1893 
347 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
the west and north is a limestone gravelly slope about 
100 feet wide ; in this strip the elevation is from 8 to 12 
feet, and it is used for the growth of early vegetables ; 
later in a dry season it is of but little value. 
Something About the Business. 
“How long have you been growing celery?” I 
asked Mr. Miller. 
“ About 11 years.” 
‘ ‘ How much at first ? ” 
.“ Five to ten thousand plants.” 
“ How close together are the lines of tile drain ?” 
“ About 40 to 50 feet.” 
“ How do you plant ? ” 
“In laying out the land for the plant setting, we 
allow for six rows of plants seven inches apart. These 
six rows occupy 42 inches of land. Between these 
strips 42 inches wide, we leave a space 10 feet wide, to 
be used in banking. On this strip of land that we use 
for banking we grow the plants.” 
“ How many rows of plants do you gro.w on these 10 
feet ? ” 
“ With a Planet Jr. drill, we drill eight rows one 
foot apart in this space, and are careful not to get 
thorn too thick ; 99 out of 100 will get them so. If we 
want late cabbage plants or radishes, we grow them 
in the 42-inch space while the celery plants are start¬ 
ing. If not wanted for this, while the plants are 
starting, we throw the weeds and trash from the 
manure on this space. Then when ready to set the 
plants, we clean up the space, and haul the trash 
away.” 
“ Do you grow more plants than you use yourself ?” 
“ Yes. We aim to sell 200,000 or 300,000—more than 
that this year.” 
“ Where is your principal demand for plants ? ” 
“Livingston, the seedman, in Columbus, O., bought 
90,000 last year, and will want in the neighborhood of 
200,000 this. In fact we sell them wherever we sell 
celery.” 
“How do you pack plants for shipment ? ” 
‘ ‘ H alf a bushel splint basket will hold 500 good strong 
plants, with the tops trimmed even with the top of 
the basket with sea moss packed around them, and 
they will go safely every time, without any covering 
over the basket. Packed tightly the air never gets 
through to dry them out.” 
“When do you sow your seed?” 
“About April 1, if the weather is at all suitable, and 
these are for my own crop. The custom demand for 
plants comes later.” 
“ When do you set your plants?” 
“ We commence setting about June 15, and run to 
August 1.” 
“ What varieties do you use?” 
“ Chiefly Giant Pascal, with a few Golden Hearts, 
White Plume and Perfection Heartwell. I shall grow 
the first almost entirely this year, as it does better 
on this soil. It is a kind that never gets pithy, will grow 
solid on any ground ; and other varieties will not do 
it. The three latter varieties mentioned, we grow to 
supply the demand for plants.” 
‘ How do you mark your ground off for setting the 
plants ? ” 
“ The long way of the beds we put six rows seven 
inches apart; the short way across the beds we make 
the rows one foot apart. To do this quickly, and so 
that they will be regular, I take a scantling 10 feet 
long, and nail on little light blocks one foot apart, 
then attach a handle to the scantling. With this 
drawn across the bed, I can make eight rows at once; 
they will all be regular.” 
# A New Scheme for Banking. 
“ When do you commence to bank ?” 
“ We cannot begin early here on account of rust. 
We have to wait till about the last of September, 
when the nights begin to get cool. By this time the 
plants should be 10 to 20 inches high.” 
“ How do you bank ?” 
[Mr. Miller has a device of his own for this purpose 
that he has never known to be hitherto used. It is a 
vast improvement on planks set against the celery. 
At the tin shop he buys strips of galvanized iron, as 
heavy as can be bought, 54 inches long and 12 wide. 
These are bent the long way four inches from one 
side, at an angle of about 45 degrees. Two of them 
are fastened together with pieces of broom handle 
about one foot long, put through holes in the metal, 
about the center, the narrow way, and three inches 
from the ends; these pieces of handles are held in 
place by driving a nail about one inch from each end.] 
“Placing two pieces of metal together the wide part 
down and the bent part or flanges standing out from 
each other, we have the end of the trough as shown 
at Fig. 129. Two men, one on each side of the 
bed, take hold of each end of one of these bottom¬ 
less troughs, push the sides together, set it down 
between the celery rows, then spread it out against 
the row on each side; in this shape it stands ready 
for the soil to be thrown into this long hopper. When 
full, both men lift out at the same time. After we 
have gone through a bed in this way, we lay the -tins 
or troughs down and go over the bed, taking hold of 
the tops of each plant, pressing them together and 
drawing the soil about them to give them an upright 
growth. Afterwards in future banking this does not 
have to be done.” 
“ How often do you bank ? ” 
“ Three times for fall or early winter use ; for win¬ 
ter use we give one more banking, covering the whole 
of the plants so that they cannot be seen.” 
“ How deep do you cover ? ” 
“ In this kind of soil we can put three inches of soil 
over them ; this should be done in November. It is 
the last thing I do when I feel sure winter has come; 
if done too early the plants will rot.” 
“ What are the advantages in this kind of banking?” 
“We can get one-third more celery on the same 
land than in any other way I ever heard of, and the 
bulk of the soil is so great that the banks do not freeze 
to any great extent in an ordinary winter. A six- 
inch freeze does no injury, but a 12-inch freeze will 
scorch the two outside rows somewhat. If my land 
were solid so that I could drive the wagon between 
the banks and scatter the manure three inches thick 
over them, I could go home and sleep and feel that 
the crop was safe ; but on account of the soft nature 
of the soil there is no way in which the manure can 
be handled without the expense taking up the profit. 
The safest way for me is to get it all out before severe 
winter comes on, and then I can hold it for the holi¬ 
day trade.” 
“Do you find any advantage in irrigation, or is it 
necessary ?” 
