1900 
rHK RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
243 . 
ned. About 5,000 plants are required for an acre, and 
in practice nearly double the number of plants that 
are likely to be needed should be grown, in order to 
have an ample stock to fill vacancies caused by cut¬ 
worms, drought or untimely frosts. From 350 to 400 
bushels, weighing nine to 12 tons, can be grown to the 
acre, under these conditions. Tomatoes will not yield 
a profitable crop on heavily-enriched soil, as a rank 
vine growth is apt to ensue at the expense of the 
fruit, which is also more liable to decay before ripen¬ 
ing. 
WHEN TO FERTILIZE STRAWBERRIES. 
Last season I set out a strawberry bed, Gandy, Clyde, 
Lovett and Haverland. The plants were covered last 
Fall with seaweed or Eel-grass. This Spring, after I 
rake off the seaweed, I wish to apply fertilizer. Can I 
spread it on broadcast, and then cultivate between the 
rows? J. E. K. 
South Portsmouth, R. I. 
We doubt the wisdom of applying fertilizer to fruit¬ 
ing strawberry plants in the Spring. Occasionally a 
small quantity of nitrate of soda will be found use¬ 
ful, but the proper time to feed the plant is during 
the late Summer and Fall. That is, in the season be¬ 
fore fruiting. The strawberry plant seems to form its 
fruit buds late in the season, and when it goes into 
Winter quarters, most of these fruit buds are formed. 
In one sense, the production of the strawberry is not 
unlike that of asparagus. We are coming to under¬ 
stand more and more about the production of fruit 
buds on vines and trees, and it has been shown that 
in some cases these buds are produced many months 
before the fruit is actually developed. Many practi¬ 
cal growers have discovered that the proper time to 
feed the strawberry is at the time of setting out the 
plants, or immediately after fruiting. The object is to 
produce a strong, vigorous plant that shall make its 
best growth after the middle of August. In the Spring 
a perfect water supply is more necessary than a dress¬ 
ing of fertilizer. While the plant may make use of 
soluble nitrogen such as is found in nitrate of soda, 
it is not likely that potash and phosphoric acid ap¬ 
plied at that time will make much difference in the 
crop of fruit. In applying fertilizer at any time, we 
would rather put it in furrows or drills close up to 
the plant, than to broadcast it. Of course, where the 
plants are in matted beds or rows, broadcasting is 
necessary. But in hills or narrow rows we think it 
always better to plow a shallow furrow close to the 
plants and put the fertilizer down into it, where it 
will be close to the roots. Most people believe that 
the roots of strawberries run across the rows like 
those of corn or potatoes. This is a mistake, although 
varieties differ somewhat in this respect. Generally 
speaking, the roots of the strawberry go down rather 
than out, and they are rarely found over 15 inches 
out into the row away from the plants. 
SOUR SOILS AND POTATO SCAB. 
I have read that plowing under green crops in the 
Spring would disinfect land containing germs of the 
potato scab. I have a small piece of ground, but nothing 
growing on it to plow under. Probably an application 
of sulphur would answer the purpose, but, if the idea is 
to make the land less alkaline or slightly acid, would not 
planer shavings do? Has it been determined whether 
or not the scab can exist in sour soil? w. w. w. 
Tyrone, Pa. 
You are right in the idea that if the sourness of the 
soil is increased the tendency to Potato scab will be 
reduced. In soil which is naturally quite sour but lit¬ 
tle Potato scab will result, even though badly infest¬ 
ed seed tubers are employed. If the soil is badly con¬ 
taminated with t'he Potato-scab fungus, and is not 
acid, no treatment of the seed tubers whatsoever will 
be of any particular avail, so that the only means of 
improving the condition is to employ something which 
will tend to increase the acidity of the soil. In Eu¬ 
rope certain acid chemicals are used for this purpose, 
and sulphur has been employed here to bring about 
the same effect. Our own experience leads me to rec¬ 
ommend in such cases the employment of the entire 
amount of nitrogen in the form of ammonium sul¬ 
phate. The ammonia is changed to nitric acid, this 
acid neutralizes some of the bases in the soil, and the 
residual sulphuric acid lessens the tendency to scab. 
Muriate of potash would also have a similar ten¬ 
dency. 
