r H E RURAL NEW-YORKER 
67 
causes ; but when it is marked and general, it depends 
on a difference in variety that no change in conditions 
can wholly obliterate. Highly colored fruit of any 
kind sells better than the pale varieties. We have 
cranberries at the experiment station of all shades of 
color from a pale greenish white to a purplish black. 
Grand Rapids, Wis. GAYNOR BROS. 
WHAT THEY SAY. 
Filberts in Canada. —With regard to the English 
filbert or, rather, the Kentish Cob nut, 1 have had 
them in bearing here for the past 15 years. The cold, 
10 to 15 degrees below zero, does not injure them. If 
they grow in Michigan as with me, six or seven feet 
apart is too close. As they grow 10 to 12 feet high, 
and spread out near the ground five or six feet, it 
would leave little room for cultivation. I have lately 
planted two acres (12 feet apart) in hopes that the ven¬ 
ture will pay. It is not advisable to plant singly or 
too far apart, as the catkins or male blossoms are on 
some trees scant or entirely wanting. Having but a 
few trees in bearing for home use only, I can give no 
market quotations. From my dozen trees, I get from 
one to four or five pecks of nuts, an average of two or 
three, a season. My nuts are of all shapes and sizes, 
but, of course, by selection, could be improved. Two- 
year-old trees planted three years ago, had quite a 
sprinkling of nuts on them last fall. e. w. 
Pelee Island, Ont. 
Apple Testimony. —On page 824, J. G. K. asks for 
honest apple testimony. I purchased a ti-ee of Red 
Bietigheimer of Ellwanger & Barry, the first year they 
sold it. I set the tree in a soil of medium loam, and 
set some scions in a tree of bearing age, the same 
spring. 1 have had fruit several years from both. I find 
the fruit all that was claimed by the 
introducers. It is very large in size, 
often weighing from 12 to 1(3 ounces, 
and I doubt not could be grown to 
weigh 20 ounces. It is the handsomest 
apple I have, and 1 grow nearly 50 
varieties. In fact, I have never seen a 
more beautiful apple. It is not of the 
highest quality, but a good cooking 
apple and, perhaps, about equal to 
Gravenstein for eating. The texture 
of the flesh is similar. I like the habit 
of growth of the tree, and it has a 
thick, leathery foliage. It is not a 
very long keeper, but an apple that 
any man will find profitable for a 
nearby market, and a beauty to take 
to the fair. I have had no experience 
with the other varieties he mentions. 
Can any one tell how the Early Colton 
apple compares with Yellow Trans¬ 
parent in earliness and quality? What 
is the best long-keeping sweet apple 
of good size and good eating quality ? 1 find 
Bailey’s Sweet of excellent quality, but it doesn't keep 
after January, and it is a little inclined to blight. 
Ashburnham, Mass. e. d. g. 
Rubber Boots and Onion Sets. —There are some 
objections to the plan for drying the inside of rubber 
boots by hanging them inverted over a lighted lamp. 
It might be somewhat dangerous if the apparatus 
were left unwatched, and it would also be trouble¬ 
some. I employ a method which is old-fashioned, 
simple and effective. I keep in the house a pail hold¬ 
ing six quarts of oats. When the boots need drying, 
three quarts are poured into each boot and jarred well 
into the toe. If the case is urgent the oats are well 
heated. Over night or in a few hours, the boots will 
be thoroughly dried. The oats are poured back in 
the pail for future use. Probably some other good 
absorbent would do as well. 
Many acres of onions are grown from sets in the 
Southport, Conn., onion belt. The sets can be grown 
upon smutty land whei-e a crop from seed would fail. 
They are set in rows 18 inches apart, using from 10 to 
15 barrels of sets per acre, according to the size of the 
sets. The yield per acre is about one-half or two- 
thirds of the yield from seed, and is marketed in 
August. Carrots are sowed between the rows, and 
make the second crop. 
R. N.-Y.—At the prices of onions the past few 
months, how much money would the grower have 
left after paying for that quantity of sets per acre ? 
