EXPERIMENTS WITH DEPARTMENT SEEDS. 489 



UPLAKD KICE. 



Samuel A. Cook, Milledgeville, Ga., writes: 



The cultivabioii of iipland rice will he a feature of Sou tliem farming ere many years, 

 for it lias already proven very prolitable to many. June planting is becoming conj- 

 mou, and any valuable croj) that vrill permit of such late planting must be an acqui- 

 Bitiou. Its straw makes the linest of forage. 



J. L. Caldwell, Marliu, Falls County, Texas, writes: 



With proper management and a good season a fair crop could be made, but it could 

 hardly be made profitable in this section and with our irregular seasons as a market 

 crop. Farmers might do well to raise it for home use. Rico can never compete with 

 cotton iu Texas. 



POTATO. 



Alabama. — Reports from all sections of tlie State put a liigli estimate 

 on the Beauty of Bebron. In earliness, yield, and quality it is unsur- 

 passed. Potatoes are, as a rule, cultivated only for family use, and the 

 seed is generally obtained from the IS^orth. It is thought that when a 

 supply of the Beauty of Hebron can be secured, it will supplant the 

 Early Eose, which is now the leading variety. Potatoes requiring a 

 long season to mature are not reliable. 



Ar7M7isas. — Reports do not differ materially from those received fi?om 

 Alabama. In all of the Southern States great difficulty is experienced 

 in keeping home-grown seed for planting. The only practicable method 

 reported is to plant the ripened tubers of the first crop, and raise a sec- 

 ond crop to be used for planting. 



Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Car- 

 olina, Texas, and Virginia aU give reports similar to the above. 



Illinois, — A great many reports are nearly unanimous in favor of the 

 Beauty of Hebron. "Ripened 13 days before the Early Rose. Quite 

 an acquisition." " Matured in 13 weeks." " Quality unsurpassed." " Fine 

 large tubers; much better that Early Eose." " Undoubtedly superior 

 to anything I ever saw in this country." "Valuable acquisition; two 

 weeks earlier than Early Rose." "One week earlier than Early Eose; 

 good keeper and very prolific ; a valuable addition to our potato list." 

 "I consider them too precious to eat, so I cannot give the quality." 

 " Good the entire year, while the Early Rose is unfit for table iu winter 

 and early spring." 



These extracts from reports received from Illinois are similar to hun- 

 dreds of others on record from Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, 

 Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Ne- 

 braska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsyl- 

 vania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. 

 The testimony of a great number of farmers in all parts of the country is 

 uniform concerning the merits of the Beauty of Hebron, and leaves no 

 room for doubt that it will supersede the Early Rose as the latter took 

 the place of the Early GootMch and other early varieties commonly 

 cultivated fifteen or twenty years ago. 



Good reports have been received "from some of the late varieties sent 

 from the department, but their success has been small in comparison 

 with the Beauty of Hebron. This is probably owing less to any defects 

 in the varieties distributed than to the fact that the list of first-rate late 

 varieties is already adequate to the v/auts of all sections. 



Mr. Hillary Ryan, Caldwell, Burleson County, Texas, says: 



The Beauty of Hebron, which you sent me two years ago, outyields any other potato 

 that I have seen in our country. I think it will prove very valuable. 'We can plant 



