1314 
‘lh< RURAL NEW-YORKER 
November 4, 1022 
Horticultural Notes 
Protecting Trees from Mice 
What can he n.*.cd ou poach trees to 
protect them from mire (hiring tlie Win¬ 
ter? I urn experimenting with a few, 
ami thought l would set corn fodder 
around them and fasten it for protection 
from freezing, and I would like to know 
if there is anything to put on or spray 
the trees vriih before setting the fodder 
around them that would keep the mice 
from destroying them. <. i. n. 
West Edmeston. N. Y. 
It would he a mistake to put handles 
of cornstalks around these trees and tie 
them in. That would give some protec¬ 
tion from freezing, but it, would he just 
exactly the piniv that the mice and rab¬ 
bits prefer, and every tree would be sur¬ 
rounded by several nests of mice. We 
have found it very much safer to keep the 
ground around the tree perfectly clean. 
The mice work under the mulch or waste, 
or under the snow. The best protection 
we have found is to put a little mound 
of earth or -rifted coal ashes around each 
tree. We would mound them up about a 
foot high unless you have a very heavy 
snow. This will generally keep the mice 
and rabbits away. As a protector, the 
best thiug we know of is line wire netting 
wound around the tree, fastened with 
wire or string. Pieces of thin lath or 
veneer may be tied around the trunk, and 
we have seen pieces of cornstalks fastened 
to the tree trunk in the same manner. If 
there are not too many trees, it will help 
to stamp the snow around the trunk be¬ 
fore it freezes hard. In some oases a 
thick solution of lime and sulphur, with 
a small quantity of Paris green or ar¬ 
senic used with it, can be painted on the 
lower trunk of the tree. If the tree is 
well mounded, however, and a little space 
around it kept perfectly clean, the mice 
will nor be. likely to give much trouble. 
It is often possible to poison them by 
making a solution of strychnine in warm 
water and soaking kernels of wheat in it, 
scattering these poisoned kernels around 
the tree, and especially near the nests or 
runs where the mice live. You will have 
to be careful in using this poison not to 
put it where birds can easily get at it. 
Another good plan is to cut primings 
from the trees and leave them on the 
ground. The mice will eat these prim¬ 
ings and let the trees alone. 
rapidly under conditions found in the 
Carolina Mountains. I have a plant now 
seven years old that covers a span of over 
I' - -’ ft. It blossoms early in Spring, the 
llowers being small and uot very showy. 
bOt with a delightful fragrance, rich in 
honey nectar. The fruit is a small berry, 
borne in the greatest profusion, ripening, 
ou my particular plant, just before frost. 
Plants grown from seed vary consider¬ 
ably. some of them ripening fruit earlier, 
some bearing larger berries, but mucli 
less numerous, some being inclined to be 
thorny, etc. Alfred Rohder says of this 
and kindred species that they are very 
variable, possibly only forms *>f one 
species. 
Just licuv hardy this plant is. I am un¬ 
able to say. but it has stood eight and 10 
below zero here uninjured. 
The fruit of this shrub makes very 
good jelly, but 1 doubt if it will ever be 
made on a commercial scale, as there are 
so many cheap by-products, such as apple 
pomace, that may he secured very cheap¬ 
ly for jelly making. The berries are of 
no value except for jelly and bird food. 
All kinds of fruit-eating birds are. fond 
of them. Wo always leave a quantity on 
been lei to James Stewart On. of Now 
1 ork with the provision that the com¬ 
pany must observe the "open shop’* plan 
of employing labor on the construction. 
The determination to make this require¬ 
ment last Spring occasioned the inter¬ 
position of President Gompers. of the 
American Federation of Labor, resulting 
in negotiations between the two organi¬ 
zations. 
The. plant of the .Tespevsee News Print 
Corporation at Lambertville, N. J„ was 
destroyed by tire October 120 with a loss 
estimated at $1100.000. The plant was 
act]Hired recently from the Perseverance 
Paper Company. 
Fifteen persons died from lire October 
—— in the live-story tenement house at 
Lexington Avenue and 310th Street. New 
Vork, Thirty-live were injured. There 
were about 300 persons in tin* building. 
Most of I hem were asleep when (he fire 
started. The rapidity of the Haines cut 
otY many on the upper floors from escape. 
Frederick liamuiill. legless beggar, 
with live bank books, a ranch and an 
expensive sedan in which he travels about 
the country, is in jail in default of $100 
bail, which he did not furnish when ar¬ 
raigned in Jefferson Market Court. New 
Vork, October 22. on a charge of 
vagrancy, llis motor car bore rhe Mas¬ 
sachusetts license number 2t’*l.(5t»7. Ham 
mill was arrested October 121 by I •elec¬ 
tive Nathaniel Sn.vdecker of the Mendi¬ 
cancy Squad, who watched him collect 
$'•>•70 in half an hour while pushing him¬ 
self along Fifth Avenue with pencils in 
his hand. The beggar told Sn.vdecker lie 
had a good income and that lie had in¬ 
vested $20,000 in a ranch in South 
1 hi kol a. 
