1903 
EVERYBODY’S GARDEN. 
Ups and Downs. —If we shall ever see 
the time when business in all its details 
gets to running without friction or belt¬ 
slipping we shali be very glad to make 
note of it. This, however, in the end 
might prove worse than present condi¬ 
tions for very few, so far as I can discov¬ 
er, have been strong enough to meet and 
successfully stand unalloyed prosperity. 
But we are vain enough to think we 
could personally endure a little more of 
it sometimes than comes our way. Of 
late we have seemed to be right in line 
of the “downs,” while the “ups” have 
been dodging us more than we thought 
good for our general welfare. Some 
time ago the black rot got into the 
grapes and gave us quite a race. Cut¬ 
ting back and spraying with Bordeaux 
held it pretty well in check, but the re¬ 
cent excessive rains have made further 
spraying of little use, so the crop at 
best will be considerably cut short. Last 
week there were bushels of plums in 
good condition as to maturity. The al¬ 
most constant downpour of rain with 
some hail thrown in made picking out 
of the question, and so a good many had 
to go by default. Well, some of the “ups” 
have also been in evidence, and some 
things have prospered at all events. The 
vine and root crops have been doing 
finely, barring the rutabagas, which 
have suffered from lack of proper 
culture. The ground was too wet to 
stir, so they have had to arrange mat¬ 
ters with the weeds the best they could. 
But now that the soil is drying out so 
that we can soon begin to work it, we 
shall try to lend the rutabagas a helping 
hand, and incidentally give the small 
weeds a quieting potion. 
Crop Notes. —September 3 closed out 
the plum picking, and now the straw¬ 
berry beds are undergoing repairs. Next 
week grape cutting will be on to some 
extent, the State Fair must have some 
of our attention and I fail to see where 
the busy time is going to let up. Sep¬ 
tember 4 kept me busy here and there 
and cumbered with much serving. The 
celery required handling and that fell 
to my lot. We had but little available 
ground this year, and so had to follow 
early potatoes with this crop. Plants 
were very hard to obtain, and also very 
small when setting time arrived. At 
that time dry weather seemed to be in» 
sight, so 1 decided to trench instead of 
planting level. It seemed to me in a 
drought which then appeared probable, 
that trenching would give the plants a 
better show than setting on the level 
surface. I was prepared to turn the 
water on if required, and found it useful 
for a time. I aimed to see what liberal 
feeding and good culture would do for 
small plants, and thus far have been 
well repaid for the trouble. Before set¬ 
ting the plants the bottoms of the 
trenches were well mixed up with fine 
hen manure. Later on nitrate of soda 
solution was liberally sprayed on, and 
before any hilling was done another 
dressing of hen manure and garden soil 
thoroughly mixed was applied. If this 
treatment does not bring good results, 
1 shall hereafter discard Pink Plume 
from my list and go back to other varie¬ 
ties. There were also a good many 
specked plums that required working 
up, else they would be an entire loss. My 
wife signified her entire willingness to 
accept some help in that dii’ection, and 
made some very broad allusions to that 
effect, and that was the way a part of 
the time went. 
Cahino for the Waste. —In addition 
to all the above cares I found it neces¬ 
sary to enlarge the borders of the hog 
yard. Early in the season I figured that 
later on, as is always the case, there 
would be a large amount of fruit, vege¬ 
tables and other garden truck that 
would go to waste unless provided for in 
some way. There is some poultry and to 
their credit be it said they have done 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
66l 
well their part in turning a good deal 
of the waste, weeds and insects into 
eggs. They could not do it all, so the 
next step was to utilize pigs and shotes. 
Both have been very high and hard to 
find. We have some, however, and they 
are running their machines to good ad¬ 
vantage, working up still more of the 
waste into pork and lard. To leave the 
refuse fruit to decay upon the ground is 
far worse than the mere loss, and is 
treasuring up wrath in the way of har¬ 
boring insects and fungi for future trib¬ 
ulation. The vegetables, sweet corn 
nubbins, etc., while far less dangerous to 
go to decay, are, we believe, much more 
profitably turned into pork and lard. As 
yet we are unable to figure any cash out¬ 
lay barring a little bran and middlings, 
yet the porkers are adding height and 
length and seem to be building on a pro¬ 
portionate amount of siding. Thus we 
are striving to reduce the waste, build 
up the manure heap and cut down the 
butcher’s bills. .r. e. morse. 
Michigan. 
A FAILURE WITH ROOT-PRUNED 
TREES. 
The readers of The R. N.-Y. have seen 
gi-eat prominence given for the last year 
or two to the “Strlngfellow method” 'of 
planting trees; the Hitchings method of 
fruit growing we also have heard a good 
deal about. Of course the experience of 
H. W. C., Burbank and others is very in¬ 
teresting to fruit growers, and may be 
productive of good by causing them to 
think and experiment along new linos of 
fruit growing, but may not much injury 
result from it as well? Admitting these 
new methods promise well for those 
writers, is that any guarantee that those 
same methods may or will produce equell.v 
a.3 good results from others who grow trees 
under different conditions? This new de¬ 
parture promises as good and even better 
results than the old way; and as It saves 
labor is a tempting bait for those of us 
who were born a little tired. A few years 
ago the writer followed very closely this 
system of close root pruning In planting a 
block of 1,000 peach trees. A long period of 
dry weather followed the planting which 
evaporated the moisture from near the 
surface of the soil; here were just the con¬ 
ditions (according to Mr. Burbank) most 
favorable for success. Now for the re¬ 
sults: When Fall came we had 800 dead 
trees with the other 200 living a miserable 
existence and looking as if they would only 
be happy when they joined the majority. 
