336 
May 12 
THE ruraltnew-yorker: 
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 Use of Lime. 
L. U., Canard, N. S.— How many bushels 
of lime should be put on to the acre on a 
full-bearing orchard? When you say 
bushels, do you mean slaked or unslaked? 
When Is the best time to apply It? Will 
it do to put it in small heaps, and let it 
slake itself? 
Ans. —Twenty to 25 bushels per acre 
of slaked lime. A bushel means about 
80 pounds. We would rather use it in 
Spring — broadcast on the plowed 
ground and well harrowed in. The 
plan of putting the unslaked lime in 
little heaps to air-slake before spread¬ 
ing is often followed. 
Rust on Bush Fruits. 
N. R., Hannibal, Mo .—What can I do to 
prevent the rust on blackberry bushes? 
Will spraying help? 
Ans. —The rust of the blackberry or 
raspberry is due to a fungus which en¬ 
ters the young underground shoots, and 
grows up tnrough the canes, finally ap¬ 
pearing on the leaves. This habit of 
growth inside the cane renders spraying 
quite useless, as the plant is seriously in¬ 
jured before the rust appears on the 
leaves. About the only preventive rem¬ 
edy is to dig out and burn the infected 
plants as soon as they show disease 
signs. The affected plants look sickly, 
and are likely to be much freer from 
prickles than the healthy ones. 
Grass Seeding Without Plowing. 
F. H., Ludlow, Tt .—On page 252, S. C. 
Armstrong says he has a meadow seeded 
down without plowing, and mowed now 
about 50 years. I have a natural meadow 
that I would like to seed down without 
plowing, if that is possible. It is subject 
to overflow, and I am afraid to plow it. 
What course do you advise? 
Ans. —The meadow spoken of, page 
252, as having been mown about 50 
years, and seeded in the first place with¬ 
out the land being plowed, was forest 
land with a large growth of timber upon 
it. The hard wood, beech, birch and 
maple, was felled in the Winter and 
Spring, and burned over in August. This 
killed all the briers and green sprouts, 
and left the land clean. My father plant¬ 
ed it to corn the following Spring. In 
planting a small hole was made with the 
point of a hoe, the seed corn dropped in. 
and enough fresh, moist earth dug up 
to cover the seed. The corn was never 
cultivated (as the ground was a network 
of roots), or hilled up. Part of the corn 
was planted before the logs were all 
burned off, and it did remarkably well. 
He had 1,400 bushels of corn (ears). One 
man did nearly all the hoeing and the 
ground was left clean at the end of the 
season. The following Spring the logs 
remaining on the ground were piled and 
burned, the land sown to oats and grass 
seed—Timothy and clover—and dragged 
in with an old-fashioned A drag. Then 
two hemlock tree tops were chained to¬ 
gether like a drag, and that was run 
over the ground. After the oats were 
taken off, the ground was green with 
clover, and it cut a large amount of hay 
for years after. The ground is rough 
and uneven, many cradle knolls and 
rocks, and of course it is impossible to 
mow it with a machine, but it never 
fails to cut hay. 
About 20 years ago I began to fence in 
a few acres of it each season and yard 
my cattle there at night. The next 
Spring I would move the fence and make 
a new yard. Early in the Spring, as 
soon as snow was gone, and while the 
soil was light and porous from the frost 
coming out of the ground, I would go 
over the yard used the previous season, 
and sow Timothy and clover upon the 
places tramped bare by the cattle, and 
soon there would be a perfect mat of 
grass all over the yard. The next year 
the cured hay would cover the ground, 
and we would have to keep turning it 
over to dry and cure it. This treatment 
is good for 15 years, i. e., it will cut a 
fair crop of hay without top dressing. 
I cleared about 15 acres of forest land 
about 15 years ago. I cut and drew off 
all the marketable timber, cut down and 
burned upon the ground the small tim¬ 
ber, mowed the brush and briers, raked 
them in piles and burned them, then 
sowed oats and grass seed (four quarts 
clover and eight quarts Timothy per 
acre), dragged them in with a butterfly 
drag, and by the time the oats were ripe, 
the new grass was thick among the 
oats, and about a foot high. I need not 
tell you that after the oats were run 
through the thrasher, the straw and new 
grass made excellent fodder. We cut 
large crops of hay several years, but I 
am afraid the drought of last summer 
has killed it out badly. I find this by ex¬ 
perience, that where land can be seeded 
without plowing it will cut good nay for 
many years. If once plowed, it should 
be plowed and reseeded in from three to 
five years. If the land spoken of by F. 
