1440 
found  some  of  the  flints — long  grown  in  New  Eng¬ 
land — of  that  Class.  This  would  hardly  he  expected 
since  these  flints  have  long  been  grown  on  sour, 
thin  soils  and  it  might  ho  expected  that  they  had 
adapted  themselves  to  such  conditions. 
EXPERIMENTS  IN  SOIL  NEEDS.— This  matter 
of  experimenting  to  learn  the  needs  of  a  soil  is  not 
as  easy  as  some  would  have  us  believe.  Any  man 
can  block  out  an  experiment  and  carry  it  through, 
but  it  takes  good  judgment  and  a  good  eye  to  read 
the  answer  properly.  This  is  surely  true  for  tin* 
small  plot  experiment  or  where  small  quantities  of 
soil  are  put  into  pots  and  boxes.  The  trouble  is  to 
get  fair  samples  on  this  small  scale  because  we  all 
know  that  there  never  was  an  acre  of  land  which 
was  of  equal  quality  all  over.  Every  farmer  ought, 
to  try  a  few  experiments  with  lime,  cover  crops  and 
phosphorus.  These  are  most  likely  to  he  needed  ou 
in  Eastern  farm.  It  is  nonsense  for  the  scientific 
men  to  say  that  experimenting  should  he  left,  to 
them!  Farmers  should  ask  questions  of  their  soil. 
It  is  certainly  “of  age.” 
RAPID  CORN  GROWTHS — That  is  smart  growth 
of  corn.  TJp  to  the  North  nature  gets  anxious  in 
late  Summer,  for  frost  comes  early — and  she  cer¬ 
tainly  does  drive  the  corn  along.  People  who  have 
been  in  Central  America  tell  us  remarkable  stories 
about  the  growth  of  young  rubber  plants.  You  can 
actually  see  them  grow  if  you  watch  them  carefully. 
Mr.  Hunt’s  remarks  about  the  hired  man  are  intend¬ 
ed  as  a  pleasantry,  but  there  is  a  serious  side  to  if. 
Many  of  these  hired  men  are  mighty  faithful  and 
they  should  be  well  treated.  One  reason  why  hired 
men  are  scarce  and  careless  is  that  they  have  not 
had  a  fair  show  on  many  farms.  They  ought  to 
be  well  fed  and  well  treated.  Give  them  a  fair 
show.  The  future  of  the  dairy  business  will  depend 
on  our  ability  to  make  the  public  see  and.  understand 
the  value  of  milk  as  a  food.  No  use  making  two 
quarts  of  milk  where  one  was  milked  out  before  un¬ 
less  we  can  make  a  market  for  the  other  quark  No 
one  will  sell  that,  extra  quart  for  us.  We  must  do 
it  ourselves  and  we  cannot  do  it  until  we  know  the 
feeding  value  of  milk  and  make  others  realize  it. 
Treatment  for  Corn  Smut 
N  page  1301  is  the  statement  that  there  is  no 
remedy  for  smut  in  corn  except  to  destroy  the 
oars.  In  treating  oats  for  smut  with  formaldehyde 
it  occurred  to  me  that  “what  was  sauce  for  the  goose 
was  sauce  for  the  gander,”  and  that  if  formalde¬ 
hyde  killed  smut  on  oats  it  would  also  kill  smut  on 
corn.  I  treated  my  corn  as  I  had  treated  my  oats, 
one  pint  of  formaldehyde  to  50  gallons  of  water.  Re¬ 
sult,  not  one  smutty  ear  on  the  whole  plantation 
the  following  year.  If  you  plant  corn  treated  as 
above  on  fields  clear  of  smut  your  corn  will  be 
clean.  If  you  plant  after  corn  with  smut  in  the  field 
you  might  have  smut.  I  get  too  many  good  things 
out  of  The  R.  N.-Y.  not  to  be  willing  to  give  some 
when  I  know  of  them.  b.  w.  stone. 
Georgia. 
R.  N.-Y. — It  seemed  to  us  from  the  very  nature  of 
corn  smut  that  soaking  the  seed  would  have  but  lit¬ 
tle  effect.  We  sent  the  above  letter  to  Prof.  F.  C. 
Stewart  of  the  Geneva  Station,  and  he  sends  the 
following  comment: 
“In  the  experiment  made  by  your  correspondent 
the  freedom  from  smut  was  due,  very  probably,  to 
some  other  cause  than  the  treatment  of  the  seed 
with  formaldehyde.  Undoubtedly,  the  formaldehyde 
treatment  would  kill  smut  spores  attached  to  the 
seed.  If  the  treated  seed  were  planted  on  land 
which  had  not  grown  corn  for  several  years  and 
there  were  no  other  sources  of  infection  nearby  a 
crop  free  from  smut  might  be  obtained.  However, 
in  practice  there  are  so  many  ways  in  which  corn 
plants  may  become  affected  with  smut  that  seed 
treatment  is  not  considered  worth  the  bother.  The 
experiment  has  been  tried  often  enough  to  leave 
no  doubt  on  this  point.  The  sporidia  of  corn  smut 
are  carried  by  the  wind,  and  may  infect  any  part  of 
the  corn  plant  above  ground  when  weather  and 
growth  conditions  are  favorable.” 
