4888 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
633 
acid. If it did contain ammonia the ashes 
would liberate it. Better apply separately 
and harrow each. 3. This is answered above. 
4. No one can answer the question. All 
depends upon the present fertility of the soil 
and whether it needs one or the other or all 
the constituents of plant food. 
DISCUSSION. 
MORE ABOUT BUYING SEED POTATOES. 
E. T.— Edwardsville, Kansas. —I com¬ 
monly try several new varieties of potatoes 
every year, and prefer to buy them in the 
spring rather than in the fall. If shipped by 
express there is no danger of frost, in transit; 
the price is about the same, and the risk, 
shrinkage and danger of getting different 
sorts mixed is avoided when they are planted 
as soon ns received. One who was buying 
largely of standard varieties would be gov¬ 
erned by a number of considerations as to the 
time of making his purchase, for which no 
rule could be given: but when, as with us, 
it is important to plant potatoes early, I 
should want the seed on hand in the fall, 
particularly if it was to come from some dis¬ 
tance. With “fancy” potatoes, that are sold 
at a high price, the main consideration, as to 
the package, is security, rather than cost; 
and boxes or barrels should be used. Several 
varieties may be put iu one barrel and secured 
from mixing by putting heavy paper between 
the different sorts. Cheaper potatoes, shipped 
after (or before) danger from frost, are just 
as well sent in sacks, and more cheaply. The 
cost per bushel for sacks (2>£ bushels, burlaps) 
is'about three cents; new barrels cost about 10 
cents per b jshel. The freight on the package 
* is an item also—barrels averaging 18 to 20 
pounds; burlaps 1 to IX pound. 
H. I. Batavia, N. Y.—When the farmer 
grows his own seed potatoes he should take 
great pains to keep them neither too warm 
nor too cool or even too dry; the very best re¬ 
sult is attained by storing them iupits; but 
this, or any other way of keeping the tubers 
over until planting time in proper condition, 
is subject to so much risk from rot or 
heating or chilling, that the tubers become 
more or less injured for seed; so that if I was 
to buy, I should wait and select, in the spring, 
such as were found to have kept in perfect 
condition until then, and I have several times 
had to secure my seed in that way after hav¬ 
ing stored and kept it the best way I could; 
but before planting time it had either sprout¬ 
ed too much, or met with some other injury. 
Bulls in Switzerland. —According to our 
excellent English contemporary, the Ag. 
Gazette, the Swiss Government distributes a 
sum of nearly .£0,000 each year as premiums 
for bulls in the 24 cantons of Switzerland, 
and, according to a return which has just 
been published, there are 18,391 bulls in these 
cantons. The amount of premiums allotted 
to each canton is proportioned to the further 
sum given by the canton itself, and the 
premiums are not paid over until it is proved 
that the animals to which they have been 
awarded have been used for getting stock. 
Another useful innovation is that by which 
the Federal Government offers special prizes 
for the best collections of animals belonging to 
the same family, what in England is called 
“family groups,” the object being to encourage 
tho embodiment of the various qualities which 
go to make up good breeding stock. These 
prizes were awarded last year in the ten 
cantons of western Switzerland, and, accord¬ 
ing to the returns published, these ten cantons 
comprised 423,425 animals suitable for breed¬ 
ing purposes. One of the conditions to which 
winners of these prizes are subject is that the 
animals awarded them shall not be sold out of 
the country. Several of the communes have 
raised money to give additional prizes of their 
own, and in several instances a bull which 
would probably not fetch more than forty 
pounds has won a prize worth three-fourths 
of that sum. 
Grasses in Kansas.— There are few Kan¬ 
sas farmers, says Prof. Shelton, who might not 
grow Alfalfa to advantage. In the ability to 
resist drought, and in its yield of hay or 
pasturage, it has no equal among the common 
grasses and clovers. About twenty pounds 
of seed should be used to each acre of ground, 
which must, in every case, bo well prepared 
by plowing and harrowing. Of all varieties 
of grass tried on the farm of the Kansas 
Agricultural College it may be said that ulti¬ 
mately all will give place to Kentucky Blue- 
grass. Red clover will hold its own longer 
than any other grass or clover against the en¬ 
croachment of this conqueror of grasses 1 
but the Blue-grass is sure, sooner or later, to 
dispute with it the possession of the land. 
