1889 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
839 
them fora week. Wages are low and can’t 
be otherwise, but groceries are no cheaper. 
If the sturdy sons of New England, brought 
up to be prudent and thrifty, cannot get a 
living on these farms, will it be any benefit 
to those who do live there now to have the 
vacant farms occupied by Swedes who can 
live in comfort ou what a Yankee would 
starve on ? Let the houses go to ruin and 
the farms return to the primitive wiklernes 
while there is plenty of land in more fav¬ 
orable locations waiting to be worked. 
THAT CHEESE SYNDICATE. 
W. H. G., Richland, N. Y.—I can’t see 
how a “backing of English capital” is go 
ing to be a detriment to the milk-producers 
as long as they own the cows. I think the 
more factories are brought under one 
management the better it will be for the 
milk-producers. It will tend to higher 
prices instead of lower. The management 
can compel all of its patrons to bring the 
milk in good condition. This will insure a 
better and more uniform quality of cheese 
and tend to increased consumption. Prices 
are usually governed by the supply and de¬ 
mand. It matters little to the milk-pro¬ 
ducer who furnishes the capital—whether 
it comes from London or New York. It is 
only by this system of concentration and 
organization that the dairymen of this coun¬ 
try can control their own business, whether 
it is that of milk, cheese or butter. 
ROAD IMPROVEMENT. 
W. V., Franklin, N. J.—I wish to call 
the attention of the readers of the R. N.-Y. 
to the Rural of April 21, 1888, on roads. I 
was much pleased and instructed with the 
views of the different parties, especially 
with those of Mr. Stewart when he says: 
“ A dead level is tiresome to a horse and 
his driver a i well. I have often said that 
too much perfection in grading too near a 
dead level is a detriment rather than an im¬ 
provement to roads.” I read that sentence 
of Mr. S. to a party who had traveled 
through Europe on a bicycle and said he: 
“I always preferred the rolling to the dead- 
level, perfectly graded roads.” And I would 
farther suggest to the Rural readers that 
a road machine is getting to be a necessity. 
The best way to have one is to discuss the 
thing this winter and at the next town 
meeting make the necessary appropriations. 
MORE ABOUT RATS. 
L. A. R., Brooklyn, N. Y.—Some years 
ago I read in an English agricultural paper 
that to destroy field mice the following 
plan had be-, - '■successfully tried : 
Cut sponge in pieces of about the size of 
a small chestnut, and fry them in drippings 
and place them where the mice are trouble¬ 
some. To get the drippings they have to 
swallow bits of the sponge. These swell 
and kill them. At that time we were much 
troubled with rats in our cellar. We closed 
the house for two months in the summer, 
but before leaving I put a plentiful supply 
of fried sponge where the rats could get it. 
When we returned there were no rats 
about, and we have not seen or heard of one 
in the cellar since. 
most perfect specimen of the variety, viz., produced in Malaga reached 1,900,000 boxes, 
Early Rose. of which there were shipped to the United 
States nearly 1,000,000 boxes. Since that 
BRIEFS. 
At the same time E. C. Barrow, Spink 
County, Dakota, sent a potato weighing 
three pounds eight ounces, C. W. Bower, 
Tompkins County, N. Y., a White Ele¬ 
phant, weighing three pounds four ounces. 
Several of these giants were planted 
the next season in the rich soil of the R. N.- 
Y. experiment plot, but the yields did not 
seem to be increased over those given by 
smaller “seed.”. 
It is respectfully submitted that the R. 
N.-Y.’s trials and reports of new varieties 
o' grapes, currants, blackberries or rasp¬ 
berries, strawberries, potatoes, peas, corn, 
wheat, forage plants, etc., etc., during the 
past 15 years have been of great service to 
the country. The proposition is capable of 
absolute proof. As has been stated before, 
it does not follow that because a certain 
fruit, tuber ir vegetable does not succeed 
well at the Rural Grounds, it may not suc¬ 
ceed well elsewhere. The climate of the 
Rural Grounds is a trying one. It is usual¬ 
ly favored with late spring and early au¬ 
tumn frosts. The atmospheie is, moreover, 
humid, so that varieties of grapes which 
may thrive in perfection at a high eleva 
tion, fail there. Nevertheless, we know of 
no fruit, grain or vegetable that has been 
condemned as worthless at the Rural 
Grounds that has become popular among 
the masses of the people. New varieties 
should not be judged by the way they be¬ 
have under highly favorable conditions, 
but under those conditions which, taking 
the country over, are likely to prevail in a 
majority of cases. We have tried nearly 
all of Ricketts’s grapes—varieties which, 
it was assumed by many, were to revolu¬ 
tionize grape culture. Our reports were 
submitted with great reluctance and with 
the feeling that they would do the R. N.-Y. 
harm among those who, having seen his va¬ 
rieties at fairs, assumed that they were a 
long way in advance of any of the old kinds. 
