1402 
Iht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
succulent. The other physiological processes are in¬ 
fluenced by the presence of light as evidenced by the 
fact that bleached celery does not contain as large an 
amount of the essential oil to which the flavor of celery 
seed is due, as does the unbleached celery. Celery 
growing in the light has a strong, rank taste. We be¬ 
lieve that further investigation will reveal many other 
physiological processes which are controlled or are in¬ 
fluenced by light.” 
No one can yet say just what practical results will 
come from these experiments. They are along the 
line of showing why and how direct sunshine bene¬ 
fits things. Through long years of observation we 
bad come to know that children and young animals 
exposed to sunshine were more thrifty than those 
grown under cover. We begin to see why this is so, 
and the knowledge cannot help but stimulate better 
methods in caring for youth. The discovery of the vi- 
tamine principles in our food and application of this 
discovery to popular diet has had a tremendous ef¬ 
fect upon society—actually making changes in the 
markets. We think it likely that the application of 
this new knowledge of the powers of sunshine will, 
in like manner, have a profound effect upon the 
health habits of the people. 
Discussion of the “ Garden Huckleberry ” 
They Are Used and Sold 
OUR article on “garden huckleberries,” page 
1318, was very interesting to us, as we have 
grown and sold many crates of them to a leading 
store in Syracuse. Eaten raw, they are like a sun¬ 
burned raw potato, and we were unable to dispose 
of them on a retail route. We asked the buyer, at 
the store, what he did with them, and he replied: 
“Sell them to the Jews, they know how to cook 
them.” I followed a recipe given in a seed catalog, 
and will say their peculiar flavor pleased us and 
our friends. I never heard of any ill effects from 
their use. Their productiveness is marvelous, and 
I never saw a rotten one. The nightshade family 
has some “black sheep,” but it has given us the po¬ 
tato, pepper, eggplant, and tomato. Let us hope that 
some day the black nightshade will take her place 
among her most welcome sisfers. Alice w. capron. 
New York. 
A Botanical Study 
I am somewhat interested in the “garden huckle¬ 
berry,” which you have identified as Solanum ni¬ 
grum, the black nightshade, a poisonous plant to be 
avoided to be sure. I have just identified what I 
believe is the same identical plant as Solanum ni¬ 
grum, var. guineense Linn. This plant has been 
grown by the man who brought me the specimen 
for several years, and the fruit or berries used for 
pies; the wife putting up many cans for Winter 
use. If you will consult Bailey’s “Standard Cyclo¬ 
pedia of Horticulture,” Vol. VI, page 3182, under 
Solanum nigrum, you will find the following: “Var. 
guineense, Linn., with scarcely angled to angular 
smooth st., broadly ovate lvs., glabrous above and 
glabrous or sparingly pilose below, deeply lobed 
calyx and relatively large fr., is the garden huckle¬ 
berry (Fig. 3G29). This form is cultivated to some 
extent in some sections and the fruit used for pies 
and preserves.” The other plant of which you make 
mention is also given in Bailey as Solanum Bur- 
bankii. “It is stated by the originator to be hybrid 
between the graden huckleberry and Solanum vil- 
losum of the Pacific Coast. In some characters it 
appears to be intermediate between its supposed par¬ 
ents and it is used as is the former,” i.e. Solanum 
nigrum var. guineense. 
It might be interesting to note in this connection 
that the potato, the tomato and the eggplant be¬ 
long to the nightshades, but we no longer think of 
them as poisonous. I am sure that the berries of 
the plant commonly called the garden huckleberry or 
totanically known as Solanum nigrum, var. gui- 
neese can be used in pies or preserves without any 
bad effects. w. a. kline. 
Dean Ursinus College. 
Conclusions After Careful Testing 
On page 131S you refer to the “garden huckle¬ 
berry.” In the Spring of 1923 a friend who is in¬ 
terested in trying out new plants gave me about a 
dozen of the plants which he called “huckleberries.” 
They were planted with the tomatoes, received the 
same fertilization and responded readily to culti¬ 
vation. These plants bore about eight quarts of 
berries, which did not ripen, however, until late, 
and which were at their best after being exposed 
to light frost. The foliage showed that the plants 
belonged to the nightshade family, and before using 
the fruit simple tests were made to find out if they 
were poisonous with negative results. 
