1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
523 
* 
at  some  point  along-  the  sides  or  corners,  when  the  en¬ 
silage  must  be  tramped  and  the  flue  stopped.  I  have 
tried  weighting,  but  gained  nothing  by  it.  A  few 
inches  of  ensilage  on  the  top  are  certain  to  mold  and 
spoil,  weight  or  no  weight.  Different  materials  have 
been  used  for  covering,  but  I  find  the  corn  plant, 
minus  the  ears,  the  cheapest  and  most  convenient. 
One  year  I  covered  the  ensilage  about  a  foot  deep  with 
chaff  and  litter  gathered  where  the  separator  had 
stood  while  thrashing.  In  about  10  days  a  fine  crop 
of  oats  was  growing  from  it.  When  the  oats  were 
nearly  a  foot  high,  the  heat  and  moisture  from  the 
chaff  gave  out  and  they  soon  wilted  and  flattened 
down  over  the  whole  surface  of  the  silo.  On  opening 
the  silo,  we  found  a  thick  net-work  of  roots  woven 
into  a  complete  blanket,  which  made  a  perfect  cover, 
but  was  very  disagreeable  to  handle  as  bedding. 
In  opening  the  silo  for  feeding  I  uncover  the  entire 
surface,  removing,  with  what  was  put  on  for  a  cover, 
as  much  of  the  ensilage  as  is  spoiled — usually  from  six 
to  ten  inches  in  depth.  This  is  used  for  bedding  as  an 
absorbent.  In  feeding,  I  also  take  ensilage  from  the 
whole  surface,  using  a  scoop  shovel.  In  this  way  we 
get  an  even  distribution  of  grain  and  do  not  loosen 
the  exposed  surface.  When  a  fork  is  used,  much  loose 
ensilage  is  left  to  the  action  of  the  air,  is  quickly 
cooled,  and  the  next  feed  is  not  so  well  relished  by  the 
cows  as  that  which  is  fresh  and  warm. 
Ensilage  is  fed  morning  and  evening;  enough  for 
one  feed  is  removed  through  the  door  where  it  falls  to 
the  feeding  hall  below,  whence  it  is  carried  to 
the  cows  in  bushel  baskets.  My  boy  usually  fills  one 
basket  while  I  empty  the  other  in  the  mangers.  Each 
mature  cow  gets  a  bushel  twice  daily.  I  have  tried  a 
cart  for  distributing  the  feed,  but  much  prefer  the 
baskets.  The  cart  is  all  right  for  feeding  meal  and 
bran.  A  bushel  of  loose  ensilage  weighs  from  23  to  25 
pounds. 
I  am  probably  called  a  silo  enthusiast,  but  as  I  can 
get  1,000  pounds  of  25  cent  butter  from  one  acre  of 
ensilage  corn  properly  balanced  with  a  suitable  grain 
ration  and  fed  to  the  right  kind  of  cows, 
I  try  to  bear  up  under  the  name  with  be¬ 
coming  modesty  and  meekness 
Horticultural  Gossip. 
In  an  article  in  the  Orange  County 
Farmer,  Mr.  Geo.  Q.  Dow,  speaking  of 
Lovett’s  Early  Strawberry,  says:  “I  was 
•nueh  pleased  with  it.  It  is  anything 
nit  early,  but  produces  the  largest  firm 
berry  that  I  know  of.  It  is  a  fairly  go<  d 
yielder,  above  the  average,  with  fruit 
almost  as  firm  as  an  apple.  It  is  medium 
to  late.”  This  confirms  the  notes  made 
on  this  berry  by  The  Rural,  on  whose 
grounds  it  has  been  tested,  as  well  as 
those  from  Mr.  Dwyer’s  place  at  Corn¬ 
wall.  I  have  seen  it  in  several  places 
this  season,  and  the  testimony  is  practically  the  same 
as  Mr.  Dow’s,  given  above. 
Apropos  of  strawberries,  we  are  in  receipt  of  Ell- 
wanger  &  Larry's  catalogue  of  strawberries,  etc.,  and 
we  note  that  they  .still  retain  on  it  the  Bid  well,  of 
which  they  say:  “The  plant  is  vigorous  and  quite 
productive.”  It  is  another  illustration  of  the  differ¬ 
ence  location  makes  in  the  value  of  fruits.  In  southern 
New  York,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  see,  the  one 
characteristic  of  the  Bid  well  is  its  kick  of  vigor,  though 
it  did  fairly  well  when  first  introduced.  The  late  E.  P. 
