642 
SEPT 5 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Shoot Birds from January to De¬ 
cember. 
FAB, Rising City, Nebraska..— I have 
been watching for a reply to B. B.’s com¬ 
munication in The Rural of July 11 on 
the bird question, and see that the first gun 
Is fired from the East. I am well aware 
that our Eastern friends think birds and 
Indians are all good, but circumstances 
may alter cases. After living in Nebraska 
20 years, I have come to the conclusion that 
all good birds and Indians are dead ones. 
In the East, where there are plenty of 
woods, mountains and wild fralts, and as a 
rule nothing in the shape of a grove about 
the buildings except the fruit trees, the 
birds are not troublesome, or were not 
when I lived there ; but on these Westsrn 
prairies where all the groves are set out 
about the farm buildings for protection, 
the birds nest there, and consequently they 
are among our fruit all the time. They 
commence on our cherries j ust as soon as 
they turn red, and if we get any they must 
be picked before they are ripe. They go 
from one fruit to another, destroying all 
they can, and waiting for the time when 
they can commence on the apples; then 
they have their grand feast, and, mind you, 
they will not take a second meal out of the 
same apple. I have 50 Wealthy Apple trees 
that have come into bearing for the first 
time this year, and if I get any ripe apples 
I shall have to buy them. 
Friend B. B. says that he shoots the birds 
from June to September; 1 shoot them from 
the first day of January to the last of De¬ 
cember, for the everlasting blue jay Is here 
all winter and is the worst bird we have 
on apples. 
I have seen no answer to B. B.’s ques¬ 
tion about thimbleberries; I picked this 
fruit in eastern New York State years ago, 
and I have also picked them in Oregon. I 
think they were the only things I saw grow¬ 
ing in Oregon that were inferior to the same 
things in the East. The canes in the East 
grow from four to six feet, while in Ore¬ 
gon they average about two. I never saw 
any attempt made to cultivate them. I 
always found the berries very scattering 
on the canes, and I think B. B. will get dis¬ 
appointed if he expects to get anything of 
a crop. 
Will The Rural tell us the best hand 
sprayer for all purposes—for spraying trees, 
potatoes, etc. [The Vermorel, Cyclone and 
Nixon are all good. Eds.] I commenced 
dusting my potatoes with Hammond’s Slug 
Shot, but the wind blew so many days in a 
week that I gave It up and used Paris-green 
in water, and I saved my crop with one ap 
plication. 
Bagging Tomatoes; That $ 1 OO 
Strawberry Plant. 
N. Hallock, Queens County, N. Y.— 
The subject of the tomato always makes 
me wideawake as I am somewhat of a toma¬ 
to crank, and I was greatly interested in 
The Rural’s “bagging” experiment. 
Though it would hardly do for a 10 acre lot, 
still for family use it will be a great thing 
if it holds good in ali cases, [it will be 
valuable chiefly as hastening the earliest 
crop.— Eds.] 
Again, what effect will it have on the 
disease that commences usually at the blos¬ 
som end and effectually destroys the fruit ? 
[Bagging, in so far as our experience ex¬ 
tends, renders the flesh more tender, the 
color brighter. We have never seen a de¬ 
cayed tomato that was well bagged.— Eds ] 
I think our experiment stations would do 
well to try to help or cure the plague. I 
should have had ripe fruit a month ago ; but 
they have been so badly affected that I 
scarcely get enough for family use from 250 
plants of 50 varieties, and there seems but 
little difference, as all are more or less 
affected. As a rule, the small kinds are 
least affected ; Peach not at all I think, and 
Chemin Market but little. Would Bor¬ 
deaux Mixture be of use ? Lit us hear from 
our stations if they have cases to report on. 
About that $100 for a dozen strawberry 
plants: a “ perfect market berry” would be 
cheap at $100 a plant. What is a perfect 
market berry ? I understand friend Smith 
to say that he has been marketing straw¬ 
berries for 30 years. Why does he not try 
to earn that $100 himself ? Some one may 
raise a perfect berry for his own location, 
which may be of no use to Mr. Smith. 
