Vol. XLIIL No. 1777. 
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 16, 1884. 
JEntered according to Act of Congre ss, in the year 1884, by the Rural New-Yorker to the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.! 
PRICE FIVE CENTS. 
$ 2.00 PER YEAR. 
ftural {Topics. 
Experiment (Sroumls of the $uvat 
|leur-*J other. 
LIGHT BRAHMAS. 
S tho older readers of the Ru- 
Ral New-Yorker area ware, 
La ~ f or ti ie p as t ten years we have 
been trying first one and then 
another breed of poultry. We 
now have a fine strain of Light 
Brahmas two years old last 
Sommer, and we must, confess 
that they have by uo means met the expecta 
tious which might fairly be entertained from 
the praise which this breed receives from all 
quarters. They have received the same care 
given to breeds tested in past years; they have 
been healthy and are now in splendid feather 
and condition. Still they have given us fewer 
eggs during the Winters than any other breed. 
This is contra ry to the experience of others, but 
it is our own experience, and the reader may 
accept it for what he may deem it to be worth. 
Much may be said in their favor, but all this 
has appeared in these columns a hundred 
times and there is no need of repeating it now. 
Our statement is simply that as Winter lay¬ 
ers they are of less value than the Hatnburghs, 
Cochins, Leghorns, Houdaus, Plymouth Rocks 
or even the ordinary mixed-up barnyard fowds 
to be seen on most farms. 
teas. 
Little need be said about peas, new or old, 
that has not already appeared in these col¬ 
umns during the past year. From the very 
careful trials made here during the past five or 
six years it appears that there are uo marked 
differences between the “First aud Best” Peas 
offered liy leading seedsmen. Some give evi¬ 
dences of a more careful selection of seeds 
thau others, and these differences were noted 
in our last season's tests. 
Cleveland’s Rural New-Yorker Pea 
is a new* claimant for the honor of being real¬ 
ly the first aud best. But we cannot corrobo 
rate the Claim since the seeds were reeei ved too 
late to be sown with the others. Mr. Cleve¬ 
land claims that they are the earliest and 
most even iu maturing of unv pea yet intro¬ 
duced, and the illustration at Figure fci is an 
exact copy of u photograph from nature sent 
to us by him. According to his statement this 
pea will not be offered for sale in less than 
two years. It only remains for us to ask our 
subscribers to test it beside other “First and 
Best” Peas and report the results. Eighteen 
thousand trials will probably settle the ques¬ 
tion. 
Of Dwarf Early peas the American 
Wonder still holds the first place. It is with¬ 
in two or three days as early as the earliest, 
and the quality is the best. 
Garden Pride Pea grows about a foot in 
bight. The vines are very vigorous aud pro¬ 
ductive. The peas (seeds) are large and 
nearly smooth. Our entire crop was ready to 
be picked June 20, sowu April 10. 
Arnold’s Nos. I and 2 . These were sent to 
us by B. K. Bliss & Sous, of New York, to 
be tested. They are now advertised under the 
names of Abuudance and Everbeariug. Of 
these we shall make n report later. 
Latest of All, sent to ns by the London 
seedsmen, Sutton & Sous, will probably be 
offered by American seedsmen this year, as 
it well deserves to be. The vines grow three- 
aud-one-half feet high. They often branch at 
the bottom, or rather send up two or three 
ending stems. Upon such plants 40 pods 
were common enough. The pods grow in 
Pail's, the peas are wrinkled, of large size and 
fine quality. July 18, 100 pods weighed 26 
ounces, contained 500 peas which weighed 15 
ounces. It is well named Latest of All ; as com¬ 
pared with other late peak tried last season, 
it was several days later than any other. 
Again we recommend the Telephone (four 
feet), Carter’s Stratagem (two and-one-half 
feet), both intermediate kinds, for general use. 
The Rural New-Yorker introduced the 
Telephone in this country, and was the first to 
test both the Telephone and Stratagem. 
tests of new potatoes continued. 
Dunmore. Test 45 A.—Planted in clayey, 
retentive soil in trenches a spade wide, three 
feet apart; the pieces (two eyes each) one 
foot apart and four inches deep. They were 
covered with soil lightly and at the rate of 800 
pounds of chemical fertilizer sown to the 
acre. Cultivation flat as in all tests of this 
plot. The yield was at the rate of 582.40 
bushels to the acre. Among the best, five 
weighed two pounds 11 ounces. Of large and 
small there were at the rate of 119,064 to the 
acre or to a hill. The shape, as shown in 
figure 58, page 90, from nature, is rounding- 
oblong, flattened. The skin iswhat is called 
white, smooth; the eyes not deep. Most of 
them were of marketable size. They were 
eaten September 20 and December 15. The 
flesh is white, but when, as in the above case, 
grown in a moist soil, not quite dry or mealy. 
The seed came from J. J. H. Gregory, of 
Marblehead, Mass., its introducer. 
Watermelons.— It matters little what fer¬ 
tilizers you give the soil; how well you pre¬ 
pare it; how carefully you shield the vines 
from insect depredations, the largest and best 
watermelons can not lie grown in cold soils or 
soils not well drained. Such is our experi¬ 
ence in the garden lands of the Rural 
Grounds. We can raise watermelons weighing 
about 8<) pounds. That is about the best we can 
do—let the ground be as rich as possible, and 
let the care be perfect in every way. While 
we have taken just such care as this of our 
melons, neighboring farmers have raised 
much finer melons cm poorer land with the aid 
of scarcely any manure. But the soil was 
light and dry. 
dljf Viimjart). 
PLANTING THE GRAPEVINE—MAKING 
TRELLISES—TRAINING THE VINE. 
Planting. —Take your vines, in a pail 
with water or wrapped in a wet cloth, 
from the place where they were heeled 
iu, to the holes; wheu planting let one per¬ 
son shorten the roots with a sharp knife, 
then spread them out evenly on all sides, and 
let another fill in with well pulverized earth. 
OATS. 
At this season of the year we should be glad 
if we could give our readers any information 
as to oats which we have not already placed 
before them. We have tried every kind of oat 
which has seemed worthy of trial and every 
season the conclusion forces itself upon us that 
the older varieties are as good as any. The 
variations in white oats are not well marked 
as they appeal- in the new names advertised 
and from one to three years suffices to show 
that, except it may be in the time of ripening, 
neither has auy marked merits not possessed 
by the others. The new black oat. Black 
Champion, offered in the Rural’s Seed Dis¬ 
tribution, is quite different from any we have 
ever tried, in two respects at least, viz , that 
they tiller more and the panicles are more 
spreading. But we are by uo means positive 
that they will prove worthy of extended cul¬ 
tivation. Mold's Eunobled Oats (Black Tar¬ 
tarian) introduced by the Rural years ago, 
are the best dark oats we know' of, but they 
are too late. The so-called Australian Oats 
weighed over 60 pounds to the bushel when we 
first sowed them. Now they weigh less than 
40. The American Triumph Oats last season 
bore panicles a foot in length, averaging 80 
spikelets to a panicle, with heavy straw. But 
they are later than the Australian. The Wel¬ 
come Oats ripened with the Australian and 
much resembled them iu all respects. Still, 
we hear that this variety has yielded remark¬ 
able in many parts of the country. The 
51 hits Russian Oats largely advertised 
two years ago are with us inferior to the 
Probsteier. The Wasliington Oats (introduced 
by the Rurali, if a distinct variety at all, 
have no special merits and smut badly. 
CLE5 ELAND’S RURAL NEW-YORKER PEA. From a Photograph. Fig. 52. 
