288 
THE ROME, NEW-YORKER. 
damage the vines badly, delaying blooms and 
diminishing the crop of seed. 
I do not know who “ Anon ” is, but I have 
read with interest bis successive articles on 
the seed business. What he states as to seed 
grown South is correct. For earliuess we 
should send North for certain seeds, but I 
know that in case of the majority of seeds, 
such as beans, squash, cucumbers, melons, 
lettuce, okra, etc., our home-grown kinds will 
produce double the quantity and a much finer 
quality than Northern-grown seeds, but they 
will generally be later, except as to melons. 
The finest cabbage seed I ever saw, 1 grew 
myself on St. Lucian’s Island off the coast of 
Georgia, and I never saw finer seed or any as 
plump from any house North. While the 
above is true as to the excellence of our 
Southern-grown seeds, yet I prefer to have less 
desirable seeds than to grow any on my place 
that have to pass the fall and winter, as such 
plants tend to cause an increase in a wonder¬ 
ful degree of the various destructive insects 
which prey upon young vegetation in the 
spring. His remarks a9 to water-melon seed 
are true in all respects. Many thousand pounds 
are grown in Georgia for shipment to the 
North. One seed house, in writing to me, ad¬ 
mitted that as the water-melon here reached 
its highest perfection, so the seeds were cor¬ 
respondingly perfect; but that they were too 
plump, and that they preferred having them 
raised nearer home where they weighed less 
and numbered more to the pound. “Anon” is 
again correct in saying that the best seeds can 
be obtained only where the vegetables or 
fruits grow most perfectly. As the mining 
interests are bringing millions into this State 
and Alabama for investment so, 20 years 
hence, a large proportion of seeds and plants 
will be grown in the South. But for excessive 
express charges we could even now grow and 
ship many plants at one-tenth of wbat North¬ 
ern florists must charge to live. 
AN ORIGINAL POTATO CONTEST. 
J. V., Voak, Yates County, N. Y.— 
Last spring the wife of the pastor of our 
Methodist church proposed a new plan for in¬ 
creasing the funds of our missionary society. 
She suggested that each member should select 
one potato, plant it, measure the yield, and 
sell the product for the society’s benefit. One 
member of the church increased the interest 
by offering a prize for the greatest yield from 
one potato. Thus came about our “contest.” 
At the time of harvesting, the potatoes were 
gathered and taken to the church, where a 
committee appointed for the purpose, received 
and weighed them, and decided who was en¬ 
titled to the prize. The potatoes were then 
sold. At the time of the gathering and the 
decision of the committee, there was held at 
the church what was termed a “ Potato 
Supper.” Everybody was invited. The 
“ supper ” and the social were the fine things 
about it. 
Now as to the yield of potatoes: 21 persons 
competed for tne prize. The yields varied 
from 14 to 86 pounds from one. The pre¬ 
mium lot was raised and presented by Miss 
Dora B. Slaughter, assisted by her grand¬ 
father now 80 years old The weight of this 
lot was 86 pounds. One large potato was se¬ 
lected, the largest they could find, and planted 
in the garden, previously well and thor¬ 
oughly manured with barn-yara manure. 
The potato cut to two eyes to a piece made 11 
hills which, less than four feet apart,occupied 
28 feet. The culture was about as usual. 
They were noed twice, the hills were broad 
and flat; the bugs were kept off, and they were 
occasionally watered during the dry time. 
The potatoes appeared to be not quite matured, 
as the skin rubbed off some in handling. I 
think it probable that they would have 
weighed more if left in the around until thor¬ 
oughly ripened. 
Another young lady presented the next 
highest lot, 63 pounds. Two boys presented 
each 57 pounds, another 53, and two little 
girls 37 and 44 pounds respectively. 
The yield per acre of the lot that took the 
prize as figured by some, would be 740 bush¬ 
els ; another made it at the rate of 743 bushels, 
and another expert at figures put it at 732 
bushels 26 pounds. The last was estimated 
on the supposition that the hills were three 
feet apart each way. 
I will ask the smart folks of the Rural 
New-Yorker how they agree with our 
figures on it. I think there is no doubt 
but that the yield per acre would be quite 
satisfactory t© most, if not all farmers. If by 
the RuRAL’sTrench system that amount can be 
doubled, and all would adopt it, what would 
be done with the potatoes? Thus it appears 
that the Rural is likely to be beaten by a 
schoolgirl of Yates county, New York. But 
let me say to the young men that there is no 
use in their getting out and dusting their best 
store clothes, and starting after this young 
lady. Just wait. Don’t let any one bother 
ber while she is at her studies. 1 might say, 
however, that she can make bread and cook 
and keep house as well as raise potatoes. 
