540 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
4 
8 
Bio0rfl|)l)kxxl. 
WILLIAM SAUNDERS, F. R. C. S. 
On tbe first page of this issue (Fig. 
254) we present our readers with a 
portrait of William Saunders, of Lon¬ 
don, Ontario, Canada. This gentleman, 
who has attained a high reputation both 
on this continent and in Europe as an ento¬ 
mologist and horticulturist, was born in Cre- 
ditou, Devonshire, England, on the 16th of 
June, 1836. He removed with his parents to 
Canada when only 1 2 years of age, and at 14 
was apprenticed to a chemist, und in chemis¬ 
try he is still engaged. He began the study of 
entomology associated with that of botany 
nearly 30 years ago, and published in the Can¬ 
adian Journal for May, 1863, tbe first list of 
plants found in that part of Western Ontario 
in which lie resides, embracing545 species. Du¬ 
ring tbe same year he took an active part in 
the organization and work of the Entomologi¬ 
cal Society of Canada, which is still in a 
flourishing condition, but known now as the 
Entomological Society of Ontario. Ou tbe 
establishment of the Canadian Entomologist 
in 1888, he became a constant contributor to 
its pages. In 1875 he was appointed editor of 
the Journal, and w as at. the same time elected 
President of the Society, and has ably and 
acceptably filled both positions ever since. In 
the 15 volumes of the Entomologist, closing 
with December 1883, we find no loss than 205 
papers from his fertile pen, and besides this, he 
has been one of the chief contributors to the 
14 annual reports of the Entomological So¬ 
ciety, which have been published during the 
same period. 
In 1807 he was elected a Director of the 
Fruit Growers’ Association of Ontario, and 
has continued till this time as a Director, and 
lias written many valuable papers for its 
annual reports. He was chosen President of 
the Association in 1882, in which position he 
is still retained. Thoroughly posted on every 
important subject, quick, pleasant and decided, 
he presides with grace, and conducts a meet¬ 
ing with pleasure and profit to all. Having a 
large experimental ground, he has tested a 
great variety of fruits and is well informed in 
reference to those best adapted to the climate 
Of the Province of Ontario. He has also taken 
a lively interest in other departments of hor¬ 
ticulture and in forestry, and has doue much 
to awaken an interest in these matters in the 
Province in which he lives. 
Having combined fruit growing on a large 
scale with the study of outomology, he has 
had special opportunities for becoming ac¬ 
quainted with those insect* which are injurious 
to fruits, and has recently published a most 
useful arid beautifully illustrated volume on 
this subject, In which all the practical infor¬ 
mation extant has been brought together aud 
supplemented by the results of his oxteusive 
experience. 
In 1880 the Government of Ontario appoint¬ 
ed a special commission to inquire iuto the 
progress aud condition of agriculture in the 
Province. Mr. Saunders was appointed one 
of the commissioners, and was charged with 
the special duty of inquiring into the subjects 
of fruit growing and forestry, insects and in¬ 
sectivorous birds# and bee-keeping. The re¬ 
sults, mainly of his work, are embodied iu a 
volume of over 350 pages, which was publish¬ 
ed by the Ontario Government as one of the 
series of reports presented by the commission. 
He has been an active member and Fellow' 
of the American Association for the advance¬ 
ment of Science for many years, and lias fill¬ 
ed several important offices in that learned 
body. Two years ago, when the Royal Society 
of Canada, was organized, he was selected by 
the Marquis of Lome as one of the original 
twenty members, of whom the biological 
section of that important society is composed. 
In other fields than natural history and hor¬ 
ticulture, he has also achieved a desirable re¬ 
putation. As a chemist und pharmacist he is 
well known throughout the United States as 
well as Canada, and has filled almost every 
post of honor iu the American Pharmaceuti¬ 
cal Association, of which he acted as Presi¬ 
dent in 1877—78, and delivered his retiring 
address at the meeting held iu Atlanta, Ga., 
iu November, 1878. Many of the papers con¬ 
tributed by him ou pharmacy have beeu re¬ 
published iu England and translated and pub¬ 
lished in a number of Continental journals; 
und on account of the service he has rendered 
in this department, he was elected, in 1774, an 
honorary member of the Pharmaceutical 
Couuctl of Great Britain, a position he holds 
for life. Further honor was conferred upon 
him iu 1883, when he was elected a Fellow of 
the Royal Microscopical Society of Loudon, 
England. Within a few mouths be has re¬ 
ceived from the Duke of Muut.au and Monferrat 
a handsome aud valuable gold medal, known 
as the Mantau Medal, iu acknowledgment of 
valuable services in the interest of Natural 
Science. In 1882 Mr. Saunders w'as appointed 
by the Government of Canada Public Ana¬ 
lyst for the western part of the Province 
of Ontario, in which rapacity he has already 
done good service in detecting and exposing 
adulterations, especially in articles of food. 
