davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-11-11

kinds may be grown. Fameuse is not
strictly " iron-clad."
OF pears, none of the standard varie-
ties will endure the climate of the cold
est parts of Vermont. The hardest of
all we have tested are Onondaga, Flem-
ish Beauty, Clapp's Favorite, Winter
Nelis, and the Macomber Seedlings, of
which the best is the Macomber and
the largest the Hoskins. The best Rus
sian pears are said to be Bessemianka
and Sapieganka, but they are not yet to
be easily had, though in few years
they will be plenty. These are said to
be entirely iron-clad and equal to the
Flemish Beauty in quality, though
smaller in size.
OF cherries, the Early Richmond is
pretty hardy in tree, but the fruit-buds
are destroyed in all but the mildest
winters. A better list would be Lieb,
Large Montmorency, Ostheim, Double
Matte and Griotte du Nord, but all of
these are yet rather scarce and difficult
to obtain. In few years the nursery
men will have plenty of them for sale.
OF plums, Mooer's Arctic is the
hardest blue plum we know of, yet not
entirely I" iron-clad." The Russian
plums imported in 1882 are reported to
be of excellent quality and perfectly
hardy, but it will be some years before
they can be offered for sale in any guam
tity. OF the improved natives, DeSoto,
Rollingstone, Minnesota and Forest
Garden are among the best. Miner and
Wild Goose are too late for New En-
gland.
Of raspberries, we know no better
black than the old Doolittle. The best
reds, Cuthbert, Turner and Clark.
OF blackberries, Snyder and Sable
Queen suit us best.
Among grapes, Niagara and Peck
lington are too late for Vermont. Au-
gust Giant and Amber Queen we are
not acquainted with. Brighton, Salem,
Delaware, Moore's Early, Israella,
Hartford and Tolman are all sufficiently
early, and are preferred in the order
named. The last two are useful chiefly
for preserving.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-11-11
Nursing the Sick.

Dear Household Desert the House
hold? No, indeed-neverl The good
Book tells us that Il" it is more blessed
to give than to receive;" but really /
think l enjoy the good things of the
Household department better than Civ
ing, and it may be so with some of the
other sisters, all of whose signatures /
have and am anxious to hear from again.
| was pleased to hear from Mrs. A. w.
l want to tell the sisters that have a
nice scrap-book containing every num-
Der of the Household, and there is real
enjoyment in looking it over when the
toll of the day is ended" and we can
have quiet hour. From experience /
can recommend the milk diet, particu-
larly at night. Do all of the sisters real
ize what delightful accomplishment
it is to know how to nurse the sick? Are
there not some young women who may
chance to read these lines who are will
ing to make nursing their life-work?
What can be more pleasing than to
know how to care judiciously, tenderly
and lovingly for the sick-to know how,
with light and gentle touch, to soothe
the aching brow and quiet the restless
sufferer, to so arrange the sick-room
that it may be pleasing to the eye of the
patient? How often / have seen the
face of sick one light up at the sight
of flowers. Beautiful flowers! they di-
vert the mind and aid in the recovery
of the patient. There is much 1 would
like to say on this subject, but time and
space forbid. ] hope all who can will
fit themselves for nursing the sick.
They will never regret it, if it be only
to care for their own dear friends.
East Bethel, VT. G. L. F.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-11-11
From Florida.

Dear Household:-I planted, last
spring, four seeds of what is commonly
known as the Cypress Vine. 1t is the
most beautiful vine l ever saw, having
delicate fern-like leaves and little star
shaped, carmine flowers. A space as
wide as the window and as high as the
house is completely covered by it. I
shall have a quantity of seeds from it;
also some of the French Horse
Bean" which is the quickest growing
large vine l know of. The bean is a
curiosity from it's size and beautiful
color, the pods being eighteen inches
long 1 will send specimens of these
to readers of the WATCHMAN as far as
i can, and would say here that l at
tempted such an enterprise once before
through newspaper. My seeds, pa
thence and the stamps sent held out so
l answered all save one, which | put
away for more time and lost. Your
readers could scarcely be expected to
belleVe me IL L were to tell them OF the
chances to make fortunes from small
amounts invested here in real estate:
and it looks as though the boom would
be permanent, for fruit and vegetables
can be grown here out of season,
and that fact alone ensures high
price. Ten acres of good land set with
thrifty five-years-old orange-trees is
worth ten thousand dollars to sell, and
ten-years-old trees will bear oran ges
enough at $3.50 per hundred to amount
to 81 cooper acre every year. But, like
farming North, there are many outs
and failures from neglect.
Mrs. n. Z. HARRINGTON.
Orlando, Florida.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-11-11
Irasburgh, Vermont.
Farm and Garden Notes.
Z. E. JAMESON

