284 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
April 15 
HOPE FARM NOTES. 
The Egg Trade. —Oar hens laid 1,456 
egg's in March. We have reduced the 
stock to about 120 layers. Last year, 
with nearly 225 hens, we had 1,134 eggs. 
The Minorcas made a great rally through 
March, and came in ahead of the rest. 
At Easter, eggs brought 15 cents a dozeD, 
just the price received last year. The 
cost of feeding all our poultry was a 
little under 88. The eggs were worth at 
our local prices 819 41. We have been 
through many ups and downs in the 
poultry business, but in the long run, we 
come out ahead. The hens have paid us 
reasonably well since we learned some¬ 
thing about selecting the best layers for 
breeding, and began to use meat and 
gre n n food properly. 
Crop-Bound Hens. —Every now and 
then we find a dumpy hen with comb off 
color and a mighty unhappy appearance. 
She gets into a corner, and stands with 
her head down. The crop is usually full 
and hard. Unless soon relieved, the hen 
is pretty sure to die. This is the most 
serious hen trouble we have had this 
season. The cause seems usually to be 
a wad of dry grass or weeds which col¬ 
lects in the crop, and stops it up. In 
some cases, we have relieved the hen by 
gently working the crop around with the 
hands, but where the wad of grass is 
large, the only sure remedy is to cut a 
slit in the skin, and clean out the crop 
from the outside. The cut may be sewed 
up. This is not a difficult operation. I 
have known some cases of impaction in 
cattle where it was necessary to cut 
through the skin and work in just this 
way. 
Trimming Bush Fruits. —We have cut 
the raspberries and blackberries back 
quite severely. With currants, we cut 
back to five or six buds, and do not leave 
much more on the laterals of raspber¬ 
ries. In this way, I feel sure we get 
larger and finer fruit than where we 
leave more wood. Most growers, I notice, 
leave a large bush—too large in my 
opinion. In pruning this way, however, 
I think the character of the soil should 
be considered. On our light, warm soil, 
the close trimming is safe, but on heavier 
and richer soil, I would leave more wood. 
On richer soil, the close trimming would 
be likely to stimulate the plant to an 
excess of wood growth, and this would 
interfere with the season’s fruiting to 
some extent. I think, too, there is some 
difference in varieties in this respect, so 
that we cannot safely lay down any 
general rule. 
“Bathe the Feet.” — The Madame 
thinks this will hold true of medical ad¬ 
vice, too. The Graft was the last of the 
scarlet fever patients, and he was about 
the most obstinate “ peeler ” that ever 
went through the disease. His body 
peeled well enough, but his hands were 
slo wer, while his feet were slower than 
snails to shed the old skin. At last, the 
Madame got desperate, and she soaked 
those feet in warm water for hours. 
Even that didn’t finish the job, and in 
despair, she sent to the doctor to ask 
what would do the business. Imagine 
her disgust when the doctor told her to 
bathe his feet! Some of this general ad¬ 
vice which is so freely offered is almost 
as useful as that was. We must get 
down closer to particulars, and make the 
advice fit better. 
Exit Scarlet Fever.— It was on De¬ 
cember 13, 1898, that the smallest Scion 
came down with the fever. It was Sun¬ 
day, April 2, before the Hope Farm fam¬ 
ily could really get together at the din¬ 
ner table. That makes 110 days, or 330 
meals—close to one-third of a year—dur¬ 
ing which one or more of our family has 
been absent. You may be sure that we 
were glad to see the red flag come down. 
It was a great comfort to think that the 
four little folks have come safely through 
the fever without a mark or blemish. 
The Madame may feel justly proud of 
that! The 2.640 hours of fever were 
long and trying. We all faced most of 
these hours as well as we knew how— 
the Madame leading with the fewest 
lapses of faith. The thought of these 
things and the sight of the four vigorous 
little fever graduates made Easter Sun¬ 
day, 1899, one that we shall, proba¬ 
bly, long remember. I came in from 
a walk over the farm to find the chil¬ 
dren marching about with the Graft 
at their head, carrying the red flag 
like a political banner. It was Sun¬ 
day, but I think even one of the old 
Puritans would have felt that these lit¬ 
tle folks had a right to celebrate old 
Scarlet Fever’s surrender. 
