536 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 8 
“NITRAGIN.” 
Dairymen now generally understand 
that the changes known as ripening or 
souring, are produced by the work of 
bacteria—minute forms of life which, 
under favorable conditions, increase 
with wonderful rapidity. Dr. Conn, of 
Connecticut, has found that there are 
many different forms or classes of the 
bacteria that work in the dairy. »Some 
of them are capable of producing the 
finest flavor in butter, while others wi'l 
produce only a disgusting odor and taste. 
“ No. 41 ” is the name given to one form 
of bacteria which always gives good 
batter. To sweet cream, add a certain 
amount of this “No. 41,” and it will 
spread and grow all through the cream, 
ripening it in such a way that the butter 
will be of the finest flavor. This is no 
mere theory, but a fact which has been 
amply proved by experiment. 
It is also pretty generally known now 
that such plants as peas, beans, clover, 
vetch, etc., are able to absorb a certain 
amount of the free nitrogen in the air. 
The nodules or “ warts ” on the roots of 
these plants, contain the bacteria or 
organisms that enable the plants to ob¬ 
tain this nitrogen. Dr. Nobbe of Ger 
many has devised a plan for scattering 
these root bacteria somewhat on the 
same principle as that employed by Dr. 
Cmn in dairying. Dr. Nobbe has found 
no less than 17 different varieties of 
these bacteria, each one of which has a 
marked effect in increasing the growth 
of some particular plant. For example, 
the bacteria from pea nodules acted well 
on the pea crop, but not at all on clover. 
Hence he concludes that every legumi¬ 
nous plant is influenced by its own bac¬ 
teria. At first, it was proposed to 
“spread” these bacteria by taking soil 
from a good field and scattering it over 
a new one, just as some dairymen take a 
cupful of buttermilk from one churn¬ 
ing to act as a “ starter ” for the next 
one. This did not prove entirely satis¬ 
factory, so Dr. No! be has separated 
these different bacteria, bred them ex¬ 
tensively, and now offers them for sale 
in bottles under the name of “ Nitragin.” 
For example, a bottle of pea “ Nitragin ” 
contains a given quantity of the bacteria 
that, in the nodules on the pea roots, 
work to take the nitrogen from the air. 
The “Nitragin” is used in two ways. 
It may be diluted in water and sprinkled 
over the seed before sowing. Another 
way is to use more water—enough to 
wet about 60 pounds of soil. This soil 
is dined and then scattered all over half 
an acre of land and cultivated in to a 
depth of about three inches. 
This, as you will see, carries out the 
principle employed with the dairy bac¬ 
teria, viz., that of scattering them all 
through the soil where they may grow 
and help produce stronger plants. This 
is no theory. It is a regular business in 
Germany, and this summer, Sir J. B. 
Lawes is testing this “ Nitragin ” at his 
experiment farm. We have no doubt 
that there is something in it, and we 
think it likely that the use of this Crim¬ 
son clover “Nitragin” would give suc¬ 
cess in places where failure has been 
the rule. 
We speak of this thing here merely to 
call attention to a new thing in agricul¬ 
tural science. While our readers may 
not be in a condition to experiment 
with it yet, it is well enough to keep it 
in mind, for something of the sort is 
surely coming. 
There is, however, another form of 
this “ nitragin ” that any of you can try. 
For example, let us read this letter 
from the secretary of a Pennsylvania 
Grange : 
The R. N.-Y. of July 25 is just received, aud 1 
notice, in particular, the article on the Army 
Worm. As it has invaded within five miles of 
this place, I thought that, if I had 12 or 15 copies 
to distribute at our next Grange meeting, it 
would be a point nailed for The Rural New- 
Yorker, and might result in more subscriptions. 
I have been in the habit of handing out extra 
copies, and very often, some of the members come 
and ask for them. I expect they will soon receive 
their own papers regularly; but just now (and 
always) they say, “Times are too hard,” etc. 
But they soon get to look for the extras, and then 
find that they cannot get along without The 
Rural, and they are converted. 
Now you see that issue of the paper is 
really the “Nitragin” of subscription 
to The li. N.-Y. It contains the bac¬ 
teria of need, because it brings help 
against the dreaded army worm, and 
the people who read it will naturally 
conclude that a paper that tells how to 
kill army worms, can, also, tell how to 
kill other injurious things. It is the 
nodule on a man’s brain that permits 
him to absorb new and useful ideas, and 
The It. N.-Y. is the “Nitragin” that 
will make these nodules grow. Scatter 
it. We look to you to bear a hand in 
doing it. 
