Vol. XLVI. No. 1959, 
NEW YORK, AUGUST 13, 1887. 
PRICK FIVE CENTS 
$2.00 PER YEAR. 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, In the year 1887, by the Rural New-Yorker, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
,Fig. 895. 
Fig. 396. 
Fig. 297. 
Fig. 298. 
Experiment <$r<rund$i of the gtural 
|Jeuj-$ovker. 
Polish Wheat, known also as Diamond 
Wheat, Wheat of Taos, Montana Bye, etc. 
The Warren Raspberry; potato fertilizer 
experiments; abjections to the word "com¬ 
plete";" a worthless Russian forage plant; 
a caution; the new Lida. Strawberry , the 
Ontario; the. Golden Queen Raspberry; a 
criticism. 
POLISH WHEAT. 
For the past 10 ytfars reference has from 
time to time been made in this journal to a 
certain wheat which has beeu periodically 
offered for sale at high prices under various 
names such as, c. <j. , Diamond Wheat, Polish 
Wheat, Montana Rye, Wheat of Taos, Wild 
Goose Wheat, WaHacbian Wheat. It is really 
a distinct species of wheat. The kernels are 
long and hard—twice as long os an ordinary 
wheat kernel ,arid any farmer seeing these 
large, horny grains for the first time would be 
ready to pay a high price for them at a ven¬ 
ture. Wheu a sample was first sent to the R. 
N.-Y. for identification many years ago, we 
planted a few of the seeds very carefully in 
POTATO EXPERIMENTS. 
Our potato experiments of the present sea¬ 
son will confirm the results of the past several 
years if the yields may be judged by the vines. 
Nothing but complete fertilizers will produce 
the best crops on this laud. Bone in any form 
or S. C. rock, potash in any form, nitrogen in 
any form, all fail to increase the crop materi¬ 
ally when used alone. Any two of them fail. 
Ouly the three, potash,nitrogen and phosphor¬ 
ic acid, give a full growth of vine, and w r e 
have found that on this land the weight of 
tul>ers almost always corresponds to the 
growth of tops. 
Again the luxuriance of the tops is in every 
case proportionate to the quantity of complete 
fertilizer spread in the trench up to a certain 
amount, beyond which no difference can be 
seen. Thus 400 pounds give larger tops than 
200 pounds; 600 pounds larger than 400 
pounds, etc., up to about 1,800 pounds to the 
acre. There is one thing difficult to account 
for. It is that while the effects of complete 
potato fertilizers are so apparent when ap¬ 
plied to potatoes, the same fertilizer when ap¬ 
plied to corn and wheat, melons and beans, 
gives results so contradictory that it is im¬ 
possible to say whether, iu some eases, the 
plunts were helped by it at all, and in others 
It would hence appear that some other less 
comprehensive word might well be given 
to this class of concentrated manures. 
SPKKGULA MAXIMA. 
Seeds of this spurrey were sent out the 
present season by the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture and, no doubt, many of our readers have 
received aud sown them, in the hopes of rais¬ 
ing plants of some value for fodder, as the 
seed envelopes said, “ forage plant from 
Russia. 1 ’ They were sown m a drill May 14, 
and were in full bloom July I. The stems and 
leaves are succulent like those of purslane, 
though the stems are thin, aud the leaves 
which grow in whorls, are round and linear. 
Tbe leaves are much like those of the Field 
Hpergula (S. arvensls). The plants grow 
about 18 inches high here in poorisb soil, 
and soon sprawl out upon the ground. 
Some of the plants were cut off in late June, 
and these have continued to make a moderate 
growth. 
It would be difficult to cut aud harvest a 
crop of this spurry aud it would be worthless 
afterwards. The green plants were offered to 
two horses, which ate a little of it without 
airing for more. It may be well that we 
should call the reader's attention to the fact 
that it forms seals in great abundance aud 
that, though an annual, it may not be desir¬ 
able to distribute them over the fields. 
and productive. Berries were ripening freely 
June 16, As will be seen by our three care¬ 
fully drawn engravings,Figs. 295-296-297, they 
are of many shapes and as irregular as Sharp- 
less. The quality is good but not best. The 
tips often remain green after the rest of the 
berry is ripe. No doubt, the Ontario is 
worthy of trial in different parts of the coun¬ 
try. Here it is no improvement over several 
better known kinds. Tbe flowers are bisexual. 
GOLDEN QUEEN. 
An experienced small-fruit grower criticizes 
our remarks as to the Golden Queen Raspberry 
iu that wo rated it as essentially a light-col¬ 
ored Cutbbert in all respects, while it differs 
essentially from the Cutbbert, as he says, in 
being less firm. It may be so. We have no 
Cuthberts with which to compare it now, 
since the dailv showers have softened both 
kinds ahk,„ Yellow raspberries are not val¬ 
ued for the market anyway aud the Golden 
Queen is certainly firm enough for home use, 
while in our humble estimation, it is decidedly 
the best hardy yellow variety iu cultivation. 
WET WEATHER. 
