TUI BOBAL NEW-YORKER, 
JAM 6 
Floriculture and Hand-book of Plants, pre¬ 
sented by Peter Henderson & Co,, 25 Cort¬ 
land t Street. $7.50. 
Awarded to J. R. Dowling, Monticello, Ill. 
TWENTY-FIFTH PRIZE. 
One Keystone Washing Machine, presented 
by the Rural New-Yorker. $6. 
Awarded to F. Stripe, Van Wert, O. 
TWENTY-SIXTH PRIZE. 
One dozen Silver-plated Tea Spoons, pre¬ 
sented by che Rural Nkw-Yorker. $6. 
Awarded to W. H. Ryan, Fairview, Pa. 
TWENTY-SEVENTH PRIZE. 
One Silver-plated Cup, presented by the 
Rural New-Yorker. $4. 
Awarded to John Haynes, Little Sioux, la. 
-♦ ♦♦ - 
THE RURAL THOROUGHBRED PRIZE 
CORN. 
On our first page we place before our readers 
an almost exact portrait of an ear of the Rural 
Thoroughbred Corn sent to us by one of our 
subscribers. It measures 16}^ inches in 
length, and was broken in two so that the 
whole ear might be presented, as entire it 
would have beeu too long for our columns. 
So far as we are informed, it is the longest 
ear ever raised. When received at this office 
it measured 17 inches, but shrank balf-an-inch 
from that time until it was sketched by our 
artist. We have many ears measuring 15 
inches, which are thoroughly dry — several 
that measure 16 inches. Few of these are 
perfectly filled out, probably because they 
were grown in small plots and imperfectly 
fertilized. The history of this remarkable 
strain of Indian corn is well known to our 
older readers. Along the Atlantic coast of 
Long Island it has been raised in meadows 
far away from other ooru-fields for over 40 
successive years. During all this time the 
longest ears alone have been selected for 
seed. Had more regard been paid to the 
compactness of the rows upon the cob, the 
gaps which often occur between the rows 
might have been bred out. It is generally 
eight-rowed—sometimes ten. The kernels are 
very wide and thick, but shallow. The color 
is nearly buff, being too dull to be called yel¬ 
low, It is the softest flint corn we have ever 
seen, horses with poor teeth preferring it to 
the Chester Co. Mammoth, which is a yellow 
dent. The plant is as distinct as the ear. The 
leaves are very broad, and the joints of the 
stalk, which is comparatively small, are 
closer together than those of most varieties. 
Each kern°l sends up from four or five to one 
dozen suckers, which are so vigorous that the 
plant assumes the form of a bush, all the | 
stalks of which are equally developed—mauy 
of them iu favorable seasons bearing ears of 
corn. The stalks grow to the hight of about 
eight feet. The propensity to sucker in field 
corns is generally deemed objectionable, for 
the reason that the suckers, as a rule, are 
feeble plants which bear litlle grain, and are 
therefore valuable only for fodder. The 
Thoroughbred Flint, however, is valuable 
considered only as a fodder plant, because of 
its broad and abundant foliage, while we 
have found it to yield as much grain as any 
other flint com we have ever raised. 
In the Rural’s last Free Seed Distribution 
a small quantity of this or the Rural Heavy 1 
Dent was sent to each applicant. A portrait 
of the latter was given in the Fair Number of 
1881. when premiums amounting to nearly 
$1,000 were tillered for the heaviest yields, 
which are now awarded. 
The only objection to the Thoroughbred 
Flint that has revealed itself from the 13,000 
trials which have during the past year been 
made of it, is that it has not ripened early 
enough to be suited to our northernmost 
States. For yield, for ensilage purposes, and 
for fodder, however, it would seem from our 
multitudinous reports co be a variety of un¬ 
surpassed, perhaps unequaled, value. 
MEADOW OAT GRASS. 
Valuable Information for our Western 
Readers. 
PROFESSOR E. M, SHELTON. 
To this grass, which is being quite exten¬ 
sively advertised as “ Evergreen Grass,” and 
which Professor Beal assures me is the old 
English Meadow Oat Grass (Avena elatior.L.), 
we have this year given a pretty thorough 
trial upon the College farm, obtaining results 
that have been a great surprise to me. Readers 
of the Rural will remember that our long 
and very great experience with the tame 
grasses in Kansas has shown conclusively that 
Orchard Grass is of all grasses the best; first, 
because it endures the drought better than any 
other sort; second, because it gives very much 
the largest amount of feed, and third, because 
stock prefer it to almost any other sort. So 
much for our experience with Orchard Grass, 
an experience which I have reason to believe 
has been confirmed by that of nearly every 
one who has given it a trial in this State. 
