APRIL 16 
THE RURAL HEW-YORKER 
255 
times as large as a kernel of this would be a 
monster indeed. From the sample sent me, I 
should say that the kernels of Golden Grains, 
while they are shorter and thicker than those 
of the Mediterranean, would not weigh any 
heavier or but slightly so at any rate. 
Pulaski Co, Ya. 
Remarks —Wshad not intended to say that 
Fultz is better than Clawson; but more prolific 
at our farm owing to its producing more ker¬ 
nels in the spikelet. We have about five acres 
in Silver Chaff which we have sown in prefer¬ 
ence to Clawson which we have raised as our 
main crop ever since this wheat became 
known. Our Winter Defiance may prove 
worthless. It is, as Mr. Wyaor states, very 
late. We had hoped it might change in this 
respect. The claim that Golden Grains pro¬ 
duces the largest kernel, etc., is evidently a 
mistake, since the kernel of Black-bearded 
Centennial is so nearly like it in color, shape 
and size that one cannot be distinguished 
from the other.— Eds. 
- — - 
TOBACCO CULTURE.-NO. 7. 
G. A. GOFF, JB. 
The Tobacco Barn. 
In the early days of tobacco growing In our 
valley mere sheds of rude and temporary con¬ 
struction were used for curing tobacco. These 
have been replaced a9 the business has grown 
in favor by permanent buildings, constructed 
for the purpose on scientific principles. The 
barn that I shall describe is the tobacco barn 
in popular use at present by our best growers. 
The size ot the building must, of course, be 
governed by the amount of tobacco to be cul¬ 
tivated. A barn large enough to cure three 
acres of tobacco should be 64 feet long and 28 
feet wide. The posts should be 16 feet long 
from shoulder to shoulder; 6x8 inches will do 
for the siza of the posts and tie beams, and 8x10 
for the sillB. The plates may be somewhat 
smaller—say 5x8 inches. 
Such a building will hold three tiers of 
plants after they are hung, leaving five feet 
between each two tiers. By having the posts 
two feet longer and setting the sills well up 
from the ground, auother tier may be added. 
This is often done, but it is objected to by 
many from the fact that the tobacco in the 
upper tier.beiug far from the ground, does not 
dampen readily when it is wished to take it 
down. The side beams or girts are four 
by four iuches and should be placed four 
feet nine inches or five feet apart to give suffi¬ 
cient space between the tiers for large tobacco. 
The poles on which the tobacco is hung are 
two and one-half by five inches and 14 feet 
loner, and while in use, when the usual method 
of hanging is followed, are placed about 16 
inches apart. The outside is boarded up and 
dowu and the cracks battened. Ample means 
for ventilation should be provided by hauglng 
every third or fourth board on hinges, thus 
making perpendicular doors, which are pro¬ 
vided with locks and staples to fasten them 
shut or open, The space beneath the sills 
should be fitted with horizontal doors hung to 
the sills. Ventilators are placed on the top of 
the building 30 or 40 feet apart, to aid in the 
ventilation. It is highly Important that a to¬ 
bacco barn should be so constructed that it 
may admit of being tightly closed when neces¬ 
sary, or opened to admit the air freely at the 
will of the grower. 
Double swiDg doorB on each side of each end 
are most convenient. One pair may be made 
to answer, however, if the lower middle girt 
next the door is framed so that it may be read¬ 
ily removed to admit a team and wagon to the 
other side. A tobacco barn should stand in a 
dry, airy situation, away from trees, which 
sometimes prevent a free circulation of air 
and cause the tobacco to pole-sweat. A good 
tobacco barn is a necessary appendage to a 
tobacco farm. Too much tobacco has been 
hung for curing, m years past, in grain barns 
and other buildings unsuited for the purpose. 
Tobacco hung in such buildings rarely cures 
as well as that hung in properly constructed 
tobacco barns. Too close hanging is also a 
fanlt with many growers. Tobacco should 
never be crowded in curing if the best results 
are to be expected. Too thickly buug it will 
often pole-sweat while curing and thus become 
ser iously damaged. 
The Aaaortlng and Stripping Boom. 
