berries rotting; leaves small. Delaware, per¬ 
fect. Eldorado, foliage healthy, bunches 
loose and imperfect, berries rotting. Wilder 
is healthy, Jefferson disappoints us this 
year; the vine does not seem to be quite 
healthy. The bunches are loose and imperfect 
Vergeunes, bunches small and imperfect; 
vine healthy, Centennial makes a slim growth. 
The leaves are small. Augusta, viue healthy, 
There is, however, no evidence of its being a 
hybrid, despite these statements. Yellow 
Sweet is mentioned by Klippart, 1858. Ears 
about seven iuches loug, and ll£ inch in di¬ 
ameter, cylindrical or tapering at the upper 
portion, eight to ten rowed, ear-stalk small to 
medium; kernel large, as deep os broad, 
straight or roundc-d at the sides, and rounded 
more or less at the summit, crimped, of golden 
amber color even while immature. While 
the appearance is characteristic, yet this va¬ 
riety is about equally eighbrowed and ten- 
rowed. and varies in sample ears from Section 
A towards Section B. It is probable that se¬ 
lection would readily produce, un eight-rowed 
and twelve-rowed sort. I’luut of me¬ 
dium size and foliage, bearing its ears 
low down. Average weight of 100 
gj, kernels, 863 grains: extremes in four 
^A samples. 318 and 442 grains. (Describ- 
ears, from Gregory, in two collee- 
tious, and Station crop). 
WII1TK COB AND BLACK KERNEL. 
15. Black Mexican, Fig. 356. svn.: 
Black Sugar, Slate Sweet. Its name 
w implies that it came from Mexico; it 
Jp is not mentioned by Salisbury in 1848, 
by Bement iti 1853, or by Klippart ip 
1858. It is described by Burr in 1803. 
Ears six to eight inches long aud V/$ 
iuch, or over, in diameter, readily fur¬ 
nishing two forms—the one eight-rowed 
and cylindrical; the other ten to twelve-rowed 
and tapering, the first with smallish, thesecoud 
with largish ear-stalks. Kernels roundish-at 
the sides and summit in the one; flatttsh in the 
other form; crinkled in the one, rather crimp¬ 
ed in the other, very compactly set, rounding 
over the butt, rarely- filling at the apex. 
1‘lant quite tall and vigorous. The kernels 
ity. The small manufacturer will generally 
do better to get his mill of some factory near 
home, so that In case of accident, repairs can 
be made without too much delay or too great 
expense. Mills should be kept well oiled, al 
bolts and screws tight, and the rollers closely 
keyed together. Unfortunately small mills 
tue atllicted with the same vices ns the large 
ones. If the large crushers, with their pon¬ 
derous rolls and bearings, fail to extract more 
than fifty percent, of the juices, can we ex¬ 
pect much more of the small ones? It is a la¬ 
mentable taer. that, after the farmer has 
raised htacrnpand delivered it at the mill, ho 
eannot. hope to secure much more than half of 
the sugar it contains. RogrindJug of the ba¬ 
gasse. us is done in largo factories, has not 
been much practiced with the horse mills; but 
I am quite of the opinion that, a small supple¬ 
mental mill would prove very profitable, even 
in the small sirup works. In a small way it is 
not to bo expected that, the process of rb'tfnsinn 
ways. If, on the other hand, the ground, is 
clean, drill culture, with the plauts six inches 
apart, is better. When sorghum is thick 
enough, I have never seen any trouble from 
suekeriug. In order to insure a certain 
stand, it is better to plant three or four times 
the quantity of seed required. This will make 
necessary the use of the hoe in thinning out 
the young plants, and removing the weeds 
thoroughly after the plants are about a week 
Old. The subsequent cultivation is the same 
as for Indian corn. The crop should be “luid 
by” early, so that the growing roots be not 
broken by late plowing. 
Harvesting should not be begun until all 
preparations for operations at the mill are 
completed. There is no longer any doubt that 
the maximum content of sugar is found in the 
Golden Sweet. Fig. 255. 
bunches imperfect, berries rotting. Lexiug- 
ton, same. Lady Washington, bunches im¬ 
perfect, and berries rotting. Cottage, vices 
healthy and strong; bunches small, some of 
the berries rotting. Concord is perfect. 
Of those not yet old enough to fruit. Irving, 
planted in the Pall of last year, has grown 
three feet: Oberon, Mr. G. W. Campbell’s 
cross between Concord and Hamburg, planted 
last 1*all, has growu 18 inches; Jessica, three 
feet; Rural New-Yorker, planted last Octo¬ 
ber, has grown five feet; Poughkeepsie Red, 
planted in the Spring of last year, eight feet; 
Ulster County Prolific is not making a strong 
growth; Empire State, planted last March, 
has grown six inches. It was late in starting, 
V r ery likely it received some injury from hav¬ 
ing been heeled-in during the Wjutor, 
We need make no report of vines sent to us 
under numbers, or of 20 different varieties 
which grow in a field under different con¬ 
ditions. 
