3i6 
May 6 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
“ Yes ; he was the first in this locality to plant a 
vineyard. He had only an acre, but it was when the 
boom first started, and although he paid an enormous 
price for his vines, he secured one or two big crops 
when the price was high, and made a good thing/ 1 
“ Does his vineyard continue to do as well as for¬ 
merly ? ” 
“ No, and I believe he has dug it up. The late 
frosts killed the blossoms several times, and it became 
so much of an uncertainty that I guess it wasn’t very 
profitable.” 
“ Don't you think that there is money in grapes?” 
“Oh, yes; but they are like lots of other things; the 
trouble is to get it out. They require an immense ex¬ 
penditure of money, care and labor. The locations 
of some of my neighbors’ vineyards are bad. Mine is on 
a warm east slope, and I have taken every care of it 
in cultivating, pruning and spraying. It has paid me 
fairly well, but it is no boy’s play to keep everything 
in such a condition as to insure profitable returns.” 
F. h. Y. 
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A CROP TO FOLLOW STRAWBERRIES. 
THE QUESTION. 
In your strawberry culture, how many years do you pick your beds ? 
After the last picking, what crop can you put In the ground after 
plowing, that will mature ? What Is the most profitable after-crop 
you can find? liow much manure or fertilizer Is needful for It In 
addition to the berry plants plowed In ? 
I usually pick my strawberry beds two seasons, 
sometimes but one. I can put in turnips or late cab¬ 
bage. I use the same ground again for strawberries, 
sometimes the following season, and find a crop of 
sowed corn to be plowed under the most profitable. I 
do not usually put very much fertilizer on this crop, 
as land fit to grow strawberries ought in eight weeks 
to give a growth of corn over the backs of a team, and 
that is about as tall as can be turned under conven¬ 
iently. Any amount of fertilizer would do no harm, 
however, as the next crop of berries would enjoy it, 
and none of us is guilty of getting too much fertilizer 
on his berry fields. <L 8 - butler. 
Holes in the Target. 
I pick but two crops from my strawberry beds, here 
in Dutchess County, N. Y. I have not been in the 
practice of taking another crop from the ground the 
same season. I sometimes sow buckwheat to be 
plowed under and sometimes rye to be turned under the 
following spring and then plant to corn or potatoes. 
My object is to increase rather than decrease the fer¬ 
tility of the soil I have thought about changing my 
practice the coming season, sowing clover with a light 
sowing of oats to protect it, and turning the berry 
plants under immediately after the picking season is 
over. I follow no set practice, as I sometimes use the 
land in the fall for the setting of raspberries or black¬ 
berries. WALTER F. TABER. 
Here, in Caroline County, Md., we never pick our 
strawberry beds more than two seasons, and, if quite 
dirty, but one; the expense of much cleaning will 
equal the cost of setting a new bed ; besides, the first 
crop of berries is generally the best. After thorough 
picking we plow immediately and plant either corn or 
buckwheat—on good land corn will mature here if 
planted by June 25, but generally speaking I would 
advise the use of buckwheat. I generally get a yield 
of from 27 to 33 bushels to the acre and have it ground 
into flour and sell it. I can realize more money out 
of it than by selling the grain. I also seed Scarlet 
clover with the buckwheat, for by so doing I get 
a good stand of clover to cut in the spring before the 
berries are ripe again. In regard to phosphate or 
manure, if the land has been treated as it should have 
been while in strawberries, 200 pounds are sufficient 
for the following crop. The fertilizer should be a 
kind that acts quickly, as buckwheat is a quick 
grower. Manure is good, but a little slow in this case, 
better put it on raspberries. w. w. seward. 
As a rule, here in Oswego County, N. Y., we pick 
the strawberry beds but one year. We are controlled 
in this largely by circumstances, however. If a big 
growth of vines is secured, so big that the first crop 
is small, we allow the vines to fruit two years, and the 
second crop is often a paying one. The fruit on an 
old bed is never so firm, and of course not so large. 
There are some varieties that run all to vines and 
produce little fruit the first year. The Michel s 
Early is an example. If allowed to stand, the second 
crop is generally larger than the first. Varieties like 
Parker Earle bear themselves almost to death the first 
year and should always be plowed under if the grower 
is after big money. Several crops are grown in this 
county after strawberries, such as cabbage, turnips 
and buckwheat. All will mature generally. We 
prefer buckwheat because it is so easily put in and 
harvested ; the seed costs little, and, if a frost comes 
and ruins it, we lose very little, as the straw plowed 
under will pay for the seed and planting. Then it 
puts the soil in a loose condition for crops the next 
year. When put in the first week in July, buckwheat 
generally matures before frost and rarely do we fail 
to cut 20 bushels to the acre. I find that this crop 
won’t mature unless we use commercial fertilizer. 
