624 
THE RURAL HEW-YORKER. 
SEPT 20 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Home i 
Conducted by 
K. 8. CARMAN, 
J. 8. WOODWARD, 
Editor. 
Associate. 
Address 
THE liURAJj NKW'-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1844. 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker. 
From now until January 1, 188(5, for 
TWO DOLLARS. 
The R. N.-Y. will feel deeply obliged 
to any of its friends who, at the fairs, 
will interest themselves in extending its 
circulation. Our special and regular Pre¬ 
mium Lists will be mailed to all of them, 
without, application, in due time. 
A Special Premium List of $2,000 
worth of Presents to Subscribers, and 
to them alone! 
Any subscriptions sent to us now, wheth¬ 
er one oradozen, will count for premiums, 
the same as if sent later. As an additional 
inducement, our subscribers may offer the 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
From now until January 1, 1886, for 
the regular price, viz., $2.00j that 
is, the paper will be sent from now un¬ 
til next January Without Any Charge 
Whatever. 
COME ONE; COME ALL! 
Do you kuow that it is no easy matter 
to find a perfect tomato? it must not only 
be “ seamless,” but firm, smooth, ■with¬ 
out a crack or blemish, and ripened even¬ 
ly in every part. If the Rural has ever 
sent out a valuable lot of seeds, our grand 
mixture of tomato seeds will surely so be 
found. But our subscribers will soon 
speak for themselves. 
■ - 
Two thousand dollars worth of 
presents to our subscribers land to 
them only) for the largest clubs for 
1884-5. These presents will be an¬ 
nounced in an early issue of November. 
They will please you. All subscriptions 
received from this time w ill count. You 
may offer the Rural Nkw-Youkkk from 
now’ until January 1, 1886 for $2 00. Let 
us see what the ItiTUALand its subscribers 
can do, for once, in the way of increasing 
its circulation, its influence and its im¬ 
provement ! 
There is a mighty difference between 
working as a steam engine may be said 
to work—like a horse in thrashing ma¬ 
chine. works, and working with one’s 
eyes and mind wide open. There is no 
employment so simple but that, one can 
learn something while doing it, if he 
wants to learn—if he. is hungry for know¬ 
ledge. The young man who—strong and 
full of life—imitates the automaton in 
his daily labor, and who is glad when 
the day ends, because it releases him 
from a distasteful employment, is a sad 
example of misdirected life, vigor, genius 
and enterprise. 
-- 
Our friends must not forget that we 
shall thank them very much if they will 
send us at their earliest convenience the 
names of all who are interested in agricul¬ 
ture or kindred pursuits. We shall send 
to each of such names a copy of the 
Rural New Yorker to be issued about 
the first of November, which will con¬ 
tain a lull account of our Free Seed Dis¬ 
tribution for 1885, together wdth a com¬ 
bination premium-list, a part of which is 
intended for our subscribers only. It is our 
belief that after this number of the 
Rural New-Yorker shall have been sent 
to those names, our readers by personal 
solicition could secure us many new sub¬ 
scribers; they would at any rate secure the 
Rural’s best thanks. 
When we offered the $10 for the 
largest shapely potato, we did so in 
perfect good faith and with no desire to 
secure a whole car load of potatoes, which 
a friend suggests maybe the case, and that 
the aggregate amount paid in charges by 
the many who must fail, will be more 
than the money received by the one suc¬ 
cessful. This we should sincerely regret; 
and that no one may pay any needless 
charges, we suggest that when any one 
finds a potato which he thinks worthy of 
competition, he should carefully preserve 
it in common sand, and send us a postal 
card telling its actual weight. We will 
from time to time publish the weights of 
the largest, and after November 1 we will 
notify those whom we wish to forward 
their potatoes, and we will pay the charges 
on all except the winning potato, and 
thus “ avoid the very appearance of evil.” 
Is this fair ? 
« « » 
THE USE OF FERTILIZERS. 
Sir J. B. Lawes, under date of Aug. 
27, speaking of the difficulties which 
stand in the way of any one who carries 
out experiments with manures, writes us 
as follows: “On our grass experiments, 
where we take two crops of hay every 
year, we now apply 500 pounds of sul¬ 
phate of potash every year. This contains 
half it.H weight of potash, and, in favorable 
seasons, the whole, and more than the 
whole, of this quantity is carried off in 
the hay grown upon one acre. There is 
no soil in the world which could stand 
such a drain as this for long together. 
