1894 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
489 
season is too short. 6. I have had no experience in 
this line, but celery, barley, rice, and a small per cent 
of sugar will produce a duck or turkey that is fit for 
a king—or a plebeian ! Or a disgruntled striker. 
E. O. WILCOX. 
The Opinions of a Veteran. 
1. I think it costs from 4% to 5 cents per pound at 
present prices of grain. 2. Pekin, by all odds. 3. 
When breeding from them, I keep 30 or 40 together. 
When I turn them out to pasture in the fall, sometimes 
500. From 100 to 150 young ducks are kept in a flock. 
4. Turnips, small potatoes, corn fodder, etc., with a 
little meal mixed in. 5. I find it so, although they 
eat a great deal more than hens, vet their eggs bring 
five to ten cents more per dozen than hens’ eggs. 6. 
I have never used celery, because it is too expensive, 
but I think corn fodder gives them a very nice flavor. 
J. KANKIN. 
Celery-Fed Ducks. 
1. Four and one-half to five cents per pound. 2. The 
Pekin. 3. Old ducks do well in flocks of 150, if they 
have an unlimited range. We would suggest, 75 ducks 
and 15 drakes for best results. One hundred and fifty 
young ducks is about right after they leave the 
brooder, but in the brooder, only 100. 4. Clover, green 
or dry, green corn, rye, wheat and rape, cut fine and 
given in bulk, one-third green to two-thirds grain, 5. 
Yes, it is; the demand is always greater than the 
supply. 6. Yes, we have a good trade on celery ducks; 
we use no other flavoring than celery. 
TRUSLOW & MCFETBIDGK. 
PEDIGREE OF A BLACKBERRY CROP. 
FRUIT ON POOR LANI>. 
Several Subscribers.—Oa page 464, we are told of a 
profitable blackberry crop. How was that grown, 
what manure or fertilizer used, etc. ? 
Ans.—I bought the farm where we now live, nine 
years ago last April. I was working at the hat trade, 
and wanted a small farm so that I could keep one 
horse and cow, and raise some produce in dull times. 
I soon discovered that the ground was too dry to raise 
vegetables, so I began to plant fruit. Another thing, 
I found that to purchase trees, plants, etc., of tree 
agents, would require a fortune which I did not have, 
so I began to buy at wholesale and sold trees and 
plants to neighbors, and made considerable money in 
spare time. I planted one-half acre each of strawber¬ 
ries, raspberries and grapes. The only land available 
for blackberries was a poor sidehill sloping to the west, 
I planted apple trees about 35 feet apart, four rows 
of blackberries between each two rows of apple trees. 
I gave the ground a good coat of stable manure, and 
planted about one-half each of Taylor’s Prolific and 
Snyder in the fall of 1889. Every one grew, and the 
spring of 1890, I gave the plants a liberal dose of 
Mapes potato manure, and cultivated every week all 
summer to keep the moisture in the ground. In the 
summer of 1891, I got a fair crop of berries. In the 
spring of 1892, I used the same fertilizer. After dig¬ 
ging all plants available, an enormous crop of fruit 
set, and but for dry weather, I would have had 200 
bushels. As it was, I sold 8320 worth, as previously 
stated. In the spring of 1893, I used lime-kiln wood 
ashes, and the potato manure again. The crop prom¬ 
ised to be just as large. I picked over 8100 worth, 
when the first severe storm came on which destroyed 
all ripe fruit, and the second destroyed everything 
ripe and green. This spring, I sold enough plants to 
pay for fertilizers and work. I used 700 pounds of 
potato manure, and 250 pounds of nitrate of soda, and 
have a large crop of blackberries loaded down to the 
ground, and some ripe. 
We have not had any rain to speak of for over one 
month, only very light showers. All the available 
ground I had on this farm for fruit was about three 
acres, except a cone-shaped knoll which I have ter¬ 
raced and planted with grapes. I either had to buy 
more land, or go out of business, as I could not re¬ 
new fruit crops. Last spring I purchased 20 acres 
opposite and planted one acre of Green Mountain 
grape vines on the poorest and driest land. The rest 
of the land I have planted with vegetables—about six 
acres of potatoes, using 1,800 pounds of potato manure 
to the acre, three acres of cabbage, one acre of straw¬ 
berries, three-fourths acre of asparagus, IH acre of 
corn, one-half acre of onions, cauliflowers, beets, and 
turnips. All the land which I bought lately had been 
running wild for 30 years. I have now three acres of 
grapes, on land which will not grow anything else 
successfully. My object is to get into fruit »11 that 
is suitable, and the rest into grass. 
My experience with grapes has been varied. I have 
grown enormous clusters from 1 to 13^ pound. In 
August, I pinched or broke off all young growth, 
which made the wood ripen and fruit develop. One 
summer, I broke off all laterals as they appeared and 
only left one leaf to the cluster. The grapes grew 
enormously, but did not ripen well. Along in August, 
the buds began to make new growth, and set fruit; 
that treatment killed several vines, and spoiled the 
rest for fruiting for one season, gkorqe h. pearson. 
