MOORE'S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
313 
Jiiqg of a pluralist. 
DAILY RURAL LIPE. 
From the Diary of a Gentleman near New 
York City. 
THE BEST Of THE HEW POTATOES. 
Oot. 25.—Good, better. be:.t, are only terras 
with which we express our opinions of qual¬ 
ity under certain circurastanoes, hence a fruit 
or vegetable may be the best of many brought 
into competition and still fall far short of 
being superlative under different conditions. 
A man who has tested but a dozen varieties 
of paars may select one of the twelve and 
declare that this is the best pear he has seen, 
and while telling the truth it might prove, 
when compared with better sorts, to be very 
inferior ; consequently, declarations of merit 
should always be taken with some grains of 
allowance for the supposed or known knowl¬ 
edge of the utterer as well as the condition 
under which the thing was produced. I say 
this iu advance in order that my own words 
may receive only their proper or due weight, 
believing that knowledge at best is blit com¬ 
parative experience and exceedingly liable 
to variations. 
Now up to this time I have tested some 
two hundred varieties of the potato during 
the past five years, and at least one half the 
number have proved to be good and worthy 
of cultivation it one needed that number of 
aorta. The Alpha, Extra Early Vermont 
and Early Rose, ure probably as near per¬ 
fection as we shall be able to reach iu the 
way of very early sorts, and there is very 
little difference between the three, all being 
excellent in quality and prolific. In some 
soils the Early Rose has a little too much of 
the pink color iu the flesh to look well when 
brought upon the table, especially to tho>e 
who delight in mashed potatoes and cream, 
as snowy whiteness is one of its attractive 
and appetizing features. 
Among the “second early” sorts there are 
many noted for their excellence ; but 1 am 
not disposed to run the risk of giving an 
opinion of their varied merits except in two 
instances, and in this 1 may be accused of 
drawing the poiot too fine, but the reader 
should remember that there may lie better 
sorts outside my two hundred than within, 
which of course are not considered in the 
present decision. For quality alone I vote, 
unhositaringly, for Comptou’s Surprise. It 
is the whitest fleshed potato that 1 have ever 
seen, and the flavor is unexceptionable. The 
growth, yield and health of plants are also 
all favorable, but the color of the skin 1 b 
decidedly object ionable, being a dark purple, 
almost black. For baking it answers very 
woll, and if carefully peeled before boiling 
it will do ; but if cooked whole, they are like 
a snowball in an ink-pot, and one trial would 
be enough. The color of this variety is u 
barrier against its ever becoming a popular- 
sort, either for market or home use, allhough 
it is the best potato for quality alone that I 
have ever seen. 
Next to Compton’s Surprise in quaiity, 
with the addition of beauty without aDd 
within, i must say that the Snowflake comes 
nearest Ailing the bill l or a perfect potato of 
any variety that has found its way into my 
grounds. 1 used last year’s orop for eating 
antil long itfter the new crop was m eondi- 
;ion for the table this year, for they were 
lound, dry and mealy up to the last, showing 
teeping qualities rarely excelled even In the 
atost sorts. The form is also a model, being 
globular, slightly flattened and lengthened to 
m oval in large specimens, eyes small und 
>rominent not sunken, us in the Peach Blow 
md many other similar sorts. Skin white, 
bin, smooth, but of firm texture; flesh w liite, 
loury, with no decided or distinct flavor. It 
jpen* a few days later than the Early Rose, 
ml is a far better keeper. In my grounds it 
loo* not yield as woll as some other sorts ; 
.till, after two years’ trial, 1 put it down as 
,he best of all the new sorts tested, and that 
s saying enough in praise of any one variety. 
THE BUTMAN SQUASH. 
Oct. 26.—For several years I have tried to 
and a good late squash which would cook 
dry and mealy like a well ripened potato. 
The Hubbard catne nearest to the required 
standard, but if it failed t.o thoroughly ripen 
the flesh would be more or less watery, es¬ 
pecially when boiled. This year I cried the 
Butman, sent call lust spring as a promising 
novelty among squashes. 1 p-day I have tried 
it boiled and served up in the usual way, and 
I am inclined to put it at the head of the list 
as a late variety or winter squash. It cer¬ 
tainly comes nearest t® my idea of what a 
= squash should be for table use of anything 
U 4 
cr.,i n 
of the kind I have seen in many years. The 
originator may exhibit it at the Centennial 
without fear of bringing disgrace upon Amer¬ 
ican squashes. 
