©EC. 40 
THE RUSAL f§EW-Y©BiCEB 
ets, the first of which is awned in the bearded 
kinds and in the beardless kinds merely point¬ 
ed, are the stamens and pistil. In crossing 
different kinds, the two pales which rest close 
together must, of course, be separated, so that 
the three stamens may be removed and others 
inserted in their place—stamens (anthers) from 
the kind with which it is desired to effect a 
cross. After the stamens of the head to be 
fertilized have been removed, which is easily 
effected by the use of a sharp-pointed stick, 
and other anthers introduced, it is beet to 
wind a worsted yarn about the spikelets to 
hold the glumes and palets together, and so 
exclude the pollen from other flowers. The 
anthers should be selected when of a golden 
color, just before they are ready to burst. If 
used earlier the anther will dry up and the 
pollen become impotent. 
The inner kernels of wheat spikelets are al¬ 
ways smaller than the onter ones, and they 
are later in ripening. In establishing any new 
variety of wheat, therefore, by cross-breed¬ 
ing, the outer flowers should alone be operated 
upon, and the outer kernels alone be saved for 
seed. A breast and spikelet of wheat have 
the same signification, the first being the fa¬ 
miliar name, the second the botanical name, of 
one of the sets in which a wheat-head is sepa¬ 
rated. Some breasts bear three, some five, 
flowers. In the three-flowered, the middle is 
generally abortive, as in the noted Clawson, 
which usually bears but two kernels in a breast 
or spikelet. In five-flowered, two are usually 
abortive, so that- the breast bears but three 
kernels. Such differences, which seem never 
before to have been considered, make a great 
difference in the yield, and fanners should, 
by selection, endeavor to establish and to cul¬ 
tivate those varieties which bear three or four 
grains in a breast. It is urged, indeed, that in 
all seedsmen’s catalogues the descriptions of 
wheats should state how many grains there 
are to a breast. Whether it contains two ox- 
three grains, all else being equal, makes a dif¬ 
ference of one-third in the yield. 
Most farmers ai-e careful to shell off the 
butts and tips of seed corn. They should be 
just as careful in the selection of seed wheat 
to reject all but the outer seeds of every 
spikelet, and to cut off the “tip” and the 
“ butt,” so to speak, of the wheat ear. Those 
breasts that ai-e just about the middle of the ear 
or head, or a little above, are the fix st to bloom, 
the first to ripen their grains. It is very evi¬ 
dent that saving seed in this way in quantity 
would be absurd. But the Bubal, advocates 
seed PLOTS just the same for wheat as for 
corn. For this purpose plots 33x33 feet (one- 
fortieth of an acre) are plenty large enough. 
The seed, carefully selected from the lai-gest, 
heaviest heads, while yet standing in the field 
—the butts and tips cut off with a pair of 
scissors—are planted a foot or less apart each 
way. This plot is cultivated once in the Fall, 
again in the Spring. So planted, oxxly a little 
over 1,000 seeds are required, and these are 
furnished by about 75 heads, 
as compared with the old. On every side of 
the Rui-al Farm are thrifty farmex-s. Then- 
fields are well tilled and manured. And yet 
they have lxever equaled the above yields, 
pi-oduced with no farm, and but a small quan¬ 
tity of commercial, manure. If, now, an old 
field that has uot been manured for eight 
years at least, can be made, under any other¬ 
wise economical system of planting and cul¬ 
ture, to pro 1 uoo more grain than neighboring 
fields which have been richly manured, it 
must speak well for the methods which effect 
that result. 
Many observations have been made duiing 
the past three yeai-s to ascertain whether the 
silk of a given stalk is, or may be, pollenated 
mense yields of last year were due to the 
commercial fei-tilizei"s then used. 
