4889 
THi RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
but where the Ben Davis succeeds the Golden 
Russett of Western New York can generally 
be grown. Pewaukee is a coarse apple that 
would be hard to introduce. Peck’s Pleasant 
is not hardy enough, we fear. 
- 
Miscellaneous. 
C. A., Medina, N. Y., can get Hamburg 
fowls from D. S. Baird & Sons, Johnstown, 
N. Y. or P. P. Oster, Batesville, Ohio. 
F. J. P., j De Smet, Dakota .—The bulletin on 
turberculosis, which is very complete, is issued 
by Prof. C. H. Fernald, Amherst, Mass. 
E. P. N., Nichols, Conn. —Good wire netting 
can be obtained from Peter Duryea & Co. or 
Brockuer & Eyans, Vesey Street, New York. 
A. G. S., Dover, Del .—Will some reader of 
the Rural who lives in a section where pea¬ 
nuts are extensively grown, tell us “all he 
knows” about their culture and marketing. 
R. L. H., Brighton, N. Y .—What is the 
newest and best late potato? 
Ans.—W e consider the R. N.-Y. No. 2 the 
“ newest” and best late potato. 
H. S., Fort Collint, Col .— Who manufac¬ 
tures the new lever harrow spoken of in a 
late Rural? 
Ans. —The Moline Plow Company, Moline, 
I1L 
H. M. M., Vienna, Austria. —The Secretary 
of the American Pomological Society is A. A, 
Crozier, Washington, D. C. Copies of the re¬ 
port of the society can be obtained from him. 
A. H. H., Brunswick, Me. —You can ob¬ 
tain from the United States Fish Com¬ 
missioner at Washington, D. C., a set of 
pamphlets giving pretty full information re¬ 
garding carp culture. 
J. W., Park Lake, N. Y. —How can I get 
rid of little black flies on house plants? I 
have tried hellebore, soap-suds and ammonia, 
in vain. 
Ans. —Tobacco water is the remedy. Spray 
it upon infested parts. 
J. W. D., Baden, Fa .— Would it be ad¬ 
visable to apply a good coat of well-rotted 
sawdust to corn stalk ground, principally 
clay, to be cultivated with a sulky cultivator 
and sown to oats? 
Ans. — Well rotted ? Yes, it would lighten 
the soil and furnish plant food as well. 
E. A. B.,Kittanning, Pa. —Is the Brownell's 
Winner potato, so favorably mentioned in 
the Rural of February 16, for sale by seeds¬ 
men? 
Ans.— It is not yet offered for sale. E. S. 
Brownell, of Essex Junction, Vermont, is the 
originator. 
W. A. McC., Rozetta, III. Which kind of 
White-oak posts will last the longer in the 
ground—those newly made and set at once, 
or those well seasoned? 
Ans. —It seems to be pretty well established 
that, other things being equal, the seasoned 
posts are likely to outlast those set while 
green. 
G. R., Johnson's, N. Y. —Can potash be ap¬ 
plied to a young peach orchard in any other 
way so as to have the effect of wood ashes? 
Ans. —Yes, use kalnit or muriate of potash. 
Add bone or South Carolina^rock (dissolved) 
for phosphoric acid, a small proportion of 
which the ashes would supply in addition to 
the potash. 
F. A. B., Erie Co., N. Y. —What amount of 
barley or oats should be sown per acre in 
seeding to grass? 
Ans. —The R. N.-Y. has had no experience 
with barley. Would be glad to hear from 
our readers. We use 1 % bushel of oats. 
Much depends upon the land. If rich, use 
less seed: if poor, more. 
Subscriber, Kingston, N. Y. —It has long 
been argued by growers of celery at Kalama¬ 
zoo and elsewhere, that artificial fertilizers, 
without stable dung, would not grow celery. 
What says the Rural? 
Ans.—T he R. N.-Y. has used both stable 
manure and chemical fertilizers—never the 
latter alone. We shall be glad to hear from 
others on the subject. 
C. W. G., Canterbury, Conn. —1. Is the 
white strawberry any good? 2. Has the 
Rural had any experience with it? 3. Is 
Burpee’s Louise as good as the recommenda¬ 
tion says it is? 
Ans— 1. Yes, it is of the finest quality, but 
a poor yielder. 2. Yes. 3. We are inclined 
to think it is. We shull know more about it 
next season, as our plants were set last season 
L. i>., Prescott, W. T .—In au influential 
puper here there appear s an advertisement of 
White’s Northern Muscat grape, which is said 
to be “the grape for the people all over the 
United States.” Is this claim well founded? 
Ans. —The claim is absurd. We don’t 
know anything about this variety; but we do 
know that any grape of Muscat parentage 
will mildew away from such a climate as that 
of California. 
