1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKEfti 
657 
Behavior of New P/um6. 
What do growers say about Climax, Sul¬ 
tan and Wickson plums? Is Wickson in¬ 
clined to rot as much as Burbank? 
Concerning the Climax and Sultan I 
am not prepared to speak, for the rea¬ 
son that our trees of this variety have 
not yet fruited. We find Wickson fully 
as susceptible to fruit rot as Burbank 
this season. I have thus far seen no 
evidence that it is less subject to the 
attacks of curculio than Burbank. 
Geneva, N. Y. s. a. beach. 
Wickson I have fruited four seasons, 
including 1900, on grafts set in Bur¬ 
bank stock. Until this season there 
have been but a few scattering plums. 
The tree is now bearing a fair crop of 
plums of very even size. Young trees 
have not fruited with me as early as 
other varieties. Tree very similar to 
Prunus Simoni in growth. As compared 
with Abundance I would say it is in¬ 
ferior in growth, productiveness anu 
quality of fruit, but is a larger, later, 
more showy plum. Fruit more even in 
size, and I think will not withstand cur¬ 
culio as well as Burbank. With me it is 
more subject to rot than Abundance, but 
not more than Burbank. Sultan we have 
not fruited. In growth it is similar to 
other Japans; appears thrifty and 
hardy. Climax we lost, and do not have 
H. O. MEAD. 
Mass. 
The Climax plum only had one plum 
on it this year, and that was such a poor 
inferior specimen that we have no way 
of judging of its quality or anything else 
regarding it. Sultan did not fruit with 
us at all. Wickson fruited with us for 
the second time, and if this year could 
be taken as a criterion, we would con¬ 
sider it one of the most profitable 
plums that we have; being very late and 
very large it commands the highest 
prices in the market. It and Child’s 
Shipper nought the best prices for us 
of any that we have sent to market. 
Wickson is inclineu to be a shy bearer 
compared with other varieties, which 
we think is a good fault for a Japan 
plum. It is not as likely to rot as Bur¬ 
bank, and was not affected by curculio 
with us; indeed not one of the Japan 
plums was hurt by the curculio ex¬ 
cepting Ogon. 
JOS. H. BLACK. SON & CO. 
Toadflax or “Butter-and-Eggs." 
J. E. 8., Canaseraga, N. f.—I enclose a 
weed for identification. What is it, and 
how can it be eradicated or kept under 
control? 
Ans. —The plant is toadflax or ram- 
sted, Linaria linaria. It is a perennial 
plant of the Figwort family, propagated 
by the seeds, which are produced in 
abundance, ana are often found in im¬ 
pure clover seed, also by the perennial 
running rootstocks. When once estab¬ 
lished it is almost as difficult to eradi¬ 
cate as Canada thistle. If the plant is 
still confined to small areas on the farm 
mentioned, I would advise digging it out 
and burning it up. If it is spread 
throughout tne field it may oe eradi¬ 
cated only by thorough and continued 
cultivation. lysteb h. dewey. 
Curing Sunflower Seeds. 
Several Readers.— What is the best way to 
handle sunflowers intended for chicken 
feed? . ,. . 
Ans.— our sunflower seed is gathered 
by cutting tne heads off with a corn 
knife. It is then hauled to the barn and 
run through the cylinder of a thrashing 
machine, after which the seed is cleaned 
by running it through an ordinary fan¬ 
ning mill. Seed gathered in this way 
will cure in small quantities by spread¬ 
ing it out thinly on a barn floor. When 
we have a large quantity we put it on a 
hop kiln, and dry it the same as hops. 
When only a small quantity is raised it 
can be thrashed with a flail or rubbed 
off with a currycomo. We have fed 
about 40 bushels this Fall with very 
good results. henry van dreser. 
For the land’s sake, use Bowker’s Fer¬ 
tilizers. They enrich the earth. A.dv. 
Onions in a Cellar. 
C. P. B., Moberly, Mo.—How shall I keep 
onions? I have plenty of cellar room, but 
the onions are too damp now. I have heard 
that they could be kept In a barn; that if 
after being frozen they were covered with 
hay and not touched or handled at all until 
after they were thawed out again, such 
freezing would not hurt them. Can you 
tell me anything certain about this? How 
many freezings and thawings can they 
stand? 
Ans. —In all probability onions can be 
kept safely in a moderately light barn 
in the latitude of Missouri, if well cov¬ 
ered at the approach of unusually se¬ 
vere weather. They will stand some 
freezing witnout harm, though it would 
not be a good plan to let them freeze 
and thaw often. The main thing is to 
keep them cool anu well ventilated. If 
the building is tight, doors should be 
left open on all sides during the day. 
Some northern growers build a fire in 
the barn when the weather is very cold, 
but they do not like to do this too much, 
as heat is liable to make the onions 
sprout. 
Steaming a Carcass with Muck. 