Upon such Jand, where it is desired to overcome 
the tendency to scab, I should under no circumstances 
employ bone, tankage, basic slag, wood ashes or lime, 
but would use as a source of phosphoric acid, acid 
phosphate. These materials all serve as valuable 
manure, and at the same time aid in accomplishing 
the purpose desired. I should tnink this would be a 
much better policy to pursue than to attempt to in¬ 
troduce such things as shavings or even a green crop, 
unless for other special reasons tbe plowing under of 
A green crop would be desirable. Doubtless the plow* 
ing under of rye or buckwheat would lessen the ten¬ 
dency to scab, though it would probably take consid¬ 
erable time to exert an appreciable influence in this 
manner, and the ultimate expense would be greater 
than by means of a system which furnishes manure 
for the growing of profitable crops during the time 
that the change in the soil is being brought about. 
Rhode Island Exp. Station. h. j. wheeler. 
R. N.-Y.—We would never advise the use of fresh 
planer shavings or sawdust. After they have been 
used as bedding they are much safer. We have ob¬ 
served at times that parts of a potato field where 
Crimson clover was plowed under yielded potatoes 
with less scab than where no green crop was thus 
used. This was certainly the case with us last year. 
It never occurred to us before that such green crops 
could affect the soil so as to reduce the scab. 
“LISTING'’ CORN IN KANSAS. 
No doubt many of our Eastern readers have read about 
the western method of “listing” corn, without under¬ 
standing what was meant. We give the following de¬ 
scription by a Kansas man, with the little picture shown 
at Fig. 78. 
Listers were introduced in the Middle West over 20 
years ago, and they gradually won their way until the 
present, when all the corn in Kansas and Nebraska 
is planted with a lister. A lister is a plow with two 
moldboards and shares, working in opposite direc¬ 
tions; the ditch or furrow is 14 inches wide and 
from four to six inches deep. Usually a subsoiler is 
fastened to the back of the beam; its office is to 
scratch up a little loose dirt for the drill, and it runs 
from one to three inches deep in the bottom of the 
furrow. The above is a general description of listers; 
they are 14-inch and 16-inch shares, wood and steel 
beam, walking or riding. A combined lister is one 
that makes the furrow, drops and covers the corn, all 
in one operation; this style is successful in light soils 
only. In preparing the ground for listing, it should 
LISTING CORN IN KANSAS. Fio. 78. 
be run over with a disk, or plowed the Fall before, 
although nine-tenths of the corn in this section is 
planted in ground without any previous preparation 
to running the lister. 
The lister is followed by the drill, working in the 
ditch, and it drops the corn; the distance between 
grains is from 12 to 20 inches, depending on the fer¬ 
tility of the ground and the width between rows; 
three feet six inches is usually the width between 
rows, and the grains 16 inches apart. The first few 
years’ experience in the cultivation of listed corn was 
a partial failure, because the weeds grew in the fur¬ 
row and smothered out the corn; then some one in¬ 
vented a trough, which was the beginning of success¬ 
ful cultivation, and now after many failures of 
patented “contraptions” the trough holds its own. 
We use a common inverted trough 10 inches deep, 10 
inches wide at the open part, and three inches wide 
on the back; the length is about four feet. An 
evener 12 inches long is bolted loosely across the top 
of the trough near the front; the ends of this evener 
are tied to each side of the arch of the cultivator; 
the evener allows the trough to follow the furrow re¬ 
gardless of the variation in width or crookedness of 
row. The plowman’s object is to bury the trough, 
and as it moves forward the rift of dirt gradually 
falls around the corn and smothers the weeds; be¬ 
sides, lots of loose dirt is left along the furrow, and 
the first rain floats this mud in around the corn, and 
kills nearly every weed. 
The advantages of listed corn are numerous: First, 
speed; one outfit can plant from seven to nine acres 
a day. Second, ease of cultivation; it is easier to 
plow, and can be kept cleaner with the same amount 
of work. Third, drilling; drilling is better than 
planting in hills, as it affords more root room. 
Fourth, drought-resisting; being planted deep, listed 
corn stands drought better than surface planted. The 
disadvantages of listing are slow growth for the first 
month or so, and the washing of the ground by rain; 
the latter can be avoided somewhat by listing around 
the hills, and best of all, by having plenty of humus 
to to# soil, to conclusion, I would say that should 
I farm in the East I would try listing on all land that 
is free from stumps and stones; light sandy or fairly 
light clay loams preferred. 
Moray, Kan. Walter zimmerman. 
WHY CORN FAILS AFTER BUCKWHEAT. 
In looking over some back numbers of The R. N.-Y. I 
found one in which some one asks whether buckwheat 
enriches the soil. In answering. Prof. Roberts states 
that corn does not do well after buckwheat. Why is 
this? We have a field which has been in buckwheat the 
past two seasons, which we were calculating to plant 
partly to corn. It was in pasture at least 10 or 12 years 
before sowing buckwheat. Which is the better, to put 
on manure and plant corn, or again to sow buckwheat? 
