350 
©ORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER 
MAY 3© 
giarjj of a pluralist. 
DAILY RURAL LIFE. 
From the Diary or a Centleman near New 
York City. 
A LOOK AT THE GARDEN. 
May 15.—Only fifteen days ago, a* I looked 
out of my library window, snow banks 
greeted me on every side, and summer had 
given us no signs of its coming. But what a 
Change has been wrought by a fesv warm 
days and accompanying genial showers! 
The spring birds were hovering near; for the 
first warm day they came in flocks, and the 
Snow Buntings gave their places to Zlobins, 
Orioles, Chimney Hivallows and the over- 
welcome Humming bird. The wonderful, 
and almost miraculous change iu the fauna, 
has been followed with an equal rapid trans¬ 
formation of the flora, for the leafless branch 
of yesterday is now clothed with verdure and 
the gayest of flowers, The glass and grow¬ 
ing grain has put on that glowing, rich tint 
of green never seen except when first waked 
from their long slumbers. To say that Na¬ 
ture smiles to-dav would be far too mild a 
term ; for she laughs, roars, and the birds 
fairly hurrah ! each trying to outdo its fel¬ 
low in hailing the long luoked-for and ever- 
welcomc spring. Hard the heart and barren 
the brain that cannot join in the glad chorus 
of the happy throng which people this earthly 
paradise of ours. 
The profusion of flowers upon every fruit 
t ree give promise of an abundant crop, while 
the ornamental plants seem to vie with the 
useful in casting aside the somberhue which 
has so long enveloped all. The earliest spring 
flowers appear to have waited for company, 
this season, else the late have come forward 
ahead of time for the same purpose, for here 
w e have t hem to-day all together. The For 
sythia’s belated Golden Bells, become com¬ 
panions of the Apple blossoms, while the 
early Snowdrop haa scarcely had time to hide 
before its more showy neighbor, t he gay Tu¬ 
lip, lifts its head and says to all admirers of 
brilliant colors, “ Look at me,” The large 
and conspicuous flowers of the Chinese Mag¬ 
nolia trees still remain upon stems barren of 
leaves, but they are. drooping, as though con 
scious of having made a slight mistake in 
regard to time, and must therefore hurry 
On, making room l'or leaves which are fast 
crowding them. .lust, below, among more 
humble plants, there is a group of Pyrus Ja- 
ponicas, perhaps the most brilliant of all the 
early-blooming shrubs. The flowers are an 
inch in diameter and of a brilliant, crimson 
scarlet, and produced in such profusion that 
the bush, when in full bloom, looks like 
a heap of glowing, burning coals, hence one 
of the common names of this shrub, "Burn¬ 
ing Bush.” A variety of (Ids species has 
semi-double flowers, which arc, if it be pos- i 
silile, even of a more vivid color than the i 
original. In another variety the flowers are ; 
pink, or pale rose and white, while a newer 
and more rare sort has flowers of the purest 
white. 
The hum of bees, wasps and flies, as well 1 
as the frequent visits of the Hummingbirds t 
to this group of beautiful shrubs, reminds me a 
that there are others of God's creatures who T 
enjoy them as well as man, and for aught 1 1 
know, it was for this they wore created. A 1 
few steps further on I came upon a bod of i 
Daphne cneorutn, a low, trailing, evergreen t 
shrub, bearing a profusion of very fragrant e 
pink flowers. It is a native of the mountains a 
of Austria, and although far from being a d 
novelty with our nurserymen, still few per- I 
sons outside t he profession appear to know t 
this charming little plant. The flowers are ii 
produced in clusters on the ends of the small 
branches, ami their fragrance reminds one r< 
of the old Clove Pink. The plants are read- o 
ily propagated by layers or cuttings under o 
glass, and are as hardy as could be desired. C 
They bloom in early spring and usually again t< 
in autumn. ' tl 
The Dwarf .Tune berry, (.1 melanchkr pu- 01 
mi hi), with its wealth of pure white flowers, 
deserves a word of praise in passing, and so tl 
do the old Double Pink and White Dwarf ^ 
flowering Almonds, not omitting the early- 
flowering, plum-leaved Spiraea. Then hero a . 
by their side I find the Japan Judas tree, 
with its beautiful purple flowers, and our tc 
own native species found abundantly in near- s< 
lj' all the Western States, and although not 
quite equal to its Japanese namesake, still it 1 
is desirable as an ornamental shrub, or small 
tree. But my pencil will not keep pace with S 1 
Nature, for buds open and leaves unfold more 
rapidly than I can record their names, and I c 
will fill this page by wishing that every fam- sc 
I ily in the land possessed a beautiful flower 
garden and a disposition and capacity for 
enjoying the same. 
