7S0 
THE BUBAL HEW - YORKER. HOV. 13 
®ijt fincprir. 
PORTE AITS OF NEW AND PROMISING 
GRAPES CONTINUED. 
NAOMI. 
A COUPLE OF RICKETTS’S SEEDLING 
GRAPES. 
For the past four years the Naomi Grape 
and indeed all the rest of Mr. Ricketts’s seed¬ 
lings have been closely watched by me. 
The Naomi, 
is a hybrid raised bv Mr. Ricketts of New¬ 
burgh, N. Y , parentage Clinton fertilised by 
Muscat, but what one I am unable to say. Its 
delicious Muscat flavor, however, proves 
clearly that it is closely connected with this 
class. Although it is a hybrid, 1 consider 
it very hardy, but 1 would not be understood 
to say that it is entirely so. The parent vine 
has borne a fair crop of elegant fruit each year 
since my first acquaintance with it, though it 
is partially shaded by a pear tree standing 
within a few feet of it. and has bad very poor 
culture, its owner, I am sorry to say—never¬ 
theless it is true—being a heedless cultivator, 
as Mr. Husmann truly remarked in one of his 
articles published last Fall. It has sometimes 
been covered with leaves through the Winter, 
while at other times I have known it to re¬ 
main on the trellis till Spring without pro¬ 
tection, uninjured. The vine is a fine, vigor¬ 
ous grower. I have a vine raised from a sin¬ 
gle bud cutting this season, that has grown 
twelve feet, and its diameter four inches 
above the grouud is half an inch. Foliage 
large, quite thick and coarse; bunch large, 
shouldered sometimes heavily; berry, medium, 
somewhat oblong; color green, sometimes 
slightly shaded with red when fully exposed 
to the sun, and covered with a delicate white 
bloom; flesh, breaking juicy, rich, quite 
highly flavored with Muscat; ripens with 
Concord or perhaps a trifle later; quality best, 
and it is an excellent keeper, I have eaten it in 
good condition the last of February plump and 
sound. With good vineyard culture I am 
confident the Naomi can be profitably grown 
for market; indeed, I am so favorably im¬ 
pressed with it that I intend to graft it largely 
in ray vineyard next Spring. 
The Lady Washington. 
is also one of Mr. Ricketts's seedlings—par¬ 
entage Coucord fertilized with Allen’s Hybrid. 
It is one of the moet hardy and vigorous grow¬ 
ers with which I am acquainted, fully equal¬ 
ing the Concord in this respect. Its foliage 
is large, thick and downy; its bunches are 
large, often very large, uniformly compact, 
and generally Bhouldered; color, light-yel¬ 
lowish amber, slightly tinged with delicate 
pink when fully exposed to the sun. It will 
grow and succeed well on ordinary soil that 
will produce good Concords. Of this fact 
I have abundant proof in my own vine¬ 
yard, and I am inclined to believe that too 
strong a soil is detrimental to it as it encour¬ 
ages too rampant a growth at the expense of 
fruit. Any tyro can grow the Lady Washing¬ 
ton. In conclusion, I would say I have no 
doubt that many of Mr. Rickette’e seedlings 
will succeed far better with those who are 
good cultivators than they do with him. 
J. G. Burrow. 
Naomi, 
Of the Naomi grape Mr. Charles Downing 
writes us:— 
“ One of JamesH. Ricketts’s seedlings; vine, 
very vigorous, rather long-jointed; leaves, 
large, deeply lobed, coarsely Berrated; bunch, 
large, long-shouldered, often double-shoul¬ 
dered; berry, medium, roundish, inclining to 
oval, pale greenish white, often with a tinge of 
light red where exposed to the sun, and a thin 
grayish-white bloom; flesh, juicy, melting, 
rather crisp, sweet, sprightly and very good, 
with a trace of Muscat flavor. The berries 
adhere well to the peduncle. It ripens with 
the Concord, and is a good table grape.” 
fomoiogind. 
POMOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENT IN MICHI- 
GAN-PEACHES. 
T. T. LYON. 
Peach culture in Michigan has, up to the 
present time, been confined mainly to the pop¬ 
ular varieties of the East. It is only within 
the last two or three years that anything like 
improvement has been accomplished, or even 
(so far as the public are aware) attempted, in 
the way of the local origination of varieties of 
peaches with reference to local wants. More 
recently, however, a few of our more progres¬ 
sive cultivators have set themselves at the 
work of elaborating something of this kind, to 
fill seasons not yet satisfactorily supplied, and 
to supplement varieties now in use, but lack¬ 
ing some qualities more or less essential to the 
purposes for which they are grown. 
