1 889 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
837 
pleasing face, and that cordial, “friendly” 
manner that characterizes Southern people 
and makes them so lovable. She had a box 
of plants in which she was interested, par¬ 
ticularly a cutting of the Storm King Fuch¬ 
sia. She said she never saw a new plant 
without straightway wanting one like it; 
and she seemed much pleased when some 
one on the train told her that her flower- 
borders at home, from which she had been 
absent for three weeks “with the boys,” 
were looking well. 
We reached Dillsboro at one o’clock in 
the afternoon. Here we were to have din¬ 
ner, and then leave in a “ hack ” (stage) for 
Franklin, the county-seat of Macon, a dis¬ 
tance of 21 miles, over the mountains. All 
along the railroad are structures called 
hotels, which are actual or prospective 
summer or health resorts. At Dillsboro 
there is a chalybeate spring, of which we 
drank, and the location of the few build¬ 
ings there is quite attractive. My trunk 
had been quietly reposing in the railroad 
station at this point for the past 10 days, 
but no charge was made for storage. I had 
been a little “concerned ” about the stage 
ride that confronted us, and was very 
much pleased when a fair-faced young fel¬ 
low, 18 years old, and with beautifully 
white teeth, came into the train as soon as 
it halted, and inquired for passengers to 
Franklin. The Methodist preacher’s wife 
brought him to me, saying: “There is 
Jim, who will drive you to Franklin, and 
he is perfectly trusty,” and there was no 
distrusting that frank, manly countenance. 
He had been over the road “ hundreds of 
times” and knew every inch of the way. 
At two o’clock his hack with three seats, 
a cover to the top, and rolled-up side-cur¬ 
tains was ready. The middle seat was 
given us, as being the most “springy” and 
two commercial travelers occupied the 
back one. The baggage followed in an¬ 
other wagon. Our team consisted of one 
white horse and one mule, and they pulled 
together harmoniously, regardless of race 
distinctions 
For the greater part of that ride, the road 
lay through the unbroken forest, and when 
we were not climbing up one side of a 
mountain we were going down the other 
side. There did not seem to have been 
any method in engineering the road, and 
that it led in fact to anywhere, had to be 
taken on faith. At long intervals we passed 
a log cabin, with barn to match—the cabin 
sometimes without windows, always small, 
and the doorway always as full as it could 
be of babies and grown-ups. One or two 
habitations, more ambitious than the oth¬ 
ers, consisted of two cabins connected by a 
covered passage-way. This insured a sit¬ 
ting-room for the family apart from the 
kitchen, and as these houses had windows 
with sashes filled with glass, they indicated 
the extreme of opulence. At intervals we 
passed clearings of bottom land, in which 
men and white women in sun-bonnets toiled 
side by side. We saw some gardens, prin¬ 
cipally of onions, which they called “ in¬ 
guns,” and some untrimmed peach trees 
by the roadside were full of fruit. One of 
the travelers, whom Jim familiarly called 
Charlie, seemed to know every one along 
the route, and he gave a brief history of 
them to his companion. He was himself a 
mountaineer, and seemed to think their 
abodes and surroundings good euough. To 
me they seemed poor and miserable to the 
last degree. “Charlie” said that a good 
many now subscribed to a weekly news¬ 
paper, which a few years ago was an un¬ 
heard of thing. When about half the ride 
was accomplished, we met two men on 
horseback, armed with revolvers. Jim said 
they were revenue officers, and were hunt¬ 
ing “moonshine” distillers of whisky. The 
mountaineers like corn whisky, and in 
proportion so hate the Government officers 
who endeavor to prevent its secret manu¬ 
facture that the latter are always in dan¬ 
ger of their lives. These two men, and half 
a dozen “schooner” wagons—wagons with 
hoops bent over the tops of the boxes and 
covered with white cotton cloth—bearing 
sacks of corundum to Dillsboro, were the 
only travelers we met in that day’s ride of 
21 miles, which consumed six hours. The 
road in places, seemed as we looked ahead, 
utterly impassable and the jolting was so 
excessive that my arms were almost paral 
yzed with fatigue, in clutching efforts to 
save myself from being pitched out by the 
road-side, or shaken into a jelly. The lad¬ 
die made various “short-cuts” with 
Charlie, by the way of trails that ran 
