MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
(dfield djjnopis. 
THE BLISS POTATO PREMIUMS. 
Last winter B. K. Bliss & Sons offered 
premiums for Potatoes grown from their 
seedlings according to specified rules, re¬ 
quirements and limitations. The reports of 
growers competing for these prizes, with the 
evidence furnished os to the reliability of 
their statements have been submitted to a 
disinterested and unexceptionable commi ttee, 
which has just made a report, which we 
have received together with the statements 
of the growers. We publish here the com¬ 
mittee’s report, but cannot give space to the 
interesting statements of the competitors 
not fail to become soon a leading market 
potato. 
In submitting this report, permit us to 
suggest that should you hereafter offer 
HUniiar premiums for the largest yield from 
I one quarter of an acre, it would add much 
5 ® their value If a minimum for the quantity 
entitled to a premium—say 5000 lbs. from a 
quarter of an acre—should be agreed upon. 
Recptfuliy yours. 
(Signed,) George Thurber, 
F. M. IlaXAiCER, 
“ P. T. Quirk. 
c^m Orconamg. 
ABOUT 
)UT FERTILIZERS. 
VALUE OF LEACHED ASHES. 
CASTOR BEAN CULTURE. 
9CC lbs. 1100 
Lb* 
Bu»h. p- r Her*. 
l "c,'-47 
416 28-60 
*103 
"2,612 
178 8 60 
£0 
'.'2,584 
172 16-60 
40 
•EP 0 RT OF THE COMMITTEE. 
New Fork, Deoembor, 1,1874. 
Messrs, B. K. Bliss & Sons : Gentlemen : 
—The undersigned committee have to-day 
examined the various reports and affidavits 
of the competitors for the prizes offered by 
you last Spring. After a most careful and 
scrupulous investigation, which has fully 
satisfied us of the correctness of the state¬ 
ments, and the reliability of the persons who 
made thorn, we award the following pre¬ 
miums : 
rou TUB T.ABOKBT QUANTITY OF EXTRA EARLY 
VERMONT FROM ONE POUND OF SEED. 
1st Priie bo Atfre.1 K. Tit ns, Wllmine- 
ton, Wlndkiun Co„ Vt . . 708 lbs sinn 
20 Urlfce J. I. 8 I'-of. St, Cloud, Minn. (#8 •< 
,ki I fiau tu Rotnrt Li-wls. C&istlaton, 
.... Rensselaer Co., N. Y .. 690 •• 40 
4th Prize to (\ W. Walker. Wtutlilne- 
... t?"- Wash, O".. Kim. 074 •* 30 
6 th Pi izetu v, W. Tlioa. Wilmington, 
Wlmlhmw Oo,. Vt. GjQu •• 20 
6 th Prize to Htophon It. Pe Wolf. 
Purraboiu. Nova Scotia..... 616)4 M 10 
FOB THE LARGEST QUANTITY OP COMPTON’S BUR- 
PRISE PROM ONE POUND OP HEED, 
1st Prize to P. C. Wood. Either, Mont¬ 
gomery Co,. Ill .. am lbs *100 
2.1 Prize 10 Robert Lewis. Cuilaton. f 
lUmssola-ir O,.. X. Y... . 874 •* so 
3d Prize to A. Lovclona, White ilills, 
Wayne < ... Pa. KJ 2 4/1 
4tta PnzetoJ.I. Stilii-r.St.Cloud.Minn. 811 •• 30 
5tU Prize to 0. W. Walker, WAehijijf- 
Hi " 1 W “* ll -,P 0 • Kin. 654 ** 20 
6 th Prize t<i Chiis. Whiling, Jasper, 
Steuben Co.. N. V .. . 688)4 « 10 
FOR THE I.AR0F8T QUANTITY OF BROWNELL’S 
REACTV FROM ONE POUND OF SEED. 
