1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
THE CORNELL APPLE. 
Among the very good Autumn apples for either 
family use or market is Cornell. It is often called 
Cornell’s Fancy, but this longer name is neither de¬ 
sirable nor necessary, and it has been changed to the 
simpler form. The tree is sufficiently vigorous and 
productive, and is quite satisfactory to the orchard- 
ist. The fruit is of medium size, which it maintains 
evenly, in shape it is conical, and the diameters are 
nearly equal, the stem is rather long and slender and 
set in a cavity of medium depth and width, that has 
no russeting, the eye is closed, rather small and set 
in a narrow and slightly wrinkled basin; the surface 
is smooth and sometimes glossy. In color it is mixed 
and striped purplish-red over a yellowish ground, 
making an attractive but not brilliant appearance; 
the dots are few but large, light colored and very con¬ 
spicuous, the flesh is yellowish white, fine grained, 
very tender and juicy. In flavor it is mild subacid, 
very pleasant, aromatic and satisfying. The quality 
is very good and some might say best, but it is not 
quite up to my standard of excellence of the first 
grade. However, Cornell is one of the apples that I 
would want in an orchard if I were planting one, es¬ 
pecially if it was for family use. ir. e. van deman. 
QUEER EXPERIENCE WITH MELONS. 
TOBACCO DUST.—I have had some experience this 
Summer in raising melons that I have never had be¬ 
fore, and I would like to hear an explanation from 
some one more capable than I. I may as well say 
that 1 do not raise melons for the market, but al¬ 
ways intend to have an abundance for a large family 
for home use, and so plant an acre or two of water¬ 
melons and muskmelons of various varieties, as 
Peerless, Ice Rind, and this year I have the Halbert 
and Texas Giant from that famous melon hybrid¬ 
izer, Mr. Halbert, of Texas. Our main trouble 
for the past few years has been on account of the 
Striped cucumber beetle and plant lice. I found 
out years ago that I could control the beetle by 
the use of bone meal, tankage and tobacco dust, 
but I finally settled on tobacco dust as being the 
most convenient and least expensive, so last 
Spring I got a half ton of the dust from St. Louis 
and made up my mind to wage an unrelenting war 
on the aphides as well as beetles. The beetles were 
easily kept away by a light application of the dust 
occasionally, but as the vines spread well over the 
ground the lice came in in myriads, and were 
promptly met by heavy sowings of tobacco dust 
over the whole patch. I could see that most of the 
lice were killed, but always a few remained and 
multiplied very rapidly, until other sowings were 
necessary. The melons were by this time in full 
bloom, but scarcely a melon set on the vines, or 
say, one to two square rods of ground. I finally 
abandoned the tobacco and let the patch have its 
own course. The result is that there are now a 
few melons, about one-tenth of a crop; they are 
fully three weeks later than usual; they are small 
and of poor quality, and finally, most of the seeds 
are defective, or rather have not filled out. What is 
the cause? Part of the ground was very rich from 
stable manure, part not so rich. The weather for 
most of the Summer has been very wet. Hail dam¬ 
aged the vines considerably in August. But the ques¬ 
tion is: Did the tobacco dust either kill the re¬ 
producing parts of the blossom, or did it drive the 
fertilizing insects away or kill them as u did the 
beetles and lice, or yet must I ascribe the failure to 
the weather? 
EXPERIENCE WITH RYE.—For a Fall and 
Spring pasture, a year ago last August I sowed rye 
in corn. The stand and growth were good. I realized 
handsomely from the pasture during the famine (al¬ 
most) caused by drought of last season. Rather late 
last Spring I broke the ground and put it into corn 
again. But chinch bugs came in and they have 
stunted the corn on that piece of ground (nowhere 
else) at least 10 or 15 bushels to the acre. I sowed 
rye again in the last of July. The rye came up and 
disappeared mostly. Have the chinch bugs eaten it? 
I am inclined to think that after all my sowings of 
rye have not paid very well. n. buckman. 
Sangamon Co., Ill. 
SHORT STORIES. 
History of “A Big Sunflower.” 
