THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 28 
146 
Gardening on Sandy Soil. 
U. U'. H., Mariner’s Harixir, N. Y .—I wuii- 
<J<T what the Jlope Fartii man and others 
^^iU think about my exi^erience. I am not 
a farmer by occupation, but fancy; I was 
born with a natural liking' for the work. 
I am an iron molder by trade, and earn 
good wages at that business About 12 
years ago 1 went into business for myself, 
and lost all my savings in the boom and 
collai)se of a southern city. I went back 
to wjork, saved a few hundred dollars, 
which I paid on a small farm in Illinois, 
giving a mortgage for the remainder. 
'I’hrough sickness 1 lost that. Three years 
ago 1 left Illinois, where I was rai.sed, and 
came East. About the (irsl thing I noticed 
was the difference in farming East and 
West. In Illinois about all a man has to 
do is to plant and cultivate; with a good 
season he gets a crop. In the East It 
seems the amount of manure or fertilizer 
ptit on the ground gives the crop. I came 
over to Staten Island one day to visit a 
man who had rented a small farm here 
and had more ground than he wanted. We 
found a house nearby that was for rent 
about 1% mile from my work, which I rent¬ 
ed. He gave me the use of half his land 
for having the whole piece plowed. After 
buying a few things to put in the house 
the boy and I moved over expecting to 
have a line garden. The soil is a thin 
.sandy loam and exhausted 50 years ago, 
but we didn’t know that; it looked good, 
was loose and easy to work. We got seed, 
tomatoes, eggplants, pepper plants, sw'eet 
potato plants, etc. About Decoration Day 
came a hot wind that blew the sand away 
from the tomato plants and made hay out 
of them. We bought more, but they 
wouldn’t grow. 'I’he seeds all came through 
the ground finely, but they would not do 
a thing. W(! consulted the neighbors. 
S(ime said we needed fertilizers; we bought 
some and applied them ojily to burn off 
the. leaves of the little plants. Then we 
were told liquid manure was our only sal¬ 
vation, so we scoured the Island for ma¬ 
nure at $1 a small one-horse load. Two 
loads were all we could find, everybody 
needed it for themselves. What we got we 
used according to directions on the Dima 
beans with good results. They were the 
only thing that returned the seed we put 
into the ground. The other man got dis¬ 
gusted and quit. I got, disgusted, but I 
didn’t quit. Having a little money left I 
got a horse and wagon and set the boys 
to buying and hauling manure for next 
year, subscribed to The R. N.-Y. and a 
course of study in the Home Corre- 
sijondence School at Springfield, Mass. I 
rented a different piece of ground, as I 
could not get the same piece I had before. 
The ground I have is light sandy soil all 
grown over with bush and sprouts. We 
have it.about half cleaned up. It is really 
an abandoned farm in Greater New York. 
I rentod the ground, about five acres, for 
J2'J a year. Every week with what money 
I can spare we buy some manure in town 
a! 50 cents for a one-horse load. We have 
.50 loads now, which we turned over last 
week and piled up square and flat on top. 
We expect to get 50 n)ore loads by Spring. 
We are only seven miles from New York 
and New’ark, N. J.; have a good horse and 
wagon, one man, two boys, about five acres 
of poor sandy soil, part of it is rather wet, 
some very dry. We have learned a whole 
lot from reading The R. N.-Y. What is 
the best early tomato, the best late or gen¬ 
eral crop tomato for the New York market, 
and w'hat kind of a fertilizer shall I buy 
or mix myself for tomatoes in connection 
with 10 or 15 tons of stable manure per 
acre? I have a bed of Big Boston lettuce 
planted last Fall and covered over with 
leaves. How should I treat It in the 
Spring? What kind of a fertilizer shall I 
put on it? Is Big Boston a good lettuce in 
the general market? In connection with 10 
or 15 tons per acre of stable manure, what 
shall I use for radishes, beets, peas, cu¬ 
cumbers and onions? Can I get one mix¬ 
ture or brand of fertilizer that will do for 
the whole patch? What crops do you thin'x 
a beginner should plant on sandy soil? 
in about the plants. If rotted manure 
cannot be had a handful of nitrate of 
soda to each two yards of row may be 
scattered between the plants and work¬ 
ed in, taking care not to get it on the 
foliage. We would hardly advise you to 
try to mix your own chemicals for a 
garden of this size. We would use one 
of the best mixtures for vegetables and, 
in addition, use nitrate of soda In small 
quantities from time to time as the crops 
seem to require it. Be careful in using 
the nitrate not to put it too close to the 
young plants, for it may scald them. 
Scatter it about four inches from the 
plants. 
For the land’s sake, use Bowker’s Fer¬ 
tilizers. They enrich the earth.— Adv. 
