6io 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 18 
made a fine crop and no seed stalks. This ought to 
set the freezing theory at rest. 
My practice is to plant the seed in the greenhouse 
about February 1. and when the plants are large 
enough to prick out, take up the largest and prick 
out in the same house all I can after lettuce has been 
taken out. As warm weather comes on, I prick out¬ 
doors in well prepared soil, and begin to set in the 
field as soon as the weather will permit. I have 
celery ready for market in June. and keep taking out 
until all is gone. At this date (September 2), my crop 
is all out but four rows, 20 rods long, about 220 dczen. 
I shall now sow the land to clover, and shall have a 
good crop to plow under late in fall or early in spring. 
I will say for the benefit of our Delaware County 
friend, that his crop can all be sold in the time he men¬ 
tioned. if he work for it, that is, keep his soil mellow 
by working it and keeping all weeds out cf the way. 
Chemung County, N. Y. 
IN. IN. Rawson's Opinion. 
It makes a difference what variety of celery is 
grown, about its going to seed, also in the time of 
planting and the quality of the land it is planted 
upon. The yellow varieties of celery will not run to 
seed when sown early as much as the green varieties. 
In this locality, the green will run to seed if sown in 
March, and the yellow will, to some extent, if sown 
in February ; but there is, also, a difference in the 
season, and I have known three days to make a great 
difference. So not knowing the kind planted or the 
time when sown, or the kind of soil the crop was 
planted in, I am unable to decide the exact cause of 
this celery going to seed more this season than last. 
I have 30 acres, and not a seed plant in the whole lot 
of three varieties ; the yellow variety was planted the 
last of March, the green the middle of April. 
Arlington, Mass. 
BASKET CULTURE OF MUSHROOMS. 
Mushroom growing in summer requires, as indis¬ 
pensable conditions, a cool, moist atmosphere, and a 
dark place from which flies may be excluded. The 
breeding of maggots in the mushrooms, as soon as 
summer weather begins, renders their culture un¬ 
profitable under ordinary conditions. A cool, dark 
underground cellar, however, may be used for mush¬ 
rooms, and the basketful depicted in Fig. 256, repro¬ 
duced from the London Gardening Illustrated, was 
grown under these conditions. The basket was filled 
with prepared manure, firmly packed, mounded up in 
the center, covered with loam, and then spawned like 
an ordinary bed. Amateurs growing mushrooms in 
small quantities would find baskets or boxes very 
convenient for handling, and an economy of space. 
The general treatment is the same as when grown in 
ordinary beds. 
About four years ago, scientific attention was given, 
for the first time, to a very distinct variety of mush¬ 
room raised for market by a Long Island grower, who 
found it especially suited to summer culture. This 
mushroom, Agaricus subrufescens Peck, was rather 
coarser in appearance than the variety ordinarily 
grown (Agaricus eampestris) and different in color, 
the gills being of a rusty-reddish tint. The new mush¬ 
room proved to be of an excellent quality, a heavy 
yielder, and very easily grown, flourishing in open 
frames outside. The only drawback to its culture 
was the fact that many purchasers objected to its 
unfamiliar appearance, fearing that it might be an 
unwholesome variety. 
ADAPTABILITY OF FRUIT VARIETIES. 
Concerning local adaptability of varieties to cer¬ 
tain soils and climatic conditions, I am of the same 
opinion as Prof. L. EL Bailey, page 595 I have had 
numerous demonstrations of this among different 
classes of fruits and plants. The adaptability or 
non-adaptability belongs more to the species than to 
cultivated varieties. To make myself clear on this point, 
will require the citing of a good many examples. Not 
one or a few varieties of the Muscadine species of 
grapes, but all vines of this species, succeed well in 
all good soils of the South, but never well in the 
North. So do all Mustang grape vines do well in all 
soils and situations, almost, in the dry Southwest, but 
fail entirely in the cold, damp Northeast. No other 
species is so generally successful in this Texas cli¬ 
mate and soil. But on all upland, sandy soils, known 
as post-oak lands, the Post-Oak grape (V Lincecumii) 
succeeds perfectly, if well drained and not seepy, but 
fails in seepy and bottom lands. In the black, waxy, 
very limy lands, the Labrusca class of grapes almost 
always fail, and do poorly anywhere in the interior 
Southwest. Their inability to endure appears to be in 
their having masses of fine surface roots, and no 
ability to push deeply into the soil, as do our southern 
species. 