NORTHERN SEED-CORN IN THE SOUTH. 
J. P. A., Tallahassee, Fla.—Is not the 
belief expressed by Mr. A. C. Glidden, in a late 
Rural, to the effect that ‘ ‘corn has no char¬ 
acteristic of value that will bear transporta¬ 
tion across one degree of latitude and remain,” 
a little hasty ? It may be true in regard to 
varieties taken from the South towards the 
North, but it is certainly not true when they 
are moved from the North southwardly. This 
section annually imports considerable quanti¬ 
ties of corn from Maryland to be planted here 
for an early crop, to come into use before the 
native kinds are available, and it always suc¬ 
ceeds well. My experience with seed from 
the North is that it generally does well and is 
early. There is one drawback, however, and 
it is a serious one—such corn is much more 
liable to the attacks of the weevil than that 
generally raised here. Out of some corn sent 
from the Rural New-Yorker a few years 
ago, as the result of crossing 50 different 
varieties, I selected two kinds from the yield 
of the first year. These were both white—one 
having a very small stalk, bearing three to 
five small ears, and very early; the other 
having a large, vigorous stalk, bearing one or 
two large, fine ears, but somewhat later. 
These were planted together, and the cross re¬ 
sulted in something about half-way between 
the two, giving good-sized ears, two or three 
to the stalk, and being nearly as early as the 
earlier of the parents. This has proved about 
as early as the Maryland corn and seems a 
valuable variety. I have had the same diffi¬ 
culty with it with regard to the weevil, how¬ 
ever, and this year very narrowly escaped 
losing the seed from this cause. The Mary¬ 
land corn is so readily eaten by the weevils 
that if left too long in the field it will some¬ 
times be found completely riddled before it is 
gathered. Mine shows no sign of the pest un¬ 
til it has been gathered some weeks. 
WHEN FRESH MANURE IS NOT SERVICEABLE. 
A. B. A , Flushing, L. I.—In the Rural 
of March 30, page 316, is the following, “We 
doubt if fresh farm manure is to any great 
extent serviceable to the corn plant, when 
applied in the spring.” The term “farm 
manure,” as used above, I suppose means the 
same as stable manure. If so, then I will say 
that its value in the spring will depend 
much on the nature of the soil to whicn it is 
applied. On a stiff clay, unless the season 
after planting proves quite wot, I do not 
think it will be found of much benefit, and 
one must wait for good effects from it till the 
following winter has rotted and pulverized it 
for the succeeding crop. But for years past 
1 have applied fresh stable manure to my 
crops of corn, potatoes, etc., planted from 
early spring to late summer. Along side of 
these, well rotted stable manure was oc» 
casionally used, and I could never see any 
difference in the crops, unless the season 
happened to be particularly dry; then the rot¬ 
ted manure proved much the more beneficial, 
and especially so, if it had been made up into a 
compost with muck, turf, or vegetable matter. 
Considerable loss is annually sustained by 
tte improper use of fertilizers, and partic¬ 
ularly of those called “commercial.” If ap¬ 
plied to hoed crops, much of their substance 
seems to be easily dissolved, and leaches below 
the roots of the crops, and is thus of little or 
no benefit to them. Such fertilizers ought to 
be applied broad-cast early in the spring to 
grass, wheat, rye, oats, and any other small- 
grain crops; also in small quantities directly 
around the plants of hoed crops soon after 
they have come up, and again perhaps when 
partially grown. They are of special benefit 
to corn after silking, when the ear begins to 
form. 
GAS-LIME FOR CHINCH BUGS. 
L. C. W., Roger’s Park, III.—A late Ru¬ 
ral contained a communication from J. R. 
H.,Wellsville, Kansas, on chinch-bugs. 1 saw 
in a paper a few years ago, a statement by a 
man in Ohio to the effect that for an experi¬ 
ment he had sowed gas-lime on a field of 
wheat, and the bugs did not hurt it; while a 
piece adjoining it, not so treated was com¬ 
pletely ruined, so I thought I would try the 
plan. It worked splendidly. My brother 
had a piece adjoining. The pests ravaged 
his, but did not hurt mine a bit. I got 20 
bushels of very nice plump wheat to the acre, 
while he got only about 12 bushels of poor 
stuff. If J. R. A. lives near gas-works l 
would advise him to try gas-lime. It is the 
refuse left after the lime has been used in 
purifying the gas. As a’general thing, it is 
given away in order to get rid of it. It is 
rather nasty to handle; but it does the busi¬ 
ness. It must be sowed when the grain is 
three or four inches high or before the bugs 
begin to work. 
