1895 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
87 
apart each way, there would be space that might be 
devoted to peach trees, for several years. This is 
occasionally done ; but there are practical objections 
to doing this, of such a character that I have never 
known a planter to repeat such a practice, or to advise 
others to do so. 3. The ground should be kept under 
thorough cultivation, always with hoed crops, till the 
trees are well in bearing ; using such crops as corn, 
beans or garden vegetables ; and keeping up the fer¬ 
tility of the soil by the free use of manures. I would 
advise J. C. A. to continue the fertilizing and cultiva¬ 
tion, as long as the trees can thus be maintained in 
vigor and productiveness, instead of suffering them 
to degenerate into desuetude, by neglect, as is so 
commonly the practice. t. t. lyojl 
Artichokes for Hogs; Record of a "Boom.” 
H. C. 0., Salina, Kan .—A man was recently telling me of the 
glowing account he saw in some seed catalogue, about Bonanza 
artichokes being the greatest root hog fattener iu the world, and 
that they would yield from 600 to 1,800 bushels per acre. He 
wished me to get him a few bushels for seed, and he would go ex¬ 
tensively into raising hogs. In his imagination, he would soon 
be a millionaire, but my opinion is that while the man who sold 
the artichokes at $2.25 a bushel might be on the road to wealth, 
the man who grew them to turn into pork, might be on the road 
to the poorhouse. I would like to have the opinion of some one 
who has had some experience in that line. 
Ans. —During the spring of 1876 or 1877, the arti¬ 
choke boom was in progress, and I got the fever to the 
extent of buying enough seed to plant about one-half 
acre. The seed came to me fresh from the rich, black 
soil of Iowa. I emptied the sacks into a barrel and 
found that they were heating and that a part of them 
were ruined. So I emptied them on the sod in the 
yard to dry. The sheep accidentally got to them, 
seemed to relish them very much, and would have 
saved me a deal of trouble if they had satisfied their 
relish to the extent of the whole lot. They were 
planted in clay soil that, under very favorable circum¬ 
stances, would grow 50 bushels of corn per acre. The 
artichokes yielded at the rate of 300 bushels per acre 
as nearly as we could estimate. There was no trouble 
about their growing. They were cultivated the same 
as the corn in the same field. 
As soon as ripe, I fenced the plot and put in some of 
the brood sows, but soon found that they would not 
thrive without an additional ration of corn. The soil 
was heavy clay, and soon packed so solid that the hogs 
could not root unless it was very wet, and rooting at 
that time looked like ruination to the soil. When the 
hogs most needed them in cold weather, they*were 
locked away so securely that it would have taken 
dynamite to loosen the soil for the hogs to get them. 
With my best efforts to harvest them that winter, I 
had plenty next spring, but the land soon packed so 
solid that the hogs could not get them unless I plowed 
them out. Talk about hogs rooting them out and 
eradicating them ! Don’t believe a word of it! Such 
at least is not true in heavy clay soil. If such a thing 
is possible, the hogs will have to be starved to such 
vigorous rooting, which would not be profitable to the 
owner. 
In the spring it was the supposition that they would 
start early ; but the foxtail and other weed seeds in 
the soil started first, and got a strong hold on the soil 
before the artichokes showed above ground. 1 thought 
to plow them into rows and cultivate, but it was a 
difficult job and soon abandoned. The second crop 
was probably not one-half as good as the first, but 
along with them we had a heavy crop of foxtail and 
weeds. Instead of an attractive crop like that of the 
year before, there was a most unsightly one—an eye¬ 
sore to any farmer that desires a clean farm. As to 
the ease by which they may be destroyed, with us, 
the time to plow to death came at the busiest time of 
the season. The plot was thrown into the adjoining 
field and given the regular crop rotation. A few of 
them got started in the fence row, and were not de¬ 
stroyed entirely till the fence was moved, and the 
ground cultivated. In all we had reminders of that 
experiment for 14 years. They may do in sandy soils; 
even then I would not grow them unless in some out 
of the way place, where the consequent weed crop 
would not always be in sight. When a farmer can 
grow and sell for seed at exorbitant prices, he can 
well afford to take them up, and this is just the reason 
that some men grow them. The majority of farmers 
that grow artichokes feel like kicking themselves be¬ 
fore they are rid of them. john m. jamison. 
Ross County, O. 
R. N.-Y.—That coincides with our own experience. 
It must be remembered, liowevei - , that Px*of. Tracy, on 
page 38, recommended artichokes highly. 
The Three Best Strawberries. 
D. F. F., Leavenworth, Kan. —Wliat three kinds of strawberries 
would you recommend for my family garden on the St. Lawrence 
River in Canada, 1, for size, to make a big show; 2, for earliness; 
3, best all ’round ? 
Ans. —There is necessarily a good deal of guess- 
woi’k in making such replies. For early, we would 
select Rio, Marshall and Haverland. For size, Tim- 
brell Sharpless and Charles Downing. For the best 
all-’round beri'y, our choice would be Bi*andywine, 
Timbrell and Jucuncki Improved. 
Yellow and White Peaches. 
W. C. xV., Orange County, N. Y. —Will The R. N.-Y. name five 
yellow peaches as large, and tine in appearance as the Crawford, 
and equal or superior in quality—productive and hardy—hardy 
enough for Orange County '! Name five white or red peaches with 
th« same qualities, all free stone? What are the best and cheapest 
fertilizers for peach trees ? 
