70 

 EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE. 



EXPEREVIEISTS WITH SEEDS.' 



Lincoln County^ N. Y. — The Tappahannock wheat sent out in 18G8 is a 

 success in this locality. It made, last season, 28 bushels to 1 sown. 



Harrison County, Ind. — The Tappahannock wheat has proved a very 

 valuable variety. The first package was received from the department, 

 October 6, 1864, and was sown October 10, The yield was very grati- 

 fying, both in quality and quantity. Since that time I have sown it 

 everj' year with the same result. It ripens about two weeks earlier than the 

 Mediterranean, the principal variety raised in thissection. It hasproved 

 a most admirable kind for flour, our millers preferring it to all others, 

 one miller saying that he will give, next year, 30 cents per bushel more 

 for Tappahannock than for other varieties. A great many of my neigh- 

 bors have obtained the seed from me, and in every instance it has given 

 tlie greatest satisfaction. On account of its thick short stem it appears 

 to be peculiarly adapted to bottom land, or to rich soil where the 

 ordinary varieties are apt to lodge. 



Vanderburg County^ Ind. — About 10 pounds of Tappahannock wheat 

 received from the department was sown in the early part of November, 

 1868, (when it was really too lat<?,) on rich upland, southwest exposure. 

 I harve^sted in June, 1869, (by measure) 5 bushels and .'5i)ouuds of beautifid 

 large-grained, white, sound, wheat. The seed was sown again in Sep- 

 tember, 1860, on other good soil, and the result will be reported. That 

 sown in November, 1868, was partially winter-killed — probably ^ or ^ of 

 it — and yet the yield was as above. 



Cheroi:ee County, Kansas. — I have the honor to make the following re- 

 port of seeds issued by your department. One quart of Excelsior oats 

 were sown May 7, forty days later than the remainder of my oat crop. 

 They were put into a well prepared bed by drilling them eight inches apart 

 with a Harrington garden drill. They grew wonderfully rank with 

 heavy straw and leaves, but the rust struck them, and to finish it a 

 very hard storm beat them down nearly flat, and I was compelled to cut 

 them long before they were ripe. They were cut at the same time I cut 

 the main crop, planted forty days earlier. In spite of all the calami- 

 ties the Excelsior oats yielded the best. I got from the one quart six- 

 teen quarts of good oats, though rather lighter than the original seed. 



The Student parsnip grew large and well. It is an acquisition. 

 The three varieties of tomatoes. Cook's Favorite, Cedar Hill, and Man- 

 pay, I planted with eight other varieties, purchased from dealers. 

 They are all good varieties. The choice of the eleven is between the 

 Cedar Hill and Maupay ; both axe excellent. The Winter Savoy Drum- 

 head cabbage was the "finest lot of cabbage seed I ever saw. They were 

 planted April 20, set out June 28 ; raised four hundred heads. It is 

 a magnificent c^ibbage, and I like it much better than the Marblehead 

 Mammoth. 



I planted, April 29, the following onion seed : White Lisbon, Red 

 Wethersfield, Yellow Danvers, Madeira, and Yellow Dutch, expecting 

 only to get sets, but to my surprise they began to bottom down, and, as 

 I thinned them out they made large onions. I could not see any differ- 

 ence between the Yellow Dutch and Danvers. The White Lisbon is a 

 very nice onion ; the Wethersfield grew the hirgest, three and one-fourth 

 inches in diameter. The Madeira, is new, and succeeds well, though I 

 cannot tell yet whether it will keep well or not. The Dwarf Blood beet 

 does not amount to much. They had the best attention, and did poorly. 



