3o6 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 2fi 
Rtiralisms • 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS. 
Domestic Date Culture Prospects.— 
Date palms have been grown in the 
warm portions of the continental United 
States since the earliest settlement of 
America. Fine old trees are still stand¬ 
ing in Florida and southern California, 
as well as New Mexico and other por¬ 
tions of the old Spanish possessions, but 
they seldom produce edible fruit. They 
are seedlings planted by the early mis¬ 
sionaries, who probably did not under¬ 
stand the habit of the date palm, bearing 
its staminate and pistillate bloom on 
separate plants, and so generally neg¬ 
lected to provide trees of both sexes in 
sufficiently close vicinity. The pistillate 
blooms only produce good fruit when 
pollen is carried to the stigmas from the 
male tree by wind, or artificially ap¬ 
plied, as it does not appear that insects 
act as carriers of date pollen to any 
great extent. The flowers are very small, 
entirely white in color, and borne on a 
brush-like cluster of short twigs emerg¬ 
ing from a sheath in the manner of all 
palms. Three dates grow from each 
flower, but if properly pollinated two 
soon fall off, and the remaining one 
grows to its normal size and quality in 
five or six months, while if the bloom 
did not receive pollen all three fruits re¬ 
main and continue to grow for some 
time in a crowded and deformed condi¬ 
tion. They contain no seeds, and never 
mature in edible quality, being entirely 
worthless. In the natural condition of 
wind-pollination at least half the trees 
must bear staminate blooms, but by the 
artificial method, which has been prac¬ 
ticed in Africa and the Orient for thou¬ 
sands of years, only one male to about 
100 female trees is needed. A twig bear¬ 
ing blooms about to shed pollen is tied 
by a thong in the middle of each bunch 
of pistillate flowers, and air currents 
complete the operation. 
The date tree grows into a handsome 
lofty palm in time, but begins to bear 
in six to eight years from the seed or 
sucker. The young trees produce their 
clusters within a short distance of the 
ground, ascending to 50 or 60 feet in the 
air as the trees grow old. They are hard¬ 
ier than the orange, and will bear some 
frost without much injury, but the fruits 
only ripen where the climate is hot and 
dry for many months at a time. While 
trees and fruit revel in hot, arid condi¬ 
tions, there must be a tolerable supply 
of moisture at the root, and under desert 
conditions dates are only successfully 
grown where irrigation is possible. The 
ripe fruits often contain as much as 60 
per cent of sugar, and this high propor¬ 
tion can only be developed in a dry and 
intensely heated atmosphere. There are 
many districts in Texas, New Mexico, 
Arizona and California highly suitable 
for the production of dates, and trial 
gardens of choice varieties from Algeria 
have lately been established under the 
patronage of the National Department 
of Agriculture. The date palm is one 
of the very few species of its family pro¬ 
ducing offshoots that may be success¬ 
fully propagated, thus increasing the 
particular variety. Within the last three 
years many suckers of the best varieties 
known have been successfully imported, 
and are now established in these plan¬ 
tations. The annual import of dates 
amounts to over half a million dollars, 
and this trade is worth capturing, thus 
creating the possibility of an important 
industry that may rival the raisin and 
prune products of the Pacific coast. 
There are hundreds of known varieties 
of dates carefully cherished and propa¬ 
gated in Africa, as this fruit does not 
come true from seeds any more than our 
apples and peaches. The explorers of 
the Department of Agriculture claim to 
have secured the best kinds, among 
which is the delicious Deglet Noor, sell¬ 
ing at retail for 25 to 40 cents a box con¬ 
taining less than a pound. The Depart¬ 
ment’s view of domestic date culture as 
set forth in the Year Book for 1900 is 
quite rosy, but from other sources we 
learn that our native birds have ac¬ 
quired a liking for the ripening dates, 
and that every bunch—and a thrifty 
tree will bear ten or a dozen bunches 
weighing 20 to 35 pounds each—must 
be covered with netting as a protection 
if they are to be saved. We have not 
learned that this is necessary in the Old 
World, and it cannot be a matter of re¬ 
joicing to would-be date growers to find 
our Yankee birds so over-appreciative 
of sweets. One peculiarity of date pol¬ 
len is that if kept dry it retains its vi¬ 
tality fully two years. The male blooms 
may be kept in paper bags and used on 
fruiting pistillates that come out too 
early or when the staminate trees fail 
to blossom from any cause. 
About Wheel Hoes. —Friend J. E. 
