71 ® 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER’S 
Prizes for the Best Essays 
On Ten Given Subjects. 
ALL SUBSCRIBERS ARE INVITED TO 
COHTEST FOB THEM. 
A BULLETIN. 
Last year the Rural New-Yorker 
offered a few prizes for the best essays on 
“Profitable Farming for a Poor Man,” the 
object being to assist those who were 
about to engage in farm life with a small 
capital, or those who were struggling un¬ 
successfully to render their farms profit¬ 
able. The response was so grat ifying that 
Ave have determined to offer a larger 
amount of premiums and a A’aried list of 
subjects. We now present these subjects 
to our readers, with the prizes appended 
for each as follows: 
I. How shall toe educate our children agri¬ 
culturalist 
That is to say, how shall we so educate 
our children that they may appreciate the 
benefits of farm life and turn them to the 
best advantage? 
Prize, $50. 
Offered by Mr. Lawson Valentine, of 
Houghton Farm, Mountainvillc, N. Y. 
IT. For one column of short paragraphs 
wh ich shall give the pith lest , soundest 'advice 
and instruction to the general fanner as to 
any or all departments of his occupation. 
Prize, $50. 
Offered by the Rural New-Yorker. 
ILL Butter i! fairing.- -Sub-heads to be 
considered: The Dairy Room or Building, 
How should the cows be fed and cared 
for, Ensilage, Soiling, Pasturage, Care of 
milk. Creamery,Deep or Shallow Setting, 
Butter Color, etc. The writer may treat 
such of the sub-heads as he chooses. 
Prize, $50 in Cash. 
OR IN FERTILIZERS, AS PREFERRED. 
Offered by the Mapes’s Formula and 
Peruvian Guano Co., of New York. 
IV. The best cattle for the dairy and the 
shambles. 
Prize, A Weed Full Cabi¬ 
net Sewing* Machine, 
Price $50. 
Offered by the Rural New-Yorker. 
V. Swine .—The best breeds and how 
best to feed and care for them. 
Prize, A Victor Sewing 
Machine. Price $37.50. 
Offered by the Rural New-Yorker. 
VI. Horses .—Farm and road. The best 
for the farmer's use. 
Prize, One American 
Fruit-Dryer. Price $75. 
Offered by the American Manufacturing 
Co., of Waynesboro, Pa. 
VII. Sheep .—The best breeds and how 
best to feed and care for them. 
Prize, Farmer’s Favor¬ 
ite Mill and Press Com¬ 
bined, Price $75. 
Offered by the Higganum Manufactur¬ 
ing Corporation, Higganum, Ct. 
As to the stock prizes, what is wanted 
is successful personal experience. Each 
competitor is privileged to try for one, 
two, three or all of the prizes. If you 
have been more successful than your 
neighbors with any kind of stock, how did 
you manage it? What we wish is to help 
ordinary farmers to select the most profit¬ 
able stock and to give them the best pos¬ 
sible advice how to make each kind pay 
best, whether they live in the East, West, 
North or South. 
Vni. Plans of the best general-purpose 
barns, corn cribs, farm labor-saving con¬ 
trivances of any description. 
Prize, A Silver Hunting 
Case Watch. Price $20. 
THE RURAL N£W-Y0RK£R. NOV 3 
IX. Rye. —Its value as a grain, for its 
straw ; as a green manure, for soiling, 
etc., etc. 
Prize, Twenty Cuttings 
of the genuine Victoria 
Grape 
from the original vine sent to the Rural 
Experimental Grounds by the late T. B. 
Miner. This is thought to be the best of 
his 15,000 seedlings of the Concord. 
X. How to produce a maximum yield of 
potatoes. When to plow; what kind of 
land is best adapted; what manures or fer¬ 
tilizers, and how much should he used; 
how far apart should the lulls or drills bo; 
and hoAv far apart should the seed pieces 
be placed 1 How many eyes to a piece; 
seed-end. stem-end or middle ? Should 
Ave hill up or cultivate flat ? 
Prize, Five Two-Year- 
Old Vines of a New 
Seedling Grape 
originating with Mr. D. S. Marvin, of 
Watertowu, N. Y., and named by him the 
“ Rural New-Yorker.” Bunch medium to 
large, compact, not shouldered; berries 
long, black, above medium. Skin tough, 
pulp sweet, tender, juicy, rich, sugary, 
sprightly, refined, refreshing, abundant. 
