The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1309 
New  England  Notes 
Golden  Bantam  Sweet  Corn. — Only 
a  few  years  ago  it  was  impossible  to  sell 
Golden  Bantam  sweet  corn,  or  any  other 
yellow  corn,  in  the  Boston  market.  Now 
there  is  a  greater  demand  for  this  kind 
than  for  any  other.  The  inquiry  has 
come  to  me  as  to  the  origin  of  Golden 
Bantam.  There  is  no  doubt  about  where 
the  name  came  from.  It  was  given  to  a 
strain  of  yellow  corn  by  W.  Atlee  Bur¬ 
pee  of  Philadelphia.  Burpee’s  own  story 
was  written  by  him  in  1902,  and  goes  as 
follows : 
“Ten  years  ago  there  lived  near  Green¬ 
field,  Mass.,  an  old  gentleman  who  had  a 
fancy  for  furnishing  his  friends  with 
some  choice  early  corn  long  before  they 
had  thought  of  having  any  ripe  enough 
for  the  table — but  he  would  never  let  any 
of  them  have  any  to  plant.  Since  his 
death  the  variety  has  been  kept  pure  and 
constantly  selected  by  J.  G.  Pickett,  also 
of  Greenfield,  Mass.  In  the  Spring  of 
1900  our  friend,  E.  L.  Coy,  the  veteran 
seed  grower  of  New  York,  obtained  for 
us  all  the  seed  Mr.  Pickett  could  spare, 
which  was  less  than  two  quarts,  and 
wrote :  ‘You  now  own  the  very  sweetest 
and  richest  corn  ever  known,  and  I  am 
glad  to  help  you  to  its  ownership.  I  came 
across  this  distinctly  new  early  sweet 
corn  two  years  ago,  when  visiting  at  a 
cousin’s  in  Greenfield,  Mass. ;  it  im¬ 
pressed  me  as  the  sweetest  and  most  ten¬ 
der  corn  I  ever  tasted.  It  is  a  deep  yel¬ 
low  in  color  and  very  early.  It  is  en¬ 
tirely  different  from  the  old  Early  Or¬ 
ange,  and  much  earlier.  Planted  in  Mas¬ 
sachusetts  on  July  15  it  was  in  fine  eating 
a  method  for  distinguishing  the  sex  of 
young  chicks.  Several  different  systems 
for  distinguishing  the  sex  of  a  chick  while 
still  in  the  egg  have  been  devised,  but 
have  proved  worthless.  At  the  Connecti¬ 
cut  Station  a  very  ingenious  method  has 
been  worked  out  by  which  poultry  keepers 
can  actually  separate  the  sex  immediately 
after  the  chickens  have  been  hatched.  It 
is  not  quite  as  simple  a  system  as  might 
be  hoped,  to  be  sure,  and  certain  factors 
of  considerable  importance  enter  into  the 
problem.  In  order  to  make  the  method 
work  satisfactorily  it  is  necessary  to 
cross-breed  ;  but  according  to  the  bulletin 
this  is  not  a  serious  drawback.  The  bul¬ 
letin  says  that  on  the  college  plant  cross¬ 
bred  pullets  begin  to  lay  at  a  slightly 
earlier  age  than  purebred  Barred  Rocks. 
The  whole  plan  depends  upon  certain 
fixed  laws  by  which  certain  plumage  and 
other  characters  is  apparently  transmit¬ 
ted  from  mother  to  son  only.  It  is  by  ob¬ 
serving  these  characters  that  the  differ¬ 
ence  in  sex  is  determined.  To  what  ex¬ 
tent  the  plan  can  be  made  practical  is  a 
question  for  poultry  keepers  to  decide, 
but  the  whole  method  as  outlined  is  ex¬ 
ceedingly  interesting  and  may  lead  to 
something  worth  while. 
Scotch  Heather. — No  doubt  there  are 
innumerable  men  and  women  of  Scotch 
birth  among  the  readers  of  The  II.  N.-Y. 
They  would  be  delighted  if  they  could 
have  gone  with  me  to  the  Mrs.  Bayard 
Thayer  estate  in  Massachusetts  a  few 
days  ago,  because  they  would  have  be¬ 
held  acres  of  genuine  Scotch  heather  in 
full  bloom,  and  making  a  picture  which 
This  tread 
TOP  NOTCH  REDFORE 
ARCTICS— Red  Soles 
TOP  NOTCH  IOWA 
ARCTICS — Cray  Soles 
A  Field  of  Scotch  Heather  B  looming  in  Massachusetts 
condition  before  frost.  It  can  be  planted 
thickly,  and  with  me  every  stalk  had 
from  two  to  three  perfect  ears.  By  mak¬ 
ing  successive  plantings,  it  can  be  had 
for  table  use  from  about  July  20  until 
frost.  In  your  more  favorable' locality  it 
can  be  had  both  earlier  and  later  than  in 
this  northern  climate.’” 
While  this  is  doubtless  the  true  origin 
of  the  strain  of  yellow  corn  known  as 
Golden  Bantam,  various  other  kinds  of 
yellow  corn  have  been  on  the  market  be¬ 
fore  it  was  introduced.  The  Gregorys, 
seedsmen  of  (Marblehead,  Mass.,  were 
sending  out  a  kind  called  Golden  Sweet 
many  years  ago,  which  was  well  known. 
