NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 14, 1885 
PRICE FIVE CENTS. 
$1.00 PER YEAR. 
Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1385, by the Rural New-Yorker in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
MUSKMELON SEEDS 
Collected from the heat Growers of the 
Hackensack Valley, New Jersey. The 
finest strains of the noted 
HACKENSACK MELON. 
thick and light-green, and of a very sweet 
and delicious flavor.” 
Mr. B. F. Battles, of Brockton, Mass., see¬ 
ing our account of this melon, wrote to Mr. 
Bird requesting a few seeds. The following 
is his letter after harvest: 
‘'Seeing the account of your new cantaloupe 
in the Rural New Yorker, I sent to you 
for a few seeds in order to test it. It is just as 
you described it It is double the size of the 
Montreal Cantaloupe and fully equal in flavor. 
“I am much pleased with it* Knowing 
what I do about it, I would give #10 for a 
package of seed if I could not get it for less. 
Please accept my thanks for the seed.” 
Mr. Bird also sent the Rural a few seeds, 
which were planted. All but a portion of one 
vine, however, were destroyed. This bore a 
single melon, large in size, very early, and of 
fine quality. 
The Alaska Pea. 
The Rural has in previous seed distribu¬ 
tions sent out the Stratagem, Telephone, 
Prince of Wales, and Rural New Yorker 
Rural Grounds, so that we speak from expe¬ 
rience. The seed is guaranteed to be true to 
name. A mixed packet containing a liberal 
quantity of all kinds will be sent to applicants 
with the other seeds of this distribution. 
Kolb’s Gem Watermelon. 
An introduction of 1884, originated with 
Major Kolb, of Ala. It na3 a hard rind, and 
ships well. The shape is nearly round. The 
flesh is red and of good quality. Specimens 
of 50 pounds are not uncommon. 
BIRD CANTALOUPE. 
We give below the origin of this melon, 
written by the originator, Mr. P. E. Bird, of 
Denver, Colorado; 
"Two years ago last RpriDg I planted some 
seed of the Green Montreal Cantaloupe, and 
during the Bummer I noticed one vine which 
had on melons different from those on other 
vines. When the melons got ripe I had my 
family eat them, and they liked them so well 
that I saved the seed, and planted it the fol¬ 
lowing season, from which I had a very tine 
crop of very large and very early melons of 
most excellent fl >vor. I had a photograph 
taken of three of them, of which I sent you a 
copy [See Fig. 490]. The melons proved of 
very good keeping quality, for I had them on 
Twelfth Regular Seed 
and Plant Distribu¬ 
tion of the Rural 
New-Yorker. . 
Mammoth Zron-Clad. 
This also was introduced in 1884. Speci¬ 
mens have been grown weighing 73 pounds. 
It is said to be the best for shipping of all 
varieties known, while its keeping qualities are 
unequaled. It is early in ripening. The flesh 
is very soild, of a red color, sugary and crys¬ 
talline. The shape i3 oblong, with blotched 
bands of lighter color upon a dark green 
ground. The white flesh is very thin. 
THE ENTIRE COLLECTION TO BE 
SENT TO EVERY YEARLY SUB¬ 
SCRIBER OF THE RURAL 
WHO APPLIES. S& 
The Object of these Free Seed Distributions 
is to enable our readers to test all promising 
high priced novelties without cost to them¬ 
selves. 
The Bird Cantaloupe. 
(FROM COLORADO ) 
The best specimens weigh 20 pounds, meas¬ 
uring 82x38 iuebes. Oblong in shape, thickly 
netted, deeply ribbed; flesh thick and light- 
green. Sweet and delicious. Very early. 
Never offered for sale. 
THE ALASKA PEA. 
The Earliest Blue Pea in the World. Ear 
Her than the Rural New- Yorker Pea. 
Over 90 per cent, can be gathered at one 
picking. Superior shipping qualities. The 
pods and peas remain green longer than those 
of any other variety. 
Never offered for sale in America. Small 
quantities were last year sold in England at 
the rate of #42 per bushel. 
Quality superior to any other smooth pea, 
TZXS BEST 
OF THE NEW VARIETIES OF 
WATERMELON. 
