i89t 
207 
SHORT AND FRESH. 
In the American Cultivator Mr. J. J. H. 
Gregory gives his way of raising potatoes : 
His land, on the average, is a good upland 
loam. On this he spreads about eight 
cords per acre of good barn manure, and 
plows as deep as good soil goe3 and har¬ 
rows till fine. Before using a planting 
machine he found the trench system of 
planting a good one; that is, to run a large 
two-horse plow twice in each furrow (three 
feet apart), then follow with a one-horse 
fertilizer distributor; the furrow was so 
far filled as to bring the potatoes three or 
four inches below the surface, leaving a 
body of soft earth under them, which the 
crop likes. He used 1000 pounds of potato 
fertilizer per acre, well stirred in the drill. 
He sometimes uses unleached wood 
ashes, but never directly in the drill, as 
they make the tubers scabby, though he 
finds that muriate of potash will not have 
this effect, even 600 pounds to the acre in 
the drill; it makes flattish kinds of pota¬ 
toes thicker. Ashes do better if applied in 
the fall. He drops the potatoes, either 
whole ones the size of a hen’s egg, or two- 
eyed pieces, about fifteen inches apart, and 
covers with the horse hoe. As soon as 
small weeds begin to break through, he 
harrows either with the smoothing harrow 
or weeder, and he harrows again when the 
potatoes are well up. In cultivating, he 
goes twice in each row, each time running 
as close as possible to one row up and then 
to the other on the return; this destroys 
the weeds close to the plant. 
Lizzie McGowan is said to be the finest 
white carnation, Louise Porsch the finest 
yellow, the American Flag the best striped 
and Nellie Lewis the best pink. 
Tuberous-rooted begonias are growing 
more and more popular. The bulbs are 
sold as low as $2.50 per dozen. The flowers 
are large and in color pink, deep red, white, 
yellow, orange, etc. 
Try a Reitenbach Norway Maple. Tiie 
R. N.-Y. is inclined to regard it a3 the best 
of the purple-leaved trees. 
Mr. George W. P. Jerkard speaks 
highly of his n,ew potato the Harbinger. 
*> it has the smoothest, handsomest skin 
ever put upon a potato. It will sell at 
sight in any market for the highest price. 
It will outyield any other late potato in 
the country.” Besides all this, great hardi¬ 
ness, freedom from rot, matchless beauty 
and fine quality are claimed. 
The above potato was sent to us in 1889 
for trial as Jerrard’s No. 2. At that time 
he wrote us that the vine produced green 
flowers. A single hill yielded 3 % pounds. 
The tubers, 10 large and 9 small, were 
long, cylindrical, often bent or curved. 
Eyes medium in number and prominence, 
buff skin. The season was highly un¬ 
favorable. 
WALZ tells us that he computed how 
many loads of manure would dress a cer¬ 
tain field, and hauled it out accordingly in 
February when the land was frozen. He 
carried out 36 loads and piled them up in 
two heaps. But when he came to spread 
the manure, seven weeks afterwards, there 
were only 24 loads. 
Storer quotes Gazzeri as having found, 
long ago, that horse manure lost in the 
course of four months more than half the 
dry matter that was contained in it before 
putrefaction. Several of the older agricul¬ 
tural writers have insisted that 100 loads of 
fresh manure may be reduced to 70 loads 
* after two or three months’ fermentation, 
and to 50 loads at the end of the year. Sir 
Humphrey Davy urged that “ dung which 
has fermented so as to become a soft, co¬ 
hesive mass, has generally lost from one- 
third to one-half of its most useful constit¬ 
uents.” Davy’s idea is in no wise improb¬ 
able, for it is known that a great deal of 
nitrogen is lost from fermenting manure in 
the gaseous form, even in cases where none 
of it goes to waste as ammonia. It is also 
known that much of the nitrogen in fer¬ 
mented manures has passed into the inert 
humus-like condition. 
The two kinds of pyrethrum from the 
flowers of which the insect powders are 
made (roseum and cineraraefolium) are 
offered in several seedsmen’s catalogues for 
10 cents a paper. The plants are hardy and 
the flowers of brilliant colors. 
It has been found by experiments that 
the dried excrements of horses amount, on 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
the average, to 47^ per cent of the dry mat¬ 
ter of the food consumed ; that is, the dry 
excrement is rather less than half the dry 
food. 
essentially a fall flower, and the flowers are 
always the largest and most perfect and 
enduring in the showery weather and cool, 
dewy nights of autumn.” 
In writing to advertisers please always 
mention The Rural New-Yorker. 
