624 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 19 
assists the palatable juices to escape, and with them 
go a portion of our muscle-makers and fat-formers. 
Possibly, they do not go as such, though they might 
as well; but after the chemical composition is broken 
up, they are something else, and not likely to make 
muscle or to form fat, and, probably, only add to the 
manure pile. But it is poor economy to have one’s 
stock grind away their teeth without allowing them 
some “ toll” for the trouble. 
Rain, then, causes loss of muscle-makers and fat- 
formers in the manner indicated. But, as “ misfor¬ 
tunes never come singly, this is not the end of our 
trouble, and the succeeding fair weather may be 
nearly, sometimes quite, as detrimental. How did 
our grandmothers bleach their linen ? In the case of 
hay. Nature does the wetting, and the ozone, always 
present during fair weather in rural districts, which 
chemically absorbs certain elements from the linen, 
likewise exerts its influence on the hay, and. like the 
linen, this is b’eached, to the detriment of the food 
value, however. If caught in another shower, the 
same destructive process is renewed. Should wet 
weather continue, destruction will proceed still 
further. Then comes rot, another word for oxidation 
or slow combustion, and the black carbon becomes 
visible. Farewell, then, ye valuable muscle-makers 
and fat-formers. Not even if we fondly call you 
“carbohydrates” and “proteids,” will ye return. 
No matter how good the weather, I never cut any 
more hay than can be put together in cocks before 
the dew is deposited. In this way only, a minimum 
of surface is exposed, and, just as soon as the dew is 
evaporated, the cocks are opened out. During the 
night, the hay will slightly heat and feel moist in the 
morning. But with the now dry air, the heat of the 
sun, and the internal heat, this moisture rapidly dis¬ 
appears, just as dishes washed in hot water are more 
quickly dried than dishes washed in cold water. The 
pores are thus rapidly closed, and we have our muscle- 
makers and fat-formers secure. How sweet the 
smell! How green the color 1 How relished by all 
stock ! Yes, makiDg hay is something different from 
drying grass. I do not wish to drive out the nutri¬ 
tious juices, but I wish to condense them into a solid 
form. It is conceded that the English make prime 
hay. But the English farmer puts in his hay soon 
enough for it to undergo the sweating process. This 
it could not do if stored perfectly dry, in the sense of 
having all the moisture expelled instead of condensed. 
Artificial evaporation would, no doubt, give us a still 
more nutritious article. The method being imprac¬ 
ticable, let us “make hay while the sun shines,” 
remembering that we cannot do it any too quickly. 
Virginia. _ j. c. senger. 
FRUIT NOTES FROM THE EASTERN SHORE 
OF MARYLAND. 
Different localities, different methods and different 
men furnish very different estimates as to the value 
of different varieties of different fruits; but the 
greatest of all these differences, is that of the men. 
The familiar couplet of Scotland’s great poet, ap¬ 
plies here with as much force as in many other 
things : 
The rank is but the guinea’s stamp, 
The man’s the gold for a’ that. 
Beginning with strawberries, the sum total of the 
experience of this year can be packed into one sen¬ 
tence : A more profitable market variety than Bubach 
No. 5 is unknown to a large majority of growers. 
Unfortunately, though, for this profitable kind, like 
the Wilson and Crescent, the plants are no longer 
characterized by that vigorous healthiness, that so 
materially aided in popularizing it when first intro¬ 
duced. What have we to take its place ? 
With raspberries, the Miller Red is much superior 
to any other red variety grown on this peninsula. 
Its strong points are—vigorous, healthy, hardy plants; 
early ; large, bright-red color; firm, not inclined to 
crumble ; and last, but not least, productiveness. 
Among the blackcap varieties, I met with a great 
surprise this season. Early last spring, my good 
friend, David Miller, of Camp Hill, Pa., sent me three 
strong plants, for testing, of a variety originated by 
him, and which he has since named Cumberland. 
The plants were set with care, hoping to see some 
fruit on them the present season. They started 
growth in a manner that was quite gratifying ; at 
blooming time, every new shoot was crowned with an 
umbel of blossoms. And my ! such berries as those 
spring-set plants ripened, and such a quantity of 
them, too, decidedly the largest berries and finest 
clusters I ever saw. Mammoth Cluster and Gregg 
have both produced well with me, but Cumberland 
steps right up to the head of the class. It takes a 
large raspberry to measure 15 16 of an inch in 
diameter, but quite a number of Cumberlands that 
were measured by myself and others, were that size. 