AROOSTOOK 
Seed Potatoes 
Garden Seeds 
Early and Reliable. 
Catalogue FREE. 
TheGeo.W.PJerrardCo. 
CARIBOU, MAINE. 
Early Ohio Seed Potatoes. 
Pure and Genuine. 
Paragon Chestnut Trees. 
Large Stock. Write for Prices. 
H. M. ENGLE & SON, Marietta, Pa. 
Potatoes and Cane Seed 
Choice Irish Cobblers, Six Weeks, Triumph, Carman 
No SandWhiton's White Mammoth Seed Potatoes, 
$1.25 per bushel; five bushels or more, $1 per bushel. 
Cane Seed, In new sacks. $1.25 per bushel. Osage 
Orange Plants, $11.50 per 1,000. Just the thing to grow 
posts. B. H. BROWN, Oxford, Butler County, O. 
Irish Cobbler Potatoes 
200 bushels Choice Seed Stock. This is one of the 
earliest and best quality imtatoes grown. Stock guar¬ 
anteed strictly pure. Prices on application. State 
quantity. wAlso the finest White Turnip Radish 
grown. 15c. per packet. EI)\VAKD BIGG, JR,, 
.Seedsman, Burlington. N. J. 
flippy—TeUow 8-rowed Corn; White Star Oats, 
V L L 11 first at N. Y. State Fair; Beardless Bar- 
■JLLIJ ley,$l per bu. POTATOES—Cobblers, 6 
Weeks, Ohlos, Raleighs. 20 kinds. I)e- 
scrlption 11 kinds Field Beans and yields. Write to¬ 
day for free package Iceberg Lettuce. 
SMITH’S POTATO FARM. Manchester, N. Y. 
nATATflCC especially for SEED 
rUIAIUkO 10 varieties SEED OATS. Eight 
Prices right; list fr STRAWBERRY PLANTS. 
GEO. H. COLVIN, Crest Farm, Dalton, Pa. 
POTATOES 
MAINE GROWN 
_ Fifty varieties. Ad¬ 
dress CARTER & CORKY, Presque Isle, Maine, or 
310 Washington Street, New York. Catalogue. Ship¬ 
ments can made either from Maine or New York. 
For Sale 
Second-growth Seed Potatoes, $1.25 
per bushel; Home-grown Crimson 
Clover Seed, $3 per bushel; Cow Peas, $1.75 per bu. 
JOSEPH E. HOLLAND, Milford, Del. 
AA~Most popular varieties. 
066u rOTalOCS'Early and Late Mod¬ 
erate pric ’> Satisfaction guaranteed to purchasers. 
C. W. BURNETT, Phelps, N. Y. 
Ceed Potatoes—Pure, sound and vigorous. Direct 
^ from grower to planter. Ill catalogue, describing 
61) varieties, FiiEE. A G. Aldridge, Fishers, N. Y. 
SEED 
POTATOES-Ey. Ohio, Six Weeks and 
others. 50c. to 80c. a bush. Catalogue free 
McAdams seed Co., Columbus Grove, O. 
potatoes—Bovee. Carman, Cobbler, Hebron. 6 Wks. 
* Queen,Ohio, Rose. 85 kinds. C.W. Ford. Fisher, N.Y. 
•GIANT ARGENTEUIL ASPARAGUS 
Fine plants. E. G. PACKARD, Dover, Deb 
ONION SEED—Southport Globe. 
MEEKER’S SMOOTHING HARROW. 
Send for prices and catalogue. 
THE C. O. JBLLIFF MFG. CO., SOUTHPORT, CONN 
Ans.— It is a wonder you have hung 
on. Almost all vegetables except celery 
may be grown to advantage on sandy 
soil provideu you can make it rich 
enough with manure and chemicals. 
Such light soil if well enriched is better 
than heavy soil, since it can be worked 
early and is warm enough to start the 
earliest crops. Spark’s Barliana tomato 
is likely to be the most profitable on 
vour soil. It needs liberal applications 
of manure and good cultivation. Match¬ 
less and Success are profitable main crop 
varieties. They just suit the New York 
market. Big Boston is about the jest 
lettuce you could plant. If it comes out 
all right in the Spring the leaves should 
be raked off and a dressing of about two 
inches of fine old manure lightly worked 
and Dealers in ONION SEED. 
We make a specialty of CHOICE ONION SEED. 
Write U.S for prices. .SCHILDER BROTHERS, 
Chlllicothe, Ohio. Established 1876. 
20,000 Quarts our plants. List 
free. KKVITT PLANT FARM, Athenia,N. J. 
Strawberry Plants-F4“."^^V"ffeforSr‘”^^ 
O. A. JOHNSON, Manokin,Md. 
Strawberry Plants 
by dozen or thousand. Send for price-list. 
WILLIAM PALMER, Grooms, N. Y. 
