1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
3o3 
What  Others  Say. 
( Continued .) 
reported:  “The  Van  Deman  plants  all 
died.”  The  Massachusetts  (Amherst) 
Station  said  :  “  Another  season  required 
to  prove  its  merits.” . 
On  the  other  hand,  the  New  York  Sta¬ 
tion  (Geneva)  reported  :  “I  am  of  the 
opinion  that  this  variety  has  a  great 
future.”  The  Wisconsin  Station  said: 
“  The  fruit  was  the  earliest  to  ripen  of 
any  variety  on  trial ;  plants  productive, 
fruit  of  good  size  and  excellent  quality.”.. 
It  would  appear  from  a  consensus  of 
all  the  reports  that  this  Van  Deman 
strawberry  is  among  the  very  earliest  to 
ripen  ;  that  the  berry  is  of  average  size, 
unusually  productive  and  of  fine  quality, 
considering  its  earliness.  It  is,  as  to 
plant,  fairly  vigorous  and  healthy,  hear¬ 
ing  fruit  well  on  to  the  end  of  the 
season . 
“We  are  sorry  we  can  make  no  re¬ 
port  on  the  Van  Deman.  The  plants 
were  dry  when  received,  but  with  proper 
treatment  all  would  have  survived  ;  hut 
soon  after  their  planting  I  was  called 
awajr  on  a  lengthy  lecture  trip  and  on 
my  return  found  they  had  been  over¬ 
looked  from  my  planting  them  entirely 
to  themselves  and  the  Couch  Grass  had 
gotten  the  best  of  them.  Would  not  give 
an  opinion  on  the  weak  remnant  this 
season,  though  I  think  well  of  them.” 
So  reports  Mr.  W.  F.  Massey,  the  Horti¬ 
culturist  of  the  North  Carolina  Station. 
In  the  first  place  it  is  admitted  that  the 
plants  did  not  receive  proper  treatment. 
Later,  Mr.  Massey  was  “called  away  on 
a  lengthy  lecture  trip.”  When  he  re¬ 
turned  Couch  or  Quack  Grass  “had  got¬ 
ten  the  best  of  them.”  Such  treatment 
of  new  varieties  by  the  stations  whose 
duty  it  is  to  give  them  every  possible 
care  and  attention,  will  not  make  origin¬ 
ators  over-anxious  to  choose  the  stations 
as  the  best  means  of  securing  prompt  and 
trustworthy  reports . 
It  is  a  question  which  The  R.  N.-Y. 
may  not  decide  whether  such  trials  of 
new  varieties  entrusted  to  the  stations, 
ought  not  to  receive  due  attention  from 
the  officials,  even  though  it  necessitated 
the  abandonment  of  “  lengthy  lecture 
trips.” . 
“  The  attention  of  the  editor  “  of  our 
young  and  respected  friend  Agricultural 
Science  ”  has  been  called  to  an  advertise¬ 
ment  of  a  prominent  agricultural  journal 
of  this  country  in  which  are  quoted  the 
indorsements  of  two  leading  dailies  of 
the  metropolis,  ascribing  to  it  the  accom¬ 
plishment  of  greater  benefits  to  agricul¬ 
ture  than  all  the  agricultural  colleges 
and  experiment  stations  put  together. 
That  city  journalists  should  publish  such 
statements  is  not  unprecedented ;  but 
that  an  ably  managed  agricultural  jour¬ 
nal  should  so  openly  parade  these  unin¬ 
telligent  compliments  does  seem  re¬ 
markable.” . 
If  the  editor  of  Agricultural  Science 
were  an  older  man  or  familiar  with  the 
earlier  history  of  The  R.  N.-Y.  such 
“compliments”  would  perhaps  no  longer 
seem  “  unintelligent.”  The  R.  N.-Y.  es¬ 
tablished  the  first  experiment  station  in 
the  country,  and  it  is  assumed  that  its  ex¬ 
periment  work  and  earnest  advocacy  of 
State  and  National  stations  had  no  little 
to  do  with  their  final  establishment.  The 
“  compliments”  were  paid  in  “  two  ”  in¬ 
stances,  it  is  true,  by  leading  weekly- 
dailies,  but  they  were  not  paid  in  any  in¬ 
stance  that  we  are  now  aware  of  by  “city 
journalists,”  unless  indeed  such  men  as 
Dr.  T.  H.  Hoskins,  Henry  Stewart,  Prof. 