THE PIN-OAK AS AN ORNAMENTAL TREE 
I can scarcely understand why our common 
Pin-oak (Quercua pahwtris) is not more ex¬ 
tensively planted as an ornamental tree. In 
a state of nature it appears to prefer moist, 
low grounds, but succeeds well in those that 
are high and dry. It is a beautiful tree in 
the full sense of the term, assuming a pyra¬ 
midal form when given plenty of room, the 
leaves bright, glossy green, deeply pianatifld 
with sharp points upon each of the many 
divisions. The trees grow rapidly and are 
well furnished with small branches, which 
give them a graceful outline. 
Handsome as this tree is during the sum¬ 
mer, it frequently closes up the season with 
a brilliant display of rich coloring scarcely 
excelled by any of onr many species which 
are noted for their autumn-tinted leaves. For 
I the past three weeks a specimen of the Pin- 
I ouk growing a few rods from my library has 
been putting on its autumn dress, the leaves 
changing from green to a light-brown color, 
then becoming a bright, fiery red, forming, 
Upon the whole, a gigantic burning bush. I 
do not know of any native tree with showy 
flowers which would compare at all favor¬ 
ably in brilliancy of coloring with this com¬ 
mon Pin-oak. 
Of course this is but one of our many na¬ 
tive trees the leavesof which assume brilliant 
autumn tints, but in addition to this merit 
the Pm-oak is one of the most graceful and 
beautiful at other bcssous. It doe* not grow 
as large us some other species, but reaches a 
desirable size for ornamental purposes fully 
as soon as the most gigantic. There are many 
persons who iu some way get the idea into 
their heads that trees which reach the great¬ 
est size necessarily grow the most rapidly. 
But this is a mistake, for with many kinds 
those which grow most rapidly while young 
reach maturity or their greatest altitude in 
a very few years, while the true giants go 
very slow but continue for centuries. The 
Paulownia and Catalpa and Ailanthus are 
perhaps the most familiar examples of what 
are termed rapid growing trees, but neither 
could be classed as more than medium or 
small sized trees under the most favorable 
conditions. 
Tnese small or medium-sized trees arc also 
usually preferable for ornamental purposes 
to those which grow larger and are a longer 
time about it, as immediate effect generally 
interests us more than what may be *een 
centuries lienee by those who may live at 
that Lime. For this reason I would select a 
Pin-oak in preference to a Black or oven 
White oak if there WHS no other difference 
except that of growth. It is well enough to 
plaut an occasional tree for future genera¬ 
tions, but it is i ot worth while to worry our¬ 
selves over the question, What will our great 
grandchildren do for shade trees or fire 
wood i 
THE WOHDEREUl PUWER Of AH INSECT. 
We have quite a number of different spe¬ 
cies of Iclmeumon flies which deposit their 
eggs upon the larvee of wood-boring insects. 
These borers in trees one would suppose were 
quite secure against the attacks of their par¬ 
asitic enemies which cannot follow them 
into their retreats or dig them out, but na¬ 
ture has provided a way to t ea‘h them al¬ 
though incased within apparently pretty 
solid wood walla. For instance, tho Sugar 
Maple trie is infested with quite a large 
wood borer, which is the larva of the most 
beautiful and showy of our Long-liorn beet¬ 
les, the Gtycobtux (Clytux ) stpetiosvx of Sat. 
This borer frequently pus-cs upward in the 
solid wood ot the tree two to three inches 
from the outside ; still it is not perfectly se¬ 
cure from its enemies when thus shut in, for 
the female of the great Ichneumon fly, the 
Pimpla hit tutor has a u ovipositor three to 
four inches long furnished with a little saw 
on the eud by the aid of which she can make a 
hole straight through bark and wood to' the 
said borer and place an egg upon it. 1 have 
caught this insect in the act, as many others 
have done ; but the “ wonder” part of the 
operation—at least to a good many observ¬ 
ers—is, how she knows the exact location of 
the said borer iu the tree. I confess that 
this puzzled me at first, and I notice that a 
correspondent of the Western Runl in writ¬ 
hing of this inseol a week or two since, says, 
“It is indeed a woobei la power that -nubia* 
this insect to discern its victims concealed, 
as they are, within the trunks of troes.” But 
this Ichneumon does not “ discern its victim” 
but it merely hears it gnawing the wood and 
knows its location by the sound alone, it is 
not to be supposed that the human ear is 
quite as acute as those of an insect like the 
Ptmpla created expressly for seeking its vic¬ 
tim by sound ; still most wood boring larvas 
while feeding, make sufficient noise to be 
distinctly heard if the ear is placed directly 
against the tree or stick of timber in which 
they are. at work. I have tested this a hun¬ 
dred time* where thel&rvseof the Prionida, 
.SepmZas, Elaphidiom, and similar iusects 
were at work upon trees. If any one desires 
to hear the muric of wood borers more clearly 
tbau is given off from a growing tree, they 
have only to bring a stick of powder-posted 
hickory or oak from the woodpile and set it 
on end in a warm room for a few days; place 
an end upon the bare floor, and if there are 
borers in the stick, the grinding of the mill 
will soon be heard clear and distinct, even at 
several feet distant. 