NEW VARIETIES OF POTATOES. 
May 10.—A plain old farmer like myself 
may not care much who wins in the race for 
producing the best new variety of potato ; 
still he may dislike to be called an old fogy, 
and not know something about the new sorts, 
whether they are late, early, good or bad. 
i confess to be getting a little tired of seek¬ 
ing perfection in this very Important edible 
tuber and not finding it, even among the 
one. two, or three dollar per pound sorts. It 
may be that we are all aiming too high, and 
should consider many of the veiy best varie¬ 
ties as perfect as it is possible to make a 
potato. Several years ago I tested the new 
sorts raised by Mr. Goodrich, and although 
promising well at first, they all proved to he 
inferior to the old varieties. But following 
close upon this came the Early Rose, which 
proved to be so much superior to any of our 
uld, very early sorts, that 1 felt for one well 
repaid for all the time and money spent upon 
worthless varieties in previous years. The 
mperior qualities of this last-named variety 
ncreased my confidence in the originators 
>f new sorts, consequently I have just tried 
i few of each new claimant for favor every 
ipring, until my list of tested varieties 
imoimts to more than one hundred. List 
rear I cut down the number of varieties to 
tbouta dozen, retaining the Early Rose and 
ild Peach Blow as standard sorts, both for j 
lome use and market. 
Among the new sorts, Compton’s Surprise 
lad such an ugly look (the skin being a dark, 
iluish purple) that 1 almost condemned if at j 
irst sight. By referring to the advertise , 
nent of the dealer from whom i received , 
ny stock, as well as the description given j 
his variety by the originator, I noticed that , 
ot one word was said about, the color of the 
kin, although the variety was highly com , 
tended for its beauty, all of which looked j 
uspieious at least. But 1 concluded to plant J 
,’liat I had, and learn from experience . 
whether it was good or bad. The yield L 
roved to be satisfactory, and this sort was t 
iored in the cellar along with several others, , 
ut none were cooked until towards spring, ; 
'lien to my surprise I found we had been , 
eglecting to test the very cream of the cok , 
iclion in anything except color. Of course, 0 
potato of the color of Compton’s Surprise n 
in never become popular for market, and r 
s every farmer expests to have a few to 
‘arc, he will choose varieties that look well , 
ten if not of superior quality. Tiiig variety t 
appropriately named the "Surprise,” for , 
it is one of the blackest, nieauest-lookiug p 
sorts on the outside I ever .saw; but when p 
boiled the inside is like a ball of the whitest ,, 
wheat flour. ^ 
Extra Early Vermont. —This variety Cl 
proved to be first-rate in all respects, being p 
early, good quality, yields well, and so near 
the Early Rose that there is not room for a « 
toss of a penny hetwecu the two as they 0! 
grow in my grounds. 
Campbell's Late Rose.—When dug last fall, a 
1 was inclined to take up the war club against v , 
those who were talking disparagingly of this p] 
variety. The yield was certainly satisfae- q 
tory; the tubers large and handsome - but a 
when we came to cook them, then their true p ] 
natnre appeared. The large specimens were in 
hollow, and those of medium size had a hard bt 
lump in the center which no amount of boil- p ] 
ing would soften. I have tried them again a , 
this spring, and although an excellent keep- ra 
er, that “central” defect, 1 fear, will keep it to 
out of good society. Not desiring to con- it 
demn a variety without giving it a fair trial, on 
I have planted a few again this spring, with ol 
the hope that they -will do better in ’74 than to 
c#u:m (Bcoitorng. 
VEGETABLE MANURES. 
Dr. Pendleton, of the Agricultural Uni¬ 
versity of Georgia, has made a report of 
certain experiments with manures to the 
Georgia Agricultural Convention, which con¬ 
tains some facts t hat are of interest to farm¬ 
ers. In regard to vegetable manures he says: 
“The importance of vegetable mold tube 
used in conjunction with fertilizers was test¬ 
ed as follows :—One row with enough mold 
from the woods to half fill the furrow, with 
ammonlated phosphate at the rate of 800 
lbs. per acre, made 900 lbs. of seed cotton. 
The fertilizer without the mold made 742 
lbs.; the natural soil 4-52 lbs. The fertilizer 
with the vegftable mold, made 128 percent, 
on production ; without it only 71 per cent.; 
showing that the presence of organic matter 
in a soil adds much to its production when 
fertilizers are used. 
