1894 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
6i7 
days ; while the packing^-house is someticnes in opera¬ 
tion for three months or more. The question of 
cooperation in marketing is one to be determined by 
the grower. Sometimes I join with others, being 
governed entirely by circumstances. I sell at home 
on the wharf, or at the railroad station when I can. 
Make every package a good one—both package and 
fruit. Select and use a package that is generally known 
and used and get the fruit to the consumer as soon as 
poisible after it leaves the packing-house. If com¬ 
pelled to find markets in the cities select a good com¬ 
mission house in each to handle your fruit. Good fruit 
will sell when poor will not, and bring its value. 
GEO. C. SNOW. 
Grow Good Grapes and Sell Them Yourself. 
We shall make no material changes in our methods 
of growing grapes. In picking our regular farm help 
cut the grapes and place them in strawberry carriers 
upon a spring cart and deliver to the pack ng room. 
We cut only such clusters as are suitib'e for picking, 
the rest are sold in bulk later. We do most of our 
packing ourselves, using Mott carriers and veneer tills, 
lining them with faney colored stamped piper and 
packing only four pounds in the so-called five-pound 
till. We overcome the difficulties incident to bad 
packing by doing our own work. We d o not cooperate 
with others in selling. To grow good grapes, feed, 
cultivate, and prune the vine properly. Good g-'aoes 
cannot grow in a neglected vineyard. The vineyardist 
must know his business and the characteristics of his 
soil in order to supply the proper food for the vine 
that while it has a strong, vigorous, healthy foliage it 
shall not have an excessive growth of wood. Not only 
must he prune properly in the early spring, but the 
summer pruning mast be attended to at the proper 
time. Force the vine to produce la-ge clusters of rich 
grapes in Nature’s own way, and not through that 
abominable practice called girdling, the penally for 
which ought to be the compelling of every one who 
practices it to eat the fruit thereof. The best prices 
can never be obtained if the practice is persisted in, 
wh ch I regret to say is so prevalent in the Hudson 
River Valley, of sending the grapjs to market when 
wholly unfit to eat, the result of which is seen 
in a glutted market, because the disgusted consumer 
will not buy sour, unripe grapes. What then shall be 
done to secure best prices ? Grow first-class grapes. 
Let them ripen upon the vines. Pack only good, 
sound fru t in neat new packages, lining the tills with 
fancy stamped paper to attract the eye, and if one 
p’ease the eye and the palate also, he is sure of the 
customer and the fruit can be marketed at best prices. 
W, F. TABEK. 
NOTES ON THE CARE OF AN OLD ORCHARD. 
It will be difficult, if not impossible, to plow an or¬ 
chard sod with an ordinary plow without tearing 
roots. A light plow will not answer, because it will 
give way and fiinch from its work when set to run 
shallow in tough sod. Only a heavy plow, with sharp 
irons and a wheel to gauge its depth of furrow, such 
as is used in breaking prairie—cutting only two or 
three inebes deep—will effectually kill all the sod by 
its speedily drying up. Such a plow, with the ade¬ 
quate team, could not be used in an orchard well. 
There are serious objections to plowing an orchard at 
all Besides the cost of getting it thoroughly done, 
and of grubbing the unturned sod ’round the collar 
of every tree, there is the great risk of incurable in¬ 
jury to the trees from their being overfed and over- 
stimulated, and of the wood consequently not ripen¬ 
ing and hardening up sufficiently to endure a severe 
winter. If sheep can be put into the orchard as soon 
as grass begins to grow, say five or six to the acre, 
and kept there, excepting when obliged to get addi¬ 
tional food elsewhere, they will keep all low growth 
down so completely—for they eat every sort of plant 
when quite young and tender—that the roots will be 
correspondingly dwarfed and stunted, and will in 
great part decay, affording both room and nutriment 
to the tree roots instead of robbing them, and with¬ 
out a fiber of them being injared. This will leave 
more moisture available, too, but to increase that 
great essential, the summit ground of the ridge should 
be mulched if any sort of litter is available for the 
purpose, and, if practicable, thickly enough to smoth¬ 
er and rot the sod, which will gradually add greatly 
to the amount of nutriment available for the tree 
roots. Sheep choose high, open ground on which to 
lie down, and in this way do further excellent service 
by leaving their droppings where manure is most ser¬ 
viceable. Growing rye on the ground to a size that 
will yield mulch, will be found to rob the trees very 
considerably. 
