450 
THE RURAL. NEW-YORKER. MARCH i 
Bum l Copies. 
MACOMBER’S NEW RASPBERRY. 
NEW VARIETIES OF CORN—THE TOP- 
OVER, ANGEL OF MIDNIGHT AND 
BEAVER-DAM. 
NEW VARIETIES OF POTATOES—GIL¬ 
EAD RED, PRESIDENT CLEVELAND, 
EVERITT. AND MANHATTAN 
MARKET. 
6vouh1si at the 
§!ctD-^otkce. 
MACOMBER’S ANTWERP SEEDLING 
RASPBERRY. 
Half & dozen plants of this seedling were 
received from J. T. Mocomber, of Grand Isle, 
Vermont, and planted last May. They made 
a fine growth, beginning to fruit in early 
July and continuing in fruit, for a long time. 
Mr. Macomber supposes it to be a seedling of 
the Yellow Antwerp. It was found in his 
garden far away from any plants of the Yel¬ 
low Antwerp; but its resemblance is such that 
there can be little doubt as to its parentage. 
Mr. Macomber writes: “It is a better bearer 
and we think more hardy. It is entirely 
hardy here, but its situation is well protected 
by cedar hedges and numerous fruit trees. 
We now giww it in preference to the Yellow 
Antwerp.” 
Now, while no sort, of a positive opinion 
should be based upon the trial of a single sea¬ 
son, the quantity of berries borne by these 
plants was a surprise to all who saw them 
during the entire fruiting period. The berries 
averaged very large. They were of a light 
amber color, adhering firmly to the stem, and 
as full of juice as a raspberry well could be. 
The drupes were large with few aud small 
seeds. The flavor, though not of the highest, 
was yet most agreeable on account of the 
juiciness and tenderness of the fruit. It is a 
beautiful family berry aud we hope, rather 
thau expect, that it may prove hardy enough 
to endure this climate without protection. 
The plants at this time (Feb. 14) show they 
have been injured a trifle by the present very 
trying Winter. It is probable this fine variety 
will prove hardy further north, where it re¬ 
ceives the protection of snow 
It is a matter of regret that all fruits, when 
drawn true to nature, h*okupon paper much 
smaller thau they really are. The berries 
shown at Fig. 109 (seep. 157) average as large 
as any raspberries we have here, though 
smaller in the engraving tlian many of the 
nurserymen’s cuts of Hausell and Cuthbert. 
NEW VARIETIES OF CORN. 
Anokl of Midnight. —Since this strangely- 
named variety of field corn was placed in the 
Rural’s Seed Distribution, we have received 
two letters stating that, as grown with the 
writers, it is not so early as the Rural repre¬ 
sents it to be. One of those letters (already 
published) was from our friend and contribu¬ 
tor, Dr. T. H. Hoskins, of Newport, Vermont, 
whose statements are always worthy of con¬ 
sideration. 
We now give our report of this com as raised 
here tbe past season on a poor soil enriched 
with chemical fertilizer at the rate of about 
600 pounds to the acre, from careful notes 
taken at various times from planting to ma¬ 
turity. 
“Planted May 13, kernels one foot apart, 
rows four feet apart. Begins to ripen August 
5. One of the earliest we have tried. The 
early part of the season cold and backward. 
Fully ripe August 18. Plants six feet high. 
Ears low, often two to a stalk. Some ears 14 
inches long, eight-rowed. Many plants bore 
three and four ears. Kernels fair size, yellow 
flint, about 60 to the row. Cobs small, shanks 
long. Plants sucker considerably. Leafy at 
bottom, slender at top. The ears from 47 
plants weighed 32 pounds.” 
Following are extracts from letters written 
to the introducers, and by them kindly for¬ 
warded to us at our request. We have copied 
from the best and worst reports-all from 
Vermont or New Hampshire, 
Hebron, N. H.—It did not get quite ripe with me. 
Season very poor. 1 shall try It again, f. m. jesskman. 
Stowe. Vermont.—The corn did not ripen very weU. 
It was about half soft. There was a big yield. 1 never 
saw so largo a yield In my life. Two to four ears to a 
stalk, and one was 1414 Inches long. Plants six to seven 
feet high. I shall plant some of it another year. 
DU H. FULLER. 
Mount Vernon, N. H.—The Angel of Midnight Corn 
ripened a little later than that usually planted about 
here. The yield was double. L, k. dillon. 
Alexandria, N. H.—Planted one quart, it ripened 
in splendid shape. The ears were loDg aud perfect, 
generally two to a stall:. I cut off ripe ears before the 
King Philip ripened. 1 sliall pluut this alone another 
year, and would recommend it to farmens as far north 
as In', n. j.f. rfflLur. 
Pownal, Vermont.—It ripened satisfactorily with 
me as early as auy Held corn, and yielded well. Ears 
14 inches long and over 500 kernels to the ear. It wiU 
take well. w. j. Barrington. 