Roe  was  its  especial  champion  at  first,  but  he  soon 
discarded  it  from  his  list  of  desirable  varieties.  Like 
so  many  others,  it  promised  well,  but  lacked  staying 
power.  In  short,  it  “  petered  ”  out. 
I  am  satisfied  that  it  is  useless  to  attempt  to  grow  the 
Wild  Goose  Plum,  unless  the  trees  are  mixed  in  with 
other  plum  trees,  which  aid  in  fertilizing  its  very  im¬ 
perfect  blossoms.  I  know  one  orchard  where  there 
are  15  or  20  Wild  Goose  trees,  all  of  which  are  very 
large  and  thrifty,  but  which  are  practically  barren. 
In  another  place  in  the  same  county,  I  know  of  two  or 
three  trees,  growing  among  other  plum  trees,  which 
yield  an  annual  crop,  doing  fully  as  well  as  any  other. 
I  incline  to  the  opinion  that  this  condition  exists  among 
all  the  plums  of  the  Chickasaw  family,  most  of  which 
have  been  so  disappointing,  and  doubtless  from  this 
cause. 
I  no  not  like  the  way  the  Empire  State  Grape  acts 
in  my  small  collection.  It  seems  perfectly  hardy, 
never  having  winter-killed  in  the  least  and  it  is  a  most 
rampant  grower.  Yet  with  all  this,  I  have  never  had 
a  creditable  bunch  of  well-ripened  grapes.  When 
about  two-thirds  grown  they  seem  to  weaken,  have  a 
scanty  growth  thereafter  and  do  not  perfectly  ripen. 
The  bunches,  too,  are  invariably  small.  I  have  seen 
fine  bunches  in  the  Hudson  River  district,  but  I  have 
never  been  able  to  grow  them,  and  I  cannot  tell  the 
reason  why.  Other  varieties  do  pot  give  me  any 
trophic. 
pun  California  friends  haye  sent  us  a  Jot  of  very  poor 
fruit  this  season,  especially  in  the  line  of  apricots. 
The  city  was  flooded  with  them  for  weeks  and  the 
great  bulk  of  them  were  really  only  fit  for  swine  food. 
The  peaches  were  better,  but  were  far  from  good,  and 
their  pears  must  go  in  the  same  category.  They  can¬ 
not  compare  with  the  same  varieties  grown  East.  It 
is  only  in  grapes  and  oranges  that  our  Pacific  Coast 
friends  can  excel  us.  With  these  two  fruits,  no  fault 
can  be  found.  And  their  raisins  are  superb — the  best 
in  the  world.  Now  if  we  could  persuade  them  to  send 
us  evaporated  fruits,  uncontaminated  with  sulphur, 
we  should  have  another  good  word  for  them.  Why 
will  they  persist  in  this  practice  of  sulphuring  fruits  ? 
*  *  *  p, 
Turerous-Rooted  Bf.oonias. — The  wonderful  pos¬ 
sibilities  of  blossom  in  tuberous-rooted  begonias  was 
demonstrated  again  a  few  days  since  by  Mr.  Thomas 
Griffin  of  the  Oasis  Nursery  Company  of  Westbury 
Station,  Long  Island,  who  brought  to  this  office  the 
flowers  of  about  50  different  varieties.  They  were 
marvelously  beautiful  and  as  varied  as  handsome. 
Some  of  the  ordinary  single  blossoms  measured  nearly 
seven  inches  in  diameter.  The  single  ones  vary  in 
color,  being  white,  orange,  yellow,  pink,  crimson, 
scarlet  and  all  intermediate  shades,  and  some 
are  variegated — a  white  center  graduating  to  a 
crimson  edge.  The  double  ones  present  about  the 
same  variety  in  colors  and  average  from  four  to 
five  inches  in  diameter.  Some  of  them  are  as 
double  as  a  Chater  hollyhock  or  a  double  camellia,  re¬ 
sembling  these  more  than  any  other  flower.  Some  of 
them  are  beautifully  formed  and  exquisitely  marked. 
The  greatest  novelty,  however,  is  his  production  of  a 
number  of  fragrant,  sweet-scented  varieties.  The 
blossoms  of  these  are  about  four  inches  in  diameter 
and  vary  in  color  from  white  to  orange-red.  The  odor 
of  this  new  strain  is  nearer  that  of  a  tea  rose  than 
anything  else.  It  is  not  weak,  but  decidedly  pro¬ 
nounced.  These  are  hybrids,  the  mother  plants  being 
Baumanni  and  Fulgens,  and  the  males  some  of  the 
larger  flowered  new  sorts.  This  is  really  the  crown¬ 
ing  achievement  in  the  development  of  these  flowers. 
