286 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 19 
VARIETIES OF COW PEAS. 
What varieties of cow peas are best for the North? 
SEVERAL READERS. 
It depends on what you want them for. If for 
seed, the early varieties, like Early Black, New Era 
or Mount Olive, should be used. These will usually 
produce seed as far north as central New York, but 
we doubt whether seed growing will pay. The chief 
value of the crop to the northern farmer will be in 
the vine—to be used as pasture or for plowing under. 
For these purposes we advise the later varieties, such 
as Whippoorwill, Wonderful, Clay and Unknown. 
These will make large vines, but are not likely to 
mature seeds—although we have grown seeds of all 
except Unknown in northern New Jersey. We think 
it will pay the northern farmer to buy seed of these 
later varieties from the couth rather than to try to 
grow seed of the earlier varieties on his own farm. 
For those who have never seen the seed, we print at 
Fig. 109 life-size pictures of 12 different varieties. As 
will be seen, this “pea” looks much like a bean, 
though it is unlike any true bean in cultivation, ex¬ 
cept that it is very tender, and must not be planted 
until the ground is warm enough for corn. Those 
who wish to study varieties of the cow pea should 
send for a pamphlet issued by the Experiment Farm, 
Southern Pines, N. C. 
AN OLD ENGLISH FAVORITE. 
Very few of the old favorite English apples, such as 
Blenheim Pippin, Ribston Pippin, Cox’s Orange Pip¬ 
pin, etc., have kept any foothold in America. All of 
them have been thoroughly tested and many, of them 
used to be recommended, chiefly on account of their 
popularity in the old country, it seems. One by one 
they have been superseded by native American varie¬ 
ties like Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening, Spy, Spit- 
zenburg and Ben Davis. The one variety which comes 
nearest to holding its own at the present time, and 
thus to form an exception to this rule, is Ribston 
Pippin, shown in Fig. 108, first page. This certainly 
is not a popular sort in the United States, but it is 
still recognized as a commercial variety in Nova Sco¬ 
tia, which is not so very far away. Even in Nova 
Scotia, however, its popularity seems to be rapidly 
waning. One reason for this lies in the variety itself. 
It does not seem to be thoroughly reliable in bearing 
nor extra good in shipping quality when compared 
with the standard market varieties of this continent. 
Another reason, which I recently heard given in Nova 
Scotia, struck me very oddly. It was said that the 
variety has grown to be unpopular in the British 
market, and that English and Scottish apple buyers 
prefer the standard American sorts. The man who 
told me this said that the objection given is that the 
variety is neither red nor russet. The market likes a 
russet apple or a red apple, but Ribston is half way 
between. It seems too bad to lose so good an apple 
as Ribston, but the indications now are that this va¬ 
riety is going out along with many other good ones. 
We grow it very sparingly here in Vermont, but so 
far as my observation goes, we succeed with it even 
better than they do in Nova Scotia, whex-e, as I have 
said, it has been somewhat extensively grown for 
market. Our fruit, it seems to me, is larger, fairer 
and firmer. Still, I would not insist upon this. 
Perhaps one reason why Ribston is not moi'e com¬ 
monly recommended in this country is that our popu¬ 
lar American variety, Hubbai’dston, so nearly resem¬ 
bles it; in fact, it is quite difficult to tell the two 
sorts apart in many cases. Ribston ought to have 
more yellowish flesh, with more of a decided orange 
color on the outside, whereas the color of Hubbard- 
ston tends more toward red. Both varieties are of 
first-rate quality, although I think I prefer Ribston. 
At any rate, both varieties have such strikingly good 
qualities that they deserve long to be retained in our 
amateur fruit lists, and it is to be hoped that the good 
time is soon coming, which many of our horticultural 
prophets have foreseen, when the educated and fastid¬ 
ious market will demand a large selection of varie¬ 
ties, and will show a more intelligent preference for 
those of fine table quality. f. a. waugh. 
PINCHING RASPBERRIES; DOES IT PAY? 
Shall we pinch the growing shoots of x’aspberry 
and blackberry plants to induce branching? Berry 
growers have agitated this subject for many years 
without coming to an agi'eement. Probably a major¬ 
ity would answer this question in the affirmative. 
