168 
pretty extensive practice for half-a-dozen 
years. Who has noticed any injurious effects 
produced by it on the yield of butter from the 
dehorned cows, or any falling off in dairy 
qualities in the progeny of dehorned bulls? I 
have never heard or seen- any charge of the 
sort; nor do any of these objectors venture 
upon such an assertion. Isn’t the polled 
Norfolk and Suffolk as much of a dairy breed 
as the Short-horn is a beef breed? What 
earthly relation can there be between the 
fineness of the wool of a sheep and the rich¬ 
ness of the milk of a cow? The plight of the 
horns on that deer is a strong proof of the in¬ 
fluence of castration on the animal bcdy; but 
what under the sun has it to do with the in¬ 
fluence of dehorning? Are not the ludicrous 
illustrations these objectors offer in support of 
their theory strong indications of its flimsy 
character, since, if they had any better to 
present, they would have done so? 
SPICE. 
In reply to an inquiry by the R. N..Y-, Mr. 
B. A. Elliott, of Pittsburgh, Pa., says that 
Mr. Evans of Philadelphia, purchased the 
Puritan Rose of Mr. Bennett, of England, 
and sold it to his (Mr. Elliott’s) firm for 
$7,000. He says it is a splendid rose for flor¬ 
ists’ use, both in the fall and spring, and a 
splendid sort for out-door culture, being per¬ 
fectly hardy and a constant bloomer. 
We see that W. W. Rawson & Co., of Bos¬ 
ton, Mass., offer the Climax Spraying Nozzle 
—one size for the garden and for trees, the 
other for the house; this is one of the best. It 
is merely a matter of time before every one 
must have and use one of these serviceable 
devices. 
The above firm offers in their new catalogue 
(page 25) “hybridized potato seeds.” The seed 
is put up in 25c. packets. Now is the time to 
sow them. 
Mr. Hoard wants the dairy farmer who is 
playing at dairying to quit fooling with a ma¬ 
chine whose butter average is not above the 
cost of her keep. If a farmer wants to en¬ 
gage in “steer” dairying and trade the chance 
to make a dollar for one that will make only 
50 cents, he has nothing to say against it ; but 
to keep a herd of cows for the purpose of 
sending the milk to a cheese factory or 
creamery, or for the purpose of making but¬ 
ter on a private scale, and then deliberately 
choose a general-purpose cow, it seems to Mr. 
Hoard, is the blankest folly, providing the 
farmer really wants to make the most money 
he can in the business. 
Mr. M. W. Davis, of Vermont, says that 
Holsteins won’t run a saw-mill, but they will 
help to run a milk-cart. A cow can’t make 
butter out of poor material. A cow is a mill. 
You can’t give poor hay and poor silage 
and justly expect her to produce good milk 
and butter. 
“Silage is all right,” says Mr. Davis, 
because it is a succulent food; but it must be 
supplemented by cotton-seed. We are too apt 
to give constipating food. Silage makes all 
food more palatable. It has a place, but the 
man who can raise from two to four tons of 
hay to the acre had better let it alone. Oth¬ 
ers, not so well located, on sandy, light soils, 
can raise silage and compete with the hay- 
raiser. Farmers wake up to the 300-pound 
butter cow and breed so she can reach 325 
pounds.-. 
Mr. Minch, of the N. J. Hort. Society, be¬ 
lieves that the use of nitrogenous fertilizers 
will induce the disease called yellows in peach 
trees. He further believes that bone and pot¬ 
ash fertilizers will prevent the disease. Mr. 
Heath says that the most successful peach 
growers in Hunterdon County are those who 
are using barnyard manure and commercial 
fertilizers together. The most successful are 
those who liberally feed their orchards. 
Mr. Baker stated that in 1886 two Globe 
peach trees were pronounced to have the 
yellows. He dug the soil up, hoeing it away 
from the roots, and spread the ground with 
bone and potash—two pounds to the tree— 
and then gave them ordinary cultivation. 
Last year they were fine, thrifty trees. 
Ellwanger & Barry recommend a mix¬ 
ture of sulphur and soot, or either separ¬ 
ately, for mildew on roses. 
M. Satterthwait, of N.' C. , during one 
season put 30,000 bags on grapes, finishing the 
last day of June. He then bagged a vine 
daily (dating the bags each day) from the 
first to the 12th of July, when rot specs on 
the berries first appeared. Those vines bag¬ 
ged front the first to the fifth Of July were 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
saved from rot ; those bagged from the 6th 
to the 12h of July rotted. The grapes bagged 
during June were all saved from rot. But 
in 1887 the grapes rotted in bags applied 
very early soon after the berries formed. 
The Rural’s experiments made three years 
ago with bagging grapes at different dates 
from the time the berry formed until as large 
as No. 6 shot, showed that for that season the 
bags, whether put on earlier or later, did not 
prevent rot. 
