THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
MAR 30 
SIS 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN'atlonal Journal for Country and Suburban Home*. 
Conducted by 
ELBERT S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, MARCH SO, 1889. 
fT'WENTY-FIYE dollars are offered by 
the R. N.-Y. as follows: Fifteen 
for the largest and best shaped R. N.-Y. 
No. 2; $10 for the secordbest. Reports 
should be sent in before November next. 
Thom entitled to the prizes will be asked 
to forward the prize potatoes to the 
R. N.-Y. 
--- 
Catalogue Notices this week will be 
found on page 225. 
Incomes and Outgoes : The one is as 
necessary as the other. Whether we be 
successful or not in our farm life depends 
upon which side of the scales we place 
the heavier weight. 
The sprouts of all potatoes, so far as the 
writer knows, are light-colored if they 
grow in a dark place. To find out the 
true color of sprouts, sound potatoes must 
be placed in a light (sunny) warm room. 
Prof. E. Gale: “I cannot repress 
an expression of the belief that those who 
have been so eagerly moving out upon 
the wheat lands of the Far West, beyond 
the corn belt, have made a financial 
blunder that many, when too late, will 
sorely regret.” So wrote Professor E. 
Gale in the R. N.-Y. of March 8, 1879. 
How is it friends? Was he right? 
We are all prone to give too much 
thought, and to attach too much impor¬ 
tance to a favorite theory. One man pays 
great attention to plant food and too 
little to other considerations. Another 
attaches undue importance to tillage. A 
third attaches too much importance to 
the variety or to “pedigree.” A single 
factor of great crops is made to stand for 
all factors. The wise farmer will divide 
his thoughts duly between all the essen 
tial conditions that belong to maximum 
crops. 
-- 
The R N.-Y. has ever held that an ag¬ 
ricultural journal cannot sell the seeds or 
plants or farm implements it announces or 
praises in its editorial or advertising col¬ 
umns and still inspire a high degree of con¬ 
fidence in the minds of its readers respect¬ 
ing the disinterestedness of its opinions touch _ 
in g the articles thus offered for sale. 
An instructive case, which shows how 
easy it is for farmers to arrive at erron¬ 
eous conclusions in regard to the effects 
of fertilizers, occurred to a poor German 
farmer living within a short distance of 
the Rural Grounds. He began with “ one¬ 
sided ” cheap fertilizers. They were not 
worth a cent so far as he could discover. 
He would not touch fertilizers of any 
kind for a year or so; but was at length 
induced to try a small quantity of a 
“ high-grade complete.” Last spring he 
bougnt $200 worth of this same fertilizer 
and proposes to increase the quantity this 
spiing. 
Some 10 years ago the R. N.-Y. began 
its advocacy of level and shallow culture 
for corn, drilling in the seed instead of 
planting in hills and cultivating both 
ways, and surface manuring or fertilizing. 
Was the system new? Many had prac¬ 
ticed the one or the other of the several 
sub methods. We had never heard of 
any one who claimed to have practiced 
the entire method. The R. N.-Y. raised 
142 bushels of shelled corn to the acre in 
that way. Hence its persistent advocacy 
of the method since. Many farmers prac¬ 
tice it now. 
An Indiana subscriber writes as fol¬ 
lows: 
“I am a new subscriber to the Rural, 
and I must say I am well pleased with 
my new investment. I had never taken 
a farm paper before, and now I don’t in¬ 
tend to do without one, as I get very many 
valuable ideas of farming and gardening 
both from the Rural’s experience and 
that of its many correspondents.” 
There are thousands of farmers in the 
country just like this one. Let them 
really become acquainted with a good 
paper and it will seem too much of a 
friend for them to leave it. 
A rather queer freak developed in 
one of the plants of our plot of corn last 
seasoD. The variety is the one that the 
R. N.-Y. has been endeavoring to im¬ 
prove for 12 years. The plant grew 
about 10 feet high and bore two ears 
about four feet above the soil. A third 
ear was borne within six inches of the 
tassel or nine and one-half feet high. As 
soon as the set was discovered it was sup¬ 
ported by tying the top of the plant to a 
stake; the set developed into an ear of the 
average size. Imperfect ears or a few 
kernels are not uncommon in the tassel, 
but this is the first instance we have seen 
of a perfect ear from the topmost node 
of the corn plant. It helps to show that, 
under certain conditions, any node may 
develop and mature an ear. 
WHERE CORN IS NOT “KING.” 
W HILE “ corn is king ” in this coun¬ 
try, there are places and countries 
where the proud monarch is called upon to 
take a back seat. It may be said that 
America has a monopoly of the corn crop. 
Here all recognize its great value as a 
food for man and beast. In England, 
opinion as to its value is by no means 
settled. The English have never become 
eaters of corn-meal to any great extent. 
