1896 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
783 
high school than the common school, that is, it is only 
the taxes. The short term and winter courses in the 
agricultural colleges are a wonderful help to sons of 
farmers. J. w. newton. 
Vermont. _ 
NOTES ON FLORAL NOVELTIES. 
NEW AND ODD GARDEN FRIENDS. 
Ferns for the Table. —Ferns in the little orna¬ 
mental dishes of silver or china retain their popular¬ 
ity ; the large dealers raise them by the thousand for 
this purpose. Florists who han¬ 
dle them largely say that their 
customers often beg them not to 
use the maiden-hair. This, the 
daintiest of all ferns, is not very 
satisfactory in house culture, 
especially under the conditions 
it must endure as a table plant. 
Various members of the Pteris 
family, particularly P. serrulata, 
P. cretica and P. cretica albo- 
lineata, P. Victoria, and the hand¬ 
some, glossy Ouychium Japoni- 
cum, are the leading varieties for 
this purpose. The feathery little 
palm, Cocos Weddeliana, is very 
often used as a centerpiece for 
the dish. 
A R D I S I A CRENULATA. —This 
handsome plant is a great favor¬ 
ite for the Christmas trade around 
New York. It has shining dark 
green leaves, slightly toothed at 
the edges, and clusters of bright 
red berries, a trifle larger than 
those of the holly. It is a fine 
house plant, and the berries are 
so persistent that one crop often 
hangs on until another is ripe. 
The flowers are small, greenish- 
white, and inconspicuous. The 
florists raise the plants from seed, 
a special point being to sow the 
berries while freshly plucked; 
otherwise they do not germinate 
freely. Buyers demand neat, shapely plants, so, as a 
rule, any of the less perfect plants are saved for stock. 
Their culture is not extensive away from the vicinity 
of New York. 
Chinese Primroses. —Among winter market plants, 
fine Chinese primroses still hold their vogue. Among 
the finer strains, we find very fine flowers— 
white, clear porcelain blue, carmine, cerise 
and crimson, with fringed or crimped edges. 
They are very far superior to the washy 
shades of carelessly selected strains. Some 
of the so-called “fern-leaved” varieties are 
odd and beautiful, with their finely cut and 
divided foliage. In growing them, it should 
always be remembered that they dislike a 
high temperature, and care must be taken 
that water never lies on their leaves ; they 
must be watered at the root only. 
The Newer Sweet Peas. —We are prom¬ 
ised a number of sweet pea novelties for 
1897, among them several of American origin. 
We are still indebted to Mr. Eckford, the 
English specialist, for some of our best 
novelties, and we now feel the influence of 
the Californian seed growers, who are devot¬ 
ing special attention to this flower. The 
climate of California seems especially favor¬ 
able to the growing of this seed, and many 
acres are devoted to it in the Santa Clara 
district. Great care is taken in roguing— 
that is, rooting out of the seed patch all 
plants that do not come true to character 
—that the stock may be kept pure. Some 
varieties, as, for example, the mauve Countess 
of Radnor, very easily deteriorate from the 
true standard, and constant care is needed 
to keep it trued up to the original color ; 
with careless seed-growing, we get a good 
many reddish shaded flowers, far inferior to the orig¬ 
inal delicate mauve. 
Among striking departures from ordinary types, 
Cupid, introduced this year, created a marked sensa¬ 
tion by its dwarf, stocky growth. But it does not 
appear to have given general satisfaction in the East; 
many complaints are made of both poor germinating 
power and sparse, tardy blooming. We have seen 
Californian photographs showing Cupid in the field 
looking like a sheet of snow, with its abundance of 
bloom ; but this character has not been borne out, 
apparently, outside of California. It has been sug¬ 
gested as a window plant, for which its dwarf growth 
would make it suitable. We are promised another 
dwarf, of the Cupid type, but differing from it in 
color of bloom, which is clear pink. 
Red Riding Hood, a Californian novelty to be sent 
out in 1897, is an entirely distinct form. The color 
is rosy pink, shading to blush white at the calyx, the 
keel nearly pure white. The standard is small and 
oddly frilled, drawn over the wings like a hood. Its 
appearance is very quaint, and it is said to be free, 
fragrant and lasting. The “ double ” sweet peas, 
which were brought out as a novelty during the last 
season, do not appear at all stable, in many instances 
not more than 10 per cent coming true from seed, and 
it seems likely that the best effort of our growers 
HYBRID TOMATOES OF THE RURAL GROUNDS. Fia. 255. 
will, in future, be directed in the line of larger 
blooms, with more flowers to the spray. 