Morse in his helpful garden talk on 
pages 251 and 289 records his preference 
for the double-wheel hoe as against the 
single-wheel implement of the same 
character. This does not accord with our 
experience. We have a light soil well 
adapted for hand tools, and keep nearly 
three acres planted with a great variety 
of trial plants under constant cultiva¬ 
tion. The Rural Grounds man can 
scarcely be called a light weight, but the 
double-wheel hoes have proved such 
back-breakers for steady use that they 
have been discarded. A light single 
wheel of a type used by truckers about 
Baltimore has been found most effec¬ 
tive, and has enabled us to dispense with 
horse work entirely except for plowing 
or other deep soil preparation, and the 
first cultivation of bush fruits of the 
season. One may push this light tool all 
day at a good walking pace with far less 
exhaustion than an hour or two of the 
heavier standard double-wheel types. It 
seems to us easier and more effective to 
go twice over a row, cultivating each 
side closely, than to potter along with 
the clumsy double wheels, trying to 
watch both sides at once. This is a more 
important matter to amateurs and 
household gardeners than at first ap¬ 
pears. These wheel hoes are quite ex¬ 
pensive since the recent advance in farm 
implements, and the single wheels, from 
their simple construction and light 
weight, cost much less. In small gar¬ 
dens the work is often done by young 
persons who are not able to manage the 
heavier implement, while they could 
work the lighter one easily if of proper 
construction. In the hands of experts 
in large market gardens, when consider¬ 
able areas of young vegetables can be 
planted with great uniformity, the 
standard double wheel hoes do good 
work, but in inexperienced hands and 
mixed home gardens they grow tiresome 
because of their weight and clumsiness. 
W. V. F. 
Chairs Choice Peach. 
One of the newer peaches of real 
promise is Chairs Choice, shown in Fig. 
116, page 303. It is large and handsome, 
deep rich yellow in color, with a red 
cheek, and ripens in late September, 
just before Late Crawford and Beers 
Smock, soon after Elberta. The flesh is 
firm and the quality high. It appears 
to be a regular and abundant bearer. 
Chairs Choice is now being planted free¬ 
ly in many peach-growing districts, and 
is regarded by those who know it best 
as well adapted to follow the indispen¬ 
sable Elberta. It is a better and hand¬ 
somer peach, and does not conflict with 
it in season. The trees are generally 
vigorous and healthy. 
I will Cure You of 
Rheumatism. 
No Pay Until You Know It. 
After 2,000 experiments, I have learned 
how to cure rheumatism. Not to turn 
bony joints into flesh again; that is im¬ 
possible. But I can cure the disease al¬ 
ways, at any stage, and forever. 
I ask for no money. Simply write me 
a postal and I will send you an order 
on your nearest druggist for six bottles 
of Dr. Shoop’s Rheumatic Cure, for 
every druggist keeps it. Use it for a 
month, and if it does what I claim pay 
your druggist $5.50 for it. If it doesn’t 
I will pay him myself. 
I have no samples. Any medicine that 
can affect rheumatism with but a few 
doses must be drugged to the verge of 
danger. I use no such drugs. It is folly 
to take them. You must get the disease 
out of the blood. 
My remedy does that, even the most 
difficult, obstinate cases. No matter how 
impossible this seems to you, I know it 
and I take the risk. I have cured tens 
of thousands of cases in this way, and 
my records show that 39 out of 40 who 
get those six bottles pay, and pay glad¬ 
ly. I have learned that people in gen¬ 
eral are honest with a physician who 
cures them. That is all I ask. If I fail 
I don’t expect a penny from you. 
Simply write me a postal card or let¬ 
ter. Let me send you an order for the 
medicine. Take it for a month, for it 
won’t harm you anyway. If it cures, 
pay $5.50. I leave that entirely to you. 
I will mail you a book that tells how I 
do it. Address Dr. Shoop, Box 570, Ra¬ 
cine, Wis. 
Mild oases, not chronic, are often cured by one or 
two bottles. At all druggists. 
All harness, old or new, Is made pliable and easy—will look better 
and wear longer—by the use of 
Eureka Harness Oil 
The finest preservative for leather ever discovered. Save* 
many times its cost by improved appearances and lathe cost 
of repairs. Bold everywhere in cans—all sizes. 
Made by STANDARD OIL CO. 
To Raise Potatoes for Profit 
you require a DORSCII HILLER nnd DIG¬ 
GER. No other implement hills and digs so pen. 
fectly, so easily, with such little labor. Practically 
two implements in one, and for the price of one. Hil¬ 
ler with wheel, |St5.8S4. Hiller and 
diggerattacbment, 87.76. 
