1909. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
(l DUB 
“HYBRIDIZED” POTATO SEED. EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
Hero in Colorado we are much interested iu the potato 
industry. At present our production does not compare 
with the output of New York Slate, yet we have advan¬ 
tages in the way of larger yields, lessened cost of pro¬ 
duction, on account of not having to fertilize with com¬ 
mercial fertilizers and not having to spray for hugs and 
Might, so that we expect to make Colorado one of the 
leading potato producing States of the Union. We find, 
however, that many of the varieties which are standard 
in the humid section are not satisfactory here, and we 
are confident that there are better chances for getting 
varieties adapted to our conditions by growing from 
seed than by growing from varieties already originated 
in the East. We have tried hybridizing or crossing differ¬ 
ent varieties of potatoes with the hope of uniting the 
desirable characters in different varieties. So far. how¬ 
ever. we have never succeeded in crossing potatoes at all. 
I saw an advertisement of Wm. Henry Maule, in which 
lie stated tiiat lie had hybridized potato seed for sale. 1 
wrote him in regard to the matter, and he referred me 
to A. T. Cook, whom he said grew all this hybridized 
seed. I thought from your work and your acquaintance 
with Mr. Carman you would probably know if Mr. Carman 
ever succeeded in really hybridizing potatoes. The varie¬ 
ties originated by Mr. Carman are, as you know, among the 
standards in your part of the country. Rural New 
Yorker No. 2 is one of our best varieties here. 
Col. Agl. College. K. p. Bennett, Potato Specialist. 
According to our best information Mr. Carman 
never claimed to have made actual hybrids of culti¬ 
vated potatoes, although he made many hundreds of 
attempts to pollinate the blooms artificially. He said 
that lie never could actually distinguish any pollen, 
but that some of the blooms he manipulated produced 
seed balls, and from these his best seedlings were 
grown. It is the general experience that cultivated 
potatoes in Eastern America produce very little pollen, 
and artificial hybridization is extremely uncertain. 
That pollen is produced, is evident from the finding of 
seed balls in potato fields. When it comes down to 
facts there is really no record of successful artificial 
pollination of the potato, though we believe it has been 
done with glass-grown plants in Europe. Mr. Carman 
grew his Carman and Sir Walter Raleigh from seed 
balls of Rural New Yorker No. 2, produced in Bel¬ 
gium. This variety does not fruit in this country, but 
does so with some freedom in Northern Europe. If 
A. T. Cook claims to produce artificially hybridized 
potato seed in quantities sufficient to put on the market 
lie is certainly the only individual in this country who 
can do it. Tt may he considered that any potato seed 
from standard cultivated varieties found in the fields 
in this country is more or less cross-pollenized, as we 
have reason to believe that such varieties are not fer¬ 
tile with their own pollen, but the work is done in a 
hap-hazard manner by insects and not in the sys¬ 
tematic manner that it would be by a competent plant 
breeder. It may be possible to produce artificially 
pollinated potato seed in this country, but we believe 
the work will have to he done, if at all. under glass by 
the most careful methods of manipulation. 
We wrote A. T. Cook regarding the matter and re¬ 
ceived the following letter: 
My hybridized potato seed is from ton or more grow¬ 
ers : I enclose descriptive circular. Some of it is claimed 
to be specially hybridized (or artificially hybridized.)• As 
to what is meant by “hybridized” my version is that it 
is seed produced by a mixture or crossing of two or more 
varieties, by natural or artificial means. I have person¬ 
ally grown many pounds of potato seed—the varieties 
produced from same seeming almost endless. 
A. T. COOK- 
This cut is re-engraved from Mr. Cook’s circular: 
7mm 
asui ol». Aiun rvu, x laiu-c, iutxiw, — - - - v -*• —II qi>C, 
No Potato Seed over offered can compare with i 
The multitude of diversified seedlings that can 
grown will excite tlio wonder of all potato growers. 
Luther Burbank, “the wtzZAP" 
A LARCE share of this 
coin pat ahle Potato Seed is 
rf'-t from Mr. Unibank, the world re- 
liiovned Hybridizer uml Experimenter, 
flu- 1 :1 mice product of hi* almost end¬ 
less varieties and selections. 
< Varieties of the greatest ► 
value may 
confidentially he 
* expected from planting t 
< this superior Seed, 
j “ A s easy to trrow as 
j We send lull instruction!*. 
