1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
543 
What  Others  Say. 
(Continued.) 
Spice. 
From  page  195  of  Michigan  Board  of 
Agriculture  Report  for  1879,  I  quote  : 
WEEVIL-EATEN  OR  BUGGY  PEAS. 
Last  year,  1878,  a  trusty  student,  at  my  suggestion, 
tested  some  peas  with  the  following  results:  They 
were  early  peas,  somewhat  mixed,  of  moderate  size 
and  smooth.  They  were  raised  the  year  before.  He 
soaked  In  water,  for  one  day,  50  peas  that  were 
“  buggy  ”  and  50  that  were  sound? taken  from  the 
same  lot.  They  were  kept  damp  for  five  days,  when 
one  of  the  “  buggy  ”  peas  sprouted  and  nearly  all  of 
the  sound  ones.  Again,  In  a  damp  place  In  the  green¬ 
house  he  placed  25  sound  and  25  weevil-eaten  peas. 
After  six  days  all  the  sound  ones  grew,  and  only  four 
of  the  damaged  seeds.  On  June  5,  in  good,  warm 
soil,  12  sound  peas  and  25  “  buggy  ”  were  planted.  Of 
this  lot,  all  the  sound  ones  grew,  and  only  three  of 
the  “  buggy  ”  ones.  The  weevil-eaten  seeds  pro 
duced  feeble  plants. 
This  year,  1879,  from  the  same  lot  of  peas,  500 
weevil  eaten  peas  were  counted  out  and  tested.  In  10 
lots  of  50  each,  In  the  greenhouse.  By  the  side  of 
these,  500  apparently  sound  peas  were  tried.  All  the 
latter  germinated  except  four.  The  following  table 
gives  the  number  which  germinated  In  each  lot  of 
weevil-eated  peas: 
1st  lot  of  50 .  12  grew. 
2d  “  10  “ 
3d  ••  8  “ 
4th  "  12  ” 
5th  *•  17  “ 
eth  -  li  *• 
7th  **  12  " 
Hth  "  18  ” 
9th  "  17  “ 
10th  “  18  " 
Total  grew .  130 
This  Is  2t>  per  cent.  Some  Insist  on  it  that  a  test  In 
the  open  ground  is  the  only  sure  and  fair  one.  It 
may  be  so  sometimes,  but  not  always,  unless  very 
great  pains  are  taken.  For  example,  the  moles  are 
often  troublesome  In  our  gardens,  passing  along  the 
rows  and  taking  many  of  the  peas,  and  sometimes 
nearly  all.  Perhaps  wrinkled  or  very  large  peas  of 
some  varieties  would  be  less  Injured  by  the  weevil 
than  those  above  tested.  w.  j.  hkal. 
[The  above  article,  by  Dr.  Beal,  ap¬ 
peared  in  The  Rural  New-Yorker  of 
August  9,  1879,  page  502.  Our  remem¬ 
brance  is  that  it  appeared  in  the  Michi¬ 
gan  Reports  somewhat  later.  It  gives  ad¬ 
ditional  evidence,  which,  however,  is  not 
needed,  that  Prof.  Riley’s  memory  or  con¬ 
science  is  liable  to  fluctuation. — Eds.] 
A  respected  friend  and  horticulturist 
of  long  experience,  living  within  a  few 
miles  from  this  city  in  New  Jersey,  writes 
that  the  Michel  Strawberry  opened  the 
season  with  him  May  30.  June  3,  he 
picked  six  quarts,  4th  10  quarts,  6th  12 
quarts — all  before  he  could  pick  a  quart 
of  any  or  all  others.  Alluding  to  The 
R.  N.-Y.’s  strawberry  report  he  asks  : 
“  Of  the  70  varieties  you  are  testing,  will 
one-tenth  of  them  be  worth  growing  five 
years  hence  ?  ”  We  would  answer  em¬ 
phatically  “  No  !”  if  our  experience  dur¬ 
ing  the  past  15  years  is  worth  anything 
as  a  guide.  Our  friend  continues:  “The 
multiplication  of  new  varieties  is  getting 
to  be  nauseating  and  testing  them  is  get¬ 
ting  disgusting.  If  it  were  not  for  the 
fact  that  soils  and  conditions  make  great 
changes  in  this  fruit,  I  would  feel  in¬ 
clined  to  think  that  nine-tenths  of  the 
originators  did  not  know  a  good  straw¬ 
berry  and  that  their  only  object  was  to 
gull  a  credulous  public  from  mercenary 
motives." . 
