1903 
645 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
EVERYBODY’S GARDEN. 
Growing Spinach.— I would like to know 
the best variety for Fall sowing, and the 
best time to sow in the latitude of Long 
Island. Does it require Winter protection? 
Does it need better ground and more ma¬ 
nure than cabbage and cauliflower? I have 
seen it growing on the west end of the 
island in the early Spring and would like 
to know the way they do it to get it so 
early. J. d. r. 
Echo, L. I. 
In the north, the Savoy Leaved and 
Prickly Winter by some of the best au¬ 
thorities are considered the most de¬ 
pendable varieties for Fall sowing. The 
former, I think, is the earlier, but runs 
quickly to seed when the weather be¬ 
comes warm. The latter, prickly only 
as to seed, is a very desirable sort, and 
being almost oak-hardy requires but lit • 
tie Winter protection. In sowing either 
for market or home use, it is desirable 
to sow both sorts as they make a good 
succession from early to late Spring or 
even into the Summer. They will be 
your best varieties, I think. In your 
locality September 10 to 20 I should say 
is early enough. Farther north earlier 
in the month would be better. It will 
require protection for best results, al¬ 
though it would probably pull through 
without it. South of Cincinnati it is 
generally considered hardy, but more or 
less protection is required north of 
there. Any sort of coarse litter as 
leaves, straw, cornstalks, marsh hay, 
etc., will answer. Even brush will be 
helpful, as the main object is to hold 
the snow, but manure would better be 
avoided. A crop of cabbage will suc¬ 
ceed with less fertility than either cauli¬ 
flower or spinach, and make a fair crop, 
but there is no danger of overdoing the 
matter for any of them. Unless the soil 
is made very rich for spinach the crop 
will be disappointing. Growing spinach 
is by no means a sealed book, and is no 
more difficult than growing a crop of 
beets. Thorough fitting of the ground 
is essential for best results, and the 
richer the soil the better the returns. 
Sow the seed in drills 12 to 14 inches 
apart. Sown so late in the season it of 
course will not get the amount of culti¬ 
vation that Spring-sown would naturally 
receive. But it will be good practice to 
stir the ground often to induce a strong¬ 
er Fall growth. In the late Autumn or 
early Winter, depending upon the 
weather, cover lightly as above referred 
to. It may be sown broadcast if desired, 
but the former way is preferable, espe¬ 
cially for Spring sowing. It will be 
large enough for use when the leaves 
are an inch in width, and cuttings may 
be made at any time during the Winter 
when snow is not too deep. When cut¬ 
ting, the largest plants should be taken 
first, thus giving a better crop and long¬ 
er succession. 
Onion Troubles.—I would like your ad¬ 
vice on my onion crop or, rather, no crop. 
They were grown upon land that produced 
a good crop of corn and tobacco last year. 
It was seeded to Crimson clover in the 
Fall, and turned under in the Spring, then 
fertilized at the rate of 600 pounds of fer¬ 
tilizer per acre. At present there are not 
many of them larger than good-sized 
onion sets. I wish to know whether I can 
leave them in the ground over Winter and 
have a profitable crop of bunching onions 
in the early Spring? If so, what would 
be the best method of treatment? If not, 
why not. and what would you advise doing 
with them? I believe the failure to be due 
first, to late sowing on account of very 
wet weather, and second, not being able 
to give the proper culture. I now have the 
ground moderately free from weeds. Last 
year I raised 25 bushels on one-eighth 
acre with no fertilizer. Where can I get 
the best advice on Winter gardening out 
of doors and under glass? g. w. r. 
Upper Marlboro, Md. 
Well, you have had a pretty rocky 
road to your onion patch, but others 
have traveled like roads before, so you 
are by no means alone. Such failures 
come sometimes and when we have 
seemingly done all we could, and often 
they prove helpful. So it is hardly ever 
so bad that it might not be worse. I 
hardly know what to advise, but if they 
are white onions, I think they ought tq 
find sale for pickling onions. If yellow 
or red then doubtless they would do bet¬ 
ter for Spring bunching. Suppose you 
try the pickle dodge, and failing in that 
depend upon the bunching. Were it my 
case, however, if using them for the lat¬ 
ter purpose, I would let them ripen, then 
pull and cure them and reset them later. 
No doubt you would get something of a 
crop in Spring if they were left standing 
as they are. But I believe you will get 
enough better results to pay, and more, 
for the trouble of resetting. The ground 
will be better for the plowing and far 
less overrun with weeds in the Spring, 
and I feel pretty sure that the crop will 
be better also. As to management of 
the crop that is partially answered al¬ 
ready. Further, fit the ground well and 
reset in drills 12 to 14 inches apart, cov¬ 
er two or three inches deep. In your 
locality, I think late September would 
be plenty early for resetting, and even 
early October might be preferable. Of 
course, I have merely outlined what 1 
think would be good practice for my 
conditions. In your case, it may be 
wiser to leave them where they are. 