By  some  persons  the  two  were  considered 
very  much  alike,  but  others  say  that 
Golden  Sweet  and  Golden  Bantam  are 
quite  distinct  in  many  points. 
Ever-bearing  Black  Raspberry. — I 
have  been  much  interested  in  a  new  ever- 
bearing  black  raspberry  which  has  orig¬ 
inated  in  Massachusetts.  This  berry, 
which  is  being  grown  by  George  F.  East¬ 
man,  the  town  clerk  of  Granby,  Mass., 
seems  to  be  a  decided  novelty,  as  a  black 
raspberry  fruiting  in  the  Fall  has  not 
been  known  before.  The  fruit  is  quite  as 
good  as  that  of  any  black  raspberry,  and 
Mr.  Eastman  thinks  it  will  be. a  practical 
berry  for  the  backyard  garden-maker  if 
not  for  the  commercial  grower.  The  ever- 
bearing  red  raspberry  which  has  survived 
the  drought  most  successfully  in  my  own 
garden  has  been  Erskine  Park.  The 
plants  of  this  variety  are  now  filled  with 
fruit  which  will  be  ripe  before  long.  I 
am  as  well  satisfied  as  ever  with  the  new 
Spring  fruiting  raspberry,  Latham,  for¬ 
merly  Minnesota  No.  4.  This  variety 
seems  to  be  equally  good  as  a  home  berry 
and  as  a  commercial  variety.  The  Taylor 
blackberry,  growing  side  by  side  with  the 
much-rploited  Eldorado,  has  proved 
much  erior.  For  one  thing,  the  plants 
are  lr.r.eh  less  rank  growing,  and  there¬ 
fore  a*  e  easier  to  handle.  The  fruit  lasts 
for  a  long  season.  This  Summer  much  of 
it  dried  up  on  the  stems,  owing  to  the 
lack  of  rain. 
Distinguishing  Sex  in  Chickens. — 
Poultry  growers  everywhere  will  be  inter¬ 
ested  in  a  bulletin  issued  by  the  Experi¬ 
ment  Station  at  Storrs,  Conn.,  detailing 
would  certainly  have  reminded  them  of 
the  homeland  across  the  seas.  It  may  be 
a  surprise  to  many  persons  to  learn  that 
Scotch  heather  can  be  grown  successfully 
in  America.  It  is  a  fact,  though,  that 
where  a  somewhat  peaty  soil,  free  from 
lime,  is  to  be  found,  heather  will  grow  as 
freely  as  on  its  native  hills.  It  needs  a 
position  exposed  to  full  sunlight,  and 
winters  best  under  a  deep  covering  of 
snow.  No  great  harm  is  done,  however, 
if  the  tops  are  winter-killed.  When  in¬ 
jured  :n  that  way  the  tops  can  be  mowed 
off  with  a  scythe  and  the  plants  will  come 
up  as  tine  as  ever.  It  is  quite  a  common 
plan  in  Scotland,  I  believe,  for  the 
farmers  to  burn  over  the  heather  fields, 
because  the  new  growth  which  springs  up 
is  greatly  prized  by  the  meadow  fowl.— 
[We  have  grown  Scotch  heather  in 
Northern  New  Jersev  for  manv  years. — 
Eds.] 
Celery  Troubles. — Celery  blight  is 
among  the  plant  diseases  which  have  de¬ 
veloped  .badly  in  spite  of  the  dry  weather. 
This  trouble  has  become  a  very  serious 
one,  although  as  a  rule  the  market  gar¬ 
deners  who  spray  extensively  with  5-5-50 
Bordeaux  mixture  every  10  days  get  good 
control.  Dusting  has  been  tried,  but  it 
isn’t  as  satisfactory  as  a  wet  spray.  Rust 
is  another  trouble  which  bothers  celery 
growers.  Apparently,  however,  it  can  be 
kept  away  to  a  large  extent  if  the  growrer 
avoids  working  among  his  celery  when  it. 
is  wet,  either  with  rain  or  dew.  The  fact 
that  working  among  beans  when  the  foli¬ 
age  is  wet  causes  trouble  is  well  known. 
What  is  true  of  beans  seems  to  be  true  of 
celery,  too.  Paris  Golden  or  Golden  Self- 
blanching  has  been  very  difficult  to  handle 
in  recent  years.  Easy  Blanching  is  much 
superior  for  an  early  celery  and  is  the 
only  kind  which  many  amateurs  grow. 
E.  I.  FARRINGTON. 
“You  must  make  it  clear  that  you 
sympathize  with  the  working  man.”  “He 
has  my  profound  respect,”  answered  Sen¬ 
ator  Sorghum.  “But  when  a  plasterer 
gets  a  hundred  dollars  a  week,  how  can 
I  sympathize  with  him  and  seem  sin¬ 
cere?” — Washington  Star. 
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There  are  styles  to  meet  every 
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Cross. 
There  is  a  Top  Notch  dealer  in 
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