THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
SEPT. 14 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
Practical Departments: 
Wheat (Illustrated). 581 
Notes from MieRural Karin. 582 
Defiance Wheat (Illustrated). 682 
Champion and Defiance Wheat—W. G. Le Due... 582 
Wheatpoivlnjr— 1.. J. Tcmplln. 582 
'Surtnir Wheat —Culture &C.--W. H. White.. 582 
•Self-SustiilninK Kurins- An Old Hand.58.8 
Thorough Tiling*— Launder WetUerell. 583 
United States vt, ICngli*h A uriculture— A Veteran 683 
Notes From ;i Backwoods Farm— John RusIIcub.. 583 
Notes or Some of the Newer Strawberries— 
T.T.Lvon.,..58! 
The Ideal Strawlinrry-C.W. Garfield.584 
Arranjromenta ot single Trees- W. C.'L. Drew. . 584 
What Others Say. . .. 584 
Poultry breeding—No. 5—A. M. Van Auken.584 
Poultry Record—Anon.584 
A Good White shin.685 
To lExnel Foul Air—S. R. M . 585 
Catalogues, &c.. Received. 585 
J. J. Mecln... 685 
Blue. White, Rod and Yellow Pond-Lilies— Wm. 
Falconer. 585 
Answer a to Correspondents: 
Small Capital on a Farm in the Far West. 588 
Seed Corn from Tips, Middle and Butt Ears . 588 
Nephila Plurnipes... 588 
Miscellaneous . 586 
Communication* Received.586 
Everywhere: 
Western Notes— W. B. Derrick. 
North Carolina Notes— M. B. Prince . 
Plymouth, Mich. 
■Charleston, W. Va..,. 
Freedom. Win.... 
BewJeyvtlle, Ky..,.. 
Neosha, Kan. 
What Ola--e* of Animals Shall We Select?—Prof. 
G. E. Morrow ... ... 
Stomach and Dungs.—8. B. Peck. 
nig Glam Com Mill. . 
Osborn's Grain and Seed Separator... 
588 
588 
588 
586 
686 
588 
688 
587 
677 
587 
687 
Domestic Economy •’ 
Mop-Handle Papers—No. 4—May Maple.592 
Amende* ‘ llogaltn". 592 
Domestic Recipes.592 
yuerius Answered. . 592 
Editorial Pa«k: 
The Wheat Crop. 
One Hundred Bushels... 
Bv tlin Roadsides. 
Shirking. 
Coarse Manure. 
One of .Many. 
Tlie Old Folks’ Stupidity 
Brevities. 
588 
588 
588 
588 
588 
588 
588 
588 
GIT KRAUT : 
Poetry. .589. 591, 594 
How to Treat Plants for Winter Decoration— 
(Illustrated)-J. J. Heinrich. 
Two Important Papers.. 
From a Gambler’s Home to the Throne of the 
British Empire... 
Recent Literal are ... 
scientific and Useful. 590 
Brlc-a-Brac.690 
Free Lance Needs Enlightenment—Miss Ellen 
Hunter.... . 
A Lucky Breakdown—J. E. McO. 
Ornamentation Without Money—Loretta E. K. 
Turner... 591 
Answer to Dame Durden—B. C. D. 591 
589 
589 
690 
690 
591 
591 
Reading ror the Young: 
Famous Printers. 594 
Phosphorescence Of the Sea.694 
Puddling ou a Hot Day—Busy Brains. 494 
Sabbath Reading: 
The First Prophecy . 594 
St. John aud the Partridge. 594 
News of the Week—Herman.592 
Markets. ... 593 
Personals. 595 
Wit and Humor.698 
Advert ee • • nts.594,595,596 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
PUBLISHED KVKRY SATURDAY. 
Address 
RURAL PUBLISHING CO., 
78 Duane Street, New York City. 
SATURDAY SEPT. 14, 1878. 
THE WHEAT CROP. 