straighter than the road, and loaded him¬ 
self with specimens of mica, garnets, and 
wild flowers. Fortunately the days were 
then long, and the daylight still lingered 
as we entered Franklin, where we found a 
few neatly painted cottages, and even a 
pond or two stocked with carp. The town 
occupies a plateau framed in mountains, 
and was indeed a charming spot. There 
were two hotels, both pronounced “excel¬ 
lent” by Charlie ; though the buildings 
were rude, they were roomy enough, and 
had double galleries (piazzas) running 
across the front, and the “feed” was not 
bad in the one we stopped at. When we 
were shown to our rooms, I was so delighted 
at finding a woven wire “ spring ” under 
what passed for a mattress and clean sheets 
on the bed, that I shut my eyes to other 
shortcomings. The laddie’s bed had no 
springs, but he didn’t mind that, and was 
asleep in a twinkling. But as I had to have 
both windows open in order to insure air 
and as each was as accessible as a door for 
entrance, I did not feel altogether content 
in the situation. However, sleep finally 
came, and neither chickens, pigs, nor cats, 
came in to disturb us, and the good-na¬ 
tured landlord assured us that we might 
have slept in perfect safety out on the side¬ 
walk ! 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
rEvery query must be accompanied by the 
name and address of the writer to insure atten¬ 
tion. Before asking a question, please see if it 
is not answered in our advertising columns. 
Ask only a few questions at one time. Put 
questions on a separate piece of paper.] 
BLACK-KNOT ; PLUM LICE ; KEROSENE 
EMULSION. . 
K. N ., Hurlock, Md.—l. Some of my apple 
trees are covered with knots as large as 
eggs; each one of them seems to be made 
up of innumerable small ones ; what is the 
trouble and is there a remedy ? 2. Last 
spring the lower leaves and buds of my 
plum trees were covered with thousands of 
little black lice or bugs not much larger 
than the head of a pin, while the under 
sides of the leaves were black with eggs. I 
picked off all the affected leaves and burned 
them, as I had only a few small trees, but 
this could not be done with large trees; or 
even with many small ones. What are 
the pests, and is there a remedy ? 
ANSWERED BY DR. C. V. RILEY. 
1. The knots in the apples are the com¬ 
mon black-knot of the plum (Sphceria mor- 
bosa) which once in a great while occurs 
upon the apple. 2. The insects on the plum 
trees were the common plum lice, of which 
several species are found upon this tree. 
(The one in question was, from the de¬ 
scription, doubtless Aphis pruni). The 
best remedy is to be found in spraying the 
trees with a dilute kerosene soap emulsion 
made according to the following formula: 
Kerosene, two gallons—67 per cent.; com¬ 
mon soap, or whale-oil soap, a-half pound, 
water, one gallon—33 per cent. Heat 
the solution of soap and add it boiling- 
hot to the kerosene. Churn the mixture 
by means of a force-pump and spraying 
nozzle for five or 10 minutes. The emul¬ 
sion, if perfect, forms a cream which thick¬ 
ens upon cooling and should adhere with¬ 
out oiliness to the surface of glass. Dilute 
before using one part of the emulsion with 
nine parts of cold water. The above for¬ 
mula gives three gallons of emulsion and 
this, when diluted, makes 30 gallons of 
wash. 
ERADICATING GARLIC ON CULTIVATED 
LAND. 
S. W. B., Vira, Pa. —I have seven acres 
of hillside in which the garlic is so abun¬ 
dant as to make the wheat unsalable. Is 
there any better treatment than to farm it 
one year with corn, then with oats for two 
successive years, seeding down the second 
year ? The field washes badly. 
ANSWERED BY PROF. I. P. ROBERTS. 
This rotation would not diminish the gar¬ 
lic, while it would subject the field to wash¬ 
ing and would leave the land so exhausted 
as most certainly to endanger the seeding 
with grass. A better plan would be to 
plow the land very deep this winter, using 
a jointer on the plow which should be set 
deep so that all the bulbs of the garlic will 
be placed in the bottom of the furrows. Sow 
to oats in the spring, using not more than 
two bushels per acre, fertilize liberally 
with commercial fertilizers—home-com¬ 
pounded or purchased—and seed with a 
very liberal amount of grasses and clovers 
as follows : Four pounds of Medium Red 
Clover, one pound of Alsike, two pounds of 
Orchard Grass, two pounds of Red Top, 
and four pounds of Timothy. If the tend 
is inclined to be wet, use no Orchard %-ass 
and double the amount of Red Top ^eed. 
