THE RUSAL NEW-YORKER. 
554 
seeds to the average pod. June 15.—Nearly 
the entire crop ready to market. Eight 
blooms to IS feet of row. June 19.—Peas all 
matured. 
Henderson’s First of All.—E xp. No. 4. 
From Peter Henderson & Son, New York. 
Seeds planted were the size of Ferry’s, some¬ 
what less dented or wrinkled—buff color. 
June 12.—Average liight of vines, size of 
stem and leaf nearly the same as in No. 8 . The 
vines may average an inch higher; area trifle 
more vigorous and ofteuer bear the peas in 
pairs. There are 110 ready to pick for every 
13 feet of row. The entire crop will mature 
evenly. One hundred pods weigh 134" ounces; 
seeds, 5% ounces. There are <>35 seeds in 100 
pods, or 0.35 seeds to the average pod. June 
15.—Nearly the entire crop marketable. Six 
blooms on the tops of the vines to 13 feet of row. 
June 19.—Peas all matured. See Fig. 608. 
Emerald Gem. —Exp. No. 14.—This has 
lately been introduced by the Heading (Eng 
containing 654 seeds which weigh eight 
ounces. See Rural Free Seed Distribution 
for 1S8S-4. 
LATER PEAS. 
Horsford's Racket Pea.— Exp. No. 5. 
From F. H. Horsford, Charlotte, Vt. This is 
said to be a cross between Alpha and Ameri¬ 
can Wonder. Planted April 6 . June 20— 
Vines nearly five feet high. Upper vines in 
Hathaway’s No. 5. —Fig. 610. 
Fig. 60S. 
land) seedsmen Sutton & Sons. The seeds 
planted were of medium size, slightly dented. 
June 12.—Average hight two feet six inches. 
Slender stems; foliage yellowish-green, with¬ 
out bloom. No flowers at this date. The crop 
ripens as uniformly as any of the above. 
There are 95 pods ready to pick to 13 feet of 
row. Planted April 9, three days after the 
above. One hundred pods weigh 13)4 ounces; 
seed alone, six ounces. Number of seeds in 
100 pods 570, or 5.70 seeds to the pod. June 19 
—Peas all ready for picking. 
Cleveland’s Rural New-Yorker.—A t 
our request 50 peas of a strain which will not 
be sold to seedsman in less than two years, un¬ 
der the above name, were sent to us to be 
tested, by the originator, A. II. Cleveland, of 
St. Vincent, N. 8 . This strain is the result of 
the most careful selection through several 
years and promises to be in earliness of matur- 
ty : size of pods and seeds aud uniformity in 
bloom. Pods often in pairs. Medium size> 
well-filled. One hundred pods weigh 16 
ounces, contain 546 seeds weighing eight 
ounces: 5.46 to a pod. 
Horsford’s Market Garden. —Exp. No. 6 . 
Parentage same as No. 5. Planted April 6 . 
Seeds wrinkled and larger. June 20.—Two- 
and-a-half feet high, very strong and short- 
jointed stems. Tops still in bloom. Extremely 
prolific. Each vine throws out about 20 lat¬ 
erals from two to twelve inches long. Upon 
the best vines there were from 20 to 25 pods 
always in pairs. One hundred pods weigh 17 
ounces, containing 570 seeds weighing 8)4 
ounces. A fine intermediate pea. Again, 
June 24, 100 pods weighed 14/4 ounces, con¬ 
taining 560 seeds, which weigh seven otince-s. 
The vines are still laden with half-matured or 
just formed podS which will give two more 
heavy pickings at two or three days’intervals. 
See Rural Free Seed Distribution. 
Harden Pride Pea. —Exp. No. 7. From 
Johnson & Stokes. Philadelphia. Seed large 
and nearly smooth. June 16.—Vines one foot, 
high, vigorous and very uniform in hight. 
stem and leaf. One hundred pods weigh 14)4 
ounces; contain 452 seeds weighing six ounces 
Entire crop ready for use by June 20. This is 
a iirst-rate dwarf pea. The quality is not as 
good as that of Little Gem or American Won¬ 
der. The results of tests with other peas will 
appear later. 
POTATO CULTURE IN HALF-BARRELS 
Sand and Manure-Water vs. Soil and 
Rain-Water. 
Carters New Pea.— Fig. 609. 
ripening, an improvement upon all kinds 
which we have tested. The seeds were received 
late and planted not until May 6. June 20.— 
Vines 2}$ feet high; slender. Remarkably 
uniform in size and habit. Ripen very nearly 
all at once. Picked to-day, 45 days from 
planting. One hundred pods weigh 19 ounces. 
Cement barrels were sawed through the 
middle and the half-barrels used. Beauty of 
Hebron Potatoes of equal weight were se¬ 
lected for seed and cut, in halves, the seed-end 
half alone being used for seed. They were 
planted in the morning of April 10. 
