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raps. 
A ROCHESTER SEED FARM. 
In and near the city of Rochester, N. Y., 
aljout 500 acres are devoted to the grow¬ 
ing of vegetable and flower seeds, and it is 
not unlikely that in the near future the busi¬ 
ness of growing and disseminating seeds 
will rival in extent and celebrity the already 
world-wide fame of its tree nurseries. As 
yet the greater portion of the stock dissemi¬ 
nated by the leading seedsmen of tlmt city 
is, from the necessities of soil, climate ami 
labor, imported; but the business of grow¬ 
ing domestic seeds is gradually extending, 
and, under favorable conditions, is found to 
be profitable. 
Just on the eastern limits of Rochester, in 
the town of Brighton, is located the seed 
farm of Mr. E. B. Hayward, one of the 
oldest and the most extensive seed grower 
in the county of Monroe. Its surface is roll¬ 
ing, though much of it lies so low that in ex¬ 
tremely wet seasons, like the past summer, 
there is considerable danger of loss from 
floods. Tile drainage, however, mitigates 
such losses largely, and guards against dam¬ 
age from ordinary rains. The soil is a dark 
loam, on which formerly grew heavy forests 
of beech and maple. The underlying rock 
is limestone. 
The farm, one hundred acres in extent, 
was first occupied by Mr. IIaywaud's father, 
being taken up at an early day when worth, 
perhaps, twenty-five dollars per acre, (pres¬ 
ent valuation five hundred,) and for a long 
time only ordinary farm crops were culti¬ 
vated on it. Being adjacent to a large town, 
market gardening was taken up at a later 
period, and in 1840 Mr. II. first began, in a 
regular way, the growing of seed. IILs first 
planting embraced the standard varieties 
now grown, and in extent, was less t han one 
acre; the past year eighty acres were under 
seed. 
The main crops now are beet seed, onion, 
lettuce, cabbage, radish, squash, sweet corn 
and beans. Fourteen acres of beet seed 
yielded twcntyvme thousand pounds, which 
is an extraordinary crop, showing good cul¬ 
tivation and a favorable season. Eight acres 
of lettuce were - nearly a failure on account 
of the blasting of the crop when coming in 
blossom. Four acres of onion seed gave 
two thousand pounds; four acres of summer 
squash eight, hundred pounds; one acre of 
cabbage six hundred pounds. Twenty-fire 
acres were in sweet corn, which was not 
shelled and measured at the time of our visit. 
There were several acres of garden beans, 
and twelve or fifteen acres devoted to the 
growing of stock for another year. 
The crops of the farm may las classed tut 
annual and biennial. Corn, beans, squash, 
lettuce and others maturing their seed the 
sattte season as planted, and beets, onions, 
&c„ which require two seasons. Great care 
is necessary and is exercised to keep varie¬ 
ties of the same vegetable from mixing, 
which most are apt to do unless separated 
by considerable distances. The growing of 
seed stock of the biennials involves a large 
outlay of labor and money. About one 
hundred bushels of beets are required to 
plant one acre for seed, and the stock is win 
ternl in pits in the field where it is to be 
grown. Much is sometimes lost by rotting 
ever when the greatest rare has been taken 
in handling and storing. Of onions, from 
one to two hundred bushels are required to 
set one acre for seed- the amount being do 
pendent on the size of the stock. The red 
varieties arc usually set in the fall and cov¬ 
ered with earth ; but the white, being more 
tender, arc wintered in the house until 
spring. Cabbage may also be put out in the 
autumn and will generally come out well in 
the spring, if protected with earth; they 
should 1)0 entirely covered. 
Living near a large city, where plenty of 
manure may be purchased, Mr. II. does not 
let his laud rest or lie under grass. One 
team is kept constantly at work hauling sta¬ 
ble manure, drawing, on an average, about 
three loads per day. It is first composted, 
and then spread on the land. Commercial 
fertilizers are likewise used. The outlay for 
manure is large. 
For storage and drying the seed, a large 
amount of room is essential, which Mr. II. has 
in the shape of a building forty by seventy 
and three stories high, exclusive Of the roof. 