Time, however, has proven that, except in 
favored spots, all of his hybrids and cross¬ 
breeds are worthless. His Don Juan, 
Downing, El Dorado, Highland, Jefferson, 
Lady Washington, Quassaic, Secretary 
and others were announced with a great 
flourish. Where are they now as grapes 
for the million ? His Empire State was to 
take the place of first among hardy white 
grapes. But there are several of the newer 
time shipments to the United States have 
been gradually but steadily decreasing. In 
1888 when the total production amounted 
to about 700,000 boxes, only 112,000 were ex¬ 
ported to this country. Mr. Marston adds 
that many Spaniards predict that the vin¬ 
tage of 1889 will reduce still further the 
purchases made for exportation to the 
United States, and that in a few years 
Malaga raisins will be replaced even for 
consumption in Spain by those produced 
in California. 
The R. N.-Y. has raised Brussels sprouts 
the past season in this way: The seeds are 
sown in drills three or four inches apart and 
the plants thinned out afterwards as need¬ 
ed. The culture is precisely the same as 
that given to cabbages. The miniature 
cabbages after a little frost or so are as 
tender as cauliflower. Mr. C. L. Allen re¬ 
marks, in Garden & Forest, that a bushel 
of sprouts will bring as much, usually, as 
a barrel of cauliflower, while the yield per 
acre will not be materially less. It is sur¬ 
prising that Brussels-sprouts are not found 
in every private garden, as they are among 
the most palatable of vegetables and easy 
seven miles west of Lincoln, Logan County, 
Ill. and is now 54 years old. It measures 
5K feet around the body two feet from the 
soil and is 35 feet high with a beautiful, 
spreading Lead. “ Itis,” he says ; “a com¬ 
plete ironclad.” W. E. Jones, a neighbor, 
has one of its descendants—a sucker taken 
from it—that is 36 years old, and by reason 
of better care measures five feet around the 
body. It has borne annual crops for 30 
years. In 1888 it bore the enormous crop of 
50 bushels. The fruit ripens in September. 
WORD FOR WORD 
-Puck : “ The Forestry Congress devotes 
more of its time to barks than bites.” 
-American Garden : “It may 
be 
cause, or it may be effect, but weknowthat 
where horticulture flourishes there is a 
prosperous community.” 
-Vermont Watchman : “ No one who 
knows Vermont believes that her farm 
lands are exhausted, or that they cannot 
be as successfully farmed to-day as at any 
period in her history. Let any one take a 
drive through our farming districts, from 
one end of the State to the other, and he 
will see evidences of thrift and prosperity 
to grow. which utterly do away with the idea that 
Willi an Falconer says, in the Albany 
Cultivator, that there is a current idea 
that artificially-grown mushrooms are not 
as good or well-flavored as are natural or 
wild ones, but this is a great mistake ; in 
fact the contrary is the truth, and there is 
not a more delicious vegetable on the face 
of the earth than a plump, fresh, young 
mushroom. And what a delicacy! Mush¬ 
rooms are healthful, digestible, nutritious 
and powerfully invigorating ; but they 
must be used when they are young and 
fresh. 
Their market value is worth considering. 
The demand for fresh mushrooms is in¬ 
creasing every day, and the supply has 
never been nearly equal to the demand. 
Fresh mushrooms cannot be imported from 
London or Paris—the two greatest centers 
of mushroom-growing in the world—so our 
markets must depend solely upon home¬ 
grown produce. ... 
Many farmers could add mushroom 
growing to their system of crops with ben¬ 
efit to themselves, interest to their families, 
and profit all round, and it is a crop partic- 
sorts that are far more promising . ularly interesting to the young people. 
Vermont land is‘worn out,’or is decreas¬ 
ing in productiveness.” 
