OCT. U 
@53 
(fomjtujm'f. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
N. Y., Clinton, Oncicla Co., Oet. 1 .—Ab the 
season for frosts*lias arrived with the begin¬ 
ning of October, and consequently the season 
for vegetable growth is virtually closed, 1 will 
no longer defer reporting as to my success 
with certain seeds, so kindly sent from the 
RURAL ollieo, in its free seed distribution. 
And, first, 1 will say of Blount's Prolific corn, 
while it may be successfully cultivated in a 
more Southern latitude, I am convinced that 
it is not adapted to auy portion of Central New 
York. I planted the seed furnished me, on the 
12th of May, but as the balance of the month 
was quite unfavorable for vegetable growth, 
the plauts were a long time in coming up; but 
finally made their appearance, though quite 
irregularly. As theseasou advanced, it showed 
a vigorous growth of stalks, attaining a hight 
ol from 10 to 13 feet, with from two to six ears 
on a stalk. But when the first frost struck it, 
ou the night of the 25 h of September, not one 
kernel of it was sufficiently ripened for seed, 
while all my other varieties of corn were fully 
ripened, and secure from damage by frost. 
Besides its lateness in ripening, I find other 
objections to it for my use. I do not care to 
cultivate a corn which bears its ears eight or 
nine feet from the ground, rendering a step- 
ladder necessary to pick them, or a hatchet to 
cut tip, by the ground, stalks having the cir¬ 
cumference of my wrist, aud almost worthless 
for feeding to stock. Therefore I say, no more 
Blount’s Prolific corn for me. Of the Beauty 
of Ilebrou potato, I received a little over two 
ounces of seed. From this small sample, I suc¬ 
ceeded in getting eight plauts, which were 
planted iu as many hills. They were planted 
in my garden, ou the lOth of May, by the side 
of my Early Rose, for a comparison. Of 
course, they both received careful garden cul¬ 
tivation, as I desired to give them a fair trial. 
It occurred to me afterwards, that for a fair 
test, I should have cut the seed of the Early 
Rose into as small piecos as I was obliged 
to make of the Beauty of Ilebrou. 
As it was, I found that the Early Rose were 
the first to appear above ground, which 1 at¬ 
tribute to this difference in the condition of 
the seed planted, and to me It is additional 
evidence of the folly of bciug- niggardly iu the 
use of seed in planting. Poseibly, for the same 
reason, a smart white frost which appeared ou 
the morniug of the 23d of May, cut the Beauty 
of Hebron down close to the ground, while 
the Early Rose seemed unbanned. Or, is the 
Beauty of llebron the more tender? I could per¬ 
ceive no difference in the. time of the ripening 
of the two kinds, so far a6 the decay of the 
tops would indicate, and on harvesting them, 
about the first of September, there was no per¬ 
ceptible difference iu the appe&raucc of the 
potatoes as to shape, color or size. From the 
two ounces of seed planted of the Hebrons, I 
bud 10 pounds of potatoes, which I considered 
very fair for the quantity of Bced planted. If 
the estimate is made from the quantity of 
ground occupied, the yield would be nothing 
extra. I have saved all for seed, and shall 
make a more tkorongb trial ou the farm, in 
Held culture, next year. Of the Pearl Millet I 
have but little to say. Probably iu conse¬ 
quence of the seed having been planted too 
early, aud an unfavorable 6pring, but little of 
it germinated. The vigor of the growth of the 
plant did not at any time equal my anticipa¬ 
tions; aud as it has tailed to ripen its seed, I 
shall probably not try it again, for I see no¬ 
thing to conviuce me that it is to be preferred 
to sowed corn for soiling purposes in this 
locality, which is considered full}' as favora¬ 
ble as the average of Central New York. The 
Acme tomato proved quite satisfactory to us, 
ripening fully as early as the Golden Rural, 
aud some ten or twelve days earlier than 
the Trophy, which is elasseu as a rather late 
variety, but is admirable for canning purposes. 