Except for lawn, he would on no account ad¬ 
vise seeding to Kentucky Blue-grass, for the 
reason that it gives no hay crop worth men¬ 
tioning, and almost no pasturage: except dur¬ 
ing about five weeks of early .spring, it has 
but a trifling agricultural value. Its near 
relative, Texas Blue-grass (Poa arachnifera), 
seems to Prof. Shelton a much more useful 
sort, and, not unlikely, one of the very best 
grasses. A wider experience is needed before 
a statement of the agricultural value of this 
grass can be made. 
Feed and Butter Quality. —The trials 
made in past winters at the New York Exper¬ 
iment Station go to show that of the feeds 
used for milch cows, corn meal tends to pro¬ 
duce the largest flow of milk, but that linseed 
meal gives the greatest yield of butter, al¬ 
though the flow of milk is diminished. The 
butter under corn meal feed was firm and 
waxy, while under linseed meal it was soft and 
oily, although the melting points were nearly 
the same for both. It was found that there 
was a considerable difference in the amount of 
olein in the two butters and that the viscosity 
of the butter was very different, which seems 
to show that food may influence the composi¬ 
tion of the butter. These are important con¬ 
siderations for the dairyman who seeks to 
produce a high-grade of butter. In Holland 
where some of the best butter is made, it is 
said linseed meal is not in favor, as the farmer 
finds it produces a soft and oily butter, and 
when fed its ill effects are in a measure coun¬ 
teracted by adding palm-nut cake, which is 
said to produce the firm, waxy butter so much 
desired. 
SHORT AND FRESH. 
All R. N.-Y. subscribers are invited to 
send for as many specimen copies as they may 
care to show to their friends at the fairs, at 
home or elsewhere.... 
Vick’s Magazine says that the keeping 
qualities of the foliage of the Japan Rose, 
Rugosa, are not less remarkable than its beauty. 
The Editor has kept a sprig of foliage in water 
for several weeks, and it retains its green and 
fresh appearance to the last. It will serve for 
a number of relays of rose, flowers that are 
lacking in foliage. 
Experiments under Prof. W. €. Latta at 
Purdue University of Indiana tend to show 
that harrowing wheat in early spring lessens 
the yield and that drilling in wheat gives a 
better yield than broadcasting. The results of 
experiments with thick and thin seeding show 
that at least six pecks of wheat to the acre 
should be sown on land of medium fertility. 
Thin seeding almost invariably suffers most 
from severe winters. With early sowing, on 
rich land, four or five pecks of seed might 
answer. 
The great obstacle to the introduction of 
the “ new things of agriculture ” in Kansas, 
says Prof. Shelton of the Kansas Ex. Station, 
is the well-nigh universal disposition of 
Kansas farmers to stake all on some one crop. 
The farmers are all more or less saturated 
with the “ bonanza farming ” idea. Culti¬ 
vating grasses and roots they pronounce 
“small business.” They can’t stop to 
“putter” with dairying and fruit-raising and 
tree-planting so long as the big corn-field de¬ 
mands their attention. There are, however, 
many reasons for thinking that the day of 
the exclusive corn-field and wheat-farm is 
past forever, in Kansas. 
The Director of the Kentucky E. S., says 
that manufacturers of genuine fertilizers are 
always willing to comply with a law which 
protects them as well as the purchaser, and 
their goods will be found labeled as required 
by law. It is generally those who offer 
adulterated or inferior goods that do not desire 
the quality of their goods to be known. 
Tulips and Strawberries.— There is a 
very odd idea which E. P. Powell proposes to 
the readers of Popular Gardening : “ Having 
immense quantities of Tulips, I thrust one 
down at the root of every strawberry plant 
when I plant a new bed ; and you ought to 
see my strawberry garden in spring. Long 
before the berries ripen it is a vast tulip gar¬ 
den ; hundreds waving all colors in the wind. 
They do no harm whatever to the strawberries 
or plants. Try it. Nothing multiplies faster 
than tulips you know, and fifty bought for 
two dollars, will in a few years make a hun¬ 
dred. 
Keep the asparagus bed free of weeds * 
* If you desire to save seeds select them from 
the largest plants—those having the thickest 
stems. The plants which do not bear seeds 
are males. * * * Cut off the runners of 
strawberry plants; destroy all weeds between 
the rows and plants; keep the soil mellow until 
mulching time. * * * You may layer 
grape-vines yet. * * * Prepare for hardy 
bqlbs. Hyacinths soon run out; they are 
rarely worth keeping over two years. Tulips, 
with proper care, will multiply from year to 
year. * * * If you fear a frost, pick the 
tomatoes that are large enough to pick. They 
will ripen under cover. * * * Save the 
seeds of gladioli; with proper care they will 
produce blooming plants the second year. 