Regarding the possibility of producing true potato 
hybrids this letter from Dr. E. M. East is interesting: 
As to the potato sends themselves, I should regard it 
as a very good thing for a large number of people to grow 
them as a recreation, for in this way they might happen 
upon new varieties of merit. *Mr. Cook says: “Varieties 
of the greatest value may confidently be expected from 
planting this superior seed.” This, of course, is a great 
exaggeration, for if one seedling out of a million produced 
a potato superior to those now on the market, the ex¬ 
perimenter could feel that be bad obtained a satisfac¬ 
tory return for his work. 
It cannot be definitely stated that hybrid seed can be 
obtained until studies of the germ cells have shown 
whether seed is produced from unreduced egg cells with- 
"Ut fertilization: that is, by parthenogenesis, a phenome¬ 
non which occurs in the dandelion. I have obtained seed 
berries many times, after emasculating the bud and pol¬ 
linating with pollen from other varieties. These seed 
berries must have been hybrids, or else tile seed must 
have developed without fertilization, and until wo have 
evidence of such development in the potato I think we 
have reason to believe that hybrids were obtained. Of 
• nurse we cannot judge them by their progeny in our 
present stage of knowledge of inheritance in these species, 
for tlie progeny are extremely variable in all eases. 
1 have been working upon this question, however, and 
confidently believe that the inheritance of colors and shapes 
obey Mendei’s law. and are in reality very simple: the 
apparent complexity being due to the obscuring of in¬ 
herited tendencies by the great effect that differences in 
nutrition have upon the tubers. I do not know of any 
i.vbrids having been obtained by crossing Solanum tubero- 
s,un - ike common potato, with oilier tuber species of tlio 
genus. 
V lion Mr. Cook says that bis “seed is produced by n 
mixture or crossing of two or more varieties by natural 
or artificial means.” he evidently means that he has col¬ 
lected natural seed berries from potatoes in fields where 
a large number of varieties have been planted. Our in¬ 
vestigations have shown that very few insects that could 
jailed pollenizers' visit the potato, and that tlm natural 
si co berries are. in almost every case, self-pollinated. I 
lave also found that the pollen from the same flower is 
mm h more likely to “take” than pollen from other varie- 
oes. i- VIST 
DOMESTIC.—Continuous rains in Missouri, Kansas and 
Colorado July (5-8 caused disastrous floods. Thousands 
of acres of crops were submerged. Hundreds of Eastern 
people bound for the Pacific Coast were blockaded by 
landslides and Hoods in the mountains in various parts 
of Colorado. Along the line of tHe Denver and Rio 
Grande Railroad west of Canon City, in the famous 
Royal Gorge, landslides caused by the rains covered tlie 
track to a depth of from six to twenty feet. Covered 
with water to a depth of two feet, the roadbed of the 
Santa Fe line half a mile east of Pomona, Kan., gave 
way under the weight of the second section of a west¬ 
bound passenger train July 7. Three coaches turned tur¬ 
tle on the embankment and now lie in eighteen feet of 
water. Two of the 300 passengers on the train were 
injured. . . . Springfield, Mo., and its vicinity were 
suffering from the worst flood they have known July 8 
owing lo the overflow of Jordan River after a rainfall 
of nearly seven inches. Three persons are reported 
drowned and the damage is placed at 8750,000. Many 
residences were flooded, forcing tin* occupants to seek 
higher ground, wholesale bouses and factories were par¬ 
tially submerged, and thousands of dollars’ worth of 
goods wert' carried away. Small houses were moved from 
their foundations, and it was necessary to chop holes 
through the roofs to rescue the occupants. . . . The 
Somerville Iron Works, owned by Benjamin Lisberger 
& Co., and the Carbon Stove Works, on the line of the 
Central Railroad of New Jersey in East Somerville, N. J., 
were destroyed by tire July 8. The loss is estimated at 
$125,000, partly covered by insurance. Hundreds of 
ironworkers are thrown out of employment and the iron 
industry of Somerville is ruined. . . . The tobacco 
growers of Hopkins County, Ivy., have been warned by 
tlie night riders that unless they become members of 
the association fighting the American Tobacco Company 
they will be dealt with in a manner not conducive to 
good health The letters so far received by the growers 
are to the effect that failure to sign an agreement to 
become a member of the association will result in the 
grower being whipped and lire set to his home and to¬ 
bacco barn. To the men who contemplate buying tobacco 
in Hopkins and surrounding counties this year, a warning 
is issued that if they purchase tobacco not belonging 
to members of the assoeation they may expect hemp 
and bullets to be used upon them. One of the letters 
signed “Night riders. 800 strong,” was received by a 
weekly paper at Madisonville, the editor of which was 
authorized to print it as a warning to the tobacco grow¬ 
ers and buyers of that part of the State. Since the 
letters became public Governor Wilson lias been called 
upon to send .t roo PS to that region to prevent outrages 
such as were inflicted on the farmers last Summer. 
