NOV 40 
F. Meekins, of South Amherst, Mass., says 
he had raised tobacco for 30 years previous to 
this season, wheu, instead of tobacco, he put 
in two-and-a-quarter acres of potatoes and dug 
718 bushels fit for market; 300 bushels have 
been sold to Mt. Holyoke Seminary at 50 cents 
per bushel, and 300 bushels of the White Star 
variety he holds %ntil Spring for seed potatoes. 
He declares he will never set another tobacco 
plant on his farm, as he can do better with 
potatoes. 
The Dairy tells us that a cement floor is not 
the best fora dairy, as it absorbs the drippings 
of milk and becomes foul in a short time. A 
good floor is of matched plank, with tight 
joints and painted, so that it will absorb no 
moisture. Whatever drippings fall from the 
churn may be washed off such a floor without 
leaving any traces. Brink is quite as absorb¬ 
ent as cement. A flagstone floor, with close 
joints sot in cement, is the best of all. 
“ Down’’ on the Niagara. —A number of 
the Wine and Fruit Grower has been handed 
us with the following paragraph marked: 
“We had an opportunity to test the Niagara 
Grape, and an * alleged’ wine made from it, at 
the recent meeting of the American Pomologi- 
cal Society, and had hoped to be agreeably 
surprised by its good qualities. We were sur¬ 
prised. The samples shown were grown at 
Charlottesville, Va., where the grape ought to 
do well, if anywhere. But we are compelled 
to say that neither the grapes nor the wine 
were calculated to inspire any one with admi¬ 
ration. lu short, we think it a gross humbug, 
as bad as it is big, and wholly unworthy of 
cultivation ” 
Is that just i The Editor has had one op- 
opportunity of testing the Niagara, and from 
that one opportunity pronounces it “a gross, 
bad humbug.” Does he mean that it is 
not a grape; that the vine is not productive, 
hardy; that the hunches are not large, com¬ 
pact. showy f Why is it a “ bad humbug ?’ 
Because the quality is no better than that of 
the Concord ? No, that could uot justify any 
one in applying such language to a new grape 
against which naught else can fairly be said. 
Now, why is it wholly unworthy of cultiva¬ 
tion l 
PITHS AND SUGGESTIONS. 
Gather the leaves. 
Regarding the Rural Blush Potato many 
report as we have reported, viz., that it is a 
late aud uot an intermediate variety... 
A World’s Fair in 1887 for San Fran¬ 
cisco? We should like so good an excuse for 
visiting California. 
The time of year can be pretty easily 
guessed at by the improvement in agricul¬ 
tural papers. The best time to improve, iu 
the long line, is during the entire year,.. . 
A writer in the Breeders’ Gazette says 
that about Denver, Col., nearly all the more 
important buildings are already supplied 
with wells, and many dwelling houses are 
being similarly provided, and. as the fashion 
goes, not many months will elapse before an 
artesian well will become as necessary an ad¬ 
junct to a bouse iu Denver as a mortgage or 
a cupola..... 
Further on the same writer remarks that 
irrigation requires a great deal of water, aud 
nearly H‘H» wells iu Denver justify the hope 
that it may be had. And if it can be, 
the days of cattle grazing upon the Plains are 
numbered, aud the great natural pastures 
must yield to the general-purpose farms, and 
we will behold an unbroken line of Helds aud 
orchards from the “ Rockies” to the sea. 
Why are not Ayrshire cows better known 
in the West?..... 
Captain Tyler, of Boulder Co., Colorado, 
has about 500 acres of ground seeded to 
Alfalfa . 
Judge Parry says, iu his last catalogue, 
that his Japan Persimmons produced in Bur¬ 
lington Co., N. J,, in open field culture, cm- 
tirely unprotected, large, haudsome specimens 
of fruit, measuring six to nine inches around, 
which fully' matured, aud were equal in 
beauty aud luxuriousucss to the glowing 
descriptions heard of them. 
Judge Parry also speaks of the Champion 
Quince as ripening two week after the Orange 
Quince, and as being the best keeper of all the 
quinces. 
“ The old man faded and fell with the first 
Autumn leaf.”. 
Mr. Olcott says that Shakespeare’s talk 
about, shuffling off the mortal coil always 
seemed obscure. If he had written shake 
“off” instead of “shuffle,” our chills-and- 
fever patients would have understood him 
batter.... 
Green’s Fruit Grower sayB if we have 
anything good to say of a man, let us say it 
while he lives. 
Mr. Underwood, of Michigan, owns a 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
744 
Holstein Bull, six years of age, weighing 
3,000 pounds.,.. 
For this climate we must now dig the 
trenches for celery. Spado-wide is wide 
enough, while the depth should equal the 
higbt of the plant. Pack the celery plants in 
this as close as may be, and cover according 
to the severity of the weather... 