THE fruit crop in Maine is abundant
and the apples are found TO be unusu-
ally free from insect depredations.
A PHILosoPHIC farmer says there
amt no cause for deal of frettin' in the
world, 1t always evens up about So"
If chickens have sore eyes you can
apply glycerine to good advantage, one
small drop to each eye. This will
soften the edges of the lids so that the
birds can open them.
If continuous corn-barn extended
from New York to San Francisco it
would have to be made large enough to
hold ninety-fve bushels to each foot in
length to contain the corn crop of 1885.
If the horse is too warm to drink he
is too warm to eat, and should be al
lowed to stand awhile before either is
given; but never be so cruel to this
faithful servant as to make it eat its
food while thirsty.
Too much cannot be said in regard
to using fruit as food. Those who
habitually eat fruit have but little use
for the doctors. The appetite for fruit
is a natural one, and the more it is
gratiiied the better it will be for us.
WELL, how many cows will be kept
over this winter at dead loss for theil
keeping? One or more on every farm
where the owner does not test the value
of each one. If he does, very likely the
brag COW will prove to be the poorest.
DIR. FoTHERGILL says that a patient
dying of exhaustion is, generally, dying
of starvation. 4" We give him beef tea
calf's-foot jelly, alcohol, settler and
milk; that is, small quantity of sugar
of milk and some fat. But the jelly is
the poorest sort of food, and the beef
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-11-11
A Good Showing,

Orleans county, Vt, is making a
pretty good showing, agriculturally,
this fall. According to the Barton
Monitor, Thomas Patterson of Crafts
bury raised two hundred fifty-six
bushels of potatoes on ninety rods of
ground, and G.. X. Goodrich of the
same town raised sixty bushels of
wheat from two bushels of seed on one
acre of ground. West Derby reports
rutabaga turnip of fifty-one and one
half pounds, grown by William Wells,
and Henry Chaffee of Albany raised
forty-seven bushels of wheat from one
bushel and two quarts of seed. On
the score of longevity, the Newport
EGpresS reports the death in Albany of
Eli Chamberlain at ninety-four, and
the celebration of the ninety-second
birthday of Mrs. Susan Collins of Bar
ton Landing. In the latter village it
also mentions as "hale and hearty"
Mrs. Chase, aged ninety-seven; Daniel
Twombly, lightweight; Timothy Dud-
ley, eighty-fve, and Esther and Lewis
Nye, each eighty-three. And yet there
are good many Orleans county peo-
pie who have gone West lately, some
to grow fourteen bushels of wheat to
the acre in Dakota, at sixty cents, or
thirty-five bushels of corn in Kansas, at
twenty-five cents a bushel. They pay
their money and they take their choice.
At home they could have money at five
or six per cent, while out West they
get it as a favor at twelve to twenty
per cent. That is the way they hope
to improve their condition.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-11-11
Concerning Children.

Dear Household Why can't we have
how to amuse, instruct and dress chill
dren? / have seen nothing on this sub
ject as yet in this department Is not
the training of young minds for the flu
ture subject which occupies our
minds-the minds of mothers, | mean
as much as any other, and is it not as
important as any other? 1 have only
one child, two-years-old boy, but |
think he is not too young to mind and
be trained in the way he should go. l
have been making red flannel drawers
and shirts for him, because l think he
should be kept warm; and he, like most
other children / have seen, loves to
roll on the floor. | have been making
him some regular boys aprons; made
them from strong Bingham. They
button straight down the front, and
have pockets and collar and strap
across the back. He calls them his
coats. If any of your readers would
like these patterns | will send them for
six cents in stamps, or one pattern for
three cents. use the stocking-sus-
penders, or side-elastics, to hold up his
stockings. One pair will last long
time. l would like pattern for max
ing cloth cap for boy for winter.
Mrs. j. GooDNo.
Suffer Creek, Cal.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-11-11
Fruit Questions.