Prof. Goff of the Wisconsin Station planned experi¬ 
ments to determine the effect of such pinching, which 
have been conducted with but slight interruption, for 
10 years. The first experiment included a small 
plantation of Cuthbert and Gregg raspberries, and 
Ancient Briton blackberries. The young shoots of 
alternate rows of each variety were pinched during 
the growing season. The yield of fruit from the dif¬ 
ferent rows was noted for four years, and, briefly 
stated, the results appeared to be slightly in favor of 
pinching, in yield of fruit and size of the berries. At 
the end of the fourth season so many of the plants 
were affected with “curl-leaf” that it seemed best to 
abandon the plantation and start a new one. This 
was done in the Spring of 1897, as follows: Nine rows 
of Cuthbert and nine rows of Gregg, each 150 feet 
long, were planted, the rows eight feet apart, and the 
plants four feet in the rows. The plot of each variety 
was then divided into three smaller plots; each of 
these had one row unpinched, one row in which the 
shoots were pinched, and one row in which both 
shoots and laterals were pinched. In the first plot 
the pinching was done when the shoots were 12 inches 
in height, in the second when 18 inches, and in the 
third when 24 inches in height. The laterals were 
pinched at 12 inches in all cases. By this scheme we 
had in direct comparison low, high, and medium 
pinching, as well as what might be termed double 
pinching. The first or partial crop was harvested in 
1898, with general results similar to those obtained 
in the preliminary experiment above noted. The 
x’ows that had been pinched at 24 inches the previous 
season yielded more than the unpinched rows, and 
likewise more than the rows pinched at 12 and 18 
inches. Between the rows pinched once and twice 
but little difference could be noted. The influence of 
pinching was the same in both Gregg and Cuthbert. 
TWELVE LEADING VARIETIES OF COW PEAS. 
FIG. 109. 
Each row shows a single variety, the top row being 
Whippoorwill, followed by Congo, New Era, Small Lady, 
Large Black Eye, Clay, Black, Speckled Crowder, Calico, 
Redding, Red Ripper, Wonderful. Natural size. 
The berries from the pinched rows slightly exceeded 
in size those from the unpinched rows. In this ex¬ 
periment but four shoots or suckers to each plant 
were allowed to grow, all others being removed and 
weighed, in order to determine the influence of pinch¬ 
ing in this direction. The pinching plainly increased 
the yield of shoots in the Gregg and suckers in the 
Cuthbert. 
The following year, 1899, the first full crop was har¬ 
vested, and the results are slightly different from 
those of the previous year. High pinching, at 24 
inches, increased the yield of the Gregg, and de¬ 
creased the yield of the Cuthbert. Low pinching de¬ 
creased the yield of both. The berries were larger 
on the unpinched rows. Pinching increased the 
growth of the shoots of Gregg, and decreased the 
production of suckers in the Cuthbert. In 1900 the 
results were in most respects similar to those in 1899. 
A summary of the experiment to date is stated as 
follows in the Station report: 
“High pinching, at 18 and 24 inches, increased the 
yield of the Gregg raspberry and decreased the yield 
of the Cuthbert. Low pinching, at 12 inches, appears 
to have decreased the yield in both cases. Pinching 
has increased the production of shoots of the Gregg 
and deci’eased the production of both shoots and 
suckers in the Cuthbert.” It may also be added that 
the pinching added at least one-third to the cost of 
Winter protection. It is found to be necessary in 
tbe Northwest to bury the plants In the Fall in order 
to insure a crop. The very bushy and spreading tops 
formed as a result of pinching, made this task quite 
a difficult one. The mass of evidence appearing in the 
reports in tabular form, has been purposely omitted. 
As yet no exact estimates have been made to deter¬ 
mine the probable profit or loss resulting from pinch¬ 
ing, so that the question likely to be asked by the 
grower, really remains unanswered at the present 
time; that is, officially, as it were. The writer, how¬ 
ever, feels inclined to say that pinching has not 
proved profitable in the case of the experiment de¬ 
scribed. It is very doubtful whether the increased 
yield of the Gregg will have paid for the extra labor 
involved in pinching and covering. In the case of 
the Cuthbert the result is plain. Not only has the 
yield of fruit suffered as a result of pinching, but the 
plants have been weakened, 
Wis. Exp. Station. Frederic cranefield. 
