Simpson *n Burly Lettuce. 
Salsify.....K oS 
Hollow Crown Parsnip...g; ?? 
Early Blood Ueot. 50 1,1 
HUtOGS At BROTHERS OF ROCHESTER, N. V. 
Long Dutch Parsnip. 8 
Danvor’s Onion.,, 
Lous' Dutch Parsnip..„$ 
Loncc Green Cucumber. ...£? 
Early Curled Silesian Lettuce. “0 73 
Hubbard Squash. oO is 
Hubbard Squash.*1 
Louir blood Heat. 50 6 
Look at. tlie above figures. They are worth 
thinking about. 
Of the seeds sown from Detroit Seed Company 
about 37 per cent came up. 
Chicago Seed Company.... about 47 *• “ 
1>. At. Ferry & Co. 7, ;>•» ,, 
Brisks iV Brothers.. " 
Weak needs produce weak plants. The vigor 
of the plants in the above trials waB not taken 
into account. It would have added force to the 
above tests, if I bad sown at t he same time, the 
same quantity of seeds which I knew to he good, 
or those which we had grown and collected. 
To a limited exteut, I have done this. 
On May 20th, I sowed in small boxes in a cold 
frame two lots of forty seeds each of onion 
seeds of the following companies. ^ ^^ ^ 
Of those of D, M. Ferry * Co. 
Brings * Brother . fg 
Crosman Brothers.... or, 
Chicago Seed Company. ^ 
Seed Grown at this College. |* 
In the last experiments with the onions, the 
College seeds produced plants, which, at the 
age of three weeks, were fully twice as large as 
those from the papers bought of the groceries. 
The plants were not allowed to mature. Some¬ 
thing of the fairness of the first experiments 
may be seen by comparing the results of the 
ouion seeds with those of the last experiments. 
The seeds of each firm, in each case, were from 
the same lot. 
At two or three different times, last spring, 
packages of seeds of carrots and parsnips were 
sent for trial. They had been prepared in some 
way and had been rolled in a light colored pow¬ 
der. It was claimed that the seeds thus propared 
would come up in a few days, and that the gard¬ 
ener would thereby gain a good deal iu his fight 
with the weeds. I am sorry I have lost the name 
of the person who sent the seeds, but berhapi it 
makes no difference. 
'prepared seeds. 
July 131 planted 20 seeds, iu M days 2 W 
fairly cloBe. We have seen eighty, if not one 
hundred of these trees, planted fifteen years ago 
on the Coteau, and growing in sandy loam, and 
from these we judge the tree to bo hardy and 
healthy. It bears light and heavy orops alter¬ 
nately. We once saw seven barrels under one 
tree which had been fifteen years planted. Mr. 
Loutie, after marketing them for many years, 
Bays they are very profitable. Fruit, on trees 
grown iu grass, even when they have suffered 
from want of drainage, large ; but when tne soil 
was cultivated, very large, and commanding 
marked attention. Form, roundish-conic to ob¬ 
long-conic. often deeply ribbed, with a deep, 
narrow, rnssety cavity, and a basin which, 
late; flesh white, deeply stained with red; very 
crisp, yet tender, at once mildly sub-acid and 
sugary, with an aroma of a most peculiar, pene¬ 
trating and enduring quality, more like that of 
some spicy foreign grape than of an apple. I 
am bold to say that no known apple equals I a- 
meuse Sucre in delicacy and piquancy of taste. 
It is a true revelation, in apples, of a capacity 
for flavor, which we might look for iu some rare 
tropical fruit, rather than in an apple from the 
extreme north. It is not a sweel apple; it is a de¬ 
liciously sugared apple, as its name indicates, 
with a distinct aromatic acidity beneath the sac¬ 
charine, like, yet unlike, the highest-flavored 
strawberry. The season of Fameuse Sucre is 
from the middle of September until the iant of 
October, or later. The tree seems as hardy as 
Fameuse; it is upright in growth, it spreads but 
gradually, its branches bear the bright gloBS of 
health. Like Fameuse, it bears light and heavy 
orops alternately. Those who have it, Bay it 
equals Fameuse in yield. 