For any farmer to think of destroying 
bushes by mowing them from year to year is 
the hight of folly, says the New England 
Farmer. He can commence in his boyhood 
and repeat the exercise from year to year con¬ 
tinuously to the end of his day's. 
As we gather around the table these long 
evenings, let us not forget the poor and needy, 
says a writer in the Orange County Farmer. 
Let us do what we can to elevate the standard 
of labor and make toil honorable, appreciating 
real merit wherever we find it. 
The depreciation in dairy fixtures, accord¬ 
ing to the Husbandman, is considerably over 
10 per cent. All tinware needs to be replaced 
every four years. Twenty per cent, is not too 
much. The same may be said of farm tools in 
general... 
Now Is the time to mix nuts with earth, 
forming heaps. Here let them remain until 
Spring. Then plant in drills. Thus the far¬ 
mer may raise his own nut trees... 
The National Tribune of Washington, of 
September 20, gives a very good portrait of 
Professor C. V. Riley and an interesting 
sketch of his b"fe. 
Between 33 and 40 degrees is the best tem¬ 
perature for keeping potatoes. Given this aud 
a dry cellar, your potatoes will keep well, 
unless they are kept iu too great bulk, which 
may cause heating and decay. Besides, they' 
are not so easily examined as when piled in 
smaller quantities. 
Ciimjiohatf. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
California, 
Bieber, Lassen Co., Oct. 18.—Crops are 
good. Wheat and barley are selling for $1.25 
per 100 pounds. Hay and potatoes good. 
Crops have given good yields. f. m. h. 
Illinois. 
Utah. Warren Co.. Oct. 22.—Oor crops are 
not very good, owing to a hail storm on July 
12th. The oat crop was almost a failure— 
average about 12 bushels per acre. Corn will 
not average above 25 bushels per acre—light 
at that. Hay a large crop. Potatoes plenti¬ 
ful and worth 20 to30cents per bushel, j. a. 
Indiana. 
Bruceville, Knox Co., Oct. 22, 1883.— 
Wheat seeding is all finished here; the amount 
sown is one-fourth less than usual: but it is 
better doue. Corn is a better crop than usual, 
and has dried up without frost. There is a 
small surplus of apples here, all of which are 
Genets aud Ben Davis. It is the " off” year 
here too. Potatoes about half a crop. No 
frost yet. j. m. r. 
Nebraska. 
Plum Valley, Knox Co., Oct. 22.—My 
Shoe-peg Corn was planted on ground culti¬ 
vated four years from breaking, without ever 
being manured. 80 rods from any other corn. 
All of the kernels grew*. It was mixed, some 
being dent and some flint, all white. Not as 
early as the common white dent here. The 
Black-bearded Centennial Wheat came up 
well, but failed to head excepting two hills. 
One was Itearded and the other bald. 
“Subscriber.” 
New York. 
Greenwich. Washington Co , Oct, 23—We 
have had a dry Summer, although in June we 
had showers enough to keep everything grow¬ 
ing, but uo heavy rains. Rve and oats were 
very good : oats more than an average yield. 
Corn never looked better until nearly August 
l, when the weather became so dry that mauv 
pieces became stunted, having ears set, but uo 
kernel formed. Such pieces are worthless; but 
corn which was planted early is a fair crop. 
Potatoes in many places are enormous. As 
the Irishman said, “ Six makes a peek aud 
nine makes a meal.” The favorite in many 
places is the White Star, giving a goodly' 
number of good-sized tubere to the hill. Late 
Hebrons rotting iu some localities, c. b. c. 
Pennuylvnnln 
Baden, Beaver Co., Oct. 24.—The crops 
of this countv are as follows: Wheat about 
half a crop iu the bottom lands aud one-third 
of a crop on the Mils. Corn about half a crop. 
Potatoes ditto. Apples one-tenth of a crop. 
Hay a good crop. Outs good. Rye an average 
crop. We have had a very drv spell since 
August, the ground in mauv places being 
almost too hard to plow, causing a small acre¬ 
age to be seeded to wheat. Some people say 
the wheat is iufested by the fly. Wheat is 
worth here $1.10; rye, 65c.; corn, 6$<c.; hay. 
810 and $12 per ton; apples, $1.25 per bushel; 
potatoes, 60c. and 70c. per bushel; butter, 28c.; 
eggs, 22c. There are many good farmers in 
Beaver County, but they farm the same as 
their forefathers did before them. Most of 
them disdain to read any agricul t.nral papers 
except a fe who were coaxed to pay 25 cents 
for a throe months’ trial of an Ohio paper. 
