4886 
fliEW-YOBKEB, 
have expressed, there are differences which a 
close observer can detect. To my taste, there 
is a noticeable difference in character and 
flavor, not easily described, but still quite 
distinct. In foliage, the two are very much 
alike; but the growth of the Worden is gener¬ 
ally longer-jointed, aud the wood more slen¬ 
der than that of the Concord, The difference 
in time of ripening, I have found to vary some¬ 
what in different seasous; but the Worden has 
always been from a week to 10 days earlier. 
The bunches of the Worden also, under the 
same conditions, have averaged rather longer 
than those of the Concord wherever I have 
seen them growing together. Aud in some 
extremely severe Winters when the ther¬ 
mometer has fallen to 00° or more below zero, 
the Worden has seemed less injured than 
the Concord. 
Although there is to me a difference in 
flavor, I am not prepared to say that either is 
better in this respect than the other. Unfor¬ 
tunately, both have the same tender and easily- 
broken skin, sometimes cracking badly in wet 
weather, aud requiring very careful handling 
in shipment. Neither retains its flavor and 
character long after being gathered; nor will 
they hang long on the vine after being ripe 
without deteriorating. And, as I view it, the 
principal, if not the only advantage the Wor¬ 
den has, is found in its earlier ripening, as even 
a few days are often of importance in northern 
localities where the Concord is ripened with 
difficulty. If left, upon the vines until a little 
over-ripe, I think, too, the Worden is more 
disposed to fall from the stems than the Con¬ 
cord. At, the meeting of the American Porno- 
logical Society, at Grand Rapids, Michigan, a 
company of experienced grape-growers, who 
were invited to visit a vineyard where both 
varieties were growing in that vicinity, found 
it very difficult to say to which they would 
give the preference. I have made some expe¬ 
riments in crossing Delaware aud other kinds 
upon Worden, hoping, through seedlings, to 
improve the quality with increased earliness, 
but so far all have proven to be later than 
either Worden or Concord. 
Not long since some correspondent of the 
Rural gave me the credit of originating the 
Delaware grape, remarking that this was 
“honor enough for One man.” Permit me to 
say I think it altogether too much honor for 
any one man to whom it does not belong, aud 
I am just that man. The Delaware Grape 
was first discovered and sent out from this 
place, aud was named “Delaware,” I believe, 
by A. J. Downing for that reason. Who ori¬ 
ginated it is not known; and the probability 
is that it is a chance seedling. The only honor 
to which I was ever entitled was in au early 
recognition of its merits, and, with others, 
assisting in its general dissemination. 
Delaware, Ohio. geo. w. Campbell. 
farm (f canomij. 
RECUPERATIVE AC: RICULTURE. 
CONCLUDING ARTICLE. 
PROF. I. P. ROBERTS. 
Sorghum as a means of recuperation: char¬ 
acter of much fanning laud; over-produc¬ 
tion impoverishes hath sail and toiler; need 
of proportionately larger yields on smaller 
areas; grass! grass! grass! live stack and 
manure; nature soU-mttking; essence- of 
true agriculture. 
The day is not far off—it isa disgrace that it 
is not already here—when we shall produce all 
the sugar we require from the sorghum plaut, 
which is so admirably adapted to the light 
lauds of the South. It is a little slower to 
start than corn, requiring a little send-off at 
first, but finally sending its roots far into the 
subsoil, defying droughts and bringing up 
stores of plant food beyond the reach of most 
other plants aud converting them into vaiu 
able grain and sacehariuo matter. During the 
war sheep were frequently used to blade sorg¬ 
hum. They do the work most thoroughly us 
far as they can reach standing on their hind 
legs. If a fair amount of fertilizers bo used 
to start the plant, and the manure produced 
from feeding the seed aud the begasse be re¬ 
turned to the land, it will steadily grow more 
productive, ns lias been demonstrated at Rio 
Grande in New Jersey. Why are we so slow 
to follow the common practice in England of 
feeding aud folding sheep on grass land to im¬ 
prove its fertility? Why not raise the hardy 
half blood Percherons, that relish straw as 
well as grass, on these poor lauds. A little sup¬ 
plemented food will hurt neither the colts uor 
the (Md, and the colts will bring from 15 to 
20 cents per pound live weight. 
We have still a third class of lands which 
pay for tilling and give a small profit. Some 
of them are growing more fertile, or at least 
more productive to their owners. I have 
nothing to say at the present time, they have 
at least partially solved the hard problem, 
each for himself, yet no two alike save iu one 
thing—all have returned to the land enough 
plant food, which, added to that carried to 
the surface by capillarity and long-rooted 
plants, and that set free by cultivation and 
brought down by the rains, suffices not only to 
keep the land up to its normal capacity, but 
to increase the latter, It is of the land that is 
slowly and almost imperceptibly decreasing iu 
productive power and fertility that I would 
speak. This class embraces a vast area, and 
upon these lauds reside nearly or quite one- 
half of the farming population. “Speed the 
plow.” No, stop the plow and let him that 
hath been raising 40 acres of wheat write 
quickly 20, and he that hath been raising 20 
let him write 10. We are in some cases carry¬ 
ing the valued, concentrated fertility of the 
farm in grain, etc., to the railroad, and offer¬ 
ing iu a glutted market at cost or so slightly 
above that the profits will not justify the pur¬ 
chase of cheap crude plant food to replace that 
sold. The result is the farmer replows the 
tired land and once again against his will, he 
calls to the laud to stand and deliver. If he 
could only see clearly that 40 acres of wheat, 
at 20 bushels per acre in New York (or its 
equivalent) means very small profit, Rut that 
20 acres at 30 bushels per acre meeus profit 
and fertility both! Will we never learn 
that 400,000,000 bushels of wheat bring 
more money than 500,000,000 bushels? 