Another series of experiments conducted 
on this field is the testing of special fertilizers 
upon plots of a twentieth of an acre. For 
example: No. 1 received 7}4 pounds of nitrate 
of soda-, No. 2, 35 pounds of phosphoric acid: 
No. 3, 7)^ pounds muriate of potash; No. 4, 
nitrate of soda and dissolved bone-black com¬ 
bined; No. 5, nitrate of soda and muriate of 
potash; No. 0, bone-black and potash; No. 7, 
all combined; No. 8, sulphate of lime. The 
object of this experiment, which many 
others are also carrying on, is simply to de¬ 
termine what manurial constituent the land 
most needs. But Mr. Carman is of the opin- 
sive to cax-eful selection and breeding. Thus 
it has occurred that 134 bushels of shelled 
Blount’s com were produced on one aci-e of 
land at the Rural Farm during last year (1880), 
though no doubt this great yield was due to 
other causes as well. Of this the reader may 
himself judge. The facts are very bi-iefly as 
follows: 
The field had received no farm manure in 
seven years. It had been mown and in pas- 
tux-e during thut. time. The sod was plowed 
under in eai'ly Winter, and in the Spring was 
thoi-oughly harrowed, rolled and harx-owod. 
The com was drilled in 12 to 15 inches apart, 
the drills 4 feet 3 inches apart. One dressing 
of concentrated com fertilizer, at the rate of 
300 pounds to the acre, was given previous to 
the last haiTowing. When the corn was seve¬ 
ral inches high it received another applica¬ 
tion of the same fertilizer, at the i-a^e of 100 
pounds per aci'e, and when 18 inches to two 
feet high another of 100 pounds of concen¬ 
trated potato manure. The field was culti¬ 
vated four times—twice with a cultivate!' that 
penetrated the soil scarcely two inches in 
depth, twice with a hoe, always flat, all hill¬ 
ing up whatever being carefully avoided. 
The promise of a remarkable yield upon 
this field, as well as upon another, was so ap¬ 
parent before the com was ripe, that it was 
deemed advisable to have it examined and 
measured by well-known pex-soixs, who could 
have no interest in misrepresenting the yield 
in any way. Accordingly, it was examined 
by no less than twelve gentlemen, all in one 
way or another prominently connected with 
agriculture. The following report is all tha 
need here be presented: 
“ Report, on a Held of corn near Hewlett’s Station, 
Long island, belonging to the BUBAL Nbw-Yorker, 
made October 12th, lHSO. -Size of plot, 310 by 122.4 
feet, or .87 Of nn aero of corn (Blount’s White Pro¬ 
lific), sown Ivy machine in rows4 feet 3 inches apart, 
and each single kernel intended to be 15inches from 
Hat culture.—[Details as expressed 
Its neighbors. 
above, here made iu the report, need not be re¬ 
peated.) Prom a judicious selection of stocks and 
careful measurement and weighing, we find the total 
yield was 227 bushel baskets of corn on the cob, or 
261 bushels upon au acre. We also shelled and 
weighed a quantity, and ascertained the gross weight 
of three and seven-eighths bushels to be 136 pounds, 
orSU to one bU9het, and further, that 35 pounds of 
corn in the ear gave 28.95 pounds of grains and 6.05 of 
cob, and measured 17.1 quarts. This calculation 
showed that the equivalent of 261 bushels of corn 
on the cob was 139.4 bushels of grains, and about 
three bushels, or a little more, which Mr. Carman 
had selected from the most prolific stalks, and had 
already placed In the bavn, or a grand total of about 
142 bushels of shelled corn per acre. (Signed) 
Robert J. Donor., C E., 
Pres. Farmers' Club, American Institute. 
W. X. H.iBmsn.vw, F. 0. S., 
Chemist X. Y. State Ag. Society. 
L. C. Bckrdict, 
Ag. Ed. X. Y World. 
Husked not until some time afterwards, and 
measured as cribbed, the yield proved to be, 
as previously stated, 134 bushels per acre, or 
eight bushels less than the above estimate. 