Fruits  for  a  Family  Orchard 
It  is  ray  intention  to  plant  a  family  orchard  of  about 
60  different  fruits,  mostly  apples,  and  ask  your  advice 
what  kind  to  plant,  say  35  apples,  five  pear,  five  cher¬ 
ries,  ten  peach,  five  plums?  There  are  about  80  trees 
on  my  place  now,  most,  of  them  old,  and  all  of  them 
needing  spray  badly.  Would  you  also  tell  me  what  to 
spray  and  the  best  time  to  do  it?  G.  w.  L. 
Essex  Co.,  N.  J. 
HE  apple  trees  should  be  set  at  least  36  feet 
apart  each  way;  pears  about  20  feet;  the  cher¬ 
ries  20  feet  for  the  sour  and  at  least  25  or  30  feet 
for  the  sweet;  20  feet  for  the  peach  and  the  same 
for  the  plum.  Closer  planting  is  often  recommended 
end  followed,  but  it  increases  the  difficulty  of  se- 
RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
curing  good  crops  of  fruit  when  the  trees  are  well 
grown,  and  the  trees  also  suffer  from  drought  dur¬ 
ing  dry  weather.  The  pears  ought  to  he  set  as  far 
away  as  possible  from  the  apples,  as  they  are  likely 
to  be  attacked  by  “fire  blight”  and  it  increases  the 
danger  to  the  apples. 
The  plums  and  peaches  could  he  grouped  close  to¬ 
gether,  since  they  require  somewhat  the  same  spray¬ 
ing  schedule.  You  can.  of  course,  grow  nearly  any 
standard  variety  of  apple  or  peach  successfully  in 
your  locality  from  a  family  orchard  standpoint. 
However,  some  varieties  are  more  productive,  hardy 
and  resistant  to  disease  than  others,  and  unless 
one  does  not  care  for  the  flavor  of  the  fruits  of  these 
varieties,  it  is  well  to  select  them  for  Ihe  home 
orchard  as  would  he  the  case  in  a  commercial  plant¬ 
ing.  The  following  suggestion  can  he  made  in  re¬ 
gard  to  the  apples:  Two  Red  Astrachan,  three  Wil¬ 
liams,  three  Gravenstein,-  three  Wealthy,  two  Opal¬ 
escent,  six  McIntosh,  six  Delicious,  six  Rtayman, 
three  Baldwin,  one  llyslop  (crab).  If  you  desire 
one  or  two  Fall  Pippin,  or  should  prefer  Grimes 
Golden  to  McIntosh,  they  could  be  substituted. 
In  a  selection  of  five  pears,  two  Bartlett,  two 
Reckel  and  one  Dorsett  might,  be  considered.  You 
do  not  state  whether  you  desire  both  sweet  and  sour 
cherries,  but  if  so,  I  ‘would  suggest  one  Early  Rich¬ 
mond,  one  Montmorency  and  one  each  of  Napoleon, 
Black  Tartarian  and  Yellow  Spanish  of  the  sweet 
type.  One  tree  each  of  the  following  varieties  of 
peaches:  Greensboro,  Arp,  Carman,  Lola,  Hiley, 
Belle,  Fitzgerald,  Frances  and  Iron  Mountain  would 
furnish  you  with  a  continuous  supply  of  fruit  from 
the  first  of  August  until  the  middle  or  latter  part 
of  September.  You  would  also  have  a  considerable 
quantity  of  fruit  ripening  in  midsea  sou  that  would 
serve  for  canning.  The  Fitzgerald  ripens  about 
with  Belle,  and  is  a  yellow  peach  of  fine  quality. 
It  is  not  as  hardy  in  this  State  as  Belle  and  Elberta, 
hut  think  it  might  well  be  included  in  a  home  or¬ 
chard.  St.  John  is  a  yellow,  freestone  peach  ripen¬ 
ing  a  few  days  after  Carman.  It  is  of  very  fine 
quality,  in  fact  the  best  of  its  season,  but  it  also 
lacks  hardiness  in  Now  Jersey.  However,  if  I 
were  planting  a  family  orchard,  I  would  include 
one  or  two  trees  of  this  variety,  hut  would  depend 
upon  others  to  make  certain  of  a  crop  in  unfavor¬ 
able  seasons. 