R. N.-Y.—A word of caution about the use 
of fresh gas-Jime is not out of place here. 
When fresh, gas-lime contains sulphuretted 
hydrogen and other sulphur compounds 
which are poisonous to vegetation. These 
compounds are, however, rapidly changed by 
oxidation into harmless if not useful sub¬ 
stances, leaving the lime in the condition of 
carbonate, or mild lime, with some sulphate. 
In this condition it is beneficial; but two or 
three months’ exposure to the air is needed to 
produce this effect, so that if the gas-lime is 
fresh it would be unsafe to use it before 
“weathering.” 
A TREE WITHIN A TREE. 
W. B. P., Prattsburg, N. Y.—A neighbor 
cut down an apple tree that was planted 80 
years or more ago by his father, and had at¬ 
tained a diameter of 22 inches at the base. In 
working it into stovo wood he found in the 
center of the trunk of the tree the perfect 
twig as originally pruned and set. It was 
three feet high, the short stubs of the side 
limbs and the two longer ones lett of the 
forked branches of the young tree at the top, 
were all as distinctly defined and perfect as 
when the tree was planted. In the adjacent 
wood were all the angles, bends and indenta¬ 
tions that the twig made,and although snugly 
imbedded, there was no actual connection, a 
section of the twig falling out wffien the encas¬ 
ing block was split. There was as much ap¬ 
pearance of life in the twig as in the sur¬ 
rounding wood, and but little in either, for 
the tree was old. Was it an anomaly ? How 
would the matter be explained by those who 
have made a study of all the mysteries of tree 
growth ? 
RIDGES FOR MANGELS. 
E. A. McC., Emporia, Kan.—I don’t know 
but Geo. Atkin is right in what he says in a 
late Rural on ridges for mangels; but I would 
not take his “say-so” for two acres. I sug¬ 
gest to L. B. S. who inquired about the mat¬ 
ter, to try both level and ridge culture. I 
planted my beets with a wheat drill 40 inches 
apart and ran a wheel over each row, which 
left a slight furrow. When the beets were 
up I worked the soil to instead of from them. 
1 used no manure: the land was medium, the 
season very dry, but I harvested 1,400 bushels 
of sugar beets per acre. 
MULCHING WHEAT. 
J. W., Lodi Ohio. —I mulched 7% acres of 
wheat the first week in January with straw 
and clover haulm, and it looks well now. The 
stand is good. The wheat on parts of the 
field where the crop always froze out before 
stands well now. From present appearance 
I have every reason to expect a large crop. 
W., Tyrone, Pa. —The potato has always 
been a sort of Proteus among our crops. It 
defies all attempts to lay down rules for its cul¬ 
ture. As far back as the days of that first 
agricultural editor, Arthur Young, who had 
General Washington for a correspondent, we 
see the same inquiries and the same differ¬ 
ences of opinion on points of treatment, that 
are found to-day. A Montreal correspondent 
in a late Rural, speaks of sawdust as tend¬ 
ing to induce scab. Now, my accidental ex¬ 
perience last season was that the only quite 
clean and smooth potatoes that I bad—in 
heavy loam mulched, out without the use of 
any fresh manure—were where sawdust, used 
as a mulch for raspberries, had rolled into the 
furrow so that the young potatoes were found 
bedded in it under the soil covering. They 
were so fair and handsome that, although the 
result seemed quite unaccountable, I re¬ 
solved to make a special trial of a sawdust 
bed for the tubers next year. 
Mrs. E. A. F., Hancock, Vermont.— I 
measured my potato contest plot on April 13. 
The snow is not all gone yet so I could not 
measure very correctly. It is about 70 feet 
long and 30 feet wide. The bright new leaves 
of the pie-plant were pricking up through the 
edge of a snow-bank to get a look at the sun¬ 
light. How would my Southern sisters like 
this prospect for raising a prize crop of pota¬ 
toes? I intend to do all the work myself except 
plowing and hauling manure and trenching. 
I intend to try the Trench system and show 
the farmers in this section how to raise pota¬ 
toes. I have been reading the instructions to 
be observed in the contest and also the criti¬ 
cism and noticed how much the Editor of the 
Rural has to contend with. How selfish we 
poor mortals are! But our Rural Editor has 
a mind of his own, and every part and partic¬ 
ular point of the potato contest will be con¬ 
ducted in a fair and impartial manner. 
