1002 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
465 
EVERYBODY’S GARDEN. 
1. Will you give the different varieties of 
rhubarb, their qualities and cultivation for 
market? The variety I have has small 
short stems; I see In market stems as long 
as my arm and two inches in diameter. 2. 
The best varieties of Spring turnips for 
market. Mine are small and bitter. 
Havana. 111. j. m. c. 
1. There are but few varieties of rhu¬ 
barb under general cultivation. Local 
names are given to the same, or nearly 
identical varieties, giving a longer list. 
Of the standard varieties Early Straw¬ 
berry is first of the season; under size, 
stalk nearly round, very brilliant red in 
color. Fine quality and earliness make 
it valuable as a market variety. Lin¬ 
naeus is second as to season; medium in 
height and size, stalk more flattened 
than Strawberry; quality good. Fine for 
forcing. Myatt’s Victoria, in season, 
follows Linnaeus; in habit of growth 
taller than either of the foregoing; leaf¬ 
stalk very broad, and deeply indented 
the entire length of inside. This is the 
only variety which produces, true to 
name, from the seed. It is the leading 
market variety, both for field culture 
and forcing. It matures its entire crop 
at nearly the same time. This is a de¬ 
sirable feature in forcing, and for field 
work, under some circumstances—as 
when one has the earlier sorts for first 
market. Of the mammoth varieties, 
there are two in quite general cultiva¬ 
tion, Stott’s Mammoth, a bright red 
variety, and Green Mammoth. With the 
former I have had no personal experi¬ 
ence, but it is popular in some localities. 
Green Mammoth is an immense cropper; 
has exceedingly long stalks and is of 
very fine flavor. The green color is 
against it, making it a poor market va¬ 
riety. These varieties give the entire 
range, or practically so, of the season. 
Bearing in mind their different habits 
and quality it will be easy to select the 
varieties best suited to your purpose. 
The cultivation for market is far too 
broad a subject for this article, but in 
brief, manure unstintedly with stable 
manure as chief dependence. Cultivate 
at all times when size of crop will per¬ 
mit, and allow no small stalks to grow. 
Your own roots are either run out and 
require renovating (which see below) or 
else you are mistaken in the identity 
of variety seen in the market. 2. The 
rank, strong flavor is quite common to 
most early varieties of turnips, owing 
sometimes to soil, and frequently to un¬ 
favorable weather conditions. The Extra 
Early White Milan, White Egg and Ear¬ 
ly White Flat Dutch are said to be free 
from this fault. 
1. f have an asparagus bed which I have 
finished cutting. What shall 1 do to im¬ 
prove it? 2. What can I do to an old rhu¬ 
barb bed to improve it? w. j. t. 
Mishawaka, Ind. 
1. Next year’s crop of asparagus is 
largely dependent upon the forces stored 
up by the roots, between the present 
cutting season and the coming Winter. 
The artificial aid to the storing process 
cannot come too soon. If rows are far 
enough apart, cultivation should begin 
as soon as the cutting season is over. 
After the principal stalk growth is over 
and before the seed matures, mow off, 
and remove the tops, burning them to 
destroy insect and fungus pests. Ma¬ 
turing seed is said to be the most ex¬ 
haustive effort of plant life; and volun¬ 
teer seedlings are as bad as weeds. Ap¬ 
ply not less than 200 pounds of nitrate 
of soda, principally along the rows, and 
cultivation should now be thorough and 
over the entire surface. Get rid of the 
weeds and grass even if it takes harrow¬ 
ing or light disking. The nitrate will 
act quickly for present necessities, but 
follow the cultivation with a heavy 
dressing of stable manure. This will 
act more slowly, but effectually, for the 
long pull is what is needed. Use the 
best manure obtainable, and if well rot¬ 
ted, all the better, as it will be more 
quickly available. Late in the Fall 
mulching, even of coarser manure, will 
be helpful to hold all tne snow possible, 
aud it can be worked into tne soil in the 
Spring. At that time a liberal dressing 
of wood ashes either leached or un¬ 
leached or bone meal, 300 pounds or 
more to the acre, will be very beneficial. 
Liberal fertilizing, thorough culture and 
spraying with Bordeaux Mixture thus 
far seem to be the best preventives of 
rust. 2. Select a new plot for your rhu¬ 
barb, and late in the Fall cover it heav¬ 
ily with manure, and plow under as 
deeply as possible. After the ground is 
frozen so that it will not cut up, cover 
with finer manure and leave it until 
Spring. Before the ground freezes take 
up the rhubarb, leaving as much root on 
the clumps as possible. Remove them 
to a shed or some place where they will 
have partial shelter, covering them 
lightly to prevent drying too much. Al¬ 
low them to freeze out thoroughly dur¬ 
ing the Winter. As early in Spring as 
weather and condition of ground will 
permit, plow the ground again, not so 
deep as the Fall plowing. Fit it as for 
corn and mark out (better to furrow 
with the plow) into hills 3(4x4(4 feet, 
or wider, according to varieties grown. 
With a sharp spade divide the clumps 
into two or more pieces so as to have 
from two to four eyes on each piece. If 
the furrowing has been done with the 
plow, the work of setting will be much 
easier. Otherwise make the holes with 
spade and give ample room for the roots. 
