234 
MOORE’S RURAL M EW-Y0RKER. 
APRIL 14 
cdjidd <%0JJSS. 
G. W. OAMPBELL’S COMPLIMENTS TO 
F, M, HEXAMER. 
In the Rural New-Yorker of the 7th of 
March Mr. Hexamer “responds to G. W. 
Campbell.” I ilnd this response ingenious 
in evading the real subject under considera¬ 
tion, and remarkable only in the way of de¬ 
nying what was not asserted, in repelling 
accusations that were not made, in using 
harsh epithets, and in imputing motives 
which had no existence outside of his ex¬ 
cited and, as I think, somewhat disordered 
imagination. 
I think it will trouble Mr. Hexamer to 
show where 1 stated that I was induced to 
invest $3 in Compton’s Surprise potato by 
“ false representations." I was induced to 
invest the aforesaid amount by the represen¬ 
tations of those interested in its sale, and 
who were doubtless influenced “ by the sake 
of gain;” the results were not what I thought 
might have been reasonably expected from 
these representations ; but it remained for 
Mi'. Hexamer to characterize them as 
“false.” if they are so, it ri so much the 
worse for him and his coadjutors. 
Mr. H. says I had not seen the picture 
when I bought those potatoes. I never 
claimed that I had. I was, however, under 
the impression that I had seen the picture at 
the time referred to ■-when I dug my crop. 
But this is of little consequence, so long as I 
had seen the following statement in Messrs. 
Bliss & Son’s circulars, spread broadcast 
over the country, in regard to the “ wonder¬ 
ful ” character of Compton’s Surprise potato: 
“This wonderful potato —wonderful for 
Its flue quality, productiveness, size and 
beauty (I)—is how offered to the public for 
the first time. * * * The product of the 
half pound was three hundred and ninety- 
one pounds, sixty-two pounds of beautiful 
tubers being picked from Ike surface of a 
measured rod, as it is a peculiarity of this 
potato that it matures a crop on the surface 
■under the foliage." 
Now, without discussing the question 
whether that picture was drawn according 
to “first principles,” or second principles, or 
with a certain disregard of principle, I must 
confess that in my unsophisticated inno¬ 
cence, when connected with the above state¬ 
ment, I really believed it to be intended to 
represent that " surface crop” lying around 
loose under the vine, and that another crop 
was understood to be buried away under the 
surface out of sight, is it aocordiug to the 
“first principles” of drawing to represent 
things a3 visible which in Nature, like pota¬ 
toes growing under ground, are invisible ? 
And if those potatoes lying under the vine, 
in sight, do not represent it, where is the 
“surface crop ?” And if drawn without 
representing the “peculiarity of this pota¬ 
to,” to use Mr. H.’s elegant language, is it 
not a “base falsehood” and “false repre¬ 
sentation ?” 
Mr. H. seems to have been rendered un¬ 
happy by my inquiry if this potato had not 
received his indorsement; but straightway 
quotes an article of his own, showing that it 
haul Strangely enough, he then intimates 
that a “natural fool” should not have been 
induced to buy upon his indorsement,! I 
may be somewhat of this opinion, but hav¬ 
ing some claim to “bo a gentleman,” i 
should have hesitated to put it in just that 
language. 
Another cause of offense was my inquiry 
if he, Hexamer, did not know everything 
that could be known about potatoes, and 
every tiling else. There is no need to make 
this inquiry any more, for lie has perfectly 
satisfied me that he does not. 
“Were not the gentlemen who introduced 
it of the most marvelous veracity V It 
seems to me not a little strange that this 
inquiry should, have been characterized by 
Mr. Hexamer as an insinuation of “ base 
falsehoods,” and an attempt, “for the sake 
of gain,” to “defame and slander men whose 
integrity and honor stand so far above re¬ 
proach as the gentlemen who introduced 
Compton’s Surprise potato.” Mr. H. seems 
to have very intimate relations with the 
gentlemen referred to, as both their private 
and business communications are open to 
him, and I have thought it just possible that 
the “sake of gain ” may have influenced his 
vigorous defense of their reputation when it 
certainly was not seriously assailed. I should 
not regard a reputation as of much account 
that needed such powerful assertion as Mr. 
II. deems necessary in reply to so modest a 
question. Nor do I sea the necessity for 
using such hard words in vindication of a 
reputation so impregnable. 
