£ftrRY hoj4 
Vol. XLV. No. 1890. 
NEW YORK, APRIL 17, 1886. 
PRICE FIVE CENTS. 
$2.00 PER YEAR. 
Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 188#, by the Rural New-Yorker in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
light skin. Eaten Oct. 16. flesh nearly white, slightly 
yellowish, very mealy. This potato began to rot early. 
Sir. Baker wrote that he found it earlier than Early 
Rose or Beauty of Ilebron. Planted Stay 4th, It ma¬ 
tured here Aug. 18. 
Early COBOtTlU), from James Haynes Cobourg, Ont., 
Can. He says "Four years from seed-ball. Fully 10 
days earlier than the Early Rose. It yielded last year 
at the rate of .'HW bushels per acre on land that was 
planted with potatoes 11 years with only a light coat of 
manure.” "Two years ago" he continues, "the potatoes 
were planted on the '20th of May. and on the 1st of 
August there were potatoes as large as hens' eggs." 
We always like to give the orlgluntor's account of 
his own seedling. We planted five pieces May so, and 
they matured August as. The yield was 11 pounds—fS 
tubers, IS marketable. Best live weighed two pounds 
three-aud-one-half ounces. This would be at the rate 
of 532.40 bushels per acre on our richest land. Bull- 
white skin, sometimes pinkish. Shape oblong. Eaten 
Nov. 26. Flesh white, of the first qunlity; mealy, fine 
grain, a pure potato flavor. 
tion. Dairymen cannot do better than .to 
grow and feed both. 
THE GENERAL-PURPOSE COW. 
A great ileal of discussion has been going 
on during the past year over the question of 
the general-purpose cow. Of course, every 
disputant has given his own meaning of such 
a cow. One wants a beef carcass as a finale. 
He is therefore more of a beef-producer than 
a dairyman. Another is content with a cow 
that gives him a profit 3 -par after year as long 
as he keeps her in his daily herd. The carcass 
with him is of minor consideration at the end. 
He is a dairyman. But there are two kinds 
of dairymen. One wants a large flow of milk 
to take to the cheese factory or to supply a 
milk route, and the other wants butter, no 
dairying is far from being reduced to a scien¬ 
tific basis. This, however, no one has stop¬ 
ped to think about; but all who could scrape 
together a few cows—good, bad or indifferent 
—have goue into the business of dairying. 
The result is that there are thousands in 
the business to-day who are not fit for dairy¬ 
ing and never will be good ones, and many 
w-ho have not the farms adapted to it, nor the 
conveniences for its successful pursuit. All 
the old scrubs and ungainly animals of every 
breed have been retained in the business. 
They are now kept at a dead loss, and the 
sooner they are disposed of the better for their 
owners and the dairy community. Now is a 
good time for all the incompetent and un¬ 
qualified dairymen to drop out. Some of 
them will be frozen out; all ought to 
get out. They never ought to have 
engaged in the business. Dairying at 
any- time can be carried on successfully 
only under the proper conditions. The 
weeding out of all the poor cows and 
all the poor dairymen, just- now, would 
be a public blessing. It would give 
more relief to the market than the 
suppressing of bogus butter. But while 
it is a good time for poor dairy-men to 
drop out, there never was a better time 
for those who understand the business 
to stay iu. spread their sails and get ready 
to take advautage of the propitious gales 
that are sure to follow. According to 
the Census Bureau, the increase iu milch 
cows in I 860 was a fraction over 80,000. 
T. D. CURTIS. 
Coptics 
Experiment (6 round .o' of the ilural 
HXcuo-Uorkcr. 
POTATO TESTS CONTINUED. 
In view of the uear approach of the time to plant- 
potatoes In the North, we hasten the reports of our 
la- season’s tests of new varieties, and, to save space, 
present them In small type. 
Early Otoe from Diui'l You [IK, No address. (Our 
note? are missing.) 
W. Arutic Bimricu & Co., of Philadelphia, sent us a 
tuber (no name) that they had grown with good results 
for two years. They desire to know If we recognized 
the variety. Five large pieces were planted, though 
not until July It). The vines Made a fair growth, 
but, strange to say, not one tuber, large or small 
formed. 
