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Vol. XLII. No. 1755. 
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 15, 1883 
PRICE FIVE CENT 
$2.00 PER TEAR. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, by the Rural New-Yorker in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.! 
Potato Experiment. Pieces of two eyes 
each were cut and rolled in plaster nine days 
before they were planted. The yield was at 
the rate of 423.50 bushels per acre—the num¬ 
ber of potatoes to the acre, large and small, 
being 171,820. On the same plot the same 
number of pieces were planted as soon as cut 
without plaster. The yield was 262.17 bushels, 
per acre—the number of potatoes, large and 
small being 159.720. This test was made in 
light, poor soil. The potatoes were fertilized 
with Lister’s potato manure at the rate of 500 
pounds to the acre. The pieces which were plas¬ 
tered and dried, came up unevenly and after 
the others. We should have to repeat this ex¬ 
periment many times before we could believe 
that the great difference in the yield was due 
to the difference in treating the seed pieces. 
Whea t t ests for 1882-3. —Our special 
amber- colored-the straw three feet high.heavy 
and strong. This does not make a good quali¬ 
ty of flour. The Cross-bred Diehl-Mediter¬ 
ranean, offered in our next Seed Distribution, 
proved to be the hardiest of all our wheats. 
The stems turn red as they ripen, like those of 
Fultz. The straw was three feet two inches 
high. The plants tillered welL Heads 
(bearded) averaged two-aud-a-balf inches— 
spikelets crowded, forming, a club head. Nine 
breasts to a side, nearly three grains to a 
breast. Kernels large, dark amber. Ripen 
with Clawson. Sir J. B. Lawes’s wheat 
(second year) failed. Though one of the 
hardiest of his wheats in England, it is tender 
here. 
White Lovett, second year, is quite hardy. 
Heads bearded, compact, two-and-a-half 
inches long, nine spikelets, often four grains* 
Straw two-and-a-half to three feet high. 
Pringle’s No. 4 failed. 
Our cross between Shumaker and 
jraSI Black-bearded Centennial, which pro- 
mised well last year, was entirely killed. 
The cross between Lancaster and Arm- 
fj||8r stlong ilngersoll l was rated as 90 per cent. 
hardy. Long, loose heads, three inches 
H&r long; brown chaff. Long, large kernels 
^ of a dark amber color. Two-and-a-half 
kernels to a breast,seven breasts to a side. 
Champion Amber from J. S, Wood¬ 
ward, Lockport, N. Y., was rated as 
95 per cent hardy, a very high rating 
for plants thus cultivated. The stems 
were but two feCt high. The heads 
(beardless) average three inches—seven 
to eight breasts, three grains to a breast, 
amber color, medium size. Ripens with 
Clawson. Said to make a good flour. 
Martin's Amber, from J. A. Everett, 
Watsontowm, Pa. was rated as 90 per 
cent, hardy, straw over three feet high. 
Heads beardless. It quite resembles 
gk Armstrong in every way except that the 
^ kernel is not so large. We have heard a 
y » number of excellent reports as to the 
hardiness and productiveness of this 
wheat. Golden Prolific, from Johnson 
& Stokes of Philadelphia Pa., was rated 
s'™ at 85 per cent hardy. Straw strong, 
^jgjs less than three feet high. Heads beard- 
RSw ed and from two-and-a-half to three 
MBF inches long—three kernels to a breast 
* a nd eight to nine breasts to a side. It is 
hardy, prolific and a few days earlier than 
Clawson. Kernels white, plump and of me 
dium size. See Fig. 631. 
Armstrong, as has been stated, is ranked 
among our hardiest wheats. We have raised 
or several years in small plots using it often 
as the mother-plant of our cross-breeds, because 
of its large, white grain, long heads aud gener¬ 
al merits. 
is a row of Big Bob, This has not made a 
strong growth and the leaves are considerably 
“burnt.” Nos. 5, 13, 3,9 and 12 of Mr. 
B. Hathaway’s new seedlings are all vigorous 
and healthy. We much regret that our num¬ 
bers are mixed, since some of the plants were 
very productive and the berries large and of 
fine quality, 
The White Elephant and Late Beauty 
of Hebron. —These two varieties are closely 
alike if not the same. We have the present 
season raised both kinds upon poor and rich 
land. The former have been harvested, and 
neither in vine, flower nor tuber is there any 
notable difference that we can discover. 
Perhaps the test upon rich land may show 
some trifling difference. 
The Blush gives us this season on poor 
an. 3 a light yield of small tubers, while 
Gkircviment (Sround.s ctf the |Kutal 
The Marlboro Raspberry, we may state 
at the outset, is not yet offered for sale at retail. 
In our last issue we gave a cut from nature 
of .Shaffer's Colossal Raspberry, drawn from 
a fmiting branch of one of our plants at the 
Rural Grounds. The berry is very large aud 
of a round form. We now place before our 
readers the promised sketch of the new Marl¬ 
boro (Fig. 626), which, it will be seen, bears 
very large berries of a conical shape. 
