189a 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
639 
The Melrose musk-melon was intro¬ 
duced by W. Atlee Burpee the past sea¬ 
son. He regards it as having several 
qualities superior to any other variety in 
that the vine is a vigorous grower, re¬ 
maining green logger than any other ; 
the melons are produced very close to 
the hill ; the form is remarkably perfect 
and true; the flesh is very thick and 
solid, clear light green in color, shading 
to a rich salmon at the seed cavity ; the 
vines will produce more good salable 
melons which will stand more handling 
and rough usage than any other. 
To many of these claims The Rural 
subscribes. In shape it is longer from 
the stem to the blossom end than across. 
The skin is a dark, dull green densely 
and uniformly netted. Iu shape, „size, 
color and netting the melons are closely 
alike. The flesh is as described by Mr. 
Burpee. It is the hardest, heaviest melon 
proportionately to its size we have ever 
seen. The one drawback at the Rural 
Grounds is that it is rather late in ripen¬ 
ing. Hackensack melons are now (Sep¬ 
tember 5) nearly all marketed, while the 
main crop of Melrose is scarcely ripe. 
The average length of our melons is seven 
to eight inches. 
A. W. Smith, of Americus, Ga., sent us 
seeds of a Ruby gold water-melon which 
differs from the older Ruby gold in hav¬ 
ing black seeds. The melons are all 
large, but differ greatly in shape, size, 
color and markings. Some are nearly 
round, others long like the Boss or Phin- 
ney. The skin is sometimes dark-green 
with stripes of a shade ligher; others 
are marked like the Cuban Queen. The 
vines are very hardy and vigorous. The 
flesh differs as much as do the shape and 
size. One melon will be beautifully mot¬ 
tled with pink and a rich yellow; another 
will be a light lemon color with feeble 
pink here and there. The quality of those 
in which the two colors are fairly well 
divided is often excellent, being melting, 
tender and crystalline. Selections from 
the best of these should give, sooner or 
later, a strain of exquisite quality, far 
superior to any of the kinds now popular 
as good shippers, like Cuban Queen or 
Kolb’s Gem. 
It will soon be time to dig our Blush 
potatoes, which were planted in alternate 
furrows and trenches to ascertain the 
different yields of the two methods. We 
have watched the vines during the entire 
season, and we may hazard the guess 
that there will be no great difference in 
yield. If so, we shall attribute it to the 
early season, which was rainy, cold and 
late. It will be remembered that the 
vines of the furrows were several inches 
high before the shoots of the trenches 
put in an appearance. 
A correspondent writes Meehan’s 
Monthly that English gooseberries, the 
leaves and berries of which mildew under 
ordinary garden cultivation, thrive in 
large cities which have small gardens 
attached, where the soil is shaded by high 
walls or buildings. It may be said, the 
Monthly concludes, that the English 
gooseberry is a fair success as a city gar¬ 
den fruit. 
The writer of this note remembers 
distinctly several English gooseberry 
bushes that many years ago grew in his 
father’s city “garden” which was not 
over 22x50 feet in area. The line fences 
were fully eight feet high. Neither the 
leaves nor the berries, whic h were of the 
largest size, ever mildewed. 
We know of several friends who raise 
the finer kinds of hybrid grapes—those 
of Ricketts for example—by protecting 
them in the same way. 
Little, if anything, has been said 
about the Nectar grape (Cay wood) as an 
ear,y variety. It ripens at the Rural 
Grounds with Moore’s Early or very 
nearly so. Every year we value the 
“ Black Delaware,” as it was called by 
Mr. Caywood before introduction, more 
and more. The berries are larger than 
those of the Delaware, black with a 
heavy blue bloom*. They cling to the 
stem well. They are firm; the skin is 
thin and firm and they are not so much 
injured by bees as are other kinds now 
ripening. In quality it is the best grape 
in The Rural’s collection, ripening 
before September 5, and there is no foxi¬ 
ness about it. The vine is hardy and a 
strong grower, free from mildew, as are 
the berries from rot. 