I shall continue to cultivate the Acute, both 
on account of its early ripening, and of its 
flavor, which is excellent. Indeed, iu the lat¬ 
ter respect it may be marked as one of the very 
test. The Seedling Bronze Rieinus proved 
very satisfactory. It is au improvement ou 
the R. Gibsonii, heretofore considered as the 
best. Of the other seeds received, I may re¬ 
port at a future time. Rural subscribers are 
certainly greatly indebted to its conductors 
for their free seed distribution. It is very 
warm here at present, aud we are suffering 
greatly from the need of rain. Springs, streams 
and wells are failing, and we are but illy pre¬ 
pared to extinguish a fire, if ouo should occur, 
for our fire department would be almost use¬ 
less, because of the scarcity of water. l. r. 
N. Y., Madalin, Dutchess Co., Sept. 20.—I 
have been a subscriber to the Rural for many 
years, and think the present volume more in¬ 
teresting than any of its predecessors. Your 
seed distribution has added a new source of in¬ 
terest. Each recipient becomes interested 
in his neighbors’ experiments as well as in 
his own, and looks in the ecirrespondents’ 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
column for their reports. On the 15th of 
May last I planted 50 hills of Blount's White 
Prolific corn, three feet apart. Its extraor¬ 
dinary growth astonished every beholder, 
stretching upward from 14 to 17 feet, aud bear¬ 
ing from two to four ears on a stalk. It was 
planted in the garden on heavy loam, with no 
fertilizer, except a little ashes left from the 
burning of some grapevine primings, weeds, 
etc. The Beauty of Hebron received had seven 
eyes which were made seven hills in loamy 
garden soil, without any fertilizing. The larg¬ 
est eye scut up its vine in about 10 days, strong 
and vigorous, making a large bushy top from 
three to four feet in length, bearing several 
large tubers, one of which weighed a pound. 
The vines from the remaining eyes were not so 
vigorous, were much longer in coining up. 
and the tubers did not attain so large a 
growth, The product was much in propor¬ 
tion to the size and growth of the tops, yet the 
aggregate yield from that one potato was 17 
pounds. In April last I procured tome Snow¬ 
flake potatoes for planting. The ground, uot 
being in readiness, I dug a trench in a sunny 
part of the garden and buried the potatoes 
therein until the eyes were swottwt and the 
ground fitted for planting. Having selected 
the strongest eyes first, and planted them in 
newly prepared sod land about the first week 
in May, they came up in a few days, grew 
vigorously, made large spreading tops,growing 
until about the middle of August. Eight weeks 
after planting, the tubers were dug for eating, 
the size of a hen’s egg. and the entire crop was 
gathered before the first of Sept, in fine condi¬ 
tion. giviug in some bills over 20 fair-sized 
tubers, several selected potatoes, weighing 
from one to one-and-a-half pound each. I 
now regret that I did not measure the ground 
and weigh the potatoes, so as to be able to 
compare the- yield with that of the small ones 
planted at the same time, the yield from the 
small potatoes being about half the size and 
quantity. From this and similar experiments, 
I find much is gained in time and thrift, by 
starting potatoes before the ground is warm 
enough for planting. You are thus enabled to 
seleet the best seed which, being planted when 
the ground is fresh and warm, will come up 
quickly and get the start of the weeds and 
hugs while the ground i6 moist, and a fair, if 
not a large yield is almost assured, w. s. n. 
New York, Pitcher, Chenango Co., Sept, 17. 
—The weather here, siuco July, has been very 
dry. It will doubtless shorten the corn drop 
very much, although some pieces look quite 
good, while others will not yield more than 
half a crop. Frequent rains in the early part 
of the season gave us a good crop of hay and 
oats, Potatoes are a large growth; but many 
pieces on very rich ground are badly decayed. 
My Beauty of Hebron potatoes proved a suc¬ 
cess. I received of the Rukal one potato 
weighing from two to three ounces ; I put one 
eye iu a bill, and harvested201 lbs. My Blount's 
corn stands from 12 to 13 feet high, with from 
three to five ears ou a stalksome of the ears 
stand feet from the ground. But it will 
want one month of good warm weather more 
than we have any reason to expect, to ripen 
here. I have been holding my breath almost 
all summer to see if I could not make a good 
report on Pearl Millet; but I will allow that I 
am not very favorably impressed by it. The 
lettuces were splendid. The (lower seeds did 
not grow. A very small portion of the Defi¬ 
ance wheat came up. l. w. s. 
