1883.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
221 
may be sown. Also plant the tubers of the Madeira 
vine ( Bassella ) to produce a quick-growing vine. 
Evergreens .—The proper time for moving Ever¬ 
greens is still a matter of discussion. The majority 
regard May as the best month. Success in trans¬ 
planting depends upon keeping the roots and root¬ 
lets from drying. If a tree is to be removed but a 
short distance, the roots should be protected by 
moss, mats, rugs, or some other material. 
Chrysanthemums .—Do not forget to provide a 
stock of these, to brighten up the garden when all 
other flowers have gone. 
Slicks and Strings contribute much to the neat ap¬ 
pearance of the garden. Stakes should be hidden 
by the foliage of the plants tied to them. Dahlias 
need supports at the branches as well as the stems. 
Spring Bulbs .—As the flowers fade, cut them 
away. If the beds are needed for other plants, 
take up the bulbs and set them out elsewhere and 
let them remain until the fading of the leaf shows 
that they have ripened. 
Oreen-Hontse uuul Wandow Plants. 
It is customary to set nearly all the plants in the 
open air, but many are much injured by this prac¬ 
tice, especially by the hot sun falling upon the pots 
and scalding the roots. The pots should either be 
plunged in the soil, or a shade of some kind pro¬ 
vided. The plants should be placed where they 
can not be blown over, or injured by domestic ani¬ 
mals .... Watering will usually be ueeded, and 
shade from the sun in the hottest part of the day 
.... Put down a layer of coal ashes for the pots 
to stand upon to keep out worms .... Look out 
that destructive insects do not damage the plants 
. . . .The summer blooming Cactuses, Fuchsias, 
etc., should be used to decorate the veranda . . . 
Hanging baskets are best watered by plunging 
them in a bucket of water and allowing the earth to 
get thoroughly soaked. 
Validity of the Drive Well Patent. 
Inquiries have been received concerning the 
Drive Well patent, issued January 14, 1868, and re¬ 
issued May 9th, 1871, to Nelson W. Green, of 
Courtland, N. T. Its validity was sustained by the 
U. S. Circuit Court for the Eastern District of New 
York (see 13 Blatchford’s C. C. Reports, 307); also 
by the U. S. Circuit Court for the District of In¬ 
diana. An appeal from the Indiana Circuit to the 
Supreme Court of the United States resulted in an 
equal division of the Supreme Court, which, under 
the law, sustained the decree of the lower court. 
The patent is claimed to cover the simple driving 
of a tube into the earth until it reaches water, and 
theD pumping the water out. The device has been 
used all over the country without license from the 
owners of the patent, and if the validity of the 
patent can be finally sustained, it will be worth to 
its owners many millions of dollars. The necessary 
element of novelty in the thing is claimed to consist 
in the process of driving a tube tightly into the 
earth, without removing the earth upwards (which 
tube is to serve as a well pit), and attaching thereto 
a pump. The process brings into practical use 
the new principle of forcing the water from the 
water-bearing strata of earth into a well-pit, by 
the use of artificial power, applied to create a 
vacuum in the water-bearing strata of the earth, 
and at the same time in the well-pit. 
The defence set up as against this patent is that 
a device, practically and identically the same, was 
known and in use before the letters patent issued. 
In answer to this the New York Court held that 
“a chance operation of a principle, unrecognized by 
any one at the time, and from which no informa¬ 
tion of its existence and no knowledge of a method 
of its employment, are derived by any one, if proved 
to have occurred, will not be sufficient to defeat 
the claim of him who first discovers the principle, 
and, by putting it to a practical and intelligent use, 
first makes it available to man.” 
The decision of that Court w r as not appealed 
from. Suits have been instituted against alleged 
infringers in Iowa, Minnesota, New York, Wiscon¬ 
sin, Michigau, and possibly other States. In 
Michigan, the matter is regarded of so much im¬ 
portance among farmers, that the State Grange 
has undertaken the defense. The counsel for 
defendants is a prominent Law firm in Detroit. 
In their answer to the bill of complaint, they 
give the names of 162 persons, residing iu dif¬ 
ferent parts of the country, who knew of the use of 
the identical device prior to the time the patent 
issued ; some of them as long ago as 1850-60. They 
also mention 11 books or publications in which the 
device is described, one of which, a certain re¬ 
ceipt book, was published in Philadelphia in 1829. 
In Iowa, the State Legislature made an appropri¬ 
ation to aid the farmers who are contesting this 
patent. 
It is claimed that, when all the facts about this 
matter are made known, it will be found that the 
invention or discovery claimed by Green was not 
original, and not new. This will, it is thought, 
defeat the patent. The owners of the patent, it is 
alleged, are not commencing any more suits, but 
are simply getting what they can out of farmers 
by frightening them into settlement. 
In view of these facts, it would seem best for 
farmers to contest these claims for the present, and, 
where suit is brought, to combine and fight. 
Rice Culture in Japan. 
BT S. SATO. 
Rice holds the same relation to the people of Ja¬ 
pan that wheat does to the Western nations. It is 
an every-day food, an important article of export 
to foreign markets, and the source of the common 
beverage known as sake , an alcoholic liquor pre¬ 
pared by fermentation. A bountiful yield of rice 
brings general prosperity, while the failure of the 
crop results in poverty and misery. 