H. is low, moist land, and can be cut up 
with a sharp drag, I would sow it thinly 
with oats in early Spring, then sow with 
mixed grass seed and drag them in to¬ 
gether. If the land is covered with 
brush or weeds, I would mow it over in 
July or August, and as soon as dry, burn 
the land over and seed in September. If 
the land is now in grass, but thin and of 
small growth, I would sow from eight 
to 12 quarts of mixed grass seed early 
this Spring, and give it a thorough 
dragging with a sharp drag, teeth set 
about two inches deep. I have had a 
good catch on an old meadow by sow¬ 
ing mixed seed and top-dressing in early 
Spring—of course upon moist land. 
8. C. ARMSTRONG. 
How to Grow Mangels. 
A. D. P., Worcester, Mass .—How can I 
raise a large crop of mangels? Will 15 
cords of barnyard manure and 400 pounds 
of nitrate of soda to the acre be sufficient? 
Ans. —The essentials to success in 
growing mangel-wurzels are a deep, rich 
soil well prepared, good seed sown at 
the proper time, and thorough tillage of 
- the crop. With all these conditions 
present a large crop of mangels will not 
always result. The soil should be a 
loam or a sandy loam. Manure should 
be applied in the Fall. Well-rotted barn 
manure applied at the rate of about 10 
to 12 tons per acre, should be plowed 
under in November. Allow the land to 
remain during the Winter as left by the 
plow. In the Spring the land should t ^ 
replowed and made thoroughly fine by 
means of a harrow. Two or three har- 
rowings will do much to improve the 
physical condition of the soil. Should 
the soil be somewhat too porous and 
light, the roller should be used, after 
which the harrow should be used to 
make the seed bed fine and mellow. By 
the middle of May the seed should be 
sown. Select some of the large-growing 
varieties like the Mammoth Long Red 
or the Giant Yellow, and drill in rows 
about 22 inches apart. Better use about 
10 to 12 pounds of seed per acre. This 
will necessitate considerable thinning, 
but it is better to thin out than to trans¬ 
plant. Cover i~e seed not more than 
one-half inch deep, and should the soil 
c.ntain a large per cent of clay cover 
the seed even shallower than this. When 
the plants are from two to three inches 
high, or when the second pair of leaves 
is developing, thin out so that the plants 
shall be eight inches apart. Frequent 
tilla.'s should be given with a culti¬ 
vator containing many small teeth. The 
land should be kept as level as possible, 
and no attempt made to “hill up.” By 
following a plan similar to the one out¬ 
lined above, from 25 to 35 tons of man¬ 
gels per acre have teen obtained. 
If it is desired to plant mangel-wurzels 
this Spring, the manure may be applied 
before plowing, and after plowing there 
may be applied as a top dressing and 
harrowed in 150 pounds of acid phos¬ 
phate and 70 pounds of muriate of pot¬ 
ash per acre. The 400 pounds of nitrate 
of soda per acre will not be needed. 
Heavy fertilizing alone will not result in 
a large crop of mangels. More depends 
upon the thorough preparation of the 
land than upon the fertilizer used. 
L. A. C. 
Value of Steel Roofing. 
We receive a good deal of complaint now¬ 
adays from farmers who in former years 
put steel roofing, either flat or corrugated, 
on their barns. The complaints are that 
wherever cattle or hay are kept in these 
barns, so that moisture is formed, the 
steel roofing quickly rusts, becoming leaky. 
We have much the same complaint about 
steel nails, as compared with iron. Are 
these compaints well founded? Have you 
found that steel roofing is not a success 
on buildings of this kind? On the average, 
how long will it last, and is it to be recom¬ 
mended to farmers as suitable for other 
roofs or sides of farm buildings? 
Ans. —There may be, probably, man} 
reasons for the prevalent opinion held 
by farmers that steel rusts more readily 
than iron, aside from the actual quality 
involved. In the first place, it is quite 
unlikely that steel will rust any more 
rapidly than iron. In the substitution of 
steel for iron, which has taken place to 
a marked extent within the last two or 
three years, there has been a general re¬ 
duction in thickness and weight. As 
steel is much stronger and tougher than 
iron, such a change could readily be 
made without complaint for many pur¬ 
poses. Thin sheets of steel or iron rust 
out much more rapidly than thicker 
ones, and in most cases it is probable 
that trouble can be traced to this source. 
There has been, in some cases, however, 
a considerable amount of evidence that 
"7o Err is Human .” 
'Hut to err alt the time is criminal or 
idiotic. Don't continue the mistake of 
neglecting your blood. When impurities 
manifest themselves in eruptions or when 
disordered conditions of stomach, kidneys, 
liver or bowels appear, take Hood's Sar¬ 
saparilla. It will make pure, live blood, 
and put you in good health. 
THE HERO 
STRAWBERRY. 