In the Sweet Pea Review, an interesting little 
monograph published by the Sunset Seed and Plant 
Company, of San Francisco, Blanche Burpee is de¬ 
scribed as the finest white of the true grandiflora 
DARK-COLORED HYBRID OF CURRANT TOMATO. 
For Description see Ruralisms, page 787. 
type. In those approaching yellow, Mrs. Eckford is 
regarded as superior to Primrose. Prima Donna, an 
Eckford novelty of 1897, is accorded first place among 
pinks. Firefly is the best scarlet, though not of 
grandiflora type. Mars (1897) is said to be the most 
intense and best-formed of all the reds. Coquette 
(1897) is creamy flesh with primrose wings, standard 
tinged purplish rose, very dainty in effect. Among 
variegated sorts, Mrs. Jos. Chamberlain is put at the 
head; white, heavily flaked and striped with clear 
rose. An attempt is now being made to classify 
sweet peas according to size and shape, rather than 
color, and, by degrees, we shall, no doubt, discard 
those that do not approach the true grandiflora 
type. There is also an effort to produce a symmetrical 
rounded standard, without a central notch, e. t. r. 
THE NEW YORK AGRICULTURAL DEPART¬ 
MENT AND "0LE0." 
ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER VAN VALKENBURGH TALKS. 
The R. N.-Y. has made several statements about 
the removal of B. F. Van Valkenburgh, who, for the 
past 12 years, has ably enforced the laws against 
“ oleomargarine ” and other adulterated foods. On 
November 12, Mr. Van Valkenburgh retired from 
office. Later he appeared before a meeting of mem¬ 
bers of the Butter and Cheese trade, and made the 
following statement: 
“ The fact is that this division 
of the Department has been run 
on business principles with the 
one object which was to enforce 
the laws relating to oleomar¬ 
garine and adulterated milk. 
Every man has done his best, 
and we have succeeded in enforc¬ 
ing the laws pretty thoroughly. 
“Way back, years ago, as many 
of you older members will recol¬ 
lect, we entered the fight against 
oleomargarine, and succeeded in 
getting the Fenner law passed. 
Under that law, we expended 
thousands of dollars. Then we 
went further and got the law 
of 1884 passed, which was un¬ 
constitutional. We then put up 
more money and continued the 
fight until we got the present 
law. In fact, this trade has 
spent over $20,000 of their money 
in this fight, first in obtaining 
the laws, and then in assisting 
to enforce them. A great deal 
was accomplished, and in 1888, 
oleomargarine had been pretty 
well driven out of the State. 
But in 1890, the United States 
Supreme Court rendered what is 
called the Iowa Original Package 
Decision. Under this decision, 
oleomargarine again got a foot¬ 
hold in this State, and large quantities were han¬ 
dled until, in 1894, the United States Court re¬ 
versed itself, and we have since that succeeded in 
nearly driving the trade in these goods out of the 
State. Of course there have been, now and then, 
violations of the Oleomargarine law as with other 
laws on the statute books in the year past ; 
but I think that I am safe in stating that we 
have kept the oleomargarine laws better 
enforced than any other laws on the statute 
books in this district. 
“ I want also to state that I have had 
under my direction 12 men. I also want to 
say that each and every one of these men has 
done his duty—did it well and proved himself 
honest. I have had, for a few years past, 
under me five men. These five men have 
been under me a longer time than the 
others, and I will say for them that there 
is not one of them that can be bought. I 
know that money will not buy them. These 
men are worth more in this division of the 
Department of Agriculture than 50 green¬ 
horns would be. They can investigate 50 
stores in a day, and examine 100 packages. 
Any one of them can tell instantly whether 
the contents are oleo or butter. Now 
take a green hand, a man that cannot do 
this. He would examine the same number 
of packages, but he would not know whether 
he had seen butter or oleomargarine ; there¬ 
fore, a green hand would be compelled to 
take 100 samples to a chemist who charges 
$7 for analysis and the expense to the State 
would be $700 spent for one day’s work for 
what one or two experts would know at a 
salary of $4 per day. It, therefore, be¬ 
hooves you to do everything in your power 
to keep these men in their present positions. That 
they are to be dismissed I do not know, but I 
have indirectly been informed that, at least, two will 
be dismissed. If they be dismissed, they are Civil 
Service men, and you should exhaust every power in 
your hands to reinstate them. 
“ The enforcement of the dairy laws has saved to 
the farmers of this State alone over $3,000,000 per 
annum for the past 10 years, and it behooves you to 
see that these laws are enforced and the fight kept 
up. Whether my successor will be able to enforce 
the laws as well as they have been enforced in the 
past, is something I know nothing about. But as we 
are informed that politicians must have the office, 
that indicates that the office is to be run for political 
purposes. For this reason, I must say that l do not 
Fig. 256. 