1st Prize to II C. Pearson, Pitcairn, 
St. Lawrence Oo.. N. Y. 11)18 lbs. *100 
2d Prize to A. Loveless, White Mills, 
Wayne Co, Pa. . . 811 “ m 
3d Prize t°J.I. Salter, 8 LCloud,Minn. 7 H 2 *• 43 j 
4th Prtzo In Robert, l/rwis. Oastlulon, 
Rensselaer tin., Jv. Y....,. 740 « an 
6 tb Prize to Henry Bnilis. Canton, 8 t. 
Lawrenou On., N. V . 720K *• 20 
6 tU Pnzu to Glut*. Wliltlng, jHuper, 
Steuben &>., N. Y.. . 68014 “ 10 
FOR THE LARGEST QUANTITY OF EXTRA EAHLY VER¬ 
MONT OROWN ON A MEASURED &-AORE OP GROUND. 
..... . _ _ ... Lbs Bush. ji. rucu. 
Istl’risetoO.Fiteck.IluvUeB- 
yllle.l.yooml 'i, !>)., p„.c..’47 410 28C0 *103 
2d Prize 40 Jeff. C.TSoon, Kuli- 
Unv.i: Bents <U).P„ . 2.612 170 8 60 CO 
3d Prize to A. Hewlett, Kent, 
Portage Co., Ohio. -2,684 172 1G-60 40 
FOR THE LARGEST QUANTITY OF OOMPTON’S SUR¬ 
PRISE OROWN ON A MEASURED L-ACKE OF GROUND. 
. ... ... . Lb*. Bo»lt. p«r Her*. 
1st. Prize to Mr*. M. A . Royce, 
Home, Oreen lXi_, ]£. Tetm.7.360 490 *100 
FOR THE LARGEST QUANTITY OF BROWNELL’S 
BEAUTY grown on A MEASURED k-AURE OF GROUND 
. , _ , _ Lb*. Ruth. t»*r nzr*. 
lrt Prize to A. Rose, Penn 
Yuri, N. Y.8,899 693 16-60 *100 
2d Prize to D. Sleek, liuirha- * 
ville, Lyoomlnif Co., Pa....A0M 637 60 
For the second aeries of premiums there 
have been so few entries that every com¬ 
petitor receives a prize, ho that this trial can 
hardly be considered a test of the yield per 
acre, of the respective varieties of potatoes. 
This is very muoh to bo regretted, as it was 
expected that more valuable information 
would be derived from the reports of the 
modes of culture by which large crops are 
produoed on an acre of land, than from the 
information how one pound of seed is multi¬ 
plied a thousand fold. From many letters 
and other information before us we find that 
many larger yields from one quarter of au , 
acre, were obtained by non-oompetitors 
than by some of those who received prizes. 
The unfavorable season, and the destruction 
of the potato beetle over nearlv tbe entire 1 
country, have so much diminished the crops 1 
of many who intended to compete, that they s 
did not feal warranted in entering in to 
what they considered a bopless venture. 
We refrain from making any comments ^ 
on the astounding yields from single pounds, ’ 
as the reports of the successful competitors £ 
give full information of the modes by which 
tuese apparent miracles were performed. 
The older of the premium varieties, the 
Early Vermont and Compton’s (Surprise, 
seemed to have gained legions of new 
friends this year, while they have lost none . 
of their old ones. All are satisfied as to the 4 
superiority of the Early Vermont as an early c 
potato, for market as ivell as for the table, t 
In many localities where other early varie- c 
ties have failed entirely, the Early Vermont * 
has given most satisfactory results, leaving 1 
its rank undisputed as tho earliest and best c 
early potato in cultivation. 2 
Compton’s Surprise has given not less satis- a 
faction as a potato of the highest quality. 
In many reports, we find that “no praise 
can do justice to its excellent quality,” 
Brownell’s Beauty, the newest of the i 
three, baa made a most splendid record. J 
Not only has it given much the largest re- fl 
turns, from the single pounds as well as from 1 
the quarter acres, but it has also elicited the I I 
unanimous praise of all cultivators, and can f 
e The Rural New- Yorker has, from an 
a Illinois correspondent. (Macon Co.), an inquiry 
1 - about Castor Bean Culture. We can do no 
e better than to give the experience of another 
* Illinoisan, T. G. Means, Fanklin Co., Ill., as 
we find it in the Prairie Farmer in a Novem¬ 
ber issue. He says I have been acquainted 
with the culture of castor hearts for thirty 
: years, and I claim to know something about 
f them as grown in Southern Illinois. 
