572 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
Sept.  3 
cral  use  contain  sulphur  in  some  form.  Among-  these 
fungicides  are  sulphate  of  copper  and  its  prepara¬ 
tions,  sulphate  of  iron,  sulphide  of  potassium,  the 
hyposulphides  of  soda  and  potassium,  simple  fumes  of 
sulphur  as  used  for  lettuce  mildew,  and  flour  of  sul¬ 
phur  as  frequently  used  for  various  other  mildews. 
In  all  these  fungicides  sulphur  is  a  prominent  consti¬ 
tuent,  and  it  stands  to  reason  that  it  is  just  the  one 
which  has  the  deadly  effect  on  the  fungous  spores 
Now  I  would  like  to  add  a  few  more  to  the  ques¬ 
tions  of  Tiik  Ruhal  editors :  Will  the  Bordeaux  mix¬ 
ture  not  be  as  effective  if  made  with  sulphate  of  iron 
in  the  place  of  sulphate  of  copper  ?  Will  it  not  do  just 
as  well  if  in  the  place  of  any  of  these  sulphates  we 
use  sulphuric  acid  pure  and  simple  ?  [One  of  our 
florists  uses  and  commends  sulphuric  acid,  rather  than 
sulphur  in  any  other  form.  Eds.]  If  the  sulphate  of 
lime,  which  adheres  so  nicely  to  the  foliage,  is  the 
effective  agent  in  the  Bordeaux  mixture,  why  encum¬ 
ber  the  latter  with  ineffective  salts  of  copper,  thus 
making  it  needlessly  expensive  ?  I  have  just  made  a 
solution  which  I  think  will  do  some  good  in  prevent¬ 
ing  potato  blight,  as  follows  :  One  pound  of  air-slaked 
lime  in  five  gallons  of  water,  and  somewhat  less  than 
one  quart  of  sulphuric  acid.  In  order  to  kill  the  po¬ 
tato  bugs  at  the  same  time.  I  have  added  the  required 
quantity  of  Paris-green.  At  present  I  use  this  mix¬ 
ture  in  full  strength.  It  can  not  possibly  have  any 
ill  effect  whatever.  If  vve  find  it  useful  in  preventing 
fungous  diseases,  we  can  then  try  to  discover  to  what 
extent  we  can  safely  go  in  diluting  it. 
The  simplified  Bordeaux  mixture  (if  it  deserves  that 
name)  or  solution  of  sulphate  of  lime  may  undoubt¬ 
edly  be  prepared  in  still  other,  perhaps  simpler  ways; 
for  instance,  from  gypsum,  etc.  But  it  will  be  early 
enough  to  take  up  this  matter  when  the  efficacy  of  the 
solution  has  been  fully  demonstrated  beyond  perad- 
venture.  All  the  advice  I  think  necessary  to  give  at 
this  stage  is  to  use  lime  enough  to  neutralize  all  the 
acid.  Pour  the  acid  into  the  well  stirred  lime-water, 
until  a  further  addition  causes  no  more  effervescence. 
In  regard  to  grape  diseases,  my  conviction  (backed 
up  by  experience,  even  if  limited)  is  that  they  are 
more  effectively  fought  by  spraying — nay  washing, 
soaking  the  still  dormant  wood,  the  trellises,  and 
even  the  ground,  with  a  saturated  solution  of  iron 
sulphate,  than  by  any  later  sprayings  with  the  prep¬ 
arations  now  generally  recommended.  Undoubtedly 
a  simple  solution  of  sulphuric  acid  would  have  the  same 
effect. 
It  will  not  do  to  use  these  simple  solutions  of  acid  or 
of  caustic  sulphates  on  plants  in  active  growth,  as 
they  would  injure  the  foliage.  Besides,  like  the  am¬ 
monia  in  the  copper  carbonate  solution,  they  would 
kill  only  the  spores  they  reach  at  the  time  of  applica¬ 
tion,  and  then  soon  lose  their  effectiveness,  while  the 
sulphate  of  lime  adheres  and  remains  effective  for  a 
longer  period. 