The late Charles Downing, than whom 
there was no better judge of the quality of 
our fruits, once told Josiah Hoopes, as he 
informs the New York Tribune, that for 
dessert he greatly preferred the following 
delicious varieties of the cherry : Belle de 
Choisy, Champagne, Coe’s Transparent, 
Delicate, Kirtland’s Mary, Sparhawk’s 
Honey ; that, notwithstanding their doubt¬ 
ful fruitfulness, even a small crop was 
sufficient to pay for the room occupied. To 
persons unacquainted with the richness, 
sweet, honeyed flavor, abundant juice, and 
decided beauty of these superb cherries, it 
seems impossible to convey a correct im¬ 
pression. 
Champagne was a seedling originating 
in the collection of Charles Downing, at 
Newburg, N. Y., and is decidedly one of 
the most delicious of all fruits; it was t» 
always an especial favorite of its producer, 
and invariably recommended by him for 
the smallest collection for home use. It is 
a better bearer than the foregoing, forms 
only a medium-sized tree, and is specially 
adapted for small grounds. Of all the 
dessert varieties, however, none holds so 
enviable a position as Coe’s Transparent, 
which, perhaps, is faultless. 
The cultivation of the cherry seems to 
have been neglected. The objection to 
cherry culture is the difficulty in certain 
parts of the country in getting pickers. The 
cherry is not troubled by disease in many 
parts of the country. Windsor Cherry is 
recommended as the best of all dark-colored 
cherries, being much hardier than Black 
Tartarian and fully equal to it in many 
respects. It does not rot like many other 
varieties and is solid and bears shipment. 
Mr. Coe has 75 of these cherry trees, that 
have not missed a crop in 15 years. He has 
sold as large a crop a3 $600, from these 
trees. 
-N. Y. Herald; “A Famous Quotation; 
‘Ha, ha,’ laughed the farmer, as he saw his 
brood of incubator chickens come forth, * I 
did it with my little hatch it.’ ” 
‘“Perspire or expire’ is the rule of 
life.” 
“ We haven’t any use for men who go 
tobogganing on rainbows. It is better to 
dig potatoes than to write poor poetry ; 
nobler to scratch for a living, as the honest 
hen does, than to part your hair in the 
middle and pose as an angel in disguise.” 
-Life : “ When so much legislation Is 
in the air, it is a comfort to have small 
majorities in the Senate, so that the side 
with sense on it may hope at any time 
to make converts enough to win with.” 
-Prof. Storer: “The trouble is that 
the nitrogenized constituents of human ex¬ 
crements are of such a character that they 
begin to ferment, putrefy and spoil more 
rapidly than so much flesh would ; and it 
happens that during this process of fermen 
tation the best part of the manure goes off 
in the form of gas. 
THREE GRAND BERRIES. 
All are fully illustrated and described in 
Lovett’s Guide to Horticulture. Also all 
good old and choice new varieties of Small and 
Orchard Fruit, Nut and Ornamental Trees and 
Plants, etc. It is a book of over 8o pages, 
finely printed and copiously illustrated. It 
states the defects and merits, gives prices and 
tells how to purchase, plant, prune and culti¬ 
vate. Mailed free; with colored plates ioc. 
Trees and Plants by Mail a Specialty. 
J. T. Lovett Co., Little Silver, N. J. 
Seeds, Plants, Shrubs, Vines, 
Fruit & Ornamental Trees, Etc. 
CATALOGUE FREE. 
Over 150 pages illustrating and describing one of the largest 
and best assorted stocks of Seeds, Trees and Plants in the U. S. 
Best value for the money in our Tested Novelties and Special 
Low Priced Collections. 
37 YEARS. 25 CREENHOUSES. 700 ACRES. 
THE STORES & HARRISON CO., 
Painesville, Ohio. 
NOT ONLY 
THE NEW 
BUT THE 
GOOD «£ FRUITS. 
Plant a Red-flowering Dogwood, a var¬ 
iety of Cornua florida. 
A correspondent of The Rural Cana¬ 
dian feeds the fall surplus of tomatoes to 
his cows. They eat them greedily and the 
milk flow is greatly increased. 
Mr. Talcott one year bought the then 
advertised new kinds of oats and sowed 
them beside his own. Some of these novel¬ 
ties cost as high as $3 a bushel. The result 
was that one acre gave 30 bushels and 
another gave 45 bushels, while the seven 
acres of his own seed produced nearly 700 
bushels. The variety wai, as The R. N.-Y. 
guesses, the Schoenen. Perhaps Mr. Talcott 
will be kind enough to corroborate or cor¬ 
rect; this statement.. 
Each farmer, continues this trustworthy 
farmer, had better conduct his own experi¬ 
ments on his own farm. Bat there is satis¬ 
faction, he still admits, in testing new seeds 
and plants. How else could he have found 
out that his oats were worth more than the 
new kinds ?. 
