1.903 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER- 
773 
EVERYBODY'S GARDEN. 
Failure with Rhubarb.— L,;ist Winter I 
put some of the finest rhubarb roots I had 
into the cellar. Out of doors tne stalks 
grew as large as one's wrist; but in the 
cellar they were not larger than the finger. 
They were three-year-old roots, and the 
temperature was from 4 .t to 55 and 60 de¬ 
grees. 1 cannot find anything in the “New 
lihubarb Culture" that fits my ca.se 
Lebanon, O. J. Q. m. 
The given temperature was fairly 
good, but I should prefer to start at 60 
to 65 degrees rather than lower, bur 
after the stalks are well started they 
will do with less. If all other condi¬ 
tions were right. I should be unable to 
say what the trouble was. Evidently 
some essential point was overlooked, for 
under favorable conditions the stalks 
wil|l surely grow. You may have failed 
to freeze them sufficiently. If so, there 
was the cause of your failure and it 
seems the most likely reason. As yet, 
we are in the dark as to why the roots 
have to be frozen, but such is the fact, 
and it is useless to try to force them in 
the ordinary way without. Try again 
and let us know as to the results. 
Rhubarb and Lettuce Seed. —Can I sow 
rhubarb and lettuce seed in the garden this 
Fall so it will germinate next Spring? If 
so. state how to care for it during the 
Winter. s. c. M. 
Calla, O. 
While I have never tried sowing either 
in the Fall, I hardly think it would be 
piacticable. The lettuce seed might 
carry through the Winter all right and 
start in the Spring, but I hardly think 
the rhubarb seed would stand it. 1 
should prefer sowing in the hotbed say, 
from the middle of March to April 15. 
I can see no advantage in Fall sowing 
anyway. The lettuce seed could be 
sown in open ground as early as the soil 
can be worked, and best results will be 
had with rhubarb sown when it will 
germinate as quickly as possible, and 
when once it is started keep growing 
without check. 
Sulphur on Melon Vines.— Will you tell 
us what success you had in the use of sul¬ 
phur In preventing the depredations of the 
striped beetle on melon vines? Did it not 
result in keeping pollenizing in.sects aw’ay 
from the blooms as well? i- M- R- 
Buffalo. N. Y. 
The use of sulphur on vines is some¬ 
what new to me, and as yet I have only 
tised it on squash and cucumbers. Those 
who have used it quite extensively make 
no complaint so far as I know, and I 
should not hesitate to use it freely on 
any kind of vines. It worked well upon 
the vines where I used it, and I am still 
very favorably impressed with its tvork. 
I have used Bordeaux Mixture upon all 
kinds of vines and at all stages of 
growth, without harm in the direction 
of which E. M. B. speaks. I hardly think 
the sulphur would be more harmful than 
the lime and sulphate of copper in the 
Bordeaux. Referring again to the use 
of sulphur, the Hope Farm man recently 
stated that they omitted using it on their 
seed potatoes last Spring. I, too, have 
to plead guilty to the same omission, 
end have pretty nearly promised myself 
not to be caught thus again. In previ¬ 
ous years I have used it to considerable 
extent, and most certainly think it pays 
well for all the expense and trouble. 
V.A.RIOUS Que.stions.—1. How and when 
should horseradish roots be marketed? 2. 
Name a hardy, strong-growing squash thiit 
will keep well, and is a good cropper. 3. 
What muskmelon is suitable for market 
purposes where the season is short and 
never very warm? Almost any kind would 
sell well if only of average quality. 4 
Name a variety each of peas and string 
beans that are hardy and productive and 
that will mature in 100 to 120 days. 
Ellensburg. Wash. J. h. e. 
1. The manufacturers who use horse¬ 
radish prefer oniy the large stocky roots. 
They should be trimmed clean of the 
small fibrous roots as well as side shoots 
and tap ro.ots. The market time begins 
with pickling season and continues • 
through the Winter until lp.te in the 
Spring, and it is marketed in many ways. 
