APRIL 
THE RURAL WEW-YCRKER 
thin out for market early in April, clearing 
the land early in May. Our earliest spinach 
now comes from the South. 
VALUK OF HOG MANURE. 
J. J. C., Detroit, Mich.—I grow market 
garden track and small fruits, and get hog 
manure for the cost of hauling it a mile and 
a half. Is it worth it? Soil partly sandy; 
partly a little heavy. 
Ans.— The value of hog manure will de¬ 
pend on the food used. It is the food and not 
the animal which gives value to the manure. 
Manure is well worth the cost of hauling the 
distance mentioned anywhere. In many 
places farmers are glad to haul manure 10 
miles and pay for it besides. As hogs are 
usually fed upon rich food, their manure is 
considered next in value to that of well-fed 
homes. 
“creamery” and “dairy” pails. 
C. C., Noi'th Creek, N. Y.— Is "State Pail 
Creamery Butter” considered private dairy or 
creamery butter? How is it put up and where 
can the pails be obtained? 
Ans.— Butter answering to this 
grade is shipped here by both 
dairymen and oreamerymen, and 
is considered “dairy” or “eream- 
ery” butter in accordance with 
the source from which it comes. 
Most of it cornea from New York 
State. Pails are not considered as 
favorably by the trade as former- 
/ ly; in fact but a small per cent, of 
butter is now handled in pails. 
Tubs are preferred. Pails can. be 
obtained from H. C. Carter & Co., 
101 North Moore Street, New 
York. Oak return butter pails, 
with handles, cost from £1.10 to 
£1.85. 
DAIRY COWS SHOULD CALVE 
YEARLY. 
2L, Windham Co., Vt. —Which 
would be the better plan where 
• butter-making alone is the object, 
and calves are not wanted—to 
have a herd of cows “come in” 
once in two years, or once a year? 
Ans. The purpose for which 
cows are kept is profit. The most 
profit is made from cows that have 
their calves about the same time 
yearly. Few cows would milk 
longer than a year with profit, 
and good butter cannot be made 
from a farrow cow. The best but¬ 
ter is made from the first six 
months 1 milk. 
TRANSPLANTING TREES. 
C. T. B., Eden Valley, N. Y— 
Will young trees, such as Sugar 
Maple and Basswood, grow if 
trausplauted from a forest where 
they shot up slim to a hight of 35 
to 30 feet with a diameter of three 
or four inches at the butt, with 
scarcely any branches, provided 
they are firmly planted and cut 
back half way? 3. How should 
evergreens be planted l 
Ans.— We have transplanted 
such trees successfully by cutting 
off the tops and preserving all the 
roots as carefully as may be, but 
the percentage of loss will be con¬ 
siderable. Nothing is gained by 
selecting large trees. 2. For ever¬ 
greens plant as early in the spring 
as the ground will permit—the 
earlier the better. Don’t expose 
the roots to air or suu-llght. Dig 
holes as large ns you choose. They 
should be, at the least, large 
enough and deep enough to allow 
of the ro^ts resting in their natural position. 
Work in fine soil about the roots. Pack the 
soil firmly. 
DUTY ON WOOL. 
0. A. B., Enterprise, N. Y.— 1. What is the 
tariff on washed wools? 2. What about the 
“scoured wool” admitted by Secretary Man 
ning at 10 cents duty per pound, instead of 30 
cents? 
Ans.— 1. Washed wools: value (before wash 
ing) 30 cents, or less per pound, duty, 20 cents 
per pound ;valuo (before washiugi.over 80 cents 
per pound, duty, 24 cents per pound. Scoured 
wools: value (before scouring) 30 cents or les 
per pound, duty 80 cents pel* pound; value 
(before scorning), over 3(1 cents per pound, 
duty, 86 cents per pound. The “scoured wool” 
to which yon refer, which the Secretary of 
the Treasury allowed to pass at only 10 cents 
per pound duty, ought not in his opinion 
to have been classed as "scoured wool, ’ 
but as ‘‘clothing wool,” the duty on which is 
10 cents per pound if valued at 30 cents per 
pouud or less; nud 12 cents per pound if valued 
at over 30 cents per pound. Several protests 
have been made against this classification. 