THE RURAL’S FRUIT REPORTS. 
Some Ohio Notes.— In strawberries, Greenville 
is doing very well; Timbrell is a failure. Parker 
Earle is among the poorest, and Annie Lawrie is 
not phenomenal. Haverland is my standby; it 
yields twice as many merchantable berries as 
either Timbrell, Parker Earle or Cumberland. I 
have tried Marshall and Brandywine, but not 
thoroughly. Brandywine seems to have too much 
husk. I have a few of Wm. Belt, but have not 
formed an opinion about it. The Kansas rasp¬ 
berry cannot be too highly recommended; it is 
early, large, heavy yielder. Columbian is too 
much like Shaffer to give much room. Erie and 
Minnewaski blackberries are very good; they will 
not yield with Taylor. Eldorado promises well. 
The North Star currant is small and not as good 
a bearer as the older varieties. The Abundance 
plum is all that has been claimed for it. J. u. b. 
Croton, O. 
The Carman Grape was set three years ago, 
has thrived exceedingly well each summer, but 
has been killed down to the ground each winter, 
until last winter, when one of the stems, only, 
killed down to within eight inches of the ground. 
The vine has been bent down and covered with 
soil each winter, and none of the winters has 
been hard enough to kill unprotected Concords. 
It has made an enormous growth this summer. 
Four shoots were allowed to grow—two on the 
old vine, and two from the ground. The two on 
the vine are (July 21) four feet, and live feet seven 
inches respectively. One of those that springs 
from the ground is 9*4 feet long, and has some 
side shoots. The other one is as big as my thumb, 
is 13 feet long, and has a vigorous side shoot at 
nearly every joint. Two small clusters of grapes 
are growing on tendrils. The foliage is light- 
colored. E. B. W. 
Newton, la. 
Some Raspberry Notes. —I have one plant of 
the Loudon raspberry, set one year last spring, 
and one Royal Church set two years ago. The 
mercury went to 24 or 25 degrees below zero, but 
both came through alive to the tips without any 
protection. The one-year Loudon is bearing 
more and better berries than the two-year-old 
Royal Church. The canes do not grow so tall, 
but more vigorous and stocky. I have a few 
Shaffers in a rather sheltered corner, that are 
very satisfactory. It might be of interest to some 
to know that raspberry suckers from six inches 
to one foot high can be successfully transplanted 
during the summer. The season has been very 
dry so far; the hay crop is the lighest ever known. 
Oats, corn and potatoes are looking fine. We 
have myriads of grasshoppers, and farmers that 
fed cotton-seed hulls to their stock last winter, 
are having a good deal of trouble with cotton 
worms. Apples will be abundant if they mature 
well. J. a. w. 
Hancock, N. Y r . 
Amateur Strawberry' Test.— The season of 
1895 was so dry here on the southern end of the 
Chesapeake peninsula, that strawberry plants 
made a very poor growth, and consequently, were 
in poor condition to produce fruit this year. I 
had 40kinds in bearing—Haverland, Warfield and 
Bubach were fully up with the best of them in a 
general way. Tne best variety I have ever tested 
for home use, all things considered, is Brunette. 
It is strong and healthy, bears well, the berry is 
large and well shaped, and the quality is fully 
equal to that of Banquet, if not better. In fact, 
if I were limited to one strawberry for family 
use, it would be Brunette. Shuster has always 
done well with me. Through wet, dry and frosty 
seasons, it has stood out bravely in both plant 
and fruit. It is not extra large, neither is it firm 
enough to ship well; but it is a good home berry. 
Beebe is another superior berry for home use.— 
[It is so at the Rural Grounds.— Eds.] It has all 
the good points of a strawberry except that it is 
soft. Princess is one of the good ones.— [Not as 
good as Bubach or Sharpless with us.— Eds.] It 
has about everything to recommend it. Splendid 
does not dishonor its name. Woolverton is well 
worthy of a place in an amateur’s garden. Ju- 
cunda Improved will delight the grower in every 
way except yield. It is about the most handsome 
in form and color of any strawberry I have ever 
seen. It comes very late, and if one wish a few 
very choice berries at the end of the season, plant 
it. We do not wish to do without it. Parker 
Earle is so productive and so late that it fills an 
important niche in our home economy. My own 
namesake, Van Deman, rusts badly, but it is 
early, bears well (too well for its own good), is 
large when not too heavily loaded, and of high 
quality. Lady Thompson has done remarkably 
well, not only in my own garden, but all about the 
neighborhood in fields for market. It has a very 
strong, healthy plant,' stout fruit stalk, bears 
abundantly of large berries and is among the ex¬ 
tra early varieties. n. e. van deman. 
