1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
867 
Ruralisms— Continued. 
give positive advice ; to express sanguine 
opinions, because they well know that 
many other conditions must be supplied 
ere others may meet with their success. 
Ruralisms advises to go slowly and 
carefully if you would ultimately go 
rapi Jly and wisely. Do not invest largely 
in any crop whatever until by careful in¬ 
vestigation or trial in a small way you 
have ascertained that the new venture 
will almost surely be a profitable one. 
Touch novelties lightly, has been the 
teachings of this journal for many years, 
but touch them. Try them in ever so 
small a way, but try them. This does 
not cost much, if one select the novelties 
with that kind of cool judgment that is 
proof against the extravagant language 
of unprincipled catalogue makers. 
Inexperienced or unprogressive gar¬ 
deners, farmers and frait growers are 
often imposed upon by the manufactured 
embellishments with which the cata¬ 
logues of some seedsmen are loaded. 
Without further proof they cannot— 
ought not—to believe a word of such 
praise or be misled by the absurdly ex¬ 
aggerated pictures. 
There are rogues in the seed, nursery 
and florist business as well as in other 
vocations. Unfortunately they cannot 
be spotted and condemned as can he who 
is caught in the act of manufacturing 
counterfeit bills or coins. Unfortunately 
the crop must be grown ere its purity 
can be determined and even then positive 
proof against the imposition is often hard 
to secure. Rascality in the seed and 
plant business is therefore comparatively 
safe. 
But there is one comfort. The career 
of those who delude their patrons by 
alluring, but false descriptions, is short. 
Their trade is sought among, and for the 
most part confined, either to easily-duped 
beginners or to those who, knowing it 
all themselves, have no need of the trust¬ 
worthy literature of the times. Exper¬ 
ience and reading soon enable those who 
have occasion to examine catalogues to 
separate the meretricious from the meri¬ 
torious. The loud-mouthed, surperlative 
catalogue—both as to text and engraving 
is thrown aside; the conservative cata¬ 
logue accepted. 
And so it happens that the mouth-chin- 
and-parrot firm soon falls into disgrace, 
and the wide-awake, honest firm is, in 
the end, the gainer thereby. 
Here is a bad report for the famous 
potato, R. N.-Y. No. 2. It comes from 
Mr. W. H. Roberts of Chateauguay, N. Y. 
We are always glad to give both sides to 
every subj.ct talked of in these columns 
even though, as in this case, we desire 
that there were no occasion for the ex¬ 
istence of the other side : 
The Rural New-Yorker No. 2 potato never did well 
here. I do not know whether the season was too 
long or what, but my experience has been, and I 
have raised It every year since you sent It out, that 
It Is a big ylelder, a good keeper, being very free from 
rot, even this year when nearly everything in the 
shape of a potato rotted, but It is not .ht.to eat. My 
neighbors, many of whom have obtained seed and 
tried It, report the same. A more soggy, watery 
potato was never raised on our farm. 
We would ask our friend if this infe¬ 
riority may not be due to poor soil or to 
imperfectly drained land ? The No. 2 
grows to a very large size and it grows 
rapidly to a large size, so much so, in¬ 
deed, that it is often dug in July and 
sold as a first early. Now if the soil is 
not well supplied with nitrogen as well 
as potash, phosphate, etc., the tuber 
must of necessity be deficient in starch 
content, which means a wet, soggy 
potato. 
Our respected friend, Ph. A. Lippens, 
of Ghent, Belgium, writes that the No. 2 
potato which seeded so freely with him 
during the season of 1892, failed to ripen 
seeds last season. The balls formed, 
grew to a certain size and dropped in 
such an immature state that the seeds 
were worthless. 
J. J. Willis, J. B. Lawes’s superin¬ 
tendent at Rothamsted, states in the 
Agriculturist, that the United States pro¬ 
duce the lowest average yield of potatoes 
per acre (1.87 tons only) of any of the 13 
countries where potatoes are extensively 
grown. Great Britain gives the largest 
yield. We are glad to see that Mr. Willis 
approves of what The R. N.-Y, has often 
urged upon potato growers, viz., that a 
liberal use of high-grade ‘ ‘complete” arti¬ 
ficial manures, which contain all sorts of 
food which the tubers or vines need, 
serves the best purpose. 
If there ever was a good reason for the 
original purchase of new and improved 
varieties of seeds for gratuitous distri¬ 
bution by our Government, there is 
now certainly no valid reason for the 
purchase and distribution of ordinary 
seeds, bulbs, and cuttings, which are 
common in all the States and Territories, 
and easily obtainable at low prices by 
the people generally. So says Secretary 
Morton, and so say we all. This is par¬ 
ticularly true since the establishment of 
a a experiment station in each State 
and Territory. These stations, by their 
very character and name, are the proper 
agencies to experiment with and test 
new varieties. 