Not less Important than a suitable tobacco 
curing barn is a capacious and comfortaole 
tobacco stripping and assorting room. It 
should lie adjoining or adjacent to the curing 
barn. The best assorting room is constructed 
and famished with an eye to comfort and con¬ 
venience. It should be not less than 18 feet 
square, a8 it is desirable to keep a quantity of 
tobacco and a number of cases in it, and yet 
have plenty of room for work. A bulking or 
packing room 1 b sometimes partitioned off 
from the main room, In which to store a quan¬ 
tity of tobacco while it is being assorted. This 
room should be made tight so that when the 
tobacco is too dry to be handled nicely, it may 
be Bteamed by passing steam generated in a 
small steamer, made for the purpose and set 
be, and are, grown in pots as in any other 
way, even the poorest; on the other hand, a 
skillful propagator can grow hetter vines in 
pot6 under glass than he can grow id the open 
air from cuttings. I have tried so many thou¬ 
sands in these and other ways that 1 know it; 
and, in addition, the hest vines I have ever 
seen grown by skilled professional men have 
been grown in pots. Kit also asks why the^rot- 
growu vine is better, and in what respect. It 
is better because it can be started earlier, has 
alonger season to grow in, is more under con¬ 
trol. makeB better wood and better roots, car¬ 
ries better, bears exposure better, and is 
easier to plant. The roots are not in a more 
natural position, but they are in ft better pos¬ 
ition to make fibrous or feeding roots and un¬ 
til these are m^de no growth takes place. I am 
now speaking of rtell-grottrc vines ; but a man 
who grows the Delaware and the Concord, for 
example, in precisely the same way in pots 
will generally make u failure of it. 
Kii’a corkscrew vines may do very well to 
draw corks with, but I should be loath to plant 
them to get the wine to put in the bottles. No, 
Kit, those are not the kind I referred to. and 
you were right in supposing thty were none 
the bette r for it. Let me make one more state¬ 
ment, and I will keep quite within bounds in 
making it. I have planted or directed the 
planting of more than twenty thousand viner, 
and the result has always been 60 much in 
favor of well-grown pot vines as to leave no 
doubt in my mind as to their value. BntI must 
adu that I nave always selected the vines my¬ 
self, whether grown in pots or in the open air, 
and have never been satisfied with either till 
I have seen the roots. It must not be sup¬ 
posed that I am in favor of coddling the vines, 
for most decidedly I am not; neither must it 
be supposed that I am prejudiced against 
vines growu In the open air, for. again, most 
emphatically I am not. I know too much 
about the vine to entertain any such nonsense 
as that. But I must break off in the middle 
somewhere, though I have uot said half that 
I wanted to. Now, Kit, suppose you take the 
chair, and let me ask a question. How should 
a first-class pot vine be grown? You cannot 
get off under the plea that you are "so much 
of a novice.” Your manner of putting ques¬ 
tions shows that you are ** no such thing.” 
Urowlng Potatoes Under Straw. 
The ground was broken in the Fall of 1879 
and in the Spring of 18 SO it was harrowed and 
made fine, then furrowed not very deep, 3J- 
feet apart. Potatoes of medium size were cut 
once and dropped in the furrow 20 inches 
apart. On one acre of ground I spread 100 
bundles of rye straw, of the estimated weight of 
550 pounds, over the potatoes dropped in the 
furrow, and then with one horse attached to a 
one-horse Syracuse plow, a light covering of 
earth was turned over on the straw and pota¬ 
toes. The season being so very dry, the straw 
did not all “ mulch,’’ and the result was not 
as good as it would have been if the straw had 
all rotted and medj a bed for the young pota¬ 
toes. The results. however, were in favor of 
the rye sti aw, as the yield on that acre was 25 
bushels more than on an acre alongside of it 
prepared in the same way, but on which no 
straw was used. Now, the rye straw used on 
potatoes in this way is, I claim, worth more 
than it would be if hauled to the paper mill 
and sold at $20 or even $25 per ton. Moreover, 
the potatoes that grew under the straw were 
larger and much smoother than those grown 
where no straw was nBed. Some people think 
that the potatoes will not come up under the 
straw; this is a mistake, they will grow sooner 
in this way if properly covered. I have also 
covered potatoes in the hill with coarse man¬ 
ure and have had good results. 
Schoharie Co., N Y. Isaac Peaslee. 
on the stove, through a pipe Into the inclosure. 
A good stove should be used in the assorting 
room in which a fire may be kept over-night 
when desired. 
POA C0MPRE8SA 
Blue Grass Wjhb Grass. Flat-stemmed 
Poa. —This is another common grass with 
short stems. It well deserves the name 
"Blue Grass," by which it is often known. 
fiq. 205. 
