JULY 9 
fHE RURAL 
NEW-YORKER. 
4$4 
command for them a prominent place as pot 
plants. I am always grieved at a disappoint¬ 
ment of this nature. [There wub but one 
killed outright—singularly enough the species 
(palmatum) upon which the others are grafted. 
Eds.] 
In the Spriog 1 had a talk with a member 
of the Rubai, family about corn, and he de¬ 
cided to try to equal, if not surpass, the great 
yield obtained at the Rural Farm last year. 
He accordingly prepared about an acre of 
ground in the most careful manner, and put 
in the corn in drills. It came up quite evenly, 
and, as I saw it, looked very promising. The 
occupants of Borne shanties down in a hollow 
not far off, keep large flocks of geese, which 
rnn at large. These geese got in the lo], when 
the corn was about three inches high, and de¬ 
stroyed nearly all of it. Did you ever see a 
man in a downright hearty, honest rage? 
Talk about the wrath of Achilles and the 
slaughter he made among the Trojans! It 
was slow, methodical work compared with 
the quick, headlong havoc Mr. B. made 
among those geese. I can scarcely conceive 
of anything more provocatl ve of sudden and un¬ 
controllable wrath; still I cannot help think¬ 
ing that my friend should have punished the 
geese less and the owners more. 
It will be well for those who grow man¬ 
golds to bear in mind that they may be trans¬ 
planted about as easily as a cabbage. The 
thinnings, therefore, should be used to fill up 
vacancies, not only in the rows of mangolds, 
but elsewhere as well. They should be trans¬ 
planted when the ground is moist, and pre¬ 
ferably near the close of the day. I used to 
sow a bed of them to be used all over the 
place, wherever a vacancy could be found for 
them. You cannot have too many of them if 
you keep cattle. 
Who is making preparations to do some¬ 
thing to make his eouuty. or his State Fair 
more instructive and Interesting than hereto¬ 
fore? If thiugs were not judged as they are, 
I would say, take that which gives the best 
representation of your average results and 
best illustrates your inetho 1 of farming ; but 
as things go, you must devote extra time and 
attention to produce something that will be 
so good as to attract public attention, and 
show what may be done. After all, this meth¬ 
od Is not without its usefulness. " Excelsior” 
is a good motto for the farmer, only his pro¬ 
ducts must not be made to cost more than they 
are worth. Anyhow, do something for your 
fair, and encourage the boys and girls to do 
so too. 
The New York Horticultural Society, at its 
Spring exhibition, had a grand show of straw¬ 
berries ; the strawberries, in fact, overshadow¬ 
ed every thing else. Mr, Roe. Mr. Lovett, 
Mr, Henderson, and, in short, all the princi¬ 
pal strawberry growers within reach of New 
York, were represented by excellent examples 
of fruit. The long-continued rains gave size 
to the berries, but washed out some of the 
characteristic goodness, or perhaps 1 should 
say the absence of the sun failed to develop 
it. I have no room in this columu for a gen¬ 
eral notice, but I may say briefly that the ex¬ 
hibition was a good one, atl its material be¬ 
ing excellent. Toe rooms used seemed to keep 
plants in better condition than the concert 
hall. At all events, the plants were in much 
better condition than usual on the second day. 
Hortioola. 
NOTES ON STRAWBERRIES. 
The strawberry is year by year claiming 
more and more attention as a fruit no longer 
for the epicure, but for the toiling millions as 
well. The great importance this fruit is as¬ 
suming calls for a few suggestions. 
First, the laud should be well enriched with 
good, well-rotted compost (never with crude, 
unrotted manure), or with some special ma¬ 
nure. The Yiatfleld, Stockbridge, .VIapes, or 
Forester Straw berry Manure furnishes the need¬ 
ful plant food in its best form for immediate 
effect. An acre with the requisite conditions 
all right will yield astonishing results. But 
the question of varieties Is the main one I was 
about to touch upon. 
Varieties, 
The Crystal City, which has been called 
the earliest berry, is behind the Crescent and 
Duncan on my grounds this season. The Cres¬ 
cent Seedling has giveu some good and early 
fruit. No berry, perhaps, has varied more lu 
productiveness, size and quality. At its best, 
it is enormously productive, early and fairly 
good; but it demands good treatment as much 
as any variety 1 know of, and it should always 
have some variety.like the Duncan, that blooms 
with it, to fertilize it. 