Three years ago. ou the organization of the 
Medical Department, of the Western Univer¬ 
sity in London. Out, he received the appoint- 
ment of Professor of Materia Medina, a chair 
be fill* with credit to himself and to the school. 
The multitude of duties with which the sub¬ 
ject of our notice iR charged has not lessened 
his devotion to horticulture; he has worked 
for many years, and is still conducting scries 
of experiments in the cross-fertilization of 
fruits ami flowers, among the results a’ready 
obtained are several good raspberries, goose¬ 
berries, and grapes. 
We take especial pleasure in presenting the 
likeness of Mr. Bounders to our readers for 
two reasons: first, because wo have so many 
Canadian subscribers, more, we believe, than 
any agricultural weekly iu the Dominion, aud 
we know they will be very glad to see so promi¬ 
nent a Canadian horticulturist and entomolo¬ 
gist, and, secondly, we know our American 
subscribers feel an especial interest in the man 
who, while so comparatively young, has done 
so much for the fruit grower by carefully 
studying the habits, and minutely describing 
the appearance of those insect pests that rob 
them of so large a part of their annual fruit 
crops, und the sight of his genial, pleasant 
face must be a source of pleasure to all. 
liuml (Topics. 
(Experiment ©round# of the plural 
$eui-*Jorher. 
A POTATO TALK. 
Visitor : I have never seen stronger-grow¬ 
ing potato tops than those. The soil must be 
very rich. 
R. N.-Y.: This plot is the one which has 
given us the immense yields reported In the 
Rtjrai, during throe or four years past. We 
have raised at the rate of over 1,000 bushels to 
the aere—1,140.30 bushels are the exact fig¬ 
ures. It has been doubted by many, but our 
measurements have been carefully made, and 
there is no reason why we should wish to de¬ 
ceive anybody. When we raised over 180 
bushels of shelled corn to the acre on our 
Long Island farm, though the land was meas¬ 
ured and estimates of the yield made by six 
well-known people, there were doubters all 
the same. 
V.: Have you used much farm manure on 
this plot ? 
R. N.-Y.: No; in 15 years, or more, it has 
never had but one spread of manure, aud that 
was not more than at t he rate of 15 loads per 
acre. 
V.: To what do you attribute such great 
crops of potatoes? 
R. N.-Y.: It is hard to tell. We can ouly 
tell you what has l>een done. The soil is na¬ 
turally a loam, inclining slightly to clay rath 
er than to sand. It is moist though well 
drained. Potatoes rarely suffer from drought, 
and, you know, this is one great item in sue 
cessful potato culture; for potatoes once well 
checked by dry weather, never fully recover. 
Duriug the past four years this plot has re¬ 
ceived, in various quantities, all sorts of fer¬ 
tilizers—salt, lime, plaster, wood-ashes, coal- 
ashes, 8. C. rock, raw-bone and bone-super¬ 
phosphate, magnesia, muriate and sulphate of 
potash, nitrogen in various forms. &c. The 
application of auy one has never l>eeu exces¬ 
sive, and of nil the more valuable fertilizers, 
never to exceed 1,200 pounds to the acre- 
gone rally it has been loss. 
V.: How applied? 
R. N.-Y.: In two ways; 1st, broadcast and 
raked in. Then, 2d, trenches two spades wide 
arc dug, the bottom mellowed aud the seed 
pieces, placed one foot apart, are covered 
with one or two inches of soil aud the fertil¬ 
izers again strewn over this. The trenches are 
then filled. The soil is kept mellow, and free 
of weeds. 
V.: Do you think that flat cultivation has 
much to do with increasing the yield? 
R. N. Y,; As a matter of opinion, yes. We 
have not as yet made comparative experi¬ 
ments ithough always intending to do sol be¬ 
tween hilling-up and level culture. 
V. : 1 see here and there, where the vines 
have fallen over, a potato growing out of the 
ground. They, of course, become green and 
worthless. That is an objection to level cul¬ 
ture. 
R. N.-Y. : The ouly one that we know of; 
and the loss from this cause is much less than 
might be supposed. 
V.; You believe that level culture conserves 
moisture? 
R. N.-Y. : Unquestionably; on the principle 
that the less surface exposed to the air and 
sun, the less evaporation. It also conserves 
moisture in another w-ay. The roots and 
rootlet* where, as here, the drills are three 
feet apart, soon extend from drill to drill. 
