Voi, XL. No. 1649.} 
NEAX YOKK, SEPT. 3, 1881. 
1 PRICE FIVE CENTS 
l $2.00 PER YEAR 
> 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1381, by the Rural New Yorker, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
l|cvi)sman. 
OUR ANIMAL PORTRAITS. 
Jersey Bull, Prospect. 
The premium Jersey Bull, Prospect, (2047) 
was dropped November 7, 1874; color, solid 
orange-fawn with black points; sire, imported 
Baltimore Boy (837); dam imported Venus of 
Oakland (2sr>i). After having taken more 
first and herd premiums than any bull in 
Maryland, Prospect is now at the head of the 
large Jersey herd of the Messrs. Rowe’s Co¬ 
operative Stock Farm, Fredericks!>urg, Va. 
He is six years old, weighs 1,2.70 pounds, is 
uncommonly hardy and easy to keep and has 
no bud habits. Premiums have been awarded 
to him as follows:—At the Maryland State Fair, 
hold at Westminster, October 1877, lie won 
first premium as the best Jersey bull between 
two and three years old, and he was also at 
the head of the herd that carried off the herd 
premium. At the Maryland State Fair held 
at Pimlico, September 1878, he again took 
State Fair, held in Richmond, in October 1880, 
no premium was offered for tho best herd of 
Jerseys, but he toolc all the honors offered to 
the best of his class by winning tho first pre¬ 
mium for Jersey bulls over three yearn old. 
jfarm Stopici 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL FARM. 
* - 
Fertilization of Corn. 
An illustration was given in the Rural of 
Jan. 1st (1881), of tho tassel of what is variously 
called the Wild Coru of America, Rocky 
Mountain Corn, Cow Corn, Com in Pods, etc. 
This Is by many looked upon as the wild corn 
from which our cultivated varieties have 
sprung. August 10, our plants were in bloom, 
tho silk being receptive at the same time that 
the pollen was ripe. This is not the ease with 
a majority of tho stalks of our field corn of 
the present day', as the tassel generally sheds 
its pollen before (proterandrous) the silk ap- 
cultivatcd had their origin in the “ Podded ” 
or “ Wild Corn of America,” it would appear 
that sweet corn has changed loss respecting 
the relative maturity of the stigmas and an¬ 
thers than field corn. It would prove a very 
interesting experiment to ascertain which seed 
would prove the more productive, viz., that 
fertilized by tho pollen of its own or another 
stalk. 
Bermuda Grass at the Rural Farm. 
Many of our Northern readers have heard 
of Bermuda 0rasa, no doubt. It is severally 
estimated in the South as a curse and a bless¬ 
ing—as a curse where it gets possession of till¬ 
able land ; as a blessing when it covers lands 
where scarcely any other herbage will grow. 
In many parts of Texas, Louisiana and other 
Southern States it is chiefly depended on for 
pasture for immense herds of cattle. It de¬ 
lights in a sandy soil, and has been planted as 
far north as Tennessee, North Carolina and 
Virginia upon sandy hilLs. It is in the ex¬ 
treme South the only yard grass, and it makes 
a sod so tough that it is almost impossible to 
force a plow through it. 
Early' in the Summer we received a sod of 
soon began to send out its short-jointed, wiry 
shoots in all directions, which we observed 
grew, on an average, an inch and a half in 
twenty-four hours, rooting at each joint as 
they proceeded along tho surface of the ground, 
easily making their way' under stones, pieces of 
wood and the like, which had been placed to 
ascertain in how far these would obstruct or 
in what way change the growth. Thus, from 
so small a sod a little plot seven feet in 
diameter had formed by August 25. We re¬ 
ceive many questions regarding Bermuda 
Grass every year, as to its hardiness, whore 
seeds ma y bo obtained, etc. We do not know 
that it has been ascertained how far north it 
is hardy, and this is ouo of our objects in 
planting it here. We shall protect a part with 
salt bay, and leave the rest exposed. It has 
bloomed freely during the entire Summer, and 
though all other grass was iliy and parched^ 
this I'etained its fresh, pale-green color through¬ 
out the drought which was exceptionally long 
and severe. Its flowers are borne in spikes of 
from three to five, two inches in length, 
similar to those of the common Crab Grass— 
Panieum sanguinale. But it rarely seeds in 
this country. It is propagated by dropping 
f 
JERSEY T3ITLL, “ PROSPECT.”~From a Pliotograpli.-Fig. 425. 
first premium and once more the herd prem 
ium was von by the herd that had him at its 
head. At tho Baltimore County Fair, in Sep¬ 
tember 1880, the herd premium was ugiiin 
awarded to tho herd at whoso head lie was. 
These wore the only' occasions on which he was 
exhibited in Maryland, and every time he bore 
away tho highest honors. At the Virginia 
Peal's, or, less commonly, after it appeal’s 
(protorogynous). We have found that in the 
earlier stalks of field coin, the tassels and silk 
often mature at the same time ; while later 
tho tassels are generally ripe first. In the dif¬ 
ferent kinds of sweet coni, however, both silk 
and pollen are, as a rule, mature at the same 
time. Supposing that all kinds of corn now 
this Bermuda Grass (Cymodon dactyIon), about 
a foot in leugth by' three inches in width, from 
Tennessee. It remained in the office until 
thorougly dry and apparently dead. It was 
then taken to this farm and planted in a very' 
dry muek-and-sand soil. In a few days it 
showed signs of life, and in a few weeks was a 
mass of green of a bright sea-green color. It 
The Rural Few- Vnrhrr is now conceded to 
be the. leading agricultural and horticultural 
journal of this country. Us Experiment Farm 
and Grounds of 82 acres are worked ta the 
interests of subscribers, and its Free Plant 
and Seed Distributions have introduced manu 
of the best farm and garden plants in cul¬ 
tivation. flie price is two dollars per year — 
really a Four-Dollar Paper for half price. 