We have lived here for 14 years, and have 
never before had so much rain from early 
June until the present time. Raspberries have 
failed in consequence. Watermelon vines are 
all vines. Grapes are rotting as they never 
rotted before. Tomatoes must be picked be¬ 
fore they color, and ripened in the barn—else 
they rot. Blackberries turn reddish before 
they are ripe. 
the Full. Tho seeds sprouted at once aud 
made fine plants ere freezing weather set iu, 
but the winter killed every one. Again in 
different soil und exposure we planted a few 
iu the fall ouly to find them dead before 
spring. 
Seeing that this wheat would not stand our 
winters, a small quantity was sown early in 
the spriug, in a drill This ripened about 
July 15th. The raising of this little crop gave 
us the desired information, viz.: why this 
Polish Wheat, with its fine-looking grain, has 
never become well known and extensively 
cultivated. The reason seems to be that tho 
plant sends up only (i single stalk or so that 
bears a head, while the straw is too weak to 
support it. This, at any rate, is the outcome 
of our trial. The illustration, Fig. 300, shows 
an average head. The glumes are very large 
aud the breasts contain but two kernels. As 
the breasts are widely separated, it would ap¬ 
pear that this Polish wheat is not likely to 
yield a paying crop of grain. 
THE WARREN RASPBERRY. 
1ST he Warren Raspberry was received from 
C. W. Sours of Barnesville, Ohio, in the 
spring of ’86. He says it was found between 
two rows of Brandywine and Gregg. The 
plants huvo been hardy thus far anil during 
the present season extremely productive. The 
berries are of medium size, purple when ripe, 
rather seedy aud sour. 
whether 500 pounds do not serve as well as 
1,000 or 2,000 pounds. The constituents of 
potato fertilizers do not differ materially 
from those for wheat or corn. The fact re¬ 
mains that we can raise larger crops of pota¬ 
toes with fertilizers than with old farm man¬ 
ure—while the reverse is time as to corn, 
wheat, melons, etc. 
The word “complete,” as applied to fertiliz¬ 
ers, seems to the writer a very incomplete 
and misleading one. Beyond the fact that 
any manure is called complete that contains 
the three ingredients which one may he ex¬ 
cused for being tired of naming, potash, ui- 
trogeu, and phosphoric acid, even though but 
half a per cent, of ouch, we don’t know what 
a “complete” food is. We do know that 
one class of plnuts may thrive on a soil that 
has apparently been exhausted by plants of 
another class; that corn, oats, potatoes and 
wheat do not thrive equally iu (hesatne field, 
though each is fertilized w ith the same quan¬ 
tity of special complete fertilizers. We do 
not know what/OWisof potash, nitrogen and 
phosphates, are best suited to giveu crops. It 
may be that plants require several forms of 
each, or one form of each, or certain forms 
during particular stages of their growth. Wo 
assume, too, that most soils, if fed the three 
constituents of complete fertilizers in sutlioieut 
quantity, will supply all else that plants need. 
THE LIDA STRAWBERRY. 
Plants of the Lida were received from Wil¬ 
liam Parry, Parry P. O., N. J., March 20, 
1886. It is a pistillate variety said to be a 
seedling of Durand’s King Cluster, uow called 
Crimson Cluster. The Rcral’s notes of last 
year w T ere the following: “Juue 7. Dark 
crimson, dark seeds, slightly imbedded. 
Shape, ovate conical. June 11. Fair quality, 
colored flesh. Productive for spriug-set 
plants.” 
Our notes for the past season begin June 14: 
“Vines of Lida are healthy aud vigorous. 
Color of berries crimson. Shape, ovate coni¬ 
cal, very regular, glossy, quite firm, good 
quality. Occasionally a white tip. Produc¬ 
tive. This variety has a good deal of merit 
and is worthy of trial. Season, medium. As 
between Lida. Bomba, Bubaeh and Ontario, 
we prefer Lida. July 18: Lida is very pro¬ 
ductive at this time. Many of the berries 
ripen on one side In*fore the other. They are 
now too soft for shipment. Juue 24. Lida 
holds out well.” 
The cuts, Fig. 298 aud 299, show the aver¬ 
age shape, one drawn by our own artist, the 
other by Blanc. 
THE ONTARIO. 
Plants of this new strawberry were received 
from Robert Johnson, of Shortville, N. Y., 
April 18,1886. The plants are thrifty, healthy 
RAISING THE BLACKBERRY FROM 
SEED. 
Blackberry seeds, like peach seeds, should 
be frosted before sprouting. Many years ago, 
when first attempting their propagation, I 
just put the seeds on the surface of the ground, 
placed a large, fiat stoue cm them for protec¬ 
tion uutil spring; then, on removing the stone 
covering, the seeds were nicely sprouted and 
could be scraped up and plauted iu a row 
wherever wanted to grow. More recently I 
have adopted a plan which 1 like better, viz: 
I select the berries, put them in a box or bas¬ 
ket for a week or more until they are well 
ripened or partly rotted or dried up so that 
tbe seed can be easily separated from the 
pulp; tbeu I sow the seeds in a small, shallow 
box of earth—say one or two fret squure and 
about three inches deep—cover them shallow 
by putting a little more fine earth or sand 
over them; then set the box where it will be 
out of tho way, iu a shady place, generally in 
some corner of the greenhouse, give one good 
watering, which will last a long time—per¬ 
haps the whole season. Wheu cold weather 
arrives carry the box of seed outside and let 
