THE RURAL WEW-YORKIR 
onion growers of this section are liarvesting 
the scanty crop which has escaped the ravages 
of their old enemy the. cut-worm and of the 
new pest which first appeared last year, the 
onion weevil. The two largest onion fields of 
the district arc the Graycourt Meadows, near 
the Erie railway station of that name, and 
the Black Dirt Meadows on the right hank of 
the MalkiH, In ordinary seasons the 1,000 
acres planted with the root at Graycourt and 
the 1.500 acres planted on the Walkill yield a 
crop of about 500,000 bushels. Owing to the 
destructive work of tho insects the crop this 
season will fall short of 800,000 bushels. The 
onions sent to market tins season are unusually 
fine, of large size and fully ripened. Formerly 
the growers vied with each other in supplying 
the early market at high prices, and frequently 
shipped the tubers in an uuripe state. Of 
late Bermuda and Southern onions monopo¬ 
lize the early markets, and our growers have 
abandoned the early for the late fall and 
winter trade. They find that their product, 
fully matured, lias superior keeping qualities 
and brings a better late season price than the 
Southern article. Prices opened this season for 
the crop raised in this quarter at $1.75 to §2 
per barrel. Later quotations are $1.50, with 
a declining market. Those who stored their 
crops last year for the winter trade made a 
good thing by it on an advance in prices, aud 
many of the larger growers will adopt a like 
policy this season. G. G. s. 
Port Jervis, Orange C’o., Aug. 20.—It is 
estimated that the yield of huckleberries of 
all varieties for the season about closing, hi 
the famous berry regions of Northern Penn¬ 
sylvania and Southern New York, within a 
distance of 150 miles of New York City, is not 
less than 150,000 bushels, nearly half of which 
were shipped to the New York market Phila¬ 
delphia took over 25.000 bushels, aud the rest 
went, to supply the local demand and the mar¬ 
kets. Out of the grand total of huckleber¬ 
ries, 20 bushels of white huckleberries were 
picked. This is a rare berry, only two locali¬ 
ties being known Where it may be fouiul One 
of these is a small spot in Sussex County, N. 
J.. where a few quart* are picked. The only 
other locality where white huckleberries 
grow, and the one spot where they are found 
butter, would soon cause decomposition to set 
in. But without investigation and a thorough 
knowledge of all the conditions and surround¬ 
ings we cannot say positively what caused the 
trouble. In addition to the possible causes al¬ 
ready indicated, poor salt or imperfect salting 
may have had something to do with the fro wing 
of the butter as there might have beeu too much 
water in the butter when the salt was applied, 
an<l in consequence only a weak brine was 
produced, leaving the butter salted too little, 
aud that little with a brine too weak to cheek 
decomposition in the uitrogenous elements iu 
the butter, even at a low temperature ; or 
there might be ingredients iu a poor salt that 
would hasten decomposition. This is often the 
case with the cheap salts, which may run tol¬ 
erably pure for a while, and then a batch be 
struck that will spoil everything that it is 
used in. Such salt is unreliable, aud it is 
risky to use it. An ice-house, of the di¬ 
mensions named, will hold a good deal of ice, 
but we cannot say whether it will hold enough 
“shoe,” its lower edge resting on the sreeenl 
take out all the sieves, and put in the board in 
such a place, moving its top edge back or 
forth, so that when the mixture of wheat and 
cockle is allowed to run through slowly, whHe 
the mill is tnrued steadily and quite fast, all 
the cockle and much of the lighter wheat will 
be driven back of the board, and run out at 
the back end of the mill. Nothing but clean 
wheat will then fall in front of the board, and 
run out at the front of the mill. This cleans 
wholly by the blast, and is a sure wav to sena- 
oe retraced to the minimum. 2. Yes; the 
Diehl-Mediterranean. It yields better than 
the Lancaster, and you can hardly make the 
lands so rich as to cause it to lodge. 
small fruit queries. 
H. 1. Dorr, Dnnsrille, N. F.—What kinds 
of blackberries aud black and red raspberries 
would be best for market here? What would 
be the best time to plant them ? How should 
protection he giveu to those needing winter 
protection? Would sod-ground plowed now 
be suitable for planting blackberries and rasp¬ 
berries this Fall ? 
