326 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
May 11 
WHAT THEY SAY. 
Early Bearing Apples. —In reply to E. F. 0. as to 
early bearing apples, three-j'ear-old apple trees in our 
nursery are now in bloom of the following varieties : 
Maiden’s Blush, Rain bo and Ben Davis named in order 
of greatest bloom. Trees in our orchard, three years 
planted, one-year-old at planting, of above varieties, 
with Lowell are also in bloom. The above are the 
only varieties in bloom of the 49 varieties we now 
have on trial. t. r. c. 
Liberty, Ky. 
Prices for Western Cattle. —Not for many years, 
have prices of cattle been so high as now. Cattle of 
all kinds are 30 to 45 per cent higher than one year 
ago, the greatest advance being in prime beef steers 
and heifers, and the smallest on stock cattle. Not 
over 00 per cent, on an average, of cattle have been 
fed for market. There is no scarcity of cattle, only of 
those fit for beef. The price of beef here has advanced 
about 20 per cent. H. R. 
Postville, Iowa. 
Fertilizing Pears. —On page 280, of The R. N.-Y., 
John It. Parry answers W. H. K.’s query as to the best 
pear to fertilize Keiffer. He mentions only one variety 
that blooms in the latitude of, and south of Phila¬ 
delphia, at the same time with the Keiffer, and two 
varieties Duchess and Lawrence for the latitude of 
New York. I have at this time (April 25), the follow¬ 
ing varieties in full bloom with the Keiffer: Duchess, 
Anjou, Flemish Beauty, Wilder Early, Columbia, 
Louise, Clapp’s Favorite, and an unknown variety. I 
would like to ask how many of these varieties are 
considered self-pollenizing? If I understand the nature 
of pollenizing, all varieties that are self-pollenizing are 
the ones that will be the means of fertilizing sterile 
varieties. A. h. B. 
| We shall allude to this subject next week.— Eds.] 
New Cki.kry Culture ; Irrigated. —I had fair suc¬ 
cess with some new culture celery irrigated by sprink¬ 
ling ; but I think 1 can greatly improve the method at 
several points. I also was bothered with blight, but 
I succeeded in conquering it with a powdered Bor¬ 
deaux Mixture of my own invention. I have to-day 
partaken of some very fine celery of my own growing, 
kept in pits over winter. I have hauled enough 
round drain tile to irrigate my ground for celery and 
transplanted onions, below the surface. 1 shall pump 
this summer from two wells at the same time, with a 
Hercules gasoline engine which runs 10 hours with 
one gallon of gasoline per horse power. Last season, 
I used two lawn sprinklers run by horse power direct 
from the pump, but the loss by evaporation is too 
great. As to quality, the celery was pronounced the 
best ever brought to town. I think 1 shall improve 
the blanching process greatly this season, and will 
tell The R. N.-Y. about it in short paragraphs as it 
progresses. • A. E. s. 
Huntington, Ind. 
Blowing in Potatoes. —The R. N.-Y. refers to a 
Connecticut farmer planting potatoes by dropping 
them in the furrow. You ask, “ Will they grow ?” 
1 would say that during an eight years’ residence in 
South Dakota, I saw potatoes planted that way more 
than in any other. In fact, I got better results from 
planting in the furrow than by careful planting in 
the ordinary way. One season, the potatoes planted 
in trenches, in carefully prepared soil, were a total 
failure, while those plowed in were a fair crop. I 
have done the same thing in this State, with early 
potatoes on dry, sandy soil, with good results. The 
seed should not be dropped in the bottom of the fur¬ 
row, but laid against the moldboard side, about 
half or two-thirds of the way down. Otherwise they 
will be too deep. w. H. p. 
South Byron, N. Y. 
Of course those potatoes will grow as planted by 
your Connecticut friend, page 300. I planted all my 
potatoes that way, except that we plowed three 10- 
inch furrows, which I think is better, till we got our 
Aspinwall planter. We made them pay just as well 
then as now. It makes a model place for a potato to 
grow, down where it is moist. But some dissolved 
bone and potash in the bottom, then some earth over 
the seed, then the manure and sod for mulch with 
some fine earth on top to keep all moist and to kill the 
weeds in. I have raised them at a cost of 19 cents per 
bushel, stored, in that way. I am to-day planting 
some side by side with the planter’s work, to see 
which will come out best. H. w. G. 
Balmyra, O. 
Grafting Becans at the South. —The article by 
S. H. James, in The R. N.-Y. of April 13, has inter¬ 
ested me very much. I am glad to see that he is 
coming around regarding grafted pecan trees. Mr. 