* * * Make cuttings of gooseberries, cur¬ 
rants and grapes. * * * Buy a Paragon 
chestnut tree. * * * Try the Eaton and 
the F. B. Hayes grapes. 
Prepare the wheat ground thoroughly; 
try a thin mulch of old manure (later) on a 
small part of the field. 
Peter Collier (N. Y. Ex. Station) says 
that Prickly Comfrey seems well adapted to 
serve an important place when soiling and 
intensive farming are being carried on, but 
for the general farmer probably it will not 
serve his purpose. It is very productive 
under good care and highly nitrogenous but 
of rather a leathery nature and not suitable 
for curing as hay. Lucerne or Alfalfa is a 
plant which seems suitable for both intensive 
and general farming, and should receive in¬ 
creased attention from the farmers of the 
State, beginning in a small way at first. 
-- 
WORD FOR WORD. 
Prof. Shelton of the Kansas E- S.: “I 
know of no matter in which the farmer can safe¬ 
ly waive judgment, or where he can delegate his 
thinking to another.”-“In seeding, we 
have, in the course of 13 years, been complete¬ 
ly successful in seven years, and have made 
more or less complete failures in five years ; 
and in the same period, we have had eight 
years of great crops of hay, one medium crop, 
and four years when the hay crop was light- 
We have had, in the same period, but one sea- 
s on (that of ’85 and ’86) when tho destruction 
of grasses and clovers by winter-killing was 
really serious. We have never yet—at least 
since 1874—had experience of a season of 
drought that has permanently damaged well- 
set Orchard-grass, Alfalfa, or Red clover.” 
—-“ No agricultural community was ever 
yet, I believe, known to abandon the simpler 
systems of farm practice for the complex and 
costly, except as it was driven to it.”- 
Atlanta Constitution: ‘“Some of the richest 
men in England owe all their wealth to beer. 
And some of the poorest men there owe all their 
poverty to beer. ”-Goodall’s Sun: “ All 
wealth and no health makes Jay Gould a blue 
Jay. ”-Prof. W. A. Henry: “ In dairy¬ 
ing, he who sells butter at common prices, 
which is made from milk produced from com¬ 
mon cows, fed the common way, will never rise 
to comfortable circumstances, but lead a 
hard life of toil all his days. --Hoard’s 
Dairyman: “Think of a farmer making 
butter that costs him every bit of 16 to 18 cents 
a pound, and swapping it at 10 to 12 cts. 
a pound for groceries at a country store— 
paying high for the groceries, and getting but 
little for his butter.’-Drovers’ Journal: 
“Above all else, a well sustained reputa¬ 
tion for reliability. It beats the profits on 
small cheating all hollow.’”-London 
Agricultural Gazette: “We are not aware 
of any important information having been 
given to the world by one of the American 
experiment stations, and we doubt whether the 
whole of them together are equal in efficiency 
to the Woburn Station of the Royal Agricul¬ 
tural Society, while they certainly do not 
approach Rothamsted. As far as field or 
feeding experiments go, we certainly should 
not go to the Uuited States for our example.’’ 
-Again: “On the whole, while it appears 
that if we are to take any foreign Department 
of Agriculture as a model, we cannot do bet¬ 
ter than take that of the United States, it 
is clear that we should not follow it slav¬ 
ishly. It is more than we require in some 
respects, at least for a start, and in other re¬ 
spects it is deficient in what we consider as 
essential. In short, we should regard the 
American Department as an example rather 
than as a model.”-—American Garden: 
“The Cucumber-leaf Beetle (Haltica cucum- 
eris) has been ravaging tho potato and tomato 
crops in many localities. The insect is so 
small that the injury resembles a blight in 
appearance. Some of our tomato plants are 
nearly destroyed, the leaves first turning 
yellow and then curling up and falling off. 
The usual remedies have little effect, but a 
friend says (he has destroyed this pest by a 
liberal use of tobacco water and also of the 
tobacco dust.” 
For Nervous Debility 
Use Ilorslord’s Acid Phosphate. 
Dr. A. M. Bilby, Mitchell, Dak., says: “I 
have used it in a number of cases of nervous 
debility, with very good results.”— Adv. 
How to SAVE re-Rhlngling, STOP 
leaks effectually and cheaply In 
roofs of all kinds, or lay NEW roofs 
Particulars FREE If you mention this paper. 
ROOFINC . 
UNEQUALED 
For House, Barn, 
ad all out-buildings. 
BODY CAN PUT IT ON. 
PRICE LOW. 
Write for Sample and Book. 
143 Duane St., New York City. 
INDIANA PAINT & ROOFING CO. 