Still I must think the statements of these 1 
gentlemM?^ regard to Compton’s Surprise, 
as well as some of its predecessors, have 
been, when compared with results, open to 
a suspicion of “ marvelousness.” The Peer¬ 
less potato was represented by them as 
“peerless in quality,” cooking “ like a flour- 
ball.” I have found it yellowish, waxy, 
strong und decidedly inferior; and 1 have 
yet to see the man in this region who wishes 
to eat, to plant, or to buy it a second time. 
Compton’s Surprise has in some places, with 
extraordinary care, produced enormously, 
und will doubtless continue to do so under 
the same circumstances. But Mr. Salter, 
who took the premium for the largest crop, 
says Ids usual yield of such kinds as Early 
Rose, King of the Earlies, Early Mohawk, 
&c.,i» 000 bushels per acre. He produces these 
results with all varieties by reason of his re¬ 
markable soil and his extraordinary care 
und culture. With me, Compton’s Surprise 
proved just what I stated, no better in any 
respect than, several other varieties planted 
in its vicinity, and inferior to some seedlings 
of the same year. I do not think I risk 
much in predicting, although it is of fair 
quality, that on account of it* unattractive 
appearance it. will before long take its place 
among geuerally-neglocted varieties. 
In conclusion I will venture to offer Mr. 
JEL this advioe, which I hope he will take 
kindly, and t hat is to scrutinize his own mo¬ 
tives closely before he imputes improper 
ones to others. And I will also suggest that 
if lie takes care of his own reputation, per¬ 
haps Messrs. Bliss & Sons may be able to 
guard theirs, if no more dangerous questions 
are asked than the one I propounded. 
Delaware, Ohio. Geo. W. Campbell. 
-- 
LUCERNE OR ALFALFA. 
The Rural New-Yorker is in receipt of 
inquiries from various quarters concerning 
the value and adaptability of this plant as a 
pasture and hay crop in Northern latitudes. 
We have had no experience with it, but give 
such testimony as we find concerning it. 
The Massachusetts Ploughman of a recent 
date, lias; the following : 
Lucerne wants a deep, rich, mellow loam, 
with an open or porous subsoil into which 
the roots can penetrate and run with free¬ 
dom, A tolerably moist soil is preferable, 
but as it draws a large proportion of its 
moisture and nutriment from the subsoil, 
and from the atmosphere, it will stand a 
drouth better than most other plants. A 
limestone or calcareous subsoil is desirable, 
and if the upper or tillable soil is sandy it is 
all the better. It must be loose or porous 
anyhow. 
Lucerne is more liable to be Injured uud 
killed out by weeds during the first year of 
its growth than almost any other forage 
crop, and hence in Europe, where it is most 
extensively cultivated, it is the general prac¬ 
tice to sow it in drills, so that it can be par¬ 
tially cultivated and kept clean in its early 
growth. It pays to hand-hoe it the first 
season until it has become firmly rooted, 
for when it is once firmly fixed in the soil 
suited to it, it is practically permanent and 
furnishes one of the very best soiling crops 
that we can cultivate. We have seen it grow 
stout and strong, sixteen years after sowing 
in the soil. 
A very intelligent writer about it, who 
speaks from actual trial says :—“ Its roots 
penetrate fourteen feet deep, and hence a 
hard subsoil is fatal to its successful growth. 
It arrives at its greatest perfection after 
three years. In one recorded case, eleven 
acres sufficed to keep eleven horses two 
hundred and ninety-two days. In another, 
a field of eight acres kept eight horses three 
hundred and fifteen days. In both cases a 
large number of sheep were fed on the 
ground after the last cutting for the horses. 
Chancellor Livingston of Columbia Co., N. 
Y,, cut twenty-five tons from an acre in five 
mowings. It is ready fur cutting about the 
first of May, and may be cut over every 
thirty days thereafter. It is remarkably 
adapted to milch cows where the milk is sold 
in the market, but butter made from it is 
not so sweet as from other grasses. It is 
greatly relished by horses und cattle. One 
hundred pounds of it will make twenty 
pounds of dry hay, and its nutritious powers 
bear such a relation to those of Timothy 
that it is worth JS3.33 per ton where that 
grass is worth $5. The only difficulty with 
Lucerne is to get it started. It must be sown 
in drills and carefully liopd till it is large 
enough to cover the ground. If this precau¬ 
tion is taken and a drouth does not occur 
just as the young plants are starting, it will 
be pretty sure to succeed and will last from 
twenty-five to thirty years. If, however, it 
is overrun with weeds at the beginning, or a 
severe drouth occurs, it grows feebly and 
soondiea out. The seed is covered with a 
very bard aud compact coat, which, if the 
weather be dry, will greatly retard vegeta¬ 
tion. It is therefore generally the practice 
to steep it in warm water to soften the coat, 
for six or eight hours before sowing. From 
fourteen to eighteen pounds of seed are 
usually sown on an acre, but as many of the 
seeds are imperfect, and as flue and succu¬ 
lent plants are more desirable than coarse 
and rank ones, it is better economy to sow 
twenty-five pounds.” This looks formidable 
to one who has never experimented with it, 
but let no one who has just the right land 
and location be terrified. 
