OCT S 
656 
THE RURAL WEW-YORKER. 
barnyard manure was put in each hill, and a 
tablespoonful of Bradley’s superphosphate 
was worked into each hill at the first hoeing. 
On Sep. 15, I dug 179 potatoes which weighed 
46 pounds, the five largest turning the scales 
at three pounds. The yield was at the rate of 
1,111% bushels per acre. Who has done 
I >etter? My Niagara Grape seeds planted 
April 25, began to send up vinelets on 
May 17. I have 80 vines now 18 inches high. 
My Shoe-peg Corn, planted June 7, grew 
splendidly and would have got ripe had it not 
been killed by our early frosts together with 
all other sorts in this vicinity. Ren a l wheats, 
sowed as Spring wheats, didn't head. C. G. 
Ohio. 
Calumet. Jefferaon Co., Sep. IS. — l re¬ 
ceived one small Blush Potato weighing onc- 
and a-half ounce. Had five eyes. Planted in 
dr ill May 15, two feet, by six apart. No man¬ 
ure, soil light sandv loam. Dug potatoes Sep. 
15; yield, 80 large and medium tubers, weigh¬ 
ing 18 pounds. 102 small tubers weighing four 
pounds, being, according to my cal¬ 
culation, at the rate of 1,183 bushels to the 
acre. Vines still green and growing until 
struck by the frost of Sep. 9, h *-• 
Carey, Wyandot Co., September 10,—Mv 
small Rlush Potato was cut into six pieces and 
planted in three hills in good garden soil. 
It is the latest of several varieties plauted. 
Yield, 20 pounds of medium and large pota¬ 
toes—no small ones, Smooth and handsome. 
The Centennial Wheat grew to a liight of 
about eight or ten inches, but refused to head. 
The Shoe peg Corn amounts to nothing. E.T. K. 
Sidney, Shelby Co., Sept. 17.—My Blush 
Potato did very well indeed. It was cut in 
II pieces with one eye in each, and planted 
about the middle of May. It was killed by 
frost ou Sept. 8 and dug on Sept. 11—not 
quite ripe. Whole weight, 58 pounds; average 
weight of hill, 53-11 pounds; weight of largest 
potato, two pounds seven ouuces; weight 
of largest four, seven pounds; whole number of 
tubers, 97. According to the Rural method 
of computation, the yield would be 1,276 
bushelsper acre. You were wondering whether 
we would believe your statement of 1,100 
bushels per acre; bow about believing mine? 
[Oh, we believe it. Eds.] Soil a good, black 
loam, enriched with a liberal supply of barn¬ 
yard manure. D - F - 
Pennsylvania. 
Arbor Hill, Augusta Co., Sept. 12.—The 
Rural Blush Potatoes, three in number, weigh¬ 
ing nearly two ounces, were cut in pieces of 
one eye each and planted one piece iu a bill, 
making 27 hills, in ground loose and tolerably 
rich, upon which a dressing of coarse barn¬ 
yard manure had been spread and plowed un¬ 
der. Seventeen hills sprouted. They received 
one plowing and one hoeing, leaving the 
ground level. When in bloom such very dry 
weather prevailed that I expected a very 
small yield. The 17 hills were dug September 
10th and yielded 52 pounds of very fine pota¬ 
toes, the best five weighing off pounds. The 
best 10 weighed 9>£ I have not yet tested 
their eating quality, but am disposed to regard 
it as a very good variety. I raised this sea¬ 
son 50 bushels of White Elephant Potatoes 
from seed received from the Rural in 1881. 
This variety is unsurpassed fur the table and 
is a good yielder. I think I could select from 
the 50 bushels five bushels that would weigh a 
pound to each potato. The other seeds of the 
Rural Distribution have all done well for me, 
and I regard the gifts in these Distributions as 
worth far more than the juice of subscription, 
and their value to each neighborhood in which 
they are introduced cannot be estimated, j.h. 
Vermont. 