In after years fertilize the land liberally so 
that the grasses and clovers will positively 
occupy all the land, and, if necessary, sow 
grass seed from time to time on the weak 
places. It is a bad practice to cultivate 
fields filled with garlic unless it is done at 
the right time and in the best possible 
manner and with a view of destroying most 
or all of these objectionable plants. With 
rich land, abundant grass seed, and good 
management one can soon see an illustra¬ 
tion of the principle of the good crowding 
out the bad. 
A PEAR ORCHARD. 
G. W. K., Fisherville, Va.— 1. Would it 
pay to plant 500 pear trees on a heavy clay 
strong soil? What would be the best va¬ 
rieties for market—the fruit would have to 
be shipped some distance? 2. Whatarethe 
addresses of a few reliable nurserymen? 
ANSWERED BY N. OHMER. 
1. A heavy clay soil is just the thing for 
pear trees, provided it is well underdrained 
—wet feet are not good for fruit trees. 
Judging from my 30 years’ experience, it 
would pay to plant a large orchard of 
them. I planted 4,000 pear trees, and no 
tree fruit has paid me so well. I would 
recommend the following varieties as hav¬ 
ing been the most regular bearers, and 
profitable to me: Bartlett, Flemish 
Beauty, Louise Bonne, Lawrence and 
Duchesse, the latter as a dwarf. I have 
many other varieties, but these are the 
most profitable market sorts. 2 The Storrs 
& Harrison Co., Painesville, Ohio; Smiths, 
Powell & Lamb, Syracuse, N. Y.; Ellwan- 
ger & Barry, Rochester, N. Y.; N. Ohmer, 
Dayton, Ohio; Brooklyn Nurseries, Balti¬ 
more, Md. The names of other trustworthy 
nurserymen also frequently appear in our 
advertising columns. 
ABOUT MUSHROOM GROWING. 
F. H. B., Peoria, III. —1. How soon 
after planting should mushrooms appear? 
2. What is the best temperature for growth ? 
3. What for growth in young beds ? 4. 
Would too much moisture retard growth ? 
5. Some of my beds that were planted from 
the middle to the end of July are produc¬ 
ing nothing. 
ANS.—1. Everything being satisfactory, 
mushrooms should apptar in from six to 
seven weeks after planting the spawn, but 
a full crop should not be expected till the 
eighth week. 2. From 55 degrees to 60 
degrees Fah. 3. The temperature just 
mentioned is the best at all times and un¬ 
der all circumstances. 4. It will kill the 
mycelium, hence ruin the crop. 5. Our cor¬ 
respondent does not describe his method of 
cultivating mushrooms sufficiently for us 
to be able to give him much information to 
suit his case: but we may say that July is 
too early for planting spawn in artificially 
prepared beds; the end of August is soon 
enough, and our market growers seldom 
plant before September. 
Miscellaneous. 
F. B. €., Springfield, Oregon.— Chas. A. 
Green, Rochester, N. Y., is secretary of the 
Nurserymen’s Association. Copies of the 
report can be obtained from him. The 
price is $1.00. Write to George Wm. Hill, 
Department of Agriculture, Washington, 
D. C., for copies of the Department bulle¬ 
tins. 
C. S. B.. Monroe County, N. F.-We 
have used the unleached ashes furnished by 
Monroe, Judson & Stroup, and believe 
them to be as good and pure as any of the 
Canada unleached ashes offered in the mar¬ 
ket. At least that is our judgment from 
the ashes sent to us, and from all we 
have heard from other sources. Their ad¬ 
dress is Oswego, N. Y. 
ASPINWALL POTATO PLANTED 
Drops Fertilizer While Planting Potatoes I 
Corn Planter Attachment. 
WORK F ULLY GUA RANTEED. 
ASPINWALL MANUFACTURING CO., 
THREE RIVERS, MICH. 
ALL IN ONE OPERATION. 
WHITE TO US FOR ILLUSTRATED CIRCULAR. 
Mention Rural IH'ew-Yorker. 