We have tried Lucerne sown just like red 
clover and we never saw the rankest weed or 
any other plant make so rapid and luxuriant 
a growth. After cutting, we have seen it 
muke eight or ten inches of splendid growth 
in less than a week. It is wonderful how it 
grows if the soil and location are all right. 
We think everything of Lucerne for a 
soiling crop. We know of no forage crop 
that will endure so frequent cutting, or fur¬ 
nish bucIi an abundance of nutritious feed. 
But we do not advise any one to bother with 
it, unless he has a soil such as we have de¬ 
scribed. it is a very exacting plant in its 
early growth, and will have its own way. it 
should be sown in early spring, on clean soil. 
- +-++ - 
FIELD NOTES. 
H ungarian Grass —(H. W.l.—If you sow 
Hungarian grass for the seed, sow them—say 
not over half a bushel per acre, and if the 
land is rich, less will answer. But if you 
sow for forage, seed thickly, uud three- 
fourths of a bushel is not too much seed. 
Sow from the 10th to the 25lli of June, it 
designed for forage it should be cut when in 
bloom and always before the seed forms ; if 
for seed, when the seed is perfectly formed. 
Cut for forage, as we direct, it is good food 
for any kind of stock. Winter wheat will do 
well after it, if the ground is rich enough. 
New Pumpkin.—A new species of pump¬ 
kin is announced from the Jardin d’Accumu¬ 
lation at Paris, under the Spanish name of 
“ Zap--'Hi to de troneo ” or tree pumpkin. It 
differs from other pumpkins, as it does not 
run, but is more upright than the Bush Scol¬ 
lop Squash, “ with uumerous fruits hanging 
from the stem, six or eight inches in diame¬ 
ter, said to be of excellent flavor and quali¬ 
ty.” The- seeds were obtained from Buenos 
Ayres. 
Red Osaka Wheat is highly spoken of by a 
Minnesota wheat grower, who thinks it far 
superior to either the Rio Grande or Fife. 
He got 20 bushels per acre alongside these 
other varieties that produced but In bushels. 
Grows 25 to 28 bushels per acre of it with 
ordinary culture. Gets a No. 1 price for it. 
Golden Ball Turnip.—In reply to A. S. 
Nash, I will say that tins is a poor variety to 
raise in this locality, because of rotting, it 
begins to rot in the center and still keeps 
growing. When you take hold of the top it 
comes off and leuvus the middle all “por¬ 
ridge.”—A, W. H., Greenfield , Mass. 
Best Kind of Corn to Sow for Fodder .— 
Some of uy neighbors insist that sweet corn 
is the beet to sow as a fodder corn. 1 should 
be glad of the experience of the practical 
readers of the Rural New-Yorker in refer¬ 
ence to this matter, as a guide to operations 
this spring.—S. B. Johnson. 
Harrowing Wheat in Spring .—The editor 
of the Maryland Farmer ..ays; —“We are de¬ 
cidedly in favor of harrowing wheat in 
spring, whether clover seed be sown at the 
time or not. Our most successful wheat grow¬ 
ers in this country pursue this practice.” 
Bean Culture. — “Western Farmer” 
“ thanks * Western New York ’ very heartily 
for the in formation he published in regard to 
Bean Culture in the Rural New-Yorker of 
March 27. it contained just wliat. I wanted 
to know.” 
Thorhurn's Late Hose. Potato , according 
to Robert K. Tomlinson, Brownsburg, Pa., 
ripers about the same time as the Peerless, 
resembles the Early Rose, but surpasses the 
hitter in both quality and yield. 
Kentucky Blue Grass. — H. W. asks: — 
“ What kind of soil is adapted to the growth 
of Kentucky Blue grass i How much seed 
per acre!” Any limestone soil. Three bush 
els of seed per aero. 
