1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
i87 
RIGHT FROM THE FARM 
THE SEVENTEEN-YEAR LOCUSTS.—On page 67. 
S. B. takes the Hope Farm man to task for advising 
your readers not to plant fruit trees in the territory 
that will be visited by the locusts this year. We 
were visited by them last year, and therefore can 
speak from experience, and would say to your many 
readers that we think the Hope Farm man was right, 
as he usually is. If I lived in the region that will he 
visited by this pest, I surely would delay planting 
until Fall. Young trees (peaches especially, as they 
should he pruned to a stem) can be protected against 
the locusts by wrapping them with paper. I protected 
very successfully 150 peach trees in this way, but the 
locusts injured a great many of my quinces, apples 
and plums, as they were branched so it would have 
been almost an endless job to wrap them. ir. j. w. 
Pearisburg, Va. 
THE SUMMER SILO.—Cows will eat silage readily 
in Summer, but if one has ordinary pasturage which 
will be flush through two months, say May 10 to July 
10 , we should hardly wish to feed silage then, but as 
soon as pasturage begins to be scant add silage and 
keep right at it for 10 months. We should remove at 
least two inches per day in Summer to prevent spoil¬ 
ing, which in a silo 12x12 would furnish 30 cows with 
30 pounds each once a day. We should expect to have 
a good deal spoil if we only had eight or 10 cows to 
feed. A silo 8x8 would be of sufficient diameter to 
furnish silage as fast as the cows would ordinarily 
eat it and prevent spoiling, but I believe losses in 
small silos are much greater in proportion than with 
larger ones. When one has such a small herd I should 
prefer soiling for two or 2y 2 months, using oats and 
peas first and sweet corn later, commencing with 
silage as soon as we had cut it. I have seen a num¬ 
ber of very small silos when the percentage of waste 
was enormous, and hardly like to recommend them 
for Summer use. h. g. m. 
Connecticut. 
CORN FOR THE NORTH.—I was interested in your 
notes on breeding wings on to corn to enable it to get 
out of the way of the frost, page 40. Here in northern 
Vermont we know what that means. We expect frosts 
any time up to June and again any time in the Fall 
after September 1, and although we often get a con¬ 
siderably longer season than that we cannot depend 
upon it, and sometimes get frost the last of August; 
but for all that we have varieties of corn that will 
ripen perfectly and produce large crops, too. One of 
the best varieties I know of was sent out, as I sup¬ 
pose, by Dr. T. H. Hoskins and is known as Hoskins 
Improved Canada corn. It is eight-rowed, very small 
cob; and only medium-sized ears, and when well 
grown said to weigh about 60 pounds to the bushel. 
It usually bears only one ear to the stalk, but with 
hills three feet apart each way and four to six stalks 
to the hill we get heavy yields. Planted May 25 it is 
possible to pick sound, ripe seed corn the last of Au¬ 
gust, and a yield of 100 bushels of ears per acre is not 
considered at all unusual. In fact, some good farm¬ 
ers do considerably better than that. s. s. c. 
Hardwick, Vt. 
01 D-FASHIONED GRAFTING—I note in The R. 
N.-Y. of March 1 directions for root-grafting. More 
than 50 years ago my father was a small nursery¬ 
man, and I read the article mentioned with interest, 
to see whether modern methods have improved since 
1 used to sit with him in the old farm kitchen and 
assist in the labor of root-grafting. I found the 
process exactly similar to his, except in one particu¬ 
lar, and in that 1 think his much the better. He never 
tied the splice at all. To begin with, he made a 
kettle of grafting wax, and while melted he dipped 
into it the oldest, tenderest cotton goods, old calico, 
wornout sheets, pillow slips, anything old and frail, 
which my mother could spare. When it was thor¬ 
oughly coated on both sides with the melted wax, 
he hung it in a cool place, and when cooled or dry, 1 
tore it into narrow strips about half an inch in width, 
and with these wound the grafted roots, completely 
covering the splice. Of course, the waxed cloth ad¬ 
hered, so there were no knots to tie, the winding was 
very rapidly done, and there was no danger of bind¬ 
ing. s. A. N. 
Asbury Park, N. J. 
HOTBED CABBAGE.—While the hotbed question 
is on tap, I want to add a line. Theory says, if you 
want early vegetables sow your seed early in the hot¬ 
bed, and keep transplanting until the ground is in lir 
condition for planting outdoors. On the first day of 
last March I sowed Early Jersey Wakefield cabbage 
in a box and placed in a sunny window in the house. 
