THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
A National Journal forth® Country and Suburban Home. 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
Conducted by 
ELBEBT B. OAR MAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, Sept. 3,1881. 
OUR CLUB OFFERS FOR IPS 1-82. 
must be of vast benefit to the whole 
country. I hope your health will be 
spared until your fondest hopes are realized 
in the work you seem to have so much at 
heart.” 
• -- 
It is immaterial to us whether those 
desiring to avail themselves of the very 
low rates for the Rural New-Yorker in 
connection with the other journals else¬ 
where announced, subscribe through us 
or them. The rates in either case 
are the same. We may say, however, 
that we have made all the necessary ar¬ 
rangements to transact the business 
promptly and accurately in so far as our 
part of the transaction is concerned. 
last to decay. Keeping quality, now that 
we have perfection in form, is the im¬ 
provement most needed in tomatoes. 
-- 
If we "were to suppose that seed-wheat 
yields but 30-fold, one bushel of seed 
should produce 30 bushels of crop. But 
every seed produces more than one head, 
and every head will produce at the least 
estimate 25 grains. When therefore two 
or three bushels of seed are sown, we 
may sec what an immense waste there is. 
Nevertheless, in all seed-sowing a heavy 
allowance must be made for waste. For 
the crop of this season we sowed all the 
way from half a bushel to three bushels 
and a-half, and our general impression is 
that fforu one bushel and a-half to one 
bushel and three-quarters for the Rural 
Farm produces as good a yield as any 
other quantity—larger or smaller. This, 
however, is no safe guide for other farms. 
Each farmer, guided by the produc¬ 
tiveness of his soil, its preparation and 
the crop previously sown, must judge of 
the quantity of seed to be sown to the 
acre, for himself. As a rule, it may be 
said that the richer the soil and the bet¬ 
ter it is prepared, the less seed will serve. 
-»-*-♦- 
SILVER CHAFF WHEAT. 
We have spoken both well and dispar- 
agingly of Silver Chaff Wheat. We have 
now again to speak in its favor, Our 
own field of about five acres has yielded 
better than Clawson ever did upon our 
farm; while a neighbor on a trial plot of 
about, half an acre of richer land has 
raised, at the least estimate, 35 bushels 
per acre. The wheat averaged five feet 
in hight, the heads four inches in length, 
while many heads were over five inches. 
The spikclets averaged nearly three ker¬ 
nels. It stood the past Winter remarka¬ 
bly well, making a fine stand where, in 
adjoining fields, Clawson was injured. 
From all rhat we have beard, Silver Chaff 
is not so well adapted to a wide range of 
territory as Fultz or Clawson; but upon 
land suited to it, it is capable, we are confi¬ 
dent, of yielding heavier than either, 
while we are told it makes a quality of 
flour superior to that from either. 
-- 
DURABILITY OF ENSILAGE. 
From an article recently published by 
Dr. Werner, a leading authority on the 
subject of fodders, it appears that ensil¬ 
age has been kept for a term of six years 
in a state of excellent preservation, at the 
farm of the agricultural school at Alten- 
burg in Hungary. Cattle ate the product 
readily, in spite, of its age. It had been 
prepared from fodder-corn according 
to the common Hungarian method, that 
is to say, the corn was allowed to wilt 
somewhat, after mowing, and was then 
trodden firmly into great trenches six or 
seven feet deep by twelve feet, or more, 
wide, and of any desired length. When 
the trench lias been filled to the brim, the 
fodder is piled up, above ground, crown¬ 
ing like a roof, often to a hight of nine 
or ten feet. The heap is then covered 
with earth, and when the fermentation 
lias gone far enough so that the mass sinks 
upon itself, pains are then taken to fill up 
or beat together, as often as may be 
necessary, any cracks that may form in 
the covering of earth. Werner remarks 
that the upper layers of this ensilage had 
the color and the agreeable odor of brown- 
hay (Braunheu), while the. lower layers ex¬ 
hibited the characters of sour-fodder more 
and more clearly the deeper they Were. 
This capital observation on the durabil¬ 
ity of ensilage is all the more interesting 
for us Americans siuce the Hungarian 
climate, with its hot Summers, is in some 
respects not unlike our own. 
THE FARMER’S OPPORTUNITY. 