. . . Bristol. Va„ went wet July 8 by a majority of 
38 votes out of a total of 458 votes cast. This puts 
the States of Virginia and Tennessee in touch with a 
liquor shipping point. It is asserted by the advocates 
of liquor that the city will gain great wealth by reason 
of the vote, as tlie city becomes a shipping point for 
Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia 
and Mississippi. On this business argument the election 
was carried, despite the usual efforts of the Prohibition¬ 
ists, who held prayer services at the polls and made 
great efforts against the admission of liquor into the 
city. The city is half in Virginia and half in Tennessee. 
Two separate elections had to be held, the Tennessee 
side having gone dry a year ago. . . . Edward 1*. 
MacMillan, a bookkeeper of the wrecked Enterprise Na¬ 
tional Bank, of Harrisburg, Pa., was released June 8 
from the Western Penitentiary through the executive 
clemency of Ex-President Roosevelt, after having served 
two and one-half years of a six years and six months’ 
sentence. Mrs. MacMillan, who secured the clemency 
order from Ex-President Roosevelt, maintained tiiat her 
husband had obeyed the orders of liis employer, T. Lee 
Clark, the cashier, who committed suicide after the fail¬ 
ure of the bank for $2,000,000. Charles Menzemer, an¬ 
other employee of tlie bank, was released recently, his 
sentence having boon shortened by Mr. Roosevelt, and 
Lemort 8. Cook, also convicted in connection with tlio 
failure, will be given bis liberty. . . . The General 
Education Board announced July n that John D. Rocke¬ 
feller had contributed $10,000,000 more to carry forward 
the general education plan for the endowment of colleges 
and universities throughout the United States. This ad¬ 
ditional gift brings the total sura contributed by Mr. 
Rockefeller to this special education fund up to $53,- 
000,000. The first very large gift by Mr. Rockefeller 
to the General Board was $10,000,000 in 1005, followed 
two years later by a $32,000,000 contribution. He gave 
tlie first million in 1902, soon after tlie board's organ¬ 
ization. Of the $43,000,000 which represented the Gen¬ 
eral Board's capital until the present donation swelled 
it by $10,000,000 more, $20,000,000 is held in trust by 
the General Board subject to tlie disposal of principal 
and interest by Mr. Rockefeller and his son, John I). 
Rockefeller. Jr.! in their lifetime. This latter trust was 
created about January 1, 1907. and is still intact, draw¬ 
ing interest. The board has absolute control over the 
disposal of the rest of the general trust of $33,000,000. 
though when established, In 1905, the board was em¬ 
powered only to distribute the interest on the fund. 
. Vincent A. Altman, assistant business agent of 
the Carpenters’ Union, and formerly a policeman, was 
locked up in the county jail at Chicago, Ill., July 9 on 
a bench warrant charging him with being the man who 
exploded the bomb in tlie rear of the building at 100 
Washington street, Chicago, on the night of June 27. 
The explosion caused $100,000 damage. Altman's 
brother Joseph is being sought on another bench warrant 
charging him with joining bis brother in the dynamiting 
and tiring of a building at 5821 Center avenue on May 7. 
1908. Altman's bail was fixed at $50,000. There are 
seven complaints of destruction of property and assault 
by means of explosives. Following the placing of the 
formal charges of responsibility for the recent dynamit¬ 
ing against Vincent -Altman. Acting Chief of Police 
Sclmettler. Acting Assistant Chief Bavin, and State’s 
Attorney John E. W. Wayman declared that they have 
sufficient evidence against the man to conduct a trial 
without the use of additional information. The police 
expect to produce a witness who will testify that Altman 
confessed to him that ho exploded the dynamite behind 
the Central Exchange of the Chicago Telephone Company 
on Washington street. . . Notwithstanding that in 
the State of Georgia “near beer” is the nearest approach 
to an intoxicating beverage which can l>e lawfully sold, 
the records of the Atlanta Police .Department, at the close 
of six months of 1909, show 1,875 arrests in that city 
for drunkenness. Confederate veterans may no longer 
continue the sale of “near beer” without paying the 
regulation license fee of $200. if a bill which has received 
a favorable report by the Committee on Temperance of 
tlie House becomes a law. Under existing laws. Con¬ 
federate veterans are exempt from practically all license 
fees. ... A cloudburst near Sioux City, Iowa, July 
10, cost four lives and destroyed property estimated at 
$1,000,000. Many houses along Floyd River and Perry 
Greek have been washed away. The Chicago. Milwaukee 
and St. Paul bridge across the river has been . swept 
away. East of Sioux City great stretches of the Great 
Northern and Illinois Cbntral tracks have been carried 
away. A wifterspout struck about four miles northwest 
of West Plains, in Howell Valley, in the Ozark Moun¬ 
tains, southern Missouri, bordering Arkansas, July 10. 
