THE RURAL WEW-YORKER. 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
KX.BKKT S. CABMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Pakk Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, JULY 17, 1886. 
You can not have fine celery and yet let 
the plants suffer from drought. 
The Rural's “Correspondents’ Views,” 
beginning on page 44G, seem to us very 
interesting and full of valuable sugges¬ 
tions. We arc always glad to receive 
such short, terse, meaty notes from our 
friends. 
Mr. Lawson Valentine’s Houghton 
Farm has always had the good of agri¬ 
culture at heart. Its loss of Major Al- 
vord is the gain of the Massachusetts Ag¬ 
ricultural College. We hardly know 
whether to congratulate the college or 
sympathize with Houghton Farm. 
Here is a half acre of Early Rose Pota¬ 
toes manured with 10 loads of city stable 
manure at a cost of $27. An adjoining 
half acre of the same potato received three 
bags of potato fertilizer (1,200 pounds to 
the acre) at a cost of $13.50 for the half 
acre. Judging by the tops, the latter 
will yield one-third more potatoes. It is 
intended to sow rye on the acre this Fall. 
Which half will yield the better crop? 
We should guess the half acre which 
received the stable manure. Let us see. 
. • • ♦ 
We are glad to receive the following 
from Pres. Wilder, showing, as it does, 
that the Marlboro Raspberry is all that 
could be desired as to vigor in his 
grounds: “It is strange that the Marl¬ 
boro Raspberry should be in your grounds 
no stronger than the Hansell. With 
me the Marlboro is the strongest grower 
of any raspberry, even stronger than the 
Schaffer. It is a remarkable plant for 
vigor and hardiness, early (productive if 
the suckers are kept down), handsome, 
but not quite up in quality.” 
A friend in Augusta, Ga., whose letter 
we have unfortunately lost, has sown care¬ 
fully selected grains from the Diehl-Med¬ 
iterranean Wheat and reaped heads both 
bearded and beardless. He asks us if we 
think it will continue to sport in this 
way. Were it not that our friend is posi¬ 
tive that he sowed seeds of bearded heads 
only, we should reply that the seed was 
mixed. Our own five-acre field of last 
vear was similarly mixed, and we account¬ 
ed for it in that way. A new variety of 
wheat should never be distributed until 
it is fixed, since it is liable to give rise to 
differently named wheats that are essen¬ 
tially the'same. 
honorable means to bring about his de¬ 
feat. Don’t let him lead you away from 
the point by bringing up other issues. 
Pin him down to the subject. Take one 
thing at a time. Teach these bogus but¬ 
ter Congressmen a lesson, and do it this 
year. The question is simple. You de¬ 
sire an honest protection for an honest busi¬ 
ness. The present bill offers that pro¬ 
tection more fully than anything that has 
yet been brought before Congress. If your 
Congressman opposed it, he is your ene¬ 
my, and it is your business to try and re¬ 
place him with a friend. 
Farmers who have so much to say 
against our Agricultural Colleges, often 
have it in their power to right the very 
wrongs which they so loudly denounce. 
They never send their own sons to such 
schools. The boys go to some literary 
school and learn that their father uses 
poor grammer and is behind the times 
generally, and that their mother is not in 
style. Fill these despised colleges up 
with students and there is not one of 
them that would not rise to the occasion 
aud “amount to something.” Too many 
farmers are absolutely foolish about the 
education of their sons. There are. in 
every State a dozen or more little institu¬ 
tions whose graduates are a strange mix¬ 
ture of pride, incompetence and conceit. 
Many a good boy is so thoroughly spoiled 
by such a course as these institutions 
have to offer, that he loses many of the 
best years of his life. Empty the cream 
of these schools into the Agricultural 
Colleges and the effect upon the State 
will be marked. Send your own boys to 
the Agricultural College. Make them 
earn a part of their education. Support 
these institutions if you want them to 
succeed. 
- - - - 
In reading the reports sent out from 
our experiment stations, one is apt to ask 
himself, who are these reports intended 
for. Will they actually help farmers, or 
will they simply provide an opportunity 
for scientists to “split hairs'’ over some 
unimportant question? The authorities 
complain that hundreds of these reports 
are never called for at all. Small wonder, 
say we, after reading half-a-dozen of 
them There is too much jumping at 
conclusions from a single experiment. 