Virginia. 
A Small Fruit Report.— The past season has 
been a favorable one for testing fruits. In straw¬ 
berries, the Tennessee Prolific is a fine grower 
and very productive of rather large, handsome 
fruit of fair quality. Lady Thompson is smooth 
and handsome, but not productive enough on ray 
soil (a sandy loam). My strawberries are all 
grown in matted rows. Cyclone is a good grower 
and productive, but does not equal Lovett in size. 
Aroma resembles Gandy, but is a week earlier, 
more productive, and Dot quite so large ; a good 
berry. No Name, I believe, has been named 
Gandy Belle. It is productive, of good size and 
color. Were this as early as Crescent (our main 
market berry), it would be a strong rival to it. 
Marshall is the best large berry I have ever grown. 
I believe that it would do finely under hill culture- 
It is a magnificent grower, and bears a fair 
amount of large, firm fruit of good quality. 
Brandywine does not take kindly to my soil. 
Wm. Belt is a fine grower, but did not have a fair 
opportunity to show what it could do this year, i 
have fruited, this season, a host of other varie¬ 
ties. The Lovett has given us excellent results as 
a pollenizer. 
Our crop of raspberries was a fine one. We 
made our first pickings for market on the follow¬ 
ing dates: Early King (red), June 8; Eureka 
(black), June 15; Palmer (black), June 15; Con- 
rath (black), June 19; Lotta (black), June 21; 
Gregg (black), June 23; Loudon (red), June 21. 
We picked from 2*/£ acres of Eureka, set in Novem¬ 
ber, 1894, 137*4 bushels of berries, jet black in 
color, as large as Gregg, and better in quality. 
The bush is perfection in habit of growth and 
hardiness,and amarvel of productiveness. Palmer 
has been our main early variety for several 
years, but is so greatly inferior to Eureka that the 
bushes have all been dug up to make room for the 
latter. Conrath is a vigorous variety of fruit, 
nearly as large as Eureka, but has fruited only 
on one-year-old plants. In that case, it did not 
yield as much as Eureka. I believe that it will 
prove a valuable variety. It is a vigorous grower. 
Lotta is somewhat similar to Gregg, and I hope 
that it may be an improvement on that valuable 
old variety. The plants were quite small when 
set, and have not yet had a fair trial; but I believe 
that it will prove valuable. Loudon is produc¬ 
tive of fine fruit, but comes in competition with 
Cuthbert. It may prove hardier than the latter. 
Were it earlier, it would be more valuable. The 
fruit that created the greatest sensation in field 
and in market, was the Eureka raspberry. Erie. 
Ohmer, Minnewaski and Edlorado blackberries 
are all doing well. Lovett is not a success, w. f. 
Waterville, O. 
Michigan Berry Pickings.— Strawberries have 
fruited the earliest in this locality ever known. 
Ripe fruit was picked as early as May 15; my 
first picking for market was May 20, and the last, 
June 19. This made a shorter season by two 
weeks than in former years, owing, no doubt, to 
the extreme hot and wet weather we had early in 
June. The berries at that time, ripened so rapidly 
that, before we could get them picked, large 
quantities softened, and where exposed, the rains 
washed large portions of the berries away. 
Owing to the scarcity of straw this spring, many 
growers mulched very lightly, and some not at 
all, with the result that many berries were so 
sanded as to be unsalable. One grower near me 
had 91 crates at one picking, that were a dead 
loss to him. It was also noticeable that, where a 
liberal supply of mulch was used, the fruit was 
firmer and remained so longer than upon a light 
mulch. 
Firmness of Varieties.— In such a a season as 
this, where it rained nearly every other day, with 
a hot sun between times, the firmness of a variety 
of fruit is equally as important as its productive¬ 
ness. It has taught growers not to bank their all 
upon a few varieties that in a comparatively dry 
£tti.$rrUancou.$' gVclvcvti.&infl. 
Even Blacksmiths, 
who are supposed 
to represent great 
strength and perfect 
health, are likely to 
die of consumption. 
Mere musculi rity 
isn’t always health. 
