234 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
APRIL 12 
American markets which will probably 
make our position clearer. The R. N.-Y. 
wishes to say now regarding these ques¬ 
tions that the simple removal of the tariff 
would probably not of itself help our ex¬ 
port market much. There are other things 
that must be done—the removal of the 
tariff is only one requisite. We need a 
more direct communication with Brazil 
and systems of credit and exchange that 
will enable our merchants to do business 
advantageously. With these we shall see 
that the tariff can be used as a measure of 
- trade. As to the iparket for agricultural 
produce in South America, theR. N.-Y. has 
already collected evidence enough to con¬ 
vince it that the field is immense and hard¬ 
ly yet opened. Statistics and facts bearing 
on this matter will be presented later. The 
R. N.-Y. has given its views on the Ameri¬ 
can sugar industry too many times to bear 
a repetition here. Attention is directed to 
the last sentence in the above communica¬ 
tion. The report of Secretary Mohler of 
Kansas on the bonding of towns and coun¬ 
ties for the establishment of sugar fac¬ 
tories, and Prof. Wiley’s forthcoming re¬ 
port on the culture and manufacture of 
sorghum sugar will prove instructive read¬ 
ing in this connection. 
THE WACH'DSETT AND AGAWAM BLACK¬ 
BERRIES. 
P. C., Milford, N. H.—In a late Rural 
A. W. B., Ashby, Mass., asked whether the 
Agawam Blackberry is any better than the 
Wachusett and the Rural’s answer is 
not just what mine would have been. Ash¬ 
by and Milford are not far apart, and from 
both towns can be seen Wachusett Mt. 
where the blackberry of that name origin¬ 
ated. We are from 50 to 60 miles from the 
ocean, so our climate is not like that of 
Long Island; but here the Wachusett 
bears very large crops of nice berries, 
and when ripe they are sweet. I get the 
highest market price for all that I can send 
to Boston; but the price is variable, being 
sometimes as low as eight cents, then up to 
16 cents. For the last few yeais I have sold 
from 12 to 30 bushels per year. A friend of 
mine has the Agawam and prefers it to the 
Wachusett, and he has raised them for over 
12 years. Now he is planting all the land 
he can spare to the Agawam. I visited him 
when they were ripe last fall, but could not 
see very much difference between the two, 
and the Agawam is very thorny so that it is 
much harder to pick the crop. I shall try 
100 Agawam plants this spring, just to 
please this friend ; but I do not think that 
I shall like them as well as the Wachusett, 
which for this part of the country is good 
enough. As there are no thorns the crop 
can be easily picked. I have heard that 
the Wachusett did not bear very well. 
About here, however, it does and I have 
never seen any other kinds that outyielded 
it. I would advise A. W. B. to “go slow” 
with the Agawam, for even if it yields as 
well as the Wachusett, and if its berries 
are as large, the thorns are an objection. 
SWEET CORN STALKS. 
G. S. P., Winslow, Maine.— The follow¬ 
ing is my method of handling corn fodder : 
As soon as the sweet corn is picked and 
hauled to the canning factory, we pick all 
the nubbins and over-ripe ears left, which 
are hauled to the barn and spread on the 
floor. They do not heat and are fed when 
convenient. Left in the fodder they mold 
and are badly injui-ed by rats. Then with 
sharp hoes with handles 15 inches long, for 
cutters, each man taking four rows of 
stalks, we move across the field, laying 
from eight to 10 hills in a bundle. The 
boys lay a willow withe 15 to 18 inches long 
on each bundle, and the bundles are bound 
rapidly and compactly. From 10 to 15 
bundles are then set up, preferably around 
a short stake, and the top is bound with a 
large withe. This makes a shock that will 
stand the wind and which will dry in almost 
daily rain, as I have proved. After the 
small bundles are bound, I regard the rest 
of the work, including hauling to the barn 
and mowing away, as play. The bundles 
are just right for pitching and can be 
handled rapidly and easily, without break¬ 
ing hardly one, and piled in the top of the 
barn. Loose stalks and heavy shocks are 
an abomination. Cured in this way, I know 
no more appetizing feed for milch cows, 
though of silage I cannot speak from ex¬ 
perience. 
BY MAIL TO WYOMING. 
