aiiUUUSSSi 
mm 
■'-wz/LTs’ 
?»</**< 
Vol. XLIII. No. 1815 
NEW YOKE, NOVEMBER 8, ' <4 
' c 
PRICE FIVE CENTS 
$2.00 PER YEAR. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1381, by the Rural New-Yorker In the om£>/ he Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
as nearly as could be determined, the typical 
shape. This is the largest yield of potatoes 
ever raised in these experiment grounds. 
so marked that the i w could be pointed out 
as far off as it could be distinctly seen. 
The corn was husked September 111. The 
row which received the nitrate of soda had 1X3 
stalks. There wcre55ears (of which five were 
worthless), which weighed 19 pounds 8 ounces. 
The best of the other rows (there were 15 in all) 
monia salts alone, for corn or for any crops, 
unless the soil is also well supplied with pot¬ 
ash and phosphoric acid. A quicker way of 
impoverishing a soil, it would be difficult to 
devise. 
<#*pfvimcnt (Srouttilsi of the $utal 
£Uu?-$orktr. 
THE GREATEST YIELDS OF POTATOES 
EVER PRODUCED AT THE RURAL 
EXPERIMENT GROUNDS. 
NEW POTATO TESTS. 
THE EFFECTS OF NITRATE OF SODA 
UPON CORN. 
POLISH WHEAT. 
Our Rural Blount’s Cora was, the past sea 
Mu. R. Nott, of Vermont, Mends us some shelled 
grain and a head of a pocular wheat handed to him 
by a friend, and asks us what It Is. Ho remarks 
thatltlooks to him like the gruln described In the 
Kukai, In September, as a cross between rye and 
wheat. The stock from which thin was grown wus 
found among the papers of «n old gentleman now 
deceased, who (received It Troni the Department of 
Agriculture at Wn.shtugton several yeurs ago. 
It is a very old wheat, brought out from 
time to time under dilTorcnt names. It is in 
reality the Polish Wheat, -Triticum Polotticum. 
There are records of its having been sold under 
the following names during the past, 16years: 
Wheat of Taos, Diamond Wheat, Nevada 
Rye, Polish Wheat, Montana Rye and Wild 
Goose Wheat. Klippart says that it is known 
iu Europe as Wallaohian and Astrachau 
Wheat, and in Germany as Egyptian Corn, 
Gounner, Ly maker, Silesian, Cairo and 
Double Wheat, and by vurious other names in 
France; Dr. Geo. Thurber mentions that it 
was sold in New York 10 or 12 years ago for 
$10 a pint. 
'Ihe kernel, as shown in our engraving, Fig. 
450, drawn from the imperfect head sent by 
Mr. Nott, is lung, narrow and semi transpar¬ 
ent, very hard, and apparently destitute of 
starch. The head differs from ordinary wheat 
in having immense glumes and palets, which 
are better known as the “chaff,” From the 
fact Unit this wheat has never become popu¬ 
lar after so many trials, it may be assumed 
that it is either of little value for flour, or else 
that it does not succeed in most places. We 
sowed it years ago, but the plants for some 
reason wore dead iu the .Spring. 
SOIL. CULTURE, ETC. 
The soil is a moist, mellow loam, IncllnUig a little 
to clay, amt this Is the fourth consecutive year In 
which potatoes have been raised on it. It has re¬ 
ceived liberal i| nan title* of potato concentrated fer¬ 
tilizers and occasional dressings nr naif, kalnit.bone, 
etc , perhaps at the rate of 1,200 pounds to the acre 
altogether. Trenches two spades wide, live Inches 
deep and three feet apart, as In past seasunM, were 
dug. The sotl iu the bottom was raked mellow, the 
pieces (two eyes each), placed one foot apart upon 
this, and then covered with an Inch or soil. The 
fertilizers were then evenly strewn, and the trench 
filled to the surface. The cultivation la (lone be¬ 
tween the rows entirely with wheel cultivators, and 
between the plant* with the hoe.. Very little hoeing 
Is require 1 . since the plants meet before the weeds 
start. I be soil Is never htlle.il up about the plants, 
but kept at the same level ov^r the entire plot. In 
testing new potatoes here, our object la to ascertain 
their quality, growth of vine, time of maturity and 
the greatest yield of which they are capable In a 
rich soil specially prepared for them. 
Hodgman’h Seedling —This was received 
from E. A. Haskell, of Mason, New Hamp¬ 
shire, who wrote: “It yielded with me this 
Bummer (1883) at the rate of 1.579 bushels to the 
acre—one hill weighing eight pounds. Most 
of them were of marketable size.” It origi¬ 
nated with Horace X. Hodgtuun of the same 
place. 
