68o 
OCT. ii 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
ness and order are characteristics of Mr. Barber, and the 
whole farm shows this in the well kept appearance of the 
buildings and fences. Weeds are not allowed to grow on 
the place. As we were walking through a field he stooped 
down and pulled a white daisy with the remark: “ I did not 
know that we had a daisy on the farm.” This vast estate, 
perfect as it is, represents the results of the brain and 
brawn of two successful men. Mr. Barber’s father moved 
into the locality 51 years ago, and bought 160 acres, running 
in debt for most of it, and by dint of many years of toil 
had accumulated quite a large fortune at the time of his 
death, which occurred a number of years ago. Since then 
Mr. Barber has added several hundred acres, built barns 
and fences, and made many other improvements, until now 
it is the best farm of its size in Western New York, if not 
in the State. I asked him if he was going to buy any more 
are made very warm ; about 15 inches of good hot manure 
are put under each frame, which is well banked up on the 
outside. Then about eight inches of good sandy loam are 
put on top of the manure, which is loft in that state till 
the great heat is over; then we bury the pots as above 
stated, and put five or six seeds in each. About the 
beginning of May we dig trenches 15 inches in depth by 24 
inches in width in rows 14 feet apart and long enough to 
suit the frames and the land; then we fill them with hot 
manure, and tread it down well, and cover it with the clay 
taken out of the trenches before we put on the frames and 
glass; we plow ’round the trenches, getting the clay to¬ 
wards them. In setting the plants, we first dip the pots 
in water, so that the roots and clay are in a complete 
mold, and we set one pot containing four good plants to 
each light For melons we use the same frames in which 
be a poor one. There are enough of such farmers now. 
Just make up your mind from the start that you will be 
the best in the town.” 
“ But I haven’t a cent, and I want to go to school,” said 
he. 
“ Do you know of any boys around here who have money 
and are going to be good farmers ?” I asked. 
‘‘There is John,” was his reply. 
Well, if your idea of good farming is to drink a little, 
and let the hired men lie in the shade while you are off to 
the races, he is a success. Your chances are better to day 
than his if you try.” I took down my home-made book of 
extracts and read : 
“ Poverty is not a mystery, but a means selected from 
the infinite resource to make the most of me.” 
“It has been the fashion to separate hand-work from 
^and, and he laughingly replied: “ No, I used to think that 
a man should own all the land that joined his, but now 
the time has come when we must farm the acres we have 
better, and raise larger crops to make farming remunerative 
in any degree.” 
What is the secret of his success ? Well, I can tell you. 
His heart and life are in that farm, his plans are laid far 
ahead by a far-seeing mind, and are carried out with all 
the strength of an indomitable will. Can such a man help 
being successful? EDWARD F. dibble. 
Lima, N. Y.__ 
CROSS-FERTILIZATION OF THE TRUMPET 
FLOWER. 
The adaptations on the part of the flowers of many 
plauts to force, as it were, insects to supply them with 
foreign pollen, is a marvelously delightful study. Other 
flowers depend almost wholly upon the wind for fertiliza¬ 
tion, while various transitions from one state to the other 
have been observed by ' otanists. Some flowers are self¬ 
fertilizing and necessarily so. Not only are many kinds 
of flowers dependent upon certain insects for fertilization, 
but certain insects seem to be peculiarly and designedly 
adapted to certain flowers, so that they (the insects) may 
readily obtain the pollen or the honey secretions. 
