1894 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
6oi 
warmed by a furnace where the heat was uniform day 
and night. 
How can we best prevent or destroy these insidious 
foes of every housekeeper ? Many a family has had 
its winter woolens damaged by the miserable creatures 
after mother had put them away, as she thought, 
safely packed, perhaps with cedar branches, camphor, 
or those abominable smelling balls or cones sold by 
druggists. However, winter clothing and furs can be 
put away in a manner to exclude the insidious little 
moths and their consequent brood of destructive cater¬ 
pillars. Begin in May or early June by thoroughly 
shaking and airing all carpets, clothes, cloth-covered 
furniture, furs and rugs. If anything is badly infested, 
use benzine freely, spraying it into every crevice and 
all over dark closets. Spray thoroughly every sus¬ 
pected article or place. The benzine will kill the 
insect in every stage, even the egg which resists 
ordinary substances. The cheapness and effectiveness 
of benzine make it the universally recommended 
destructive agent against the clothes moths and the 
Carpet beetle. The caution as to its inflammability 
should always be borne in mind. No light should be 
brought into a room where it has been used until after 
a thorough airing, until the odor is scarcely noticeable. 
The best way to exclude these pests from clothes that 
are to be packed away, is to pack them in paper bags 
or pasteboard boxes with a strip of paper gummed 
around the edge of the cover, thus leaving no crack. 
Paper bags made especially for this purpose are now 
sold in many places ; unused flour sacks will answer 
nearly as well. The pasteboard boxes in which 
tailors deliver suits may be obtained cheaply, and give 
excellent satisfaction when the edge of the cover is 
carefully pasted over. The boxes or bags will last 
for years with proper care, and will effectually protect 
if put into use in May before the little moths begin to 
fly. 
Can the Ordinary Farmer Afford to Use Fertilizers P 
\V. 0 E., Whitby, Ontario, Canada .—Do farmers gen¬ 
erally fully appreciate the importance of the few 
extra bushels to the acre that may be obtained by 
careful and timdy attention to all the minutiae in cul¬ 
tivating a crop ? It is a well recognized fact that the 
profits of many extensive business and manufacturing 
establishments, depend, in great part, upon numerous 
economies, individually small, but in the aggregate, 
large, and in the utilization of by-products that would, 
uncared for, be mere waste material. It is the few 
additional bushels that make up the profit. There 
does not at first sight seem to be such a great differ¬ 
ence between a crop of 20 and one of 25 bushels to the 
acre, and yet the difference may be, so far as profit is 
concerned, infinite ; or in other words, between no 
profit at all and one of five bushels per acre. Yet at¬ 
tention to many apparent trifling matters, given at 
the right time, may make all this difference, and often¬ 
times much more. 
But to come to the special purpose of this inquiry, I 
am desirous of submitting to Thk R. N.-Y. for its 
editorial consideration and elucidation, what is to me 
a puzzle ; to put it into the form of a question. Is 
the use of commercial fertilizers by the ordinary 
farmer—one who is not a specialist—compatible with 
sound economy ? Can equally good results be obtained 
at less cost by other means ? Det us take for granted, 
fov the sake of simplicity, that the necessary supply 
of available nitrogen may be more cheaply maintained 
by carefully economizing barnyard manure and adopt¬ 
ing a short rotation which includes clover, and then 
ask, whether the available phosphoric acid and potash 
required for the production of profitable crops can be 
more advantageously purchased from the dealers in 
fertilizing materials, or developed by special modes of 
cultivation from the substances already present in the 
soil which contain these two essentials though not in 
such a chemical form as to be available for plant 
growth ? 
The enormous crops of potatoes authentically re¬ 
ported to have been raised under the stimulus of a 
prize competition by the exceedingly liberal use of 
artificial fertilizers, must tend to popularize the prac¬ 
tice of substituting chemicals, in whole or in part, for 
the more ordinary forms of fertilizers. Moreover, if 
we give the testimony of some, who have for a series 
of years, been putting this method into actual opera¬ 
tion, its due weight, we cannot but conclude that, in 
some instances, it is an improvement on the old way. 
But having reached this conclusion, what are we to 
think of the published declaration of a farmer of high 
repute, a potato specialist, too, who tells U3 that he 
has more than once, with all due care, made trial on 
his farm of “complete fertilizers” purchased from first- 
class manufacturers, without obtaining any noticeable 
result; that he could not, judging from the appearance 
of the crop in the field, say where the fertilizer had 
been applied. It cannot be that his land is so com¬ 
pletely provided with all the available requisites of 
fertility, either, for he is both an enthusiastic advocate 
of the employment of clover as a renovating crop, and 
a never weary exhorter of the salvation of the farm by 
the closest attention to saving all the barnyard ma¬ 
nure without deterioration. According to this authority, 
the effect of an application of barnyard manure tells 
in the improved appearance of the growing crop every 
time. 