JOHN D0RSCH& SONS, 
226WellS St., Seaton 
Milwaukee, Wis. approval 
YES, YOU CAN BUY 
ph 
rr 
pi 
P- 
1 J 
an ws^sm 
!== 
lUi 
| — 
— 
L--P =-4--=H 
ESI 
m 
A light-weight woven or soft stay fence for 15c. to 
25c. per rod. You can also buy a suit of clothes for 
$5. Are they cheap? Hadn’t you better secure a 
fence worth three times the money at a reasonable 
price ? Catalogue free. 
THE FROST WIRE FENCE CO., Cleveland, Ohio. 
THE 
CURVE of LONG LIFE 
Stretch the fence till it sings. Then it lasts a 
lifetime. The tension curve gives elasticity. 
Ready made, ready to put up. The 
AMERICAN 
FIELD 
A HOC 
FENCE 
Saves Time, Money, Stock and Crops. 
Sold everywhere. If your dealer hasn’tit write to 
AMERICAN STEEL AND WIRE CO., 
Chicago, New York, San Francisco, 
Denver. 
PARAGRENE 
is better, cheaper and bulkier than PARIS GREEN. 
“ Have used Paragrcne on my farm for potato 
bugs. It was perfectly satisfactory ”— L. H. BAILEY, 
Prof, of Horticulture, Cornell University. Write for 
sample. EKED. L. LAVANBURG, New York. 
How to Drain Land Profitably. 
On every farm there is probably some land 
that could be made more productive by tinder- 
drainage. Properly drained land can always 
be worked earlier, and more profitably. The 
best and most 
economical way 
to drain is ex¬ 
plained in the 
book, “Benefits of Drainage and How to Drain,’’ 
which is sent free by JOHN H. JACKSON, 
76 Third Avenue, Albany, N. Y. 
-NO SPAVINS- 
The worst possible spavin can be cured in 
45 minntes. Ringbones, Cnrbt and Splints 
Just aa quick. Not painful and never hat 
failed. Detailed information about thia 
■aw method sent free to horse owners. 
Write today. Ask for pamphlet No. 88 
Fleming Bros., Chemists, Union Stock Yds., Chicago. 
the"CLEVELAND 
PURIFYING 
CHAIN PUMP 
ALL STEEL AND OALVANIZED. 
For well or Cistern 15 Feel or Shallower. 
$6.00 DELIVERED. Add Me. tor every addl 
tlonal loot. Complete and properly fitted to 
your well. . Jh years on the market. Will 
convert a cistern, into a mountain spring. 
CATALOGUE FREE. 
Pump — 
CLEVELAND GALVANIZING WORKS 
14-24 Cooper 51 — Cleveland , 6 ~ 1 - ^ 
■ —— 
PROFIT or LOSS? 
That’s the Question 
THE ECLIPSE 
SPRAY PUMP 
Will settle that in your 
orchard. With it you 
CAN make a profit, with¬ 
out it what do you get ? 
Send for Catalogue. 
MORRILL & M0RLEY, 
BENTON HARBOR, MICHIGAN. 
SPRAY OIL AND WATER SIMULTANEOUSLY 
BEST ON EAPTH 
jggyj&H 
WHY PAY A BIG PRICE 
FOR A POTATO SPRAYER? 
This attachment can be quickly and easily connected 
with any spray pump. It will do the work as quickly and 
thoroughly as the most expensive machine. 
This is only one of more than 20 styles of Sprayers 
we manufacture. Each is the best of its kind. Don’t 
buy until you see our illustrated catalog. We mail it free. 
The Hardie Spray Pump Mfg. Co., 
95 Larned St., Detroit, Mich. 
The 
New 
VERSOS 
The Old 
the Auto-Spray 
The BEST, CHEAPEST and MOST EFFECTIVE device for 
spraying Gardens, Orchards, Lawns, Stables, Chicken Houses, etc. No 
continuous pumping. Compressed air drives the spray automatically. 
Can be operated by a boy, will save its cost in a few days. Never breaks 
down or gets out of order. Nozzels, stop cocks and all fittings which 
come in contact with insecticide solutions are solid brass. The 
AUTO-SPRAY cannot rust, corrode or leak. The 
Auto-Spray Torch 
is one of our promi- 
_ _ nent attachments. 
It is the only torch which really kills worms, etc. It burns kero- 
k'ST’sene vaporized with oxygen and a single blast will destroy a nest 
of caterpillars. Ask Y our Dealer for the Auto-Spray, or write 
us for free instructions, “How and When to Spray,” which will 
tie gladly sent to any address. Write us if you want agency. 
E. C. BROWN A CO., Dept. F, ROCHESTER, N. Y. 