3 
r Prepare the ground as for corn. Lay off 
1 the rows fonr feet apart each way. Plant 
r one bushel reed to ten acres, covering with 
’ the plow. After the beans have sprouted, 
. and before they come up, pass over the 
ground with the harrow, which kills t.be 
young weeds. We cultivate as we do corn, 
except we usually have to hoe while young, 
, as they arc too tender to clean with the 
1 harrow. It is also customary to plow once 
1 or twice oftener than we do core. Thin to 
! one and two stalks, to the hill, generally 
two. 
We begin to gather the second week of 
August, this year in July, and instead of 
gathering three times, as the Kansas corres¬ 
pondent says; we have to gather ten or 
twelve timt’B, or from once to twice a week 
until frost. 
To gather the beans it takes three hands 
with a wagon and team. Straddle every fifth 
row, and always drive on tho same row, the 
same way at each gathering. 
Wo always clean off a yard on the ground, 
setting boards around the sides four feet 
high. Spread the pods on the yard, and if 
the sun is hot and weather fair, by keeping 
them well stirred, in three or four days they 
are ready to clean. If there is appearance 
of rain at any time when we have beans on 
the yard with half or more popped out, we 
have to sweep them into heaps and cover 
them, for getting wet injures them. 
On prairie land seven bushels is an average 
crop. But on timber laud they wifi yield 
from seven to fifteen bushels; making ^en 
bushels an average crop to the acre for this 
country, and it oftener falls below t han go^ 
above that amount. 
Your Kansas correspondent says this is a 
crop that does not interfere with the preser¬ 
vation of any other crop, which is generally 
true, but. it greatly interferes with the sowing 
1 of a wheat crop, for when the beans begin to 
ripen we must give them our whole tinu 
until after frost kills them, and theu it is too 
late to prepare the ground and sow a crop of 
wheat. 
As to its being more profitable than any 
other crop, I wifi say that castor beans cost 
$10.78>£ per acre to get them ready for 
market; while com costs $6.4$>£ per acre to 
get it in the crib ; and I have never grown a 
crop of castor beans that sold for as much a6 
a crop of com on the same ground would 
have sold for in the field, and thereby save 
tbe gathering. 
It is true that It is a crop that does not 
injure the soil, but it Is all a fallacy about ' 
driving away or destroying the mole. It 1 
■will not do it. 
It is not true that the leaves cover tho 
ground like those of a forest, but on the con- 
trary they dry up and wither away, so much 1 
so that there are none of them to be found 
soon after frost, and consequently the ground * 
is naked, with the exception of the stalks, 
which are not half the protection that corn- 1 
stalks are. 
Mr. Linsley is reported as saying before 
the Connecticut State Board of Agricul¬ 
ture .-—The best thing I ever did in my life, 
in the way of fertilizing, was to goto Spring- 
field, Mass., and buy seven thousand bushels 
of leached ashes, which I put on the old 
farm. I think Ihe gentleman who owns it 
now could toll you where the most of them 
wore put. A large portion of them I used as 
top dressing. I never used anything that 
yielded so much profit, in comparison with 
f the money spent. * * * Let me say here 
what rave roe my first clue to the value of 
ashes. When I was fourteen or fifteen years 
old, my father Bent me with a load of ashes, 
the refuse of soap-making, which I was to 
spread on a certain field. I got stuck going 
up a hill, and shoveled half of the load out of 
the back end of the cart. 1 did not think 
they were of enough consequence to pick 
them up again, so I just took my shovel and 
spread them around in a small circle. I am 
sixty-four years old now, so you can guess 
how long ago it was ; but the effect of that 
half a load of ashes that I tipped up there is 
plainly disceraable to-day. The cattle will 
go there and eat the feed closer than any¬ 
where else on the field. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH FERTILIZERS. 
