THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 17 
184 
Farmers’ Club. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the 
name and address of the writer to insure atten¬ 
tion. Before asking a question, please see 
whether it is not answered in our advertising 
columns. Ask only a few questions at one time. 
Put questions on a separate piece of paper.] 
The English Sparrow. 
N. O., Hubbardston, Mich .—Can it be proved 
that the English sparrow does more good 
than harm? I have seen them carry worms 
from fruit trees to their young, and they 
catch many grasshoppers. 
Ans. —We do not believe it can. It 
is true that the English sparrow does 
destroy many caterpillars, grasshoppers, 
cicadas and other insects, but its faults 
are so numerous as far to outweigh the 
little good it does. 
M. V. 8LINGERLAND. 
The Use of Slaughterhouse Refuse. 
V. M. B., Bast Moravia, Pa .—At a slaughter¬ 
house three miles away I get for $1 per two- 
horse load, a refuse from the rendering of 
tallow. Bones, horns, hoofs, scraps of all 
kinds, meat, stomachs (emptied of contents), 
etc., are put into an iron tank, and sub¬ 
jected to a steam pressure of 150 pounds for 
several hours, then the tallow is drawn 
off, and I get the refuse. The bones pul¬ 
verize usually in a short time after expos¬ 
ure to the air. What is the probable com¬ 
mercial value of this per ton? It is very 
heavy and disagreeable to handle. I also 
find it difficult to get in shape to apply. 
This Winter has been my first experience 
with it, and not knowing any better way 
have composted some with swamp muck, 
and some with stable manure. I am sure 
it is valuable. Could you suggest the best 
way to use it on ordinary garden crops in 
the Spring? 
Ans. —We could give only a guess at 
its value. We do not know how much 
water it contains, but It should be worth 
at least $10 per load. We would leave 
it exposed to the air for a few days, 
and then smash up the bones as fine as 
possible, with a sledge or heavy spade. 
Then compost with the muck or mix 
with the manure. As we have explained 
before, powerful machinery is needed to 
fit this refuse for use as a fertilizer fine 
enough to drill. On the average farm, 
the compost heap is the best fertilizer 
factory. Don’t forget that this refuse 
contains no potash. To make a com¬ 
plete fertilizer, you must use wood 
ashes or potash salts in addition. 
Salt for Potato Scab. 
J. R. 8 ., Perrysville, Pa .—At the recent 
meeting of the Pennsylvania Horticultural 
Society a man told me of great results in 
preventing potato scab by scattering salt 
freely in the furrow before dropping the 
seed. Now, I understand that salt oper¬ 
ates against the formation of starch in the 
potato, and is thus an injury. What would 
you say of the salt remedy? 
Ans. —We would not advise the use of 
salt in the hill or drill. Cases have been 
reported where salt and wood ashes have 
given fair results, but the most careful 
experiments indicate that both ashes and 
salt are better used on some other crop. 
Lime, whether in wood ashes or as air- 
slaked, may increase the yield of pota¬ 
toes, but is practically sure to increase 
the amount of scab on the tubers. The 
exception will be on soils where the scab 
germs are not present—and they are few. 
There may be 'soils in such condition 
that salt will increase the yield, but it 
will be at the expense of quality. Pos¬ 
sibly salt will have some effect on the 
scab germs, but sulphur will prove far 
more useful. 
Maple Sugar on a Small Scale. 
S. L. B., Bangor, Me .—Give directions for 
making maple sugar—in a small and primi¬ 
tive way—for the benefit of an invalid in 
the Maine woods. 
Ans. —Maple sugar can be made in 
small quantities with very little ex¬ 
pense, save in the time and care neces¬ 
sary to gather the sap and boil it. S. L. 