I‘>\RM AND GARDEN.'—The largest cheese ever manu¬ 
factured in the Mohawk Valley was shipped to a 
Chicago firm .Tune 8 by a Utica. N* Y„ cold storage 
company. The cheese was built in the usual shape, 
but it measured 32 inches high. 45 inches in diameter, 
contained 41.728 cubic inches and weighed 1.950 
pounds. It took about 10 tons of milk to produce 
it and it was pressed into shape by a specially con¬ 
structed press in a Bowville cheese factory, where 
it was bought by the Chicago firm through the 
cold storage company. The company lias shipped quite 
a number of cheeses weighing as much as 1.200 pounds, 
but tliis was the largest one it ever tackled. It lias a 
tank which is large enough to paraffin a half ton cheese, 
but tlie monster cheese was paraffined outside of the 
tank by carefully pouring the molten liquid over it. 
After the airtight liquid bad Cooled the cheese was en¬ 
cased in a sheet-iron covering. 
The first roll of petroleum butter, the Standard Oil's 
latest product, is to be turned out at the Wood River 
refinery near Alton. Ill. The new product will be known 
as “petrol butter.” It is said to be of the same con¬ 
sistency as lacteal butter, but brown in color. It is said 
that it does not become rancid. 
NEW AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL. 
Taking boys out of the slums of New York and 
making practical educated farmers of them is the task 
assumed In the new Lincoln Agricultural School, recently 
established at Somers Centre, New York, by Brother 
Barnabas of the Christian Brothers as an adjunct of 
the Catholic Protectory of New York City. ’Pile school 
is to be modeled after Cornell, and Prof. Bailey was 
on the ground July lltli and assisted at the cere¬ 
monies in laying the corner stone of the new building. 
Other members of the Cornell faculty will conduct 
courses of lectures later on. The farm was pur¬ 
chased two years ago. It contains t>00 acres. The 
buildings in course of construction are designed to ac¬ 
commodate 200 boys. At present tlie quarters limit the 
colony to 50 boys. Day by day, in addition to their 
mental and spiritual development, they train the hands 
and strengthen the muscle in the practical work of the 
farm. They care for and milk lot cows daily, and ship 
the product. This is a good work. It is good in that, 
it takes poor and homeless boys away from the vices 
and temptations of the city streets and makes useful 
and intelligent citizens of them. Brother Barnabas lias 
practical ideas in the development of bis boys. He made 
a beginning some time back by teaching bis boys to do 
farm work on the vacant suburban lots. The boys 
were encouraged iu independent self support by being 
allowed a fixed stipend for their maintainance. The 
larger farm with its equipment will afford greater facil¬ 
ities for the work, and it is not improbable that future 
graduates of the School are destined to become success¬ 
ful farmers and prominent in the agricultural affairs of 
the State. If the school rescues but one boy a year 
from a possible criminal career and makes of him a 
practical farmer and a good citizen it will have not 
been without success. 
CROP PROSPECTS. 
In Aroostook County, Maine, the acreage of potatoes 
planted is larger than usual, but they are now suffering 
from drought. Fires have been very destructive. In 
one section nine places were wiped out iu one lire. Ap¬ 
ples and other fruits are backward. in Cumberland 
County small fruits are exceptionally good, although 
everything was late. w. 
We have had enough fair weather here for the farmers 
to get their wheat in shock, but it is now, July 7. raining 
again, a steady soaking drizzle; two days of it already 
with prospects of more, putting a stop to all farm work for 
the present. Corn is growing rapidly, but is weedy and 
the soil is too wet to work. Generally farmers are 
rather anxious and a little blue. w. e. d. 
Hillsboro, O. 