G. c. Conant of Waterbury, VT,
asks if the following sorts of fruits are
such as we can recommend for North
ern Vermont, and what kinds we would
add to the list:
APPLEs.-Scott's Winter, Magog Red
Streak, Wealthy, Lady, Fameuse.
PEARs.-Flemish Beauty, Tyson.
CHERRIEs.-Ea Richmond.
PLUMs.-Moore's Arctic.
RAsPBERRIEs.-Black, Gregg, Red,
Caroline, Hansell
BLACKBERRIEs.-W achusett Thorn
less, Snyder, Gainor.
GRAPEs.-Niagara, Golden Pockling-
ton, August Giant, Amber Queen.
This is list supplied by Stone &
Wellington, Canadian nursery firm
that Mr.. Conant says he was informed
we had recommended, which is mis-
take, as we have no personal knowledge
of them, but have heard that the Ontario
Pathological Society has said of them
that they are not nurserymen, but tree
and plant brokers, buying the surplus
stock of nurserymen and working il
off through agents. There is nothing
wrong in that way of doing business,
however, if it is honestly done.
Regarding the varieties named, some
we can recommend, and some are either
not sufficiently hardy or have been re-
placed by better sorts. OF the apples
named, two (Scott's Winter and Magog
Red Streak) are of our own introduce
ton, but the Wealthy is far superior to
Magog Red Streak, and nobody needs
both, Scott's Winter is an excellent
long keeper and a hardy, productive
tree, but the fruit, though handsome
and good, is only medium in size.
Still, we know Of nothing better of its
season February to June) that is as
hardy and productive. Our list of APP
pies for Northern Vermont would be:
SUMMER.-Yellow Transparent, TIE.
tofsky.
FALL. - Duchess of Oldenburgh
Peach of Montreal, Switzer, Prolific
Sweeting.
Observation-Disclosures, Wealthy, SCOTS
Winter, Newport Winter Sweet.
This list is good for all Northern Yer
mont, except the islands and shores
of Lake Champlain, where tenderel
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-11-11
Weeds.

The principal object of the farmers
labor is not the destruction of weeds.
In his efforts to raise good crops many
weeds are destroyed, yet with careless
cultivation or among hoed crops, with
such an excess of water as will prevent
cultivation and weed-killing, the har-
vest may come and find the land more
completely infested with weeds than
ever before. Such a condition is
cause of regret and of loss to the farmer,
but not of complete encouragement.
In the past time farmers and planters
in the Oldest settled portions of our coun-
try, and with imperfect implements,
have not been driven from the land by
weeds, but rather by an exhausted con-
dition of the soil that would not sustain
profitable crops and the fact that cheap
and fertile land was abundant in the
West How much more hopeful is the
present time, with its improved imple-
ments. The plows perfectly invert the
surface, with all its weeds, and there are
harrows, pulverizers and cultivators
that will destroy all vegetable growth
where they are used, or just leave the
desirable crop. The late growth of
weeds as the crop is maturing is not
ruinous. 1t is hardly advisable to fol-
low the counsel of some, who would
have our laws declare weed propagators
ga public nuisance" as all farmers
have weeds; or the counsel of others,
who would have road commissioners
cleanse the highways twice year, at
the expense of the owners of adjoining
lands. 1t would be better to have laws
compelling men to raise good crops.
Then, while they were obeying the law,
the weeds would become more and
more the objects for destruction, and
the peculiar method that each variety
will surrender to is ascertained.
u. E. JAMESON.
| U,a
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-11-11
Practical Education for the Farm.