An immense amount of lumber was used in 
constructing this building, in proportion to 
its size, necessitated by the demand for nu¬ 
merous tight floors and partitions. At the 
present time it would probably cost $5,000, 
yet it is hardly large enough for the business 
of the farm. 
Is it a paying business ? Like almost any 
other legitimate pursuit, it pays well under 
favorable conditions. But these conditions 
are not so easy to attain as in the case of or¬ 
dinary farming, market, gardening, or the 
growing of nursery stock. The farmer, gar¬ 
dener, or nurseryman can enter the general 
market with his products, and compete with 
success measured by the goodness of his 
stock and his ability to make it cheap. The 
seed grower will find but a entail circle of 
customers lor bi3 stock, and that circle 
usually have their supplies engaged lor some 
time ahead from sources with which they 
are acquainted and on which they can rely. 
A man might grow a fine stock of onion or 
beet, seed and not be able to sell it, when his 
neighbor, an old hand at the business, was 
getting at the same time for like articles very 
remunerative prices. Respectable seedsmen 
must know their growers and the character 
of the stock they produce. Hence, most 
seed is grown on contracts, which generally 
run some years. Without, an assured mark¬ 
et, it. is not at all safe for the novice to enter 
the business of seed-growing. Then expe¬ 
rience is very necessary to success, also cheap 
labor and plenty of manure. Some varie¬ 
ties are not grown here on account of cli¬ 
mate aild insect enemies ; and in producing 
many we have to contend with the expe¬ 
rience and cheap labor of the Old World 
growers, who can send seed here, pay the 
light tariff government lays on it, and under¬ 
sell the American producer. 
--» »♦- 
POTATOES—VARIETIES. 
My letter to you giving an account of my 
experiments with potatoes for the season of 
1809 (which was published in the Rural 
about the 1st of March) has brought to my 
notice, and for trial the present season, a 
goodly array of new sorts to lie tested by 
those who have raised them. I also have 
purchased some new sorts that are un¬ 
der trial for my diversion in that line, some 
of which seem to promise superior excellence, 
of which I will mention the seedling sent by 
John Elgar, of Elyria, Loraine Co., Ohio, 
called the “ Queen of the West.” From 
samples sent, it would seem that it will be a 
decided acqusition in the potato market at 
no very distant day. 1 did not test them for 
the table, but their smooth handsome ap¬ 
pearance, color of flesh and firmness of tex¬ 
ture, indicate a valuable sort. It they will 
yield well, grow to a good size, and the quality 
prove No. 1, they will lie hard to beat, in my 
estimation ; time, however, must determine 
these facts either for or against them. 
Brksbe's No 6, or Peerless, is another of 
the sorts that stand high in my present 
opinion. One of them tested, was dry, 
while, and good flavored on the table, 
and such beaut ies in appearance ! Large and 
smooth. The Early Rose more than fulfills 
my expectation of them last, fall, they being 
at this present writing fully as good for the 
table as when first dug in September last. 
Mine were all dug and in the cellar by the 
middle of September, ns I am one of those 
farmers who believe potatoes dug and housed 
early, are much better than if left, in the 
ground till drenched with the fall rains,as is 
frequently the case with many farmers; some 
of whom advocate the system oflate digging 
and housing as better for the crop. Although 
my Early Rose rotted some in the field, as I 
wrote you, 1 do not think 1 lost a peck in 
two hundred bushels after they were housed ; 
they kept dry and sound and came out as 
fine this spring tut when put in last fall. They 
have been all sold, (from advertisement you 
inserted forme in Rural) for seed, and could 
have sold more if 1 bad the potatoes to sell. 
