548 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
AUG. 4S 
THE 
RURAL NEW'YORKER, 
A. National Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
ELBERT S. CARMAK 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 1888. 
ITow would you like it, friend, if with 
a splendid season and the finest promise 
of a great yield of potatoes ever given, you 
were to find your vines attacked and dy¬ 
ing, as shown by our illustration on page 
541 ? Many of the stems are the largest 
we have ever seen. Does the R. N.-Y. 
acknowledge itself defeated in the “Con¬ 
test ?’’ No, the committee must decide 
that. 
Professors Roberts and Comstock, of 
Cornell University, visited the Rural 
Farm (Long Island) last Friday, in the 
pursuit of their various investigations. 
We don’t know whether they learned any¬ 
thing from us or not, but we do know that 
the R. N.-Y. learned a thing or two from 
them. These two hard-working, enthu¬ 
siastic men have their hearts in their 
work. 
-♦- 
Prof. Comstock informs us that at Brent, 
wood, Long Island, he found the Flea-beetle, 
shown on page 341, despoiling potato vines. 
He is certain that this insect causes the 
damage. This confirms the Rural's conclu¬ 
sions, and shows that this is not a, local 
trouble. Prof. C. hopes the insect will suc¬ 
cumb to the Paris-green solution sprayed 
upon the under sides of the leaves. How to 
get it there is the problem. 
J. J. H. Gregory, on page 542, says he 
urges farmers to use potash in some form 
with night-soil. On page 477 we gave a 
fair average analysis of night-soil. Com¬ 
pare this with the analysis of any stand¬ 
ard complete fertilizer and it will be seen 
that Mr. Gregory is wise in advising the 
addition of potash. How do market 
gardeners in sections where night-soil is 
wasted, like the idea of being found a 
quarter of a century behind the times ? 
That is where they are according to Mr. 
G.’s opening sentence. 
Some six years ago we were shown 
plants of a dwarf Lima bean bearing 
heavily. We have since wondered why 
it has not been introduced. Now we 
learn that a leading seedsman will soon 
offer a dwarf Lima for sale. Whether 
this is the same as the plants above al¬ 
luded to, we cannot say. Certain it is 
that the gardening public would greatly 
prize such a variety. To be able to har¬ 
vest the same amount of beans from a 
given area without the bother and ex¬ 
pense of poles would be a mighty consid¬ 
eration in favor of the dwarf. 
Glimpses of Farm Life in Califor¬ 
nia. —The letter, the third of a series, 
appearing on page 543, gives the realistic 
in opposition to what may be termed the 
imaginative and romantic side of the life 
of a small fruit farmer in California. The 
account is so direct and simple that it re¬ 
quires no comment. The writer in a pri¬ 
vate note says that fruits ripen in the foot¬ 
hills before they do 400 miles further 
south on the coast, the easy explanation 
being that the low temperature and sum¬ 
mer fogs of the coast retard vegetation, 
while the shelters of the foot-hills ad¬ 
vance it. 
A few years ago the farmers found 
that corn could be thrashed in an ordina¬ 
ry thrashing machine. The men who 
made the machine did not seem to know 
that this work could be done until the 
farmers told them. For the past few 
years a number of farmers have been us¬ 
ing mowers and reapers for cutting corn, 
both for fodder and for grain. Letters 
addressed to the makers of these mowers 
and reapers disclose the fact that they 
know next to nothing about it, and are 
obliged to refer to farmers. Is this good 
business ? It may be said, in justice to 
the manufacturers who have in any way 
investigated the matter, that they think it 
a mistake to use mowers and reapers for 
such work. These implements, they say, 
were made for lighter work. They can¬ 
not possibly stand the strain of cutting 
large corn stalks. 
- --- --— > 
“ TnE potato growers of Great Britain 
got a taste of our market last year and 
they will raise a larger crop than ever this 
year to pay for it.” This remark was 
made by a shrewd farmer, last spring, as 
he was putting in his potato crop. Now 
comes the Mark Lane Express with the in¬ 
formation that the potato crop of Great 
Britain promises to be enormous—greater 
than that of last year, if anything. The 
probabilities are that the foreign-grown 
potatoes will have a great influence on 
prices here. Why can’t American farmers 
raise potatoes as cheaply as they can be 
raised anywhere on the globe ? That is 
the question city people want to have an¬ 
swered. An American farmer just back 
from England said in our office last week: 
“ I don’t like a country where the farm¬ 
ers have to live on bread and cheese.” He 
gave the main answer to the question. 