We  fully  sympathize  with  the  spirit  of 
the  above  criticism.  For  many  years  the 
writer  of  this  has  made  it  his  duty  to 
go  over  from  50  to  150  different  varieties 
of  strawberries  every  season — usually 
twice  a  week  and  the  work  becomes  ex¬ 
ceedingly  tiresome  not  to  say,  as  our 
friend  puts  it,  “  disgusting.”  While, 
however,  the  ninety-nine  aro  found  in¬ 
ferior  to  old  kinds,  the  hundredth  is  found 
to  be  a  prize  and  we  have  the  satisfaction 
not  only  of  advising  the  public  as  to  the 
probable  inferiority  of  the  many,  but  of 
inducing  it  to  try  the  few.  The  past 
season  was  a  lucky  one.  It  gave  us  the 
Timbrell  and  the  Brandywine,  two  new¬ 
comers  that,  as  we  feel  assured,  have 
come  to  stay.  Let  our  readers  mark  the 
humble  prediction  and,  in  due  time  when 
they  shall  have  been  tried  in  different 
parts  of  the  country,  give  us  a  mark  of 
credit  or  discredit  according  to  the  pop¬ 
ular  verdict  of  their  value . . 
The  Ponderosa  Tomato. — A  few  days 
ago  we  received  a  Ponderosa  (400)  To¬ 
mato  weighing  just  1 %  pound.  It  was 
of  the  typical  shape  as  shown  in  the  cat¬ 
alogue  illustrations,  green  about  the 
stem  and  ripe  in  the  other  portions. 
When  cut  open  it  was  found  to  be  almost 
entirely  cell  walls,  the  cells  themselves 
being  very  small  and  almost  seedless. 
The  cell  walls  of  the  part  of  the  tomato 
just  about  the  stem  were  green  and  hard, 
but  otherwise  the  flesh  was  tender  and 
of  excellent  quality.  The  Ponderosa  is 
an  advance  among  tomatoes.  No  doubt 
selections  will  breed  out  the  irregulari¬ 
ties  of  shape  and  unevenness  in  ripening 
as  seen  in  most  specimens,  while  its 
solidity  and  fine  quality  will  remain. . . . 
Regarding  the  Ponderosa,  Prof. 
Massey  of  the  North  Carolina  Experi¬ 
ment  Station  writes  as  follows: 
The  Ponderosa  Tomato  leads  the  procession  this 
year  In  quality,  size  and  productiveness.  We  saved 
our  own  seed  laBt  season,  and  think  we  have  made  an 
Improvement  In  It,  for  the  Irregularly  shaped  fruits 
are  fewer  In  number  than  smooth  ones.  It  still  has 
the  defects  of  a  hard  core,  greenness  round  the  stem, 
and  too  much  size  for  market  growers.  But  as  a 
salad  tomato  on  the  table,  It  makes  all  the  others 
Insipid.  In  the  shape  It  had  on  our  place  last  year 
It  was  worthless.  As  we  have  It  this  year  we  think 
there  are  wonderful  possibilities  in  It.  If  we  could 
get  some  of  Its  size  and  solidity  Into  the  Peach  we 
would  have  the  Ideal  tomato  for  this  climate,  for 
the  Peach  stands  our  climate  better  than  any  other. 