Disease will develop 
rapidly once let the 
germs of consump- 
' tion get into a man’s 
system, and it will 
kill him certainly and 
u H surei y if he d ° e8n> t 
cfRy/l II I II take the Propel 
J UVPill ' il| measures to get rid 
( . Je'wiPlm I V\ I of it. Exercise and 
i work and dieting and 
I all that sort of thing 
are good enough in 
their way, but con¬ 
sumption is one of 
the things that they won’t cure. The bacil¬ 
lus of consumption is a living organism. II 
is infinitesimal, but it is alive. The only 
way to get rid of it is to kill it. If it isn’t 
killed, it will develop and multiply. Germs 
are wonderfully prolific. In the quickest 
imaginable time, one becomes a thousand, 
and a thousand a million. Dr. Pierce’s 
Golden Medical Discovery is a germ huntei 
and a germ killer. Wherever a disease germ 
lurks in the body, the “Discovery” will 
find it—will render it harmless. It doesn’t 
make any difference what you call your dis¬ 
ease, or what kind of a jerm it is. All germs 
circulate in the blood. The “Golden Med¬ 
ical Discovery ” purifies the blood—purges 
it of germs — enriches it with life-giving 
properties. It not only kills disease, but it 
builds up health. It is a tonic, a nervine, 
or nerve-food, or invigorator and blood-pu¬ 
rifier, all in one bottle. 
If you want to know all of the facts about 
this wonderful remedy — if you want to 
know all about the human body, and human 
health, and sickness and how 
to get rid of it, send for Dr. 
Pierce’s Common Sense Med¬ 
ical Adviser, a standard med¬ 
ical work of 1008 pages, pro¬ 
fusely illustrated, which will 
be sent free on receipt of 21 
one-cent stamps to coyer cost 
of mailing only. This work 
is a complete family doctor 
book and should be read by 
both young and old. The profits on the sale 
of 680,000 copies at $1.50 has rendered possi¬ 
ble this free edition. Address, World’s DiS- 
YOUR REWARD 
FOR GETTING US 
NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS. 
For one new subscription we will send you, postpaid, your choice of any one 
of the books in this list. 
The Nursery Book. 
L. H. Bailey. It tells, plainly and briefly, what 
every one who sows a seed, makes a cutting, 
sets a graft or crosses a flower wants to know. 
Paper.50 
Chrysanthemum Culture for America 
James Morton. An excellent and thorough 
book, especially adapted to the culture 
of Chrysanthemums in America. Paper, 60 
The Business Hen. 
H. W. Collingwood. Breeding and Feeding 
Poutry for Profit. The egg and the dollar are 
what it chiefly considers. Cloth.75 
First Lessons in Agriculture. 
F. A. Gulley, M. S. It is just -what the practi¬ 
cal farmer, without a knowlledge of chem¬ 
istry or botany, needs. Cloth.$1 
American Grape Training. 
L. H. Bailey. Illustrated by photographic en 
gravings of the actual growing vines, and 
represents all the practical systems of train¬ 
ing in detail. Indispensable to every grape 
grower. Flexible cloth.75 
Horticulturists’ Buie Book. 
L. H. Bailey. It contains, in handy and con¬ 
cise form, information required by garden¬ 
ers, fruit growers, truckers, florists, farmers, 
etc. Cloth.75 
The New Potato Culture. 
Elbert S. Carman. Grower of over 1,000 bushels 
of potatoes per acre. Tliis book gives the 
result of 15 years’ experiment work on the 
Rural Grounds. Cloth.75 
Asparagus Culture. Barnes & Robinson.50 
Cabbages. Gregory. 88 pp.30 
Cabbage and Cauliflower, How to Grow. 
Burpee.30 
Carrots and Mangold Wurtzels. Gregory.30 
Fertilizers. Gregory. 116 pp.40 
Melons, How to Grow for Market. Burpee.30 
Onion Culture, New. Greiner. Paper.50 
Onion Raising. Gregory.30 
Onions, How to Grow. Burpee.30 
Squashes. Gregory .30 
Rural New-Yorker Handy Binder.25 
Hyperion. Longfellow.30 
Outre-Mer. Longfellow.30 
Kavanagh. Longfellow.30 
The Scarlet Letter. Nathaniel Hawthorne.30 
The House of the Seven Gables. Nathaniel 
Hawthorne. 80 
Twice-Told Tales. Nathaniel Hawthorne.30 
Mosses from an Old Manse. Natb’l Hawthorne.30 
The Snow-Image. Nathaniel Hawthorne.30 
A Wonder-Book for Boys and Girls. Nathaniel 
Hawthorne.30 
Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Stowe.30 
Every book is fit for any library. Bear in mind these books are not given to 
the subscriber as an inducement to take the paper; they are given as reward or 
pay for work and trouble in introducing the paper to new subscribers. If the 
new subscriber is not satisfied with his bargain he can have his dollar back. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, New York. 