Judicious pruning will do much to bring the fruit 
up to marketable size, and is essential as a means 
towards it. I must mention one other of the many 
meritorious orchard services of that most valuable of 
all farm animals, the sheep, which is, that they will 
eat up wormy apples as they drop, soon enough to de¬ 
stroy the worm before it gets into the ground ; in this 
way they would extirpate that nuisance if they had 
free nin in all the orchards in a district. When other 
nibbling gets very scant, they will resort to the bark 
of young trees, but can be easily prevented from doing 
that mischief. 
If it should be advisable, as the easiest way to mulch 
part of the orchard, to grow rye for the purpose, it will 
be found to grow quite as well, and generally better, 
sowed on the surface of rotted sod without any plow¬ 
ing, and well scuffled or harrowed in. w. G. r. 
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DIFFERENT FORMS OF NITROGEN. 
WHAT PRACTICAL “HOME MIXERS” BAY. 
In your louK experience In mixing fertilizers, have you really found 
that It is an advantage to use several forms of nitrogen—say mineral 
and organic in the same mixture? It Is claimed by manufacturers, 
that It 18 an advantage to have several forms of plant food, and we 
are anxious to learn wnether practical experience has conUrmed this 
view B'or example, will a plain mixture of ground oone and muriate 
do as well for potatoes as a more complicated mixture ? 
Ground Bone Not Enough for Potatoes. 
In mixing fertilizers I have always used several 
forms of nitrogen, for the reason that most of the fer¬ 
tilizer is used for potatoes, and I do not consider the 
nitrogen from ground bone available enough for the 
potato crop. It might answer in a wet year, but it 
certainly would not such a season as this has been. 
Bound Brook, N. J. R. P. 
Uses But One Form. 
I formerly used both organic and mineral nitrogen. 
For some years, I have used only organic in my mix¬ 
ture and find it produces as good crops as a mixture of 
both kinds. My fertilizer is made of acid pbosphate, 
muriate and tankage, and is as good as any special 
manure that costs $40 a ton. If farmers would get 
into the way of mixing their fertilizers themselves, 
they would save lots of money—from $10 to $15 a ton. 
Connecticut. waldo b. miller. 
Pays to Have Different Forms. 
It is my practice to use nitrogen in both forms. 
Nitric nitre gen, acts very quickly, and helps to start a 
crop; while the organic form is more lasting, and keeps 
the crop growing. For the last two years, I have used 
200 pounds nitrate of soda to the ton, and find that is 
about the right proportioh. Blood, bone and meat or 
tankage are better, I find, than all bone, unless the 
bone is ground very fine. For seeding, the bone and 
muriate would do, but for growing crops I would 
always use both forms of nitrogen. dennis fink. 
Connecticut. 
Home Mixing and the Drought. 
I have found it to be an advantage to use several 
forms of nitrogen in the same mixture. As I mixed 
this year, I had nitrogen from nitrate of soda, blood, 
bone and meat, and ground bone. In former years, I 
used some sulphate of ammonia, but as that is costly, 
I now use more nitrate of soda, and find that it does 
equally well. I find it an advantage to have several 
forms of plant food in fertilizers. Ground bone and 
muriate would not cause a vigorous growth in the 
potato plant or tuber either, but with tbe addition of 
nitrogen in the form of nitrate of soda for starting the 
crop, and blood, bone and meat, which decomposes 
and furnishes plant food later, I would expect good 
results. I have good crops growing this year, ferti¬ 
lized with home-mixed fertilizers, notwithstanding 
the fact that we have had no rain to amount to much 
since May 28. Geo. f. platt. 
Connecticut. 
Nitrate of Soda and Fish. 
I have mixed fertilizers to a limited extent, for 
about six years, and mostly for early white potatoes 
and for sweet potatoes. For the former, I get nitrogen 
from nitrate of soda and some form of animal matter, 
generally from dried and ground fish ; for the latter 
crop, I use fish or some other form of animal matter, 
other than bone dust, as a source of nitrogen. For 
quick maturing crops, I like to have some nitrogen 
for the crop to use in its early stages of growth, and a 
part in a less soluble form. From the little experience 
1 have had, and from the testimony of good authori¬ 
ties, I regard the nitrogen in ground bone as too 
slowly soluble to be of much use to the early potato 
crop, unless the season shou.d prove to be botn wet 
and warm. E /en for late potatoes, I would want at 
least half of the nitrogen to come from nitrate of soda 
or dried blood. I use a plain mixture of bone and 
muriate for corn. A part of the nitrogen for this 
crop is obtained from tne clo ver sod plowed down. 
Gloucester County, N. J. b. r. b. 
A New Insect in a Well. 
F. J, K.t Nyack, N. Y. —Is there a way by which to 
destroy small white worms in a well, the bottom of 
which is quicksand ? Would like to hear through 
The R N.-Y. 
