THE BUBAL NEW-YORKER. 
grafting the hickory, the hardiness 'of the 
japan Persimmon, Bermuda Grass, etc., etc. 
Why don’t you? 
Crops Fkkd Everywhere in the Same 
Way.—O ur old friend, O. Judd, while the 
presiding genius of the American Agricultur¬ 
ist. used to preach to his readers that the pa¬ 
per was just as instructive to Western as to 
Eastern agriculturists. His advertisements, 
copied after those of the R. N.-Y , read: “For 
the North. South, East and West.” The agri¬ 
cultural Editor of the N. Y. Times remarks 
that, after having failed to find friends 
enough to support his journal in the East, he 
now preaches precisely the opposite doctrine, 
It is hardly possible that any reasonable farm¬ 
er can be misled by so foolish and false a pro¬ 
position. There is no East, or West, or North, 
or South in agriculture. Somewhat different, 
crops may be grown here and there, but plants 
feed and grow under precisely the same laws 
in every part and corner of oar broad laud, 
and Western wheat and corn and grass are 
subject to precisely the same conditions of life 
and growth as those grown elsewhere. 
“Chemical” fertilization— so-called—as 
an aid to the usual system of manuring crops, 
the Times Editor remarks, has been found of 
great value, and lias probably now gone as far 
as it will ever be carried. But the term 
•'chemical” is an ignorant monomer as applied 
to fertilization and manuring. It implies 
some artificially prepared chemical mixture 
of doubtful valuo. The truth is, that the sta¬ 
ple fertilizer, superphosphate of lime, is the 
only chemical preparation used as a fertilizer. 
Guano, the potash salts, and the various ni¬ 
trates, are all natural products, while the am- 
They were grown on very rich garden soil 
and did not “run to vine,” as is the habit with 
some peas in rich ground, and I think the pro¬ 
duct, if ripened, would have yielded at the 
rate of more than SO bushels to the acre. 
From five rows 30 feet loug and covering 
about a square rod. the whole yield of peas, 
picked green for table use, was 12.1, quarts 
wbeu shelled. But the earlier pickings were 
scarcely half grown. This variety certainly 
continues long in bearing, but will not bear 
forever.” 
Our experience with this pea, also in rich 
soil, is very different, and we are led to be¬ 
lieve that either the Times writer or the Ru¬ 
ral sowed some other variety. Our seed 
came from B. K. Bliss & Sons, the int roducers. 
On June 29 the vines averaged throe feet high. 
The peas ripeued with Stratagem and Pride 
of the Market. The pods vary in size and 
shape. Not always well filled. Fifty pods 
weighed 10 ounces, contained 210 seeds, which 
weighed five ounces. The seeds are of the 
largest size, tender and sweet. A short time 
ago. we saw a plant in Mr. Bliss’s store that 
had 10 stems and bore 92 pods. They, like ours, 
would not average over two inches in length, 
and, like ours, would not contain over five 
seeds each. As to its “everbearing” qualities, 
the Times’ writer is correct. 
Staminate and Pistillate Straw¬ 
berries. —“Our esteemed coutemporary, the 
Rural New-Yorker, censures by name the 
associate editor of this journal for using the 
term 'staminate,' as applied to self fertiliz¬ 
ing varieties of the strawberry. If the editor 
of that paper will read the article on page 596 
of the current volume of the Country Gentle¬ 
man (the title of which probably suggested 
his objection), be will see that it is there 
' 
Hay Press. Fig. 355. 
tnonia salts are accidental by-products of the 
gas works. They are really no more chemical 
products than are lime and wood ashes, and to 
speak of chemical manuriug in regard to them 
shows an entire want of practical knowledge 
of the whole subject of agriculture. 
Fertilization and Live Stock. — The 
growth of crops must be concurrent with feed¬ 
ing cattle. Cattle make manure; manure 
makes crops, and crops feed cattle. This is 
the inevitable sequence and round of a true 
agriculturals>stem Take away the live stock 
and the manure is wanting. Ho is a very 
foolish farmer who thinks he can continue to 
grow crops without manure, eveu on the fer¬ 
tile lauds of the West. And one who is not a 
farmer, but who protends to teach farmers 
any different belief from this is a quack and 
crank, of whom farmers should beware. This 
creed is orthodox every where—North and 
South and East and West—and Western farm¬ 
ers have adopted it long ago, and no longer 
burn straw aud dump the mauure into the 
rivers, but carefully preserve everything that 
will fertilize their fields aud cherish their cat¬ 
tle and sheep, as the mainstay of the fertility 
of their land. Nor do they ignore the useful¬ 
ness of artificial fertilizers, but avail them¬ 
selves shrewdly of the vast quantities of these 
that are manufactured in the large Western 
cities—St. Louis, Cincinnati, Chicago, Kan¬ 
sas City, and eveu Denison and other cities in 
Texas. 