Upon an adjacent field of somewhat over 
four acres, a variety of yellow dent called 
the Chester County Mammoth was raised, 
the best acre of which yielded 150 bushels of 
shelled corn, while the entire field, though a 
portion was poorly drained, yielded 112 bush¬ 
els to the acre. The soil of this field has 
always been considered the poorest of the 
farm, being gravelly and dry. It had re¬ 
ceived no manure of any kind in over twelve 
years. It was treated the same in all other 
respects as that upon which the Blount was 
grown, except that but 350 pounds of concen¬ 
trated com manure were sown before the 
last harrowing, and the seed was drilled in 
the rows 3 feet 10 inches apart. 
As it was Evident that these yields, which 
have never before been equaled upon consid¬ 
erable areas under inexpensive manuring and 
cultivation, could not alone have been due 
either to naturally rich land or to the liberal 
application of manures of auy kiud. the vari¬ 
eties of corn, the peculiar methods of plant¬ 
ing and cultivating, must also be considered. 
To test these points has been made the object 
of an experiment field the present season. It 
contains about five acres, and has received no 
manure iu at least eight years. The soil, ns 
Riiodotypus Kerrioides— Fbom Life.—Fig. 548. 
and the ovules fertilized by the pollen of the 
tassel of the same plant. The conclusion ar¬ 
rived at is that some ears are never so fertil¬ 
ized, the pollen ripening before the silk (pis¬ 
til) is ripe. This is the case with many kinds 
of field corn, notably with that of Blount’s 
White Prolific. In this variety, it sometimes 
happens that the pollen of a given stalk is 
shed before even the sets appear. It has been 
stated within the past year, by those who 
should know, that all kinds of Indian corn 
are proteraudrous. But Mi-. Carman has 
pointed out that this is not so, and has shown 
that in many kinds (many of the sweet corns, 
for example) the silk is receptive at the same 
time that the pollen is mature. 
WHEATS. 
There were not less than 80 different varie¬ 
ties of wheat grown at the Rural Farm the 
past season. Most of these were new kinds, 
not yet offered for sale by seedsmen, many of 
them originating at the Rural Farm, through 
selection, through the changing of Spring into 
Winter varieties, and by crossing. While 
great and successful efforts have been made to 
improve our ornamental plants, as well as 
those cultivated for fruit, i.s it not surprising 
that the wheat plant, which stands foremost 
among the agricultural crops of this country 
—of the world, indeed—should have been so 
neglected ! 
Those visiting the farm express surprise 
that they should see so many different kinds 
of wheat, all apparently thri ring, and many 
of them bearing beads and kernels of a size to 
which they had deemed wheats could never 
attain in the soil and climate of Long Island. 
True, they may not thrive elsewhere as well as 
there. Only a comprehensive test could de¬ 
termine this, ami it will require several years 
ere these wheats can be distributed for this 
purpose. As wheats cannot inter-cross by 
natural agencies, their generative organs 
being confined within close-fitting envelopes, 
the origin of many new varieties of wheats, 
could it l>e knowu, would, no doubt, prove 
highly interesting. 
ion that such tests will, as a rule, prove little 
upon such small plots, and that even upon 
larger plots the same experiments should be 
carried on for a number of years. 
Several objections have been made to the 
Rural’s methods Of drilling in corn seed and 
flat cultivation. One is that the plant i.s more 
liable to fall under high wind. This is not 
admitted. It is true of the young plant lie- 
fore its roots have extended much; but young 
plants always right themselves, so that the 
objection can only apply to older plants. 
Both the Blount and Chester Co. Mammoth 
are tall-growing varieties, the former aver¬ 
aging eleven feet when fully grown, the latter 
over nine, which is considerably taller than 
the kinds cultivated by the neighboring 
farmers. Nevertheless, the Rural corn has 
stood high winds fully as well as theirs. It 
should be considered that the lateral roots of 
corn extend, late in the season, well across the 
rows, and, in hilling up, the soil is taken from 
the extended roots, where it is most needed, 
to heap about the stems, where it is less 
needed. Thus the weight, so to speak, is 
taken from the long lover and placed upon the 
short lever. Again, in plowing to hill up, 
some of the lateral roots are severed, anil the 
plant is thus deprived of their support en¬ 
tirely. 