L. 1., Bmithtown Branch, Suffolk Co., Sept. 
14.—I have about 170 stalks of the Blount corn 
growing in my garden. I shall average two 
good ears on a stalk, it is from 8 to 12 feet 
high. Some stalks develop four ears. 1 planted 
it too thick, not knowing anything of its char¬ 
acter. I have a patch of the Pearl Millet doing 
finely. It was planted the last of May and lias 
been in blossom for more than a week, i have 
no doubt of its ripening its seed if the frost 
keeps off a week longer. It stands from five 
to seven feet high. C. s. 
Ohio, Felicity, Clermont Co., Sept. 29.— 
Crops, especially tobacco, have suffered here 
ou flat ground considerably,owing to a surplus 
-of water. Farmers are now very busy sowing 
wheat and cutting tobacco. My Beauty of 
Hebron potatoes yielded well, but were not 
quite as early as the Early Ohios, which were 
planted beside them at the same time. De¬ 
fiance wheat did not fill well ou account of 
drought at the time of filling; and to ! he same 
cause I attribute my failure with most of the 
flower seeds sent me by the Rural. The 
Pearl Millet is doing finely, some of it having 
been cut the third lime : if frost keeps off a 
little lougqr, I shall have plenty of seed for 
another year. 1 only had one Voorhis water¬ 
melon that came to perfection, but it was most 
excellent, The Blount’s corn I gave to Charlie 
to try for a premium. It was doiug finely, aud 
was a wonder to all who saw it. It was blown 
down three times and he straightened it up each 
time as well as he could; but there were four 
stalks brokeu entirely off, from which he husked 
twenty-one moderately fair ears. One or two 
stalks have ten oars each, and now the birds 
have commenced eating a share of it, so 
Charlie thinks his chance for a premium rather 
discouraging. l. j. a. 
Ohio, Napoleon, Henry Co., Sept. 27.— 
Wheat was a good crop—equal to that of last 
year. Y icld, f rom 20 to 40 bushels per acre. 
Some of it was iuiured before thrashing. 
Seeding is not all done even yet. The prin¬ 
cipal varieties grown are Clawson and Fultz, 
though Clawson is not as tiopular as it was, 
owing to its liability to sprout and to heat 
after storing. Corn is not as good as last year, 
but it will be about an average crop. Pota¬ 
toes arc good, both in quantity aud quality. 
A good deal of sorghum is raised around here, 
the Amber variety being the favorite. Every 
one, almost, raises his own “bar’l o’ ’lasses,” 
Farmers are generally prosperous and iu good 
spirits. V. .i. e. 
Ohio, Hartford, Trumbull Co., Sept. 30.— 
My Beauty of Hebron potato had seven eyes. 
1 made six hills of them, and dug 19 pouuds 
of very nice tubers. My Blount’s corn is from 
12 to 14 feet high. I guess some of it will ripen 
if it don’t freeze up for a month. But it is not 
the corn for this latitude, in my opinion. 
There is a comfortable supply of fruit iu this 
regiou, grapes and pears being very plentiful. 