The Ever Hearing Pea.— The New York 
Times has the following: ‘‘Anew kind of pea, 
or an old one under a new name, was recently 
introduced asan ever-bearing variety; that is, 
it was said to have a habit of continuous 
blooming and fruiting until stopped by frost. 
Ibis would be pleasant and important if true, 
hut, unfortunately, it is not true, as when the 
main crop is gathered the promised new blos¬ 
soms either do not appear at all or come very 
sparsely aud amount to nothing in the way of 
peas. The foliage, too, mildews badly, as does 
that of all sorts of late peas, or early ones 
sown as late as July. The new pea, however, 
is an excellent one for quality and very pro¬ 
lific, and bears enormous pods, wholly filled 
with very large peas. The largest pods of 
this variety I have gathered were 4},^ inches 
long and averaged nine peas in each, closely 
packed, so as to be almost square on the 
edges, and nearly half an inch in diameter. 
stated and shown by figures, that all straw¬ 
berry blossoms have both stamens and pistils, 
and that those sorts which are commonly 
known as ‘pistillate’ have imperfect or abor 
tive stemeus, and are therefore not self fer¬ 
tilizing. We supposed intelligent cultivators 
were aware of (his fact. The term ‘her¬ 
maphrodite’ or ‘bisexual,’ recommended by 
the Rural New- Yorker, as descriptive of 
certain sorts only, strictly applies to all varie¬ 
ties, and the word ‘pistillate,’ which that 
journal uses, strictly applies to none. But 
the use of the terms commonly employed, 
does not convoy erroneous information to 
those who know the structure of these 
flowers.” 
The above is from the Albany Cultivator 
and Country Gentleman. We are afraid the 
explanation will not answer at all. We have 
not seen the article referred to “ on page 596,” 
so that our remarks were not suggested by it. 
The R. N.-Y. has opposed the use of the word 
“staminate” to indicate the perfect flowers 
of strawberries ever since nurserymen began 
to use it. “Strictly speaking,” it is well 
enough to apply the word “pistillate” to those 
flowers in which the stamens are imperfect or 
abortive, aud are therefore not self-fertiliz¬ 
ing.” We call them “ pistillate,” just because 
that is the case. Now, if the pistils were im¬ 
perfect or abortive, we should, for just the 
same reason, call such flowers staminate. 
Such is not the case. The flowers of the 
strawberries in cultivation may or may not be 
self-fertilizing, in the second class we need the 
word “pistillate" because the (lowers need 
stamens; in the first we should use the 
word “ bisexual” or “hermaphrodite” or “per¬ 
fect” because the flowers arc perfect. The 
question we ask our friend, Mr. Thomas, is 
why call a flower “staminate” that has its 
sexual organs perfectly developed, and ivhy 
doesn’t it convey “ erroneous information” to 
call a flower staminate when it is both pis¬ 
tillate and staminate? It would be proper to 
call the stalks of Indian corn that bear no 
sets “male” or “staminate,” inasmuch as 
they develop the tasselsor male Howers.but are 
destitute of pistils or silk. Would Mr. Thomas 
call those corn plants which develop both 
male and female flowers “staininates?" Never¬ 
theless, were he to dissect the male corn plant 
he might find the embryo ear all the same. 
What we insist upon is this. Many varieties 
of strawberries bear virtually pistillate flow¬ 
ers, t. e., those with impotent stamens; until 
we cultivate varieties which have impotent 
pistils we do not need the misleading word 
“staminate.” No doubt that “intelligent 
cultivators” are not mislead. But horticul¬ 
tural editors write to instruct the ignorant 
and inexperienced as well. 
MULTUM IN PARVO. 
Pinch or spade off the ends of melon vines. 
Late-setting fruit is poor. Cut off pickles— 
do not pull them off. It injures the vines. 
Be careful not to tread on the vines. We 
want them to bear as late as they will. 
“The fertilizing of flowers by the pollen 
should lie called poltenization, leaving the 
term fertilization (of plants) to cover the ap¬ 
plication of any and all manure ami the plant 
food to the soil.” Bo says a writer in the Phila¬ 
delphia Weekly Press. Wo beg to say that 
“pollenation is the word used by botanists to 
signify that pollen lias been shed upou the 
stigma of the pistil. When the pollen grains 
reach the eggs of the ovary, then fertilization 
takes place.. ....... 
The intelligent writer of “Samples,” in the 
Mark Lane Express, of London, gives us this 
bit of good advice: “Avoid tho land lord-and- 
tenant system, my American Cousins, as so 
much poison. Keep it out of your land sys¬ 
tem at all costs. Make occupancy more than 
ever inseparable from ownership. The man 
—say, a foreigner—who brings his thousands 
of pounds to invest in lands to-day, may ap¬ 
pear to bo a benefactor; but the next genera¬ 
tion will see In him a mere parasite, feeding 
upon tho industry of the nation.”. 
The woman, in Michigan, who was killed by 
eating cabbage which had had Paris-green 
sprinked upon it to destroy the cabbage- 
worm, should be a warning to farmers. It is 
painful to us that this rank poison is used so 
recklessly...*....*.. 