The  following  plums  can  he  suggested  :  One  Rhiro, 
two  Lombard,  two  Green  Gage.  The  Rhiro  is  one  of  the 
earliest  plums  to  ripen  and  is  productive  in  this 
State.  It  is  not  a  canning  plum,  however,  and  if  you 
do  not  particularly  desire  a  very  early  plum  for  eat¬ 
ing  you  might  substitute  something  else,  such  as 
Abundance. 
If  you  have  ouly  a  few  trees  upon  the  place  at 
the  present  time,  and  they  are  not  very  large,  you 
could  get  along  with  a  good  barrel  pump  spray  for 
a  time,  and  this  would  also  serve  Ihe  purpose  as  a 
machine  for  applying  whitewash  to  the  poultry 
houses  If  you  have  any.  The  Rtate  Experiment 
Station  at  New  Brunswick.  N.  J.,  can  supply  yon 
with  a  spraying  schedule  adapted  to  the  conditions 
of  your  locality.  M.  a.  blare. 
The  Case  of  the  Express  Companies 
N  page  1277  is  an  article  “Are  Express  Com¬ 
panies  Responsible?”  Upon  the  facts  set  forth 
In  the  article,  it  is  quite  clear  that  express  com¬ 
panies  are  not  responsible.  Theoretically,  yes; 
practically,  no.  Theoretically,  if  express  compan¬ 
ies  cause  loss  through  da  mage  to  goods  while  in 
their  hands,  they  are  called  upon  to  pay  that  loss. 
Tf,  however,  they  decline  to  or  neglect  to,  there  is 
no  way  of  compelling  payment  except  through  suit 
at  law.  Tt  is  needless  to  say  that  ordinarily  such 
e nit.  is  impractical  for  most  shippers  and  if  insti¬ 
tuted,  the  chances  of  success  are  so  remote  as  to  be 
almost  nil,  no  matter  how  clear  the  case  may  be. 
It  seems  to  be  the  settled  policy  of  the  express 
companies  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  defeat  pay¬ 
ment  of  claims  or,  if  they  do  nothing  more,  delay 
payment  for  the  longest  possible  time.  A  claim  may 
be  undoubtedly  just,  the  fault  may  be  unquestion¬ 
ably  with  the  company,  yet  payment  is  delayed  un¬ 
reasonably,  or  the  claim  absolutely  ignored.  This 
policy  comes  down  from  the  days  when  the  express 
companies  were  absolutely  a  law  unto  themselves, 
when  they  deliberately  robbed  shippers  and  “got 
away  with  it.” 
The  curious  thing  is  that  the  managements  of  the 
companies  apparently  are  unable  to  learn.  If  they 
were  possessed  of  ordinary  intelligence,  they  would 
have  seen  that  the  parcel  post  law  was  enacted  be¬ 
cause  of  the  extortions  and  unfair  practices  of  the 
express  companies.  They  set  up  a  great  wail  at 
the  time,  and  complained  bitterly  that  because  of 
that  law  they  would  be  ruined.  Yet,  instead  of  tak- 
November  IS,  1910. 
ing  warning  and  treating  the  people  with  common 
justice  and  honesty,  they  are  still  engaging  in  the 
same  old  practices,  the  result  nf  which  can  only  be 
that  sooner  or  later  the  people  nf  the  country  will  be 
sufficiently  enraged  to  demand  that  the  companies 
be  put  under  drastic  control. 
In  your  columns  recently  there  have  appeared 
various  articles  in  which  it  appears  that  because 
of  the  inability  for  worse)  of  tin*  coni] tallies  to  per¬ 
forin  the  service  for  which  they  are  paid,  numbers 
of  people  are  being  ruined.  To  each  of  these,  the 
conditions  are  calamitous.  While  it  could  he  shown, 
in  court,  that  the  companies’  failure  is  the  cause  of 
such  ruin,  yet  it,  is  practically  impossible  to  get 
those  cases  into  court.  Tu  effect  the  companies  are. 
under  present  Jaws,  absolutely  free,  if  they  choose, 
to  go  right  on  ruining  shippers  who  are  unfortunate 
enough  to  he  obliged  to  ship  goods  in  their  care. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  is  no  reason  why  eggs 
or  anything  else  cannot  be  safely  shipped.  The 
fault  lies,  absolutely,  with  the  management.  There 
is  one  company,  the  Wells-Fnrgo,  ’which  shows  sign 
of  some  business  management.  There  is  absolutely 
no  reason  why  the  others  should  not  do  at  least  as 
well,  excel  it  possibly  that  the  same  business  cap¬ 
acity  does  not  exist,  in  the  others. 