Many of these, in hilling up are severed, while 
in level culture they remain, to gather tuois 
til re and support the plant. If, in a time of 
drought, it was desirable to injure the plants, 
hilling up * ould be a good way to do it, judg¬ 
ing from our experiments with hilling-up com. 
V. : Why do you dig a trench two Bpade* 
wide, instead of planting the pieces in a furrow? 
R. N.-Y. : It might be as well. The object 
is, however, to provide plenty of mellow soil, 
in which the tubers are to form. The root* 
may choose the harder soil of tbe sides and 
bottom, if they prefer. We fancy that the 
tubers in a loose soil will grow larger and 
more shapely than in one more compact. 
V. : Why, then, is it thought to be a good 
plan to tread upon the pieces when they are 
planted ? 
R. N. -Y : Everybody has bis peculiar views. 
When little, tender seeds are sown, the soil 
should be brought iu contact with them, else 
the germinating roots may perish for want of 
moisture and food. But it is as bad to "firm” 
the soil too much os too little, even in their case. 
Stepping upon the seed-pieces of potatoes can 
do no good that we can see. 
V : You would not, then, use a roller after 
planting? 
R. N.-Y. : By no means, except the seed 
was planted upon a freshly turned-over sod or 
hard stubble. 
V. ; Does mulching pay? 
R N.-Y. : We have tried that repeatedly. 
Some of our be.i viest, as well as lightest yields, 
have been produced by covering the pieces, 
first with a little soil and then with an Inch or 
so of cut straw. If the season prove* to be hot 
aud dry, mulching is very helpful; if wet and 
cold, harmful. In some cases, owing to the 
latter condition,the sprouts have never reached 
the surface, and the pieces have rotted in the 
ground. 
V.: I presume from what you have said 
that you prefer concentrated fertilizers to 
farm manure for potatoes? 
R. N.-Y,: If a soil has been made rich by 
farm manure, that is the soil we should prefer 
for a fine potato crop. It has the ready food 
as well a* the mechanical condition. We should 
never look for a iiuc crop of potatoes on a poor 
soil, no matter how much farm inunuro was 
spread upon it for that crop. But we might 
raise u good crop from a liberal use of chemi¬ 
cal fertilizers upon a poor soil; no other plant 
in our experience responds so freely and de¬ 
cidedly to their use. 
V.: Have you found that potash alone will 
bring a good yield? 
R. N.-Y.: Potash alone has never been tried 
on this plot. In our field experiments of this 
season, potash, whether in wood-ashes, or as 
sulphate or muriate of potash produces, thus 
far, no additional growth of tops, Kainit 
alone changes the tops to a yellowish color. 
Neither does phosphoric acid alone or in com¬ 
bination with potash do any good. It is only 
where nitrate of soda or ammonia salts were 
spread on these with potash and phosphoric 
acid, forming a "complete” fertilizer, that auy 
good effects are noticed. 
V.: And you have farm manure? 
11. N.-Y.; Yes, old horse manure spread at 
the rate of ten tons to the acre. This plot is, 
singularly enough, scarcely better than the 
unmanured plots at the present time. Har¬ 
vest may toll a different story. 
N.: Then you would use a complete ferti 
lizerfor that. laud? 
R. N.-Y.; Yes: farm manure is a complete 
manure certainly, but it acts slowly. Next 
year the stable manure plot would probably 
outyield any of the others, if potatoes were 
again raised in the same trenches without fur¬ 
ther fertilization. Farmers, we think, make 
a grave mistake in using a special fertilizer 
and condemning all commercial fertilizers 
because t he one fails. Laud may be rich in 
either nitrogen, potash, or phosphoric acid or 
all. To such land it is a saving, of course, 
not to supply the one food which already ex¬ 
ists iu excess. The failure however of one 
kind of food is not proof that the land does 
not need it It may be proof that it needs 
not only that—but more. 
THE LONG RACK MED OR SHRUB HORSE CHEST 
NUT. 
We have called attention to this shrub seve¬ 
ral ti iues before, as it changes with age. Illus¬ 
trations of both the racemes and the shrub in 
bloom have appeared, the latter iu our "Hardy 
Bhrub and Tree Special”of February 12,1881. 
It is now (July 18), the most beautiful hardy 
plant in these grounds, and those of our read¬ 
ers who could see it now in all its glory would 
not rest contented until a plant or so were 
growing iu their own grounds. 
