46 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
IAN. 17 
Second Crop R. N.-Y. No. 2 Pota¬ 
toes. 
W. P. Truitt, Pulaski County, Ar¬ 
kansas. —I bought a barrel of R. N.-Y. No. 
2 Potatoes and planted them in March be¬ 
sides a number of other varieties, including 
the Early Ohio. The “No. 2” not only 
out yielded the others, but proved fine and 
well-shaped, and the finest flavored pota¬ 
toes I ever tasted. I sold all my surplus to 
two of my grocery customers for 25 cents 
per bushel more than I could get for other 
sorts. I could have sold thousands of bushels 
in the neighboring city if I had them, 
and the praise they got universally from 
those who used them confirms all The 
Rural has said of them. And this is not 
all. I have just dug and housed my sec¬ 
ond crop from the small seed potatoes 
selected from the first. They were planted 
in the middle of August and now I have a 
fine lot of nice, solid potatoes which I am 
going to keep over for seed next spring. 
Those Arkansas Apples. 
E. F. Babcock, Pulaski County, Ark. 
—A slight mistake was made in The Rural 
of December 20, in ascribing to me the honor 
of making the exhibit of “ Some Arkansas 
Apples ” at the American Institute in Oc¬ 
tober last. I did not go to New York on 
that occasion. The exhibit was made by 
Prof. W. S. Thomas, of Little Rock: all I 
had to do with the display—which was a 
poor one for Arkansas—was to attend the 
county fruit show of Johnson County at 
Clarksville, the county seat, for the purpose 
of selecting the fruit to be shown at Fort 
Smith, at the annual State fair, and as the 
fair management was offering very liberal 
premiums in cash, the best had to go. After 
an expert committee had selected what 
was wanted for the general collection—the 
best 50 and 25 specimens, and the best single 
plate—I made my selection from what re¬ 
mained and packed it for New York. Many 
of the varieties were taken entire by the 
committee, so that in place of 100 varieties 
I got only 50 for the Professor, and these 
were really the second selection. Such as 
they were, however, the display was good 
enough to take the first premium for the 
largest and best collection, the first pre¬ 
mium for the best 12 varieties, and the first 
for the best new seedling. I do not know 
of a single variety of apples of Northern ori¬ 
gin grown here that will keep until Febru¬ 
ary. The long keepers of the North, such 
as Northern Spys and Roxbury Russets, 
etc., are all gone by November. And all 
the winter apples we have after November, 
are of Southern origin or imported from the 
North. Eighteen years’ experience in Ar¬ 
kansas has fully convinced me that it is 
useless to plant Northern varieties and ex¬ 
pect keepers. We have plenty of varieties 
originated here that will keep satisfactorily. 
*Pl rrigatlon and Immigration. 
J. R., Unionyille, N. J.—With regard 
to the great Western irrigation scheme, 
let the schemers foot the bills, and then go 
ahead—under proper restrictions of course. 
At the rate at which cities and manufac¬ 
turing towns are growing, we need not 
fear overproduction of food crops ; but 
there is a more serious matter that may 
well engage our attention; that is, the qual¬ 
ity of the immigration which is pouring in 
upon us from the Old World. Just com¬ 
pare it for a moment with that of a quarter 
of a century ago, and you will find the dif¬ 
ference very great in favor of the old-time 
immigrants. What will be the effect of such 
additions to the scum of our cities? There 
is food for reflection here. 
Defence of Japan Clover. 
Prof. W.B. Stark, State College, Ken¬ 
tucky.— On page 897 Dr. Henry Stewart 
gives vent to invectives against the Japan 
Clover of the South—Lespedeza striata. I 
have waited a week to see if some one more 
interested than I would challenge his state¬ 
ment that “ it is a plant that is not worthy 
of cultivation ; but to prevent washing on 
poor old fields that will produce no better 
plants, it may be made useful.” 
In the Country Gentleman of January, 
1886, he also says: “ I assert emphatically 
that unless cattle and pigs are starved to it 
they will not eat the Japan Clover, or any 
kind of Lespedeza.” (Quoted by Beal.) 
From reading Dr. Stewart’s article, one 
who knows anything of the plant would be 
led to conclude one of two things: either 
that the Doctor has never seen the real L. 
striata growing in the South, or that he is 
unjustly prejudiced against it. The fact 
remains, however, that in the Gulf States it 
is more prized than any other forage plant, 
and for several reasons. 
1. It requires no care. It reseeds itself 
every year with absolute certainty, so that 
when once it gets a hold on the soil it is a 
permanent fixture there.. It is not a peren¬ 
nial. 
2. It grows anywhere, on any kind of 
soil—rich or poor, wet or dry, clay or sand. 
It quickly takes possession of old, “ ex¬ 
hausted ” and abandoned fields and quickly 
covers them with a rich green carpet, even 
climbing down the sides and into the bot¬ 
toms of washes and red gulleys, finally 
closing these up. 
3. On rich bottom lands it grows to a 
height of two to three feet, affords two 
mowings a year, and yields a large quan¬ 
tity of the very best hay. 
4. According to chemical analysis, it is 
the most nutritious forage plant in the 
South ; and this conclusion is demonstrated 
to be true practically at the milk pail and 
on the butcher’s block. 
Whether or not there is any truth in the 
statement that stock must be “ starved to 
it before they will eat it,” I cannot speak 
authoritatively for stock not accustomed to 
it. It may be that Northern-bred cattle 
have a more refined taste than their South¬ 
ern cousins ; but, be this as it may, I have 
yet to see an animal in the South to the 
manner born, refuse to eat Japan Clover. 
