482 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JULY 18 
ficliJ Crops. 
SWEET CORN {Zea saccharata). 
ITS HISTORY AND VARIETAL DIFFERENCES 
ILLUSTRATED. —No. II. 
CLASSIFICATION. 
E. LEWIS STURTKVANT, M. D. 
An examination of the varieties of corn col¬ 
lected, exhibits more orless clearly a division 
into three types, towards one or the other of 
which all the ears conform. The growing to¬ 
gether of these types in the station garden, as 
expressed l>y 25 named varieties purchased of 
seedsmen, showed a crop of ears all adhering j 
to type, and to our surprise there could be re¬ 
cognized no appearance of any change , 
through current fertilization, whereby the 
kernel of one type was borne on the ear of an¬ 
other type, yet through current fertilization 
kernels of Hint corn appeared upon the corre¬ 
sponding type of sweet, and kernels of dent 
corn upon the corresponding type of sweet 
corn. To make this statement plainer, ker¬ 
nels of eight, rowed flint appeared only on 
cars of eight rowed sweet, and kernels of 
many-rowed, long-wedge-kerneled dent ap¬ 
peared only on the many-rowed, long-wedge- 
kerneled sweets. We have apparently here a 
true divergence between certain varieties, 
which admit of ail attempt at classification. 
In using ordinary seed there will be observ¬ 
ed quite a variation iu the number of rows 
upon the ears of the crop, and occasionally a 
departure from the type. This seems to be 
the result of cross-fertilization between types, 
the crop from the crossed seed tending to pro¬ 
duce ears of the one or the other parent type, 
in which case no intermediates were observed. 
A variation in kernel may come through cur¬ 
rent cross-fertilization, but in this case, as cur¬ 
rent. fertilizations seem only to take place be¬ 
tween similar types, the kernel will yet re¬ 
main of typal form. This conclusion is based 
on extensive observations, which have as yet 
yielded in the large number of curs and varie¬ 
ties examined, no exceptions. 
When sweet corn is in an edible condition, 
the kernels are white, plump, and pressed 
closely together. As «he ri penlng takes place, 
the contents contract, drawing in the skin iu 
sonic places more than iu others, thus giving 
a crinkled, crimped, or shriveled and wrinkled 
appearance to the kernel. This shrinking 
takes place to a greater extent in some varie¬ 
ties than in others, and is so generally uniform 
in the varieties as to form a character of ser 
vice in description. The degree of compres¬ 
sion exerted by the kernels, the one against 
the other, iulhienees their shape. Where 
space is ample, as in most of the eight-rowed 
sorts, the kernels have a more or less circular 
outline; when much compressed, the outline 
is that of a short., truncated wedge; hence it 
often follow/ that when an eight rowed corn 
produces a 12 rowed ear, or even while re¬ 
maining eight-rowed, the kernel loses its char¬ 
acteristic of ronndness except, in those por¬ 
tions of the ear whore the pressure has acci¬ 
dentally been removed. It, may frequently be 
observed that an eight-rowed corn produces 
a wedge-shaped kernel, and in this case it can 
only be referred to its proper class, if un 
crowded kernels do not appear, by observing 
whether the ear is cylindrical or tapering, or 
whether the kernel is broader than deep, as 
well as jhe size of the ear stalk. In good 
typal examples of the three classes, the ear- 
stalk is always small in class A, large in class 
B, aud verj* small, compared to the diameter 
of the ear. in class C: yet, as I have before 
stated, the boundary lines between classes A and 
Bare nut strongly defined, although from the 
circumstance that they are strongly defiued 
in cases where the seed is kno wn to bo of a 
pure and old variety, and loss well defined in 
the varieties of recent, origin, we may believe 
that the character is a sufficiently artificially- 
natural one for elassitieutory use. 
Our varieties appear to have mostly origi¬ 
nated through cross-fertilization and the exer¬ 
cise of a careful selection. It seems probable 
that but two original varieties can be lecog- 
u j ze( i_au eight rowed, round, crinkled,; or 
crimped keruelod, red-cobbed sort for the one, 
aud a many rowed, wedge-shaped, wrinkled- 
kerneled sort for the other; or recognizing in 
tne former Bagnoll’g acquisition, we may call 
this type the Sweet: aud recognizing the com 
spoken of by Bordley as the other, we may 
call the latter the Evergreen. 
