1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
799 
SAWDUST ON STRAWBERRIES. 
We have used straw, leaves, chaff, buckwheat hulls, 
cracked cobs, cornstalks, sawdust, evergreen boughs, 
manure, and, in fact, any waste that was available at 
the time needed. The most satisfactory mulch is ma¬ 
nure from stables where cut cornstalks have been 
plentifully used as bedding. The most unsatisfactory 
and the only mulch that showed harmful results was 
buckwheat hulls or chaff. We keep three horses and 
four to six cows, and in the year use about 2,000 bush¬ 
els of sawdust as bedding. We do not have much 
straw for bedding—only what the horses will not eat 
from two or three acres of grain each year. Sawdust 
is used in the horse stables all the year to keep them 
clean. Summers the horse manure goes under a shed 
and Winters it goes through the drop in the cow 
stable, and then all into the shed. When the first 
snow comes deep enough to permit driving over the 
strawberry bed without injuring many plants what 
sawdust manure has accumulated since Spring is 
drawn and spread on the berries at the rate of 60 loads 
per acre. We should not be afraid of 113 to 141 loads 
per acre, but that would not make mulch six inches 
deep. Sawdust manure mulch is all right if it does 
not exceed two inches in depth and is evenly distrib¬ 
uted. The sawdust we get is hemlock, hardwood and 
basswood—no pine. We would feel safe in using such 
sawdust if we could not do better, but would not ex¬ 
pect as good results as though it had been through 
the stable. After the berries are mulched the Winter 
manure is spread on ground for corn, cabbage or 
truck. It might not be out of place to add for the 
benefit of those who wish to know what effect saw¬ 
dust has on land, that we have used sawdust at above 
rate on a 12-acre truck and berry patch for the last 
12 or 15 years, and as yet see nothing but good re¬ 
sults from its use. d. l. w. 
Brooklyn, Pa. 
GREENING APPLES AND BORDEAUX. 
You say on page 756: “We need some more effective 
fungicide than the Bordeaux Mixture.” Go slow and 
reflect for a moment what the Bordeaux has done and 
is still doing for the fruit industry. Don’t we need, 
rather, more effective men behind the pump and hold¬ 
ing the nozzle? Remember this has been a most un¬ 
usual season, probably the most favorable for fungus 
growth of any since the advent of spraying. Refer¬ 
ring to the scab you say: “It is very unfortunate that 
the Rhode Island Greening should develop such a 
weakness.” This is no new development. I remem¬ 
ber when a boy noticing an isolated Greening tree in 
my father’s yard, some years the fruit of which would 
be spotted all oyer with scab. The Fall Pippin and 
Fameuse are in the same category, but, to my mind, 
the Greening is more liable to scab and crack than 
any other variety, and he who can produce perfect 
fine Greenings from one year to another has mastered 
the art of spraying. The writer owns a block of 
Greenings of 200 trees, set about 30 years. At the time 
of the memorable freeze of May 9 and 10 the orchard 
was a solid mass of white, 90 per cent of the blossoms 
being open. The trees had received a thorough spray¬ 
ing previous to the opening of the blossoms. When 
the time came to spray after the bloom had fallen 
there seemed to be nothing to spray for, and it seemed 
a waste of time to go over all those trees again with 
no live fruit in sight. But to ease our conscience we 
did skim them over, as it were, with the exception o£ 
a few rows on the eastern part of the orchard, where 
the damage by the frost seemed not so complete; here 
1 l 
we did the usqal thorough spraying. As we finished 
up the east side of the last row was yet unsprayed, 
Bordeaux Mixture all gone, no vitriol on hand, work 
hurrying. So I said to my man: “We’ll put in a dou¬ 
ble dose of Paris-green and let’er go at that.” So this 
half row received the poison only. Now for results. 
As the season advanced all will remember we were 
“scared before we were hurt,” and it developed that 
every tree in the orchard was bearing more or less 
fruit. About September 1 I wrote you under Crop 
Prospects that “but little scab was showing, and it 
' • • 
would probably not cut much figure in the crop.” It 
was about this time I sold my apples, the^buyer pay¬ 
ing the same price for the “firsts” and “seconds,” and 
)i,e remarked ’ to an outsider that he expected 95 per 
cenfy of them would be “firsts.” About September 15 
the rains began again, and the air was extremely 
humid and muggy for two weeks or more. How the 
scab increased them! It was ideal scab weather! 
