1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
555 
Notes  from  my  Berry  Patch. 
Strawberries. — Crystal  City  for  me  is  worthless. 
Gandy  is  still  my  best  late  berry,  and  the  one  I  like 
most  in  all  respects.  It  is  not  prolific,  however. 
Sharpless  is  of  no  use  at  all  in  my  grounds.  Wilson 
does  poorly.  Haverland  and  Bubach  did  finely.  Pos¬ 
sibly  the  latter  will  supplant  Gandy  with  me.  Parker 
Earle  did  nothing  of  note.  Our  season  extended  over 
nearly  four  weeks. 
Raspberries — Palmer  ripens  with  Souhegan,  but 
has  a  shorter  season.  I  think  it  possibly  a  finer  berry 
than  the  other.  I  cannot  say  that  Ohio  is  superior  in 
any  way  to  Gregg  ;  I  would  rather  give  preference  to 
the  latter.  Marlboro  is  with  me  deficient  in  flavor, 
being  much  inferior  to  Cuthbert.  Golden  Queen  is  a 
very  fine  berry,  but  not  prolific  this  season.  It  has  a 
fine  flavor,  though  in  this  respect  not  equal  to  Cuth¬ 
bert.  Our  raspberry  season  was  shortened  by  the  dry 
weather  for  about  three  weeks.  The  Japanese  Wine- 
berry  is  full  of  worthless  fruit.  The  plant  is  of  no 
value  for  ornament.  Earliart  produced  a  heavy  crop  of 
berries,  very  similar  to  those  of  the  Ohio.  Are  my 
plants  only  Oliios  ?  Souhegan  and  Gregg,  Marlboro 
and  Cuthbert  still  cover  the  whole  season  here. 
Currants. — These  ripened  with  the  raspberries. 
Fay’s  Prolific  is  our  best  berry,  though  some  bushes  of 
Cherry  nearly  equal  it.  Its  inclination  to  sprawl  on 
the  ground  is  against  the  Fay.  The  White  Grape  cur¬ 
rant  is  very  fine.  Among  black  currants,  Lee's  Prolific 
and  Champion  have  been  fruited.  I  prefer  the  former; 
neither  is  very  prolific.  Crandall  is  worthless  here. 
Gooseberries. — Houghton  and  Downing  are  wonder¬ 
fully  prolific,  and  Smith  much  less  so.  Crown  Bob, 
though  not  mildewed,  did  no  good  this  season.  In¬ 
dustry  is  not  prolific.  I  have  seen  nothing  in  Moun¬ 
tain  or  Late  Queen  to  commend  them.  I  am  pleased 
with  Golden  Cluster. 
Huckleberries. — The  plants  are  all  dead,  after  liv¬ 
ing  a  single  season.  There  are  too  many  wild  berries 
near  here  to  try  them  again. 
Juneberries  prove  quite  prolific,  but  coming  with 
currants,  gooseberries  and  raspberries,  there  is  no 
need  of  them. 
Blackberries. — Early  Harvest  for  pies  were  ready 
July  8,  and  were  nearly  all  gone  by  the  20th.  The 
clusters  ripen  together.  This  berry,  sweet  and  of 
good  size,  is  excellent  for  dessert  and  pies.  The 
Lucretia  Dewberry  ripens  with  the  Early  Harvest, 
and  is  here  no  earlier.  For  three  years,  my  Lucretias 
while  on  the  ground  did  no  good.  Trained  to  stakes, 
they  have  produced  the  finest  berries  I  have  ever  seen. 
They  will  receive  still  more  attention  next  year  My 
best  variety,  the  Snyder,  began  to  ripen  about  July 
15,  and  produced  finely  till  the  25th.  This  berry,  all 
things  considered,  is  my  best.  It  and  Early  Harvest 
cover  the  season  here.  Kittatinny,  Erie,  Early  King 
and  Agawam  produce  fine  berries,  but  there  are  not 
enough  of  them.  The  blackberry  requii-es  more  time 
to  become  established  than  does  the  raspberry. 
Mifflin  County,  Pa.  dr.  g.  g.  groff. 
A  Donkey  that  Wears  Pants. 
HUMANE  TREATMENT  OF  DOMESTIC  A  N  I  M  A  L  S. 