The language is too fluent. One is given 
the idea that the report was to be paid 
for by the page. Long lists of fertilizers 
and observations are printed that not one 
person in 100 will ever read. There is a 
tendency to copy rather than to originate 
experiments, and to devote more 
space to telling how they were peiformed 
than to stating what may be learned from 
them. If such stations are to become 
popular, that is, if they are ever to gain 
the confidence of the farmers who really 
need their aid, they will have to learn the 
art of “ boiling down” the records of 
their experiments and of expressing them in 
simpler language. The Directors of such 
institutions must be men who can “speak 
as the common people, think as the wise.” 
Judge Barrett, of this city, is gaining 
an enviable reputation as a “learned 
judge.” Not long since he sent an Al¬ 
derman to the State’s Prison with a sen¬ 
tence ringing in his ears which, for strong 
and scorching English, has rarely been 
equaled. Last week he sent a half dozen 
boycotters to the same place. In sentenc¬ 
ing them, he gave them about as much 
truth as could he poured into a ten-min¬ 
ute speech. This week he has sentenced 
another lot, and given them, and all 
law-breakers like them, a ringing warning. 
This work is well begun. The rich ras¬ 
cals hoped to place bank notes over the 
eyes of Justice. They are more likely to 
euter prison on the boots of the people. 
Foreigners must understand that this is a 
free country only for those who have 
sense enough to respect its laws. We 
have fooled with Anarchists and their kin 
long enough. Such fellows do not read 
the long editorials that are written at 
them, but when the leaders are thrown 
into prison, the followers are able to 
appreciate the situation. 
- ♦ ♦ » 
This is an “off” year in politics. 
You can afford to think for yourself. In 
a presidential election, none hut enthus¬ 
iasts care to break away from party lines. 
There is no reason this year why you 
should not do a little training. The oleo¬ 
margarine bill is the most important, in 
its bearings upon agriculture, of all that 
have been introduced of late into Cougress. 
Make it an issue this year. If your Con¬ 
gressman voted against the bill, do your 
utmost to keep him at home. Vote 
against him, talk against him, and use all 
BLACKBERRY AND RASPBERRY 
HYBRIDS. 
Again, the form of this berry is perfect. 
The drupes are small and of the same size 
as if made in the same mold. They are a 
jet lustrous black, and though smaller 
thau the Ivittatinny, would we doubt not, 
outsell that variety if placed beside it in 
the market. The plants are evidently not as 
hardy as those of Snyder or Taylor, perhaps 
not as hardy as the Kittatinuy. They were 
set at the Rural Grounds in the Spring of 
1883. The canes this Spring seemed 
much injured by the past Winter, but 
are, nevertheless, bearing as has been 
said, an abundant crop. 
A NEW WAY TO MULCH POTATOES. 
Never until this season has the 
R, N-Y. raised potatoes under a mulch 
merely: that is, planted the seed pieces on 
the surir.ee soil and covered them with 
(in this case) old strawy leached manure. 
It seems quite a success, though the wet 
season has probably made it so. One any 
last week the. writer with a friend had 
the curiosity to remove the mulch about a 
hill or so to'see what was going on under¬ 
neath. It was presumed that the ro *s 
and tubers were mingled with the decay¬ 
ed straw and that the latter could not be 
removed without injuring the plant. It 
was not so, however; the mulch was rais¬ 
ed as if it were the cover of a box, and 
there, crowded together like eggs in a 
nest, were the tubers and among them 
and beneath them the roots and the stems 
which bore the tubers. The sight was a 
most interesting and, indeed, instructive 
one. It seemed as if we had taken nature 
by surprise, and had, without notice, 
stolen her secrets. It is now evident 
enough that of the 85 plots or trenches 
planted to the same potato with differ¬ 
ent kinds of fertilizers, the one that will 
yield the most potatoes is one that is 
mulched in a peculiar way. We call it 
“valley” mulching. The soil is prepared 
and leveled. The pieces are placed on 
the surface one foot apart in the row—the 
rows three feet apart. The soil between 
the rows is then noed or plowed (as pre¬ 
ferred) over the pieces so as to cover them 
three inches. The valleys thus formed 
between the rows arc then filled nearly to 
the bight of the soil over the seed-pieces 
with a ‘mulch” of some kind. In this 
case it was strawy manure that was spread 
on the surface last Fall, left there during 
the Winter and raked in a heap in the 
Spring. Thus about a foot of soil in 
width on top of the pieces is without any 
covering, and receives the sun’s rays and 
the rain; while the mulch in the valleys is 
supposed to assist in retaining the mois¬ 
ture so received for the benefit of the 
roots. An objection to mulching pota¬ 
toes ou top is that the ground underneath 
is kept cold, the seed sprouts slowly and 
unevenly and the shoots find some diffi¬ 
culty in making their way through it. 
