6o6 
1 li K RURAL NEW-YORkKR 
September 9 
Doctoring: a Sick Meadow. 
C. A. S., Stamford, Conn. —In answer 
to “ A. II. S ,” page 55G, here is my expe¬ 
rience in reseeding a woru-out meadow : 
In August, 1892, having a meadow badly 
infested with weeds, which had not been 
plowed or top-dressed in 30 years, I 
plowed about 2% acres and applied one 
ton of Bradley’s ground bone, sowed one 
bushel of oats to the acre, harrowed 
twice with the Acme harrow and twice 
with the sloping-tooth smoothing har¬ 
row, rolled with a one-horse iron roller, 
and sowed, September 1, eight bushels of 
Henderson’s special grass mixture for 
medium soil, covered with the smoothing 
harrow and rolled again. Now for the 
result: 
On June 12 I cut the piece, as the 
growth was then in full bloom, and the 
tall oat grass five feet high. I got five 
two-horse loads from it, and now have a 
close sod which affords abundant pas¬ 
turage for six cows. Part was top- 
dressed with Bradley’s superphosphate 
of lime this spring, and the remainder 
with fresh horse manure from the livery 
stable. 1 could see no difference in the 
yield where the manure had been applied. 
Crawfish After All. 
M. V. Slingerland, Cornell Univer¬ 
sity. —Having recently received speci¬ 
mens of the crawfish, with their curious 
holes and chimneys, from H. A. B., 
Petersburg, Pa., I find that my diagnosis 
of the case in my answer to this corre¬ 
spondent on page 509 of The R. N.-Y. for 
July 29 was quite wrong. It is always 
poor policy to diagnose a case without 
seeing the patient and knowing more 
about it. This is especially true of the 
world of insects and their allies, the 
crustaceans. When the answer was writ¬ 
ten, the only animal 1 knew that had the 
habits so briefly described by the corre¬ 
spondent was the Seventeen-year cicada, 
and 1 therefore so diagnosed the case. 
But the receipt of specimens at my re¬ 
quest shows that the holes and chimneys 
were made, not by an insect, but by a 
species of burrowing crawfish, probably 
Cambarus Diogenes. The specimens were 
quite large, three or four inches in 
length. The holes varied with the size 
of the animals, being three-quarters of 
an iLch to an inch and a half in diame¬ 
ter. The chimneys were from two to six 
inches high and nearly as broad, and con¬ 
sisted of ridges of dried mud. The bur¬ 
rows extended straight downward from 
six inches to three feet or more, even into 
the subsoil. For several inches from the 
bottom the burrow was filled with dirty 
water or mud into which the creature re¬ 
treated when disturbed. 
These burrowing crawfish are always 
found near bodies of water which usually 
overflow and cover the burrows at some 
season of the year. As the dry season 
comes on and the water recedes, the bur¬ 
row is extended deeper and deeper, keep¬ 
ing the bottom in the wet portion of the 
soil. These curious creatures are to be 
found in many parts of the South, and 
even as far north as northern Illinois, 
where their chimneys form mounds. 
They sometimes do considerable damage 
by burrowing in the levees along the 
Mississippi. Some farmers think they 
are a benefit to the soil by keeping it 
open and porous, and this may be true 
in certain instances. The feeding habits 
of the animals are not recorded, but most 
of them feed upon other animals. These 
burrowing forms, however, may feed 
upon the succulent crops upon the land, 
and thus do considerable damage. On 
the whole, the land and crops will doubt¬ 
less be better off if the creatures are 
driven out ? How can this be done ? As 
they are found only near streams in low, 
very wet places which are usually over¬ 
flowed at some season of the year, it 
would seem that thorough draining would 
prove a very practical method of not only 
improving the land (which now must be 
too wet for many crops), but of forcing 
these pests to seek new pastures. Again, 
the growing of some crop that would re¬ 
quire frequent cultivation would doubt¬ 
less soon discourage them and cause them 
to leave. 
Down With Private Saloons. 
J. C., Hartford, Conn. —There seems 
to be great opposition on the part of 
some temperance men to the South 
Carolina Dispensary Law. If it is not in 
the direction of reform, why do the 
liquor men fight it ? What are the facts ? 