Notwithstanding the readiness with which 
the process of artificial hybridization may be 
performed upon the peach, I am not aware 
that any of our experimenters have soueht im¬ 
provement through this means. On the other 
hand, however, one of our fruit growers has 
planted what may be designated as an experi¬ 
mental plat, by alternating in rows three va¬ 
rieties of peaches, with the expectation that 
many of the blooms would become crossed 
through the influence of winds or the trans¬ 
ferring of pollen by insects. The seeds from 
the fruits grown under the circumstances were 
planted, and the resultant trees have, many of 
them, fruited for the past two or three years. 
In this case the Hill’s Chili (which was one 
of the three parent varieties) seems to have 
vindicated its fixity of character, Bince 40 or 
more of the resultant seedlings are unchanged 
and unmistakable Hill’s Chilis. The Early 
Crawford—another of the parents—seems to 
have almost wholly failed to transmit its pe¬ 
culiarities ; while the third variety—Hale’s 
Early—while yielding much to the vigorous 
constitution of the Chili, shows the force of its 
one marked peculiarity—earliness; in the pro¬ 
duction Of several sorts which, while losing 
the white flesh and with it the tendency to 
cling to the pit, range from the season of Hale’s 
Early to nearly that of Early Crawford, thn6 
supplying what at least our Western markets 
seem to demand—a set of good yellow market 
peaches from and after the season of Hale’s 
Early. 
It is yet too soon to speak assuredly as to 
the ultimate value of these new candidates for 
the favor of planters, although I am inclined to 
regard some of them as very promising. I am 
not aware that they are yet propagated and 
offered for sale. 
Yet another well-known peach grower ol 
our 8tate has been for several years experi¬ 
menting in a somewhat different direction. 
His experiments, so far as peaches are con¬ 
cerned, have been mainly confined to the two 
Crawfcrds—Early and Late. His process is to 
plant the pits of these varieties, in nursery, 
and when the seedlings have made a year's 
growth, to select such as most clearly mani¬ 
fest the peculiarities of the parent; bis pur¬ 
pose being to push his improvements in the 
line of the parents. I learn that by this pro¬ 
cess, which has now been in progress several 
years, he has been able to secure an orchard of 
several hundred trees, seedlings of Early 
Crawford, with little if any variation from the 
type of the parent.. 
In one instance, at least, however, he his 
succeeded in obtaining a new variety with 
reuiform glands, with fruit In color and qual¬ 
ity like Early Crawford, but which, after four 
years’ fruiting, proves to be ten days earlier 
and about one-fourth larger. 
His experiments with the Late Crawford have 
not been so long in progress, and although 
conducted in a similar manner seem to have 
shown a greater aptitude for variation on the 
part of that variety, since, in his selections 
from a season’s planting, he has now in bear¬ 
ing a set of four seedlings in size, form and 
general appearance much like the parent, but 
Borne of them more beautiful, the four cover¬ 
ing the season from before Late Crawford to 
early October, while iu quality all are as good 
as the parent, and one or more of them are 
claimed to be decidedly better. 
Besides these, several apparently promising 
seedlings have come to my knowledge during 
the past season, one being a very early peach 
apparently a seedling of Hale’s Early, and of 
season and quality much like Ainsden aud 
Alexander. 
Jiclfo Crap. 
TWO CAREFUL EXAMINATIONS AND RE¬ 
PORTS UPON BLOUNT AND 
CHESTER CORN. 
Report on a field of corn at Hewlett’s, Long 
Island, belonging to the Rural New-Yorker, 
made Oct. 12th, 1880. Size of plot, 310 ft. by 
122 4, or .87 of an acre of corn—“ Blount’s Dent ” 
—sown by machine in rows four feet three 
inches apart, and each single kernel intended to 
be 15 inches from its neighbors. Flat culture, 
with, as we understand, 300 pounds of MapeB’s 
special corn fertilizer harrowed in broadcast 
before planting, 100 pounds of the same when 
the corn was six inches high, and 100 pounds of 
potato special when about 18 inches high. 
From a judicious selection of stookB and care¬ 
ful measurement and weighing, we find the 
total yield was 227 bushel baskets of corn on 
the cob, or 261 bushels upon an acre, 
We also shelled and weighed a quantity and 
ascertained the gross weight of three and seven- 
eights baskets to be 138 pounds, or 35.1 to one 
bushel, 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 189.4 bush¬ 
els 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 barn, or a grand total of about 142 bush¬ 
els of shelled corn per acre. 