The Dcp’t of Agriculture Report says: 
Our correspondent in Windham, Conn., thus 
states the results of his experiments with 
different preparations of bone as a fertilizer: 1 
No. 1 was a celebrated braud of pulverized 
bone, which appeared to be rich in an roonia, 
but it was the least valuable kind experi¬ 
mented with. No. 2 was u common crushed 
box© converted into superphosphate by sul¬ 
phuric acid. This caused a luxuriant growl h 
in the fore part of the reason. No. was 
crushed bone mixed with two parts of ashes; I 
the mixture, after being thoroughly wet, ' 
was allowed to stand two weeks before 
using. It was not so effective in the fore 
part of the season, but after harvest its effect 
was as great, if not greater, than any other. 
It is also the cheapest manure, not costing 
more than half as much as the others, and 
fully equaling their efficiency. Our corres- j 
pond cat in Elk, Pa., states that a farmer 1 
there raised 500 bushels of com from two 
acres of laud which had received a good coal, 
of lime. This has “ turned the heads of half 
the farmers in tho neighborhood.” Bushels 
of ears are doubtless meant. 
going on in the manure it oontains. In 
addition to this, the mere increase of bulk 
enabling us to spread the manure more 
evenly over the ground, and the increased 
effect of the manure as a mulch or covering, 
when used as a top-dressing, constitute a 
sufficient reason for tho use of earth in very 
liberal quantities. I have little doubt that 
my correspondent’s experiments in this di¬ 
rection will result satisfactorily. 
-*♦♦- 
Save your Coal Ashes. —Too often it lias 
been said that there is no good in coal ashes, 
but chemical examination gives them the 
power of absorption almost equal to char¬ 
coal ; and if, when taken from the stove or 
grate, they are mingled with the chamber 
ley of the house and with the soap wash from 
the kitchen, they are found valuable as ab¬ 
sorbents of fertilizing ingredients. Applied 
after so absorbing the liquids from the shove 
named, they are dug in around young trees 
or spread upon grass ground, or used as ma¬ 
nure for the garden in the culture of early 
carrots, beets, radishes, etc., or ns a top- 
dressing over the potato onion, say in the 
months of February or March, the advan¬ 
tages will be appreciated by the grower.— 
k. r. e. 
Horseman. 
IMPORTED CLYDESDALE HORSES. 
DRY EARTH IN 8TABLES. 
FIELD NOTES. 
Mangel Wursels and Turnips Cultivated 
by Harris Lewis. —Harris Lewis, now Presi¬ 
dent of the N. Y. State Ag. Society, i3 known 
to be a strong advocate of the economy of 
cultivating root crops. He is reported, after 
trying numerous varieties, to now cultivate 
only the Long Red, Ovoid and Yellow Globe 
Mangels (giving preference to the Long Red 1 
and the White Sweet German Turnips. 
Successful Potatoes in Northern England. 
— According to an English agricultural 
journal the potatoes which have proved 
most successful in the north of England are 
the Early Rose, Late Rose and Vermont 
Beauty, all American varieties, and quite 
free from disease. 
A correspondent of the Agriculturist 
saysThe writer has seen it stated that 
earth which has been used in an carth-closet, 
! is less valuable for manurirJ purposes than 
the manure Itself would have been without 
the admixture; he has planned to use dry 
earth in his cow stable, but does not wish 
to do It to the detriment of his manure heap. 
1 have tried to keep watch of the discussions 
her© and in England, on this subject, and 
have never seen anything tending to so 
strong an argument against the use of tho 
earth-closet earth, as tho objection above in¬ 
dicated. Dr. Voelcker, who is a very high 
authority, published the results of his inves¬ 
tigations as to the value of earth-closet 
manure, showing that it was very much less 
than the advocates of the system had claimed. 
When I saw him in London, I asked him 
how lie accounted for the small amount of 
fertilizing matter hi tho samples analyzed. 
