1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
287 
What  Others  Say. 
( Continued .) 
Now  we  will  examine  the  next  page 
(73)  of  12  analyses,  nearly  all  of  promi¬ 
nent  dealers.  The  average  cost  (price) 
per  ton  of  the  fertilizers  is  .$37.  The 
station  estimate  of  value  of  analyses  is 
$26.20  per  ton,  an  average  profit  upon  the 
retail  valuation  of  the  raw  materials  of 
over  40  (41.50)  per  cent.  In  the  worst 
case  the  profit  is  54  per  cent.  In  the  low¬ 
est  estimate  the  profit  is  34  per  cent . 
On  the  other  hand,  page  36  of  this  same 
report  gives  20  analyses  showing  that 
the  real  value  of  the  fertilizers  ranges 
from  1  to  25  per  cent  more  than  the  price 
which  the  manufacturers  or  agents  ask 
for  them.  For  example,  Peter  Cooper’s 
hone  dust  is  valued  at  $37.41  per  ton. 
The  price  is  only  $28.  At  this  rate  one 
might  reasonably  infer  that  the  other 
firms  would  engage  every  ton  of  Cooper’s 
hone  in  advance,  that  may  be  put  upon 
the  market . 
We  might  mention  several  firms  that 
advertise  in  The  R.  N.  Y.  whose  goods 
in  odd  instances  “value”  for  more  than 
their  cost.  This  might,  however,  be  con¬ 
sidered  a  puff  for  our  friends,  while 
Cooper’s  bone  is  never  advertised . 
These  figures  are  presented,  good  read¬ 
ers,  to  show  cause  why  every  one  of  you 
that  buys  commercial  fertilizers  should 
know  what  you  are  about . 
Picea  Okientauis. — The  London  Gar¬ 
den  says  that  for  dry  spots,  with  a  poor 
gravelly  subsoil,  where  the  common  Nor¬ 
way  Spruce  refuses  to  grow  altogether, 
or  only  drags  on  a  miserable  existence, 
and  generally  soon  becomes  infested  with 
red  spider  and  looks  very  wretched,  the 
Oriental  Spruce  can  be  strongly  recom¬ 
mended.  It  is  true  it  is  not  a  remarkably 
fast  grower,  but  it  forms  a  neat,  compact 
pyramid  of  vivid  green,  and  produces  its 
pretty  small  cones  in  profusion.  As  a 
single  specimen  on  a  lawn,  where  larger 
growing  trees  would  be  out  of  place,  it 
cannot  fail  to  win  the  admiration  of  lovers 
of  trees. 
Among  all  the  evergreen  specimens 
growing  on  the  Rural  Grounds  not  one  is 
more  valued  than  the  Oriental  Spruce. 
A  featui’e  of  this  tree  not  half  appreciated 
is  its  beautiful  little  cones  that  resemble 
strawberries  both  in  shape  and  color .... 
W.  F.  Massey,  Horticulturist  of  the 
North  Carolina  Experiment  Station, 
writes  as  follows:  “In  regard  to  what 
The  Rural  says  about  Extra  Early  peas, 
I  have  no  doubt,  from  my  experience, 
that  there  is  hardly  an  appreciable  dif¬ 
ference  between  the  Extra  Earlies  offered 
by  leading  Northern  seedsmen.  They  are 
all  well  ‘  rogued  ’  samples  of  the  Daniel 
O’Rourke  strain,  better  than  the  ordinary 
Daniel  O’Rourke  because  better  ‘  rogued.’ 
The  strain  represented  by  Victor,  Han¬ 
cock,  etc.,  is  better  and  earlier.  I  have 
repeatedly  tried  the  Extra  Earlies  from 
different  sources,  and  would  not  care  the 
toss  of  a  penny  between  any  of  the  well 
rogued  samples  of  the  Daniel  O’Rourke 
strain.” . 
To  say  that  there  is  no  difference  be¬ 
tween  the  “well  rogued”  strains  of 
Extra  Early  peas  sold  by  leading  North¬ 
ern  seedsmen  is  to  say  that  they  are  all 
grown  under  equally  favorable  conditions 
and  rogued  with  equal  care ;  that  the 
seed  is  gathered  and  cared  for  in  the 
same  way,  and,  finally,  that  one  leading 
firm  is  as  painstaking  and  experienced 
as  another.  The  R.  N.-Y.,  some  10  years 
ago,  planted  samples  of  Extra  Earlies 
from  a  number  of  the  largest  seed  firms 
in  the  North.  There  were  notable  dif¬ 
ferences  between  them.  Some  strains 
matured  the  entire  yield  “  all  at  once.” 
