554 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 1 
Raspberry Disease. 
J. H. V., IluDSOX, Micu —The disease 
referred to on page 513 has troubled nae; 
it has appeared among Cuthberts, and 
Brandy wines. My observations tally 
with those of C. J. D., and in addition I 
can say that it is not lack of fertility, as 
it was bad where manure had been ap¬ 
plied heavily. It is not on account of 
age as suggested, as it appears in new 
plantations as well as old. I do not think 
it the effect of anthracnose, as the canes 
do not look different from those of thrifty 
plants. It is a constitutional (is that the 
word ?) disease, as suckers taken from af¬ 
fected plants are also diseased. It doesn’t 
seem to be very contagious, if it is at all, 
as it does not affect sections of the patch, 
but hills here and there. It seldom kills 
the plants at once; they may live for 
years and bear many berries which reach 
only about half size. My soil is sandy 
loam, but I do not think it confined to 
this sort of soil. Stable manure and 
ashes are all the fertilizers I have used. 
I have studied the disease for some time 
but have been unable to assign any cause 
for it. 
More About Bone and Potasb. 
\V. F. Taber, Poughkeepsie, N. Y.— 
My practice is to apply whatever fer¬ 
tilizer we use when preparing the soil 
for planting, in the spring, mixing it 
well with the soil at the rate of 600 to 
800 pounds to the acre. I do not apply 
broadcast, but in strips two feet in width, 
in the center of which the plants are to 
be set. I believe that the plant food is 
thus placed where the plant can use it, 
and is more likely to be utilized than if 
placed upon the surface in the fall. I 
have never used wood ashes alone, but 
generally a complete special fertilizer. 
I think that I would apply 1,500 to 2,000 
pounds of ashes to the acre. 
natural for them to be kept from the 
light and heat; the dry earth will absorb 
any remaining moisture. I do not see 
why they should not be nice and firm in 
this way for almost a year after digging. 
Should this be so, one can readily see 
how, when exposed to the light and heat, 
they quickly sprout when the planting 
time comes in the spring. A much better 
price may be obtained at planting time 
and before new stock comes in when the 
old stock has been thus preserved fresh, 
sound and firm. Let us hear from those 
who have tried this, their experience. 
Divlilon of Labor and Expense. 
On page 505, a problem of two men 
working a farm on shares was presented. 
One agreed to furnish the land the other 
the labor. The problem was as to which 
should furnish the team and which pay 
for the fertilizers. The following esti¬ 
mates have been received: 
W. H. D., Middlebuby, Vt. —A fur¬ 
nishes the land, pays for one-half of the 
commercial fertilizer and B the other 
half. B is to furnish the team ; each is 
to furnish one-half the seed. If potatoes 
are grown, A is to furnish Paris-green 
and B to put it on ; each is to dig his own 
potatoes. If A furnishes the team, B 
should do all the work. This is the way 
we do here. 
M. W., Bristol, R. I.—I think A should 
furnish the team, and B perform the 
labor as agreed. A should pay for the 
fertilizer, and at the harvest. B should 
divide upon the land, the crop, and allow 
A to take his choice of either half, A to 
furnish the team and B to do all the 
labor of drawing away the crop. Thus 
B does all the labor as agreed while A 
furnishes the capital. 
A. J. R., Branford, Conn —In Con¬ 
necticut and Rhode Island, it is the 
custom for the owner of the land to bur¬ 
nish all the fertilizer, the one working 
the land to furnish the team and tools, 
do all the work and furnish all the seed. 
In some cases, the owner of the land 
pays for half of the seed used, but I be¬ 
lieve that this practice is not general. 