THE “DUST” METHOD OF SPRAYING. 
I have not determined the merits of the dust pro¬ 
cess of spraying for apple diseases. There are cer¬ 
tainly many advantages in it, if effective. For sur¬ 
face mildews lime and sulphur is a well-known rem¬ 
edy. Lime mixed with arsenites is also useful in 
fighting the Cotton worm, Cabbage worm, slugs, 
canker-worm, as is well-known, but how effective 
the dust mixed with copper sulphates or other copper 
salts would be for combating scale or bitter rot I do 
not know, and the same with reference to Codling 
moth. The dust used is air-slaked lime containing 
arsenites, sulphur or copper sulphate ground in the 
lime. Ten bushels, it is claimed, are sufficient for 20 
acres of 10 or 12-year apple trees, and three machines, 
one wagon, two men and a boy can spray about that 
amount in a day. The process is well worth experi¬ 
menting with, but growers should not make the mis¬ 
take of abandoning liquid spi’aying all at once for a 
thing whose merits are not well-known. They did 
this frequently in the case of the “moth traps” both 
last year and the year before, in spite of warnings. 
Arkansas Exp. Station. ernest walker. 
A HILL FARMER TALKS. 
Most farmers only write when they can tell a good 
story, and such farmers generally live on good valley 
farms, but their experience is of but little value to 
us who live on side-hill farms, where the clay comes 
to the surface and water washes holes from one to 
two feet deep in our plowed fields and roads to our 
back lots. On such a farm I have solved some prob¬ 
lems satisfactorily to me by keeping my plow in the 
barn. That solves the hired-man question, as I am 
only obliged to hire a few days in haying. It also 
saves seed bill, thrasher bill, and extra grain bill 
for horses in Spring. I have a rough 70-acre farm. 
My stock now consists of 11 cows, three horses, 100 
hens, and other young stock. I aim to plant half an 
acre of potatoes and two acres of corn, and keep 
about one acre in berries. I draw the manure on 
the meadows as fast as it is made, if the going will 
permit, and drop it in small piles; then with fork 
and garden rake spread in Spring. I don’t know, 
neither do I care, how many dollars worth of pro¬ 
duce I turn off the farm, but am much interested 
in the balance sheet at the end of the year. At that 
time I foot up my accounts, to find how I stand with 
the world. Three years ago, January 1, I found I 
owed $500, mostly contracted by building a barn; 
January 1, 1902, found balance of $100 on the other 
side of the account, so I have no reason to complain 
that farming doesn’t pay. Fifteen rods back of the 
house I have a spring as high as the garret floor, 
which could be piped through the house, so I have 
been interested in the account of your water system 
at Hope Farm, and think of taking that extra $loo 
for that use. hill farmer. 
New York. _ 
DYNAMITE AND DANGER.—Cases are sometimes 
reported in which dynamite goes thi-ough railroad 
wrecks or is otherwise subjected to the roughest sort 
of treatment without x’esenting it, and some who read 
these stories immediately conclude that there is no 
need for such extreme care in handling this explosive. 
On the other hand, we frequently hear of instances 
where it explodes with alihost no provocation. A 
writer in the Boston Transcript says that age is large¬ 
ly responsible for these freakish actions. Time seems 
to have a souring effect on the disposition of the dy¬ 
namite. The nitro-glycerine separates from the non¬ 
explosive substance with which it is mixed, and gath¬ 
ers in small particles on the outside of the cartridge. 
While in this condition its fury is greatly increased, 
even a slight concussion being sufficient to explode 
it. Because dynamite will sometimes stand shocks, 
may be burned, or thrown about recklessly without 
exploding, there is no warrant in taking unnecessary 
risks with it. Where large quantities are used in 
blasting rocks careless workmen sometimes leave 
pieces of cartridge lying around, or it may happen 
that one cartridge fails to explode, but is not noticed. 
These left-over pieces are particularly dangerous to 
the workmen who remove the rocks. If an unex¬ 
ploded charge is discovered, one should never attempt 
to dig it out with a pick of bar. It will pay to ex¬ 
plode another charge beside it and thus avoid all 
danger. 