No harshness or acidity. Quality for ta¬ 
ble, best. The fruit ripens with Lady and 
Tallman. Vine vigorous and very hardy. 
It is proposed that the prizes should he 
awarded March I, and that all essays 
should be sent in by February 1. 
It is desirable that these essays should 
be Avnttcn as short as practicable. All 
other things being equal,the shorter essay 
should win the prize. 
remarks. 
It is to he hoped that the readers of the 
Rural New-Yorker for whose benefit 
the abo\ r e propositions are made, will 
heartily assist the project by contesting 
for the prizes, even though they mav feel 
that they stand little or no chance of win¬ 
ning them. It is the valuable experience 
that is needed, Little heed will be given 
to elegance of language or grammatical 
accuracy. We only require that the essays 
be Avritten so that they may be easily read. 
It will be necessary that the essays be 
marked I, U, III, IV, etc., according to 
the subject treated.in order that they may 
be classified at once. 
iwU) Crops. 
Cxperimrnt ©rounds of the giuntl 
gUiv-^Jorket*. 
CORN EXPERIMENTS. 
Blount’s Corn. Every year since the 
Rural New-Yorker introduced this variety 
of corn through its seed distributions, we have 
cultivated an acre or more in order to improve 
it by selection, cross-breeding and special fer¬ 
tilization. Our plot of the past season was a u 
acre of stony land of a strong, clay-loam soil. 
Lima Beaus were raised on it previous to the 
last live years; then wheat seeded to Timothy 
and clover. The grass was heavy, yielding 
generally two good crops. Last Spring 30 
tons of farm manure were broadcasted on this 
acre and plowed in with a Gale plow. It was 
then leveled with an Acme harrow. The drills 
were marked four feet apart, one kernel 
dropped by hand eA'ery fifteen to eighteen 
inches. Before the corn came up, ten bushels of 
unleached ashes were sown. It was cultivated 
three times with a shallow cultivator, except 
ten rows, without any hilling up about the 
plants, and hoed between the plants three 
times. The ten rows, instead of being culti¬ 
vated flat, were plowed six inches deep, and 
the furrows thrown tow'ards the corn, leaving 
an open furrow in the middle. The object of 
this experiment was to ascertain the advan¬ 
tages or disadvantages of shallow, flatcultha- 
tion as against deep cultivation and lulling up. 
The early season was warm and favorable, the 
rainfall sufficient. The drought began in 
August and continued during the rest of the 
growing season. The ten rows which Avere 
plowed and hilled up bega n to show the effects 
of the drought August 30,and these effects were 
more and more apparent each week. The 
lower leaves turned yellow at first, and then 
the stalks, the ears maturing Avhilc yet the 
plants of the other part of the field w ere com¬ 
paratively fresh and green. A more forcible 
illustration of the inutility of deep cultiva¬ 
tion for corn in periods of dryness it would be 
difficult to have furnished. 
The yield of this acre appeal’s to be one of 
the largest we have ever raised—possibly the 
largest—though it has not yet been measured, 
and the ears may not prove to be as large and 
full as they seemed in the husks. A remark¬ 
able fact is, that while passing through the 
field from time to time to select and mark our 
plants for seed, not one earless stalk was ob¬ 
served. And this, Rural readers, we attribute 
to our careful selection and manipulation 
during all these years. When we first planted 
Blount's Corn, it suckered quite freely, and 
barren stalks were common. It grew at least 
three feet taller r.han now.Avliile it often failed 
to mature in unfavorable years. Now r it will 
easily mature in unfaA’orable seasons. We 
have also increased the size of the ears some- 
what, and the average number of ears to a 
stalk, as judged i>v this last crop is ten per 
cent, more, oAving perhaps rather to a decrease 
of barren stalks than to an increase of the 
number of ears on fertile plants. In selecting 
our seed we ha\'6 never takeu an ear from a 
plant of more than one stalk, so that thesuck- 
ering propensity is noAv uea rly given up. As 
between two plants, one of which bore four 
ears high up, and the other three ears lower 
down, the latter has always been chosen, and 
of these ears only one (the largest) has been 
preserved for seed, whether it w as the highest 
or lowest ear. In the case of plants equal in 
all other respects, ears having the shortest 
shanks have been preferred. We haA r e also 
selected our ears from the lowest-growing 
plants and those which matured first. 
