47o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
June 27 
• A..A.JLA. 
; Ruralisttis ; 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS 
The Distressing Drought. —The rain¬ 
fall for the latter half of April, the en¬ 
tire month of May and the first week 
of June in this locality did not sum up a 
measurable trace. The steady dispersion 
of soil moisture was unchecked for over 
50 days at what is normally the season 
of greatest vegetative activity. The ef¬ 
fects of this unusual early Spring 
drought will long be noticed, in dimin¬ 
ished crops and the halting recovery of 
late-set trees that have survived the or¬ 
deal. The local conditions were very dis¬ 
tressing until relieved by gentle but per¬ 
sistent rains June 7 and following days. 
The effect on apparently dying plants 
of herbaceous character seems almost 
magical. The burnt-out lawns and 
drooping perennials revived in a few 
hours. Berries that appeared past re¬ 
demption one day plumped out into fair 
size and good quality the next. We may 
imagine established plants, as soil mois¬ 
ture lessens, throwing out innumerable 
root fibers pressed closely to the minute 
soil particles in order to absorb the 
moisture films, charged with plant food. 
Evaporation from exposed surfaces in¬ 
creases, growth stops, and the less use¬ 
ful parts perish. The plant fails visibly 
and seems about to die when a timely 
soaking fills the collapsed cells and dis¬ 
solves the accumulated nitrates and 
available chemicals in the soil. One can 
understand how rapid the recovery and 
vigorous the subsequent growth can be, 
if there has been no great loss of vital 
parts, while moisture and the accumu¬ 
lated food supplies last. It is quite dif¬ 
ferent with woody plants, especially 
conifers and those having sap of a resin¬ 
ous nature. They may and do survive 
long droughts, but recovery is slow and 
uncertain if much checked. 
exceptionally favorable for insect activ¬ 
ity, and a full set of fruits resulted. Cur¬ 
rants and gooseberries are now on the 
safe side, and will ju’obably ripen mosi 
of their settings. Many old currant 
canes died out, but young and vigorous 
shoots carry their load well. Dewberries 
and blackberries only need continued 
moist weather to mature a banner crop. 
Tirii June Droi» of stone fruits is the 
most complete in our experience. About 
90 per cent of peaches and at least three- 
fourths of the plums on our trial trees 
have cheerfully parted company with 
the branches, and the end is not yet. An 
extensive natural thinning was expected, 
as most bloom buds were harmed by the 
April freeze, the weather was unfavor¬ 
able for pollination during much of the 
blooming period and the curculio has 
given the scattered fruits his preferred 
attention throughout the uninterrupted 
dry weather. Shiro, one of Burbank’s 
hybrid Japan plums, makes the best 
showing just now in its class, and Car¬ 
man takes the same rank among 
peaches. There are no cherries worth 
mentioning, and the birds continue to 
patronize the strawberry plantings later 
than usual. Robins and catbirds have 
keen eyes for the choicest specimens, 
and seldom fail to leave traces of their 
discriminating approval. The losses of 
high-class fruits from these energetic 
depredators is now a serious matter. 
Pome Fruit-s hold on well. Where 
young apples are seen there appears to 
be a fair chance of getting good fruits. 
A few varieties are well loaded, but 
many trees bore no blossoms. The foli¬ 
age looks well where not troubled with 
aphids. There are more quinces than 
usual, but the pear indications tend to¬ 
ward almost complete failure, especially 
among Kieffers. We should regard a 
shortage of this canning variety with 
little regret, as there has been a heavy 
surplus for several past years. A few 
Bartletts and table varieties have sparse 
settings of fruits. 
AKMBTRONO A McKELVT 
Pittsburgh. 
BE’.MER-BAUMAN 
Pittsi'urgh. 
DAVIS-CHAMBERS 
Pittsburgh. 
FAHNESTOCK 
Pittsburgh. 
ANCHOR 1 
I Cincinnati. 
ECKSTEIN 1 
ATLANTIC 
BRADLEY 
BROOKLYN( 
JEWETT 
ULSTER 
UNION 
SOUTHERN 
SHIPMAN . 
COLLIER 
MISSOURI 
RED SEAL 
SOUTHERN 
JOHN T. LEWIS A BROS CO 
Philadelpliia. 
MORLEY 
Cleveland. 
SALEM 
Salem, Mass. 
CORNELL 
Buffalo. 
KENTUCKY 
New York. 
Chicago. 
iSt. Louis. 
N painting the use of Tur¬ 
pentine saves labor and the 
_ use of Dryer saves time, but 
the excessive use of either destroys 
the paint. 