A ns, —We think that every farmer should 
try a number of kinds of berries in order to 
find out which are best suited in his soil and 
location. Something may be learned by going 
among the small-fruit eulturists near. For 
black raspberries try Nemaha, Souhegau, 
Mammoth Cluster. Hilboru. For reels, try 
Turner (home use), C'uthbert. Shaffer’s Colos¬ 
sal. For yellow, try Caroline and Golden 
Queen. Blackberries: try Snyder, Taylor, 
Kittatinny and Early Harvest; Kittatinny 
and Early Harvest need protection. Straw¬ 
berries: Jewell. Sharpless, Parry, Crescent, 
Downing. You may plant the strawberries 
now; the blackberries and raspberries in Oc¬ 
tober or next Spring. To protect blackber¬ 
ries, bend over the canes aud cover lightly 
with evergreens, straw or litter. Bending 
them over will often prove a sufficient protec¬ 
tion. If the canes are too strong to bend, it 
will lie necessary to dig away the soil on one 
side. We know of no objection to sod-ground 
for blackberries or raspberries, except it will 
be needful to compact the soil about the roots. 
PROPAGATING THE JAPAN CHESTNUT. 
-V. ,/. Barrie, Ontario, Canada .—Which is 
the better way of raising the Japan Chestnut 
—from the nut, or by getting j-oung trees { 
Where can either be obtained t 2. Can the black 
walnut be grafted on the butternut ? 
Ans.— 1. It is very easy to raise the Japan 
Chestnut from nuts. We have little trees, a 
DISCUSSION. 
LIGHTNING RODS. 
I. P. R., Cornell University, Ithaca, 
^ • On page 545 I notice a short clipping 
on lightning rods from the Vermont Watch¬ 
man. which, it. appears to me, is likely to lead 
people astrai-. Galvanized iron is a very good 
conductor of electricity, hut four-ply of it 
will not furnish enough metal to conduct even 
a small charge, much less a large one. Where 
onl- v » small amount of iron is used, the resist¬ 
ance is so great that the rod becomes either in¬ 
tensely hot or entirely melts, which often en¬ 
dangers the building more than if no rod had 
been upon it. A wire cable of not less than 
L of an inch in diameter is as small as can 
be used with safety. If copper is used instead 
of iron, the cost will be somewhat increased, 
though the cable need not be over half the size 
of an iron one. Our lightning rod runs direct- 
y through the hay mow and we consider it 
safe because the rod is large enough to carry 
off the electricity without even warming the 
rod. It; is stapled to the roof and has a ground 
connection of old copper boilers deeply buried 
in the earth. 
D. E. P., Otoe Co., Neb.—I n a late Rural 
some one tells about hoeing sweet potatoes. I 
have raised them for 60 years and never heard 
of such a thing before. I always make ridges 
f< >t sweet potatoes and hoe between the ridges, 
and pull the weeds out of the ridges. That 
writer wants us to hold the vines with one 
hand, and hoe with the other. That looks to 
me about the greatest nonsense I have read 
lately. 
there are 381 cublic inches in a gallon, 
GROUND BONE; SUPERPHOSPHATE 
BURNT 
brittle. The steaming takes out the fat. aud, if 
long continued, some of the gelatine. The gela¬ 
tine coutains the nitrogen of the bones, which 
is tho most valuable portion of the fertilizing 
matter. Bone contains, when dry, about 45 
per cent, of orgauie matter, which has very 
nearly the composition of wool, hair and horn, 
and is rich iu nitrogen; the 55 percent, remain¬ 
ing consists of phosphate of lime with a little 
carbouate of lime, magnesia, soda aud pot¬ 
ash. All this earih.v matter is not affected by 
boiliug, it is the organic part which is purt- 
ly dissolved, and, of course, lost in the clean¬ 
ing. The liquid from the steamer! bones makes 
a valuable fertilizer. Steamed bones, however, 
decay sooner in the soil and consequently 
have a more active effect than fresh bones. 
On the whole, tho small loss resulting from 
moderate steaming is balanced by the cheaper 
grinding. Dissolved bone is bone which is treat¬ 
er! with sulphuric add, and is thus made into 
super phosphate of lime. In this condition t he 
phosphoric acid of the boue is soluble, and the 
effect is immediate; while that ofgrouud l>oiie 
is more lasting. Superphosphate is made as 
follows: the ground bone is put into a wooden 
or leaden vat and is thoroughly wetted. 
Sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) is then poured 
on at the rate of 120 pounds to 4*0 pounds of 
bone. The mixture foams up and the bone is 
changed in character: the phosphoric acid is 
released and the lime of the bones unites with 
the sulphuric acid aud makes sulphate of lime 
or plaster. The bone is then iu a pasty cou- 
the Spring. But these seedlings will vary the 
same as American chestnut seedlings vary_ 
iu the size aud quality of their nuts. There 
are several nurserymen who have raised many 
seedlings, aud are now propagating the best 
of them. These will be offered for sale in 
due time. We are not (.nisifive that the nuts 
are at present offered for sale. Ellwanger & 
Barry, Rochester, N. Y. ; Stores. Harrison & 
Co., Painesville, Ohio, and doubtless others 
have the trees for sale. 2. Yes. 
BITTER ROT IN APPLES, 
G. E. Lovely Mount, l'<t.—On many of 
my summer and fall ancles are small rotten 
pi.s'rrUanrou.s 
■me warm weather has a debilitating effect 
especially upon those who are within doors most 
of the time. The peculiar, ret common, com¬ 
plaint known as "that tired feeling." is the 
result. This feeling enn be entirely overcome by 
taking Hood’s Sarsaparilla. which gives new life 
and strength to all this functions of the body. 
"I could not sleep; had no appetite. I took 
Hood s Sarsaparilla and soon began to sleep 
soundly; con# get up without that tired and 
languid feeling; and my appetite improved." 
R. A. Sanj\-»kd, Kent, Ohio. 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla 
Sold by all druggists. $1; six for $ 5 . Slade 
(Every query must be accompanied by the uamc 
and addreas of the writer to Insure at toil Mon. Before 
asking a question, please see If It Is not answered Iu 
our advert lain* columns. Ask only a few questions at 
one time. Put questions on a separate piece of paper. | 
ohai was the matter wren the buttek. 
J. G. B., Ashtabula, Ohio .—Last week, 
the cellar was undergoing repairs, I set 45 or 
50 pounds of fine roll (fresh-made) butter iu 
When taken out , ten 
was 
our house refrigerator 
days later, it. was really frowv. There 
nothing in the box but butter and ice, and I 
am certain tho butter was as good as is made, 
when put iu. Could the ice have caused the 
mischief ? 1 contemplate building a cooler 
this I all, 12x12x10 feet, high, with ice over¬ 
head. Will the space of 12x18x0 feet hold suf¬ 
ficient Ice to last the season i What w ill ice 
weigh per cubic foot i Gnu oue construct a 
building so as to be sufficiently cool to keep 
butter Well during hot weather without the 
use of ice, and how should it be made ? 
Ank. There is ?p tilling about ice made from 
pure, cold water that will injure buttercooled 
by it, or even iu contact with it, so long as it 
is so kept; but when butter is so kept and then 
allowed to rise in temperature it soon goes off' 
flavor. It, is impossible to tell definitely what 
caused our correspondent's butter to become 
frowy. It might have been tho result of 
geims that got into the milk and cream front 
a foul atmosphere before churning, or even 
into the butter while being handled aud ex 
posed to the atmosphere. The hot weather 
was favorable to the development of bacteria 
»nd all sorts of microbes which, if once in the 
I PATENTED. erf eauhe ob¬ 
tained at any time. 
The Pall is made from heavy XX Uu. and is In all 
respects the best ill the world. 
Send for special circular. Agents wanted. 
MILKING TUBES. 
FOR MILKING COW* WITH SORE TE.VTS. 
This Is t he hest Tube in the market. Sent, post 
paid to any address, on receipt of price Oue 
Tube -nvtils; Five Tubes, *1.00 send for spe¬ 
cial circulars to ” 
BARTLETT & DOW, 
Please mention this paper, MASS. 
•S'. E. 8., Medina, N. V .—How can I clean 
cockle out of Fultz Wheat ! The kernels are 
so nearly alike in size that, it is impossible 
to sereen it, out. This is the worst fault I 
have to find with Fultz Wheat. 
Ans.—W e hook the “shake "to the mill so 
that the “shoe” will lie still ; fit a board of 
the right length, so that it will go into the 