The several articles on wheat culture 
published in this as well as in late issues 
of the ILural, from the pens of some of 
the most successful wheat-growers in dif¬ 
ferent parts of the country, supplemented 
by the information on the subject con¬ 
tained in the multitude of crop reports 
which our friends everywhere have en¬ 
abled us to place before our readers, have 
given them ample detaik, both with re¬ 
gard to the local yields of the last crop in 
nearly every section, aud with regard to 
the best practical means of securing a re¬ 
munerative measure of success for the 
next crop throughout the whole country. 
Connected with the latter point, however, 
it may not be wholly superfluous to call 
special attention here to the necessity of 
selecting good seed, to insure a satisfac¬ 
tory yield ; and also to the advisability of 
sowing early, in order the better to avoid 
the ravages of the Hessian fly. 
By far too little attention is generally 
given by farmers to the selection of the 
best attainable seed, yet in a crop, like 
wheat, in which the profit is rarely large, 
the difference between good and bad seed 
may make all the difference between a 
remunerative crop and one that does not 
pay expenses. Having decided upon the 
variety to be used, the best plan for se¬ 
lecting the seed is to take it from those 
parts of the field that ripen the earliest 
and produce the best grain; thrash this by 
itself, and be careful to prevent all in¬ 
termixture with other sorts. Special at¬ 
tention should be bestowed on the last 
point, for mixed grains seldom ripen to¬ 
gether, aud never bring so high a price in 
the market as a pure kind. It. is within 
the experience of most farmers that an in¬ 
ferior grade of wheat, when pure, com¬ 
mands a higher figure when sold, than 
better kinds where two or more varieties 
are mixed yet rather than take a little 
extra trouble in selecting and thrashing 
seed wheat separately, the lessons of this 
experience are too often disregarded. 
Next to a fertile well-tilled seed-bed, 
the best safeguard against the depreda¬ 
tions of the Hessian fly lies in early sow¬ 
ing. The time for this will vary slightly 
in different parts of the country, but if 
winter wheat has not already been sowu, 
no time should now be lost before do¬ 
ing so, in those districts where this post 
is prevalent. The plant will then out¬ 
grow the insect, and if the first stalk is 
destroyed, a second will take its place. 
Just now the prospects of a rise or fall 
in the price of the wheat is a matter of 
primary importance to all wheat-growers 
who have not already disposed of their 
crop. This, of course, is a question which 
rests mainly upon tko proportion of sup¬ 
ply to demand, upon the excess beyond 
domestic needs, produced in countries 
where this cereal is extensively culti¬ 
vated, as in the United States, Russia, 
Egypt, aud some parts of India, as com¬ 
pared with the deficiency in the supply of 
the grain throughout the rest of the world, 
and the consequent demand that will be 
made on the surplus stock. 
A letter on this snbject just received 
from the Department of Agriculture, 
gives us the very latest official estimates 
of the wheat harvest in this country. 
These differ but very little from those 
given in our issue of July 6fch. The in¬ 
dications are that the total area of wheat 
for 1878, iB about 17 per cent greater 
than in 1877; winter wheat having in¬ 
creased about twelve per cent, aud spring 
wheat twenty-three per cent, the total 
area under the crop being probably 31,- 
000,000 acres. Last year the average 
yield was estimated at* 13.9 bushels par 
acre, aud at that, rate, the crop of 1878 
will aggregate 430,900,000 bushels. This 
of course, is only au approximate esti¬ 
mate, as full returns will not be systema¬ 
tized before December next. 
From other sources, we learn that out 
of the crop of 325,000,000 bushels for 1877, 
216,000,000 bushels were needed for do¬ 
mestic seed and consumption, to the first 
of this mouth, leaving for pxport about 
100,000,000 bushels. Assuming that our 
requirements for seed and consumption, 
during the coming year, will be as much 
as 220,000,000 bushels, we shall still have 
for export, in the year ending Sept. 1, 
1879, upwards of 200,000,000 bushels, or 
double the surplus product of last year. 