One  full  picking  ended  them.  There 
were  also  differences  as  to  the  average 
number  of  seeds  to  a  pod;  some  were  uni¬ 
formly  better  filled  than  others ;  some 
bore  the  peas  higher  than  others  ;  some 
were  six  inches  taller  than  others.  The 
result  was  an  easy  decision  that,  were 
we  engaged  in  market  gardening,  we 
would  assuredly  select  the  strain  of  one 
leading  seedsman  rather  than  that  of 
another . 
Prof.  Massey’s  conclusion  that  Pon- 
derosa  “  in  its  present  shape  is  worth¬ 
less,”  is,  we  fancy,  a  hasty  one.  The 
quality  of  this  variety  alone  is  a  decided 
point  in  its  favor.  True,  it  does  not 
ripen  about  the  stem  and  many  have  “  a 
hard  core.”  Still  the  quality  is  superior 
to  that  of  any  other  large  tomato  we 
know  of . 
Mb.  A.  M.  Niciiol,  the  originator  of  the 
Stone,  advises  us  that  his  greatest  novelty 
in  tomatoes  is  a  variety  bearing  varie¬ 
gated  foliage,  the  fruit  being  “  fine.” 
This  reminds  us  of  the  variegated  Early 
Rose  potato,  introduced  many  years  ago 
by  B.  K.  Bliss.  The  leaves  were  beauti¬ 
fully  marked  with  yellow,  but  it  was 
never  valued  except  as  an  oddity . 
II.  A.  Dreek,  the  Philadelphia  seeds¬ 
man  and  florist,  sends  us  a  strong  plant 
of  Clematis  Davidiana,  which  is  one  of 
the  bush  or  erect-growing  sorts  with 
which  The  R.  N.-Y.  has  had  little  or  no 
experience.  It  is  described  as  growing 
about  three  feet  high,  the  leaves  in 
whorls,  the  flowers  clustering  in  the 
greatest  profusion  around  each  whorl, 
making  several  tiers  of  clusters  extend¬ 
ing,  one  above  the  other,  from  near  the 
ground  to  the  top  of  the  plant.  The 
flowers  are  described  as  long,  tubular, 
bell-shaped,  of  a  deep  lavender  color 
and  very  fragrant . 
Mu.  W.  Robinson,  in  a  scorching  re¬ 
view  of  a  new  book  entitled  “The  For¬ 
mal  Garden  in  England,”  says  :  “How 
much  better  it  would  be  for  every  art  if 
it  were  impossible  for  men  to  write  about 
things  of  which  they  have  not  even  ele¬ 
mentary  knowledge.” . 
“  Mili.o  Maize,”  an  absurd  name  given 
two  years  after  it  was  disseminated  as 
Rural  Branching  Sorghum,  is  prized  as  a 
fodder  plant  in  many  parts  of  the  coun¬ 
try.  It  branches  freely,  and  the  stumps 
start  into  immediate  growth  after  the 
first  stalks  are  cut  off  in  August.  Seed 
was  sent  gratis  to  subscribers  about  10 
years  ago.  Leading  firms  still  catalogue 
it  as  Rural  Branching  Sorghum . 
A  writer  in  the  Michigan  Farmer  says 
that  he  has  been  raising  potatoes  for  the 
past  20  years  on  from  5  to  20  acres  each 
year,  and  that  scab  was  more  prevalent 
when  he  began  than  it  is  now.  He 
attributes  it  to  the  wire-worm  and  not  to 
fungus . 
The  ed-tor  of  the  above  journal  says 
that  in  conversation  with  several  barley 
growers  in  Michigan,  it  was  the  opinion 
that  more  of  two-rowed  could  be  grown 
per  acre  than  of  six-rowed,  and  that  it  was 
probably  better  to  grow  it  for  feed.  All, 
however,  were  unanimous  in  saying  that 
what  was  grown  for  malting  purposes 
must  be  of  the  six-rowed  variety . 
The  results  of  recent  German  experi¬ 
ments  seem  to  show  that  sodium  may  fill 
a  very  important  function  in  case  of  a. 
deficiency  in  potassium,  and  that  it  is 
therefore  not  to  be  regarded  as  an  alto¬ 
gether  useless  plant  constituent.  These 
experiments  show  that  the  practice  of 
applying  salt  to  the  soil  is  a  rational  one 
from  a  scientific  standpoint,  and  that  the 
large  amount  of  sodium  salts  contained 
in  many  of  the  Stassfurt  salts  is  not  to 
be  regarded  as  useless  ballast,  but  as 
possessing  certain  values  for  the  nutri¬ 
tion  of  plants . 