Let us compare it with the law in other 
States : here the saloons are allowed to 
be open from 5 a. m. till midnight; there, 
if I am not mistaken they do not open 
till 10 a. m. and they close at 7 p. m. Now 
the 2,000 saloons in this State have about 
12,000 men loafing and drinking in them 
all the time from 6 p. m. till 12 p m., 
which the South Carolina law does not 
allow. Is this no gain to the wives and 
mothers of the 12,000 and to the men 
themselves and to the State ? Then the 
Dispensary Law does not allow drinking 
on the premises and that breaks the 
political backbone of the saloon. We 
all know that the saloons take in more 
money after 6 p. m. than during the 
rest of the day. Then if the State does 
the selling, the officials are far more 
likely to look after the “blind tigers” 
and “ bootleggers ” than the saloon¬ 
keepers are, because none of the latter 
live up to their licenses and they dare 
not cause the “ blind tigers ” any trouble 
for fear they may retaliate. 
The State through its commissioners 
decides who shall do the selling under 
the present law, and of course it is just 
as responsible for the selling as if it sold 
the goods itself. If liquor is to be sold 
then, I am in favor of the State having 
the profit and the curse under what I 
think any one can see is the more favor¬ 
able law of the two in the direction of 
reform. My voice and vote go for root¬ 
ing out the traffic for beverage purposes 
entirely, but until that can be bone, let 
the State restrict it and shut up these 
dens of anarchy, crime and pauperism. 
Black Rot. 
W. F. Massey, North Carolina Ex¬ 
periment Station.— B. B. (page 55(5), 
seems to have hard luck with his grapes. 
Here we made several experiments—the 
Bordeaux Mixture thoroughly sprayed 
over posts and vines alike before growth 
began, and twice afterwards in a 
weaker solution, saved the grapes in 
fair condition. We boarded up the west 
side of part of a trellis, and built a cop¬ 
ing projecting 20 inches eastward along 
the top. This fruit was not sprayed. 
The development of foliage and vines on 
this sheltered trellis was wonderful, and 
there was no rot of any account, though 
no chemicals were used; but about 
August 1, while I was away from home, 
the thrips developed wonderfully in the 
sheltered part and so injured the foliage 
that the fruit ripened badly. A small 
vineyard of a number of varieties on 
stakes, was purposely left unsprayed. 
Not a grape ripened except on one Clin¬ 
ton vine. The rot swept all clean; so 
we knew that the spraying and the shel¬ 
ter were both effectual in preventing 
rot. Next season I purpose using the 
coping alone, without boarding up the 
side of the trellis; but by far the finest 
crop and the finest bunches I have seen 
this year out-of-doors were grown by a 
firm who not only keep their vineyard 
in the finest order, but grow only the 
choicest sorts, such as Delaware, Brigh¬ 
ton, Niagara, etc. They used no chemi¬ 
cals at all, but bagged all their grapes. 
This made them a little later, but their 
quality sold them and they averaged 12 
to 15 cents per pound for their entire 
crop of 25 to 30 acres. Bagging I be¬ 
lieve is the best for later grapes. 
Grafting Pecans. 
C. E. P,, Ocean Springs, Miss.— O. P., 
of Beverly, N. J., would like to get points 
on pecan or hickory grafting. To graft 
large trees is not feasible : I have tried 
it for years, but budding is a success, 
though I succeeded only last year, so as 
to make a business of pecan budding and 
grafting. About GO per cent of buds and 
grafts took well this year. Grafts can 
only be put into the ground, but buds 
will take under proper conditions in trees 
of any size. Buds I put in August, 1892, 
have made a growth of five feet and 
more, and are from one to two inches in 
diameter ; even on one two pecans are 
growing, which will mature perfectly. 
These buds were from a bearing tree. 
In the course of time I expect to change 
all my bearing trees by budding. 
Several years ago I had a little con¬ 
troversy with W. R, Stuart, in regard to 
his statement that he had pecan nuts 
which would produce true to seed. 
To-day in all of his published articles, 
he advises the public to plant the nuts 
and afterwards graft or bud the young 
trees. Most people did not take much 
stock in his former statements. I have 
worked seven years to make a success of 
budding or grafting, and only succeeded 
last year to my satisfaction. Most of my 
trees are nine years old, and it will be 
no small job to change nearly 100, but I 
have to do it if I ever expect a fair 
revenue from them ; 27 are crown-budded 
already and have made a fair growth. 
Pedigree. —Henri L. de Vilmorin, of 
the great seeds house of Vilmorin, An- 
drieux & Co., of Paris, France, read a 
paper before the seedsmen’s session of 
the World’s Fair Horticultural Congress, 
Chicago. The entire address may be 
found in the American Florist, of Au¬ 
gust 17 : 
“Let any one who doubts the high 
value of selection look at our fine races 
of cabbages, kales, cauliflowers, kohl¬ 
rabi and rutabaga, and compare them 
with the wild cabbage of our western 
shores of Europe; let him compare our 
fine garden beets and our mangels to 
the wild beet of the Mediterranean 
shores; let him compare the tomatoes 
and potatoes of to-day with the wild 
South American plants, and he will see 
proof that only human thought and skill 
have brought about such wonderful 
changes. 