From the first or sweet type, divergencies 
have readily yielded to selection, aud those I 
have referred to classes A and B, to wliich 
most of our varieties belong. Consequently, 
there is a greater or less tendency for recent 
varieties to trespass over the borders of their 
type iu some portion of the ears that are 
borne, and yet my experience has been that, 
in general, each variety, when judged by nu¬ 
merous specimens, con forms sufficiently closely 
for easy reference, to the one or the other sec¬ 
tion. From the second or Evergreen type, a 
less number of varieties have as yet been 
gained; these varieties are at once recognized 
in all their ears, and can be referred, even in 
single Specimens, to class C. and cannot I >e con¬ 
founded with classes A and B, except in a few 
cases where recent hybridizations have been 
effected. 
It is probable that as sweet corn gains in popu¬ 
larity und receives more careful attention 
from cultivators, the value of stricter selec¬ 
tions will be recognized, and the varieties of 
the future will conform very closely to these 
types we have outlined E^en at. the present 
time, there are few synonyms amongst our 
seedsmen’s varieties, and but few of the older 
varieties have been abandoned: indeed, I 
have as yet found but one, if we except those 
whose names are too general, and too slackly 
used for clear identification. 
THE LADY FINGER POTATO. 
I had a considerable doubt, which I ex¬ 
pressed recently in “Notes on Back Numbers,” 
whether the small, smooth, tapering potato so 
long known in New England by the name of 
Lady Finger, was of English origin, as Dr. 
Uexamer declared in his comments upon the 
subject in u recent issue of the Rural. But 
to-day, reading the Private Correspondence 
of Daniel Webster (Boston, 1857), I find, on p. 
278 of Vol. 1., a statement which shows that 
Dr. Hexamer was correct. Mr. Webster says, 
writing to the Hon. J. Mason, of New Hamp¬ 
shire, from Boston, under date of March 22, 
1818, "I send you three or four seed potatoes. 
I brought them in my trunk from New Jersey. 
The species is lutely imported from England, 
and is a great favorite w here known. Be good 
enough to plant them in your garden, and 
raise enough to sec what they are. ’ A note 
at the bottom of the jiuge by the editor of the 
work (Mr. Webster’s son—the late Colonel 
Fletcher Webster), says:—“ ‘Lady Fingers,’ 
afterwards well known in New Hampshire.” 
That was 10 years before I was born. My 
grandfather by my mother's side was a New 
Hampshire man, and it was upon his farm 
in Maine, somewhere about. 1835 or 1830. that 
1 first remember seeing and eating this nice 
little potato. Many seedlings from it were 
produced in Maine, more productive than the 
original, but none of them very much so. The 
best of these was the Butman, referred to in 
my last “Notes.” Probably they have all dis¬ 
appeared now. But just here I would like to 
ask if that old Imported Lady Finger had not 
the prior l ight to the name, aud was it not the 
only and original tuber of t.hat name, to the 
exclusion of the very inappropriately-named 
potato figured in the Rural as Lady Finger? 
T. H. HOSKINS, M D. 
NOTES ON BACK NUMBERS. 
T. H. HOSKINS, M.D. 
Rural, June 14.—The illustration, on page 
381, of the various English breeds of horses, 
is well drawn and well grouped, and also well 
worth preservation as a good showing of many 
different types bred upon one small island, 
partly the work of nature, but more the work 
of man, molding nature to his own uses. 
before it blooms. The plant is quite prostrate, 
and does not admit of any upward training. 
On the whole, it was not worth bringing away 
from the Rocky Mountains. 
“Science and Fanning” (p. 388),is an excellent 
editorial. Farmers are far less afraid of 
sc.ieuco than they once were. They have 
found outtbat it wont do them nearly asmucta 
harm as whiskey. 
Rural. June 21. I am glad to see your 
father’s honest, shrewd and venerable coun¬ 
tenance on p. 307. Really I never enjoyed 
a rainy day better than one spent mostly in 
conversation with him some half dozen years 
since at the Rural Farm. N on. Mr. Editor, 
were nervous because you could not do honors 
for your guest, out of-doors, but, much as 1 
would have enjoyed the tramp over your 
acres, I shall not admit that what I did enjoy 
was the “ next” best thing. 
I prefer the word “silage” (p. 401) to the 
Mark Lane Express’s “ eneil” for the contents 
of the silo, aud I think it can be popularized 
if the Rural will use it exclusively. 
How good Is your editorial “Danger Ahead,” 
(p 404) tegmniug with a quotation from the 
“God like Daniel.” That same Daniel was iu 
times past blamed by his enemies for having 
said that, liberty could not long be preserved 
where power was dissevered from property. 