We own the entire stock of this vain- , 
.__ able variety. Get the genuine 
BJSPRfl Self-fertilizer; prolific bearer; large, 
. 8 , “ — * * '-* firm fruit; ships long distance in good 1 
' rendition ; darkr-d color; delicious flavor. Only n limited num-1 
I her of plants at these low prices. Simrlo plants, til; t> for $3 ; 
i per do/.. II t Hit'RON’S Nurseries, R»x 29 lterlin, Md. 
Peach Trees 
10 Apple, Plum or Pear 
80c.; 10 Dwarf Pear G0c.; 
10 Quince 75c.; 10 Grape, 
Gooseberry or Currant 
50c. Write Quickly. C. NURSERY AND ORCHARD 
CO., Charleston. W. Va. 
PURTHEK REDUCTION in price of peach trees 
No. 1, litfcts.: 3 to 4 ft. lHcts. ; 2 to 3 ft. lc. 
each. All 1 yr. from bud. All leading varieties. Kept 
dormant and in good shipping condition till June 1st. 
Circular free. R. S. Johnston, Box 4, Stockley, Del. 
Trees. Plants. 
We have all kinds of Nursery Stock. 
Catalogue Free. 
JOS. H. BLACK, SON & CO., 
H1GHTSTOWN, N. J. 
POR SALE CHEAP. 
Kansas and Nemaha Blackcaps; Loudon, Miller 
and Marlboro Raspberry; Erie, Eldorado and Minni- 
waski Blackberry. Best varieties Strawberries and 
Seed Potatoes. WALTER E. TABER, 
“Lakeview Farm.” Poughkeepsie, N. Y 
certain kinds of pure and soft steel do 
rust more rapidly than iron. The prin¬ 
cipal difference between iron and steel 
depends upon the fact that steel con¬ 
tains less impurity, and is made by a dif -* 
ferent process. The principal impurity 
is carbon, which is present in larger 
quantities in the iron than in the soft 
steel. The carbon may in many in¬ 
stances be somewhat of a protection 
against rusting, but there is no certain 
evidence of this protection; on the other 
hand, a grade of steel may be used which 
contains some impurity that tends to 
make the material rust out. It is my 
opinion that if the steel sheets be put on 
as thick as iron ones, and are thoroughly 
painted on both sides, they will last fully 
as well. [prof.] r. c. carpenter. 
Cornell University . 
DK best by test—74 YEARS. We 
WANT MORE Salesmen 
DA V CASH 
r/\I WUKIY 
FOR SALE Seed; 1,000 Bushels Cow Peas. 
JOSEPH E. HOLLAND, Milford, Del 
IIICEU^ Weare Headquarters for 
I-111 at IIU Seed & Plants. 
HJ Valuable book about It, telling how togrow thousands ol 
dol larR worth, what used for and who Is grow ing it.Sent for 1 Oc 
AMERICAN GINSENG GARDENS, ROSE HILL, New York. 
New Vineland Bush 
Sweet Potato Plants 
Grown by the originator. By mail, post¬ 
paid, 50 for 75c.; 100 for $1.25. By express, 
$1 per 100; $6 per 1,000. 500 furnished at 
1,000 rates. Order now. 
inUMQnU P, OTnirCO 217 & 219 Market Street, 
JUrlHoUll & O I UKto, Philadelphia, Pa. 
For $2, I will send by express or freight, 1 Alpha, 1 Parry’s 
Giant, 1 Early Reliance and 1 Paragon chestnut tree grafted, 
worth $3.25. Full line of Nursery Stock Certificate. 
ARTHUR J. COLLINS, Moorestown, Burlington County, N. J. 
Business Apples 
A fine selection for business and for 
profit: York Imperial, Sutton, Grimes, 
Jonathan, Rome Beauty, Arkansaw or 
M. B. Twig, Baldwin, Greening, Hubbard- 
ston and others. Also, Kieffer, Bartlett and other business pears. No finer assortment fruit trees 
for business; no better values any where. Those who know us best trust us most, and you will find 
it safe in every way to place your orders with 
The Rogers Nurseries, Tree Breeders, Dansville, N. Y. 
SLUG SHOT 
KILLS INSECTS ON CURRANTS, ETC. 
In use since 1880. Is effective and safe to use. 
SOLD 1IY SEEDSMEN EVERYWHERE. 
Send for Free booklet on Bugs and Blights to 
B. HAMMOND, FishklU-on-Hudsou, N. Y 
Poultry-House Roofing 
must be cheap, durable and entirely 
airtight and waterproof. 
P & B Ruberoid Roofing 
is what you want. Invaluable for siding and for 
keeping floors dry and warm. 
Write ns for samples and prices. 
THE STANDARD PAINT COMPANY, 
Sole Manufacturers, 
Nos. 81 and 83 John Street, New York. 
IT 
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