LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE. 
THE GEN. GABFIELD TOMATO. 
Hamlet, Ill., Aug 20, 1883. 
Hear Sir: The General Garfield tomate with 
me is worthless, the worst tomato I hare planted 
for over twenty year*; it rots very badly, is diffi¬ 
cult to prune and although the fruit is large it is 
so fluted the women folks will not use it. I have 
twenty-five vines of that variety, and if I had 
only known, five plants would have been amply 
sufficient. Too bad to give a good man’s name 
to such a poor article. 1 may write again before 
the year goes out and tell you about my success 
with the other seeds. M. H. Dumbell. 
Answer: Just our experience exactly. We 
had never before grown the Garfield but took it 
on the recommendation of the introducers. We 
now vote it comparatively worthless. Living¬ 
ston’s Perfection is our stand-by. We shall be 
pleased to learn how many of our friends have 
found a better variety when grown and com¬ 
pared with it. 
RUBBER STAMPS. 
Trenton, Tex., Aug. 17, 1883. 
Mr. I. F. Tillinghasi: Dear Sir, I first saw 
your advertisement in some paper and sent you 
an order, and I must say that I liked you better 
than any seed dealer I have dealt with. I did 
not send for seeds last year for I had moved 
my location. I have received Seed-Time and 
Harvest regularly, however, with many thanks. 
Please continue to send it and I will make it all 
right. 
I wish to know of some one who manufactures 
Rubber Stamps. That fellow—F. P. Hammond— 
who wrote you to stop the free gift of Seed-Time 
and Harvest, must have been a fool for the 
want of sense for he is the very fellow I want, 
for I am in need of a rubber stamp. Please let 
me know where I can get one or have some one 
to send me a circular. In future I will be a reg¬ 
ular customer and will help you all I can as I 
have done in the past. Truly Yours, 
Dr. W. C. Holmes. 
Answer: We send you by mail the address 
of a good firm in the Rubber Stamp business. 
Thanks for your kind words in our behalf. 
use of plaster. 
Holmes Mills, O., Aug. 20, 1883. 
Mr Editor: What I want to know at this 
time is if the Cayuga Plaster Company of Cay¬ 
uga Co., N. Y., are reliable, or if their land 
plaster gives good results when drilled in with 
wheat. I thought of getting some of their plaster 
for my wheat this fall if it gives good results. 
Yours &e., Alex. C. Cunningham. 
Answer; The firm you mention is a perfectly 
reliaole one and their goods will no doubt give 
satisfaction when properly used, but we doubt 
whether any land plaster will pay very la gely 
when drilled in with wheat. Our idea of the 
use of gypsum or “plaster” is that it is best to 
sow it on the plants. We believe that its use as 
an absorbent, in collecting ammonia and nitro¬ 
gen from the atmosphere, is far more important 
than any virtue which can be got from it by the 
plants when buried in the soil. This is a sub¬ 
ject we shall be pleased to hear from any read¬ 
er who Ids experimented, whether his views 
correspond with ours or not. If we wished to 
drill something with wheat we should select 
bone phosphate, wood ashes or something which 
we think nas more strength in itself than gyp¬ 
sum. Bury your phosphates but keep tne gyp¬ 
sum on the surface, on tne plant itself if possi¬ 
ble, unless you first mix it with some nitro- 
geneous manure to prevent the gases from es¬ 
caping. 
CASTOR OIL FOR INSECTS. 
Grand Bay, Ala., Aug. 14, 1883. 
Dear Sir: Tell the readers of Seed-Time and 
Harvest, that -they w ill find nothing as good as 
Castor Oil for cabbage worms or any other kind 
of bug. Kerosene is very good but does not 
last long enough. I will sometime write what 
we “truckers” are doiag here. Re«pectfully, 
Julius Schnudelbach. 
PEDIGREE OF POTATOES. 
Plainfield, Ohio., July, 20, 1883. 
Mr. Tillinghast. Dear Sir,—I would like to 
have the pedigree of the potatoes I bought of 
you in the spring. The varieties are as follows: 
Early Beauty of Hebron, White Elephant, 
Wall’s Orange, Early Telephone and Belle. 
My potatoes look very well, especially the 
Wall’s Orange, they are *the admiration of all 
who see them. I think some of the vines would 
measure four feet in length. I planted single 
eyes and the vines completely cover the ground. 
I think my Belle potatoes are a little mixed 
with the Peachblow. Otherwise I like their ap¬ 
pearance very well. The vines of the Early 
Telephone are quite small. Do they generally 
grow that way ? Yours &c., 
Chas. E. Nelson. 
Answer: We really do not know that we 
can give you the information you desire in a 
shape that will be of much benefit to you. The 
Early Beauty of Hebron is a seedling which 
originated with Mr. E. L. Coy of West Hebron, 