Worcester, Washington Co., Wept. 14.— 
The Blush Potato was planted at tlic sutne 
time and had the same treatment as our other 
potatoes. The one small Blush w as cut into 
1(1 pieces with one eye in a piece, and planted 
two pieces iu a hill. Yield, 45 potatoes, the 
six largest weighing 3pounds. Five hills 
of the White Star planted alongside, yielded 
75 potatoes and weighed 11 pounds; the Blush 
Potatoes weighed I Ob] pounds. The man who 
said in the last Rural that five of his potatoes 
weighed five pounds and that all of his pota¬ 
toes were of marketable size, must have a 
fancy for large potatoes, Tho season bas been 
so dry here that crops of all kinds have not 
been* large, but the quality is good. The 
ground on which the potatoes were jfiauted 
was broken up last Full, manured in the 
Spring and then harrowed. A tablespoonful 
of Bradley’s superphosphate to the hill wus 
used. A l’ew hills were plauted without su¬ 
perphosphate and in them the tubers w'ere 
very small and few iu a hill. The fertilizer 
more than doubled the value of the crop. The 
Shoe-peg Com began to silk the last of August. 
One stalk measured 5 % inches in circumfer¬ 
ence. The Black-bearded Wheat went to the 
bugs; not a stalk survived. The Perfection 
Watermelon did not come to perfection with 
us. There was a heavy frost the night of Sep¬ 
tember 3—three degrees below tbe freezing 
point. Eleven of the Niagara Grape seeds 
grew. The hens scratched up one and broke 
off another. One of the Balsams grew more 
than three feet high. The Phlox was very 
pretty. A. w. 
Virginia. 
Winchester, Frederick Co., Sept. 12.—My 
Rural wheats were sown Oct... 17, 1882, and 
harvested July 11, 1883. They wore sown ou 
the same ground on which the Rural corn 
was raised. The land was plowed and top- 
dressed with stable manure; then harrowed 
and enriched with a light coating of lime and 
ashes, after which nmmouiated superphos¬ 
phate was sowu broadcast at the rate of 400 
pounds to the acre. Of Fultzo-( lawson 1,000 
grains were sown; 1220 grew. The seed was 
plauted a grain in a [dace five to six inches 
apart Yield 10 pounds or 5% quarts. 
Weighed Sept. 12. The Slnunaker was 
rather tender and did not stand the Winter 
well The Surprise will, I think, prove a 
good variety. About half the seed germin¬ 
ated. and yielded a pint of wheat. From one 
small Blush Potato I obtained 11 pounds of 
nice tubers, after tbe bugs had fought hard 
against them. I have 20 Niagara seedlings 
iu which I am very much interested. M. a. 
Wisconsin. 
Beaver Dam. Dodge Co., Hept. 14.—The 
Rural Blush Potato makes larger vines than I 
have ever seen grown from a potato—average 
length of 13 vines from a single root, four 
feet six inches, much branched. My two 
small Blush Potatoes weighed 1 1 * ounce. 
They were cut in 13 pieces with an eye iu each 
and planted Muy 16, in drills 16 inches between 
sets. Hoed June 6; plants five to seven inches 
high. June 23, pullud weeds from among 
jilauts and mulched hills with coarse litter. 
No further cultivation. Sep. 9 and 10, heavy 
frost: vines killed; tubers not fully matured, 
skin slips under pressure of thumb. Sept. 
14, tubers weighed 40,V pounds ou plat¬ 
form scales. Carefully weighed ou counter 
balance scales, the outcome was as follows: 
24 largest tubers, 
weighed 14.4-16 pounds. 
2i 2 <t size 
*• 8.14-16 “ 
M 3d " 
“ 7. 8-16 “ 
24 4tll •* “ 
" 5.15-16 M 
24 5th “ “ 
“ 4. 6-16 •* 
24 5th “ 
“ 2.15-16 
24 7th “ 
“ 1.10-16 
1C small tubers, 
7-16 
184 45.15-16 
Six medium-sized tubei‘s were rotten and 
were not weighed or couuted. No manure or 
fertilizer wus Used this year, but the 
ground had been manured last season and 
cropped with carrots. Our jiotato crop very 
poor, scarcely one-half our usual average; 
rutting to some extent and quulity poor. c. i J . 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Canada. 
