1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
ill 
Sir Walter Raleigh, Mr. Hammond speaks as follows: 
“ This wonderful new late potato is destined to super¬ 
sede all other of Mr. Carman’s introductions Here¬ 
tofore, I have considered the No. 3 his best, but the 
Sir Walter Raleigh, during the past season on my 
grounds, made the most remarkable showing of any 
potato I have tested in recent years, excepting Ham¬ 
mond's Wonderful ” Mr. Hammond says that Day’s 
Improved Leafless Medium bean, with good culture, 
will yield GO bushels per acre. When ripe, the leaves 
fall off. It matures in from 70 to 80 days. He declares 
that Hammond’s Grand Rapids is the earliest musk- 
melon in the world “ It is not only one of the earliest, 
but one of the largest, while in shape and appearance, 
it is the handsomest melon ever offered the American 
melon growers.” 
BEAUTY CUPID SWEET PEA. 
farms are devoted to the raising and testing of vege¬ 
table and flower seeds. At the end of each row of 
seeds, is a stake painted white, and bearing a number. 
These numbers a v e entered in a register, and also 
every item of where the seeds came from, when sown, 
and their behavior thereafter. We are pleased to see 
that Mr. Burpee has added an index to his interesting 
catalogue, which, it seems to us, he might well have 
done many years ago. Mr. Burpee has always given 
the best of attention to sweet peas, and we fancy that 
few other florists or seedsmen offer so many of the 
old popular kinds in addition to the new kinds now 
offered for the first time. Seventeen full pages of 
sweet peas, including a full page colored picture of 
six of the b?st novelties, are presented. Mr. Burpee 
freely admits that his firm was unfortunate in intro¬ 
ducing the White Cupid, as the first of this new race 
of dwarfs. Then came the Pink Cupid He now 
offers Burpee’s Beauty Cupid, which he considers the 
finest individual type of flower in the Cupid race. 
The plant grows to six or seven inches in height, bear¬ 
ing flowers fully equal in size and substance to the 
best of the new tall sweet peas. The large flowers, 
the petals of which are of a rose color, the standard 
petals being of a rose color lightening to nearly white 
at the edges and slightly striped with carmine at the 
base, the winged petals being suffused rosy carmine 
deepening at the edges, are borne all over the plant 
in clusters of threes at the tops of the stronger stems. 
The Storks & Harrison Co., Painesville, O.—This 
is one of the largest and best catalogues issued in 
America. It is over 30 years ago that the writer of 
these reviews walked over the nurseries of the firm, 
which were then very large, and have since increased 
to over 1.000 acres. The lists are of vegetable and farm 
seeds, flowers and flower seeds, large fruits, small 
fruits, deciduous and evergreen shrubs and trees. On 
the last page, in colors, are presented portraits of the 
Worden-Seckelpear, the Allen cherry, the Mary plum, 
and the Carman peach. We have alluded to the Wor- 
den-Seckel pear ever since 1892, specimens having been 
sent to us by Smiths & Powell. It is a seedling of 
the Seckel, raised by S. Worden, the originator of the 
Worden grape. The last specimens were sent to us 
late in September of last year. They were almost 
exactly the shape of the Seckel. We expressed the 
opinion that this pear was fully equal to its illustri¬ 
ous parent in quality, rather more pyriform in shape, 
while the tree has the advantage of bearing at a 
younger age. The Allen cherry is described as of 
excellent quality, large size, nearly heart-shaped; 
glossy, the color when ripe nearly black, the flesh 
meaty and firm. It is a late cherry aud, thus far, has 
been free from all diseases. The Mary plum is de¬ 
scribed as above medium size, yellow, covered with a 
delicate white bloom. In quality, it ranks with the 
very highest. The original tree has been fruiting for 
12 years, and has proved an annual bearer. We have 
already given our estimate of the Carman peach, speci¬ 
mens of which have been sent to us for several years 
past. The last lot we received was sent by Mr. J. W. 
Stubenrauch, of Mexia, Texas, shipped on June 26, 
reaching us July 1. Every peach was ripe and per¬ 
fectly sound. There were upwards of 50 in the box, 
the average circumference of the peaches being 7}£ 
inches either way. They were beautifully colored 
and of excellent quality for so early a peach. Storrs 
& Harrison say that the Carman resembles the Elberta 
in shape, that the skin is very tough, flesh tender, fine 
flavor and juicy. It ripens with Early Rivers, and is 
one of the hardiest in bud. In shipping qualities and 
freedom from rot, it is unsurpassed. This firm has 
always given special attention to rose growing and, 
in this issue of the catalogue, 14 pages are devoted to 
lists and descriptions. On the first page, is pre¬ 
sented in colors the portrait of the yellow Tea rose. 