Slow With Sagiialin. —From my experience with 
Polygonum saghalinense as an ornamental plant, my 
advice is to go very slow. I saw it in a garden, and 
was struck with its wonderfully early growth. As 
the owner was digging around it, I asked as a favor a 
few rootlets which he grudgingly gave me. The re¬ 
sult was, that the next year I had enough to supply 
and plant an acre and I have been trying ever since to 
eradicate it. Canada thistles are mild compared to it. 
If one has land on which nothing else will grow, try a 
few root cuttings. If the land will grow anything 
else, don't plant it. I have seen it with a stalk iy% 
inch in diameter and 12 feet high, and it looks as 
much like feeding as an immense pokeweed. Plant 
corn for feed, not Polygonum saghalinense, unless 
you want trouble. N. hallock. 
SOME COLD FACTS ABOUT HOTBEDS. 
'I’lie following is a synopsis of a talk I recently had 
with a successful market gardener in our part of 
Ohio (Zanesville): 
“ How many acres do you use in your garden ?” 
“ 1 am able to work only about six alone ; good help 
costs too much, and I wouldn't have any other kind 
around.” 
“ Ho you propagate your own plants in the hotbed, 
or buy them ? ” 
“I formerly bought them, but I found that the 
plants cost me more than their products were worth, 
and I commenced using hotbeds of my own.” 
“ What size are your hotbeds?” 
“ I make them 6 x 1(3. and use from 9 to 12 of them ; 
I could use more.” 
“ What is the cost of constructing such hotbeds ? ” 
“ The first cost is about $10 each ; that includes 
glass, sashes, lumber and manure.” 
“ How do you make them ?” 
“ I excavate to a depth of 8 or 10 inches, a little 
larger than the frame, which should be 14 to 18 inches 
high on the north side, and 8 to 10 on the south ; fill 
in the excavation 10 inches or a foot with unfermented 
horse manure, and set the frame on that. I then fill 
in with six inches of the very best soil obtainable ; 
bank up around the frame with manure, put the sash 
on, and it is ready for seed.” 
“ Should not the manure be in a heated state when 
put in ? ” 
“ That depends on how soon one wishes to plant the 
seed ; if the hotbed is not made till one is ready to 
plant, the manure should be commencing to heat. I 
pile it up by the site of my hotbed, and when I get 
ready to plant, I make my hotbed ; others prefer to 
make the hotbed first and plant the seeds when it 
gets hot.” 
“ Is a greenhouse of cheap construction more satis¬ 
factory than a hotbed ? ” 
“ Yes, but a very cheap greenhouse amounts to con¬ 
siderably more in cost than a dozen hotbeds ; if I em¬ 
ployed any help, I would have one, but it would not 
pay me as it is.” 
“ At what time do you plant the various seeds ? ” 
“In this latitude, 40 degrees north, seeds are planted 
as follows : Cabbage and beets about the middle of 
February ; tomatoes and peppers, March 1 ; later to¬ 
matoes, April 1 ; cantaloupes and cucumbers, from 
April 1 to 20 ; cauliflower, the same as cabbage. In 
Northern latitudes, however, I presume planting 
should be delayed until later.” 
“ These river-bottom sands take a lot of manure, 
don’t they ? ” 
“ Yes. Gardeners with a clay subsoil have an enor¬ 
mous advantage over us river gardeners ; we can’t get 
manure to stay with us more than one season. I use 
from 50 to 150 loads every spring, besides what is made 
by my own stock. I buy it from the city livery stables, 
and get all I can pile on a wagon for 50 cents a load.” 
“ What kinds of tomatoes do you raise ? ” 
“Livingston’s New Stone, and the Beauty; they 
turn off from 250 to 500 bushels per acre.” 
“ Have you tested any of the kinds recently intro¬ 
duced ? ” 
“No; Livingston’s is the latest introduction that I 
have tried, and it is very satisfactory.” 
“ Have you any general remarks to make concern¬ 
ing your business ? ” 
“ I may say that to have a little of everything is a 
pretty safe plan to follow. If one doesn’t catch cus¬ 
tom on one thing, he will on something else. The 
longer one stays in the business, the better he be¬ 
comes known, and I suppose there are 50 people, heads 
of families, who depend on me for their marketing. 