It looked like a very aristocratic position, but 
it was made as a basis for the further state¬ 
ment that all laws iu a free republic should 
look to the very widest possible distribution of 
property. He was speaking against entail and 
primogeniture; but in these days awuy lias 
been found to make the rich richer, and to ut¬ 
terly impoverish the poor, in quite a new and 
unexpected manner, as illustrated by such ne¬ 
farious combinations of capital as the Stand- 
ard Oil Company. What are wc going to do 
about it?__ 
Rural, June 28. “Oakland’s Cora” ip. 413) 
is a good solid type of Jersey t .0 be kept, in the 
mind’s eye as one to breed towards. She has 
all the marks of a sound and useful cow, with¬ 
out that extreme “deer-like” form which city 
people may faucy for lawn adornment, but 
which the dairymen, on dollars bent, will do 
well to keep clear of. Her udder is fine; in 
short, I see no fuult, unless it be the big 
switch. Let this be the model of the Ameri¬ 
can Jersey. 
“Rustic” and I don’t agree <p. 414), that’s 
plain, and it may be said there is no use dis¬ 
puting about tastes. In the matter of pork, I 
will insist., however, that we have made no 
gain in the introduction of the blood that has 
differentiated the Essex swine so strongly 
from the old English breeds, and damaged 
the Berk shires, so far as they ha ve been crossed 
iu that direction. Iu the matter of profit to 
the breeder and the seller there has been, per¬ 
haps, a gain, but early maturity and good 
meat do not. go together. In fact, there never 
was bettor pork, if so good, as that of the old 
“landpikes” or Virginia. As a Yankee editor, 
narrating a southern tour, says: “From his 
birth till his course is run be forages for him¬ 
self, aud to his credit be it Haiti that when he 
comes to the table with hoe cake accompani¬ 
ment, he is always so palatable and toothsome, 
as to put to the blush his pampered kinsman 
of the North.” 
Prof Sheldon’s observations upon the old 
and the improved Cheddar systems of cheese- 
making (page382) are interesting aud im¬ 
portant. Truly the “ mellow aud salvy ” 
cheese of to day, is a vast improvement upon 
the “dry, bard and tough” product of the 
past. 1 think (without professing to be au 
expert) that the future progress of the cheese 
manufacture now lias in the direction of more 
skillful curing, iu which art there is as much 
as in the perfecting of wines. And. by the 
way, is not the wine vault, with its low and 
even temperature, the very need ol' tjie cheese 
maker who seeks to bring his carefully made 
product to its highest perfection? 
Are not Smiths & Powell a little “ previous ” 
on the strength of a few good butter cows 
among t he Dutch cattle so absurdly called 
“flolsteins,” m claiming (page 383) rivalry 
with the Jerseys: as well claim the Jerseys 
to be rivals of the Dutch in milk production, 
on the score of some deep milkers amongst 
the island breed. 
lpomea Leptophylla, spoken of by Mr. 
Falconer, on p. 885, has proved perfectly 
hardy here in all exposures, without protec¬ 
tion. But why grow it? Several of the 
native hardy perennial Bind weeds of this 
vicinity are far more desirable. The bloom is 
small, dull in color aud inconspicuous, and, 
moreover, it must be five or six years old 
Glad to read your Pea Tests (p. 414), aud 
also to bear that with you my new Vermont 
Wonder is only two days later than the 
extra-early yellow sorts. I hope it will prove 
with you, as with me, quite us early as Ameri¬ 
can Wonder, and very much more productive. 
My Yellow Dwarf was sent yon merely as a 
curiosity, to show you that the hybridist can 
“make a pea to order,” and that a yellow pea 
may be made as wrinkled and as sweet as a 
blue or a green one. I have got some more 
good sorts “a-stewing.”__ 
il\)t 1) cri> smith. 
THE SHORT-HORNS IN ENGLAND AS 
SEEN BY A FRENCHMAN. 
In matters relating to cattle breeds of re¬ 
nown, I have lately met with nothing which 
has interested and instructed me more than 
the report of an accomplished expert, a French 
gentleman, named Grollicr, who, writing on 
March 18, of the most widely known and lo¬ 
cally celebrated herds of Short-horns in Eng¬ 
land, has given the results of his observations 
in late issues of the Journal (PAgriculture 
Pratique. 
The first stable inspected was that of Mrs. 
McIntosh, at Havering Park, near Pomfret. 