The  old  Bordeaux  mixture  owes  its  discovery  to 
accident.  Scientific  investigation  should  reach  be¬ 
yond  accident;  but  when  our  scientific  leaders  seem  to 
be  satisfied  with  what  was  thus  thrown  in  their  way 
to  accept  it  as  gospel  truth,  and  even  build,  upon  such 
a  shaky  foundation,  absurd  speculations,  as  those,  for 
instance,  about  soil  poisoning  by  copper  salts,  etc., 
we  begin  to  slightly  lose  faith  in  scientific  men  and 
their  deductions. 
All  this  is  indeed  “  respectfully  submitted  to  our 
fungologists.”  T.  GREINER. 
Horticultural  Gossip. 
Concerning  the  origin  of  the  Timbrell  Strawberry, 
we  learn  from  its  originator,  H.  S.  Timbrell,  of  Union- 
ville,  N.  Y.,  that  it  is  a  chance  seedling  found  growing 
in  his  garden.  He  took  it  up  with  a  large  number  of 
others,  several  hundreds  in  all.  Two  others  in  the  lot 
were  found  worthy  of  further  attention,  one  of  -which 
has  since  been  discarded.  The  one  retained  beside 
the  Timbrell  is  yet  known  as  No.  8.  It  is  productive, 
large  and  early,  but  rather  soft  for  shipment.  Mr. 
Timbrell,  we  understand,  now  has  200  or  300  seedlings 
from  the  Timbrell  fertilized  by  Sharpless,  a  few  of 
which  fruited  this  year,  but  none  of  them  equaled  the 
Timbrell. 
Keep  pegging  away  at  the  miserable  sulphured 
evaporated  fruits.  By  the  way,  it  is  a  misnomer  to 
call  these  fruits  “evaporated  ;  ”  they  should  be  called 
“  desiccated  ”  instead.  I  do  not  see  anj^  sense  in  this 
sulphuring  process.  It  has  always  seemed  to  me  to  be 
very  ridiculous — this  spoiling  the  flavor  of  something 
which  is  to  be  eaten,  in  order  to  make  it  lighter  col¬ 
ored.  One  thing  can  be  said  for  sulphured  fruit — the 
worms  won’t  eat  it,  but  it  is  rather  tough  that  we  must 
fix  our  fruit  until  it  is  so  nasty  that  the  worms  reject 
it,  and  then  eat  it  ourselves.  The  worms  have  better 
taste  than  some  men. 
Every  once  in  a  while  I  see  in  the  fruit  market  re¬ 
ports  a  pear  quoted  under  the  name  of  “  Scooter.”  Of 
course,  there  is  no  such  pear,  as  there  is  no  such  apple 
as  “  French  Spitz,”  which  is  also  at  times  honored  with 
a  quotation.  These  market  and  commission  men  are 
very  fertile  in  these  matters,  and  they  never  hesitate 
to  name  any  fruit  for  which  a  name  is  wanted,  and, 
having  once  named  it,  they  are  ready  to  swear  to  it 
ever  afterwards.  They  manage  to  confuse  buj’ers  at 
times  and  sometimes  tangle  up  each  other,  but  rarely 
deceive  a  pomologist. 
One  of  the  very  best  of  summer  apples  and  one  that 
deserves  a  more  general  planting  is  the  Primate.  It 
is  above  the  medium  size,  roundish  conical,  light 
green,  turning  yellow,  with  a  light  blush,  fine-grained, 
juicy,  sub-acid  and  delicious.  It  ripens  in  the  latter 
part  of  summer  and  is  a  superb  fruit  both  in  appear¬ 
ance  and  quality.  We  think  it  finer  than  the  Graven- 
stein,  though  that  is  also  a  superior  variety. 