I send a specimen of my sunflowers, so you could 
understand more thoroughly what I have to say 
about them. I am in the habit of growing sunflowers 
for my fowls every season, and having moved to a 
location where the soil is yellow clay I thought at 
first 1 would have no sunflowers this year. I dug 
about 50 holes, broke the clay up the best I could, 
put a little hen manure in the bottom, drew the clay m 
and planted the seed. To keep the clay from getting 
671 
hard again by running together from rain I put some 
coal and wood ashes on top of each hill. The plants 
started very poorly, and I gave it up as a failure; I 
did not cultivate them. About three weeks later I 
got a surprise by the sudden start the plants took, 
and they kept me in that state ever since. Now I 
have flowers which measure 14% inches in diameter, 
10 feet two inches in height, the stalk being 7% inches 
in circumference at the base. (These are single flow¬ 
ers.) I also got a new strain of three plants from a 
single-flowered Mammoth Russian which are many 
flowered (16 to 32), and have a velvet black center, 
the seeds being all black; two of these plants grew 
fully 2 y 2 quarts of seeds. They stood about nine feet 
high from blossoms to ground, and the flowers mea¬ 
sured from four to 10 inches, giving more seed than 
their parent, Mammoth Russian single, the best of 
which only gave one quart of seed apiece. As people 
here think it new to have them of such height ami 
size I have sent to you a seeded blossom, and if you 
think this is an extraordinary growth I will send 
to you a 10-foot stalk. What keeps me guessing is 
what size flowers would I have had if I had culti¬ 
vated the same? c. w. 
Newburgh, N. Y. 
R. N.-Y.—The flower sent measured a little less 
than 14% inches in diameter and was a fine specimen. 
Need of Mulch in Texas. 
Way down here in Texas, where it rains only when 
we do not need it, we are trying the Stringfellow 
system of horticulture. Our only difficulty is in get¬ 
ting sufficient moisture, but we cut the roots short, 
use the small holes, head low and have had very en¬ 
couraging success within the past two years, which 
have been unprecedented for drought and failure of 
our main crops. We have lightly hoed the circles 
around the trees and kept them well mulched during 
hot weather with grass clippings and leaves or straw. 
The mulch keeps the hot sun and winds from crack¬ 
ing the ground so severely after rains, which is about 
the worst feature in our Texas Summers. Quite fre¬ 
quently these immense cracks in the black ground 
will split the ground for many feet in and around the 
trees, sometimes the seam splitting the earth imme¬ 
diately where the tree stands. During these trying 
times in the life of the tree, we have found the 
Stringfellow system stands out preeminent, as a 
drought resister. Now, after perusing W. B. W.’s two 
articles, pages 349 and 606, we are of the opinion that 
the “rich earth” he claims to have filled the holes 
with from bottom to top, is about the whole secret of 
his losses, which by the way, are not amazing, or 
probably any greater than anyone would have had 
after trying something new for the first time. 
Texas. Walter w. Durham. 
New Corn Hybrids. 
Several years ago, through The R. N.-Y., I planted 
some Mexican June corn. It made the most astonish¬ 
ing growth of any corn I ever saw. By holding on 
to two stalks I could climb a foot or so from the 
ground. It started to make a few small ears when 
frost caught it. It occurred to me that perhaps bv 
hybridizing this energy might be turned into good 
account by producing ears. I finally succeeded in 
getting several hybrids, some of which give promise 
of being of some value. One variety makes two ears, 
one directly under the other on the same side of the 
stalk, and another type has two ears from greatly 
elongated stems on opposite sides of the stalk. The 
first has a comparatively short stalk, while the sec¬ 
ond gets up in the air and has quite a number of 
large-sized blades which might give it some value 
for silage or fodder. p. b. c. 
Maryland. 
FEEDING AND TRAINING HORSES. 
In feeding hay to horses I arrange the manger so 
as to be the most convenient height to suit the horse 
so it will be high enough for him to reach to the bot¬ 
tom, which is made of slats, and about eight inches 
from the floor. The fine dust, etc., goes through and 
is easily cleaned out. The top of manger and feed box 
is so arranged that the top of the horse’s head will 
be even with his back when he is eating. I find this 
plan gives the horse the most comfort, and he seems 
to take his feed with more ease than any other way. 