Corn has never been able to supplant the 
wheat of England, the potato of Ireland 
or the oat-meal of Scotland. The higher 
price of wheat has increased the amount 
of corn brought into England to some ex¬ 
tent, but not by any means in the propor¬ 
tion that one might reasonably expect 
from the increase in the price of wheat* As 
a feeding-stuff corn was first sent to Eng¬ 
land in 1833, when something like two 
tons was imported. As the result of 
careful expe.imenting with the grain the 
demand increased until, in 1847, over 
75,000 tons were demanded. The larg¬ 
est shipments were made in 1878 when 
225,000 tons were sent. Then the de¬ 
mand fell off until in 1888 but 140,000 
sold in England at one shilling per quar¬ 
ter (eight bushels) less than the price of 
our own product. 
A. C. Glidden believes that com has no 
characteristic of value that will bear trans¬ 
portation across one degree of latitude and 
remain .—page 212. 
BETTER HOLSTEIN BULLS. 
A T the meeting of the Holstein-Fries¬ 
ian breeders held in this city last 
Wednesday, a hot debate took place over 
a proposed change in the registry fee for 
bulls. After considerable talk the follow¬ 
ing was agreed upon: 
“For the registry of males dropped 
after March 20,1889, $5.00; for the regis¬ 
try of females $1. For persons not mem¬ 
bers of the Association such registry fees 
shall be $6.00 for males Payment must 
accompany the application. And the 
sum of $5 shall be paid by the association 
for each American-bred male eligible for 
registration born after March 20, 1889, 
that is killed or castrated while in good 
health after it is over five days old and 
before it is 50 days old, on application and 
affidavit of the owner of the dam, on 
forms furnished by the Secretary and 
approved by the board of officers, stating 
date of service and birth, name of sire and 
dam, and date of slaughter or castration 
and by whom performed. 
The stated object of this change is to 
raise the standard of Holstein bulls 
offered for sale. It is proposed to en¬ 
courage the slaughtering or castration of 
inferior bull calves in the belief that, by so 
doing, the general standard of the breed 
will bo raised. The discussion brought 
out the fact that the cheaper bulls had 
done good service in educating the public 
to the merits of the breeds. Many farm¬ 
ers had used them who never would have 
touched high-priced animals. By the 
use of these animals farmers had been 
taught the true value of better ones. The 
measure is rather a bold experiment and 
its results will be carefully examined. 
RESULTS THAT DON’T HARMON¬ 
IZE WITH THEORY. 
O OME 12 years ago the R. N.-Y. plant¬ 
ed, in a five-acre field, every kind of 
field corn it could secure. There were, 
according to names , over 60 different va¬ 
rieties—early, medium, late; yellow, 
white and red flint; yellow, white and 
red dent; long ears, short ears; ears with 
many rows; ears with few. It was a 
motley crop to be sure—about 75 bushels 
of shelled corn to the acre. It was found 
at that time that many varieties matured 
the pollen and the silk simultaneously; 
others did not. In some the silk matured 
before the pollen, in others the pollen 
matured and shed, before the silk was re¬ 
ceptive. The fact, however, of simul¬ 
taneous development of silk and pollen 
(pistils and stamens), does not insure that 
such plants are self-fertilized. A gentle 
wind is sufficient to blow the pollen from 
the tassel of one plant to the s ; lk of an¬ 
other. This may, or may not be a pro¬ 
vision of nature in favor of cross-impreg¬ 
nation. Later trials with many different 
kinds of sweet corn showed that the dif¬ 
ference between the dates of the male and 
female maturity was more marked than in 
the field varieties, though in some, the ma¬ 
turity occurred the same day. in some, 
there was a difference of two days. It 
was found, however, that this difference 
was not constant in the same variety in 
subsequent seasons. Probably soil or 
thermal changes peculiar to different sea 
sons, are the cause. It will appear, then, 
that the kernels on a cob are not gen¬ 
erally brothers and sisters. They are all 
borne by the same mother, certainly, but 
it may be among the possibilities that 
every kernel owes its existence to a dif¬ 
ferent father. Unquestionably, there are 
few eais of corn every kernel of 'which 
can claim the same father. It will appear 
to our readers, therefore, that in improv¬ 
ing corn, it is just as necessary to regard 
the male as the female parentage. In 
every field there are many barren stalks, 
that is,those which produce male flowers, 
but which do not produce female flowers. 
Such a union could scarcely be ex¬ 
pected to improve the prolificacy of 
the progeny. Theoretically , if we would 
p oduce a more prolific strain; if we 
would increase the number of ears to the 
stalk, or the size of the kernel or ear, we 
must also select the males. This can be 
done only by destroying the tassels of un¬ 
acceptable plants as soon as they appear 
and before their pollen is shed. Plausibli 
and forcible as this theory seems, th< 
R. N.-Y. has persistently and scrupulous 
ly followed it in practice fora dozen yean 
without results at all commensurate witl 
its expectations. 
