will enable them to appropriate it to 
that purpose. Whenever a hen ceases to lay, 
if even for a few days, she begins to fatten, 
and this must be guarded against, as a fat 
female, whether quadruped or birds, is not 
very prolific. 
If soft food is given, it should consist of ground 
oats three parts, shorts one part, and bran two 
parts, aud if the hens are laying well there 
should be added one part of corn meal and one 
of ground meat. Bone-meal, grouud shells, 
and pure water should always be where t he 
fowls can have access to them, and the soft 
food should be seasoned with salt, scalded, 
and fed warm. No food will be necessary 
then until night, when oats and wheat should 
be given, unless in cold weather, when corn 
may also be allowed. 
Chicks hatched late in the Summer or dur¬ 
ing the Fall, must be sold whenever cold 
weather sets in, as they seldom grow after frost. 
They will remain nearly of the same size all 
through the Winter, but will grow rapidly on 
the approach of Spring. Such clucks usually 
make short-legged, compact-looking fowls, 
while those hatched in the Spring are taller. 
It pays to give the late chicks the whole of the 
warm weather in which to grow aud attain 
all the size posable, but if kept till the end of 
the year they should be sold about the middle 
of January, as prices then begin to rise. Good 
warm quarters have some influence ou the 
growth of chicks aud the productiveness of 
the hens, aud as but little can be done iu 
Winter, this is the proper time to build aud 
make preparations. 
AUTOMATIC REVERSIBLE FOUNTAIN. 
Fowls are as fond of pure, cool water as 
human beings, and when it may be provided 
at so little trouble aud expense it is downright 
cruelty to neglect it. Au automatic fountain 
is not difficult to make, and would prove a 
boon in every poultry yard, One head is 
taken out of a keg, a demijohn is placed in¬ 
side, so that its neck will protrude through a 
hole bored in the center of the head, and 
solidly packed in with sawdust. The head is 
then replaced and the keg hung ttpou a frame, 
as shown iu the sketch (Fig. 357). A pan.is 
placed under the demijohn, so that the form¬ 
er’s bottom will be about two inches below 
the latter’s mouth. As the water is token 
from the pan by the fowls it will flow in 
from the demijohn, so that there will always 
be two inches of water in the pan. The saw¬ 
dust packing will keep it cool until the last 
drops flow out. As the keg is being packed 
with sawdust, a stone a little heavier than the 
empty demijohn may be placed in the bottom; 
then, when all the water has run out, the keg 
will turn over automatically, and may be ar¬ 
ranged to ring a bell as it does so. In Win¬ 
ter the demijohn may be filled with warm 
water, aud the sawdust packing will keep it 
warm a long time. A tin can, holding a 
couple of gallons and Hlrnped something like a 
demijohn, may be used, aud in very cold 
weather it may be filled with hot water with¬ 
out danger of breakiug. With such a fouu- 
taiu as this in a poultry-house the fowls will 
not be apt to suffer for pure drinking water. 
Christian Co , Ill. f. orundy. 
--»«« 
Gapes in Chickens.— I have had an expe¬ 
rience of several years raising chickens—from 
a score to 300—and sometimes, in a confined 
space; gapes have appeared, but not with 
any disastorous results when the following 
remedy was used : — Feed the flock sparingly, 
short rations. Keep a shallow dish with 
cracked corn, and over this corn pour a little 
turpentine; the chickens will go for this dish 
and take the corn, not with particular relish, 
but they will soou lose the gapes. B. H. 
fklij Crops. 
PROFITABLE WHEAT ECONOMY. 
WALDO F. BROWN. 
With wheat selling at present prices no 
farmer can afford to grow a poor crop, aud 
every wheat grower should determine to se¬ 
lect such soil, and so thoroughly prepare it, 
that ho may reasonably expect from 20 to 80 
bushels per acre. This ought not to be diffi¬ 
cult on good wheat land provided the proper 
conditions of soil are obtained. By far the 
most important point under the control of the 
farmer is the preparation of the seed-bed, aud 
often ten bushels to the acre can be added to 
the crop by attention to this alone. The best 
seed-bed is one mellow at the surface, but 
compact below. This seed-bed is most easily 
secured by early plowing and frequent work¬ 
ings of the soil. These workings should fol¬ 
low every rain, as soon as the land is dry 
enough, aud should be shallow. There is no 
better implement for this than au Acme har¬ 
row, but judgment must be used, and the im¬ 
plement selected must be the best suited to 
the condition of soil. Sometimes a roller or a 
heavy plank drag will do the best work; but 
the object should be to keep the surface fine 
and mellow so as to retain the moisture, and 
induce chemical action which will render the 
plant food in the soil quickly available. If 
for any reason plowing must be deferred un¬ 
til near seeding time, it should always be shal¬ 
low—from four to five inches—aud the roller 
should immediately follow' the plow, so as to 
compact aud pulverize the soil before it dries. 