Four years ago we crossed the Blount with 
the Benton (a Avhite dent of from twelve to 
twenty-two rows with a large cob). From this 
cross we have now a variety quite well fixed 
that di ffers from the Blount mainly in having 
an ear of from ten to twelve rows. This it is 
proposed to send out in our seed distribution 
of 1884-5. _ 
Potato Experiments 
Fertilizer Tests. No. 70 e. The following 
experiments with different quantities of chemi¬ 
cal fertilizers were made on poor, light soil; 
First. No fertilizer. The O. K. Mammoth 
was planted, one piece every foot, in wide drills 
three feet apart, cultivation flat. The yield 
was 191,54 bushels to the acre. Of large and 
small potatoes, rejecting all smaller than l’a 
inch in length, there were 75,033 to the acre. 
The largest five weighed one pound seven 
ounces. 
Second. At the rate of 800 pounds of Lister’s 
potato fertilizer was spread in the drills after 
the pieces had been lightly covered with soil. 
The yield was 253.04 bushels per acre. Large 
aud small potatoes, 111.320 to the acre. Best 
five weighed one pound 7 1 ., ouuces. 
Third. At the rate of 000 pounds of Lister’s 
potato fertilizer was spread as in the above 
tests. The yield w r as at the rate of 438.54 
bushels to the acre. Large aud small, 130,690 
to the acre. Best five Aveighed two pounds and 
a half-ounce. 
Another Test. No. 73c. No fertilizer. 
Variety White Star. Yield 231.88 bushels to 
the acre. Large and small, 100,480. The best 
of them—taking five potatoes to show the 
average—weighed one pound three ounces. 
Second, 300 pounds of Mapes’s potato fertil¬ 
izer. Yield 370.37 bushels per acre. Large 
and small, 141,500 to the acre. 
Third, 000 pounds of same fertilizer. Yield, 
352.88 bushels per acre. Large and small, 
1*28.420. 
Fourth, 1200 poundsof same fertilizer. Yield, 
231.80 bushels per acre. Large and small, 
75,030. Best five weighed two pounds one 
ounce. 
Another Test. No. 78c. White Star 
again. No fertilizer. Yield, 281.75 bushels 
per acre. Large and small, 111,858. Five of 
the best average weighed one pound three 
ounces. 
Second, 300 pounds of Lister’s Potato Fer¬ 
tilizer to the acre. Yield, 332.71 bushels per 
acre. Large and small, 133,400. 
Third, 000 pounds of same fertilizer. Yield, 
303.21 bushels jier acre. Large aud small, 
120,100. 
Fourth, 1,200 pounds of same fertilizer to 
the acre. Yield, 312.50 bushels per acre. 
Large and small, 70,180. 
Tests with different Numbers of 
Eyes. No. 88r. Variety planted the Im¬ 
proved Peacbblow. Single strong eyes. 
Yield, 171.45 bushels per acre. Large aud 
small, 33,880—a very large average size. No 
small potatoes. Best five, two pounds 11% 
ounces. 
No. 84 c. Two strong eyes in one piece. 
Yield, 352 bushels per acre. Large and 
small, 50,820 to the acre. Best five, two pounds 
8 % ounces. 
No. 85c. Three strong eyes to a piece. 
Yield, 292.50 bushels per acre. Large and 
small, 50,810 to the acre. Best five weighed 
two pounds 13>£ ounces. 
No 80c. Four strong eyes to a piece. 
Yield, 822.00 bushels per acre. Lurgo und 
small, 02,920. Best five weighed three pounds 
3% ounces. 
No. 87c. Single strong eyes (duplicate of 
83c). Yield, 221.83 bushels per acre. Large 
aud small, 38,775. Best five weighed two 
pounds 8% ounces. 
This potato, the Improved Peach bio w> is 
roundish in shape, Avith purplish eyes aud 
buff skiu, pink at the seed end. It was eaten 
September 3, and the quality was judged to 
be less dry and mealy than that of the unim¬ 
proved Peacbblow. Our cut, Fig. 070, from 
nature, show's the characteristic form. 
Tests of New Varieties Continued. 