Ans.— We would name for five yellow peaches, Fos¬ 
ter, Surpasse Melocoton, Red Cheek Melocoton, Conk- 
ling, Susquehanna and Wheatland. For white, Early 
Silver, Rivers, Morris White, Oldmixon Free and 
Mountain Rose. A good fertilizer for peaches is com¬ 
posed of three parts fine ground bone to one part 
muriate of potash. 
What to Do With a Weedy Lawn. 
W. A. McD., Frankfort, Ind .— Two years ago, I had my yard 
filled in two feet, and I took a fool’s advice and got seed out of the 
hay mow and sowed on it. The result is that I sowed more weed 
seed than grass seed, and instead of having a nice lawn, I have 
an eyesore. Will it be best for me to dig or plow the ground, rake 
it level and sow good lawn grass seed ? Or, is there any lawn 
grass seed that I can sow without digging it up, that will kill the 
weeds ? If I dig it up, what is the best lawn grass seed to sow ? 
Ans.— There are but two ways to do. One would be 
to cultivate the lawn, until all the weeds are killed, 
and then sow grass seed ; the other would be to spade 
it under or plow it, rake the surface until it is per¬ 
fectly firm, even and mellow, and sow grass seed. VVe 
would advise you to use only Blue grass and Red-top ; 
half of each in bulk, using at the rate of three bushels 
to the acre. 
How Worms Affect Pigs. 
M. E. C., Greenville, Mich. —1. I have a pig three months old that 
passes worms five or six inches long and resembling angle worms. 
What is the cause and remedy ? It has been fed cabbage, sweet 
corn and middlings. Another pig of the same age, did not eat 
anything for two days and began to have tits, during which i,t 
would back into a corner and shiver, jerk up first one fore foot 
and then the other quite rapidly. With its nose in the air, it 
seemed to be trying to swallow something and frothed at the 
mouth. We gave it a tablespoonful of turpentine once a day for 
two days and then a tablespoonful of castor oil in a little milk, 
two days; put some charcoal in the pen and next day gave it a 
little feed. It stopped having the fits, its appetite returned, and it 
is now as lively as the rest of them. What was the matter with 
it ? 2. How does sweet corn compare with field corn for feeding 
horses or other stock ? 
Ans. —1. Both pigs are badly infested with worms, 
the fits being due to their presence in large numbei's. 
Your ti'eatment of the case was as good as we could 
have advised. See treatment for “ Worms in a Big,” 
on page 37 of The R. N.-Y. for January IS). 2. Sweet 
corn is a x’icher food than field corn, containing more 
muscle-makers and pure fat. It is worth about 10 per 
cent more. 
What to Do for a Sterile Cow. 
D. II., Clear Lake, Minn. —I have a five-year-old grade Holstein 
eow that has never come in heat, or shown any desire to breed 
since she had her first calf, 2*4 years ago. She has always ap¬ 
peared in very good health. Why will she not breed ? Can I do 
anything to make her breed again ? She is a very good cow, or I 
would not bother about her. 
Ans. —The failure to come in heat is probably due, 
either to over-feeding, so that the cow is too fat; to 
lack of exercise, or to disease of the ovaries or some 
other of the internal genei*ative organs. From the 
fact that she has failed to come in heat for so long a 
period, the chances are against her breeding again. 
Unless the cow has been kept in idleness and over-fed, 
1 would advise sending her to the butcher. If she 
has been so kept, putting her on a spare diet with 
daily exei’cise, might bring her in heat. A run on a 
short pasture would be the most favorable place for 
her. F. L. K. 
The San Jose Scale m Indiana. 
E. M. IK, North Madison , Ind. —I wend a piece of limb taken 
from a young pear tree which I purchased from a nurseryman in 
the fall of 1893. I believe that it is Infested with the San Jose 
scale. 
Ans. —The portion of pear limb sent was very badly 
infested with the dreaded San Jos6 scale. This is the 
second locality in Indiana from which this pest has 
thus far been reported. If the correspondent has but 
a few infested tx*ees, they should all be burned at 
once, root, trunk, g,nd branch ; this is the surest and 
safest way to exterminate this fearful pest. I am 
afraid the pest has been more widely distributed on 
nursery stock than we imagine. Evex*y one who has 
set fruit trees during the past five years, should care¬ 
fully examine thdm, and send specimens of all scales 
found, to some entomologist for determination. The 
best published information on the San Jos6 scale, is 
to be found in circxxlar No. 3 of the Division of Ento¬ 
mology of the United States Depai'tment of Agricxxl- 
ture, and Prof. J. B. Smith’s recent bulletin No. 106, 
from the New Jersey Experiment Station, New Brxxns- 
wick, N. J. I think that copies of these can be obtained 
by sending one’s address to the place of publication. 
M. V. SLINGEIlLANl). 
Where is the Largest Ear ? 
II. <& M, Antlers, Colo. —1. On an average, which ear of corn 
grows the largest, the lower or the higher on the stalk ? 2. In 
cracking peach or other pits without injuring the germ, should 
the pits be cracked flat or set on edge ? 
Ans. —1. That depends upon the variety. With 
Blount’s Prolific, for instance, which beai-s usually 
about three ears to the stalk, the middle ear is usually 
the largest. In Chester County, Mammoth, where 
two ears are borne they are usually about the same 
size. On the avei’age, however, the higher ear is 
generally larger than the lower one. 2. On edge. 
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