7o6 
OCT. 3 
Robin Redbreast; Robber and 
Rogue. 
M. M., Medway, Ma&s.—I wish to add 
my indorsement of Mr. Bookman's opinion 
of mischievous birds, of which I consider 
the robin the worst. About 20 years ago I 
made an attempt to cultivate the wild 
high blueberry, but robins rendered the 
work abortive by destroying all the fruit 
as soon as it colored. This they did although 
wild berries were abundant in the fields 
nearby. But robins seem to prefer the 
vicinity of human habitations for breeding 
places. That birds destroy many insects is 
admitted, but that is not proof that they 
really lessen the injury done to vegetation 
by insects. They catch indiscriminately 
insects injurious to vegetation and those 
other insects that prey upon them. No 
doubt a greater number of vegetable-eating 
insects are caught, but that is because 
there are more of them, as there must 
necessarily be. The balance I think is not 
disturbed to the benefit of agriculture. I 
have to fight theinsects anyway and guard¬ 
ing against the damage done by some of 
the protected birds does not lessen the task. 
Some birds make such lovely music that I 
willingly tolerate some damage to crops 
for the privilege of listening to them. The 
thrush, catbird and oriole are some of 
them, but the song of the robins is too 
brief and too deficient in music to be worth 
cultivating, while their disagreeable scold¬ 
ings, in which they spend hours to the 
minutes they spend in song, is sufficient to 
more than offset what little musical quali¬ 
ties they havfe. Our sentimental legislators 
have made it penal to kill song birds. The 
same wise men fostered the introduction of 
the English sparrow, and made it penal to 
kill him. Now they have changed their 
tune; and increase of knowledge with some 
infusion of common sense into sentiment, 
will I believe change public opinion about 
the robin. The execrated crow is, I think, 
far less injurious to the farmer’s interest 
than is the robin, and he has one habit 
which goes far to make me excuse the dam¬ 
age he does. He will do much to prevent the 
increaf e of robins if allowed to roam through 
the orchards. He has a keen eye and a sharp 
palate for the little blue eggs and young rob¬ 
ins. I remember an old book which I read 
at school when a boy. It praised one Mr. 
Toby for his great kindness of heart shown 
by carefully catching a troublesome fly and 
putting him out of the watch window, say¬ 
ing, “ The world is large enough for us 
both, go in peace.” The same book taught 
the naughtiness of killing the beautiful 
butterflies. Such nonsensical sentiment 
has now passed and I believe much of that 
which now protects mischievous birds will 
pass tco. Those who have no crops to spoil 
should not undertake to deprive others of 
their constitutionally recognized right to 
protect property. This they attempt to do 
by protecting birds and wild animals, 
the very existence of some of which I 
have no doubt is injurious to civilized 
man. Much of this protection has for its 
object the furnishing of sport to those who 
have time to spare in hunting—that noble 
occupation of shedding blood for amuse¬ 
ment. To this end the rabbit must not be 
killed by the farmer whose crops he destroys 
unless it be in legal manner and at legal 
times. How long shall such laws con¬ 
tinue ? 
Drains From “The Ould Sod.” 
Andrew Barr, Colerain, Ireland.—A 
very useful drain can be made with sods. 
Where the subsoil is a stiff clay the distance 
apart should be about 21 feet. I have sod 
drains 40 years old that are doing their 
work well and they are likely to do so for 
40 years more. They are dug to a depth of 
about two feet six inches, and are about 
one foot three inches wide ; then with a 
narrow spade a slice of about nine inches is 
cut out in the center of the drain and 
scooped out clean with a narrow shovel 
made for the purpose. If the surface is a 
stiff grass sod it is laid aside at first, 
and does well for covering the narrow open¬ 
ing, resting on the space left on each side 
of the depression, the grass top of the sod 
being turned down and care being taken 
that no bits of earth fall into the drain. 
One should commence to cover at the 
highest end; but if the sods from the top 
of the drain are not tough enough, suitable 
ones can generally be got from some con¬ 
venient place. All the farmers around here 
prefer the sods to tiles, unless where there 
'1 H E RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
is gravel or a running sand, and even some 
land that bad been tile-drained before we 
learnt the value of sod drains, has been 
drained with the sods, the tiles haviDg 
ceased to be of use. 
Apple Trees on Roadsides. 