Waterloo County, Out.—Crops area gen¬ 
eral failure here. Fall wheat is not half a 
crop, and is a very poor sample. Spring wheat 
very good,but not much sowed. Oats the tost 
seen for years. It has been 27 years since 
we had so wet a Summer. Half the crops 
drowned out. Potatoes nearly all drowned 
out, and the few we have are rotting, e. w.b. 
Colorado. 
Delta, Gunnison Co., Sept. 20.-How to treat 
the land, what and how to plant and sow- 
are the vital questions to be solved by the 
ranchmen in this part of the country, and the 
only agricultural paper (?) iu the State, judg¬ 
ing from the copies I have seen, devotes most 
of its space to the advertising of town com- 
panios. Experience is the tost teacher v.e 
have had so far, and the people whom I have 
known to make the remark that they could 
handle the adobe of this Gunnison Valley 
country because of their cxjjerience iu other 
jiarls of the State, havenotull been successful. 
I am no fanner or stock raiser yet, my exjier- 
lence dating only from January last. Up to 
that time N. Y. City indoor business life had 
been my calling. My health required a chauge 
and here I am, improved in health and with a 
fair prospect pf making u living. If some <>f 
our Eastern farmers could only drop suddenly 
into a place, for instance, like mine, they would 
probably wonder bow we do manage to live 
along and make a beginning. Take my ease:— 
My house is 14 feet square, built of logs with 
a mud roof and three, sometimes four, have 
managed to exist hero for the past six months. 
My new house I hoj>e to finish some time. I 
was fortunate enough to secure the help of a 
man who understood pretty w ell the “science’’ 
of irrigation, and though rheumatism caused 
by rubber boots has kept me out of the water 
nearly all Summer, the crop raised has proved 
an abunduut one. Our elevation is nearly 6,000 
feet. Wheat, oats, barley, Timothy, millet and 
Alfalfa have proved a succc^ pud if the frost 
holds off a week longer, the corn will be all 
right. I can't say much for the garden; none 
of us knew anything about gardening, and we 
mode no hot-beds. By reference to my diary 
I find thatthe garden was planted on May 15. 
Up to this time no melons have ripened and 
1 very much fear we wont get any. s. s. B, 
Illinois. 
Danvers, McLeau Co., Sept. 12.—The 
weather is getting quite dry; we have had but 
two showers for quite a while, and farmers 
think the present drought has cut the corn 
crop short seriously. Roads are getting quite 
dusty and pastures show the need of rain. 
Hay excellent, and as a general thing well 
saved. Oats a large acreage and a fair yield. 
A heavy hail-storm on July 16 injured the crop 
in some places so that there the yield is light. 
Rye jiretty fair. Fall wheat good, but acre¬ 
age small; no Spring wheat. Early potatoes 
very good. At present they sell for 30 to 35 
cents per bushel. Garden vegetables moder¬ 
ately good. Some small fruit. No peaches. 
Apples very few. Price of outs to-day by 
gram dealers, 22bjto 23 cents; corn, 42 cents. 
This has been a pleasant Summer for all 
kinds of labor, and the general health has been 
excellent; therefore, looking at all the sur- 
rouudings, we as a people should be very 
thankful to the Great Giver of all good,and to 
contented and happy. r. W. R. 
Mulkeytown, Franklin Co., Sept. 14 — 
Wheat was poor here this season; oats good; 
corn fair but the recent dry weather will in¬ 
jure the corn crop. Fruit of almost all kinds 
abundant. Southern Illinois excels in fruits 
and flowers. Success to the Rural! b. 
Onarga, Iroquois Co , Sept. 21.—Spring 
very wet and cold. August and September 
thus far very dry. Crops very light, except 
potatoes which are very good both iu yield 
and quality. I like the Rural very much,J.o. 