We  hear  considerable  in  life  about  “  man’s  inhuman¬ 
ity  to  man,”  but  mighty  little  about  man’s  inhumanity 
to  the  domestic  animals  without  which  he  would  find 
life  only  half  worth  living.  While  the  majority  of 
people  who  own  live  stock  are  not  guilty  of  downright 
cruelty,  either  premeditated  or  thoughtless,  toward 
their  animals,  many  of  us  are  wofully  neglectful  of 
the  many  little  things  which  might  be  done  for  their 
comfort  at  the  expense  of  a  little  time  and  money  ; 
and  this  neglect  seems  the  less  excusable  when  we 
consider  that  nine  times  out  of  ten  the  small  expense 
made  necessary  in  providing  the  comforts,  is  repaid  a 
hundredfold,  if  in  no  other  way,  in  the  better  nature 
of  the  animals. 
The  accompanying  sketch  (see  Fig.  232)  was  taken 
from  life  near  Long  Branch,  N.  J.  The  animal  in 
“  pants”  is  a  pet  donkey  belonging  to  the  children  of  a 
New  Yorker  with  a  summer  home  at  this  resort. 
After  dutifully  drawing  the  children  in  the  wagonette 
a  part  of  the  day,  the  beast  is  dressed  in  his  regime  nt- 
als,  and  turned  out  to  gather  his  reward  in  the  field  of 
clover,  free  from  all  restraint  and  proof  against  blow¬ 
flies  and  the  Jersey  mosquito.  If  by  chance  a  winged 
pest  gets  up  the  trouser  leg  a  stamp  or  two  of  the 
sharp  hoof  dislodges  it ;  the  switching  tail  and  twitch¬ 
ing  ears  amply  protect  all  other  exposed  parts. 
This  protecting  garb  is  by  no  means  a  rough,  ill- 
fitting,  makeshift,  but  is  made  from  strong  unbleached 
muslin  cut  as  nearly  as  possible  to  fit  the  form.  The 
edges  are  strongly  bound  with  muslin  to  keep  them 
from  breaking  out.  The  trousers  are  made  rather 
wide,  as  shown  in  the  cut,  and  are  one-leg  trousers; 
that  is,  each  is  separate  from  the  other.  On  the  inside 
of  the  leg  they  come  up  close  to  the  body,  and  on  the 
outside  run  in  a  tapering  width  to  the  backbone  ;  by 
tapes  and  buttons  the  ends  are  fastened  across  the 
back.  The  outside  covering  is  made  precisely  as  a 
horse  blanket  with  the  exception  of  the  additional 
length  for  the  neck  and  ears  and  the  additional  strip 
underneath,  running  the  length  of  the  blanket  from 
leg  to  leg  and  buttoned  under  the  belly  to  a  corre¬ 
sponding  piece  on  the  other  side.  While  one’s  first 
impression  is  that  the  garb  is  ludicrous  in  the  extreme, 
a  second  glance  brings  us  to  the  point  of  admiration 
for  the  neatness  of  the  outfit  and  the  comfort  of  its 
wearer,  which  is  heightened  by  the  contented  look  in 
the  animal’s  eyes  as  he  lazily  twitches  his  long  ears. 
Surely  a  similar  dress  could  be  readily  made  up  for 
the  one  cow  and  one  horse  of  the  small  farmer  or 
owner  of  a  country  home  and  be  worth  all  it  costs. 
New  Jersey.  geo.  r.  knapp. 
Work  in  a  California  Orange 
.  Orchard. 
HOW  THE  SEED  BECOMES  A  TREE. 
Obtaining  the  Seed. — First,  all  the  refuse  oranges 
of  seedling  trees  are  collected  in  barrels  and  allowed 
to  stand  until  the  pulp  has  somewhat  decayed,  when 
the  seeds  may  be  easily  squeezed  out.  Then  after 
they  have  been  thoroughly  washed,  the  seeds  are  sown 
thickly  in  a  prepared  bed  of  sandy  loam,  well  fertilized, 
and  covered  with  a  layer  of  sifted  sand  to  the  depth  of 
from  half  to  three-fourths  of  an  inch.  It  is  also  usual 
to  arrange  a  covering  of  cloth  several  feet  above  the 
bed  to  protect  the  young  trees  from  excessive  heat. 
The  seed-bed  is  thoroughly  watered  each  day  with  a 
fine  spray  nozzle  and  hose,  and  under  favorable  con¬ 
ditions  in  the  course  of  three  or  four  weeks  the  young 
trees  begin  to  appear,  and  are  allowed  to  grow  in  the 
seed-bed  until  they  have  attained  a  height  of  three  or 
four  inches,  when  they  are  transplanted  to  the  nur¬ 
sery,  where  they  are  arranged  in  rows  far  enough 
apart  to  admit  an  ordinary  horse  cultivator,  the  trees 
being  six  inches  apart  in  the  row.  They  now  pass 
A  Donkey  in  Pants.  Fig.  232. 
through  another  period  of  growth  of  a  year  or  more, 
or  until  they  have  acquired  about  the  diameter  of  a  10- 
cent  piece,  when  comes  the  important  operation  of 
budding. 