Crop prospects for Sherburne, N. Y., .Tulv 12: 11av 
making just begun, not more than two-thirds as much 
this season as usual. Very light ^rop of apples; quite 
a good lot set. Many are falling off. Almost all apple 
trees have been covered with lice. No spraying to speak 
of has ever been done here. A large acreage of po¬ 
tatoes lias been planted: more than ever before. All are 
looking well. Cabbage is doing fairly, not as many set. 
this year as last. Corn is very backward; no rains to 
tio much good for long time; pastures getting short; grain 
beading on short stalks. i„ c. j. 
Sherburne, N. Y. 
A two-day poultry field meeting is to be held at Storrs 
College, Connecticut, July 27 and 28, under the man¬ 
agement of the Connecticut Poultry Association. The 
College furnishes rooms with beds all but pillows, blankets 
and sheet, which should be brought, free, and the charge 
for meals is only 25 cents. Some of the best poultry 
speakers in the United States are already engaged, also 
Brother Ligouri, a Trappist monk from Quebec, who is 
said to make liens pay him $4 a year profit each up in 
that c’old climate. Everybody is invited who is inter¬ 
ested in poultry in or out of the State. Full particu¬ 
lars and rooms can be secured by addressing Poultry 
Department, Storrs College, Conn. 
THE NORTH CAROLINA MOUNTAINS.—Good butter is 
as cheap as lard, 12'/, cents; eggs the same ; chickens plen¬ 
tiful. The flinty mountain corn makes the most satisfy¬ 
ing corn bread and muffins: buckwheat does well ; flour 
from nearby wheat fields, blackberries, gooseberries, ap¬ 
ples, Rainbow trout, vegetables and a few other things, 
and tlie cooks do the rest. Meadowland in the valleys is 
held at $100 per acre. Grazing land on the mountains 
can be bad for a few dollars. These people have been 
slow to improve the condition of their meadows and the 
grade of their cattle, but they are seeing the need and 
these improvements are coming. There are many well- 
built and painted houses and other signs of prosperity. 
Hemlock lumber is $8 per 1.000 feet. Farmers complain 
that they can't get help in haying; all the men want to 
work in tlie lumber. Wages are $1 to $1.25 a day. A 
man across the street the other day called out to some¬ 
one that the old man had sold his wool for 33 cents, and 
before he delivered if was offered 37 cents, but stuck to 
bis bargain and the buyer gave him 3(5. 
Wautauga County, N. C. e. e. h- 
A FERTILIZER COMBINATION.—A new fertilizer trust 
or combination, known as the International Fertilizer Cor¬ 
poration. has been formed, the general manager being 
T. C. Meadows of the Buffalo Fertilizer Co. The new 
combination includes Waldemar Sclimidtmann, owner of 
one of the largest potash mines in Germany. If is said 
tiiat the new combination has purchased this mine. As 
most of our readers probably know, the exports of potash 
from Germany to this country are controlled by a syndi¬ 
cate. It is not likely that the new corporation will be 
able to offer cheaper potash, for the German government 
will levy an export duty in case the syndicate's prices 
are cut. The German potash mines contain nearly all 
the world's supply of available potash, which gives that 
country a monopoly of this material. The new combina¬ 
tion will control several acid phosphate works at the 
South, and expects to handle nearly one-fourth of tlie 
country’s fertilizer trade to begin with. As both secre¬ 
tary and manager are from the Buffalo Fertilizer Co. wo 
conclude that the influence and methods of that concern 
will dominate the new trust. 
NEW JERSEY HUNTERS’ LICENSE.—The new resi¬ 
dent hunters' license law for the State of New Jersey 
went into effect July (5. The licenses may lie issued to 
any citizen of the State by any municipal clerk or 
County Clerk. The fee of the clerk for issuing resident 
hunters’ licenses is $1.15. Unnaturalized persons must 
pay a fee of $10.50 for the license. Licenses for non¬ 
resident hunters may be procured only from the County 
Clerk and the fee is $10.50. The new law does not pro¬ 
hibit granting licenses to minors nor is there any pro¬ 
hibition against minors hunting in a lawful manner. 
The licenses are not transferable and cannot be used 
by other than the person to whom it is issued. The 
license must be carried by the owner while hunting and 
if it is lost a new one may be procured. Non-resident 
hunters are required to take out a license whether they 
own property or not. The law applies to all resident 
citizens of New Jersey, but it does not prevent the 
iK'cupant of a farm or members of his immediate fam¬ 
ily from hunting on his farm during the hunting season 
without taking out a license. 