State? By what means is milk tested in New 
York for adulteration with water and other 
adulterants? 
ANS.-It is one of the duties of the State Dairy 
Commissioner to inspect milk in all parts of 
the State, so far as the means provided by the 
Legislature will permit. All inspections are 
by means of the lactometer and thermome¬ 
ter tests. If adulterations are shown by these 
tests, then a sample is taken and submitted to a 
chemist for analysis before prosecutions are 
commenced. The Dairy Commission has not 
given much attention to milk after it has 
reached the citiesof New York and Brooklyn; 
these two cities having Boards of Health 
there have looked after the matter. 
“ BETTER THAN THE CONCORD.” 
C. H. W., West Shokan, N. Y .—What 
grapes are better than the Concord in quality 
and at the same tune as productive, hardy 
and early? 
Ans. —There are many grapes which in 
quality are better than the Concord. There 
are very few, if any, that are as good as the 
Concord, that possess all its other good quali- 
Tbe corn-fodder would answer for a protec¬ 
tion, in most cases, if applied in sufficient 
thickness to ward off the 20-degree blizzards. 
In most summers, during August;, it will be of 
advantage to secure the tree from too great 
drought, by a mulching spread over the feed¬ 
ing roots, as peach trees have failed here (at 
Manhattan) for several winters past, chiefly 
through low vitality induced by dry summer 
weather. The fan-shaped espalier is much 
better suited to the rapid growth of the peach 
than any arrangement of cordons, as allowing 
more room, and as causing a less marked de¬ 
parture from the usual habit of the tree. The 
training of the tree should be begun with the 
yearling, andunintermitting attention should 
be given to producing the desired shape. A 
compact disposition of the fruiting wood may 
be brought about by systematic shortening in 
of leaders and corresponding encouraeement 
of lateral buds and spurs. The trellis should 
stand north and south, to secure for the fruit 
the better distribution of sunlight, to protect 
the truuks and branches from possible sun- 
scald, and to offer less resistance to prevailing 
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FRUITS FOR HOME USE. 
il An Old Subscriber ,” Ohio.—I waut to 
plant a fruit orchard this spring, including all 
the choicest varieties of all sorts—those that 
for family use 
pears, cherries, 
3S, etc., would 
are sure to bear ev 
only. What kinds 
grapes, raspberries, 
be the best? 
ANSWERED BY PRES. T. T. LYON, 
This is a very sweeping request; 
one which only He who controls 
the elements could fully grant. A 
great deal of horticultural wisdom, 
intimate knowl- 
of the im- 
together with an 
edge of the peculiarities 
mediate locality, aud even with 
the soil and aspect of the ground 
to be planted, might suffice to do 
this; while to provide varieties 
“that are sure to bear every year’ 
can only be accomplished by One 
who “holds the winds in His fists 
aud the waters in the hollow' of 
His hand.” Frost aud storm per¬ 
mitting, the following list will tie 
a near approach to meeting the 
needs of a family of discriminat¬ 
ing fruit lovers, at the same time 
providing for the cuisine, at least, 
in alternate years: 
Strawberries. —Alpha, Sharp¬ 
less, Kentucky, Bidwell, Mount 
Vernon. 
Raspberries, Red. —Hansell, 
Herstine, Reder, Cuthbert. 
Raspberries, Occidkntalis. 
Tyler, Mammoth Cluster, Hilbora. 
Lucretia. 
—Kittatinny 
Dewberries.— 
Blackberries. 
and Taylor. 
Currants. —Red Dutch, Fay, 
Lee’s (black), White Dutch, Vic¬ 
toria. 
Gooseberries.— Downing, In¬ 
dustry (for trial). Smith. 
Mulberries. —Downing. 
Cherries, sweet varieties.— 
Early Purple, Black Eagle, Down¬ 
er’s Late. Black Tartarian, Elton. 
Cherries, Dukes and Morel- 
los. —Early Richmond, May 
Duke, Late Morello, Monlmorency 
Ordinaire, Ilortense, Maguiflque. 