There is much complaint against our 
ordinary school text-books. They cost 
too much; they are too frequently 
changed; they deal with a good many 
matters that are of no earthly importance 
to the pupils who go to district schools. 
A Western friend is particularly preju¬ 
diced against the “readers” used in such 
schools. He suggests the use of agricul¬ 
tural papers in the place of the books. 
Why not? We venture to say that the 
money spent in the average school dis¬ 
trict for “Readers” would secure enough 
copies of the Rural or some other good 
farm paper to supply the classes with 
plenty of reading material. Some parents 
and teachers are proud when the pupils 
can shout “Marco Bozarris” or “The 
Polish Boy,” and such would not take 
kindly to the quieter reading to be found 
in a farm paper. Which reading would 
do the most good? 
We all find things in this world that 
are hard to understand. It appears that 
English farmers are not behind in this 
lack of understanding. Here is what one 
of them says : “I cannot understand why 
Englishmen will allow the Americans to 
send us 18,000 barrels of apples every 
morning for the London market alone, 
when the fruit can be grown in England 
at a really good profit, provided the prop¬ 
er sorts are planted.” This is no harder 
to understand than some of the problems 
Americans encounter. Tons of valuable 
feeding materials are shipped out of this 
country. Why are they not fed to Amer¬ 
ican cattle ? Thousands of bushels of po¬ 
tatoes are sent here from other countries, 
and millions of eggs used here come from 
foreign hens. All these things ought to 
be stopped, but w T ho is going to stop 
them ? 
TnE editor of the Kansas City Live 
Stock Indicator speaks of a stalk of 
Teosinte (Euchlosna luxurians) which, 
when cut, August 1st, was nine feet eight 
inches long. We should be glad to hear, 
later, if this or any other Teosinte plants 
mature seeds in Kansas. The plants raised 
at the Rural Grounds, years ago, grew 
amazingly after hot weather set in, each 
plant bearing a great number of shoots 
which grew to the hight of some five feet 
before frost killed them. We know of no 
other plant that gives so large a quantity 
of leaves, and very broad ones, too, to a 
stalk. It should be thoroughly tried in 
Texas, Louisiana and Florida. An earlier 
variety might be developed which would 
ripen seeds further north. 
We believe it is a native of Mexico. 
Dr. Yasey mentions that in tropical coun¬ 
tries, the plant grows to the hight of 12 
to 14 feet, bearing as many as from 50 to 
60 stalks. One of our plants after being 
cut down grew again with great rapidity. 
It seems to withstand drought as well as 
any of the sorghums. Dr. Vasey says 
that it is closely related to Indian Com, 
the male flowers forming a tassel at the 
top of the stalk. The fertile flowers 
are from the lateral joints, not like maize, 
on a thickened axis, but on a very slen¬ 
der stem, and inclosed in a loose husk. 
TnE ensilage experiments, conducted 
at the New Hampshire Station, serve to 
bring two points out strongly. One sam¬ 
ple of silage may be better than another 
and this difference may be almost entire¬ 
ly due to a difference in the varieties of 
corn used. It is not always the corn that 
produces the greatest bulk that proves 
most valuable in the silo. We must have 
quality as well as quantity. It is going 
to pay the Experiment Stations to take 
up the experiments started in New 
Hampshire to determine the most profita¬ 
ble variety of corn for silage. Another 
point worthy of careful study is the dif¬ 
ference between the cost of a quart of 
milk from the average cow of the herd 
and the poorest cow. The cost of a quart 
of milk from the whole herd, averaging 
the five different fodders, was 2.74 cents. 
The cost of a quart of milk from the 
poorest cow, averaging the fodders as be¬ 
fore, was 4.26 cents, while a quart from the 
best cow cost only 1,59 cent. Who doubts 
the fact that there are as wide differences 
as this in the cows of any common farm 
herd ? The cow whose milk costs 4.26 
cents per quart when that from her neigh¬ 
bor costs only 1.59 cent is a robber, yet 
there are hundreds of such cows stealing 
under the very noses of their owners. 
AN EXCELLENT PROJECT. 