Had he started JO years ago with seed from 
the berry that is nearest to his ideal, and 
raised 50 seedlings a year in his 30 years he 
would have tested 1,500 different kinds and 
undoubtedly some one would have suited 
his soil. It is no use to say “ No time.” It 
takes no more time to try 50 of one’s own 
seedlings than 50 of some one else’s. All 
our improved berries have been grown by 
some one from seed ; let every grower make 
a point to raise a few each year. There is 
no more interesting thing in berry culture 
than to watch a lot of new seedlings. Don’t 
sit down and ask some one to grow you a 
perfect berry; the way to get it is to raise 
it yourself. 
The Wheat Situation In Oregon. 
W. J., Moscow, Idaho.—O n page 532 of 
The Rural for July 18, reference is made 
to the jubilation of the farmers of eastern 
Oregon and Washington over the enormous 
wheat crop of the year and the excellent 
prices offered for it. Instead of an increase, 
however, the average yield will be 30 per 
cent below that of last year. In the Palouse 
country, where the wheat blockade oc¬ 
curred a year ago, grain will be a poor crop 
from several causes. Owing to the dry fall, 
summer-fallow wheat is a very uneven 
stand. The cold, dry spring, too, stunted 
the wheat heads so that they are both short 
and slim; while all hands admit that they 
never saw wild oats as plentiful as this 
year. Spring grain will also be very light. 
It hasn’t stooled out and covered the ground 
as it usually does ; while the hot, dry winds 
prevalent of late have injured it badly. In 
many parts of the country ground squirrels 
have also been hard on grain. As to the 
prices being 40 per cent better than last 
year, large quantities have be3n contracted 
at 56X to 57^ cents par bushel, to be de¬ 
livered after harvest; but at the present 
date prices are lower, so no farmer can 
engage his crop at these rates. This is the 
contract price prevalent in the Palouse 
country, but I know one farmer in eastern 
Oregon who contracted 5,000 bushels at 65 
cents; that is the highest price I have 
heard of. 
R. N.-Y.—Our information was obtained 
chiefly from our Oregon and Washington 
exchanges. In the latest Seattle Post In¬ 
telligencer at hand—that of August 16— 
we find several excellent reports of crops in 
eastern Washington, and the statement 
that prices are one third higher than at the 
same time last year. In the Portland Ore¬ 
gonian of August 22, there is also a report 
from Baker County, in eastern Oregon, 
which speaks well of the wheat crop and 
prices in that section. A lengthy editorial 
in this paper in the fore part of July gave 
a very favorable account of the wheat crop 
in eastern Oregon, and distinctly stated 
that tne price was 40 per cent higher than 
a year before. In the last issue of The 
Rural, a report from Monroe County, 
eastern Oregon, is in the same line. The 
fact is that eastern Oregon and Washing, 
ton embrace an enormous stretch of coun¬ 
try, and no doubt failures may occur here 
and there, while the general run of 
crops may be excellent. Why prices for 
wheat should be lower now in the Palouse 
country—Whitman County, Washington— 
than last year, is a mystery, in view of the 
fact that they are higher throughout the 
rest of the country. 
The Hybrid Wheats In Canada. 
C. J. F., Delaware, Ontario.— The 
Rural hybrid wheats I gave to Mr. Richard 
Gibson, a farmer well known to many 
readers of The Rural, to which he used 
to be a contributor, and he is very much 
pleased with the return from them, particu¬ 
larly from three of them, viz , Willett, Rob¬ 
erts and Beal. They will all be carefully 
planted again this fall. The heads were 
very large and full, and there can be no 
doubt that some of these varieties will be 
come of great value to the farmers. Mr. 