This particular trench has made the larg¬ 
est growth of vine and, judging from the 
way in which the soil is cracked above the 
tubers, will give the largest yield. By 
this method, the soil is not cultivated 
’ from the time the seed is put in, until 
harvest. All weeds must be pulled by 
hand. But if the mulch used is old, few 
weeds will grow. 
marvelous headway, the case is reversed. 
Northern Prohibitionist Republicans, 
however, believe earnestly that their doc¬ 
trine will be best supported outside old- 
party lines, and are prepared to run 
straight Prohibition tickets not only at 
State but also at Presidential elections. 
Southern Prohibitionist Democrats, on 
the other hand, generally think they can 
attain their ends without leaving their 
party, and comparatively few of them 
would vote a Prohibition ticket at a 
National or even State election. 
Through fear of secessions from their 
respective parties, the stalwart newspap¬ 
er represenatives of the Republicans in the 
North, and of the Democrats in the South 
have, since the last Presidential election, 
been unsparing in their ridicule, denuncia¬ 
tion and vituperation of the Prohibition¬ 
ist principles, leaders and party. Both 
the old parties, however, are now willing 
to concede nearly all the demands of the 
“temperance” men they can without 
alienating the “liquor” vote} but the tem¬ 
perance men and women (Godbless them!) 
have “the courage of their principles,” and 
refuse, so far as the Prohibitionists are 
concerned, to have any political relations 
with the supporters and propagators of 
the greatest evil of the age. Both parties 
have lately been bidding for the support 
or forbearance of the Prohibitionists. The 
Republicans of New Jersey are likely to 
indorse the Prohibition State ticket at the 
Fall elections, instead of nominating one 
of their own . The Democrats of Iowa 
have already indorsed the Prohibition 
platform in that State, with slight mod¬ 
ifications in a few minor points. Both 
parties appear willing to embody “higli- 
license” and “anti-saloon” planks in their 
platforms in States where a few years ago 
neither would listen to such a proposal. 
Where, as in this State, political parties 
are pretty evenly balanced, the Prohibit¬ 
ion vote can easily throw a State or ev¬ 
en National election to one side or the 
other. The probability is that ere long 
the out-and-out temperance men will hold 
the “balance of the power” in a majority 
of States in the Union, and consequently 
in the Nation. A party founded on tem¬ 
perance and morality and supported by 
the votes of the best men and the blessings 
of the best women in the country, cannot 
long hold a merely subordinate place in 
this Republic. 
BREVITIES. 
The anthers of the flowers of both 
blackberries aud raspberries were removed 
before maturity, and pollen of each was 
applied to the stigmas of the other. The 
flowers so treated were covered with tis¬ 
sue paper until the berries set, when 
mosquito netting was substituted. The 
cross seems au easy one to effect. One 
day last week, the hybrid raspberry seeds 
(100 or more) were planted in a box. The 
hybrid blackberry seeds will be 
planted as soon as the berries ripen. 
We do not know where the idea of 
hybridizing these two species of the 
bramble originated. It was first sug¬ 
gested to the writer by Prof. Saunders, of 
Canada, who has effected the cross, 
though in what respects the seedling 
plants differ from the species we are not 
as yet advised. 
A HEARTY GOOD WORD. 
We desire to speak a hearty good word 
for a new blackberry, the Early Harvest. 
We have or have had nearly every kiud of 
blackberry under test, and this is, with¬ 
out a question, the earliest. It is now, 
July 10th, ripening a good part of its 
fruit and the canes are laden. In the 
same row are Wilson Jr., Early Cluster 
and the Lucretia Dewberry. The latter 
has a few ripe berries, the others are 
merely' beginning to change color. The 
quality of the Early Harvest is the best of 
any blackberry the writer has ever eaten. 
The berries are really sweet aud the seeds 
so small that one crushes them between 
the teeth like those of a strawberry. 
