AUG. 23 
546 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
FARMERS’ CLUB—DISCUSSION. 
Tree Agents. 
T. H. Hoskins, Newport, Yt.— The re¬ 
plies to The Rural’s questions on th’s 
subject are evidently not all impartial or 
unbiased. We have the extreme views 
from T. T. Lyon, and R. G. Chase & Co., 
with an intermediate opinion from F. K. 
Phoenix. They are all men of experience; 
why do they differ ? It would be invidious 
to say that any of the writers were less 
governed by honest motives than others: 
still they differ widely. Firms like Stone 
& Wellington, and R. G. Chase & Co., are 
large employers of tree agents, or peddlers. 
They say the business cannot be done with¬ 
out these intermediaries, though it is ad¬ 
mitted that many of them are incurably 
dishonest; and it is untrue that the ma¬ 
jority of them are familiar with practical 
fruit-growing, or the local adaptation of 
varieties. Firms advertising for these 
agents often state that personal acquaint¬ 
ance with the business is unnecessary; 
while it is well known that the most prac¬ 
tically ignorant agent will often turn in 
the most orders. It is in vain to think of 
putting an end to this traffic. Large nur¬ 
series exist and are maintained, for the pro" 
ducts of which no market would exist, 
otherwise than through such agents. They 
will continue to exist; and every effort to 
correct the evil by the agricultural press 
must fail, because the customers of these 
agents are almost without exception found 
among the class of cultivators who do not 
read such publications. The degree of re¬ 
spect felt for the intelligence of the public 
which supports their business, by this class 
of nurserymen, is measured by the pictures 
of fruits supplied by them to their agents. 
They are all exaggerated in size and color 
from 50 to 100 per cent. This form 
of deception cannot be laid upon the 
agents; and the agents, starting with 
pictured lies, supplied by their em¬ 
ployers, must naturally infer that lying 
is considered an important part of this 
trade. The?victims of this trade are that 
large mass of cultivators of the soil who 
never take any pains to learn more about 
their business than they can pick up by 
accident or learn by a very ill-understood 
experience. In brief, they don’t take the 
papers or buy or read any books. Many of 
them have so little education that they 
could not get much information by read¬ 
ing. They do not know the meaning of 
enough words in the English language to 
read understandingiy even the most plain 
and practical instruction in print. This is 
true in those States which have the best 
public schools, and the case is proportion¬ 
ately worse in the others. Now when the 
sharp rogue, bent solely upon making 
sales, right or wrong, meets a man 
with farm or garden, and offers him goods, 
the qualities of which are entirely unknown 
and undistinguishable even if known (as is 
the case with young trees), what must 
be the result ? The result is that thou¬ 
sands of dollars are annually taken out of 
every county for which no value is re¬ 
turned. But there is another view of the 
matter which is used as an excuse for this 
fraudulent trade. The buyers themselves, 
ignorant of the stock they buy, are also 
so ignorant and neglectful in the planting 
and care of it that were the stock all it is 
said to be, in quality and adaptation, the 
treatment they give to It insures its de¬ 
struction within a few years. I have asked 
very intelligent tree agents, long in 
business, how large a proportion of 
the trees they sell ever give the 
buyers any adequate return for their 
expenditure. The answer has been 
not ten per cent, of these trees ever live to 
bear a peck of fruit. Now with such a con¬ 
stituency the tree peddler has a perennial 
lease. He will not canvass in one town 
long, but by interchange he keeps on 
“ working” the trade by far more profitably 
than he ever could do, if he sold good trees 
to capable buyers. And there is no cure for 
all this. The ignorant cultivator breeds 
the unscrupulous nurseryman and his 
equally unscrupulous agent. They are the 
inevitable parasites upon a stupid body of 
men engaged in work which they do not 
understand, and will not learn. Do these 
men injure the local nurseries ? I do not 
think they do. The majority of those who 
buy of them would never buy trees at all, 
if they were not drummed into it. Such 
among them as have the capacity to learn 
by experience will find out, after fooling 
away a good deal of money, that they can 
get better trees, better suited to the locality 
of the local growers. Such growers not 
only have the young trees to sell, but they 
have the same varieties in beariug. instead 
of exhibiting impossible pictures, the local 
grower can take the buyer into his orchard 
and let him judge for himself as to the size, 
quality and productiveness, as well as of 
the adaptation of varieties to his wants. 
