1889 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
677 
hind, but the little mob I have now keep con¬ 
stantly circling around me. All were hatch¬ 
ed in an incubator and reared in a brooder, 
and are sold as soon as they weigh 2)4 to three 
pounds. Those hatched by hen power must 
be taken from the hen as soon as hatched 
and reared in a brooder or they are no good 
as grub gobblers. They are afraid to leave 
their mal and you don’t want her along to 
work ruination. 
I have done a good deal of hoeing and 
raking in the garden and among the straw¬ 
berries, etc., this season, and of all the 
thousands of grubs and worms I turned up 
I am satisfied not half a dozen escaped the 
vigilant eyes and nimble beaks of my chicks. 
They have also kept the lawn, flower beds 
and garden entirely free from grasshoppers, 
while there are thousands among the clover 
not 300 yard s away. About 20 are enough to 
have around, and as soon as they begin to 
scratch hard they should be sold or shut 
out and another lot of small ones brought 
in. 
Christian County, Ill. 
Ciu'njioljcrc. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Canada. 
Stamford, Ontario, September 16.—In 
this township the early potato crop was an 
entire failure. The bulk of the crop was 
exit with frost on May 29, and the wet 
weather following prevented the farmers 
from planting in a seasonable time. The 
late crop is poor, thin and stinted, and can¬ 
not exceed one-third of an average. What 
potatoes we have are sound, but small, and 
they are now past growth, for they have 
perished from drought. What I have said 
of the potato crop in the township may be 
said of that in the county. Corn is also al¬ 
most an entire failure, and so are apples, 
plums, peaches, grapes, oats and barley. 
Peas are just medium and wheat an aver¬ 
age for the county—about 15 bushels per 
acre. Hay we have in great abundance. 
Rain is falling just now and a fine growth 
of early-sown wheat may be expected. 
O. G. 
Illinois. 
TlSKILWA, Bureau County, September 18. 
—While the potato crop is generally good 
in this section, there are many small ones 
in some fields and some entire failures; but 
there is no rot, except a little dry rot. We 
have had too much.dry weather especially for 
late kinds, and many did not plant very ear¬ 
ly, which was bad. Polaris and Queen are 
among the very best earlies, but Ohio aud 
Ohio Jr. have done splendidly and 1 find very 
few small ones among them. Minister was 
planted too late to do specially well. I am 
well pleased with the Rural No.2. There 
isn’t one misshapen tuber in the whole lot. 
They are white and solid; form about per¬ 
fect ; eyes shallow; quality fine, dry and 
floury and of good flavor; vine, good and 
stocky and where moisture held out the 
yield 1ms been fine. Among the new earlies 
doing well is Burpee’s No.37, and 1889, and 
Mrs. Foraker, and two or three Polaris 
seedlings. We have had no trouble with 
Colorado beetles; the pests disappeared after 
summer had set in. There were myriads 
of them early in spring, but May and June 
were very wet and cold and the unfavor¬ 
able weather seemed to exterminate them. 
A new insect appeared on some of my pota¬ 
toes last year. The weather was very wet 
—the soil rich. I first noticed that the 
leaves were completely perforated and eat¬ 
en up, only the stems were left; all the 
mischief was done in a few days. The in¬ 
sect was apparently without wings and of 
a dull lead or gray color, slimmer than 
the Colorado beetle, but nearly as long, and 
of about two-thirds the size. I had seen 
none before, nor have I seen any since. 
After all, the Ohio is the great favorite po¬ 
tato being of fine size and early, yielding 
few small ones and being such a fine keep¬ 
er. Potentate ran it hard in all respects, 
but is not so early. J. w. li. 
Kansas. 
Parsons, Labette County, September 25. 
—The thermometer this morning stands at 
44 degrees, being the lowest point reached 
this season. The country, except as re¬ 
gards corn-stalks, is entirely green. Corn 
will soon be ready for gathering, and when 
this is done the farm work for the season 
will be over, excepting the care of the stock 
aud other trifling jobs. The season has 
been nearly all that could be desired. 
Small fruits and vegetables have been such 
great crops that the demand for apples has 
been and continues to be light, and though 
the crop is poor, the price is low, being 40 
cents per bushel for choice, and 15 cents 
at evaporators. Grain was a large crop. 
