Vj j (>t>L 
502 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
PT 5 
replanting many of them. You can work 
the ground close up to a fence or wall and not 
leave a single weed; by holding it perpendic¬ 
ularly, it makes a good cutter for straw¬ 
berry runners. For thinning beets, etc., if 
the operator stands abreast of the row and 
two rows off, it is just the thing and is expedi¬ 
tious. Get one! 
Some of my peach trees having the “yel¬ 
lows” very badly, “sorto’” gave me the 
‘•blues;” but 1 headed them back almost to 
the trunk, and now they are full of fine thrif¬ 
ty shoots; in fact, they have the “greens" 
once more. If they can mature their wood 
before Winter, I think I will have fruit from 
them again. 
I wish those who have not tried South Car¬ 
olina dissolved phosphate on wheat, would 
try a bag or two alongside of the kind they 
have been in the habit of using. On my farm, 
which contains various kinds of soil, 1 find it 
better than any high-priced fertilizer 1 have 
used. With a good wheat season and only 
200 pounds per acre, it will make 00 bushels of 
wheat per acre. I always shut off'the fertil¬ 
izer attachmeut one or two 1 ‘throughs” in the 
field, and never mark the place. 1 can always 
see it about as far as I cau see the wheat, and 
it also shows on grass and clover the follow¬ 
ing season. Last Fall I paid $18 per ton,and 
applied 300 pounds per acre. Judging by the 
strip unsown, it saved me from almost total 
failure. The last was the worst Winter ou 
wheat I ever saw. Mine looked so dead in 
Spring that 1 estimated it at five bushels per 
acre, and now expect somewhere about 20 
bushels, but have not yet thrashed. 1 have 
used the undissolved, and also “floats;” while 
the latter are good, they are not so active the 
first season, but show better effects tbe second 
than the dissolved. a. l. cbosby. 
Kockland Farm, Md. 
NOTES AND COMMENTS. 
Is there an earlier potato than the Early 
Ohio? 1 would answer, yes, the Early Sunrise. 
1 quite agree with the Editor and Horticola 
in their estimates of the red variet ies of celery, 
and one-half of my crop consists of London 
Red. It is my opinion that not only are the 
red varieties better-flavored and more crisp; 
but the}' keep better during the Winter, and I 
am much pleased to see that they are being 
brought prominently into notice. 
Begonia metallxca certainly deserves all 
that can be said in its praise when grown as 
a warm greenhouse plaut. and I quite agree 
with Horticola in advocating its trial as a win¬ 
dow garden plant. But as far as my experi¬ 
ence with it has extended, I have found the 
singular flowers to be very sparingly pro¬ 
duced; still the plant is well worth cultivating 
for its beautiful foliage alone, the large, glossy 
leaves being shaded with dark green and olive, 
and having a peculiar metallic lustre over all. 
No, I would not appropriate the name of 
Snowflake Tree to the Cbionanthus Virginica, 
for it has been bo long and familiary known as 
the White Fringe Tree, that any change 
would, 1 fear, lead to confusion among those 
who prefer to call trees and shrubs by their 
common or vulgar Dames and, besides, Styrax 
Japonica is by many, in this part of the 
world at least, known as the Snowflake 
Flower. 