R. P., West Nanticoke, Pa .—I have a large 
amount of black muck which I wish to 
utilize in fertilizing my orchards, of which 
1 have 40 acres planted and now beginning 
to bear. If I make a tank to hold say, 15 
two-horse loads of muck, deposit in the 
bottom the carcass of a dead horse, with 
sufficient water to cover same, then fill 
with the muck, and then connect a steam 
pipe from a boiler arranged for the pur¬ 
pose, to deliver steam below the water in 
tank and steam for 10 or 12 hours, until car¬ 
cass is thoroughly boiled and tank filled to 
surface of muck from condensed steam, will 
the nitrogen in carcass unite with and be 
retained in the muck, sufficient to make it 
valuable as a fertilizer? 
Ans.—W e do not think that there 
wouid be any loss of ammonia in the 
method suggested. We doubt whether 
you will utilize the full value of the 
horse in this way. Even with a power¬ 
ful steaming the meat and bones will 
not be fine enough to mix or spread 
evenly. The fertilizer dealers steam the 
bone and meat, then dry and grind into 
fine meal. If you keep hogs it would 
pay to steam the carcass until it is well 
cooked and then feed with bulky food 
like potatoes or roots. You will also 
find that the muck and meat alone will 
not make the best fertilizer for fruit. 
You should use potash in connection 
with it. 
Storing Cabbage for Winter. 
Subscriber .—What Is the best house for 
storing cabbage over Winter? Shall I dig 
a cellar or build partly above ground? 
How warm should it be kept? How much 
space Is required for a ton of cabbage? 
Ans.— i should think a cellar a good 
place to store cabbage, but 1 think it 
should be arranged to ventilate from 
the bottom. My idea has been to leave 
a small air space in the bottom under 
the loose floor, then put 15 or 18 inches 
of cabbage in, then another floor, and so 
on until all is stored. This permits 
ventilation when weather will permit. 
It should be kept as near freezing point 
as possible. I do not know how it is 
generally stored, but this plan has 
worked well with me. While my pit is 
mostly above ground it is banked and 
covered. I have used my ice house in 
the same way. Care should be taken 
not to let too many broken leaves ac¬ 
cumulate in any one place, as they will 
rot and interfere with ventilation. As 
to size of building it would vary accord¬ 
ing to quality of cabbage, but on an 
average 100 cubic feet will hold a ton of 
cabbage and by allowing for waste room 
in flooring one can make estimate of 
size. A * c * 
Penn Yan, N. Y. 
Fertilizing a Western New York Vineyard. 
L. W., Lutherville, Ark.— How long do the 
grape growers of western New York culti¬ 
vate the grape before they sow Crimson 
clover? How much potash or potash and 
bone are used, and what kind of potash 
and bone are the best for this country? 
Ans.—' t he amount of bone and pot¬ 
ash to be applied to a vineyard depends 
upon the hunger of the land, and which 
of the two the land needs most, the bone 
or the potash. I would ask the inquirer 
to try 300 pounds of bone and 400 
pounds muriate of potash per acre. Ap¬ 
ply it to half a dozen rows of grapes, 
and leave six rows with none. At har¬ 
vest time compare the yield of four 
rows that received the application with 
the second, third, fourth and fifth rows 
that had none, ihe first and sixth rows 
of the latter might be influenced by half 
the roots reaching into adjacent rows. 
By putting bis question to the grape 
vines themselves he will get an answer 
more reliable than he could from any 
experiment station. On another six 
rows he could reverse the amounts to 
400 pounds of bone and 300 pounds of 
potash. To use commercial fertilizers 
intelligently one must determine for 
himself tne needs of his land. It cannot 
be done by recipe. Different parts of 
the same farm have different needs. 
Good tillage is applicable to all lands, 
and without it best results with fertil¬ 
izer cannot be expected. The use of 
bone and potash in the Chautauqua 
grape belt of 25,000 acres is not general. 
Many have tried it, and after a time 
dropped the use without saying much in 
disfavor. I am among the number. I 
may use some potasn again another 
year. For all my fruit land l first put 
my fertilizer into a cover crop, and from 
there it reaches the plant, and I have 
the added benefit of humus io the soil. 
I have become a humus cranK as regards 
our long-cultivated soils in the Eastern 
States. Many have sown Crimson clover 
as a cover crop, but results are as un¬ 
certain as guessing on a horse race, be¬ 
cause we often have a dry speil at the 
time of sowing and the seed fails to ger¬ 
minate, and again it winterkills, or more 
correctly speaking, springkills in March. 
Where Crimson clover is fairly certain 
it would be well to sow it in the Fall 
of the first season the grapevines are 
planted, but with us, as a rule, the vine- 
yardists who use Crimson clover do not 
do so until the vines come into bearing, 
which with us is the third season of 
cultivation. J. w. s. 
Chautauqua Co., N. Y. 
Leaming and Sanford seem to oe the fa¬ 
vorite varieties of corn here for silage, but 
if your reader in Maine is not satisfied with 
these varieties we would advise him to try 
the southern Sheep-tooth; it will throw 
out a very heavy foliage and may be Just 
what he wants, but Sanford seems to be 
the popular variety here for silage. 
Charlotte, Yt. o. H. a. 
Colorado Potatoes.— I received on an 
average within a fraction of 95 cents per 
sack, making an income of fllO per acre. 
I have heard of but very few fields that 
have come up to even half this average. 