Prices are as follows: Wheat, 55 cents; 
corn, 20 cents; oats, 18 cents; potatoes, 40 
cents; butter, 12}£ cents; eggs, V2)4 cents; 
coal, 10 cents; steam coal, SI. 00 per ton by 
car load. J. B. 
Michigan. 
Hart, Oceana County, September 23.— 
Crops of all kinds have been unusually 
good, except apples. Other fruits are 
abundant, especially peaches and plums, 
for which our county is especially noted. 
I. H. F. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the 
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is not answered in our advertising columns. 
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FIGHTING THE CURCULIO. 
J.P. A., Tallahassee, Fla -1 have seven or 
eight peach trees scattered about my place, 
which every spring bloom abundantly and 
set fruit, but hitherto the crop has amount¬ 
ed to little or nothing on account of the cur- 
culio. Jarring the trees has been tried 
without any perceptible result. Last 
spring I changed my tactics. In some of 
the trees I suspended rags soaked in coal 
tar among the branches. Around the 
trunks of others I wrapped bandages cov¬ 
ered with the same material. On others I 
sifted thoroughly peroxide of silicate, re¬ 
peating the operation several times during 
the season, and in two cases I combined all 
these methods. The result was satisfac¬ 
tory beyond my highest anticipation. 
The trees all bore full crops of luscious 
fruit, the first they had ever produced. Of 
course I was pleased, but still not altogether 
happy, for I had hoped to be able to tell 
from the result which of my methods was 
most efficacious. J udging from the result, 
they all seemed to be about equally good, 
and several questions I had hoped might be 
partially solved, as far at least as might be 
by a single experiment, were left in doubt; 
for instance:—does the odor of the tar repel 
the insects from the trees? Do the insects 
crawl up the trunks of the trees? Will the 
insecticide kill the insects on the leaves be¬ 
fore they puucture the fruit? And, finally 
comes the depressing query whether all my 
precautions may not have been without ef¬ 
fect after all, and may not the result have 
been caused by someether influences beyond 
my knowledge, especially as this was an ex¬ 
ceptionally good peach year in all this sec¬ 
tion ? What does the R. N.-Y. think about 
these questions? I ought to have said that 
the earliest kind, the Peen-to, were destroy¬ 
ed as usual. Perhaps I did not begin soon 
enough with them; but the medium and 
later kinds soon began to show that the 
ravages were stayed. A word in regard to 
peroxide of silicate: Is it certain that 
there is arsenic in this preparation? There 
certainly are salts of copper, as I ascer¬ 
tained by stirring some up with water 
with a knife blade. This was soon covered 
with a coat ing of pure copper. I found the 
powder injurious to beaus and tomato 
vines, but having no effect on cabbages, 
while the cabbage worm and lice were 
quickly destroyed by its application. I 
think it a valuable insecticide, but one which 
should be sparingly used on tender vegeta¬ 
tion. 
ANSWERED BY PROF. A. J. COOK. 
I think it quite probable that this in¬ 
quirer would have had a crop of peaches 
even if he had done nothing at all. I have 
never tried coal tar, but I have tried crude 
carbolic acid in precisely the same manner, 
anti with no advantage at all; indeed I saw 
the curculios laying their eggs close by the 
ill-smelling cloths. The curculio is a good 
flier, and so wrapping the trunk could not 
keep the “ Little Turks ” away. I have 
often wrapped the trunks of plum trees 
with cotton drenched with turpentine, ker¬ 
osene, carbolic acid, etc., etc., but with no 
advantage at all. The third substance I be¬ 
lieve contains a little arsenic with a great 
deal of plaster. No doubt this would do 
good. The experiments of Professors C. 
M. Weed, S.»A. Forbes and myself show 
conclusively that the arsenites are effective 
if kept on the fruit. But why buy these 
substances? Why not purchase Paris- 
green and plaster, do one’s own mixing, 
know what we are using and save money? 
It seems great folly to purchase “ Slug- 
Shot,” “Silicates” or “ Zoektein,” when 
we can as easily and much more cheaply 
buy the poison and dilutant, and do our 
own compounding. 
PLANTING AN ORCHARD. 