Vinifera varieties almost always suffer in all the 
Southern States east of the 100th meridian, with 
mildew and rot in foliage and fruit, as well as with 
phylloxera at the roots, showing clearly that the 
species is a native of very arid regions, where these 
diseases do not exist. The botanists tell us that this 
is true, that the species is native in the arid regions 
of Persia and other central southern Asiatic regions. 
The native grapes of Arizona invariably suffer severely 
from mildew and rot when moved into the Mississippi 
Valley. I could cite many other illustrations among 
grapes, and if I were to take my testing stand in other 
regions, then other species would succeed, and the 
successful ones here would fail, more or less. For 
example, in New York, varieties of no other species 
succeed so well as do those of Labrusca, Riparia, and 
THE SATSUMA PLUM. Fig. 255. See Rubalisms, Page 614. 
the northern Aestivalis, or Bicolor, or hybrid com¬ 
binations of these. 
The principle is equally illustrated among trees. 
Take the cone-bearing evergreens for illustration. 
The natives of the northeastern parts of North 
America and Europe almost always fail from heat and 
drought in the southern States. Among these, I name 
Norway spruce. Hemlock spruce, American arbor- 
vitaa the Firs, White spruce and White pine generally. 
But the pines and cedars from the Arizona and New 
Mexico regions, from South China, from southeastern 
Russia, from Persia, and Afghanistan and. of course, 
from our own immediate regions, do well here. Of 
these, I can name B ota orientalis in all its varieties, 
Austrian pine, Rocky Mountain Yellow pine (P. pon- 
derosa). Red cedar, Cedrus Deodara, etc. 
The same law holds good with reference to north¬ 
ern and southern species, or subspecies of blackberry, 
with shrubs, and even with perennials. Rhubarb, for 
instance, fails here utterly, after growing well through 
the spring until midsummer. 
When it comes to considering the difference in 
adaptability of different varieties of the same species 
from the same region, there is still a difference, al¬ 
though much less perceptible than when of different 
species. For example, varieties of strawberries that 
have been originated from varieties growing in, and 
doing well on, stiff, rich clay land, will fail when 
planted on thin, sandy soil, and vice versa. Varieties 
originated from varieties doing well along the moist 
Atlantic borders, and in those regions, generally fail, 
when carried far into the more arid West, and espe¬ 
cially the hot, dry Southwest, while varieties origi¬ 
nating in, and from varieties growing in such hot, 
arid regions, generally go too much to leaves or wood, 
and mildew or rust badly when taken into the cool, 
moist climates. However, if varieties which do best 
in a peculiar soil and climate, are taken'to a different 
one, and new varieties grown therefrom, such new 
varieties generally will do better in the climate and 
soil where their parents came from. The above prin¬ 
ciples I have demonstrated often by experience, and 
I believe that they are generally recognized by prac¬ 
tical, intelligent agriculturists of eyery branch. The 
landscape gardener, of all who plant, is, probably, 
most cognizant of these laws of plant growth. 
Texas. t. v. munson. 
FRUIT NOTES FROM CENTRAL ILLINOIS. 
