1891 
876c 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
near vicinity. The mills here get their linseed from 
Russia and Calcutta, and their cotton seed from 
Egypt: but owing to the famine in Russia, a ukase has 
been promulgated which prohibits further exports of 
linseed; consequently India and America will be called 
upon to supply the quantity heretofore furnished by 
Russia. Linseed cake sells here for £9 5s. per ton ; 
cotton-seed cake for £5 per ton. 
It is claimed that cotton seed from Egypt is superior 
to that from America, as it contains more oil and nutri¬ 
ment. 
Re that as it may, America beats the world in Indian 
corn which surpasses all other crops for the nourish¬ 
ment of man and beast, with the exception of wheat. 
If England possessed the climate and the soil of the 
hills and valleys which produce the corn, hay and Blue 
Grass so common in the States, she would save the 
millions now annually sent to foreign countries for 
manufactured stock feed. Milk and slops, with a 
sprinkling of linseed or cotton-seed meal, will do for 
calves and young pigs, and oil cake, beans and turnips 
will do for yearlings ; but to get wholesome, tender, 
juicy and luscious beef and solid pork in perfection 
from animals more advanced in years and growth, 
Blue Grass, well cured and sweet-flavored hay and 
sound corn are needed. Many European farmers boast 
of furnishing for the Christmas market steers that 
weigh a ton ; but if these are fed on linseed or cotton¬ 
seed cake and other artificial fodder, half their car¬ 
casses will be grease more fit for 
the candle and soap factories than 
for the table. Less tallow and 
more solid, yet tender, lean beef 
is what furnishes the muscle, 
strength and action the business 
and working man and woman want 
from a dinner on a Christmas or 
any other clay. 
It is claimed that the small 
corn that comes here from Cal¬ 
cutta is better and cheaper than 
the American article for animal 
and family food. If that is so, is 
it not strange that an article so 
cheap, wholesome, and, in fact, 
delicious when properly prepared, 
should be discarded from the Eng¬ 
lishman’s table, especially as the 
country is compelled to . import 
vast quantities of wheat and flour 
to keep its people from starvation? 
Fruits, with the exception of 
peaches and apples, are very 
abundant. Blums, this year, like 
peaches in America, are a “drug” 
in the market, too common for 
even the poor to buy at a penny 
a pound. Some varieties are as 
large as a hen’s egg and of good 
flavor. Most of the apples are 
about the size of the American 
crab. Tomatoes do not ripen 
here in the open air, but large 
quantites are grown by nurserymen who have 
extensive hothouses. They are much relished, and 
sell for four and five pence per pound. Foreign toma¬ 
toes, in three-pound cans, sell for five and a half pence 
per can. J)- TURNER. 
AN AMERICAN PRODUCT—THE TOMATO. 
the world has learned to like it 
The tomato, more than any other fruit, shows what 
changes may be wrought by cultivation in a few years. 
Two hundred years ago tomatoes were used m soups, 
for pickles or as salads with vinegar, salt and pep¬ 
per, but only to a limited extent. A hundred years 
later there were scores of people who could not bear 
the taste or odor of them, either raw or cooked, where 
there was one who relished them. 
All will remember the introduction of the Trophy, 
which marked an advance in tomato improvement 
similar to that which the Early Rose marked in potato 
improvement. The first Trophy Tomatoes were large, 
but irregular in form. Selections were made from 
year to year, so that at this time the Improved Trophy 
may rank with the best of our varieties. 
We do not know as yet what may be accomplished 
by crossing the several varieties and so-called species 
of tomatoes, as but little, if any, systematic work has 
been done in that direction. The R. N.-Y. began 
crossing three years ago, and the results of its efforts 
up to and including the past summer would indicate 
that tomatoes of the original 'trophy type, Fig, Pear, 
Peach, and even the dwarf Tomato de Laye might well 
have sprung from one origin, since crosses upon the 
Peach, using pollen of such popular sorts, as Perfection, 
Ignotum, Prelude, etc., gave fruits which in shape, 
size, irregularities and smoothness might have been 
selected for either of the above mentioned. It is 
notable, however, that not one of the offspring inher¬ 
ited the downy skin of the mother Peach. Our brief 
experience in crossing leads us to assume that the 
progeny of cross-breeds will vary for years before 
definite characteristics will become fixed, and that de¬ 
cided improvements therefore from cross-breeding need 
not be looked for in the near future. 
All agree that the coming tomato must be of medium 
size, smooth skin, without conspicuous sutures or 
seams ; it must be early and must ripen evenly in every 
part. It must resist rot and admit of long shipment 
without injury. The flesh must be solid ; that is, the 
cells or spaces between the placental walls or partitions 
must be filled with flesh of a substance that will give a 
higher per cent of dry matter than the best of the fav¬ 
orites of to-day. Finally, a minimum of small seeds 
must take the place of a maximum of large ones, and 
the flavor, while retaining something of that charac¬ 
teristic of the tomoto, must be of higher quality. 
The latest novelty that has commanded the public 
attention and excited no little interest among tomato 
growers is the “ Four Hundred.” While in this re¬ 
markable variety we have a' decided advance in the 
way of solidity of flesh, fewness and smallness of seeds 
and excellence of quality, it shows, nevertheless, de¬ 
cided faults in other directions. It is not early to 
ripen. The size is too large. It is too uneven and, 
last though not least, it usually fails to ripen about 
the stem “end” as we call the portion surrounding the 
stem and opposite to the flower “end.” The plants in 
The “Insides” of the “400” Tomato. Fig. 120c. 
foliage and habit are intermediate between the Potato 
Tomato—Like the Mikado or Turner’s Hybrid— 
and older kinds, like the Trophy and Perfec¬ 
tion. The tomatoes grow to an enormous size, many 
specimens weighing over a pound each, while the 
number of undersized specimens is remarkably small. 
