48^ 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July i 
FARMER S C LUB 
fEvery query must be accompanied by 
the name and address of the writer to in 
sure attention. Before asking a question, 
please see whether it is not answered in 
our advertising columns. Ask only a few 
questions at one time. Put questions on a 
separate piece of paper.! 
CULTIVATING STEEP HILLSIDES. 
Fig. 180, reproduced from an adver¬ 
tisement in a Swiss horticultural paper, 
shows how cultivation is accomplished 
in Alpine vineyards where the land is 
stacked up on its edges. The anchoring 
machine is the main feature illustrated 
by the manufacturer. The horse goes 
back and forth along the ridge and the 
man at the cultivator has only to guide 
his implement without the bother of 
driving. Of course two men are needed 
in this one-horse affair, and the culti¬ 
vator goes back empty every time, hut 
labor is relatively cheaper in the inter¬ 
ior of Europe than here. A boy could 
manage the motive power, and otherwise 
inaccessible slopes of land, highly suit¬ 
able for special crops, can be well culti¬ 
vated. The horse is considerable of a 
nuisance anyway on land closely plant¬ 
ed with valuable fruit crops, however 
necessary he may be for extended agri¬ 
cultural operations, and it is possible to 
imagine some such contrivance, utiliz¬ 
ing the power of a gasoline or other 
easily managed engine, as a great con¬ 
venience in the intensive culture of 
choice, closely planted crops, in level 
places as well as hillsides. The horse 
takes a good deal of room, he is not 
careful of valuable plants, and the pack¬ 
ing of the soil by his feet is not always 
beneficial. Many truckers and growers 
of high-grade fruits would doubtless 
welcome a practical device that would 
dispense with a horse in the row while 
utilizing horse-power tools for cultiva¬ 
tion. _ 
Value of a White Strawberry. 
J. TV. L., Glenside, Pa .—We have .a pure 
white strawberry, without hull, bisexual, 
vigorous, fruit medium to small, fine 
aroma, no core. It was found on a moun¬ 
tain side; ripened first May 23, and is still 
blooming and ripening. Will this be of 
value commercially? 
ANvS.—T here have been several good 
white straw'berries. A few of them were 
sold as novelties, but the market de¬ 
able to dispose of such food, and thou¬ 
sands of cattle in the Southern States 
thrive on this hay. 
Oat Hay and Its Value. 
IT. T. S., East Downingtoim, 2^a.—Can you 
give me some information about oat hay, 
the time to cut it, the proper way to cure 
it, how to store it, its comparative value 
wih millet, Timothy and clover? Hay will 
be rather scarce with many this harvest, 
while the growing oats are very rank and 
likely to go to the bad if left to ripen. 
If we can get anything like fair hay off it 
we will do it. but it has seldom been done 
in our part of the country, so far as I 
know. 
Ans. —We have cut the oats for hay 
for several years, and find such fodder 
very useful. Our plan is to cut the oats 
the same as we would cut grass when 
we find the first grain soft enough to 
crush into a milk between the finger and 
thumb. It is not possible always to cut 
just at that time, but that is when the 
crop is right. We try to cure and handle 
just the same as clover hay—mostly in 
the windrow or cock. Do not leave it 
spread out too long, but I’ake it into 
bunches, shaking them out to the wind 
and sun during the day and cocking up 
at night. The following table gives a 
fair comparison 
of such 
oat hay 
with 
other fodders: 
Pounds In 
One Ton. 
Muscle 
Fat 
Pure 
makers. 
formers. 
fat. 
Timothy hay . 
.118 
900 
BO 
Clover hay.... 
.246 
760 
66 
Oat hay . 
780 
46 
Millet . 
.150 
980 
42 
Fodder corn .. 
.90 
680 
32 
Thus by analysis the oat hay 
ranks 
next to good clover hay in feeding value. 
We consider it superior to clover as a 
feed for horses in Winter. In a season 
like this one we should certainly cut the 
oats green and cure them. 
Mr. Hitchings Answers Questions. 
L. G. 8., Albion, N. Y.—Would Mr. Hitch¬ 
ings answer the following questions for the 
benefit of many of your readers here? 
Does he plant in Spring or Fall? Which 
time has given him the best results? 
What varieties would he recommend? I 
have thought of Oldenburg, Wealthy and 
Wagener. What can h© tell us of these 
kinds? Does he plant extra large trees, 
or small ones, and how much does he trim 
at time of planting? What size holes does 
he dig, and does he take especial pains to 
put rich soil about the roots? Will mice 
trouble the trees in Summer if a mulch 
is about them at that time? How many 
years before his trees begin to bear, and 
at what age do they begin to pay expenses? 
Until that time, is it all expense with no 
income whatever? What distance does he 
plant? What would he think of 16Vi x 16% 
feet or 20 X 20 feet for the varieties named 
above? Would he advise growing pear 
trees in sod, the same as apple trees? 