Here is an interesting report of The 
Rural’s latest potato introduction : “I 
dug my Carman No. 1 potatoes to-day 
(August 7). The vines were dead. It 
was planted April 28, and had two sturdy 
sprouts. There were 10 tubers of the 
following weights, in ounces : 6, 5^, 4%, 
2, 1%, IM, IM, 134- Total 
weight 1 pound, 14 ounces. I planted 
one-half of a tuber with two eyes only, 
weighing about IJ^ ounce (whole). Size, 
medium. Color of skin, white. Form, 
flat oval. Skin slightly rough. Eyes 
level with surface. Vine vigorous grow¬ 
er ; green and erect. Quality, excellent, 
boiling dry and mealy. I consider it a 
valuable acquisition to our list of pota¬ 
toes and will plant next year. Consider 
this an ‘ early.’ Will mature, I think, 
in 90 days.” A ashmun kelly. 
Chester County, Pa. 
Mr. Kerr's plum talk in last week’s 
R. N.-Y. ought to be worth something to 
all who are raising plums, or purpose to 
do so, for profit. Probably he is culti¬ 
vating more varieties than any other in¬ 
dividual in the country. He was a noted 
fruit grower 20 years ago, when the 
writer first began these notes and at that 
time a contributor to our pages. Crimson 
clover—let our readers bear in mind— 
Wickson in color and quality, except that 
it is distinctly sub-acid, even more juicy 
and possibly not quite so rich. There is, 
too, an aridity of the skin not noticeable 
in Wickson. The pit is only seven-eighths 
of an inch long and very thin, scarcely a 
quarter of an inch. We know nothing 
of the habit or productiveness of the tree. 
We feel exceedingly glad, and dare say 
that our plum-loving readers feel the 
same, that we are likely soon to have the 
opportunity of raising these splendid 
fruits in our own gardens and orchards. 
Japan Plums. —Bulletin No. 62 of the 
Cornell Station (Ithaca, N. Y.) is, or 
should be, cf great value to those who 
grow plums, either for profit or home 
use. It tells us about the Japan plums 
in which The R. N.-Y. is so deeply in¬ 
terested. Well does Prof. Bailey say 
that altogether, the Japanese plums 
constitute the most important type of 
fruit introduced iato North America 
during the last quarter of a century, and 
they should receive careful tests in all 
parts of the country. In New York, the 
earliest market variety which has been 
tested appears to be Willard, followed 
closely by Ogon, then Abundance and 
Berckmans, and Burbank still later. 
Kelsey is generally the latest of all the 
varieties. Most of the Japanese plums 
keep for several days, and some of them 
phosphoric acid and potash cover the list 
of his manures. Sow the clover in Au¬ 
gust and-plow it under in May. 
On August 10, Luther Burbank, of 
Santa Rosa, Cal., sent us by mail a little 
box containing two of his new plums 
Wickson, a crossbred Japan, and J, a 
self-seedling Japan. The two plums 
were a little overripe when received 
(August 17), but still in perfect condition, 
Wickson is the variety we have already 
alluded to. Mr. Burbank, who never in¬ 
tentionally overpraises his grand pro¬ 
ductions, regards it as the best of the 
Japan plums. The growth of tree is up¬ 
right, clean and sturdy and it is very 
productive. He thinks it will prove 
N. Hallock, Queens, L I.—For straw¬ 
berries, I would apply nearly equal 
quantities of the bone and muriate in 
the fall, and plow under. The bone be¬ 
comes softened and partly decayed, and 
is more readily assimilated as plant food; 
the muriate is better dissolved and dis¬ 
tributed through the soil. In the spring, 
a top-dressing of the same is again 
plowed in. I would give the soil a thor¬ 
ough distribution of the fertilizers where 
the plants can get it at once. In the 
fall, 1,000 pounds to the acre; in the 
spring, 500 pounds should make a good 
show for a crop if used on good corn land 
that had been in sod the year before. 
Wood ashes may be applied in the same 
way for the best distribution. The pot¬ 
ash is the most valuable part of them, 
and can be used 50 to 100 bushels to the 
acre ; more will do no harm. 
Keeping Potatoes In Earth. 
