VOL. LIII. No. 2301. 
NEW YORK, MARCH 3, 1894. 
PRICE, THREE CENTS. 
$ 1.00 PER YEAR. 
Tradewinds. 
A gain the annual “ Catalog'ue Number” of The 
Rural New-Yorker” is before its readers. 
The aim has been in so far as practicable to 
avoid repetitions, so that what has been specialized or 
dwelt upon as a conspicuous part of one catalogue has 
been avoided in others. Thus, it is hoped, “Trade- 
winds” may with interest be read from beginning to 
end and prove an instructive guide to all who need 
guidance. 
The novelties of 1894 are comparatively few ; that is, 
novelties announced for the first time. Novelties of 
surpassing merit are always rare birds and there is 
always an eager market to secure them by the more 
substantial firms of the country. It is 
for this reason that less reputable firms 
are ever ready to foist their counterfeits 
upon credulous people. 
Our friends are solicited to send for 
and to examine critically the pamphlets 
and catalogues which we have endeavored 
in the following columns to rev'ew as 
fairly and impartially as we are cap¬ 
able of doing. Let them bear in mind, 
as we have often said, that, in concluding 
what and from whom to order, cheap 
seeds are, as a rule, dear at any price. 
Then, too, it does not always follow that 
high-priced seeds are necessarily the 
best. 
The spirit of a firm, it seems to The 
R. N.-Y. is often shown in the general 
get-up of the catalogue it issues. Those 
who claim to sell the best and cheapest 
seeds, who attach their names to almost 
everything offered, who fill their cata¬ 
logues with absurdly overdrawn illus¬ 
trations may safely be permitted to in¬ 
crease their clientage among those who 
do not know and who never will know 
how to make farming pay. 
We again make the request—thread¬ 
bare to them, but important to us—that 
our friends in their applications for cata¬ 
logues will kindly mention The Rural 
New-Yorker. Advertisers have no other 
method of ascertaining the value of a 
journal as an advertising medium. 
Geo. W. P. 
Mr. Jerrard is a potato specialist and his 
catalogue ought to be examined by all 
who have “seed” to buy. He selects his 
seed potatoes with special care from year 
to year so that he now claims it as pedi¬ 
gree seed with whatever advantages may 
thus be secured. Last year we alluded to 
Mr. Jerrard’s Early Harvest, which he 
claims is earlier than any other potato 
he has grown. We tried it last sea¬ 
son at the Rural Grounds, but the trial 
was unsatisfactory on account of the almost un¬ 
precedented drought. Here is the report: “Twelve 
two to three-eye pieces were planted as we usually 
plant—one by three feet apart in trenches, using at 
the rate of 1,200 pounds of potato fertilizer to the acre. 
The planting was done April 21, some days later than 
usual on account of a cold, wet spring. The vines 
were of a light green color, vigorous and spreading. 
They began to die June 20, among the very earliest. 
The yield was 22 pounds, 70 marketable, 22 too small. 
This is at the rate of 443.66 bushels to the acre. The 
skin is buff in color, eyes medium, shape somewhat 
variable. They evidently suffered from drought. 
Eaten September 18. Of superior quality, fine grain, 
floury, unusually white flesh.” Early Norther, New 
Queen and Minister a»e other favorite varieties intro¬ 
duced by Mr. Jerrard and now offered at most reason¬ 
able rates. 
The Storrs & Harrison Co., Painesville, 0. — A 
catalogue of 170 pages. For 40 years this excellent 
firm has been in existence, relying upon truthful 
statements, reasonable prices and first-class stock to 
increase their business from year to year. The home 
farms contain at present 1,000 acres, given to the cul¬ 
tivation of trees, shrubs, roses, small fruits, etc., while 
their greenhouses contain 75,000 feet of glass, under 
which are grown hundreds of thousands of house 
plants, roses and bedding plants of every description. 
Special flower and vegetable seed collections arc 
offered at very low prices—from 25 cents to $1 post¬ 
paid. These should be examined. The firm con8'’ders 
the following the 12 best everblooming roses : Ernest 
Metz, Etoile de Lyon, Meteor, Hermosa, Duchesse de 
Brabant, Marie Guillot, Mignonette, Papa Gontier, 
Marie Van Houtte, Mad. Joseph Schwartz, Queen’s 
Scarlet and Safrano. The set is offered for only 31. 
