122 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
February 24 - 
bought from those who bred and reared them. The 
breeder may need oats to force the young stock, but 
the feeder needs little besides corn. We ail know men 
who still insist that strawberries cannot be grown 
without stable manure. Yet, here are more than 50 
acres grown with fertilizers only. This farm is an 
unanswerable argument in favor of high-grade fer¬ 
tilizers for fruit. The strawberries are grown suc¬ 
cessfully, and at a profit, too, being as fine in quality 
as any that come to the New York market. 
BREEDING THE BERRY.—Mr. Davis is a business 
man who understands that in farming, as in any 
other business, it requires money well invested to 
make money. In Maryland the plant-food question is 
of vital importance, for that section is not naturally 
a live-stock country. Stable manure, if it be used at 
all, must be hauled 100 miles or more. The freight 
on plant fooa is 15 times as much in the form of 
stable manure as it is in high-grade fertilizers. Mr. 
Davis’s experience shows beyond any doubt that the 
strawberry grower can produce crops of first-class 
fruit at a profit, year after year, with the use of fer¬ 
tilizers alone. It must be remembered, however, that 
these results could not be reached with low-grade 
fertilizers or a superphosphate, supplying only part 
of the necessary elements of plant food. The straw¬ 
berry plant is peculiar in its habits of growth. Its 
root system is very much restricted. The plant food 
must be placed close up to it, and be quickly avail¬ 
able in order to supply its needs. The fruit buds of 
the strawberry are produced during the late Summer 
and Fall, and mere must be present sure supplies of 
available plant food in order to push it along at this 
critical period, even though there be a lack of mois¬ 
ture. Many crops of strawberries are ruined because 
at this critical time there is only a supply of dry in¬ 
soluble plant food at hand. Unless the fruit buds are 
produced at this time the next year’s crop is sure to 
be a poor one. Consequently, it is absolutely neces¬ 
sary to supply in abundance the proper elements of 
plant food just at the right time. The strawberry is 
one of those crops that cannot stand starvation. It 
is far better to overfeed it on a well-balanced fer¬ 
tilizer than to starve it, either by supplying too small 
a dressing, or by using a fertilizer not well-balanced, 
and lacking, usually, in forms of nitrogen that are 
absolutely necessary. h. w. c. 
TWO NEW FODDER PLANTS FOR VIRGINIA. 
Will you tell me something about speltz? The extrava¬ 
gant claims for it give me a very strong desire to raise 
it instead of wheat, if it will make anything like the 
yield claimed. Also give me your opinion of Australian 
salt-bush; 1 thought it might be a good thing to grow in 
my brood-sow lots; they are about one-quarter acre each, 
and sows are kept in them about two weeks before far¬ 
rowing, and eight or 10 weeks after. Being obliged to 
have more sows than lots, when one is ready to come 
out, there is another to go in. It is almost impossible to 
keep anything green on them. From the description 
given (which I know is entirely accurate), it will be just 
the thing, if it will only stay in the hog lots, but the 
claim is that it grows readily from seed just dropped on 
the surface. Is it not likely to get into places where I 
have no need for it? a. b- e. 
Upperville, Va. 
Ans. —Send to e experiment stations a' Fargo, N. 
D., Brookings, S. I)., and Lincoln, Neb., anu ask for 
bulletins which refer to speltz. It is a Russian grain, 
said to have been brought to this country by Rus¬ 
sian settlers in North Dakota. The grain looks some¬ 
what like common barley—with each hull containing 
two berries. It has given fair results as compared 
with oats and barley in the Northwest, but we would 
not, under any circumstances, advise you to buy any 
large quantity for sowing in Virginia. Buy a small 
quantity as an experiment, if you wish to try it. The 
chances are that it is peculiarly adapted to the soil 
and climate of the Dakotas, anc. not suited to the 
South. Prof. Lyon, of the Nebraska Station, writes 
us as follows: 
Russian speltz is a variety of wheat. It differs from 
our ordinary wheat in that the hull adheres to the kernel. 