Rosean.— This is not the Roseau of any of the 
books. The fruit is of even, medium size, ob¬ 
late, basin wrinkled; color, a very dark red; 
flesh white stained with red, crisp, juicy, sub- 
acid, high flavored. Season, September. Tree, 
hardy and long-lived, a moderate grower, with 
an upright close head; an early, yearly, moder¬ 
ate hearer. 
Mountain Beet— This is, in some respects, 
the most singular apple I ever saw. It is of me¬ 
dium size, roundish-conical, very dark-red, al¬ 
most black, yet with the clear red shiDing 
through. But the curious thing about it is its 
flesh, as deeply red to the core as a blood-beet, 
with a red juice, staining the fingers like that 
The fruit has the aroma, but 
UalTUH) lUODV^Y WWITAVJJ --- 
though medium iu depth, is wrinkled and ob¬ 
scurely ribbed. Color, light or dark-red, some 
timeB very dark all over, and covered with a 
beautiful bluish-white bloom, with many me¬ 
dium-sized gray dots. Flesh whitish, rather 
firm, juicy, with, says Downing, a Blight and 
peculiar quiuce-liko flavor. Season, September 
15 to October 1," 
Thus I have redeemed my promise with regard 
to these Canadian apples which magnetized my 
attention and oxeitod my unbounded admiration 
when seen and tasted for the first time last fall. 
Though living within 100 miles of the localities 
where they grow, they were entirely unknown 
to me> who am an orchardist and tree grower. I 
feel sure they will bo equally new to most of 
your readers. I shall keep track of them, and 
hope soon to rescue myself and others from the 
present Tantalus-like condition of wanting with¬ 
out beiug able to obtain them. 
Jan. 16,1ST8- 
Newport, Vt 
ADULTERATION AND TESTING OF SEEDS 
ABOUT THE PEACH 
of a strawberry, 
not the sugared quality of the Fameuse Sncre— 
a sort of “ country cousin" of that variety. This 
tree is iu the hands of at least one nurseryman, 
is regarded as productive and hardy, and is being 
set for profit iu the well-known fruit growing 
town of Abbotsford, P. Q. It is the only variety 
in this list of which I have yet been able'to pro¬ 
cure cions. Season of fruit, October and No¬ 
vember. 
Canada Baldwin.— Fruit, size of Fameuse ; 
roundish-oblate, overspread with streaks and 
splashes of dark over light-red, with many dis¬ 
tinct gray 6pecks. Flesh white, often much 
Btained with red, tender, crisp, juicy, mildly sub¬ 
acid. Keeps till May or June. The tree is a 
vigorous grower, with a somewhat upright, 
though gradually spreading bead. It has fruit- 
spurs distributed evenly along its branches, and 
bears as young as the Fameuse, iu alternately 
heavy and light crops. This variety has got out 
of the hands of the French, and is propagated 
and planted to some extent at Abbotsford. It 
has the fault, on light soils, of sun-scalding 
upon the hark, but is otherwise hardy. Would 
probably do well top-grafted. 
Pomme de Feb,— This is the late keeper of the 
Province of Quebec. There is a tradition that it 
was brought from Philadelphia over a hundred 
years ago by the Seigneur of ChambJy ; but this 
PROF. W. J. BEAL, 
PROF. A. W. MANGUM, 
Within a few years, various European coun¬ 
tries have begun to make quite a Btir on this im¬ 
portant subject. The more the subject is inves¬ 
tigated tho worse it appears, and the more ex¬ 
tensive does the practice appear of selling worth¬ 
less seeds. Old seeds or thoBe killed by boiling 
or baking are mixed with good seeds. Some 
seeds are dyed. Quartz ground and colored, is 
used to adulterate seeds of clover and other 
plants. Some old seeds are dressed iu oil or 
smoked with sulphur to improve their appear¬ 
ance. There are many experts iu the business 
of dootoring seeds. Iu all old countries seeds 
are liable to be adulterated with seeds of vile 
weeds. Seeds can be tested by placing them be¬ 
tween layers of moist flannel or thick woolen 
paper and keeping them in the proper tempera¬ 
ture, 
EXPERIMENTAL STATIONS. 