We had a son to name some time ago, and 
some of my r neighbors, out of derision, advised 
me to call him after the Editor of the Rural 
New-Yorker. The suggestion was a-ted 
upon, and the boy was named after the Editor. 
1 intend to raise him to lie a farmer, and teach 
him to read the honest old Rural, as I have 
done, greatly to my benefit. [Good. Ed.] 
F. w. s. 
Virginia. 
Newmarket. Shenandoah Co.—We have 
had a great deal of rain this month—rainy' and 
cloudy for the past 10 days. A good many' 
farmers haven’t finished seeding yet. Wheat 
is worth 02 to 08 cents; com, 60 cents; butter, 
20 cents: eggs, 20 cents. p. s. w. 
RURAL SEED REPORTS. 
Colorado. 
Douglas County. — The Black-bearded 
Centennial Wheat was sown in drills on April 
10th, and in May the chinch-bugs began to 
work on it, killing all the lower leaves. On 
June 12 snow fell five inches deep on the level. 
On the morning of the 13th the mercury was 
down to 20 degs.; the bugs left with the snow 
The wheat was cut on September 15th as fine 
plump wheat as I ever saw; heads about four 
inches long. The Perfection Melon was a 
failure. The young Niagara Grape-vines all 
“went up the spout” on June 12th and 13th 
during the snow-storm and freeze. The Shoe- 
peg Cora was planted May 10th: all grew, but 
the high altitude—bet ween six and seven thou¬ 
sand feet above tide-water—did not suit it: 
only one ear silked, and there was no com on 
that: killed by frost on the night of Septem¬ 
ber 9. The Blush Potato was cut to single 
eyes aud planted May 10. one eye in a hill. 
I got no large ones, but a majority were small. 
The quality was good. They resemble the 
Early Rose, only they are late: killed by frost 
September 9 and dug the 11. The flowers 
were splendid No irrigation on any of the 
trials. The longest period the past season 
without frost was fifty-five days, between 
July 16 and September 8, j. w. 
Illinois, 
Utah, Warren Co., Oct. 21.—My Blush 
Potato hail 10 eyes and was cut to one eye in a 
piece and planted in 10 hills, in a black loam 
soil without manure. I dug 30 pounds of very 
nice potatoes. The Black-bearded Wheat was 
a failure as a Spriug wheat. It did not head. 
The Shoe-peg Corn might have done well had 
it not been for a hail-starm. The melons and 
Garden Treasures went the same way. This 
season I got 250 bushels of as uice potatoes as 
I ever saw from the White Elephant sent me 
two years ago. j. a. 
Indiana. 
Bruceville. Knox Co , Oct, 22, 1883.—My 
Blush Potato was planted on March 15 in hills 
one foot apart, in an old hog lot as rich as 
ground can well be made, with some unleach¬ 
ed coal ashes thrown on to boot. All came up 
well, and made a strong growth all Summer. 
I dug, on Sept. 15. 15 pounds of good-sized 
potatoes. I have three tubers that weigh one 
pound each, aud 45 in all. The longest, vine 
was eight feet from tip to tip. The Shoe-peg 
Corn was planted on May 21. Fifty grains 
sprouted out of 52 planted. It made a quick 
growth, and was out of the way of frost by 
the first of September. To-day I harvested 52 
care and a few nubbins, of which 24 ears were 
Shoe-peg according to description; the balance 
was mixed with flint, deut, sweet and yellow 
varieties until they could not be identified. 
The melons did well, 30 melons w eighiug from 
20 to 30 pounds ouch were “perfection” in the 
true sense of t he word. Some of the flower 
seeds produced very handsome flowers. I did 
uot sow the wheat until this Fall, as this is not 
a Spriug wheat locality. The Niagara seeds 
came up well. I have some utco vines. 
J. M. B. 
Iowa. 
Greene, Butler Co., Oct. 20.—I think I am 
a little ahead yet iu success with the Blush 
Potato. From my two small ones 1 raised 68 
pounds of very nice ones, all marketable ex¬ 
cept four or five. The largest weighed oue- 
and-a-quarter pound, and four weighed three- 
and-three-quarter pounds. There were 146 
in all. The pieees were planted wit hout any 
manure or any fertilizer whatever. The ground 
was hoed three times, aud that was all. The 
cultivation was perfectly flat, the soil not 
being hoed up to the vines at all. The Cen¬ 
tennial Wheat was rather a failure here. It 
came up aud stooled well; but the stooling 
all died out and nothing but siugle spears 
grew up. It was harvested the last day of 
August aud was uot ripe yet. I sowed a part 
this Fall for Winter wheat, and shall sow 
the rest in Spring. The Shoe-peg Corn is 
rather late, but I shall have seed from it. We 
had one melon from the seed sent us. Twenty 
of the grape seeds grew, and the vines have 
done nicely, w. mcd. 