The whole plant has a dark bluish green 
tint. The stem is quite flat, so it will not 
easily roll between the thumb and finger. This 
mark alone will enable any one to distinguish 
this grass from Poa pratensl 3 (June Grass), 
which also goes by the name of " Blue Grass " 
In Kentucky, and, more recently, in many 
other portions of this country. I hope the 
name "Blue Grass” maybe reserved for Poa 
compressa. The grass is a comm n one, found 
in dry meadows or pastures, especially where 
the soil is inclined to clay or gravel. The 
growth is Bhort and thin, and it flowers about 
a month later than June Grass. The panicle 
is rather small and dense ; the leaves rather 
short. The stems remain green for a long 
time after the seeds have ripened. It shrinks 
less in curing than any other grass with which 
I am acquainted. The stems are almost solid, 
i. e. y the wall is so thick that the hole in the 
center is quite small. A scythe is much 
gummed in mowing. All who know this grass 
EUEALISMS 
I have just received (Mirch28) several back 
numbers of the Rcral, (our postmaster pro¬ 
bably likes it,) and among them that of January 
In the number for January 15 I also find an 
excellent portrait of Mrs. Brett's seedling 
Peach. I have eaten this Peach from the tree, 
mad j some favorable notes in regard to it, 
and wish to add my testimony to Mr. Down- 
1 ngs's in regard to its gooduess. I am the more 
anxious to do this because I bad submitted to 
my examination during the same visit five or 
six other peaches, and this was considered the 
best of them all. Two of these were compara¬ 
tively new foreign peaches highly spoken of in 
England, but which do not seem to be well 
adapted to our climate, and another a South¬ 
ern seedling which is thought to be very good 
in Georgia, but which is hardly second-rate 
here at the North. 
A few days since there appeared in the city 
papers an account of the poisoning of a 
family at Troy (I thick it was) from eating 
pork and beaus. It was at first supposed that 
the pork contained trichit s. but on being an¬ 
alyzed by a chemist nothing of the kind was 
found. Ou examining the beans, however, the 
report says " black insects” were found on 
them. The “ black insects" were probably the 
bean weevils. A large seed firm in New York 
last Winter (1880) furnished me with a sample 
ot beans very badly infested with these weevils. 
I made inquiry of all oar principal seeds¬ 
men, examined iheir stock, and as the result 
found that the only bean thus affected was the 
Ear y Valentine. I found only two lots thus 
aSected, and as far as I could learn, they were 
both grown in the same locality, showing that 
thus far this weevil is local. These h-mns were 
destroyed, but there were, uo doubt, other lots 
tlsewherein which they were not discovered. 
These cases of poisoning give the subject a 
very grave importance, and it should receive 
prompt attention from seedsmen and seed- 
growers throughout the country audit would 
be well for all who use beans to give them a 
thorough examination. These bean weevils 
were first seen, I think, about five years ago. 
but were supposed to have disappeared. I had 
some Lima beans from Peru, 5. A., about 
twenty years ago, which I found to be full of 
weevils; but I destroyed beans and all as soon 
as the discovery was made. 
Last Fall I warned the readers of the Rural 
against some peddlers who were vending 
fabulous lilies at fabulous prices ; and I also 
denounced them in the neighborhood in which 
they were at the time operating. I have since 
been thanked for doing so. Several sales, 
however, had already been effected. A few 
days since I saw one lot of them which have 
been carefully grown in pots during the Win¬ 
ter. They are all Lilinm candidum, the com¬ 
mon white garden lily. It is, to be sure, one 
of our most beautiful lilieB, but eleven dollars 
seem to be rather a stiff price to pay for three 
BLUE GRABS—rOA COMPRESSA,—FIG. 206 
15, containing Kit’s inquiry about pot-grown 
grape-vines. It may not be too late to an¬ 
swer bis queries briefly. The brevity of these 
" Rurallstns ” makes it quite impossible to go 
into detail, which I should like to do; but I will 
try In a few words to make Kit comprehend my 
views of the subject. Just as poor vines can 
agree that it is one of the richest and that no 
grass makes a better or richer hay. The grass 
is a perennial, but does not spread rapidly by 
its root-stocks as is the case with June Grass 
and Quack Grass. It never forms a close turf 
and is not difficult to eradicate when once well 
established. Professor W. J. Beal. 