It is raised largely in Russia, and to some extent in most 
of the other countries of northern Europe. It is used 
only as a feed for live stock, for which purpose it is much 
prized. We have lately harvested a small area of land 
sown to this crop on the Station farm. It yielded at the 
rate of 1,237 pounds of thrashed grain to the acre. From 
this I should judge that it promises to give very fair 
yields as compared with oats. We have not tried feeding 
It, and so cannot speak from experience as to its feeding 
value. It is somewhat early yet to make predictions as 
to its probable place in our farm economy, but 1 am 
inclined to believe that it promises to make a valuable 
addition to our list of grains. 
Prof. J. H. Shepard, of North Dakoita, sends speci¬ 
mens of the heads, which are shown at Fig. 39. He 
says (writing August 14): 
Botanically, it is a variety of grain belonging to the 
wheat family as indicated by its name, Triticum spelta. 
It differs from wheat, however, in many respects. It re¬ 
tains an enveloping husk when thrashed, but this husk 
Is not so adherent as in the case of barley. In the 
thrashed grain two kernels usually remain attached, but 
with severer treatment the kernel will separate like 
wheat. In fact, some naked kernels are usually to be 
found in the thrashed grain. The heads are bearded, but 
not so offensively as in the case of barley. From those 
who have grown speltz and used it for feed, I have 
learned that it is a fine grain for work horses, pigs and 
sheep. One intelligent observer claims that it is superior 
to barley and to oats. The straw is rather finer than 
wheat straw, and the testimony of the very few people 
who have raised it is that it possesses considerable feeding 
value. In regard to the yield it is claimed to outyield 
either barley or oats. I now have eight acres of the 
speltz growing alongside of barley and oats, and in this 
case I am sure that the speltz will give the best yield. 
One grower farther west has informed me that he has 
secured as high as from 60 to 75 bushels per acre, but 1 
am sure that some of the few fields growing here will not 
yield so high. It is difficult to estimate the yield, owing 
to the fact that the grain loses practically no chaff in 
thrashing, and none of this grain is now thrashed. It is 
hardy, withstanding drought well. It is sown in the 
Spring and should be sown rather early. Testimony dif¬ 
fers somewhat as to the amount of seed per acre to be 
used. One grower insists that 1(4 bushel is sufficient, 
and another says he had the best results by setting his 
drill for two bushels of barley. I am inclined to think 
the latter about right, notwithstanding the fact that 
speltz stools abundantly. 
There is nothing in these statements to warrant 
any great outcry about this grain. It is worth a fair 
experiment, and that is all. 
A little pampn.et issued by the Department of Ag¬ 
riculture at Washington, and a bulletin issued by the 
“SPELTZ,” THE NEW GRAIN. Fig. 39. 
California Station at Berkeley, Cal., will tell you 
about all that is worth knowing regarding American 
experience with these salt-bushes. On the alkali 
lands in the Far West they have been found very use¬ 
ful. They seem specially adapted to such soils, which 
are very dry. In California it is said that a good 
stand is obtained by scattering the seed on top of 
the ground, before a rain, and then driving a flock of 
sheep over it. Our opinion is that outside of these 
dry alkaline soils, the salt-bushes will not be found 
superior to other plants now in cultivation. We 
would try a few seeds only as an experiment. Try 
Dwarf Essex rape in tne hog lots. 
GUARANTEED VITALITY FOR VEGETABLE 
SEEDS. 
The Agricultural Department at Washington offers to 
test samples of seeds sent by farmers or gardeners. This 
“testing” consists in sprouting the seeds under average 
conditions to see what proportion of them will start. 
These official tests have led farmers to ask why the seeds¬ 
men cannot guarantee that a certain per cent of their 
seeds will sprout about the same as a fertilizer dealer 
guarantees a certain per cent of plant food. The position 
taken by leading seedsmen is probably fairly stated in the 
following letter from W. Atlee Burpee: 
In my judgment, it would never be feasible to sell 
vegetable seeds under any guaranteed certain per¬ 
centage of growth, particularly such percentage as is 
fixed by the Department at Washington. By the in¬ 
closed sample of our ounce bag, and also the label 
which is pasted on all packages containing more 
than one ounce of seed, you will see that the planter 
who purchases our seeds, even from the local coun¬ 
try store, is assured positively that he has tested seed' 
specially prepared for the year’s planting as per date. 