G., Grand Rapids, Mich.—The R. N.- 
Y,, under Brevities, says : “ We want all 
possible information respecting the cold 
storage of potatoes.” I might offer the 
suggestion to farmers (though it may be 
an old one) that for them to keep their 
stock of potatoes, cool and free from 
sprouting till into and past the planting 
time, they store up during the dry sum¬ 
mer several wagon-loads of dry earth or 
fine road dust. When the digging time 
comes cover the cellar floor about a full 
inch deep with this dry dust and have all 
brick or stone walls sided up with dry 
boards. Spread the potatoes to a depth 
of, say, six inches; then throw over a full 
layer of the dry earth, letting it sift well 
down among the tubers. Then put in 
another layer of potatoes, and repeat the 
sifting over of the dry dust till the pile 
is at least three feet high or the potatoes 
are all in. My notion is that as potatoes 
get their growth under ground, so, as 
soon as they are ripe and dry, they should 
be spread out on the ground thinly till 
the sweating period is past, and it is then 
Drought Resisting Potatoes. 
A. C. W., Cresbkill, N, J.—I can but 
beaf witness to a statement on page 520 
of The R, N.-Y., by Geo. E, Scott in re¬ 
gard to potatoes best suited to withstand 
droughts. I am now digging the dead 
hills (of which there are less than 20 per 
per cent), from a quarter acre of pota¬ 
toes planted April 25, and in every case 
I find every good sized tuber within four 
inches of the parent stem. By “ dead 
hills,” 1 mean those where the vines are 
now dead. They are the best I ever 
grew, notwithstanding the drought we 
have bad. My next door neighbor, who 
planted the old way, though in a fine, 
fresh sod, hilled his up high and well, 
and though his vines were much finer 
than mine, his potatoes are scattered 
from four to eight inches, and do not 
average more than half the size of mine. 
I can hut think that the great difference 
in size must be because his variety grew 
scattering, while mine were so compact, 
though The R. N.-Y. method of planting 
had a great deal to do with the result. I 
planted in a furrow, hills 18 inches apart, 
rows four feet apart, and after throwing 
a little soil over each seed piece, scat¬ 
tered Mapes potato fertilizer in the fur¬ 
rows, at the rate of 800 pounds to the 
acre; I then covered by leveling the 
whole piece with an Acme harrow. All 
cultivation has been with a harrow tooth 
cultivator set shallow. 
Keeping Seed Potatoes. 
F. H., Amboy, O —In reply to the query 
of C. C. McD., Battle Creek, Mich., page 
489, in this locality, we plant potatoes 
from June 15 to July 1. To keep seed 
potatoes from sprouting so as not to im¬ 
pair their vitality, we turn them two 
or three times a week. A good way is 
to keep them in bushel crates and turn 
them from one crate to another. But 
whatever way they are kept, they should 
be moved often, and they will not sprout 
to hurt them. 
hardy in central New York anyway, and 
perhaps much further north. Last year, 
he offered his entire stock for $2,500. 
■Whether it has been sold or not, we can¬ 
not say. If not, he will probably intro¬ 
duce it himself to the general trade. 
The plum sent to us is heart-shaped or 
obconical, with a pronounced suture, 
deepest near the stem. The color is a 
dark crimson-purple. It measures length¬ 
wise, 2 inches, 6 inches in circumfer¬ 
ence an inch below the stem. This is 
“ an average'sized plum.” The flesh is 
a dull yellow in color, exceedingly juicy, 
tender, mild, sweet—scarcely sub-acid— 
and rich. The pit, to which the, flesh 
clings firmly, is of an ohovate shape a 
good deal like that of the plum itself, 
measuring one and one-eighth inch in 
length, three-quarters inch in its broadest 
diameter and scarcely three-eighths inch 
through its broadest part. 
Seedling J is almost perfectly round 
with an obscure suture. The flesh grows 
close about the little stem leaving no 
cavity. Its color is a medium crimson- 
purple with the suspicion of yellow in 
parts. The flesh is about the same as 
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