La re Vermont, from Myron C. SalTortl & Co., 
Mt. Salford Farm,Salem, N.Y.,who wrote: "It Is a 
sport from the Extra Early Vermont In 1819, and 
lias been grown only by us. It has always yield¬ 
ed a large crop of choice potatoes. Late, rod, 
oblong; Ukes a heavy soil; has produced three 
times as much crop as Its parent alongside. Has 
proved better than White Slur. While Elephant, > 
Late Beauty of Hebron, etu.” 
Tlie yield with ns ivtw lil'-i pounds from live 
pieces planted. The largest five weighed 8 
pounds 8 ounces There were 83 tubers, of which 
but 40 were marketable, the others being too 
small. This would be at the rate of 798 bushels 
to the acre In our rich garden soil. Eaten Nov. 
19. Flesh nearly white, mealy, of good quality. 
Buff skin, often reddish at otu end. Shape as 
shown in our Illustration, Fig. 157, but often 
eornueoplu-shnped or curved, and smaller at the 
sets! end. 
Early Dcrham, from C. £. Allen, Brnttleboro. 
Vermont, six pieces were planted May 80. The 
yield was IS pounds.—84 tubers, 5K of which were 
of marketable slue. Best five weighed three 
pounds 10ounces. Yield per aero at the rate of 
726 bushels. Light skin, oblong shape, often 
rather small at both ends, as shown at Fig. 158. 
Eyes medium In number and uot deep. Eaten 
Nov. IK. Flesh yellowish white, of the first quality. 
Snow iJiT.n, from 0.11. Alexander, Charlotte, Vt„ 
Six pieces were planted April 21, and yielded six 
pounds, or at the rate 342 bushels per acre. Best five 
weighed two pounds Utj ounces. A sturdy-loo king 
potato, round i*li-eyllndrieul, not long, a little flattened. 
Eye* medium ami few. Then- were36 lubers, of which 
22 were of marketable size. Eaten Dee. 29. While 
flesh, mealy, quite dry- Late. (Fig. ir», p. 251.) 
Champlain, from same, Five pieces were planted 
April 21. They yielded (guessing at It) at the rate of 
about 50 bushels lo the acre. Egg shape, skin smooth, 
few eyes. Late. 
Silver Spray, from same. Five pieces planted April 
21. The yield was 1341 pounds, or at the rale of 653.40 
bushels per aero. There were 105 tubers. 45 market¬ 
able, Best five weighed two pounds. No silvery color 
to skin. Claimed to be a cross between Silver Skin 
and Magnum Bonmn. Late. Skin light buff: roundish 
and Irregular In shape, Eyes sunken. Muny small 
tubers. Kan ii Dec. 6, Soggy, 
Klrkuon, from same. The yield was at the rate of 
403.S1 bushels tier acre. Five best weighed one pound 
two ounces. Only one half marketable, Buff white 
skin, oblong or round Battened, few eyes and those ou 
the surface, Eaten Oct. 19. White flesh, fine grain, 
meaty. A potato of the first quality. Planted April 21 
matured August 13, 
Frost, from same. Four pieces yielded seven pounds 
or at the rate of 433.50 bushels to the aero. Best live 
weighed one pound 10 ounces. There were 29 tubers, 
27 marketable. Hound, flattened, shapely. Eyes few 
and superficial. Skin buff white, small average size. 
Eaten Oct, 18. Fair quality, white flesh, somewhat 
darkened by Polling, intermediate. 
8 belli no of the Early Vermont, from A. Gardner, 
Dlmondule, Eaton Co., Mich. Planted April 22. Yield 
per aero, 868 bushels. Late. Marketable potatoes as 10 
to 13. White huff skin. Shape roundish. Eyes me¬ 
dium In nuniixr and depth. Not eaten separately. 
Pride OK (.'Aui.rox from A. M. Carlton, Carlton, Or¬ 
leans Co., N. Y. “Seed from Whipple, sown In Spring 
of ’88.” Three pieces yielded three pounds, all small. 
