The  Home  Acre 
■Uhe  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
"(/ 
Notes  from  a  Maryland  Garden 
After  two  weeks  of  Spring-like  weather 
we  have  been  struck  by  a  small  blizzard, 
which  has  left  us  two  inches  of  snow  and 
a  cold  wave  that  marks  our  usual  mid- 
February  cold  wave.  We  invariably  have 
a  cold  spell  the  middle  of  February  which 
marks  the  lowest  temperature  of  the  Win¬ 
ter.  and  this  is  only  the  usual  spell,  and 
after  this  we  expect  the  gradual  coming 
of  Spring. 
My  early  tomato  seed  was  sown  in 
flats  in  the  greenhouse  February  7th.  I 
have  been  in  the  habit  of  covering  the 
flats  with  panes  of  glass.  This  time  I 
thought  to  test  the  difference  and  left  one 
flat  uncovered.  The  gfass-covered  flats 
germinated  several  days  earlier,  than  the 
uncovered  one.  The  seeds  are  Earliana 
and  Bonny  Best,  both  from  seed  grown 
up  near  the  Canada  line  in  New  York 
State,  for  I  have  found  that  I  get  in¬ 
creased  earliness  from  these,  though  for 
the  main  and  late  crop  home-grown  seed 
are  just  as  good. 
My  geraniums  are  now  in  four-inch 
pots  and  will  go  into  a  cold  frame  next 
week,  for  the  greenhouse  is  now  too  hot 
for  them,  and  under  the  double  glazed 
sashes  they  do  better  than  in  the  gi-eon- 
house.  Last  Spring  they  went  into  the 
frame  in  late  February  and  by  time  for 
planting  they  had  pushed  up  against  the 
glass. 
In  the  Virginia  counties  just  south  of 
me  the  truckers  have  been  using  the 
bright  and  warm  weather  in  rushing  the 
Irish  potatoes  into  the  ground.  There 
will  be  an  enormous  area  planted,  for  all 
think  that  the  conditions  this  year  are  fa¬ 
vorable  to  profitable  sales.  The  growers 
seem  worried  over  the  lack  of  potash,  but 
they  have  been  using  it  so  lavishly  in  the 
past  that  there  is  doubtless  a  surplus  left 
in  the  soil,  for  potash  stays  where  it  is 
put  till  used  by  plants. 
Last  Fall  I  left  two  rows  of  Gladioli 
undug,  having  a  surplus  of  mixed  sorts. 
I  expect  the  earliest  flowers  from  these, 
though  they  will  be  rather  thick  and  full 
of  the  young  bulblets  growing  around 
them.  But  there  is  no  difficulty  in  win¬ 
tering  them  where  they  grew,  as  1  have 
usually  a  number  of  volunteer  plants 
that  were  missed  in  digging,  and  the  little 
cormlels  always  grow  better  from  Fall 
sowing. 
Lettuce  in  the  last  Fall  seed  bed  has 
wintered  till  now,  but  the  present  spell 
will  probably  finish  them  unless  the  snow 
saves  them.  Some  under  cotton  cloth 
plant  protectors  are  all  right,  and  will 
now  be  set  in  the  frames.  One  of  my  por¬ 
table  frames  which  has  grown  lettuce  in 
the  same  place  several  seasons  has  had  a 
good  deal  of  the  wilt  or  drop  disease.  The 
frame  will  now  be  moved  to  fresh  soil  for 
the  early  Spring  crop.  I  find  these  three- 
sash  portable  frames  far  more  conven¬ 
ient  than  long  permanent  ones.  I  do  not 
have  to  bother  about  sterilizing  the  old 
soil  hut  simply  pick  up  the  frame  and  set 
it  in  a  fresh  place.  In  a  week  or  10  days 
I  propose  to  sow  my  sweet  peppers  and 
eggplants.  I  grow  these  in  pots  till  time 
for  setting  out  and  they  have  the  green¬ 
house  room  after  the  tomato  plants  have 
gone  into  the  cold  frames. 
I  was  Inter  than  usual  getting  my  early 
garden  peas  and  sweet  peas  planted..  I 
generally  get  them  in  the  ground  in  Jan¬ 
uary,  but  this  year  the  lack  of  help  and 
sickness  on  my  part  stopped  me.  But 
perhaps  they  will  grow  just  as  well  from 
February  sowing. 