These are becoming quite numerous and very 
popular in England. France aud Germany al¬ 
though it is only about twenty-five years since 
the first one was started. For testing seeds the 
oldest station is not yet ton years old. In this 
country we learn that something has been done 
the past season, at the experimental station in 
Connecticut. Last spring at Michigan Agricul¬ 
tural College the writer began some experiments 
in testing seeds. We know that tho rascals do 
Tin not, all live in Europe. Who can heat our 
A BOOK entitled “ The Natural History of 
North Carolina,” was published in Dublin in the 
year 1737. Tho author waB John Brickell, 
M I). He does not restrict his aooouut to Nat¬ 
ural HiBtory, but adds a sketch of the trade, 
manuers, and customs of the inhabitants, both 
Indian aud Christian. Some of his statements 
are interesting to the reader of to-day. His ar¬ 
ticle on the Peach suggests a comparison cf that 
delicious fruit iu that day, with the product of 
the orchards of the present. He names the fol¬ 
lowing varieties : Queen's, Nutmeg, Newington, 
Grand Carnation. Black, White, lloman, aud 
SEEDS OF J. B. ROOT. 
July 131 planted so seeds, in 13 days 17 were up. 
“18 " 50 .. *5 .. Sn 
“ 35 •• SKI M 11 80 
Comment is unnecessary, you Bee the inferior¬ 
ity of the prepared seed,* iu every ease tried. 
It is impossible for me to learn how much was 
paid for garden seods such as aro put up in small 
papers and sold at the groceries. The trade is 
quite large, however. In Lansing, Michigan, a 
town of about 3,000 people, one grocery sold last 
vear of those papers to the amount of eighty- 
two dollars ; another a little over one hundred 
aud four dollars. We all know groceries are 
very numerous in every town. Testing seeds as 
to their adulteration and germinating powers is a 
subject which will receive further attention tho 
present year. 
WESTERN FARM TOPICS 
ance companies. We have our nasswoou 
aud wooden nutmegs, our adulterated teas, 
spices, coffee, candy. We might extend the list 
iudefiutely, Bhowing that almost everything we 
eat, wear, or use is often counterfeited in some 
way or other. Under this state of things, shall 
we expect that all the seeds which are sold in 
this country are genuine ? Are the seedsmen 
alone, above all men honest aud beyond re¬ 
proach ? 
The past summer, during the mouth of June, 
I purchased seeds at different stores in Adrian 
and in Lansing. These were sold iu small pack¬ 
ages. I counted the seedB myself and plauted 
them as well as I knew how in nice soil which 
was very slightly screened from the sun. In 
nearly all eases, I planted fifty seeds of each 
variety. In case of beets I plauted fifty 
PROF. E. M. SHELDON 
two nights in succession, the mercury uroppeu 
to within three degrees of zevo—have character¬ 
ized the woather of the two weeks last past. 
Within this time corn picking has been 
pushed with an energy that oven the holidays 
have scarcely interrupted. Tho more c’osoly 
the corn crop of 1877 is examined, the plainer 
it becomes that the quality is greatly inferior to 
that of 1876. The cub is largo aud the grain 
chaffy and loosely sol. From almost every 
quarter of tho State, the cry comes that the 
quality of the present crop is fully ten per cent, 
below that of the year previous. 
IMPROVING WHEAT LANOS. 
Iu almost every rotation wheat is tho objective 
point ; the culmination of the course of crop¬ 
ping. It is, moreovor, of all crops iu general 
cultivation, the safest one by which to judge of 
the effects of a given system Upon the soil. If 
the yield of wheat is increased or even maintain¬ 
ed from year to year, it is safe to conclude that 
our system of farming is, at least, doing no in¬ 
jury to the soil. Wheat is a plant ot Epicurean 
tastes, ft delicate and fastidious feeder. It riots, 
indeed, in the new soils of all countries ; aud 
because they contain in abundance, those subtle 
combinations of organized aud mineral matters 
in tv 11 id i it delishts. .it laughs in full harvests 
60 fruits 49 