G. J. L., Big Horn City, Wy.—B eing a 
florist myself, my range of experience has 
been as wide as that of the average plant 
buyer, if not wider. For four years I have 
been receiving, at all seasons of the year, 
from early spring till late in the fall, ship¬ 
ments of all kinds of plants, both hardy 
and tender, from all the prominent florists 
throughout the U. S. I have tried the ex¬ 
press system, and found, to my utter dis¬ 
may, that the express charges to Wyoming 
amounted to more than the cost of the 
plants at the Eastern greenhouses, while 
they arrived in no better condition than if 
sent by mail, so this settled the question 
for me—all my plants now come by mail. 
Then again, much will depend upon the 
firm from which one orders. All florists 
do not “ pack ” alike. Some don’t know 
how; others don’t care. If you know 
“ your man ” you are all right; if you don’t 
know him you will have to learn, as I did, 
by bitter experience. I have received 
plants by mail in bud and bloom, looking 
as fresh and vigorous as though just taken 
from the pots, and fully as large as any I 
ever received by express. And I have also 
received dead sticks from two to three 
inches in length, bearing the name of Storm 
King Fuchsias, and costing 50 cents apiece. 
FERTILIZER LAW—ICE. 
H. S., Highlands, N. C.—The R. N.-Y., 
on page 188 tells us that North Carolina 
compels dealers in fertilizers to pay a tax of 
$500 on each brand of goods made and sold 
by them. The tax was formerly much less. 
The increase is not due to the Alliance, but 
was in operation before the Alliance was 
organized. As it is very sure that this tax 
is charged to the cost of the fertilizers by 
the dealers, it is really paid by the farmers, 
and is only a roundabout way of raising 
money from the farmers themselves for the 
support of the State Agricultural Depart¬ 
ment. 
(Page 189.) Ice has a peculiar form of 
crystallization. Needle-like spiculse are 
formed'and cross each otherin all directions, 
thus forming a mass which breaks into 
irregular fragments. But when cakes or 
sheets of ice are laid upon each other they 
freeze together, by virtue of a peculiar 
property of ice known as regelation or ad¬ 
hesion by freezing, and they simply adhere 
without being bound together by the or¬ 
dinary ice crystals. Consequently when 
the ice is taken out for use, the cakes are 
easily split apart, just as solid slate is split 
on the lines of cleavage, and there will be 
no trouble if the ice be broken carefully. 
THE SEED BUSINESS. 
J. H. G., Providence, R. I.—I have just 
received from the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture several packages of seeds assorted as 
follows: Cabbage, Early Summer; ruta¬ 
baga or Swedish turnip; pumpkin, Ken- 
tucky-field; tomato, Acme; water-melon 
(Vick’s Early); beet, (Dewing’s Improved); 
beans, dwarf or bush; cucumber, Perfec¬ 
tion White Spine ; lettuce, Chartier; peas, 
Champion of England. These are, almost 
without exception, old and thoroughly 
tried sorts, and the plea that they are sent 
out for experimental purposes is all non¬ 
sense. Putting the several packages to¬ 
gether, I have all the seeds I need for my 
small garden and have therefore abandon¬ 
ed all idea of sending to a seedsman for a 
supply. If this should meet the eye of 
some of our leading seedsmen, they will 
understand why at least one applicant for 
their catalogues has failed to become a pur¬ 
chaser. If every applicant for seeds is 
trealed as liberally as I have been by the 
Agricultural Department, the mail seed 
trade will be anything but a success. The 
wholesale distribution of seeds by the 
Government ought in the interests of 
legitimate business to be stopped ? 
S. M. M., Adams, Vermont.— In a late 
Rural we are told that the English spar¬ 
row will not nest where there is no perch 
under the entrance. This is a mistake: 
the English sparrows here have built their 
nests, or rather have usurped the nests of 
the eave swallows, driving the latter away 
and occupying their nests. Every one 
knows that the eave swallow builds its 
nest of mud, and that there is not the least 
sign of a perch under the entrance, which 
is a hole just large enough to allow the 
bird to pass through it and oftentimes 
there will be a miscalculation and the en¬ 
trance will be so small that quite a hard ef¬ 
fort is needed to get through. There used 
to be a great many of these swallows here, 
with nests extending the whole length of 
the eaves to the barn, but the sparrows 
have driven them nearly all away. Is not 
the absence of these birds one reason for 
the prevalence of so many more injurious 
small insects than in former years ? The 
swallow is a greedy eater of insects. 