Mr Wm. L)ougall, Schenectady, has sent 
me the Ketcham’s Seedling, which he ex¬ 
tols highly ; they are a promising potato to 
look at. If they meet Mr. Dougall’s ex¬ 
pectations they will prove an acquisition in 
potato culture. Mr. A C. Clark, Tyre, 
Seneca Co., N. Y., has sent me some of his 
seedlfhga, grown from the Peach Blow, 
which he thinks will excel most other seed¬ 
lings. 1 have the Concord, Bresee’s Prolific, 
Brcsee’s King of the Earlies, the Early 
Prince, with other seedlings that their pro¬ 
ducers think valuable under trial for the su¬ 
periority, from all of which, were I to 
choose this spring, I should select three 
sorbs, viz,; Early Rose, Queen of the West 
and Bresee’s No. 6, or Peerless. Next fall I 
may not be of the same opinion ; ot her sort s 
may stand higher in my estimation than 
now, and these lower. 
I hope farmers will experiment with as 
many new sorts as time and means will al¬ 
low, both of grains and vegetables, then 
publish the results. Such experiments would 
approximate towards certainty as to the 
future value of such grains or vegetables. 
Rome, N. Y., 1870. Jonathan Taucott. 
--*-♦>- 
HOP PROSPECTS. 
A Vernon, Oneida Co., N. Y., correspond¬ 
ent of Wells’ Hop Circular of May 27th 
says :—“ I have for some days past given my 
attention to the hop prospects in this region, 
embracing chiefly the hop towns in this and 
Madison counties. The results of these ob¬ 
servations are, for those of ua who are 
growers, very discouraging. The situation 
is, in my judgment, as follows: First —A 
general neglect last fill in covering and ma¬ 
nuring—Why so?—because the business of 
growing hops tn 1808 and 1869 was not re¬ 
munerative, and the future not encouraging. 
Secondly— The neglect followed by an open 
winter has resulted here in the destruction 
of many yards. The extent of this damage 
is the point in question. Is it general or ex¬ 
ceptional ? The best evidence I can give is 
most unfortunately to be seeu in the unused ; 
poles, stacked up by the roadside, offered for 
sale; worth, two years ago, $200 per thou¬ 
sand, now lacking buyers at, $80 per thou- ■ 
sand. Thirdly —The freezing out rotted the 
crown of the bill, for which there is no cure; 
and this has occurred on diy upland yards 
us well as on wet, my own yard being a case 
in point. Fourthly—' The extent of damage, 
or per cent, of acreage destroyed, is not so 
easily arrived at. It is popularly estimated 
here, however, that the yards plowed up last 
full and sown to winter wheat, and those 1 
abandoned this spring, in all, will reduce the 
area one-half; my own opinion ia that the 
reduction is nearer one-third. Fifthly — 
Wlmt is the prospect of the remaining two- 
thirds ? Late; many of them not yet tied 
up. An earlier appearance of the 4 fly ’ than 
ever before noticed here. 1 have endeavored, 
voluntarily, to give you a candid exhibit of 
the prospects here; being among the grow¬ 
ers, and hearing daily their discouraging re¬ 
ports of their yards and prospects, induced 
inc to make personal investigation, and the 
above is my testimony.” 
Another correspondent, writing from Ju¬ 
neau county, Wis., says :—“ Believing a few 
remarks concerning the hop crop in this 
great hop region will he of interest to you, 1 
herewith give you the result of my observa¬ 
tions. 1 have recently had occasion to travel 
quite extensively through this and the ad¬ 
joining counties of Adams and Sauk, and 
judging from what I saw and could learn, it 
does not seem to me possible that over two- 
thirds as many hops can be grown this sea¬ 
son as last. The general neglect of the hop 
grounds last year is now showing its effects. 
The vines are feeble and of very slow 
growth. In many instances, neither the cul¬ 
tivator nor hoe was brought into use last 
season, and yards which were poled and 
allowed to grow without care, are now a 
complete mat of grass, and growers have 
discovered their error in neglecting their 
yards and not giving them proper care and 
attention.” 
- 444 - 
FIELD NOTES. 
The Surprise Oats Atrniii. 
Frank Gowdy sends us an advertisement 
of this oat, in which Mr. Van Ounda states: 
"They arc cultivated from a wild oat, a 
natural production of the country—six years 
in cultivation from five seedlings.” Mr. 