Several members of the N. J. Horticul¬ 
tural Society are of the opinion, the result of 
observation, that if the bags are put on be¬ 
fore the buds blossom, rot will be prevented. 
Tt is probably a fact that there are some varie¬ 
ties of cultivated grapes that will not form 
fruit without the aid of foreign pollen, owing 
to imperfect stamens. The writer of this has 
crossed grapes for several years, and has in¬ 
variably found that the pollen was ripe when 
the cap was about to fall or open, and in some 
cases before. 
J. H. Hale, of South Glastonbury, Conn., 
says the curl in peach leaves is of little account, 
and can be got rid of by stimulating a rapid 
growth. Borers have killed in his orchards 
more than all other causes combined. He 
thinks that three-quarters of the cases of so- 
called yellows are due to borers. He cures 
what he believes to be yellows with applica¬ 
tions of potash with nitrogen added some¬ 
times. He would not cut down a treesuffering 
from this disease any more than he would cut 
down a friend who had malaria,a disease about 
which doctors know as little as we do of yel¬ 
lows. Thej brace patients up with quinine. 
A tree, he says, affected with yellows is sick, 
and should receive treatment. 
We doubt if the variety of sweet corn 
known as Ne Plus Ultra is appreciated. May 
16, 1882, we planted a little patch and the first 
boiling ears were picked August 8—84 days. 
The stalks grew seven feet high, with few 
suckers, bearing from three to Jive ears, most 
of them low on the rather slender stalks. The 
silk is always a dark purple and the husks 
usually of a bronze color. The ears average 
five and one-half inches long, 12 very irregu¬ 
lar rows, and bear about 540 kernels close to¬ 
gether. The quality is fine. It will not com¬ 
mend itself as a market variety evidently, but 
there are few better kinds for the home. 
Geo. W. Campbell has been trying to 
change the Black Mexican to the White Mex¬ 
ican and he has partly succeeded. 
Try the Rural’s experiment of sowing 
potash and burnt bone upon an entire plot 
and planting it to corn. As soon as the plants 
get knee-high, sow at the rate of 200 pounds 
to the acre of nitrate of soda on half of the 
plot. 
One experiment of the R. N.-Y., of this 
kind resulted as follows: Potash and burnt 
bone half-plot yielded 95 plants and 79 ears 
which weighed 22% pounds. The half plot 
which received the nitrate of soda gave (53 
plants, 73 ears which weighed 25 pounds.-. 
Another trial of the same kind resulted as 
follows: No nitrogen gave 102 plants, 77 
ears weighing 40% pounds. Nitrogen in ad¬ 
dition to the phosphate and potash gave 96 
plants, 103 ears weighing 71% pounds. 
W. W. Rawson’s (Boston, Mass.) “Queen of 
the Prairie” or Hiram Sibley’s (Rochester, N. 
Y.) “Pride of the North” seem to be much the 
same if not identical. It is a yellow dent 
kind 12 to 18 rows; the ears about eight inches 
long. It is very early—perhaps the earliest of 
the dents. It was raised at the Rural Farm 
about 10 years ago. 
Henderson’s Self-husking (P. Henderson & 
Co., N. Y.) is a yellow flint and among the 
earliest to mature. We raised it two years 
ago and found that the name is well applied. 
The husks separate from the ear as it begins 
to mature. We planted it April 30. The 
kernels were glazed August 15. The plants 
averaged six feet high with from one to two 
ears to a stalk. The ears are eight-row and 
about 10 inches long—kernel large, cob small. 
We find the Rural Thoroughbred Flint of¬ 
fered in J. M. Thorburn & Co.’s (N. Y.) 
catalogue, and in that only, as far as we have 
observed. This has been raised by a member 
of the Rural family, far away from all other 
varieties, for about 45 consecutive years. Its 
marked traits are very long ears, often 14 
inches. It suckers more than any other va¬ 
riety we have seen, and each stalk usually 
bears an ear. We have known a single seed 
to produce six stalks, all about the same 
hight—at least seven feet. The joints are 
short, the leaves very broad and long. It re¬ 
quires about the entire season to ripen fully. 
We know of no variety so well adapted for 
ensilage. The R. N.-Y. has no interest in this 
corn beyond a desire to make its merits 
known. 
The Hickory King corn (Samuej Wilson, 
MeebanUsville, Pa.) has not been tried by the 
R. N. Y. It is claimed that no other corn has 
so large a grain and so small a cob. The 
plants are said to grow about eight feet in 
hight. The ears are medium in length, and 
it is claimed will shell more bushels to a given 
measure of ears “than any corn in the 
world.” It is also claimed that it will bear 
good crops on thin soil. 