MAKE HENS LAY 
S HERIDAN’S CONDITION POWDER la absolute¬ 
ly pure and highly concentrated. It Is strictly 
a medicine to be given with food. Nothing on earth 
will make hens lay like It. It cures chicken chol¬ 
era and all diseases of hens. Illustrated book by 
mall free. Bold everywhere, or sent by mall for 
26 cts. In stamps. 2Jtf-lb. tin cans, $1; by mall, 
11.20, Six cans by express, prepaid, for $6. 
U 8. Muuos fc Oo., P. O. Box 2118, Boston, Mass. 
ROSSIE IRON ORE PAINT. 
Is made from Red Oxide Ore—is the best and most 
durable Faint for Tin, Iron, and Shingle Roofs, Barns, 
Farm utensils, etc., will not oracle or peel —will protect 
roofs from sparks. Samples free. Ask prices of 
ROSSIE IRON Ore PAINT CO., 
Ogdcnsburg, N. Y. 
THE BEST CATTLE FASTENING! 
SMITH’S 
SELF-ADJUSTING SWING STANCHION, 
The only Practical Swing Stanchion Invented. Thou¬ 
sands In use. Illustrated Circular free. Manufactured 
by F. G. PARSONS & Co.. Addison, Steuben Co. N. Y 
EPPS’S 
GRATEFUL-COMFORTING 
COCOA 
600 ACRES. 13 GREENHOUSES. 
TREES 9 PUMITS 
Wo offer for tho Fall trade a large and fine stock 
of every description of FRUIT and Ornamental 
TREKS, Shrubs, Rones, Vines, SMALL 
FRUITS, Hedge Plants, Fruit Tree Seed¬ 
lings and Forest Tree Seedlings. Priced Cata¬ 
logue, Fall of 1888, mailed free. Established 18S2. 
BLOOMINGTON (PHCEN IX) NURSERY 
8IPNKI TUTTLE & CO. Proprietors, BLOOJIINUTOM, ILL. 
DOUBLE 
Breech-Loader 
$6-75. 
Rjn.ESS2.25 
PISTOLS 75o 
ns 
All Kinds cheaperthau« 
elnewhere. Before y<r 
buy send stamp foi 
Catalogue. Aadrei. 
POWELL & CLEMENT. 
1 HO Main Street, 
Cincinnati, Ohio 
TREES 
Vines, Hoot Grafts, Everythin'!. 
No larger stock in the U. S. N > 
No better, cheaper. PIKE CP 
HURSERUS. LOUISIANA MO. 
IQ A Funny Selections, Scrap Pictures, etc., and nice 
OUU Sam ole Cards for 2c. Hill Pub.Co., Cadiz, Ohio 
OXFORD DOWN 8HEEP! SSIS&KK 
“ Ellenborongh ” Flock makes another importa¬ 
tion necessary this season. Selections of yearling 
Rams and Ewes have been made by Mr. John Tread¬ 
well, tho acknowledged leading breeder, and best 
Judge In England. Oxfords are the largest of the 
black faced breeds (rams weigh 425 lbs,), are heaviest 
shearers, and will outlive “ tree wool.” At the last 
Smithfleld, London, Eat Stoqk Show, Oxfords won 
champion price for best mumon sheep at the show . 
and were considered the best 'class at the last great 
“ Royal.” Address F. C. GOLDSBOROUGH, 
Easton, Talbot Co., Maryland. 
Dehorning Cattle ^U“ r a ald 
i. j 
28 
pagebodkparticulars 10 c. 
WICKS, Colorado Spring!*, Colo. 
SHEEP AND LAMBS. 
Cotswold, South-down, Oxford-down, Shropshfros, 
and Merinos, bred from our very choicest stock Write 
at once for our special prices for the fall; also Rough- 
coated Collie Puppies. 
W. ATLEE BOKPEE & CO., Philadelphia, Pa 
Strong, Simple, and Dura- 
able. Fits any wagon. Goods 
sent on trial, and If not satisfac¬ 
tory may be returned at our ex¬ 
pense. Agents wanted; Sample 
at wholesale. Write for Circulars. 
POMEROY <Jk PEARSON, Lockport, N. 
Y. 
P ROFITABLE T, Vi£ OTV 
PYLE’S RED WINTER APPLE 
a large, red. showy apple; good keeper, and. 
abundant bearer. Price, first-class trees, 75 cents, 
second class 50 cents, each. Write to 
CEORGK ACHEL1S, West Chester, Pa. 
PEERLESS DYES Bold by Druggists, 