After having thoroughly studied the
subject, we have become convinced that
in all institutions for industrial educa-
ton science and practice must be made
to 60 hand in hand. An agricultural
school where the actual processes of
the various branches of agricultural art
are not practically demonstrated, where
the pupils are not made to apply their
theoretical knowledge daily under skilled
instructors, must necessarily fail of its
purpose and, eventually, of the patron
age of the industrial public.
Professor Huxley, unquestionably to-
day the foremost English-speaking man
of science, says on this subject: For
myself, look upon simple knowledge
by itself as of far less importance to
the artisan in his career in life than
number of other qualities. / do not
say that knowledge is not an extremely
good thing; but if man is to make a
good workman, or to do anything in
practical life, you must give him an ed
ucation that fits him for the conditions
of life with which he has to deal, and
you will not give him an education by
filling his head with number of intel
lectual distractions, or even by giving
him the largest acquaintance with sci
entiic principles. And l think it is a
profound mistake, considering the ca
reer to which the majority of artisans
or persons in that class of life are nee
essarily bound, ever to take them out
of the wholesome discipline of prac-
teal contact with the realities of life
for the mere sake of giving them a
greater or less amount of knowledge.
A man who is inclined to do so may al
ways pick up knowledge, and he may
do so at the same time that he is get
ting his education, in the highest sense
of the word, out of his contact with
realities of his daily life; but if you
make book-worm of him, if you take
him away from all that contact with
reality and turn him back afterwards
into it, he has lost the touch of life"
AS regards agriculture (and the same
is true of mechanic arts) there is still
another urgent reason why schools for
teaching it should enforce manual la
Dor as most important part of their
course of instruction. 1t is that, I'M
less Young persons between the ages of
fourteen and twenty spend consider
able portion of their time daily in prac-
tical bodily labor, their bodies will lack
tho development which only labor can
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-11-11
agricultural.
T. H. HOSKlNS, m. D., Editor,
Newport, Vermont.
A New Plan for Keeping Apples.

Solomon w. Jewett (of Shepherds
Home, WY sends us a method
(Which we have already seen in prinD
for preserving winter apples by pack
ing them in fine coal-ashes. SO packed,
he states, they may be kept sound and
fresh for two winters, " exposed to
all weathers." This, if true, is more a
matter of curiosity than of practical i'm
portance. Our best keeping apples can
be kept until strawberries are ripe, and
that is long enough. Canned apples
can be kept indefinitely, and it would
be less trouble to can them than to pack
them as advised, besides being more
conveniently stored and handled. Any
way of storing apples which maintains
a low and even temperature ensures
long keeping, and cold storage, by the
use of ice or otherwise, will keep early
apples, pears and other perishable fruit
indefinitely. In exceptional cases,
where a farmer has trees of fall va
rieties only, and desires to keep them
as long as possible for dessert use, if he
has no ice-house and has coal-ashes, he
might try Mr. Jewett's way, but often
he would lack the coal-ashes. In such
case we advise the trial of land plas-
ter as a packing. If perfectly sound
and hard fall apples are packed care
fully in plaster and stored in a cool cell
lar, they will often keep all winter, and
the plaster will not be injured for fer
tilizing purposes.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-11-11
Hungarian Hay as COw-Feed.
Henry Blake of East Hardwick, VT.
saws. in the Mirror and Farmer:

Henry Blake of East Hardwick, VT,
says, in the Mirror and Farmer:
For two or three years past l have
raised Hungarian and fed to my
COWS in milk, with very desirable re-
suits; l have never fed any hay equal
to it for milk. For crop of Hungarian
the land should be dry, such as would
be suitable for wheat, well MANFRED,
well plowed and narrowed; do most of
the narrowing before you SOW the seed !;
smooth down and SOW one bushel to
the acre, in this latitude not later than
the middle of June. After sowing 90
over lightly with smoothing harrow
and smooth down again. have prac-
ticed seeding to clover and timothy at
the same time, mixing the hay-seed
with the Hungarian, with good results.
AS soon as the Hungarian is fairly
grown, and before the seed is filled, cut
with machine in good hay-day, turn
or ted and put into the cock the first
night; the next fair day spread out and
make as much as you can; cock up
again at night; if the next day is fair
you will get it well cured and the hay
will be green as the grass. My help es-
timated that my crop last season was
ten tons on three acres.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-11-11

THE keeping qualities of apples are,
in large part, dependent on the soil
where they are grown. Those matured
on heavy soil keep better than those
grown on sand, and on heavy soil they
are also less liable to be injured by the
Goblin moth. All insects find in dry,
sandy soil better facilities for remain
ing unframed during winter.
The above statements are not based
on knowledge. Apples grown on strong
soils are sometimes better colored than
the same varieties grown on light soils,
but they do not keep any better. If
winter apples fail to keep, there are
plenty of better reasons to be found for
it than the fact that they grew on a
light soil. The Goblin worm does not
go into the ground to hibernate, and
the supposition that it does, as well as
the statement that they are more nu-
merous in orchards on light soils, show
that the writer's not an expert in fruit.
growing.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-11-11

