1903 
533 
EVERYBODY'S GARDEN. 
Nitkate of Soda. —Of late I have 
been using nitrate of soda solution to 
considerable extent, and in every case 
the results have been far beyond my ex¬ 
pectations. We planted a patch of Hub¬ 
bard squashes near the early tomato 
ground, and as the &oil was good and the 
hills were fertilized we were expecting 
good things from them. The next news 
I received was that they were up and 
growing finely, but in a few days the 
men reported that the bugs had de¬ 
stroyed them all. I packed my kit of 
soda solution, sulphur, tobacco dust and 
weeder, and went over to view the ruin. 
They were a sorry looking lot indeed, 
with Cucumber beetles and stinkbugs 
pooled to see which could work fastest. 
I killed all the stinkbugs I could find, 
and what beetles I could catch. Then 
with my table-fork weeder I carefully 
stirred the soil around the plants, pinch¬ 
ed off the ruined leaves, and we dosed 
them with the soda solution. Next I 
sprinkled the ground around the plants 
quite liberally with sulphur and then 
gave them plenty of tobacco dust. The 
growth has been astonishing. I find 
that the tobacco dust goes into the 
ground quite rapidly, which is all right, 
but the sulphur for the most part at 
least stays on the surface. Both seem 
distasteful to the beetles, and the two 
seem to work nicely together, with re¬ 
sult that the beetles disappear, and are 
giving me very little trouble. As long as 
this works so well I shall stick by the 
plan. I found the same treatment work¬ 
ed well with the early cucumbers. At 
first the beetles disputed my right to 
any portion of the proceeds, but of late 
they seem to view things in another 
light, and have vacated the premises. I 
consider rapid and vigorous growth one 
of the surest preventives against their 
ravages. The nitrate of soda gives this, 
and as 1 think, is a valuable aid in keep¬ 
ing them in check. Its use on beans has 
always brought the best of results with 
me, but wherever practicable I always 
prefer the solution to the crystal form. 
Of course broadcasting is the only prac¬ 
tical method of application upon large 
areas, but it can be very successfully ap¬ 
plied with the sprayer even in field use. 
With present experience, and I have 
used it considerably here and there, I 
vote early and often for nitrate of soda. 
The Potato Peanter. —For various 
reasons not here enumerated I have 
never come to using the hand potato 
planter to any great extent. However, 
the more I learn of it by observation and 
the experience of others, the more favor¬ 
ably I am impressed with its merits. 
Recently, a gardener retailed some of 
his experience which I give for the bene¬ 
fit of others. His word is reliable, and 
the opportunity for testing the results 
of the hoe-planting with that of the 
planter were so good that the sugges¬ 
tion is worth a trial at all events. The 
ground was sod, and plowed shallow. 
He had a man and boy planting with the 
hoe, one to drop and the other to cover. 
He used the planter, but could plant 
much faster than they so there was am¬ 
ple opportunity for testing the work. 
The ground was planted without any 
fitting whatever, but the planter was ad¬ 
justed so that the seed was put just be¬ 
low the sod. As soon as the planting was 
finished the ground was thoroughly har¬ 
rowed both ways, and the harrowing 
'was repeated often until the potatoes 
'Were up, and then the cultivator was put 
into commission. The work of the hoe 
and planter was clearly seen all through 
the season, and at digging time, those 
put in with the planter were almost 
doubly better both as to quality and 
yield. Clearly the difference was in the 
better planting, and putting the seed 
down where it belonged which would 
have been almost impossible with the 
use of the hoe. 
Other Uses. —Another idea worth a 
trial at least is the use of the planter in 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
transplanting cabbage, tomato, celery 
and other plants, especially strawber¬ 
ries. A friend of quite wide experience 
vouches for the fact that he had found 
it of very great use in transplanting all 
the plants above mentioned. The plants 
are set at uniform depth, shallow or 
deep. When they are set in the planter 
is partially withdrawn and the soil is 
pressed with the foot, much or little as 
desired. The planter is then lifted and 
leaves the soil well firmed down at the 
roots, but loose at the surface if so de¬ 
sired. The idea may be old to many, to 
me it is new, but I think it is practical, 
and if the work can be well done with 
the planter it is certainly a great im¬ 
provement over the trowel or dibber. 
Odd Jobs. —The early peas are now 
past their usefulness, and as the ground 
is not well adapted to cabbage or celery 
we shall use it for rutabagas. July 16 
is ample time for them here, and I 
would not hesitate to sow them up to 
July 20. We shall also use some of the 
early potato ground, sowing the seed be¬ 
tween the rows. Later on, we shall sow 
turnips in the sweet corn, and I think 
they will get sufficient growth for mar¬ 
ket purposes if not sown until August 1. 