“One season it was so dry at the time of setting the 
plants that I dug wells at convenient places and pre¬ 
pared tanks to irrigate, but after the plants were 
started 1 did not find it necessary to do s<>—nor has it 
been since. Last year after setting, till banking 
time, the season was very dry, particularly in the lat¬ 
ter part, and the celery made very slow growth, but 
Fig. 130. 
WALK 
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9 in- CUT j 
i 
WALK 
1 
Tj 
faipiP=i 
^R IjG. IL_L>-~^==;j 1 
Fig. 131. 
after I commenced banking the growth was very 
rapid, in spite of the dry weather.” 
“ Where are your sales made when the crop is ready 
for market? ” 
“They extend west and north about 50 miles, and 
east to Cumberland, Md. and Wheeling, W. Va., and 
south to the Ohio River towns.” J M. JAMISON. 
Bean Weevils.— On page 301, J. F. B. inquires why 
the beans put away in the dwelling house have been 
almost destroyed, while those in the cold barn are 
uninjured. Plain enough. Those stored in the barn 
are infested the same as the others, but the pests are 
dormant in the cold, bat active and with voracious 
appetites when warm. Heating the beans will de¬ 
stroy these insects. This is probably the simplest 
and safest known remedy. f. h. v. 
TREATMENT OF CROWDED STRAWBERRIES. 
At Figs. 130 and 131 I show an illustration of my 
method with varieties of strawberries that are liable 
to get too much crowded in the rows the second sea¬ 
son, and consequently give only small, inferior berries. 
My way to remedy this is, with a good sharp hoe, as 
soon as the first crop is off, cut a strip about nine 
inches wide out of the center of each row. This gives 
us two narrow rows instead of one wide one. Keep this 
narrow strip clear of runners like the walk, and you 
will be surprised at the nice lot of large berries on the 
inside edges of these rows the next season. These 
strips being very narrow, of course no pickers are 
allowed to walk in them, and thus no berries will be 
stepped on. 
The varieties on which I tried this treatment were 
Warfield No. 2 and Crescent, and I think all our new va¬ 
rieties would be benefited if handled in this way, for, as 
a rule, they are all rampant growers, c. auschicks. 
ITEMS OF INTEREST. 
Prune in June. —In the answer to a New Beginner, 
in The Rural of April 1, page 229, the writer says 
that he has never found that there is any best time to 
prune apple trees; that preference may be given 
perhaps to November or March. This answer may be 
correct so far as the Eastern or Middle States are 
concerned, but my observation and experience for the 
past 50 years have positively proved that in all of the 
territory lying west of Lake Michigan and north 
of the 42nd parallel of latitude, there is a best time for 
doing this work, and that June is the best time—the 
first part of the month being better than later. 
Pruned in June, the wounds will heal more quickly 
than when pruned at any other time. I have found 
March to be the worst month to prune and it is not 
prudent to do the job in February or any of the spring 
months for the reason that where the limbs are cut 
the sap will be liable to run from the wound (this is 
commonly called bleeding) the following summer and 
sometimes longer, which will frequently cause decay 
into the heart of the tree. Summer, fall and winter 
are much preferable to spring for pruning, but young 
trees should never be pruned the same year they have 
been planted. To know how to select healthy and 
hardy varieties for planting and how and when to 
prune I believe to be the most important part of the 
knowledge for successfully raising an apple orchard. 
Monona, Iowa. p. p- o. 
Doesn’t Like Spraying. —Since my first experiment 
in spraying fruit trees, this spring, I am not so enthu¬ 
siastic upon the subject. I purchased a neglected or-, 
chard last year, and have been cultivating and prun¬ 
ing it. I sprayed pears and apples as soon as the blos¬ 
soms fell, using Powell’s Guicide powder, one pound, 
and Bordeaux Mixture, two pounds, to 50 gallons of 
water. The weather was dry, with light frosts at 
night. The tender leaves and young fruit, dampened 
by the spraying, were frost-bitten to such an extent 
that in most places there will not be over 90 per cent 
of fruit. To say the least, I am discouraged with 
spraying. I shall continue to spray the rest of the 
season to finish the experiment, but in my present 
state of mind I feel that in future it would be prefer¬ 
able to share my fruit with the codling moth and its 
allies than to deny it to both them and ourselves. 
Charlotte, N. C. c. s. d. 
R. N.- Y.—Were the blossoms not dampened hurt by 
the frost ? A light dampening has often saved plants 
at such a time. 
Sit Down and Sow.—Broadcast sowing of oats and 
other small grains may be done much quicker and 
equally well by using a steady horse and a low, light 
wagon. Place in front of the seat a tub or box that 
will hold one or two bushels of grain, and drive with 
one hand while sowing with the other. You can save 
all of the time spent in pacing off and setting stakes 
to sow by, if you will drive crosswise of the last har¬ 
rowing, no matter how large the piece of ground, for 
you can plainly see the wheel marks and keep the 
proper distance from the tracks your wheels made the 
last time across. Many a farmer who cannot walk 
and carry grain to sow, but knows well how to sow, had 
better adopt this plan than to trust the seeding to 
the hired man or some one not so competent as him¬ 
self. I recommend sowing all grain right and left, as 
grass seed is sown. A slowly walking horse is best. 
Cortland, N. Y. d. m. l. 
The Silver Question.— W. E. R asks, on page 207, 
“ What valid reason had the government for demone¬ 
tizing silver in 1873, when the intrinsic value of a sil¬ 
ver dollar was greater than that of a gold dollar ? ” 
The silver dollar was demonetized for the very reason 
that it was worth more than the gold dollar. Had the 
intrinsic (commercial) value of the silver dollar re¬ 
mained the same as the gold dollar, it would not have 
been demonetized. In every civilized country where- 
ever the double standard has been attempted, it has 
been established on the basis that the standard coins 