Ans.— At my request, the correspondent sent me 
specimens of the worm. They were small, slender, 
yellowish worms with well-developsd legs and jaws. 
No one in the department here was familiar with such 
larvae, and our collection contained nothing like them. 
Specimens were accordingly sent to the United States 
Entomologist to be compared with the National 
Museum' collection. There was nothing like them 
there, nor did any one in the office recognize them. 
There is no doubt that they are the larval stage of 
some aquatic insect, possibly the larvae of some 
beetle, but more likely that of a species of May fly— 
those beautiful ephemeral insects that frequently 
appear in great swarms along our lakes in July. It 
will be necessary to breed the adult insect to deter¬ 
mine how nearly right this guess is. The only method 
of preventing these insects from breeding in the well, 
which occurs to me at present, would be to tack wire 
screens over all places about the pump where insects 
might enter. The adult insects would thus be pre¬ 
vented from getting into or out of the well. I 
can't think of any way that the worm could be killed 
in the well without rendering the water unfit for use 
for some time. m v. slingerland. 
Two Q-rapes Described. 
A. C. W., Cresskill, N. J —At the New Jersey State 
Fair I noticed that the Wilder and Goethe grapes were 
the largest shown. What is the quality of these ? 
The next in size was the Worden, which I know to be 
good. 
Ans. —Wilder is one of Rogers’s hybrids. The qual¬ 
ity is better than that of Concord. The fl.’sh is tender 
with some pulp, sweet and juicy. The bunches are 
large where it thrives well. But in soma places the 
berries are liable to “shell off.” Goethe is another of 
Rogers’s hybrids. The pulp is rather tough. It is 
too late for your climate ; that is, too late for most 
seasons. 
Potash in Wood Ashes. 
T. G. Y., Walworth, N. Y —What amount of potash 
should a ton of good hard-wood ashes contain ? 
Ans —A ton of good unleached ashes should contain 
from 100 to 120 pounds of potash. 
Making: Manure from Fish. 
J. E. M., Stellacoom, Wash. —I can get any quantity 
of fish for fertilizer, and would like to know how to 
handle them to produce the best results. Some com¬ 
post them with earth, putting in lime in the first layer 
of fish to start the heat. In a few months, the whole 
mass is reduced to a gray powder. Would they lose 
nitrogen in that process ? What is the average value 
of fish for fertilizer ? 
Ans —One of the best ways to handle such fish is to 
dig a pit in firm ground in some accessible place. Cover 
the bottom with black soil, mu.:k, woods earth or sods. 
Then put in a layer of the fish 18 inches deep and 
apply kainit enough to well whiten the whole mass ; 
then more earth, more fish, more kainit and so on till 
the pit is filled. Kainit is the best material to use in 
composting fish as it adds potash, a substance lacking 
in the fish. Next to kainit we would recommend land 
plaster. The use of lime in this connection is not 
good policy as it will liberate nitrogen. A ton of such 
fish should contain about 120 pounds of nitrogen and 
140 of phosphoric acid. As you will see, it contains no 
potash and that substance should be added to obtain 
the best results. 
Some Sick Turkeys. 
D, W. T. B., Rhinebeck, N. Y. —Daring the rainy sea¬ 
son in May, some of my turkeys refused to eat, and 
after a few days, died. All through the summer, some 
have died one by one. Their heads do not swell, but 
they have diarrhea. Now a few of the largest ones 
have it. What is a remedy ? 
Ans —Turkeys always refuse to eat whenever sick. 
As no symptoms are described (only their heads do not 
swell) it is difficult to get at the cause. It may be due 
to something eaten, but the probability is that, owing 
to exposure during damp weather, they have had 
roup, which develops more when the weather is damp. 
It may have been in the flock all the year, the birds 
succumbing one by one. There is no sure cure, as it 
is really consumption, attacking any of the weaker 
portions of the body. If simply a heavy cold, which 
may be possible, such cases can be cured. The diffi¬ 
culty is in the work of handling the birds to give 
them medicine. They will not eat, and all medicine 
must be given in the drinking water. Anoint the 
heads with a small quantity of a mixture composed as 
follows : Crude petroleum, one gill: spirits turpen¬ 
tine, one tablespoonful; oil tar, 10 drops; carbolic acid, 
10 drops. Shake well, and apply to the heafis and 
faces. With a sewing machine oil can, force two or three 
drops into each nostril, and 10 drops down the throat. 
Add a tablespoonful of chlorate of potash to each quart 
of drinking water for a week. p. H. Jacobs. 