When received from the nursery, about 
eight years ago, it might have been described 
as two crooked sticks a foot long, with some 
coarse roots—an ugly infant, indeed. It is 
now 50 feet in circumference, seven feet high, 
a beautiful, thickly-foliaged half-sphere of 
green and white. It spreads out from the 
neck of the root, the branches huggiug the 
ground and finally curving upward. The 
leaflets are much like those of the tree-horse- 
chestnut, except that the leaf stalks are pur¬ 
plish instead of green. The racemes average 
over one foot in length, held vertically and 
never drooping. Some are 18 inches long, and 
there are no less than 300 flowers on a raceme, 
and no less than 1,000 racemes on this shrub! 
The flowers are white, nearly an inch in 
length, with six stamens twice as long as the 
flower, tipped with prominent pink anthers. 
For several years after transplanting, this 
shrub seems to grow slowly, aud one begins 
to doubt whether it ever will be worth a con¬ 
spicuous place iu his garden. But if growing 
in a good soil with plenty of room, it after¬ 
wards grows rapidly, and in five years will 
repay the owner for his pains and patience. 
Botanically it is Pavia maerostaehya, and all 
nurserymen catalogue it. It is found wild in 
South Carolina and Georgia, though in its 
native places it shows few of the beauties 
which cultivation develops. It is very hardy- 
in this climate and further north. 
NITRATE OF SODA. 
On JuDe 27, we selected one row of our 
Improved Blount’s Corn and spread ou it, ni¬ 
trate of soda at the rate of 250 pounds to the 
acre. It was the poorest row in the field. The 
rows are four feet apart, and the fertilizer 
was spread on either side of this row for two 
feet; that is, oti either side half w-ay to the 
next row. The plants are now as tall as any, 
the leaves broader, and of a green so much 
deeper than that of the others that the row 
can be distinguished as far off us it cau be 
distinctly seen. The adjacent rows also show 
the effect of the nitrogen, which, of course, 
shows that their roots, too, are feeding upon 
it—the roots that are severed by deep cultiva¬ 
tion—since the fertilizer wu-s notspread within 
two feet of the plants. On the same day, the 
nitrate of soda was spread about a few hills 
of potatoes which had been fertilized with 
potash and bone-black only. The foliage of 
these is now of a decidedly deeper green than 
that of any other plants in the field. 
In our experiments with different kinds of 
fertilizers upon potatoes, the foliage of the 
plots which received nitrate of soda alone is 
now dying—not as if the tubers were matur¬ 
ing, but rather as if from some harm or dis¬ 
ease. Iu the first nitrate of soda plot, half of 
the plant* are dead. In tbe plot which re¬ 
ceived sulphate of ammonia the same is the 
case. Iu that which received nitrate of soda 
and dissolved bouc-black one-third of the 
plant* are dead, while all of the plants fertil¬ 
ized with tbe bone black alone are green. The 
| plants fertilized with sulphate of potash and 
bone-black are green, and show no signs of 
maturing The plants which received com¬ 
plete fertilizers (these include nitrate of soda) 
are turning yellow here and there, as if in the 
first stage of maturing. The plants of the 
no-manure plots are all green; those manured 
with hen-manure only are also turningyellow; 
those with unleached ashes are quite greeu. 
The foliage of the kainit plots is a yellowish- 
green, the same as from the beginning; that 
of the sifted coal-ashes plot is as green as any 
other; the foliage of Lhe plot which received 
10 tons of stable manure has not changed since 
our last report; that, fertilized with nitrate of 
soda and sulphate of potash, is green. The 
vines of the potatoes fertilized with Mapes’s 
potato fertilizer are of a yellowish-green, as 
if beginning to mature. Tbe vines of the plot 
which received this fertilizer and also a mulch 
of cut-straw, are all green and the thriftiest 
of any. 
It will be remembered that all of the plots 
which received nitrate of soda or ammonia 
salts were rated iu our last report, in every 
instance, as giving the strongest and greenest 
growth of vines. That these plants should 
now be dying, evidently before maturity, is 
to us quite unaccountable. 
THE CONDITION OF GRAPES. 
Of our grapes now fruiting, the vines of 
Niagara are vigorous and free from mildew. 
The bunches are large with rot appearing on 
a few berries. Early Dawn, no rot or mil¬ 
dew. Moore's Early is extremely vigorous, 
entirely free from mildew or rot; the berries 
at this time lJuly 28) are larger than auy 
others, the bunches well filled and of fair 
size. Herbert mildews somewhat, and the 
bunches are loose and imperfect—berries rot¬ 
ting; same, as to Liudley. The foliage of 
Lady is free from mildew, the vines are load¬ 
ed with grapes, a few of which are mildew¬ 
ing. The vines are bearing too heavily. 
Victoria is free from any defect of vine or 
berry. Much the same may be said as to Car- 
lotta aud Rockingham. Pockliagton vines 
are strong and healthy, the bunches small to 
medium, compact without rot. Gaertner, 