We drill in about 75 pounds to the acre. It starts the 
crop almost immediately and it grows right along. 
When no fertilizer is used, the buckwheat starts slowly 
and rarely gets out of the way of frost. We cut with 
a reaper and on ordinary soil the phosphate pays for 
itself in growing a longer straw that the reaper can 
pick up, and very little is wasted. l. j. farmer. 
I pick my strawberry beds usually about four years, 
here in Orange County, N. Y. This, however, depends 
a good deal upon how they are cultivated and how 
well the nature and condition of the soil are adapted 
to their culture. If the soil is as rich as a first-class 
garden soil should be, and the bed is kept clear from 
weeds, especially the hardy varieties which tend to 
sod the bed, the last picking will be very nearly as good 
as the best preceding one. A strawberry bed can be 
kept clean indefinitely if the weeds are taken out 
while the plants can be seen, and this can be done 
with no more work than a vegetable garden will re¬ 
quire. Cucumbers for pickles, radishes, lettuce, any 
kind of turnips, late cabbage, late cauliflower, celery, 
white beans, early peas, spinach, French forcing car¬ 
rots, kale, fodder corn, millet can be put in after the 
last picking. As to profit from an after crop, a great 
deal depends upon the condition of the soil, the season, 
etc. If the last is hot and dry, pickles; if cool and 
moist, cabbage, cauliflower and celery are likely to 
give the best returns The berry plants would hardly 
be available as a fertilizer, not having had quite suf¬ 
ficient time to decay for plant food, except possibly in 
the last part of the growing season. An application 
of about 800 pounds of a first-class complete fertilizer 
to the acre would be most available. J. R. hawkins. 
After-Treatment of Strawberry Beds. 
My strawberries, here in Orange County, N. Y., are 
now mostly grown in the vineyard between the rows 
of grape vines, or in a young peach orchard. Two crops 
are picked—very rarely three. After the last picking, 
the bed is plowed under as neatly as possible. This is 
done more to kill the vines and weeds than to prepare 
a seed bed for another crop the same year. Usually 
the mass of vines and roots will prevent further cul¬ 
tivation than an occasional harrowing with a single 
section of the smoothing harrow. If the work has been 
well done and the season is very wet, by the applica¬ 
tion of a light top-dressing of rotten stable manure, 
ashes or fertilizer, a good crop of Strap Leaf turnips 
may be grown. This is the only crop I know of that 
will mature the same season, and that only under fav¬ 
orable conditions. Some of my neighbors grow 
strawberries between grape rows and plow under 
the old beds by turning the furrows apart, leaving an 
open or dead furrow in the center. In this they plant 
quite thickly a row of corn for fodder. The corn 
seldom grows more than five feet high, and hardly gets 
in full tassel. It is usually cut, cured and fed to horses 
during the winter. While it is relished and eaten clean, 
I do not think it very nutritious. Where strawberries 
occupy the land alone, if the ground becomes thor¬ 
oughly wet from rain, it may be cleaned of weeds and 
put into good condition by growing a crop of buck¬ 
wheat without any fertilizer. Usually, however, 
at that season the soil is so dry and the roots and 
tops make the ground so porous that no crop can be 
satisfactorily grown. w. d. barnes. 
Great Wheat After Strawberries. 
I have never used any crop after plowing down my 
old strawberry bed, except wheat, as that is the best 
crop I can put on to reseed to clover the coming spring. 
I have never used much manure or fertilizers on my 
wheat ground at seeding, as it is rich enough without 
it. I have raised on my strawberry ground as high 
as 45 bushels of wheat, machine measure, and hardly 
ever less than 25 or 30 per acre. On a good clover 
sod that has not been cut more than two years at the 
most, I apply 10 or 20 cords of stable manure to the 
acre and turn this under, always using a jointer from 
five to seven inches deep. This ground is planted to 
corn or potatoes, or the former the first year and the 
latter the second, and given the very best kind of cul¬ 
tivation, never allowing a weed to go to seed. Then I 
plow and plant to strawberries in rows 3feet one 
way and 1% to 2 feet the other way. In the rows I 
use bone dust and ashes on all these crops at the 
rate of from 300 to 500 pounds of the former and three 
times that amount of the latter per acre. I find that by 
this method the ground is rich enough for wheat after 
plowing down the strawberries in August. Here, in 
Steuben County, Ind., I make a compost for my straw¬ 
berries in this way: I take four or five loads of black 
muck, make this about two feet deep in a pile, then 
put on this muck enough manure to make the pile 
about five feet higher, keeping the top as level as pos¬ 
sible; after which I re-cover the manure with two 
feet of muck and then add one double box load of 
fresh ashes from the sawmill, to the muck and by the 
time I want to use the compost it will work up as mel¬ 
low as the muck This beats all commercial fertilizers, 
as I can get all I want of each for the drawing. I use 
this in the fall on my berries and marsh hay for 
mulching. jerry putter. 