We  shall  work  in  this  direction.  The  Ponderosa  re¬ 
minds  us  of  the  old  Lester’s  Perfected  Feejee. 
May  15,  1890,  we  received  several 
plants  of  a  so-called  white  blackberry 
from  W.  C.  Raymond,  of  Bridgewater,  Vt. 
The  berries  are  now  ripe  and  ripening. 
They  are  of  medium  size,  of  the  shape  of 
Snyder  and  the  drupelets  are  compara¬ 
tively  few  and  therefore  large.  The  color  is 
hard  to  describe,  being  of  a  dull  whitish- 
purple.  The  quality  is  as  different  from 
ordinary  blackberries  as  the  red  rasp¬ 
berry  is  distinct  from  a  blackcap.  It  is 
sweet — a  peculiar  sweetness — juicy  and 
delicious.  The  plant  is  thus  far  vigorous 
and  hardy  though  we  have  had  no  test 
winters  since  it  was  received.  It  prom¬ 
ises  to  be  fairly  productive  and  is  the 
first  white  blackberry  that  we  have  ever 
had  occasion  to  praise.  The  original 
plant  was  found  on  a  farm  near  Mr.  Ray¬ 
mond’s.  As  the  thermometer  goes  30  de¬ 
grees  below  zero,  he  concludes  it  must  be 
hardy . 
Another  “  white  ”  blackberry  was 
sent  to  us  in  1888  by  Mr.  Macoinber  of 
Vermont.  This  is  not  quite  hardy.  The 
berries  begin  to  ripen  with  dewberries. 
They  are  of  medium  size,  small  carpels, 
sweet  and  pleasant.  We  can  not  judge 
of  its  productiveness  since  the  canes  are 
more  or  less  injured  every  winter.  The 
color  of  these  berries  is  the  same  as  that 
of  the  variety  above  noted . 
A  fair  price  for  nitrate  of  soda  of  16 
per  cent  of  nitrogen  ought  not  to  be  over 
$45  per  ton . 
Sulphate  of  ammonia  containing  about 
20  per  cent  of  nitrogen  is  worth  $65  per 
ton . 
Plain  superphosphates — such  as  bone- 
black,  bone  ash,  etc.,  containing  16 
per  cent  of  available  phosphoric  acid,  is 
worth  $21  per  ton . 
South  Carolina  rock  (superphos¬ 
phate)  containing  12  per  cent  of  available 
phosphoric  acid,  is  worth  $14  per  ton.  . . . 
High  grade  sulphate  of  potash,  con¬ 
taining  50  percent  of  potash,  is  worth  $50 
per  ton . 
Home-Mixed  and  High-Grade  Com¬ 
plete  Fertilizers. — The  average  com¬ 
position  of  eight  home  mixtures,  and  of 
eight  brands  of  special,  high-grade,  com¬ 
plete  fertilizers,  selected  as  the  most 
highly-concentrated  of  the  212  brands 
analyzed  by  the  New  Jersey  Station  in 
1891,  and  representing  the  best  manufac¬ 
turers,  are  given  in  the  following  tabu¬ 
lation  : 
Total  available 
Average  of  eight  Nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid.  Potash. 
Home  mixtures. ..4.1  p.  ct.  8.1  p.  ct.  10.1  p.ct. 
Special  brands 4.2  •*  7.4  “  8.3  “ 
The  average  ton  of  home  mixture, 
while  it  contains  two  pounds  lessot  nitro¬ 
gen,  contains  12  pounds  more  of  available 
phosphoric  acid  and  34  pounds  more  of 
potash  than  the  average  of  the  very  best 
manufactured  brands  on  the  market. 
While  compared  with  the  average  compo¬ 
sition  of  the  whole  212  brands,  viz.,  2.7 
per  cent  of  nitrogen,  7.3  per  cent,  of 
available  phosphoric  acid,  and  4.2  per 
cent  of  potash,  it  is  shown  that  each  ton 
contains  28  pounds  more  of  nitrogen,  14 
pounds  of  available  phosphoric  acid,  and 
116  pounds  of  potash . 
