JAN 2? 
descriptions of nearly all trees and shrubs 
worthy of cultivation. 
Peter Henderson & Co , 33 and 37 Cort- 
landt 8treet, N. Y. Manual of Everything 
for the Garden. The engravings of the covers 
of this book were drawn by an artist that 
loves nature. They are in themselves a pleas¬ 
ing study. The Early Etampes Cabbage is 
highly spoken of. In form it reminds us of 
the new Filderkraut. It offers the Perfect 
Gem Squash, the Cuban Queen Watermelon, 
which all seedsmen join in praising; a new 
potato named Jumbo, which yielded one-third 
more the past season than the productive Peer¬ 
less; the eailiest pea known, Henderson’s 
First of All, and many other novelties which 
our readers must look up for themselves. 
The catalogue is profusely illustrated with 
fine wood-cuts, among which we see the 
beautiful Japan Maples. Would that they 
were as hardy as they are charming ! A 
handsome colored plate of Henderson’s Bal¬ 
sams is the prettiest of any we have ever seen 
of this popular annual. All of our readers 
should examine this catalogue, which will be 
sent without charge to Rubai, applicants. 
D. M. Ferry & Co., Detroit, Mich. Seed 
Annual for 1833—170 pages—fully illustrated 
—several colored plates. This catalogue pre¬ 
sents full lists of everything in the seed way 
which any farmer or gardener is likely to 
need—with special lists of small fruits, etc. 
When this house offered the Russian White 
Oats they had received many testimonials as 
to their value from almost every State and 
territory in the Union It will be remembered 
that the Rural New Yorker tested them 
beside many other varieties of oat9 and re¬ 
ported unfavorably. D. M. Ferry & Co. now 
discontinue their sale tor the reason that 
they do not care to handle an article which is 
liable to disappoint the purchaser. It Is a 
pity that seedsmen in general do not fol¬ 
low this wise example and thus eliminate 
from their lists many kinds of seeds which in 
most cases will disappoint those who raise 
them. This very useful catalogue will be sent 
without cnarge to those of our readers who 
apply to Messrs. Ferry & Co. 
Hiram Sibley & Co , Rochester, N. Y. A 
catalogue of 156 pages. A deal of time and 
thought has been devoted to this catalogue. 
It is very handsomely gotten up in every way 
and shows in many parts the enterprise which 
moves this great seed house. Conspicuous 
among the novelties to which we naturally 
turn are many kinds of field and garden seeds, 
reports of wbteh have already been made in 
our columns from trials made at the Rural 
Ex. Grounds, so that our intelligent readers 
may judge whether to invest in them now' or 
to wait until the prices grow lower. A re¬ 
sume of novelties ia given on page 144-7, so 
that the readers may examine them at a 
glance, referring to them in detail in the body 
of the catalogue. We believe this catalogue 
will be sent free to our readers. 
M. W. Dunham, Wayne, Du Page Co., Ill. 
A beautiful catalogue of Oaklawn Stud 
Percheron Norman horses, with 40 fine por¬ 
traits. The book opens with a description of 
thePercheron Norman horse and then passes 
on to bis origin, how he has been modified.how 
he is now being bred and reared, his spe*d and 
endurance. We have next “ The Percheron 
in America,” and then descriptions and por¬ 
traits of imported and pure-bred stock on band 
November 1st. Other subjects are treated in 
a very interesting ma ner and all of our 
readers who care for horses at all should send 
for the catalogue, which will be mailed them 
by Mr. Dunham without charge. 
The Storbs & Harrison Co., Painesville, 
Ohio. A very handsome cata¬ 
logue of 107 pages, finely illus¬ 
trated with many novelties We 
can only note the Russian Mul¬ 
berry, Champion Quince, May¬ 
flower and Favorite Tomatoes; Dr. 
Hoskin’s famous new Ameri¬ 
can Racer Pea, Fay’s Pro¬ 
lific Currant, Brownell’s Best 
Potato. There are also many 
novelties among flower seeds 
nd plants. The most of the 
catalogue is given to green¬ 
house plants, roses, hardy shrubs, 
vines, trees and all sorts of seeds. 
Free to all. 
Also a catalogue of Dollar 
Collections of roses, greenhouse 
and bedding plants, fruit trees, 
etc , sent free by mail small 
fruits, etc. 
D. Landreth & Sons, Phila 
delphia, Pa. Celery Culture, being a col 
lection of five essays which were awarded 
the premium of $100 offered by this 
firm last June. Every phase of Celery 
Culture is well considered and all who 
raise this vegetable, which no farmer’s 
table shoutd be without during the Win¬ 
ter months, should read it carefully. It will 
be sent to our readers on application. 