A large number of calculations made on 
the returns from the Department of Agri¬ 
culture, checked or supplemented by 
those from different States, in no instance, 
reduces thiB estimate by more than 13,000,- 
000 bushels. What, then, are the chances 
for a large demand and therefore a profit¬ 
able market for this enormous surplus¬ 
age? 
In Great Britain there has been, dur¬ 
ing the past year, a trifling increase of 
50,000 acres under wheat, and a propor¬ 
tionate increase in Ireland, making the 
total area under this crop in the United 
Kingdom, 3,400,000 acres. The yield of 
the new crop is fully up to the average, 
or indeed a little better than for some 
years. According to the latest reliable 
estimate, it will yield, at the usual 
average of 27 bushels to the acre, 92,000,- 
000 bushels, leaving 104,000.000 bushels 
to be drawn from abroad. France usual¬ 
ly exports a little wheat., but this year 
her crop is reported slightly below the 
average, so that the French will probably 
be buyers instead of sellers. Reports of 
this year’s grain crops have not yet ar¬ 
rived from the remainder of Europe, aud 
so soon as they reach us, our readers 
shall be promptly put in possession of 
them, so as to be able to form an intelli¬ 
gent opinion of the outlook. On the 
whole, the present prospect is that while 
prices will probably not depreciate much, 
it is highly improbable that they will per¬ 
manently rise even a little. 
-♦- 
ONE HUNDRED BUSHELS. 
Some physiologists and statisticians 
have, in time past, expressed doubts as 
to whether au authentic instance of hu¬ 
man life prolonged beyond a century, 
could be adduced. But too many cuses 
have now been brought forward, aud 
oentennarianism is becoming too common 
for any one to doubt, of its reality. 
Mr. Frank Miller, the editor of Mil¬ 
lers’ Weekly, published at Portsmouth, 
N. H,, voices a wide spread incredulity 
as to the fact of hundred bushel crops of 
corn to the acre, by offering a handsome 
premium for a thoroughly authenticated 
instance of such a crop — not by esti¬ 
mate, but by actual measurement of the 
shelled corn in a merchantable condition. 
We have no doubt that Mr. Miller will 
have an opportunity to draw his check 
for the amount of his offered gratuity. 
But he will, before doing it, insist on 
snch perfect proof as forever to set at 
rest the donbte that prevail, not only 
with the public generally, but amoug a 
vast number of farmers as well. 
There is certainly no a-priori reason 
to doubt the possibility of hundred-bush¬ 
el yields. A very little inquiry will show 
that one perfect ear of corn to the stalk 
is enough to overrun that quantity. This, 
without regard to the variety of corn and 
the size of the ears, because there is a 
very close ratio between the size of the 
ear and the distances necessary to be ob¬ 
served in planting. In the South, six 
feet between rows is a moderate distance, 
while the Canada corns grow with less 
than half the space, and make up by 
count all that is lost on size in their re¬ 
spective ears. The average corn yield is 
less than 30 bushels per acre. But when 
one who travels much among the farmers, 
observes the bight and abundance of 
weeds in most of the oorn fields he passes 
in the month of August, he will see an 
abundant reasou why hundreds of good 
farmers honestly report average crops in 
excess of 50 bushels to the acre. Clean cul¬ 
ture aloue will insure this result with al- 
mostany variety of corn. Now, if we will 
but add to clean culture a careful selection 
of seed adapted to the locality, and well 
cured, so that all may be depended upon 
to grow, and to this superadd a careful 
preparation of the soil aud an adequate 
fertilization, what is to hinder, not an av¬ 
erage, but yet not unfrequent yields of 
100 bushels of dry shelled corn to the 
measured acre ? Steady efforts to reach 
such crops will soon have a perceptible 
effect upon the national averages of this 
peculiarly American cereal, until it may 
rise to 50 or 60 bushels to the acre. We 
do not doubt the possibility, by good 
fanning alone, of doubling the corn crop 
without adding a rod to the acreage upon 
which it is grown. 