Bordeaux  Mixture. — In  a  barrel  that 
will  hold  45  gallons  dissolve  six  pounds 
of  copper  sulphate,  using  8  or  10  gallons 
of  water  or  as  much  as  may  be  necessary 
for  the  purpose.  In  a  tub  or  half  barrel 
slake  four  pounds  of  fresh  lime.  When 
completely  slaked  add  enough  water  to 
make  a  creamy  whitewash.  Pour  this, 
slowly  into  the  barrel  containing  the 
copper-sulphate  solution,  using  a  coarse 
gunny  sack  stretched  over  the  head  of 
the  barrel  for  a  strainer.  Finally  fill  the 
barrel  with  water,  stir  thoroughly,  and 
the  mixture  is  ready  for  use.  Prepared 
in  this  way  the  cost  of  one  gallon  of  the 
mixture  will  not  exceed  one  cent,  the 
price  of  copper  sulphate  being  seven  cents 
per  pound  and  of  lime  30  cents  per  bushel. 
In  all  cases  it  is  desirable  to  use  pow¬ 
dered  copper  sulphate,  as  it  costs  but 
little  more  and  dissolves  much  more  read¬ 
ily.  It  is  highly  important  also  that 
fresh  lime  be  used . 
It  will  be  seen  by  those  familiar  with 
former  suggestions  made  by  the  author¬ 
ities  of  the  United  States  Department  of 
Agriculture  that  the  strength  of  this 
mixture  has  been  diminished  one-half. 
It  was  found  as  the  result  of  experiments 
made  in  1891  that  a  mixture  of  this 
strength,  and  even  much  weaker,  gave 
practically  as  good  results  as  the  old 
formula,  which  required  six  pounds  of 
copper  sulphate  and  four  pounds  of  lime 
to  22  gallons  of  water . 
Montbretias  are  Iridaceous  plants 
often  called  Tritonias.  M.  crocosmise flora 
is  like  a  small  gladiolus  throwing  up  sev¬ 
eral  flower  stems  bearing  spikes  of  10  or 
12  orange-red  flowers,  blooming  from 
August  until  October.  The  bulbs  cost 
only  a  dollar  a  dozen . 
Abstracts. 
- Harper’s  Weekly  :  “  Any  person 
can  find  out  for  himself  the  advantage 
of  wide-tire  wheels  over  narrow  ones  by 
trying  to  cut  a  piece  of  meat  with  the 
back  of  the  knife  instead  of  the  edge.” 
- Meehan’s  Monthly  :  “  Many  a  time 
during  the  past  century  Crimson  Clover, 
Trifolium  incarnatum,  has  been  intro¬ 
duced  for  trial  with  the  idea  that  it  would 
be  better  for  agricultural  purposes  than 
our  common  Red  Clover.  Experimenters 
always  return  to  the  latter.  Just  now 
there  are  again  trials  with  the  same 
plant.  It  is  so  beautiful  that  it  is  to  be 
regretted  that  it  cannot  maintain  any 
foothold  in  American  agriculture.” 
EUREKA  MOWER 
Improved  for  1892 
Malleable  Shoes,  new 
cut  Gear,  Taper  liar. 
Open  Guard, 
Improved 
Knife-bar,  new 
Hock  Shaft. 
5,  (i  and  7  feet. 
"""“HARROWS 
All  steel  frame  or 
channel  steel  draft 
bars  with  hard  wood 
cross  beams,  as  de¬ 
sired.  Sizes,  11,  16, 18 
and  22  Tooth,  lias 
\  o  K  <t  *1  A  I.  for 
strength  of  frame  or 
lightness  of  draft, 
folds  perfectly. 
EUREKA  CULTIVATORS 
^with  the  many  adjustments  and 
changes  that  can  be  made  on  the  M 
same  frame,  make  them  the  best 
cultivators  in  the  market.  A 
.1  or  7  Spring  Tooth.  5,  7  < 
6  Shovel  Tooth,  a  biller 
a  furrow  opener 
can  easily  be 
constructed  by 
the  farmer  from 
same  frame.  I 
Bend  for  catalogue  - 
EUREKA  MOWER  CO.  UTICA. N.Y. 
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“  The  Weeder  has  come  to  stay ; 
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T.  B.  TERRY. 
“  I  can  not  see  how  any  progress¬ 
ive  farmer  can  do  without  one.” 
J.  S.  WOODWARD. 
“  A  second  year’s  trial  convinces 
me  more  thau  ever  of  its  value.” 
JOHN  GOULD. 
“  It  fully  supersedes  the  hoe,  doing 
better  work  and  ten  times  as  fast.” 
W.  I.  CHAMBERLAIN. 
General 
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THE  UNIVERSAL  WEEDER  CO.,  North  Wears,  N.  H. 
Agents:  THE  GEO.  L.  SQUIER  MFG.  CO.,  New  York.  N.  Y.;  JOHN  FOSTER,  Rochester,  N.  Y- 