D. Landrkth & Sons, Philadelphia. Pa. 
Prise Essay on Onion Culture, 80 pages, well 
illustrated. This work is Ihe result of $125 
worth of prizes offered June 1, 1882, by the 
above firm. Those who grow onions, or who 
intend to grow them, will find it sirop’y in¬ 
valuable. Every question which may arise 
in the mind of the cultivator is here plainly 
answered. The price is 25 cents. 
Everett & 8mall, 43 South Market Street, 
Boston, Mass. Descriptive Price-List of Mat¬ 
thews’s Garden Seed Drill; Improved Drill 
and Cultivator combined; Improved Hand 
Cultivator; Improved Wheel Hoe; Eclipse 
Horse Hoe, Cultivator, etc., manufactured 
only for this firm Also, Automatic Hand 
Corn Sheller. Illustrated Free to applicants. 
Thorburn & Titus, 158 Chambers Street, 
N. Y. An illustrated catalogue of 60 pages, 
with a colored Illustration of the new tomato 
’Livingston’s Favorite. The catalogue pre¬ 
sents the usual lists of farm, garden and flow¬ 
er seeds, etc. 
The New Industry: Silk Culture in the 
United States. Price list for 18S3 of all silk 
culture requisites. Address 
Viri n DesLauriers, form¬ 
erly Supt. N. Y. Silk Ex¬ 
change, 201 East Sixty- 
third Street, N. Y. 
Report of the Profes¬ 
sor of Agriculture (S. 
Johnson) for the year end¬ 
ing September 30, 1882, 
of the Michigan Agri¬ 
cultural College. A most 
valuable report to which 
we shall refer again. 
Cole Brothers, Pella, 
Iowa. Seed Catalogue 
and Guide to the Flower 
and Vegetable Garden— 
40 pages. The list is a 
full one—the descriptions 
concise and plain. Free 
to applicants. 
A. D. Hud‘k>n, Sheboy¬ 
gan Falls, Wis. Sixth 
annual descriptive price- 
list of new and standard 
varieties of field grain, 
corn and potatoes. 
Chr. Lorens, No. 100 John Street, Erfurt, 
Germany. Catalogue (well illustrated) “for 
owners of gardens and amateurs.” All sorts 
of flower and vegetable seeds. This is printed 
in English and will be sent without charge to 
our readers who apply to Mr. Lorens. 
RURAL BRIEFLETS. 
“We have noticed in the Rural New- 
Yorker,” says Mr. Purdy in his Fruit Re¬ 
corder, “ a number of articles complimentary 
to the new Marlboro Raspberry. We pro¬ 
posed to the editor to accept the offer made 
for the Marlboro against the Hansell on the 
part of the Crimson Beauty, sending a 
description of the latter with our beautiful 
hand cut and representation of the Crimson 
Beauty for the columns of the Rural, and 
offering to send plants. The editor was will¬ 
ing to have the test made, but was not willing 
to give any notice of the Crimson Beauty until 
after it had fru’ted on his grounds, while he 
did give a very flattering article of the Marl¬ 
boro before it had fruited with him. Ah l 
but he will say the Marlboro had fruited up 
the river and been seen by fruit growers. To 
this we would say that the Crimson Beauty 
has fruited in Kansas 
and has the highest and 
most flattering descrip¬ 
tion from Dr. Stay- 
man and others. So 
that if a test was to 
It© had, it was no more 
than just and right that 
each sort should receive 
equally as fair chance 
in the columns of that 
paper. We are willing 
to place two to thre*- 
plants of the Crimson 
Beauty in the hands of 
the editor of the Rural 
New Yorker, and such 
men as John S. Collins, 
John Saul, Dr. Warder, 
Mr. Hovey, Mr. Galasha, 
br. Furnas and Samuel 
Miller, and the owner 
of the Marlboro to do 
the same, and agree 
to any test as to a first- 1 
class market berry—including earlmess, 
hardiness, productiveness, large size and fair 
oolor, that the Editor of the Rural Nkw- 
Yorker may decide upon. Come now, isn’t 
this a fair offer ? We have seen the fruit and 
the plant of the Marlboro and so far as that 
sort is concerned make this offer fearlessly 
and with a desire to have a fair trial; we 
know how it is with the Hudson River Ant¬ 
werp and some other sorts—succeeding well 
just in that locality, but a failure elsewhere. 
So it may prove with the Marlboro, and 
hence our desire to have a general test over 
the country.”... 
Yes, the offer is quite fair, Mr. Purdy, and 
we should much like the trial to be made. 