More  lettuce  seed  is  being  sown  in  the 
frames  and  the  last  week  in  February  I 
sow  some  outside  to  get  plants  for  the  lat¬ 
est  crop  in  May  and  early  June,  for  after 
that  lettuce  is  useless  here  aud  the  curled 
endive  takkes  its  place.  The  endive  I 
blanch  under  cardboard  plant  protectors. 
By  some  means  a  stray  plant  or  two  of 
cos  lettuce  got  into  one  of  my  frames  of 
Big  Boston,  and  it  did  so  tvell  that  I  in¬ 
tend  another  Fall  to  plant  some  in  the 
frames.  Our  nlant  srrowers  lisnw  h..u„ 
St-  Regis  Raspberry 
A  back-to-the-lander  ri,ses  in  defense  of 
the  St.  Regis  raspberry.  It  has  done 
well  here,  but  we  have  the  true  St.  Regis 
direct  from  the  originator.  Our  Summer 
crop  is  fair,  not  so  heavy  as  Outhbert  or 
King,  because  so  much  of  the  strength  of 
the  plant  goes  to  the  uew  canes,  which 
are  to  bear  the  Fall  crop.  We  have 
rather  less  than  one-third  of  an  acre, 
much  of  it  set  less  than  two  years.  Au¬ 
gust  20th  we  marketed  the  first  of  the 
Fall  berries.  The  canes — young  Spring 
growth — bore  more  and  more  heavily  till 
on  Sept.  20th,  two  of  us  picked  04  pints, 
or  47  quarts,  of  good  marketable  berries, 
and  did  not  clear  the  patch.  The  next 
day  I  must  market  and  seeing  a  storm 
at  hand  we  offered  a  chance  to  neigh¬ 
bors  to  pick  what  they  chose.  A  heavy 
wind  and  rain  followed  by  severe  frosts, 
ruined  the  ripe  berries  and  we  did  not 
try  to  market  any  more,  but  had  plenty 
for  our  table,  to  can  and  make  juice  from 
till  middle  of  October.  We  thiuk  the 
berry  is  fine  flavored ;  the  Fall  fruit  less 
sweet  and  juicy  than  the  Summer,  hav¬ 
ing  less  sun. 
The  St.  Regis  has  hut  one  fault,  so 
far  as  I  can  see,  and  I  got  my  first  canes 
live  years  ago  this  Spring.  The  roots  will 
send  up  more  suckers  than  any  other 
raspberry  I  know.  It  thus  needs  hard 
pruning  and  it  must  be  sharply  pruned 
and  again  fertilized  in  August,  to  pre¬ 
pare  for  the  Fall  crop.  When  hard 
frosts  came.  Sept.  22nd.  there  were  canes 
at  every  hill  loaded  with  fruit  in  all 
stages,  the  tops  having  ripe,  half  ripe 
and  green  berries  and  blossoms,  for  IS 
inches  along  the  stem.  I  am  afraid  J. 
G.  Leighton  has  not  the  real  St.  Regis., 
Saco,  Me.  F.  M.  H. 
Making  the  Motor  Car 
Earn  Dividends 
ALMOST  anyone  can  afford  to  own  a  motor  car 
if  it  can  be  made  to  earn  its  upkeep  and  pay 
dividends  besides. 
The  Rochester  Trailercar  is  the  first  really  practical 
Trailer  that  has  ever  been  produced. 
The  first  that  will  stand  up  and  carry  its  load  safely  at 
automobile  speed. 
The  first  that  can  be  backed  readily  in  any  direction. 
The  first  that  will  track  perfectly  and  that  will  not 
jump  about  or  skid. 
Solves  the  light  haulage  and  delivery  problem. 
Saves  time — saves  money — saves  bother. 
Adds  the  equivalent  of  a  light  truck  to  your  equipment 
at  trifling  expense. 
The  Trailercar  carries  the  load. 
The  pleasure  car  carries  the  family. 
Send — to-day — for  complete  particulars. 
ROCHESTER  TRAILERCAR  COMPANY 
EAST  ROCHESTER,  NEW  YORK 
Grapevine  Fails  to  Fruit 
I  have  a  grapevine  three  years  old, 
strong  and  vigorous,  that  has  blossomed 
profusely  for  two  years,  but  the  blossoms 
wither  and  drop  off  and  no  fruit  forms. 
What  can  I  do  for  it?  Ii.  T. 