Will we uever learn that when any large 
number of people in this country are working 
for lower wages than they should or without 
a liberal profit, most other workers soon share 
a like fate. Then husband the fertility of the 
farm till the world is willing to pay cost aud 
profits for what you have to sell. I know the 
people cry for cheap food, but if some must 
suffer, then I would quite as soon the suffer 
ing should fall on those who squander a large 
percent of their earnings in pandering to vices 
as to see it fall on the children and hard- 
worked, frugal wives of the prairie farmers. 
About 20 years since the fanners of Iowa were 
bankrupt with 10 cent corn. I would like to 
see two-thirds as much raised as now on half 
of the area of plowed land. 
What will be done with this surplus land? 
“Why, let it go to grass." Whv longer fight 
your best friend? Why not make peace with 
your friend while you can honorably and 
profitably ? Lay down the implements of war¬ 
fare, climb on the fence aud see the grass grow 
and the clover perspire with the labor of 
pumping the nitrogen from the sulisoil to the 
surface. Sign an everlasting peace that your 
children's children may inherit this laud. 
Corn may be kiug, but grass sits on the throne 
and fertility is the power behind the throne. 
Man cannot live by grass alone, so we must 
plow; plow, as the world will pay fur it; but 
as we plow we must plan how we can at least 
parti}' supply the place of the plants we are 
destroying. Our domestic animals supply to 
some extent the office of conserving fertility. 
Then a reasonable number of them should be 
kept, and the manure—off of it—should find 
its way back to the field at the earliest possi¬ 
ble moment consistent with crops and sea¬ 
son. 
This will not be sufficient in most cases to 
keep the laud up to its most profitable con¬ 
dition, anti just here commercial fertilizers 
should come in, not to take the place of farm 
manures, but to supplement them. If we de- 
slre to improve the soil, we would do well to 
study Nature's methods of makiug soils. We 
see her clothing the habitable parts of the 
earth with plauts, most of them so diminutive 
and worthless for cultivation that we hardly 
notice them, but all are useful as soil builders. 
Then come the myriad animal forms to feed 
upon and convert them quickly into soluble 
food for other plants for other animals. In 
modern agriculture the same order should bo 
preserved. Raise the grass to feed the animal 
to make manure to feed the grass. Some¬ 
where before the circle is completed we take 
a small fraction of toll from the three ele¬ 
ments mentioned, and to replace them we 
draw from the bountiful stores in the bowels 
of the earth, from the sea and from the waste 
places. 
Then true agriculture consists in taking from 
the soil such concentrated products as are 
suited to minister to our varied wants, re¬ 
placing them with crude, cheap and waste 
products so skillfully that no serious diminu¬ 
tion Shall occur. To do this to the best ad¬ 
vantage requires a great amount of skill, 
training, knowledge and labor, and where 
either or all of these are notably deficient, the 
land suffers. 
Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 
GRANARY STEPS 
At Fig. 443 is shown the frout elevation of 
our granary in order to show how the steps can 
beananged so as always to have them handy 
and yet have the granary raised so that mice 
or rats cannot get into the building. The 
steps are hung on strong binges just at the 
edge of the threshold. A small rope passes 
from the staple up over a pulley at the top of 
the dour post, and reaches nearly to the floor 
with a weight attached; this weight is just 
heavy enough to balance the steps at any 
angle. Now to enter the granary open the 
door; take hold of the steps, a slight pull turns 
them down: they strike on a block set in the 
ground which forms the first step. To turn 
them up it is only necessary to give them a 
slight start and the weight takes them to their 
place. If the weight just balances the step, 
there will be no slamming either way. It is no 
new thing to have the granary set up on posts, 
but the trouble has been to have the steps 
handy. They are generally cumbersome 
things and the farmer soon gets tired of mov¬ 
ing them away and so leaves them after a little 
while, and the mice and rats get in as bad as 
ever. Our gin nary sets on three posts oueaeh 
side and one in the middle, with inverted tin 
pans on top of the posts. It has stood 15 years 
or more without a mouse or ratgetting iuto it, 
and the steps have never got out of order. 
When they are down a wagon can be driven 
alongside so as to be readily loaded. 
Grand Isle, Vt. s. m. macomber. 
HAY RACK. 
Mr. A. J. McDermid sends us a sketch of 
the rack shown at Fig. 444. It separates into 
eight parts, viz.: The bed, twosides. fore stan¬ 
dard, two aft stakes, and two bed boards. 