We already have the Marlboro and are 
promised the Hansell and Crimson Beauty so 
that we shall mate the trial in any case. The 
Marlboro for next season will have the ad¬ 
vantage over the others, since it was care¬ 
fully set last August, so that we shall see that 
the conditions be made the same to each. 
The Fruit Recorder is not exactly just 
when it speaks of the flattering notice the 
Rural gave of the Mar boro. while it refused 
to speak of the Crimson Beauty until it had 
been tested in the Rural Experiment Grounds. 
The fact is that as many as a dozen sprigs in 
fruit and several basnets of the fruit of the 
Marlboro were sent to the office for oar opin¬ 
ion and we gave *t—adding that it remained 
to be seen what this new raspberry would do 
away from the place of its origin. Had the 
Editor of the Fruit Recorder sent us fruit of 
the Crimson Beauty we should certainly have 
expressed our opinion of it with equal free¬ 
dom—Why not f... 
The Florist and Pomologist of December 
last has a colored plate of a new black currant 
named Black Champion which but for the 
calyx more resembles a black grape than a 
currant. The berries are described as richly- 
flayored, the bunches remarkably large. 
The profuse bearing habit of the bush is said 
to be quite extraordinary... 
Somebody says that the Crescent Seedling 
Strawberry while it is pistillate In poor soils 
and when permitted to run and cover the 
ground, is perfect or bisexual in rich ground 
and confined to hills. This is important 
if true. 
Jonathan Talcott writes us that his larg 
est White Elephant potato weighs 2>£pounds; 
that his largest Queen of the Valley weighs, 
1J£ pound. The first was saved when dug; 
the second was taken from the bin without a 
thorough examination of all. 
W b see that some of the new catalogues 
make the mistake of offering Chester County 
Mammoth and Blount’s corn for ensilage or 
for fodder. They are the very last kinds we 
should select. The stalks are tall and heavy, 
the leafage comparatively light. Evergreen, 
Asylum, Mammoth and Egyptian (Washing¬ 
ton Market) or any of the flint varieties are ’ 
much better, as they have smaller stalks and , 
broader leaves.......... 
Walter S. Pkttibonb, of Kingston, Pa., 
tried the new Early Household and Vermont 
Champion potatoes last year. He says: “They 
did nothing for me. I merely lost the use of 
the land."... 
Mr. Peter Henderson still thinks well of 
the Jersey Qneeu Strawberry and places it at 
the head of bis " Cream " selection. He says 
it is of the largest size; unsurpassed in flavor 
and likelv to adapt itself to any soil or situa¬ 
tion. B dwell, Sharpless, Downing, Golden 
Defiance and Jucunda sire the Others of his 
choice...*. 
We have examined six of the leading seeds¬ 
men’s catalogues and each firm has its “ First 
and Best” pea. Peas are much inclined to 
sport and a great deal of care in weeding 
out all runners and rogues from the seed plot 
is essential Each firm either grows]its cwn 
seed peas or orders them grown and the 
growers who are the most experienced and con¬ 
scientious will furnish the “ First and Best.” 
Ws saw last Sommer a flock of poultry 
numbering 100—and there were 26 cocks in 
the flock. The owner was of the opinion that 
poultry did not pay I... 
A correspondent writes to the Gardeners’ 
Monthly to ask why horticultural papers con¬ 
tinue the absurdity of calling green grapes 
“whitef’ He says he called attention to it 
many years ago, but still the farce goes on. 
The editor replies: Why should we say “the 
white man” when few are white? Many are 
rather red than white, especially their noses 
in some instances.... 
It is certainly desirable that we should 
have some other adjective besides “green” to 
apply to what are generally called white 
grapes, or how should we distinguish them 
from immature grapes? We also speak of 
“white”currants, “white" mulberries, “white” 
rapberriss, “white” blackberries, though the 
color is not white. The Rural suggests 
“light" as preferable to either white or green 
as applied to such fruits. 
The Scientific American says that copal 
varnish applied to soles of shoes, and repeated 
as it dries until the pores are filled and t^e 
surface shines like polished .mahogany, will 
make the soles waterproof, and last aa.long as 
the uppers. The‘New England Farmer adds 
Cuban Queen Watermelon—Fig. 45. 
that one of the best things for farm boots, is 
an outer sole, or tap, of wood, thoroughly 
dried, soaked in linseed oil and screwed to the 
bottom of the boot. It isn’t elegant, but it 
does keep the cold from “striking through ° 
the bottom of the boot. 
Mayflower iomaio— r hum oaturk —Fig. 43. 
Livingston’s Favorite Tomato—From Nature—Fig. 44. 