A. N. 
Indiana, Madison, Jefferson Co., Sept. 20.— 
I have been taking the Rural for a number of 
years and I like it. I think it is improved and 
still improving. Farmers' papers are begin¬ 
ning to be what they should he. They arc 
read and thought of uow' much more than 
they used to he. Why ? Because they con¬ 
tain far more useful information and prac¬ 
tical suggestions than farmers generally can 
make use of. But though these eauuot often 
utilize individually all of which they may ap¬ 
prove, yet they need such instruction and are 
“hound” to have it. Farmers are getting to 
be wideawake. Many of the old folks aud 
some of the young ones, too, had little or no 
scholastic advantages in their early days, 
and these, the best of them, look to their pa¬ 
pers to supply this deficiency now. Each of 
these feels the want of scientific, or in other 
words, accurate knowledge. He wants to 
know what different kinds of soil are formed 
of ; what goes to make up the crops he grows; 
what are the constituents of his manures, so 
that he can apply them or uot according to 
the requirement of his laud. All this aud sub¬ 
jects equally instructive arc the topics that 
will make a successful paper, and Lhe Rural 
is going ahead in this line T read, articles 
from it before our Grange aud they are gen¬ 
erally pronounced good. The Acme aud Rural 
tomatoes are uot as early as the Trophy with 
us. I grew enough of the Beauty of Hebron 
potatoes to give me seed for next year; this 
year "wasn't a fair test; the spring was re¬ 
markably dry and cold. We couldn’t get seed 
to sprout, or if it sprouted, it died. We plant¬ 
ed our corn fields three times, indeed we were 
still planting when harvest began, and even 
tuejl we didu’t know whether half a crop 
would be obtaiued. I planted the Rural’s 
Blount’s Prolific on May 20, 18 inches apart, 
one kernel in a hill, uot having dared to plant 
it earlier through fear at losing the seed. Out 
of 150 kernels planted 114 sprouted, aud did 
well considering the uupropitious weather. I 
plowed aud hoed the patch twice. It was in 
three short rows in our garden which was com- 
mou garden soil without any extra manuring. 
Now the corn is nearly ready to cat; for,though 
some ears arc still green, others are quite dry. 
I have grown 301 ears nearly all of them a foot 
long—good large ears well filled out to the 
end, some pushed out of their shucks like au 
over-grown lad bursting through his over- 
tight “ unuieutionables.” Moreover, there are 
shucks with no corn in them and some stub- 
bins. On the whole, considering the year, I 
think it makes a good crop aud I feel proud 
of it. I wonder if I shall Lave any chance for 
one of those prizes; I’d like to crow a little 
over our Grange if I get one of them; but if 
others 6hall beat me, I'll be glad that they 
have done so well. By the way, there were 
some barren stalks. j. o. b. 
Ind., Williamsburg, Wayne Co., Sept. 12.— 
The harvest iu this part of the country was 
generally good, wheal especially so, yielding 
an average of from 25 to 28 bushels per acre. 
Oats, some pieces good, others ruined by rust. 
Hay, an average yield, good aud of excellent 
quality. Flax, a poor yield per acre, but of 
fair quality. Prospect for corn, as to quality, 
fully an average, but it is badly blown 
down, so much 60 that if we don’t have 
a very dry fall, a great deal of it will rot, 
aud the prospect uow is for wet weather. We 
have been having very heavy rains every 
week, which is mating seeding progress 
slowly. What nctwocn prostrated corn and 
wet weather, the acreage sown to wheat Will 
be considerably below what it would have 
been under more favorable circumstances. 
Markets here are: wheat, 90c.; corn, 33c.; 
oats, 20@'35c.; cattle, $2.50@4; hogs, !$2.50@ 
* 3 . My Beauty of Ilebrou potato had 13 eyes, 
from which I made as many hills; the bugs 
worked them badl.v, but I got a yield of 18 
pounds of fair tubers, for which I would not 
take the price of your valuable paper. The 
Blount’s corn gives promise of from one to six 
ears to the stalk, but looks as if it would not 
mature well, as it is very late. Taking the 
crops already harvested and the prospects for 
the rest of the year 1S79, all in all, the outlook 
is very flattering, and we think will soften the 
hard times we have all heard so much com¬ 
plaint of, for which w r e should all be very 
thankful. w. m. h. 
III., Lawn Ridge, Marshall Co., Sept.-19.— 
Wo have bad several frosts that cut off the 
buckwheat and killed the late potatoes. Oats 
are half a crop. Corn is good. There arc not 
as many hogs as usual, for so mauy were sold 
in June. Apples scarce. Weather very dry 
all through this section. J. Y. 
Wrs., Magnolia, Rock Co., Sept. 20.—Last 
spring I sent to New York for five pounds of 
Beauty of llebron potatoes, and planted them 
with the single potato the Rural sent me, cut 
to oue eye iu a piece, and put one piece in a 
hill. I dug them about the middle of August, 
aud had 11 bushels and 40 pounds by weight. 
