7i4 
THE rural. NEW-YORKER 
Once More the Grub. 
E. C., Cakijon Cliff, III.—1 see that 
Fred Orundy has no notion of giving up 
that stable manure breeds grubs and is 
not suitable for manuring ground for 
straw'berries. It is possible that old, 
rotten maniire, if applied in spring and 
plowed in, has the grub or larva in it 
and ready to eommence work as soon as 
the plants are set. Ihit if manure is put 
on fresh from the stables and plowed in, 
either in fall or spring as I use it, I can’t 
see how the grub can have a possible 
chance. I have made a business of grow 
ing strawberries and other fruits for a 
number of years, and have used all the 
stable manure I could get. I have raised 
good crops, and don’t know that I ever 
lost any plants by grubs. Rotten ma¬ 
nure that I wish to use in my melon 
hills, 1 haul out of the yard and pile up 
for the winter. It seems that the action 
of the frost kills the worms, and I am 
not troubled with cut worms in the hills. 
It may be that if the rotten manure were 
si^read on strawberry ground in the fall, 
it would act the same with the grubs ; it 
depends somewhat on the climate—freez¬ 
ing and thawing. 
Acquaintance with Nitrogen Catchers. 
G. S. P., Winslow, Mk.—T his season, 
on ground freshly spaded and rich, I 
sowed a small quantity of cow peas 
(black beans in appearance), and near 
them a row of 8oja beans (which look 
much like peas). I gave them no culti¬ 
vation, and when they were about two 
feet high, I cut them together with the 
mass of weeds which had swamped them 
—about September 1, 1 think, and when 
neither had shown any blossoms. Along¬ 
side the cow peas, 1 sowed oats and Can¬ 
ada peas, which in the same time had 
made such a rank growth as to keep down 
all weeds. The pea vines seemed so un¬ 
usually rank that 1 measured one and 
found it seven feet nine inches long. The 
upper part, three feet or so, was bright 
and green, but the re.st was leafless and 
brown, serving merely as a sort of con¬ 
duit for the sap. In such a mat the oats 
had rather a hard time, but did quite 
well, and the mass made a rich, heavy 
fodder when dried. Our season has been 
warm and wet. So 1 regard the cow pea 
as not equal to its humbler Canada neigh¬ 
bor, if the test was fair. 
Till 1 had occasion to pull some of 
the Canada peas, which had encroached 
upon another croii, 1 supposed that the 
nodules which we have been reading 
about, were microscopic. Rut I found 
lots of them, as large as the smallest peas 
or, perhaps, fine shot, so that the roots 
looked like little clusters of partly de¬ 
veloped berries. The ground was full 
of them, and I was much pleased to make 
their acquaintance so soon after learning 
of their value. 
A small plot of Crimson clover also had 
a hard time of it with weeds, and though 
it blossomed and ripened seed, it had not 
the vigor demanded in a spring-sown 
crop. On the other hand, the Medium 
and Alsike clovers made a most remark¬ 
able growth. 
Carrying Bags on a Stick. 
T. T. M., Skba, Ind.— In The R. N.-Y. 
of October 13, II. W. J., describes his way 
of carrying grain sacks. Having been in 
the grain thrashing business several 
years, I have seen much discomfiture in 
handling grain sacks, even in the man¬ 
ner H. W. J. describes. In this vicinity, 
when we have any great amount of such 
work to do, we get a stout stick, perhaps 
the size of a fork handle and 2 or 2)^ feet 
long. Two men are placed side by side 
with the sack immediately in front of 
them, the man on the right taking one 
end of the stick in his right, while the 
one on the left takes the other end in his 
left hand. Ry placing the stick a little 
below the middle of the sack on the side 
next to them, and taking hold of the 
folds in the top of the sack with their 
disengaged hands and leaning it back¬ 
ward until it is balanced on the stick, it 
can be carried with perfect ease. 
Cutting Corn in the Northwest. 
A. G. W., Minneapolis, Minn. —A re¬ 
cent paragraph in The R. N.-Y. relating 
to corn harvesters, suggests that Eastern 
corn growers would not be frightened by 
a cost of $1.2.5 per acre for cutting and 
binding, while Western farmers could 
not afford that sum for the reason that 
the crop is less valuable here. The real 
difficulty in the Northwest is to get men 
who can cut corn at all. Most farm 
hands here have had no experience, and 
few can cut and shock a half acre per 
day. Farmers here need to grow more 
hoed crops, and would grow more corn 
but for the bugbear of cutting and shock¬ 
ing, and would welcome a machine which 
would cut and bind corn well at $1.25 per 
acre, if not too costly. The successful 
corn-harvester will not elevate, but will 
cut, gather, bind and drop it in a stand¬ 
ing position. All schemes for elevating 
it are a waste of power. When a ma¬ 
chine is devised which will do this, two 
rows can be cut and bound as well as 
one, by a two-horse team, as the power 
required is not great. There seems to be 
no difficulty in cutting the corn with a 
sliding knife such as is used on the sled 
cutters to which you refer. Most of the 
machines brought out to cut and bind 
corn, seem too complicated and costly, 
and are evidently an attempt to adapt 
the plan of grain harvesters to the corn 
field, instead of being original inventions. 