We are led to infer that the fact that i 
corn plant does not in a given season de 
velop so-called “sets” (female flowers), if 
not very good evidence that its pollei 
will exert a sterilizing influence on othei 
plants. The experience of others, as wt 
find it recorded, is very different. Prof. 
Blount claimed to have produced his so- 
called Blount’s Prolific by this destruc¬ 
tion of tassels on sterile plants more than 
by selection,crossing or cultivation. The 
subsequent discovery that his “Blount’s 
Prolific ” was in reality the old Tennessee 
Prolific, pure and simple, invalidated this 
claim a trifle. 
Dr. E. L. Sturtevant records in the 
R. N.-Y. of March 8, 1879 as follows: 
“ In 1877, we cut out from our seed Held about one. 
half the stalks; in 1878 we found it necessary to cut 
out only about one-fifth. Think of this gain: 50 per 
cent, of barren stalks one year and only 20 per 
cent, from the field planted with this seed the next 
year I ’ 
Yes, farmers may, indeed, well think 
of it, if this mighty change were brought 
about as Dr. Sturtevant assumes it to have 
betn. 
I was taught in my younger days to culti¬ 
vate com by plowing deep with the double¬ 
shovel plow or the two-horse cultivator ; but 
from reading the Rural's experience I have 
learned better. —page 214. 
BREVITIES. 
When “farmin’ don’t pay”;wheu a poor 
soil is worked by a lazy farmer. 
Fertility, good seed, thorough cultiva¬ 
tion. That is the way to produce a fine yield 
of corn. 
We have yet <o meet the industrious, level- 
beaded farmer that has made a failure of 
farming. 
Do you know whether you are using the 
variety of seed-corn which will bring you the 
most crop ? 
Burpee’s Gold-flesh potato reminds one of 
a swpet potato, in color, when baked, and the 
quality is excellent. 
The leaves on the privets are still clinging 
and, for the most part,green. In all previous 
seasons they have fallen before January 1st. 
The series of articles on “ What are you 
farming for?” will prove one of the brightest 
and most thoughtful symposiums we have yet 
printed. 
Fertilize thrice. If you propose to use 
1,200 pounds of fertilizer to the acre, sow 400 
before tlanting; 400 when the plants are 
•'nee-high; 400 just before the tassels appear. 
The R. N.-Y. people, more and more every 
year, pity the lives which city people lead—as 
if by choice. The worst of prison life is the 
sense of imprisonment. City people are in 
prison without knowing it. 
We recall four experiments (one our own), 
in which corn from which all suckers were 
removed yielded less grain than other plots of 
the same corn cultivated in the same way, 
upon which the suckers were allowed to re¬ 
main. 
If the land is rich and the season wet, 
“root-pruning” or deep cultivation may be 
helpful in inducing more grain and less plant. 
In a dry season, no matter how rich the laud, 
the practice has, in the R. N.-Y’s experience, 
proven notably harmful. 
The proceedings of the Engilage Congress 
lately held at Cleveland, Ohio, are both in¬ 
teresting and instructive,giving full informa¬ 
tion on the whole question of ensilage. For¬ 
tunately they have been published in pam¬ 
phlet form and can be obtained for ten cents 
from the Secretary, W. H. Lawrence, 85 
Wood street, Cleveland, Ohio. 
Hills three feet by three fret apart give 
nine square feet for each. Drills four feet 
apart and seed two and a quarter feet apart 
give also nine square feet. By planting 18 
inches apart in drills four feet apart, there are 
50 per cent, more plants on the same laud. 
Will the yield be proportionately increased ? 
Ea^h farmer should be able to answer tor 
himself. 
For over 12 years the R. N.-Y. has (each 
season), saved several ears of corn from plants 
that seemed perfect or as nearly so as could 
be found. These have been planted on a 
little plot as far away from other corn as 
practicable. Care has every season been ob¬ 
served to cut off the tassels as *oon as they 
appeared from all the plants of this little 
plot, which were too far away from the ideal 
sought. This is old news to our old readers, 
but it may be new to new readers. 
To every ovule of corn is attached a long 
thread-like stile. This is the silk. There are, 
therefore, as many silks as there are ovules. 
Later there will be just the same number of 
kernels of corn. These silken threads appear 
to be very smooth A better examination 
through a glass will show that they are not. 
They are provided near the top with minute 
hairs so arranged as to help to secure the 
pollen dust as it falls upon them. This 
pollen no sooner rests upon the end of the silk 
than it sets out to reach the ovary through 
the tubular silk. If it succeeds in its course 
(growth), it joins its mate, so to say, the 
ovule, which is at once fecundated and a 
kernel of corn begins its growth. If the 
pollen grain be arrested in.' its course, the 
ovule perishes and the result is.that a “ miss" 
wifi be formed on the cob. 
