1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
385 
Pruning Trees in Locust Years. 
IV. L. E., Tallmadge, O.—Shall 1 prune the 
fruit trees I intend to set this Spring any 
differently on account of the locusts we 
expect this year? 
Ans.— In our own planting we left the 
full top—intending to prune after the 
locusts have finished. In ordinary years 
we turn hack to a small whip and cut 
the roots close. This year we left both 
tops and roots longer than usual. 
Seeding to Grass Without Plowing. 
A. E. B., Gol. Co., N. Y.— Can a worn-out 
pasture be renewed without plowing? The 
lot contains about 40 acres and is some¬ 
what grown up with cedars. The land is 
now mostly in weeds. The soil is a reddish 
sand. Would like to get in shape for a 
sheep pasture. 
Ans. —We doubt whether you can re¬ 
seed this pasture without breaking or 
stirring up the soil in some way. The 
chances of securing a “catch” of grass 
by scattering the seed on the surface 
are not very good, as judged from our 
own experience. We have reports from 
farmers who say they have improved 
such pastures by scattering seeds of 
Blue grass and White clover in the mud 
of early Spring. 
Angle-Worms Abundant. 
J. O. W., Albany, N. Y.—Will you explain 
the cause for the large number of angle- 
worms in my rose garden? There are hun¬ 
dreds of them and all large. What can 1 
do to get rid of them? 
Ans. —The worms are in your garden 
because they find plenty of food there 
and the soil conditions suited to them. 
Boys who go fishing know where to go 
and get worms with the least work. 
They pick out cool, moist places where 
the soil is dark-colored and full of rot¬ 
ting vegetable matter. This rotting hu¬ 
mus is what the angle-worm feeds on, 
swallowing chunks or masses of the soil, 
digesting the organic matter and ex¬ 
pelling the undigested soil. These 
worms will do no harm to your garden. 
They are among the useful friends of 
the farmer, for they work over the soil 
and open it to air and water. 
Homemade Waterproof Cloth. 
8., Rushville, N. Y.— Mention has been 
made in the newspapers of a cap for hay 
slacks, etc., consisting of cloth covered 
with oil or some other treatment. I would 
like to know how to fit up covers that 
would be comparatively waterproof, that 
could be made up into covers for horses 
that are out for any purpose in the rain, 
delivering milk, for instance. What kind 
of cloth, and what preparations are used? 
Or, would it be cheaper to buy the cloth 
already prepared? 
Ans.—O n page 5 J. E. Morse told how 
to make a cloth cover for a hotbed. Me¬ 
dium or heavy sheeting is tacked firm¬ 
ly to a frame and painted with a mix¬ 
ture of two well-beaten eggs in a pint 
of raw linseed oil. Three or four coats 
are used. This cloth will do quite well 
as a hotbed cover or even as a hay cap, 
but we do not believe it would answer 
for a horse cover. We think it would 
be cheaper in the end to buy rubber 
cloth. 
Grafting Questions. 
IV. //. C., W. Hanover, Mass.—l. Can a wild 
or cultivated cherry tree be grafted or 
budded? 2. Can any use be made of wild 
plum trees in this locality? 3. I have two 
sprouts that have grown from the roots 
of an apple tree that has been cut down. 
The shoots are about 9 or 10 feet high. The 
smaller has very thrifty new wood and the 
other is coarser. Which shall I save, and 
what would be a good kind to graft into it? 
Ans. —1. Cultivated cherry trees can 
be budded very easily and are grafted 
with some difficulty, but the wild or na¬ 
tive cherry trees of the forests cannot 
be either budded or grafted. 2. Wild 
plum trees may be budded with choice 
varieties of our native types, but they 
sprout badly and are of little value as 
stocks. 3. The younger of the two apple 
sprouts is the one I would choose, be¬ 
cause it is the thriftier and will be like¬ 
ly to push the grafts more than the 
other one. Sutton is a good variety to 
graft on it, unless an earlier kind is de¬ 
sired. Garden Royal or Williams would 
be among the best that ripen in mid¬ 
summer ami Jefferis for one a little 
later. n. is. v. d. 