The American Prolific Short Corn is adver¬ 
tised by B. L. Bragg & Co., of Springfield, 
Mass. Samples of this corn were sent to us 
several years ago by O. H. Alexander, of 
Charlotte, Vt. It seems to us distinct and 
possessed of several very valuable character¬ 
istics. See Notes from the Rural Grounds. .. 
George W. P. Jerrard, of Caribou, Me., 
introduces the Beedle, a 12-16-row yellow flint, 
an improvement upon the Dutton by 40 years’ 
selection. It has never failed to ripen, even 
when the Early Yellow Canada has been cut 
off by frost while yet in the milk. See Notes 
from the Rural Grounds. 
James Vick, of Rochester N. Y., offers the 
Green Mountain Potato, which was first 
brought into prominence by its great yield at 
the Rural Grounds three years ago. It is cer¬ 
tainly a great yielder and well worthy of trial. 
J. M. McCullough (Cincinnati, O.) finds 
the Yellow Learning an early, productive 
corn. We have many conflicting statements 
concerning this. It is probably due to differ¬ 
ent kinds being sold under this name. 
I. V. Faust (Philadelphia, Pa.) also 
praises Hickory King Corn up to the skies.... 
One of the most satisfactory kinds of yel¬ 
low flint corn the R. N.-Y. has ever raised is 
the Longfellow. We prefer it to the Angel 
of Midnight.. 
Price & Reed( Albany, N. Y.) advertise two 
new kinds of sweet corn—Champion and Per¬ 
fection. The first is said to be extremely early 
and yet it bears large ears and is of fine qual¬ 
ity. The Perfection is later. 
W. Atlee Burpee (Philadelphia) says that 
the so-called Blount’s Prolific is called in 
Massachusetts “Mammoth Ensilage.” It is 
just about the last kind we should select for 
the silo. It is leggy. The stalk is large and 
necessarily so to hold up its several ears which 
are borne high. 
ABSTRACTS. 
Puck : “When whiter dies, spring refuses 
to “ ‘kindly omit flowers.’ ”-W. B. Ellis 
of the New Jersey Horticultural Society: 
“Eight millions of dollars are spent annually 
for drink. When laboring men spend a large 
proportion of their .money for drink, they 
cannot have much to spend for fruit.”- 
Mr. Goldsmith: “With Concords at three 
cents a pound, I do not think it will pay to 
bag them. Bagging pays with white grapes. 
It preserves their beauty. It also prevents 
the birds from injuring them. It is a fair day’s 
work to put on 1,000 bags.”-Mr. Cay- 
wood : “Bags during wet seasons promote rot.” 
-Mr. Satterthwait of N. C.: “Bagged 
grapes rotted with me almost as badly as those 
exposed, and the bags make the skin tender.” 
-Mr. Dye: “Lastyear I saw specimens of 
plums that had grown in bags, that were per¬ 
fect, simply grand and those were the only 
ones raised on the tree.”-Mr. Cay wood: 
“Last year I put bags on some of my pears, 
and all the specimens bagged were perfect 
and ripened splendidly.”-Secretary Wil¬ 
liams of the New Jersey Horticultural So¬ 
ciety: “An ex-member of this Society had a 
plum tree trained against the side of his 
house, which he inclosed in a mosquito netting, 
and the result was 22 quarts of plums in per¬ 
fection.”-Mr. Jones: “I covered a limb 
with mosquito netting, and every plum on 
that branch ripened, but I never -was able to 
get a plum on those trees without something 
of that kind.”-Mr. Dye: “Knowledge is 
the reward of investigation and research, and 
such experiments as are being conducted by 
the Rural New-Yorker in crossing the 
wheat and the rye plants, if resulting in noth¬ 
ing else than a better understanding of 
the law of fertility, or reproduction in 
plant life, will be highly valuable.”- 
J. J. H. Gregory, Marblehead, Mass.: “The 
Longfellow is the largest variety of yellow 
field corn that I have ever found it safe to 
plant in this climate.”-Jonathan Skilton, 
Nortliboro, Mass., reports having raised 115 
bushels shelled corn to the acre of the Long¬ 
fellow.-W. I. Chamberlain, President 
Iowa Agricultural College, in the Albany Cul¬ 
tivator; “In my opinion fully one-half the 
cattle in Iowa will be dehorned before next 
Christmas. The job is short and simple, and 
does not require an expert. The animal is 
stanchioned and the head tied so that it can¬ 
not move, and a sharp fine-toothed saw takes 
off the horn just above the skin. The head 
seldom bleeds profusely or injuriously. If it 
does, it may be instantly stopped, as one thor¬ 
oughly reliable gentleman at Osage as¬ 
serted from trial, by applying cob¬ 
webs, enough of which may be found 
overhead in most barns.”-Mr. Fal¬ 
coner, in the American Florist: “I have 
grown the Moon Flower uninterrupted¬ 
ly for a dozen years, but it took Peter 
Henderson to give it to the people. Many 
fail with and repudiate this plant; but the 
fault is theirs and not the plant’s.”-- 
“But, if we raise new varieties, can we sell 
enough of them to make it pay? Decidedly 
we can. Let the new thing possess sterling 
merit, and the next year, after it is sent out, 
every progressive florist in the country is al¬ 
most compelled to catalogue it.”-Mr. 