The Pimpla IvnatOf is not one of those 
creatures who, “ having ears, hear not,” but 
it uses the organs given it by its Creator, 
whieh is more than can be said of some indi¬ 
viduals belonging to a higher order of beiDgs. 
cJjaijm OTConnmg. 
HIGH FARMING. 
The English Agricultural Gazette contains 
th3 following admirable article on farming, 
and as it expresses so strongly and so well 
the views that we have labored lo impress 
on our readers, we give it in full for their 
benefit: 
“What are you giving for oats just now, 
Mr. Darke ?” we asked, when engaging a 
carriage the other day at a livery stable. 
“ Thirty-four shillings a quarter, sir,” was 
the reply. “ Thir ty four shillings a quarter ! 
Why, you can buy fair oats for a shilling a 
bUEhel leas than that.” “ Yes, Bir, I know 
that, too ; but I have long since learnt that 
it is never good policy to buy or use a second- 
rate article.” 
To what department of farming, we 
wonder, does not this maxim apply, and in 
wha. department does it not need enforce¬ 
ment ? Second-rate horse* incur as great a 
daily cost, and yield much less in return. 
Second-rate food for horses, cheaper though 
it be, pioducea “footpounds” offeree per 
shilling of its coat. Second-rat e implements 
produce an infei ior result at more expense of 
draught. Second-rate laborers often do but 
; half per shilling of their smaller wages. 
Second-rate varieties of wheat, oats, barley, 
beans and pea*, extract and use just as 
much fertility from the soil in the produc¬ 
tion ot their inferior yield. Second-rate cat¬ 
tle consume as much food, yielding perhaps 
but a pound of meat or a gallon of milk a 
day, increasing meanwhile little, sometimes 
nothing, or even less than nothing daily, 
while flral-rate stock, yielding a double or 
even a quadruple return, consume no more 
in doing it. Second-rule management 
generally may be quite as costly as that 
which is first-rate, differing from it far more 
iu its deficient yield than in the expense at 
which it is directed. 
Take the live stock of the farm for ex¬ 
ample How many head of stock on most 
farms under listless management are there 
not which are doing literally nothing, making 
no progress, if kept as growing or trotting 
stock, or improving but a little compared 
with others which are prosperous and pro 
ductive. They are consuming just as much, 
and in the one case are mere machines for 
destroying farm produce, in the other they 
are machines lor wasting it. We believe 
that next to skill in choosing, or in breeding 
stock, the profit of the slock keeper depends 
on piomptitude and resolution in selling, 
parting with, dispatching it, us soon as it is 
seeu t hat it is uoi prospering. Of course if 
every one acted on a maxim of this kind, 
the value of such stock in the market would 
soon reach the level which properly belongs 
to its character, und the loss on sales might 
then almoBt equal the loss iu keeping ; but 
iu the meantime those who act with greatest 
promptitude in weeding out inferior stock 
certainly have the advantage. The fact that 
stock which is not prospering is just a 
machinery for the. destruction of farm pro¬ 
duce ought to startle many a man who will 
read these words. Let him remember, too, 
that all live stock are inevitably machines 
for destroying a certain portion daily, which 
is as directly daily wasted and burnt up in 
every animal that feeds, as if it had been put 
un the fire. Hov much greuer the premium 
thru oil keeping cattle, whose fattening is 
done in a life time of 700 days, than on keep¬ 
ing those whose fattening requires, 1200 days 
or more. The weeding of the flock and herd 
upon a farm is a part ot Jive stock manage¬ 
ment which needs as much promptitude and 
decision as the weeding of crops and fields. 