James has a most excellent thing in his pecan grove, 
and it cannot fail to pay him well; but 10 years 
hence, The Rural New-Yorker will find most of the 
permanent trees in this grove grafted, or else I mis¬ 
judge the man. ’Tis true the pecan does not graft as 
easily as the pear; but it can be done successfully, 
even by a novice. Last spring, I explained the opera¬ 
tion to a friend, who, until then, had never grafted a 
tree of any kind, or had he ever seen it done. He put 
in some 80 scions, out of which about 25 per cent 
failed. The scions used were purchased of the same 
party, and cut from the same trees, as were those 
used by Bresident Berckmans. 
I do not favor the plant-close-and-cull-out idea, al¬ 
though I have frequently seen it mentioned. The 
fact is, experience proves that the culls are not 
accommodating enough to grow in the right places. 
The finer varieties cannot be fruited at the North, 
the season being too short to permit the trees to ma¬ 
ture the nuts. I noticed just such a complaint from 
one of The R. N-Y.’s readers a short while ago. The 
pecan requires a long season to perfect its crop, and 
this is especially true of the finer varieties. Stark 
Bros., of Missouri, speak highly of the pecan in that 
locality, but they recommend trees from nuts grown 
in that region. The growing of this nut, from a com¬ 
mercial standpoint, will be confined to the Southern 
States and California, until a fine variety is found 
that will mature its crop of nuts in the necessarily 
shorter season of our Northern States. 
I have never seen two seedlings from the same tree 
that bore nuts exactly alike. They will vary in size, 
color, shape, quality, and thickness of shell. The 
nuts from grafted trees will all be alike, and will 
bring a higher price than equally as fine nuts of 
mixed kinds. This has been actually tested on the 
New Orleans market. Would a fruit grower expect 
to get as much for an assorted crate of berries, say 
Cuthbert, Gregg and Golden Queen, as he would if 
the crate contained but one of these varieties ? 
Morgan City, La. B. m. y. 
Second Crop Strawberries. —Some one has praised 
the Enhance strawberry because it gave a second 
crop. I cannot speak for it, as it was planted only 
last March. The Warfield will give a very fair second 
crop in the fall, after it has borne its first crop in the 
spring ; at least, I have had nearly a half crop in each 
of the last three years. A peculiarity is that spring- 
set plants rarely show a bloom. Another peculiarity 
in its spring fruiting is that it is knotty and does 
badly if not near some other good pollenizer ; but in 
the fall it will bear nice, large fruit, without help 
fi’om any other variety. 
I first planted the Agriculturist strawberry in the 
spring of 1872, and fruited it some 19 years. It nearly 
always gave a quarter crop in the fall ; sometimes 
nearly a half crop. It was large, and the sweetest 
berry 1 have ever seen. As large fine berries are 
what I want, I always plant in rows, or, as the books 
say, in hills, with the rows two feet and two inches 
apart, with plants from six to nine inches apart in 
the rows. Two crops are picked from the same 
plants; they are then turned under. So one-half of 
my crop is on plants of the first year’s setting, and 
the other one-half on those of the second year. The 
second-crop berries are not quite so large as the first 
crop of the same year, but there are more of them in 
number, the product in quarts being about equal 
The second-crop berries cost less labor than the first. 
Blants raised in matted row style are never satisfac¬ 
tory as to product, so none of the matted rows for me. 
My berries are gone over to get out grass and run¬ 
ners, every 10 or 15 days. A fertilizer sack is filled 
about half full of chaff, then tied close to the mouth 
with a long, strong string. This string is tied around 
the waist after the manner of an apron ; it makes a 
good seat, keeping the worker from the cold, hot or 
wet earth, and saves the muscles of the legs and back, 
as well as the clothing. Runners and grass can be 
taken off when the land is miry, without damage to 
the land, the weight of the body being distributed 
over so much more space. The empty part of the 
sack comes between the legs, the chaff portion being 
the seat. We sit between two rows, working all of 
the two as far as we can reach, then place the weight 
on the heels and hands, give the body a swing for¬ 
ward, and the sack comes to the proper place. This 
is an original invention of my own, that would not be 
dispensed with for one year for many dollars. There 
is no patent on it. R. J. J. 
Design, Va. 
