THE GEKESEE FARAfER. 



51 



SPIRIT OF THE AGBICTTLTURAL PBESS. 



Pheserve thb Papers.— a writer in the Soston Culti- 

 vator urges every farmer during the winter evenings to 

 read diligently his weekly agricultural paper, and file 

 it away for reference, or else provide himself with 

 a scrap-book, where he can preserve such articles as 

 be may have occasion to refer to. This is excellent ad- 

 vice, and we cordially endorse it. "We would suggest, 

 however, that instead of subjecting farmers to the labor 

 of cutting out useful articles and pasting them in a scrap- 

 book, it would be better to have the paper devoted en- 

 tirely to agricultural and horticultural matter, and in 

 such a form that the whole can be readily preserved, with 

 a complete index for future reference. The Boston Culti- 

 tator IS one of the few weekly papers that gives agricul- 

 tural articles of a reliable and useful character, and we 

 would cheerfully pay a good price for the last fen volumes 

 if they could be had in book form without the news and 

 miscellaneous matter which occupies three-fouHAs of the 

 paper in its present shape. To bind up eight pages for 

 the sake of saving two, is more than most farmers are 

 willing to do. The binding alone costs at least a dollar 

 a year; and then when you have got the work, you re- 

 quire a large table to place it on before you can examine 

 it with any comfort, and no ordinary book-case will hold it. 

 An intelligent farmer will not spend time in readmg a 

 paper that is not worth preserving for future reference; 

 and he ought not to be asked to keep a scrap-book or to 

 bind up a great mass of matter which is of no use or in- 

 terest to him. Better give him the agricultural matter in 

 a separate paper, and in such a form that he can easilv 

 bind it. 



Better Prices at the WEST.-The Chicago Farmers' 

 Advocate congratulates the farmers of the West on the 

 prospect of better prices next fall. It says : 

 .n"t't" '^""yr that there will be very little wheat pressing 

 ).J I I '^%*^°'" t'-ansportation compared to wha't 

 here has been for two years past. The supplv of al 

 bnds of gram except corn, is meagre throughout the 

 country, and there is not much over half the cSrn to be 

 ;hrown on the market that there has been the two nast 

 leasons. This, with the present and increasing Si 

 )f transpor at.on, will make freights on our Takes rule 

 i^ricTof grain ""^ ' ""^''^ ^° ^*''"^ ^"^ increase tll^ 

 For the past two years freights have been enormously 

 ligh. and the consequence has been that the farmers of 

 he West have received almost nothing for their grain. 

 Jorn, which brings a dollar in London, has sold in the 

 entral parts of Illinois for ten cents! Such a state of 

 hings can not long continue. When any commodity 

 ells for less than the cost of production, farmers will 

 top raising it, and prices will advance. There is little 

 robability that grain will ever again be as low in the 

 Vest as during the past two years. 



A COMPOST of animal droppings, rotten leaves, suds 

 gf^^^"'ghtsoii.&c.,makes agood pear-tree fertilizer -- 



For what plant does such a compost not make a good 

 jrtilizer? 



Peat and Manure tob PoTATOES.-The Journal d^Ag- 

 IcuUure Pratique alludes to some experiments made with 

 mixture of peat and manure on potatoes, which gave 

 Kcellent results. 



The Bust Varieties of Tomatoes.-A correspondent 

 of the Germa7down Telegraph writes as follows of dif- 

 ferent kinds of tomatoes : 



The Extra Early Red Tbmaio.-This variety ripens 

 about one week earlier than other varieties, biit is oulv 

 ot medium size, seedy and acid, and were it not for its 

 early ripening would not be worth cultivating. 



The Fejee Island, in this vicinity, stands at the head of 

 the tomato tribe. It is less acid, more soli,! and less 

 seedy than the red tomatoes formerlv cultivated bv vs 

 and a very prolific bearer; and although it commences 

 ripening a few days later than some other varieties after 

 It once begins it ripens as perfectly and as rapidly as anv 

 other variety. " ^ f j " "".r 



The WhiU or Light Straw Color is a superior tomato, a 

 good bearer, but hardly as prolific as the Pejee-perhaps 

 would average larger in size, is not so liable to burst 

 when fully ripe, is solid, with few seeds, would bear 

 ransportation well, and would therefore be a fine variety 

 I"/'}'!! market, if the color should become popular. 

 1 nnd hat a large majority of persons prefer the red to 

 any other color. 



Lester's Perfected Ydlow.-Th\s is with me a new va- 

 riety. I cultivated it the past summer for the first time. 

 It IS an excelle-it tomato; large, not seedy, and I think 

 rather less acid than the Fejee or White, hardlv so solid, 

 Dut still might be considered a standard variety For a 

 preserving tomato it cm not be surpassed. Eipens a few 

 days earlier than the Fejee. 



Tlie Mammoth Red Tomato.— l!h\s was formerly a pop- 

 ular variety here, but it has been in a great measure 

 superseded by the Fejee. It grows to a lar|e size, wei<'h- 

 ing not unlrequently twenty-two ounces. It is not 

 seedy ; but its surface is uneven, and it bears less abund- 

 antly than the Fejee. 



The Tree Tomato,— I received last spring a few seeds 

 of the 1 lee tomato. It is of slow growth, and appears to 



hlf\"t •'*' . "."'"'■'' ,*°''"'^ '^''"'''' ^« '^ required more 

 heat to bring it forward than other varieties! It grows 

 upright in a tree or bush-like form ; is of a dwarf nature"" ■ 

 but requires staking before or after the fruit sets on to 

 prevent it from falling over. It ripens late-the first 

 specimen ripened the second day of September. After it 

 began to ripen it matured as rapidly and as perfectly as 

 anv other yanefy. It is a blight red color, as large as 

 the f^ejee, less acid, equally as solid, contains but few 

 seeds, and is quire a prolifio bearer for its size. It is 

 worthy of cultivation everywhere, and very desirable for 

 small gardens, as it occupies but little space. 



Pedigree Whkat.— M. de la Trehonnais. the English 

 correspondent of the Journal cV Agriculture Pi-atique, 

 gives an account of Hallett's Pedigree Wheat— previously 

 alluded to in the Genesee Fc<;to«-— and sa.ys Mr. H. has, 

 by methods identical in principle and effects with those 

 which the most celebrated breeders have employed in the 

 "education" and improvement of animals, succeeded in 

 fi.ving in the seed of his pedigree wheat "qualities the 

 most extraordinary, of fecundity, of size, of fineness 

 and abundance." 



Potato Disrase.— In some experiments made last year 

 by the editor of the London Agricultural Gazette with 

 seven different varieties of potatoes, the "Skerry Blues' 

 were least affected by the rot— less than one per cent, 

 being diseased. The Flukes came next,-but over six per 

 cent, of them were diseased. The other kinds run irom 

 seven to twenty-one per cent, of diseased potatoes. 



Underdraining is always advantageous to trees sit- 

 uated on heavy soils. — Exchange. 



If the land needs underdraining, it is as advantageous, 

 so far as the crops are concerned, on sandy as on heavy 

 soils. 