In our issue of September 2, page 591, 
we alluded to a remarkable Aristolochia, 
as described and illustrated in the Amer¬ 
ican Florist which credited E. D. Sturte- 
vant of water-lily fame as being the 
originator. It appears that it was illus¬ 
trated and described in Garden and 
Forest as far back as December 1890, 
under the name of Aristolochia grand i 
flora, though its correct name was after¬ 
wards ascertained to be A. gigas. The 
variety “Sturtevantii” must be a seedling 
of this. 
In describing this remarkable flower 
in Garden and Forest of the date above 
mentioned, Mr. Sturtevant says that in 
December of 1889 he placed a young 
plant in a good-sized box of rich soil in 
a warm greenhouse. By June it had 
made a growth of 20 feet and begun 
flowering. The flower buds, he con¬ 
tinues, hanging pendent in different 
stages of growth, form certainly one of 
the most remarkable sights in the vege¬ 
table world, and cannot fail to cause ex¬ 
clamations of wonder from persons see¬ 
ing them for the first time. The fully 
developed bud measures 15 to 18 inches 
in length and is as large as a good-sized 
duck, exclusive of the long, tail-like 
appendage. One flower fully expanded 
measured 12x18 inches with 42 inches of 
tail. The open flower unfortunately 
emits a very disagreeable odor. 
Garden and Forest states that this 
Aristolochia was first described by 
Swartz in a book published more than 
a century ago. Seeds were sent from 
Jamaica to Kew in about 1848 and in this 
way it was introduced into cultivation. 
We told our friends a while ago that 
an attempt had been made at the Rural 
Grounds to cross the common tomato with 
the Alkekengi or Strawberry tomato and 
the Alkekengi with the common tomato. 
The latter attempt failed. Two of the 
Alkekengi crossed fruits were picked 
September 1. Both had the usual red 
bladder covering. The berry (red) of 
one was one quarter of an inch in diame¬ 
ter ; that of the other a half inch in 
diameter. Both berries together con¬ 
tained 90 seeds which have the appear¬ 
ance of being sound and good. This is 
the first cross between Physalis alke¬ 
kengi and Lycopersicum esculentum on 
record, so far as we are informed. 
Have any of our readers made flour of 
the R. N.-Y. crossbred wheats or hybrid 
rye-wheats ? If so, we would thank them 
to write us as to the quality of the flour. 
Will not our friends who have tried 
the novelties as announced in the leading 
catalogues of 1893 ani noticed in these 
columns early in the season, tell us what 
they think of them ? It is an excellent 
way of doing good. It is an excellent 
way of making The R. N.-Y. more valu¬ 
able to its readers^ It is an excellent 
way of helping one another. 
It seems rather a dangerous business 
to count chickens even after they are 
hatched. We were just about confident 
of a large grape crop. Neither rot nor 
mildew appeared. The early varieties 
began to ripen nicely, the later sorts to 
reach their full size and to begin to 
color. Now come enemies that never 
before have been seriously destructive at 
the Rural G'ounds, yellow jackets and 
wasps. Of the grapes now ripe—Early 
Victor, Moore’s Early, Nectar, Early 
Market, Cottage, for example—a full 
half of the berries have been injured or 
destroyed, only the skin of many remain¬ 
ing. The old question whether the bees 
puncture the grapes or attack them only 
after the first injury has been perpetrated 
by some other insect or bird, need not 
be discussed. The simple fact is that in 
the Rural vineyard there isn’t a single 
perfect, or even half-perfect bunch of 
grapes, and this, in so far as we may 
judge, should be in the main charged to 
the bees. We rejoiced early in the sea¬ 
son that the rose bugs were less destruc¬ 
tive than usual only to regret the more 
now that another enemy is destroying 
the crop when nearly ready to harvest. 
Our readers will remember that we 
sowed Crimson clover on a garden plot 
May 19. The seed sprouted May 24—in 
four days, let us say. On July 8, it was 
10 inches high. It began to bloom July 
16. Most of the flower heads were matur¬ 
ing seed August 12. About this time half 
of the plot was cut, so as to ascertain 
whether the plants would make a second 
growth after seeding. Parts were killed 
by drought. The second growth of the 
rest of the cut plot is now about eight 
inches high. The part not cut is still 
blooming and about 18 inches high. 