“ The importance of husbanding the vege¬ 
table matter of the soil, cannot he impressed 
too often or too deeply on the cultivators of 
I lie soil. Where a good crop of grass, weeds 
or pea-vines or other plants have decayed in 
a soil, there is enough of all the mineral sub¬ 
stances left in an available condition, except 
phosphoric acid, to make a fair crop of any 
of the farm products. One. thousand lbs. of 
grass decomposed in the soil will furnish four 
times as much potash as will be required to 
make one thousand pounds of corn or wheat , 
and half enough phosphoric acid, with quite 
an overplus of all the other mineral Rub- 
stances. The straw of the cereals will fur¬ 
nish more than enough of every one of them 
except magnesia mid phosphoric acid ; near¬ 
ly enough of the former, and one-fourth 
enough of the latter. To make peas there 
ure enough of all the minerals in grass, with 
quite an overplus, except phosphoric acid; 
just half enough of this, and double enough 
of potash. Pea-vines furnish a superabund¬ 
ance of potash and Kmc, to make both corn 
and peas, in fact of every mineral substance 
except, phosphoric acid, There is about half 
enough of this to supply the demand. There 
is a sufficiency in grass to make the seed and 
grazed and fed on our rich pastures and large 
yielding corn fields during the coming sum¬ 
mer and winter. Sheep are not numerous, 
and are confined to a limited number of 
counties, and to a restricted area. But of 
fat hogs, corn, wheat, oats, barley, buck¬ 
wheat, potatoes and vegetables generally, 
fruits, hay, straw and fodder of all kinds, 
the country has been as completely drained 
as a well slaughtered animal of its life blood. 
If there should be a failure of this year’s 
crops, and a complete failure, there, would 
not only not be found a tenth of the amount 
of grain and hay necessary to carry the do¬ 
mestic animals over, but importation of food 
would have to be made into the State to 
save its population from suffering, if not 
from absolute starvation. It is surprising at 
what a rate, within a year, the country has 
been shorn of its hay, grain and straw stacks 
and to what an extant its corn cribs and 
grain bins have been removed and emptied. 
The country is so hare of accumulated agri¬ 
cultural products, as to suggest to one who 
did not know the facts that Illinois had suf¬ 
fered from at least three or four years’ failure 
of the crops in succession. 
-- .— 
ECONOMICAL NOTES. 
Reasons for Plotting Under Manure for 
Corn. Lyman Wall, in American Rural 
Home gives the following :—1. I get quicker 
returns than I would to let it lie until fall 
and use it on wheat : 2. I get, at least one- 
fourth more corn, and my corn stubble is in 
better condition for oats the following spring: 
5. My oat ground has some manure left for 
a crop of wheat in the fall, and one of the 
best reasons is “ that cultivating the corn 
and plowing and harrowing for oats, de¬ 
stroyed all the foul seeds contained in the 
manure, which would have grown with the 
wheat, had the manure been used as a top¬ 
dressing in the fall.” 
Preparing Rones.— J. B. Root,, a successful 
market gardener, furnishes the Western 
Fanner an account of his mode of fitting 
bones for applying to the land. They are 
liist broken coarsely with a heavy axe or 
sledge, and then placed in a concave block 
and crushed with a twenty pound weight 
fiber of cotton, of all these substances except working on a double spring pole. They are 
magnesia and phosphoric acid. The stalks i * lt m put in thin alternating layers with ma- 
of cotton will also furnish enough of all the ,luro > end the whole covered with 8 or 3 
mineral food except potash, magnesia ami inches of soil. The layers of the crushed 
phosphoric acid. These three are quite deti- hones arc not over half an inch thick; the 
cient. Thus allowing t hat the stalks of cot- i'W-T* ° {lhe stable manure about six inches, 
ton left in a field weigh as much as the seed Calcined Marl fora Turnip Crop -—Pit vnk 
taken from them, for every thousand pounds S. Holmes of South Carolina bought a ton 
there will be taken away eight pounds of of calcined marl in August 1878 ami applied 
phosphoric acid in the seed, more than is left it broadcast to a field designed for ruta 
in the stalk; ten pounds of potash and six bagas. He says ; — Better turnfos I have 
m me sialic; ten pounds ol potash and six bagas. He says : — Better turnips I have 
pounds of magnesia. And when it is remem- never known grown in South Carolina and 
bered under our system of clean culture, the they were remarkably sweet and delicate 
■ tney weie remarkably sweet and delicate, 
cotton stalk is about all the organic mat ter The seed was imported and appeared to be 
left in the field, and the cattle take off a good the genuine red top. The last of the crop we 
portion of this during the winter, it is not are now (April 7) using. They did not “ run 
wonderful that our lands deteriorate, our to seed” in March uml April as those from 
crops rust and purses remain empty. The American seed invariably do at this season ” 
inference is clear from the above facts, that //,„ m . . 