THE TEMPERANCE AGITATION. 
At no former time has the temperance 
agitatiou been so prominent, influential 
aud widespread throughout the country. 
Straight Prohibitionists already control 
Maine, Rhode Island, Kansas and Iowa, 
and are running, or, according to present 
indications, are about to run at the next 
State elections straight tickets in New 
York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsyl¬ 
vania, Maryland, West Virginia, Ken¬ 
tucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Ala¬ 
bama, Minnesota, Oregon, aud prob¬ 
ably several other States, while a vig¬ 
orous social and political movement in 
favor of “high-license,” “local-option” 
aud “anti-saloon” legislation shows the 
vitality and energy of the “temperance” 
party in most of the other States also. 
There is no State in the Union in which 
the advocates of greater restraints on the 
sale and manufacture of intoxicants, or 
even of the total prohibition thereof, 
have not been making great gains. Every¬ 
where the Prohibitionists—the extremists 
of the party, who represent the legitimate 
conclusions of the “temperance” creed— 
arc either forming or keeping up and 
strengthening their organizations, and 
preparing for a hot fight when next an 
opportunity presents itself at the polls. 
Theirs is a battle chiefly for morality, 
though it must also involve grave politi¬ 
cal consequences. In the North, the 
Prohibitionists at present draw move 
heavily from the Republicans than from 
the Democrats ‘ in the South, where Pro¬ 
hibition aud “high-license” are making 
Wk have never known wheat to rust as it 
has rusted this season, owing, no doubt, to the 
wet weather. We do not hear of rust in the 
West. 
Wherein does Fay’s (Prolific) differ from 
the Red Cherry Currant ? Simply In this: the 
berries average larger, the racemes longer. 
The quality is about the same. 
At the N. Y. Strawberry Show, a berry of 
the Hilton, illustrated this week ou the first 
page, measured nearly liiue inches in circum¬ 
ference and weighed over two ounces. 
July 4th, 5th, mil, 7th, 8th. From 90° to 
<i;js j u the shade at the Rural Grounds, and we 
are in the middle of the rye and hay harvest. 
A blaze of heat and sunshine. Is this one 
phase of the “dark side of farming?” 
According to the size of the plant (five feet 
high), our dwarf Shad bush has home more 
fruit than any other plant, large or small. It 
has been literally loaded with its huckleberry- 
like fruit, and, unlike our experience in Other 
seasons, the birds have not gathered the fruit 
for us. 
The largest berries of the Nemaha cap rasp¬ 
berry measure (July 5) seven-eighths of an 
inch in diameter. They are borne in clusters 
like the Gregg. The hemes have a lilac bloom 
where the drupes join together, above which 
the drupes ure a glossy black. It is as late as 
the Gregg. 
Early Harvest Blackberry gives the first 
ripe fruit July 8d. It is the curliest black¬ 
berry we have ever tested. Though the cones 
were much harmed by the Winter, the plants 
are, nevertheless, bearing lots of fruit. The 
drupes are small, but perfect and of the same 
size, so that the jet black little berries resem¬ 
ble rubber thimbles. • 
In speaking of new strawberries we do not 
feel at all inclined to spare their deficiencies. 
The introduction of new kinds is so overdone, 
that praise should he witheld unless the new 
claimant promises to fill a vacant place. A 
now kind with the vigor of a Sharpless, bear¬ 
ing more fruit of equal size and better shape 
and quality, or a Jewell of better quality, or 
a Parry with stronger plants, would, for ex¬ 
ample, prove u decided acquisition. But why 
add to the already thrice too long list of names 
without adding anything in the way of im¬ 
provement f 
The memory of the “oldest inhabitant” is 
budly strained in trying to remember a time 
when vegetables were earlier than they are 
this year. In old time, through this section, 
the securing a mess of green peas and a few 
small potatoes by the Fourth of July was con¬ 
sidered a good performance. This year we 
hail peas from our garden on June 19, while 
mi July 3 we found potatoes ns large as one’s 
fist. The immense amount of thought gi ven 
to the improving of early vegetables, the bet¬ 
ter culture Of later years, and the use of con¬ 
centrated and quickly acting manures, has 
greatly shortened the growing period of crops. 
In early maturity, horticulturists have kept 
pace with breeders of improved stock. 