Robert J. Dodge, C. E., Pres’t Farm¬ 
ers’ Club, American Institute. 
W. N. Habbershaw, F. C. S., 
Chemist, N. Y. State, Ag’l Society. 
L. C. Benedict, Ed. N. Y. World. 
We freely accept the above report as the ac¬ 
tual yield per acre, and our best thanks are 
due to those who for five hours worked dili¬ 
gently for the data upon which it is based. 
Nevertheless we beg to call the committee's at¬ 
tention to one circumstance which, wo think, 
was not considered in the final estimate. In 
the course, of the husking, Mr. Dodge ordered 
what seemed to be about the smallest, stock in 
the field husked as if to ascertain what, would 
be the minimum yield. The other stocks husk¬ 
ed were "elected because they seemed to be of 
average, size. The yield of this small stook was 
counted as that of au average stook the same 
as the others, which must have materially re¬ 
duced the estimated number of bushels per 
acre. This circumstance, we think, was over¬ 
looked by the committee, as. indeed, It was by 
us until we received the above report, which, 
being less than we anticipated, set ns to figur¬ 
ing out how it could have been arrived at.— 
Eds.] 
Mr. Bruggerhof (of the firm of James M. 
Thor burn & Co.) was one of those who a few 
days previously to the above investigation— 
estimated the yield of the Chester Co. Mam¬ 
moth. His estimate was based upon the yield 
of stocks in the west portion of the field, and 
as we have since ascertained that part of the 
field yields most heavily. The following is his 
certificate: 
This is to certify that three stooks of the 
Chester Co. Mammoth, which I selected as of 
average size, were husked and measured in my 
presence, and that at the same rate per acre the 
yield would be at least 300 bushels of perfect 
ears. F. W. Bruggerhoe. 
--- 
THE SILVER CHAFF WHEAT. 
During the Fall of 1877 we received from 
the Department of Agriculture at Washington 
one-half bushel of 8ilver Chaff wheat, with 
the following description: 
“This wheat comes from York County, 
Province of Ontario, Canada, where it has 
been successfully grown for two years. It is a 
distinct variety of smooth, white, winter 
wheat, withstands the severest frost, and is not 
liable to disease or rust, Its weight is 62 
pounds to the measured bushel.” 
During the three seasons over which we 
have now grown this wheat it has given proof 
of being a most valuable variety, having 
yielded larger crops than either Fnltz or Claw¬ 
son, having a stiffer straw and harder berry 
than the Clawson, being as free from all dis¬ 
eases as that variety, and showing no sign of 
smut, which has proved very injurious to the 
Fultz in some localities. At the harvest of 
1878 the Silver Chaff was several days later 
than the Clawson iu ripening, but it is appar¬ 
ently becoming earlier, having ripened on the 
6ame day as the ClawBon this year. 
I have before me a number of letters writ¬ 
ten by farmers living in various sections of 
Ohio and several of the neighboring 8tites, 
who have grown the Silver Chaff wheat during 
the past season. The substance of these letters 
is, that in clay or sandy lands it has averaged 
somewhat larger crops than the varieties with 
which it was compared, which were, in nearly 
every case, either Fultz or Clawson; but that 
on black lands it has buffered a little more 
than other varieties from the peculiarities of 
this season which have caused many ac>es of 
wheat to fill Imperfectly, thus producing 
shrunken grain. This climatic trouble has 
apparently been greater south of the 40th par¬ 
allel, causing, in many cases, and especially in 
the Southern States, an almost complete de¬ 
struction of the crop, without regard to varie¬ 
ty. I infer from my correspondence, that 
through the Northern States the wheat grow¬ 
ing on black soils has suffered more than that 
on sandB or clays, and that while, on such 
soils, the Silver Chaff has suffered a little 
more, the Velvet Chaff has suffered consider¬ 
ably less than Fultz or Clawson. 
The quality of the Btraw of the Silver Chaff 
has generally been reported as satisfactory, 
one correspondent writing “Ido not believe any 
land can be too rich for it,” which corroborates 
my own experience, but in some cases it has 
lodged from the pressure of high feeding, or 
broken from the effect of rust or of the climat¬ 
ic causes mentioned above. C. E. Thorne. 
Ohio State Ag. Col. 
-♦♦» ■ — — 
SELECTING SEED CORN. 
This comes to me in the Rural of October 9. 