B. probably wishes to make but a few 
pounds; if so, he need not tap more than 
a dozen or 20 trees. He should use a 
five-eighths-inch bit and bore not more 
than one-half inch into the solid wood 
of the tree, taking care to have the hole 
slant a trifle downward, so that the sap 
will flow out clean, and not freeze up in 
the spouts at night. He can probably 
buy metal spouts for one to two cents 
each at the hardware stores, but, if not 
convenient to do so, wooden spouts can 
easily be made out of soft wood sprouts, 
by cutting sprouts the size of a man’s 
thumb or smaller, and about four inches 
long. With a straight piece of wire the 
pith can be cleaned out of the sprout, so 
as to make a good serviceable spout 
when whittled down on one end to fit 
the hole in the tree. For tapping only a 
few trees, pails, pans and kettles can be 
brought into requisition to catch the 
sap. Most anyone, even without pre¬ 
vious experience, can manage to tap the 
trees and gather the sap; the boiling, 
however, is a little more difficult. When 
the sap is first put on the stove, there is 
scarcely any danger of its burning, but 
as the process advances, the syrup 
thickens, and the liability to burn in¬ 
creases. Any metal vessel will do to 
boil the sap in; bright tin or copper 
vessels are the best. Lots of farmers’ 
wives tap a few trees and make a little 
sugar on the stove along with their 
other cooking every Spring, and some of 
the finest-flavored sugar I have ever 
eaten has been made by simmering on 
the stove without mucn care or haste in 
boiling. 
I would advise anyone commencing to 
make sugar for the first time to give it 
undivided attention until it is ready to 
take off the stove, if S. L. B. tap but 
a few trees, he will be able to boil the 
sap in ordinary cooking vessels on a 
kitchen stove. As the sap evaporates 
and thickens he should slow up the fire 
for saefty, and let the sap boil slowly 
until it has arrived at the consistency 
of syrup; by occasionally dipping a 
spoonful out and cooling on snow or ice, 
he can tell when it is thick enough for 
syrup. Then take it off the stove and 
set aside, as there will not be enough of 
it to bother with sugaring it off, but if 
he boil down the sap for several days he 
will then have enough syrup to put into 
sugar. In sugaring off put the syrup 
into a flat-bottomed pan over a mod¬ 
erately hot fire, and let the boiling pro¬ 
cess be renewed. Keep it stirring gen¬ 
tly. The more it is stirred the lighter- 
colored ft will be, and the less liable it 
will be to burn. When the syrup is so 
thick that it runs out of a spoon as 
though ribbony or stringy, it is about 
time to take off and mold into cakes or 
bricks in any small dishes that flare out 
in size at the top. By greasing the pans 
a little the sugar will not stick, and will 
easily drop out when cold by reversing 
the dish. There is no secret process 
about making sugar; it is simply gath¬ 
ering the sap and boiling it down until 
it crystallizes. c. w. scarff. 
“Durability is 
Better Than Show.” 
The wealth of the multi-millionaires is 
not equal to good health. Riches without 
health aie a curse, and yet the rich, the 
middle classes and the poor alike have, in 
Hood's Sarsaparilla, a valuable assistant 
in getting and maintaining perfect health. 
N everDisappoin ts 
iyiarket Gardeners 
make money b} r getting their product 
into market early. This is best accom 
plished by taking advantage of the 
stimulating effect of 
Nitrate of Soda* 
It forces the most rapid growth and 
imparts quality, crispness, tenderness, 
etc. All about it in our free book, “Food 
for Plants.” Ask for a copy. Address, 
John A. Myers, 12-0 John St., New 
York. Nitrate for sale by fertilizer deal¬ 
ers everywhere. 
Write at once for List of Dealers. 
Did you ever see 7 straight or circular rows of 
Pansies, side by side, each a different color ? If so, 
you know that the effect Is charming beyond con¬ 
ception. Did you ever see Chi Ids’ Giant Pansies, mar¬ 
vels in beauty and true to color ? If not. you have 
not seen the beauty and perfection now attained. 
As a trial offer, we wlli mall for 25 cents I 
50 seeds Pansy Giant, Pure Snow White, 
50 “ “ “ Coal Black, 
5 o '• “ “ Cardinal Red, 
50 “ “ “ Bright i ellow, 
50 “ 1 “ Azure Blue, 
50 “ *• “ Bright Violet, 
50 “ “ “ Striped, Variegated. 
A little book on Pansies, telling all about culture, etc. 
A Booklet of 95 pages on House Plants; tells just 
how to care foreverykind of window plant. 
THE MAYFLOWER magazine 8 months; finest 
publication on Flowers and Gardening. And our 
Catalogue of 156 pages and 9 Colored Plates. 
The 7 I’ansles, 2 Books, Mayflower and Cnt’g, 85e. 