If, however, we were seeking - to improve tomatoes by 
selection, we should, with our present information, 
select specimens from the Four Hundred rather than 
from any other kind, since a few ripened early, some 
of which were nearly perfect in shape, solidity and 
quality, and they ripened perfectly about the stems. 
While, it will be seen, we have by no means the per¬ 
fect variety in this newcomer, we may reasonably 
look for an approach thereto by continued selection 
through a few years. 
The engravings at Figs. 1 20c and 120d show an average 
fruit as grown at the Rural Grounds last summer—cut 
in halves lengthwise or through the longer diameter, 
Fig. 120c presenting a view of the inside, Fig. 120D, of 
the outside stem half. 
COAXING GROWTH OUT OF TOMATO PLANTS. 
On another page Mr. .1. L. Covel, of Ontario County, 
N. Y., tells of some big - specimens of the Four Hundred 
Tomato he has exhibited. Mr. C. has been quite suc¬ 
cessful in growing tomatoes and thus describes his 
method : 
“ I consider it more than necessary to have the plant 
as old as possible before planting. I start my plants 
sometimes as early as January 1. 1 submit common 
garden soil to heat for L0 or 12 hours until I think 
all insect life has been destroyed. Then I fill old tin 
pans about three-quarters full of the prepared or baked 
garden soil and in it plant my tomato seeds quite 
thick, and about a quarter of an inch deep, using only 
just enough water to moisten the soil so that the seeds 
will germinate. When the plants are well up—say 
an inch high—I place them where the temperature 
will be rather low and even. I do not try to force 
them ; 1 only persuade them just enough to induce 
them to keep of a healthy green color. I keep them in 
this manner until about three weeks from the time the 
weather will admit of their being planted in the garden ; 
then I separate them, or rather remove them to wooden 
boxes four inches wide, four inches deep and as long as I 
can handle them. The soil in these is very rich ; 1 use 
black muck, sand and any kind of well-rotted, fine 
manure. After I have transplanted them to the boxes 
four inches apart I force them, and see that they do 
not lack for moisture, and that they get all the sun 
possible. I turn the boxes once a day to the sun ; that 
keeps the plants straight and makes them stocky. 
When I see that the frosts are over, I dig - a trench one 
foot deep and 15 inches wide, throwing the earth out 
at each side ; then T fill it two-thirds full with some of 
the soil thrown out—mixed with a little well rotted hen 
manure, very few sifted coal ashes and plenty of well 
rotted barnyard manure, and set the plants, with the 
roots well spread, two feet apart in the trench, using 
the excavated soil to fill around the plant. As the 
latter grows I bring the rest of the soil to it, making 
the trench somewhat rounding, but after a little the 
ground becomes nearly level. After the tomato vine 
has commenced to grow, I begin to use the hoe. 1 
never allow the ground to get hard around the vines. 
I remove all laterals that form be¬ 
low one foot from the ground and 
also cut off all suckers that start 
from the roots and around the 
stalk. I drive stakes, 2x2 inches 
seven feet long, into the trenches 
10 feet a part and on a line with 
the plants. I then nail thin slats 
two inches wide on each side of the 
stakes one foot apart, and train 
the vines between them. Once 
started between the bottom slats 
they will keep between the others 
all the way up; the two-in ch space 
holds the main part of the vine ; 
the fruit and smaller portions will 
hang in clusters on each side. 
When the vines have reached six 
feet in height I cut the ends off on 
top. I set my plants so that the 
rows will run north and south. I 
top-dress sparingly about twice 
through the season with wood 
ashes. My vines have produced 
from one-half to three-quarters 
of a bushel of nice fruit each 
when handled in this manner.” 
ENTOMOLOGICAL PROGRESS. 
It is a trite observation that there 
are penalties for the changes mod¬ 
ern civilization has made on 
the face of the globe—penalties 
so severe that we occasionally 
hear older friends sighing for the good times of ‘ ‘ auld 
lang syne.” To the ruralists perhaps none of the ill 
effects of nineteenth-century progress is more evident 
than the increased difficulty of saving his crops from 
the ravages of noxious insects and parasitic fungi. 
Many of us have heard from our fathers and grand¬ 
fathers of the apples which once grew in abundance in 
yards and along the highways, strangers alike to the 
codling moth and the scab; of the luscious peaches 
free from worms and rot; of the plum trees loaded witli 
fruit that had never been marked by the curculio; of 
the pears that had yet to learn the secret of becoming 
dwarfed, gnarly and cracked; of the grapes that knew 
not how to rot, and of the potatoes not yet honored 
with the acquaintance of the distinguished emigrant 
from Colorado. 
Now all is changed: every crop has foes that too 
often gather the lion’s share of the harvest. The ene¬ 
mies have come from the north and the south, the east 
and the west, from Europe and the islands of the sea, 
and in our midst they have flocked from the forest to 
the field, deserting a wild plant for its more attractive 
congener, or changing their habits to conform to a new 
environment. 
This increase of noxious insects, however, is the 
natural result of the changed conditions of things. 
Among - the principal factors tending toward it, I may 
mention, 1, the massing of crops in limited areas; 2, 
the facilities for transporting insects long distances by 
vessels and railways carrying agricultural products; 
3, the abandoned farms and orchards that serve as 
feeding grounds ; and, 4, the destruction of forests and 
the cultivation of prairies. 
Considering each of these factors briefly, we find 
that the tendency of the first—that of the massing of 
crops in limited areas—toward increasing our insect 
pests rests upon the biological law that the increase of 