The first essential for the successful culture of 
rice is an abundant water supply. It is true there 
is a kind of rice which can be grown on dry lands, 
but this variety is, in general, poor in quality, and 
yields less in quantity. It is raised only on such 
lands as are unsuited to the growth of other crops 
on account of excess of moisture, but which, at the 
same time, the water supply being limited, are not 
favorable for the culture of genuine aquatic rice. 
It should be remembered, however, that while the 
supply of water is so essential for successful cul¬ 
ture, great care is needed to protect rice fields 
against inundation. The selection of seed is no 
less important with rice than with other grain. 
Plump, sound, and perfect seeds only are selected 
for planting. The color should be “as white as 
snow,” according to the common expression of the 
farmers, who go to the fields in the autumn and 
select the best rice for seed to sow the next year. 
The seed is soaked in water from two to three 
weeks, and dried in the sun for a few days ; while 
drying, it is covered with mats in the afternoon, in 
order to retain the requisite heat for sprouting. 
When sprouts begin to appear, the rice is ready for 
planting in beds. These beds are carefully pre¬ 
pared and liberally manured. Repeated plowings 
are given before the beds are irrigated, and re¬ 
peated harrowings make them fine and mellow. 
The seed is sown broadcast, as evenly as possible, 
at the rate of forty bushels per acre. The sides of 
the beds are embanked with sods, which serve as a 
footway. About ten days after sowing, young 
plants will appear, when the water is drained off; 
after a day or two, it is allowed to cover the beds 
for an inch or so. Frequent draining and irrigating 
in this manner are practised until the plants are 
ready for transplanting in the fields. In trans¬ 
planting rice, farmers take advantage of the wet 
season, which is usually in the month of June. The 
fields receive thorough preparation for the recep¬ 
tion of the young, tender plants. First, a liberal 
quantity of barn-yard manure is applied, either the 
previous fall or early in spring, and the fields are 
repeatedly plowed. About ten days before trans¬ 
planting, the fields are irrigated, and all lumps of 
earth pul verized. The field is harrowed both ways, 
until the soil looks like fire flour. No better pul¬ 
verization of the 6oil can be found anywhere than 
in the lice fields of Japan. The fields are now 
ready, the prospect of rain is assured, and the most 
important, and, at the same time, the most joyous, 
kind of the routine soon commences. All hands in 
the family are employed. They have a systematic 
division of labor. Each person has his share of work 
according to age. Some root out young plants 
from the teds, and make small bundles, each con¬ 
sisting of fifty or sixty plants, while others carry 
the bundles to the fields, where a party is busily 
engaged in setting out the plants. Aged folks stay 
at home, and are profitably employed as messen¬ 
gers. There is nothing which delights one so 
much as to see the diligent efforts of farmers in 
this line of business, and to observe how happily 
and contentedly they work. The transplanting of 
rice is finished within a week or so, according to 
the extent of the fields, and then the farmers enjoy 
a period of rest until weeding commences. But, 
meanwhile, farmers have to look after the water 
supply of their fields. This should be regulated 
according to the condition of dryness, character of 
soil, local condition of fields, or amount of rain-fall, 
as learned by long experience. 
It is a common saying in Japan that “no bushes 
are found under a tree of luxuriant growth.” 
When plants start vigorously in their growth, no 
weeds will rob them of their proper food. From 
the thorough method of raising rice by Japanese 
farmers, no weed is allowed to share its growth in 
their fields. Nevertheless, weeds spring up here 
and there, sooner or later, but the field is kept free 
from all intruders. Three weedings are a regular 
routine of rice culture. Rice ripens its grain in 
about one hundred days after transplanting. Then 
the water is drained oil from the fieids, the hills 
are exposed to sunshine, and, when no more green 
ears are to be seen, and there is a prospect of good 
weather, the harvest commences. The rice is cut 
with sickles, and bundles of a suitable size are 
made, which are either dried on racks, or are made 
into stacks until they are dry enough for threshing. 
When threshed, the grain is put into bags made of 
rice-straw, and stored away, to be husked during 
the winter. In Southern Japan, two crops of rice 
are harvested, or, after harvesting the rice, winter 
wheat is sown ; but in Northern Japan, a some¬ 
what colder climate prevents this practice, and the 
rice fields are used for no other purpose, and pro¬ 
duce only one crop. 
A Group of Cannas. 
Few plants have undergone greater improvement 
within our recollection than the Canna. Formerly 
we had only the old “Indian shot,” {Canna Indica ,) 
a handsome plant but small in stature and in foliage. 
The introduction of other species, and numerous 
bybridizings and crossings have given a long list of 
named varieties. Some of these grow six and eight 
feet high, with ample foliage. Besides there is a 
great variety in the color of the leaves, and some 
have showy flowers. There is no more effective 
ornament for a lawn, large or small, than a group 
of cannas. The named varieties may be purchased 
of the florists. If one does not care to be at the 
not very great expense of purchasing plant s, hecau 
raise them from the seeds. The seedsmen now- 
offer seeds of good varieties, and if sown early they 
will make good sized plants this season, though not 
so large as may be grown from the roots another 
year. The seeds should be scalded and sown in a 
hot-bed or window-box, and as soon as they crowd 
one another, transplant to give them plenty of 
room. When the weather is quite warm, set them 
out in rich soil, twelve or fifteen inches apart, to 
form a circular or oval group. The first summer 
make note of their relative hight and colors, as a 
guide in future planting. In autumn, if there is 
likely to be a frost, cut down the cannas before 
they are killed. Take up the roots, let the surface 
dry in the sun, label them with hight, etc., pack in 
dry sand and store where they will not freeze. 
