1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
23 
Ruralisms.— Continued. 
The New American belongs to the 
White mulberry group — Morus alba. 
This variety was brought to notice by N. 
H. 'Lindley, Bridgeport, Conn., about 
1854. No one knows its parentage. It 
is now widely cultivated, and it is the 
best mulberry yet known for the North¬ 
ern States. It is a strong, hardy tree, 
very productive, and bears continuously 
from late June until September. Large 
trees will produce 10 bushels of fruit in 
a season. The fruit ranges from an inch 
to over two inches long, and is glossy 
black when ripe. 
Some nurserymen habitually substitute 
the New American for the Downing, using 
the latter name, saying that they are 
disseminating a better variety. It is 
true that the New American is the better 
of the two, at least for the North, but it 
is unfortunate that this substitution 
should have occurred. Many nursery¬ 
men suppose that the two varieties are 
the same, but they differ not only in 
hardiness but also in foliage and fruit. 
From the red native mulberry, Morus 
rubra, comes the Johnson, the first named 
variety of any species originating in this 
country. The Hicks is a Georgian 
variety much used in the South as food 
for swine. 
The Russian mulberry, reintroduced 
by the Russian Mennonites in 1875, is 
commonly propagated from seeds, and 
is therefore variable. A large-fruiting 
form often appears and three, at least, 
of these have been named, viz., Victoria, 
Ramsey’s White and Teas’s Weeping. 
This, the most pronounced weeper among 
our ornamental trees, is a chance seed¬ 
ling, having come up in a nursery row 
nine years ago in the plantation of John 
C. Teas, Carthage, Mo. The original 
seedling tree is still only three feet high, 
although vigorous. In the nursery row 
this seedling trailed on the ground, 
while all others made the ordinary up¬ 
right growth. Grafted head high upon 
vigorous Russian stocks, it makes a most 
striking lawn tree. The branches curve 
outwards for a foot or two and then fall 
straight downward to the ground. 
Those of our readers especially inter¬ 
DR. Hoskins feels confident that Ike 
future of gooseberry culture must de¬ 
pend upon the introduction of large, 
well-flavored and productive varieties 
that will not mildew. 
Smooth gooseberries and a green color 
are preferred in the market. But size is 
the chief factor. 
Whitesmith is a good foreign variety. 
Nicotian A tomentosa is a gigantic to¬ 
bacco plant that, under the name of 
Nicotiana co’ossea, has figured as a seeds¬ 
man novelty for two years past, small 
plants of which were last year tried at 
the Rural Grounds. The London Garden¬ 
ers’ Chronicle says that it was exhibited 
at the Universal Exposition of 1889 in 
Paris, grown from seed sent from Brazil. 
Some of the specimens were 10 feet high, 
the enormous green leaves traversed by 
a central red rib. The editor of Garden¬ 
ing sowed seed in a hothouse early in 
March, transplanting the young plants 
to the garden about the end of May. 
Placed in a clump they grew to the height 
of nine feet five inches. 
Years ago The R. N.-Y. stated Ls 
belief that potato scab was the work of 
wire worms—the wiry lulus. The be¬ 
lief was based upon the fact that scabby 
potatoes were never found (in our own 
experience) unless the wire worms were 
present in numbers usually proportionate 
to the scab. We further ascertained that 
a dressing of leaves or fresh manure 
either bred the wire worms or attracted 
them from contiguous soil. This theory 
attracted a deal of attention at the time. 
Some supported it; others declared that 
scabby potatoes grew in soil free of wire- 
worms. Then came the emphatic state¬ 
ment that scab is the work of parasitic 
life and that seems to be at the present 
time the accepted cause. Still we do not 
believe it, in spite of the many seemingly 
conclusive investigations made by our 
experiment station workers. Do leaves 
favor the propagation of the scab fungus ? 
Is fresh manure a favorite breeding 
place ? If scabby seed potatoes harbor 
the germs, why is it that we have scabby 
potatoes one season and smooth potatoes 
the next when raised upon the same land? 
Or, as we queried years ago, are there 
two kinds of scab so resembling each 
MAILED FREE. 
^ SPRING CATALOGUE OF 
Orange County Nurseries 
Fifty lllustratlonH of all the 
good fruits and ornamentals. 
Our prices are right. Address 
T. J. DWYER, Cornwall, N. Y. 
of polite language. Akin to slang are 
such expressions as “ affluent agricul¬ 
turist ” for rich farmer. Don’t use un¬ 
derhanded for underhand ; speciality 
for specialty; rotatory for rotary; casu- 
ality for casualty; preventative for pre¬ 
ventive; agriculturalist for agriculturist; 
conversationalist for conversationist; 
systematize for systemize. 
i eeds ; 
, Seed Potatoes, Fruit Trees, Plants 
() and Vines of Old & New Varieties. 
A OUIt NEW CATALOGUE 
Isa common senso book for corn¬ 
el mon sense people. A plain talk 
*3 aboutt, he best seeds, etc., and bou¬ 
rn est prices. Every planter should 
y seeitatonce. Sent Free. 
* FRANK FORI) & SON, Ravenna,!). 
pijsccUattcuutf 
If you name Thh R. N.-Y. to our advertisers you 
may be pretty sure of prompt replies and right treat¬ 
ment. 