Every  morning  for  a  month  I  have  ordered  at  my 
restaurant,  a  half  of  a  muskmelon  and  in  all  that  time 
1  have  had  but  one  that  was  really  fine,  two  or  three 
that  were  fair  and  the  rest  so  poor  that  I  could  eat  but 
little  of  them.  This  muskmelon  business  is  getting  to 
be  an  intolerable  nuisance.  We  can  get  fine  water¬ 
melons  without  any  trouble,  but  rarely  a  fine  musk¬ 
melon.  They  are  generally  picked  before  they  are 
properly  ripened  and  no  amount  of  keeping  after  it 
is  picked  will  ripen  an  unripe  muskmelon.  If  we 
had  a  Board  of  Health  that  was  good  for  anything, 
they  would  dump  nine-tenths  of  all  the  muskmelons 
that  come  to  this  city  in  the  garbage  scows  and  thus 
teach  the  shippers  a  lesson.  f. 
Leavings. 
How  Philadelphia  Milkmen  Prosper. — The  milk 
producers  of  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  whose 
milk  goes  to  the  Philadelphia  market,  have  success¬ 
fully  maintained  the  price  of  4%  cents  per  quart  for 
the  month  of  August.  A  few  dealers  notified  farmers 
that  they  would  pay  only  four  cents,  but  they 
lost  their  milk  at  once.  The  creamery  is  taking  care 
of  the  surplus,  which  at  present  amounts  to  about 
30,000  quarts  daily. 
It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  again  explain  to  Rural 
readers  the  difference  in  the  me'thods  of  conducting 
the  milk  business  in  the  cities  of  New  York  and  Phila¬ 
delphia,  lest  the  price  named,  4%  cents,  should  be 
misleading  to  New  York  shippers.  In  the  Philadel¬ 
phia  market,  the  farmer  pays  the  freight  on  the  milk, 
averaging  about  25  cents  per  can.  The  milk  is  sold  by 
dry  measure — in  other  words,  the  farmer  gives  about 
one-sixth  more  for  40  quarts  than  does  his  New  York 
confrere.  The  shipper  to  the  New  York  market  gets 
2  M  cents  net,  or  90  cents  per  can.  The  Philadelphia 
shipper  for  the  same  quantity  of  milk  receives  about 
Si- 30,  or  a  difference  of  a  cent  per  quart.  He  gets  SI. 80 
per  can,  less  25  cents  freight,  leaving  SI. 55  ;  reducing 
it  by  one-sixth  for  the  difference  in  measure,  leaves  it 
about  SI. 30  net. 
The  one  danger  our  Philadelphia  friends  must  guard 
against  is  that  of  making  the  price  too  high.  In  such 
a  ease,  production  is  unduly  stimulated  and  the  sur¬ 
plus  to  be  manufactured  becomes  so  large  that  the 
assessments  on  cash  milk  to  meet  deficiencies  on  that 
which  is  manufactured,  neutralize  the  advance  and 
leave  the  market  in  an  unsettled  condition.  A  wise 
conservatism  should  prevail  in  their  counsels,  and  we 
have  no  doubt  that  it  will.  They  have  given  us  a 
specimen  of  what  farmers  can  do  when  they  stick  to¬ 
gether,  which  is  a  most  desirable  model  for  others. 
Business  in  Spring  Lambs. — One  of  our  readers  in 
Connecticut  has  worked  up  a  good  private  trade  in 
mutton  and  spring  lambs.  Here  is  a  copy  of  the  circu¬ 
lar  he  sends  to  customers  : 
For  some  seasons  I  hare  furnished  a  few  families, 
summer  residents  and  citizens,  with  spring  lamb  the 
day  it  is  killed,  and  directly  from  the  pastures,  thus 
insuring  greater  healthfulness  and  best  flavors,  both 
liable  to  be  impaired  by  the  practice  of  long  trans¬ 
portation  or  driving,  and  the  worry  of  separation  from 
their  dams.  Also,  knowing  better  when  it  is  killed, 
customers  can  keep  it  till  sufficiently  “  ripe”  for  any 
desired  use.  The  lamb  is  usually  furnished  on  Thurs¬ 
days  ;  only  market  prices  are  charged,  and  the  plan 
has  proved  quite  satisfactory. 
A  full  account  of  this  man’s  plan  of  operations  is  one 
of  the  good  things  we  have  on  file  for  our  readers. 