E.  M.  Shelton,  Joseph  Harris  and  A.  R. 
C'randell  may  so  be  considered . 
Fifteen  years  ago  portions  of  82  acres 
of  land  were  placed  under  experiments 
of  various  kinds  and  this  land  was  named 
and  has  since  been  known,  one  portion 
as  the  Rural  Experiment  Grounds,  an¬ 
other  as  the  Rural  Experiment  Farm. 
Every  experiment  we  could  think  of  has 
since  been  carried  on  with  wheat,  rye, 
maize,  oats,  fodder  and  forage  plants  and 
potatoes,  while  varietal  tests  of  grapes, 
and  all  the  hardy  small  fruits  have  been 
made  from  year  to  year  as  new  candi¬ 
dates  presented  themselves.  Concen¬ 
trated  fertilizers  have  received  constant 
study  and  investigation.  Hybridization 
and  crossing  have  ever  been  a  favorite 
portion  of  The  R.  N.-Y.’s  labors . 
The  value  of  all  this  work  has  been 
estimated  variously,  according  to  the 
source.  And  it  has  perhaps  been  recog¬ 
nized  freely  enough  on  all  hands  with  the 
one  exception  of  the  experiment  stations, 
which — in  spite  of  our  hearty  concern  for 
their  best  interest,  shown  not  by  an  indis¬ 
criminate  approval  of  all  they  do,  but  by 
criticising  their  work  when  there  has 
been  room  for  criticism  and  begging  them 
not  to  waste  their  time  upon  problems 
fairly  solved  years  agone — seem  to  re¬ 
gard  The  R.  N.-Y.  as  a  downright  enemy. 
The  editor  of  Agricultural  Science  says 
further  that  the  “  interests  of  farm  jour¬ 
nals  and  of  the  stations  are  one.”  Has 
any  one  said  otherwise  ?  Ah,  but  those 
“  unintelligent  compliments  so  openly 
paraded  !”.  Well,  they  were  written  by 
good  men  and  we  are  vain  enough  to 
believe  that  they  were  so  far  from  un¬ 
merited  that,  with  the  modesty  for  which 
most  farm  journals  are  distinguished,  we 
are  willing  to  republish  them  in  order  to 
show  the  rising  generation  the  estima¬ 
tion  in  which  the  old  R.  N.-Y.  is  or  was 
held . 
Meanwhile  we  wish  abundant  success 
to  Agricultural  Science  under  its  new 
editorial  management.  We  would  re¬ 
mind  our  esteemed  contemporary  that 
“science  is  simply  knowing,”  and  that  if, 
by  our  own  researches  we  would  add  to  the 
sum  of  knowledge  in  any  special  or  gen¬ 
eral  field  of  inquiry,  it  is  of  the  first 
importance  to  know  what  has  already 
been  accomplished  therein . 
The  Royal  Church  is  said  to  be  “  the 
most  valuable  red  raspberry  of  the  age.” 
Three  plants  are  on  trial  at  the  Rural 
Grounds.  It  is  not  yet  offered  for  sale... 
C.  A.  Green  writes  us:  “I  am  satis¬ 
fied  that  your  grounds  are  very  severe  as 
regards  winter-killing,  perhaps  the  worst 
in  the  country.” . 
One  need  not  purchase  aniline  dyes  to 
make  experiments  in  changing  the  nat¬ 
ural  colors  of  flowers  about  which  much 
has  been  said  of  late  abroad  and  at  home. 
The  R.  N.-Y.  placed  the  stem  of  a  white 
hyacinth  in  red  ink.  In  14  hours  the 
flowers  were  the  exact  color  of  the  ink... 