A Healthy Mule and Two Sick Chickens. 
C. 0. D., Adrian, N. D — 1 I have a mule which in 
drinking lets a small stream of water flow out through 
her nostrils. What ails her ? She is not affected in 
any way by it. 2. I also have two chickens, one of 
which has a red bunch about the size of a common 
marble situated on the right side of her head, over 
the eye; and the other is weak-legged, for when she 
walks a foot or two she falls back, as if her legs were 
not strong enough to carry her. What ails them ? 
Ans. —1. There is nothing the matter with the mule. 
Horses and mules frequently cause a considerable 
stream of water to flow out through the nose in drink¬ 
ing. The mouth and nostrils both open into the com¬ 
mon passage, the throat; and in passing through the 
throat some of the water escapes by the opening into 
the nose, instead of being swallowed. 2. With a pair 
of scissors cut off the tumor from the head of the one 
chicken, and with a hatchet cut off the head of the 
other. Leg weakness not uncommonly occurs in 
fowls from want of proper care, insufficient or inferior 
food, unhealthy surroundings, old age, or from too 
close inbreeding; but a single isolated case like the 
above might result from injury or disease, as well as 
from the above causes, and is not worth treating. 
What to Do with Night Soil. 
Subscriber, Norwich, N. Y. —1. I have a bin of “ night 
soil ” put up one year ago, which I desire to use to the 
best advantage. The land is a sort of loam with a 
clayey subsoil. I had thought I would mix the night 
soil with plaster and lime or ashes, so that it could be 
distributed through the drill for corn and oats. Is my 
idea practicable ? 2. What is the best to mix with it ? 
3. What had I best use with it to prepare it for the 
drill as well as to make it valuable for crops, so that 
it can be used in the drill without danger of injury to 
the crops ? It came from the privies of the town and 
is now well rotted. 
Ans.— 1. First compare the night soil with the ordi¬ 
nary stable manure. Night soil varies greatly in com¬ 
position, but the following figures may represent an 
average sample in the condition you describe : 
POUNDS IN ONE TON. 
Nitrogen. Phos. acid. 
Night soil... U 5 
Stable manure . 10 0 
Potash. Water. 
i 1,850 
13 1,500 
There is no use trying to dry and fine such stuff so 
that it will run through a drill. That would be a waste 
of time and labor. The best that you can do is to get 
it into such condition that it may be spread like stable 
manure and harrowed or plowed into the soil. It is 
a mistake to hold night soil as you have done unless it 
is composted or absorbed with charcoal, plaster, dry 
earth or sawdust. Left to itself, the nitrogen in the 
night soil quickly passes away, and it is largely for 
this reason that gardeners find this substance excel¬ 
lent for melons, cabbages and other quick-growing 
crops. In fact, night soil is almost as much a forcing 
manure as is nitrate of soda, only that a ton of one 
must be used to obtain the nitrogen in 100 pounds of 
the other. Night soil from the ordinary privy should 
be used at once, unless it has been treated with sul- 
phate^of iron or plaster before taken out. In spring, 
it should be taken at once to the field and spread on 
the ground. The liquid is excellent for grass or grain, 
and, where it can be pumped into a tank, it can be 
distributed right from that. If to be held for a later 
crop, it should be put into the regular manure heap or 
into a compost as soon as possible. Muck, sods or 
rich earth of any sort should be mixed with the night 
soil at once, making successive layers of two parts of 
muck to one one of night soil. In any case, however^ 
we should prefer to haul night soil to the field at 
once. This does not mean the product from earth 
closets, but from ordinary vaults. 
Answering your questions, we would say: 1. No, 
we should not try to dry the night soil so it can pass 
through a drill. 2. Plaster and dried muck or soil. If 
the night soil is in a bin or pit, it will be difficult to 
mix it well. It should be spread out evenly in thin 
layers and dusted with plaster, and then mixed with 
more than its bulk of muck. If it were ours, to be 
used this year, we should use enough plaster and muck 
to dry it, and haul directly to the field, and use it 