No. 1. Pure Sand. —Seed piece planted six 
inches deep. This box (half-bar 
rel) gave the strongest, tallest 
plants and the leaves were the 
darkest color of any. July 18, 
the tops being dead, the barrel 
was removed, leaving the sand 
the shape of the barrel so that, 
the tubers and roots could be 
carefully examined. The roots 
penetrated to every portion of 
the sand. This box was watered 
with horse manure water and 
small quantities of nitrate of 
soda, dissolved bone and potash 
were sprinkled upon the surface 
of the sand and scratched in. 
The tubers of the yield weighed 
45)4 ounces. They were 35 in 
of the average size of 
hen’s eggs and uniformly so. 
Eight of the best weighed one 
pound. All were clean, bright 
and smooth. The seed piece was 
so decayed that little but the skin 
remained. 
No. 2. Garden Soil.—S eed 
piece planted four inches deep. 
Watered as often as needed with 
rain water. Yield 40 ounces 
There were 43 tubers, one larger than in No. 1. 
Eight of tne best weighed 12 ounces. Tubers 
not so shapely or smooth. Roots penetrated 
to every part of the soil. Seed piece quite de¬ 
cayed. 
No. 3. Three-quarters garden soil, one 
quarter sand. —The seed piece was placed upon 
the soil and covered with the sand. Watered 
with rain water. The yield was 21 ounces, 38 
tubers. The best eight weighed 10)4 ounces. 
Clean and shapely as in No. 1. Seed piece 
decayed. 
No 4. Three-quarters garden soil, one- 
quarter cut straw.—The seed piece was placed 
upon the soil and the half-barrel filled with 
the straw. Watered with rain water. The 
yield was 11 ounces —20 clean, shapely tubers 
formed almost in a ball about the seed piece, 
which still retained its form plump and solid 
and was still pushing new buds. Upon cutting 
it open the flesh was watery and semi-translu¬ 
cent. as if exhausted of starch. This seed 
piece which, as aliove stated, was the seed-end 
half of Beauty of Hebron, was cut in two and 
each piece again planted in the garden, with 
what results will be stated later. The roots of 
this barrel penetrated to every portion of both 
the straw aud soil. 
We have a sotter dog that, if permitted to 
run about the premises, would be liable to do 
considerable damage to our plant tests. He is, 
except when taken out for exercise, confined 
in a picketed chicken-yard which is used only 
when for any reason we desire to separate our 
hens. Whenever any hen wants to sit, and we 
wish to destroy this very natural inclination, 
she is put in the yard with the dog. Tne dog 
takes no notice of her whatever, hut being on 
the move tor the most of the time, the hen is 
rendered uneasy aud apprehensive and the 
proclivity to sit is entirely forgotten, or at 
least passes away in a very few days. It is 
of all methods the best wo have ever tried. 
-- 
Durability of Fences, etc. 
In tearing down a fence set 13 years, 1 took 
a few notes which I present to the Rural 
readers. Posts were sound in the order here 
given : walnut, burr oak, white oak: heart 
of posts sound; sap, rotten. 
T was astonished to find black walnut outlast 
oak. There was no perceptible difference as 
to which end was up. Of the boards oak 
and black walnut were sound; pine rotted iu 
nail-holes; elm about, half rotted. Bottom 
whether it is a sort of accident, or inherits 
its excellences from a line of ancestry urn 
iformly excellent and with every probability 
of transmitting them to its descendants. 
I wpukl much rather have a less stylish se¬ 
lection from some herd where I had personally 
seen that uniformly good quality was the rule, 
and where each pig resembled the others in a 
preponderance of desirable features. Every 
well-informed breeder knows there are herds 
from which exhibits are seldom or never made 
at fairs, where this uniform excellence exists, 
and others of perhaps much greater preten¬ 
sions—which have considerable reputations 
made on the strength of prizes won by two or 
three show animals—that as a whole would 
present a most uneven and sorry appearance. 
Again, a pig may be a model of its kind and 
from a herd of iunsurpassed excellence, yet the 
very fact of its having been ouco put in that 
high condition which nowadays, nine times 
out of teu, seems necessary to win the most 
valuable prizes, greatly lessens the chances of 
its becoming a thoroughly useful and success¬ 
ful breeding animal, or accomplishing the 
purposes for which it was purchased. 
Pig-raisers and pig-exhibitors are no worse 
than other men; but it is well to understand 
that when they set about preparing their fa¬ 
vorites for the show they do so to win, 
aud if to compass that it seems necessary 
to use plenty of new milk, or even cream, 
with some sugar or molasses and finely 
cut beefsteak, internally, and castile soap and 
sweet oil externally, that *' Eli may get there/’ 
they an- vsvtl, and I am persuaded that the 
breeders, or farmers either, are few and far 
between who, if they know themselves, have 
any business with pigs that only attain per¬ 
fection and a blue ribbon through the use of 
cream aud sugar. They are not the ones that 
beget winners, but losers, and strongly tend 
ultimately to make their buyers disgusted with 
the business aud declare in their vexation that 
all (hog) meu are bars. 
