!S?wiSM'pl 
[SINGLE NO. TEN CENTS 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT 
ROCHESTER, N. Y-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, MAY 18,1887 
from our market. The White Peach- 
blow sella well, principally owing to 
the color of the skin, as it cooks 
about the same as the old variety 
There has been quite a demand for N 
the Goodrich potatoes for seed, the \\\ . 
prices running up to $13 per barrel; 
other new varieties are being tested, 
Sweet potatoes have been good / 
this year, and sold at high prices. 
They arc now worth $<> per barrel. / • 
Persons wishing the small potatoes ' 
for sprouting, would do well to pro- 
cure them direct from the growers 
in the lower counties of Mew Jer- , 
sey, for about one-half the price 
that nurserymen charge for them. 
The best seed is short, and thick in 
proportion to length. 
Now ane> Then. - 
New York. May, 1807. 
Remarks. —The Western Red, of which our 
correspondent speaks., as grown here is a coarse, 
second-class potato. The improvement made 
by oue seasons growth in Bermuda is a curious 
instance of the effect of climate in changing the 
are especially beneficial. Mr. Lawes wrote to 
Joseph Harris thus, “when the alkalies and 
phosphates alone are used, the pasture is a mass 
of clover and trefoil, but when ammonia is used 
it is all grass.” *. 
ESTABLISHED IN 1850 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AST OSIOINAL WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors 
POTATOES IN NEW YORK MARKET 
The potato trade in our market is a very im¬ 
portant branch of the- produce business, and 1 
am inclined to think that there Is no one article 
in the produce line that will yield as good protit 
if confined entirely to it. Many of onr dealers 
make a speciality of them and sell enormous 
quantities, 
Hon. HENRY S. RANDALL, LL. D.. Editor of the De¬ 
partment of Sheep Husbandry. 
Hon. T. C. PETERS, late President N. Y. State AgU 
Society, Southern Corresponding Editor. 
GLEZEN F. WILCOX. Associate Editor. 
The Rural New-Yorkrr is designed to he unsur- 
paesed In VaIuc, Purity, and Variety of Content*. Its 
Conductor earnestly labors to render the Rural a Reli¬ 
able Guide on all the Important Practical, Bc-lenttflo and 
other Subjects connected with the business of those 
whose Interests it zealously advocates. As a Family 
Journal it is eminently Instinctive and Entertaining— 
being so conducted that it. can be safely taken to the 
Homes of peoplr. off intelligence, taste and discrimination. 
It embraces more Agricultural, Horticultural,Scientific, 
Educational, Literary and N’cws Mutter, Interspersed 
with appropriate engravings, than any other Journal 
rendering it h.v far the most complete Ao biocltubal, 
Litkkaiiy aaji Family Xkwspamch in America. 
When we consider the largo popu¬ 
lation of New York, and tile surrounding coun¬ 
try for five miles which depends entirely on our 
city for its supplies, we may imagine that it 
must require a large quantity of everything eat¬ 
able to supply the demand. In the fall, the 
trade opened brisk, and potatoes sold well, the 
supply being about equal to the demand—but 
later in the season the stock increased above 
the demand, and they became very dull. Many 
were infected with the rot, and the dealers re¬ 
fused to buy in large quantities for tbeir winter 
stores for fear of losing them. Consequently 
the trade through the winter has been very 
even, and owing to a backward spring the de¬ 
mand for seed has been very limited. For the 
benefit of your new readers, I will repeat the 
localities from which they are principally re¬ 
ceived : 
The first we receive arc sent from Bermuda in 
April, and freqently sell for $13 or $13 per bar¬ 
rel. The seed is sent from here, and is the 
Western Red. When returned, they do not 
much resemble the original stock, the skin 
being much lighter and of a peculiar transparent 
appearance, the flesh almost white, and possess¬ 
ing a very sweet flavor. Of late years they have 
tried other varieties, hut not with the same suc¬ 
cess, there not being as great an Improvement 
on the original stock, and many growers object 
to them because their customers do not know 
the article, and look upon them with suspicion, 
thinking they arc not genuine. The Southern 
States are next In order; Louisiana, Georgia, 
Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut 
and Maine are the principal potato States iu the 
Those from Louisiana and Georgia are 
PORTRAITS OF PURE-URED CHESTER WHITE SWINE, 
for the Rides, and tops and bottoms f thick of 
split one or two Inch boards, split by a buzz-saw 
or splitting mill. Such a honey box is light, and 
will hold on an average 35 lbs. of honey. And 
now for a secret, to most bee-keepers. The bees 
will .fill 4 25 lb. box sooner than Jour smaU boxes of 
4 lbs. each. Thus you get more every time the 
large box is filled, and usually more than double 
the honey yearly by the large boxes than by the 
small ones. The bungler ought to got, more 
than half the time, one 35 lb. box from each 
hive, though years will occur when ho cannot 
do it.. Yet even this low aim would increase 
ten-fold our honey crop. The attentive man 
will get one 25 lb. box of clover honey, nice, 
pure and white ; and a second box filled in part 
by clover and in part by buckwheat or colored 
honey. Yet if he is not. quite attentive he will 
not get most of the second boxes full. 