The  Metropolitan  district  received  658,715  cans  of 
milk  during  the  month  of  July,  or  a  daily  average  of 
21,249  cans.  Assuming  that  the  producers  received  the 
full  Exchange  price  for  this,  they  would  have  been 
paid  $526,972.  For  the  transportation  of  it  the  railways 
received  about  $211,000,  and,  assuming  that  the  aver¬ 
age  consumer  paid  seven  cents  per  quart,  all  of  them 
paid  for  their  July  milk  the  sum  of  $1,844,402. 
That  Same  Old  Fraud.— In  a  recent  number  of  our 
esteemed  contemporary,  Farm,  Stock  and  Home,  we 
find  the  following: 
Preserving  Green  Peas. — God  bless  your  faithful 
heart,  Prairie  Flower,  I  have  known  the  worth  of 
such  a  daughter,  and  gladly  send  the  following  way  to 
keep  green  peas,  hoping  you  will  find  it  as  good  as  it 
is  said  to  be.  I  have  not  tried  it,  as  it  -was  given  to  me 
after  my  first  crop  of  peas  were  gone,  and  the  second 
are  not  ready  yet.  Dissolve  one  ounce  salyx  (which 
you  can  get  at  your  druggist’s)  and  about  one-half 
pound  of  common  salt  in  2)4  gallons  of  hot  water  ; 
when  cold  pour  enough  over  the  peas  to  cover  them  ; 
you  do  not  need  to  seal. — Sargus  Ovis.  [It  is  not  wise 
to  use  drugs  with  which  we  are  not  familiar  for  any 
purpose,  and  before  this  method  of  preserving  peas  is 
tried  our  friends  should  ascertain  the  nature  of  the 
drug  “  salyx,”  from  a  reliable  druggist. — Ed.] 
“  Sargus  Ovis”  is  only  another  pseudonym  for  those 
confounded  Ohio  frauds,  who  manage  to  get  their 
free  advertisements  in  so  many  papers.  “Salyx”  is  not 
to  be  found  at  druggists’,  but  you  can  get  it  of  the 
Ohio  Fruit  Co.,  and  it  will  turn  out  to  be  salicylic  acid, 
a  poisonous  drug.  The  ingenuity  of  old  “  Sargus,”  in 
beginning  his  screed  with  the  pious  phrase  “  God  bless 
your  faithful  heart,  etc.,”  is  really  fine,  amounting  to 
almost  a  stroke  of  genius. 
Legalized  Robbers. — The  Standard  Oil  monopoly 
is  now  engaged  in  the  noble  work  of  ruining  a  man 
named  Wright,  of  Cobleskill.  Wright,  who  is  perhaps 
worth  $500,  sells  oil  from  house  to  house.  Lately  he 
bought  a  car-load  from  the  National  Oil  Company, 
getting  it  a  cent  cheaper  a  gallon  than  he  could  of  the 
Standard  Thereat  the  company  ordered  the  merchants 
of  the  town  to  sell  the  Standard  oil  at  5%  cents,  or  for 
about  a  cent  less  than  Wright  paid  for  his  oil. — One- 
onta  Herald. 
When  this  great  corporation  has  starved  Mr.  Wright 
into  submission,  the  price  of  oil  will  promptly  go  back 
to  the  old  figures  or  enough  higher  to  reimburse  the 
monopoly  for  the  loss  of  profits  it  incurred  to  break 
down  the  recalcitrant  Wright,  and  the  public  must 
pay.  It  is  about  time  that  these  legalized  robbers 
made  another  contribution  to  some  church  or  theo¬ 
logical  institution,  by  way  of  balancing  their  accounts 
with  Heaven.  They  rob  the  people  all  the  time  and 
dedicate  a  very  small  percentage  of  their  stealings  to 
pious  purposes.  It  would  puzzle  a  plain  man  to  tell 
in  what  respect  these  men  are  better  than  the  pick¬ 
pockets  or  robbers  who  “hold  up”  a  train  and  rob  it. 
The  robber  baron  of  old  often  donated  a  part  of  his 
plunder  to  the  foundation  of  a  church  or  monastery. 