Either way, 1 think, will bring some¬ 
thing of a crop if you have to do so, and 
I think the resetting will bring a better 
yield. No doubt the late sowing, wet 
season and lack of culture had very 
much to do with your failure. 1 believe, 
however, that a worthless strain of seed 
is also largely responsible. I know of 
nothing in the whole line of gardening 
more disappointing than poor seed, and 
poor onion seed is worst of all. 1 know 
of no work on outdoor Winter garden¬ 
ing. Greenhouse Management, by Prof. 
L. R. Taft, will help you out on garden¬ 
ing under glass. The price is $1.50, and 
it can be obtained of The R. N.-Y. Open- 
Air Vegetables, price 25 cents, will be 
found suggestive, J. e. morse. 
Michigan. 
NEW YORK STATE FRUITGROWERS 
The New York State Fruit Growers’ As¬ 
sociation held its Summer meeting at Ni¬ 
agara Falla August 27. There was a large 
attendance, including many members ol 
the Niagara County Farmers’ Club. Gen¬ 
erally this meeting is held on some well- 
known fruit farm, the object being to 
hold an open meeting, where methods of 
culture can be studied. This year, how¬ 
ever, it was thought better to hold the 
meeting indoors. There was a lively pro¬ 
gramme opened by Prof. Taylor, of the 
Geneva Experiment Station. He discussed 
the spraying of fruit, which is an import¬ 
ant question this year, not only because c 
the wet season but because new insect! 
cldes are being tried. W. T. Mann gave 
a report on statistics. The Apple Shippers 
Association, at its recent meeting, at¬ 
tempted to spread the report of an extra 
large crop. The Government report names 
a much lower figure than that given by the 
Apple Shippers, and private reports indi¬ 
cate that even a smaller supply is to be 
expected. The Apple Shippers evidently 
desired to make their report early, at 
many farmers would sell their crop at : 
low figure if convinced that the supply it 
to be heavy. This is in a way a contest 
between the shippers and the growers, as 
the one side is anxious to obtain the crop 
for as small a sum as possible, and the 
other hopes to obtain a fair price for their 
fruit. The Association is not yet ready to 
make an estimate on the crop. It is too 
early yet for accurate figures, as early 
frosts, high winds or fungus disease may 
make a great difference in the final out¬ 
come. F, E. Dawley, of the Association, 
spoke in favor of a simpler form for crop 
reports. The blanks which the Associa- 
Uon has been sending out are very elabo¬ 
rate and many fruit growers find it difficult 
to fill them out In a satisfactory way. Mr. 
Dawley wants a simpler form, and it seems 
to be the general opinion of the Associa¬ 
tion that he was right in his suggestion. 
Hon. J. L. Burnett, of Ontario County, 
read an interesting paper on the agricul¬ 
tural conditions in the State. Mr. Burnett 
made a strong argument In favor of the 
Agricultural College at Cornell. He showed 
clearly why the college should be support¬ 
ed, and made a sound argument in favor 
of a fair appropriation for it. This argu¬ 
ment met with general approval, and 
there can be no doubt that the fruit grow¬ 
ers are unanimously in favor of strength¬ 
ening the Agricultural College. Dr. W. H. 
Jordan made the point that the farmers 
of the Empire State are really agricultural 
experts. As the country grows older and 
the population changes, it is necessary for 
the eastern farmers to grow new crops 
and grow them in a more skillful way. 
Thus the farm whereon in old times grain 
and grass were grown and stock fed in the 
ordinary way, must now produce fruit 
vegetables and other crops which requlrt 
greater skill and closer attention to de¬ 
tails. Dr. Jordan also went on to argut 
that this condition of affairs made it al 
the more necessary for the New York 
farmers to have the benefit of a first-class 
Agricultural College. Hon. S. F. Nixon 
also discussed the business side of New 
York farming. He said that the Legisla¬ 
ture is willing to give the farmers what 
they want, provided farmers will make 
their wants clearly and forcibly known. 
He also went on to say that what the 
farmers need is a State organization, not 
of any one class of farmers, but an or¬ 
ganization that will represent all. Mr. 
Nixon said, and he ought to know, that 
such an organization of farmers could ob¬ 
tain from the Legislature almost any fair 
appropriation that was justified. Mr. Nixor 
probably did not know that such an or¬ 
ganization has already been formed, and 
is to take an active part in the campaign 
this year in favor of the Agricultural Col¬ 
lege. He will most certainly hear from it 
later. This meeting of the fruit growers 
was one of the best ever held from a bus! 
ness point of view. As is well known, the 
object of this Association was to help the 
business side of fruit growing, and it seems 
to be living up to its first intention. The 
Association is capable of doing good work 
for the fruit growers of this State, and is 
can do no better work for them than to 
keep up this fight for the improvement ot 
the Agricultural College. 
For the land’s sake, use Bowker’s Fer¬ 
tilizers. They enrich the earth.— Adv. 
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Oak Grove, Mich., July 9, ’03 
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the farm for spraying noxious 
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, Used Thlstle-ine an Milkweed 
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