We are inclined to think that if we had 
adopted the Hitchings method of cultiva¬ 
tion the job would have been complete. If 
the above experience should cause those 
who are about to plant trees to think 
calmly and experiment along the line of 
close root-pruning before accepting it as 
an assured successful fact, the writer’s 
object will be attained. We freely admit 
the experience of H. W. C. and others 
prove that under certain soil and climatic 
conditions the close root-pruning system 
may do well or be the better way; but 
this is no proof that this system is the 
way and the only way for all fruit growers 
to adopt to get the best results. I am 
pretty well acquainted with at least one 
fruit grower who purposes to go on plant¬ 
ing trees in the good old orthodox way 
and let this new heresy alone. w. h. s. 
Rocky Hill, N. J. 
Disappointing Strawberries. 
F. J. T., Norwich, N. Y .—Can you tell me 
what my strawberries need to make them 
better? The past season they have all had 
a hard center as if the frost had bitten 
them, when there was no frost. I had 
about three-fourths of them perfect varl- 
ties, and only two rows of imperfect kinds 
together and then two of perfect. They 
were tended well last season and mulched 
in Winter to keep from heaving and dry¬ 
ing up. Part of the ground had turnips 
and part Crimson clover the Pall previous 
to setting, and in Spring previous to set¬ 
ting strawberries and then Crimson clover; 
the other side peas in Spring and then 
turnips. Is the trouble due to lack of 
phosphoric acid, potash or nitrate of soda? 
The man across the road, on about the 
same soil, had a fine crop, and he did not 
fertilize nearly as heavily as I did, and did 
not tend them as well. Can I do anything 
toward helping a piece I have growing this 
year for next season’s picking by sowing 
any of those three fertilizers this Fall or 
next Spring? 
Ans.—T here are several causes for im¬ 
proper setting of berries aside from 
frost. Heavy rains at blooming time 
often wash out the pollen and prevent 
perfect fertilization. Dry weather dur¬ 
ing the development of the blooms is 
apt to cause a small crop, and lastly, the 
plants may have been starved for lack 
of necessary fertilizing qualities in the 
soil. It is not easy to say whether pot¬ 
ash, phosphoric acid or nitrogen was 
needed. The safest plan would be thor¬ 
oughly to fertilize the plants with stable 
manure, at the rate of 10 to 12 tons to 
the acre, or a good commercial fertilizer, 
such as is generally used for potatoes, 
containing about four per cent nitrogen, 
eight per cent of phosphoric acid and 
eight to 10 per cent of potash. This 
may be applied at the rate of 600 to 1,000 
pounds to an acre, broadcast and worked 
in with cultivating implements. 
Shade Trees for Illinois. 
J. A. F., Origgsville, /E.—What is a good 
shade tree for street planting, one with 
strong tough branches that will stand 
hurricanes? Here our shade trees are 
mostly soft maple, and now twice within 
10 years we have had winds that stripped 
the trees of their branches and rooted 
some of them up. One tree, 70 feet tall, 
30 inches through, split In two and the part 
that fell just grazed a house, on August 5. 
I do not like hard maple. 
Ans.—I t is unfortunate that you do 
not like hard maples, as several varie¬ 
ties are classed among the most desir¬ 
able of trees for street planting. There 
is probably nothing better for all-round 
setting than the Norway maple. Other 
desirable trees not subject to damage by 
storms are the tulip tree, which must 
be set when small; the basswood or 
American linden, the Thornless honey 
locust, the Pin oak, the sycamore or 
buttonball and Japan, American and Eu¬ 
ropean chestnuts. The last are,of course, 
subject to raids by street boys when 
nut-bearing begins. 
For the land’s sake, use Bowker’s Fer¬ 
tilizers, They enrich the earth.— Adv. 
lOarir. Wagon only 9131.96. 
Sbi order to introdnee their Low Metal Wheete 
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»narket a Farmer’s Handy Wagon, that is only 
ZMnehes high, fitted with 24 and 30-inch wheelf 
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This wagon Is made of the best materit^ 
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than a set of new wheels and fully guaranteed 
for one year. Catalogue grlvlng a full description 
will be mailed upon application by the Empire 
Manufacturing Co., Quincy, Hi., who also wih 
furaish metal wheels at low prices made any size 
and width of tire to fit any axle. 
When you write advertisers mention Thb 
R- N.-Y. and you will get a quick reply and 
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Beet-Polp 
When pasture is insufficient or altogrether lacking 
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Let us send you our printed matter which tells how 
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Alma Dried-Molasses Beet-Pulp is un¬ 
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Write to-day for prices, directions for feeding, analysis 
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Alma, Michigan. 
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1134 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 
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HUBBARD’S 
GRASS GRAIN 
FERTILIZER 
Used on the famous Clark hay fields since the beginning of the experiments. 
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THE BEST FERTILIZERS 
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