Michigan* 
Brooklyn, Jackson Co., Sept. 14.—We had 
a wet season here. Wheat iu shock has grown 
somewhat, but the weather has teen very dry 
since harvest. Wheat averages about 22 
bushels to the acre. Corn will be light. 
Frosts on the 7th and 8th nipped corn badly. 
Potatoes are a good crop; o ts extra—59 to 60 
bushels to the acre. Of fruit there is none to 
speak of. Of Fultzo-Clawson Wheat I raised 
30 pounds. My Shoe-peg Corn will not get 
ripe this season. Melons and grapes ditto. 
My two small Blush Potatoes had 16 eyes and 
were planted in 16 hills. They look fine; I 
have not dug them yet. Of Hollyhocks I have 
two jJauts which are beautiful, one yellow 
and one white. k. d. m. 
Oshtkmo, Kalamazoo Co., Sept. 10.— 
From July 27 till date, we have had dry, cold 
weather and everything is dried up and 
parched up. Corn wont average 20 bushels of 
shelled grain to the acre, and but little eorn 
will mature in this State this year, if the 
frost of last Saturday night has done the 
damage I think it has. Potatoes are but. half 
a crop. Of fruit there is scarcely any. The 
apple orchards of Micliigau will not average 
a barrel of good fruit ajitece. There are u 
few pears. No peaches. Wheat wont turn out 
over half an average crop, and that of poor 
quality. Oats are a large crop. Grass was 
heavy,but the constant severe rains while liar- 
vesting it damaged it and destroyed much of 
it, and now the intense drought uud frosts are 
rounding up and putting a finishing touch of 
disaster ou the season’s ending. Plowing for 
wheat is out of the question, and where the 
land has been plowed it is too dry to think of 
sowing. Tomatoes on which the wife has de¬ 
pended and with which sht hoped to make up 
for the lack of other fruits, persistently refuse 
to ripeu and now the frost has come to eluim 
them. Of all the disastrous years of the 25 
that I have farmed iu this country, this is the 
worst by long odds, And still our festive re¬ 
porters of crops make out that they are perfect¬ 
ly immense, and that fruit iu this State is l >5 
per cent, of an average. t. p. d. 
Missouri. 
Elder, Miller Co., Sept. 15.—A sudden 
change in the weather on Sejitember 8 gave 
us u frost that damaged late corn and sorghum 
cane. We need rain badly; everything is dry¬ 
ing up for want of it. I*ate corn is already 
damaged Wheat is thrashing out very poor¬ 
ly; the very best jield l ha\p so far been able 
to hear of is 13 bushels to the acre. Oats are 
very good; grain heavy. Early corn will be a 
fair crop; but late corn is still in doubt, n. j. 
New York. 
Bainbridge, Chenango Co., Sejit., 84.—To 
say that I am well pleased with the Rural 
is a mild expression of my views of its merits, 
i know that 1 have been greatly benefited 
already by its teachings in nil its various de¬ 
partments. The Fair Number is worthy of 
being kept as a valuable issue for future ref 
erence. On tlie receipt of each number luy 
attention is first attracted by the editorial 
page; thou by Urn Home and Foreign News; 
third, by the Answers to Correspondents, etc.. 
We are now having quite a treat from the pack¬ 
age of Rural dower seeds. The watermelons 
were choked out by Winter squashes and in¬ 
jured by early frost. The early Shoe-peg 
Corn is altogethertoo late for this climate. It 
stands nine or ten feet high without fruiting 
or oaring scarcely at all. d. s. k. 
Middlesex, Yates Co., September 18.—The 
corn crop is nearly a failure here, the weather 
being so cold kept it back until two heavy 
frosts came and nearly destroyed it all. Buck¬ 
wheat is mostly killed and so are late jiotatoes. 
Grain is not yielding as well as it was expect¬ 
ed to, exeejit, oats, which turn out a largo crop. 
Potatoes are rotting badly* in some localities. 
Of apjiles there arc none to speak of. Peaches 
are troubled by the yellows. Grapes do not 
ripen as they should, although some very 
fine samples have been shipped from Vine 
Valley. Pears and plums plentiful, w. n. 
