March 21 
208 
BUNCHING ASPARAGUS. 
Some markets require the green as¬ 
paragus while in others the white is in 
good demand. It is usually a good plan 
to have both kinds. By throwing a ridge 
ol earth over each row the asparagus 
will become well bleached before it 
reaches the top of the ground. The 
other rows will furnish the green as¬ 
paragus. In cutting I use an inch chisel, 
and the shoots are cut oft just under the 
ground to secure the green asparagus. 
ASI’AltAOrS BUNCHTCS. Fio. 82 . 
In the i)art of the field that is ridged up 
the shoots are cut off, just as they appear 
above the soil, as deep in the ground as 
necessary to secure the proper length. 
As the stalks are cut they are placed in 
a basket with the tops all one way. When 
the basket is full it is carried to a 
hydrant and the asparagus placed in a 
long row on a table and well washed. By 
keeping the stalks straight this work is 
greatly lessened, as the dirt can be 
V, .ashed from the stalks easier, quicker 
and with le.ss water. Anyone-who has 
ever bunched as])aragus has ol)served 
that but few stalks are perfectly 
straight. In bunching the stalks should 
be turned so eacli head turns toward the 
center of the bunch. This will take time. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
In the name of a large class who have 
to depend on what they buy for grapes 
to eat 1 would ask that you declare war 
on the Concord grape as well as on the 
Ben Davis apple, for after testing and 
fruiting over 60 different varieties ol 
grapes I should not hesitate for one mo¬ 
ment to class it as lower in quality as a 
THE MOWER 
that wi 11 cut your short grass, 
your tall grass and weeds, 
and will do all the trimming 
along fences and walks. 
Send for catalogue and 
prices. THK CEII'PKK 
L.V\VN .MOAVKK CO., 
Pa. 
grape than Ben Davis is as an apple, and 
when it comes to Moore’s Early and 
Niagara they are poorer yet. There are 
some people with depraved appetites who 
really like a foxy grape. 1 suppose they 
belong to the same family as Mr. Wal¬ 
lace, page 125, who learned to like Ben 
Davis, and the fact shocked you so much 
that you quoted Pope’s well-known lines 
on vice to him. It was an apt quotation, 
and just fitted the spot. The only rea¬ 
son 1 can see why people will buy Con¬ 
cord grapes is they can’t get enough of 
any other kind in the market to learn 
what they taste like. If I should go to 
a fruit dealer and ask for Wilder, Barry, 
Ulster Prolific, Bindley or Salem he 
would look at me in a way that would 
indicate that he thought I was losing 
my mind. u- m. w. 
Rockford, Ill. 
Ben Davis for New Engi.and. —Al¬ 
most every farmer 10 years ago advised 
me not to set out the Ben Davis apple, 
1 had six seven-year-old trees of this va¬ 
riety and had no trouble in selling them 
at very good prices; sometimes I got $2 
per bushel in Waltham, Mass., and the 
markets always wanted more. I thought 
of setting an orchard of them then, but 
everyone said that by the time 1 goi 
my orchard into bearing there would be 
no sale for them on account of the qual- 
KSTABLISHED \S24. 
HtGH^GR/kDE 
GARDEN SEEDS 
BRIDQEMAN’S SEED WAREHOUSE, 
37 East Nineteenth Street, NEW YORK. 
Descriptive Illustrated Catalogue mailed free to all 
applicants. 
Growing Ideas 
What to grow In the garden. 
When to grow and how. Modern 
ideas of agriculture and llorlcul- 
ture for those who plant for 
pleasure or prolit. Illus- 
trated In 
DREER’S-^ 
Garden Calendar 
Sent free to all who mention this paper. 
HENRY A. DREER, 7l4ChestnutSt., Phila.,Pa. 
n RE what you want to insure success. .50 
years’ exi)erience, with hundreds of 
testimonials, proves their real merit. Send 
for iliustraten catalogue, FREE, contain¬ 
ing valuable information. 
TKEis 
Fruit and Ornamantal. 