The Duncan is the best early berry that I 
have. In hill culture it makes enormous Btools, 
is early, productive, moderately firm, of good 
size and excellent quality. 
Duchess is also an early berry, well adapted 
to hill culture—good and productive. 
Charles Downing is a variety which is very 
popular in Connecticut. It is reasonably pro¬ 
ductive, of good size and great beauty, and it 
holds out well for the season. In the markets 
it is much sought for, and sells well. 
Shabplbss, which was good last year, was 
also excellent this year, in productiveness 
and qualify it is holding its reputation well. 
Photo, or Martha, I have fruited three 
years, and wonder that it has not made more 
noise. It is certainly a modest variety from a 
modest man—Mr. Crawford. I say all praise 
to the Photo, and place it well up towards the 
head. 
Champion and Windsor Chief are both 
producing well, resemble each other closely* 
and if they were better in quality they should 
be largely planted. 
Col. Chenet has always been a large yield- 
er, but is not firm enough for long shipment— 
pistillate. 
President Wilder, as to quality, is one of 
the very best; but it is not hardy, vigorous 
or productive enough for common field culture. 
Warren is a most beautiful berry, but I fear 
it i6 not going to be productive enough for 
field culture. 
Red Jacket promises well as to growth, 
productiveness and high quality. 
Monarch is a good berry, but not product¬ 
ive enough. 
Miner’s Prolific promises to fill the bill in 
mauy, if not most, respects. 
Great American is an enigma. When it 
does its best it is good enough and productive 
enough to satisfy the most exacting. I saw, 
last year, on exhibition, 50 berries of this vari¬ 
ety weighing 50 ounces, and whole fields of it 
in Essex County, N. J., that defied comparison. 
There are some patches lu Connecticut that 
look surprisingly well. When it gets u strong, 
heavy soil and single hill culture it does well 
enough. • 
Seneca Queen is yet destined to make a 
stir in the strawberry world. It is one of the 
strongest, most beautiful and productive varie¬ 
ties I have. It stood the Winter remarkably 
well; it is of a strong growth ; the fruit is 
large, attractive and of good quality. When 
we can get anything belter than the Seneca 
Queen wc shall have the best. 
Shirts, from appearances, 1 think I shall 
like, but I must wait for farther experience. 
Bidwbll, ditto. Michigau men say this has 
a white tip, like the Monarch—time will tell. 
[We have seen several quarts of Bidwell this 
season and we did not notice a white tip on 
any.—E ds] 
Elm Citt is a new variety of handsome ap¬ 
pearance and fine quality ; but, as with a large 
batch of new seedlings, time must be taken to 
test it thoroughly before introducing it to the 
public. 
Durand's Gipsbv I am expecting to see 
coming to the front as a valuable market 
berry. 
Kentucky is a very valuable late strawberry. 
With me it has been excellent in years past. 
Glendale is also valuable as a late berry. 
Golden Defiance is another valuable late 
berry. 
Just as with grapes we want the hardiness 
and productiveness of the Concord with the 
good quality of the Iona, which we have not 
yet got, so with strawberries we want the good 
market qualities of the Wilson, the good table 
qualities of the President Wilder. The place 
is not yet filled; the goal has not yet been 
reached — there is opportunity to try, try 
again P. M. Augur. 
Middlefield, Ct. 
-♦-*-♦- 
The Depth at which to Plant Peas.— The 
Rural is right in regard to planting peas in 
ordinary soil three inches deep; bnt in deep 
gardeu soil that has been trenched to the depth 
of 15 inches they will bear longer and yield 
heavier crops if put in five inches deep. The 
ground, however, must be kept well cultivated, 
and one reason why 1 like deep planting is that 
it allows deep cnltivation, and consequently a 
larger feeding ground for the roots. a. w. 
A Prolific Mareehal Kiel Rone. 
In the Rural Nf.w-Yohker for June Lkh, 
page 402, I notice a few remarks on the 
Marechai Niel Rose. I have a large plant of the 
Niel from which I cut 8,568 buds this past 
Spring. The greatest number cut at one time 
was 262 on April 13th. On April 2nd 179 were 
cut; on April 6th, 199 ; on April 9th, 195. The 
remainder were cut from March 28 to May 1st. 