Budded  Trees  Wanted. — Of  course  if  it  is  desired  to 
raise  seedling  oranges,  the  budding  is  not  done,  but 
the  trees  are  simply  transplanted  from  the  nursery  to 
the  orchard.  Nowadays  this  is  seldom  done,  as  budding 
is  necessary  to  procure  the  new  varieties,  and,  particu¬ 
larly,  the  Washington  Navel,  which  has  gained  pre¬ 
cedence  over  all  others.  Another  potent  argument  in 
favor  of  budded  fruit  is  that  the  trees  bear  from  the 
bud  in  from  two  to  three  years,  while  the  seedlings 
require  nearly  three  times  as  long  to  reach  bearing. 
The  budding  process  as  practiced  on  the  orange  varies 
but  little  from  that  used  on  other  kinds  of  fruit. 
Securing  Buds. — First  the  buds  to  be  inserted  in 
the  young  seedlings  are  selected  from  what  is  called 
last  year’s  wood,  or  new  growth,  care  being  taken  that 
those  selected  have  not  started  to  grow,  but  are  in  an 
entirely  dormant  state.  With  a  very  sharp  knife  they 
are  cut  out  from  the  limb  or  wood  in  the  form  of  a 
“chip”  about  half  an  inch  in  length.  A  slit  an  inch 
or  so  in  length  is  next  cut  vertically  in  the  stock  of 
the  young  seedling,  through  the  bark,  then  another  is 
cut  at  right  angles  to  this  across  the  end,  thus  open¬ 
ing  the  bark  so  that  the  bud  may  be  inserted.  When 
this  has  been  done,  the  cut  edges  of  the  bark  are 
bound  closely  about  the  inclosed  bud  with  soft  twine, 
leaving  the  germinal  point  exposed.  There  are  cer¬ 
tain  seasons  when  the  budding  must  be  done,  as  the 
bark  slips  only  when  the  sap  is  flowing  freely.  From 
spring  until  early  summer  and  again  during  the  fajl 
season  are  the  times  considered  most  favorable  to  suc¬ 
cessful  budding. 
Care  of  Little  Trees. — In  about  three  weeks  after 
the  bud  has  been  placed,  the  orchardist  goes  the 
rounds  of  the  nursery  and  cuts  the  budding  cord,  and 
if  the  bud  shows  unmistakable  signs  of  life,  he  also 
cuts  off  the  entire  stock  above  the  point  of  budding 
and  close  to  the  bud,  leaving  a  stumpy-looking  little 
tree  three  or  four  inches  in  height,  as  the  bud  is  never 
inserted  higher  than  that  above  the  ground  on  nur¬ 
sery  stock.  All  “  shoots  ”  from  the  seedling  stock  are 
now  carefully  brushed  away  and  the  bud  soon  starts 
forth  and  sends  up  a  single  stock  which  eventually 
becomes  the  real  tree.  In  the  nursery  the  buds  are 
allowed  to  grow  another  year,  or  perhaps  two,  and  in 
that  time  they  reach  a  height  of  about  four  to  six  feet 
and  thus  we  have  the  trees  from  which  come  the  de¬ 
licious  Washington  Navels,  Malta  Bloods,  Mediter¬ 
ranean  Sweets  and  other  desirable  varieties. 
Some  Old  Seedlings. — This  is  the  era  of  planting 
for  Southern  California,  and  to-day  the  traveler  may 
see  thousands  and  thousands  of  acres  planted  to  one 
or  two-year-okl  “  buds  ”  (as  they  are  called  by  horticul¬ 
turists),  interspersed  between  the  more  aged  orchards, 
which  are  already  covered  with  unnumbered  little 
green  balls  and  white  blossoms — another  year’s  crop 
in  its  infancy. 
The  seedling  orange  is  going  rapidly  into  disfavor. 
To  be  sure,  the  stately  old  trees  planted  decades  ago 
by  the  Franciscan  friars  still  stand  and  will  continue 
to  do  so,  for  time  only  enhances  their  value  both  as 
landmarks  and  in  productiveness  ;  but  in  the  new  era 
that  has  overtaken  the  orchardists,  Washington  Navels 
will  rule  the  market,  and  monopolize  the  soil,  though 
not  to  the  exclusion  of  our  lemon  and  wine  industries. 
W.  P.  .JAMES. 
Leavings. 