Lackawanna Co., Pa. s. 
Buckwheat is one of those plants which are able to 
feed on tough plant food, therefore, it often thrives 
well on land that will not not raise a good crop of 
wheat. Buckwheat takes its nourishment from the 
land during the last part of the season, and it is pos¬ 
sible that for this reason, and this alone, corn does 
not start quickly the coming year. Nitrification goes 
on slowly, or is entirely arrested in cold weather, 
hence too little available nitrogen is furnished the 
young corn plants. We have so often seen corn strug¬ 
gling for existence on land which had been cropped 
in buckwheat the previous year that it has sometimes 
seemed to us that there were other reasons why corn 
does not follow buckwheat kindly. In my long experi¬ 
ence I have found but few men who claimed that they 
had raised corn as successfully on buckwheat stubble 
as on oats, barley or other stubbles. It would seem 
unwise to keep on sowing buckwheat on this land, 
and therefore a part of the stubble might be put into 
corn. Some corn should be planted on other land. 
Then if that planted on the buckwheat stubble is not 
a full success, no great loss will occur. It would be a 
most interesting experiment if you would manure 
some of this land, leave a portion unmanured, plant 
to corn and report your experience to this paper next 
Fall. There are many things that cannot be explained 
scientifically. Often the only way to discover the 
right road is by investigation. i. i*. Roberts. 
THINGS WORTH KNOWING. 
Oyster-Shell Bark-Louse.— The Insect is wintering 
in the egg stage, well protected under the scales. The 
eggs will hatch into tender lice about May 15. I would 
prune off and burn all infested branches practicable at 
once, then wait until about May 15 or June 1, and drench 
the bark of the bushes with the whale-oil soap at the 
rate of one pound in five gallons of water. Spray a 
second time, perhaps, a week or 10 days later. m. v. s. 
Hornets and Grapes.— In answer to J. G. G., page 102, 
I earnestly request a little space. Leaving the honey¬ 
bee out of the question, I do know positively from long 
experience as a fruit grower and close observer, that 
bees, locally known as hornets, yellowjackets and wasps, 
do bite through the firm skin of grapes, pears, plums, 
apples and other very ripe but otherwise sound fruit, 
carrying pieces of the three latter away with it. They 
will also work at meat in a similar manner exposed to 
the air. In the Fall of 1899 I had many paper bags eaten 
away, and the grapes that were inclosed, completely de¬ 
stroyed. I was not able to get a perfect bunch from 
those not covered, and I know what did it. It, therefore, 
needs no scientific observer to settle this old subject. 
Dutchess County, N. Y. H - G - 
The Radish Maggot.— In The R. N.-Y. for February 17, 
H. E. W., Wabash, Ind., asks whether there is a remedy 
or preventive for the Radish maggot. I am not satisfied 
with the answer given, that there is no very satisfactory 
remedy. My experience is that if the ground is given a 
good dressing of hard-wood ashes, thoroughly mixed with 
the soil, the maggot will never disturb the radishes, and 
what is more—ashes are perfect fertilizers for the radish. 
They do best on mellow surface with a clay subsoil. 
Now is the time to look over the new seed catalogues 
and make out your list for the coming season. For the 
main crop I would stick to the old standard varieties, but 
I think it will pay every wideawake gardener or farmer 
to try a few new varieties that are put out by the lead¬ 
ing seedsmen every year. Of course, about four out of 
five will be failures, but the one that is a good thing will 
put money in your pocket. c. h. f. 
Forestville, N. Y. 
Curing Oat Smut.—I was gratified with the article on 
page 182 because Mr. Stewart’s experiments show how 
much we ofttimes lose by the smut fungus. I could not 
so readily credit so great a loss as he describes; but from 
the fact that a high-school graduate who was assisting 
me last Fall went over to help a neighbor thrash. He 
wore a very clean white shirt, but when he returned that 
shirt was as black as smut could make it. He had to 
-wash his face in three waters before we could recognize 
that he was the same boy. Since then he thinks farm¬ 
ing don’t pay. Mr. Stewart cannot realize that there is 
enough water in a gallon to wet 10 bushels of oats. It 
is surprising what a small amount it requires. In using 
a small quantity of water we are not bothered with 
drying them. After being in the box three days, they 
are dry and ready to drill. I think the result would have 
been the same by putting one ounce of formaldehyde in 
one, two, or three gallons of water, with this exception, 
it would take longer to dry, and might thus injure some¬ 
what the germinating of the seed. H. J. «, 
Applegate, N. Y. 