The  Columbus  Gooseberry,  now,  for  the 
first,  offered  by  Ellwanger  &  Harry, 
originated  with  J.  T.  Thompson,  of 
Oneida,  N.  Y.  He  has  also  originated 
what  from  the  description  seems  to  be  a 
remarkable  raspberry.  We  quote  from 
a  letter  just  received  from  Mr.  Thomp¬ 
son  :  “Seedling  of  Cuthbert.  Canes  10 
to  16  feet  long.  Propagates  from  tips. 
Stands  28  degrees  below  zero.  Berries 
often  one  inch  in  diameter,  three-quar¬ 
ters  of  an  inch  long,  dark  red  bordering 
on  purple,  adheres  perfectly  to  stem, 
will  dry  up  before  dropping.  Juicy, 
sweet.  Original  plant  is  seven  years  old 
and  grew  nine  canes  last  season,  two  of 
them  12  feet  high.”  We  fancy  this  is  not 
a  seedling  of  the  Cuthbert . 
According  to  the  Canadian  Horticul¬ 
turist,  Prof.  Budd,  of  Iowa,  says  that 
the  Idaho  is  the  best  pear  he  has  “  tested 
in  any  country.”  He  is  convinced  that 
the  tree  is  hardier  than  Flemish  Beauty. 
On  page  254  the  primrose  advertised 
largely  as  the  Mexican  Primrose,  was 
alluded  to  as  Oenothera  speciosa  var. 
Mexicana.  It  is  said  that  (Enothera 
rosea  is  a  variety  of  Speciosa.  It  may  be 
so  or  not.  The  R.  N.-Y.  is  unable,  at 
present,  to  say . 
Word  for  Word. 
- Life  :  “  ‘  I  can’t  help  but  rejoice  on 
account  of  your  downfall,’  said  the  young 
grass  to  the  sweet  spring  rain.” 
- Orange  County  Farmer:  “As  to 
the  merits  of  the  Red  Polled  cattle,  I  am 
yet  to  learn  of  the  first  farmer  who  has 
discarded  them  for  other  breeds,  and  I 
know  of  men  who  are  continually  dis¬ 
carding  the  various  other  kinds  for  Red 
Polled.  These  cattle  are  a  little  timid 
when  kept  among  horned  cattle.  When 
kept  alone  they  are  the  most  completely 
domesticated  of  any  kind  I  ever  handled.” 
- New  York  Tribune  :  “  The  hop  busi¬ 
ness  has  ruined  more  than  it  ever  made. 
There  was  a  time  when  *  *  *  it  took 
three  pounds  of  hops  and  2%  bushels  of 
malt  to  make  a  barrel  of  beer,  but  in  this 
latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  all 
things  have  changed.  With  tobacco,  corn 
and  drugs,  I  think  they  use  only  one 
pound  of  hops  *  *  *  In  a  little  while 
they  will  make  beer  without  hops,  and 
then  we  poor  hop-growers  must  do  some¬ 
thing  else,  or  go  to  the  wall.  Within  the 
last  10  years  I  lost  120  acres  of  hops  by 
hop  lice.  The  hop  business  is  like  a  lot¬ 
tery.  ” 
- T.  Greiner  in  Farm  and  Fireside  : 
“  Reliable  seedsmen  nowadays  are  just 
as  anxious  to  send  out  none  but  good 
seeds  as  seed  users  are  to  purchase  none. 
For  this  reason  it  is  now  a  common  prac¬ 
tice  among  seed  dealers  to  test  all  seeds 
before  sending  them  to  their  customers. 
Thus  the  seedsmen  themselves  perform 
all  the  services  that  we  could  expect  of 
seed  control  stations.” 
“  Tiie  guarantee  given  us  by  seed  con¬ 
trol  stations  is  worth  but  little,  if  any¬ 
thing-.  We  have  a  much  better  protec¬ 
tion  against  losses  by  fraud  and  careless¬ 
ness  of  seedsmen  than  control  stations 
can  give  us  in  the  lively  competition 
among  seedsmen,  which  compels  them 
to  give  us  good  seeds  at  the  risk  of  their 
reputation  and  trade.” 
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