“Bricks Without Straw” in Fertilizers. 
“ Virginian." —To a fertilizer made of slaughter¬ 
house refuse analyzing, ammonia, two per cent; avail¬ 
able phosphoric acid, six per cent; insoluble phos¬ 
phoric acid, three per cent; bone phosphate, 20 per 
cent, how much kainit, per 200-pound bag, should be 
added to make a good mixture for corn and oats ? 
Ans. —You cannot make “ a good corn fertilizer” 
out of this by adding kainit, because there is not 
enough ammonia in it. Why use kainit when potash is 
cheaper in muriate ? To 200 pounds of this slaughter¬ 
house refuse, you should add at least 25 pounds nitrate 
of soda and 25 pounds muriate of potash, and even then 
you will not have as much available phosphoric acid 
as you should. 
Fruits for Northern New Jersey. 
G. D. C., New Jersey. —My farm is located about five 
or six miles from the Rural Grounds in a direct line 
nearly northeast. What would be the best two or 
three varieties each of red raspberries, black rasp¬ 
berries and blackberries for me to set ? I also wish to 
set about an acre of grapes, and as I don’t believe 
there is any money in them, I wish half a dozen choice 
varieties most suitable for table use. My soil is a 
sandy loam. I wish to set out an acre of each kind of 
fruit. 
Ans. —Red raspberries: Turner, Shaffer or Colum¬ 
bian, Cuthbert and Loudon. Rlackcaps: Souhegan 
and Ililborn. Blackberries: Erie and Kittatinny. 
Grapes : Brighton, Delaware, Green Mountain, Nectar, 
Moore’s Diamond, Worden and Barry. 
Fertilizers for Strawberries. 
A. E. F. C., {No Address). —I have two acres of straw¬ 
berries which were set this spring on a field which did 
not raise good corn last year; I think it was be¬ 
cause it lacked nitrogen, for it has had no clover or 
manure for 15 years or more. I gave it a good coat of 
ashes last fall, which I turned under this spring be¬ 
fore I set the strawberries. What shall I put on in 
the way of commercial fertilizers this fall, to improve 
my crop next spring ? How and when should it be 
applied ? 
Ans.—A mixture of fine ground bone of good quality 
and muriate of potash—three parts bone to one of 
muriate—will help the strawberries. You can safely 
use at least 1,200 pounds of the mixture and broadcast 
it this fall if you like. 
liime or Fertilizers P 
J. D. B., New Lexington, Pa .—I can buy slaked lime 
at 4>^ cents per bushel or unslaked for nine cents 
delivered at the station 23^ miles away. I find by 
applying 75 to 100 bushels slaked per acre, that I can 
raise a heavy stand of clover. Would this not be the 
proper and cheapest way to bring up poor land, instead 
of buying high priced fertilizers ? 
Ans. —Yes, in your case it is just the thing to do to 
get clover and its enriching effect upon the soil. But 
you will have to use potash and phosphate after that, 
or the clover will fail. With a good stand of clover 
once secured, you can probably keep up the fertility by 
using acid rock or bone and muriate of potash. 
Baspberries “ Dying: Off.” 
J. D. F., Warwick, Ont .—I have a patch of Cuthbert 
raspberries which appears to be dying off, that is the 
last year’s wood does not appear to be healthy. I 
have also a large plantation and the last year’s growth 
is acting in the same way. I have grown them very 
successfully before. They are in fine shape, and I 
have avoided cultivating too deep. Could they 
be successfully sprayed in spring ? The soil is a fine, 
light loam. In examining some canes, I found some 
small worms, but in others, could find nothing of the 
kind. 
Ans. —Anthracnose, no doubt. Spraying the canes 
with the Bordeaux is the best remedy. 
Wanted: Potatoes That Hold Their Sprouts. 
C. C. McD., Battle Creek, Mich. —In this part of Michi¬ 
gan, and probably in other localities, the best time 
for planting potatoes seems to be from June 1 to 15, 
using, of course, late varieties. We have almost in¬ 
variably, severe midsummer droughts, and our best 
plan seems to be to have the potatoes ready to make 
their crop after the fall rains come on. The late crop 
is commonly twice as great as the early. It is diffi¬ 
cult, however, to keep the seed in good condition so 
late in the season. With any ordinary care, it is sure 
to sprout badly, and thus seriously weaken its vitality. 
Can some of the potato-growing readers tell us how to 
keep the seed in good condition for late planting with¬ 
out great expense ? Can potatoes be readily kept in 
cold storage like apples, or does the long continued 
cold kill or weaken the eyes ? If they are readily kept 
in cold storage, why is it not a profitable enterprise 
to store eating potatoes early, while firm and fresh, 
and sell when new potatoes are scarce and high ? 