The following tests were made in garden 
soil. The drills or trenches, three feet apart, 
were dug a spado wide, the pieces (two eyes 
each) placed one foot apart aud four inches 
deep, aud lightly covered with soil. Then, at 
the rate of GOO pounds of potato fertilizer 
(Mapes’s), was strewn over the soil, and the 
trenches refilled to the surface. The soil was 
cultiA'ated flat aud kept mellow* during the 
season aud free of >veeds. 
\ ick's Prize. No. 40a. Potatoes received 
from James Vick iRochester, N. Y.), and 
planted April 2lst. It is an intermediate va¬ 
riety. Skin light colored, shape A*ery smooth 
for so large a potato. Quality as groAvu in 
rich, rather moist soil, not of the best. Our 
illustration (Fig. 071) shows the typical form. 
The yield was at the rate of 738.10 bushels to 
the acre. There w*ere of large and small 
potatoes 124,872, or over eight to the hill, 
shoAviug a very large a\*erage size. Among 
the best, five tu!>ers weighed four pounds 15 
ounces. 
State of Maine. No. 39a. Potatoes re¬ 
ceived from D. Landreth & Sous, of Phila¬ 
delphia, Pa. Treated in all Avays the same as 
Vick’s Prize. Yield at the rate of 1,048.00 
bushels to the acre. Of large and small pota¬ 
toes there Avere 159,720 to the acre, or 11 to a 
hill. Best five weighed three pounds 14 ounces. 
An intermediate in maturing. 
The vines were very vigorous, flowers 
white. The potato is a buff color, sometimes 
russeted. Eyes are about the same as those 
of Early Rose. There Avere no very large 
potatoes in the above yield—very few small. 
They straggled somewhat in the hill. Eaten 
October 15. Flesh white, very light, flaky, 
mealy. Of the first quality for a tasteless, 
that is, not nutty, flavor. The engraA’ing 
(Fig, 072) is a true portrait. 
Remarks.—R eaders should not take for 
granted that such yields as that reported 
above are exaggerations, The yields are 
carefully weighed to a quarter of an ounce. 
But could you raise from 600 to 1,000 bushels 
of potatoes upon acres instead of at that rate 
upon fractions of acres? We reply, " Yes, if 
the same rich garden soil be supplied; if the 
seed pieces be planted in Avide trenches of 
loose, yet retentive soil; if weeds are not per¬ 
mitted to groAA* and share the food, and shade 
the vines; if the soil be kept mellow and 
permeable by surface cultivation Avhen need¬ 
ed: aud, finally, if the surface be cultiA’ated 
.flat instead of in hills, w’hich shed the rain 
aud sever the roots of the potato plants to no 
useful end.” We have a number of reports 
yet to make which equal the State of Maine 
in yield—se\’eral that exceed it. 
(Iljc Siuinc-ljtTt). 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE BERKSHIRE 
PIG. 
The first-page picture represents the evo¬ 
lution of the Berkshire pig. On the left is 
the Avild boar, the groat common father 
of all pigs. He possesses the enormous 
vitality and the self-assertion that have 
characterized his descendants at all times 
and iu all places. With these exceptions, 
he is all that a good pig of to-day should 
not be; aud yet he was a good pig for his day 
and generation. He cannot be judged by the 
staudard of civilization of to-day. He lived 
for a different purpose and had a different en¬ 
vironment. To-day the pig lives for others, 
and is, as uearly as possible, Avhat they choose 
to have him be; formerly he lived to please 
himself, and, so far as avc can see, ho answered 
the purposes of his existence theu ns w'ell as he 
does noAv. lie could run aud root and squeal 
and tight. He did all these from necessity as 
well as choice. To do all these, aud do them 
well, was to be a perfect pig. If any one 
doubts his perfect adaptation to those ends, let 
him look at the portrait above on the left. 
Could he run i Look at the great heart and 
lungs, the strong, sinewy legs, the absence of 
superfluous flesh, the breezy, restless air. To 
be sure his head is too largu to tit him to the 
liest advautage for running; but it is just right 
for rooting, squealing and fighting. 
The breeder Avho is deeply learned in points 
insists that Nature made a very poor pig, and 
so she did, if the standuid of excellence is a 
pork barrel; but nature made him before pork 
barrels Avere iu\’ented. If he has no ham, 
what of it? A ham is not a fighting point, and. 