The above extracts will show the tenor of 
30 letters. One writer speaks of stalks eight 
feet high. Another (Middlebury, Vt.) says it 
yields at the rate of 220 bushels of ears to the 
acre, etc., etc. Our object in presenting these 
quotations is to show how greatly the same 
variety of corn may vary under different con¬ 
ditions of soil and climate. It may also vary 
from season to season, even if grown iu the 
same field aud given the same manure aud 
care. Our statement, is that the Angel ol 
Midnight is the earliest field com we have 
ever raised, as judged by one season’s trial. 
When it is considered that the chief object 
of the Rcral’s Free Seed Distributions is to 
introduce or popularize improved varieties, it 
will be understood that we can fully share the 
disappointment of our subscribers wheu, after 
incurring considerable expense, we fail to do so. 
Beaver Dam was received from M. V. B. 
in fact. Joints short. Each plant has from 
three to five suckers which do not bear ears 
generally. The main stalks I .rear from one to 
three ears, always low and covered with leafy 
husks—the leaves often of full size. The ears 
average eight inches in length, kernels large, 
from 87 to 40 to a row. Rows straight and 
close together. The tip is almost invar ably 
covered with kernels, hence the name “Top- 
over.” The shank or ear stalk is scarcely 
larger than a pipe-stem. Sixty-three plan to 
gave 73 ears, which weighed 85 pounds. 
Ninety-five plants on another plot with less 
fertilizers and no nitrogen gave 70 ears, which 
weighed 22% pounds. 
TESTS OF NEW VARIETIES OF POTA¬ 
TOES CONTINUED. 
SOIL, CULTURE, ETC. 
Subscribers should undersumd that these tests are 
made In a rich, moist, garden soil. Tbe crop never 
suffers seriously either front drought or too much 
wet, as the hind Is well drained. Not only has farm 
manure been liberally supplied, but fertilizers of ev 
ery kind huv* been used Inabundanuo. Potatoes huv« 
beeu raised on this plot for six conswutlvo yours. 
Trenohare dug one foot wide and six tBofeew deep, 
aud three feet apart. Two lnohes of soil are raked 
back In the trenches, and the seed pieces (two strong 
eyes each) are placed one foot apart. Two Inches of 
soil are then raked over thetn, and the fertilizer Is 
strewn evenly at the rate of about l.OW) pounds to 
the acre. The rest of the soil Is then returned to the 
trenches as loosely as possible. The cultivation Is 
then effected by hand cultivators, and hilling up Is 
studiously avoided. 
Gilead Red. Received from Wm, Murray, 
Mt. Gilead, Morrow Co., O. He writes; “It is 
supposed to be a sport of the Belle. Very nice 
shape, smooth, uot very large.” 
Six pieces were planted April 20, which ma¬ 
tured August 31. The yield was 10 pounds, or 
at the rate of 403 bushels to the acre. There 
were 34 tubers—25 marketable. The best five 
weighed two pounds 10 L ,.' ounces. Shape, ob- 
loug-flattened; skin, russeted pink. Eyes a 
little deep, medium as to uutnber. A sokd 
looking potato, nearly white flesh and quite 
mealy and nutty as eaten Nov. 15. 
Pres. Cleveland, from Alfred Rose, of 
The illustration shows the characteristic shape 
as nearly as we could find it. Skin, light. 
Eaten Nov. 14. White flesh, mealy. About 
like Early Rose. 
Manhattan Market, from Ira W. Green, 
East Avon, at the request of W. P. Andrus, 
Rochester, N. Y., who says that they give 
great promise of boing superior for yield, 
quality and appiearance. Twenty pieces were 
planted April 82, and yielded 52 pounds—243 
tubers, 170 marketable. Best five weighed 
three pounds, three ounces. The yield per 
acre would, at the above rate be 629 bushels. 
In shape they are rather irregular, long, cylin 
drieal, tapering at ends, often curving as 
shown. Eyes medium in number aud depth. 
It would generally cut to waste. Buff white 
skin, white flesh, quite mealy, as eaten Nov. 
6th. See Fig. 96. 
THE SEED DISTRIBUTION 
of the RURAL NEW-YORKER is sent 
to all REGULAR subscribers who APPLY 
INCLOSING A STAMP. It is sent 
ONLY to REGULAR sttbsoriier*. 
Pain} J^usbatuln}. 
ENGLISH DAIRY NOTES. 
BUTTER-MAKING IN WINTER. 
PROFESSOR J. P. SHELDON. 
Trouble in churning; requisites indispens¬ 
able for prime winter butter; food of coivs; 
temperature; causes of butter “not com¬ 
ing." _ 
Every dairyman and dairymaid who has 
been used to butter-making all the year round, 
has had trouble at times in Wintei—trouble 
with the churning. For it is in the churning 
that the difliculty lies, most of all, rather 
than iu preliminary and subsequent opera¬ 
tions. The act of churning, indeed, is the 
leading and central feature iu the domain of 
a butter dairy; aud if that part of the cere¬ 
mony passes off well, the rest is tolerably 
simple and almost certainly satisfactory. In 
any time of the year, iu frttt, everything 
else may be taken to be iu order if only the 
churning is a success—everything prelimin¬ 
ary, I mean. The mechanical operation 
of churning is, after all, in reference to win¬ 
ter butter, the leading test of the whole 
business, iu the cow-shed as well as iu the dairy. 