Somerville,  N.  J. 
Nothing  definitely  can  be  said  as  to 
why  this  Delaware  vine  fails  to  set 
fruit.  The  variety  is  one  that  is  norm¬ 
ally  self-fertile,  that  is,  sets  a  full  cluster 
without  the  intervention  of  pollen  from 
other  varieties.  The  writer  has  never 
seen  a  male  Delaware  vine,  but  an  oc¬ 
casional  Concord  plant  of  this  sex  has 
been  observed.  If  this  one  is  of  that 
sort  of  course  no  fruit  would  set.  Quite 
often  other  varieties  fail  to  develop  full 
marketable  clusters  if  excessive  wood  is 
made  by  reason  of  too  short  pruning  or 
from  the  use  of  large  amounts  of  nitro¬ 
genous  manures.  As  possible  correctives 
it  is  suggested  that  more  fruiting  wood 
be  left  for  the  season  of  11)16  and  that 
a  spraying  of  Bordeaux  mixture  4-4-50 
be  made  just  previous  to  the  opening 
of  the  flower  buds.  The  writer  requests 
that  a  few  of  the  blossom  clusters  be 
sent  him  when  the  vine  is  in  full  bloom. 
F.  E.  GLADWTX. 
A  FARM  WAGONS 
READING  BONE  FERTILIZER 
Why  risk 
1  ^  tT  r  *°T<Jd*iee\S(T 
kinds.  wii*ols  to  fit 
WjJr  IBWJ'/ti  any  run nt llv  gear. 
Y  CMftkqt  I  UuHtriiMd  la  c: j.oro  free. 
Electric  Wheel  Co.,  4SElm  SI..  Quincy,  III, 
a  season's  results  by  using  a  low 
grade  fertilizer  when  Reading  Bone  Fertilizers 
insure  profitable  production  ? 
READING  BONE  FERTILIZER  COMPANY 
Main  Office  and  Factory:  Reading,  Pa. 
Vermont,  Moss.,  uml  Kmit#rn  Now  York  Ofllee,  Poultnoy,  Vt. 
Ccutral  aud  Hrituni  Now  York  OfHec,  -148  Cutler 
Hid*;.,  Koch  enter,  N.  Y, 
(Tlifa  trade  murk  moans  quality) 
THERE  IS  MONEY 
Hi  TESTING  SOILS 
iiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiitiimiiiimn 
Write  for  book¬ 
let  and  further 
information. 
n>ii)(ii(i|(litntuniiiiiimi 
Ask  your  dealer 
for  Reading 
Bone  Fertilizer. 
iMiiiJHimiiimmiuimiimt 
for  farmers,  with  Automatic  Soil  Testing  Ma 
chine.  Experience  unnecessary.  Particulars  free, 
Standard  Soil  Tester  Co.,  Milwaukee,  Wis, 
Expensive  Economy 
Why  Not  Cut  Off  the 
Two  Cars  of  Filler? 
Last  Spring  many  cotton  growers  in  their 
efforts  to  reduce  expenses  in  readjusting  them¬ 
selves  to  war-time  conditions,  used  less  than 
the  usual  amount  of  fertilizer.  Last  Fall  those 
farmers  found  that  their  losses  from  decreased 
yields  and  poorer  quality  crops  were  greater 
than  their  savings  from  the  use  of  less  fertil¬ 
izers.  It  was  expensive  economy. 
Northern  farmers  should  profit  by  the  cot¬ 
ton  growers’  experience  and  not  make  the 
same  mistake  in  planting  their  Spring  crops. 
Send  for  our  free  booklets. 
Soil  Improvement  Committee 
of  the  National  Fertilizer  Association 
970  Postal  Telegraph  Bldg.,  Chicago 
It  takes  400,000  cars  to  carry 
Fertilizers  to  our  farmers 
every  season.  Forty  per  cent. 
—  2  cars  out  of  5 — is  Filler. 
Order  higher  grades  and  Ni¬ 
trate  of  Soda  for  your  active 
Nitrogen  and  save  freight. 
The  greater  producing  capacity  of 
high-grade  fertilizers  without  much 
filler  means  bigger  out-bound 
tonnage  for  railroads  and  bigger 
purchases  by  farmers. 
Send  for  "  Cost  of  Available 
Nitrogen.** 
DR.  WM.  S.  MYERS,  Director 
25  Madison  Ave„  NewYork 