The plant, has suckered liberally— 
the tallest cane at this time being six 
feet high. It was set last August dur 
ing a very (by spell, w ith every care; -< 7 ^ 
the cane (about eight feet high) being 
tied to a stake and the entire plant 
shaded. From time to time, while Iff 
the dry weather lasted the foliage V 
was spriukled from a watering-pot held above. 
The cane made a growth of a foot, which 
with about a foot of the original cane, was 
killed during the Winter or early Spring. It 
will be granted that this is no evidence of any 
lack of • hardiness, since several well estab¬ 
lished plants of what are accepted as hardy 
kinds were killed back fully as much. 
The Marlboro shows in its foliage Antwerp 
blood, but our plants are perfectly healthy 
aud certainly as vigorous as need be desired. 
Of the productiveness and quality of the 
Marlboro enough, perhaps, has been said. 
We desire to show by our cut from nature, 
the size of the best fruit as grown at the 
Rural Grounds. 
Old Seed Pieces. —It sometimes occurs 
that when potatoes are harvested, the seed 
pieces are found to be firm, solid aud to have 
retained their original shape. It hits, there¬ 
fore, of late been inferred that the young 
shoots did not derive their nutriment from the 
seed pieces, but from the soil aud air. In our 
Fair Number it was stated iu the experiments 
with potatoes grown in barrels that one of the 
seed pieces retained its form plump and solid, 
and was still pushing buds. This seed piece 
was cut iu two, and the two pieces planted 
again iu rich, mellow soil. But the buds 
made no further growth aud the pieces finally 
rotted. The statement now and then made 
that the buds from potato skins will answer 
just as well for sued as when flesh is attached, 
is absurd. It may be that but little flesh is 
required to support the bud, but what iskuowu 
as the potato skill, or paring, is not enough. 
Iu our tests made four years ago with pieces 
of potato skins for seed, many did not grow 
at all, aud those that did gave few aud small 
Potatoes to the hill. 
Hathaway, No. 5. —This, with others of 
his seeding strawberries not yet introduced, 
was sout to us by Mr. B. Hathaway, of Michi¬ 
gan, the originator ol’ the Bid well. The plants 
were loosely packed, and most of the labels 
had falleu out, so that, except the above, we 
are uncertain as to their correct uumbers. 
The leaves of No. 5 (Fig. 630, p. 606.) are erect- 
growing with long petioles. The plants are 
vigorous, and entirely free from scald, burn or 
blight, as the disease is variously called. The 
berries are of flue flavor, of bright, red color, 
uarrowly-couical generally, though often flat¬ 
tened at the apex, as shown in Fig. 030. They 
are often two inches in length. The pedun¬ 
cles are rather,weak, so that the fruit rests 
upon the soil or mulch. It is a prolific aud 
certainly a very distinct variety. 
Several Strawberries.— The foliage of 
the Iron-clad Strawberry and Nigh's Superb is 
quite vigorous aud healthy. Between them 
This we believe to be the same as 
that offered by theLaudreths of Philadelphia. 
Dallas Wheat is not hardy here. Eureka the 
past season grew two-aud-a-half feet high. 
The grain is white and plump. It was the 
earliest of our wheats. 
WhiteTowse, from W. B. Harlan of Mon¬ 
tana, is tender. Travis Wheat is worthless 
here. Fultzo-Clawsou is again very hardy 
aud prolific. Bently. which we have raised 
for five years, closely resembles Armstrong. 
Mount Zion aud Hebrou two of the so-called 
Palestine wheats are tender. We have tried 
six or eight distinct varieties of black-bearded 
wheats sown in the Fall and cannot recom¬ 
mend any. 
Wheats received from James Horn Wolfe 
of Canada, John G. Wright of Farmington 
Mo., C. Leet, J. G. Evans, Wasco Co., Oregon 
are worthless here. 
From our tests of last year we should select 
for sowing in large quantities the Cross-bred 
Diehl-Mediterranean, Armstrong, W bite Lov¬ 
ett, Champion A rnber, Martin's Amber and 
Golden Prolific. 
plots of wheat were prepared upon a rather 
sandy poor soil, in potatoes in 1878, for which 
crop farm manure was broad casted. It hail 
received no other manure iu eight years and 
but little for ypars previously. The plots 
of poor sod were plowed August 1st of 
last year, the land remaining fallow until 
Sept. 1st, when it was harrowed both ways 
with the Acme, aud received at the rate of 
700 pounds of Mapes’s wheat fertilizer per 
acre. The land was then raked level and we 
then (Sept. 12) began planting our many 
different kinds—one grain 10 iuches apart 
each wav. Duplicates were drilled in on other 
Marlboro Raspberry.—From Nature.— 
Fig. 626. 
Crawford’s Early, Pride of the West and Im¬ 
proved Peachblow, beside the Blush, yield 
very well. One learns a deal by duplicating 
experiments upoq different soils, as we shal 
endeavor to show our readers as soou as our 
many tests are complete. The difference in 
the time of maturing lietween late potatoes on 
moist, rich soil and light, poor soil the same 
ertilizers being used—is often as much as two 
o r three weeks. 
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