If butter comes within an hour, it is usually 
a proof that, the cream was in good condi¬ 
tion, aud that the cows were properly fed; it 
proves, too, that the temperature of the dairy 
w’as properly regulated, aud that the cows, 
or some of them, have not been too long iu 
milk. 
It is hardly possible to make as good butter 
inWiuteras iu Summer; some say it is im¬ 
possible to do so. But, in auy case, there 
is one condition indispensable to the making 
of first-class butter iu Winter, viz.: the 
cows must have calved pretty recently. I 
do not behove that the best of butter can 
be made from cows which are six months after 
parturition; and in winter time the butter 
from such cows will, as a rule, be only toler¬ 
able at the best. Mueh depends, of course, 
on the system employed in feeding the cows, 
on the kind of food they get, and on the 
state it is iu. One of the reasons why sum¬ 
mer butter is, as a rule, the best of the year, 
is found m the sweet and fresh and succulent 
grass on which the cows are fed; and another 
in the rule that the cows are uot long after 
parturition. These two reasons, indeed, pro¬ 
viding the cows are well-bred for the purpose, 
are all-important—either iu cheese ami but- 
ter-makiug; and we may lay it down as an 
axiom that, all things considered, there is no 
cheese or butter equal to that made iu June. 
The condition and quality of the food given 
to cows in Winter have u good deal to do 
uot only with the quality but with the quan¬ 
tity of the butter produced. By 
“condition” I mean the measure 
of easy digestibility with which 
the food is endowed, its physical 
and mechanical state, and also 
the degree ol - sueeuleucy found in 
it. These considerations touch 
everything by reason of which 
silage is superior to its equivalent 
in bay. Dessiented forage, as com¬ 
pared with the succulent vegeta¬ 
tion from which it is made, is 
deprived of its condition; it is no 
longer easily digestible, it is no 
longer succulent and easy to masti¬ 
cate. The labor involved in mas¬ 
ticating hay first and in digesting 
it afterwards, as compared with 
the ease and facility with which 
grass is masticated and digested, 
supplies an explanation of the 
general superiority if summer 
butter, and of tbe greater yield of it at that 
period. This, however, is not the whole of 
the business, for isothermal considerations 
come in as well; and temperature is a condi¬ 
tion we cannot afford to overlook, though to 
our loss we do overlook it a good deal. Given 
the sumo food, the same cattle, the same 
everything excepting only temperature: 
given also the same kind and quality of food, 
except that it may be dry and hard Instead 
of succulent and soft: here we include a range 
of conditions, over and above the cow herself, 
which sufficiently account for the difference 
found in the quality and quantity of butter 
yielded in Summer and Winter respectively. 
These considemtious have u good deal to do 
with the trouble there is with churning in 
Winter, though they are not the whole cause 
of the mischief, or even the chief cause of it. 
It may be said, in tact, that If the cows are 
in good form, and are decently fed, there will 
be no very great deal of trouble with churning 
in Winter utter all. But when cows calve in 
April and Muy, or earlier still, and we try to 
moke butter from them in the follow iug WIn¬ 
ter, it is frequently fouud that the butter shows 
Stew 
>Mfrer'i • 
* vNj ' 
R.N-Y. 
EVERITT POTATO. From Nature. Fig. 95. 
Andrews, of South Berwick, Maine. It is an 
eight-rowed yellow flint, the twin rows often 
separating widely. The ears are about 10 
inches long, 40 or 50 kernels to the row. Husks 
leafy; very long shanks or ear-stalks. The 
suckers often terminate in an ear. It suckers 
considerably. Plants six feet high, very leafy 
at bottom. One or two ears to a stalk. Mr. 
Andrews writes us that it has been in the 
neighborhood for 50 years or more. These 
plants gave us roasting ears July 23. Seed 
planted May 13. It is one of the earliest va¬ 
rieties ever tested here. 
Top-over. —This was tried in 1884 and again 
last year. It is now offered in many cata¬ 
logues. Planted May 13, it was not ready to 
cut until September 1st The plants grow 
six feet high, very leafy at the bottom—bushy 
PennYan, N. Y., who writes: “It is a seedling 
of the good old Peachblow. You will find it 
as good as you ever ate.” Ten pieces were 
planted April 20 and yielded 6K pounds. 
There were 35 potatoes of which 16 were mar¬ 
ketable. Best five weighed two pounds two 
ounces. Yield per acre at the rate of 338 
bushels. Shape- irregular. Eaten Nov. 8. 
Nearly white flesh, not dry or mealy. 
Everitt, shown at Fig. 95, from J. A. Ev- 
eritt, Watsontown, Pa., (no history). Planted 
seven pieces May 30. One hill yielded six-ond- 
one-half pounds, which is perhaps the largest hill 
we have ever dug. There were 22 tubers near¬ 
ly all of fair size. The yield of the seven hills 
was 24 pounds, or at the rate of 826 bushels to 
the acre. There were 88 potatoes, 70 of which 
were marketable. None large, few small. 
MANHATTAN MARKET POTATO. From Nature. Fig. 96. 