This system of dating, which we adopted two years- 
ago, has worked admirably, and prevents small deal¬ 
ers from keeping seeds on hand and selling them sev¬ 
eral years after they nave been obtained from us. 
When we had the Government order several years* 
ago we were obliged to tell the Department plainly 
that we could not possibly give them Burpee’s Best 
Early cauliflower up to the percentage of growth 
required by the Government standard. The rea¬ 
son for this was that Burpee’s Best Early 
cauliflower (like all the finer strains of extra 
early cauliflower seed) is grown exclusively in Den¬ 
mark, and never germinates within 10 to 15 per cent 
of the Government standard. We therefore obtained' 
permission from the Government to substitute an¬ 
other variety of cauliflower, grown either in the- 
south of France or southern Italy, whicn would ex¬ 
ceed the percentage required by the Government. 
Consider tne folly of this! The Danish seed costs us 
six to 10 times as much to produce on contract as we 
can get the same varieties for, under the same name, 
grown in Italy, and yet we would not dare use the 
Italian seed (or for that matter even the equally well- 
matured seed grown in California), if it cost us noth¬ 
ing. The fact is that cauliflower seed grown in these- 
genial climes, while it germinates well, produces only 
a small percentage of good heads. 
We could name illustrations almost without end. 
Long-Island-grown cabbage seed will not germinate- 
within 20 per cent as well as English-grown, and yet 
it costs more than double as much to produce, and is- 
woith many times as much to the planter. No given 
standard for germination of the different vegetables, 
even where the seed is grown in the same locality’ 
could be established by Government or other action, 
and maintained faithfully, from the very well-known’ 
fact that in certain years the percentage of growth' 
will be much better than in other years, while the 
stiain of seed itself may be identically the same. We 
are sure that all other seedsmen who have trial) 
ground of their own, and test every lot of seed as 
thoroughly as do we, will agree with us in the abso¬ 
lute impossibility of fixing any standard. The only 
standard necessary for the planter is the knowledge- 
that he is dealing with a first-class seed house, which, 
aside from all question of honor, would not suffer its 
reputation to be injured by selling any other than the 
best quality of seeds that could be obtained in any 
given year. 
POISON IVY IN WINTER. 
On page 69 of The R. N.-Y. there is a very interest¬ 
ing reference to an English case of Rhus poisoning 
I wish to remark incidentally, that toxicodendrol the 
active constituent of the Poison ivy, Rhus radicans, 
has the same physiological properties in Winter as in 
Summer. The reason why so few people are poisoned 
in Winter is merely because fewer persons come in 
contact with it. As it is present in the sap, how¬ 
ever, the Winter wood is very dangerous to handle. 
In my bulletin on 30 poisonous plants, issued by 
the Department of Agriculture, the following state¬ 
ments are made: 
“It is highly desirable that legal measures be 
adopted compelling the destruction of these plants 
where they abound in cities and in places of popular 
resort. This can be managed without much danger 
from the poison, and is a matter of very general 
public interest. As has already been noted, many in¬ 
dividuals are practically immune from the effects of 
Poison ivy. Advantage should be taken of this fact 
to employ such individuals to remove these plants 
from the vicinity of dwellings and from playgrounds. 
Much of the work would be purely mechanical, con¬ 
sisting in rooting up the plants by main force. This 
is the most certain method; the use of concentrated 
sulphuric acid is attended with less danger, as the 
plants do not need to be touched. A half-teaspoonful 
should be applied to the stem every two or three' 
weeks in the Spring, when the plant is growing most 
vigorously. Care should be taken to keep the acid 
away from the skin, as it is most highly corrosive. 
The brush should in no case be left upon the ground 
nor the wood used for fuel. In burning the refuse in 
the field, pains should be taken not to inhale the 
smoke nor to handle the wood any more than neces¬ 
sary. The greatest care should be exercised in pre¬ 
venting workmen from transferring the oil from their 
clothes and hands to other individuals. To accom¬ 
plish this object special suits should be worn, and 
the hands should be washed several times a day with 
the alcoholic sugar of lead solution. Bathing in hot 
water with strong soapsuds is recommended. The 
clothing must also be well washed, and it is always 
well to remember that towels may be a means of con¬ 
veying the oil." v. K. CHESNUT. 
Department of Agriculture. 