Safety lies in using Pure White 
Lead and Pure Linseed Oil, and 
having the paint thoroughly 
brushed out. This may require a 
little more time and labor, but it 
will pay. The paint will be satis¬ 
factory and it will last. 
If iTiterested in paint or painting, address 
National Lead Co., loo William Street, New York. 
RAPID POTATO SPRAYING. 
Hand spraying is too slow for the potato field. For the grower who has a consider¬ 
able acreage the ideal machine from numerous considerations is the 
WATSON FOUR ROW SPRAYER. 
As shown Incut, It Is a 60 f:sl. tank mounted on cart which atiaddles two rows and sprajs four rows at a time. 
Perfectlj automatic In all working. Power Is ^nerated by wheel scaring and distributed orer plants under 
Automate agitator keeps mixture stirred and brush operates to clean strainer and arold elog^ng. 
and nozzles adjust for width or oarrownees. Brass pump and working parts, nothing to corrode, no 
leather or rubber TaWes. Improved Vermorel nozzles. Sprays 80 to 40 acres per day. We make the Orchard 
Monarch, Empire King, Garfield Knapsack and a large lino of sprayers for all purposes. Write for free spray- 
ii^bcok. FIELD FORCE PUMP CO., 2 IIth St., Elmira, N. Y. 
Best for Water 
RALPH B. CARTER CO. 
26 Cortlandt St., New York, N. Y. 
WRITE 
FOR 
PRICES 
WRITE 
FOR 
PRICES 
CHARTER 
Gasoline Engine. 
For Grinding, Shelling, Fodder Cutting, 
Threshing, Ihimping, Sawing, etc. 
STATIONARIES, PORTABLES, SAWING 
AND PUMPING OUTFITS, ETC. 
Send for Illust’d Catalog & Testimonials. 
Siste Your Power Maoda. 
CHARTER GAS ENGINE CO., Box 26 STERLING, ILL, 
CORN SRELLERS 
We manufacture 2 to 8 horse 
Sweep Powers, 1 to 4 horse 
Tread Powers, I.evel or even 
id; 5 sizes irepurators, Feed 
and Ensilage Cutters, Feed Mills, 
Saws, Plows, Steel and Wood 
Rollers, Engines, 3 to 25 H. P., 
mounted or stationary. 
MFG. CO., Tatamy, Pa 
Nurseries Badly Hit. —Young nur¬ 
sery stock has generally lost a season’s 
growth, and many new plantings are 
practically lost. Where young stock was 
set in freshly plowed soil and kept well 
cultivated, some of it came through in 
tolerable condition, but the ground hard¬ 
ened so quickly after the April rains 
ceased that much of it was broken up 
dry and lumpy. The demand for trees 
and plants was early checked by the dif¬ 
ficulty of planting, and general expecta¬ 
tions of an unusually busy season were 
not realized. This extended dry weather 
hold-up will greatly promote Fall plant¬ 
ing of many varieties in the near future, 
where conditions are favorable, on the 
theory that a Fall-set tree, if it gets 
through the Winter, has a much better 
chance of surviving adverse Spring 
weather than one newly planted. 
Truok'ers and Farmers have suffered 
severely by direct loss, inability to get 
the soil in planting condition, and the 
necessity of radically changing the sea¬ 
son’s plans. Prices of all sorts of pro¬ 
duce have risen, but seldom enough to 
make up actual shortages. The things 
to do now are to get in the largest pos¬ 
sible acreages of corn, millet and other 
quick-grov/ing forage plants to replace 
the vanished hay prospects. Horse pow¬ 
er is at a premium. The anxiety to pre¬ 
pare corn ground before the soil can 
again dry is so great that five or six 
teams are put in a field where one or 
two usually do the plowing, and similar 
energy is shown by gardeners who have 
large blocks of vegetable plants to set 
out. Peas, spinach and succulent vege¬ 
tables generally are near failure, hut 
midsummer crops have yet a fair 
chance, if they get well started. 