_ MOTHERS, 
o ff spring, and 
promotes an abundant secretion of nourish¬ 
ment on the part of the mother. It is an in¬ 
vigorating tonio made especially for women, 
perfectly harmless in any condition of ths 
female system, as it regulates and promotes 
all the natural functions and never conflicts 
with them. 
The “ Prescription ” builds up, strengthens, 
and cures. In all the chronic weaknesses and 
disorders that afflict women, it is guaranteed 
to benefit or cure, or the money Is refunded. 
The Sower 
Tlas no second chance. The 
first supplies his needs — if ho 
takes the wise precaution of 
planting 
k Ferry’s Seed Annual, for 1893,^ 
A contains all t he latest and best 
U information about Gardens and ■ 
■ Gardening. It is a recognized 1 
f authority. Every planter should ' 
' have it. Sent free on request. 
I>. M. FERRY * €«., Detroit, Mich, 
k NEW ERA IN 
AMERICAN GRAPES 
■ ■■ ■ a ■ ■■■ 1 %-Ivory rsador of thla paper who 
W A NT F 11 tomdt? 1 ^Strawberries 
■ V nil I La I# 32-pago Illustrated and Do- 
scriptivo Strawberry Catalogue, FBEE. «c£r-Sond now, it 
will pay you. w. F. ALLEN, J R., SALISBURY,MD. 
certainly is inaugurated by the in¬ 
troduction of the America, Bril¬ 
liant, Rommel, Hermann Jaeger, 
and some others of my Hybrid 
Grapes. 
For Descriptive List, address 
T. V. MUNSON, Denison, Tex. 
AGENTS WANTED, “SMr 
Geneva Nursery, Geneva, N. Y. Established 1848. 
are always THE BEST. Grown from pedigree seed in the 
new lands of the cold North-East, they yield Earliest and 
largest crops in every climate. 
produce earlier vegetables than any other on earth. 
MY NEW ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE MAILED FREE. Address 
GEORGE W. P. JERRARD, CARIBOU, MAINE. 
ested in the mulberry, either as an orna¬ 
mental or economic tree, should send for 
Bulletin No. 46 of the Cornell University 
Experiment Station. 
That first-rate poultry authority. P. 
H. Jacobs, says, in the Philadelphia Press, 
that there is one food which the farmer 
overlooks which he may have in the 
greatest abundance—clover. It is an 
essential, as it supplies bulk, and of it¬ 
self is rich in lime and nitrogen. If cut 
very fine, scalded, and fed with a sprink¬ 
ling of ground grain in the morning, al¬ 
lowing the hens to eat as much as they 
will, it will keep them in health and 
ward off disease, and will not cost one- 
half as much as grain. 
Mr. E. Williams —renowned as a grape 
grower—says that he harvested the past 
season, one of. the best crops of grapes he 
ever had, perhaps the best, taking all 
varieties into account, with hardly a per¬ 
ceptible amount of mildew or rot, and he 
attributes this exemption chiefly to a 
persistent use of the Bordeaux Mixture 
for the past four or five years. He bags 
his bunches so that they are rarely 
spotted by the mixture. 
It would appear from our own experi¬ 
ence and that of many of our contribu¬ 
tors that there is not as yet any foreign 
gooseberry that can be relied upon, for 
a series of years, not to mildew unless 
spraying be resorted to. 
Systematic pruning so as to develop 
an open bead, good culture without high 
manuring will help to prevent mildew. 
The Industry thrives in many places 
and fails in others. 
Houghton is the favorite American 
kind, Smith next. 
other that the one cannot be distinguished 
from the other, the one caused by the 
wire-worm the other by a parasite ? We 
have seen scabs produced by the wire- 
worms of all shapes and sizes. We have 
found the wire-worm with merely his 
head inserted in the tuber producing a 
round scab the size of a No. 6 shot. 
Again, we have found the wire-worm 
coiled up in an excavation large enough 
to hold it. Some contend that the wire- 
worm selects the part of the tuber first 
attacked by the fungus. This is a mis¬ 
take, however, if it is admitted that 
scabby potatoes are found where there 
are no wire-worms. In our own experi¬ 
ence we have never seen scab in land not 
infested with wire-worms. Let us hear 
from readers on the subject. 
Abstracts. 
-Rev. M. G. Rambo : “ Make the 
devil a New Year’s present of your pipe.” 
-Dr. Talmage: “I have not one daisy 
to put on the grave of a dead pugilist or 
mere boat-racer or baseball player.” 
-Webster’s dictionary now contains 
120,000 words ; the Century dictionary 
200,000, one half of which are scientific. 
A dictionary is a home for the living, 
hospital for the dying, and a cemetery 
for the dead words of the language. Few 
persons use more than 3,000 words. 
Shakespeare uses 21,000, Pope 11,000. An 
ordinary farmer uses about 600 words. 
“ Great minds know how much glory 
there is in being simple.” 
“Either and neither, pronounced ither 
and nither, are wrong. Slang comes 
from the verb to sling. Slang is the be¬ 
setting sin of America. Persons addicted 
to this habit in time lose their knowledge 
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Simple In Construction. 
It consists of a series of knives 
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The potato is placed in a pair of 
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and more thoroughly prepares the 
cuttings for planting. 
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Catalogue of potato and 
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Thoroughly practical, j 
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ASPINWALL MANUFACTURING CO., Jackson, Mich., U.S.A. 