In the breeder’s pasture, among its sisters 
and brothers, its cousins and its aunts, is in¬ 
comparably a better place to select a pig than 
in any show-pen found on a fair-ground either 
East or West . 
boards of all kinds rotten. 
Lapped boards rotten-ended under the lap; 
boards nailed flat on faced posts rotten-ended; 
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GROUPS AND MASSES OF HARDY 
FLOWERING TREES AND SHRUBS. 
W. C.. RARRY. 
Fig. 611. 
those nailed to a sharp corner of a post, sound. 
Here is a plan of a durable fence, in accord¬ 
ance with the above observations: 
The sketch shows two panels of fence, put, up 
in a style combining strength with durability, 
as there are no lapped boards or matching 
ends on the faced posts. End posts are in a 
line; centers on alternate sides. The left-hand 
end of the right hand panel cannot be shown, 
as it is on the back side of Post. C. From the 
way posts B mad /> press against the back of 
the boards, they act as a brace, and depen¬ 
dence does not rest entirely on the nails for 
resisting pressure. R. J. W. Moore. 
fyt Stinrif-ljcrD. 
PRIZE PIGS NOT THE MOST DE¬ 
SIRABLE. 
HON. F. D. COBURN. 
Within the next two months there will bo 
on exhibition at the various fail's a great 
man y pigs gotten up regardless of expense 
and well calculated to captivate the eye and 
loosen the pnrso strings of any admirer of pig- 
perfection. Many of these will have their 
pens decorated with blue or red ribbons, and 
then be for sale at $25 to $100 each—prices 
which enthusiasts and amateur's will not re¬ 
gard as extravagant. 
I would suggest to the Rural readers that, 
they do not buy these decorated pigs, from 
the fact that, however handsome they may 
be as individuals, there is very little reason to 
hope they will ever reproduce themselves or 
even in a moderate degree retain their hand¬ 
some appearance when taken to the pur¬ 
chasers’ farms and subjected to such t reatment 
as judicious owners are likely to give. As a 
rule, the pigs awarded tho best prizes at fairs 
have been so pampered and unnaturally forced 
in growth and fattening that their breading 
functions and general health have become so 
impaired as to make them very unsatisfac¬ 
tory either in starting or improving the herds 
for which they arc intended. Tho pig in¬ 
dividually may be a very fine one, but the 
buyer has little or no means of knowing 
The best way to encourage and maintain a 
duo appreciation for beautiful trees and shrubs 
is to have flue examples of them exhibited ad¬ 
vantageously in places frequented by the pub¬ 
lic. New parks aud public grounds are now 
being laid »ut and planted in all parts of the 
country, aud an opportunity is offered to ac¬ 
complish much good in this dire tion. A 
single flowering tree or shrub often forms a 
beautiful picture, but the effect of the scene 
may bo greatly hightened by arranging a 
group of three or six specimens, or more,of the 
same variety. Hence I think that when space 
admits of it, grouping and mussing are the 
most effectual methods of arresting public at¬ 
tention. Striking effects can thus be produced 
and interest awakened in the most indifferent 
observers. This accomplished, beneficial re¬ 
sults are sure to follow and the improvement 
and decoration of home grounds will be in¬ 
augurated. 
Let us, therefore, have groups or masses, 
large or small, as circumstances require or per¬ 
mit, of Judas Trees, Magnolias, Double-flow¬ 
ering Cherries, Peaches, Crabs, Flowering 
Dogwoods, Thorns, fatal pas, Kadreutcrias, 
and of shrubs, Forsythios, Japan Quinces,Her¬ 
baceous Preonias, Double-flowering Plums, 
Double-flowering Almonds, Spimas, Lilacs, 
Viburnums, Halesius, Weigclas, Syriugas, 
Hydrangea paniculate grandiflora, Japan 
Anemones. Tho above flowers, in the order 
they are named, and an assortment will main¬ 
tain a succession of bloom from May till Oc¬ 
tober. If any one doubts the feasibility or 
propriety of this mode of planting, let him try 
one group and note tho results. 
The James Vick and Daniel Boone Straw 
berries. 
The James Vick Strawberry ripened a 
small crop, on plants of last Fall’s setting. It 
is, of course, yet too soon to speak confidently 
of its performances; but, if we may judge 
from the first fruits, with a proper allowance 
for the circumstances, we may saf ly say thut 
tho plant is certainly vigorous and healthy; 
while the (under the circumstances,) unusual 
quantity of fruit matured, its fail-, rich flavor, 
beautiful color and firmness of texture premi¬ 
se much for its prospective value as a market 
fruit. This, with its perfect bloom must, I 
