1894 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
391 
and flour. I use my hands, incorporating the green 
with the flour thoroughly. The Colorado beetle has 
lew terrors for us now. One dollar an acre is more 
than sufficient to pay all cost of stopping its ravages, 
and the labor is not irksome. However, a few powers 
continue to let some of the larrge go down into the 
ground, and a later set strips their vines. 
Gallia County, Ohio. ai.va agee. 
N -Y._Why not figure on the cost of a Paris- 
green gun? There would be a saving in time, flour 
and “green.”_ 
THINNING THE PEAR CROP. 
WHEN AND HOW TO DO IT. 
At what time is It best to thin the following named varieties of 
nears, when the fruit Is strong and too thickly set ; so much so as to 
be liable to Injure the trees materially, unless an unusual drop should 
occur: Duchess, Anjou, Bartlett? Should more than one or two be 
left in a cluster It the clusters are left close together? The trees are 
In a healthy condition, have been cultivated, and are manured every 
year lightly. How heavy should Bve-year-old Kelffers be allowed to 
fruit? At what time should the jarring of plum trees be commenced 
for curcullo? 
Niagara County, N. Y. 
When to Jar the Plum, 
I have had no experience in thinning pears. Plum 
trees should be jarred for curculio as soon as the 
petals have fallen, and just before the fruit bursts the 
calyx. The jarring should be repeated often, until 
the fruit is too hard to be punctured ; at first, every 
second day ; afterward twice a week. w. h. habt. 
Another Set of Buies. 
The best time to thin the pear crop, when the fruit 
is strong and too thickly set, is when the fruit is 
about the size of a pigeon’s egg; leave two on each 
cluster unless they are too close together, in which 
case leave but one. Keifler pear trees at five years of 
age ought not to be allowed to grow over one-third of 
a crop. Plum trees should be jarred as soon as the 
fruit is set, and the jarring continued until the stone 
is hard in the fruit. ellwangeb & babby. 
“The Siz3 of Marbles.” 
I have practiced thinning my pears when they set 
too thickly, as soon as they are the size of marbles. 
I take off all but one of each cluster, if the latter 
are close together. This will insure much larger 
fruit, produce as many bushels, that will sell for more 
money, and be of decided benefit to the tree. Treat 
the Keiffers as you would any other variety. The 
Keiffer pear is worthless if allowed to overbear, 
which it is likely to do ; but large and handsome, and 
fair to eat, if well grown and well ripened. 
Jar the plum trees, the sooner the better, after the 
fruit is the size of peas, N. ohmeb. 
Don’t Be in a Hurry to Thin. 
In the early stages of its growth, the Dachess pear 
is often found growing in clusters, strongly indicating 
the necessity of hand thinning in order that perfect 
and well-developed specimens may be grown. But in 
process of time. Nature seems to accomplish nearly all 
that is required in this direction. If, after the pears 
have ceased to drop, it is discovered that more are in¬ 
clined to remain than would seem to be required, I 
have in my own orchard occasionally thinned, being 
careful to pick off the smaller and imperfect speci¬ 
mens. I would not deem it advisable to begin the 
work of thinning until the time has arrived when the 
fruit remaining on the trees plainly indicates final 
maturity. For until then, no certainty is assured that 
some of the pears which may be allowed to remain on 
the trees, are not those which would eventually drop 
of their own accord, or vice versa. The same rule 
might well apply to the other varieties of pears men¬ 
tioned. The Keiffer, or any other pear, should not be 
allowed unduly to burden the tree during the early 
period of its growth, and the simple and easy method 
of thinning properly, is attended with much advan¬ 
tage both to the tree and fruit, and should not be 
neglected. 
Jarring plum trees for the curculio is not generally 
practiced in this locality. In a bulletin recently issued 
from the Cornell Station, are directions for jarring 
plum trees for curculio “just after the blossoms fall.” 
On my own grounds, spraying plum and prune trees 
with a weak solution of Paris-green has been attended 
with apparently good results for the destruction of 
this troublesome pest. i. d- cook. 
Too Many Keiffers Make Poor Fruit. 
Duchess, Bartlett, Anjou and other pears should be 
thinned, if it be needed, as soon as the droppings are 
over, which is usually the case early in June. I prefer 
to thin so as to have the fruit left singly and not in 
clusters. If in clusters, the fruit is not only likely to 
be small, but, where close together, a place is fur¬ 
nished for the codling moth to deposit its egg. The 
Keiffer pear, if allowed to overbear, is likely to pro¬ 
duce fruit of poor quality, more so than some others; 
hence, the fruit upon a five-year-old Keiffer should be 
thinned so as not to be closer than five or six inches. I 
believe that the best results can be obtained by this 
system. 