-Atchison Globe : “ If you put your 
eyes on your neighbor’s row, the weeds will 
grow up in your own.” 
-N. Y. Weekly : 
“ Young Husband—Seems to me, my 
dear, this chicken is pretty tough. 
Young Wife—I know it is, and I can’t 
understand it at all. I looked in its mouth 
and could see it hadn’t even cut its first 
teeth yet.” 
pi.sceUanecm.s Advertising. 
We have received a potato (Early Rose) 
from James Haven of Great Falls, Mon¬ 
tana, which weighs2^i pouuds. It measures 
9% inches long, 12 inches around the short 
and 22 inches around the long circumfer¬ 
ence. It was raised on new land without 
irrigation. The flesh is solid. A single 
tuber of the same variety weighed four 
pounds. It was, however, ill-shapen and 
knobby. 
IN 1884 the R. N.-Y. offered prizes for the 
largest potatoes. The first prize was 
awarded to Jacob Shoudy of Lawrence 
County, Dakota. In a box sent to this of¬ 
fice were 14 potatoes which weighed 38 
pound'. There were seven Blue Victors 
which weighed 23 pounds or an average of 
three and two-sevenths each. The heaviest 
was a Blue Victor which weighed 4) 2 
pounds, a portrait of which appeared in the 
R. N.-Y. of January. 1885. It was without 
prongs and shapely. 
The second prize went to J. W. Collins of 
Custer County, Montana. This, which 
was also illustrated in the R. N.-Y. above 
specified, weighed 4>4 pounds, being only 
one-quarter of a pound lighter than the 
first prize. Though so large, it was an al- 
The R. N.-Y. condemned Durand’s 
Strawberries—varieties that were bred upon 
the only scientific principles, and that, as 
berries for both home and market use, were 
to take the place of all other sorts known 
up to the time of their introduction. 
Never were strawberries announced with a 
more confident assurance of their great 
superiority. Where are they now? They 
failed in the soil and climate of the Rural 
Grounds and they have failed generally.... 
The R. N.-Y., from its own trials, con¬ 
demned Teosinte, Brazilian Flour Corn, 
Prickly Comfrey, Kaffir Corn, Pearl or 
Cat’s-tail Millet; while nearly every kind 
of sweet and field corn, oats, wheat, peas, 
etc. has been tried and reported upon for 
the benefit of our readers. Those who will 
put themselves to the trouble of comparing 
similar reports now being made by the ex¬ 
periment stations with these older reports 
of the R. N.-Y. will find that, a-s a rule, 
those found decidedly wanting in Its exper¬ 
iment grounds will be found wanting in 
most other similar climates and situations. 
Let us make now a brief review of our 
potato reports. During the past 15 years 
the R. N.-Y. must have tried as many as 
1,000 different varieties. How many of 
those are popular varieties to-day? The 
Early Rose, Beauty of Hebron, Pearl of 
Savoy, Early Ohio, White Star, Early Sun¬ 
rise, Thorburn, Early Maine, Burbank, 
State of Maine, Rural Blush, White Ele¬ 
phant or Late Beauty of Hebron and Gar¬ 
field are the chief among them. The 
Green Mountain, R. N.-Y. No. 2, Brown¬ 
ell’s Winner, Superior, Puritan, Corona 
Beauty, Alaska, Early Thoroughbred, Sun¬ 
lit Star, Gov. Foraker, Mrs. Foraker, New 
Queen, Minister, White Early Ohio, Ton- 
hosks, Delaware, Polaris, Crown Jewel 
and Everitt are among late or very recent 
introductions, all of which, as judged by 
R. N.-Y. reports, are well worthy of trial.. 
California Raisins.— California is be¬ 
ginning to outstrip Spain in the produc¬ 
tion of raisins, remarks that very valuable 
journal Bradstreet’s. Consul Marston, of 
Malaga, makes the significant statement 
that the Spanish vine-dressers who have suf¬ 
fered of late years from the phylloxera have 
replaced vines that have been destroyed, by 
Ameri can stock. In 1882 the crop of raisins 
One requires a team of horses to haul a §10 
load of hay to market, but one can put §10 
worth of mushrooms into a chip basket 
and bring it along in his hand, and it isn’t 
too late yet to begin. Shake out or pre¬ 
pare the manure in December, make up the 
bed at Christmas, spawn it at New Year’s, 
and gather and market the mushrooms in 
February and March. 