Dye, before the N. J. Hort. Society: “He 
who would succeed in securing a crop next 
year must begin this." -Col. Pearson; “If 
I were again to plant an orchard, I would 
plant the seed where the tree was permanently 
to stand, and graft or bud it without disturb¬ 
ing the roots ” 
CATALOGUES ETC., RECEIVED. 
Aspinwall Potato Planter. —Catalogue 
from the Aspinwall Manufacturing Co., Three 
Rivers, Michigan. For several seasons we 
have called attention to this implement. We 
believe it to be one of the most accurate and 
ingenious farming tools ever invented. The 
“old way” of planting potatoes is forcibly 
shown on the cover of this pamphlet. It gives 
one a back-ache to look at it. The new way 
is as easy as riding on the read. This tool 
saves labor of the hardest kind. The Aspin¬ 
wall people have a good reputation for hon¬ 
esty and care. This planter was not put on 
the market until it had been carefully tested 
in all kinds of soils. It will pay any man who 
plants five acres of potatoes to investigate 
the merits of this planter. 
Steel and Iron Roofing and Siding.— 
Catalogue from the Canton Iron Roofing Co., 
Canton, Ohio. For pithiness, order and good 
taste in displaying the articles advertised, we 
have rarely seen a better catalogue than this. 
The facts are stated in a business-like way, 
the claims are presented in a forcible and 
straightforward manner, aud the testimonials 
are not spread over the entire book. Stand¬ 
ard roofing, water-proof building paper, cdV- 
rugated iron for siding aud ceiling, crumpled 
edged iron, fire-proof doors and shutters, roof¬ 
ing nails and iron ore paint are a few of the 
articles described here. Our readers will find 
this firm fully reliable. We invite them to 
send for the catalogue. 
J. T. Lovett, Little Silver, Monmouth Co., 
N. J.—A bright, well-executed catalogue 
of fruits, with colored plates of gooseberries, 
strawberries, blackberries, quinces, pears, 
plums and apples. The colored pear is the 
Lawson, notable for earliness aud a fine color. 
The apple is the Delaware Red Winter. Gan¬ 
dy and Monmouth Strawberries, Early King 
and Erie Blackberries, Golden Queen, John¬ 
son’s Sweet Raspberries; Ogden, Bolan, Spaul¬ 
ding, Mariamia and Kelsey Plums, Meech’s 
Quince and the Industry Gooseberry are the 
rest of the colored pictures. This catalogue 
is fully up with the times. It aims to give 
trustworthy descriptions, and we commend it 
to our readers. 
John Lewis Childs, Floral Park, Queens 
Co., N. Y.—An illustrated catalogue of spe¬ 
cialties and novelties. Among small fruits 
we notice Childs’s Everbearing Tree Black¬ 
berry, the “tree” and fruit both being illus¬ 
trated. It is said that it bears berries of the 
best flavor and largest size for two mouths 
and that it does not require stakes. It grows 
from five to seven feet high, branching freely 
into a fine tree form, straight and erect. 
Again it says the berries are of enormous size 
borne in great clusters which commence to 
ripen in July. Among other oddities we fiud 
the Pineapple Air Plant, Trifoliate Orange, 
Otaheite Orange, Sugar-loaf Pineapple, sev¬ 
eral varieties of figs and, finally,a hardy “hy¬ 
brid hibiscus” which is said to bear flowers a 
foot across, being the shape of saucers, the 
color ranging from wdiite to deep rose. 
G. H. & J H. Hale, South Glastonbury, 
Codd. —A catalogue of well selected small 
fruits—strawberries, raspberries, blackber¬ 
ries, grapes, &c. This firm introduced the 
Earhart Everbearing black-cap, also the Car¬ 
man. Of the latter President Wilder said: “It 
is the earliest cap variety I possess, sweet 
aud very good —a valuable acquisition.” It is 
well indorsed by other prominent men. The 
Champlain, a white seedling of the Antwerp, 
is also offered. This, as well as the Earhart 
and Carman, was carefully tested at the Rural 
Grounds. When hardy enough to stand the 
climate, it is a perfect berry for home use 
large, cream-colored aud delicious. 
Ellw anger & Barry, Rochester, N. Y.— 