Give  some  remedy  for  the  Flea  Beetle  and  Harle¬ 
quin  Cabbage  Beetle.  I  have  tried  Prof.  Cook’s  ker¬ 
osene  emulsion,  result,  the  beetles  and  plants  died  to¬ 
gether:  no  more  kerosene  emulsion  for  me.  I  also 
tried  tobacco  decoction  and  Persian  Insect  Powder 
which  did  not  hurt  the  plants,  nor  did  they  kill  the 
insects.  k.  d.  h. 
Asheville,  N.  C. 
We  would  gladly  do  so  if  we  could;  but  such  a  rem¬ 
edy  has  not  yet  been  discovered.  Tobacco  water  has 
been  recommended  by  some  gardeners,  but  it  has  not 
helped  us. 
Mobile’s  Milk  Supply. — In  The  Rural  of  July  30 
is  an  article  in  reference  to  Mobile,  copied  from  the 
Country  Gentleman,  in  which  we  are  held  up  to  the 
ridicule  of  our  more  enlightened  (?)  neighbors  of  the 
North.  This  does  us  great  injustice.  The  article 
is  maliciously  false.  For  the  milk  supply  of  Mobile 
we  have  20  dairies  which  run  wagons  and  six  which 
do  not.  Their  daily  output  is  fully  1,000  gallons. 
Moreover,  a  large  number  of  persons  keep  one  or 
more  cows  and  sell  their  surplus  milk,  butter  and 
cream.  In  quality  the  milk  is  as  good  as  that 
sold  anywhere  in  the  United  States,  and  the  milkmen 
are  as  well  bred  as  those  in  the  North,  notwithstand¬ 
ing  all  assertions  to  the  contrary.  geo.  t.  rosson. 
R.  N.-Y. — We  publish  the  above  with  pleasure.  We 
are  glad  to  know  that  Mobile  is  so  well  served  with 
milk.  But  Mobile  has  over  32,000  inhabitants,  and  the 
4,000  quarts  per  day  make  a  small  showing  by  the  side  of 
the  sales  in  other  cities  of  similar  size.  In  the  great  city 
of  New  York,  for  example,  the  railroads  alone  bring  over 
one  pint  of  milk  for  each  man,  woman  and  child,  be¬ 
sides  what  comes  in  other  conveyances.  Our  personal 
experience  in  buying  milk  in  Mobile,  Jackson,  Mont¬ 
gomery,  Selma  and  Birmingham  is  that  much  of  it  is 
badly  tainted  with  “  bitter  weed,”  some  of  it  being  as 
bitter  as  quinine.  We  shall  be  glad  to  have  our  friend 
tell  us  that  dairymen  now  use  aerators  and  other  de¬ 
vices  for  preventing  this  taste.  The  article  in  ques¬ 
tion  was  written  by  Mr.  Gerald  Howatt,  who  is,  we 
understand,  in  Mobile  now. 
A  Five  Years’  Rotation. — We  practice  a  five  years’ 
rotation,  sowing  Timothy  in  the  fall  and  clover  in  the 
spring.  After  the  wheat  has  been  harvested,  the  por¬ 
tion  seeded  down  lies  in  grass  for  two  years.  By  mix¬ 
ing  Red  and  Alsike  Clover,  some  of  the  latter  is  found 
alive  the  second  year,  but  nearly  all  of  the  Red  disap¬ 
pears  after  the  first  season.  After  two  annual  crops 
of  grass  have  been  cut,  the  piece  is  well  manured,  and 
plowed  in  spring.  A  part  is  planted  to  corn,  the  rest 
to  potatoes.  Oats  follow  in  the  spring  of  the  next 
year,  followed  by  wheat  in  the  fall.  Two  hundred 
pounds  per  acre  of  commercial  fertilizer  on  the  wheat 
is  the  only  fertilizer  used,  except  stable  and  hen  ma¬ 
nure.  The  latter  is  the  most  lasting  in  effect  of  all  I 
have  ever  used.  It  is  most  excellent  for  corn.  It  can 
be  spread  on  the  sod  which  is  to  be  plowed  the  follow¬ 
ing  spring,  at  any  time  after  the  grass  is  cut,  or  it  may 
be  applied  after  the  plowing  and  harrowed  in.  Its 
effect  on  grass  was  plainly  visible  in  one  place  four 
years  after  a  portion  of  a  cornfeld  had  been  thus  ma¬ 
nured.  A.  D.  WARNER. 
Growing  New  Strawberry  Varieties  Costly 
Work. — We  picked  the  past  season  from  two  acres  of 
land  the  following  varieties  of  strawberries  for  mar¬ 
ket  :  Class  1,  fairly  productive  :  Crescent,  Bubach, 