M. N. Me. N., Sherwood, Ohio. —Where 
can I get the Chili pine, called the Monkey 
tree by some, because a monkey cannot climb 
it? 
Ans. —Araucaria imbricata. This is a 
native of South America. It is a fast grower 
under suitable conditions, thriving in the 
Southern States. It should be planted in 
northerly exposures. It thrives among rocks 
and in gravelly soils. Try P. J. Berckmans, 
Augusta, Ga. 
W D P., Camp Springs, Md .—What is 
the best kind of soil for the Bubach straw¬ 
berry? 
Ans. —The Rural plot consists of a soil 
that may be called a mellow loam; that is, 
not clayey enough to become baked and hard, 
or sandy enough to be called a sandy loam. 
It rarely suffers from either drought or too 
much rain. Bubach3 thrive well. We learn 
that the variety succeeds well in stiffer soils, 
but can not say as to sandy soils. 
F. C., Ironville, Ohio. —1. The Rural, in a 
late issue, recommends cutting off the seed-end 
of “seed potatoes;” does it recommend their 
rejection for planting? 2. In feeding ground 
grain to cows, should it be fed dry, or moist¬ 
ened, or quite wet? 
Ans. —1. Yes, we would reject them except 
in the case of new and high-priced kinds. 
The seed-end gives too many sprouts, and, as 
a consequence, too many small tubers. 2. It 
should be moistened throughout, but not t vet. 
G. S., Union City, Mich .—Can the Bartlett 
pear be grafted on the crab apple? If not, 
what fruit can be successfully grafted on the 
crab? 
Ans.— Yes, it can be, but the cion will 
make a short-lived growth. You can graft 
the edible quinTe, also the ornamental quince, 
all sorts of cratsegus, the amelanchier (June- 
berry, Shad-bush, Service-berry.) We do 
not know of any valuable fruit, except all 
kinds of apples, that can be worked on the 
crab. 
B. N., Broadalbin , N. Y. —Last fall I 
plowed a piece of sandy loam land on which 
sheep had pastured for 12 years. I intend to 
plant it with potatoes and corn; what would 
it be advisable to use in the drill—some com¬ 
mercial fertilizer or plaster and ashes? 
Ans.— If ashes (unleached) were used, we 
should add bone—not plaster. Besides the 
ashes and bone, nitrate of soda and sulphate 
of ammonia would help the crop, as the ashes 
do not furnish nitrogen and the bone does 
not furnish enough. 
C. P., Bangor, Me. —1. Would It be ad¬ 
visable to plant the Rural Thoroughbred 
Flint corn for ensilage in this latitude? 2. 
Would it pay to plant the Rural New-Yorker 
No. 2 potato by the trench mothod in pref¬ 
erence to the Beauty of Hebron at their re¬ 
spective prices? 
Ans. —1. No; the Rural Thoroughbred 
Flint corn will not mature ears with you. 2. 
The No. 2 is now, we learn, $16 a barrel. 
That is too much. The difference from the 
trench would not pay you. It might be well, 
however, to plant enough to find out how it 
will turn out in your section. 
H. R., Brookfield, Mass. —I can buy steam¬ 
ed ground bone for $30 per ton and unleached 
wood ashes for 20 cents per bushel; what 
shall I add to make a complete fertilizer, and 
would the mixture be cheaper than the aver¬ 
age commercial fertilizer? 
Ans. This question cannot be answered 
without an analysis of the bone. Much de¬ 
pends upon the nitrogen left in the bones. 
The price for the ashes may be low or high. 
This depends upon their purity and from 
what wood they come. The mixture would 
probably need nitrogen in some form to ren¬ 
der it a well-balanced “ complete ” fertilizer. 
R. H. S., St. Joseph, La.— 1. What is the 
character of the Green Mountain, Everitt, 
and O, El Mammoth potatoes? 2. We plant 
potatoes here in January and February; which 
two kinds would be preferable for extra-ear- 
liness and productiveness? 3. Has the R. N.- 
Y. its No. 2 potato for sale? 
Ans. —1. Our first reports are corroborated by 
trials since. All three are fine yielders. The 
quality of the Everitt is good—that of the O. 
K. Mammoth fair; of the Green Mountain 
fair also. 2. Our inquirer is referred to the 
Vegetable Special for the best of the early 
potatoes. 3. The R. N.-Y. No. 2 is offered 
by sevualjjoedsmen. See catalogue notioee 
Feb. 16. We have never sold seeds, potatoes 
or anything whatever except the R. N.-Y. 
Several Subscribers —We have seen several 
references to a machine for picking apples. 
