22 
January 13 
“One Farmer I ” Called Him Down. 
F. Z., Kansas —Nearly every one saw 
Something of special interest at the 
World’s Fair. One thing in particular I 
saw that I shall always remember. One 
night last September, on Lake Front, 
We were waiting for the fireworks to 
commence. As they begun four or five 
young fellows were standing in the front, 
and some men sitting behind, cried 
“Down in front!” “Down in front!” 
All sat down except one. The men be¬ 
hind remarked that “ he had on white 
panUes and didn’t want to spoil them ; ’■’ 
th s brought laughter from thousands, 
but it had no effect on him. At last 
some one cried: “Look at the one 
farmer, one farmer! ” This get him 
down, he could not stand it. lie ap¬ 
peared to be a Chicago dude. The term, 
“ One Farmer, ” signifies ignorance, hard- 
liv ng and hard dressing, and no wonder 
it wilted the Chicago man. When a 
farmer is not to be looked down upon 
socially, is too much of a problem for 
me. The younger class of farmers that 
can remedy the farmers’ position, find it 
more profitable to leave the farm unless 
they have a “ show.” As for my part I 
have the “ show, ” and farm in the sum¬ 
mer and attend the agricultural college 
in the winter. 
A Few “Bie Stories.” 
H. A. W., Chicago, Ilh.—I n a trip 
across the plains I fell in with a gentle¬ 
man of Boise City, Idaho, who said that he 
loaned a neighbor the money to harvest 
the wheat on a 10-acre field, to be repaid 
when the wheat was marketed. He was 
present at the thrashing and marketing, 
and he said that there were 102,0 bushels 
sold at .'SO cents a bushel. In the season 
of 1879 my son-in-law was engaged in 
thrashing wheat near Fort Collins, Colo¬ 
rado, and the season’s thrashing amount¬ 
ed to upwards of 42,000 bushels, the aver¬ 
age of which was 49 bushels per acre. It 
is not uncommon to get from 55 to 70 
bushels of wheat upon a select piece of a 
few acres in the vicinity of Fort Collins. 
Tj'he piece near Boise City, Idaho, was 
upon sage brush land with proper irri¬ 
gation. I met another man near this 
same place who said he harvested 39 
bushels of potatoes from a strip of land 
one by three rods. This was to show the 
fertility of sage brush land when properly 
irrigated. On November 15, 1890, I saw 
a man drawing in his fifth crop of Alfalfa 
from the same field, and he estimated the 
yield at 13^ ton to the acre. To me these 
looked like big figures until I saw the 
stacks, and I was astonished at the size 
of them. 
A Defender of the Bees. 
C. C. M., Mahengo, Ill.—On page 818 
L. E R. L. asks why it was that fruits 
did so much better for him in Wyoming 
than in Nebraska. It is always a pleas¬ 
ure for me to give information to the 
honest seeker after truth, and I would 
gladly answer the question, but really I 
don’t know. Possibly the climate, soil, 
or something of that kind was better in 
Wyoming than in Nebraska. There is a 
great difference in fruit regions. If I 
have the case clearly in mind, it is this: 
During several years’ residence in Wyom¬ 
ing there were no bees there except dur¬ 
ing the last two years, and L, E R. L. 
was successful in raising fruits ; and that 
for the past two years he has lived in the 
fruit belt of Nebraska, and says: “We 
had more and better fruit in a day in 
Wyoming, where we had no bees to fer¬ 
tilize the blossoms, than I have seen here 
in two years, with an apiary at every 
house.” There are off years, sometimes, 
even in the best fruit regions. Is it pos¬ 
sible that there were two such years in 
succession in Nebraska ? Or do the old 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
settlers say that fruit has always done so 
poorly there ? If so, why do they call it 
“ the fruit belt ? ” 
But the particular point at issue is the 
question whether the fruit did better in 
Wyoming because there were no bees 
there, and whether it did worse in Ne¬ 
braska because there were bees there. It 
might help to throw a little light on the 
first part of the question, if L. E. R. L. 
would tell us whether the fruit crops in 
Wyoming were any poorer during the 
two years bees were there. How was 
that? And were the crops any worse in 
the immediate vicinity of an apiary than 
they were five miles away from any bees? 
Is L E. R. L. sure that there were no 
bees within reach of him until the last 
two years of his residence in Wyoming? 
Were there none within five miles? Does 
he know for certain that there were none 
within two miles of him when he first 
went to Wyoming? And if it wouldn’t 
be asking too much, will he tell us how 
he knows? While he is answering ques¬ 
tions, will he please tell us whether he 
thinks the bees hurt the fruit in Ne¬ 
braska? And if so, what makes him think 
so? I mean aside from mixing varieties. I 
think there is no question that where it 
is desired to have varieties of seeds pure, 
bees make trouble. He says that in Ne¬ 
braska the bee makes it impossible to keep 
varieties of vegetables and fiowers pure 
and true to name. Of course that can be 
in no other way than by the bee fertiliz¬ 
ing a blossom with pollen from a differ¬ 
ent plant. That settles the question that 
bees do fertilize the blossoms. The re¬ 
maining question, then, is whether more 
good or harm is done by such fertiliza¬ 
tion. In other words, is the trouble the 
bee makes for the seed raiser over¬ 
balanced bf fertilizing blossoms that 
without its aid wo aid remain unfertilized ? 
Experiments made at the Michigan Agri¬ 
cultural College showed that when clover 
blossoms were protected against the yisits 
of bees, but a very stnall portion of seed 
appeared as compared with those side by 
side visited by bees. The same thing ha,s 
been established in many ways, and fruit 
raisers have observed that, when the 
weather was such that bees coqld not 
visit the apple trees wh,ilein bloom, Httle 
or no fruit was set. 