A. J. A., Cheshire, Ohio.— The amount of 
foul grass seeds put on the market is not com¬ 
pliment arv to the intelligence of the average 
farmer. Dealers know by experience tbat 
many farmers do not know plantain and other 
noxious seeds, or they would not contiuue to 
haudle such seeds as one finds exposed for sale 
everywhere. I suggest that there should ba 
an official inspection of all seeds put on the 
market, and that all foul op worthless seeds 
should be condemned. This inspection might 
include the stuff sent out by the Washington 
Seed Bureau. 
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS. 
The Darnell’s Patent Furrower is a simple 
and very useful implement. At the end of 
two short runners are two round disks which 
make the drills or furrows. The disks are 
then reversed and the seed is covered. The 
distance apart may be adjusted as d< sired. 
The draft is very light; the implement so sim¬ 
ple that there is nothing to get out of order.. 
The Cutaway harrow is being used in some 
new land full of briar3 (Smilax) with great 
satisfaction. This harrow is destined to be 
used by all progressive farmers simply be¬ 
cause it is the best implement yet devis°d to 
subdue rough, weedy land. On mellow soils 
indeed, it is of excellent service, since it cuts 
into the soil, pulverizes and intermingles it 
as no other harrow will do. As the angle of 
the axle with the pole is decreased, the draft 
is increased and the soil more thoroughly 
worked. This leaves the laud in ovals the 
length of the axle, an objection to this and to 
all disk harrows that is partly overcome by 
half-lapping. We cannot speak of the dura¬ 
bility of the Cutaway. It does hard effect¬ 
ive work and the wear and tear upon the 
sharp blades and axle and joints must be pro¬ 
portionate . 
You can buy an ounce of asparagus seed 
for 10 cents. Prepare your bed (let us say 24 
feet square) by spading it as deep as possible. 
Rake it level and sow the seed in drills four 
feet apart. It matters little how thickly it is 
sown. As soon sis the plants reach a bight 
of three or four inches, cultivate the entire 
plot, cutting out the plants so that but one 
remains to every six inches. At the second cul¬ 
tivation, cut out every other plant, leaving 
them one foot by four apart. In the fall give 
this bed a covering of well-rotted horse ma¬ 
nure two inches deep. This is to be left until 
spring, when it should be spaded under. The 
plot is now to receive cultivation as needed 
and the third spring, a liberal dressing of 
bone and ashes or bono and kainit will give 
asparagus as good as (better than, we believe) 
the one or two-year-old roots purchased of 
seedsmen will give the third year. 
Vick’s Magazine praises the Diamond as 
boaring the most beautiful clusters without 
exception, of any of the white varieties 
of our native grapes, whether wholly natives 
or hybrids. This, as R. N.-Y. readers know, 
is a cross (Jacob Moore) between Concord aud 
Iona, first fruited in 1880. The grapes are 
white, the vine vigorous and hardy. It ripens 
with the Delaware. Our specimen vine has 
not fruited yet.. .. 
Try some Savoy cabbages. 
Try the Emerald Gem muskmelon for 
home use.. 
Wash the trunks of fruit trees and such or¬ 
namental trees as are liable to be injured by 
borers—the Weeping Ash, linden etc. Color 
the wash, whatever it may be, so as to resem¬ 
ble the color of the bark. Use thin lime, add¬ 
ing soft-soap, carbolic acid, aloes, sulphur or 
something of the kind. Color with cheap 
mineral paint aud lamp-black. 
People who have fairly wintered, 8hould 
not die in spring, except by accident, unless 
they over-do in some way, says that original 
thinker J.B. Olcott, in the Connecticut Cour- 
ant. Doctors, undertakers, etc., ought to 
have a season of leisure now, and life insur¬ 
ance a spell of profit. But spring is too ex¬ 
citing, and people who try to whoop it up, 
unconstitutionally, are apt to come to grief. 
Before the leaves come to shade the earth, we 
are liable, quite suddenly, to have days, once 
in a while, as hot as the tropics. Then is the 
time for us to choose the lighter and cooler 
employments for ourselves and our animals. 
To kill people in trying to keep up with the 
spurt of a season tbat will presently be snow¬ 
ing, or raining like shot, is plaguy poor man¬ 
agement. The way to behave, during’oneof 
the weather-breeding days in our spring-cli¬ 
mate, is to look upon it as a show of some 
kind, as good as a horse-race or a circus. Let 
it heat itself, if it wants to, while we keep 
cool. That will be far more profitable than 
organizing funerals. 
• The Chilian aud the Brazilian beets are re 
markable for their large leaves and brilliant 
colors,remarks Peter B. Mead,in Orchard and 
Garden. Of the Chilian we have the Chilian 
Mammoth, the Scarlet Ribbed, and the Yel¬ 
low Ribbed, and the ribs look like.tinted 