E. II. C., Mattsville, Ind.— My potatoes 
grew out of the top of the hill through 
straw and a foot of earth. They heated in 
some hills and rotted. The change seems 
to have begun in the fall and to have con¬ 
tinued through the warm winter. I sup¬ 
pose I lost one-fourth of my crop of 800 or 
900 bushels. I think now that potatoes 
often make a growth in the fall on account 
of having been excluded from the air too 
soon while the ground is warm, and that 
this growth is checked by cold. Let any 
potato grower who doubts this examine 
the sprouts and see if they are not old- 
looking. I admitted air to a hill the other 
day, and in a week examined the potatoes 
again and new young sprouts had started 
which contrasted with the old browner ones 
of the winter growth. The knowledge of 
this will be of value to me hereafter in 
storing. 
[R. N.-Y.—An account of the storing of 
these potatoes will be found on page 100.] 
W. A. S., Weatogue, Conn.— Dur¬ 
ing an experience of over 20 years I 
have found nothing that will kill lice on 
cattle as well as fine coal ashes well rubbed 
in or sifted on ; but one application is of no 
account unless followed by the second in 
seven or eight days. Tobacco infusions 
have utterly failed with me, but ashes or 
dust have always been successful. 
Excellence of Seeds. —A writer in the 
Bulletin, a paper published by the North 
Carolina Board of Agriculture, says that 
those of us who have been engaged in prac¬ 
tical horticulture for 80 years past can well 
remember the amount of trash that was 
then imported from Europe, and sold in 
this country as garden seeds, and “war¬ 
ranted fresh and genuine.” We also re¬ 
member the worse than trash, which Eu¬ 
ropean seedsmen used to dump on our 
shores to the order of the old “Patent 
Office” seed distribution. We have seen 
with pleasure that the strict testing of 
seeds by our large dealers has compelled 
European dealers to be sure of the purity of 
those seeds we are still compelled to buy 
from them, and the same practice has raised 
the standard of our home-grown seeds to a 
high point of excellence, until we are now 
so sure of the stocks offered by our leading 
seedsmen that an experienced gardener 
feels more sure of results from them than 
if he had raised them himself under the 
difficulties attending their growth on a 
small scale and in crowded grounds. The 
seeds are not “ warranted” now, but we 
have a thousand times more confidence in 
them than we had in the old “ warranted 
pure and genuine” seeds of 30 years ago. 
In fact, a gardener of experience, now a¬ 
days, would regard with suspicion the man 
who would undertake to warrant his seeds 
in anybody’s hands. 
Prof. Bailey, of the Cornell University 
Agricultural Experiment Station, a com¬ 
petent and skillful horticulturist, after an 
exhaustive series of tests of American gar¬ 
den seeds, reached the conclusion that “ the 
endeavor to determine the relative merits 
and honesty of seedsmen, by means of test¬ 
ing their seeds, is the merest folly. There 
appears to be no necessity for seed control 
stations in this country, certainly not for 
such seeds as fall into the hands of the 
horticulturist. There Is now such sharp 
competition in the seed business that seeds 
men themselves must exercise every cau¬ 
tion in order to demand trade.” In the 
Delaware Station similar tests lead the 
director to say, that “the condition of the 
seed market in Delaware is decidedly better 
than its citizens have expected.” And yet 
there are some who think the experiment 
stations should act as police to watch these 
seeds, after they go out of the hands of the 
seedsmen into the hands of the local retailers 
throughout the country, and should keep 
up annual inspections of such seed. Such 
inquiries are not experimentation, as con¬ 
templated by the Hatch Law, and if the 
stations propose to watch the honesty of the 
country store-keepers in one article of 
their traffic, there is no reason why they 
should not inspect their rusty bacon, skip- 
pery hams and stale ginger cakes, and thus 
fritter away funds intended to give prac¬ 
tical results in agriculture and horticulture. 
Any qne who has not confidence in his 
local dealer can test their vitality for him¬ 
self, as well, at least, as the seed testers. 