Our Catalogue for 1J10O—25th Anniversary 
Edition—greatest Book of Flower and Vegetable 
Seeds, Bulbs, Plants and New Fruits, 156 pages, 5u0 
illustrations, 9 colored plates, will be mailed free 
to any who anticipate purchasing. Great Novelties 
In Sweet Scented and Tuberous Rex Begonias, Gera¬ 
niums, Fragrant Caila, Treasure Vine, Gooseflower, 
Caladiums, Everblooming Trltoma, Cannas, Gladi¬ 
olus, Roses, Phloxes, Giant Pseony, Lilies, Palms, 
Carnations, Primroses, Asters, Pansies, Sweet Peas, 
V erbenas. Tomatoes, Strawberries, etc. 
John Lewis Childs, Floral Park, N. Y. 
in cash prizes is one of the many interesting 
features of our new catalogue for 1900. 
Planters of Manie’s Seeds are successful peo¬ 
ple. Manic’* Seeds lead all; have done 
so for years and afe as far ahead as ever in 
the race. Our new catalogue for 1900 is 
FREE to ALL 
who apply for it. It contains everything 
good, old or new, with hundreds of illustra¬ 
tions, four colored plates and practical up- 
to-date cultural directions. It is pronounced 
the brightest and best seed book of the year. 
Write for it to-day. Address 
WM. HENRY MAULE, Philadelphia. 
It is possible 
that you can get other seeds “just as 
good”—if you know where to send for 
them and are willing to pay higher prices. 
It is impossible 
that you can get better seeds at any price, 
—no matter what you pay for them. 
Therefore you should send your address to 
Burpee, Philadelphia 
for a complete catalogue for 1900.— 
It is FREE to all. 
General Nursery Stock. 
Trees. Seeds, Cuttings, Hedge Plants, etc. Japan 
Raspberry, $1.50 per 100; doz., 35. Gregg, Marlboro, 
Golden Queen Raspberry plants, by doz. 35c.; 100. 
$1.50; 1000. $10. Send for Price List. J. A. ROBERTS. 
Malvern, Pa. 
t^*New Late Winter Apples. 
Collins, Beach, Oliver, Arkansaw, Reagan, Heiges, 
Gilbert, Springdale, Highflll, Stayman, Givens, 
Hatchers, etc. $4 per doz., packed. 
V. S. FUNK & CO., Boyertown, Pa. 
QJTRAWBERRY PLANTS $1.25 per 1000 and up 
Miller Red Raspberry and Lucretia Dewberry, 
$3.50 per 1000. Catalogue free. 
D. W. MOSLEY, Dover, Del. 
|fT nOn Kansas and Gregg Raspberry plants. 
■ ”5 All hand-layered and from young plan¬ 
tation that has never fruited: none better. 
W A. FREED. Homewood, Pa 
P 
EACH TREES 
No. 1, Medium, No. 2 and No. 
3, at 3, 2)4. 1 and lc. each, 
all 1 yr. from bud, healthy, thrifty: no scale; 
sample by exp. Trees kept dormanttlll May 10. 
Send for cir. R. S. Johnston, Box 4, Stockley.Del 
APPLE SCIONS 
From Bearing 
Trees, Fumigated 
SUTTON BEAUTY, Malden Blush. Hubbardston, 
Rome Beauty. J. S. WOODWARD. Lockport, N. Y. 
PUECTIIIIT SCIONS from producing trees. 
Uilkd I I1U I Alpha, Reliance, Parry, Grant, 
Paragon, Cooper, Nurnbo. 
ALBION CHKSTN UT CO., Haddoniie'd, N. J 
ASPARAGUS 
CONOVER’S 
COLOSSAL. COLUMBIAN WHITE. PALMETTO 
All strong two-year-old roots. 
Order early while the stock is complete. 
THE WM. H. MOON CO., 
Glemvood Nurseries, Morrisville, l’enna. 
Cabbage seed, extra select crop of 1899. My own 
growing, all seasons, sure header. Ounce, 20c.; lb., 
$1.76. J. A. ROBERTS, Malvern, Pa. 
2000 BUSHELS 
Seed Corn; samples free. W. 
