50 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



fruit and foliage, both of which were tested 

 with the Hudson growing on his farm, and he 

 pronounced them one variety and so informed 

 the owner of the Prentiss. The same grapes 

 were then examined by several old growers 

 (one of them the most distinguished horticul- 

 turist in central New York), none of whom 

 could distinguish them. A grape-grower and 

 agent for the Prentiss living in Cliutondale, 

 Ulster county, was invited to visit an old 

 Hndson vine growing near and take with him 

 some fruit of the Preiitiss. He did so, and 

 in company with several parties compared 

 them minutely, in cluster, skin, flesh and 

 seeds, and unhesitatingly declared them one 

 variety, and stated he would so report at 

 headquarters, 



There are more of these instances, but 

 they are too numerous to be mentioned here. 

 After I had reason to believe that the Hudson 

 and Prentiss were one variety, I asked the 

 owner of the Prentiss by letter if he thought 

 it honorable to propagate and sell a new va- 

 riety of grape belonging to another, who 

 thou4!;ht his seedlings safe in the hands of 

 parties where he had placed it for testing, and 

 told him since he had got so far with it if he 

 would pay me S500 I would turn the whole 

 stock of the Hudson over to him. His an- 

 swer was one of the letters spoken of above. 

 I then answered that I should give the true 

 character of the Hudson to the country, and 

 sell it for what it is worth. His answer was 

 another of the letters previously named. 

 Finding correspondence unavailing, a third 

 party, to whom the Prentiss interest is behold- 

 en, through his desire for peace, consented to 

 propose the following to the owner of the 

 Prentiss: " t to turn over to him the whole 

 stock of the Hudson now, and disinterested 

 parties to be chosen in any section of the 

 country, and a vine of the Hudson and Pren- 

 tiss be placed in their hands to be planted to- 

 gether, after three or four years, or when the 

 vines were sufficiently established, and found 

 to not differ in any particular the owner of 

 the Prentiss to pay me $500, but if found to 

 differ in the slightest degree I to have nothing 

 and he to keep the whole stock of the Hnd- 

 son;" his answer to this was that he would do 

 nothing of the kind.— ^. /. Cnywood & Son, 

 ■Marlborough, iV. T., March 15, 1880. 



SCIENTIFIC CONJUGATION OF THE 

 ALLIGATOR. 



Class Reptilia. 



Order 1. CAeJoraJa— "Turtles." 

 ^/" 3. Loricata — "Crocodiles." 

 ,'' " 3. Sanria — "Lizards. 

 ,''' " 4. OpAidia— "Serpents. 



,'.'' " 5. Jiatrachia — "Frogs, Toads," &c. 



Order 2 Loricata. 



Family 1. Crocadiladce. 



Genus 1. Oroeodilut. 

 " 2. Oavialis. 

 _,^— •-" " 3. Alligator. 

 ^^— '-'''' . " *• Oairnanus. 



^^.-'-'''' " 5. Jacare. 



-^— '"" SenmS. Alligator. 



Species 1. Mississippiensis. 

 There is but a single species belonging to 

 the restricted genus AUigutor (A Mississippi- 

 ensis) and that is confined to the gulf-sates 

 of North America. They are a middle genus 

 in the family to which they belong, but are 

 nearer allied to the Caimans and Jacares of 

 South America, than they are to the Croco- 

 diles and Gavials of Asia and Africa. Croco- 

 dilics mlfjarus is the sacred reptile of the 

 Egyptians, and Oavialis gangetica, is the sa- 

 cred crocodile of the Ganges. 



The most prominent distinctions between 

 the crocodiles and the alligators are in the 

 shape of the head and in the dental system. 

 In the former the muzzle is long and narrow, 

 whilst in the latter it is shorter" and broader. 

 Their habits are very similar and they both 

 attain to a very large* size. Alligators have 

 been known to attain a langth of twenty feet, 

 and crocodiles as much as thirty feet in length. 

 The skin of the alligator, when properly 

 tanned, is said to make good belting and 

 boots. If this can be profitably realized they 

 are bv no means a useless creation. 



[April, 



THE MAGNUM BONUM. 



There is no resemblance between this pota- 

 to and the English variety of the same name. 



This new potato was origiuated in New 

 York. In 1878 the originator had accumulat- 

 ed enough to plant 27 rods of ground, and 

 from the same raised 102 bushels; and the next 

 year he raised 548 bushels from one measured 

 acre of ground, without any manure whatever 

 and they matured and were dug two months 

 and five days after planting, many of the tu- 

 bers weighing from three to four pounds apiece. 

 In the right situation they will certainly yield 

 tremendously, although they may not always 

 realize the originator's success, as above de- 

 scribed; but as an early potato, probably no 

 other variety equals it. 



HOT WATER FOR INSECTS. 