And this brings us to the other great agri¬ 
cultural department to which Mr. Darke’s 
maxim especially applies. If it be unques¬ 
tionable policy to confine ourselves to first- 
rate articles when choosing the individual 
animals or the best varieties of the different 
crops we cultivate, how much more obvious¬ 
ly l* ft not necessary that we avoid devoting 
the fertility of our soil, or any portion of it, 
to the growth of plants which not only are 
not marketable, but which arr mischievous. 
Why should weeds be, as they seem, from 
almost universal practice and experience to 
be, a necessary port of farm management ? 
They occupy the space in which good plants 
would grow’—they consume the food on 
which good plants would prosper—their 
worthless lives involve expenditure, which 
might otherwise have gone to increase the 
number of valuable lives upon the farm, or 
the ability of the farm to feed them. The 
fight with weed* costs far more on the farm 
which is always foul, than on the farm which 
is always clean. Arid more than that, we en¬ 
gage to say that, given a farm overrun with 
thistles, bindweed, couch and coltsfoot, at 
the commencement of a tenancy, the man, 
wny at the end of ten years, finds he has suc¬ 
ceeded in getting it and.keepiiig it clean, has 
spent less in fallow work and wage? than the 
man who having all these years maintained 
an unsuccessful fight, at length leaves the 
farm but little cleaner than lie found it. 
If it be impolitic to buy or keep or use a 
"second rate article,” as we learnt from the 
experience we have quoted, it is unquestion¬ 
ably the extreme of lolly to permit such 
mere encumbrance, worthlessness and waste¬ 
fulness as we incur by harboring weeds. 
And so end* for the present this short agri¬ 
cultural homily, founded on the text with 
which the maxim of the livery stable keeper 
furnished u* I 
STRAW AS MANURE FOR WHEAT. 
During a recent visit to Western New 
York a number of farmers asked our opinion 
as to the value of straw as a covering for 
their wheat fields the coming winter. The 
interest which such a question implies is 
gratifying, it shows that the poor wheat 
crops of the past two or three years have 
taught farmers that something la the matter, 
and if wheat growing i* to be continued 
something must be done to insure better 
crop*. Stable manure put over the wheat in 
fall is Known to be a valuable protector ; 
but does it save the crop chiefly a* a mulch 
or from its manorial properties? It is not 
easy to get stable manure enough to cover 
the large wheat fields which many farmers 
sow, and some of the best farmers draw 
tLieir barnyard manure on corn and potato 
grouud in spring and have little left for use 
as top-dressing in f&lL They, however, have 
straw iu plenty and if it can be mude avail¬ 
able for immediate Use their fields can be 
well and cheaply protected. 
Our own observation uud experience shows 
that straw is of little value for this purpose. 
Wheat is often winter-killed from exposure 
to bleak winds and it seems as if a covering 
even of straw would be beneficial. Practi¬ 
cally, however, it is probable that poverty of 
toil is the true difficulty. We have seen 
wheat fields exposed to the bleakest winds 
and most severe freezing wdiere the crop 
came out all right because the soil was rich, 
while on poorer soil in protected situations 
the wheat was an entire failure. The plant 
on a poor sell does not seem to have much 
to live for, and gives up ibe ghost to insects, 
cold weather and other evils about as readily 
as thoroughly discouraged men uud women 
do w hen attacked by disease. Poor land is 
subject to various fatalities which crops on 
rich soil escape. Wheat was made to endure 
the cold of winter, and when proper ly grown 
it has .means of protecting itself from its 
severity. With plenty of appropriate food 
it will manage to wrap itself with a mantle 
of its leaves and brave the severest storms of 
winter. We nave repeatedly seen wheat on 
riehsoil pas* through the winter successfully, 
while ou poor soil with less exposure it has 
been almost, miued by winter-killing. Com¬ 
mercial fertilizers drilled in with wheat 
have the same effect, while mere straw has 
not. 
Straw is not by any means a cheap ma¬ 
nure. Its value for selling may be low, but 
even then it is worth far more as feed or for 
bedding than as manure iu its unfermented 
Btate. if it can be sold at ten lo fifteen 
dollars a ton as was done in most of our large 
•cities a year or two ago selling straw is not a 
bad mode of disposing ot It provided better 
manure* are purchased in its stead. But 
always save enough tor bedding and as an 
absorbent Of manures that would otherwise 
be lost. Thus used the soil will increase in 
fertility so that very soon winter grain wdl 
be well fed and strong enough to maintain 
its vitality without protection during the 
severest weather. 