Another objection made to fiat cultivation 
is, that neither the cultivator nor plow can be 
run but one way, and that consequently the 
narrow belt upon which, the plants grow must 
be hoed or the weeds suffered to grow, This 
objection i.s a valid one. Still, if tlie rows 
are straight, the cultivator may Vie run so 
neur to the plants that very little hoeing is 
really necessary. This is the only objection 
to drill rows, that has been discovered, while, 
for tho rest, it seems evident that corn planted 
one foot apart in the drill will thrive better 
and bear more grain than when three or four 
plants are crowded together, us iu the old 
check or hill system. Root-pruning, that is, 
plowing corn after it has grown to any size, 
is very decidedly objected to at the Rural 
Farm. It is contended that the corn plant 
cannot have too many roots, and that they 
should be permitted to branch out in every 
direction, as nature intended they should. 
The fact that fruit trees growing too luxu¬ 
riantly may be brought to fruitfulness by 
root-priming does not hero apply. The one is 
a perennial, the other an annual. One bears 
fruit for many years, the other but once. It 
is admitted that large crops of Indian com 
have been raised though deep-plowing were 
practiced. But the question is asked, if those 
crops might not have been greater had the 
land been cultivated near the surface only l 
These experiments, now carried on for tho 
third year at the Rural Farm, must the 
present season determine in a measure the 
relative value of the above peculiar methods 
If au acre be 
be laid off in ten-inch squares, it will require 
about (57,500 grains to plant it. Now, if we 
suppose that each grain produces 20 heads 
(which is not excessive for grain so sowed or 
planted), and every head 20 grains, allow - 
lowing 600,000 grains to the bushel, we have a 
crop of 45 bushels to the acre. The yield of these 
cultivated plots is, in most seasons, surprising, 
and the straws and heads are fully double ihe 
usual size. If we were to suppose that seed 
wheat yields but thirty-fold, one bushel of 
seed should produce 30 bushels of crop. But 
every seed produces, by tillering, more than 
one head, and every head will produce at the 
least estimate 20 grains. When, therefore, 
two or three bushels are sown to the acre, we 
may see what an immense waste of seed there 
is. When w heat is planted as above described, 
one grain every foot, it is found that nearly 
every grain germinates, and the plants so 
tiller as to cover the ground by mid-spring. 
In the usual methods of sowing wheat, either 
broadcast or by drilling, it has been found 
that for the soil of the Rural Farm not less 
than It* bushel will produce the best yield. 
As, however, the land is rich and well pre¬ 
pared, a less quantity should serve, and the 
same may be said of oats, rye, barley or com. 
,, It is a good horse that never stumbles, and 
a good wife that never grumbles.”.Ar¬ 
tificial milk is the latest. It is a French in¬ 
vention, and consists of a mixture of glucose, 
albumen, sal-soda, olive oil. or oleomargarine 
and water.It is better never to order 
shelled seed com of seedsmen.Herald: 
There is more real religion in paying one hun¬ 
dred cents on tho dollar than in some of the 
most eloquent prayers ever delivered. 
When you are seated between a lawyer and a 
doctor you are in a very dangerous position, 
for it is either your rnouey or your life. 
There are some who fail to get rich, and so 
die poor; there are others who fail in order to 
get rich and succeed........ A writer in the 
American Rural Home thinks he can keep 
two acres of drilled corn clean as easy as one- 
and-a-half in hills. 
CROSSING WHEATS. 
The many different varieties of wheat raised 
at the Rural Farm the past season gave excel¬ 
lent facilities for crossing. Where few kinds 
are raised, the selection of both parents is, of 
course, restricted, and it is often impossible to 
obtain pollen when ueeded. Crossing wheats, 
even to those who are skilled in crossing flow- 
era in genera], is a delicate operation, and re¬ 
quires both a steady hand and a fair share of 
patience. The outer husk, chaff or covering 
(botanienlly glume) may be compared to tho 
calvx in other flowers. Within this husk are 
two other husks (botauically pales, palets or 
palete), which may be compared to the corolla 
or petals of other flowers. Between these pal- 