Leave as much root as possible, but re¬ 
move all mangled or broken parts. Give 
very thorough cultivation and plant 
catch crops, as beans, etc., between rows 
the first year. Pick very sparingly dur¬ 
ing the first season, leaving most of the 
crop to go back into the ground. Do 
not allow any seed stalks to grow. The 
second year will give you a practically 
new and vigorous bed, and, of course, 
much larger area than before, provided 
you have used all the roots. The above 
is the only remedy for old wornout beds. 
Michigan. j. e. mouse. 
What is “Reverted” Phosphoric Acid? 
,J. E. Q., Olenwood, Ind .—There are men 
here selling fertilizers for grain. They say 
on their cards that a certain per cent is 
soluble and revertible. 1 would like to 
know what revertible means. You an¬ 
swered the question once, but I cannot find 
the paper. 1 want it for authority; my 
word is no good. 
Ans.—“R evert” or reverted refers to 
certain forms of phosphoric acid. This 
phosphoric acid when found in most 
fertilizers is in combination with lime. 
The lime holds it in shape and gives it 
up more or less easily as the plant re¬ 
quires it. There are three chief forms 
in which these combination of lime and 
phosphoric acid are found. In one case 
there are three parts of lime to one of 
phosphoric acid, and this is called the 
insoluble form, because it is not avail¬ 
able to plants directly. When sulphuric 
acid is added to this insoluble form one 
part of the lime is dissolved or eaten 
away. When more acid is added an¬ 
other part of the lime is dissolved out, 
and then we have a combination of one 
part each of lime and phosphoric acid 
which is soluble in water. This is call¬ 
ed soluble phosphate, and is the form 
largely found as acid or dissolved rock. 
When this soluble form is put into the 
ground, or into any place where lime is 
present it “reverts”; that is, takes up 
another part of the lime and forms a 
combination of two parts lime to one 
part of phosphoric acid. This “reverted” 
phosphoric acid is not soluble in water, 
but is soluble in weak vinegar, and is 
available to the plants because the roots 
of the plant secrete an acid which is 
about the strength of this weak vinegar, 
so that both the soluble and reverted 
phosphoric acids are available as plant 
food, since the plant can utilize both 
forms. When therefore the agent comes 
and says that he has four per cent of 
soluble phosphate you may know that 
80 pounds to the ton will dissolve in 
water. He then says that he has eight 
per cent of reverted. That means that 
160 pounds in that ton will not dissolve 
in water, but will in weak vinegar, and 
it means that 240 pounds in the ton are 
to be considered available and worth 
from five to 5(4 cents per pound for ferti¬ 
lizing. These words do not refer to 
nitrogen or potash but simply to the 
phosphoric acid. 
Tomatoes Under Glass. 
Lumber 
AT 
Extremely 
Low Prices 
J. L. S., Berwick, Nova Scotia.— Give im¬ 
proved plan for greenhouse for growing 
tomatoes in Winter, say 28 x 100 feet. 
Could such a house, even-span roof, run 
north and south? How high should the 
side walls be, and what pitch of rafters? 
If house runs east and west, broken-span 
roof, how much glass should be on north 
roof? In either case we will use hot water. 
How close can tomatoes be grown in such 
houses to give best results? We have an 
east and west house, 170 x 20, heated by 
hot water, for lettuce and rhubarb, which 
has worked well. Is there a rule govern¬ 
ing the amount of heating surface to 
glass area? 
Ans. —The best tomato houses are 
built east and west, three-quarter spaa, 
314 to four feet to gutter on front wall. 
If even span north and south, side walls 
may be four to five feet high, pitch of 
rafters about eight inches, and not less 
than 7*4 inches to the foot. The roof 
should be all glass, as tomatoes never 
get enough light in Winter. Tomatoes 
are most profitably grown about two feet 
apart each way, trained to single stems. 
Tomatoes should have an average tem¬ 
perature of 65 degrees, which will give 
one square foot of pipe to each 2(4 
square feet of glass under ordinary con¬ 
ditions. We would strongly recommend 
Greenhouse Construction, by L. R. Taft, 
price $1.50, and Bailey’s Forcing Book, 
$1. Where an investment sufficient to 
build a forcing house 28x100 feet is con¬ 
templated, it is well to have exact in¬ 
formation at hand. 
We purchased the Fan-Ameri¬ 
can Exposition at Buffalo, and 
have 33,000,000 feet of fine sea¬ 
soned lumber to offer. It consists 
of joists, timbers, flooring, sheath¬ 
ing, patent lath, and, in fact, 
anything and everything in the 
lumber line. 
IF YOU ARE ABOUT TO BUILD 
Send Us Your Lumber Bill 
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Pan-Amerlcau Exposition, Dept. 62, 
BUFFALO, N. Y. 
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EVAPORATOR 
“THE GRANGER.” 
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EASTERN MFG. CO.,257 So.5thSt., PHILA., PA. 
Lightning Strikes.— On page 435 of your 
paper you ask this question: ‘‘Who can 
tell of cases where buildings carrying- 
lightning rods have been struck by light¬ 
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days after the barn was struck by light¬ 
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killed. s. j. r. 
Brighton, N. Y. 
Price complete. 
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corn binder 
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