Ans.—A few years ago, we investigated the cold 
storage of seed potatoes, but from the best informa¬ 
tion obtainable, the practice did not seem to be of 
much practical value. We shall be glad to learn of 
any newer developments. In your case, why not try 
the second-crop Southern potatoes for seed ? 
Cherries for Market. 
J. W. K., Jones' Mills, Pa. —I have a small tree of the 
Reine Hortense cherry, and I like its size, beauty and 
quality. Would The R, N.-Y. advise planting it for 
market, or is it not productive enough ? My tree is 
too small to tell about its productiveness. Would it 
be a success grafted on the common Heart cherry ? 
Would the Early Richmond cherry be more profitable 
to plant than the Reine Hortense. 
Ans. —The most profitable cherries for market are 
the Windsor, a Bigarreau variety, and the Montmo¬ 
rency Ordinaire. Most of the large cherry orchards are 
now planted with Montmorency. Any variety may 
be grafted on the Heart cherry. 
A Mixture of Fertilizers. 
H. T., Washiyig'ton County, Md. —What would the fol¬ 
lowing formula analyze if the materials were all good: 
1,200 pounds dissolved South Carolina rock, 500 pounds 
tankage, 200 pounds nitrate of soda, 200 pounds sul¬ 
phate of potash ? The South Carolina rock is 13 per 
cent phosphoric acid, the tankage 7 per cent ammonia, 
and the sulphate of potash 45 per cent potash. Before 
planting potatoes, I drilled with a wheat drill 600 
pounds of this mixture to the acre. I paid at the 
rate of 824 a ton for the tankage I was not satisfied 
with the tankage, so kept a small quantity to send to 
The R. N.-Y. for its opinion of it. Is it good or not ? 
I have been thinking of mixing a phosphate for wheat, 
and if this tankage is not good, I will not buy any 
more. If I mixed 50D pounds of kainit with 2,000 
pounds of raw-bone meal, what per cent would it give 
of potash ? Would that be about right for wheat ? 
Ans.—T he following table shows what these mate¬ 
rials ought to contain: 
Phos. acid. Nitrogen. 
Potash. 
1,200 pounds dissolved rock. 
160 
600 pounds tankage. 
200 pounds nitrate of soda. 
200 pounds sulphate of potash.... 
32 
90 
2,100 
150 
02 
90 
This means an analysis of about three 
per 
cent ni- 
trogen, 43^ potash and 73^ phosphoric acid, which is 
too low in both nitrogen and potash. You should send 
a sample of the tankage to the Maryland Experiment 
Station at Agricultural College Post Office, Md., for 
analysis. We have no facilities for analyzing it here, 
and would not express an opinion from its mere ap¬ 
pearance. Ordinary kainit contains 123^ per cent of 
potash. Your mixture would contain less than three 
per cent—not enough for ordinary land. Why do you 
use kainit ? You will find potash cheaper, pound for 
pound, in the muriate. 
Sick Fowls. 
V. S. O., Conn. —I am losing all my fowls; some 
are sick a day or so, others drop off the perch dead, 
apparently sick no time. They are mostly old fowls, 
but I have lost a few spring chickens in the same way. 
The droppings are green and thin. I have never had 
disease among my fowls before. Is it cholera? If so, 
what is the remedy ? 
Ans. —Not enough of the symptoms are given to 
enable us to diagnose the disease, but it may be 
cholera. At any rate, the treatment for cholera will 
be a good thing for the fowls. First kill and burn or 
bury very deep, at least three feet, all affected birds. 
Remove the rest of the flock to new and clean quar¬ 
ters, or else thoroughly clean and disinfect the old 
house and the runs. Use a solution of one pint of sul¬ 
phuric acid to eight gallons of water, and see that 
this reaches every part of the house. Confine the 
fowls to the disinfected quarters, and treat these with 
the disinfectant three or four times weekly and the 
droppings daily. If any more fowls show symptoms 
of disease, destroy at once. Be thorough, or you 
might as well not spend any time. Put a teaspoonful 
of carbolic acid in each one-half gallon of the drink¬ 
ing water. Feed a variety of foods, with no corn, and 
an abundance of pure water, green food and shell or 
other grit. 
Fropagratins: Gooseberries from Guttings. 
C. O. A., East Orland, Me. — The R. N.-Y. of July 7 
advises propagating gooseberries by cuttings in the 
fall. I have read a statement by Chas. A. Green, that 
gooseberries would not grow from cuttings. I trust 
that you know about it, but it seems to me there must 
be some difficulty in the cutting method, or Mr. Green 
would not have made that statement. I want to prop¬ 
agate a lot of gooseberries myself, and of course 
would prefer the cutting mode, but am afraid to 
trust to it. 
Ans. —Our friend must be mistaken as to such a 
statement having been made by Mr. Green. Goose¬ 
berries will propagate nearly as well as currants, 
from cuttings, though the growth will not be so fast. 
Take six-inch cuttings of yearling wood—that is the 
growth of the current season —cutting close to the 
older wood. 