I  desire  to  make  this  matter  absolutely  clear. 
Therefore,  I  charge  that  the  sole  reason  for  the 
loss  and  destruction  of  goods  when  in  the  hands  of 
the  express  companies  is  that  the  management  is 
inefficient,  and  I  can  prove  what  T  say.  As  one  of 
the  victims  of  the  express  companies  to  the  extent 
<f  loss  of  my  business  I  am  a  competent,  witness. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  time  to  curb  these  people, 
and  it  is  idle  to  wait.  The  opportunity  lies  open, 
inasmuch  as  both  candidates  for  the  Presidency 
have  recently  enunciated  doctrines  of  justice  for  all 
the  people.  We  farmers  are  a  rather  large  propor¬ 
tion  of  the  people.  We  are  all  oblUjcd  to  use  the 
express  companies,  whether  they  ruin  our  business 
or  not.  One  of  the  candidates  will  be  elected,  and  un¬ 
less  he  is  willing  to  admit  that  his  doctrine  of  justice 
was  merely  a  platform  upon  which  to  get  into  the 
Presidential  chair  lie  must  use  his  influence  to  accom¬ 
plish  the  necessary  thing,  which  is  to  put  the  com¬ 
panies  under  the  control  of  one  of  the  public  service 
commissions.  To  make  the  matter  complete,  whatever 
commission  is  put  in  charge  of  the  companies  should 
have  the  powers  of  a  court,  in  which  court  any  per¬ 
son  might  put  his  claim,  and  the  attendant  facts, 
■»n  writing  before  the  commission,  they  also  hearing 
the  express  company’s  side  of  the  case.  The  com¬ 
mission's  decision  should  he  quickly  given  and  be 
final. 
All  classes  of  citizens  are  sufferers  at  the  hands 
of  these  companies,  therefore  it  seems  likely  that  a 
propaganda,  starting  now,  for  proper  regulation  of 
the  companies,  which  means  actually  nothing  more 
than  compelling  fair  treatment  of  the  people  at  their 
hands,  would  meet  a  very  general  response.  Why 
not  issue  a  call  to  all  people  to  demand  action  at 
the  hands  of  their  Congressman  at  the  next,  ses  ion? 
And  keep  it  up,  and  also  don’t  let  us  forget  the  next 
President  as  a  source  of  help  in  this  matter.  He 
must  help  or  stultify  himself.  p.  e. 
R.  N.-Y. — We  are  on  record  as  starting  a  cam¬ 
paign  to  bring  about  what  “P.  L.”  calls  for.  We 
shall  stick  right  to  the  work,  but  we  cannot  do  it 
alone. 
The  Railroads  and  Their  Smashing 
It  is  a  shame  how  we  poultry  men  have  to  put  up 
with  the  damage  which  the  railroads  do  to  our  empty 
egg  cases.  It  makes  no  difference  bow  much  we  pay 
for  cases  in  the  attempt  to  furnish  neat-looking  pack¬ 
ages  for  our  eggs.  The  railroads  smash  them  up  until 
they  look  and  are  about  the  same,  regardless  of  original 
quality.  1  have  accused  the  egg-case  companies  of 
furnishing  poor  cases  but  am  coming  to  believe  that 
the  railroad  is  to  blame  for  the  quality.  It  is  all  right 
for  the  railroad  employees  to  receive  added  privileges. 
It  is  all  right  for  the  railroad  companies  to  be  granted 
a  freight  increase.  But  the  public  ought  to  go  up 
a  step  also  la  this  scale  of  progressiveness  and  receive 
better  service.  The  railroad  companies  will  continue 
to  smash  empty  egg  cases  as  long  as  poultrymen  con¬ 
tinue  to  pay  first  class  freight  rates  for  their  trans¬ 
portation  and  not  kick  about  the  damage.  What  can 
you  do  for  us?  M.  c. 
New  York. 
S  we  liatje  explained  many  times,  we  can  do 
nothing  except  arouse  our  people  to  stay  by 
their  just  complaints  until  we  make  the  public  hear 
and  listen.  There  is  at  present,  no  power  to  compel 
the  railroads  to  use  proper  care.  The  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission  may  regulate  their  rates,  but 
there  seems  to  be  no  one  to  stop  their  smashing  and 
crashing.  We  have  started  in  to  arouse  public  sen¬ 
timent  so  as  to  compel  a  law  giving  the  commission 
power  to  stop  this  careless  damage.  We  see  no 
other  method  than  to  dog  it  out  in  this  way. 
Many  a  fruit  grower  this  Fall  is  complaining  be¬ 
cause  the  apples  are  blemished.  In  most  cases  it  means 
an  effort  to  save  on  spray  material  last  Spring. 
