49o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
August 4 
TOO 
THE REPLACEMENT OF POTASH BY SODA. 
A writer in our esteemed contempo¬ 
rary, the New England Farmer, insists 
that for many agricultural purposes, 
soda is a substitute for potash. He 
denies that the theory is his own, but 
that of Prof. Storer, Prof. S. W. Johnson 
and others. The articles are written in 
a pleasant, plausible way and hare been 
copied by other journals and will no 
doubt serve to mislead many farmers 
into the belief that salt is really a sub¬ 
stitute for potash. Let us quote from 
the latest writings of Johnson and Storer 
who, we fancy, will not be pleased that 
they have been quoted as authorities for 
the theory advocated by the correspond¬ 
ent of the New England Parmer : 
Pkok. Stoker : “ Potash is a manure 
in itself, a necessary form of plant food. 
Soda has no such claim upon a farmer’s 
attention. Plants can succeed perfectly 
well without soda and as an alkali it has 
no advantage over potash. . . . The 
discovery that salt acts indirectly to dis¬ 
solve matters that are already in the 
soil, has served to clear up one of the 
most obscure points in the chemistry of 
agriculture. . . . Methodical experi¬ 
ments have shown that sodium is appar¬ 
ently not essential to the life of agricul¬ 
tural plants. Crops can grow perfectly 
well without it. At most, they need 
so small a trace of soda that enough can 
always be obtained from the supplies to 
be found in the soil or even in the air. 
The soda found in the ashes of plants is 
accidental and non-essential. The old 
notion that soda could replace potash in 
the plant has been disproved. . . . 
An application of salt to the land might 
exert a decided fertilizing action, by 
merely pushing out lime and potash from 
the surface soil and sending them down 
to where the roots of the crop are grow¬ 
ing. The probabilities are, however, 
that this elimination of potash can 
usually be effected more cheaply by 
means of lime compounds than by means 
of sodium salts ; and if a sodium salt 
were used for this purpose, the nitrate, 
which is a valuable manure of itself, be¬ 
cause of the nitrogen contained, would 
better be chosen. . . . It was not an 
uncommon practice formerly to mix the 
true Peruvian guano with salt, and the 
English farmers still use salt to hinder 
their grain crops from running to straw 
in wet seasons. . . . Possibly the 
effect of the salt may be due to a general 
weakening of the plant. Though large 
doses of salt will kill most plants, per¬ 
haps smaller doses may check growth by 
giving the plants an illness from which 
they slowly recover. . . . Many peo¬ 
ple use salt to manure their asparagus 
beds, but it is commonly thought nowa¬ 
days that the salt acts in this case chiefly 
to destroy weeds.” 
Prof. Johnson: “Later trials of Nobbe, 
Schroder, Erdmann and others confirm 
the conclusions that sodium may be 
nearly or altogether dispensed with by 
plants. . . . To sum up, it appears 
from all the facts before us: 1. That 
' sodium is never totally absent from 
plants and that, 2. If indispensable, but 
a minute amount of it is requisite. 
These results go to show—it being 
assumed that only a very minute amount 
of sodium, if any, is absolutely necessary 
to plant-life—that the sodium which 
appears to replace potassium is acci¬ 
dental, and that the replaced potassium 
is accidental also, or in excess above 
what is really needed by the plant, and 
leaves us to infer that the quantity of 
these bodies absorbed depends to some 
extent on the composition of the soil, 
and is to the same degree independent of 
the wants of vegetation.” 
Wachusktt Thornless blackberry is 
as hardy as any variety we know. The 
canes are thick and strong, almost with¬ 
out thorns. The foliage is distinct and 
fine. The berries are undersize, though 
of good quality. They are borne in large 
clusters, but the trouble is there are too 
few clusters. 
In this part of the country the yield of 
early potatoes will be light—that is cer¬ 
tain. It is probable, too, that late kinds 
have already been checked by the severe 
drought. 
From time to time we have dug a hill 
or so of the varieties which claim to be 
the earliest now on trial at the Rural 
Grounds. Thus far (July 17), Algoma, 
from L. L. May <fe Co., of St. Paul, Minn , 
has given the best yield. There were 24 
potatoes in a hill, which weighed two 
pounds four ounces. It is a most shapely 
potato, being smooth, oblong, slightly 
flattened; skin buff-white. 
On April 19, we dug two hills of a 
seedling sent to us by Marvin Bovee, of 
Northville, Mich., who claims that it is 
13 days earlier than Early Ohio. The 
vines of the Bovee seedling were dead 
July 3. The vines of Early Ohio are still 
partly green. On June 27 one hill of 
Early Ohio yielded 12 tubers, which 
weighed only eight ounces. On the same 
date, one hill of the Bovee seedling 
yielded 13 tubers, weighing 15>^ ounces. 
On July 17, two hills of Early Ohio yielded 
14 tubers, weighing one pound eight 
ounces. Two hills of the Bovee dug the 
same day, yielded one pound twelve 
ounces. 