We have at present to speak of what seems to be a pecu¬ 
liar provision or mechanism on the part of the flower of 
the Trumpet Flower Vine (Tecoma radicans), which seems 
to insure that the stigma of a given flower shall receive 
pollen from other flowers. It was while the writer was 
endeavoring to cross the Hardy Catalpa upon the Trumpet 
Flower that the observation was first made. The pollen 
of the anthers is ripe before the stigma is receptive. Be¬ 
fore the stigma is receptive, the two lobes or plates are 
tightly closed together as shown in Fig. 297. When 
mature they gradually unfold as shown at Fig. 298. Hum¬ 
ming birds are very fond of the honey of the Trumpet 
Vine flower and may be seen in numbers during the entire 
day darting from one to another, thrusting into the tubes 
their long bills. In this way their heads, throats and 
breasts carry pollen from one flower to another. Now, 
just the instant that the two open lobes receive pollen, 
they begin to close and in a few seconds have resumed the 
closed position as shown in the first illustration (Fig. 297), 
not to open again. The same quick movement of the two 
plates of the stigma may be caused by touching them with 
anything other than pollen, as the point of a knife or tooth¬ 
pick, but in this case the plates or folds do reopen, as the 
writer believes, though without the evidence of positive 
proof, one imperfect observation only having been made. 
The rapidity of the closing movement depends upon the 
degree of maturity of the stigma and also upon the time 
of day. In one trial (about mid day) the plates after being 
touched or slightly scratched with a tooth-pick closed in 
about five seconds. 
It will be seen that the stigma receives its pollen from an 
insect or humming bird that has presumably visited other 
flowers and that it closes its plates before it is likely to 
receive it from its own anthers, thus securing cross¬ 
fertilization. _. 
MONTREAL MELON CULTURE. 
On page 642, The R. N.-Y. acknowledged the receipt of a 
musk-melon weighing 22 pounds 10 ounces It was of fine 
quality, though Mi. R. Brodie who sent it, states that it was 
almost too large to be first-class. Mr. Brodie sends the 
following interesting note to accompany the picture shown 
at Fig. 299, which is drawn from a photograph of the field 
where the melon was grown. 
“ Montreal melons are grown in nearly the same way as 
cucumbers. We force early cucumbers in hot-beds. About 
the beginning of April the seed is sown in five inch pots, 
buried in earth in a hot-bed, the pots being placed so close 
together that they almost touch each other. The hot-beds 
we forced the early vegetables. About the beginning of 
July when the melons are about four inches in diameter, 
the plants are gradually hardened ; then the frames and 
glasses are taken off. Pieces of shingles are put under the 
melons to prevent the worms and insects from destroying 
them. Dry, sandy soil or gravel will produce melons of a 
better quality than black sandy loam which will produce 
good cauliflowers, but they will not grow so large. Growers 
are very particular to save their best early melons for seed. 
Perhaps one reason why they are of fine size and quality is 
that the bees do not get under the glass to hybridize. In 
the field shown in the engraving half the crop had been 
sold and there was a fair display of melons.” 
‘‘IF I COULD BE YOUNG AGAIN.” 
Sound Advice to Young Men. 
C. E. CHAPMAN. 
A father with his son, 15 years of age, rented a farm 
last spring on shares. After an absence of several months 
the son came back again and made us a visit. 
“ How do you get along ?” I inquired. 
“Not very well,” was the dissatisfied answer. “ Folks 
on rented farms can’t make much.” 
“ What are you going to do ?” said I. 
“ I will be a scientific farmer or a Baptist minister,” was 
the startling reply. “ Which would you be ?” 
My first thought was to laugh, but, like a flash, came 
the recollection of the mighty change a carelessly uttered 
sentence had made in my life, and I was silent. Coming 
Trumpet Flower. Trumpet Flower. 
Stigma closed. Stigma open. 
Fig. 297. Fig. 298. 
from school with an aching head and gloomy thoughts, as 
I pondered on a nearly depleted treasury, I met a cheery, 
well dressed, business man—one of those pleasant fellows 
who captivate every boy’s heart. 
“Hallo ! C. E., you are looking bad. Why don’t you get 
out of that and go into business? More life in a week; 
lots of money.” I dreamed of It that night and left 
school, never to return. In a few years I saw my mistake 
and have a life-time for repentance. Giving advice to the 
young is a serious business, and every word should be care¬ 
fully weighed before it is uttered. They are hardly old 
enough to appreciate the fact that their whole future life 
will be affected by their choice, yet they are filled with 
vague, anxious longings to be up and doing—What ? 