Bad Clover News. —Easter raised the 
fever siege, but it s’aughtered much of 
the Crimson clover. The cold bluster¬ 
ing days of the last of March lifted many 
of the little plants, and wrung the life 
out of them. On two fields of light soil, 
it seems entirely dead, while on others 
more or less of it is left. In several 
places, the stand is still too thick, but 
take it as a whole, the chances are against 
anything like a full growth. Too bad, 
but we did our part anyway. The growth 
it h as already made is worth far more than 
the cost of seed and the labor of putting 
it in. Most of us are likely to call such 
things failures unless we get all we ex¬ 
pect. After all, our old friend, the cow 
pea, is the surest policeman for arresting 
nitrogen on poor soils. 
The Late Season. —From present ap¬ 
pearances, Winter will linger in the 
lap of July this year. The days are 
either stormy or raw and blustering. 
Some of our neighbors on light soils have 
been plowing, but we doubt the wisdom 
of it. These cold, windy days take the 
moisture out of plowed ground without 
making it steam, as it does when turned 
over on a mild day. I like to plant as 
soon as possible after stirring the soil. 
We plowed one field where we spread 
manure in order to get the manure 
safely under. In case we have a drench¬ 
ing rainstorm, the manure is safest in 
the ground. It is trying on the nerves 
to have to stand still and wait for good 
weather when one has planned a big 
Summer job, and is particularly anxious 
about the early crop. We are told that 
this has been the worst season since 1842. 
One thing about it is that many of us 
will not be able to wait that long before 
seeing another like it. h. w. c. 
CATALOGUES FOR 1899. 
William C. Babcock, Bridgman, Mich. 
—General catalogue and price-list of 
the Hillsdale Nursery and Fruit Farm. 
Mr. Babcock is a wholesale grower of 
fruits and plants in general. The prices 
a re about as follows : Strawberries, from 
30 to 50 cents per 100 for well-known 
varieties ; rare sorts are higher. Black¬ 
caps are from 60 cents to 81 per 100. Red 
raspberries, about 50 cents per 100. 
Grapes, from 81.40 to 83 per 100. Mr. 
Babcock gives a list of the perfect-flower¬ 
ing varieties of strawberries which he 
thinks would be best to plant with the 
pistillates. 
T. W. Wood & Sons, Richmond, Va.— 
This catalogue will particularly interest 
those who intend to plant cow peas, Soy 
beans, Velvet beans, etc., though it deals 
also with the usual flower and vegetable 
seeds, and Virginia second-crop seed 
potatoes propagated from the best Maine- 
grown stocks. Of medium and late varie¬ 
ties of northern-grown potatoes, the firm 
expects to carry a large stock, so as to be 
able to furnish seed of good condition 
for planting in June and July. The firm 
also offers select tobacco seed of 17 dif¬ 
ferent varieties. We are glad to see 
seeds of the Rural Branching sorghum 
under its legitimate name, and not under 
the synonym of Millo maize given to it 
by certain seedsmen two years after The 
R. N.-Y. introduced it. 
PRO!'. S. A. Beach, of the Geneva Experiment 
Station, says that they have obtained best results 
in spraying gooseberries with potassium sul¬ 
phide. This has given, on the whole, better re¬ 
sults than Bordeaux Mixture. 
It is reported that the Australian growers are 
sending strawberries to Hamburg first packed 
in cotton wool, and then kept at the freezing point 
through the voyage. One may well ask, What 
next ? 
We have some enterprising people here in the 
West. One of these fellows is selling apple trees, 
to be paid for when the trees get into bearing. 
Of course, you have to sign a contract to take 
good care of them, etc., and—well, you can guess 
the rest. In a few months, the bank sends notice 
of a note it holds, which is due. m. .t. b. 