With the Fair season comes another 
opportunity for the farmers to select a 
good agricultural journal for their special 
study. ^ Tilings have changed during a 
few years past. A few hundred years 
ago the people who made the most, noise 
in the world, the warriors aud soldiers 
and others of that class who considered 
themselves essentially the “first families” 
of their countries, scorned the gentle arts 
of reading and writing as beneath their no¬ 
tice. The power of the pen to form opinion, 
to lead thought, and to instruct, is greater 
in the arts of peace than in polities and 
war. Especially, in these days, is the 
agricultural journal a vast influence for 
good. Since it has become common and 
influential, the art and science of agricul¬ 
ture have made the most wonderful ad¬ 
vances. The food and clothing supplies 
of the world have vastly increased, and 
have made possible the happy existence of 
millions that would otherwise have never 
been born. For abundance of food cre¬ 
ates comfort and wealth, and renders sub¬ 
sistence easy for vastly increased numbers. 
The present enormous immigration of 
600,000 persons, with untold millions of 
property, into this country, the present 
year, is an outgrowth of our present agri¬ 
cultural prosperity made possible by 
agricultural journals, For these have ad¬ 
vocated, explained and encourged the use 
of improved methods, better stock, more 
valuable seeds and crops; and, above all, 
have educated the farmers, and have cre¬ 
ated within them the ambition to excel in 
their art. And yet, a few years ago, the 
farmer who road an agricultural paper 
was scornfully termed a “ book-farmer." 
But a wonderful change has come in this re¬ 
spect, and the farmer, who, like those fierce, 
ignorant old knights of old, gloried in his 
aversion to reading, has become not only 
a reader, but a writer, and is telling of 
what, he knows to other interested and 
eager farmers. Now the first paper that the 
fanner looks for, and opens when he gets 
it, on his weekly visit to his post-office, is 
his agricultural journal. And the farmer 
who is most respected and consulted by 
bis neighbors, and whose farm and work 
are models and examples for the neigh¬ 
borhood, is the one who reads and studies 
the agricultural papers the most care¬ 
fully. '' 
-» -- 
BREVITIES. 
A matter of course—a horse race at “agri¬ 
cultural fairs. 
Ik our leaders do not have a merry time 
wit h our next Seed Dist ribution—surely it unit 
not be the Rural’s fault. 
“ Enter me for a jackass,” was the double- 
barreled dispatch sent by an honest farmer to 
the secretary of an agricultural fail - . 
Respectable agents for the Rural New- 
Yorker wanted everywhere. Examine the 
Premium Lists. Anyone sending us seven 
subscriVxws at two dollars each (our only 
price) will secure the Rural for one year. 
The Rural Branching Sorghum is, without, 
question, a tine success. No doubt, another 
year, seedsmen in general will supply the 
seed. As an ensilage plant, it bids fair, in 
many parts of the country, to take the place 
of Indian corn. 
An engraving from aspecimenheail grown at 
the Rural Farm of the Black-bearded Centen¬ 
nial Wheat will 1 h> presented in our Special 
Wheat Number next week. The beards of 
this grain turn black and full so that the head 
becomes quite beardless. 
There is, as Mr. Ki Hebrew remarks, no 
other crop that responds more promptly to 
the application of manure, or that better re¬ 
pays good cultivation, than oats. On poor 
ground, with slovenly culture, they scarcely 
Afield enough to pay the expenses incurred, 
take them year after year. 
Probably a. higher class of advertisements 
has never been collected together in any one 
issue of a rural journal than is to be found in 
this number of the Rural New-Yorker. 
We would thank our friends for mentioning 
this journal when corresponding with any of 
those whose' announcements appear. 
The Brinkle’s Orange has heretofore found 
a place in many gardens for its line quality, 
notliwitlist-Siidlng its tenderness aud the fact 
that it thrives well only in comparatively few 
Sections of the country. But the Caroline is 
as hardy os any raspberry ever grown in 
the Rural <1 rounds, und from all accounts, it 
bids fair to thrive anywhere. 
Last year the Wysor Fultzo-Clawson of¬ 
fered in'our present’ distribution announce¬ 
ment, bore the largest, heaviest gra in wo havo 
ever seen. This year, owing to long-continued 
rains and cloudy skies, all of our wheats are 
more or less shrunken—the Fultzo-Cluwson as 
much as any. When, therefore, our sul>- 
scribers receive the seeds they will kindly 
make due allowance. 