Gowdy wrltqp, * l’-^fr-e tell us now whether 
you are satisfied that Van Olinpa ever 
claimed to have discovered the oats in the 
wild state; if so, was it consistent with the 
story told you?" We reply that our recol¬ 
lection of our first conversation with Mr. 
Van Oi.inda, relative to the history of these 
oats, is that he said the stalk from which 
they originated came up among oats the 
seed of which was received from the patent 
ofike; that this Stalk attracted his attention 
because of its remarkable growth, that he 
saved the seed from it and sowed it succes¬ 
sively for a number of years, giving it good 
culture, and that it seemed to improve each 
year. Mr. Van Olinda showed us at the 
time one of the kernels from the original 
stalk. It certainly looks more like a wild 
oat than any cultivated variety. We do not 
know with what variety of oats it was found. 
It was several years ago that this conversa¬ 
tion took place, and we cannot vouch that 
our statement is entirely accurate, but we 
think it substantially so. We do not know 
that. Mr. Van Olinda is an honest man, but 
we do know that he had that reputation 
among his neighbors, with whom we talked 
when we first visited Ids place to see these, 
oats; and we know that we saw in his barn 
the finest bin of oats we ever saw anywhere. 
Tall Grass from Vli’iriuin. 
David McCl’llock, Loudon Co., Va., 
writes May 20:—“On the 80th of April I 
told our boys that we bad grass two feet 
high. They laughed at me and told me 
they would like me to show it. 1 went out 
and found a stalk of orchard grass a little 
over two feel high. At a neighbor’s, the 
12th of May, I got a stalk of clover, which, 
when green, measured twenty-two inches; 
and a stalk of red-top four feet in length. 
Can any of your grass farmers beat that at 
the same date? This is in poor old Virginia, 
that has been worn out for about fifty years 
back ! My son has just brought in a grass 
stalk four feet eight inches in length. Rod 
and white clover was in blossom May 15; 
peas, roses, and yellow locust in blossom 
likewise.” 
Grasses lor Pasture. 
Among the thousands of readers of the 
Rural New-Yorker must he some who 
have experimented with a mixture of grasses 
for pasture. I do not mean with clover, 
timothy, and red top merely, but who have 
added other varieties with a view of securing 
a succession of nutritious herbage the season 
through. Will not such ns have made ex¬ 
periments of this character give you for pub¬ 
lication the results, accompanied with the 
names of the grasses sown in each case ? It 
seems to me this is a most important mat¬ 
ter—E noch Oglethorpe. 
dBctrarologtnil. 
NEW CLASSIFICATION OF CLOUDS. 
Instructions to be Used in the Observation of 
Cloud!#, nmi ni tbe Inferior and Superior 
Current 1 *' of the Atmoapliere • Specially De¬ 
ni gu e (1 for AKrieuiturtxla mid Seamen. 
RY PROF. ANDRE POEY. 
Director of the Observatory of Havana. 
IConeluded from page 301-1 
Azimuthal Rotation of Clouds. 
In a note presented to the French Meteor¬ 
ological Society, May 10th, 1864, I have al¬ 
ready shown from 280,880observations made 
at the Observatory of Havana, that the law 
of the rotation of winds formulated in 1827 by 
M. Dove, is perfectly applicable to clouds, 
that it is Ibis same rotatory direction of them 
which determines the rotation of the inferior 
winds, and modifies the ensemble of meteor¬ 
ological phenomena; in a word, that mete¬ 
orology must be taken from above., according 
to the profuud remarks of M. Biot, at the 
French Academy of Sciences. 
11. Dove’s law of the change of winds 
may be thus resumed: — 1. When in the 
northern hemisphere, currents of air coining 
from the equator, alternate with polar cur¬ 
rents, the wind makes the tour of the com¬ 
pass oftenest in the order south, west, north, 
east, and south. 2. In the southern hemis¬ 
phere it is the reverse, south, east, north, west 
and south. 8. The Influence of the wind 
upon meteorological phenomena, combined 
with this law of its change, shows two parts 
of the compass, opposed in all respects, the 
region of the oast and that of the west, where 
the atmospheric variations offer a correspond¬ 
ence with the instruments, which it is easy 
to grasp. We see, t herefore, that, this im¬ 
portant law of M. Dove can powerfully ad¬ 
vance us towards scientific prevision , if we 
add M. Buys Ballot’s method of warts, 
which consists in taking the difference be¬ 
tween the highest and lowest standing of the 
barometer, thermometer, etc. 