But you see that my soil has yielded to 
the wheat crop between 20 and 80 pounds 
per acre for the last 40 years. Two tons 
of potatoes contain about 80 pounds of 
potash, and I can grow this quantity 
every year without applying potash; but 
no more. It is no use to apply ammonia 
or phosphate. The potato must have pot¬ 
ash. I ran, however, grow eight or nine 
tons of potatoes by using potash. If. how¬ 
ever, I applied 800 pounds of potash, the 
crop would not be very much larger, as 
the potatoes would then stand still for 
want of nitrogen. I sec that you are. get¬ 
ting good results with nitrate of soda on 
corn. If this substance will not produce 
a marked effect upon corn, there is no 
truth in the science of agriculture. Some 
of your soils have a sufficient amount of 
nitrogen; others have not enough min¬ 
erals, but there are very few soils which 
contain enough nitrogen to grow large 
crops of corn by means of mineral ma¬ 
nures alone. Tint with nitrate of soda, you 
may grow 60 or 80 husMs per annum, for as 
long as you phase. Whether it will pay de¬ 
pends upon hote much nitrogen you must use.' 1 ' 1 
The italics are ours. 
The Rural New-Yorker from now 
until January 1st, 1886, for $2.00! A 
special list of Presents to Subscribers 
—and to them only—valued at $2,000 ! 
This list, together with the Rural’s 
Seed Distribution for 1885, will be 
published in a 16-page Supplement, 
to be issued early in November. Send 
one—send all! We will send the Ru¬ 
ral containing this Supplement to all 
names forwarded to us before October 
1 st without charge. 
Progressive Farmers! You can not 
afford to be without the Rural for 1885. 
It will pay you 100 fold. 
-» « • 
FRUIT NOTES. 
Op the newer st rawberries spoken of or 
described of late in these columns, it may 
interest some of our readers to know that 
the foliage of the Splendid is burning 
considerably, though the plants are still 
quite sturdy. It still ripens a berry or 
so, as noted in previous memoranda. The 
foliage of the Parry is also burnt, and its 
growth is less vigorous than that of Iron¬ 
clad. Hathaway’s Seedlings, Jewell, Prince 
of Berries, and Amateur growing in the 
same plot. Plants of Iftnderson and Bo¬ 
nanza, set August 1, have done well. 
Of grapes, Lindley ( Rogers’s No. 9) loses 
its foliage early—before the berries are 
ripe. This causes many imperfect bunches. 
This grape is of a peculiar dull red color, 
and the quality is sweet and rich. Her¬ 
bert (Rogers’s No. 44) began to ripen about 
September 1, though the season with us 
is at least one week late. It bore many 
fine bunches while others rotted. It is a 
showy, laige, black berry, and is by many 
rated as the best of all the dark colored 
varieties of Mr. Rogers, Lady is behind. 
The berries are small, and ripen unevenly. 
Pocklington is in full bearing. The 
bunches are of medium size, not shoulder¬ 
ed. The berries are scarcely as large as 
those of Concord, and they ripen about 
the same time. The vine is free from mil¬ 
dew, the grapes from rot. Victoria and 
Niagara ripen this year at the same time. 
Both are quite free from disease, and bear 
many perfect bunches. The Delaware, as 
usual at the Rural Grounds, gives a full 
crop of perfect bunches. Eldorado and 
Vergennes are close upon failures this 
year; Jefferson nearly so; Lady Wash¬ 
ington utterly so. The Centennial of 
Marvin, is a weak grower. 
CROPS . 