Is it of any practical benefit to fruit growers, 
or is it on a par with a milking machine for 
usefulness? 
Ans. —We have never seen the picker, but 
have heard it well spoken of. It was de¬ 
scribed on page 594 of last year’s Rural. As 
to its usefulness, those who have handled it 
must speak. Mr. J. Harris,a well-known fruit 
grower of Orleans Co, N. Y., writes: “I 
used it for gathering my apples last fall and 
was highly pleased with its work. It is so 
constructed that it receives the apples as they 
are shaken from the tree and rolls them care¬ 
fully into baskets in good condition without 
bruising,and, futhermore, it does not costover 
half as much to'gather apples with this ma¬ 
chine as it does to pick them in theu3ual way.” 
R. W. G., Woo&ung, III. 1. What firms 
manufacture harvesters for cutting standing 
corn? 2 Who makes’ a corn-husking 
machine? 3. Would cooked pumpkins make 
good feed for hogs, especially for fattening 
hogs? 4 Who makes a pumpkin-seed plant¬ 
ing attachment for a corn-planter? 
Ans. 1. Few if any of the harvester manu¬ 
facturers care to advise farmers to use their 
machines for corn cutting. Some farmers 
do this work with the heavier machines, and 
with small fodder corn it might work; but 
the ordinary harvester is too light for cutting 
large field corn. 2 A corn-husker and stalk- 
crusher is made by the Keystone Manufac¬ 
turing Co., Sterling, Ill. 3. Not if fed alone. 
They should be fed with some grain. Bran 
would make an excellent addition to a feed of 
pumpkins. 4. Try the Spangler Manufactur¬ 
ing Co., the Pennsylvania Agricultural Co., 
and N. C. Baughman or Hench & Drom- 
gold, all of York, Pa. 
S. J., Fairmount, Ind. —Can you tell me 
why, when.a reader of the-Farmer asked 
the editor to name the five best farmers’ 
papers published in the United States, he left 
out the Rural? Why does he talk so slight¬ 
ingly of the Rural’s trench-mulch system? 
Does he offer us anything better? Can he do 
anything in that line that will compare with 
what the Rural has done? The best crop of 
potatoes I ever raised was when I followed, as 
nearly as I could, the. lessons I held learned 
from the Rural. 
Ans. —It may be that the editor of the- 
Farmer thinks there are five better papers 
than the Rural. This is a free country and 
this editor has a perfect right to his own 
opinion. As thousands of our best farmers 
think otherwise, the R. N.-Y. doesn’t propose 
to feel sad about it. Why does he speak 
slightingly about the trench system? We 
must give that up. If he has offered any¬ 
thing better we have failed to notice it. 
J. H. S ., Hillman, Mich. —1. How do the 
Wealthy and Pewaukee apples compare with 
the Wagener as to hardiness of tree and qual¬ 
ity of fruit for dessert, cooking and keeping? 
2. Can the plum curculio be destroyed by 
poison? 
Ans. —1. Wagener is about the same in 
season as the Wealthy, but is not comparable 
with it, or even with Pewaukee, in point of 
hardiness against winter cold. Wagener, 
when well grown and properly thinned, is a 
fine dessert apple; and the same may be said 
of the W ealthy.but both are prone to overbear. 
Pewaukee is a coarser apple, not so hardy as 
Wealthy, but a better keeper. In quality it 
caunot be ranked as a dessert apple. 2. So 
far as reports go, early spraying of the leaves 
of plum trees with Paris-green appears to be 
fatal to the parent curculio beetles, and in this 
way protects the fruit. It is a cheap remedy, 
and well worth trying. It should be applied 
several times, beginning before the flower 
buds open, and be repeated occasionally until 
the young fruit is as big as peas, at least. 
DISCUSSION. 
DIFFERENT BREEDS OF POULTRT. 
D. M. K., Shimbrville, Pa.—W ithin the 
last ten years I have learned that it pays to 
raise pure-bred poultry, and that it doesn’t 
pay to raise common fowls which one must 
sell at eight or ten cents per pound. Last fall 
I had one dozen pullets, one dozen cockerels, 
and nine hens that I did not wish to keep over 
winter, so I sold them to a poultry huckster at 
eight cents per pound; the 33 head brought 
$11. I was satisfied that I did not make 33 
cents on the lot. If I had have 33 head of my 
pure White-Crested Blaek Polish birds to 
spare I could have got $33 a little sooner than 
I got the $11. I have not sold one of my Pol¬ 
ish fowls for less than $1 apiece, and often 
I got from $3 to $5 apiece. I can also raise 
them much cheaper than I can raise the 
464 
larger’breeds, and in number of eggs per hen 
my Polish always come out victorious. Dur¬ 
ing the hot summer months when the hens of 
the large breeds are broody and one has much 
trouble in preventing them from sitting in a 
box or sometimes on the bare ground, he will 
find Polish hens laying almost every day. At 
least this has been my experience for the last 
ten years. 
RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
M. H. W., Moore’s Hill, N. Y.—Tf the 
cartoon on the first page of the R. N.-Y. for 
February 9, could be rightly understood by 
every one, it might help to enforce a sound 
principle; viz. the necessity of keeping out of 
debt. But I fear that by far toomany will see 
in that picture some of the evils that affect 
them, and overlook the fact that the worst 
ones are self-imposed. Who compels the 
farmer to run in debt? Does he buy more 
land than he can pay for, without knowing 
it? Are farmers so dull that they do not 
know the nature of a debt when they assume 
it? If they assume it understandingly and 
cheerfully, then why do we hear and say 
hard things about mortgages and lenders? I 
would place heavy Indebtedness by the side of 
drunkenness, and a man would be far better 
off by not contracting either. In fact, I think 
if the riders ©n that poor typical farmer’s 
back had been named “Intemperance” “ Lost 
Time” “Waste” “Dishonor” “Ill-health” 
“Crime,” the moral would read, “Avoid 
these evils by not contracting them to start 
with.” 
One of the best of rules is to pay very near¬ 
ly as we go. But some wi’l ask about those 
who are always in debt. 8. E., on page 135. 
truly says that well directed frugality and 
prudence will alone subserve our best inter¬ 
ests. I have been a farmer continuously for 
41 years. Inheriting a farm quite heavily 
mortgaged and run down too, and living not 
only to lift the mortgage but to loan to some 
who need, my experience teaches that S. E.’s 
saying should be printed in large letters, 
framed and hung in a most conspicuous place 
in every farm house. “Farming don’t ray ” 
the weak one who spends his money to make 
a vain show or the one who always “sees a lion 
in the way;” but farming does pay the man 
who is strong enough to do right and brave 
enough to live within his means. 
R. N.-Y. Amen!! 
TURNIPS FOR BEEF CATTLE IN THE EAST. 
C. P. W., Woodridge, N.Y.—We listen to a 
good deal of advice to dairymen shout grow¬ 
ing turnips and mangels for stock food. How 
about the use of these roots for feeding beef 
cattle? Are any Eastern farmers making 
beef with the aid of turnips? In spite of all 
that is said about the changes in the beef busi¬ 
ness produced by the dressed beef trade, it 
seems as though farmers might still make the 
business pay. 
R. N.-Y.—Mr. R. H. Van Deusen, of Hart¬ 
ford County, Conn., has made quite a success 
of steer feeding. He writes us the following 
account of his method of growing and feeding 
turnips for the purpose of beef production: 
“I select a piece of run-out mowing land that 
has produced a crop of hay, turn the sod flat, 
put on the roller to make it solid, and apply 
15 common cart-loads of stable manure per 
acre. Then I use the wide spring-tooth har¬ 
row. which pulverizes the soil deep, and makes 
it a friable seed-bed. If I intend to mow this 
field, I seed with 16 quarts of Herd’s-grass 
seed per acre, having thoroughly mixed three 
pounds of New Globe turnip seed with it, 
sowing broadcast on August 1. It is a good 
plan before sowing to mark out the plot with 
a chain in lands ten feet wide so as to make 
sure all the land is covered with seed; then 
apply a light brush; then roll it with a light 
roller. By this method I have almost invari¬ 
ably harvested 400 bushels per acre without 
one dollar of extra expense and with no per¬ 
ceivable harm to the following hay crop. I 
take particular pains to harvest my turnips 
in a dry and clean condition. Turnips 
should be kept convenient to the feeding 
stable. I house mine under the feeding floor 
in the barn. I have a root gouge cutter; with 
turnips cut by this machine’ there is no dan 
ger of choking the cattle. I feed to a 1,000- 
pound steer one peck of turnips per day; to a 
three-year-old steer 12 quarts per day. For 
the evening feed I add three quarts of wheat 
middlings. In the morning I feed the mid¬ 
dlings clear with hay. The middlings prevent 
the steer from being too loose. The turnips 
save one feeding of hay per day and make 
better beef than hay and grain can make. To 
prove this I have this present winter fed 81 
steers and sold them for 60 cents per 100 
pounds more than the best refrigerator beef 
sold for in this market, so says the butcher 
that bought them. My success in feeding 
beef steers I attribute to the feeding of Globe 
turnips. *IUkeeps;the animals in a.growiug 
healthy condition.” . 