It  has  always  been  charged  against  them  that  “  they 
have  no  fragrance.”  That  is  now,  no  longer  the 
case. 
Mr.  Griffin  has  about  1,000  of  these  sweet-scented 
varieties  and  hopes  to  put  some  of  the  seed  on  the 
market  next  fall.  lie  has  about  150,000  begonias, 
growing  in  the  hot  sun  as  if  they  were  cabbages,  cov¬ 
ering  two  acres  of  ground.  They  have  been  watered 
at  intervals — not  that  they  would  not  flourish  without 
it,  but  with  special  reference  to  increasing  the  size  of 
the  bulbs.  These  tuberous-rooted  begonias,  however, 
love  a  moist,  well-drained  soil. 
The  Rural  New-Yorker  is  in  receipt  of  specimens 
of  seedling  blackcaps  from  Mr.  J.  M.  Waters  of 
Fernhill,  Ontario,  numbers  two  and  five.  They  were 
in  such  a  damaged  condition  that  their  quality  could 
not  be  judged  and  but  little  could  be  said  of  their  ap¬ 
pearance,  save  that  the  clusters  were  large  and  hand¬ 
some,  and  the  fruit  also  was  large.  Mr.  W.  says  they 
are  larger  than  the  Gregg  on  the  same  ground. 
Trials  of  a  Fruit  Grower. 
A  year  or  more  ago,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  I 
knew  nothing  about  the  names  of  the  new  varieties  of 
fruits  which  I  was  growing.  Of  this  I  am  now  sure. 
Two  magnificent  cherry  trees  fruited  this  season. 
They  bore  only  miserable,  small  black  cherries,  such 
as  we  call  in  Pennsylvania  the  black  cherry  (not  the 
wild  black.)  I  can  get  better  fruit  almost  anywhere 
along  the  fence  rows.  Yet  I  bought  these  trees  for 
Black  Tartarian  and  have  given  them  careful  culture 
for  five  years.  In  the  catalogue  of  my  orchard,  I  find 
an  English  Russet,  but  the  tree  is  bearing  Early  Jen- 
netting  apples.  My  strawberries,  raspberries  and 
blackberries  I  know  nothing  about.  I  almost  believe 
the  nurserymen  or  their  men  sent  me  whatever  stock 
was  most  convenient.  I  have  two  distinct  varieties  of 
the  Snyder  Blackberry.  My  Needham  Blackberry 
txirns  out  white  and  sweet,  In  a  lot  of  Ohio  and 
fjregg  raspberries  1  can.  find  no  difference  except  iq 
three  plants  which  I  think  are  Greggs.  All  the  rest 
of  the  500  which  I  bought  for  Gregg,  I  think  are  Ohio. 
Most  of  my  trees  are  young  and  not  yet  in  bearing. 
When  they  do  bear,  what  will  the  fruit  be  ? 
G.  G.  GROFF. 
R.  N.-Y. — Our  sympathies  go  out  to  Dr.  Groff  in 
his  horticultural  tribulations;  nothing  is  more  annoy¬ 
ing  than  to  find  a  vine,  a  tree  or  a  berry  bush,  after 
years  of  coddling  and  petting,  is  something  entirely 
different  from  what  one  had  reason  to  believe  it  was. 
His  experience  is  a  not  uncommon  one,  but  we  are 
compelled  to  say  that  the  man  who  has  such  experi¬ 
ences  to-day  has  only  himself  to  blame.  There  are 
plenty  of  nurserymen  to-day  to  whom  orders  may  be 
intrusted  with  an  absolute  certainty  that  they  will  be 
honestly  filled  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  the  per¬ 
ipatetic  tree  agents,  who  go  about  the  country  after 
victims  and  who  generally  find  them,  and,  we  are  sorry 
to  say,  there  are  still  a  few  crooked  dealers  left  in  the 
trade.  It  pays  to  deal  with  the  best. 
How  Mrs.  Smith  Managed  Her 
Garden. 
“  I  declare  to  goodness  !  ”  exclaimed  young  Mrs.  W. 
as  she  rushed  into  Mrs.  Smith’s  kitchen  the  other  day, 
“  I  really  don’t  know  what  to  do.” 
“  Why,  bless  your  sweet  soul,”  replied  the  surprised 
old  lady,  “ what  is  the  matter?”  Then  turning  her 
broom  up  against  the  wall,  she  drew  two  chairs  close  to¬ 
gether,  and,  taking  the  pretty  brown  hand  of  her  young 
neighbor  in  hers,  said,  in  her  winning,  sympathetic 
way  :  “  Now,  deary,  sit  right  down  here  and  tell  me 
what  you  are  worried  about.” 