By selling to the consumer direct, I avoid a long string 
of middlemen. While the price is more satisfactory to 
us, the garden truck is fresh, and is really more satis¬ 
factory to the consumer, than that handled by whole¬ 
salers and grocerymen.” 
1 noticed a large bed of Multiplier onions as I passed 
through the grounds, and inquired if they were left 
out all winter. He replied that they were, and that 
they improved every mild period of weather by in¬ 
creasing their size. It was a new thing to me, how¬ 
ever, as I never knew that onions would stand cold 
weather. j. n. 
A LITTLE HEN TALK. 
PETROLEUM, SOFT FOOD, RATS AND HAWKS. 
The R. N.-Y. asks poultrymen who have used crude 
petroleum to tell what they think about it. I bought 
a barrel three years ago and would not like to do with¬ 
out it on a farm. As it has more body than kerosene, 
it lasts longer and can be appl ied to poultry without in¬ 
jury. When I take my chicks from the nest, 1 put 
about a drop on each one’s head and around the vent, 
then apply again in two or three weeks. I seldom 
lose a chick ; last year out of 100 1 lost only two and 
those by accident. For applying to roost poles, I use a 
one-quart kerosene-oil can: plug up the spout so that it 
will run only a small stream. In fly time with a paint 
brush, I apply it to my cows and think that it gives 
great relief. For lice on stock it is as good as any¬ 
thing I ever used. I paid $4 for 50 gallons, including 
barrel, at Owego. 
Why do I feed soft feed in the morn¬ 
ing ? I wish to feed my lightest feed 
first. If I gave my hens grain the first 
thing, it would be but little bran they 
would eat after it, and my soft feed is 
largely composed of bran. It makes 
but little difference what rotation is 
adopted in the long, warm days of 
summer, but there is nothing better 
to last a hen through a long, cold 
winter night, than a crop full of good 
cprn. I feed soft feed in the morning, 
oats or buckwheat at noon, and corn 
or wheat at nig'ht in cold weather. I 
would not exchange my old roost poles 
for new ones as some recommend. 
Some of mine have been kept well 
soaked with crude or kerosene oil for 
10 or 15 years, and I think they are 
better than new ones. 
Never place a loose stone foundation 
under a poultry house, unless you 
want a rat harbor. My ideal foun¬ 
dation would be laid in cement, with a cement floor, 
but as that is too expensive, I drive posts where l want 
my sills, from five to eight feet apart; then dig a trench 
on the outside of these posts about six inches deep and 
board up from the bottom of this trench to the top of 
the posts, fill the earth back against the boards, and 
it is ready for the sills. I leave the posts about four 
inches high above the ground, plow around this foun¬ 
dation, and shovel the earth over the sills to raise the 
surface and make the house dry. If the rats dig under, 
fill the hole with moist wood ashes, then when the rat 
gets its feet in the wet ashes, it will soon have some¬ 
thing to think about besides digging out the hole or 
looking for some other place to dig under. 
Chicken hawks troubled me quite badly in t he spring, 
until I commenced keeping Brown Leghorn fowls. 
The small chicks look so much like a dry, dead leaf 
rolling along on the ground, that they don’t attract 
the attention of the hawks as white chicks do. 
Tioga County, N. Y. m. d. c. 
A TWENTY CENT INVESTMENT IN TOMA TOES 
HOW IT WAS INCREASED FIFTY FOLD. 
Last spring I invested the above amount, and the 
following results are given for the benefit of those 
who may wish to follow the same plan. The year 
previous, we bought our tomato plants paying 25 
cents per dozen. Aside from their thrifty appearance, 
we knew nothing of the plants ; and whether they 
belonged to an early or late variety, rough or smooth, 
was something concerning which we were totally in 
the dark. So last year, when making out the list of 
seeds for the vegetable garden, we decided to raise 
our own tomato plants. Accordingly, after much 
study, two varieties, bright red, and purple red, were 
chosen. Each package cost 10 cents. The packages 
proved to be very liberal ones. We decided to raise 
some plants for sale. As our only place to keep the 
plants was in the dining-room, which has one large 
window, and also a bay window, it is plain that much 
