BECEjn APPRECIATIVE WORDS. 
Peter B. Mead, the veteran horticultural editor and writer, says “The Rural New- 
Yorker is not aCraid to tell the truth iu the true interests of Agriculture and Horticulture.” 
We think the Rural is better than ever. It would be hard to give a suggestion towards 
improvement during the year. The writings of J. B. Lawes, Henry Stewart, Professor W. J. 
Beal, Colonel P. D Curtis, Professor I. P. Roberts, and many others who are known to be 
earnest, honest workers, and in knowledge and experience far above the level of the u'ual 
run of agricultural writers, give to the Rural a tone above that of other agricultural papers, 
and this is greatly enhanced by the labor of its artists and its geuer.il get-up, and above all 
by the deep impressions we get of an earnest, experienced agriculturist at its head, as seen 
by the editorials and notes from the Rural Farm, etc. 
Wayne Co. N. Y, W. L. Devkreaux. 
Brant, N. J.,— You labor under a mistake. I sent yon two dollars for myself 
and the same for one of my neighbors. I get the old Rural. I have taken it twenty- 
five years, and expect to take it as much more if I and that lives. I have no fault to find 
with the Rural. I think it is doing an immense amount of good. I have vot a beautiful 
home which I think I should not have had if it had not been for your paper. Of fourteen pa 
pers that we took last season the Rural was first to be remembered. Long raav she wave ! 
Ralph Evans. 
The Rural’s “Crop Reports,” which are a feature of incalculable benefit to farmers, 
have enabled me the past year to obtain data that have resulted to me in the gain of $200 in 
the sale of one crop alone. Of the three agricultural papers that I read (and they are the best 
published) the Rural takes the lead. 
Schenectady Co., N. Y. E. S. Sauter. 
The seeds from the Rural Free Seed Distribution have more than paid me for subscrip" 
tions for the Rural which is far in advance of any other agricultural paper I have ever 
read. I think it should be named “The Universal Farmers’ Friend.” 
Randolph Co., Ill. John L. Mahkws. 
For our first Seed Distribution of the coming 
year. 
The Giant Wheat, 
BLACK-BEARDED CENTENNIAL 
One hundred and four kernels to a selected 
head—weight 107 grains. For sowing 
either in the Fall or Winter 
according to climate. 
Everybody wunts it and is willing to pay an 
immense price for it merely as a curios¬ 
ity," Professor A. E. Blount Col. 
St. College. Fifty-eight bushels 
to the acre—single seeds 18 
inches apart. 
SHEDS OF THS GREAT 
NIAGARA GRAPE. 
THE WHITE GRAPE FOR THE 
MILLION. 
' The Niagara Grape overshadows all other 
new white grapes as completely as the 
great Falls bearing the same name 
overshadows other like natural 
scenery." C. A. Green. 
Rural New-Yorker premiums for the best 
varieties produced from this seed. 
Let all Rural Tenders enter the contest and let the 
RmtiL New—York it it be the Indirect means ana 
Its readers tl.e direct m. ans of a new era 
I n Kfape culture ! I 
The Blush Potato, 
A new, drought-resisting intermediate variety 
— unsurpassed in quality —iu keeping 
qualities and, so far as tested, in 
YIELD. 
A Grand Treat For The 
Ladies. 
THE RURAX, IKIXED GARDEN. 
A Treasure of the finest strains. 
The Perfection Watermelon. 
All who have tested it say that in quality it 
is unequaled by any other kind. 
Flesh, a deep scarlet nearly 
joining the rind—very 
sweet and melting. 
Shapely, Early. Heavy, Productive, 
Uelicio-us. 
The Black-bearded Centennial. 
This giant among wheats was first sown at 
the Rural Farm four years ago in the Fall, 
and has been sown in the Fall every year. 
Only the largest heads and those first 
to ripen have been saved for seed. The 
oast season it was harvested July 18, ripening 
only a few days after Clawson. The Black 
bearded Centennial wheat which we shall 
tend to subscribers was not raised at the Rural 
Farm but on the lands of the Colorado Ag. 
College at Fort Collins. Last year the Rural 
offered priy.es for the best five heads of wheat 
i f auy kind. Not less than 500 lots of five 
beads each were sent to this office and Prof. 
Blount of the above college drew the first 
premium with this wheat. The number of 
breasts of the average head was 27; the aver¬ 
age number of grains 104 and the weight of 
kernels per head was 107 grains. It is not as 
yet grown anywhere in large quantities and 
has never as yet beeu offered for sale by 
Beedsmen. Prof. Blount sowed this wheat by 
dropping single kernels 18 inches apart. Tlo 
yield last year was 58 bushels to the acre. 
Prof. B. writes us under date of August 1, 
1882: "It is the most fascinating wheat I 
ever grew. Everybody wonts it, and is will¬ 
ing to pay an immense price merely as a cu¬ 
riosity. I am offered one dollar per pound 
in small quantities right here—100 heads go 
quickly for $1. The flouring properties ure 
not yet known. The analysis sUowb it to be 
medium. It is best here when sown in the 
Spring. ' In the Western part of Maryland 
the Black-bearded Centennial has done well, 
and I think it will do well in dry sections and 
mountainous regions.” 