“ Pbot. Blount: You advise in selecting seed 
corn to select only the topmost ear when there 
are more ears than one. Suppose the topmost 
ear is not so large, the kernels not so perfect 
as the others—would you still select it ?” 
By no means. Reject it as well as every other 
ear on the same stalk. Reject it as you would 
a defective animal. Stockmen never select 
Imperfect and diseased specimens to breed 
from, nor are they satisfied to take fair speci¬ 
mens from a poor or defective parentage. No 
more should the farmer select his seed from 
poor and defective stalks or ears. If the stalk 
be a healthy one and free from injury by in¬ 
sects or weather, the topmost ear is always the 
largest, best formed and has the best filled 
grain, provided the parents from which it 
came were perfect. Every variety of standard 
corn produces its best ear nearest the tassel 
for reasons that are quite evident. Being 
nearest, it receives the pollen first and in 
greater quantity than those below it; another 
reason is that it is the natural distance from 
the soil, etc., etc. A careful examination of 
the stalks in every stage of their growth al¬ 
ways shows that the lowest ear has the longest 
shank, the next has a shorter one, and 60 on to 
the topmost one, which sets close upon the 
stalk. It shows also that the lowest ear Is 
the smallest and the top ear the largest, as 
above stated. A. E. Blount. 
$arm tonorair. 
WHICH FORM OF NITROGEN IS MOST 
READILY ASSIMILATED BY PLANTS 1 
No. I. 
FBOFES90K r. h. stoker. 
The question has been a good deal debated 
abroad whether it is better to use sulphate of 
ammonia or nitrate of soda, when an active 
nitrogenous fertilizer is needed for field crops, 
and there is a great deal to Ire said on both 
aides of this purely practical question. That 
each of these chemical compounds can give 
excellent results, under fit conditions, has been 
shown by practical experience at the farm in 
numberless instances. The power of the soil 
to fix aud hold the ammonia of the ammonium 
salt is of advantage in some cases, though per¬ 
haps disadvantageous in others; while, on the 
other hand, the easy diff usibility of the nitrate 
in the soil may be beneficial to the crop or 
wasteful of the manure, according to circum¬ 
stances. 
The subject is all the more difficult because 
there is good reason to believe that plants are 
not by any means indifferent as to the kinds of 
nitrogen which are presented to them. One 
species of plant may find the nitrates excellent 
food and thrive upon them continuously, while 
another kind may be grateful for ammonia as 
well as for the nitrates. More than this, one 
and the same plant may, at different periods of 
its growth, make good or bad use of one or the 
other kind of nitrogenous food. In view of 
these facts, it becomes a matter of great inter¬ 
est to find out, if possible, which crops or 
classes of crops are especially apt to feed upon 
ammonia or upon nitrates; or, Indeed, upon 
the other compounds of nitrogen such as those 
found in dung, urine, aud guano, which are 
known to be true food for plants. The value 
of this iuformation would by uo means be lim¬ 
ited to the narrow queetiou whether an ammo¬ 
nium salt or nitrate of Boda should be bought 
in a given case; for it would apply to the 
whole subject of manuring, either with dung 
or with chemicals. In the light of desired in¬ 
formation, the farmer would naturally strive 
to give to those crops which can feed upon 
ammonia such manure as coutaius this sub¬ 
stance ready-formed or which produce it when 
they putrefy. Possibly, it might even be best 
in some cases to try to hinder nitrification in 
the field and to maintain the manure at 
the ammoniacal stage of decay for a 
suitable length of time; while in the 
case of crops which crave saltpeter it should 
be looked to that the land is marled, or 
provided iu some way with au abundance of 
carbonate of lime, and in general the arrange¬ 
ment should be such that the process of nitri¬ 
fication may go on in the Boil of the field more 
rapidly than it would naturally. To the crops 
which prefer to get their nitrogenous food in 
the form of urea or uric acid we wo ild natur¬ 
ally give fresh manure, guano or urine—as has 
been done often euough in the history of agri¬ 
culture by folding sheep. 
A good deal of study has been given by 
chemists in past years to the question, which is 
the best nitrogenous food. The earlier trials 
were made in the hope of determining precisely 
the comparative value of nitrates and ammo¬ 
nium salts considered as plant-food. It was 
soon perceived that the nitrogen in the nitrates 
is ranch more generally directly available than 
that in the ammonium compounds. It was 
seen that for many kinds of plants the nitrates 
can supply nitrogenous food, and to all ap¬ 
pearance they can supply It in the best possible 
way. But as regards ammonia, it was by no 
means so clear that it could ever serve directly 