Where it had any foothold at all it increased in 
geometrical progression. At picking time on the part 
of the orchard that was “skimmed over” a majority 
of the fruit proved to be more or less scabby. Where 
the thorough spraying was done hardly any scab de¬ 
veloped, and 1 never saw finer Greenings. On the 
half row that received the poison only over half the 
apples were not fit to barrel, and it would have paid 
us well to have gone 10 miles that day and bought 
vitriol enough for those 15 half trees. Moral: vVhat 
is worth doing at all is worth doing well.” I’m ready 
yet to stand by the Bordeaux! w. a. b. 
Farmer, N. Y. 
A GOOD RACK FOR HAULING APPLES. 
Not long since, when I was in northwestern Ar¬ 
kansas, where there are plenty of rocky hills, I saw 
a very cheap, novel and excellent device for transport¬ 
ing apple barrels on wagons. The thing was so sim¬ 
ple, so light and so very serviceable that it occurred 
to me to give the idea to the public. Two straight 
poles, about six inches in diameter at the butt and 
12 to 20 feet long, and of some good, tough timber, 
are cut from the woods. Holes are bored near each 
end and in the middle with a big augur, and cross 
pieces are put in to spread the poles and hold them 
securely next the standards of the wagon. Notches 
are cut in the outside of the poles for the standards 
to fit in, so there will be no sliding backwards or for¬ 
wards. A smaller pole or stiff, narrow board should 
be spiked to the crossbars midway between the poles 
and parallel with them. The space between the two 
outside poles is just right for two rows of apple bar¬ 
rels to lie on their sides. With an ax there should 
be a little of each pole cut out for each pair of bar¬ 
rels, so they will nest or fit snugly into place. There 
will then be no sliding back and forth of the load. 
In loading there should be one row of barrels laid on 
top of the two lower ones, and they may be lashed 
fast with a rope if the roads are very steep. The 
driver sits astride of the front barrel. A reach as 
long as the pole rack is necessary. By this arrange¬ 
ment a big load of apples can be carried almost any 
distance and over the worst roads with little injury. 
The barrels rest in the best position possible for safe 
carriage and on a bed of spring poles, provided the 
right material has been used in making the rack. 
II. E. VAN DBM AN. 
NEW TRICK OF AN OLD ROGUE. 
I heard a little story the other day from an old 
friend of mine a few miles away. There came an old 
gentleman in the neighborhood who said he had ac¬ 
cumulated a fortune in New York in the mercantile 
trade, and now he and his wife were looking for a 
poor worthy young man to enrich, as he had no rela¬ 
tives. He found my friend’s son and wife suitable 
persons, and he stayed with them two or three days. 
While he was there he bargained for a farm with an¬ 
other son, and went to Scranton, to be back the next 
Tuesday with the money to pay for the farm. He told 
them they need not meet him; he would hire a rig to 
bring him to the place. They went to the depot to 
meet him, but he was not there, so they went again 
but he did not come, so they gave up meeting the 
trains for him. Before he left the place he said he 
had nothing but large bills, and it was necessary that 
he should have some small change, so he borrowed 
$5 from the wife of the son who was willing to be 
made rich, and that is the way he enriched them. 
Pennsylvania. reader. 
NEW YORK FARMERS AND SKUNKS. 
I noticed on page 719 a complaint against the skunk 
and the law which protects this animal in Chautauqua 
Co., N. Y. I feel moved to offer a few things in behalf 
of the skunk and the law protecting him in our coun¬ 
ty. The law was passed at the request of our county 
Grange because the farmers felt the need of help to 
destroy, if possible, the white grubs which so infested 
the meadows, pasture's and cornfields, as well as ap¬ 
pearing among other crops. One of our prominent 
farmers says that every skunk is worth $25 to the 
farmer on whose land he is. Perhaps they do take a 
few small chickens; I lost 16 in one night, but it 
might have been a weasel, mink or rats for all that. I 
know. Skunks are often caught (like other innocent 
people) in suspicious circumstances, but that does not 
prove their guilt. I also had three acres of sweet corn 
on dry ground which should have borne 8 or 10 tons 
of corn, but on account of the ravages of the white 
grubs I got a little more than two tons, or $18 worth, 
showing a loss of $40 or $50, as compared to the loss 
of 16 small chickens which possibly were killed by a 
skunk. There are a few people in Chautauqua County 
who have no better subject of conversation than 
“skunk yarns.” The law does not concern cities or 
incorporated villages, and as “Reader” evidently lives 
in a small town he may kill as many as possible. I 
know of no one, save a few poultrymen and the hunt¬ 
ers and trappers, who is not heartily in favor of this 
law. And last but not least—the farmers of this 
county are not even talking of a repeal of this law. 