In giving him the most comfort in stable he will show 
himself off better when in harness. It seems unrea¬ 
sonable to expect a horse to hold his head high when 
he must twist his neck in all shapes to get his hay out 
of a rack or hay chute, or stand on his tiptoes to 
reach in over a high manger. Do you use a high 
table and low chairs to make your children walk with 
head and shoulders erect and a quick smart step? 1 
have trained quite a number of colts, and have tried 
several methods, but the best success I have had is 
to train them in harness. First leave the check rein 
loose, then shorten up as they become accustomed 
to the bit and harness. Never use an over check; 
always side rein. I hope there is no one thoughtless 
enough to have his horse eat hay from the ground; 
it is wasteful, slovenly and unclean. I never saw a 
high-headed horse so made by making him hold his 
head down first J. o. kapp. 
Pennsylvania. _ 
THE BELGIAN HARE MARKET. 
Do you deem the Belgian hare of any value to the 
farmer other than for furnishing his table with fresh 
meat? I have upon several occasions read glowing 
accounts of the existence and growth of this indus¬ 
try, and am, I must confess, more or less inter¬ 
ested in this notwithstanding I have read the 
same of other enterprises of a like nature, not¬ 
ably the skunk and rattlesnake farming ventures. 
Is there any market for Belgian hares in New 
York? I was formerly a resident of the city, but 
have never to my knowledge seen any of them of¬ 
fered for sale. The nearest approach to them 1 
can think of was rabbits, which are only to be had 
at certain seasons, presumably the open season. 
Would it be possible to market them at all sea¬ 
sons of the year, or are they regarded as game, 
and their sale governed accordingly? Some claim 
as much for them as others do for poultry. Do 
you think they could offer statistics to prove their 
claim? h. w. f. 
Westchester Co., N. Y. 
The Belgian hare business cannot be classed 
with skunk or snake farming, but it has been 
overdone and boomed far too much in some locali¬ 
ties. There is a sale for these animals in the New 
York market, although we have been unable to 
find any dealers who are enthusiastic about the 
business or care much about handling them. One 
said: “I could sell five barrels of cotton-tails to 
one of Belgians.” Another said: “This is a fad 
that has been carried too far. We sell them, but I al¬ 
ways tell people just what they are, and don’t call 
them game.” The flesh of the Belgian hare is as 
truly tame meat as lamb, pig, calf, chicken or tui- 
key. People who wish the peculiar “wild” flavor of 
game, have no use for the Belgian hare, and most 
consumers prefer beef or similar tame meat. We 
have not learned that any special ruling has been 
made in regard to the relation of these hares to the 
game laws. Most dealers consider that they should 
not be classed as game, and sell them at any season 
without protest from game protectors. They are in 
best demand in Winter. Those who claim in a gen¬ 
eral way that there is as much profit in hares as in 
poultry are making wild statements. If there were 
an unlimited market at poultry prices the question 
would be an easy one, but the fact is that there are 
not enough buyers who really care for tnis meat. It 
will no doubt pay a farmer to raise whatever hares 
he wishes for his own use, and in many villages a 
fairly profitable local trade mignt be worked up, but 
we cannot offer much encouragement to those who 
think of raising the animals for shipment to this 
market. If going into this business as a market in¬ 
dustry, our aim would be to get as fine breeding stock 
as possible; raise animals that would be better than 
average offerings; and have them so neat in appear¬ 
ance that this feature would attract attention and 
make sales. Many rabbits are received that look 
miserable, the hair being so matted with blood and 
dirt as to prejudice possible buyers. Neatness m 
preparation for market usually pays for the time and 
care taken. Dealers say that buyers for French res¬ 
taurants are sometimes willing to pay well for extra 
large hares. Just what they are called on the menu 
we do not know; but the chef skilled in kinks of 
cookery is almost an alchemist in creating flavors, and 
it is quite possible that a Belgian hare under his 
manipulation may develop a desirable gamey frag¬ 
rance. 