Referring to Horticola’s note on page 479, 
relative to bis discovery of a dogwood bearing 
pink involucres, I may be permitted to state 
that a variety having flowers suffused with 
bright red is offered for sale by Parsons & 
•Sons Co., under tbe name of Cornus florida 
flore-rubro. But as Horticola describes his 
plant as having pink flowers, it may prove to 
be entirely distinct from the above, and, if 
so, will certainly prove to be a decided acqui¬ 
sition. -- 
Yes, the wonderful blackberry described in 
the Rural of August 1st, page 515, is the old 
Rubus fruticosus, or, as it is commonly called, 
Cut-leaved or Evergreen Blackberry, and it 
appears to me to be very siugular that it 
should turn up as a ^novelty every three or 
four years. It is, as tbe Editor says, essenti¬ 
ally worthless, and my experience with it will 
be found in the Rural of April 29, 1882, page 
288. Since then, however, I destroyed the 
only plant 1 had. 1 have no hesitation in say¬ 
ing that a writer in a late Rural has over¬ 
praised the plant, and I think that if he ob¬ 
tained two or three bushels of fruit to the 
acre (instead of to one root) he would be doing 
very well. It fruited very sparingly with 
me, and the fruit ripened very slowly and ir¬ 
regularly, and, besides, its peculiar flavor is 
not agreeable to most persons. One plaut is 
enough for any person to possess—as a curi¬ 
osity merely. [There is no doubt but it fruits 
well in the climate of the Pacific Coast. Eds ] 
Under the heading of Flower Humbugs, in 
the Rural of July 20, I notice that a corres¬ 
pondent condemns the pretty Asparagus 
tenuissitnus very unjustly; as from his 
description, it is evident that he has not given 
the plant a fair trial, and I feel quite certain 
that after it has fully developed itself, there 
will be a decided change in his opinion. It 
should be remembered that the plant has 
been but recently distributed, and, of course, 
the specimens sent out are mostly small, and 
have bad but little opportunity to properly 
develop their grace and beauty; but I be¬ 
lieve that in the course of a few years, the 
stems or fronds will form a prominent feature 
in all choice cut-flower work as a perfect sub¬ 
stitute for the Adiantums or Maideu-hair 
Ferns. Its foliage possesses all tbe grace and 
beauty of these beautiful ferns, besides tbe de¬ 
sirable quality of remaining a long time in per¬ 
fection after being cut, which alone is quite a 
point in its favor. As a plaut for greenhouse or 
conservatory decoration, it is deserving of all 
that can be said in its praise, and I am inclined 
to the opinion that it will be found a valuable 
plant for cultivation in the winter garden. 
Queens, N. Y. chas. e. parnell. 
NOTES ON THE NEWER STRAW¬ 
BERRIES. 
With the exception of our common June 
drought, the past strawberry season has been 
a very favorable oue for determining the rela¬ 
tive merits of the various new varieties on 
trial with the leading old sorts. Our soil 
being a strong sandy loam, is well adapted to 
tbe strawberry. A few notes on the growth 
and behavior of the most prominent varieties 
may be of interest to the Rural readers. 
Prince of Berries with us has proved one 
of the most promising of the new varieties 
fruited this season. In flavor it certaiuly 
ranks with the best; is a very vigorous grow¬ 
er, and, judging from this season’s trial, it is 
quite productive. With amateurs at least it 
must become a prime favorite. 
Jewell was received from tbe originators, 
P. M. Augur & Sous, last August. Although 
the Autumn was not very favorable, the 
plants made a vigorousgrowth, wintered well, 
aud, considering that the June drought pinch¬ 
ed them somewhat, produced a good crop of 
fruit. In vigor of growth this variety is re¬ 
markable, and is but slightly Affected with 
blight or rust, being at this date (August 13) 
the least so of any except the Amateur aud 
perhaps the Parry. 
Amateur. —Common layer plants of this 
variety were sent me late m September by 
Mr. Hart, the originator. The plants winter¬ 
ed perfectly, but, being set so late, were not 
allowed to produce fruit. A fact worthy of 
note is that at tbe present time they are en¬ 
tirely free from leaf blight, while Atlantic, 
Charles Downing and others are badly affect¬ 
ed. The plant is very vigorous, rivaliug the 
Jewell in this particular. 
Cbavvford’s No. 1 was received from 
Matthew Crawford. The plants were set 
August 1st, and made a vigorousgrowth; but 
for some reason they failed to produce much 
fruit. I shall give it another season’s trial. 
Atlantic.— This much lauded novelty of 
1883, has proved worthless with me—the poor¬ 
est in my collection. 
Daniel Boone is of sturdy habit, and pro¬ 
duced a good crop of even sized berries of the 
best quality. Tins is a grand garden berry; 
that is, for clean hill culture on strong soil. 
Black Defiance seems well suited with 
my soil, and gives fruit of the choicest qual¬ 
ity. My esteemed friend Dr. Hexamer says 
that, to his taste, the Black Defiance is uearest 
to the ideal strawberry, and it certainly does 
combine sprightliness with that peculiar straw¬ 
berry flavor in a marked degree. 
Manchester is a fine berry in many par¬ 
ticulars, and should be in every collection. 