Field Peas.— Several correspondents ask 
experienced readers to state what varieties 
of peas are best for field culture for stock 
feeding, when they should be sown and 
how, &c. 
Kingsbury’s Excelsior Corn is pronounced 
by an Amherst, Mass., farmer, “one of the 
most valuable varieties 1 have ever grown.” 
DO BEES MAKE HONEY! 
I A correspondent of the American Bee 
Journal says Last September I fed my 
bees about twenty-five pounds of coffee- 
sugar syrup per stock, after extracting all of 
their natural stores. This amount I fed all 
at once, in Novice’s tea-kettle feeder. In 
about one week afterwards, to satisfy my¬ 
self, I cut out some of the comb, w hich was 
filled with the syrup, and, without inform¬ 
ing any one, placed it on the tea-table. It 
looked as nice as any white clover honey you 
ever saw, and there was not one in my fam¬ 
ily of four, on tasting it, but that pro¬ 
nounced it sugar syrup, when they were not 
previously informed of the fact. No one 
could be deceived by it; there was not a 
particle of honey taste about it. 
Chemical analysis may disprove my theo¬ 
ry ; but for all practical purposes, for the 
table, sugar sirup, when worked over by 
bees for honey, is an utter failure. Sirup 
may undergo some chemical change in the 
receptacle of the bee, but I imagine it is so 
little that an epicure could not perceive it. 
Still, I think it is as good food for bees as 
any natural stores. 
FOUL BROOD IN HIVES. 
A. Pettigrew, un experienced English 
Apiarian says:—Foul brood in bee hives is 
au incurable malady. From Borne cause, and 
in some seasons more than others, larvae or 
half-hatched bees perish in their cells. These 
cells are at first separate from each other, 
and are covered with lids concave in form ; 
the lids of healthy, normal brood are convex 
or rounded. The cells of dead brood multi¬ 
ply fast, and by reason of their numbers 
come in contact with one another. This 
disease does not appear to spread by contact 
or touch, but by the multiplication of cells 
all over the brood combs. The matter in the 
cells is of ti dirty red colour, as thick as 
honey, and almost as offensive to the smell 
as rotten eggs. The matter of foul brood is 
so putrid and offensive to bees that all pros¬ 
perity departs from hives hi which it is 
found; indeed the bees of infected hives 
frequently abandon them, and go off' as 
swarms ; sometimes they creep underneath 
their boards und build their combs there. Of 
course experienced bee keepers do not keep 
diseased hives till they become uninhabitable. 
The stench of this disease can be easily 
smelt outside the hive, and symptoms of its 
existence may be seen in the conduct of the 
bees. 
BEE NOTES AND QUERIES. 
“ What Is the Best Bee Hive?" —So asks a 
correspondent of the Rural New-Yorker. 
Strange as it may seem, the question has 
been asked of us a few times before. We 
have never been able to answer it except 
by raying we do not happen to know ; and 
probably there are not a half-dozen bee 
keepers in the country who would unite in 
recommending the same hive as “ the best.” 
Asters as Bee Plants. —A correspondent of 
the Rural New -Yorker writes:—“I am 
satisfied the common Aster is an excellent 
honey-producing plant. A friend of mine, 
an experienced bee keeper, recommended it 
to me, and my experience with it two sea¬ 
sons confirms the recommendation.” 
To Keep Moths Out of a Hive. — Au Il¬ 
linois lady says * A teacupful of Italian bees 
will keep all the. moths out of a hive. You 
need not buy a hive which runs to a point at 
the bottom so that the moths will roll out; 
an Italian swarm of bees are a perfect pro¬ 
tection against moths. 
Remedy for Bee Slings. —A bee Leeper 
says :—“ I have made one discovery—that a 
preparation of Ledum palustre (LaLradcr 
(Tea homceopathically prepared is a sover¬ 
eign remedy for bee stings.” But lie does 
not tell us hmc to prepare it. 
Italians vs. Black Drones.—Mrs. Tupper 
asserts that Italian bees rear drones two 
weeks in advance of the common black bee 
under the same conditions of season and 
weather 
Sunflowers as Bee Plants .—The American 
Bee Journal says :—“We esteem sunflowers 
valuable bee plants, though we do not think 
they furnish much honey—only pollen.” 
Pine Lumber is regarded by experienced 
bee keepers as the best that can be used in 
the construction of hives. Thin answers “ A 
Beginner.” 