If the large roots can be secured early 
enough, they retail very readily at good 
prices by the single root or more for 
use in pickling season. Growers who 
have the time and an aptness for the 
work, can make money in grating or 
grinding and bottling it. It can thus be 
sold at wholesale or retail. The roots 
are dug in the Fall and can be stored 
in sand or pitted like any other root 
crops, and can be worked up or sold at 
any time during the late Fall, Winter 
or early Spring. In this locality they 
are usually sold by the bushel, and the 
chief buyers are the shippers or manu¬ 
facturers of table relishes. 2. The Bos¬ 
ton Marrow squash is an excellent Fall 
and Winter variety of good size, a fair 
keeper and good cropper. There are 
none, hO'Wever, superior or probably 
equal to the genuine Hubbard, either 
Chicago Warted or Golden. You will 
not do better, I think, than to select one 
of the three. 3. The Paul Rose and 
Netted Gem are both excellent varieties, 
but are small in size, and popular wher¬ 
ever grown. The Green Fleshed Osage 
is excellent for a larger variety, and is 
■ said to thrive especially well in cool lo¬ 
calities. If your seasons are short and 
rather cool, why not start the plants in 
hotbeds? You will gain much time in 
maturing and I think wiU be much more 
certain of success. 4. Your cool climate 
ought to mature peas in perfection and 
the Gradus is second to none. Beans of 
any variety' are not very hardy to with¬ 
stand cold, and are especially tender 
as to frost. The Green Pod Stringless 
for a string bean or Golden Wax for a 
snap bean would doubtless be as good as 
you could choose. Either peas or beans 
with any kind of a show will mature in 
much less time than you mention. 
Accidental Success. —In “Our To¬ 
mato Patch,” page 741, Hilda Richmond 
guesses wrong. Everybody’s Garden 
man would say it was the result of good 
management, and a case of making the 
best of circumstances. I have always 
practiced and still advocate the deeji 
setting of tomato plants, and never fail 
to do so if vines are tall and spindling. 
1 think they withstand drought much 
better and are far less liable to be broken 
by whipping in the wind. I also set 
lower at every transplanting than they 
grew in the previous bed, and often clip 
off laterals and set below their starting 
point. MORSE. 
SHRINKAGE IN POTATO STORAGE. 
If 100 bushels of potatoes are put into 
good cellar storage in Fall, how many can 
be marketed in March? That is, what is 
the ordinary shrinkage in weight, leaving 
rot out of the (luestion? 
T have never made a careful test to de¬ 
termine wh;it the exact shrinkage would 
be, but my opinion is that up to the time 
that sprouts start to grow the shrinkage 
in weight Is very little, but after that, of 
course it is quite rapid. After cold weather 
sets in I always try to keep the tempera¬ 
ture in the potato cellar below 40 degrees. 
Pennsylvania, geo. sisson. 
With proper care there should be very 
little shrinkage up to the time they com¬ 
mence to sprout, which should not be 
(with proper care and ventilation) before 
February 1. After they commence to sprout 
thev shrink very fast, and by March 1 
would shrink jit least seven per cent. 
New York. geo. a. bonnell. 
One hundred bushels of late potatoes put 
in a cellar will weigh out 92 bushels March 
1. Taking one year with another 100 bushels 
buried will weigh out 95 bushels March 1. 
Potatoes buried keep much better, and will 
not sprout as easy. A few years ago I had 
a field of 20 acres I wished to plant. I 
selected 250 bushels of choice potatoes and 
buried them in a long pit, first putting a 
little straw on top of the ground (do not 
dig, down), then when potatoes were ready 
I i)Ut on straw to make two inches when 
the straw would be matted down, then 
four inches of dirt. Before cold weather 
set in more straw was added and 12 inches 
of dirt. I.ate in February, when the ground 
was frozen. I put on a lot of straw, putting 
on short pieces of boards to hold straw 
down. By this method the potatoes were 
kei)t cool very late in the season, and did 
not sprout until in April. Before you de¬ 
cide to store any potatoes remember you 
take the risk of rot. This was not counted 
in the eight bushels. Should they show 
signs of rot do not store any, for you will 
be out of jiocket. w. w. whiton 
Huron Co., O. 