This  matter  of  concentration,  which 
means  a  saving  in  the  handling  of  use¬ 
less  material,  is  of  considerable  advan¬ 
tage  in  these  times  of  high-priced  farm 
labor.  Yet,  concentration  means  more 
than  the  saving  of  labor.  It  means  high 
quality  of  plant  food,  for,  in  order  to  se¬ 
cure  a  high-grade  mixture,  first-class  raw 
materials  must  he  used . 
These  home  mixtures  represent  the 
purchase  of  540  tons.  The  average  cost 
per  ton  was  $31.36  at  the  point  of  con¬ 
sumption,  the  cost  of  freight  being  added 
where  not  included  in  the  purchase  price. 
The  average  cost  per  ton  of  the  eight 
selected  special  brands  was $43. 50,  oradif- 
ference  of  $12.14  per  ton  in  favor  of  the 
home  mixture,  which  contained  at  least 
$2  worth  of  plant  food  in  excess  of  that 
in  the  manufactured  brand.  Thus  on  this 
»vb^UACKSON  BROS.  [185a 
drain  tile  and  pipe  works 
76  Third  Avenue.  ALBANY.  N.  Y. 
NEW  YORK  STATE  Fill. 
52nd  Annual  State  Fair, 
Syracuse,  September  8,  9,  10, 
12,  13,  14  and  16. 
$25,000  in  Premiums. 
The  largest  and  finest  exhibition  of  Horses, 
Cattle,  Sheep,  Swine  and  Poultry 
ever  seen  In  the  State. 
basis,  which  is  perfectly  fair,  since  the 
actual  cost  of  517  tons  was  but  $29.56  per 
ton,  the  540  tons  cost  $6,555  less  than 
would  have  been  paid  for  an  equal  num¬ 
ber  of  tons  of  high-grade  mixed  fertil¬ 
izers,  while  they  contained  plant  food 
worth  $1,080  more  than  would  have  been 
contained  in  the  latter,  or  total  of  $7, (Ho. 
The  actual  saving  indicated  by  this  trans¬ 
action  is  certainly  worthy  of  careful  con¬ 
sideration,  especially  when  it  is  proven 
that  the  labor  expended  in  mixing  need 
not  exceed  $1  per  ton,  and  that  local  banks 
are  anxious  to  lend  money  at  six  per 
cent,  thus  enabling  any  farmer  with 
good  credit  to  make  cash  purchases. 
A  careful  inquiry  of  the  farmers  who 
have  practiced  this  method  of  buying 
shows  that  they  are  convinced  of  its 
value,  and  will  not  return  to  former  hap¬ 
hazard  methods.  They  are  satisfied  that 
they  save  money  in  the  buying,  and  that 
the  results  from  their  use  of  chemical 
manures  are  better  and  more  uniform  in 
character  than  was  formerly  the  case. .  . 
IN  writing  to  advertisers  please  always  mention 
The  Rubai,. 
On  Saturday,  September  10,  His  Excellency,  the 
Governor  of  the  State,  Hon.  ROSWELL  P.  FLOWER, 
will  attend  the  Fair  and  address  the  people. 
On  Tuesday,  September  13,  IIon.  J.  H.  BRIGHAM, 
Grand  Muster  of  the  Farmers’ National  Grunge  will 
speak  on  the  Fair  grounds.  This  will  be  the  largest 
meeting  of  Farmers  and  Grangers  ever  held  In 
this  State. 
Every  day  of  the  Fair  trotting  and  running  races 
will  be  held.  The  MacDonald  Churiot  races,  and 
other  new  and  superior  attractions. 