I think, with Stark Brothers, that Poole Pride is a 
promising plum for this section where these of the 
eastern type seldom succeed. True it is small and 
not, by any means, best in quality, but the fruit is 
very peculiar in color, clean-locking and attractive, 
and it is as little liable to damage from rot and cur- 
culio as any plum of which I know. Moreover, the 
tree is very productive, and very vigorous. It will 
need 30 feet in our rich soil to give ample passageway 
between the rows. Whether large growing trees are 
any better than those of medium growth may, per¬ 
haps, be doubted, for they require longer ladders and 
cause more expense in picking ; but I think that they 
will 'Certainly give more bushels to the acre than 
those of dwarfish growth like the Robinson. The 
latter is really the most productive variety I know, 
and were it not for its liability to rot, I should think 
it one of the very best kinds to plant for market. The 
season of the two varieties is about the same ; the last 
pickings of the Wild Goose bring in the first of the 
Robinson and Poole 
Ogon has borne very heavily here for the past two 
years. Before this, it had been notably unproductive, 
although planted in 1887. I do not think the Japan 
plums any less liable to curculio than the American 
kinds, and they are decidedly more liable to rot. Sat- 
suma, as Stark Brothers say, is quite unproductive. 
I am not certain, but it seems to me that it takes two 
or three years longer to bring the Japan sorts into 
full bearing than it does the American kinds. The 
earliest variety I have seen so far is Yosebe, which 
came in this year ,l fully ripe and falling” July 12, 
while my first picking of Wild Goose was made July 
23. This is two weeks in favor of Yosebe. Does any 
one know of an earlier plum ? The fruit is about the 
size of Wild Goose, short-persimmon shaped, deep 
smooth red on one side (of course not so red on the 
other), and a heavy blue bloom. The stem is slim 
and the fruit drops too easily. The flesh is a watery 
yellow and tender, not very juicy, or sweet or rich, 
but it has a decided banana flavor that is, at least, 
novel, and may, or may not be generally liked. There 
is, also, an agreeable fragrance. 
Among our natives Maquoketa (as I have it) is 
among the best in quality, but at the same time, the 
worst—Hawkeye excepted—to rot. 
I see very little in El Dorado blackberry to recom¬ 
mend it for this section. True, the canes are vigor¬ 
ous, but we cannot say anything about hardiness 
until the thermometer goes to minus 25 or 30 degrees, 
which it has not done for a few years In the two 
years it has fruited here, it has not produced half as 
much fruit as the Snyder, which we know to be hardy 
and free from rust. It is only a little larger, and no 
better in quality than the Snyder—why should we 
change ? 
There is no money here in raising blackberries when 
all the wild and tender kinds bear a full crop. It is 
when the pinching winter comes that a crop of Sny¬ 
ders will do us some good. Were I to plant black¬ 
berries again, I would take either Leader or Surprise 
(both local varieties) in preference to El Dorado But 
I prefer Snyder to any of them. ben.j. bucjkman. 
CORN CUTTING IN OHIO. 
WESTERN WAY OF DOING THE WORK. 
The reply to inquiries from North Carolina and 
Tennessee on page 481, describes methods so different 
from those in this great corn belt, that I feel that our 
methods should be described, as we consider them 
much better. Corn cutting commences here as soon 
as the blades below the ears turn yellow, and some of 
the husks on the ear are yellow. If the farmer is in 
a hurry, he commences when the corn is a little green, 
and one-fourth or one-half shocks, and lets these 
stand a few days till they have cured out, before fill¬ 
ing out the shocks; by this plan, the corn can be cut 
much greener than if the shocks were cut whole, at 
first. 
Corn here is planted principally by two-horse corn 
planters, two rows at a time, and usually in rows 3% 
feet apart, and hilled the same distance apart in the 
row. Sometimes it is drilled instead of hilling, single 
grains from 9 to 16 inches apart. In cutting hilled 
corn, the usual size for shocks in this section on the 
tributaries to the Scioto, is 14 hills square, making 
196 hills to the shocks. On the large bottoms on the 
river, the most common size is 16 hills square, or 256 
hills to the shock. In drilled corn, this size is aimed 
for by skipping the distance between the shocks, or 
measuring with a rope of the length desired for the 
distance between the shocks. 
We do not use a horse to set the shock about, neither 
do we tie a bundle, and set the shock about it; but 