The packet, it is guaranteed, will contain a 
liberal quantity of seeds of 
Kolb's Gem or American Champion, 
Mammoth Iron- Clad , Pride of Georgia , 
Scaly-Burk, Cuban Queen , and Orange, 
THE BIRD CANTALOUPE. (Prom Nature.) 
The small melon is the average size of the Netted Gem for Comparison, 
exhibition about a week in town, and then 
took them to the fair, where they remained 
for three or four days, and then I took them 
home, and they were still pretty firm and 
sound, although they had ridden some 20 miles 
in a wagon. I took no extra care, and gave 
them no extra cultivation, and the land had 
but a light dressing of manure. 
The three melons measured and weighed as 
follows: 32 by 38 inches, weight 30 pounds; 
31 by 37 inches, weight 19 pounds; 34 by 8S l * 
inches, weight22pounds. 
‘‘This year’s crop was as good as last year’s, 
although it has been a poor season for melons. 
The crop ripened very early, some two weeks 
before the Netted Gem and Bay View Melons, 
which are considered early melons. This year 
1 did not give the land any manure, although 
it had cautaloupes raised on it for two 
years before and encumbers two years before 
that, and still, without any extra care, I had 
many melons which weighed over 20 pounds 
and measured 40 inches around. The melons 
in shape are oblong, and most of them are very 
tbi( kly netted, large and deeply ribbed. Skin, 
when ripe, is brown with a little yellow; flesh 
Peas—now the most popular"kinds in the mar¬ 
ket. We have now to introduce yet another, 
the Alaska, which the originator, Mr. A’. B. 
Cleveland, of Cape Vincent, N. Y., assures us 
is the earliest pea known. It has never been 
offered for sale, except in small packets to 
European growers, who paid for it at the 
rat© of $43 tte bushel. The viues grow tw’o- 
and-one half feet high, and very uniform. 
Over 80 per cent., Mr. Cleveland says, can be 
gathered in one picking. One of its leading 
advantages is its superior shipping qualities 
for the reason that the pods and peas remain 
green longer than those of any other variety. 
It originated from the Keutlsh Invicta six 
years ago, and will not be offered for sale 
until the Spring of ISS7. The quality, we are 
assured, is superior to that of any other 
smooth pea. 
Watermelon Novelties. 
The improvement iu watermelons during 
the past few years has been very marked, and 
several of the latest introductions seem to 
leave little to be wished for. All of the kinds 
mentioned bejow have been raised at the 
The Scalv-Sark 
is oblongin shape, the largest melons weighing 
50 pounds. The colorof the skin is dark green 
mottled with lighter green. Flesh light-red, 
sweet and good. A fine shipper. Vines very 
vigorous and productive. It remains solid and 
sweet for an unusually long time after ripening. 
ANCEL of MIDNIGHT 
Pride of Georgia 
was offered for sale this year for the first. It 
is claimed to be of the first quality. Skin 
dark-green with prominent lobes. Shape 
oval, or like the Black Spanish. It is firm 
and a good shipper. The melons grow to a 
uniformly large size, though never very large. 
FIELD CORN, 
The earliest field corn ever tested at the 
Rural Grouuds. Longest ears 14 inches; 8- 
rowed yellow flint. Ears borne low, plants 
short. 
GARDENTREASURES 
Over 100 different kinds of flower seeds mix¬ 
ed. In each packet will be found seeds of such 
fine plantB as Yucca lilamentosa, Diauthus in 
variety, Perennial Phlox, Hibiscus moscheu 
tos and militaris, Cauna seeds of improved 
sorts, Swoet Peas (for cut flowers), with such 
other seeds as Aquilegia, Campanula, Celosia 
Pentstemons, Phlox Drnmmondii, and the 
commoner kinds in endless variety. 
Orange. 
This is oval in shape, and of medium size. 
The flesh is of a beautiful orange color, tender, 
solid, and sweet; the white flesh is as thin, as 
grown at the Rural Grounds, as that of any 
we have ever seen. Seeds of this were receiv¬ 
ed from A. W Smith, of Americus Ga. The 
variety is not the old kind known by the 
name Orange. It has not been offered for sale* 
m. m 
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