Pies and sauce were made from the berries 
picked before frost had affected them. The verdict 
of the members of my family was that the fruit was 
insipid and that it was not desirable to raise any 
more of them. The same use was made of berries 
picked after being touched by frost and the prod¬ 
uct was much better relished. It is my belief that 
frost has somewhat similar effect on these berries 
as on persimmons. 
My conclusions are that the berries are not pois¬ 
onous, at least actively; that they are not a com¬ 
mercial fruit without further selective cultivation; 
that there are possibilities in further cultivation 
because berries on the same plant vary greatly in 
sweetness and palatability. Also that the effect of 
frost should be further studied. The berries are 
about the size of large cranberries. 
Tbe nightshade (Solanum nigrum) and the po¬ 
tato (Solanum tuberosum) have been hybridized, 
as you will note by reference to the Encyclopedia 
Brittanica. It seems to me that you are hardly 
warranted in making sweeping statements as you 
did, for the potato, a member of this family, has 
shown its value and other members may in time 
prove of some value. Rather let us look at the mat¬ 
ter somewhat calmly and say as they do in the 
South: “Not a huckleberry to one’s persimmon,” 
not to be compared with one; insignificant in com¬ 
parison with one. Let us not mix roosters and pigs 
with fruit. w. s. hadway jr. 
New York. 
What is a Prune? 
What is the Fellenberg prune—German, French or 
Italian? What are the characteristics of each variety? 
Kendall, N. Y. c. b. s. 
PRUNE is a dried plum, and any variety of 
plum that can be successfully dried without 
removing the pit is for this reason called a “prune 
type plum” or simply a “prune.” All prunes are 
plums, so that when folks quarrel over whether a 
variety is a prune or a plum they are wasting time 
discussing nothing of importance. Nevertheless the 
term applies to a more or less characteristic group 
of varieties—mostly dark purple or bluish colored, 
of good size, meaty, rich in sugar, and belonging to 
the European species of plum. Each country where 
plums are at all extensively grown has developed a 
particular strain of prune, and so we have the 
Italian Prune, the German Prune, the French Prune, 
and so on. 
A great deal of confusion in names and varieties 
lias arisen because these types reproduce them¬ 
selves fairly true from seed. The consequence is 
that such a name as "French Prune” really refers 
to a group of medium-sized, purplish-red, high- 
quality plums having a similar origin, and “Agen” 
means a particular superior strain of French Prune 
extensively cultivated in Agen in Northern France. 
Likewise the York State Prune which originated 
from seed at Dansville, N. Y., is indistinguishable 
from the Italian Prune. The Horse plum grown in 
the Hudson River Valley, which was probably 
brought to this country by Dutch settlers was pro¬ 
pagated largely by seed, with the result that there 
are early and late, large and small, good and bad 
Horse plums, yet all belonging to the same general 
type. 
The confusion is increased by the fact that any¬ 
thing so deservedly popular as the prune is widely 
disseminated, names are lost, new ones are ac¬ 
quired, and eventually each variety has several 
names or synonyms. When a Mr. Fellenberg in¬ 
troduced the Italian Prune into Germany from Italy 
the plum took his name and ever since the Italian 
Prune has been called both “Italian Prune” and 
“Fellenberg.” 
To sum up the question, there are for all practi¬ 
cal purposes three types of prunes: French, Ger¬ 
man and Italian. To be more exact the name 
“Agen” should be used in referring to the French 
type here discussed, Agen being the best of this 
group. It is attractive, reddish-purple in color, rich 
in sugar, meaty, sufficiently juicy, freestone, and 
high in quality. The trees are vigorous, early and 
reliable croppers, and adapted to a wide range of 
soils. LTnfortunatelv the fruits are a trifle small 
and in consequence Agen has not been as widely 
planted as its high quality and regular bearing 
warrant. 
The German Prune includes in its many strains 
the Latz German Prune, the Weespont German 
Prune, the Rochester German Prune, and so on, but 
though each strain differs somewhat from the other 
they are all similar in general characteristics. The 
fruit runs somewhat larger than that of Agen, but 
not much, is purplish-black in color, meaty, sweetish, 
freestone, good for culinary purposes but a bit tart 
for eating out of hand—all in all not overly super¬ 
ior in fruit characters. The trees, however, are ex¬ 
November 8, 1924 
ceptionally vigorous, regular bearers, and adapted 
to widely diverse conditions. 