N. SCARFF. New Carlis’e, O. 
Seed Sweet Potatoes, Seed Jersey Yel¬ 
low and Red. $1 per bu., $3 per bbl. of 3 bu. Securely 
packed to carry safely. Send for price list of fruit 
trees, small fruits, etc. 
CUAS. BLACK, Hightstown, N. J, 
Seed Potatoes.— Sir Walter Raleigh, 
Livingston, $2.88: Carman No. 3, Banner, Seneca 
Beauty, $2.67: Rural, $2.60; Chios, $3.27 four-bushel 
barrel. W. E. 1MES, Seed Potato Specialist, Ver* 
montville, Mich. 
CCCn DflTATftEC Send for price-list and 
OLkU rli I It I Ufcw “Hints on Potato Cul¬ 
ture.” R. P. WILLCOX, Bowling Green, Ohio, 
DnTIkTnCC Grown especially for SEED. 11 
■ U I H I UCw varieties. Prices right. List free 
GEO. H. COLVIN, Crest Farm, Dalton, Pa 
MICHIGAN SEED POTATOES. 
Admittedly the Best'. Qimntitt to Suit. 
MICHIGAN SEED POTATO CO. Greenville, Mich. 
SEED POTATOES MICHIGAN, BOVEK 
Rose, Hebron, the Carmans and 6 other tirst-class 
varieties. 11 years experience. Catalog free. 
ABNER B. wn.SON, Tecumseh, Mich. 
CARMAN NO. 3 $3.00 
SEED POTATOES. MrV/ |ier bbl, 
Sir Walter Raleigh and Early Bovee $4.00 per bbl., all 
bbls. 4 bu. Dewey, the great cropper, per bbl. $5 00. 
Wholesale list free. GEO. A. BONNELL,Waterloo,N.Y 
The Fruits to Plant 
for profitable results are named In oiir 1900 
Catalogue. This book names all the trees and 
plants that will succeed in a northern climate; 
gives accurate descriptions of varieties and 
instructions about planting. Catalogue mailed FREE at your request. Write to us for any 
further information you need about fruits. Sixteenth Year. 
T. J. DWYER & SON, Box I (Orange Co. Nurseries), Cornwall, N. Y. 
PEACH trees 
I I think, the best roo 
“PEDIGREE 
A full assortment of varieties, including 
new and standard sorts. These are, we 
ooted trees we have ever grown. 
55 that is wliat our NEW SEEDLING STRAWBERRIES are. Yoii 
should read about them. Send for new Descriptive Catalogue. 
It tells all about them and the many other good things we have. 
JOS. H. BLACK, SON & CO , 
HIGHTSTOWN, N. J. 
1 ^ UlCj * send, by express or freight, 1 Paragon, 1 Alpha, 1 Parry’s 
ror UpO Giant, 1 Early Reliance, 1 English Walnut, 1 Japan Walnut, 
1 Pecan, 1 Bismarck Apple, 1 Dwarf Rocky Mt. Cherry, worth $8.20. Full line of 
Nursery Stock. Certificate. ARTHUR J. COLLINS, Moorestowu, Burlington Uo.,N. J. 
TREES 
Apple 
Senator, 
best by Test—74 YEARS. Largest 
annual sale. High quality— not 
high price. Finest sorts. We bud 
4 million Apple trees, whole-root 
graft 5 million—1- and 2-yr. Other Trees, Vines, etc., in 
proportion. 1400 acres Nursery U/„ PAY FPFIAHT 
- 43,000 acres Orchards. Fruit Book tree. Y V v? Ini I IlLIUII I 
- box and pack free, ask no money till SAFE arrival,—guarantee Satisfaction 
yy PAY ^ ^ each WEEK and want more Home and traveling salesmen 
GRASS SEED for HAY, 
GRASS SEED for PASTURE, 
GRASS SEED for GOLF LINKS, 
GRASS SEED for LAWNS, 
GROSS P1IXT0BES SPECIRLLY PREPARED TO SUIT JILL CONDITIONS OF SOIL. 
Our AMERICAN FARMERS’ MANUAL for 1900, 32 pages, devoted entirely to Grass 
and other Seeds for the Farm, mailed free on application to those who state where they saw 
this advertisement. Correspondence invited. 
GRASS SEEDS 
PETER HENDERSON & CO. 
- 35 & 37 - 
CORTLAND! ST, 
NEW YORK, 