The plants came up well and grew nicely, and in due 
lime they were transplanted and put in a cooler room, 
where they grew to be stout and rugged-looking 
plants. On March 28 I had my hotbed ready and 
sowed some seed from the same packet. These came 
up in less than three days and grew right along; dur¬ 
ing warm days l gave them plenty of air, but did not 
transplant until they were set out where they were to 
remain. From the hotbed plants we had cabbage 
ready for the table on June 17, while the house- 
grown plants that had nearly a month the start, were 
more than a week later. If I remember aright the 
Hope Farm man was telling readers of The R. N.-Y. 
of the early cabbage he had raised from Fall-sown 
and Florida-grown plants after we had been using 
ours a week or 10 days. I have given this illustration 
of theory and practice and the readers of The R. N.- 
Y. can draw their own conclusions. g. ii. 
Wellington. Ill. 
BELGIAN HARES PAY.—I read with interest the 
article by The Happy Farmer, page 143, and agree 
with the points he makes, especially the one on the 
butcher’s bill. I have nearly all of my land set to 
fruit, and found that my meat bill had increased won¬ 
derfully since I had been forced to give up raising 
hogs, sheep and cows, on account of having no land 
to grow coarse fodder for them. I could buy the 
grain, but it would not pay to buy all of their feed 
in this section. I have solved the meat question for 
my own family use by growing Belgian hares. I have 
no trouble to make the strain I have weigh six to 
seven pounds at five months old, and we find them 
very fine eating. I have not bred them to show fine 
points, such as red paws, tiger marks on the back, or 
pointed ears, but simply to get large size of good eat¬ 
ing meat at an early age. I feed them twice daily on 
Alfalfa or common clover, cabbage leaves and a very 
few oats. If “Happy Farmer” will add these to his 
list of meat he raises for family use, he will find that 
it will take the place of veal and mutton, and by 
THE PYGMY POUTER. Fio. 68. See Page 197. 
keeping a small pen of them he has meat ready at 
any time, and not so large but what a small family 
can use it up in warm weather. 
Wayne Co., N. Y. the jolly farmer. 
A MILK PRODUCER TALKS.—Mr. Cook’s article 
on the New York milk trade, page 122, is peculiar, 
in that he frankly admits at the start, speaking of 
the complaints of the farmers against the New York 
milk dealers, “a personal opinion that these com¬ 
plaints were not well founded.” Then he set about 
to confirm these opinions, not by evidence, but by 
comparison with other cities, and winds up by an 
ambiguous phrase: “Seeking to increase the con¬ 
sumption by decreasing the prejudice,” which 
might mean: “Don’t try to change my opinion; it 
would hurt your market” It would hardly seem 
worth while to answer such an article, yet there are 
people who might be misled by it if it were let pass 
without comment. When Mr. Cook says: “It would 
seem to me that the milk business is very closely 
handled, and not the wealth-maker usually accred¬ 
ited, from the fact that it has quite largely drifted 
into the hands of Germans and Jews,” he really as¬ 
sumes that Germans and Jews are honester and more 
philanthropic in their business dealings than other 
men are. When he says: “The prices are living 
prices, and the losses are very light,” I should like 
to put an adverb before living, as he does before light, 
and say the prices are barely living prices. But 
when Mr. Cook says: “On my judgment, the weakest 
part of the whole business is found in the stables of 
the cow keepers,” we find ourselves unable to accept 
his judgment. Some farmers are dirty, and some 
dirty farmers ship milk to New York City; the skim¬ 
ming stations do not eliminate this, but by icing help 
to put this dirty milk upon the market. 1 said 
“skimming stations;” perhaps 1 should have said 
shipping stations, but in this neighborhood the terms 
are synonymous, the shipping stations, which ship all 
of their milk, shipping cream also. The injustice of 
Mr. Cook’s article is summed up and boiled down in 
the last sentence: “I wish every milk producer for 
city trade could be thoroughly impressed with the 
idea of doing his best in quality.” Milk varies in 
price to the maker just about in proportion to its 
quality. Legal milk tests three per cent butter fat. 
In this neighborhood nine-tenths of the farmers pro¬ 
duce milk testing upward of four per cent butter fat, 
and one-tenth produce milk testing about five per 
cent The dairymen who furnish three-per-cent milk 
do so at a profit Those who furnish four-per-cent 
milk have a hard time of it, and those who furnish 
five-per-cent milk keep it out of the city market or 
suffer severe loss, and that loss is sweetened by the 
reflection that the man at the shipping station is 
surely skimming his milk down to the legal standard; 
that he is living economically and not wasting his 
substance in riotous living; that he is therefore an 
honest man, and that the dirty cow-keeper would 
better keep quiet, for if he squeals he will hurt his 
market, i. e., increase the prejudice. If Chicago ha« 
no shipping stations the milk producers or that region 
have one thing to thank God for. u. c. burgess. 