These facts, for I take it that they are facts, are 
difficult to reconcile in the present state of our knowl¬ 
edge. The subject is nevertheless an important one. 
The farmers generally of the United States and Can¬ 
ada, up to this time, have treated it with comparative 
indifference. Both have gone on in youthful extrava¬ 
gance, depleting their forests and exporting the fer¬ 
tility of their lands in the shape of cereal and animal 
products; but the time is fast approaching when both 
must stop and consider whither they are so carelessly 
drifting. How very different is the condition of 
things in the countries on the other side of the Atlan¬ 
tic. Notwithstanding the fact that their lands are 
enriched to some extent at our expense, they ransack 
every quarter of the globe for fertilizing materials. 
Taking all this into account, is it not abundantly 
clear that this matter of preserving and increasing 
the fertility of the lands of this continent, which is 
our mutual concern, is one of the very first import¬ 
ance ? Too much attention can scarcely be devoted 
to the elucidation of the exact truth of all that relates 
to the subject. It is quite clear, too, that we have a 
good deal yet to learn about it before we can afford 
to give utterance to our opinions concerning it in a 
dogmatic style. 
Ans.—T his is a question so complex and many- 
sided that no off-hand answer can be given to it. Our 
belief is that thousands of tons of fertilizer have been 
practically wasted. The reason for this is that farm¬ 
ers have not understood the principles of manuring, 
and have bought substances that they did not need in 
poorly balanced mixtures. Manufacturers, too, have 
confused farmers by wrongly calling their goods 
“phosphate” or “superphosphate,” giving these 
terms an entirely misleading meaning. We do not 
believe that it is “sound economy” for a farmer to 
buy fertilizers at random, without understanding the 
relative commercial values of nitrogen, potash and 
phosphoric acid. While he may, for a time, obtain 
fair results by selecting without question the mix¬ 
tures the manufacturers set before him, sooner or 
later he will lose unless he find out and know what 
he is doing. As well expect a novice to go to the 
stockyards and pick out a dozen good feeding steers 
for winter fattening. He might stumble on a fair lot, 
but how much less would be his chance of success 
than that of the experienced farmer who had selected 
hundreds of such steers ? No man can hope to use 
fertilizers economically until he knows something 
about the principles that govern their use, and has a 
general idea of what his soil and crops mostly need. 
As to the relative cost of phosphoric acid and potash 
in fertilizers or in manures and soils, our belief is that 
one of the most useful and scientific methods of im¬ 
proving manure would be to add quantities of phos¬ 
phate and muriate of potash to it as it is accumu¬ 
lated. This is just as legitimate as it is to build a 
manure shed or a concrete floor to prevent the nitrogen 
from being washed out, or to feed heavily with a view 
to enriching the manure. It is true that England, 
Germany and Prance are importing vast quantities of 
nitrate of soda, guano, basic slag, bone and phosphate 
rock. This is an argument for the use of chemicals, 
for few of the farmers in those countries will claim 
that they could ever maintain their farms by means of 
live stock husbandry alone. Vast quantities of manure 
are made, but potash and some form of phosphoric 
acid are almost always used with it, and bone and 
potash are heavily used on meadows and pastures. 
As to the noted potato specialist referred to, we have 
never been satisfied that he has given fertilizers a fair 
test. He simply applies a quantity of fertilizer, and 
because he sees no apparent results from the first 
crop, discards the whole thing. There are hundreds 
of fertilizer farmers in New Jersey and New York 
who had the same experience at fiLrst, and had they 
stopped at that point, they would have concluded that 
fertilizers were of no value. As it is, they followed 
the experiment patiently through the whole rotation, 
and had the satisfaction at last of seeing that, in a 
series of years, the fertilizers paid by increasing the 
yield of all the crops in the rotation. The R. N.-Y. 
has seen too much of the good results attending the 
judicious use of fertilizers, to permit it to listen for a 
moment to indiscriminate condemnation of their use. 
At the same time, we would never encourage their 
use by those farmers who would buy and use at hap¬ 
hazard, trusting only to the agent’s knowledge for 
success. We are also aware that on some soils, ferti¬ 
lizers do not seem to give adequate returns, either 
through lack of proper moisture, or a lack of vegetable 
matter. We shall be pleased to have others discuss 
this interesting and important subject. 
Fruits for Indiana. 
“ Hoosier Reader," Indiana. —1. What apples should 
I select for a small orchard ? 2. Are apricots hardy, 
and are they as profitable as plums? 3. Does The R. 