Prof. Brewer questions if all the money 
won at agricultural fail's pays more than half 
the actum expenses of the winners in entering 
the object exhibited, caring for it there, and 
getting it home again. It is not the cup won 
at a boat-race, that incites young men 1o do so 
much labor, spend so much time and money, 
and exercise so much self-denial while train¬ 
ing, but. its possession is the sign of victory— 
and so of the prizes won at our fairs. 
Many of the specimens of wheat which we 
have received jn competition for the several 
little premiums offered by the Rural a few 
months ago, are simply wonderful as to size, 
weight and beauty. Except that we havo al 
ready more than yve can well attend to at 
this season, when both farm and editoral work 
presses hard, we should be glad to have all 
of the specimens nicely arranged and labeled 
and exhibited at some of our principal fairs. 
It may be doubted whether so many or such 
lerfect specimens have ever before been col- 
ected together. 
Prof. Arnold forcibly remarks in another 
column (all should read the article)* that a 
man whose house stands but one chance in a 
thousand of being annually burned, will not 
allow it to go a day without being insured, 
while the income from his dairy, often worth 
much more than his house, and whirh stands 
about one chance in five of being out down 
every year, will be allowed to run indefinitely' 
without making any effort to insure himself 
against oft-recurring losses. 5Vliero scholars 
are so inapt und tuition SO expensive, expOrt- 
cuce may well bo said to keep a dear school. 
The Rural New-Yorker has never 
until last year clubbed with any other 
journals. We have, however, for 1881-82, 
for the benefit of many of our readers, 
been at great pains to procure the lowest 
cash rates for the journals mentioned be¬ 
low, so that any of them with the Rural 
New-Yorker may be subscribed for at 
very much lower rates than the two sepa¬ 
rately : 
The later Ocean and Rural New-Yorkbr.$2.75 
Detroit Free Press ** “ . 3-00 
Weekly World “ “ . 2.15 
Any person ordering for one year the 
Rural New-Yorker and any one of the 
above Weeklies will receive the Plant 
and Seed Distribution without application 
and without charge for postage. All 
subscriptions for the above journals are 
promised prompt and careful attention. 
-- 
The wheat special number of the 
Rural New-Yorker will be next, 
-- 
Prof Blount (Colorado), in a recent 
letter, states that he raised I'l ck-bearded 
Centennial, both as a Winter aud a Spring 
Avheat, and finds it succeeds best as a 
Spring wheat. 
-- 
TnE longest HEAD of Avheat raised at 
the Rural Farm measures precisely eight 
and one-quarter inches. In due time Ave 
hope this kind of Avheat Avill prove worthy 
of a place in the Rural’s Distributions, 
-♦♦♦- 
In all seedsmen’s catalogue descrip¬ 
tions of wheats, it should be stated Iioav 
many grains there are to a breast or 
spikelet. Whether the spikclet contains 
two or three grains, all else being equal, 
makes a difference of one-third in the 
yield. 
•-- 
When the Avheat plant is said to be 
“in bloom,” it is really past its bloom, the 
seed having begun to form. As the anthers 
shed their pollen or fertilizing dust Itefore 
they appear outside of the eluiff or envel¬ 
opes, it must appear that the Avi despread 
belief that rains occurring when Avheat is 
in bloom cause barren heads, is quite er¬ 
roneous. 
-T-- 
Prof. Blount expresses himself in an¬ 
other column that salt applied at a cer¬ 
tain time to wheat will prevent rust. The 
air at the Rural Farm is so impregnated 
with salt that during cloudy or foggy 
weather the salty taste is very preceptible 
upon the lips, and must, of course, im¬ 
pregnate the soil. Nevertheless, of our 
77 different kinds of wheat there Avas not 
one the leaves of Avhicli were not more 
or less rusted. 
--■*--*■♦- 
The value and number of the gifts 
which will be presented to those avIio 
raise the best crops from the Avheat and 
corn of tile present Free Plant and Seed 
Distribution of the Rural New-Yorker 
mark a decided deviation from the usual 
course of agricultural journalism. No 
doubt it will lead to a settlement of the 
questions as to whether it is profitable to 
cultivate wheat and Avh ether flat cultiva¬ 
tion of corn—the seed planted in drills— 
is preferable to tlie old methods. 