Now, if the change of clouds, from Cirrus 
to FYaclo-cumulus,— that is to say, from an 
altitude of at least 10,000 metres to the sur¬ 
face of the earth, really obeys the same law 
of the change of winds, then our previsions 
acquire a greater degree of certainty. 
In 1868 the wind til Havana completed 
twenty-three rotations, conjointly with Cu¬ 
mulus; these latter, twenty-five rotations; 
Cirro-cumulus, eighteen, and Cirrus , seven¬ 
teen. Two rotations, from 29th of June to 
19Lh of October, were not accompanied with 
those of the wind. 
responding with the first, and that, in fine, 
those of Cirrus are still further removed. It 
also appears that the rotations are less fre¬ 
quent in tiie higher regions than at the sur¬ 
face, and that the first of the Cirrus, due to 
the equatorial current, tire borne rather to 
the west, and especially to the southwest; 
while the second of the Cumulus , arising 
from the polar current, are confined more to 
the region of the east, from north to south¬ 
east. 
Whatever maybe the regularity presented 
by the circulation of the winds, and of the 
clouds in the Tropics, and whatever care, 
also, is taken in studying it, this circulation 
is not yet exempt from perturbations which 
mask a little the precise moment of the be¬ 
ginning and end of each rotation. The 
southeast trade winds, and the configuration 
of the ground, are among Lite number of 
general disturbing causes, while the land and 
sea breezes, the cloudinesss of the stratum of 
Cumulus, which is more or less time pro¬ 
longed, and covers that of Cirro-cumulus, or 
these latter, that of Cirrus, their inclination 
in space, aud consequently their transforma¬ 
tion accidental and sudden, constitute the 
local disturbing causes. 
1 surmise, besides lire existence of a great 
animal rotation analogous to the monthly 
rotations, and which puts a stamp on those 
atmospheric variations, due to the earth’s 
motion of translation, the same as the sec¬ 
ond, more particularly depend upon our 
planet’s motion of rotation, both belonging 
to each climate of the terrestrial zones, hav¬ 
ing regard to the distribution of continents 
and seas, and to their physical constitution. 
These annual rotations appear to commence 
and terminate at the north ; for the Cirrus in 
October, for iltc Cirro-Cumulus in Novem¬ 
ber, for the Cumulus in December, and for 
the wind in January. According to this, 
the superior current employs a month in ac¬ 
complishing its rotation from stratum to 
stratum, continually approaching the sur¬ 
face of the earth, and three months in reach¬ 
ing it. 
Lieutenant Maury claims that the trade 
winds are so constant, and uniform that their 
direction no more changes than the current 
of the Mississippi. I do not share the opin¬ 
ion of this savant, for the observations at 
Havana demonstrate, on the contrary, that 
the north trade wind varies from northeast, 
and, sometimes, north northeast up to east 
northeast, chiefly from December to May, 
the time at which the current from the 
northern hemisphere appears to he stronger 
than that from the southern, and conse¬ 
quently it approaches the equator. Itt the 
second part of the year, from June to No- 
Bometimes we find that all the strata of vember, the south polar current being more 
clouds up to the Cirrus, complete their rota- intense, drives back the first, and advances 
tion at the north on the same day and at the to the latitude of Havana, and probably to 
same hour. At other times, and these are the the parallel of 80' north, the trade wind then 
more numerous, the wind gains upon the Cu- vary fag from east northeast to southeast. 