Count out a number of the seeds and place 
them between two folds of a piece of flannel 
that has been wet and wrung out; place in 
a saucer a layer of moss and saturate it with 
water; ou this moss lay the flannel with the 
seeds; cover the saucer with a piece of slate, 
and place it on the mantel-piece in a well- 
warmed sitting room ; examine from time 
to time and keep the moss wet, but do not 
pour water on the flannel. Every seed that 
is perfect will be likely to sprout, and the 
percentage of sound seeds can be easily as¬ 
certained. 
A Solid Home Virtue. —Economy is a 
virtue which is needed everywhere, says 
the New York Ledger. It is needed 
in the farm as well as in the city 
home. No matter if persons are rich 
or have large incomes, they should be 
economical. To waste is wicked. There 
are better ways to spend money and 
goods than to waste them. It is the poor¬ 
est use they can be put to. Many people 
would be economical if they knew how. It 
is an art to practice economy. To do it well 
one must know the art. All can have it if 
they will. It is an arithmetical art. It is 
the conclusion of numbers. All must live 
and ought to live well, but how to live best 
at the least expense is the work of figures 
to tell. We must count the cost of ways 
and means and compare them. Many 
people use expensive articles of food and 
dress when cheaper ones would be in every 
way better and more serviceable. Espec¬ 
ially in regulating the table expenses is 
there a great want of economy. A little 
useful information concerning the qualities 
of food, the amount and kind of nutrition- 
matter they contain, the wants of the hu¬ 
man system and the best way of cooking, 
would often save fully one-third, and, in 
many instances, half the expense. A wise 
economy in table expenses is favorable to 
health, and in this way saves time, drugs, 
expense, and doctors’ bills, flesh, strength, 
and happiness. 
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS. 
The present price of nitrate of soda is $46 
per ton. It should, and usually does, con¬ 
tain 16 per cent, of nitrogen so that the ac¬ 
tual cost per pound is somewhat less than 
15 cents. 
The most soluble form in which nitrogen 
can be procured is in the form of nitrate of 
soda. All ammoniacal forms of nitrogen 
must first become nitric acid before they 
are available as plant food. Nitrate of 
soda is nitric acid combined with soda. 
Sulphate of ammonia contains (as of¬ 
fered in commerce) about 20 per cent, of ni¬ 
trogen.. 
Sulphate of ammonia is slower to feed 
plants than is nitrate of soda simply be¬ 
cause its ammonia must change to nitrate 
before it becomes available as food. 
Next we have nitrogen from organic 
sources, which is obtained chiefly from 
bones, fish, tankage and dried blood. The 
per cent, of nitrogen in samples of blood 
varies according to the method of manu¬ 
facture. E. B. Voorhees directs attention 
to the fact (N. J. S. H. S. p. 183,15th session) 
that blood dried by hot water is red in 
color and is the purest, containing about 12 
per cent, of nitrogen. Another method of 
manufacture is to extract the serum of 
blood by granulation, and another is to treat 
with sulphuric acid to prevent decompo¬ 
sition. These forms contain from five to 
six per cent, of nitrogen. 
Blood is the most valuable source of 
organic nitrogen since it rots more readily 
in the soil, but it is less soluble than the 
mineral forms, nitrate of soda or sulphate 
of ammonia. Hence if our readers would 
be assured of a full supply of nitrogen later 
in the season, blood should form a part of 
the nitrogenous fertilizer. 
Dried meat is next in value as furnish¬ 
ing organic nitrogen. It is called in trade 
ammonite and is largely made from dead 
animals, by drying, extracting the fat. and 
grinding into powder. It contains from 10 
to 12 per cent, of nitrogen. 
Mechanical condition or the degree of 
fineness is the element which rules in valu¬ 
ing both nitrogen and phosphoric acid 
since the coarser the material the less even 
the distribution and the longer required for 
the soil to decompose it. 
The R. N.-Y. has strenuously opposed 
the use of the word “phosphate” or “su¬ 
perphosphate ” for those fertilizers which 
contain potash or nitrogen, either or both. 
Chemist E. B. Voorhees points out that the 
following are by no means all the expres¬ 
sions used to designate the same thing. 
They are not only inexact, but serve to con¬ 
fuse farmers who are studying fertilizer 
subjects: Phosphate, superphosphate, bone- 
black, dissolved bone-black, bone-black 
superphosphate, S. C. rock, dissolved 