Plum s. —Green Gage (Reiue 
Claude). Washington, McLaughlin, 
Bavay’s (Green Gage). Damson. 
Peaches.— Alexander, George 
the Fourth, Early Crawford, Old- 
mixou (Free), Morriss White, 
Hale, Coolidge, Susquehannah, 
Salway, Tippecanoe (Cling). 
Pears. —Summer D o y e n n 4, 
Tyson, Belle Lucrative, Clapp’s 
Favorite, Onondaga Anjou, Lan- 
gelier, Winter Nelis, Dana’s Ho- 
vey, Giffard, Rosttezer, Bartlett, 
Bose, Seckel, White Doyenn<5, Mt. 
Vernon, Lawrence. 
Apples.— Early Harvest, Early 
Strawberry, Red Astrachau, Sum¬ 
mer Rose, Lowell, Hawley, Dyer, Melon, 
Hubbard ston, Golden Russet (Western N. Y.), 
Ladies’ Sweeting, Baldwin, Primate, Early 
Joe, Sweet Bough, Mexico, Keswdck Codlin, 
Fall Pippin, Shiawassee, Jonathan, Rhode 
Island Greening, Red Canada (top-grafting), 
Talman Sweeting, Roxbury Russet. 
Almost all pears and apples incline to bear 
in alternate years: but, frost permitting, this 
teudency may lie, in a good degree, overcome 
by judicious pruning and the thinning of the 
crop. 
training peach trees. 
F.E. H., CawkerCity, Kan.— 1. Our win¬ 
ters here are too severe for peaches and sweet 
cherries. How will it do to train them on es¬ 
paliers, in oblique cordons, standing corn-fod¬ 
der on each side as a protection iu winter? 3. 
If the plan is likely to succeed, how high 
should the trellis be, aud should it extend 
UMBRELLA TREE. From a specimen at the Rural Grounds. Fig. 1G3. (See Supplement, page 243.) 
ties. We should try the Eaton, Empire State, 
Niagara, Victoria, Moore’s Early, Cottage, 
Hayes. Brighton. Of the above Niagara, 
Victoria, Moore’s Early and Cottage arc no 
better in quality than the Concord. We 
might mention many kinds better in quality* 
than the Concord as, for instance, Eldorado, 
Jefferson, Poughkeepsie Red, Ulster Prolific, 
Duchess, Herbert, Eumelan, aud Barry, but 
one must try them in order to ascertain if 
they will succeed or not. 
raising spinach for market. 
winds. Our experience at this place, aud else¬ 
where in Kansas, offers no encouragement 
whatever for the planting of the sweet cher¬ 
ries. 
HARDY APPLE STOCKS. 
J. S., Muscatine, la. —Prof. Budd says ap¬ 
ples are a great deal hardier when top-grafted 
on hardy stocks; how does he know when he 
has got hardy stocks and how docs ho get 
them? I suppose the stocks areseedlings—some 
hardy and others not. 
answered by prof. j. l. budd. 
In the Western States we never top-work 
seedling apple trees, unless it may be old aud 
well tested specimens. As a rule, seedling 
trees are not hardy with us. Hence in top¬ 
working we use for stocks root-gralted trees 
of such iron clads ns Gros Prouder, Duchess, 
Wealthy, Hibernal, etc. Iu Europe seedlings 
of their indigenous primitive species are used 
for stocks, but we have no suitable native ap¬ 
ple for this purpose. 
MILK ADULTERATION. 
E. D. B., Seneca Fulls, N. Y .—Whose busi¬ 
ness is it to inspect milk in the villages of this 
“An Old Subscriber ,” Kingston, Mass .— 
How can spinach be raised for market? 
Ans. —In spring it is often sown between 
cabbages. It will bo ready to market iu 
about six weeks. Mr. P. Henderson says that 
although it sells at this season at a low price— 
50 cents to £1.00 per barrel—it, nevertheless, 
yields a fair profit, requiring little labor to 
raise it. The main crop is sown in drills 
about Sept. 5. so that it may get well started 
before severe frosts. Then it is covered up 
with straw or something of the kind during 
winter. Thus raised, we may begin to cut or 