During the pHst year Meadow Oat Grass has 
surpassed the Orchard Grass in nearly every 
one of the above important; particulars. It 
made a better sta~d and a much more vigor¬ 
ous growth than did Orchard Grass growing 
near by it; it endured the protracted and se¬ 
vere drought of the latter part of last season 
better than Orchard Grass, retaining its in¬ 
tense greenness through it all. Whether it 
will prove as attractive to stock as is Orchard 
Grass remains to be seen. A remarkable aud 
very valuable peculiarity of this grass is the 
wonderful growth that it makes during the 
first season. In Michigan I saw last Summer 
upon the farm of the Hon. Alonzo Sessions, of 
Ionia, Meadow Oat Grass, seeded last Spring, 
which had grown taller than the wheat among 
which it was growing. Our own patch of this 
grass, although sown as late as ApriL, gave a 
heavy cutting of hay in July following. This 
feat we have never before accomplished with 
any other kind of grass or clover except Al¬ 
falfa; and of this latter I may remark, in 
passing, that from Spring-seeded Alfalfa we 
cut the past season two good crops—say one- 
and-one-fourlh ton to the acre—of hay, and 
a fair third crop went back to the ground in 
October. 
Whether Meadow Oat Grass will bear tramp¬ 
ing; whether it will endure severe drought 
aud at times the gnawing of grasshoppers, 
without which it will not be of much use in 
Kansas, we are unable to say. But we shall 
see. We have already seen enough to satisfy 
us that this grass will “ bear watching.” 
Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kansas. 
-♦ » ♦- 
The editors of the Rural New-Yorker are 
practical farmers, fruit-growers and gard¬ 
eners. They write from experience a n d from 
experience only and they give the results of 
their tests and experiments fearlessly without 
the least regard to individual interests. 
This journal is conceded by the best authori¬ 
ties of the land to have well earned its posi¬ 
tion as the leading rural journal of America. 
Bunt l (Topics. 
(Experiment (Evonnfa of the xUmrt 
Jleir - xtovhev. 
HOW TO RAISE 3TRAWBERRIES 
FROM SEED. 
To give a detailed description of how to 
grow strawberries from seed seems to be sur¬ 
rounding a very simple matter with needless 
complications. If we were asked to tell in 
the fewest possible words how to raise seed¬ 
ling strawberries we should answer—sow Die 
seeds in pots the same as you would those of 
the snapdragon; transplant the young seed¬ 
lings to little thumb-pots as soon as they have 
made their second leaves, as shown at B, Fig. 
2, and then, in late May for this climate, 
thump them out into plots of mellow soil in 
the garden, previously prepared for them. 
That is really the whole story. “ But," we 
may be asked, ** where are the seeds to be 
procured, now ?” The answer is of any fancy 
fruiterer in the main streets of Chicago, New 
York, Charleston or New Orleans. A single 
berry will give a hundred plants. There 
was scarcely a week during last Winter when 
we were unable to procure berries of the 
Sharpless (a favorite forcing kind), the Wil¬ 
son or the Neunan. 
Last year, Feb. 5, we planted the seeds of 
two strawberries which we supposed to be the 
Neunan — a popular market kind about 
Charleston and along the Southern coast. 
They were sewn on the surface of fine, loamy 
soil in two pots eight inches in diameter, the 
soil well firmed and then leveled. The seeds 
were tbt>n barely covered with soil sifted over 
them through a fine sieve and slightly pressed 
down with the bottom of a flower pot to in¬ 
sure contact of the soil with the seeds. The 
pots were then placed in a deep pan of water 
until the surface showed that the water had 
penetrated to every part of the soil, when 
pieces of glass were placed over the pots to 
retain the moisture and to make surface 
watering unnecessary until the seeds should 
sprout, which they did in three weeks. The 
first leaves are shown at A, Fig. 2. 
April 9 the young plants bad formed second 
leaves, as shown at B, Fig. 2, and they 
were then pricked out and planted in little 
thumb pots, three inches iu diameter, the soil 
pressed firmly about the tender, hair-like 
roots. By April 25 the seedlings had grown 
to the average hight of one inch and a-half, 
showing a marked difference in the leaves. 