Bush Fruits promise remarkably well 
on the whole, though the yellow foliage 
of many upland raspberry plantings 
bears witness to the desperate fight with 
the drought. The blooming period was 
A Riot of Insects. —A long drought 
usually favors the multiplication of in¬ 
sect pests. Rains scatter and destroy 
the young, while the survivors often fail 
to make great headway on rapidly grow¬ 
ing vegetation. The cutworms found 
scant comfort among the seedlings that 
failed to come up, and the plants that 
could not be set owing to the drought, 
and the Potato beetles sat in vain on 
the clods throughout the dry weary days 
waiting for the potatoes in their dusty 
beds to sprout, but the Asparagus beetle 
came in unprecedented hordes, needing 
constant effort to save young beds, while 
aphids and leaf hoppers covered the 
young growths of shrubs aud trees, both 
fruit aud ornamental, to an extent not 
seen for many years. The prevalent 
Rose bug found his Waterloo in the 
many chilly days and nights We have 
never seen late Deutzias, roses, chestnut 
blooms and the white flowers of the 
season so free from this clumsy and dis¬ 
gusting beetle. He usually does not stay 
long, but effectually blights the beauty 
of everything he touches while his reign 
lasts. Hot weather is essential for ac¬ 
tivity among Rose chafers, aud it may 
be that our grapes, now exceptionally 
promising, will escape serious injury 
from their depredations. w. v. f. 
SoiLiNO Crops.—W e have just finished 
cutting our Alfalfa, and notwithstanding 
the dry weather, it averaged about two 
feet tall, and is one of the best early crops 
we have. I am more and more convinced 
that the question of soil inoculation is an 
important one in the growing of Alfalfa, 
and we are now conducting experiments 
further to study this point. Our Spring 
forage crops have been very good indeed, 
and we have had an abundance of food up 
to the present time. There will be a short¬ 
age after the first of July, as no crops 
planted recently have come up, and there 
was no progress until since the rain, and 
then it will, of course, require a month or 
two before we can get any. 
N. J. Exp. Station. e. b. voorhees. 
TELEPHONES 
For Farmers’ Lines. 
Organize an exchange In your 
community. Full particulars fur¬ 
nished. Catalogue free. 
THE NORTH ELECTRIC CO., 
162 St. Clair Street, 
C N. 301. CLEVELAND, O. 
READY 
ROOFING 
Buy of us Direct and 
Save Money. 
Best goods. Our prices 
surprise. Write us. 
s. E. McDonough & co. 
Dept. C., Pittsburgh, Pa. 
ARROW BRAND 
Asphalt 
Ready Roofing 
can be very 
advantageous¬ 
ly applied on 
SILOS, Farm 
Buildings or 
Sheds by any 
ASPHALT READY ROOFING CO. S’C' 
Sa Piiie St., New York. 
free 
samples. 
F6r residences, barns, poul- 
Itryrhouses and silo Posi¬ 
tively the most durable and 
ecpndrnipaf. roofing on the 
rntarket^ ^ny^ can apply 
It^ii Water"* proof. Contains 
no tarT^^Wjll. ribt.ni Lasts 
indefinitely. 
-- SEND’for -BOOKLET K. 
THE STAHMRD PAINT CO; 
100 WiLUAM St,, New'York,. 
“FUMr 
kills Prairie Dogs, 
Woodchucks, Gophers, 
and Grain Insects. 
“The wheels of the 
gods grind slow but 
exceedingly small.’’ So the weevil, but you can stop 
“Fuma Carbon Bisulphi(le"i*easS' 
EDWARD R. TAYLOR, Penn Yan. N. Y. 
SAN JOSE SCALE, 
And other Insects can be Controlled by Using 
Good’s Caustic Potash Whale- 
Oil Soap No. 3. 
It also prevents Curl Leaf, Endorsed by Entomolo¬ 
gists. This Soap is a Fertilizer as well as Insecticide. 
50-lb. Kegs,$2.50; 100-lh. Kegs, $4.50; Half-Barrel, 
270 lbs., 3;^c. per lb.; Barrel, 425 lbs., d)4c. Large 
quantities. Special Bates. Send for Circulars. 
JAMES GOOD, 939 N. Front St., Philadelphia, Pa 
Fruit Growers 
Don’t Despair— 
Disparene 
Will save your trees and fruit 
from all leaf-eating insects and both 
broods of the codUng-nioth. No otlier 
will do this. Safest spray to use. Never 
injures most delicate foliage. Used and 
endorsed by the largest orcliardists and 
foresters, tree wardens, park superintend¬ 
ents everywhere. Economical because it 
kills the insects, and remains on foliage 
entire season; not affected by heavy rains. 
Professor Sanderson, Delaware, s;iys: 
“ Very much superior to Paris green and 
destroyed more codling-moth larvie.” 
Enough for a large orchard, $4.25 
Enough for 75 gals, spray . 1.00 
2 lb. sample.50 
Large illustraied catalogue free 
BOWKER 
INSECTICIDE 
COMPANY 
Address nearest office: 
Boston, NewYork, or Cincinnati 
Professor Green, Ohio Experiment Sta¬ 
tion, says: “Disparene is the best insecti¬ 
cide to use against Curculio and Canker- 
worm.” ■> 