Ans.—I plant both Spring and Fall; 
usually the Fall plantings are best. This 
year the reverse Is true, owing to heavy 
rains in early Spring compacting soii 
down hard, followed by extreme 
drought, which has affected the Fall 
plantings more than the Spring. I 
would recommend Wealthy and Twenty- 
Ounce for Fall, Spy, R. I. Greening and 
the ground immediately around the 
trees is kept clean. Some varieties will 
commence to bear at four years and pay 
expenses at six. After orchard is estab¬ 
lished the expense consists of spraying 
the trees and mowing the grass in the 
orchard. You lose the use of the land, 
but this is more than offset by the year¬ 
ly gain in valuation of the property. The 
later plantings are 20x20, with the in¬ 
tention of cutting out as soon as they 
crowd. I am inclined to believe that 
20x30 would be a safer uistance. It is 
going to take nerve to cut down trees 
that have been paying well. I am grow¬ 
ing pears, plums and peaches in sod, but 
have not had long enough experience to 
warrant advising in that direction. I 
have attempted it on a scale large 
enough to prove the possibility of it, 
and will later report results. 
GR^VNT G. HITCniNGS. 
Canning Corn at Home. 
E. S. 77., Jeffcrsomnlle, Ind.—In Prof. 
Price’s article, page 403, he speaks of a 
“closed” kettle “processing” cory at a 
temperature of 240 degrees. I would like 
to know whether such a kettle could be pro¬ 
cured for family use. holding about half 
a dozen cans at a time, and would it be 
safe to heat it on an ordinary cook stove? 
I have tried several ways of canning corn 
for family use. and none of them is suc¬ 
cessful. As the canning factories do not 
make as select a product as one could 
make at home, I would like to know 
whether there cannot be some practical 
method for canning corn on the kitchen 
stove so that it will keep. 
Ans. —So far as I am aware there is 
no practical method of canning corn on 
the ordinary cooking stove. One manu¬ 
facturer of small canning machinery 
claims that if the corn is cooked (pro¬ 
cessed) four hours in the open kettle it 
will keep. While I have not actually 
tested the method, I do not think it at 
all practical. Others recommend plac¬ 
ing chemicals in the boiling water to 
help raise the temperature in the open 
kettles, but I do not consider this 
method practical either. All such meth¬ 
ods are mere guesswork. There is noth¬ 
ing fixed or settled about them. If the 
temperature can be raised to 240 de¬ 
grees Fahrenheit and the goods kept in 
this temperature for 60 minutes they 
will keep both in a southern and a 
northern climate. If the corn is a little 
hard processing may be continued a lit¬ 
tle longer; if young and tender the time 
may be shortened. There is something 
positive and definite about this. I be¬ 
lieve that if the manufacturers thought 
making such a small kettle would pay 
they would readily make it. 
Virginia. R. h. price. 
R. N.-Y.—A correspondent who gave 
her process on page 390, volume for 1902, 
canned corn on an ordinary cooking 
stove successfully, and other housekeep¬ 
ers have given similar experience. A 
small kettle for processing, holding, we 
think, six jars, is sold by large depart¬ 
ment stores; it is called the Mudge can- 
ner, and we have had favorable reports 
of it from those who have used it. 
mand is for red fruit. While a few 
growers would want the white berry for 
the home collection it would hardly pay 
to introduce it for sale. 
Crimson Clover Hay for Cows. 
Reader, New Jersey.—TeW the Hope Farmer 
not to let his cows or horses eat Crimson 
clover that has gone to seed. We had a 
cow that was pastured on a second growth 
and ate some of the first growth that had 
been cut and allowed to lie; it made her 
quite sick for two weeks, and she lost the 
use of one teat for a year till next calf; 
so you will see it is bad for one as the 
other. 
Ans. —We should want to be very sure 
that it was the clover hay that hurt the 
cow. We have fed large quantities of 
this hay to both sheep and cows without 
any trouble. With horses the trouble 
comes from feeding hay that has become 
too ripe. When the head ripens little 
barbs or hooks form on this clover and 
these have been known to catch in the 
horse’s stomach, and form a large hard 
ball which interferes with or prevents 
digestion. The cow’s stomach is better 
Sutton for Winter. Duchess of Olden- 
burgh is best of its season; AVagener is 
fine quality, early bearer, and is the one 
to use as a filler with Northern Spy. I 
prefer good-sized two-year-old trees 
grown on ground that has not produced 
a crop of trees recently. Such trees have 
vitality. I cut back about two-thirds of 
growth of all branches, seldom removing 
any of them entire when set, and do 
very little trimming afterwards. The 
orders for digging holes are two feet 
across, 18 inches deep; in practice they 
are a little less than this. We place the 
sods in one pile, the best soil in another, 
and the poorest in a third. We pack the 
best soil firmly around the roots, place 
a layer of sods next over, digging some 
in addition to those taken out, tread 
down firmly, place the poorest soil over 
the sods without packing at least three 
inches deep, and mulch trees soon after 
a distance of 18 inches out from edge of 
hole -with any available vegetable mat¬ 
ter, stable manure being best. Mice are 
not likely to injure trees in Summer if 
For the land’s sake, use Bowker’s Fer¬ 
tilizers. They enrich the earth.— Adv. 
P A |V|Q Y I’KRKET. Send for 
I circular. Beaulieu, Woodhaven,N. Y. 