They know what they need, and are unanimous in 
their desire to let the skunk fight their battles for 
them and nreserve the meadows and pastures. 
Dunkirk, N. Y. J. t. n. 
THE IDLE HORSE IN WINTER. 
Horses'must be comfortable; stable so that nothing 
will freeze in it; good hay and water, a mash con¬ 
sisting of bran, ground oats and cut hay (one inch 
length) in the proportion respectively of two, one and 
five parts, and once per day, if possible, say two me¬ 
dium-sized carrots or turnips. Groom some to keep 
the circulation up in the skin. No fast rules can be 
laid down; if they fail feed more. Mash is fed every 
night, warm. It is prepared after noon by pouring 
hot water on, and covered so as to hold steam. 
Lewiston, Me. J. s. sanbokn. 
Plenty of good bedding, pure water and bright hay, 
with small grain ration, is the best way we have found 
to keep an idle horse. Our farm horses are never 
idle, nor are our drivers either. All horses that are 
idle should have a run in yard every pleasant day; 
in fact, every day it does not storm. As a matter ot 
fact the horses which I let run out all Winter with 
only pine grove for shelter, and have run to spring 
for water, and hay thrown them over the fence twice 
daily, do better than those kept in stalls; box stalls 
I mean; we have none other on the farm. I do not 
think a growing colt should have this usage, but a 
brood mare will do better for me and raise a stronger, 
healthier colt than if kept in box stall nights and fed 
grain. This is actual experience, although it sounds 
pretty tough for a Vermont Winter. 
Ferrisburgh, V t. _ c. a. chapman. 
LIVE TREES FOR FENCE POSTS. 
Having erected over seven miles of woven wire fenc¬ 
ing on our farm the past five years we have learned 
much regarding posts and best methods of construc¬ 
tion. A main requisite is unyielding end, or anchor 
posts, and no post is quite so good for anchoring as a 
vigorous live tree which may happen to be on the 
line. Jacket the tree with 2x4 or larger pieces—never 
staple to the bark—then encircle the jacket, tree and 
all, with the woven web, tying the end thereof back 
to itself, making a loop around the tree. With such 
an anchor at each end of an 80-rod fence the cost of 
maintaining intervening stakes or posts is trifling. 
Of course, the fence must be stretched tight. (One 
can lift five tons with our stretcher.) We place in¬ 
tervening posts two to three rods apart, and like an 
eight-foot post when obtainable, set 36 to 40 inches 
deep. A good-sized Burr oak at the corner of a field 
is easily worth $5 to use as a corner post. One can 
often arrange fields to use trees in this way. In build¬ 
ing on three sides of a 20-acre field last week we only 
had one corner to make of posts. For that we used 
nine cedar posts, five for posts and four for braces, 
worth $1.80: the labor of setting and bracing was 
fully as much more, and it was our weakest anchor 
of the half mile of fence. As timber is continually 
growing more expensive, it may pay to plant locust 
trees for post purposes. f. j. f. 
Almond, Wis. _ 
According to newspaper reports Mrs. Sara E. Roby, 
of Burlington, Kan., deserves well of the farmers in 
her neighborhood. Owing to her active efforts a “rest 
room” has, during the past three years, been kept 
open in that place from 7 A. M. until 6 P. M. A 
matron is in attendance during these hours to keep 
things in order. The furniture consists of chairs, 
lounges, tables, etc. Dishes, tea and coffee pots are 
provided, so that each can serve refreshments to suit 
his individual tastes. The business men cheerfully 
contribute to the cost of conducting it. A “club” 
might be organized if desirable, on a cooperative basis 
by the appointment of an active worker from each 
school district or township. A small monthly assess¬ 
ment could be made to cover the necessary expenses 
in case Mrs. Roby’s plan failed to meet with general 
approval. We guarantee that it pays those business 
men well to support that “rest room.” Anything that 
attracts the farmer’s family and brings the wife and 
daughter to the counter or to the postage stamp surely 
means an increase of trade. 