CLIMAX STRAWBERRY-SriiTArc 
est producer. For particulars see Rural of June 21, 
or send postal for our new Berry catalogue. Big stock 
Best Berry Plants of all good kinds. Bottom prices. 
SLAYMAKBR & SON. Dover, Del. 
Five cents, postpaid. All 
kinds. Carnations,Geraniums, 
Cannas, Dahlias. Strong 
plants. Cataiogne free. 
W. R. GRAY,Oakton,Va. 
^3 
/ 7 oive/'s 
%nfy 3 Ocen/-<^mM 
, Worth $1.25 -re 
r A SPECIAL OFFERmade tointroduceour 
good$. Satisfaction guaranteed or money refunded. 
20 Pkis. SEEDS 
1 Pkt. Rambler Rose 3 corsmxd. 1 Pkt. Diamond Flower. 
California Sweet Peat. 
Double Chinese Pink. 
Carnation Marguerite. 
Heliotrope mixed. 
Poppj—New Shirley. 
Umbrella Plant. 
Giant Verbena, mixed. 
Japan Morning Glory. 
Petunia Hybrid,mixed. 
Pansies, JOcolors mixed. 
** Washington WeepingPalm. 
** MaryScmple Asters,icolors. 
** Alyssum. Little Gem,mixed. 
** Bouquet Chrysanthemum. 
** Forget-me-not Victoria. 
** Hibiscus Crimson Eye. 
Ix>vely Butterfly Flower. 
** Phlox Drummondii. 
„ 23 BULBS 
1 New Red CallaLily, 1 Summer Flowering Hyacinth, 
1 Double Pearl Tuberose, ® Butterfly and 2 Hybrid 
Gladiolus, 8 P'ine Mixed Oxalia, 2 Rainbo'W Lilies, 2 
Hardy Wind Flowers, 2 Lovely Cinnamon Vines, 2 
Splendid New Ganna Lilies— 1 crimson, J golden. 
A Return Check Good for 25 Cents 
on iirstSl.OD order; also our 
Kew Floral Guide* all above postpaid, only 30c. 
THE CONARD & JONES 00. 
Grower, of the “Best Ro.ca In America.” 
Box A. WEST GROVE, PA. 
iniiiniiiiiiiiiHimiiuiinniiHiiniiiiniiiiiiiiimiiiniiimiiiiiiniiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiimiiiiii 
ADO DOLLARS 
TO YOUR CROPS 
JOHNSON St, STOKES, 
217-210 Market St., Philadelphia. 
IIIHilllllllllUIIHIIIIIIUIIIIIItlltlinillMMnMIMIIIHIIIIMIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIMItlllllHIIIMinMHNHK 
For our Catalogue of Small Frui t Plants, 
also our 32-quart crate and quart basket, address 
H. U AULTFA'l’UEK, Minerva, Ohio. 
PLUMS 
The tv AUG H is one of the finest of great 
plums ; fJONZALES is another. Send for cata¬ 
logue—“Plumb full” of good phims aud other 
fruits. 
Sr. '^7^. 
Eastern Shore Nurseries. Deutou, Md. 
THE VERY FINEST 
Straw 
Rasp 
Black 
Goose 
Grapes 
AND 
Currants 
in the -world are gro-wu from plants sent out by 
me—for thirty year.s a small fruit specialist. 
Beautiful, illustrated catalogue of 50 pages, giv¬ 
ing honest descriptions of varieties—some to be 
had of no one else—fair prices and replete with 
valuable hints on culture, free to everybody. 
J.T. LOVETT, Little Silver, N. J. 
Strawberry Culture. 
By M. Cba-wtobd. Over 40 years’ experience. 
A. 60-page Book—not a catalogue. Send 10 cents 
for a copy, read it, then return It andgetyoui 
money back if you want to. 
M. CRAWFORD COMPANV, 
Box 1005. Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. 
The Sample Strawberry 
is a standard no-w-, and one of the best prrow-n. 
Write for our free catalogue describing this and 
40 others, and giving prices of from $1.75 to 12.25 
per M on a stock of 2,.500,000 choice plants. We 
sold over one million plants last year, and have a 
long list of ■well-plea.sed customers. Write to-day 
aud save money on your spring order. 
J. W. JONES & SON, Allen, Md. 
PEACH TREES 
ELBERTA and over 20 other leading varieties. 
Also Apple trees. Large surplus stock to be dis¬ 
posed of. PLANTERS, this is your chance to 
procure CHOICE STOCK at WHOLESALE 
PRICES. Write at once for our circulars and 
prices, and send in your list of -wants. 
THE H. SMITH NURSERY, 
New Haven, Station A, Conn. 