August 28, we sowed another plot next 
to the first. The seed was sown in the 
morning upon a rather moist soil and 
raked in. Rain followed in the evening. 
Oa the evening of August 31, it was 
found that all the seed had sprouted. 
Let us see how these three plots will 
winter. 
Word for Word. 
- Station Record : “ There is no rea¬ 
son why intelligent home-mixing of fer¬ 
tilizers should not be generally practiced 
to the marked advantage of the farming 
community.” 
-Century : “Many persons think they 
need sympathy, when all they want is 
flattery.” 
“ Under the shadow of gratitude lurks 
resentment—the resentment of incurring 
obligation undischarged.” 
“ He who is without enemies deserves 
no friends, and rarely has any.” 
-Harper’s Weekly : “ No Western 
farmer with a mortgage to pay can sigh 
more earnestly for ‘ more money’ than 
do the Wall Street bankers. At this very 
moment they are straining every nerve 
to gather money for the South and West 
to ‘ move the crops.’ If they cannot find 
that money, no mistake would be greater 
than to lay the fault to ‘ Wall Street.’ 
It is not the large financiers, but the 
smaller class of business men that are 
hoarding and withholding their money, 
scared as they are by the financial break¬ 
down owing to the silver trouble. The 
‘ Wall Street ’ financiers would most 
gladly furnish the funds if they had 
them ; for the stopping of the wheels of 
business in the West and South means to 
them disaster, if not absolute shipwreck, 
for it involves not only the cessation of 
a large part of their profits, but a possib y 
ruinous shrinkage of the values they 
hold.” 
If you name The Rural New-Yorker to our 
advertisers, you may be pretty sure of prompt 
replies and right treatment 
ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE , 
Dr. Tierce’s Golden Medical 
Discovery purifies the blood. 
By this means, it reaches, 
builds up, and invigorates 
every part of the system. 
For every blood-taint and 
disorder, and for every dis¬ 
ease that comes from an inac¬ 
tive liver or impure blood, it 
is the only remedy so sure 
and effective that it can be 
guaranteed. 
If it fails to benefit or cure, 
you have your money back. 
These diseases are many. 
They’re different in form, but 
they’re like in treatment. 
Rouse up the torpid liver into 
healthful action, thoroughly 
purify and enrich the blood, 
and there’s a positive cure. 
The “Discovery” does this, 
as nothing else can. Dyspepsia, Indigestion, 
Biliousness; all Bronchial, Throat, and Lung 
Affections ; every form of Scrofula, even 
.Consumption (or Lung-scrofula) in its ear¬ 
lier stages; and the most stubborn Skin 
and Scalp Diseases, are completely cured 
by it. 
SOME VALUABLE BOOKS WORTH 
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FRUITS, ETC. 
A B 0 Of Strawberry Culture. Terry. 1.40 
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Apple Culture, Field Notes on. Bailey. (90 p.; 111.) .75 
Canning and Preserving. Young.20 
Cranberry Culture. White. (Ill.). 1.25 
Cape Cod Cranberries. Webb. Paper.40 
Florida Fruits. Haraourt. (350 p.). 1.26 
Fruit Culture. Strong. 1.00 
Fruit and Fruit Trees of America. Downing. 
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Grape-Growers' Guide, Chorlton. (211 p ).75 
Grape Culture. Tryon.26 
Grape Culturlst. Fuller. (283 p.; 111.). 1.50 
Hand-Book of Treo Planting. Eggleston. (126 p.) .75 
Horticulturist’s Rule Book. Bailey (paper 60c.) 1.00 
How to Grow Strawberries. Knapp.25 
Miniature Fruit Garden. Rivers.1,00 
Nursery Book, The. Bailey, (paper 50c.). 1.00 
Orange Culture. Moore. .1.00 
Peach Culture. Fulton. (200 p.). 1.60 
Peach, Pear, Qulnco and Nut Trees, Culture of. 