C. E. C., Tompkins County, N. Y.— 
When I read the notes on blackberries in a 
recent Rural I was reminded of my own 
venture in that line. My first order was 
for 600 Snyders and 200 Agawams. “ Ac¬ 
cording to my experience you should have 
reversed the numbers,” said the seller, and 
I think so too now. With me not only 
does the Agawam grow more thriftily, but 
the berries are of better quality, while the 
quantity is greater, and they hang on 
longer than the Snyder. Rows of apple 
trees were set along the roadway of one 
farm 20 or more years ago, and have been 
yielding a nice profit for some years, and 
add much to the attraction of the road. 
The example has been imitated until there 
are many miles of fruit in this county. 
When splendid fruit trees can be purchased 
at such small cost as at present, one should 
plant at once. It won’t pay to wait for 
seedlings to come up which are crooked and 
scattered all over the place, and must be 
grafted. 
An Hour for Bird Killing. 
A. M. S., Minneapolis, Minn.—I have 
read the articles for and against the killing 
of fruit eating birds, with much interest, 
having been “ through the mill.” I began 
by allowing “ crude sentiment ” to get the 
bftter of what has proved, in my case 
“ good common sense.” I have always been 
a great lover of birds, and still am; but 
now, after about 15 years’ experience in 
small fruit culture, I draw the line at 
robins, brown thrushes and cat birds, which 
in my case, prove to be the only fruit- 
eaters. I fully agree with Mr. Buckman, 
that each one must act to suit his own 
case in this matter, taking it for granted 
that none of us would wantonly destroy 
one of our feathered friends; and I find 
sentiment has taken a back seat in every 
case of which I have personal knowledge, 
when it comes to a question of saving the 
result of our hard labor, either to secure a 
livelihood or increase our income. I have 
frequently been asked how I could shoot 
birds when I take so much pains to harbor 
them. (I have a bird-house in almost every 
available place on my farm, for martins, 
bluebirds and doves, none of which are 
fruit eaters, by the way.) I answer that I 
love birds, but my family most of all, and 
as I make my living by growing fruits, and 
serious damage to my crops by birds makes 
them the aggressors, I shoot in self 
defense. I think location has a great deal 
to do with the amount of damage done 
by birds, and would never again locate near 
a forest if I could possibly help it. It is 
my custom to shoot an hour or two early 
in the morning during the fruit season, 
which keeps the objectionable kinds from 
doing serious damage. 
Fertilizers in Indiana; Corn Stubble. 
S. M., Harlan, Ind.— Alva Agee says, on 
page 645, that he thinks it qnite likely that 
I will be disappointed in the use of com¬ 
mercial fertilizers; but although I have 
not used any till this fall on wheat, yet some 
have been used in this county with good re¬ 
sults. Last June I went to see a piece of 
wheat about six miles from here that had 
been fertilized. It was then all headed and 
although the field was a long one, a person 
could see a strip down the whole length in 
the middle that had not been fertilized. 
The straw looked a foot shorter there than 
on either side and we went over into the 
field and agreed that there was not more 
than one third as much wheat where the 
land had not been fertilized as where it had. 
I have also used fertilizers on corn and po¬ 
tatoes and could see in everything on which 
it had been used a great difference in its 
favor. Mr. Agee says he cannot get any. 
benefit from fertilizers. It may be that he 
has been using some brand that was not 
worth much. [It may also be owing to the 
natural character of the soil. All over the 
country there are districts of greater or less 
area in which commercial fertilizers pro¬ 
duce little or no immediate effect on the 
crops for which they are used. As noted 
by Prof. I. P. Roberts, on page 655, “ a 
large por.ion of the soluble phosphoric acid 
applied to wheat land (or that under any 
other crop) quickly becomes insoluble pro¬ 
vided there is a large amount of free lime 
already in the soil.” It is true, however, 
that “ in time most of it will again become 
soluble and benefit succeeding crops.” 
Prof. Roberts gives, on the above page, a 
lucid explanation of this matter, which has 
often puzzled farmers living in such dis¬ 
tricts — Eds.] From what he writes I have 
come to the conclusion that, in spite of 
all bis efforts with manure and clover and 
fertilizers, his land is steadily growing 
poorer from year to year—a dark picture 
to look at to be sure. It seems to me that 
if I had a farm that was losing its original 
fertility, and I could do nothing to feed it, 
I would sell it if I could, and buy some¬ 
where a farm that would respond to good 
feeding. 