Shrubs 
Roses 
Hardy Plants 
All the Best and Hardiest Vari. 
eties. Largest Collections in 
America. Illustrated Descrip¬ 
tive Catalogue FREE on Request. 
ELLWANGER & BARRY, 
Nurserymen—Horticulturists. 
MOUNTHOPE NURSERIES, 
Rochester, N. Y. 
Established 1840. Mention this paper. 
100% Investment. 
A few dollars invested in Ornamental 
Trees, Vines, Plants and Flowers to 
decorate your home and yard, will add 
double the cost to its appearance or sell¬ 
ing value. Our catalogue shows our fine 
stock of large Maple and other Fore.st 
Trees. Beautiful Hydrangeas and all 
kinds of Shrubs and Vines. Also a full 
line of Fruit Trees and Plants. Send your 
A BUNCHING TABLE FOR ASPARAGUS. Fi(i. 8.1. 
but it will pay, as a much neater bunch 
will be secmrecl, and it will sell more 
readily. After the center is formed each 
succeeding row is slightly lowered so 
I bat the bunch when finished will be 
cone-sliaped and about what aii ordinary 
hand can reach around. A rubber band 
is now slipped over the bumdi, while 
still ill the left hand, and the work is 
done. The rublier bands are better than 
strings, as they hold the bunches neater 
and save much labor in using them, and 
lalior is money in the market garden 
l)U.='iness. All bunches are made as near 
alike as iiossible. Fig. 82 represents 
Ihree uniform ounches. In Fig. 83 is 
shown a Imiudiing table with part of the 
asparagus; in bunches. On the edge of 
the table may be seen the rubber bands. 
.After being put up each bunch is cut off 
about six inches long, and placed in a 
shallow pan containing water. Here it 
remains until the next morning, when it 
is placed in boxes containing wet moss, 
the boxes covered with wet sacks. The 
ity. I wish I had set 500 trees 10 or 12 
years ago; I would be better off by this 
time, at any rate I did not. I took tlieir 
advice and waited for the glut to come, 
but I have never seen the time when 
there were too many of them in Boston. 
I.ast April, 1902, I w’as selling Roxbury 
Russet (fine quality) for $4.50 per bar¬ 
rel, when Ben Davis was bringing $5 at 
wholesale, I think the latter would pay 
better at $3.50 than the former at $4.50. 
1 have stood on South Market St., Bos¬ 
ton, a whole day trying to make people 
believe that the R. I. Greening was a 
good pie apple, but no use; they were 
not red and that settled it. The Porter 
apple is fine quality, but usually sells 
hard unless fancy. The Ben Davis comes 
into market when other apples are gone, 
and will always sell. 1 say give the peo¬ 
ple what they want and put the money 
in your pocket. 1 am going to plant an 
orchard of Ben Davis apple trees just as 
soon as I can dig a hole large enough 
to set a tree in, and I think I shall sell 
apples off these trees at $5 a barrel, at 
wholesale in Boston after The R. N.-Y. 
has got tired of talking them down. 
Natick, Mass. n. w. i,. 
WM. ELLIOTT & SONS, 
54 & 56 DEY ST., NEW YORK. 
address for catalogue. 
STEPHEN HOYT’S SONS, 
New Cauuitn, Coiiii, 
Rawsen^s 
1908 Seed Catalojruefor MurUft ^^arden- 
erH, published by a pniplionl pftrdoner, 
^ tells what are the most 8alubl** nnd - 
paying varieties and <!ontains complete list or 
fiRLBNGT&N 
TESTED SEEDS 
Tlie best the irround produces. 
Catalogue free. Send for It. 
W. W. RAWSON &. CO. 
Seedsmen, 
12-13 Faneuil Hall Square, 
ItoHtOtl) MuHh. 
For Sprinjf of 1903 AVe Offer Three MUllou 
Strawberry Plants 
From new beds planted in the Spring of iy02 on land 
especially adapted for making strong crowns witli 
abundance of fibrous roots. We tie in bunches ot' 2 ii. 
mark each variety with printed tags, pack securely iu 
wel ventilated packages with abuudauce of moss to 
secure safe carriage, no matter how great the dis¬ 
tance. Certificate of Inspection with every shipment. 