When introduced, the Cumberland will take high 
rank in public favor among raspberry growers. 
Quite a number of the newer kinds of plums fruited 
with me this season, and some of them are very prom¬ 
ising, indeed ; but as new plums are so numerous de¬ 
tails must be omitted, and names only given of the 
most promising varieties : Hanson, of the Miner type, 
early and fine. Then of the Americana species, 
Heaton, Bixby, Rebecca, Marion, Miller, Old Gold, 
The Cook’s Choice, Smith, Kieth, Meyer, Gold and 
Stoddard, are all large, handsome plums. In the 
Hortulana group. Jas. Vick, Col Wilder and Milton, 
are fine ; Clifford, one of the newer ones of this type, 
is. also, a fine variety. Strange, that plums like Wild 
Goose will sell for more money, per 10-pound basket, 
than Abundance and other larger and better plums. 
It does it, though. Color and season are both in its 
favor. j. w. KERR. 
WHAT THEY SAY. 
More About Columbian Raspberries. —After read¬ 
ing Chas. A. Green’s comments, on page 581, I went 
out tj the Columbian raspberries, picked a handful, 
and sat down to think. I cannot see but they are just 
as delicious on this September day as they were on the 
Fourth of July. I think that it is decidedly nice to 
have fresh berries every day for two months. It seems 
to me that they deserve more praise for their good 
qualities, so I measured one stalk or cane ; its cir¬ 
cumference at the ground was 4 15 16 inches, its height 
11% feet. It had 15 branches which measure an aver¬ 
age of over eight feet each. I have not stimulated its 
growth in any way, for fear of its being injured by 
our severe winters. My notes say that the Loudon 
has winterkilled worse than the Marlboro, and the 
seven berries produced in the last two seasons have 
not been so large or of as good quality. Instead of 
being rich and juicy, they were so dry and hard as to 
“ handle almost like marbles.” Loudon winterkilled 
to the ground last winter, while the Columbians were 
not injured; perhaps, it was because the Loudons 
were planted some six rods further to the South. We 
have been enjoying some home-grown Champion 
peaches for two weeks, and they are most truly a 
very delicious luxury. s. e. h. 
Cherry Valley, Ill. 
Some Peach Notes. —Had it not been for interest 
shown outside of the State, the exhibit of peaches at 
the New York State Fair would have been the poorest 
of which we have any record. But Canada and Michi¬ 
gan favored us with small exhibits that aided in filling 
the allotted space with fruit of such excellent quality 
as to deserve mention, and due credit to those sections, 
for their spirit of enterprise and ambition in compet¬ 
ing for premiums in our fruit department, while illus¬ 
trating the fact that they can and do grow this fruit 
in the greatest perfection. A few years since, while 
in attendance at one of their annual horticultural 
meetings in the Province of Ontario, a very favorable 
report was made regarding a new peach of great hardi¬ 
ness, known as the Fitzgerald. This variety seems to 
have found its way into the State of Michigan, and 
was one that attracted considerable attention in the 
Michigan collection. It was shown by Rollin Morrill, 
of Benton Harbor, who claims for it unusual hardi¬ 
ness in the fruit bud. It is of great beauty, fine size, 
yellow flesh, very solid, deep meat, very small pit, 
and would seem to have much to commend it to New 
York State fruit growers, if it will maintain its good 
character when transplanted upon our soil. 
S. D. WILLARD. 
Some Homemade Corn Ties. 
Corn ties are “just what they are cracked up to be,” 
and are very handy articles for tying corn shocks or 
bundles whenever one has any need for such a thing 
They are needed whenever the work cannot be done 
as well and cheaper with something else. Sometimes 
it can be, and then again it cannot. I have some ties 
that work perfectly, cost me nothing but a few 
minutes’ labor, and there is no patent on them. I 
made the first ones out of an old clothes line and the 
chain from an old chain pump that had gone out of 
use. I separated the links of the chain by opening 
an end of each link enough so that they would come 
apart easily. Each link was then a hook ready to 
attach to the end of a piece of cord. The clothes line 
was cut into suitable lengths. I tied a knot in one 
end of a piece of the cord, and then slipped a hook 
into it. Then I tied a knot in the other end of the 
cord and the tie was done. 