“  Well,  John  is  going  to  have  four  men  and  two  boys 
come  to-morrow  to  help  him  with  the  hay,  and  they 
will  stay  at  least  four  days,  and  I  really  do  not  know 
what  to  cook  or  fix  for  them.  We  have  no  vegetables 
at  all,  except  potatoes.  The  radishes,  lettuce  and 
peas  are  all  gone,  and  the  beans  and  beets  and  cabbage 
are  not  large  enough  to  use.  We  have  no  summer 
fruit  on  the  place  except  a  few  currants  ;  the  raspber¬ 
ries,  you  know,  were  a  failure  this  year. 
What  in  the  world  shall  I  do  ?  John  is 
going  to  town  this  evening.  Do,  please, 
tell  me  what  I  shall  ask  him  to  get — not 
expensive  things,  because  we  can’t  afford 
them,  you  know,  but  just  things  I  must 
have.  I’ve  brought  a  piece  of  paper  on 
which  to  write  them  down.” 
Bless  your  heart,  child,  I  wouldn’t 
fret  about  the  matter  so.  We’ll  see  if 
we  can’t  manage  it  some  way.”  Then  the 
good  old  lady  named  a  short  list  of  ar¬ 
ticles,  and  at  the  same  time  explained 
how  they  might  be  best  cooked  and 
served.  When  this  was  done,  she  said  : 
“  When  I  was  young  and  inexperi¬ 
enced,  deary,  I  was  often  caught  in 
your  present  fix,  and  the  worst  of  it  was 
our  town  was  18  miles  away,  and  Thomas  couldn’t 
drive  in  any  evening  and  get  things  to  help  me  out. 
But  I  learned  how  to  prepare  for  such  emergencies. 
Come  to  my  garden  and  I’ll  show  you  how  I  manage.” 
“There,  you  see,  are  three  rows  of  radishes.  This 
row  we  are  using  now,  and  they  are  excellent.  The 
next  row  will  be  ready  by  the  time  these  are  gone, 
and  they  will  be  followed  by  that  row  of  small  ones. 
We  had  five  rows  of  early  radishes  over  there,  and  as 
soon  as  they  were  cleared  away  I  set  those  cabbage 
lettuces  on  the  plat.  That  will  be  headed  and  ready 
for  use  when  my  Simpson  lettuce  in  the  next  bed  is 
gone.  I  sow  my  lettuce  in  rows,  as  you  see.  The 
Simpson  does  not  head,  but  as  I  thin  it  out  the  re¬ 
maining  plants  grow  to  a  large  size  and  become  very 
nice  and  crisp.  The  cabbage  variety  is  not  fit  to  eat 
until  it  heads,  and  then  it  is  delicious.  It  makes 
salads  fit  for  a  king.  A  five-cent  package  of  seed  sup¬ 
plies  me  with  all  the  plants  I  need,  and  it  is  August 
before  the  last  head  is  gone. 
“  Those  late  peas  you  see  are  just  coming  into  their 
prime.  Where  those  lata  cabbages  stand  were  the 
early  and  second  early  varieties.  As  soon  as  they 
were  gathered  one  of  the  men  ran  a  cultivator  over 
the  ground  a  few  times  and  I  set  out  the  cabbages. 
I  sow  six  quarts  of  peas  every  spring,  two  each  of 
early,  medium  and  late,  and  we  have  them  as  long  as 
we  care  for  them.  When  they  come  in  we  stop  cut¬ 
ting  asparagus.  I  make  two  sowings  of  wax  beans — 
about  a  pint  each  time.  We  don’t  use  many.  My 
beets  have  been  ready  for  use  several  days.  I  sow 
one  ounce  of  seed,  and  I  find  it  sufficient. 
“  Some  of  my  Wakefield  cabbages,  you  see,  are  ready  t 
for  use.  They  were  set  out  when  we  made  garden. 
There’s  only  80  of  them,  yet  they  will  supply  us  all  we 
will  eat.  The  sweet  corn  is  down  there  below  the 
garden.  It  is  planted  and  cultivated  the  same  as  field 
corn.  The  earliest  will  soon  be  ready  for  use.  When 
that  is  gone  the  next  will  be  ready,  and  then  comes 
the  old  Evergreen.  We  have  sweet  corn  nearly  two 
months,  and  how  the  folks  dq  devour  it ! 
The  Model  Low  Farm  Wagon.  Fig.  223. 