The “ Old-Fashioned ” Potato Beetle. 
J. J. B., Iowa.—We have a new kind of 
potato bug (new in this section), long, with 
black and yellow stripes, and full or busi¬ 
ness; can strip the leaves from the vines 
of a large patch in a few hours. They are 
not like the Colorado beetle. They will 
not take Paris-green. How can I fight 
them successfully? 
Ans. —This is known as “the old- 
fashioned” Potato bug. It is a blister 
beetle belonging to the family of insects 
which are used to make blister plasters 
of “Spanish fly.” it has been known 
for many years and every season reports 
come to us of the damage it does in po¬ 
tato fields. This damage is usually 
local. It is not widely distributed like 
the common Potato beetle, and does not, 
as a rule, appear in large numbers two 
years in succession. The life history of 
the insect is very interesting. The little 
larvae hatch and live on the eggs of 
grasshoppers. It is noticed that these 
beetles are always most numerous after 
a “grasshopper year” for with the abund¬ 
ance of food more of the young insects 
live. Doubtless the young do good ser¬ 
vice in killing grasshoppers, but the 
full-grown beetles are a nuisance when 
they come in large numbers. Paris- 
green, as used against the common Po¬ 
tato beetle, is not effective. When 
mixed with flour or plaster it is said to 
be better than in water. Some reporters 
say that the beetles follow the rows 
straight through the fields and when 
driven out never return. In some cases 
boys walk behind them whipping the 
vines. The beetles leave the field, and 
if straw is put at the end they run into 
it and may be burned. They will die 
if knocked off into pans of kerosene. 
ever much we may be able to get out of 
them, merely a poor return for our pre¬ 
vious care? By all means they should 
be taught their obligations, but the un¬ 
derlying principle of all stable govern¬ 
ment must ever be the idea of personal 
ownership and hence interested respon¬ 
sibility. Out of the garden we want a 
generous supply of vegetables, all that 
the family can use. We also should 
have a large surplus to sell, for we want 
the boys and girls to get money out of 
it; but we want them to earn it. 
Discouraging Conditions. —The sea¬ 
son has thus far been very discouraging 
for garden work in many localities, gen¬ 
erally cold and backward. Too wet in 
some places, too dry in others, so it is 
not all play or pastime. It is disheart¬ 
ening to plant or sow and have the seed 
fail to grow, or be so long in coming up 
that the ground gets overgrown with 
weeds and grass, before we can see 
where to work without destroying what 
we desire to save. Well, we are prom¬ 
ised seed time and harvest, so our part 
is to sow, hoe and reap. If some seeds 
have failed to grow, that is nothing new. 
Try it again or put in something else; 
but keep the soil busy growing good 
things, or it will busy itself growing 
weeds and briers. 
Eleventh-Hour Garden. —To those 
who failed to start a garden at all the 
late season may be turned into a bless¬ 
ing in disguise. It will give opportunity 
to begin now and you will be surprised 
at the many varieties that will succeed 
if started from now on. The number 
that may be planted or sown right atong 
up to early Autumn is legion, and they 
will furnish an abundant supply if only 
started. Shall I give a list that will suc¬ 
ceed well "if started even after you have 
read this? Not here; but I refer you 
EVERYBODY'S GARDEN. 
back to the list given in one of the num¬ 
bers for April. The successful seeds to 
sow now would include nearly every¬ 
thing in that list, only it would be the 
later sorts of the same varieties. There 
is still time to do much even this year, 
and next year it will require little or no 
goading-on to get at the work with a 
will. After reading this take the first 
possible opportunity for breaking 
ground for the garden. Be sure that 
every member of the family and the 
hired help are present to participate. 
See if the wife who has to prepare three 
times 365 meals every year of her life 
with perchance little but the pork and 
flour barrels to draw qpon, will not 
heartily cooperate in the work. See 
whether the boys and the girls, when 
they once understand that they are to 
be taken into the firm as business part¬ 
ners, will not enter into the work with 
a hurrah. True, they will tire of it un¬ 
less they are shown something besides 
the drudgery side, but fortunately, if 
carefully directed they will discover 
many more pleasant things, and even the 
work feature may be turned into part 
pleasure. J. e. morse. 