Among the multitude of conflicting crop 
reports published in all parts of the coun¬ 
try, there is no little satisfaction in ac¬ 
knowledging a standard with which the 
Others can be compared. It is not essen¬ 
tial that it shall be absolutely correct, or 
even more correct than some of the others 
arc occasionally; but it is essential that it 
shall be compiled as honestly as possible; 
for the public benefit, not for private ends, 
and under the direction of a responsible 
head. The reports of the Department of 
Agriculture are of this character. The 
data from which they arc compiled are 
furnished by a large number of regular 
correspondents selected tor their intelli¬ 
gence in all parts of the country. Week 
after week and month after month these 
are collecting information by personal 
observation and inquiries among their 
neighbors; their investigations are sys- 
temized by the General Office, and con¬ 
ducted under the guidance of an agent 
for each State; each brief report repre 
sents, therefore, a vast amount of labor and 
no inconsiderable amount of expense, and 
the yearly series is certainly more likely 
than any other to deserve the confidence of 
the public. 
From an abstract of the September re¬ 
port telegraphed from Washington last 
Thursday, we learn what we were all as¬ 
sured of before, that the yield of winter 
wheat is above the average, and is general¬ 
ly of good quality, except where injured 
by sprouting in the shock. The rate of 
yield is not far from 18 bushels per acre. 
The results of the harvest of spring 
wheat arc not yet fully ascertained, so 
that the product cannot be precisely indi¬ 
cated ; but it is probable from the report¬ 
ed condition of the crop already harvested 
and thrashed, that the aggregate yield of 
winter and spring wheat will vary little 
from 500,000,000 bushels. The reports 
of much higher figures we have always 
thought sensational—just such mislead¬ 
ing rumors as are generally set afloat 
about harvest time- and our opinion is 
confirmed by the Department winch con¬ 
siders them wholly unworthy of credence. 
The general average condition, when har¬ 
vested, is 98 against 88 last year. This 
condition is almost identical with that re¬ 
ported in 1879, the census crop, which 
also yielded 18 bushels per acre. The 
States in which the condition is the high¬ 
est are, California, Wisconsin, Minnesota, 
Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, and 
Oregon. These show figures higher than 
the average of 98; while the condition in 
Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas stands at 98; 
in Ohio and Michigan, at 96; in Indiana, 
at 94; and in Illinois at SO. The Eastern 
and Southern States range from 89 in Mis¬ 
sissippi to 103 in Maine; hut the area 
under wheat in these States is compara¬ 
tively small. 
The corn crop is in better condition than 
in any September since 1880. The gen¬ 
eral average is 94. It was 84 last Sep¬ 
tember; 83 in 1882; and only 60 in 1881. 
It promises to produce an average yield 
of 26 bushels per acre for the entire area 
planted, and the aggregate will not be 
less than 1,800, Olit). 000 bushels, the 
largest aggregate quantity ever reported 
in the history of the crop, the largest pre¬ 
vious crops being, 1,717,434,543 bushels in 
1880, and 1.547,901.790 bushels in 1879. 
The Cincinnati Price Cuirent, whose ex¬ 
tensive reports are generally worthy of 
credit, from a large number of independ¬ 
ent reports from ihe twelve great Western 
corn-producing States, concludes that 
they will yield 1,475.000,000 bushels, 
against 1,180,907,500 bushels last year; 
while it estimates the crop in the rest of 
the country at 335,000,Ollu bushels against 
370,159,395 last harvest, thus making an 
aggregate yield of 1,810.000,000 bushels, 
against 1,551,066,895 last year. 
The oat crop, like the corn crop, aver¬ 
ages a yield of about 26 bushels per acre, 
and makes an aggregate exceeding 500,- 
000,000 bushels. When harvested, its 
condition was 95, which was lower than 
for the two previous years, but higher 
than in any preceding year since 1878. 
Owing to the large area under this crop, 
the yield is likely to be the largest we 
have ever had. Barley averages 97, against 
100 last year, and 95 in 1882. It will aver¬ 
age about 22 bushels per acre. The gene¬ 
ral average of rye is 96. and of buckwheat 
93, the latter indicating a medium crop of 
about 12 bushels per acre. 
The condition of potatoes averages 91, 
agaiDst 95 last year, and the crop will be 
abundant, though not so large as in 1883. 
There is some complaint of rot iu New 
England and a little in New York. The 
condition varies greatly, running down to 
62 in Ohio; while it is 94 in Michigan; 
the same in Pennsylvania, and 86 in New 
York. West of the Mississippi the crop 
is fiue. It is likely that while the prices 
of potatoes will be high in some sections, 
the tubers will be nearly “a drug in the 
market” in o;hers. 