We invite correspondence, with a list of your wants, 
on which we will cheerfully name you our very best 
price. 
AUTO 
If you have not planted this grand 
Strawberry, you “ Au ” to. We have 
it with 42 other varieties. 
We also have Asparagus Roots, One and Two Year 
Oldln varieties— PAi.MKT'ro.CoNovEU Colossai.. 
Baku’s Ma.mmoth, Giant augkntkuii.. 
A general assprtmeut of Fruit Trees. 
SNOYV HIED NURSERIES, \V. M. I’eters & 
Souk, Proprietors, Snow Hill, MaryhiucL 
ARE YOU READY 
to place your order for Fruit T'rees now, 
while the Nur.series htive a full stock, 
and while you have the time to attend to 
it? Call’s Nurseries, Perry, O., make a 
sx)ecialty of dealing direct with their cus- 
tomer.s. They employ no agents, hut 
have the reputation of sending out the 
fittest trees that can he grown, and hun¬ 
dreds of our readers say the finest Fruit 
Trees they ever received came from these 
Nurseries. Write tliem for Price List. 
DWYER'S 1903 SPRING CATALOGUE 
Two Hundred Acres of Hardy Fruits and Ornamentals. 
Reliable descriptions; perfect illustrations and beautiful colored plates. T J. Dwyer’s Book on 
Hardy Trees, Plants and Vines 50 cents. This work will be sent postpaid, free, for all Spring 
orders. The Catalogtie is free. Write for It to-day. 
T. J. DWYER & SON, Orange County Nurseries, Cornwall, N.Y. 
boxes are placed in the wagon and taken 
lo market, where they sell for from 40 
to 80 cents per dozen bunches. 
Indiana. elmer g. tffts. 
FACTS ABOUT FRUITS. 
Wah On the Concord Grape.—The 
R. N.-Y. has been doing a noble work 
showing uj) the poor quality of the Ben 
Davis apple. At the same time when¬ 
ever a subscriber has asked for a list of 
good grapes to plant for home consump¬ 
tion The R. N.-Y. has always included 
Concord In the list, and sometimes they 
even include Niagara and Moore’s Early. 
Plant Lice on Corn Roots. 
J. W. !{., Lancdster, Pa .—What Is a remedy 
or preventive for the aphis" attacking the 
roots of corn in Sju-ing almost as soon as 
corn germinates? 
Ans. —To prevent the plant louse at 
the roots of corn, late Fall plowing of 
the field on which corn is to be planted 
is best. The plant lice are carried to tlie 
roots of the corn by ants, and wherever 
ants are plentiful the Corn root-louse is 
worst. The late Fall plowing breaks up 
the ants’ nests and scatters their supply 
of plant-lice e’ggs, which they use to 
colonize corn roots in the Spring. 
STARTING 
would be the rage this spring if people could see our nurseries. Of apple trees 814 
to six feet high, the showing is seldom approached, certainly nowhere this year. 
Every one guaranteed on whole roots, full of vigor and strength. No sign of disease. 
Many thousand Trees, over a liundred varieties. 
These are but samples. 
Summer. 
Sumiuer Rainbo, 
Red Astrachaii, 
Red June, 
Yellow Transparent. 
Autumn. 
Graven.'-teiu, 
Maiden’s Blush, 
Duchess, 
Fall Rambo. 
Winter. 
King, .Jonathan, 
Wine Sup, 
Bellflower, 
Scott’s Winter. 
Every kind worth planting, all in pink of condition. Write at once for Special Apple Tree 
List. We pack as few nurserymen do. Safe delivery guaranteed to any part of U. S. 
Headquarters for Peach and Kieffer Pear Trees, Strawberry Plants, Asparagus Roots, etc. 
Catalogue mailed free. , m* • n n i* i 
Harrison s Nurseries, box 29, Berlin, Nd. 