Manly Junction, Worth Co., Oct. 18. 
—My two small Blush Potatoes were planted 
on May 12, cut to 18 pieces, one piece in a hill. 
The vines grew rank and strong, without 
manure of any kind, till early frosts in Sep¬ 
tember froze the tops. I dug 67 pounds of 
fine tubers. Number of potatoes, 227 in all. 
They were of good size; several weighed over 
one pound each. Wysor’s Shoe-peg Cora was 
a good deal too late for this locality. Garden 
Treasures were first-class. j, s. 
Marj land. 
Spencerville, Montgomery Co., Oct. 22. 
—I planted my Blush Potatoes cut to one eye 
in a piece, one foot apart in the garden. The 
vines stayed green late: but I dug 30 pounds 
Of nice potatoes. Yielded better than any of 
the 10 other varieties I had planted. The 
Perfection Water-melons did very well. 
Chatfield, Gilmore Co., Oct. 21.—From 
my two small Blush Potato es, cut in 20 pieces- 
I dug 154}^ pounds. One potato weighed one- 
and-a-half pound. a. l. 
Michigan. 
Tekonsha, Calhoun Co., Oct. 25.— 
The Shoe-peg Cora failed to ripen properly 
on account of early frost. I have saved some, 
and will try it another year. The Blush 
Potato did splendid!}-. From one potato con¬ 
taining nine eyes, cut to a single eye, planted 
April 27th in nine hills 2% feet apart, I got 177 
tubers weighing 42 pounds. The six largest 
weighed four pounds two ounces. The pota¬ 
toes were not fairly ripe when vines were 
killed by frost, September Sth and 9th. t. e. 
Minnesota. 
Dell Rapids. Minnehaha County.—My 
Centennial Wheat was planted April 12, in 
very wet but highly manured ground. It came 
up. promised well, but did not ripen. The 
stalks grew to the enormous hight of 6% feet 
two inches above ground, and blighted the 
first week in September. My Blush Potato, 
having 1“ eyes, was planted in nine hills, in 
ground where an old straw stack had stood. 
Some of the vines measured 6;-j feet. On Sep¬ 
tember 12 I dug the potatoes, which, after 
lying iu a barrel in the cellar for a week, 
weighed 60 pounds! My Shoe-peg Corn, 
planted May 10, grew to the hight of 11% 
feet. hut. though ears were set, there was no 
corn. The Niagara Grape seeds were planted 
in a box out-of-doors and germinated, and the 
vinelets were transplanted in July without 
the loss of one. I have now 21 vines a foot 
high. The Garden Treasures were very inter¬ 
esting, there being some varieties we had 
never seen before. j. h. 
Nebraska. 
Plum Valley, Kuox Co.. Oct. 22, 1883.— 
My two-ounce Blush Fotato. cut into 15 pieces, 
was planted in a hot-bed about April 10. All 
came up well and strong. The three first that 
came up were pulled oft* on May 5. The other 
12 were set out on May 20. The three eyes 
whose sprouts were pulled off sprouted again, 
but the vines never grew as vigorously as the 
others. In all 18 hills were plauted in a row 
35 feet long on t wo sides of some early sweet 
corn. The three eyes that had the sprouts 
taken off yielded no potatoes larger than peas. 
On Oct. 1,1 dug 11% pounds of potatoes, 87 in 
all. “Subscriber.” 
New York. 
Greenwich, Washington Co., Oet, 23.- My 
Blush Potato weighed nearly two ounces when 
planted. It contained seven eyes. I split 
three of the eyes, making 10 hills. Planted in 
garden two feet by three, one piece in hill, 
enriched by rotted barn-vard scrapings. The 
bugs appeared to know the value of the pota¬ 
toes, for they went for them more than for 
any other on the farm; but the Blush con¬ 
quered, and repaid my pains by turning out 
104 marketable tubers ; none very large, the 
heaviest 15 ounces; all weighed just 30 pounds. 
Cassytllk, Harrison Co.—The Shoe-peg 
Cora was quite late, but I have an ear from 
each stalk—53 ears in all. The Blush Potato, 
planted in ground that had been under corn 
last year and which received no manure, 
yielded IS pounds of tubers, one of which 
weighed one-anJ-a-half pound. r. e. h. 
Virginia. 
Newmarket. Shenandoah Co.—From my 
Blush Potato, cut into six nieces, and planted 
in six hills, two of which were destroyed, I 
' dug. last week, 15to, pounds of fine tubers, some 
of which weighed 1pound each, l am highly 
pleased with the Blush and will save all the 
tubers for seed. The Shoe-peg Cora grew 
very tall and formed very large husks, but no 
pars. Of the flower seeds'the Sunflower and 
Mignonette alone eame iip, 8. p. w. 