--- 
Mr. J. H. Reall, the secretary of the 
American Agricultural Association, after 
a visit to the Rural Farm last July, Avrites 
as folloAvs ; “My visit to your farm yes¬ 
terday was a most instructive one, and I 
do not knoAv where a man could go in this 
country to get. more valuable information 
on general agriculture. I feel you are do¬ 
ing a gewut uud good work, aud its results 
-- 
Most farmers are careful to shell off 
the butts and tips of seed corn. They 
should be just as careful, in the selec¬ 
tion of seed wheat, to reject all but the 
outer seeds of every spikelet, and to cut 
off the “tip” and “butt,” so to speak, of 
the Avheat car. Those flowers just about 
the middle of the ear or a little above are 
the first to bloom and the first to ripen. 
For a large quantity of seed, of course, 
any such manipulation would be out of 
tile question. But the Rural advocates 
seed plots for wheat as for corn. 
- ♦ > » 
The Central Picture of the cover is 
drawn from a photograph of a view in 
the Rural Ex. Grounds, showing the front 
of the dAvelling and some of the shrubs 
and trees about. The tree on the left is 
the beautiful Yellow-wood (Cladrastis t inc- 
toria). planted seven years ago, and one of 
the most beautiful and in every way satis¬ 
factory ornamental trees in cultivation. 
That on the right, though not distinctly 
enough sliOAvn to lie indentified as such, is 
the Maiden-hair Tree (Salisburia adianti- 
folia), while between are specimen shrubs 
of various kinds. 
The following is the most remarkable 
yield from a single potato avc have ever 
heard of. It conies to us from Mr. W. 
A. Sanders, the wcll-kuoAvn horticulturist, 
of Sanders, Fresno Co., California, under 
date of Aug. 1st: “ My White Elephant 
Potato, received from the Rural New- 
Yorker office, lias yielded 130 pounds of 
the finest potatoes you ever saw—some of 
them over two pounds in weight. I shall 
plant the whole of them next Avcek, and 
shall have by November 25th. tAvo and a 
half tons of potatoes from the single tuber 
received in April. 
■- 9 -*-* - 
We are informed by one who speaks 
from lids oavu knowledge and who has no 
motive for misrepresenting the matter, 
that certain potato growers around Nor¬ 
folk, Va., are now sending North for small 
potatoes (millings) which they plant at 
once. These are bought for a dollar or 
less per barrel. The crop is dug as soon 
as frost kills the vines, and these half-ma¬ 
tured potatoes are kept until February or 
March and then planted. Now this gen¬ 
tleman assures us that the crop groivu in 
this way is double that groivu from ma¬ 
tured potatoes in the usual way. We 
merely present the statement as it comes 
to us. 
TnE new' straavberry, Jersey Queen, 
illustrated on page 580, has not been 
tested at the Rural Grounds, and we 
should hesitate to commend it to our 
readers, except for trial. It is one of Mr. 
Durand’s seedlings, and most of these, 
experience lias taught ns, do not thrive 
under those ordinary conditions which fit 
them for general cultivation. We are as¬ 
sured, however, by a friend avIio, during 
the past season, saw the vines in fruit at 
Mr. Durand’s, that lie never shav more 
uniformly large berries or vines so laden 
with fruit. For the rest, Ave commend 
the remarks of our Avell-knoAvn contribu¬ 
tor, Peter B. Mead. 
-♦-■«-»- 
For TnE past four years avc have been 
endeavoring to establish a new variety of 
tomato, the peculiarity of which rests in 
its being half golden aud half bright crim¬ 
son. But this peculiar and pretty mark¬ 
ing seems hard to fix, though from year to 
year Ave find that there is an increased per¬ 
centage of those so marked. A golden 
tomato is a beautiful object—a crimson 
tomato is beautiful too. Tlie two colors 
distinctly shown in one, however, would no 
doubt prove a pleasing acquisition pro¬ 
vided the tomato in quality were equal to 
the best of the well-known kinds of this 
wholesome fruit. In making our selec¬ 
tions for seed, all of the tomatoes so 
marked arc placed together and the seed 
raised only from the one which is the 