Gibson had from 10 acres 477 bushels of Red 
Clawson Wheat, and he is also growing the 
corn I got from The Rural, and its growth 
has astonished every person who has seen 
it. On a 10-acre field he has several varie¬ 
ties growing, but the Rural Thoroughbred 
Flint leads them all, but I am afraid it will 
not ripen with us. Yesterday I picked my 
first tomatoes—Henderson’s No. 400. One 
brought down the scales at one pound 
seven ounces. It was perfectly smooth and 
of good shape and color, somewhat like the 
Acme, and I think it well worthy of trial. 
Any Chance for New Varieties? 
F. H. V., Union County, N. J.— It is a 
curious fact that the general market de¬ 
mand for staple products is usually con¬ 
fined to a few—often mainly to one—old 
varieties. This is more to ba wondered at 
when we consider the number of new vari- 
ties that have been “ introduced” that 
embodied all “ possible perfections.” Pos¬ 
sibly many of them do, but the fault Is 
with the public in being slow to discover 
and appreciate their excellences. There are 
many good varieties of pears now in mar¬ 
ket, but the old Bartlett, now more than 
a centennarian, is preferred to any other. 
There are doz3ns of varieties of grapes 
offered to the public, but the old Concord 
outsells them all. Dozens of new varieties 
of peaches have been originated within the 
last score of years ; but none sells like the 
Crawfords unless it be some variety so 
nearly like them as to be undistinguishable 
by the general public. So with apples; a 
limited number of varieties, and every one 
of them old ones, meets the popular de¬ 
mand. In potatoes, the Eirly Rose, a fav¬ 
orite during two decides, meets the wants 
of most buyers. So with many other pro¬ 
ducts. There Is a great deal in a name, 
oftentimes; all varieties of potatoes resem¬ 
bling the Rose are generally sold under that 
name. Worden, Ives and other grapes are 
labeled and sold as Concords. All large, 
yellow peaches go for Crawfords, etc. But 
the name receives its value from the fact of 
previous association with varieties which 
the public has learned to value for their 
intrinsic qualities. Often, too, the value of 
this good name is depreciated in the eyes 
of innocent buyers who have obtained a 
new and inferior variety but similar in ap¬ 
pearance, under an old and familiar name. 
There is no help for this that I can see, 
unless it be in either educating purchasers 
or else in marketing the products in pack¬ 
ages from which they are not to be removed 
until sold; for unscrupulous dealers will 
steal the packages containing favorite vari- 
ties in which to pack inferior ones. 
Rotten Potatoes and Rotting 
Children. 
E P. Powell, Oneida County, N. Y.— 
J ust a word to Dr. Hoskins: I live under 
the eaves of a college ; and there are many 
who come here and spend money freely and 
raise Cain, whose fathers are “nourishing 
their bodies on porridge” to give their sons 
“the best possible educational training.” 
They are the very young men who found 
“ rings,” “trusts” and “higher classes” in 
college and outside after they get through. 
They deserve kicking for letting their par¬ 
ents “bone it” and “soup it” to carry them 
through; but the fathers need to learn that 
the future wise citizens can be created only 
where soul culture begins at the cradle, yes 
before that, and gets preeminence over cab¬ 
bage culture and corn culture and trade 
and manufacture. There is too much mak¬ 
ing grand men by proxies of all sorts. Our 
schools are In many people’s minds only 
proxies for parental carefulness. I know 
men who can’t be beat on potatoes, clean 
and round and sweet; but their boys stink 
with tobacco and bad habits. Batter rot¬ 
ten potatoes than rotting children. Give 
us a little more children culture. 
Advertisers treat all correspondents 
well if they mention The Rural New- 
Yorker. 
The Record 
Of cures accomplished by Hood's Sarsaparilla has 
never been surpassed In the history of medicine. 
And the constant stream of letters from people who 
were almost In despair but were cured by 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla 
is very gratifying. Because of these we urge all who 
suffer from Scrofula, Salt Rheum or any other disease 
caused by impure blood or low state of the system, to 
try Hood’s Sarsaparilla. 