A RGUMENT is now being made before 
the House Committee on the Judici¬ 
ary in favor of the passage of a bill to es¬ 
tablish a Court of Patent Appeal. Such a 
court would be a god-send. The other 
cases that ordinarily come before the 
United States Supreme Court generally 
affect the interests of only a few, and how¬ 
ever grievous the injury done by delay, it 
is usually limited to the litigants and their 
immediate associates. In patent cases, 
however, the interests affected are much 
wider ; for those of the general public are 
ordinarily more or less involved, and de¬ 
lay is, therefore, all the more regrettable. 
Whenever in a patent or any other case an 
appeal is made from the decision of any of 
the United States District or Circuit 
Courts, it must take at least three years 
before it can be reached on the docket of 
the Supreme Court, so great is the accu¬ 
mulation of business before it. Even after 
a decision has been rendered, it is not 
necessarily final, for either the Court may 
be evenly divided, or only one phase of 
the question may have been presented to 
it, and its decision on another phase or on 
the entire matter may be entirely differ¬ 
ent, as in the case of the driven or tube 
well. Thus it may take so many years 
before the final settlement of a case that 
the patent may have run out and all its 
exactions and oppressions be over before 
the Court has finally passed on the merits 
of the question. This has been the case 
with many patents, notably with Green’s 
broad claim for driven wells, and it will 
be the case for many more, notably for 
Bell’s broad claim for the telephone. The 
proposed Patent Appeal Court would re¬ 
lieve the Supreme Court of some of its 
heaviest work and thus enable it to clear 
off or greatly diminish the number of other 
cases on its docket, while doing away with 
the grievous hardships and scandals due 
to the outrageous delay in the final settle¬ 
ment of patent cases. 
THE CUCUMBER FLEA-BEETLE. DE¬ 
SCRIPTION. CONTINUED 
. RAVAGES. 
T HE ravages of the Cucumber Flea- 
Beetle continue unabated in the 
country about the Rural Grounds. Vines 
of late potatoes which should keep green 
until September are now, many of them, 
quite dead; many are dying; others are 
just attacked, while a few 7 have yet es¬ 
caped Many farmers, until the real 
cause was discovered, considered it blight, 
among them one of the “Contest” plot 
committee, Justice J. G, Webb, whose 
field of Blush potatoes is suffering. 
The three illustrations on page 541, 
figures 295, 294 and 293, are accurate re¬ 
productions of leaves, showing their ap¬ 
pearance when first attacked, the later 
punctures, and, finally, the blackening, 
curling and death of the leat. Fig. 296 
shows the culprit (Haltica cucumeris, 
Harris) much enlarged—the line on the 
left showing its actual length. 
It was discovered last Wednesday that 
tomato vines were attacked in several parts 
of the tomato plot in one of the Rural’s 
experiment fields. Some of the leaves 
were dead, many were turning yellow and 
curling up. 
This beetle is scarcely more than one- 
sixteenth of an inch long. It is described 
as of black color, with clay-yellow anten¬ 
nae and legs, except the hindermost thighs 
which are brown. The upper side of the 
body is covered with punctures which 
are arranged in rows on the wing-cases, 
and there is a deep transverse furrow 
across the hinder part of the thorax. Mr. 
Harris says : “During the summer, these 
pernicious flea-beetles may be found, not 
only on cucumber vines, but on various 
other plants having fleshy and succulent 
leaves, such as beans, beets, the tomato 
and the potato. They injure all these 
plants, more or less, according to their 
numbers, by nibbling little holes in the 
leaves with their teeth, the functions of 
the leaves being thereby impaired in pro¬ 
portion to the extent of surface and 
amount of substance destroyed. The 
edges of the bitten parts become brown 
and dry by exposure to the air and as¬ 
sume a rusty appearance.” 
Further on, Mr. Harris says: “Mr. 
Samuel Flanders, of Lowell, Mass., where 
the flea-beetles have appeared in unusual 
numbers, showed tome, in August, 1851, 
some potato-leaves that were completely 
riddled with holes by them, so that but 
little more than the ribs and veins re¬ 
mained untouched.” 
There are other flea-beetles which close¬ 
ly resemble the Cucumber Flea-beetle, but 
their bodies are not of a solid black color. 