a good crop of grass and weeds or other * J uci man 
vegetable matter covered in the soil and , Where 
properly decomposed, will furnish a sufll- , ‘ t , * V gathered, is better 
p ii it i . . , uuupted to the gruwing of onions than anv- 
•*”"V 1,11 T ,m,,er “«i,l»tanca», to moke tMng „. e evs ,. l ltWh “““ “> 
phosphoric acid :-Tliat a piece of land run n, r J have dosed our onion beds 
in cotton for a number of years, will rapidly w, T neVe ‘' but th ° best 
be deprived, not only of its nitrogen but i ts l qmu ? tie i 9ave * 3 ’ ifc 
phosphoric acid, and gradually of its potash , , T e , De ’ imXy " 11 A ' ° or t ^ ree 
. , . 6 „. 1 tunes its bulk of gypsum, uiid arm fled to the 
and its magnesia : - That m a system of Corn hiUs at p i an £J tiu / e . 1 
rational agriculture, it is quite as important 
to husband the organic matter of the soil as „ r.nmiHtv !!f ii m—I have, close by, 
it is «oapply fertilizers of any kind :-Th„t w21S S.d‘.« “ ! Tell taSjS 
one of the most important processes for manure. Wifi this “barn-yard juice’’ un- 
obtaining soluble mineral food for plants, is diluted, do to pour along the drills of ’young 
_ i -i. .i.- . _M,. , , ■ . . onions from the seed ft.rill \tr i 11 if 
Talking of this variety reminds me that I 
received through the kindness of the Editors 
of the Rural New-Yorker, two specimens 
of a new aud unnamed seedling from Mr. 
Campbell, a few days since which, 1 regret 
to say, when cut up for planting, showed 
that there was almost room enough for an¬ 
other crop inside, both being hollow. 
Red Jacket ,—Somebody sent me a few 
tubers last year, with this name attached. 
While they yielded well and are of fair qual¬ 
ity, T do not think this sort is likely to take 
a very high place even among the list of red 
varieties. 
Platt's Seedling, Early Gem and Comp¬ 
ton s Acme are very good new sorts, but 
scarcely worthy of dissemination in the midst 
of so many that are really distinct and su¬ 
perior. 
to furnish Lhe land with vegetable matter by t i!^ OU y see< ^i a °d will it pay ine to 
» proper rotation of cropsT-That the min- do ‘° “ K ' U ' 
erol substances of plants become, in the verv Certainly it will “ do and will “pay.” 
The Cambridge Grape. —This is a new 
grape which has just, been offered iu Massa¬ 
chusetts. It is strongly recommended by 
Mi-. Hovey, who says it resembles the Con¬ 
cord in many of the characters which gives 
so much value to that popular variety. 
erul substances of plants become, in the very 
process which dissolves them, available fora 
succeeding generation of vegetable growth, 
by the extreme mechanical fineness to which 
they are reduced, and the action upon tl»em 
of the ammonia and carbonic acid, escaping 
from their albuminoids during the process of 
decay.” 
- +-+■* - 
THE COUNTRY BARE OF AGRICULTURAL 
PRODUCTS. 
B. F. J. writes the Country Gentleman 
from Champaign Co., 111., as follows The 
scarcity of agricultural products in the West., 
and especially in Central Illinois, at the 
present time, is a remarkable circumstance, 
and deserves a great deal more consideration 
than is given it. Of mules and horses there 
is a considerable supply in excess of the de¬ 
mand, and both are unusually cheap. In 
addition to the number of cattle in the State 
on the first of January, many thousand head 
have been bought and brought in, to be 
Fertilizer for Corn—The Rural Carolinian 
recommends ashes, plaster, cotton seed and 
woods meld Composted as follows :—4 bushels 
of ashes, one bushel plaster; 10 bushels 
woods mold. A pint of this mixture to a 
hill of corn, it says, will have a wonderful 
effect. 
Manhattan Phosphativ Blood Guano — 
Wm. Crozier says this is the best of the 
commercial fertilizers he lias ever used. He 
believes it pure blood and bone, and it has 
given the best results he has ever had from 
any commercial manure. 
- *■+■*■ - 
Blessings on Those who Make Presents 
of the Rural New-Yorker are invoked 
by Mrs. S. A. M,, who has received it from 
some friend, in this wise “ May the best of 
Heaven’s blessings rest upon those who make 
presents of the Rural New-Yorker to those 
who can appreciate. It is certainly ’More 
blessed to give than to receive.’ ?? 