All the country dwellings of these English 
farmers are kept in a remarkably neat can- 
dition; but the neat cattle are badly kept, 
and deprived of all hand care. This is, no 
doubt, due to the fact that during the Winter 
they run at full liberty in paddocks, lying 
down in wet straw and manure. On one or 
t wo sides of the paddocks there are sheds for 
the protection of the animals in bad weather, 
aud here they are fed with cut. fodder, which 
is distributed in the feeding troughs. Water 
is also freely furnished, and the cattle drink at 
their pleasure. There are, besides, stables 
with stalls for the sick and for cows approach¬ 
ing the end of their term, and boxes for 
calves. Each bull in service is kept in a separ¬ 
ate shed, with a paddock attached, where he 
runs at will. 
Great was Mr. Grollier’s astonishment to 
find that the most celebrated breeders, poss¬ 
essing the best of illustrious families of Short¬ 
horns, representatives of which sell at enor¬ 
mous prices, do not devote themselves exclu¬ 
sively to breeding the pure race. At Havering 
Park, at Aud ley End, at Harewoods, and in 
all other Short-horn stables, there were com¬ 
mon and half-blood cows alongside of the 
pure-bred Short horns. One may see Jersty 
and Angus cows, aud even the French Con- 
tentines, which have been bred to full-blooded 
Durham bulls. The conclusion from this fact 
is, that English breeders do not believe, in 
common with most Frenchmen, that a full- 
blooded bull which has served a common cow, 
will transmit to a full blood cow he is subse¬ 
quently bred to, the scrub mark and stig- 
maies —of the common cow, like the black 
nose, the markings of the coat and other char¬ 
acteristic. peculiarities. 
Mrs. McIntosh’s Short horns were all of the 
test stock and strain, including representa¬ 
tives of the Princess and Oxford tribes; but it 
must be avowed that, with ft few exceptions, 
the visitor did not find them what he expect¬ 
ed to see. The English arc accomplished 
dealers, who know how to set forth the merits 
of what they have to sell by carefully drawn 
and high-sounding advertisements, well calcu¬ 
lated to take iu the inexperienced. Their 
faith iu the power of blood, and in the merit 
of certain tribes where near relationship ex 
ists, perhaps iu excess, is no doubt justified by 
the reality.' “But after what we have seen,” 
says he, “we find exceptions to this Cer¬ 
tain bulls which were shown us appeared very 
inferior, though they came of the noblest an¬ 
cestry.” 
The above paraphrase gives Mr. Grollier’s 
first impressions, which were confirmed by 
subsequent observations. In fact, bis report 
abounds in statements of facts of interest 
enough to breeders to be further drawn upon, 
B. K. JOHNSON. 
HOLLAND CATTLE (?). 
It was very gratifying to see, on page 417 of 
your issue of June 28, the ground taken by 
Mr. J. DeVeer, son of the editor of the Daily 
News of Amsterdam, Holland, concerning the 
name Holstein as applied to the breed of cattle 
we import from Holland. I have been inte¬ 
rested for 15 years in this breed, and have re¬ 
peatedly advocated changing the name to 
Holland Cattle, which Mr. DeVeer considers 
the proper name. 
On the first page of the Rural for June 28 
you give the two largest milk records ever 
made iu a year—viz., Echo, 23.775 pounds 8 
ounces, owned by Mr. F. C. Stevens, of Attica, 
N. Y., and Empress, 19,714 pounds, 4 ounces, 
owned by Hon. Gerrit S Miller, Petertero, 
N. Y. Iu 1869 1 bought Echo’s dam, Crown 
Princess, aud Fraulein, the dam of her sire, 
Rip Van Winkle, in Friesland, and brought 
them to my brother's farm in Puterboro, N. 
1 Y., where Echo was bred. While in Holland 
’ iu 1878-1879 my brother and I found Empress, 
and brought her to Peterboro. where she has 
just made the above record, it beiug the lar- 
1 gest ever made in America by an imported 
l ( . ow DUDLEY MILLER. 
1 Oswego, N. Y. 
Oxtiri} ijushinuini. 
GREAT HOLSTEIN MILK RECORD. 
Ox April 1 last 10 different cows in our 
herd had made yearly records, ranging from 
14,000 to 18,000 pounds, with an average of 
15 008 pounds, 63.10 ounces. These included 
every mature eow that we had owned long 
enough to make a year's record, excepting one 
which had teen kept for family nse aud thus 
prevented from making a record. By this 
average we think one eau form a more correct 
estimate of the quality of a herd than by a 
single record, even though that record he an 
exceptional and astonishing one. 
Clotbilde has just closed her four-year-old 
record, with a total of 17,970 pounds 14 ounces, 
which, considering her former performances, 
is one of the most wonderful records yet re¬ 
ported. She dropped her first calf when only 
22 months old, soon after importation, aud 