The plum trees should be jarred for curculio very 
soon after the dropping of the blossoms, or soon after 
the fruit is formed. The present season seems to have 
been unfavorable for the development of this insect. 
Very much less trouble has been experienced this sea¬ 
son than in 1893. s. d. willa.kd. 
Excellent Buies for Thinning. 
I begin to thin pears four weeks from the time the 
blossoms fall. Duchess and Bartlett will set two, 
sometimes three, pears to the cluster. They should, 
when set heavily, be thinned to single pears, as then 
there will be all the tree ought to carry, and they will 
grow large and fair. The Anjou sets its fruit singly 
more than other varieties, though often two in a 
cluster, and such should be cut to one. This will give 
fine quality, as every defective pear should be cut out, 
and there will be as many bushels of fruit as though 
none had been taken off. I have grown Seckels as 
large as medium-sized Sheldons by reducing the 
cluster of four to one. There is always difficulty in 
getting men to thin properly ; they think it is a waste 
of fruit. Get boys, they will do it as you want it 
done—provided you stay by them. There is a benefit 
from thinning not always thought of, and that is the 
drain that is saved the soil in perfecting a large 
quantity of seeds in the fruit cut off. Thinning can 
be done profitably until the fruit is one-third grown. 
Not over one-half bushel should be allowed to remain 
on five-year-old Keiffer trees, and I would rather 
reduce that quantity by four quarts, even on strong 
trees. 
Jarring for curculio should begin a week after the 
bloom has fallen, as the fruit will then be mostly 
exposed. geo. t boweli.. 
“A POUND OF BERRIES.” 
BUT TONS OF THEM TO THE A 0 B E. 
Mountain Streams and Showers Monetized. 
Pabt I. 
In 1886 a physical wreck left the city of Cleveland 
for western Maryland, without much idea of farming, 
but an intense longing to get into the cool and quiet 
A Hothouse on Rails. Fig. 104. 
country, and indulge his boyish taste for horticulture. 
Only pocket money, but energy? enough for two such 
bodies, was his capital, so land was first leased and 
afterward bought. For an ex-professional man at 
middle age to strike into the Alleghany forest to carve 
out a fruit farm, was looked upon as a wild scheme at 
first, but not so as it took shape, and he was joined by 
a young and cool-headed graduate of the Miller Man¬ 
ual Labor School, near Charlottesville, Va., who had 
spent some six years in business in the Northern 
States. The land secured and a log cabin erected, the 
next thing in order was clearing. 
How They Disposed of the Timber. 
To remove that part of woodland which is above 
ground is vigorous work, but the most difficult part is 
to kill and get rid of the roots and stumps. There are 
several ways of clearing. Where the land is needed 
at once and the timber is nearly all large and of little 
commercial value, the small stuff is grubbed and the 
trees girdled about two inches deep as soon as in full 
leaf. The latter kills the roots by starvation, for the 
leaves make and send down their yearly supply of 
food in summer. Buckwheat, where it succeeds, is 
the best first crop, but any fall crop will do. The 
following winter, the trees should be removed, though 
one often sees them standing till they fall, or dry fire¬ 
wood is needed. If land is needed at once for hoed 
crops, to cut, pile, burn and grub is the general course, 
but is very expensive, especially if fitted as carefully 
as our standard requires for strawberries. Several 
times it has exceeded $100 per acre, setting plants 
included. 
When there is time and stock is kept, an excellent 
way is to overstock a piece with as many kinds of 
stock as possible—goats, sheep, cattle and hogs—keep¬ 
ing them up with grain, but compelling them to 
browse for bulk. Another good plan is to cut every¬ 
thing in July, burn perfectly clean in August, pul¬ 
verize the surface thoroughly with a spring-tooth 
harrow, and sow to wheat iu September. The fol¬ 
lowing spring sow clover seed, and whenever har¬ 
vesting grain or grass, carefully cut all sprouts. After 
two crops of clover, it may be plowed easily. 
Becord of Work on a “ Cleared Field.” 