"According to the editor of the Gardener's 

 Monthly,, it has been found th-at water heated 

 to 130O is fatal to all insects that infest plants 

 even though exposed to it but for an instant! 

 while the immersion of a plant for an instant 

 in water of that temperature does not injure 

 the plant in the least, unless the leaves are 

 very tender from having been grown in the 

 shade. But even thenlhey do not suffer at 

 120-^, while the insects seem to be destroyed 

 at about 100° or 110° ; so in gardening prac- 

 tice the rule is to recommend the water to be 

 heated to 120°. The practice generally is to 

 turn the plant upside down and dip the plant, 

 but not the pot, for an instant only, in hot 



-A 



The Magnum Bonum is a seedling of the 

 " I'each-Blow, " and somewhat resembles that 

 once valuable variety in its general form and 

 appearance. They are very early, even in 

 size, free from all disease, the very best keep- 

 ers, and do equally well planted early or late. 

 One eye produces only one stalk with many 

 branches, which stand up firmly like a tree, 

 and protect the hills from the hot rays of the 

 sun, and cause them to get full benefit of the 

 little summer rains, bv conducting the water 

 down to the roots. Each stalk produces four or 

 five potatoes weighing from one half to three 

 pounds each. They are nearly round or a little 

 flattened, sklu, russet white, small pink eyes, 

 slightly sunken, flesh white and nutty, and 

 when boiled or baked are nearly white as snow: 

 good as the Early-Kose ever was and will 

 keep well into June for table use. Tho origi- 

 nator says they should be planted three feet 

 apart between the rows, and ten or eleven 

 inches apart in the rows. Put two pieces 

 of one eye each in a hill. If planted 

 on rich manured land, and a fair season, 

 many will grow to weigh four pounds each. 

 Awards of $100, in premiums, have been won 

 by the Magnum Bonum, for the largest yield 

 of potatoes from one pound of seed, under 

 the supervision of legally qualified commit- 

 tees. 1665 pounds, or 27J bushels, have been 

 grown from one pound of seed. 



Of course, it is to be understood that such 

 extraordinary results are the efi"ects of extra- 

 ordinary causes, and these causes are greatly 

 assisted by favorable seasons and skillful cul- 

 ture. Perhaps we don't need 1665 pounds of 

 tubers from every pound of seed that is plant- 

 ed, any more than we do a fully matured fish 

 from every roe that is spawned, but we do 

 need a remunerating crop, a good quality, and 

 an early maturity, and tliese may reasonably 

 be realized in. the Magnum Bonum ; and if so, 

 Where's the use in spending time and toil in 

 cultivating the miserable roots that still find 

 their way into our markets. For further par- 

 ticulars see the Everitt's Catalogue for 1881, 

 Watsonstown, Northumberland co.,Pa. 



Subscribe for the Farmer. 



water. In use the water has to be carefully 

 tested by a thermometer." 



The foregoing is practically what we have 

 long since recommended in the treatment of 

 tobacco beds, and what has also been recom- 

 mended by an essayist on tobacco culture, 

 published in the March number of the Lancas- 

 ter Farmer. Not only in relation to tobacco 

 beds, but also beds or cold-frames in which 

 any kind of early spring vegetation is intended 

 to be started.' Although insect vitality may 

 resist an intense degree of cold, yet it invar, 

 iably succumbs to an intense degree of heats 

 as we have practically demonstrated hundred- 

 of times. The saturation of the soil of cold- 

 frames, or tobacco beds with "scalding' 

 water," two or three times before the seeds 

 are sown will be an efleotual extinguisher of 

 all insects, insect eggs or insect pup?B that 

 may be in the soil at the time such scalding is 

 done ; but, of course, it can have no influence 

 beyond the limits of the beds or frames. Still, 

 if those insects that are evolved beyond that 

 limit, cannot have access to the insides of the 

 beds or frames, it will be so much gained for 

 the young plants in their salvation from the 

 "bugs." Some years ago the tobacco beds 

 were infested by a small species of centipede, 

 or rather a Polydesmus, belonging to a group 

 oiMyriapods between the Centipedes and 3Iilli- 

 X>edes. We at that time recommended drench- 

 ing the soil with hot water before the seeds 

 were sown, but we believe that water can be 

 so tempered as to kill the insects, and yet not 

 injure the plants after they have grown. Ex- 

 perience has demonstrated that plants will 

 resist a heat of 120° with impunity, and in- 

 sects have succumbed at 100, or at least at 

 110. We have always regarded heat as the 

 quickest, cheapest, and most effectual means 

 of killing insects when we collected them for 

 scientific purposes. Of course, on a collecting 

 tour it would be inconvenient to carry a heat- 

 ing apparatus, and therefore the entomologist 

 resorts to chloroform, ether, camphor, ammo- 

 nia, &c., but still, when he returns home, he 

 may be under the necessity of resorting to 

 heat, to finish what these suffocating oi stran- 

 gulating substances had failed to do. It is 

 not even necessary that the hot water, in such 