Etoile de Lyon, with its magnificent golden buds. It 
is regarded as the hardiest of all the yellow Tea roses, 
and one of the finest out-door bedders. On this page, 
also, is pictured the Mosella, which is of the Poly- 
antha class. The flowers are borne in clusters of from 
three to five, and it blooms throughout the entire sea¬ 
son. Finally, the Jubilee, which bloomed at the 
Rural Grounds last year, is a deep velvety crimson, 
shading, apparently, to maroon in the center petals. 
The above is designated as catalogue No 2. No. i 
TRIUMPH VARIEGATED RADISH. Fig. 70. 
the present, he calls “Wonderful”. He describes it 
as the most wonderful late potato ever introduced 
He sent out in a small way for trial last year one 
potato to a person. “The reports received proclaim 
it the wonder of the century.” “ It is the handsomest 
potato on earth.” He also offers another prize of $100 
for the largest and most perfect-shaped Wonderful 
potato grown from seed purchased of him this Spring. 
Hammond’s Early Michigan potato is described as the 
earliest and heaviest-yielding potato on earth. Of the 
cutter-bar; a mi¬ 
crometer adjustment 
for cones and ball 
cups; double steel 
ratchet which make s 
the knives cut the 
instant the mower 
is moved ; cold, die- 
drawn steel axles 
hard and sHff, and 
true to 1-1,000 inch. 
The 14-inch mower 
is priced at $8 50 ; 
the 24-inch at $13 50. 
This firm has pur- 
chased Burbank’s 
hybrid walnut, 
“ Royal.” It is said 
to be a cross be¬ 
tween Juglans nigra 
and Juglans Cali- 
fornica, producing 
nuts in abundance 
and of the largest 
size (see illustration, 
Fig. 64, natural size). It is claimed that the 
meat, which is very large and parts readily from the 
shell, has none of the disagreeable strong taste of the 
common American Black walnut, and much more 
sweetness and character than the California walnut. 
Harry N. Hammond, Fifield, Saginaw County, Mich. 
—A condensed list of choice varieties of seed potatoes, 
vegetable and flower seeds. It is claimed that Mr. 
Hammond has the largest seed farm controlled by any 
one seedsman in America, being 1,200 acres. He offers 
$300 for a name for one of his new potatoes which, for 
Johnson & Stokes, 217 and 219 Market Street, Phila¬ 
delphia.—Garden and Farm Manual for 1899. We re¬ 
spect this firm for being the first to present photo¬ 
graphic cuts and thus to avoid, in a measure, the ex- 
aggerations which are too frequent among other cata¬ 
logues. They have a new tomato which they have 
named the Early Bird, a name which cost them $100 
in cash prizes. Its chief merits are the following: It 
is the earliest tomato in the world ; its fine size, 
smoothness, firmness, beautiful bright pink skin and 
wonderful productiveness have never been quite 
equaled. A portrait is shown at Fig. 71. Among so- 
called farm seeds, we would call attention to the 100- 
day Bristol corn, cow peas and the Velvet bean. 
J. M. Thorburn & Co., 36 Cortlandt Street, N. Y.— 
In their 1899 catalogue is a most interesting sketch of 
the history of the firm, written by Prof. L H. Bailey, 
of Cornell University. This is the 98th annual cata¬ 
logue which has been issued. The firm was founded 
by Grant Thorburn, a Scotchman who early came to 
New York to seek his fortune. The business which 
Grant Thorburn founded has been successfully con¬ 
tinued by his son and grandson, the latter being the 
James M. Thorburn of the present firm. In 1855, F. 
W Bruggerhof became a member of the firm, and is 
now the president in the present firm, which was in¬ 
corporated as James M. Thorburn & Co. The present 
catalogue does not differ materially from those issued 
for many years, in form or size. Five pages are de¬ 
voted to rare flower and vegetable seeds. Then come 
the various lists of vegetables, and it is evident that 
they have been selected with the utmost care. It regards 
the Gradus [Prosperity] pea as “without doubt, the 
finest extra early yet introduced. The pods are large 
and well filled with deep green wrinkled peas of the 
very finest quality.” This firm was the introducer 
of the R. N.-Y. No. 2, the Carman No. 1 and No. 
3 potatoes. Among implements, we desire to call 
especial attention to the Thorburn Ball-bearing lawn 
mower. It is thoroughly described in an inset, but 
here are some of its special features : The ball-bear¬ 
ings greatly reduce the friction ; triple gears, entirely 
inclosed, make it impossible for any dirt or cut grass 
to get into the pinions ; a solid rectangular frame 
cannot be twisted or jarred out of parallel; a removable 
THE EARLY BIRD TOMATO. Fig. 71. 