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Pear Culture for Protit. Quinn. (130 p.).1.00 
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Small Fruits, Success with. Roe. 1.60 
Small Fruit Culturlst. Fuller. 1.60 
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Cabbages. Gregory. (25 p.).30 
Carrots and Mangold-Wurtzels.30 
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Melons, How to Grow for Market. Burpee.80 
Mushroom Culture. Falconer.1.60 
My Handkerchief Garden. Barnard.26 
Onion Culture, Tho Now. Greiner.50 
Onlon-Ralslng. Gregory.30 
Onions—How to Grow for Market. Burpee.25 
Potato Culture, The New. Carman, (paper 40c.) .75 
Peanut Plant. Jones. 60 
Squashes. Gregory...30 
Sweet Potato Culture. Fltz.60 
LIVE STOCK. POULTRY, ETC. 
A B C Bee Culture. Root.1.25 
Business Hen, The. Colllngwood. (paper 40o.) .74 
Capons and Caponlzlng. Dow. (paper 25c.).50 
Dairyman’s Manual. Stowart. 2.00 
Dog, The. Youatt. 2.50 
Silo and Silage, The. A. J. Cook.25 
Ensilage and Silos. Coloord. 1.00 
Ensllago and the Silo. Colllngwood.25 
Feeding Animals. Stewart. 2.00 
Manual of the Apiary. Cook.1.50 
Milch Cows and Dairy Farming. Flint. 2 00 
Milk—Making and Marketing. Fowler.20 
Harris on the l’ig. Joseph Harris. 1.50 
Shepherd’s Manual. Stewart. 1.60 
Swine Husbandry. Coburn. 1.76 
Veterinary Adviser. James Law.8.00 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
Accidents and Emergencies Groff.20 
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Agriculture. Storer. (two vols). 6.00 
Annals of Horticulture. Bailey. 1.00 
ilzalea Culture. Halllday. Price 82, special price 1.00 
Barn Plans and Outbuildings.1.60 
Begonias, Tuberous. Many Authors.20 
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Bulbs. Rand. (350 p.; 111.).2.60 
Camellia Culture. Halllday. 1.00 
Cactaceous Plants. Castle.60 
Chemicals and Clover. Colllngwood. ,30 
Chrysanthemum Culture. Morton, (paper 60c.) 1.00 
Chrysanthemums. Burbrldge. 1.50 
Cooking Cauliflower. Crozler.30 
Cross Breeding and Hybridizing. Bailey.40 
Culture of Farm Crops. Stewart. l.M 
Draining for Profit and Health. Waring.1.68 
Every Woman Her Own Flower Gardener.1.00 
Fertilllizers. Gregory. .40 
Gardening for Pleasure. Henderson. 2.00 
Grasses and Forage Plants. Flint.2.00 
Grasses. How to Know Them by Their Leaves.. l.M 
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How to Plant a Place. Long.20 
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How Crops Grow. Johnson. (375 p.).2.00 
How Plants Grow. Gray. (216 p.; 111.). 1.00 
How the Farm Pays. Henderson & Crozler.2.60 
Improving the Farm. Davis.1.00 
Insects and Insecticides. Weed. 1.26 
Insects Injurious to Plants. Saunders. (425p.; til.) 2.00 
Insects, Injurious. Treat. (270 p.; 111.).2.00 
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Landscape Gardening. Parsons.8.50 
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Modification of Plants by Climate, The. Crozier. .26 
Nature's Serial Story. Roe.2.50 
Nitrate of Soda for Manure. Harris.18 
Orchid Culture. Rand. 3.00 
Ornamental Gardening. Long.2.00 
Popular Errors About Plants. Crozier. 1.00 
Practical Farm Chemistry. Greiner.1.00 
Practical Floriculture. Henderson.1.60 
Practical Forestry. Fuller. (280 p.; ill.).1.50 
Preparing Vegetables for the Table.56 
Rid Bull lugs and Farms of Rats, How to. 
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Rural Essays. Downing. 8.00 
Spraying Crops. Weed, (paper 60c.).76 
Talks Afield. Bailey. 1.00 
Timbers and How to Grow Them. Hartlg.76 
The Rose: Cultivation, Varieties. Ellwanger. 1.25 
The Trees of Northwestern America. Newhall.. 2.50 
Truck Farming at the South. Oemler. 1.50 
Window Gardening. Many Authors.10 
THE RURAL PUBLISHING CO., 
Cor. Chambers and Pearl Sts., New York. 