BY THE ROADSIDES. 
As one walks along the roads in the 
country, if he is au observant man, he 
may learn many lessons of value. The 
dwellers along the roadsides may not 
suspect that their characters may be read 
very plainly by the condition of the road 
in front of their homes, aud the appear¬ 
ance of their surroundings. But it is so, 
and every man has a certificate of char¬ 
acter exhibited at his door, or upon his 
feuoe, for the passers-by to read. For 
instance, just now we inuy see roadsides 
white with the wild carrot or other pestif¬ 
erous weeds. Tins shows that the owner 
is careless and thriftless, because he is 
suffering injurious weeds to multiply, 
and lay up future trouble for him ; that 
he is selfish and regardless of what is due 
to his neighbor, because he is actual¬ 
ly injuring the latter’s property by 
stocking it with weeds, and laying up 
trouble for him as well as for himself; 
also that he is not a law-abiding, or at 
least, that he is a thoughtless citizen, 
because he observes neither the written 
law which, in nearly every State, obliges 
every owner or occupier of property to 
destroy injurious weeds upon his prem¬ 
ises ; nor the unwritten law of justice and 
kindness to his neighbor, which would 
impel him to “ do as he would be done 
by.” So it is with everything about the 
house, the gardens, the yards, barns, 
stables, and fields. A mun’s character is 
set forth by these as plainly as if it were 
printed in the largest type, and hung up 
for public inspection upon his front 
fence. Actions speak louder than words, 
and by our works we shall be judged. 
The moral of this little homily is so 
plain that nothing further need be said 
as to its application. Let every man 
judge himself by it, however, and not his 
neighbor. Then some good may result. 
And this is the very time when action in 
this regard will be most effective. 
Shirking - .—The poorest of all ways 
for a farmer (or anybody else,) to try to 
get rid of trouble, is to shirk it. The 
man who ‘‘faces the music” with the 
most, promptness, who “takes Time by 
the forelock,” who “never puts off till 
to-morrow, what ought to be done to-day,” 
is the man who will be most successful, 
have the most leisure, the least worry, 
the most comfort, and make the most 
money. Those who see a “ lion in the 
path” when a big job of work rises be¬ 
fore them, and cower down, instead of 
springing up, are not those who will 
make farming pay. It is as important 
for the farmer as for the sailor, to keep a 
good look-out ahead. No man's plans 
should be more far-reaching than the 
farmer’s. No man should more carefully 
consider the alternatives of the situation, 
or be more ready to “ about bhip,” when 
suddenly-occurring changes take place, 
or to substitute one course for another, 
as circumstances demand. 
COARSE MANURE. 
What is the use of having any coarse 
manure, or “long manure,” as the Eng¬ 
lish call it ? The manm-e itself, i. e., the 
dung and urine, is not “ long.” The 
“ long” comes from the corn-stalks, straw 
and other rubbish that are thrown into 
it, or used for absorbents and bedding. 
Why not out up all such material, so that 
the manure will always be fine enough to 
plow in without trouble, or use for top- 
dressing ? Then we should have no ex¬ 
cuse for keeping great manure piles about 
to “rot down,” and no need of “com¬ 
post heaps.” Manure does not improve 
in its fertilizing power by keeping. It is 
never any better than when it is first 
made. Why keep it merely to improve 
its mechanical condition ? Why not have 
that right at first, and to begin with ? 
-•-*-*- 
One of Many.—The New York Sun 
publishes as if from one of itB own corres¬ 
pondents the interesting description of 
Tiptree-Hall Farm, sent from England to 
the Rural by Professor Roberts, of 
Cornell University, and published in our 
issue of the 24th ult. With the excep¬ 
tion of a slight alteration in the head¬ 
lines, the entire article was published ver¬ 
batim as original correspondence by our 
contemporary, in its Sunday edition of 
the 8th instant. The injustice done to us 
by such appropriation of our property, 
without the courtesy of an acknowledg¬ 
ment, we suppose we must bear with 
equanimity, since there is no alternative. 