When once a man finds his way into such 
a nursery and orchard, he learns that he 
has no more use for the tree peddler. For 
all the others there remain the annual 
visits of successive squads of piratical 
salesmen, sent out by honorable and respon¬ 
sible nursery firms who are perfectly well 
aware of how these salesmen do business. 
Samuel Wilson on German Hares. 
Samuel Wilson, Mechanicsville, Pa. 
—About one year ago The Rural New- 
Yorker published an article on German 
hares in which it said that they could be 
bought in New York City for $1.50 a pair, 
and in some places at a much lower figure. 
It even gave the address where they could 
be bought. As I was badly in want of 
German hares at that time to fill our 
orders, I sent a man who was well ac¬ 
quainted with the animals to New York to 
investigate the matter. After looking the 
city all over and making particular inquiry 
at the place named by The Rural, he was 
not able to find a genuine German hare in 
the city. There was plenty of common 
rabbits and mixed breeds, but no full-blood 
German hares, nor was there any that 
would answer my description of this inter¬ 
esting and profitable (?) animal. I at once 
wrote to The Rural New Yorker stating 
these facts; but in spite of all its boasted 
candor and fair play, it was not candid 
enough to reply to my letter or make any 
correction in regard to the matter. 
R. N.-Y.— Early last fall we received from 
an Ohio subscriber Mr. Wilson’s circular ad¬ 
vertising German hares, with the inquiry 
whether the extraordinary and extrava¬ 
gant claims made therein were facts. 
Among other statements in this circular 
is the following, under a display heading; 
“ How to Make Monet. 
It will be a long time before the Ger¬ 
man hares in this country are equal to the 
demand. As their flesh possesses a deli¬ 
cate, gamy flavor, they are eagerly sought 
for by epicures and fancy restaurants in 
New York and other large cities. Now we 
propose to make a statement which may 
astonish some, but which can be proven by 
facts and figures, that two acres of ground 
stocked with 15 or 20 German hares, with 
proper hutches for breeding purposes, will 
bring in more clear cash in one year than 
the best 100-acre farm in the United States 
will do by ordinary farming. Twenty 
hares, producing every six weeks six to 
eight young, would average each 50 rabbits 
yearly, making 1,000 full-grown hares, 
which, at $1.25 each, would equal $1,250,” 
etc. We thoroughly investigated the mar¬ 
kets of this city with the purpose of learn¬ 
ing if there was such a crying want waiting 
to be supplied, but found that there was 
no such demand; that they would bring no 
more than the ordinary rabbits in market 
except for their extra size ; that a reliable 
and long-established dealer in fancy poul¬ 
try, rabbits, etc., was selling them at much 
lower prices ; in fact, that the whole circu¬ 
lar was overdrawn, and that the statements 
were not warranted by the facts. The re¬ 
sult of this investigation was published on 
page 625 of last year’s R. N.-Y. Our only 
object was to guard our readers against de¬ 
ception by these misleading statements. 
We shortly after received a letter from Mr. 
Wilson asking for the name and address of 
the dealer to whom we referred. These we 
furnished. A long time after we received 
a letter from Mr. Wilson saying that he 
had sent a man to see the dealer in ques¬ 
tion, and that the latter had told his repre¬ 
sentative that he had never had any Ger¬ 
man hares. We showed this to the dealer 
and he characterized the statement as a 
falsehood in vigorous language. These 
facts we published on page 226 of the 
present volume of The R. N.-Y. We made 
no correction because there was none to 
make, and from all the facts we have yet 
been able to gather our former statements 
need no correction. Mr Wilson’s catalogue 
is full of statements equally overdrawn; 
but we have neither time nor inclination to 
notice more than one or two of these with 
regard to fowls advertised, and we do this 
with a view of putting our readers on their 
guard in the matter of such absurd claims. 