Another thing. It sterns to be a law 
of nature that too close breeding is not 
gpod, and that if health and vigor be 
desired there must be from time to time 
introduction of fresh blood, both in the 
animal and vegetable kingdom. That 
introduction of fresh blood, or crossing, 
in the vegetable kingdom, is caused by 
the bee in a large number of important 
plants, and when any one thinks the 
matter over, I think there will be no 
hesitancy in saying that the good 
obtained by croising decidedly overbal¬ 
ances the bad. The extra advantage of 
crossing, therefore, taken with the ferti¬ 
lization accomplished by the bee which 
would not be accomplished by any other 
means, leaves a large account to the bee’s 
credit. As I believe we are both in 
search of the truth, I am heartily with 
L. E. R. L., in the desire that The R. 
N,-Y. may now come to the front Avith a 
“ thus saith the editor,” and thus end 
the controversy. So I will not take room 
to refer to the words of able authorities 
and of intelligent fruit growers, but 
leave that for him. 
R. N -Y.—We are not ready for our 
“ say ” yet. 
Pruning Trees. 
M. L., Malcom, N. Y. —I much prefer 
to prune all kinds of fruit trees in the 
spring, and if the prospect of a rush of 
work is not too great, I would rather 
wait until the buds have started or even 
until the blossoms have opened. It will 
be found that less sprouts will appear 
after spring pruning than after pruning 
at any other time. Then the tree is at 
its best condition to recover from in¬ 
juries and all scars will heal more readily. 
In addition to these reasons I prefer to 
prune in spring, because spring pruning 
serves a two-fold purpose: it thins the 
fruit buds at the same time that it re¬ 
moves superfluous wood. When the fruit 
buds have started it is easy to remove a 
part of them, if they seem too numerous, 
while in the tree, and the strength of 
the tree is not wasted on useless and 
worse than useless bloom. 
Of course circumstances must have 
much to do with the time at which such 
work is done. I would rather cut out 
dead or superfluous wood from peach 
trees in the fall than not at all. It would 
do but little injury to the trees, probably, 
after growth had ceased. Some success¬ 
ful orchardists trim apple trees in the 
winter and this has the merit of getting 
a part of the work done when there 
is little else which can be done to ad¬ 
vantage. 
It is a common practice among those 
who plant grape vines, to let them grow 
just as they will during the first season. 
A dozen or more of little crooked canes 
is the result. In such cases it would be 
better, the second year, to cut off all 
these little stems leaving only the old 
stem, and start again. When a vine is 
received from the nursery with more than 
one cane it is well to cut off all but one. 
When the buds of this one cane start in 
the spring, wait until all possible danger 
of frost is over. Then select the strong¬ 
est shoot and rub off all the other shoots. 
The single shoot left should be carefully 
tied to a stake for support, and to pro¬ 
tect it against hard winds. 
What is the best time to prune grape 
vines? Our own way has been to prune 
during the warm spel's of winter. Is 
there any advantage in pruning as soon 
as the leaves dry up and fall—say in No¬ 
vember? 
Undue praise of any novelty offered is 
sure to increase its sales in the ratio that 
the undue praise is given a wide circula 
tion. There is no doubt of that. Thi* 
for the time helps the introducer in dol¬ 
lars and cents. But it is only for the time. 
The more numerous the sales, the more 
numerous the trials. The more numerous 
the trials, the more numerous will be the 
complaints from those who, through mis 
representation, were induced to purchase 
the novelty and make the trial. A tar 
nished reputation is the heritage of the 
second year to offset the money gain of 
the first. 
The new rose, Agnes Emily Carman, 
has now been sent by the introducers to 
every one who applied for the set of 
{Continued on next page.) 
IN writing' to ndyertlsera please always mentloj. 
Tui BUBAl,. 
SVly Wife and I 
Believe that an ounce of 
prevention Is worth » 
pound of cure. We ha4 
dull heavy headachMf a 
little exertion tired w 
greatly, and my aipp«» 
tite xraa very poor. S* 
we began to take Hood's 
Sarsaparilla and the e4> 
feet w'as like magic, re. 
storing us to perfect 
health and preventing se¬ 
vere slekness and doctor’s bills.” J. H. Touts, 
14.5 12th St., San Francisco. Hood's Cures 
Hood's Pills cure constipation. Try a box* 
In tliB Early Days 
of cod-liver 
oil its use 
was limited 
to easing 
those far 
advanced in consumption. 
Science .soon discovered in 
it the prevention and cure of 
consumption. 
Scott’s Emulsion 
of cod-liver oil with Hypo- 
phosphites of lime and soda 
has rendered the oil more 
effective, easy of digestion 
and pleasant to the taste. 
Prepared by Scott fi Rowne, N. V. All druegiste. 
FOR OUR NEW PREMIUM LIST' 
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USE HO OTHER. 
AVood-choppers, try the 
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The scoop in the blade 
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tlie wood, and makes 
cut deeper than any 
axe. Ask your deale’.j2^ ' 
it. Send us his n? ii' 
he don’t keep it, 
Anti-Trust Axe. '' ' 
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LOOISV!^, KY. 
Hari'o..', .worker, 
or Chuv.n. wholesale price i 
Best. j.itr»ti^(lCat’lg free •' 
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you CAN SELL 
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We make a metal one cheap. 
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57 6I6LEU STREET, NILES, O. 
Also all kinds of Metal RooUng and Paint, 
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'ACME” Pulverizing Harrow, Clod Crusher ^Leveler; 
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11 
sui 
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TS adapted to all soils and all work for whic 
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Flat crushing spurs pulverize lumps, level i 
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MENTION THIS PAPEK. 
. 30 So.Canal St.,Ch(ca| 