Some were lobed, some cleft, some divided as 
in the clover plant; some were not cleft at 
all, with sharp serrations; some fan-shaped 
and nearly entire. A and B, Fig. 8, 
I sketched, from nature, will serve to show 
these variations. Our note book does not tell 
us when they were set in the open ground. 
It was, however, about the middle of May. 
The plot was well prepared, the plauts set 
one feot apart in the rows—the rows two feet 
Fig. 2. 
apart. They all grew vigorously during the 
season, sending out runners freely aud by 
August were not to be distinguished from 
old plants. 
Most of these seedlings will bloom and fruit 
next year when we shall be able to mark and 
transplant those of promise, if any, or to leave 
them where they are growing and destroy 
the others. 
It Is by no means necessary to start the 
seeds in the house. We may sow them when 
strawberries are ripe in little plots in the 
garden. In this case it is only needful to 
pulverize the soil thoroughly and to shade 
the ground from the midday sun and keep it 
moist by watering as often as the soil needs it. 
Borne varieties of strawberries bear only 
imperfect flowers—the stamens are abortive 
—the pistils only being perfect. Hence it is 
that lists in catalogues are marked P (pistil¬ 
late) to denote this. Such varieties will not 
bear fruit unless growing near perfect-flower¬ 
ing kinds called, though very incorrectly, 
“stacuinate.” Of those bearing imperfect 
flowers, which need to grow near perfect¬ 
flowering varieties in order to bear fruit, 
may be mentioned the Manchester, Big Bob, 
Crescent Seedling, Champion, Jersey Queen. 
If now we desire to cross two kinds as, for 
example, the Crescent Seedling with the 
Charles Downing, which latter bears perfect 
flowers, we have only to plant them together 
in a frame or away from other varieties. 
Any seeds perfected on the berries of the 
Crescent will then, of coarse, have for their 
male or pollen parent the Charles Down mg. 
Crosses may be further made by destroying 
the stamens of perfect flowers as soon as tbey r 
open and allowing any other kind with which 
a cross is desired, to pollenate the pistils. 
This may be effected through natural agen¬ 
cies, as insects or the wind or the pollen may 
be collected on little fine brushes and applied 
by hand. 
POTATO TESTS CONTINUED. 
Brownell's Best— Test No. 12, originated 
in 1875, with E. 8. Brownell.—Rather long, 
roundish. White skin, russeted. Second 
early. Cooked August 30. Fleeh white, dry, 
mealy. Yield per acre of large and small at 
the rate of 084.42 bushels. Number of pota¬ 
toes to the acre, large and small, 329,120. 
Five of the largest potatoes weighed one 
pound 16 ounces, which shows a small average 
potato. The vines were not very vigorous. 
Planted April 11; harvested Aug. 28. See Fig. 6. 
New Conqueror— Test No. 4L From 
Price & Knickerbocker, Albany, N. Y.— 
What we take to be the characteristic shape 
is best shown by the engraving, though the 
seed sent was longer with abruptly-rounding 
(not tapering) ends. The vine® were dead 
August 19. Planted April 23; harvested Au¬ 
gust 28. Yield per acre, 414.75 bushels. 
Large and small potatoes, 180.680. Five 
largest weighed ounces. Eaten Oct. 20. 
Tasteless, quite dry and mealy. See Fig. 5. 
St. Patrick— Test No. 42 introduced by 
Peter Henderson & Co., New York.—White 
skin, eyes not sunken. The engraving, though 
giving the characteristic shape, is smaller than 
the average. Planted April 14; harvested 
September 3. Spreading vines; white blos¬ 
soms. Yield of large and small potatoes, 
524.88 bushels per aero. Large and small po¬ 
tatoes to the acre, 123,420. Five largest pota¬ 
toes weighed three pounds three ounces. 
Flesh white, tasteless, not ao mealy as some. 
The above potatoes, the same as those in 
our last report, were planted iu drills or shal¬ 
low trenches four inches d®ep, the width of a 
spade, and three feet apart—only one piece 
(two eyes) dropped every foot as measured 
by a knotted cord stretched over the drill. 