Why do I lay so much stress on a compact, 
mellow seed-bed, do you ask ? Because, first, 
I have seen many failures of the crop from 
sowing at ouee on a deeply plowed mellow 
field. The loose, porous soil holds too much 
water, and does not anchor the roots firmly, 
and the soil is not aerated and disintegrated so 
as to give up readily the plant food so necessary 
to give the plant vitality to endure the Winter 
and enable it to develop enough of blade to 
protect the roots, and enough of root to main¬ 
tain its hold ou tile soil and resist the lifting 
process caused, by the alternations of freezing 
and thawing, which kill the feeble plant. I 
have said nothing about fertilizers; but would 
advise that all the animal or barn-yard man¬ 
ure at command, be thoroughly fined aud 
mixed, and used as a top-dressing after the 
land is plowed, and that it be thoroughly 
mixed with the surface soil by subsequent 
harrowing. Many years of experience have 
led me to believe that wheat sown early, on a 
well prepared soil, requires but one bushel of 
seed to the acre to produce all that the land is 
capable of; but I have hesitated to recom¬ 
mend this amount, because at some of the ex¬ 
periment stations the experimental plots 
seemed to show that six or seven peeks gave a 
greater profit; but in the report for 188. >, Pro¬ 
fessor Lozenby, the Director of the Ohio Ex¬ 
periment Station, says: “ From previous 
tests we should unhesitatingly say that four 
pecks of seed is a sufficient quantity per acre, 
if (he soil is in proper condition aud there are 
no exceptional climatic conditions.” (The 
italics are mine.) 
In regard to varieties, I recommend always 
that each should sow such as are tested in his 
locality. With me the Fu Itz and Diehl- Medi¬ 
terranean have given the best satisfaction. As 
a rule, early sowing is best, but I would rather 
defer sowing two weeks thau to put the seed 
in a badly prepared seed bed, and I would not 
sow while the mercury is much above 80 de¬ 
grees. or in a very dry soil, as these conditions 
are favorable to insect enemies. I prefer to 
seed after rather than before u ruin, which 
will pack the soil aud form a hard crust. Fol¬ 
lowing as nearly as possible these rules, I have 
been fairly successful as a wheat grower. 
pomoWjjicxxl. 
STAMINATES AND PISTILLATES. 
Perhaps no subject will, in the near future, 
assume more importance to nurserymen and 
fruit-growers than that which heads this ar¬ 
ticle. The question of the perfect and imper¬ 
fect blossoms is, as yet, hut little understood. 
There are comparatively few engaged iu hor¬ 
ticultural pursuits familiar with tho office per¬ 
formed by pollen iu the production of fruit. 
Here is a field for practical investigation. We 
have barren plants, barren vines and barren 
trees. Is it because the blossom is imperfect 
or not? The st rawberry is catalogued as stam- 
inate or pistillate, having a perfect or imper¬ 
fect bloom. There arc some raspberries which 
aro said to be bettor thau others when planted 
near others better supplied with pollen. 
[There is no doubt, about it, and the same may 
bo said of certain blackberries.— Eds.) 
But how is it with orchard fruit trees, 
grape-vines and other kinds of fruit ? [The 
same unquestionably as to certain varieties.— 
Eds.] 
Mr. D. B. Wier, a prominent horticulturist, 
of Lacon, 111-, contributed some well-written 
papers to a Western agricultural paper, last 
Winter, on our “Native Plums.” He states 
that the Wild Goose Plum has au imperfect 
blossom,and that uuless it is planted near some 
other kind having a perfect blossom,is unpro¬ 
ductive. He is evidently correct, i have au 
orchard of 800 large Wild Goose Plum trees, 
capable of yielding at least 4,000 bushels of 
fruit. I got only about 200 bushels this year. 
On the southwest side of this orchard there are 
a few rows of Ainsdeu peach trees, aud just 
beyond the peach trees is au apple and iiear 
orchard belonging to a neighbor. 
Five or six years ago when this peach 