One of these wonders is a breed of fowls 
known as Boston Grays or Sparrow 
Catchers. Their origin is very properly 
veiled in obscurity, but they are possessed 
of all the good qualities ever known among 
the various breeds, including a disinclina¬ 
tion to ” set.” But their greatest “pecul¬ 
iarity cousists in their inclination aud 
ability to catch sparrows,” which they do 
“with the quickness of lightning,” sud¬ 
denly darting “ at their prey and seizing it 
with their sharp, hawk-like bill, soon de¬ 
vour the whole bird.” Is anything more 
needed to effect a sale to a farmer overrun 
with sparrows ? Some of these fowls may 
have been seen to kill a sparrow, but that 
the breed as a breed possesses this quality 
to the degree that warrants its being ad¬ 
vertised to the world as a breed of Sparrow 
Catchers, we do not believe, and any one 
making such a claim we believe succeeds 
only in making himself ridiculous. As 
The R. N.-Y. has before remarked, we 
have been warned that we will lose adver¬ 
tising patronage by exposing such absurd¬ 
ities ; but we are glad to do so, for the 
patronage of any class of advertisers who 
persist in such outrageous claims is a det¬ 
riment to any reputable journal, and the 
less such advertisers patronize any paper 
the more valuable it becomes as a medium 
for reputable business men. 
Bliss’s Triumph Potato. 
H. L. W., Pulaski County, Ya.— In The 
R. N.-Y. for March 1, 1884, this variety is 
described as nearly round, skin pink with 
purplish eyes, and the illustration shows a 
shape of the Peachblow type. The Stray 
Beauty in The R. N.-Y. for February 12, 
1887, is described as being irregular in 
shape and resembling Triumph. The 
Rural has recently declared that Triumph 
aDd Stray Beauty are said to be the same. 
Mr. Parnell in The R. N.-Y. of May 3, 1883, 
says that with him the leaves of Triumph, 
when the vines are half grown, turn black 
and the edges shrivel up till the whole 
plant is involved, the tubers growing no 
larger than marbles. I find this to be pre¬ 
cisely the case with Stray Beauty, which I 
have grown for the first time this season, 
except that the tubers are of very fair size. 
It is of the Peachblow shape, more regular 
and uniform in type than any potato I ever 
grew, one tuber being as nearly like an¬ 
other as two peas in a pod. It is also ex¬ 
tremely early and would answer wonder¬ 
fully well to grow for a second crop in the 
South. This is what is done with Triumph 
in Maryland and in the neighborhood of 
Memphis, Tenn., large quantities of second 
crop potatoes having been offered for seed 
by a firm ini the latter place this spring. 
Mr. Jerrard says of Stray Beauty that it 
has thick, short-jointed stalks with broad 
leaves. Mr. Gregory gives the same descrip¬ 
tion of Howe’s Premium, illustrated in 
The R. N.-Y. of March 8, 1890, and there de¬ 
scribed as being nearly round in form, with 
a pink skin, and of the Peachblow type. 
Mr. Gregory says it was the earliest of any 
variety in his trial plot. Now the question 
is: Did Mr. Wilson re-discover the Triumph 
when he sent out the Stray Beauty ? And 
did Mr. Howe re-discover the Stray Beauty 
when he sent out his Premium ? It looks 
very much like it, as the Stray Beauty has 
been considerably grown in Massachusetts 
during the last two years as an extra early. 
If these gentlemen keep on discovering 
something new in this way, it will require 
in a few years a book the size of Webster’s 
Unabridged to catalogue their discoveries. 
Query: Do potatoes with broad leaves resist 
heat and blight less than those with small 
foliage ? Landreth says this is true of 
musk-melons, and it also accords with my 
own experience. Might not this account 
for the loss of foliage in Mr. Parnell’s case, 
and in my own ? What says the editor’s ex¬ 
perience ? 
R. N.-Y. We have had very little ex¬ 
perience with blight and have no opinion to 
offer. 
More About Fertilizers and Wheat. 
G. F. S., Sherwood, N. Y —The most 
effective fertilizers for wheat that I have 
UBed have been superphosphates of lime 
with some ammonia or nitrogen and pot¬ 
ash ; but the principal ingredient has been 
soluble phosphate of lime. On rich laud, 
that is, land that has been highly manured 
with stable manure or clover, the nitrogen 
or ammonia may be omitted. I always 
sow the fertilizers drilled in with the seed 
in sowed or drilled crops. With corn and 
such crops as are planted in hills a little is 
dropped in each hill before plantiug. I al¬ 
ways use the fertilizers with winter wheat, 
and unless the land is very fertile, nearly 
always with all other crops. I think it pays 
to use enough to raise full crops, say, from 
100 to 200 pounds per acre for spring crops, 
and from 200 to300 poundsou winter wheat, 
according to the fertility of the soil. To 
make the use of fertilizers pay, the other re¬ 
quirements of good farming must be com¬ 
plied with. The crops must be sowed in 
good season; the land kept clean from 
weeds and made dry if too wet; and the 
soil put into good, mellow, fine condition. 
