Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1858-03-19
AGRICULTURAL.
From the .7merican -4gricuLturist.
Household and Barn Cats.

Household and Barn Cats.
Did anybody ever have an honest house cat!
That Is to say; il cut that would not steal cream
when she could get into the milk-room, or but
tety; ar the inoalent the meat-closet door was
open, would not slip in aud pluhder the dishes!
If so. we never yet beard of it. We have had
suadry eats ia our lifetime, for taouse-catching
about the houSe They dia catch mice, TO be
,are, bat where they caught one mouse, they
uaagat hrlia-dozen little singing birds,or ceick-
ems, piu14dcged and committed their nuisances
all over the honse, meantime, and let the rats
alone. a trap, or two, or a few deses ofpoi-
sou would DO up the mouse business better, and
more promptly than all he cats we could get,
put together, aud therefore. we long ago put
them out oi the house, aud got rid Of their an
noyauce. Still women, especially young girls,
and inischieyeons children who want something
10 pull and and haul about, must have cat or
tive, and their Indispensable appendages, lot
,,i scorched-backed. dirty, soot-stainsd kittens.
We are not about to dispute with them on the
subject OF taste in such conpaniouship of pets,
Iut to eater our protest, with all good house
keepers and mothers, against culslyating Il llk-
: lug for such treacherpus and unreliable house
protectors.
4 barn cat at the stock and grain barn-a
stout, undeniable teu-pouud grimalkih, howev-
sr. is quite another matter. We like him oI
her. or both, as the case may be. These will
usually catch rats mice aiways-and will fol-
low them over the beams into the mows, and
hunt them constantly. Old Sam, as the boys
cali iu,, during the Winter season is always
s.on ha,,d'' ~ milking time he follows tho
herdsman round the stable, aud when be has
had his breakfast of milk, which is always
served in little dish, at one end of the cows
stalls, lie goes about his business. Biady, too
for he has II wife most of the time-shares
his meals, hunts mice regularly, and now and
then bears litter Of responsibilities, which go
--someWhere- dout ask abnut theal-and
nur haru cat stock increase 90 further. When
Spriug comes, and the stock are turned out,
they go late the fields, or woods, and are sell
dom seen, till cold drives them IN, or the
turn Of barn vernin invites them. They have
no taste for the house, won't 90 there, and woe
be 10 the woman or child who puts hand on
them Scared fingers and scratched faces are
sure to follow. The only real trouble We have
with them Is, when they come wlthia reach of
the terriers, and then is muSs at once. Sam
aud Bidey's fur Is sure to fy, while Jack and
Nelly are equally sure to wear marks of dccl-
ded feline discipline on their faces for long days
afterwards. Both parties claim jurisdiction of
barn, and stables, aud while they both do good
service in their line, each equally hates the 9TH
er with the intensity of a common enemy.
PLANTS THAT ARE RAISED FROM SEED
Among younger readers, and perhaps older ones
who are new hands at cultivation, there seems
to be incorrect notions in regard to propa eating
plants from seed. Thus, for example, We have
frequent applications for seeds of Blackberries,
Raspberries, Strawberries, Currants, Gooseber-
ries, Grapes, Apples, Pears, Plums, Cherries,
Ounces. SO to say nothing of Rhubarb, and
of Dahlias, Double Petunias, Camellias, Roses,
Ferbenas, Geraniums, Fuchsias, Chrysauthe-
m1ms, and various other flowers, of which the
true kinds only propagated from cuttings,
suckers, roots, buds, or gratis.
Now, though all the above named aud others,
may be grown from seed and indeed are so grown
to produce new varieties, yet they all sport, that
is, the seed from single specimen of any vari-
ely Of the above plants Of trees, whether good
or bad, is quite apt to produce half dozen or
more varieties, generally all different from the
parent, aud usually inferior to it.
Suppose hundred seeds from the same ap-
pie tee, be planted and grown into hundred
trees it is quite likely that the fruit on nc one
Of the new trees will resemble that of the pa
rent stock. Oae or more may chance to be su-
perIor. lu this case, an improved variety Is
obtained which is afterwards propagated by
grating or budding. The other fruits, the ber-
ry plants, &c., which we have named, follow
the same rule.
Persons often devote their whole lives to ex.
periments upon seeds, in an effort to obtain q
pew valuable variety, and they often feel re.
warded If only one in many thousands of expe-
riments prove successful. We know genrle-
man who has been planting strawberry seeds
for fifteen or twenty years, but while he has
grown thousands of varieties only to throw then
away, when the fruit Is seen, he has not chanc
ed to obtain more than one or two kinds which
deems sufficiently valuable to continue thei
propagation by runners or roots.--ib.
0UR SINGING BIRDs.-This is the moutl
which brings back our annual songsters from
the warm aud shady groves of the tropics sher
the most of them spend their Winter Season
gay, frolieking things that they are, lovln!
fun aud hilarity, quite as we'll, and enjoying
themselves much more sensible than grea
majority OF Us who boast the higher intelligence
of humanity. Let the wren and the blue-bird
the martin, and the swallow boxes all be in thei
places, Ii you have them not, stick up lot o
oyster kegs--egery body has or can get them
now a-days-in the trees for the wrens ant
blue birds, put up sundry little SHELVES bi