VUL. A X X V 111. No. 4 
WHOLE No. 1554 
1 
NEW YORK, NOV. 8, 1879. 
iPRICE FIVE CENTS. 
1 PER YEAR. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by the Rural Publishing Company, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. - Entered at the Post-Office at New York City, N. Y., as second-class m atter.] 
« 
the first volume of the Popular Science Month 
ly. To some this sketch may seem too much 
like a eulogy. It is true of Dr. Gray, as of 
every one, that he has some faults. In this case 
they are of minor importance. He has done 
much to help others. He has never sought his 
own advancement. He is not a schemer in 
any sense of the word, but rather retiring and 
avoids notice or promotion. He is strictly 
honest in every sense of the word, and likes to 
see fair play and justice done to every one, 
even the humblest worker. A man with such 
sterling qualities is so rare that he should be 
held up as a grand example for young students 
to follow. 
Agricultural College, Lansing, Mich. 
up to the present time—a period af 26 years. 
One of his ablest articles was that in which he 
points out the relations of the Flora of Japan 
to that of Eastern North America. Almost 
every work of any merit on botany, which has 
appeared in any country within the last twenty- 
five years, has been ably reviewed by Dr. Gray 
in the American Journal of Science and Arts. 
His own works were reviewed by others. He 
has taken up mauy knotty problems in botany, 
and has lived long enough to see most botanists 
fall in with his conclusions on the subjects in¬ 
vestigated. 
Asa Gray was born in Paris, Oneida County, 
New York, November 18, 1810. He graduated 
as Doctor of Medicine at Fairfield College in 
1831; received the degree of LL. D. from 
Hamilton College in 1861. For some years be 
was president of the American Academy of 
Arts and Sciences, and in 1872, president of the 
American Association tor the Advancement of 
Science. He is honorary or corresponding 
member of any number of leading foreign 
scientific societies. His name stands above 
that of any other American botanist, and 
ranks with the best of those in Europe. System¬ 
atic botany is his forte. He is especially 
intimate with Charles Darwin and Sir J. D. 
Hooker. 
All this work has required a long life with 
great industry and perseverance. He has en¬ 
joyed almost uninterrupted good health which 
he has preserved by good regular habits and 
some relaxation at regular intervals. He does 
not find it necessary or best to study all night, 
or for half the night for a part of the time, 
pared jointly with the late Dr. Torrey. They 
extended through the Composites. Dr. Gray 
has lately renewed the work and has alone 
printed part first of a third volume. In 1848 
appeared the first volume of his “ Genera of 
the Plants of the United States." The object 
in this work was to describe a prominent spe¬ 
cies of each genus of plants in North America. 
These were accompanied by detailed drawings 
by Isaac Sprague, the best botanical artist in 
this country. Tticse drawings are marvels of 
accuracy and have never been excelled in any 
land, and probably they were never equaled. 
The text was prepared with great care. The 
work only passed through two volumes. It is 
now rare and costly. Dr. Gray was ready to 
continue the work, but the artist could not be 
induced to do so. He thought his drawings 
were not appreciated. 
In connection with his other work, Dr. Gray 
did considerable towards maintaining and in¬ 
creasing the botanic garden, greenhouses,etc., 
at Cambridge. In the early part of his studies, 
he was an industrious collector of plants and 
laid the foundation for the great herbarium at 
Harvard. He has made valuable contribu¬ 
tions to botanv in a host of miscellaneous 
papers and reviews contributed to the Ameri¬ 
can Academy of Arts and Sciences, to the 
American Journal of Science and Arts, North 
American Review, Atlantic Monthly, Transac¬ 
tions of the American Pomoiogical Society, and 
to numerous Journals of Agriculture and 
Horticulture. 
In 1837—42 years ago—appeared the first 
contribution we find in the American Journal 
DR. ASA GRAY 
BY PROFESSOR W. J. BEAL. 
EXPERIENCE WITH BLOUNT CORN 
L. J. TEMPLIN 
There aeem6 to be such an interest felt in 
the above variety of corn that I have thought 
that a report of my experience with it, might 
he of interest to the readers of the Rural. In 
the spring of 1876, j ust before leaving Union 
City, Iud., for this place. I received through 
the editor of the Union City Eagle, a small 
packet of the White Prolific corn dhect from 
A. E. Blount, of Cleveland, Te.messee. In 
the confusion and burry of moving this long 
distance and getting started in business, this 
corn was forgotten till late in June, when it 
came to light. I planted it in the garden near 
the house in a rich, friable, loamy soil. It 
grew well till the locust invasion that began on 
the 28th of August, and lasted seven days. 
Dnriug all this time the “ hoppers" were about 
us as thick as they could hop, frequently aver- 
aging one for every square, inch of thegrouud. 
The corn had just reached the early stage of 
the milk state. The locusts ‘‘weut for” it, 
and I’‘went for" them, but they were “too 
many " for me. I soon found that a retreat 
was necessary to save a single vestige of the 
much praised corn. I therefore cut it off at 
the ground and carried it to the cellar. Here 
it remained till the destroyers had left us. I 
then carried it out and set it against the fence 
till thoroughly dry. I then pulled it off, husk 
and all, and laid it away in a dry place till 
spring. It then appeared to be simply chaff, 
but I determined to give it a chance. To make 
sure of a stand, I put from six to eight grains 
in a hill, and, to my surprise, every grain 
seemed to grow. From this I learned a lesson 
about seed corn. Of course, I had to pull up 
over half of it, but I still had enough left to 
give me two or three bushels of good, sound 
corn. 
In thu spring of 1878, ou the first day of 
April, I planted two acres of this corn five 
feet apart each way, among some young timber 
just set. The soil was a light sandy loam, the 
seasou was very wet, and it was cultivated but 
twice. I did not measure the corn, but I never 
saw such a wilderness of corn before. It ran 
from three to five ears to the stalk, with occa¬ 
sionally seven to nine Inferior ones. I thought 
this was the corn. The ears were of good size, 
plump and sound with small cob, and, what is 
of importance here, it was but little injured by 
the corn worm. 
I was so well pleased with it that I planted 
last spring, about 22 acres of it. The soil is 
good, black loam. It was planted In good 
season and well cultivated. It grew well till 
shooting and filling time, when the drought, 
which bad been prevailing to a greater or less 
extent all the summer, became so severe as to 
seriously check its growth. The result is 
about 15 bushels of small ears to the acre. 
Two other varieties, one white and the other 
yellow, growing in the same soil and with simi 
j lar culture, yielded about double as much 
I as the Blount. 
and then rapidly break down and rest or re¬ 
cruit for a long time. He lives on plain food. 
His best hour for work is from 9 to 10 r. M. 
when he is not likely to be interrupted. He 
retires at 10 or 10£ o'clock, sleeps well and 
long. Although he has done a vast amount of 
work, ou account of his excellent habits he 
seems still active, in lull vigor, and good for 
many years yet to come. 
The author acknowledges some items from 
of Science and Arts. This was a paper read 
before the Lyceum of Natural History in New 
York, October 24, 1836. The subject was 
“ Vegetable Fecundation." Then soou follow 
other valuable papers—one ou synonymy of 
several plants of the orchid tribe, notes on 
European herbaria, and a botanical excursion 
to the mountains of North Carolina. In 1853 
Dr. Gray appears as associate editor of the 
journal last named, and has held this position 