tea a mere stimulant. The popular be-
lief that beef tea contains the very
strength of the meat is terrible err
ror; it has no food value"
THE sunhower has been cultivated
with some success, but two crops of it
leave the soil absolutely barren, says
an exchange, but the statement is alb
surd. We have seen sunhowers grown
for over twenty years in the same spot,
with no diminution of thrift. In fact,
such a statement is untrue of any plant.
ACCORDING to the Mirror, the aver
age dairy of twenty-five cows will be
made up nearly in this way: Two ex-
ira, five very good, five good, five poor
mixers, one kicker, two jumpers and
one that milks so hard that it costs all it
is worth to get it: of the remaining four,
one has lost a teat and three are too old.
AN exchange says truly: "The sub
stantial everyday horse-the one that
draws the heavy loads over our city
streets, the loads of grain and other
farm products to market, and draws the
plow to turn over the rich soil, which
breads the earth's teeming millions--is
the one that figures most conspicuously
in the economic records of our country"
Il. e. J. WRITES that the American
Cultirdtor of October 10th, second page,
second column near the top, in the edi
torial items, says; " BY feeding little
extra at this time wether ewes may be
brought in heat earlier, and thus pre-
vent having a lot of late lambs" The
wether ewes are grade of sheep that
are new to farmers, and any directions
about their profitable management are
interesting.
AN attache of the New York Expert
ment Station, in letter to the Rural
Ne,c Yorker, endorses the coal-ashes
method. He says: A plat of cur
rant bushes mulched with this material
in the spring of 1884, on which no in
secticide application has been made this
year, suffered less from worms than an
unmulched plat that had been several
times treated with hellebore." The
treatment is equally eflicacious for
gooseberries.
GERANIUMs will bloom in winter if
treated as follows: Pot them in good
garden soil, with slight proportion of
sand. Have the pot only large enough
for the roots TO spread themselves so
they will not feel crowded Give them
a liquid fertilizer once week, but let
it be well diluted. When the roots
touch the sides of the pot the plants
will flower. 1t is an almost universal
mistake among amateur gardeners to
use too large pots.
THIS years corn crop is estimated at
nearly 2000,O00,000 bushels. If this
estimate is approximately correct, the
crop is the largest ever grown; but we
fail to get much of an idea of the guam
tity from the figures alone. How much
is it? A million is number that it is
somewhat difficult to comprehend; but
this is 1000 times million. The popu.
lation of the United States is now about
55,000,000; the corn crop is therefore
about 36 bushels to each inhabitant, OF
1S0bushels to each family of five persons.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-11-11

have our years supply of beef in the
early part of winter, 50, when the beef
is ready to dry, hang it in cold place
where it will freeze and thaw as it dries.
We hang ours in the wood-shed cham
Der, and think it much nicer than when
dried by the fire. And it is ready to
" put in bags and hang in the cellar
way " before flies and bugs come.
AUNT MARY.
Williamstown, Vermont.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-11-11
growing

RECENT analysis shows that the fatty
substance of the brain is not, as was
supposed, composed of glycerine, but
of palmatin, an element of which oat-
meal contains larger percentage, and
which is, therefore, a better cerebral
nutriment than wheat-meal.
This is some more of the Boston Cul-
TRAITORS bob-tailed science" For a
long time the quid nuncs have been
telling the people that they must eat
fish to strengthen their brains. Now,
it seems, oatmeal is the thing. Both
statements are utter folly. Folks can
be made fat by feeding, but not wise.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-11-11

give, and when, at the end of their
schooling, they undertake the work of
the farm, they will find it too hard and
painful, and will in disgust abandon it
for something easier. 1t is impossible
for a weak-muscled, slender-boned,
loose-jointed scholar to succeed as a
farmer. He must be trained for years
to the manual labor as well as to the in
tellectual skill which successful farm
ing demands.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-11-11

A MISTAKE" Aunt Mary" writes
us: You wonder that we send so few
recipes. Perhaps one reason is that
you wish only original ones" This
is misunderstanding. Well-tested
recipes, even if old, are quite as well
come as new ones. But we did object
to the sending of copied recipes as
original. Send them, if tested and
found good.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-11-11
DRYING Reef.

Dear Household One of the sisters
tells us in her letter in this department,
entitled How to Dry Beef, to " hang it
in suitable place to dry" l would
like to tell where l think a suitable
place is. Most of us farmers wives