After a pause I said: 
“If you like to live on a farm ; if you love to get the 
lambs in your arms, and to feed the calves; if you like to 
hoe out the weeds, and work all day to get things to grow ; 
if you can not keep away from it, be a farmer, but do not 
head-work, bat we are gradually learning that their har¬ 
monious union is the only means of perfection of either. 
The mass of society is made up of morbid thinkers and 
miserable workers. It is only by labor that thought can 
be made healthy, and only by thought that labor can be 
made happy, and the two cannot be separated with 
impunity.” 
“ How shall I go to school and work too ?” was his next 
question. 
“ Hire out to the best farmer you can get to take you. 
Subscribe for several of the best agricultural papers. Keep 
your eyes open. Cultivate your muscle by doing your 
work quickly, in the best possible manner, and your brains 
by studying the papers. Make it your business to learn 
how to be the best man on his place. Take pride in your 
work. Strive to become his equal in all things. If you 
read anything you don’t understand ask some one who 
does until you see clear through it. Read some things 
you don’t understand. Doing so will show you what you 
need and keep you from getting too smart for your age. 
Save your money. Don’t smoke. See everything. The 
habit of observing once formed is worth to you a thousand 
dollars of any man’s money. After several years of prac¬ 
tical experience when you are old enough to know what 
you are going to school for, invest your hard-earned sav¬ 
ings in an agricultural course at Cornell or some other 
good school. Having learned the value of time and money, 
and your preparatory work on the farm having enabled 
you to appreciate your studies, you will make rapid pro¬ 
gress. When your course is finished no man will have 
better capital to work with than you.” 
Peruville, N. Y. _ 
BREEDING CHESTER WHITE HOGS. 
C. E. MORRISON. 
The time to select breeding stock is when the pigs are 
from four to eight weeks old. The proper way is to leave 
the little things with the sow until they are eight weeks 
old, and so arrange matters that they can have a trough 
for themselves, with feed accessible at all times after they 
are three weeks old. A great change will take place in 
them during the eight weeks. Watch them closely, and 
select those that improve most. Some will be better-look¬ 
ing when six weeks old than at any other age, while others 
will be very thin and begin to improve only when six 
months or one year old. It is at this time that the experi¬ 
enced breeder will watch his pigs, and select the “ improv¬ 
ing ” ones as the prize winners of the future. In selecting 
stock, great care should be given the pedigrees, both on 
the sire and dam side. Although it is a great help in 
getting a strong pig. one cannot depend on the pedigree 
alone, for it is not the pedigree alone that makes the hog. 
Having obtained a proper conception of the best hog one 
must not expect to be able to procure it in every fence 
corner. Perfection has never been reached, but in all 
breeds of stock there are animals of such high merit as to 
seem perfect, and though we cannot see much superiority 
in the individual animals of to day over those of a few 
years ago, the number of the high classes is fast increasing, 
proving that our labor is producing good results. 
The object is to produce a hog whose progeny will com¬ 
bine the points most wanted ; a hog whose March and 
April pigs will be ready for market by November 25, at 
an average weight of 200 to 240 pounds, while the August 
and September litters will be of the same weight by Feb¬ 
ruary 25. There is greater profit in a hog of this age and 
size than in any other. To gain the highest figure obtain¬ 
able above the market, we have bred a hog that produces 
the most pork in the hams, which sell at the highest figure. 
As a rule a hog has great square shoulders aud from them 
the back runs wedge shaped to the tail, giving a small 
ham. Now, reverse this order ; select those kinds that 
have shoulder-blades like those of a Jersey heiter—hogs 
that start at the nose and get wider as they run back to the 
hams. The boar may look small over the shoulders, when 