We have an opportunity to weigh our 
potatoes when we put them in in the Fall, 
and weigh them out in the Spring. 'I'he 
shrinkage depends first of all upon whether 
the cellar is one that can be kept cool and 
at even temperature. If a farmer has such 
conditions, and his potatoes are free from 
rot when harvested, and have been piled 
either in pits in the field or on the barn 
floor for two or three weeks and allowed 
thoroughly to sweat out, and then put into 
such a storage as I have described, leaving 
rot out of the question, the shrinkage from 
November to March will not be over'from 
seven to 1() per cent at the outside. On 
the other hand, however, if some of your 
readers desire to store their potatoes in 
their house cellars, where there Is a fur¬ 
nace, or if they run two or three stoves 
in the rooms over the cellar, they can rest 
assured they are liable to have a shrink¬ 
age of 15 to 20 per cent. Potatoes are al¬ 
most alway.s kept too hot Instead of too 
cold. The ideal temperature is from 31 to 
38, and if they can be kept from 34 to 40 
degrees, the shrinkage woufd not be over 
seven or eight per cent. 
New York. edward f. dibble. 
I have tested this matter and find that 
I can store potatoes with very small shrink¬ 
age, outside of rot. I have stored in a 
house cellar and the shrinkage was about 
15 bushels per 100. A house cellar is too 
dry. In the last 20 years I have built three 
potato cellars, with a capacity of 17,000 to 
5,000 bushels. The one I am using now 
will hold 10,000 bushels. Last Fall I put in 
4,041 bushels and closed the cellar tight. 
I kept the thermometer at as near 32 de¬ 
grees as possible and sold in March. I 
shipped 3,171 bushels, planted 295 bushels, 
sold 444 bushels seconds for seed, and used 
on the table 50 bushels (estimated), and I 
think there were at least 25 bushels of 
rotted potatoes. One other trial that I 
made I weighed in 2,000 bushels into one 
bin and sold in February, and weighed out 
culls, rot and all 1,964 bushels. 1 used to 
give ventilation for my cellar, but I had 
just as much rot and much heavier shrink¬ 
age. For a number of years now I have 
closed my cellar tight, and regulated the 
temperature by amount of covering on the 
inch floor above, and so have reduced the 
shrinkage to about two per cent as far as 
drying out is concerned. The top of my 
potato piles for about one foot in depth 
is as wet as it could be, or would be if you 
put them in water. 1 have stored as high 
as 15.000 bushels and experience has taught 
me to keep my cellar tight and let them 
sweat. E, H. CURRIER. 
Wisconsin. 
THOUSANDS HAVE KIDNEY 
TROU BLE AND DON’T KNOW IT 
To Prove What Swamp-Root, the Great Kidney Remedy, Will do 
for YOU, Every Reader of Rural New-Yorker May Have a 
Sample Bottle Sent Free by Mail. 
Weak and unhealthy kidneys are re¬ 
sponsible for more sickness and suffer¬ 
ing than any other disease, therefore, 
when through neglect or other causes, 
kidney trouble is permitted to continue, 
fatal results are sure to follow. 
Your other organs may need attention— 
but your kidneys most, because they do 
most and need attention first- 
If you are sick or “feel badly,” begin 
taking Dr. Kilmer’s Swamp-Koot, the 
great kidney, liver and bladder remedy, 
because as soon as your kidneys are well 
they will help all the other organs to 
health. A trial will convince anyone. 
The mild and immediate effect of 
Dr, Kilmer’s Swamp-Root, the great 
kidney and bladder remedy, is soon 
realized. It stands the highest for its 
wonderful cures of the most distressing 
cases. Swamp-Root will set your whole 
system right, and the best proof of this 
is a trial. 