As to seeding wheat on corn ground, we 
think it is one of the best chances for wheat 
we have had of late years. Years ago we 
thought that we had to plow our corn 
ground with a breaking plow ; but of late 
years we have learned better. All through 
this country—northeastern Indiana aDd 
northwestern Ohio—we merely harrow our 
corn ground with a spring tooth harrow 
and drill the wheat in and get twice as 
much wheat per acre as we used to when 
we plowed the ground. Sometimes if our 
ground is clean and mellow we do not even 
harrow it before drilling. 
Mr. Agee says his land has a tendency to 
pack and that it seems to be too compact 
without preparation, and that when it Is 
loosened up the corn stubs prevent firming 
it; why i ot loosen just enough for a seed 
bed, or to cover the seed, and then drill it 
and leave it alone to pack itself? I have left 
a strip without fertilizing in all the fields 
sown as he suggested and will report the 
result at the proper time. 
The Long Keeper Tomato. 
P. S , Exeter, Pa.— I sold a basket of 
tomatoes grown from the Long Keeper 
seed The Rural New-Yorker sent me 
last spring to one of my lady customers on 
the 29th of August. She canned them on 
September 4, and found all perfectly sound 
with one exception. They were picked on 
August 28. One plant in the lot gives to¬ 
matoes of an entirely different color from 
all the rest [A sport, perhaps. Eds ] Liv¬ 
ingston’s New Stone Tomato is very fine. 
The Giant Is a very rough variety and of no 
use except as a curiosity. I had one speci¬ 
men that weighed 2 10 16 pounds. 
I fruited Jessie, Bubach and Warfield 
Strawberries for the first time, this season. 
All did well and I am at a lo3S to tell which 
is the best on my soil. Thq Gandy and 
Haverland are promising here. The Great 
Pacific is a rampant grower. I moved my 
plants of this variety last spring and kept 
the blossoms picked off. 
H. N. 3., Sudbury, Mass.— I find the R. 
N.-Y. Thorburn’s Long Ke?per Tomato 
quite early, remarkably productive, smooth 
and free from soft or the black rot. Planted 
April 12, it yielded the first ripe tomatoes 
August 15. I notice some are bright red 
and others pink-red. Which is the true 
type? The bright red tomatoes ripened 
first, on August 15,1891. I have four ripe 
specimens gathered (when fully colored) 
that are still quite sound, though picked 
two weeks ago. 
In writing to advertisers please always 
mention The Rural New-Yorker. 
Worth StOOO 
The Good Derived From 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla 
*• Burlington, Vt, June 6,1891. 
“Six months ago I was badly run down unable 
to attend to business because of 
Dyspepsia 
I was very nervous, had no appetite and what I did 
eat dlstressel me. I grew worse, lost flesh and 
almost hope I took two bottles of Hood’s Sarsapa 
rilla and feel better than for five years. I am as 
hearty as when a boy. Have regained my flesh, have 
good appetite, sleep well, and My Nerves are In ex¬ 
cellent condition. I wi uld not value $1000 for what 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla 
did forme.” T. A. W heelock, Burlington, Vt. 
'ERlDAf 
CONDITION POWDER 
Highly concentrated. Dose small. In quantity costs 
less than one-tenth cent a day per hen. Prevents and 
cures all diseases. If you can’t get it, we send by mail 
post-paid. One pack. 25c. Five $1. 2 1-4 lb. can $1.20; 
6 cans $5. Express paid. Testimonials free. Send stamps or 
cash. Farmers’ Poultry Guide (price 25c.) free with $1.00 
orders or more. I. S. JOHNSON & CO., Boston, Mass. 
--THE-- 
REX 
Trade Mark. 
ATKINS’ SEGMENT GROUND. 
PATENTED OCT. 15, 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. 
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do more work without filing than other saws, and hold their 
set longer. All the wearing teeth being of uniform thickness, 
each tooth does its share of the work, and tho saw being thin¬ 
ner in center of back docs not bind. For sale by the trade. 
A *k 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 us. E.C. AtkinS &CO. 
Indianapolis, Ind. Memphis, Tenn. 
Minneapolis, Minn. Chattanooga, Tenn. 
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