THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
November ll 
758 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS 
POTATO SEKD FROM THE MOST PRO¬ 
LIFIC HILLS 
Two seasons ago we selected seed pota¬ 
toes (Rural B nth) from the hills which 
gave the largest yields. We further 
selected the best shaped potatoes and 
these were planted in a trench 33 feet 
long May 15 last The yield was much 
greater than that of the average of the 
other trenches as will he seen. We can¬ 
not believe that this increase is due 
wholly to selected seed—the difference 
is too great. Just what was the cause 
we cannot even guess, as all the other 
conditions were the same in so far as 
it was in the writer’s power to make 
them 60 . 
As in the experiments reported in The 
R N.-Y. of October 14, the trenches re¬ 
ceived at the rate of 1,320 pounds of 
potato fertilizer (Mapes) to the acre. 
The yield of the trench of selected seed 
was at the rate of 550 bushels to the acre, 
of which 495 were of fine marketable 
size and 55 bushels small. 
The average yield of the trenches 
planted with ordinary seed without any 
selection was at the rate of 410 bushels 
to the acre, of which 300 were market¬ 
able and 50 bushels (fractions omitted) 
unmarketable. 
The difference in favor of selected seed 
was accordingly at the rate of 140 bushels 
to the acre. The tubers, too, were plain¬ 
ly of better form than those from un¬ 
selected seed. 
From the selected seed crop, the best 
shaped tubers were again selected for 
another ‘rial next year. 
The first experiments of this kind that 
The R. N.-Y. has any knowledge of were 
made by E. S. Goff, as we remember, 
under Director Sturtevant of the New 
York Experiment Station, perhaps 10 
years ago. Ever since the report appear¬ 
ed which was in favor of selecting the 
best tubers from the most prolific hills, 
we have been intending to start the in¬ 
teresting experiment for ourselves ; but 
every springtime has found us with such 
a load of things to be done at once, and 
with so little competent help that we 
have teen obliged to cut down the work 
we desired to do to what was practicable 
to undertake. 
Since the experiments of the New York 
Station, other stations have studied the 
same problem, always, we believe, with 
the same result, viz ., that it pays to select 
seed from the most productive hills. 
But whether the shape is by such means 
improved, there is little or no real evi¬ 
dence one way or the other. 
THE FALLING LEAF. 
AN AUTUMNAL REVERT. 
These days of autumn are among the 
pleasantest of the year despite that 
undertone of sadness, which whispers 
out a kind of wailing cry, when the 
sportive wind frolics with the falling 
leaves. There is the richness of gold in 
the frost-stricken forest, ant in the sun- 
painted sky at evening time. Wonder¬ 
ful, too, the darker tints which some 
luxury-loving king might wish to weave 
into a tapestry for the adorning of his 
throne room. Autumn above all is the 
season of completion, the joyous fulfill¬ 
ment of prophecies hitherto dimly com¬ 
prehended. The bending grain and the 
ripening fruit give us a clue to mysteries 
otherwise unexplained. We see now 
why the seed germinated, why the field 
put on a robe*of greenness and why 
the apple blossoms perfumed the air in 
springtime. 
Beauty, we perceive, is not the end of 
Nature's working, but utility. Beauty 
is evanescent. Witness the rainbow, the 
gorgeous spreading of the sun’s nightly 
couch, or the “roseate-tinted fingers of 
the dawn.” Beautiful ? Yes, for a 
moment! And even now the gay colors 
of the woodland are giving place before 
our eyes to dull brown, and winter bare¬ 
ness. Such is beauty—a mere outer gar- 
rr ent wherewith things peimanent clothe 
tbcrufelvcs, as fcr a least or carnival ! 