14 West 117th St., New York City. 
Dear Sirs; Oct. 15th. 1902. 
“J[ had been suffering severely from kidney 
trouble. All symptoms were on hand; my 
former strength and power had left me; I 
could hardly drag myself along. Even my 
mental capacity was giving out. and often 
1 wished to die. It was then 1 saw an ad¬ 
vertisement of yours in a New York paper, 
but would not have paid any attention to 
it, had it not promised a sworn guarantee 
with every bottle of your medicine assert¬ 
ing that your Swamp-Root is purely vege¬ 
table. and does not contain any harmful 
drugs. I am seventy years and four months 
old. and with a good conscience I can 
recommend Swamp-Root to all sufferers 
from kidney troubles. Four members of my 
family have been using Swamp-Root for 
four different kidney diseases, with the 
same good results.” 
With many thanks to you. I remain. 
Very truly your.^, 
ROBERT BERNER. 
You may have a sample bottle of this 
famous kidney remedy, Swamp-Root, 
sent free by mail, postpaid, by which 
you may test its virtues for such dis¬ 
orders as kidney, bladder and uric acid 
diseases, poor digestion, when oblige to 
pass ypur water frequently night and 
day, smarting or irritation in passing, 
brick-dust or sediment in the urine. 
head ache, back ache, lame back, dizzi¬ 
ness, sleeplessness, nervousness, heart 
disturbance due to bad kidney trouble, 
skin eruptions from bad blood neural¬ 
gia, rheumatism, diabetes, bloating, ir¬ 
ritability, wornout feeling, lack of am¬ 
bition, loss of flesh, sallow complexion, 
or Bright’s disease. 
If your water, when allowed to remain 
undisturbed in a glass or bottle for 
tw'enty-four hours, forms a sediment or 
settling, or has a cloudy appearance, it 
is evidence that your kidneys and blad¬ 
der need immediate attention. 
Swamp-Root is the great discovery of 
,'Dr. Kilmer, the eminent kidney and 
bladder specialist. Hospitals use it with 
wonderful success in both slight and se¬ 
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their patients and use it in their own 
families, because they recognize in 
Swamp-Root the greatest and most suc¬ 
cessful remedy. 
Swamp-Root is pleasant to take and is 
for sale the world over at druggists in 
bottles of two sizes and two prices— 
fifty-cent and one-dollar. Don’t make 
any mistake but remember the name, 
Swamp-Root, Dr. Kilmer’s Swamp-Root, 
and the address, Binghamton, N. Y., on 
every bottle. 
EDITORIAL NOTICE. —if you have the slightest symptoms of kidney or blad¬ 
der trouble, or if there is a trace of it in your family history, send at once to Dr. 
Kilmer & Co., Binghamton, N. Y., who will gladly send you by mail, imme¬ 
diately, without cost to you. a sample bottle of Swamp-Root, and a book contain¬ 
ing many of the thousands upon thousands of testimonial letters received from 
men and women cured by Swamp-Root. In writing to Dr. Kilmer &• Co., Bing¬ 
hamton. N. Y., be sure to say that you read this generous offer in the New York 
Rural New Yorker. 
Don’t 
Stop 
to make fast the rope. 
Use the 
BurrSelMocking 
Tackle Block 
for Butchering, Lifting 
Hay. Wagon Boxes. 
Stretching Wire, etc 
boes away with the 
labor of 2 or 3 men. 
Guaranteed not to cut 
the rope. Write for 
prices. Agents wanted 
THE BURR MFQ. CO.. ' 
Cleveland, Ohio. 
CALIFORNIA 
APPLE BOXES. 
One-third barrel, regulation size with 
Panel Ends. Samples and prices on 
application. 
Soulh Side Mfg. Co., Petersburg, Va. 
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IF YOU WANT 
a better, more practical, longer lasting, heavier 
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PAGE WOVEN WIBE FENCE CO., Adrian, Mich. 
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Send for price list and FREE catalogue of Wire 
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