Michigan. 
American Horticultural Manual, 
Part 1, by Prof. J. L. Budd, assisted by 
Prof. N. E. Hansen; New York; John 
Wiley & Sons; price, $1.50. This is a hand¬ 
some volume of 417 pages, covering the 
principles and practices of propagation, 
culture and breeding of fruits, nuts, orna¬ 
mental trees, shrubs and plants in North 
America, a great amount of accurate and 
up-to-date information on above subjects 
is brought together. Every topic is clearly 
treated and amply Illustrated by excellent 
cuts. The work will be invaluable to be¬ 
ginners in horticulture, as it covers the 
whole field of American outdoor opera¬ 
tions. Part II. is to be a Systematic Po¬ 
mology giving classification and descrip¬ 
tions of all American-grown fruits and 
nuts. 
For the land’s sake, use Bowker’s Fer¬ 
tilizers. They enrich the earth.— Adv. 
Hood Farm Sale 
Wednesday and Thursday , 
June 11 and 12, 1902, 
Jerseys 
combine beauty with 
utility. Are rich, deep, 
persistent milkers and paying cows. 
Hood Farm Berkshires. The profitable hog. 
Large, strong litters and can be fatted at any age. 
Some Speculation's. —Since diagram¬ 
ing the all-season’s garden and outlining 
the work I am often led to speculate as 
to how many of our readers have really 
undertaken it. Many of course were 
more or less interested in gardening be¬ 
fore the notes were written, and may 
have been able to sift out some useful 
helps. I presume, however, that were a 
“straw vote” to be taken among The R. 
N.-Y. readers it would reveal the fact 
that a large contingent had thought lit¬ 
tle and done perhaps less about the 
matter, and so in many cases the garden 
will go by default. But perchance some 
seed has fallen upon good ground. With¬ 
in easy rifle shot of my own home are 
many houses with back yards of rich 
soil and large enough to have grown 
the entire vegetable supply for the 
whole season. And still the peddlers 
and hawkers find a ready market at 
those houses for their ancient and over¬ 
ripe garden truck. Within those houses 
are a score, maybe two score, of boys 
that outside of a few hours daily spent 
in school, have nothing on earth to do 
but kill time, and there are fully as 
many girls just as unfortunately sur¬ 
rounded. Nature has endowed the soil 
in those backyards with wonderfully 
productive powers, and they would ac¬ 
complish great things for good if only 
the owners or occupants would direct 
those forces and give the ground some¬ 
thing to do. It is the nature of the soil 
to be at work, it cannot help it, but as 
nothing is given it to do its energies are 
wasted in producing weeds and thistles. 
Are not the same conditions true as to 
the boys and girls? They are loaded 
with ambition and youthful vigor, that 
for lack of better and more useful chan¬ 
nels of outflow are all expended in some 
harmless fun no doubt, almost certainly 
in much that is ruinous in its tendencies. 
The farmer boys and girls are far more 
fortunate in their surroundings in that 
there is always some useful work at 
hand. But do we not sometimes make 
the mistake of considering the exacted 
services of the boys and girls merely 
the payment of old obligations and how¬ 
The above picture shows some of 
the Merry Maiden family at Hood 
Farm, That this is not a culling-out 
sale is proved when we say that two 
sons of Merry Maiden by Brown 
Bessie's Son will be sold. Also two 
of her daughters, one with a butter 
test, the other not in milk. This is 
the greatest opportunity ever offered 
to get the blood of the two greatest win¬ 
ners in the World’s Fair Dairy tests. 
The Berkshires in this sale include 
Sambo, imported, the champion boar 
of England, 1900, never beaten in 
the show ring. Imported sows and 
choice stock of our own breeding. 
Sale Catalogue ready June 2. Sent 
on application to Peter C. Kellogg, 
107 John Street, New York, or 
Hood Farm, Lowell, Mass. 