The dimensions of this distribution of 
seeds by legislation, and legislators are 
made visible in the light of the fact that 
for this calendar year enough cabbage 
seed has thus been sent out to plant 19,- 
200 acres, a sufficient quantity of beans 
to plant 4,000 acres, of beets enough to 
plant 2,500 acres, of sweet corn to plant 
7,800 acres, together with enough cucum¬ 
ber seed for 2,025 acres, enough musk and 
watermelon seed to plant 2,075 acres ; 
and that, altogether, this department 
has sent out, in more than nine millions 
of packages, a sufficient amount of flower 
and vegetable seeds to plant 89,596 acres 
of land. That this popular dissemina¬ 
tion is regarded altogether as a gratuity, 
and not of any appreciable advantage, is 
proved by the failure of any general re¬ 
cognition of benefits by those who have 
received the packages. In view of the 
above facts, this enormous expenditure, 
without compensatory benefits, ought to 
be abolished. 
For the fiscal year ending J une 30, 1893, 
there were paid out by the Department 
of Agriculture, directly for seeds, $66,- 
548.61; and the remainder of the appro¬ 
priation of $130,000 was absorbed in the 
cost of putting them into packages, and 
delivering them for distribution. And 
to the above operating expenses of the 
Seed Division there must be added its 
fixed charges in the form of statutory 
salaries, amounting to $13,520, and this 
swells the annual expenditure to $143,- 
520. 
Ix a former number of The R. N.-Y. you said that 
a red, self-blanching celery was what would be 
wanted next, and that It would come. It Is here, 
whether to stay or not remains to be seen. We found 
one plant In our crop this season of true White Plume 
character, but having the outer stems a pale red for 
two or three Inches from the root. It was grown by 
the new method, and would probably be deeper col¬ 
ored If It had been more exposed to the light. Did 
any one else Und anything like It ? 
H.M. ENGLE & SON. 
Yes, others are raising the same vari¬ 
ety, and it will be offered next year for 
sale. We are not permitted to mention 
the firm’s name. We are told that, while 
it has all the good qualities of the White 
Plume, it is of decidedly better quality. 
The best potatoes ever introduced 
to be given to subscribers—see editorial 
page. _ 
Abstracts. 
-Century : “ The tests.—Of a broom: 
not its experience, but its lack of it.” 
“Of innocence : not its ignorance, but 
its choice of what it knows.” 
“ Of useful knowledge : not how deep 
it goes, but how readily it comes to the 
surface.” 
“Of a philanthropist: not how well, 
he has loved, but how many.” 
“ Of a good housekeeper: not that you 
notice her housekeeping, but that you do 
not notice it.” 
“Of a good woman: not that she is 
good, but that she makes you good.” 
“Of a teacher : not how many ques¬ 
tions he asks that his pupils answer 
readily, but how many he inspires them 
to ask him which he finds it hard to 
answer.” 
-Emerson : “ Every fact is related on 
one side to sensation, and, on the other, 
to morals. The game of thought is, on 
the appearance of one of these two sides, 
to find the other ; given the upper, to 
find the lower side. Nothing so thin but 
has these two faces; and, when the ob¬ 
server has seen the obverse, he turns it 
to see the reverse.” 
-Vermont Watchman : “ Is that a 
Brahma rooster, Uncle James?” asked 
Olivia, just arrived from the city. “ No, 
he’s a Leghorn.” “ Why, how stupid of 
me ! Of course ! I see the horns on his 
ankles.” 
-Harper’s Weekly : “Consider how 
good a big five-cent sandwich tastes when 
one is really hungry, and what a poor 
thing a five-dollar dinner is when he 
is not, and how little difference there is 
between good wine and pure water when 
it has once passed one’s gullet.” 
-Emerson : “ Each Satan appears to 
himself a man ; to those as bad as he, a 
comely man ; to the purified, a heap of 
carrion.” 
-Frank R. Stockton: “Most people 
can be uppish in good clothes, but to 
look like a scarecrow and be uppish 
can’t be expected except from the truly 
lofty.” 
-Irving: “There is a beautiful 
hardiness about real dignity that never 
dreads contact and communion with 
others, however humble. It is only 
spurious pride that is morbid and sensi¬ 
tive and shrinks from every touch.” 
“The unpretending great and the arro¬ 
gant little. I have no respect for titled 
rank, unless it be accompanied with true 
nobility of soul; but I have remarked in 
all countries where artificial distinctions 
exist, that the very highest classes are 
always the most courteous and unassum¬ 
ing. Those who are well assured of their 
own standing are less apt to trespass on 
that of others; whereas nothing is so 
offensive as the aspirings of vulgarity 
which thinks to elevate itself by humili¬ 
ating its neighbor.” 
-Lowell: “Let no man write aline 
that he would not have his daughter 
read.” 
In writing to advertisers, please always mention 
The Ritual New-Yobkek. 
CROPPERS 
ATTENTION! 
ASK FOR THIS AXE. 
USE NO OTHER. 
Wood-choppers, try the 
Kelly Perfect Hxe 
It will cut more wood 
than any other axe. 
The scoop in the blade 
keeps it from sticking in 
the wood, and makes it 
cut deeper than any other 
axe. Ask your dealer for 
it. Send us his name if 
lie don’t keep it. It is the 
Anti-Trust Axe. 