As indicated by numerous other re¬ 
ports, the condition of tobacco is unusu¬ 
ally high—higher indeed than in any 
September since 1877. Tt averages 94 
against 80 last, September. The condition 
is 105 in Massachusetts; 103 in Connecti¬ 
cut; 98 in New York; 99 in Pennsylva¬ 
nia. and 100 in Wisconsin; cigar tobacco 
stands comparatively high, also, being 91 
in Maryland; 94 m Virginia; 95 in North 
Carolina and Kentucky; 63 in Ohio, and 
105 in Tennessee. 
Owing to the drought, which was espe¬ 
cially severe in Texas, but was felt also in 
every State east and north to North Caro¬ 
lina, the condition of cotton on September 
I was lower than on August 1. The early 
succulent growth has wilted under the 
higher temperature and the absence of 
rain. Rust widely prevails, and leaves 
and young holl9 have been falling. In 
light soils the fruiting will be hastened, as 
the top bolls are already forming; on 
stronger soils the growth is good, and if 
frosts are deferred, a good crop may be 
made. In the few places where the cater¬ 
pillar has appeared, it has been promptly 
destroyed by poisonous applications. The 
boll worm has been unusually abundant, 
and has not been met with equal promp¬ 
titude. The average condition for the 
whole cotton belt, which was 87 in the 
preceding report, is reduced to 82j^; 
though Texas is the only State below that 
average. Of the last decade, the only 
years with lower averages were 1874, 3)^ 
points lower; 1881, when the average was 
only 70, and last year, when it was 74. 
The State averages are; Virginia, 89; 
North Carolina, 00; South Carolina, 87; 
Georgia, 86; Florida, 88; Alabama, 84; 
Mississippi, 83; Louisiana, 84; Texa«, 72; 
Arkansas, 83; Tennessee, 90; so that the 
low general average is mainly due to the 
very poor condition of the crop in the 
Lone Star State. 
Edward J. Moffat, the London agent 
of the Department, cabled last Wednes¬ 
day. as tno result of his investigations, 
that iu Europe the year will not be one of 
superabundance; that European wheat, 
though above the average in product, 
will be less than the aggregate of 1882. 
European importing countries will need 
260,000,000 bushels above what they pro¬ 
duce; of this quantity European coun¬ 
tries that raise a surplus, can supply only 
80.000,000 bushels, leaving 180,000,000 
bushels to be obtained from the United 
States, Canada, Chili, Egypt, Algiers, 
India, and Australasia. Stocks are not 
excessive. The consumption of wheat has 
increased, and it is the general opinion 
that the lowest prices have been reached. 
Potatoes and rye are less abundant than 
last year, and as these are largely used as 
food, other food stuffs must supply the 
deficiency, 
BREVITIES. 
“Work and learn.” 
“Work!— and learn practice with science.” 
Read the Rural’s report of the Ohio .State 
Fair. 
No. dear sir, we believe it to be a stain upon 
the name of any good fanner who winks at 
horse racing, drinking or gambling at agri¬ 
cultural fairs. 
Give the cold shoulder to the fair that en¬ 
courages horse racing or gambling of any 
kind. You cannot afford to support such in¬ 
iquities concealed under the grand mantle of 
Agriculture. 
Years ago we praised the Lady Elgin Crab- 
apple, and we think as well of it to-day as 
then The fruit ripens September 1. It is of 
large size, excellent quality for a crab, and it 
colors as beautifully as t.be Lady-Apple, Pomtnc 
d’Api It inclines to overbear, aud the fruit 
should be severely thinned, if you would have 
the apples of goodly size. 
This has beeu a week of disaster in North¬ 
western Wisconsin. Storms and floods have 
caused losses to tbe extent of between four and 
live million dollars, besides the lo»s of at least 
five lives. The EauClare and Chippewa Riv¬ 
ers overflowed their banks doing a world of 
damage and inundating the towns of Eau 
Clare and Chippewa H alls. At the former 
place, five hundred dwellings have beeu swept 
away, and 2.000 people are depending for food 
aud shelter on toeir neighbors living on high 
ground. Help from the surrounding coun¬ 
try is urgently needed for the afflicted, and 
should be generously and promptly granted. 