Entries  of  live  stock  close  August  8.  Entries  for 
trotting  rnces  close  August  25.  Entries  in  all  other 
Departments  close  September  7.  For  details  and 
other  information  apply  to  W.  JUDSON  SMITH, 
Secretary  of  the  New  Yoik  State  Agricultural 
Society,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 
For  FALL  SEEDING 
’»••••  --  v  .  v  .  v  u  ur 
CUTAWAY  HARROW  CO.,  HIGGANUM,  CONN. 
New  York  Office,  IN  4'lill.St.,  New  York  City. 
Canada  Unleached  Hard-wood 
DON’T  HAVE  SOUR  MILK. 
Acknowledged  the  most  satisfactory  fertilizer 
We  have  best  facilities  for  supplying  our  customers 
first  quality  at  low  prices. 
48-page  pamphlet  free.  Write  for  prices  to 
MUNROE,  DEFOREST  &  CO., 
Successors  to  Munboe,  Judson  &  Stboitp, 
32  Arcade  Block,  Oswego,  N.  Y. 
THE  NEW  WHEAT. 
Sow  no  wheat  until  you  send  for  my  new  Oatalogui 
of  new  variety  Wheats  and  other  farm  seeds. 
LEWIS  STRAYER,  York.  Pa. 
Keystone 
Cider 
Mills 
ARE  BEST! 
BECAUSE  THEY 
Do  More  Work, 
Produce  More  Cider, 
Require  Less  Labor. 
Made  with  Adjustable  Cylinders. 
Adapted  to  Crushing  Grapes 
and  Small  Berries. 
SEND  FOR  CIRCULARS. 
Keystone  Mfg.  Co., 
STERLING,  ILL. 
A  PERFECT  COOLER  use  the 
PERFECT  GEM. 
Patented  Jan.  21!,  1892. 
CHAMPION 
MILK  COOLER 
and  you  Need  Not 
it  Is  for  the  use  of 
the  farmer  Imme¬ 
diately  after  milk¬ 
ing,  and  removes  all 
the  animal  heat  and 
uilors  at  ones. 
We  Guarantee  that 
milk  will  keep  from 
24  to  31!  hours  longer 
by  Its  use. 
Easily  cleaned. 
Never  gets  out  of 
order.  Prices  ac¬ 
cording  to  size  of 
dairy,  #7  to  #10. 
Send  for  our  de¬ 
scriptive  Pamphlet. 
We  want,  an  agent 
in  every  town ,  and 
will  allow  a  liberal 
commission. 
Address 
Champion  Milk  Cooler  Co.,  Cortland,  N.  Y. 
STAR  MILK 
AND 
CREAM  COOLER 
Made  of  Brass  and  Copper, 
without  end-plates.  Freeand 
open  corrugations.  No  cor¬ 
ners  to  clean.  Cools  within 
two  degrees  of  water  used. 
Best  Cooler  on  the  market. 
Send  for  circular. 
EVANS  &  HE  U LING S, 
H  ADDON  Ft  ELD,  N.  J. 
DAIRYMEN, 
Send  for  Circulars  of  most  Sim¬ 
ple,  Cheap  and  Effective  Aerato- 
to  J.  D.  POWELL,  Golden’s  Biidge,  N.  Y. 
niITTrn  Parchment  lined  palls  for  from  3  to  10 
nil  I  I  rH  1,JS-  Send  for  terms.  Detroit  Paper 
UU  I  I  Lila  Package  Co.,  Detroit,  Mich. 
JONES’  WINTER  FIFE  WHEAT. 
The  grandest  winter  wheat  ever  offered,  and  the  hardiest,  heaviest  and  most  pi  oliflo. 
Pries,  $1.00  per  peck;  $3.50  per  bushe!. 
All  wheat  growers  should  trv  It,  and  before  buying  their  seed  wheat  this  fall  should  send  for  our 
Special  Wheat  Circular  In  which  we  offer  all  the  new  leading  varieties.  • 
The  Wheat  Circular  and  our  Progressive  Farmers’  Manual  will  be  mailed  free  on  application. 
PETER  HENDERSON  &  C0JASW8K 