Kelly Axe Mfg.Co. 
LOUISVILLE, KY. 
CNPIMITC 8AW 
CNulllCOl MILLS, 
Threshing Machines. 
Best Machinery at Lowest Prices. 
A. B. FARQUHAR CO., York, Fa. 
BtaliPaT^WKJi 
l Double Acti tv- ^ 
i Excelsior o^ray- 
t itig Outiits prevent xfe/! 
| Leaf Blight & Wormy nP 
JJ Fruit. Insures ft heavyJB 
1 yield of all Fruit andP? 
Vegetable crops. Thous¬ 
ands in use. Send 8 cts, for 
Jl o&talogue and full treatise 
jHJBKg on spraying. Oirrulart/rte. 
PUpSEP WM.STAHL,Quincy,III. 
YOU CAN SELL 
SAP PAIL COVERS. 
We make a metal one cheap. 
Curtis Steel Roofing Co., 
57 SIGLElt STREET, Nil,EH, O. 
Also all kinds of Metal Hooting and Paint. 
i 
Our Curlleld K nai.^ack, 
Double Km pi re, Perfee* 
tlODe and Little Lein,loud nil 
tffckeirt- The be*t it alwajB cheapest 
-iSSflJifSf n rCT working part* 
Tan — ABB THB D CrW I IP Automatic *tlrrer», 
TttrtiUtft. KMMit ttad hoary ftemexabax Garfield i« 
*•L #a j7 tkat i« aonoikTed 4* fit the back Write for ■pe¬ 
dal price-list end book of lnctmctlon*. We *&ve you money 
HELP EOIICE FLAP CO., lit BrUtoI Av»., LOCK TORT, f,.l. 
THOMPSON'S GRASS 
“ Sows Clover* A —- 
Timothy, Alfalfa, 
Ited Top, Flax, 
and all kinds of 
G It ASS SEEDS. 
iiO to 40 Iha^ferz.— 
Acres Per Day. IV 
Weight 40 lbs. 
0. E. THOMPSON & SONS, 
Hows any quantity. 
Evenly , Accurately, 
in wet, dry and 
SAl windy weather. 
No.17,River Si.. 
'YPSILANTI. Mich. 
’See our Buuuer Hoot Cutter on another jxiue. 
THE WEAKEST SPOT 
- in your whole 
system, perhaps, 
is the liver. Ii 
that doesn’t do 
its work of puri¬ 
fying the blood, 
more troubles 
come from it 
than you can re¬ 
member. 
Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery acts 
upon this weak spot as nothing else can. It 
rouses it up to healthy, natural action. By 
thoroughly purifying the blood, it reaches, 
builds up, and invigorates every part of the 
system. 
For all diseases that depend on the liver 
or the blood—Dyspepsia, Indigestion, Bilious¬ 
ness ; every form of Scrofula, even Con¬ 
sumption (or Lung-scrofula) in its earlier 
stages; and the most stubborn Skin and 
Scalp Diseases, the “Discovery” is the only 
remedy so unfailing and effective that it can 
be guaranteed. 
If it doesn’t benefit or cure, you have your 
money back. 
On these terms, it’s an insult to your in¬ 
telligence to have something else offered as 
“just as good.” 
BECKERT’S SEED ANNUAL 
For 100-1, 
ts a useful book for those who are Interested In 
gardening. Treats of most all that Is worthy In 
Vegetables and Flower Seeds, Spring Bulos, Seed 
Potatoes, etc. Write for It and mention The K. N.-Y. 
WM. C. BECKERT, Seedsman, Allegheny, Pa. 
for Spring Planting. 
We wish to secure the 
services of a reliable 
Farmer or Fruit Grower In every county to represent 
us during this winter. We will give, FREE, 25 to ICO 
Apple, Pear or Plum Trees to any one who will get 
up a club or secure orders for us In his section In 
proportion to amount sold. Our prices suit the 
times No better stock grown. Secure a Hue orchard 
free. Write tor full particulars and prices. 
FRED. E. YOUNG, Nurseryman, Rochester, N. Y 
D. LANDRETH & SONS 
THE QPPIH HOUSE 
OLDEST wEb EL# AMERICA 
have Issued their handsomely Illustrated SEED 
Catalogue for IS!)4. Merchants, Market Garden¬ 
ers, and Private Families desiring Good Seeds, 
should send postal for a copy. FREE to all appli¬ 
cants. Address I>. bAMIRETH & SONS, 
Seed Farmers and Merchants, Philadelphia, Pa. 
Fertilizers Unprofitable 
Very often on account of a deficiency of Potash. 
Farmers, avoid these and secure paying yields by 
selecting brands containing high percentages of 
Potash, or apply Potash Salts, such as Muriate of 
Potash, Sulphate of Potash and Kalnlt. For In¬ 
formation and pamphlet address 
GERMAN KALI WORKS, 93 Nassau St M N. Y. City 
A NEW ERA IN AMERICAN 
For Descriptive f*||*Q£Q General Fruit Cat- 
List and UllAr EL V alogue, address 
T. V. MUNSON, Denison, Texas. 