Ohio. 
Sidney, Shelby Co., Sept, 17.—Wheat poor; 
say half a crop. Corn, owing to bad seed, a 
backward Spring and early frost (badly killed 
on the 8th) will not be over half a crop. Oats, 
hay and potatoes very good. No apples or 
poaches; a few pears; some small fruit. My 
Downing Strawberries were goocL d. f. 
Pennsylvania. 
Industry', Beaver Co.—Crops here are all 
good except wheat and fruit. Apples are not 
over aquartcr, and wheat one-third, of a crop. 
Corn will be below the avorage. Potatoes a 
good crop but rotting badly. Small fruits are 
not over half crops on account of frosts and too 
much rain. Seeding is late, and as it has been 
too dry for plowing sod, the acreage will be 
below an average. e. e. 
&\)t Centrist. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
(Every query must be accompanied by the name 
anil address of the writer to Insure atteution. I 
AN AILING COLT, ETC. 
H. S. T., Gibson, Pci,—1. What ails my 
sucking colt and what should be done for it ? 
About ten days ago a swelling commenced on 
the ankle of its fore leg. which broke in a few 
days and is still running a great deal. It is 
now lame in both hind legs. One is swollen 
from the body down to the gambrel joint, and 
the other is swollen in the joint. I wash the 
sore in carbolic acid water and do it uj) iu a 
cloth saturated with lubricating oil. 2. A 
quantity of sarsaparilla is growing on my 
place; could I dispose of the root to advantage 
anywhere ? 
I. The colt is suffering from some constitu¬ 
tional disease which presents some indications 
of syphillis, to which horses are rarely sub¬ 
ject, or of tuberculosis, which more frequently 
appeal's. Both of these diseases at times affect 
the ends of the long bones and tho joints. A 
cure is not veiy probable, and yet it would to 
advisable to try what may to effected. Give 
tho mare linseed meal boiled into a thin gruel 
and poured over cut feed. This is the only 
way iu which the colt can get the necessary 
fat in the food that, it requires, viz.—by en¬ 
riching the marc’s milk. Give the colt one 
dram of finely powdered hyposulphite of soda 
daily iu a little sugar or molasses, smeared on 
the tongue if it will not take it otherwise. 
Continue to dress the sore, but use pyrogallic 
acid instead of carbolic, and bind it in a cloth 
dipped in tho liquid instead of lubricating oil; 
of what kiud it is you do not say, but if petro¬ 
leum it is all right. 3. Your so-called sarsapa- 
rillu root is of no value. It is the foreign root 
only which is used iu medicine. This is a na¬ 
tive of Mexico and is a species of Smilax—(S. 
sarsuparilla). What is called here sarsaparilla 
is Arulia uudicaulis, a species of tho Ginseng 
family (A. quinquefoliai, and has a long, 
creeping root which has un aromatic taste, but 
no medicinal value. 
SOWING ORCHARD GRASS. SHEEP TO THE ACRE. 
li. O. L\, Clinton, Kij. —1. Will it do to sow 
Orchard Grass ou corn laud eithei after the 
corn has been cut, or between the rows of 
stauding corn by using a one-horse harrow, 
leaving the corn stalks to protect the young 
grass from tho sun? 2. How many sheep 
can to kept on 200 acres of laud that will pro¬ 
duce 50 bushels of coni or 20of wheat? 
Ans.— Orchard Grass cannot be sown in this 
way and do any good; nor any other grass in 
fact. It is a mistake to suppose young grass 
needs protection from the sun, if it is properly 
put iu the ground it will grow as well as wheat 
or corn without any more protection. To get 
a good growth of Orchard Grass we would 
plow the corn stubble this Fall and leave it 
until the Spring. As soon as possible in the 
Spring, or as soon as the ground is dry enougu 
iu tho lastof the Winter and free from frost, 
the surface should be harrowed uud harrowed 
until it is fine, uud SUWOtl l\!l‘.l CVWfcWtt' 