J. K. C., South Whitney, Ind .—I am 
going to set out an orchard of 100 apple, 
25 plum and 25 pear trees. The ground 
where I intend to plant them is now in 
small clover. I expect to plant this fall. 
How far apart should the trees be planted, 
and how should the soil be prepared ? 
ANSWERED BY PRES. T. T. LYON. 
It will be difficult properly to prepare a 
plot of ground for planting under the pro¬ 
posed conditions, since, if plowed under at 
once, the clover will not have decayed suf¬ 
ficiently to admit of cross or replowing in 
season for tree planting this fall. I deem 
it preferable to turn the clover under as 
soon as practicable, leave it in that condi¬ 
tion through the coming winter, and re-plow 
and plant next spring. Nothing is said re¬ 
specting the purpose of such planting. If a 
market orchard be desired, the product to 
be sold at wholesale, I .would suggest a 
single variety of apple—probably Baldwin— 
and one variety of pear—the Bartlett—as 
adequate for the purpose. If a succession 
be desired to supply a local market, I would 
name Red Astrachan, Maiden’s Blush, St. 
Lawrence, Jonathan, Baldwin, Stark, and, 
perhaps, Golden Russet; and for pears, 
Clapp’s Favorite, Bartlett, Sheldon, How¬ 
ell, and Anjou. If, instead, a family or¬ 
chard be desired, with succession, a good 
selection of apples will be: Primate, Red 
Astrachan (for cooking), Jefferis, Sweet 
Bough,Lowell, Dyer,Shiawassee, Jonathan, 
Hubbardston, Rhode Island Greening, 
Baldwin, and Golden Russet. Pears: Sum¬ 
mer Doyenn<§, Tyson, Rostiezer, Belle Lu¬ 
crative, Sheldon, Seckel, Anjou, and (for 
winter) Lawrence, and Dana’s Hovev. 
TOUGH PORK. 
II. C. -4., Lansing, Mich — What is the 
cause and what a preventive of toughness 
in pork? I never keep mine till it is more 
than one year old. The hogs are fed almost 
entirely on milk and corn. Even the fat is 
tough, and the .lean fibers are hard to cut 
when boiled even till they fall apart. I 
have been on the farm two years and this 
has been the case both years. 
Ans. —Milk certainly does make tough, 
hard, dry pork. Our friend’s trouble is 
probably due to the excess of nitrogen in 
the milk, and its almost entire use as in 
the case mentioned. But if the young pigs 
only are fed on the milk, and when put up 
to fatten they are fed on corn, or corn aud 
potatoes cooked together, the meat will be 
tender and juicy. An excess of nitrogenous 
food tends to make lean, which is fibrous 
aud hard unless it is largely mixed with 
fat iuterspersed through the fibers, forming 
meat that is known as “marbled.” The 
art of feeding for meat is based on the use 
of a judicious mixture of carbonaceous and 
nitrogenous matters in due proportion. It 
is well known that no meat is more tender 
or juicy than an old animal properly fat¬ 
tened. Such meat is supposed to be made 
by several months’ feeding on good pasture 
and grain, and is generally thought to be 
young, and is always tender; but the cause 
of this is that the mature, dry, tough, 
fibrous muscles become filled up with fat, 
making the meat tender and juicy. Hence 
the use of carbonaceous food, as corn, oil 
meals, etc., is necessary in the finishing of 
any animal used for meat. 
HOW TO MAKE A LAWN. 
B. M. C., Point Comfort, Fa.—What is 
the best way of making a lawn on land that 
has been under corn for several years? 
The house is to be built next spring, and is 
intended as a summer home here on tide¬ 
water. Would it be well to commence to 
make the lawn this fall, or wouldn’t it be 
better to wait till the house is completed? 
Ans. —We should begin the lawn at once 
by grading, plowing aud harrowing now. 
If the soil is not fertile, plow under at the 
rate of 75 tons of old stable manure to the 
acre. Leave it thus until early spring. 
Then use a Cutaway or other similar 
harrow, finishing with a smoothing harrow 
or by hand-raking. Sow as early in the 
spring as possible at the rate of not less 
than five bushels of Red-top to the acre. 