The bed just fits between the wagon standards, 
and has cleats to hold it to the hinder ones. 
It is made of 2x8-inch plank, 14 or 16 feet long, 
with the cross-pieces mortised into it, and has 
a pair of large staples on the inside of each 
end to hold the standard and aft stakes. A 
side is made of two strips, a wheel guard, and 
four supports, each having a tenon and notch. 
The center strip is securely fastened to the top 
of the standard, and has a slit to hold the lines, 
aud tlie bed boards are fitted around the sup¬ 
ports. The bed aloue is convenient for haul¬ 
ing barreled apples or potatoes. 
WAGON jack. 
The sketch of the 
wagon jack, shown 
at Fig. 448, is sent 
by Bert. Eekersou, of 
Ulster Co., N. Y. It 
may be old to our 
readers, but it is a 
Fig. 44$. good one nevertheless. 
Its structure and the 
mode of its operation will be readily seen. 
FEED HOPPER FOR POULTRY. 
In feeding poultry it is well to keep a sup¬ 
ply of some kind of food always within their 
reach. To throw it on the ground is wasteful 
and filthy, and an 
open box or trough is 
not satisfactory. At 
Fig. 447 is a sectional 
view of a cheap and 
easily-made hopper 
for this purpose, such 
as I have in use, and 
which I am much pleased with. Food kept 
continually before fowls should be such as 
they will not gorge themselves with. Dry 
bran with a little corn meal mixed with it, 
wheat screenings, or oats, ground or whole, 
are excellent foods for feeding in this way. 
Crayson Co., Tex. james nimon. 
Fig. 447. 
DEVICE FOR HANGING HOGS. 
Here is an easy way of hanging dressed 
hogs at butchering time. Take three poles 
about nine feet long, 
and fasten them to¬ 
gether at one end with 
a half-inch bolt, and 
put a meat hook two 
feet from the top end 
on each outside one, 
as shown at Fig. 446. 
Fig. 446 Niles, Mich. j. r. 
The American Percheron Horse Breed¬ 
ers’ Association held its annual meeting at 
Chicago, November 17, with a large attend¬ 
ance, The progress of this Association is said 
to be unprecedented in the history of any like 
association. A total of 811,420.72 has been 
collected in one rear The Association now 
finds itself 84,248.14 ahead. There are 118 
bona fide stockholders. An idea of the inter¬ 
est in the Association, as well as the hopes of 
the members, may be learned from this ex¬ 
tract from the address of Vii>e-President 
Kellogg, who said: “Gentlemen, you are en¬ 
gaged in the noble work of planting on Amer¬ 
ican soil what we believe to be the best race 
of draft horses iu the world. The process of 
selection is continually going on in France, 
while pride and self-interest induce you to 
import the best. Let it lie our characteristic 
aim to raise our standard of excellence and 
seek to give to our eouutry a better race than 
now exists in France. We extend the hand 
of friendship to our brothers of the other 
draft breeds with the hope that tbev will give 
to America the best of the European races.” 
The Texas Fair Association set apart 
five acres for the Horticultural Department 
exhibit. The nurserymen contributed 82,000 
worth of orua mental trees ami shrubs to per¬ 
manently adorn the grounds. A very tasty 
building has been erected. At the late ex¬ 
hibit, this was well filled. Two large tables, 
each 70 feet loug, were covered by the exhibit. 
Potted plants were massed about the tables. 
A splendid display of apples was made. Ben 
Davis led. This is called the market apple of 
the Southwest. Many visitors could not be¬ 
lieve that these fine apples were raised in 
Texas, yet they were—every plate. A dozen 
plates of the Japanese Persimmon made a fine 
showing. There was also a good exhibit of 
pears, peaches and quinces. A State Horti¬ 
cultural Society has been organized with T. 
Y. Munson as president The display of agri¬ 
cultural machinery at the fair seemed to indi¬ 
cate that Texas must be a great market for 
this line of goods. 
At the Boulder, Colorado, Fair Short-horns 
led in the Oattle departments. Clydesdale 
horses were well represented. Berkshire hogs 
were most prominent. Wyandotte, Plymouth 
Rock aud Langshau poultrv were plenty. The 
exhibit of fruit was very promising. 
The Indiana Horticultural Society 
holds Ire 26th annual meeting at Columbus 
December 7-9. An excellent programme has 
been prepared, including addresses by Prof. 
Burrell, Prof. Troop, Dr. Futners aud others. 
The Illinois Horticultural Society 
meets this year at Jacksonville, December 
14-16. The programme will be sure to interest 
those who attend. Liberal premiums are of¬ 
fered. 
Praise is heard on all sides for the man¬ 
agers of the Wisconsin Farmers’ Institutes. 
Many of the best agricultural speakers have 
been engaged. No political battle could have 
been more carefully mapped out thau this 
campaign. It will prove one of the most 
profitable campaigns ever held in Wisconsin. 
The state is making real progress m agricul¬ 
ture, We believe that the Wisconsin Experi¬ 
ment Station returns better results to the far- 
mere of the [State for the mouey expended, 