As a practical illustration of the labor involved, I 
copy the following from the farm book, where plans 
are recorded in winter for spring work: April.—Plot 
No. 2—five-eighths acre—strawberries. Varieties, 
three rows Parker Earle, three rows Crystal City, 
six rows Haverland, repeated throughout. Prepara¬ 
tion (previously cut and burned) : 1, pick off rubbish 
and any stones; 2, shovel plow; 3, cross plow with 
Planet Jr. cultivator; 4, pick roots and rubbish ; 5, 
spike harrow ; 6, pick sods and cart to greenhouse for 
potting earth; 7, plow with big plow and oxen; 8, 
grub; 9, pick roots, rubbish and stones: 10, spike 
harrow ; 11, pick again ; 12, Thomas harrow ; 13. roll. 
Fertilizers, special high grade, $35 per ton, west side 
1,000 pounds per acre ; four rows in center, nothing ; 
east side, 3,000 pounds per acre. Mulch, 50 loads of 
old horse manure per acre. This programme was 
faithfully carried out, and at many other places has 
been the additional labor of gathering stones with a 
coke fork, and hauling them off in bushel boxes. A 
pioneer has hard work to get started, but he has a 
virgin soil in which plants grow vigorously, and is not 
much troubled with insects or plant diseases. 
During the first two seasons, about 1,300 orchard 
trees were set, largely of winter pears and apples, 
and a small nursery started, there being a local de¬ 
mand for hardy, acclimated stock. Canvassing for 
nursery stock on commission, secured the “ where¬ 
withal.” Then came a casting about for the best cul¬ 
tivated crop to grow. The altitude— 2,500 feet, with 
its cool, moist climate, owing to thousands of acres of 
glade land adjacent—suggested cabbage, cauliflower, 
celery and strawberries. The “ glades ” around Oak¬ 
land have since become famous for the first two, and 
as celery from here took the first prize at Chicago in 
1893, that, too, was not a bad guess. However, as 
Mount Pomona has no glade land, the plants only are 
raised for sale, utilizing the greenhouse for the early 
ones at a time when it would not otherwise be occupied. 
Strawberries were chosen to be the crop, and the 
next article will give a full description of a system of 
growing by which weeds are no bother whatever. In 
fact, we laugh at the idea of weeds being a hindrance 
to strawberry culture, and consider a man who makes 
much of them as not knowing his business. 
C. T. SWEET, 
WHAT ABOUT THAT FENCE? 
To Fence a Traction Engine. 
In reply to A. H. S., page 345, I would say that I 
have had the Page woven wire fence up for three 
years and it will surely turn his pigs and bull or 
stallion. In fact it is the strongest fence I have ever 
seen. When received, I had my doubts about its 
standing against all kinds of stock and not sag be¬ 
tween posts 33 ^eet apart; but, nevertheless, I put it 
up as directed, and it is as straight to-day as when put 
up, and I think it will turn anything short of a trac¬ 
tion engine. J- s. 
Columbus, N. J. 
A Good Wire Fence; Use of Barbed Wire. 
The Page woven wire fence will restrain any and 
all farm animals. The 11-bar fence, about five feet in 
height, will probably meet the requirements of A. H. 
S. Some of this fence has been used on my farm to 
inclose a barnyard, and in other places, and it gives 
perfect satisfaction. One post securely set at each 
corner of the pasture with stakes driven at intervals 
of 15 or 20 feet, will afford all the support and oppor¬ 
tunities for fastening that are needed in its construc¬ 
tion. Where only horses and cattle are confined, one- 
half this number of stakes will be sufficient. There 
are cheaper wire fences, but I am sure that the Page 
fence is reliable for the purposes mentioned and the 
cost is less than that of a substantial board fence, 
where lumber is worth $10 per thousand feet. 
I am glad to learn that barbed wire cannot be 
legally used in the construction of division fences in 
this State after September 1, unless the owners of 
land on both sides agree thereto. Barbed wire may 
be safely used when horses do not have the run of the 
fields, if the fence be kept up in good shape. But 
many men are careless about fences, as they are in 
other matteis, and it is well to place some restraint 
on the indiscriminate use of barbed wire by such land 
owners. Frequently it is barbed wire loose and out of 
place, that does the damage. Barbed wire is just the 
thing for temporary farm fences, and is now much 
used in securing afterfeed for the dairy in fields partly 
occupied by corn or potatoes. Two or three wires 
stapled to stakes driven once in 30 feet along the side 
and eight feet away from growing corn, form a re¬ 
liable fence to stop dairy cows. Where much of this 
fence is used, it pays to have reels that will each hold 
from 50 to 100 rods of wire so that it may be conven- 