Five persons were killed when an auto- 
Elaeaynus Umbellata 
Elieagnus umbellata is a Japanese 
shrub, one of a genus containing 1*7 
species, mostly Asiatic, one only (E. ar- 
gentea i being indigenous to Canada and 
the Northern United States. It grows 
.I 1 'all X ini flower 
Here is another of those ‘’big sunflower” 
pictures sent by Mrs. 11. llothc of West¬ 
chester County, N. Y. It is remarkable 
how much interest has. been developed in 
this plant. As we look at this picture 
we arc reminded once more of that old 
song, “I feel just, as happy as a big sun¬ 
flower ” 
.1 F'i‘i m cn~<yc(ir-old 1‘huil 
the hush for birds. The berries bang on 
well into the Winter. 
Eheagnus umbellata is a sister species 
to E. lougipes. which was sent out many 
years ago by the United States govern¬ 
ment under the vernacular name of 
“Goonii.” Gooini ripens its fruit in June. 
The buffalo berry of the West is related 
to it also, belonging to the same natural 
order. 
Up to the present time I*have detected 
no insect or fungus enemy to this shrub. 
It is about the only tiling on the farm 
that does not need spraying. This alone 
makes one feel kindly toward this Jap¬ 
anese friend. Eheagnus may be propa¬ 
gated from ripened cuttings, which root 
as easily as quince. I know of no 
source at present from which plants may 
be purchased, but believe that it will be 
more generally listed by nurseries in the 
near future. F. E. n. 
Buncombe Co., N. C. 
A picture of the shrub is shown on this 
page. It is seven years old and lias been 
moved twice. T t has never been cultivat¬ 
ed. pruned or sprayed, yet it bears large 
crops of berries. We have bad a sam¬ 
ple of the jelly made from this fruit, and 
pronounce it excellent, with a very agree¬ 
able flavor nil its own. 
i ~- " ~ - 1 — . 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK 
DOMESTIC.-Twenty-four of II rail¬ 
way mail clerks charged with stealing 
x.70.000 from the mails at the Union 
1'aeilic Terminal at Council Hind's, Xu., 
appeared October 20 before United States 
Commissioner \\‘. A. ltyres and were 
bound over to the Federal ! 1 r:lnd Jury 
under bonds ranging from $270 to $1.1(00. 
The 24 men surrendered voluntarily. 
Twenty-one of them entered pleas of 
guilty. 
Contracts for a new $2.2100.000 head¬ 
quarters in Washington for the Chamber 
of Commerce of the United Stales have 
of I'lui iiinntH I nibi Unto 
mobile, was struck by an Illinois Central 
train at Waggoner. Ill.. October 22. The 
dead are: Miss I.ucile Scott. 20. of Ray¬ 
mond; Miss Ruth Boyd, 10; 11. Bay 
Keefe, ill, and wife and infant, all of 
11illshoro. 
Judge Learned Hand in United States 
District Court October 221 upheld the 
ruling of Attorney-General Daugherty 
prohibiting the bringing of alcoholic 
liquors into American territorial waters 
and dismissed rhe applications of 10 for¬ 
eign and two American steamship lines 
for injunctions to restrain the enforce¬ 
ment of that ruling. The decision va¬ 
cates temporary stays and the ruling be¬ 
comes effective at once. Judge Hand de¬ 
cides, however, that foreign ships will be 
allowed to enter port with liquor for 
their crews if the supply is sufficient only 
for rations as supplied by laws of cer¬ 
tain foreign nations, Ship owners must 
give bonds of $2P,(KM) each to insure com¬ 
pliance with this provision. The case 
will be taken to the United States Su¬ 
preme Court. Great Britain, however, 
has refused clearance papers to bone-dry 
American ships, as British law compels 
u ship to carry one gallon of brandy to 
each 100 persons on hoard, for emergency 
use. French ships are compelled by law 
to carry a wine ration for their crews. 
The Canard-Anchor lines issued a 
warning October 23 against an impostor 
who victimizes foreign residents with a 
fake hi 11 of lading, saying that several 
packages have arrived for them and can 
iu' obtained on payment of the amount 
marked OH the face of the hill of lading. 
All the victims that had called at the 
• dliees of tin- company. 2.7 Broadway New 
York, spoke but little English, it was 
said. In a number of cases they were 
expecting friends from abroad, and for 
this reason fell easy dupes to the scheme, 
paying from $S.stl to Sls.sti. The 
swindler was described as about 40 years 
of age. Inc feet nine inches in height, 
about 173 pounds weight, with broad 
shoulders, brow n hair, good features and 
was an excellent talker. 