The red raspberries are making plenty 
of work, although somewhat disappoint¬ 
ing as to yield. Like the strawberries, 
the earliest buds got nipped with the 
frost, and the crop Is short. We are not 
alone, however, as the shortage seems to 
be quite general. J. "e. morse. 
Michigan. 
THE CAMELIA PEACH. 
Samples of this peach were received 
June 29 from J. Van Lindley, of Po¬ 
mona, N. C. A fair-sized sample is 
shown at Fig. 198, page 530. The peach 
is of good quality—to our taste better 
than Carman. As we received it Camelia 
is a cling peach. The following note 
v/as sent by Mr. Van Lindley: 
“This peach originated on the farm of 
Mr. Wright, in Randolph County, about 
20 miles south of where our nursery is 
located. The specimens that were 
brought to my office were about twice as 
large as the specimens that were sent to 
you, and highly colored all over with 
red. I suppose they were grown on the 
original tree and in very good ground, 
as I haven’t seen any specimens since so 
large, but have had them only about 
three years. I now have quite a good 
lot of them planted in my orchard at 
Southern Pines, and will prove it thor¬ 
oughly next season. I had the Camelia 
side by side with the Carman this year, 
but because of the wet and cloudy 
weather during ripening time they have 
not colored up more. When the peach 
is just ripe and not soft you can quarter 
it and it will come clear of the seed. I 
think the quality very closely resembles 
Oldmixon when in the condition just de¬ 
scribed, and I think it is more of a free¬ 
stone than the Carman. I gave it the 
name of Camelia as a handy nice name. 
I am better pleased with it than with 
the Carman, as it is much better in 
quality. Another thing that caused the 
fruit not to color up better was thick¬ 
ness of the foliage of the trees. I know 
it is hard to introduce a new fruit, or to 
down the Carman, but this variety is go¬ 
ing to down the Carman, or run it very 
close; that is, if the quality has any¬ 
thing to do with it.” 
Ruby Queen Rose.— The first rose was In 
bloom June 6, the last July 4. The greatest 
number any one day was 276; the total num¬ 
ber of roses 1,412; the largest rose three 
Inches in diameter; the space of wall cov¬ 
ered 6x7 feet; all of last year’s wood. 
About one-third of the wood was cut away 
before laying down and covering for Win¬ 
ter. The count was kept when clipping off 
the faded roses. I shall take next year’s 
roses from this year’s wood. The rose re¬ 
tains its handsome foliage till Thanksgiv¬ 
ing. It is growing in natural prairie soil 
which has never been mowed, onjy for 
planting; Blue grass and path covers the 
ground now. Natural prairie makes the 
best permanent Blue grass pasture. The 
ground is full of very long and slowly de¬ 
caying roots, which makes the ground 
porous and ready to take in rain and retain 
it. Ground which has been cropped for 
years runs together In heavy rains, and 
then bakes w. T. 
Palmyra, Neb. 
Basic Slag for Phosphoric Acid 
I. H. M., Still River, Mass .—What is the 
value of basic slag compared with S. C. 
floats or bone meal, minus the nitrogen 
of bone? What of its value as a source of 
phosphoric acid for Fall seeding of grass 
land? 
Ans.—O f course it is understood that 
basic slag comes from the manufacture 
of iron. When ores contain phosphoric 
acid they are paelted and lime is then 
added. The lime unites with the phos¬ 
phoric acid thus taking it out of the ore. 
This “slag” contains lime, phosphoric 
acid, sand and a small amount of iron. 
The quality varies, depending largely on 
the fineness of the ground slag. Dr. 
Wheeler, of Rhode Island, considers the 
best slag a better source of phosphoric 
acid than ordinary ground bone. Prof. 
Voorhees, of New Jersey, found slag 
about two-thirds as effective as acid 
phosphate. In our own experiments we 
have found slag, on damp or heavy soils, 
quite equal to coarse gi’ound bone, but 
not equal to the finer ground. It is far 
better than raw phosphate rock or 
“fioats.” An ordinary sample of basic 
slag contains 20 per cent of phosphoric 
acid and 50 per cent of lime. The slag 
seems to give best results on wet or cold 
soils, and we think part of the good ef¬ 
fect comes from the lime in the slag, for 
lime would be likely to show on just 
such soils. On such heavy soils we 
should expect the slag to make a good 
showing on a Fall seeding of grass. On 
lighter soils we should prefer a mixture 
of bone and acid phosphate. 
When you write advertisers mention Thh 
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