Vol. XLIII. No. 1822. 
—--- -- ^ -- 
NEW YORK, DECEMBER 27, 1884. 
PRICE FIVE CENTS. 
•2.UU l‘KU YEAH. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1844, by the Rural New-Yorker In the oftlco of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.) 
TESTS WITH NEW POTATOES. 
(CONTINUED.) 
• SOIL, CULTURE, ETC. 
Tbk soli Is a moist, mellow loam. Inclining a little 
to clay, and this Is ibe fourth consecutive year In 
which potatoes have been raised on It. It has re¬ 
ceived liberal quantities of potato concentrated fer¬ 
tilizers and occasional dressing* of milt, kin all, bone, 
etc , perbaos 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 season*, were 
dug. The soil lu the bottom was raked mellow, the 
piece* (two eyes each), placed one foot apart, upon 
this, and then cover, d with an Inch of soil. The 
fertilizers were then evenly utrewn, and the trench 
filled to the surface. Tin; cultivation Is done be¬ 
tween the row» entirely with wheel cultivators, and 
between ilieplanU with the hoe. Very little hoeing 
Is require l. since the plnnts meet before the weeds 
start. The soil Is never hitled-up about the plants, 
but kept at the same level over the entire plot. In 
testing new potatoes here, our object Is to ascertain 
their quality, growth of vine, time of maturity and 
the greatest yield of which they arc capable In a 
rich soil specially prepared for them. 
Vanguard. —Seed received from Peter Hen¬ 
derson & Co. Planted April 7. Among the 
lirst to appear above ground. Small tops of a 
light green color. July 111, the vines began to 
die. Dug July SO. The yield was at t-he rate of 
544.50 bus. to the aero. Average, U>% ton bill; 
half marketable. Eyes not prominent. Shape 
cylindrical, sometimes egg-shaped, somewhat 
flattened. Skin of a pinkish tint. Amougthe 
best, live weighed one pound three-quarter 
ounce. Eaten October 9, flesh nearly white 
—mealy. Fig. 531 is a true portrait, and 
shows what seems to be the characteristic 
form. 
Early Mayflower.— Seed received from 
Thorburn & Co., New York—(second year’s 
test). Planted April 7. Foliage medium as 
to size and vigor. Dug August 15. It may 
be rated as an early intermediate. Yield, 
720.00 bushels to the acre. Among the best, 
five weighed two pounds two ounces. The 
shape, us shown (Fig. 582), is very nearly 
perfect—elliptical, somewhat flattened, sym- 
metrical. Eyes on surface. Skin white. A 
beautiful potato in appearuuce and a fine 
keeper. The average number of tubers to a 
hill was 18, of which (in number) 60 per cent, 
were marketable. There are two objections 
to the Mayflower as grown here. First, there 
are too many small ones; second, as grown in 
our moist soil, the past season, they do not 
cook dry or mealy. Last year the Mayflower 
yielded at the rate of 544.50 bushels to the acre 
on the same plot—11 to a hill. We then 
thought the quality very good. 
Nott’s Victor.— Seed received from Rev. 
R. Nott, of East Charlotte, Vermont. He 
states that it is a *‘seedliDg now in its fourth 
year;” that be has “had flue tubers from it in 
60 days from planting.” With us it proved no 
earlier than the Early Rose. It was planted 
April 7 and dug August 5. The yield was at 
the rate of 1,072 33 bushels to the acre—18 to a 
hill. Among the best, five weighed two 
pounds 10J^ ounces, or a little over half a 
pound each. There were few large tubers; 
few small. Our careful illustration (Fig. 533,) 
shows the a verage size. In numbers, 75 
per cent, were marketable. Eyes not deep. 
The tops were of medium size. Eaten Sep¬ 
tember 23, the quality was thought to be ex¬ 
cellent. The flesh is white. 
Not Named. Received from J. L. Perkins, 
Little Sioux, Harrison Co., Iowa, who writes: 
“It is from seed of Silver Skin fertilized with 
pollen from Wall’s Orange. 1 have grown 
many thousands of seedlings, but have never 
had anything to equal this.” 
The “Successful Farmer” whose work is re¬ 
ported by your Canadian correspondent, (p. 