In the same way it offers sets of the best winter 
bloomers, monthlies suitable for either pot or garden 
culture, climbing Teas and Noisettes, Polyanthas, 
Hybrid Teas, Hybrid Perpetuals, Hybrid Chinas, Moss 
roses and so on. The entire collection is one of the 
very best in the country. The Agnes Emily Carman 
Rugosa hybrid is offered—field-grown plants—for 50 
cents each See page 103. The cultivation of nut 
trees of all kinds is also a specialty with this firm—see 
page 144—almonds, butternuts, black walnuts, Japan 
walnuts; American, Spanish and Japan chestnuts. 
Eaglish filberts, hickories and pecans. This firm is 
also one of the heaviest dealers in hardy fruits (apples, 
pears, etc.) in America. 
Henry A. Drker, 714 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, 
Pa.—This is one of the largest and best of the cata¬ 
logues sent out by American seedsmen, and the house 
is one of the oldest and most trustworthy. Besides the 
fullest lists of specialties, of flewer, vegetable and 
farm seeds, this firm is one of the most extensive 
dealers in hothouse, conservatory and bedding plants, 
such as allamanda, abutilou, alocasia, pineapple, 
anthurium, aspidistra, araucaria, begonia, azalea, 
carnation, coleus, calla, camellia, caladium (fancy), 
dwarf French cannas (a splendid collection), croton, 
cycas, dracaena, ficus, fuchsias, geraniums, etc. The 
firm is noted for its fine collections of 
ferns, palms and roses. Hardy perennials 
are a specialty. For shady, sheltered 
positions out of doors, few plants are 
more attractive than an assortment of 
palms, and the best of these as well as 
the best to endure the heat and shade 
of a sitting room or parlor, according to 
our own trials, are Corypha Australis, 
Kentia Fosteriana, Latania Borbonica, 
Phoeoix rupicola. Cocos Weddeliana, 
Chamaerops excelsa, and the Screw pine, 
Pandanus utilis. Small fruits of all 
kinds, hardy shrubs, etc., and finally in¬ 
secticides and fertilizers complete this 
valuable work. Fertilizers are offered 
in any quantity, either complete or 
special, such as nitrate of soda, bone 
meal, bone flour, kainit, tobacco stems, 
granulated tobacco, unleached ashes, etc. 
J. M. Thorrurn & Co , 15 John Street, 
New York.—Here we have the ninety- 
third annual catalogue of this firm, whose 
leading aim has ever been to supply only 
the very highest class of seeds, of which 
it claims to have the largest collection 
in the world. This firm has for many 
years made a specialty of offering tree 
and shrub seeds (evergreen and decidu¬ 
ous); seeds of nut trees, vines, native 
and cultivated grapes, and seven of its 
large pages are devoted to the long lists. 
Six pages are given to rare seeds and 
novelties, among which we may mention 
the Long Island Beauty muskmelon. It 
resembles the Hackensack. It is densely 
netted, with green flesh of fine quality. 
The new Station pea is a wrinkled vari¬ 
ety growing 20 inches high. The pods 
contain six to eight large peas, which aie 
well held up from the ground and pro¬ 
duced abundantly. What is of the first 
importance to market gardeners, it gives 
more full pods at the first picking than 
any other variety of equal earliness. 
The quality is fine. The tomato, North¬ 
ern Light, IS said to be a dwarf with an upright 
stem, the fruit apple-shaped, of a brilliant carmine 
color, containing few seeds. Flesh solid. The tomato, 
Meteor, is another dwarf which needs no support, the 
strong stems growing only 12 to 16 inches high. It is 
regarded as a valuable novelty. One new crossbred 
wheat. Carman No. 1, and one new half wheat, half 
rye hybrid, Carman No 52, are described on page 50. 
Cow peas and Soja beans are on page 52 Thorburn & 
Co. consider the Challenger the best of the pole Limas, 
the most productive. The Carman No. 1 potato is 
offered, but owing to an unlooked for shortness in the 
crop, we fear that only a limited number of orders for 
small quantities can be filled. 
D. Landreth & Sons, Nos. 21 and 23 S. Sixth Street, 
Philadelphia, Pa.—This is the 110th year of this seeds 