Utility, on the contrary, las a kind of 
kinship to the immortal. It multiplies 
link on link in an endless chain of help¬ 
ful ministrations ! The poet warbles the 
praises of spring on the strength of grain 
gathered in last year's harvest. The 
same, or something else like it, feeds the 
philosopher, and his crude theories in¬ 
spire another man to something better, 
and so on in an endless cycle. It all goes 
back in the end to the something which 
autumn brings as a product of the com¬ 
pleted year. It all has a brotherhood 
with the falling leaf, which wahes our 
pity at the seeming sadness of its fate. 
Misplaced pity this, I fancy. The leaf 
has done its work nobly. It has spread 
its surface without reserve to the sum¬ 
mer sun. It has opened its myriad pores 
to drink in the life-sustaining proper 
t'es of the atmosphere. [?— Eds ] It has 
mide its glossy greenness a setting for 
the crystal dew drop. It has given its 
quota of shelter to the weary traveler 
and to the nesting birds. It has taken 
on its peculiar tint of vivid crimson, or 
golden yellow, or sober brown at the 
bidding of the frost spirit, and then, 
whirled away by the wind, has fallen 
with other of its kindred into some 
shaded hollow, giving the richness of 
its decay to nourish a new generation of 
leaves which shall come after. 
Nay, let us not brand these glorious 
days “ the saddest of the year’’ because 
of the filling leaf. Happy for each of 
us if autumn time brings, as to that, the 
memory of a life well spent, a mission 
accomplished. Nothing then for tears in 
the oft-repeated story of “ dust to dust.” 
CHAS T. WHITE. 
THE PLANT’S VACATION. 
Protection ” is important and neces¬ 
sary to the prosperity of a great many 
industries and enterprises, and in no 
business is it of more benefit to the de¬ 
pendent than in small fruit growing. In 
this business, each grower may be lord 
and master of his own “ protective 
policy.” 
“ Protection Day ” is the strawberry 
plant's “Commencement Day”—the time 
for the closing exeicises of the present 
year, and the necessary and final ar¬ 
rangements for next season's course. A 
day on which we recognize their efforts 
and perseverance to become an ideal row 
of strong, promising youDg plants. A 
day on which we reward them with a 
comfoi table covering to protect them 
through their long vacation which they 
must have to prepare them for their next 
spring’s work of presenting to us big 
scarlet souveLirs of the care and atten¬ 
tion we have given them this season. 
It is human nature to welcome a short 
vacation, a temporary “ let up ” in which 
we may, if we are of that disposition, 
refresh ourselves, absorb new ideas, im¬ 
prove our minds, and prepare ourselves 
generally to lighten our labor and in¬ 
crease our profits the succeeding year. 
But we are all aware of the fact that 
there are men who call themselves berry 
growers who will spend all their spare 
time loafing, or toasting themselves by 
a good fire, while their sickly, unculti¬ 
vated, unmulched strawberry plants are 
doing their best to keep their footing, 
with Jack Frost yanking and twisting 
them slowly but surely out of the ground. 
With roots exposed, a good portion of 
such plants die outright, while those re¬ 
maining (on account of being covered by 
weeds) bear a few small berries which 
will sell for “ jist what they will bring.” 
Such men are not berry growers, but 
berry “ razers,’ and they are so numer¬ 
ous in some parts of the country that 
they almost upset the demand for fine, 
large berries in some of the smaller mar¬ 
kets. They cultivate their strawberries 
with a weed scythe, and it goes without 
saying that th-.-y read no papers, or, if 
they do, they declare that “ sich high¬ 
falutin’ notions looks very well on paper, 
but they won’t make a body enny money.” 
Now in comparison to the above shift¬ 
less method, let us notice the wide-awake 
grower’s strawberry patch, and see in 
what condition winter finds it. In the 
first place, it has had frequent and thor 
ough cultivation during the entire grow¬ 
ing season, so that there is scarcely a 
weed to be found. Secondly, the rows 
were regularly trimmed of runners after 
a sufficient number of plan’s had rooted, 
leaving the rows of a uniform width and 
as straight as the line hy which they 
were set last spring. This is the ideal 
shape for a vacation ; with no evil com¬ 
panions (weeds) to dispute possession or 
disturb their quiet rest as they sleep 
under their liberal covering of bright 
straw, leaves or whatever mulch has 
been provided. 