The Rural planted the seed April 7th,and dug 
the tubers as soon as the tops had died, which 
was August 18. The yield was at the rute of 
1,361.25 bushels to the acre. Among the best 
tubers, five weighed four pounds four-and-a- 
half ounces. The average number to the hill 
was 15, weighing a trifle over five and three 
fifth pounds (the exact figures are 5.625) 
Estimated by numbers and not by bushels, 79 
per cent, were marketable. 
This potato is smooth and shapely for one 
so large. The skin is white; the eyes not very 
deeply sot, as shown In our accurate engrav¬ 
ing Fig. 454. In shape it is rather angular 
and somewhat flattened. The vines were of 
medium size and vigor. Eaton Sept ID, the 
flesh, of a yellowish color, was not very dry 
or mealy, though in a sandy, less retentive 
soil, the quality would doubtless improve. 
Green Mountain.— This was received from 
O. H. Alexander, Charlotte, Vermont, who 
says that it is a cross between Dunmore and 
Excelsior, made in 1878. From what Mr. 
Alexander has told ns regarding his method 
of crossing potatoes, we doubt if he can be at 
all positive as to the male parent, or whether 
any cross at all was effected. 
We planted the seed pieces about April 7, 
and the crop was harvested August 27, the 
variety being therefore a late intermediate. 
The yield was at the rate of 1,391.50 bushels 
per acre. They were dug under the super¬ 
vision of E. Williams, Secretary of the New 
Jersey Horticulture Society, and Charles L. 
Jones, of Newark, N. J., who, with the writer 
of these notes, weighed and estimated the 
yield. Among the best tubers, five weighed 
four pounds nine aud-a-half ounces. There 
was an average of 11 2 5 to the hill, and an 
average weight per hill of tive-aud-three- 
quarter pounds. The shape is short and 
chunky, flattened and not very regular. The 
skin is nearly white ; the eyes sometimes 
slightly, sometimes considerably depressed. 
In numbers there were 86 per cent, of market¬ 
able potatoes. Eaten Sep.21, the flesh (which 
is nearly white) was found to be coarse, bat 
fairly dry and mealy. Our engraving, Fig. 
455, from nature, shows the average size and, 
Hoduman’s Seedling Potato. From Nature, 
son, planted iu a poor, light soil, which was 
given 400 pounds of raw bone and 200 pounds 
of kainit to the acre. On June 27, when the 
plants were knee-high, nitrate of soda at 
the rate of 250 pounds, was evenly spread 
upon the poorest row of one plot, so as to ex¬ 
tend half way to the adjacent rows. The 
effect was remarkable at once. A shower 
was selected to compare with this. There 
were 24 plants— one more than in the nitrate 
of soda row—which gave 52 cal's (uiuo worth¬ 
less) which weighed 17 pounds 5 ounces. The 
little experiment is instructive iu rnuuy ways. 
This poor soil needed more nitrogen ihan it 
received in the raw bone. The nitrate of soda 
supplied it and enabled the plants to take more 
NOTES ON BACK NUMBERS, 
T. II. HOSKINS, M. D. 
Rural, Oct. 18 —I am glad that the Rural 
can make such a favorable report (p 681) of 
the Lo Conte Pear. It seems to be pretty 
plain that the Sand Pear hybrids (although 
they are pretty hardy) will not be of much 
value when grown north of New York City. 
But it would appear that they are to bo of 
great value to growers south of this point, 
w ho fail with most of the .standard varieties. 
For Canning, it is not likely that better pears 
can be had. The California canned pears are 
tasteless, though attractive to the eye, while 
by far the greater quantity of this fruit canned 
in the North, is so inferior as to be less desir¬ 
able than good canned apples. 
Mr. Atkins’s notes on Maine apples (p 681) 
are very interesting. I think it must be giv¬ 
en up that the farther north an apple can 
be iveil grown, the handsomer and better it 
will be. All the “iron-clods” are better when 
growu far north. The Duchess of Oldenburg 
Green Mountain Potato. Prom Nature 
One hundred and thirty bushels of shelled 
corn have been raised on AN ache at the 
Rural Experiment Farm (Long Island), 
and over 50 bushels of oats upon a half acre. 
At the Rural Experiment Grounds (New 
Jersey ) we have, the past season, raised AT THE 
RATE of 1,391)4 bushels of potatoes per acre. 
These great yields were examined and mea¬ 
sured by several well-known agriculturists. 
occurred the next day, and, iu two days after¬ 
wards the leaves were distinctly darker in color 
thau the plants of the rows which did not re¬ 
ceive the nitrate of soda. In early August this 
was evidently the best row in the plot—the 
leaves were broader and of a deeper green, 
the stalks larger. The difference in color was 
potash and phosphoric acid from the soil than 
they could have appropriated without it. It 
also teaches that nitrate of soda, which is as 
soluble as sugar, may be profitably applied 
to late corn when the plants are a foot high. 
Our readers will not conclude that we com¬ 
mend the use of uitrate of soda or am- 