JveryMother 
Should Have At in Tlio House. 
Dropped on Sugar, Children Love 
to take Johnson’s Anodyne Liniment for Croup,Colds, 
Sore Throat, Tonsilitis, Colic, Cramps and Pains. Re¬ 
lieves all Summer Complaints, Cuts and Bruises like 
magic. Sold everywhere. Price 85c. by mail; 6 bottles 
Express paid, $Z. 1.S.JOHNSON & CO., Boston, Miaa 
-- THE -- REX Trade Mark. 
ATKINS’ SEGMENT GROUND. 
PATENTED OCT. 16, 1889. 
14 gauge on tooth edge. 
16 gauge on ends on back edge. 
19 gauge at center on back edge. 
PRICE, WITHOUT HANDLES, 75 CTS. PER FOOT. 
ESPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR LUMBERMEN’S USE. 
iltADE from fine selected tool steel, tempered by Natural 
Gas, the best fuel in the world for tempering. A fine cut¬ 
ting edge is imparted to the steel. Fine high tempered saws will 
do more work without filing than other saws, and hold their 
set longer. All the wearing teeth being of uniform thickness, 
each tooth docs its share of the work, and tho saw being thin¬ 
ner iu center of back docs not bind. For Bale by the trade. 
Ask your hardware dealer for the Atkins Rex Saw. and take 
no other. If the dealer will not order it for you, remit amount 
with order direct to u.. E> Q, AtklllS & CO. 
Indianapolis, Ind. Memphis, Tenn. 
Minneapolis, Minn. Chattanooga, Tenn. 
I ROPE SELVAGE the BEST. 
PRICES REDUCED. Sold by dealers. FREIGHT PAID. 
MeMULLEN'S POI LTKY NET TING. Newt bin*. 
No sagging I No bagging!'# Extra Heavy Selvage. 
’.The McMull en Woven Wire Fence Co.. Chicago. IR, 
ANCHOR POST. 
Cheapest, Strongest, Handiest 
and Most Durable fence post, 
both for ornamental and farm 
purposes. 
ALL MATERIAL SUPPLIED FORM COM¬ 
PLETE FENCE. 
For Circulars and Estimates, 
THH ANCHOR POST CO. 
Agents Wanted. 59 WEST 42d ST., N. Y. 
U. S. STANDARD 
SHIPPED ON TRIAL-FREIGHT PAID. 
Satisfaction Guaranteed. Address 
OSGOOD & THOMPSON, Binghamton, N. Y. 
COME TO VIRGINIA 
For Cheap Homes, Fine Estates, Sheep Ranches, 
Stock Farms, Trucking Lands, Vineyards, Fruit 
Farms. Labor cheap ; climate unsurpassed ; health 
perfect; the worst land easily reclaimed ; good mar¬ 
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domestic convenience within easy reach. 
For information apply to 
THOMAS WHITEHEAD, 
Commissioner of Agriculture and Immigration, 
RICHMOND, VA. 
An Excellent Opportunity 
tor investment in the Orange Belt at RIVER¬ 
SIDE, CAL. Young groves for sale at bargains. 
Net profits, $500 per acre. Low taxes. Climate un¬ 
surpassed. For further particulars and terms address 
C, E. McBRIDE. Mansfield, Ohio, or 
J. H. FOUNTAIN, Riverside. Cal. 
Just Published. 
HOW TO RID 
Buildings and Farms 
OF 
RATS, 
Mice, Gophers, Ground Squirrels, 
Prairie Dogs, Rabbits, Moles, 
Minks, Weasels and other Pests 
quickly and safely. How to snare 
Hawks and Owls. 
Valuable Hints to Housekeep¬ 
ers, Farmers and P o u l t r y 
Keepers. 
By “ PICKETT.” 
PRICE, 20 CENTS. 
THE RURAL PUBLISHING CO., 
Times Building, New York. 