762,) is one of those who has well justified 
Webster’s expression, that “there is room 
enough up high.” And there is the only place 
where there is room enough. The ruck of 
“scrub farmers,” who crowd the markets with 
products grown at no profit, are perhaps 
needed to make up the “all sorts of people” 
which we are told are “necessary to make a 
world j” but it is shown by thiH single instance 
that w here the necessa ry personal qua I i flea tions 
exist, all obstacles to success can be, and will be, 
pushed aside. “It is more in the man than it 
is in the land,” every time. Let young men 
take courage from this; bo patieut, industri¬ 
ous, thoughtful, resolute, and the path t.o pros¬ 
perity is ub easy (and far more sure) on the 
farm than elsewhere. 
If Judge Parry can enlarge am) retard the 
Bartlett by grafting, or planting it intermixed 
with Kieffer (p. 763), wouldn’t that be the 
best way, without trying for a crossed seed¬ 
ling enlarged and retailed, considering how 
rarely such experiments succeed ; 
NOTES ON BACK NUMBERS. 
T. H. HOSKINS, M. D. 
Rural, Nov. 15. —The increasing demand 
for grapes, referred to by “Rustic,” (p. 761,) 
is as nothing to what we shall s«e when grapes 
of the size and quality of Iona heroine as 
plentiful and cheap in the market as the Con¬ 
cord is now. Hay what we will about the in 
difference of the public to high quality in 
fruit, my own experience ns a fruit-grower 
has shown me that it is very often “the pov¬ 
erty and not the wilt” that consents to poor 
fruit, or noneat all, when fine fruit can he 
had, hut only at a high price. When the peo¬ 
ple can get first-class grapes at from four to 
six cents a pound at retail, the second and 
third class will have to go for wine, or cease 
to he grown. 
The Rural is right in saying (p. 761) that the 
ouly question in regard to growing big crops 
of potatoes is, “will it pay to supply the con¬ 
ditions?'’ The sumo is true with regard to 
everything the farmer produces. But, be 
hind this question, are the four elements, of 
faith, capital, energy and skill. The grass 
crop, all grain crops, the meat, cheese and 
butter production—none of these have yet 
been pushed further than to tell us what is 
profitable, with those four factors just as 
they arc now. But one thing is very certain, 
so long as the average results continue low, 
there will always be room enough and profit 
enough “up high,” in the farming business. 
numbers were marketable. Skiu white, shape 
oblong or egg-shaped, flattened. Eyes medi¬ 
um and few. An account of another seedling 
from Mr. Perkins will be given later, with an 
illustration. 
MAYFLOWER. From Nature. Fig. 582. 
per cent, marketable. Best five weighed two 
pounds. Eaten Oct. 2; fairly dry, mealy, 
white flesh. 
(Other “Notes from the Rural Grounds” 
are crowded out of this Index Number.—E ds.1 
Mr. Falconer (in “Rays,” p. 762) sets the 
Salem Grape as a little later than the Con¬ 
cord. Hero the Concord ripens about once in 
five years, while the Salem is (it to eat every 
year, und ripens well two years in three. 
Salem has one advantage over most grapes, 
in being quite eatable before it is ripe. But I 
begin to think both Merrimack and Massasoit 
would have been preferred to Salem if they 
had become well known sooner. They are 
both a little earlier than Salem But our 
earliest good grape is Brighton. If it would 
keep like the three Rogers’s grapes named. 1 
would grow that ouly Long-keeping grapes 
are as valuable as ioog-keeping apples, and 
that is where Vergeimes takes “the whole 
bakery;” but it is too late here. 
1 am not conscious of having told Mrs. Jack 
(p. 768) that melons cannot he ripened in the 
“Cold North,” though 1 have always said that 
the Concord Grape ripens so seldom with me as 
not to be worth growiug Brit 1 always have 
good melons of both classes, often before peo¬ 
ple have them near the sea coast in Massachu- 
Cheerfully complying with the wishes of our readers who, as if by a single voice, 
have expressed themselves in favor of the change—the Rural New-Yoiker will 
hereafter be cutand pasted. And Now. A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL 
NOTT’S VICTOR. From Nature. Fig. 533, 
Herd pieces wore planted April 7; harvested 
September 1st. Strong growing tops. Yield 
at the rate of 502.00 bushels to tho acre. 
Among the best tubers, five weighed one 
pound seven ounces. The average number to 
the hill was 13^, of which 55 per cent, in 
Not Named. Received from Reuben John¬ 
son, Utica. Towa. Planted April 8 and dug 
August 19. Yield, 605 bushels to the acre. 
Small tops. Shape of potato, long, cylindri¬ 
cal, many oyOtt, rather prominent. Hklu 
white. There were nine tubers to a hill—90 
VANGUARD. From 