The pieces wore lightly covered with soil 
and potato chemical fertilizer strewn over 
them at the rate of 700 pounds to the acre. A 
hand cultivator was run between the rows as 
often as was needed to keep the soil mellow, 
uutil the growth of thevines prevented. The 
first beetles were picked off by hand; the 
grubs killed by the use of Paris green—one 
tablespoonful to a patent-pail of water—ap¬ 
plied twice with tufts of straw bound at one 
end for a handle. 
RURAL WHEATS CONTINUED. 
This wheat was sent to us four years ago 
as Spring Hard Australian. We have since 
sowed it in the Fall. It proves hardy and 
productive as a W T inter wheat. The grain is 
large, hard aud of an amber cnlor. The heads 
average nine breasts to a side and three ker¬ 
nels to the breast. It grows to the hight of 
five feet—the straw thick and strong. It is 
one of our most promising varieties. Our 
illustration is from an average head grown 
the past season. See Fig. 7. 
-♦ -» «- 
NOTES ON BACK NUMBERS. 
T. H. HOSKINS, M. D. 
Rural, Nov. 25.—Prof. Caldwell’s defense 
of the Agricultural Colleges (p 795), though 
containing some truth, is rather in the nature 
of special pleading. He puts the cart before 
the horse when he demands that farmers 
shall have confidence enough in these new 
institutions to fill them with students before 
they have shown their ability to impart at 
least a fair amount of that kind of instruction 
which intelligent patrons demand. These 
colleges must be content to “begin small,” 
and they will coutiuue small until, by their 
own merit and usefulness, they fill a want, 
and thu3 compel patronage. Their endow¬ 
ments enable them to do just that, if rightly 
used. It is vain for them to cry for more 
money, or more pnpils, until they show that 
they can do something worth while with 
what they have got. So every literary col¬ 
lege in the land began; and so, and so only, 
have they grown and become strong. 
A prime objection to the “ Ne Plus Ultra ’ 
Sweet corn (p. 797) Is that it has no regular 
rows, which greatly facilitate the eating. 
And, by the way, are there no old ttagers 
who can authoritatively tell us, through the 
Rural, how sweet corn is originated ? It 
was a novelty when I was a boy, 40 years 
ago. Nov* we have a “sweet” form of 
nearly every kind, even of the common yel¬ 
low. How is it done 1 I have guessed that it 
is by the continuous planting of unripe seed, 
until the “ habit " of transforming the sugar 
into starch is broken up. But I don’t know. 
Who does? _ 
W. J. B.’s experiment iu improving the 
keeping quality of onions (p. 797) is one that 
necessarily must be tried every year where 
the seed is raised far north, and we must wait 
quite late in the Spring before the bulbs saved 
for seed can be planted. By that time all 
poor keepers have pushed too far to be of any 
use. And we certainly get our earliest onion 
seed from Montreal—a pale, red variety, not 
very attractive, but perhaps as good in quality 
as any. There is no ready sale, however, 
for any but the Yellow Dmvera after that 
variety is ripe for market. But it is very 
difficult to get early seed of it. The preju¬ 
dice against the mere color of the early red sorts 
is a senseless one, but difficult to overcome. 
Canada Thistles are as perennial in the 
papers as In the field—more so, indeed. D. B. 
M. (p. 799) says they will die out in seven 
years if not allowed to go to seed. Perhaps 
so, but they will live longer so, provided 
they are allowed to grow freely than when 
allowed to go to seed, according to my ob¬ 
servation. With the thistle, as with other 
plants, the maturing of seed is exhaustive, 
aud 1 huve mauy times known a large patch 
to nearly die out in the process. The sure 
cure is never to allow them to make a leaf. 
The voluminous notes on grapes from every 
part of the country, which appear in the 
Rural, are of incalculable value, and entitle 
you to a vast amount of gratitude from those 
who are benefited thereby. 
The feeding value of straw, discussed by 
the Practical Club (p. SIS), is a subject worth 
a good deal of attention. If we can believe 
thut what the animals like test is best for 
them, then, according to my experience, the 
brightclean straw of winter rye is better for 
horses than corn fodder, or even the best 
fodder-corn carefully cur’d. 
The Rural is right (Brikflets, p. 814) 
as to the value of Hemlock boards for under- 
drains. They are very successfully used for 
the purpose nare, especially in swampy mea¬ 
dows. But only two boards are used, one five 
inches and the other six inches wide, nailed 
together in V form and laid the open side 
down, care being used to have the bottom of 
the ditch level and firm. Where the fall doe B 