His reply was that there is but a small 
amount in the manure itself, nearly the 
whole of all animal l'a&ces consisting of water 
and refuse matter of little fertilizing value: 
the nitrogen and fertilizing manurial matter, 
though large in the aggregate when large 
populations are considered, are small when 
compared with the large amount of earth 
used in the closet. 
I especially asked him whether there was, 
through oxydation or otherwise, any actual 
destruction of fertilizing parts ; this he dis¬ 
tinctly disclaimed, and stud that the only 
bearing of his criticism was that his analyses 
showed the same small proportion of ma¬ 
terial, that a mathematical calculation of the 
quantity and character of the feaees, and the 
quantity of tbe earth would indicate. I 
should say that unquestionably the use of 
earth in a cow stable, must be productive of 
the very best results, not only as saving all 
of the fertilizing matter present, but also, 
and very largely, i y reason of the develop¬ 
ment of available plant food in the earth 
itself) in consequence of the chemical action 
There arrived in this city recently by the 
steamer Victoria of the Anchor line, ten 
Clydesdale stallions, imported by Messrs. 
, Powell Bros, of Spring, Crawford Co., Pa. 
It is claimed they are of the purest blood and 
certainly they are magnificent animals. Two 
of tbe firm have spent some months travel¬ 
ing through Scotland and these horses have 
been selected with the greatest care, the 
object being- to import only those horses 
which are beet calculated to cross with our 
j American stock nnd thus improve our draft 
horses. The sires of these animals included 
thy names of well known prize animals—such 
| as “Rantin Robin,” “Garibaldi,” “Donnil 
Denny,” “ Bargarmie,” &c. Some of these 
horses, only three years old, weighed before 
clipping 1,800 lbs.; two-year-olds, 1.CC0 lbs., 
and yet they are active and graceful animals. 
Whoever makes effort to j'mprovo Ameri- 
| can draft horsey, deserves encouragement. 
We ride down Broadway every morning on 
top of an omnibus and have had occasion and 
opportunity tonote during the past six years 
the difference in the manner of doing the 
work and the casu with which it is done be¬ 
tween a well-bred, heavy draft horse and a 
light-weight, thin-breasted and spindle-flank¬ 
ed animul. The comparative comfort of i fil¬ 
ing behind u pair of the Xirst-numed and one 
j of those light, twisting, squirming, strug¬ 
gling teams cannot be expressed j u words. 
Bo oil a farm ; a team that can pull a plow 
through at almost any depth at the rate of 
three or four miles an hour without fretting 
or sweating is the sort of team for us. Better 
plowing can be dono and more ot it than 
with one of these liglit-wcightcd teams. The 
difference iu tho cost of keeping is not so 
gTeat as many suppose—not enough to over¬ 
balance the advantage of a team that will 
“pull you through” anywhere with almost 
any load yourean put behind them. 
Another noticeable fact is that, as a rule, 
these heavy draft horses on tho Broadway 
stages and city trucks are rapid walkers. 
They stride along with enormous loads at a 
pace that requires the fighter teams to trot to 
equal. No one who 3ms watched this differ¬ 
ence can fail to conclude that there is no 
economy in light teams for heavy work 
either in time or keep. 
--A-«-A-- 
NOTES FOR HORSEMEN. 
Cracked heels, according to Land and 
Water, often arises from derangement of 
the digestive organs, and in many cases may 
be easily cured by giving the horse a few 
carrots, and keeping the sores free from dirt. 
A good liniment to use is—glycermc, four 
ounces; iodide of potassium, two drachms. 
Grease or oil should be avoided. A little 
sulphur—say half an ounce—arid about a 
scruple of iodide of sulphur, may be given 
daily, mixed with the food. 
A Purge for 1876.—The Monmouth Park 
Association have decided to offer a purse of 
£5,000 for a four-mile heat race, to take place 
at the first moeting in 1876. 
AnotAer Trotter.— Commodore Vander¬ 
bilt has purchased from Mr. B. Wuterson, of 
New Jersey, the bay trotting gelding Boy 
for $6,000. 