Cun be bought of Butler. He makes a specialty of the standard, tested and found worthy varieties. lie can t 
make money quite so fast as by BOOMING NOVELTIES at big prices, but It is honest. His prices are us low 
as good reliable stock, warranted pure and true to label, can be sold. His catalogue Is neat and concise and 
tells the truth. If you want It write your own name and address on the back of a postal card, and 
G. S. BUTLER, CROMWELL, CONN., on its face and pass It to Uncle Sam. who will take it to Mr. Butler and 
bring back the catalogue. _ 
AN ELEGANT ^ 
FLOWER BED — 
25 Cts. 
We will furnish 20designs for beds of flower!ng Plants, with jP, r ,V -°k 1 1 ow 
iinwirn? names of varieties and number of plants required to till nne snow 
nXatf costof from 15 cents to *1 each. It requires k nowledge and taste, not 
vealtli to possess elegant beds of flowers. Think of a fine bed a 1 summer for 
Hs&s&sr 
JAMES VICK, SEEDSMAN, ROCHESTER, N. V. 
SMALL FRUITS, 
TDCCC VINES, SEEDS, 
I IlCtv)ORNAMENTALS, 
CRATES and BASKETS. Everything for the fruit grower. Prices Low. 
Estimates Free. You save one half by seeing our list. NEW FRUITS a specialty. 
E. W. REID, Bridgeport,Ohio. 
Illustrated CDCC 
Catalogue / nCC. 
IN Mr. Talcott’s experiments in testing 
new seeds or vegetables, the great majority 
of tnem have proved failures, but a few 
of them have been successful, and in the 
final summing up he finds that he could 
hardly afford to lose the successes, and as 
to the failures, he could not have obtained 
the knowledge in any other way so quickly, 
although he might have obtained some at 
less expense. In reviewing the whole case, 
after long years of farm labor he is still in 
favor of experimenting; the best to be had 
is none too good for the American farmer.. 
ABSTRACTS. 
-Ohio Agricultural Experiment 
Station : “ Corn smut enters the corn 
when it is very young, penetrating the soft 
tissues of the lowest joint and the root of 
the small plant. Smut does not pass from 
plant to plant in the corn field. Outward 
applications to the affected corn plant will 
do no good, for the fungus is inside, and no 
application will reach it. Great care should 
be taken to keep the ground from becom¬ 
ing filled with spores.” 
-P. H. Jacobs, in the Weekly Press : 
“ A person afflicted with the hen fever will 
not talk on any subject but poultry, and 
spends every leisure minute in the poultry 
yards. There is no cure for the malady, 
but old age or death.” 
-James Vick : “ It is not best to have 
asters flower too early in the season, and 
there need be no haste in starting seed in 
the spring, for the aster, like the dahlia, is 
ORN AM ENTAL}. ’SSSSSSSf 
Includingthe 
New Chestnut 
_ , NUMliO. 
HEDGING, FLOWERING SHRUBSand VINES. 
GRAPES, SMALL FRUITS in variety, ASPARAGUS, etc. 
An Illustrated Descriptive Catalogue and Planters Guide, FURR. 
The WM. H. MOON COMPANY, Morrisville, Bucks County, Penna. 
TREES 
Fruit&NutBearing 
D BEER’S seeds, 
PLANTS/BULBS, and Requisites., 
They are TIIE BEST at TIIE LOWEST PRICES. 
DREER’S GARDEN CALENDARfor 1891 postage. Abridged’edition Free. 
HENRY A DREER, 714: Chestnut Street, PHILADEEP H I A, PA, 
JERRARD’S SEED POTATO CATALOGUE 
try cpFn POTATOES are grown flrom the Choicest 8tock, In the virgin land* 
M Y 0 ?5*&ld No T r&™.t Kthe best New and S^dard SorU and warrant 
them superior to all others for seed. I raise my 8EED CO R N 160 KartfcW 
North than the North lineot Vermont,and for Early Crops my GARDEH SEEiDl 
h * T I offer*this season my new HARBINGER POTATO, wMch I beUeve win h. 
the Great Market Potato of the future. And my new EARLY BRYANT CORN, 
a handsome yellow variety, the Earliest of All. I have Special Low Freight Rates 
everywhere. My fine new Catalogue Mailed Free. gsrName this Paper and addres* 
GEORGE W. P. JERR ARD, Caribopj, Maine. 
SPRAY YOUR FRUIT TREES AND VINES. 
Wormy Fruit and Leaf flight of Apples PoarsCherri^, PlumCur- 
culia prevented by spraying with the EXCELSIOR, SPRAY 
PTTMP GRAPE and POTATO ROT prevented by using EXCELSIOR. 
TrvtfAfTK SPRAYER: also injurious insects which infest 
fuVrtnt/<£»errie*'I^spberkes and Strawberries PERFECT 
VRTTIT ALWAYS SELLS AT GOOD PRICES, _ 
* catalogue showing all injurious insects to fruits mailed free. Large 
stock of Fruit Trees, Vines and Berry Plants at Bottom Prices. 
Address, WM. STAHL, Quinoy, Illinois. 