It holds its size through the season very 
well. 
Crescent is a wonderfully productive vari¬ 
ety, but does not root as deep as some, conse¬ 
quently drought will pinch it worse than most 
other kinds. Give it moist, rich soil and it 
will produce an astonishing amount of fruit. 
Jersey Queen ranks with my very best 
varieties, but I atu a little afraid it may not 
prove productive enough for general cultiva¬ 
tion. 
Chas. Downing, the old standby, rusts so 
badly with me as to be almost worthless. 
Parry, received from Win. Parry last 
August, is a good grower, aud produced some 
very fine fruit. I consider it very promising 
iudeed, aud await the results of another rea¬ 
son's trial with interest. 
Wilson. —It is a question whether any oue 
variety will ever become so universally popu¬ 
lar as this old favorite. I still keep it in my 
collection, aud in reality it is better than a 
large percentage of the much-lauded novel¬ 
ties. 
Siiarplkss is a good berry, but needs 
clean hill culture and a deep, moist soil. On 
light land under common culture, it is prac¬ 
tically worthless. 
James Vick. —I was agreeably disappointed 
with the behavior of this sort the past season. 
Last year it gave only a limited amount of 
small, sour berries; but this season it seemed 
to have gained a foothold, aud gave a good 
yield of fair-sized berries, not of the highest 
quality, but better than Wilson. 1 have 
quite a Dumber of varieties set the past 
Spring, which were, of course, uot allowed to 
bear fruit. Among these the Cornelia shows 
a marked vigor of growth. w. H. rand. 
Chittenden Co,, Vt. 
TERATOLOGY. 
ABNORMAL TOMATO. 
DR. E. L. STURTEVANT. 
The subject, a tomato grown from the 
crossed seed of the French Hybrid, with Acme 
pollen, is shown at Figs. 396 and 397. The 
Fig. 396. 
abnormality is induced by prolification, in 
which the central axis of a perfectly develop¬ 
ed flower has continued to grow, and produced 
a second flower,of which the calyx only is ful¬ 
ly formed, this in turn continuing its axis into 
a raceme of minute abortive flowers. The 
first flower was normal aud perfect, ripening 
a tomato four inches across. The growth of 
the tomato split ft from the stem ou one side, 
making an opening quite through it, which 
was the first peculiarity that attracted atten¬ 
tion. The second flower grew from the cen¬ 
ter of the first, forming a fully developed 
calyx, which protruded through the center of 
the tomato. A shriveled corolla remained at 
the base of the cup, but no pistil or young 
fruit could be detected. From the center of 
the second (lower a little stem,about an-eighth 
of an inch high,arose, which was at first taken 
to be a pistil, but on putting it under the 
microscope, it proved to be a minute raceme 
of abortive flowers. The characteristic inode 
of branching by which each successive flower 
appears to arise from the side of the stem of 
the last one, at an angle of 144 degrees to it, 
was strictly observed even in the abortive 
raceme,as shown by the course of the bundle of 
fibers. Prolification is not uncommon, but an 
instance like this has probably not before been 
recorded, 
[For the convenience of those among our 
readers who do not possess a Webstar Un¬ 
abridged, it may be well to say that “teratolo- 
gy,"derived from two Greek words “temtos," 
a monster, a wonder; and logos, a discourse, 
is the science which treats of malformations 
aud monstrosities; while prolification, from 
two Latin words, jjroles, an offspring, aud 
facere, to make, is the production of a second 
flower from the substance of the first, either 
from the center of a simple flower, or from 
the side of an aggregate flower.— Eds.] 
Fig. 397. 
Diagram Explaining Structure.—F ig. 
397, a, portion of the ripe fruit; b, calyx to 
the lower, o, calyx to the upper flower; d, 
minute raceme of flowers; e, bundle of fibers 
running down from fruit and calyx of flower; 
/, bundle of fibers running down from the sec¬ 
ond flower, their point of union with those of 
first tiower lying In a/liffereut plane from that 
of the section, and not shown; g, bundle of 
fibers of abortive rucfline, joined to those of 
second flower at one side. 
NOTES FROM OUR STATION GARDEN. 