I don’t know how much I am indebted to 
The R. N.-Y. for this, but I used 100 
pounds sulphur on my seed, and nearly 
cried my eyes out playing the “piano” be¬ 
hind on the Robbins planter. I never had 
potatoes come up quicker or grow better 
after they came up than they did this year, 
and the stand was almost perfect. 
Longmont, Col. c. d. r. 
APPLE PRICES IN NEW YORK. 
Buyers began buying for $1, package in¬ 
cluded. Since the big wind last week more 
Is being asked, but I have not heard of any 
sales and do know what will be offered. 
Bethany. w. G. P. 
The apple crop is large, but owing to the 
drought a large portion of the apples are 
under-sized, and will necessarily go to the 
evaporators. Buyers at present are offer¬ 
ing $1 per barrel. w. f. m. 
Cha T , • file. 
The only prices we have heard named by 
substantial buyers for good Winter apples 
are $1 and $1.10 per barrel. Our impression 
is, from the best information we have been 
able to get, that the crop of No. 1 barrel 
apples has been greatly over-estimated. 
Geneva. T. c. m. 
Buyers say that there Is no place that 
it is safe to buy the fruit at $1 per barrel, 
but I think it is perfectly safe. I live in 
the fruit belt of Wayne County, and the 
crop is very heavy and early, but not large, 
and well colored. The buyers are talking 
$1 per barrel. c. o. b. 
South Sodus. 
There have been no apple buyers in this 
town that I know of. They are paying 10 
cents per 100 pounds at the evaporator for 
chops. We have an immense crop of Bald¬ 
win and Greening. The coopers are asking 
32 cents per barrel. Our peach crop Is im¬ 
mense, with quality poor in most orchards 
where they did not thin. f. e. y. 
Charlotte. 
Up to the present time there has not 
been a buyer in this section, and we have 
not heard a price quoted for Winter fruit. 
The storm of September 12 blew most of 
the Greenings from the trees, and about 
half of the Baldwins, but I do not con¬ 
sider that the growers have lost, for we 
shall have less fruit to pick, and should 
get better prices for what is left. 
West Millbury. J. w. p. 
Your reports on apple prices are just in 
time, but prices must now be modified 
greatly owing to the terrible windstorm 
which swept western New York on Septem¬ 
ber 12. Nearly one-half—and the best of 
them—of my apples are on the ground. 
This wind seems to be widespread, and 
should raise the price of apples 50 cents per 
barrel. One-half the Greenings and Kings, 
and one-third the Spies and Baldwins, will 
be almost a total loss, as 12 cents per 100 
pounds is all we can get for them. 
Farmer. w. a. b. 
We had about two-thirds of an average 
crop, up to September 11-12, when the most 
terrific windstorm swept over western New 
York that ever occurred in September. 
Fully one-half of all the apples are on the 
ground. The varieties that suffered most 
are the Greening and King; they were 
about two-thirds grown in size. The 
largest can go to the evaporator, the rest 
to the cider mill. There will be less fruit 
on the trees for barreling than there was 
last year at this time. s. r. 
East Aurora. 
In the section lying north of here the 
apple buyers are paying not more than 93 
cents per barrel delivered as fast as picked, 
fruit to be free from worms and 2M: inches 
in diameter. This includes barrels, which 
leaves only 68 cents for the apples; south¬ 
east of here they are paying $1, and take 
fruit down to two-inch size. The wind is 
raging, and in some orchards at least one- 
half are on the ground. There are not over 
one-third the apples in this section, so far 
as I have observed, as there were in 1896, 
and a friend of mine who is a solicitor for 
a Philadelphia house says that the same 
condition exists around Watkins and sev¬ 
eral other places where he has convassed 
the last few days. I think the apple crop 
of this State is badly over-estimated. 
Shortsville. 
ARMSTRONG & McKELVY 
Pittsburgh. 
BEYMER-BAUMAN 
Pittsburgh. 
DAVIS -CHAMBERS 
Pittsburgh. 
FAHNESTOCK 
Pittsburgh. 
ANCHOR 1 , 
V Cincinnati. 
ECKSTEIN ) 
ATLANTIC 
BRADLEY 
BROOKLYN I 
JEWETT 
ULSTER 
UNION 
SOUTHERN 
SHIPMAN 
COLLIER 
MISSOURI 
RED SEAL 
SOUTHERN 
JOHN T. LEWIS & BROS CO 
Philadelphia. 
MORLEY 
Cleveland. 
SALEM 
Salem, Mass. 
CORNELL 
Buffalo. 
KENTUCKY 
Louisville. 
New York. 
Chicago. 
>St. Louis. 
HE brands of White Lead named in 
margin are genuine. They are and 
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They are manufactured by the “ old Dutch 
process,” and by a company 
which is responsible. Unlike 
the so-called W hite Leads (mix¬ 
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brands correctly represent the 
contents of the packages. 
FREE 
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obtained. Pamphlet giving full information and 
showing samples of Colors, also pamphlet entitled 
“Uncle Sam’s Experience With Paints” for¬ 
warded upon application. 
National Lead Co., ioo William Street, New York. 