After the other small fruits have en¬ 
joyed a similar “protection day” and are 
all safely “put to rest” the horticulturist 
has a perfect right to the comforts of his 
home and fireside on the bitter cold days 
of winter. With such papers as The R. 
N.-Y., instructive books, a good work¬ 
shop, tools, etc , he may enjoy a partial 
vacation that will be profitable andrein- 
vigorating. As spring finds the plants 
vigorous, healthy and ready for business 
after their long sleep, so will it find him 
better qualified to plant, cultivate, har¬ 
vest and market than he was last year. 
F II BALLOU. 
LEARK’PIANO 
RICHARDSON’S NEW 
METHOD. 
Over 500,000 copies sold. 
Price, Amejican flcperlng, S3. 
Foreign lingering, &3. 
Mason & Hoad ley’s System 
for Beginners. 
With either American or For¬ 
eign angering. Price, either 
fingering, i$3. 
N. E. Conservatory Method 
In three parts; price, each, 
SI 50; complete, i#3. Two 
editions, American and Foreign 
fingering. 
Peter’s Eclectic Piano 
Instructor. 
Over 300 000 copies sold; *3. 
BELIAK’S ANALYTICAL METHOD. 
Price, in paper, 75 cents; in boards, .1*1 
Winner’s Eureka Method. 
The latest book Issued, wtih illustrations of hand 
positions. Paper, 75 cents. 
Any booh mailed postpaid on receipt 0 / price. 
Oliver Ditson Company, 
453-463 Washington St., Boston. 
C. H. Ditson & Co., N. Y. J. E. Ditson & Co., Phila. 
1 115 Revolvers, Seines, Nets,Tents, Ammunition, 
I ■* E I nS \ Tools. Kfi Send stamp for Catalogue to 
U W law Great Western Gun Works, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
We have five achro¬ 
matic ones, with s : x 
superior lenses, in neat 
morocco cases. These 
have always sold for 
$3 each ; we can offer 
them for $2. If you 
want a good glass send 
now. We can’t supply any more after these are gone. First 
orders will be filled, and the money returned for all orders 
received afterwards. Rural New-Yorker, Cor. Chambers and Pearl Sts., N. Y. 
Do You Want 
Opera Glasses ? 
THE TUBULAR CARRIAGE LAMP. 
No further need for the inconvenient and inefficient lantern when driving on 
dark nights. The Dietz tubular lamp is convenient, “will not blow out,” 
gives a clear, white 
light; its power¬ 
ful reflector, like a 
locomotive headlight, 
throws all the light 
straight ahead 200 to 
II 400 feet. It burns kero- 
§1 sene. It has a strong 
1 spring attachment for 
attaching to the dasher 
if at any point, in an in- 
I stant. Price $2.50, by 
express, not prepaid ; 
| with a year’s subscrip- 
] | tion, $3 25 ; with a renewal and a new subscription, $4. 
Given free for a club of nine new subscriptions. 
We will send a book fully describing the lamp on application. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER POCKET KNIFE. 
zui steel, 
a renewal 
So many knives are called for by subscribers 
that we have made a careful search 
and believe that we have found as 
good a farmer’s knife as there 
is made. It is so good 
that we have named it 
the “ Rural New- 
Yorker” knife. 
It is brass- 
lined, with 
German 
silver hol¬ 
ster, han¬ 
dle buck- 
horn, blade 
of fine ra- 
Price, by mail, prepaid, $1. Witn a year’s subscription only $1.85. With 
and a new subscription, $2.60. Free, for a club of four new subscriptions. 
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$ 1 . 00 . 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, Cor. Chambers and Pearl Sts., New York. 