The Italian Prune is by far the most extensively 
grown of the three types. It has good size, purplish- 
black color, firm sweet flesh, high quality, and a 
stone that is perfectly free, to recommend it. The 
fruit is good for dessert as well as culinary pur¬ 
poses, especially desirable for both home and com¬ 
mercial orchards. Where the variety succeeds it is 
by all odds the best, but the trees though large and 
characteristically spreading are particular as to soil 
and climate and subject to more than its share of 
insect and disease troubles. Experience alone can 
guarantee its adaptability, though it does well both 
on the Pacific Coast and in the Hudson River Val¬ 
ley. H. B. TUKEY. 
Improving Old Pastures 
T HERE is much discussion about the improve¬ 
ment of old and worn-out pasture lands. In 
theory a good pasture gives the cheapest feed that 
a dairyman can possibly find. It would mean a 
great saving on hay and grain if the pasture could 
be made to double its yield. It seems easy, but the 
fact that improvement is slow in spite of the evi¬ 
dent advantages shows that it is not always practi¬ 
cal. The following note from Prof. Eastman of the 
New Hampshire College is to the point: 
Possibly you realize also that our pasture rejuvena¬ 
tion problem is a rather big one in the sense that pas¬ 
tures are not very valuable per acre, and that treat¬ 
ments of lime, seeding, etc., are likely to be rather ex¬ 
pensive. For instance, perhaps the average pasture 
in New Hampshire can only be pastured at the rate 
of one animal unit for every five to eight acres of land. 
If such pasture is worth from $5 to $8 a season, the 
rent is only $1 an acre, and the little that can be done 
to improve pasture land so often encumbered with 
rocks and stumps, as ours is. for this amount of money, 
is apparent. I realize the other argument just as keen¬ 
ly as anybody that pasture takes the place of much 
more expensive feed, but so long as there is any pas¬ 
ture available it is very hard to get farmers to lay out 
very much money on improving the pasture conditions 
with so little direct return. 
That idea must be considered when we come to 
discuss pasture improvement. Lime and phosphorus 
are the elements generally needed to bring in more 
and better grass, and in sections quite far from 
limestone deposits the expense must be considered. 
The Improvement of New York State 
Dairy Feeds 
GOOD COMBINATION.—The State College of 
Agriculture and its allied extension forces have 
accomplished a great piece of work during the last 
12 months through their advocacy of the peas, bar¬ 
ley and oat mixtures on dairy farms. In practically 
every dairy county of the State this mixture has 
been tried out by a number of dairymen, and has 
been watched with interest by scores in each com¬ 
munity. It was a particularly alluring proposition to 
the farmer during the past one or two years because 
it pointed to a possible economy in the purchase of 
feeds, particularly the high-grade concentrates. Al¬ 
though balanced rations have been discussed at 
length for years, it is rarely that a farmer will wax 
over-enthusiastic concerning them. There is always 
some added ingredient that he has to purchase, and 
the psychology of the fact that he would rather pur¬ 
chase one bag of a ready mixed feed come what 
may than to purchase several bags of different ma¬ 
terials always plays an important par.:. With 
the peas, barley, and oat mixture there was a pos¬ 
sibility of raising more to feed the cows at home, 
and at these times of low milk prices everything 
like that counts. 
HOMEGROWN GRAIN.—Naturally few farmers 
have raised enough of the mixture in the past year 
to carry their dairies for a year, but rather tried 
out small acreages to see what the mixture really 
would do on their own particular farms. Perhaps 
only a few of them would ever be able to raise 
enough to feed their stock entirely from home 
sources, but the nearer that they come to that con¬ 
dition the better and fairer profits that dairy indus¬ 
try will return to those who follow it. ■ For the man 
who has a silo, and who has some legumes to serve 
as a hay, then from a peas, barley, and oat crop 
they have this Fall a grain mixture which after 
thrashing under normal conditions will yield by 
weight approximately 23 per cent peas, 27 per cent 
barley, and 50 per cent oats. With this mixture the 
yield is in excess of that of oats alone. Here in the 
Hudson Valley, where the average yield of oats is 
around 38 bushels to the acre, this mixture yields 
about 50 bushels. The farmer of course has to have 
the mixture ground, but this is true of any home¬ 
grown grains for use in the dairy ration. The ground 
mixture is one that needs only the addition of a 
little cottonseed or oilmeal to balance it enough 