First sow half of it and rake the entire sur¬ 
face again so as to incorporate the seed 
with the surface soil. Then sow the rest 
crosswise and again rake. Finish by roll¬ 
ing it as soon as the soil is dry enough not 
to stick to the roller. You may use Blue- 
grass instead of Red-top if you prefer, or 
half of each. We should sow no other va¬ 
riety. Do not sow White Clover. A 
further dressing of, say, 1,000 pounds to the 
acre of raw-bone flour and from 25 to 50 
bushels to the acre of unleached wood 
ashes would be desirable if a first-rate 
lawn is the object. 
MAKING CHARCOAL. 
L. M., Augusta, Go.—Where some 
friends of mine live there are no pine trees, 
and they have tried to make charcoal from 
oak without success. How can it be done ? 
Ans.—C harcoal may be made from any 
kind of wood, although some kinds make 
better charcoal than others. As a rule, the 
softer woods—those having the least 
mineral matter and being therefore less 
dense—make the best coal. Willow wood 
is used for the charcoal used by gunpowder- 
makers, because, having very little mineral 
matter, it is more completely consumed 
and leaves very little ash. But in this case 
perhaps the coal is not well burned. To 
make good charcoal from oak, long, slow 
burning is necessary. The pit should be 
well aired at first to get the whole of the 
wood fired, and then the draft holes should 
be closed, except so much as to keep the 
fire from breaking out. If the oak wood 
is split small and closely packed the coal 
will be better. But, at the best, oak coal 
will not burn as well as pine or chestnut 
coal will, needing a greater draft to main¬ 
tain combustion. 
BERRIES. 
W. II. S., Fillmore, N. Y. —1. What is the 
best time for setting out berry bushes? 2 
Which are the hardiest and best varieties 
for family use? 3. Would a snow-drift on 
strawberry bushes be a benefit or would it 
be likely to smother the plants? 4. Is it 
too late now to set out * strawberry plants? 
Ans.— 1. Early spring for strawberries; al¬ 
so in August. For raspberries and blackber¬ 
ries fall or spring. 2. Strawberries: Cumber¬ 
land, Chas. Downing, Parker Earle, Prince 
and Sharpless. Raspberries: Turner, Cuth- 
bert, Springfield. Blackberries: Agawam, 
Kittatinny 3. Snow gives a first-rate 
protection on well-drained land. 4. It is 
rather late. Wait until spring. 
Miscellaneous. 
D. C. A., Cattaraugus, N. Y. —Do pears 
do well grafted on the apple? 
Ans. —No. They are short-lived. The 
R. N.-Y. has tried it and speaks from ex¬ 
perience. 
C. R. IF, Westfield , N. J. —How can I get 
seeds from the “ Seed Store” at Washing¬ 
ton? 
Ans. —Write to one of the Senators from 
your State, or the Congressman from your 
district, or to the Commissioner of Agricul¬ 
ture, Washington, D. C. 
F. P. Q., New York City.— What is the - 
origin of the Chili Squash, and where can 
pure seed be obtained? 
Ans. —It first appeared in J. M. Thor- 
burn & Company’s catalogue in 1869—we 
are not sure, but think the original stock 
was first grown by W. S. Carpenter of 
Westchester County, N. Y. Pure seed can 
be had from any of our well known New 
York City seedsmen. 
IF L. B. (address mislaid). —1. Where 
can I procure nitrate of soda and what is the 
cost of the same per cwt ? 2. How should 
grape and strawberry seeds be planted? 
ANS.—1. Of any of the fertilizer manu¬ 
facturing firms. See advertisements in 
the Rural. The cost is about 16 per bag 
of 200 pounds. 2. You may plant the seeds 
either in the open ground or in pots or boxes 
in the house. Grape seeds planted now in 
drills will sprout next spring. Plant the 
strawberry seeds just as you would tomato 
seeds. 
Discussion. 
THE FERTILIZATION OF STRAWBERRIES. 
J. A. F., Terre Haute, Ind.—I t w-as 
with pleasure I noted two recent articles in 
the R. N.-Y., (see page 385, and also Prof. 
Budd’s remarks on page 429), taking the 
same view as to the fertilization of the 
strawberry as set forth by myself in these 
columns last season. It required some 
courage to suggest that the world might 