NOTES ON BACK NUMBERS, 
T. H. HOSKINS, M. D. 
Rural, July 5. —The Henderson Strawber¬ 
ry offers great attractions in the picture and 
description on p. 430. On the whole, I think 
there has been a decided advance in this fruit 
in the last four years. Windsor Chief, Cres¬ 
cent and Manchester are berries that crowd 
W ibon hard in the hands of commercial grow¬ 
ers. 
seed. If sirup ouly is to be made, the harvest¬ 
ing can begin before this time. Excellent 
sirup can be made from canes whose seedsure 
still soft. After the canes are ripe, they may 
remain stand mg for some time, in favorable 
weather, witfiout undergoing any material 
deterioration. In this state light frosts, severe 
enough to kill the leaves, do not work any 
great injury, provided they be not followed 
by very hot or wet weather. But it is best to 
have the canes harvested and manufactured 
as soou as possible after the seed is ripe. Much 
discussion has been held as to the advisability 
of stripping the canes before grinding. Where 
cane is raised in small quantities 1 think it 
always advisable to strip It. The fodder fur¬ 
nished by the blades will ulmost pay for the 
| labor. 
T his process should not begin, however, un¬ 
til the time for manufacture is at baud; for 
tearlug the green blades from the stalks is far 
more injurious than having them killed by a 
light frost. In large factories stripping has 
been found so expensive that it has been 
abandoned. When fodder becomes more valu¬ 
able, it is possible it may be resumed. 
Many methods have been devised for saving 
the seed heads; where only a small area has 
been planted, the best way is to cut tlm heads 
off as the canes are cut, and tie them in small 
bundles, to be put in small ‘'shocks” aud left 
to dry. They should then be stacked and al¬ 
lowed to remain for some time before thrash¬ 
ing. Treated iu this way, the cleaned seed will 
not “bent,” but can be kept iu granaries, or 
bins, like wheat. If the seed is thrashed di¬ 
rectly from the field and put in largo piles, it 
is very apt to "heat” and "mold'’ in wot and 
warm weather. The careful saving of the 
seed isa matter of great importance, and is 
often neglected. Analyses of the seed show 
t hat it is fully equal to maize in its nutrient 
equivalents. The common suppo-ition that the 
seeds contain large quantities of tannin, and 
ure therefore injurious, is erroneous. The 
seed should always be ground or boiled before 
feeding, and in tins condition its value is quite 
equal to that of any of the cereals. The 
canes should be crushed as soon as possible 
after being cut, or else kept in a cool place 
and protected from sudden changes of temper¬ 
ature, in which condition it may be kept for 
some time without serious injury. 
MILLING, 
Having regard to the requirements of the 
small grower, I shall speak here ouly of the 
small mills. In general, I prefer the horizon¬ 
tal mill to the upright. The gearing of the up¬ 
right mill is simpler, generally directly from 
the sweep, but the feeding and general control 
of the horizontal mill are so much more con¬ 
venient as to outweigh all minor disadvanta¬ 
ges. It would bo manifestly improper for me 
to recommend any one mill, uuless its advan¬ 
tages were so pronounced as to be beyond 
question. I am not aware that among the 
smaller mills any one possesses such su nprim*. I 
feecmary Garfield’s “Best Fertilizer” in the 
Market” (p. 430) is well worth going back to, 
to read again. Where will you find a brighter 
man interested in rural affairs than this same 
Garfield,—or a more generous one? 
Davis (p 43iii, is one of the same class as the 
"Story Without un End,” What I do know 
about it is, that with chemical fertilizers I can 
raise smooth potatoes, but with duug I can’t. 
Has any chemist ever undertaken to account 
for the very long continued action of wood- 
ashes, even of those which have been leached? 
SWEET CORN (Zea saccharata). 
ITS HISTORY AND VARIETAL DIFFERENCES 
ILLUSTRATED — No. V. 
K. LEWIS STURTEVANT, M. D. 
varieties (continued). 
WHITE COB AND YELLOW KERNEL. 
11. Golden, Fig. 2.»5. syn.: Golden Sweet, 
Nauhaoansett Early. Fig. 258. 
I he spot that has had a free dressing of ashes 
will show in a Held in every crop for a dozen 
years. Indeed, my own land shows the bene¬ 
fit to-day of (50 bushels of ashes per acre applied 
10 years ago. "Chemist” (p. 431) gives valu¬ 
able facts iu regard to ashes—can he solve this 
problem? 
SORGHUM 
ITS GROWTH and the M,i 
SUGAR AND SIRUP—THE WH 
Sir J. B. Lawes says (p. 433) that “the popu¬ 
lar idea of dairy farming taking much more 
out of the land than grazing, is fully borne 
out by the figures” which he gives. But that 
applies only to farms where the milk is sold. 
Vermont hud her farms seriously injured by 
grazing, and is now having them restored by 
Golden Sugar. Probably referred to by Sal¬ 
isbury, 1848. who says “there is another va- 
i iety of sweet corn made by crossing the 
Sweet and the early Canada Corn.” This idea 
<»f its origin is recognized by Burr, 1868, who 
S uys appareutly a hybrid between Common 
Yellow or Canada Flint and Darling’s Early 
and Gregory, 1884, says, “ the only cross ever 
made between the sweet and field varieties.” 
PROF. h. w. WILEY, 
PLANTING, CULTIVATION AND HARVESTING. 
Experience has shown that there is prac¬ 
tically no difference in the yield whether the 
cane is planted in hills of four to six stalks 
each, or drilled in rows,so that the same num¬ 
ber of stalks for a given area may be grown. 
If the ground is infested with weeds, it is bet- 
The tendency to disregard and decry 