'Y THOOSAND 
riFT 
r *Ppl*Tree». BeifCommerclilSerti 
■ ^ clean, smooth, thrifty: no end to 
^ roots. Peach, Plum, Pear, Cherry, Quince, 
etc., cheap. Woodview Nurseries, Mt. Houv Springs. Pt 
I f 
TR 
TIT 
PEGROWN 
OUPBOOK 
HOWTO&POW 
rHOIT 
TITUS NURSEBYncpuJuTnu 
FREICHTpaVit 
...FREE 
^OOOO 
TREES 
aoo varletlea.Also 6rapes,Bmall root¬ 
ed stock. Oenuioe, cheap. * sample emranta mailed for 
10c. Deac. price hat free. LEWIS ROK8CH, rrcdaala, N. I. 
piBUpilQ Don’t grow Com all cob. Enclose 
■ nil HI CHO stamp for free sample REAL CORN. 
Yellow grains three-fourths inch long; small cob. 
MT. BLANCO POULTHV FARM, Mt. Blanco, O. 
SOY BEAN5 
Early YeUow, choice for seed. My own growing. 
While they last $3 per bushel. Sacks free with two 
bushels. C. C. CHURCHILL, Dowagiac, Mich. 
Era and 
WWWW Whippoorwill. 
C. C BROWN, Bridgevllle, Del. 
Supply your ground with 
nitrogen from the air, and 
add humus to the soil. This can be done by the use 
of Southern Cow Peas, which are recommended by 
leading agricultural papers and Experiment Stations 
for the building up and making profitable of all run¬ 
down soils. Whippoorwill at $1.35 per bushel 60 lbs.; 
Clay’s or Unknown at $1.25 per bushel’. Cash with 
order. WM. B. ELLIS, Fort Valley, Ga. 
The Famou5 
Forage Crop 
and Soli 
Improvers. 
WK ARK HEADQUARTERS for these and all 
Southern specialties, inchtding Soja Beans, 
Velvet Beans, Pearl or Cat-tail Millet, Teosinte 
Bermuda Grass, Ensilage Corn, Spanish Pea¬ 
nuts, Chufas, Sorghums, etc. 
W'rite for prices, andour interesting Catalogue 
giving full information about these crops. 
T. W. WOOD A 50NS, • Richmond, Vn. 
Cow Peas. 
RAPE 
Greatest, Cheapest Food 
on Earth for Sheep, Swine, 
Cattle, etc. 
Will be worth $100 to you to read what 
Salzer’a catalo g saya abou t rape. 
Billion Dollar Grass 
will positively make you rich; 12 tons 
of hay and lots of pasture per acre, so 
also Bromus, Peaoat, Spelli, MaijaronI 
wheat for arid, hot soils, 63 bus. per 
acre. 20th ('entury Oats, 2r>0 bus. per 
acre and Teosinte, Yieldi 100 ton# 
Green Fodder per acre. 
Forthls Notice and 10ca 
wc mail big catalog and 10 Farm Seed 
Novelties, fully worth |10 to geta alart. 
JOHN A:SAlZEBSEEDCO..^aS”^ 
Isbeirs 
SEED 
Bargains 
27 Varieties Flower Seeds, fOe. 
47 Varieties Vegetable Seeds, each 
All nigh grade and Northern Grown. Beau¬ 
tiful new illustrated Seed Catalogue, giv¬ 
ing prices and everything in Seeds for the 
flower and vegetable garden, FREE with 
either 10c order. Send today. 
S. M. ISBELL & CO., Dept.B, JACKSON. MICH. 
50c SEED/ 
DOE-BILL 
FREE 
Send us to-day, your name and 
address on a postal and we win mail you FREE 
our handsome Illustrated Seed Catalog containing 
Due Rill and plan good for Stic worth of Flower or 
y ogotablo Seeds FREE. Your selection to introduce 
The Best Northern Grown Seeds 
direct from grower to planter, from Saginaw Valley 
SeedGardens. Seed Potatoes, Vegetable,Flower. 
Field Seeds and Plants, 
100,000 PAOKAOEB BXED8 rXEB 
^on above plan. Write quick. Send names 
k of neighbors who buy seeds. |ioo cash fof ' 
-■ best list. See the catalogue. . ^ 
-Harry If. Itamnond Seed Co., Ltd. 
Box i 2. Bay City, Hleh. 
*0% 
HARRIS’ SEEDS 
From the Grower to the Sower 
WholOMls Prices to All. They are not 
. , “cheap seeds,” but the best seeds grown, 
at prices which dealers often have to pay for seeds not so Rood. We raise them on our own farm 
and save middlemen's profits. We raise Vasetable and Flower Seeds, Seed Potatoes and al» 
Kinds of Farm SeedSt I^arge Catalogue freea Don’t miss seeing it. Send us your address wow 
JOSEPH HARRIS COs, Moreton Farm, Coldwater, Ns Y. 