“Where selection is done with skill and 
care the improvement of many kinds of 
cultivated plants effected by its means is 
invaluable. The large pansies, the huge 
hybrid gladioli, the large flowered can- 
nas were all brought from the state of 
small flowers to their present excellence 
in our own days by careful observers, 
who, watching every variation and keep¬ 
ing an exact record of the descent of all 
their plants, turn to the best account the 
wonderful action of heredity. 
“ Most of the variations induced in our 
garden plants are not in favor of the 
plant in a ‘ free fight ’ with its kind in 
nature. All our improved roots, as car¬ 
rots, turnips, beets, make an early and 
succulent growth for our own benefit, 
but not at all for their own good. If left 
to their fate to struggle with their own 
wild forms, they would soon have to 
take a ‘ back seat ’ and very likely soon 
perish. It follows then that varieties 
improved from man’s point of view must 
receive kind treatment and richer food 
than wild forms of the same plant. The 
cultivated plant, like the domesticated 
animal, yields in a measure its powers 
of self-defence to adapt itself to our ser¬ 
vice. Man must in return provide for 
its safety and nourishment.” 
We are eating the Blush instead of 
early potatoes, like Hebron, Rose, etc. 
The quality is, in our opinion, superior 
to any of the early kinds, being fully as 
dry and mealy, while it is sweeter, that 
(Continued on next page.) 
In writing to advertisers, please always mention 
The Rural New-Yorker. 
Willie Tillbrook. 
Scrofula 
I it the Neck. 
The following is from 
Mrs. J. W. Tillbrook, 
wife of the Mayor of Mc¬ 
Keesport, Penn.: 
“ My little boy Willie, 
now six years old, two 
years ago had a scrofula 
bunch under one ear 
which the doctor lanced and it discharged for 
some time. We then began giving him Hood s 
Sarsaparilla and the sore healed up. His cure 
is due to IIOOD’8 SARSAPARILLA. 
He has never been very robust, but how seems 
healthy and daily growing stronger. 
HOOD’S PILL3 do not weaken, but aid 
jt..Trv them. 25c. 
BALING 
RESSES 
ALL KINDS. 
HORSE and 
STEAM POWER. 
Address Manuf’rs. 
PLOW CO 
QUINCY, ILL. 
ATTENTION I 
ASK FOR THIS AXE. 
USE NO OTHER. 
Wood-choppers, try the 
Kelly Perfect Hxe 
It will cut more wood 
than any other aze. 
The scoop in the blade 
keeps it from sticking in 
the wood, and makes it 
cut deeper than any other 
axe. Ask your dealer for 
it. Send us his name if 
he don't keep it. It is the 
Anti-Trust Axe. 
Kelly Axe Mfg.Co. 
LOUISVILLE, KV. 
Don’t Fail to Order 
Special Inducements to thOBe ordering now. 
Syracuse, N. Y., or Auburn, N. Y- 
FRUIT EVAPORATOR. 
“THE GRANGER 
DFor family use. Cheapest in the 
market. $3.60, $(i and $10. Clrc. 
EASTERN MEG. CO., 257 8. 5th St., Phlla., Pa 
Different sizes and prices. Illustrated Catalogue free. 
THE BLYMYEK IKON WOItKH Cincinnati, O. 
ADAPTED TO 
HOUSES -1 • 
• • b *rns 
“sheds et.c. 
FOR INFORMATION & PRICES WRITE TO 
NILES IRON & STEEL ROOFING CO-NllES- 0 - 
mi: 
COIL SPRING SHAFT SUPPORT' 
AND ANTI-RATTLER. c 
weight on horse. Worth i 
the coat for conreu-C/) 
ience In hitching up. A gen ta wanted. Circulars free. 
Order sample. Price, $1.60. State rights for sale. 
THE DECATUR SHAFT SUPPORT C0.~ 
Decatur. III. 
No Lack of 
Confidence 
among Page fence men, not only In the fence Itself 
but Its selling qualities. One man who controls a 
State and contracted to use 200 m'les this >ear, now 
proposes, on certain conditions to contract 500 miles 
ior next year. 
PAGE WOVEN WIRE FENCE CO., 
Adrian, Mich. 
The Page Wire Fence Company of Ontario, Ltd. 
Walkervllle, Ont. 