There were 12 tubers, none marketable. Yield per 
acre, 212 bushels, Medium late. 
Barer sckduxo (see Fig. 160, p.251), from John Baker, 
Albion, Orleans Co„ N. Y. Box 4?t. From seed of the 
old Feaehblow," Planted May 4, matured Aug. 13. 
Two piece* yielded seven pounds. Five best weighed 
two poiimlx live ounces. There were 28 tubers, 31 
marketable. This yield would be at the rate of 847 
bushels per acre. Short, cylindrical. Eyes medium, 
BOGUS BUTTER, 
LATE VERMONT POTATO. From Nature 
PROFESSOR J. P. SHELDON. 
A good name for a bad thing; a pest in 
England, too; an injurious fraud 
tjiere also; butter instead of candles; the 
fraud not in the things but in the pretense; 
anti-oleo legislation in England. 
matter how small the mess of milk. Which 
of these three classes of cows is the general- 
purpose cow f The beef-grower will claim this 
distinction for his cow. and the milk producer 
for cheese and market will claim it for his. 
Each is right from his own stand-point, and 
the demand of his business. The butter-pr i- 
ducer alone is the special purpose cow—she 
makes butter only, and has no value apart 
from it. Why wrangle about the distinction? 
Let every man select his own general-purpose 
cow to suit his own line of business. 
There is a good deal to admire in the vigor¬ 
ous phraseology which you in America em¬ 
ploy- in reference to things that vex you, and 
the term * ‘Bogus Butter” is the most telling 
designation I have y-et seen applied to the 
article which has done and is doing so much 
mischief to dairy farmers. We British are 
not as smart as you arc in coining expressive 
phrases. We tamely call the stuff by- such 
names as buttering, oleomargarine, or artificial 
butter; but we have not in use, and of our own 
framing, anything like so expressive and 
energetic a term as the one I have placed at 
the head of this article. All the same, we are 
quite as little in love—we farmers I mean—as 
you are with the stupendous fraud, which is 
injuring our dairy interests and deluding the 
public to a degree no otic would have dreamt 
of a few years ago. Probably you have been 
angry with it longer than we have, and there 
are explanations to be given for this, and the 
measure of your anger is, no doubt, greater 
than Din’s; but we too are at last taking steps 
to protect ourselves. In a country like this, 
into which dairy products have poured iu a 
continuous avalanche for many years past, it 
is not to be wondered that we were some time 
before we saw the danger and deceit that 
were embodied in bogus butter. We had long 
been unable to supply- our people with enough 
butter of our own making, and we were at the 
outset rather inclined to welcome butterine 
as au adjunct that would be useful as a supple¬ 
mentary article of food, particularly- for use 
in confections. During several of the first 
years, too, it did not appreciably affect the 
price of butter; or, even if it did, we could 
hardly bring the charge home to it. And so we 
tolerated it, and did not in the least interfere 
with it for several years, until at length w 
DAIRY NOTES. 
CORN AND CLOVER. 
The one supplements the other. What bet¬ 
ter than clover to prepare the soil for a crop 
of corn, and what better than corn to follow 
a crop of clover? Clover is not only- highly- 
SsSSs: 
From Nature 
nitrogenous, but the king of plants iu attract¬ 
ing nitrogen — whether from the soil or 
through the soil, or directly- from the air, 
matters uot. It supplies nitrogen to the soil. 
Early-cut, well-cured clover is strong feed for 
muscle and milk—especially cheese. Corn, 
the stulk und grain,is rich with fat-producing, 
heat-producing elements. The two—corn and 
clover—combined, make a well-balanced ra- 
CONDITIONS OF DAIRYING. 
For some years past, the impression has 
been abroad upon the public mind that dairy ¬ 
ing pays better than any other line of farm¬ 
ing. While prices remained up, there was 
good gr ound for this impression. But the suc¬ 
cess was because dairying has made more pro¬ 
gress and has been practised more systemat¬ 
ically than most other lines of fanning. Yet, 