: We know of its having done well, so far as 
it could be tested in very small lots, in many 
different parts of the Eastern and Western 
Middle States. Oar portrait is from a speci¬ 
men Bent by Prof. Blount, though we have 
many heads raised at the Rural Farm fully 
as large though the grain is smaller, which 
may be seen at the Rural office. It is heavi¬ 
ly bearded as it matures. But later the 
beards turn dark-colored and many drop off, 
leaving the head beardless, as shown. The 
beards of some heads, however, do not 
change color. [The Rural New-Yorker 
has been of the opinion that the Black- 
bearded Centennial and Golden Grains were 
precisely identical. For two reasons, how¬ 
ever, we are nowinclined to believe that there 
is a difference. They were sown in adjoin¬ 
ing plots at the Rural Farm, and but one 
plant of the Golden Grains survived the Win¬ 
ter, the largest head of which (with the beards 
cut off) is shown in the engraving. Fig. 275 — 
Page 570. The other heads were less than 
half that size ] 
A small envelope of this seed, (B,-b. Cen¬ 
tennial) the grains of which v e are willing to 
guarantee are the largest our readers have 
ever seen, will be sent in our Seed Distribu¬ 
tion to all applicants. In Spring wheat see- 
, tions it should be sown as a Spring wheat—iu 
many Winter-wheat sections, as at the Rural 
Farm, it will unquestionably thrive as a Win¬ 
ter wheat. 
SEEDS OK THE NIAGARA GRAPE. 
This remarkable white grape cannot be pur¬ 
chased or procured at present, except on spe¬ 
cial terms. Vineyards, under the control of 
the owners, have been planted in 12 States and 
in Canada in order to test it—payment being 
made contingent on one-half the net sales of 
the fruit, 
Dr. F. M. Hexamer says of it: With the 
Niagara the long-felt want of a hardy , 
purely native white grape seems to be sup- 
plied. It is the greatest step in advance since 
the Delaware. 
Mr. J. J. Thomas says: 
“The leaves are thick, distinctly lobed, and 
hang long on the vine. The bunches often 
measure six inches long, they are compact, 
uniform and handsome; berries three-fourths 
of an inch In diameter, light greenish yellow, 
ripening about as early as Hartford. They 
are mueh superior in quality to Concord. . 
. The vigor, productiveness and healthiness 
of the vine, the size and beauty of the fruit, 
and the facility with which it may be ship¬ 
ped, present an unusual combination of val¬ 
uable qualities for market." 
Chas. A. Green gays: ‘'Its vigor, produc- 
tiveness and beauty are its strong points. 
The 11 Niagara" grape overshadows all 
other new white grapes as completely as 
the great Falls bearing the same name. 
overshadows other like natural 
scenery , 
The Niagara originated at 
Lockport, N. Y., and thus far 
the least that can be said of 
it is that it promises to be among 
white grapes what the Concord 
has long been among block grapes. 
It promises to be the 
White Grape Tor tlie Million. 
Mr. Woodward tells us that a 
one-year-old vine set in the Spring 
of 1878, produced 25 fine clusters 
in the Summer of 1879, and bore 
in 1880, 57 clusters, and in 1881 a 
larger crop. A four-year-old vine 
bore in 1881, 140 clusters. 
It is claimed that it is 
freer from the attacks of phyl¬ 
loxera than any other, never 
having been injured. The vine is a 
remarkably strong grower, very 
hardy and has never shown the 
least symptoms of disease. The 
engraving is from life, showing 
the bunch at its best. 
Our readers will none of 
them take for granted that seed¬ 
lings from the Niagara will pro¬ 
duce Niagaras, any more than 
seeds of the Seckel Pear will 
reproduce that excellent variety. 
We guarantee the seeds we 
send oat to bo those of tho Niagara 
—every one—that is all. Great as 
has been the improvement in our 
native grapes during the past 15 
years, it may well be supposed that 
we are only fairly started upon 
the improvement of which our 
native grapes ore capable. The dis¬ 
semination cf these seeds through 
the Rural New-Yorker will, it 
Is quite reasonable to suppose, re¬ 
sult in tho raising and cultivation 
of several hundreds of thousands 
of seedling vines throughout 
the country, and from these, 
children of so grand a parent, we 
may hope for grand results. It 
may be well to remark that all 
may raise vines from good, fresh 
seeds as easily as they raise to 
mato plants, except that the grape 
requires a longer time to germin¬ 
ate. The best way is to sow the 
seeds in pots in early February 
and to thump them out in the 
open ground in June. The care of 
the young seedlings is then the 
same as of other young grape-vines. The 
Rural New-Yorker proposes in due time to 
offer prizes for the best varieties of grapes 
springing from this seed, while many of the 
best as well as the prize-taking seedlings will 
unquestionably command a generous price iu 
the market. We hope that every Rural sub¬ 
scriber will heartily enter this contest of im 
proving the American grape. .Jg 
The Blush Potato. 
This was tried at the Rural Farm last ses 
son for the first, beside 14 ether re*- lrud* 
Niagara Grape— From Nature— Fig 274. 