In tying the shock, the hook at one end of the cord 
catches and holds the knot at the other end. One can 
tie more knots in one end of the cord if necessary, or 
fasten it with a half hitch if he like that better. The 
cord and the hook must be proportioned to each other 
in size, so that there will be no danger of the knot 
slipping through the hook. I had not enough of 
these ties, so I made some more of smaller dimen¬ 
sions. I used No. 11 galvanized fence wire for the 
hooks. I had in my kit a little tool made for me by a 
blacksmith for a similar purpose. It is only a flat 
piece of steel to put in a vise with one end made as 
shown in Fig. 198, to turn the wire around. The wire 
was cut into pieces of suitable length, and then one 
end of a piece of the wire, inserted between the jaws 
a and b of the tool, and a loop formed by winding the 
wire around it. It is then slipped off the tool and the 
loop closed up and straightened with a hammer if 
need be. Then the other end of the wire is bent 
around to form the hook. It is a handy way to have 
the wire cut into lengths long enough for two hooks. 
Turn a loop on each end of the piece before cutting 
them apart. About 60 such hooks can be made from 
a pound of No. 11 wire, and they can be made very 
rapidly when a person “ gets the hang of it”. Such 
ties cost but a trifle, and they are very handy to use. 
All these hooks are shown at Fig. 198. f. hodgman. 
Michigan. 
A Heavy Grass Seeding. 
Your account of Mr. Clark’s farming was of much 
interest and value, for it is a proof that thorough cul¬ 
ture pays. I was astonished at the amount of seed 
that he sowed per acre on his meadow. I am a seeds¬ 
man, and have some knowledge of the amount usually 
sown, and, also, of what should be sown. As a gen¬ 
eral thing, I believe that farmers in this section sow 
too little. They generally sow only one bushel of 
Timothy seed to six acres. Some will sow, in addi¬ 
tion, a half bushel of clover seed. It is to my interest 
to advise heavy seeding, and I do recommend more 
than is commonly used here; but I am astonished at 
the amount, as I have said, used by Mr. Clark. I 
have taken pains to ascertain the number of seeds in 
a bushel of Timothy, and find that it is the vast num¬ 
ber of over 48,000,000. He uses, it is stated, 14 quarts 
to the acre in addition to 14 quarts of Red-top, and 
four of clover. He, therefore, sows 493 grains of 
Timothy to the square foot and, including the clover 
and Red-top, probably 800 grains in all. This would 
put nearly six grains to each square inch—six times 
or, may be, 20 times as many as should grow or could 
grow there. 
With the exceeding care he takes in the prepara¬ 
tion of his ground, a less amount of seed should do 
than when put on in a rough way as many farmers 
do ; for so done, a good deal will lie on the surface 
and not sprout, or if it do, be quickly killed, while 
that covered deep will fail also to grow. A test 
just made by myself should be of value here. I sowed 
equal amounts of Timothy in three little adjoining 
rows, in one one-quarter inch deep, in the next one- 
half inch, and in the third a whole inch. The result 
was that that one-quarter inch deep came up first, 
making 150 plants ; that one-half inch deep came one 
day later, with 80 plants, and that one inch deep, three 
days later, making only 27 plants. This shows plainly 
that shallow covering is the best, and it can be done 
only by putting the ground in fine tilth before sow¬ 
ing, and burying the seed lightly by brushing or ex¬ 
tremely light harrowing. j. a foote, 
Indiana. 
R. N.-Y.—As stated in the first article on Mr. Clark’s 
grass crop, we counted the plants on one square foot 
of the field. There were 341, and we are sure that 
many more could have grown there. 
The Russian Plums Fruited. 
Since my recent brief notes upon this class of fruits, 
my trees have ripened a very good crop of about a 
dozen varieties, and I am better prepared than at my 
last writing to give a reliable account of their quali¬ 
ties as good market fruit. I find them, as to fruit, in 
size, running from small to large ; and in quality, 
from fair culinary to very good dessert. In season, 
my collection covers about three weeks, the later 
being, as might be expected, larger than the early 
sorts ; and all very handsome market fruit. For me, 
however, their prime value lies in the fact that they 
are, like the other Russian tree fruits, thoroughly 
ironclad against the severe winters of northeastern 
Vermont. 
In appearance, both of tree and fruit, I observe 
nothing characteristic to distinguish these from the 
old stock, such as is found in the fruit markets of 
more southern localities. This I regard as a good 
point—saving all trouble in introducing and selling 
them in any market. How the stories of their un¬ 
fruitfulness—some of them absurd on the face of 
them—have got into the newspapers, I cannot tell. I 