Delaware Co., N. Y. 
Peaches in North Carolina. 
The best selections are in column to left; those to 
right of same season according to number but less de¬ 
sirable: 
1. Sneed, white. 
2. Alexander, white... 
2. Greensboro, white.. 
3. Triumph, yellow.... Admiral Dewey, yellow; Beatrice, 
white. 
4. Oonnett, white.Early Rivers, white. 
5. Carman, white.Bishop's Early, white; Hale's 
Early, white; Hynes Surprise, 
white. 
6. Mt. Rose, white.Yellow St. John, yellow; Tillotson, 
white; Lady Ingold, yellow; 
Amelia Honey, white. 
6. Champion, white... 
7. Early Crawford, 
yellow .Foster, yellow; Brigdon, yellow; 
Wilson, yellow; Fitzgerald, yel¬ 
low; George 4th, white; Thurber, 
white. 
8. Ede, yellow.Elberta, yellow; Crosby, white; 
China Free, white; Mrs. Brett, 
white. 
S. Oldmixon, white_Emma, yellow; Wheatland, yellow; 
Smock, yellow: Beers Smock, yel¬ 
low; Druid Hill, white; Giobe, 
yellow; Stevens, white; Susque¬ 
hanna, yellow. 
9. .Jennie Worthen, 
yellow .Chairs, yellow: Reeves, yellow; 
Late Crawford, yellow; Wonder¬ 
ful, yellow. 
9. Southwick, white... Brandywine, yellow; Pool's Yel¬ 
low; Stump, white; Clarissa, yel¬ 
low. 
10. Keyport, white.Cooper, white; Wheeler’s Late, 
yellow; Carroll's Late, yellow; 
Silver Medal, white. 
11. Matthew’s Beauty, 
yellow .Gary’s Hold-on, yellow. 
12. Salway, yellow.Lorentz, yellow; West, yellow; 
Steadly, white. 
Numbers 1, 2 and 3 are very susceptible to rot; Greens¬ 
boro less so than the others. Alexander is of better color 
and quality than Greensboro, but not as large. Admiral 
Dewey is inferior to Triumph in productiveness, and no 
better in any other respect. Ede is better in tree than 
Elberta, and the fruit is superior in quality, but not quit? 
as large. Southwick is similar to Stump, except a little 
better in quality. The Smocks do not retain their com¬ 
parative season here. Emma is worthless; Chairs Choice 
and Reeves Favorite are among the finest: but sometimes 
lack productiveness. Salway is much inclined to rot.. 
Best varieties for market from Nos. 4 to 11 inclusive, ex¬ 
cept Keyport, which is too small. j. s. breece. 
Fayetteville, N. C. 
Competition from Colorado Melons. 
The shipment of Rocky Ford melons to New York City 
has certainly been a serious drawback to melon growing 
in this section. I have been a melon grower for the New 
York market for the last 16 years. During this time 1 
have received as high as $400 per acre—market expenses 
paid-for individual crops, and it was not uncommon to 
receive from $200 to $250 per acre for our crop. This was 
before the advent of the Rocky Ford. I remember well 
the first Rocky Ford melons 1 saw in New York. The 
dealer cut one for me to test; it was certainly a fine 
flavored melon. He told me they all cut alike. I made 
arrangements with him to save me some seed, but I soon 
found the variety would not do as well in our climate 
and on our soil as I had hoped, so gave them up. From 
the first shipments of Rocky Ford melons to our market 
prices began to decline on eastern-grown melons. The 
following season showed a material falling off in prices, 
and from that time till now melon growing for the New' 
York market (other markets I know nothing about, but 
believe them to be similar to mine) has declined, till the 
growers are nearly forced out of the business. Why is 
this so? First, because our climate is so variable; first 
cold, then hot; wet, then dry; it is impossible to grow a 
muskmelon to absolute perfection. On the other hand, 
where the Rocky Ford melon is grown, it has ideal con¬ 
ditions all through the season. It scarcely ever rains, 
the foliage is always dry; a very important factor in 
melon growing. When water is needed, it is supplied in 
such a way by irrigation that the leaves are not wet. 
This, in my judgment, is the reason that Rocky Ford 
melons have taken the place of eastern-grown fruit of 
this kind. I further believe that eastern farmers can 
never hope to overcome this matter to any great extent. 
If one can produce a good cutting melon, it will sell at 
remunerative prices, but the misses outnumber the suc¬ 
cesses; therefore, in a number of years the crop is grown 
at a loss. C. c. hulsart. 
New Jersey. 