From this little trial, it would appear 
that the Bovee is at least 12 days earlier 
than Early Ohio; but even though no ear¬ 
lier, the almost perfect shape of the 
Bovee would win the prize every time 
over the poorly shaped Early Ohio. It is 
as perfect in shape as the well-adver¬ 
tised Freeman and less variable. It is 
probably three weeks earlier, and will 
probably yield as much per acre with a 
smaller proportion of unmarketable 
tubers. We commend a trial of it to our 
friends, Mr. Coy, Mr. Greiner, Mr. Terry, 
Mr. Jerrard, Mr. Dibble, Mr. Pierce, Mr. 
Oids and others, and the stations. 
Last April, we received a new variety 
of Japan chestnut (Alpha) from Wm. 
Parry, of Parry, N. J. The little tree, 
though 2>i feet high, is bearing about 20 
male catkins. No female flowers have 
developed. 
The R. N.-Y. was, we believe, among 
the very first to plant Pissard’s plum, 
and to be able to say from experience 
that it retains its purple color during the 
entire summer better than any other pur- 
ple-foliaged tree. The fruit is good 
enough for preserves. 
The Globe is mentioned by a number 
of New Jersey peach growers as the best 
late variety—fruit firm, large and of fine 
appearance. 
The President of the New Jersey Hor¬ 
ticultural Society declares that one can 
not distinguish the new peach Wonder¬ 
ful from the old peach Smock. If thinned 
out the peaches grow to “an enormous 
size.” The Elberta is thought by mem¬ 
bers of the above society to be the com¬ 
ing peach. It is being planted more 
largely than any other peach. There 
are orchards in Georgia of 100,000 of 
this one variety alone. 
lx WTltlnK to adyertlserf please alwavs mentloc 
Thi RUBAI,. 
In Hot Weather 
Something is needed to keep up the appe¬ 
tite, assist digestion and give good, health¬ 
ful sleep. For these purposes Hood’s 
Sarsaparilla is peculiarly adapted. As a 
Hood’ 
g Sarsa¬ 
parilla 
ures 
c 
blood purifier it has 
no equal, and it is 
chiefly by its power 
to make pure blood that it has won such 
fame as a cure for scrofula, salt rheum 
and other similar diseases. 
Ilood’8 Pills cure lieadaohe and indigestion 
Dr. Ward, of the New Jersey Horti¬ 
cultural Society, says that the most at¬ 
tractive strawberry he saw last year was 
Mary, both in color, size and keeping 
qualities. It was probably the finest 
strawberry sent to Chicago grown in his' 
section of the State. We have alluded 
to the Mary many times. Though it has 
been tried for several years—during two 
periods—at the Rural Cirounds and found 
to be neither large as to berry, nor fruit¬ 
ful as to vine, yet we would advise a 
trial of it by our friends in a small way. 
Mr. Alley, the originator, is a plain, 
honest man. He has brought to this 
ofiSce specimens several years in succes¬ 
sion, and larger, and more uniformly 
large berries we have never seen. The 
color is dark, the quality fair, the shape 
unusually regular for so large a berry. 
In a neighboring corn field is an apple 
tree 25 feet high, the branches covering 
a circle of soil 40 feet in diameter. The 
corn is growing up to the very trunk of 
the tree, but the leaves of all the plants 
within a radius of 40 feet or a diameter 
of 80 feet are so much curled that the 
plants will not recover unless the drought 
be broken in a short time. The influence 
of tree roots extends farther than is gen¬ 
erally considered, as shown by the corn 
plants during a severe drought. It is 
often said that the roots of a fruit tree 
(with variations for different kinds) ex¬ 
tend as far as the branches, or as far as 
the height of the tree. It is a question 
whether they do not extend a good deal 
farther. 
Have our readers noticed any differ¬ 
ence in the keeping qualities between 
white and pink or purple flowering varie¬ 
ties of potatoes ? 
As a rule, which are the best keepers, 
pink, purple or white-skinned varieties V 
Which are most liable to rot and blight ? 
Though the Lovett strawberry has 
shown no unusual merits at the Rural 
Grounds, it is making many friends else¬ 
where. 
The Columbian and the Shaffer.— 
It has been stated recently, as well as 
last year, that the Columbian i aspberry 
is more valuable than the Shaffer in sev¬ 
eral, if not in all, essential respects. 
This is claiming a good deal, since the 
Shaffer, up to the advent of its competi¬ 
tor, was certainly the best berry of its 
class. The result of a comparison made 
last year at the Rural Grounds, was that 
the two kinds seemed so nearly alike 
that either would answer for the other 
and that any one having the one could 
not afford to buy the other, except for 
mere trial. This year we are again com¬ 
paring them as carefully as we know 
how to do. 
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A WITNESS OF PASSING EVENTS AND A 
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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Oor. Chambers and Pearl Sts.. New York. 