An expert bee rnau or woman—for womeu do 
finely with bees—will get, two boxes full, and 
the third box partly lull, from every stout, hive 
of bees. But mark you, reader! not by the 
sniveling, mean allowance of two one-ineli auger 
holes to the top of a hive; or the equally lazy 
way of two slits, # inch wide and 3 inches long, 
in the top of the hive. Such sense is not com¬ 
mon sense, even if it its very commonly done by 
farmers who go by rule, not by their own thoughts 
and experience. Traditional rules, and old say¬ 
ings on boos, are like every old matter, without 
the enlivening touch of progress. I make six¬ 
teen one-ineli holes In the top of each hive, and 
these not with an old dull auger, but a smooth 
nice bit, that eats so that, a bee can walk through 
it, not tumble over the roughnesses. 
“ Don’t plane the inside of your hives,” says 
old stupid Tradition. Now, kind reader, tell 
me why not ? Did some old jack-a-knapes tell 
you that, or do you think it. sound common 
sense ? The day for your old rough-board hive, 
half put together, is gone by. What is worth 
ecs of beams aud floors. They remain there 
until the approach of warm weather, when they 
sally forth to resume their depredations on the 
grain. In the winter time the infested bins 
should be emptied, aud a thorough cleansing 
performed, and if the wood or stone work is in 
a dilapidated state it should be renovated. Boil¬ 
ing water Injected into the crevices will rout 
them, and we suggest the use of powdered 
Hellebore. 
As soon as the weather is warm enough—com¬ 
monly in April or May—the beetles pair, after 
which the female burrows in the grain heap, and 
pierces a minute bole with her beak In the. grain, 
laying an egg in each until her supply is exhaust¬ 
ed, which often is not until autumn. The mag¬ 
gots soon hatch, aud feed upon the flour until 
the husk alone is left. It then changes to a 
pupa, hatches into the perfect weevil, and eats 
its way out. of the grain. The beetle is one of 
the tJurculionkUe; varies from a dark chestnut 
to a pitchy color; it has no wings, and its six 
legs are short and stout. 
Iy Foil Terms and other particulars Bee last page 
A GOOD CORN-MARKER 
The worst, difficulty with the ordinary three 
or four tooth corn-marker, results from the in¬ 
flexibility of the long bar to which the teeth or 
markers arc attached In passing over uneven 
ground some of thejl 'elK will riot touch the 
earth, and consequently the planter must guess 
at the position in which the seed should be 
planted. 
NITROGENOUS MANURES 
NEEDED FOR CEREAL 
CHESTER WHITE SWINE 
We give the portraits of pure-bred Chester 
Swine, bred and owned by Thomas Wood, Doe 
Run, Chester Co., Penn. This breed, already 
famous, is believed to have originated some 
thirty years ago by crossing au imported Bed¬ 
fordshire boar with the then best stock of Ches¬ 
ter County, By careful selections and breeding 
their characteristics have been firmly estab¬ 
lished, and they are now a distinct breed. They 
are known by their pure white color, great 
depth and length of carcass, small head and 
offal parts, quiet habits, and easy feeding and 
fattening qualities. 
The marker we herewith illustrate, is con¬ 
structed to surmount this difficulty —two joints 
being made in the bar which allow each tooth to 
make its proper furrow on a very uneven sur¬ 
face. The joints are made by sawing the bar 
apart at the places indicated In the engraving, 
then connecting the sections by bolting on two 
stout iron straps, the bolts passing entirely 
through the bar of wood. Four straps of light 
wagon tire iron, each six inches long, aud four six- 
inch bolts will make the two joints. A space of 
oue inch left between the sections of the bar 
will give sufficient flexibility to it for the pur¬ 
pose required. 