vntli, these upon the Cirro-cumuli, and these 
latter upon the Cirri; that is to say, from be¬ 
low upward instead oftiom above downward, 
as before their rotation. This fact seems to 
contradict the hypothesis that the superior 
currents determine gradually the inferior 
currents. This, however, is owing to the 
fact that the currents are inclined, forming 
very nearly an angle of 45" with the surface 
of the earth, so that they are first felt at a 
point more to the north, falling by degrees 
until they attain all the points of their jour¬ 
ney toward the south, through which they 
have passed above, until their extinction 
naturally, or produced by the shock of other 
opposite currents. This appearance of the 
inferior current before the superior, is es¬ 
pecially frequent in low regions. It is pre¬ 
sented five times against four alone between 
the wind and Cumulus, and four other times 
simultaneously. In the higher regions, six 
times against five, the Cirro-cumulus ap¬ 
peared before the Cirrus, and in three other 
cases at the same tune. The Cumulus, in 
their turn, gained eleven times against two 
upon the Cirro-cumulus, and twice again 
they happened at the same time. 
By reason of the opposition or inversion 
of temperature between land and sea, the 
wind chases toward the south in the even¬ 
ing, and in the morning toward the north. 
The influence of these local movements of 
Bo the limits of the displacement in latitude 
of the trade winds depends more particularly 
on the respective intensity of the polar cur¬ 
rents of each hemisphere. We see, there¬ 
fore, that 1 lie time of appearance which I 
have established for Fntcto-cumulus , and 
Cumulus, seems to correspond with the dis¬ 
placement of the trade winds. 
In fine, it is at the moment when the rota¬ 
tions of the wind, and of Cumulus, corres¬ 
pond toward the southwest with that of the 
equatorial current, that storms and great 
showers have generally taken place, in pres¬ 
ence of a compact stratum, and a condensa¬ 
tion of superior Pullio-cirrus, and another 
stratum of inferior PuUio-cumnlus. But as 
soon as the wind and the Cumulus revolve 
to the west, the storm begins to clear off, 
and the barometer rises. Finally, when 
these first two rotations terminate at the 
north, the weather is completely re-estab¬ 
lished. The stratum of Pallio-cum ulus opens 
up, is broken, continues thus to chase from 
the Bouthwest; then it revolves, in its turn, 
toward the north, in order, later, to com¬ 
mence a new rotation. The second stratum 
of superior Pullio-cirrus behaves in like man¬ 
ner, and disappears also. 
Such are the principal facts concerning the 
azimuthal rotation of the winds and clouds, 
and, in general, of the diverse questions 
which have been treated in the course of 
the breeze is such, in the general circulation, these summary instructions, with regard to 
that it may retard the rotation of the wind, 
which terminates at the north, not only 
many hours, but besides from 90 to 180 in 
azimuth. The action of the sea breeze seems 
to be more considerable than that of the land 
which it is of the highest importance to fix 
the attention of observers in all parts of tbe 
world. Indications analogous to those which 
the observations made at the Observatory of 
Havana have furnished us, should they he 
breeze; but the breezes are much less sen si- contradictory under identical latitudes, either 
hie upon the Cumulus and Cirro-cumulus, by reason of the difference in longitude, or 
especially when these latter are elevated, by the difference in the topography ot the 
ami they did not seem to reach the region of countries explored, will not be the less bli¬ 
the Cirrus. The continuance of each rota- portant on this account, and they will uou- 
tion varied considerably in 1863, as follows: duet us to a true conception of atmospheric 
Days. Hours. Days. Hours, circulation altogether, by putting oil the 
FnJt^clmir^muius; 5 5 l ° " “ track of rational and scientific previsions. 
from....... • • . . 3 ^ to ® Thev will, moreover, serve to verify Lieuten- 
Fo?tbtwtnd" from ro “: 4 o to ri 1 a nt Maury’s hypothesis upon the inversion 
The month of July did not present a single ()f , he po]ar ai ' u \ equatorial currents which 
rotation of any of these four elements. It ^ aa established in the Zone ot Culms, 
should he remarked that the greater number - 
oruie wln.l> rotations are accompanied by taSWtoSSSS 
another rotation in the Cumulus, that those tiine ; wheat looks well. Corn, oO&cOo.; wheat, 
of Cirro-cumulus are more rare and less cor- 40@<»c-; potatoes, 50c.— j. a. k. 