The May Beetle Again.—I do not believe that the 
larvie of the May beetle, often infest stable manure 
that accumulates in the yards in the winter, and is 
spread on the land in the spring. I think that the 
eggs are laid in the latter part of May in the turf of 
the meadow, in old mulch in the fence corners, in old 
manure heaps, or in any place not too difficult to 
burrow into, where the necessary conditions of warmth 
and moisture are likely to be present. I think that 
the eggs are hatched in from four to eight weeks, 
according to conditions, and the young grubs do not 
attain a size so that they are noticeable until late in 
the season. I have found them in a manure pile in 
August, so small that I used a microscope to recog¬ 
nize them. About December 1, they were from an 
eighth to a quarter of an inch in length. On the 
coming of spring—about April 4, I found that they 
had made quite a growth during the winter. I pre¬ 
sume that the manure heap had not been frozen very 
hard as it was an open winter, or at least, a mild 
winter. The grubs were nearly all below eight 
inches from the surface, and some were two feet 
below ; the majority, however, were between 8 and 12 
inches. These grubs grew rapidly the second season, 
and by August 1, were as large as they ever became ; 
on the approach of winter, they went to the bottom 
of the pile, and, as far as I investigated, were next 
the solid earth on which the manure rested. They 
were, apparently, still feeding, and showed no sign 
of preparation for a change. I supposed that they 
would remain dormant during the winter, and so did 
not look at them again until April 2, two years, or 
nearly so, after the eggs were laid. I was astonished 
to find my grubs, all and every one, turned into May 
beetles, and apparently, dead. However, a few that 
I placed near a fire, awakened to life at evening, but 
they could not be induced to move during the day¬ 
time. I am sorry to say that the rest of the colony 
was laid aside in a box, and rendered me valuable 
assistance in capturing a number of fine brook trout 
that season. 
From this experience, I believe, 1, That from egg 
to beetle it requires two years. 2, That the change 
from grub to beetle takes place — sometimes at 
least — during the winter. 3, That there is little 
danger of their getting into manure that isn't piled 
loosely in some place where warmth is assured, by 
which to hatch the egg, and remains so piled during 
the latter part of May. I doubt whether green, un¬ 
rotted manure, is ever selected ; so far as I have ob¬ 
served, the preference is given to old, rotted manure, 
or fine manure well mixed with earth, like yard scrap¬ 
ings. Turf is sometimes full of the grubs, but I doubt 
whether many are found in land where there was not 
a good deal of mulch or dried aftermath, during the 
May of the second year preceding. Old strawberry 
beds are often infested, because they offer an 
excellent place for the female to deposit her eggs. 
With this knowledge of their habits, 1 don't think 
they ever need be troublesome. The beetle is a useful 
fellow, blundering and noisy in the night, but quiet 
enough by daylight. He blunders for a purpose, how¬ 
ever, as, like the bumblebee, his duty is to distribute 
pollen as thoroughly as possible, and his sprawling 
feet make certain the fertilization of many of our 
fruit and forest trees, particularly our cherries. And 
for trout bait—well, try him ! 
Connecticut. Charles pierson augur. 
HOW TO GROW “ FANCY VINELAND SWEETS.” 
FROM THE SEED TO THE STOREHOUSE. 
Bart III. 
Fertilizers; Preparing the Soil. 
A well-balanced fertilizer for sweets, should con¬ 
tain in a soluble form, about three per cent of nitro¬ 
gen, ten per cent of phosphoric acid, and eight per 
cent of potash. Some of the most successful growers 
recommend the use of fertilizer with a smaller per¬ 
centage of potash, say five or six per cent, and the 
sowing broadcast of 200 pounds per acre of muriate of 
potash. 1 consider the latter the better plan, as too 
much potash in the fertilizer sowed in the row, is 
likely to injure the plants when first set, unless it is 
very thoroughly mixed with the soil. A great many 
growers buy the necessary chemicals, and do their 
own mixing, at a saving of from $2 to $5 per ton, with 
the additional advantage that they know from what 
sources the different elements were derived. The fol¬ 
lowing mixture is recommended by Brof. Voorhees of 
the New Jersey Experiment Station : 
Pounds. 
Sulphate of ammonia. 50 
Fish or tankage (tine ground). 500 
Boneblaek or S. C. R. superphosphate. 400 
Muriate of potash. 50 * 
Total. 1,000 
Analysis.—Nitrogen, 4*4 per cent ; available phosphoric acid, 
8 to 10 ; potash, 2J4- 
With this mixture, 200 pounds per acre of muriate 
of potash should be used, sown broadcast. Of course, 
there may be soils where either more or less of one or 
the other of the elements may be required, but that 
is something that would have to be determined by 
individual experiment. The amount used per acre 
may be anywhere from 600 to 1,200 pounds. It is 
needless to say, however, that in a large majority of 
cases, the larger amount will produce the best results. 
The soil in which the sweet potato attains the 
greatest perfection, is a light, sandy, or gravelly 
loam, with a porous subsoil. A much larger yield can 
be procured on heavier land, but where quality and 
appearance are the most important points to be 
attained, the light soil will beat the heavy every time. 