The New York Tribune mentions that cer¬ 
tain foolish farmers in Steuben County have 
been victimized by shurpers, who obtained 
from them $10 a barrel for “Canada Crystal 
• mm 
Diehl-Mediterranean Wheat. Fig 852 ." 
Seed Buckwheat,” and signatures to alleged 
agreements to sell the whole resulting crop to 
the company for tive cents a pound, Bo they 
paid not only a big price for the seed, but the 
papers to which they attached their names 
turn out to be promissory notes, payable in 
the Fall of 1890. 
The Farmers’ Advocate, of Canada, speaks 
of a test made with l-l varieties of wheat. 
Each variety was drilled in side by side. Dur¬ 
ing the Fall, and up to tho time the snow went 
off, there was very little difference in ( ho ap¬ 
pearance. But In April the nppearnuco of 
many began to change, and the Martin Am¬ 
ber, Democrat, Hybrid Mediterranean, and 
Landretb bogau to sfcaud out very prominent 
over the others; Martin Amber looking espe¬ 
cially well.,..,.... 
Mr. Purdy, of the Fruit. Recorder, says 
that the Superb is the best, largest, and most 
prolific raspberry ou his grouuds; but it will 
not, he adds, bear loug shipment... 
“But it is proper to point, out tho fact that 
there is uo difference between tho common 
Persian powder, which is cheap (50 cents a 
pound), and tho now, much puffed buliucb, 
which is dear, and sells for $1.50 a pound. 
The latter is a Californian product, but is no 
more effective than the foreign and cheaper 
kind.” 
Bo says a writer lu tho New York Times. 
Has he tried both? It is claimed that buhach 
is pure, and will stand extension a dozen times 
before it becomes as adulterated as the Persian 
article.... 
TRANSCONTINENTAL LETTERS. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
TnK country between Colorado Springs aud 
Denver is a rolling prairie, broken with hills, 
and varied with mesas aud all curious forma¬ 
tions of rock and earth, produced largely by 
the action of water in bygone ages. Tho prai¬ 
ries are dotted with cattle, and the hills, or 
minor mountains, with pine trees. All lu all, 
it is a very beautiful and interesting land¬ 
scape, clothed in green and 
gay with wild (lowers. There 
\ are acres of yellow coreopsis 
i \ which, with the large, white 
\ I thistle blooms, the crimson 
| cactus, and the tall spikes of 
/ blue bells make Colorado, In- 
/ J deed, a flowery kingdom. At 
Y j Palmer Luke, which is 2,000 
// / j feet higher than Colorado 
K / Springs the “divide” is ruuch- 
I l\ / ed—the water from one end of 
1 II the lake flowingsoutli into the 
/ // Arkansas River,and that from 
/ \ / J the other, north, Into the 
' / /// Platte. Palmer Luke is an- 
// 1(1 other resort for Invalids seck- 
// jV / iDg high altitudes, and a 
< f j//j / charming spot it is. Tho last 
f j J // thing thut grieved me, and 
f t , f / which has ever since haunted 
'/// /l/J my mind, was tho sight of a 
f /■/ I man dying of consumption. 
/f J j/ He sat In tho hotel parlor at 
j J/j / the Springs, and looked as if 
/ / / ho might uot live throughout 
7 }/ / the day. 1 hud heard him at 
FV*/ y the breakfast table bewailing 
/J j // the unpalatable food, aud I 
\/// longed to prepare something 
W / / for him that ho could relish; 
/ / but it was at that time im- 
/ ' possible. Poor follow! how 
/ I often 1 havu since thought of 
/ him,dying there.ulono, among 
I / strangers. 
y It is but a three hours’ ride 
/) to Denver, aud there are 
/ hardly more than double that 
number of small stations on 
/ the road. A few farm-houses 
are to bo seen now and then, 
and occasional patches of rye 
and wheat, corn and potatoes, 
which increased in frequency 
and size as wo neared Denver all, of course, 
irrigated; and the last irrigating ditch we saw, 
was like a canal for size. Denver is a marvel¬ 
ous city of 70,000 inhabitants. Ten years ago 
it was only a straggling hamlet. It has large, 
handsome, solid business blocks of brick and 
stone, as fine as any in Philadelphia, and is 
thoroughly cityflod in every respect. It has 
been built so rapidly, and been such a center 
of money—made from the mines—that it vir¬ 
tually sprang at once into eitydom with no 
intermediate gap for “tumble down” shanties 
or buildings of a village pattern. We spent 
one day In going by rail 60 miles up Clear 
Creek Canon as far as the footof Gray’s Peak, 
one of the highest points of the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains, and through what is regarded as the 
most substantial mining region in the State. 
Save for the first five or six miles leading out 
of Denver, tho sides of tho mountains were 
honeycombed with mines, and embroidered in 
the dull lines of miners’ cabins, ore smelters, 
and the curious machinery pertaining to the 