Saunders says that the larvse of the Cu¬ 
cumber Flea-beetle are minute and slender, 
tapering towards each end and are said to 
live within the substance of the leaves at¬ 
tacked: hence the plants suffer from the 
depredations of the larvse as well as from 
the injury caused by the beetles. They 
attain maturity, pass through the crysalis 
state and change to beetles within a few 
weeks and there is a constant succession 
of the insect in its various stages through¬ 
out the greater part of the summer. 
Prof. C. V. Riley, U. S. Entomologist, 
replies to the Rural’s note as follows : 
“ You will find this insect mentioned as a 
potato pest in my book entitled ‘Potato 
Pests,’ page 103. The Paris-green reme¬ 
dy, applied as usual to the upper surface 
of the leaves, will, of course, not be per¬ 
fectly satisfactory, but if you can apply 
it in the form of a spray to the underside 
of the leaf, the results will probably be 
satisfactory enough.” 
As before stated, the R. N.-Y. has ap¬ 
plied Paris-green extended with plaster, 
hellebore and water, Buhach and water 
and Gishurst compound, all with not the 
least apparent effect. It is impracticable 
to attempt to spray the leaves underneath 
after the vines have fallen and formed a 
mat of foliage upon the ground. 
-- 
BREVITIES. 
Cider and Vinegar next week. 
Farmers, do you still intend to patronize 
fairs which encourage gambling, horse-racing 
and drinking ? 
Prof. Troop tells us that the Crawford is 
one of the best of the new strawberries at the 
Indiana Station. 
You have done a nice thing for the stations 
in your paper of Aug. 4th. 
PROF. I. P. ROBERTS. 
Of the several kinds of water melons grow¬ 
ing this season at the R. G.,the old Peerless 
bears at this date the greatest number and the 
largest melons. A “ new melon ” from W. A. 
Burpee & Co., is next, Hungarian Honey next, 
Oemler’s next and Pride of Georgia bears the 
fewest and smallest. It is a fine season for both 
water and musk-melons. 
Many of our contemporaries call the 
stations “experimental stations” and the 
farms “ experimental farms.” Is it not better 
to call them experiment stations and farms ? 
“ Experiment,” either as a noun or verb 
would indicate a station or farm where ex¬ 
periments are conducted. “Experimental” 
would indicate that the farm or station itself 
is an experiment. 
A correspondent writes that he is satis¬ 
fied his wife can make as good bread as can 
be found in the country. There are two reas¬ 
ons why he deserves to be congratulated. 
Confidence in the abilities of one’s wife is fre¬ 
quently better than confidence in one’s own 
ability. Bread-making is the hight of do¬ 
mestic science. Perfection in that counts 
eight in a possible 10. 
The vine Akebiaquiuatais bearing fruit this 
year at the R. G. This is the second time since 
the vine was planted some 15 years ago. If 
the Rural were obliged to destroy every 
ornamental vine on its premises except one, it 
would hold on to the old Trumpet Creeper— 
Tecoma radicans. After fussing with all sorts 
of novelties for a score of years, we find our¬ 
selves going back with a new and stronger 
fondness for the good old things. 
Many farmers know what it is to be hand¬ 
icapped by a lack of ready cash. How much 
better any business is for a good sinking fund. 
Cash can be added toby turning and judicious 
handling. It is often very easy to borrow 
money. Shall a young farmer take advantage 
of this ease, or shall he scrape along with 
what he has until money seems a little nearer? 
The way the question is settled has much to do 
with future happiness. 
Prof. Roberts makes a sensible conclusion 
from his feeding experiments. He simply 
concludes that corn-meal is not the best food 
for fattening sheep. He does not claim that 
fat or lean mutton can be produced at will. 
This is wise. If we mistake not, the fat and 
lean pork experiment conclusions will be 
greatly modified by future investigations. 
Too many farmers believe that corn forms a 
standard ration alone. Such farmers lose 
money in feeding and such bulletins as the one 
we have quoted from, will help to point out 
the true value of corn. 
“Agriculture has become a lost art in 
this locality. The farmers have gone into the 
business of boarding city people.” Thus 
writes a subscriber from a Long Island town. 
There are those who consider the taking of 
summer boarders as a very legitimate part of 
farm work. Is one who raises vegetables and 
poultry to be eaten on the premises by city 
people, less a farmer than one who raises corn, 
wheat and potatoes to be shipped to the city, 
and eaten by these same city people at home ? 
Who will tell us ? Is such agriculture a “ lost 
art ” or an improved art. 