Milk  Reporting  Wanted. — We  regret  to  say  that 
the  Exchange  has  been  “weighed  and  found  wanting” 
in  respect  to  showing  a  spirit  of  fairnesss  in  naming  a 
price  for  August  milk  and  it  ought  to  be  ashamed  of 
itself. — Milk  Reporter,  August  15. 
These  figures  alone  are  sufficient  to  convince  any 
fair-minded  person  that  the  Milk  Exchange  is  not  re¬ 
sponsible  for  depreciation  in  the  price  of  m'lk. — Milk 
Reporter,  August  15. 
The  first  thing  a  careful  observer  notes  when  he 
takes  up  the  Milk  Reporter,  is  the  muddled  condition 
of  its  editor.  When  Amzi  Howell  was  alive  and  edited 
that  paper,  it  was  charged  that  he  was  rather  a  turgid 
writer,  but  his  successor  goes  Amzi  one  better  and  adds 
numerous  other  offenses  to  those  of  his  predecessor. 
The  direct  contradiction  in  the  above  quoted  para¬ 
graphs  is  a  specimen  of  the  Reporter’s  work.  It  is 
just  what  would  be  expected  of  a  sheet  which  has 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  New  York  Milk  Exchange. 
This  cannot  be  done  without  lots  of  lying  and  stupid 
inconsistency.  If  the  Reporter  wants  to  furnish  an 
interesting  chapter  of  history,  let  it  give  us  a  list  of 
Exchange  men  who  have  been  convicted  of  selling 
impure  or  adulterated  milk.  One  time  or  another,  a 
large  proportion  of  them  have  played  a  leading  part 
in  the  little  dramas  enacted  in  our  police  courts. 
A  prohibitionist  friend  wants  to  know  if  the  “root 
beer”  advertised  in  these  columns  is  really  a  “  temper¬ 
ance  drink.”  Yes;  there  isn’t  a  cross  word  in  a  barrel 
of  it. — Farm,  Stock  and  Home. 
Our  usually  accurate  contemporary  is  a  little  off. 
Any  beer  made  by  the  process  of  fermentation  has  al¬ 
cohol  in  it,  though  in  minute  quantities.  If  it  is  a 
question  of  abstaining  from  alcohol  as  a  matter  of 
principle,  root  beer  must  be  eschewed,  if  made  with 
yeast  and  bottled  or  confined  in  casks. 
Rich  young  snobs  wear  bill-board  collars,  part  their 
hair  in  the  middle,  wear  an  eye-glass,  talk  silly,  and 
dock  their  horses.  The  last  marks  the  dividing  line 
between  imbecility  and  crime. — Farm,  Stock  and 
Home. 
When  to  the  above  they  add  the  overhead  check-rein 
to  their  horse’s  outfit,  they  have  gone  their  length. 
The  fools  who  are  guilty  of  these  two  offenses  against 
all  that  is  humane,  should  be  mulcted  in  heavy  fines 
or  sent  to  the  penitentiary. 
Killing  Canada  Thistles. — The  first  thing  to  be 
done  to  get  rid  of  these  pests  is  to  plow  the  land  just 
after  the  crop  is  off,  with  a  good  set  of  gang  plows, 
turning  it  about  three  inches  deep;  then  in  three  or 
four  days  dig  or  harrow  it  with  a  harrow  like  the 
Thomas;  then  leave  it  alone  for  a  week  or  so  and  plow 
it  over  with  the  ordinary  plow  about  five  or  six  inches 
deep  or  as  deep  as  it  had  formerly  been  plowed.  Then 
harrow  well  and  prepare  for  fall  wheat  and  seed  down 
to  clover  and  Timothy,  and  you  will  find  very  few 
thistles.  If  the  land  is  in  good  shape  for  wheat,  or 
if  you  intend  to  sow  a  spring  crop,  do  not  give  the 
second  plowing  until  late  in  the  fall,  and  where  spring 
plowing  will  answer  it  is  a  good  plan  to  cultivate  or 
harrow  the  land,  then  plow  and  harrow  and  prepare 
the  ground  as  usual  for  whatever  crop  you  wish  to 
sow.  j.  m.  w. 