It may be an “ acquired ” or even a vicious 
taste; but what’s the odds so long as it 
gives sleek, fat carcasses and rich, golden 
butter, and lots of it ? Has not man a few 
acquired tastes ? How many wry faces 
must be made before one learns to love that 
most delicious of all vegetables, the to¬ 
mato ? 
Professor Stewart further states : “No 
doubt much extravagant eulogy has been 
given to this weed by persons whose object 
has been to sell seed.” 
Now the greatest eulogists of this plant 
are the Southern farmers ; and not one in 
10,000 of these is in any way interested in 
the sale of seeds. They do not bother them¬ 
selves with seed-saving, nor do they sow; 
the wind sows the seed, Nature prepares 
the soil, and the farmer contents himself 
with harvesting the crop. I have never 
heard of more than two or three planters 
in all the South who make a business of 
growing seed for market. 
Now a few words as to the habitat of 
Japan Clover. It is a sun loving plant. It 
comes up after all danger of frost is over, 
remains green all summer, and perishes 
with the first frost. I do not believe it 
will succeed farther north than the line 
that marks the limit of Bermuda Grass, 
or, say, the northern limits of Tennessee 
and Virginia. It might succeed farther 
north by artificial seeding, but I would not 
use it myself or recommend it for any lati¬ 
tude where it would not reseed itself 
naturally. On an experiment plat on the 
Kentucky Experiment Station grounds it 
made a fair growth, but failed to seed; and 
I would not, therefore, recommend it for 
this State. There are several species of 
the genus Lespedeza, some very closely 
resembling the striata, but of comparatively 
little value. These may be in places con¬ 
founded with the true striata. There can 
be no doubt of the great value of the latter 
in the extreme Southern States. 
Make Stable Manure-Don’t Buy it. 
D. C. Lewis, Middlesex Co., N. J.—In 
The Rural of December 27, my article 
asks : “ In view of this experience can we 
afford to haul out stable manure ? ” I cer¬ 
tainly did not mean to convey any such 
idea; all I meant was simply, could I afford 
to purchase stable manure in the light of 
such an experience as that I then men¬ 
tioned. On other soils, however, the re¬ 
sults might be entirely different. I used to 
purchase all the stable manure I could 
until I learned by experience that it did 
not pay in my case. I would advise all to 
make all the manure possible and cart it 
out; but in my judgment it will not pay to 
purchase any, as the same results can be 
obtained from chemical fertilizers at less 
cost. 
Some Notes on 1890. 
E. P. Powell, Clinton County, N. Y.— 
After a thorough trial of the Lucretia 
Dewberry I am compelled to set it down as 
not a desirable variety for general cultiva¬ 
tion. The fruit is very early and fine, but 
there are two fatal faults—the plant is 
not hardy and it sprawls and runs out¬ 
rageously. A third fault is in the charac¬ 
ter of its thorns, which are very abundant 
and break off in one’s flesh with malice 
aforethought. I know of no blackberry so 
troublesome to handle, and it must be 
handled. It must be tied up, and 
kept cut. The best plan is to tie it to 
stakes and cub it all summer, as it grows 
rampantly. This is too much work. Gener¬ 
ally it is enough to lay down the vines in 
winter, but an open winter will kill the 
blossom buds; then the work is a good deal 
for nothing. My impression is that the 
Minnewaski Blackberry will be early and 
hardy enough to displace any such trouble¬ 
some plant. We have the Agawam and 
Taylor for later. The chief advantages of 
the Lucretia are its earliness, fine size, and 
really good quality. 
I am compelled to reverse or amend my 
previously formed judgment of Clapp’s 
Favorite Pear. The habit of the fruit 
to decay quickly if not picked just at the 
right time and the tendency of the tree to 
blight led me to refuse to plant any more; 
but there is more to be said on the 
other side. On off years when most pears 
fail, Clapp’s is very reliable. During 1890 
it was the best paying of all pears, East or 
West. Anjou, Clairgeau, Sheldon, Bartlett 
and Flemish Beauty failed for the most 
part, but Clapp’s was on hand. It is very 
early and has a good opening in the mar¬ 
ket. There are too many Bartletts to allow 
of remunerative prices. If planting an 
orchard now, I would put in Clapp’s quite 
largely for early. A pear must always be 
picked before it is ripe, but Clapp’s must 
be picked at least 10 days before it is soft. 
My list would be Tyson, Clapp’s, Bartlett, 
Flemish Beauty, Sheldon, Anjou, Bose, 
Josephine and Jones. 
There ought to be a halt in the adver¬ 
tisements of new varieties of tomatoes. 
There is virtually no difference between a 
dozen of the best sorts advertised for the 
last 10 years. The Mikado is an oddity, as 
are also a few others ; but I see no reason 
for planting any of them. I have settled 
down on a first-rate golden yellow. What 
its name is I cannot say ; but it is free of 
rot. a great bearer and early. With that I 
am willing to grow any one of the best 
reds I have tried, all of which rot more or 
less. I could select four or five seed cata¬ 
logues which come annually, with covers 
and insides flaming with wonders, includ¬ 
ing always a new tomato, and they are 
worthless from the standpoint of truth. 
They are not to be trusted even when not 
lying. 
The Milk-room Without A Spring. 
Mrs. E. Rockwood, Genesee County, 
Mich.— Farmer Girl’s article in The Rural 
of December 13, tells of a splendid use to 
which a good spring of water may be put. 
But what of the many farms where no 
such spring is found ? Are those less favored 
to go on making butter in the old- fashioned 
way? By no means. Only a few of all the 
farmers in this section of the country make 
use of the old dash churn, with the milk 
strained into tin pans, by which method it 
(Continued on next page.) 
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