Horse manure and a cellar are all that is 
needed. The spawn costs only 10 cents to 
15 cents a cake and each cake, divided into 
10 parts, will plant a square yard of bed 
and this ought to bear five pounds of good 
mushrooms at the least. The manure is 
just as good for farming purposes after the 
mushrooms have done growing in it, as it 
was before it was made up into a bed— 
better, perhaps, for it is better rotted. 
Mr. H. M. Engle says, in the last A. P. 
R., that Juniata County, Pa., is having 
quite a boom in peach culture, in conse¬ 
quence of the enterprise of the Smith 
Brothers who, 15 years ago, planted a few 
hundred trees, as an experiment, on land 
worth §15 or §20 an acre. They succeeded 
so well that not only Juniata County, but 
the neighboring counties of Mifflin, Hunt¬ 
ington and Blair are now awake to the 
possibilities of peach culture within their 
borders. From the nucleus of a few hun¬ 
dred trees reliable reports show that last 
season §50,000 passed through the banks at 
Mifflin for peaches. 
The indications are that Pennsylvania 
will, at no distant day, not only grow the 
peaches needed for home consumption, but 
have a surplus for abroad. 
The R. N.-Y. has in preparation an en¬ 
tirely new system of market reports which 
will show at a glance the prices of the 
staple agricultural products in the leading 
markets of the country. 
The average yield per acre of the potato 
prize-takers of Illinois was 506 bushels; 
that of Ohio, 519; of Minnesota, 515; of 
Missouri, 541; of Michigan 447 ; that of Can¬ 
ada 463; that of New York 379; of Kansas 
408, etc,, etc. 
Alluding to our illustrations and des¬ 
cription of the Lincoln Pear, (R. N.-Y. 
page 755). Mr. A. H. Gaston, vice-President 
of the Marshall County, Horticultural So¬ 
ciety, writes us that the original tree stands 
Rheumatism 
We doubt if there is, or can he, a specific 
remedy for rheumatism; hut thousands who 
have suffered its pains have heen greatly ben¬ 
efited by Hood’s Sarsaparilla. If you have failed 
to find relief, try this great remedy. It correct, 
the acidity of the blood which is the cause of the 
disease, and builds up the whole system. 
•* I was afflicted with rheumatism twenty years. 
Previous to 1883 I found no relief, but grew worse, 
until I was almost helpless. Hood’s Sarsaparilla 
did me more good than all the other medicine 
I ever had.” H. T. Baicoji, Shirley Village, Ma . 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla 
Sold by all druggists. §1; six for §5. Madt 
only by C. L HOOD & CO., Lowell, Mass. 
IOO Doses One Dollar 
CONDITION POWDER 
Highly concentrated. Dose small. In quantity costs 
(ess than one-tenth cent a day per hen. Prevents ami 
cures all diseases. If you can’t get it, we send by mail 
orders or more. 
Poultry Winae (price 3nc.i free with 31.0 
L S. JOHNSON & CO.,Boston, Mass. 
nil IHD STRAW PRESS. 
Guaranteed to press three tons more of hay in one 
day (10 hours), than any other portable two horse 
press, with the same amount of help. Give It a trial. 
satisfaction guaranteed, or no sale and freight 
refunded. For conditions, circulars, etc., address 
J. A. SPENCER, Dwight, Ill. 
8 C ENSILAGE 
•CUTTER 
A 11 Sizes for Power an«l 
Hand use. Carriers of 
length. Horse Powers, Etc. 
Send for Free Illustrated Catalogue 
and Price List, with S1T4) 4NU 
-KN'SlI.AtlK TUKATISF. > 
Belle City Mfq Co wt. * 
DICK’S FEED CUTTER 
For Hav. Straw and Ensil¬ 
age. The only machine 
that cuts and splits com 
stalks. We also sell the 
Triumph Stkam Gknerat 
or, and Grikfinq’s Corn 
Shkixkr and Separator. 
Write ns at once. H. B 
Grilling, Sons <fc Co.. 
70 Cortlandt St., 
New York City. TV. Y. 
GRINDING ** MILL. SE SI«W l 
SFMWiMLD ENGINE S THRESHER CO..SPRINGFIELO.O. 