Similar offences, committed by papers all 
over the country, have taught us to en¬ 
dure them with philosophic indulgence, 
but it is aggravating all the same, aud a 
miserable sort of reward for the pains 
and expense which we are put to in ob¬ 
taining such original matter. 
-- 
The Old Folks’ Stupidity.—It is 
related that when tea was first introduced 
from Chiua into England, some great 
mistakes were made iu the use of it. 
Some persons steeped the leaves in hot 
water as they were directed, but, instead 
of drinking the infusion, they threw this 
away, and tried to eat the leaves as a 
vegetable. Of course, there was great 
disappointment and the new vegetable 
was set down as an unmitigated fraud 
and humbug by those stupid old folks. 
Well, the stupid folks are not all dead yet. 
Some are still left that we may be amused 
by their mistakes. Suppose a farmer 
piles his manure up in his yard or leaves 
it soaking in the rain-water, while the 
strong, dark liquid is thrown away on the 
roadside, or flows away into some brook 
or pond; and the drained, dry, useless 
stuff left, is Bpread upon the* fields in 
place of goixi manure ; might not 6uch a 
person be thought as stupid as our good 
old great-grandroothers who threw away 
the tea and tried to use the worthless 
leaves ? 
BREVITIES. 
Gen. Le Due favors us with all of the few re- 
porta he haB thus far received of Defiance and 
Champlain. We trust later reports may prove 
more favorable. 
Col. M. C. Weld has a female Dioscorea 
batatas (Chinese Yam) bearing fiuit. It bears 
no axillary tubers as the male plants do, which 
might have been anticipated. Could this female 
plant have grown from the axillary tubers? 
There was no seed sown. 
Ma. Tkmplin says on another page, speaking 
of wheat, aud it is worthy of special emphasis : 
“ As to the seed to he used, 1 will only say that 
a man should sow just such as he wishes to leap. 
If he desires pure wheat, ho should sow pure 
wheat, but if he have a partiality for chess, 
cockle, or other foul weeds, he should sow seed 
in which those abound.’' 
A Line Dkawn.— The patent office at last 
drawB the line at a chalk mark. It has refused 
a patent to J G. Strong, aud Kate M Strong, of 
Talladega, Ala., for an “ant-guard;” said ant- 
guard being merely a chalk mark, which ants 
are supposed to bo unable, or unwilling to pass 
over. This is well. I’ateuts or late have hem 
granted with such a perfect looseness, that we 
nave sometimes thought it would not be long 
before somebody would get a monoply even on 
winking ; and then wo should have men around 
threatening all the young fellows with suits for 
infringement, uiile-s they would pay a royally to 
the “ iuvontor.'’ Hut it seems that a “ thus far 
aud no farther” has been reached iu the Talent 
Office, at last. We offer our sincere congratula¬ 
tions to the commissioner, and his corps of “ able 
examiners.” 
It iB well to boar the following in mind. 1. 
Every fully developed plant, whether of wheat, 
oats, or barley, etc , presents an car superior iu 
productive power to any of the rest of that 
plant, 2. Every such plant contains one grain 
which, upon trial, proves more productive than 
any other. 8. The superior vigor of the best 
grain is transmissible in different degrees to its 
progeny. 4. Rv repeated careful selection the 
superiority is accumulated. &. The improve¬ 
ment, which is at first rapid, gradually, after a 
long series of years, is diminished in amount, 
and eventually so far arrested that, practically 
speakiug, a limit to improvement in the desired 
quality is reached. 6. By still continuing to 
select, the improvement is maintained, aud^rac- 
Uoally a fixed type is the result. 