My plant is nine years old and is budded ou 
Malmaison. It is grown in a cool greenhouse 
with orange trees, camellias, etc., and receives 
no special care or attention. The Niel budded 
on a strong and healthy stock, is a truly su¬ 
perb rose. c. e. p. 
jijjfeu gjushukji, 
FRENCH MERINO SHEEP. 
If we Americans have surpassed all other na¬ 
tions in so improving the Merino, as to make 
it grow, in comparison to its size, the heaviest 
fleece of a good and almost perfectly even 
quality of wool, the French have certainly suc¬ 
ceeded in producing such as are best in form. 
As an illustration of this, we have re-engraved 
from the English Live Stock Journal the three 
accompanying cuts, comprising several por¬ 
traits of Merino sheep, the finest of which are 
bred in Soisonuaia. It will be seen from these 
that they are as perfect in all their points as 
the handsomely toruied English South Down! 
Like the latter they have no wrinkles in the 
skin, and we wish we could add that they were 
as free from the odious and useless excrescence 
of horns. They would indeed then be the 
most commendable of sheep. 
What could induce any one in the first place 
to allow wrinkles we cannot imagine, for they 
are a decided nuisance, and of no earthly nee 
whatever. It takes from thrue to five times 
as long to shear a wrinkled as it does a 
smooth sheep, and none but the most skillful 
workmen can do it without frequently and 
severely cuttiDg the skin The wool that grows 
on these wrinkles is of a short and inferior 
quality in comparison with the rest of the 
fleece, and they often produce long coarse 
white hairs, technically called kemp. which 
considerably lessen the value of the fleece. 
The only apology we have ever heard for allow - 
ing wrinkles to be bred in the 6kin was, that be¬ 
ing thus enlarged, it grew more wool. But when 
more wool is wanted, it would surely bs much 
better to increase the number of smooth sheep 
to obtain it, rather than ugly, wrinkled skins. 
The size of full-grown Soissonnais sheep is 
not given, but we presume it is larger than 
that of South Down, because in an exhibition 
of a lot of seven-months lambs, the average 
weight of each was 123 pounds. This is quite as 
great as the usual weight of Oxford Downs. 
They mature a year sooner than common 
Merinos, which is a decided advantage in their 
breeding, as it enables the flock-master to turn 
his capital this length of time the sooner, and 
it lessens the risk incurred in their rearing. 
We should think it an object to import and 
breed some of these sheep at the West, for the 
probability is on the rich lands there, they 
may easily keep up the size without extra 
feed or care. We should Judge also from their 
form, that they would make matton superior 
to that of the ordinary Merino; and, if so, 
there would be the double advantage of having 
animals which not only produce a large fleece 
of fine wool but at the same time yield a 
choice carcass of meat. 
8HEEP RAISING. 
The profits of sheep depend to a great ex¬ 
tent on the way they are managed and treated. 
Some persons will not succeed in any kind of 
business through neglect, or lack of knowledge 
of that particular kind of business. The fault 
is, not with the business, but with the person 
so engaged. Some think that a flock of sheep 
should yield a nice profit without care on 
their part; many persons who engage in 
sheep raising seem to think that their animals 
can take care of themselves. This is an erro¬ 
neous idea, and very fatal in its practical work¬ 
ings. In fact, there is no stock that requires 
closer watching or care than sheep, and when 
they have that, there is no branch of business 
that will pay better on the money Invested 
than growing sheep eitherfor muttouorwool; 
but a knowledge of the business is requisite to 
success. Suitable land should be the first ob¬ 
ject of those who intend engaging in the busi¬ 
ness ; sheep will not flourish on wet soils, but 
the most suitable are those naturally drained, 
with a gravelly soil. Low undrained land on 
a sheep farm may cause disease to a whole 
ttocK. It will not pay to raise sheep on all 
land worth $50 per acre, unless It is adapted 
to their growth and development; but it is 
said that it will pay lo raise sheep on land 
worth $100 per acre, and then the gross yield 
will be two huudred per cent, upon the origi¬ 
nal cost, within one year, There is an increas¬ 
ing demand for the supply of wool, and the 
demand for mutton Is also on the increase. 
First Prize Ram at Magdeburg—Fig. 325. 