James K. Lennox, former United States 
Commissioner at Sentinel, Ariz., was ar¬ 
rested at Ilidiitnapidi. October 23 oil an 
indict nietil charging complicity in an al¬ 
leged “soldier land fraud" in which ex- 
service men and disabled soldiers were 
said to have lost approximately $2,.700,- 
000. Approximately .700 ex-service men 
from many Slates who riled on alleged 
worthless desert lands in Southwestern 
Arizona iu 1020 under the belief that, 
the Government was to reclaim the land 
for the benefit of ex-service men were the 
victims of the alleged fraud. Lennox is 
charged with having demanded and re 
ceived excessive funds and with having 
made false certificates and acknowledg¬ 
ments in bis capacity of United States 
< ’onunissinner. 
Testimony that the Industrial Workers 
of the World no longer teach sabotage in 
hooks and pamphlets, but pass the in¬ 
structions by “word of month" was given 
in Superior Court at Sacramento, Cal.. 
October 2-1, by W. E. Townsend, who 
said he formerly was a lieutenant of 
William (“Big Bill" i Haywood, head of 
the I. W. W. Townsend was a witness 
for the prosecution of 10 admitted mem¬ 
bers of the organization who are on trial 
charged with violation of the California 
syndicalism law. Townsend testitied that 
he. as a trusted assistant of Haywood, 
had obtained employment on at least two 
railroads during the World War. with 
instructions to blow them up. and that 
In' had served in branches of the military 
service. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The annual 
Ohio Slate University Horticultural Fes 
tival will he held at Columbus November 
U. 10 and 11 under the allspices of the 
Cniversity Horticultural Society. A 
novelty display of Chrysanthemums, ex¬ 
hibited for the first time by the breeders, 
will be of special interest. Demonstra¬ 
tions in plant discuses and insect con¬ 
trol will he given. The festival, to be 
behl in iln> Horticulture and Forestry 
Building and greenhouses, combines tin* 
exhibition of apples flowers vegetables, 
forestry, landscape architecture and hor¬ 
ticulture by-products. A large list of 
premiums will be given. Large growers 
from other States will exhibit this year. 
The vegetable display will include the 
growing of greenhouse plants and a com¬ 
plete line of harvested varieties. Tin* 
forestry exhibition w ill consist of mounted 
specimens from all rhe native Ohio trees. 
Fu tures that show the complete forestry 
industry w ill also In* on display. 
American cattle may now be admitted 
into Germany for immediate slaughter 
through the Government stockyards at 
Duisburg and Meiderieh. . The ruling 
applies to .stock arriving either by land 
or water routes. 
California Notes on Gardening 
The picture given herewith shows an 
attempt to grow lettuce in the Summer. 
A frame 100x10ft.. 1x3 in. stuff, was 
made, with the ridge 3 ft. high and 2 ft. 
at the eaves. Then frames 3x.7 were 
made of lath, and empty beet pulp sacks 
were tacked onto them, and the whole 
outfit set up in part of the lettuce patch, 
when the lettuce was about four weeks 
old. If desired, when the crop is sold. 1 
can give the returns from the shaded 
part. But then I never much believed 
in publishing phenomenal results, one 
way or rhe other. Local conditions vary 
so that l always believe if one thinks a 
now way is a better way than the old, 
in trying in a small way. and knowing 
yourself what you can do. 
] happened to lie in >hiti Diego the last 
of July, and tomatoes were selling at 8c 
per lb., 2 lbs. for 1.7c. On my way home 
I saw a Japanese farmer 1 knew, and 
Califoriiiit 1 .1 Uni t T iitler N a < k i ng 
asked him what lo* was getting for bis 
tomatoes. “Him very low. 1 sell (ill 
boxes for 2.7. 30 cents box." I could 
hardly believe that a box of tomatoes 
weighing 2S or 30 lbs. «ould sell a t w hole¬ 
sale for about lo per lb., while the re¬ 
tailor charged Sc. so i asked a neighbor, 
who sells his stuff wholesale, and he said 
that was the price. “But,” ho added. "1 
have uot sold any of mine f**r less than 
UOc. I Itik** them around to stores and 
restaurants, and hist week I took some 
up on K Street to some Italians who 
make tomato paste, and they were tickled 
to death to get them for ,7()o," 
It has been my experience that the 
man who makes any money on tin* perish¬ 
able products of tin* farm is the man who 
comes nearest to the consumer, and if we 
get rid of the middleman we hare got to 
do it ourselves. p. b. crosby. 
California. 