Mulching the grouud between currant and 
gooseberry bushes with coal ashes, surely 
seems to be a great benefit in preventing in¬ 
jury from the currant worm. A plot of 
bushes mulched with this material in the 
Spring of 1884, ou which no insecticide appli¬ 
cation had been made this year, suffered less 
from the worms than an unmulched plot that 
had been several times treated with hellebore. 
- r — — 
I believe Mr. Fuller says, in his Strawberry 
Culturist, that in his experience in growing 
strawberry plants from seed, the great major¬ 
ity reverted to the common wild strawberry 
of our fields. This is very different from my 
experience. Of a large number of seedlings 
grown from the Monarch of the West Straw¬ 
berry in 18S2, not one bore any resemblance 
to the wild form, by which 1 mean Fragaria 
vesca or F. Virginiana. Though none of them 
was worth saving, the row of seedlings 
yielded more, larger aud sweeter fruit than a 
row of Wihons growing alougside. In an¬ 
other trial with seed from the Manchester, out 
of about 50 seedlings, two plants were very 
clearly of the Vesca sort, having fruit neither 
larger nor better in any respect than the com¬ 
mon wild strawberry of the fields. The remain¬ 
ing plants, though varying considerably, 
were all of good size and quality. This brings 
up the interesting question as to the parentage 
of our cultivated strawberry. It has often 
been stated to be the Fragaria Virginiana im¬ 
proved by culture. Mr. Fuller’s results would 
indicate that the variety he used as the parent 
may have been developed from this species. 
My own results seem to point toward another 
species as the parent uf the Monarch of the 
West aud Manchester. What species is it that 
gives us our large fruit? Is it the Chilian? 
The Cyclone Nozzle illustrated in a recent 
number of the Rural, is excellent for spray¬ 
ing shrubs aud herbaceous plants; but I have 
found it of very little value for spraying 
apple trees. It is too slow in its operation 
where much work is to be done, and unless the 
water used is entirely free from dirt or slime 
it troubles much by clogging. In using the 
nozzle for large trees, 1 found it necessary to 
spend fifteen minutes on each tree to do the 
work thoroughly. L found that with the Field 
Force Bump fitted with what is kuown as the 
“Boss” Nozzle, I could do the work as well iu 
oue minute as with the Cyclone in 15, with 
little, if any, more waste of tiuid. 
TnE ice water remedy for the cabbage 
caterpillar seems to be a failure. I immersed 
leaves with the worms upou them in ice 
water a quarter of a miuute, then placed the 
leaves on a bench at tbe side of the house 
where they were exposed to the full rays of 
the afternoon sun where the temperature 
coaid not have been less tbau 100 degrees. 
Half an hour later the leaves were much 
shriveled by the heat, but the worms had 
crawled around to the rear side and exhibited 
no inconvenience. 
I have been much pleased in testing the 
fruit of a variety of the Juue berry, (Ame- 
lanchier Canadensis v or. oblongifolia) plants 
of which were presented to the Station in 
1882, by Mr. Benj. U. Smith, of Cambridge, 
Mass. The plaut is a shrub of rather slow 
growth, but very prolific. The fruit resembles 
that of the huckleberry iu form aud color, 
but is decidedly larger. The llavor is uot 
very marked though quite delicate and pleas¬ 
ant. The shrub seems to be entirely hardy, 
and should tbe fruit prove susceptible of im¬ 
provement, it may prove valuable for north¬ 
ern latitudes. It ripens iu July. “elm.” 
New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 
NOTES ON BERRIES. 
The earliest strawberry here was the Crys¬ 
tal City, but it was uot much ahead of the 
Crescent, and was not nearly so productive. 
Big Bob was a fraud; it bore none larger thau 
good wild ones, and those it did bear were 
sour. James Vick was very nice at first, but 
ran down small. I think on very rich bind it 
would do better. It ripened fruit after the 
middle of July. Mt. Veruou did well, and 
held out well in size, bat it is not so late as is 
claimed. Miner’s Prolific had some splendid 
berries, but they got quite small at the last. 
Lacon was a fair bearer, but odd in shape, 
being long, pointed, and with a neck. Man¬ 
chester was very good. If the beds are re¬ 
newed every two years it is hard to beat, 