Union 
principally of the common varieties, without 
any improvement, but being new sell well. 
Virginia sonds a good article, mostly from Nor¬ 
folk. The Mercers from there are very fine, and 
bring good prices. Before the war our larg'c 
steamers came loaded with them, but since then 
the trade has not been of much cousequcuce. 
Tills spring large quantities are being planted, 
and if the crop proves good we will again see 
them crowding our market. 
The farmers of New Jersey grow largely of 
the Buckeyes for their early kinds; and Peach- 
blows for their late crop, although they arc test¬ 
ing some of the new varieties. Long Island 
(ends in large quantities of Dykemans for early 
ones, and Mercers for late. Owing to their plan 
of raising from two to three crops off the same 
land in one season, their potatoes are dug early 
and sold. The Jackson White, from Maine, is 
a first-rate potato for cooking qualities; I think 
it superior to any other variety in market. It 
has a white akin and flesh, eyes deeply indented, 
is of good size, aud yields well. It resembles 
the Carter very much except in shape, it being 
round. The Mercer of late has failed to such 
au extent that we see but few of them compared 
with former years. The best, aud most reliable 
article wc receive is from and around Rochester, 
N. Y. They are very line and sell well. The 
Peachblow is the principal variety among us, 
and it gives general satisfaction. The Prince 
Albert is another good variety, and is growing 
in favor every year. The greatest objection to 
them is that, they do not grow large enough, 
that 1 b, Bhort and tliiek—they are much inclined 
to grow long and slim. The Buckeye is grown 
IMPROVEMENT IN BEES.-No. I 
Our honey-making before the introduction of 
the Italians, was with most fanners at a low 
ebb, and it is not very flattering now. This in 
a great, measure is unnecessary. Even yet, it 
our Rural readers would take the Quimbv plan, 
published a dozen yeans ago, without patent or 
Other exclusive claims, the tine box honey ol 
our homestead will be In amply supply. 
The writer by this mode ha- an annual average 
of 35 lbs. box honey to a hive. He never mur 
ders iiis bees by sulphur, to get the sweet store 
—as was the ease with the man who killed the 
goose to find the golden egg. In the vicinity 
where he lives there are say 3,000 hives. Not 
over a dozen farmers, even in this enlightened 
day, ever get five pounds annual average of box 
honey from a hive. And to their shame lie it 
said, be believes at least 500 hives are yearly 
ruthlessly slaughtered by sulphur, iu the same 
district, for the sake of the poor, bee-bread, 
strained, black honey of the brood chamber of 
the hive. A stvage waste. Surely we cannot 
boast of learning very fast, when the 'whole of 
a town, county or State is considered! 
My first improvement then would be, making, 
on the plan suggested, a hive with a brood cham¬ 
ber 12# inches square, and high on the inside; 
aud in the usual way put in two cross sticks, 
not, as often, an Inch, but three-sixteenths of an 
inch in diameter. This is really the uld hive but 
slightly modified. Then by making caps of 
seven inch wide pine siding, this would give 
honey-box space 13# inches square and 7 laches 
high. These to no entirely loose on the top 
of the hive, but fitting closely Now make the 
honey-boxes large. My rule is 11 # inches square 
and fi inches high, so as to clear the cap one inch 
on the sides and top. The honey-boxes I make 
of siding planed down to % for the ends, and # 
GRANARY WEEVIL.—(Calandra Granaria.) 
This destructive insect lives amongst stored 
grain and malt. We sometimes hear complaints 
from our readers, that their granaries, wherein 
corn or wheat has long been stored, are infested 
with weevil which has worked considerable in¬ 
jury. It is sometimes difficult to detect the 
presence of this insect, unless they are seen 
walking over the corn, until they have been at 
7, Perfect, insect, natural size. 6, Same magnified. 
Z, Papa natural size. 8, Same magnified, 1. Ker¬ 
nel ol maize magnified with the beetle inside. 4, 
Hole pierced in grain of wheat for the egg, 5. Place 
of exit of the beetle from the grain of wheat. 
work for some time and the holes of their exit 
become visible in the empty grains. If a hand¬ 
ful of grain be thrown upon water their opera¬ 
tions arc manifested by the floatiug kernels. 
The weevils cannot endure cold, and on the ap¬ 
proach of winter they mostly desert the gram, 
and seek refuge in the chinks of walls and crevi- 
PS 