They ripened about the same time with Early 
Rose, but the yield was nearly twice as large 
and the potatoes the finest 1 ever saw. I shall 
save them all for seed, as 1 think they will 
prove a valuable addition to our early varie¬ 
ties. Q. n- 
Texas, McKinuey, Collin Co., Sept. 23.— Ol 
the seed sent out by the “old reliable” Rural, 
Blount’s Prolific corn was planted expressly to 
compete for the premium; but the awful 
drought cut it short, makiug about at the rate 
of 40 bushels per acre. As we had 52 days 
without rain, I think it a good corn to follow 
stubble. Pearl Millet is not a humbug, nor 
anything like thereunto; for Hungarian, Ger¬ 
man Millet aud Milletarian all failed, while 
this is maturing nicely. I could have made 
two cuttings, but I let it stand for seed. Rab¬ 
bits, birds, chinch-bugs and other pests have 
injured it, still I think a prize will be taken at 
tbe county fair by 24 mature beads of it 16 
inches long and well filled, all from oue hill 
planted with a single seed. Bronze Rieinus 
ornaments our garden walk ‘•majestically.’’ 
The Defiance wheat was sent too late, the rust 
destroyed it. Stseds aud plauts sent me by 
Commissioner Le Due and our representatives 
in Congress have mostly succumbed to tbe dry 
weather—such as Tea plauts, Eucalyptus, Ja¬ 
panese Persimmons, etc., although Prickly 
Comfrey aud Amber sugar-cane will probably 
be valuable acquisitions to our Southern 
climate. 1 liuve succeeded iu crossing lhe 
Amber with the Silver Drip, and the cross is 
more likely Lo give satisfaction than either, 
because the Amber is too small and the Drip 
too large and watery. 
The Beauty of llebron is a beauty iu the 
potato line, being earlier than the Early Rose. 
The Bermuda sweet potato and Brazilian yam 
yield, in a good year, from 200 to 300 bushels 
per acre; but they are uot as sweet as the 
Nansemoud or the Spanish yam, which only 
yield about 100 bushels. Cuttings of vines 
make a small, smooth potato, but slips are 
much more prolific. Mediterranean wheat 
yielded about 20 bushels per acre, while Red 
May (Texas) did not average 10. Farmers, 
therefore, are sowing chiefly of the former to 
the chagrin of the millers, who have tried to 
rule iu the wheat raising matter, but at last 
“give in.” The Rural speaks of better times 
in the East and sends as encouraging news of 
the prospects, on account of the recent crop 
failures in Europe; but what good does this do 
the farmer who has uothiug to sell ? Through¬ 
out Texas and the adjoining States and Terri¬ 
tories Lhe drought has created a considerable 
“shortage” ; for where the showers happened 
to fall, will not constitute more than one-tenth 
of the general area ; therefore the home con¬ 
sumption will exhaust the surplus. For once, 
iu mauy years, we must learn to do without 
hay, aud if raius do not come soon to bring 
forward tbe wheal and barley for winter pas¬ 
ture, stock must fare badly, if much suow falls 
this winter. 
I would be pleased if every farmer iu this 
section could read aud deed the Rural's articles 
of Cash vs. Credit—for ninety-nine out of every 
hundred of them have faileu into the habit of 
going iu debt, and a more pernicious aud 
ruinous custom never existed. It is tbe first 
step to serfdom. I look upon these hard times 
as containing one factor ol bunificenee in the 
way of teaching farmers to be economical, 
frugal, and cautious iu their transactions. I 
6 ee in Western, as well as iu Eastern Agricul¬ 
tural Journals an effort to put forward honest, 
energetic farmers for officers of trust aud 
honor. Why not ? Does not the farming in¬ 
terest represent by far the larger share of the 
whole population ? And shall a few aspiring, 
boasting, blowing politicians belonging to a 
meager minority enact laws for us who 
should wield tbe national influence which 
belougs to us by the right of numbers, intelli¬ 
gence and morality ? It is high time that we, 
the tillers of the soil, should have a voice in 
matters of state. 
Plymouth Rock fowls have proven to be 
much bettor for tbe Southern climate than the 
Light Bralimas. w. n. w. 