See Kuralisms, Page 374. 
U[RB:A.NK S 
New CREAiroNs 
Our new book about Luther Bur- I 
liank, originator of new fruits, and his grand new 
plum, “MayiiarU.” Send 10c stamps, Oregon 
Xursei-y Co., 6 12th Street, SALEM. OREGON. 
THISTLE-INEl 
Feb. 28,1903. 
Gentlemen: Duringthe 
pa.st year I gave your 
Thistle-ine a test on the 
Kent County Poor Farm in 
Paris Township, Mich. I 
tried iton Canada Thistles, 
Milk weed, Yellowdock, B u r- 
dock. Willows, and found it 
does kill them just as you 
claim it will do. 
Very resp’y, N. D. Edmonds. 
Keeper of Kent Co. Poor Farm. 
5 lb. can makes 5 gallons of the liquid, 
$2.00. Free booklet tells all about it. 
THE LINDGREN CHEMICAL CO. 
8 SO, IONIA ST, GRAND RAPIDS, MICH, 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you will get a quick reply and 
“a square deal.” See our guarantee8thpage. 
Will produce a full crop of berries 
next June, if planted this Summer. 
DREER’S 
Mid-Summer Gafalogue 
offers a choice line of these; also Celery, 
Cabbage, Cauliflower and other season¬ 
able plants. Write for copy, FREE. 
HENRY A. DREER, 714 Chestnut St., Phila., Pa. 
Trees, Plants and Vines 
Ornamentals, Shade Trees, Shrubs, 
Flowers—everything to make the home 
grounds beautiful. Fruit Trees, tO€s, 
Send for Catalogue. 
STEPHEN HOYT’S SONS, 
New Canaan. Conn. 
BUDDED FRUITS. 
I Peach, Apple and Pear Buds. 
Largestand best assortment in the United States. 
Write us to-day for the list of varieties & prices. 
I Harrison’-s Nurseries, Box 89, lierlin, Md. 
Red Alsike, Crimson and Alfalfa 
Clovers. Timothy and Grass Seeds. 
Hungarian, Millet & Buckwheat. 
Dwarf Essex Rape and Sand 
Vetches. Turnip Seed and Seed 
Wheat. 
Feeding corn and Oats in car 
lots, delivered on your track. 
Clipper Grain & Seed Cleaners 
Let Us Know Your Wants. 
The Henry Philipps Seed & Implement Co„ 
Department “A,” Toledo, Ohio. 
Plants—G. S. B., $1.20 pcrl.UOO; 
80c. 500; strong healthy plant-s 
from French seed sown thin (in 
rows) in rich beds. Plants are 
kept ill even steady growth by 
irrigation. (Twelve experiments, covering 3 years, by 
Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station—Bulletin 
No. with American and French grown seed pur¬ 
chased from 5 leading seed firms, showed that Ameri¬ 
can seed iiroduced about 40 per cent Hollow Stalks. 
French seed no hollow stalks). W. P.,G. U. and G.P., 
$l.ti0 per 1,000; $1 600: 1,500,000 plants. 1 ship in venti¬ 
lated boxes, itoots in damp moss. 
F. W. ROCHELLE, Drawer 1, Chester, N.J. 
VEGETABLE PLANTS 
Onn nnn cabbage, Danish Ball-head, original im- 
uUU)UUU ported seed. 10,000, $10: per 1,000, ll-M. 
Rfin nnn Celery strong transp’amed plants, white 
\JUU)UUU Plume. Golden Self-blanching & Golden 
Heart, perl,000. $2..50 cash. Other varieties next week. 
Celery and Cabbage Plants for Sale.— 
Leading varieties carefully packed with moss In bas¬ 
kets, and delivered here.ai express office. Cash with 
order. Celery plants ready July 1. Cabbage plants 
ready now. Write for varieties and prices. 
WOODLAND FARM, Canastota, Madison Co., N. Y. 
I" _ ^ _ I ^-Home-grown Crimson Clover 
“Or CM a 1 O Seed, $3.50 per bu.; Cow Peas, 
$1.50 per bu. J. E. HOLLAND, Milford, Del. 
S EED BUCKWHEAT—JAPAN—$1 per bushel, 
with bag. Also liegistertMl Jersey Vouug 
Bulls, Calves and Si'ropsliire Hams, 
E. L. CLARKSON, Tivoli, N.Y. 
f ELEKY I’EANTS I OTRAWBEKKY (Potted 
^ only $1 per 1.000. 1*^ Plants) $1 per 100. 
Address SLAYMAKEU & SON, Dover, Del. 
trees succeed wherb 
L4"“ery. OTHERS FAIL 
TAKE NOTICE! 
^onr wirA f atypa Hnri ’t fiacr if it’s the PAGK. 
50000 FARMERS 
Now use Duplex Machines, making 
Uorse’hlgh, Boll-strong, Pig and Chlcken-tlgnt 
ACTUAL COST OF WIRB 
and save profit fence manufacturers extort 
Why don’t you I Machineon Trial* Catalog irw 
Kitselman Bros. Box D92 