Why Are Big Potatoes “Best?'” 
N. IIallock, Queens County, N. Y.— 
Of late, as potatoes have been dug. The 
R. N.-Y. has published reports of yields, 
large and small—potatoes mostly large. 
“My R. N.-Y. No. 2 took first prize,” is 
often quoted. In The R. N.-Y. of Octo¬ 
ber 27, “ I have 35 potatoes that weigh 
60 pounds,” etc. You say, “ For our own 
use, however, we pass on such big 
tubers.” What I want to ask is. How are 
we to judge potatoes at a fair ? For the 
best peck of Rose, Rural Rlush, Snow¬ 
flake, etc., the very largest the crop 
affords is almost invariably brought to 
the judge’s attention, and he is considered 
a cad if he makes his award to a measure 
of potatoes of fair-size such as he would 
purchase for family use. Is he right ? 
Or how are we to judge ? Having been 
frequently taken to task for so judging, 
1 would like to hear others’ opinions in 
the matter. It is well to award to large 
apples, pears, peaches, squashes or pump¬ 
kins, but how about the potato ; is the 
largest best ? 
Pecans to the Foke. —We are scarcely 
less interested in pecan culture than in 
improved chestnut culture. Following 
is a letter from Chas. E. Pabst, of Ocean 
Springs, Miss., which we hope will set our 
friends to thinking as to whether or not 
such pecans as Mr. Pabst mentions might 
not be profitably grown in the North as 
well as in the South. He sends us one 
nut (named Columbian) that is two inches 
long and one inch through the middle. 
The shell was moderately thin. The sur¬ 
prising part is that this nut “comes from 
a grafted tree not two feet high.” Five 
two-year-old seedlings were grafted last 
spring with Columbian scions, and these 
scions bore from one to two nuts each, 
neither of the trees being over three feet 
high. “ Why, then,” asks Mr. Pabst, 
‘ ‘ shall we wait from eight to twelve 
years for a seedling pecan tree to come 
into bearing, when by grafting or bud¬ 
ding an early variety we may get bear¬ 
ing wood in five years or less ? ” He re¬ 
marks that it is seldom that a seedling 
pecan tree gives as good fruit in size as 
the seed planted. Some 12 years ago, 
Mr. Rich. Froctcher, of New Orleans, 
gave a pound of the very fine Centennial 
pecans to a friend to plant. About 17 
trees were raised and have been bearing 
several years ; but not one has given 
nearly as large nuts as the seeds planted. 
With Mr. Pabst’s experience during the 
past 10 years, he would not accept seed¬ 
lings of the finest pecans ever grown, if 
he were obliged to plant and care for 
them for eight or ten years with the al¬ 
most certain result of getting nuts in¬ 
ferior to those planted. He prefers to 
plant grafted and budded trees of the 
choicest varieties now known. 
From the Storrs & Harrison Co., of 
Painesville, O., we have received a tree 
each of Satsuma, Ogon, Rurbank and 
Willard. These with the others lately 
mentioned, together with Abundance 
and “ J,” the unnamed latest, and per¬ 
haps, best acquisition, complete our 
trial list of Japan plums. 
Our respected friend, Isaac Hicks, of 
Westbury, L. I., writes that his Ogon 
(Japan) plum bore a full crop the past 
season. The tree is highly productive, 
the plums early and beautiful, but of 
medium quality only—inferior to Abund¬ 
ance and Rurbank. We would ask Mr. 
Hicks if the curculio injured them ?. 
As the result of five years of selection, 
Mr. A. W. Smith, of Americas, Ga., has 
produced a new variegated strain of 
Euphorbia heterophylla, which he deems 
one of the most valuable novelties of 
late years. Specimens sent show every 
sort of variegation, in several shades of 
yellow upon green, while the termi¬ 
nal leaves, or bracts, are of a bright 
crimson. He describes a plant three to 
four feet high and three feet through as 
“ a most attractive sight.”. 
A WHILE ago, inquiry was made under 
Ruralisms if the Red-fiowering horse- 
chestnut fruited with any of our readers. 
Our own specimen has never borne, 
though one season the flowers were arti¬ 
ficially pollinated. Mr. A. H. Hamilton, 
of Fort Wayne, Ind., kindly sends us a 
box of fine nuts, averaging two inches in 
diameter. He alludes to the fact that 
{Continued on next page.) 
In writing to advertisers, please always mention 
TuK Rural New-Yorker. 
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Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria, and other 
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It will stimulate and strengthen the 
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Hood’s Pills are purely vegetable. 25c. 
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Award. 
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Mention this paper. 
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Cutters and Sleighs 
We have a Complete Stock of both 
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E. Ransom Street, Kalamazoo, Mich. 
ORIVINQ STILL LEADS THEM ALL. 
IT WILLOONTROLTH. MOST 
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75,000 sold In 1891. 
100,000 sold In 1892. 
THEY ARE KIHG. 
Samjile^malled XC for $ 1.00 
Stallion Alts 50 cts. extra. 
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FOR OUR NEW PREMIUM LIST 
Rfi-xrirrm o Mgiwwr KI « c It will pay you to send your address with 2-cent 
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manufacture our own work, we make to order what you want. King & Co., Mfrs., 10 Church St., Owego, N. Y 