N.-Y. consider Abundance and Burbank plums more 
profitable than any other ? 4. Have the Downing 
gooseberries spines on the fruit ? Do they sell well ? 
Ans. —1. Of apples, we would choose the following, 
all of which thrive well in Indiana: Baldwin, Ben 
Davis, Golden Sweet, Jonathan, Maiden’s Blush, North¬ 
ern Spy, Peck’s Pleasant, Rambo, Red Astraehan, 
Wagner, and Winesap. 2. No, not so hardy as the 
plum—about as hardy as the peach. We would say, in 
a general way, that they are not as profitable as plums. 
3. So far as known, these are the best and most profit¬ 
able of the Japan plums thus far placed upon the mar¬ 
ket. If you would extend the season, try also Willard, 
Ogon and Berckmans. 4. The berries are smooth. We 
would choose Columbus or Red Jacket. 
Blackberry for Western Pennsylvania. 
H. A. B., Scalp Level, Pa .—Where can I procure the 
best variety of blackberry for western Pennsylvania ? 
What is the proper time to plant ? 
Ans. —We would choose Kittatinny if it thrives in 
that section. Our second choice would be Erie. They 
may be planted this fall or next spring as our friend 
prefers. These varieties are offered by all nurserymen. 
New Blackberry Bliirbt; Anjou Fears. 
C. L. M., Nunda, N. Y. —1. We have a new form of 
blight on our blackberry canes this year. It appeared 
first as brown patches on the leaves, which soon ap¬ 
peared dead at the edges, and finally the whole cane 
died. I am not able to tell whether it attacks the 
roots or not—in some cases the old and new canes die, 
in others only the bearing canes. Would it be safe to 
plant from this field, by dipping the plants into a 
mercuric bichloride solution ? 2. Will a plantation of 
Anjou pears bear as well alone as if other varieties 
are planted among them ? 
Ans. —1. This form of blight of the blackberry is 
new to us. Who can tell us about it ? 2. Anjou does 
not need other varieties for pollination. 
Porous Spot, Sawdust and Leached Ashes. 
D. R. C., Elida, 0 .—I have a small area of black 
loam (well drained) in the field set apart for straw¬ 
berries, the soil of which is so porous that the plants 
perish in drought. How should it be treated to con¬ 
serve moisture ? I have access to sand, clay, chip 
manure, rotten sawdust, and leached ashes. I am 
growing fruits, including apples, pears, quinces, plums, 
cherries and peaches, strawberries, raspberries, black¬ 
berries, gooseberries, grapes and currants. I keep 
horses, cows, hogs and chickens. Information is de¬ 
sired as to how to utilize to best advantage as a fer¬ 
tilizer, chip manure, rotten sawdust and leached wood 
ashes. What is the approximate value of 100 bushels 
of each of the last two named ? Could fresh sawdust 
be used for the same purpose? If so, how? What 
is its value per 100 bushels ? The sawdust is of hard 
and soft wood. 
Ans —Apply to the porous black loam spot, heavy 
dressings of sand and leached ashes, and work them 
well in. Sawdust has but little commercial value as 
a fertilizer. Rotten sawdust might be used as bedding; 
in fact, this would be about the best use to make of it, 
provided it is not too wet. We would not use fresh 
sawdust directly on the soil. Better compost it with 
the manure before using. A ton of leached ashes may 
be worth $3, and a ton of sawdust perhaps $1.50. 
Price for Wood Ashes ; Corn Ground. 
E. E. W., Niles, Mich. —1. If I can get parties in the 
city who burn wood, to save their ashes for me, what 
can I afford to pay per bushel? The wood here is 
mostly beech and maple, some oak. Will they make a 
good fertilizer for light, sandy soil ? 2. I have about 
10 acres along the creek that has always been used for 
pasture ; it is very thickly covered with what we call 
Iron weed. The sod is mostly J une grass, and some 
places are low and covered with marsh grass. It is 
dry now so that we can plow every foot of it. Would 
The R. N.-Y. advise plowing it now? Would corn do 
well on it next season ? We plowed a small piece of 
the same kind—about one-quarter of an acre—last fall 
and put it into potatoes early this spring. They did 
very well, but the worms ate the tubers very badly. 
Ans. —1. Wood ashes are excellent for any soil. It 
is hard to give a value on such a product as you would 
get from private families. Without an analysis, to 
know just what you are buying, you can hardly afford 
to pay more than 10 cents a bushel. 2. We would 
plow the pasture at once leaving the furrows turned 
up to the action of frost. In the spring, harrow in a 
dressing of the wood ashes and plant corn. 
Several Subscribers .—The larger part of the ginseng 
root purchased in this country is exported to China. 
The Chinese attribute wonderful powers to it. 