Even then the season may be such that the 
crops will be a partial failure, especially 
winter wheat. In that case while there is a 
loss in the crop, I do not think there is any 
loss of the fertilizer used, as it will benefit 
the succeeding crops; especially will it 
benefit the succeeding grass crops if the 
land is seeded. 
Stable manure is mostly put on the 
ground for corn. It is applied both in 
autumn and in the spring. I do not 
think it makes much difference whether 
the fertilizer is used with manure or with¬ 
out. I would carefully apply all the farm 
manure I could make, and use a little phos¬ 
phate, too. On ground where no manure 
is used, more phosphate is required. I 
would find it difficult to raise wheat suc¬ 
cessfully without phosphate. Its effects 
can be traced for three or four years after 
it has been sown, especially on the succeed¬ 
ing grass crops. I do not think we can 
compete with the West at the prices wheat 
has been sold for for the last few years 
Still I think it is well to sow what ground 
we can prepare well for wheat with the 
teams and men we keep through the sea¬ 
son. To sum up: I can make worn-out 
land rich with a judicious use of fertilizer. 
I raised 13 crops in succession on a piece of 
land with no other fertilizer than phos¬ 
phate, and at the end of the time the land 
would produce double what it would when 
I commenced. 
S.T., Skaneateles.N.Y. —This is a grain- 
growing section, and large quantities of 
commercial fertilizers are used; most farm¬ 
ers also make use of all the stable manure 
they can get. There has also been a great 
deal of tile drains laid in late years, and my 
observation leads me to say that on tile- 
drained land where the straw and most of 
the hay and corn crops are converted into 
manure and returned to the land, and in 
addition to this it gets a liberal application 
of commercial fertilizer, there is a 
remarkable increase in crops, and also in 
the prosperity of the farmers. My judg¬ 
ment is that since the advent of tile 
drains and commercial fertilizers the 
average yield of grain has been increased 
fully 10 bushels per acre, and no farmer 
thinks of putting in a crop without phos¬ 
phate. The barn-yard manure is usually 
applied to the corn crop, being spread upon 
the land in the winter and plowed under in 
the spring. Some apply it to the wheat 
crop as a top-dressing, in which case it not 
only benefits the wheat, but almost in¬ 
sures a catch of clover or Timothy and im¬ 
proves the pasture and meadow which 
follow the wheat crop. Commercial ferti¬ 
lizers are applied to all crops, being sown 
with the drill at the time of sowing the 
grain, ranging in quantity from 100 pounds 
to 250 pounds per acre. The effects of a 
good fertilizer are seen for several years, 
and I think those who use it most liberally 
are getting the most satisfactory returns. 
Delaware Beef-making all Right. 
A. G. S., Dover, Del.—I see no reason 
why we should not continue feeding cattle 
for beef in this State. Good stock is al¬ 
ways in demand here for local markets. 
The dressed beef trade does not affect our 
prices, as all of our butchers depend on the 
farmers for stock, using little, if any, 
Western stock. Present prices are four to 
cents per pound on foot. Just about 
enough stock is fed to keep our markets 
supplied. Probably we make but little 
actual profit out of winter stock. Still a 
vast amount of coarse feed aud some grain 
are converted into manure, aud it is a no¬ 
ticeable fact that the best improved farms 
are those on which cattle feeding is prac¬ 
ticed. Surely there is something in it that 
must bring a profit. 
The New York Experiment Station.— 
Incompetence or something else character¬ 
izes the administration of Dr. Peter Collier 
as Director of the New York State Agricul¬ 
tural Experiment Station at Geneva, says 
the Homestead. The Homestead has been 
careful to abstain from criticising his work 
until time enough should pass to enable 
him to show what he could do. He has 
talked well aud promised much, but there 
is little evidence that he is accomplishing 
anything at all commensurate with the 
equipment and funds at his command. 
What competent workers were stationed at 