Denver, Col. 
Ab evidence of the changes in farming, one of 
our correspondents in Ohio tells of a man who 
has leased a sugar bush, which is located on very 
hilly land. The sap is all to be piped down from 
the hills into the valley, where the evaporator is 
placed. The same man follows a curious rota¬ 
tion of buckwheat after wheat. As soon as the 
wheat is harvested, the buckwheat is sown. The 
buckwheat is harvested, hulled and sacked all 
at one operation. Then the buckwheat stubble is 
plowed under, and the land sown again to wheat. 
CHINQUAPIN. 
NUTandjnrrO 
FRUIT I IkLLU 
300 ACRES—61 YEARS 
Superior stock of all desirable 
varieties of Chestnuts, Walnuts, 
Apples, Pears, Peaches, Plums; 
shade and ornamental trees ;small 
fruit plants, etc. Catalogue free. 
FAHEYS’ POMONA NURSERIES 
Parry, New Jersey. 
THE READING NURSERY 
and its Illustrated catalogue, to be appreciated, 
should be patronized. Price-List Free. 
JACOB W. MANNING, Prop., Reading, Mass 
Trees Live 
If bought of us, because they are so often 
Transplanted, to make roots thrifty 
RARE Evergreens our specialty. 
Time of Sowing Vegetable Seeds.—A tolerably 
safe rule for bowing tomatoes and other plants 
which cannot be set out until quite warm, is to 
sow about the time the maples are starting to 
swell their buds and commencing to come out 
into leaf. For p 1 anting hardier plants such as 
cabbage or cauliflower, it is a good plan to sow 
about thedime the Silver maples are showing red 
blossom buds. Where these plants can be trans¬ 
planted and be given sufficient room to develop 
in cold frames, larger plants may be had for 
setting in the open ground when the weather is 
suitable. It is the opinion of experienced planters 
that gardeners who depend on starting plants 
from seed in the open ground this Spring will 
have belated crops. 
Egg Plants. —These plants require warmth, 
and seed should not be sown very early where 
there is neither a hotbed which can be kept 
evenly warm, nor a greenhouse which does not 
fall below £0 degrees at night. It is unwise to 
sow in the same bed with cabbage. Some garden¬ 
ers take the rotted manure from the plant hot¬ 
bed, sift it through a half-inch mesh, and plant 
the seeds in boxes in this, using the same rich 
compost when transplanting into pots. It is a 
safe rule to sow the seed eight weeks before the 
plants can be set out in the open ground, which 
is not until the nights are quite warm. Nothing 
is gained by an early start unless the plants are 
kept constantly growing. When the young plants 
are two inches high, they should be transplanted 
so that they will stand four Inches apart. The 
same directions advised for egg plants apply 
equally-tojpeppers. 
unuiucdi rnun 
AOrnamentuI Treei, Shrubi,Rote 
IMantn, Hull)*, Seed*. Mail size poe 
, paid, safe arrival and satisfaction guarai 
teed, larger by express or freight. Dire 
deal saves money. Elegant catalogue fre 
_i 45th year. 41 greenhouses. 1000 acres. 
THE STORRS & HARRISON CO 
BOX 554 , PAINESVILLE, OHIO. 
The President 
Wilder Currant 
heads the list as a producer and 
a money-maker. Plant no other. 
Prices given on application. 
S. D. WILLARD, Geneva, N. Y. 
HENRY E. BURR, 
Ward Place, South Orange, N. ,1. 
Telephone 2004 Orange. 
TREES. 
If you want fine Peach Trees, Pear Trees (including 
Kleffer), Apple. Cherry, Plum, or anything else in the 
way of fruit trees: small fruits. Shade Trees, Ever¬ 
greens, Shrubbery, or Hedge Plants, write to THE 
WILLOW DALE NURSERIES for prices. We are 
well prepared to fill orders for first-class stock, free 
from all injurious insects or diseases, and at low 
prices. Send us list of what you want. 
RAKE8TBAW & PYLE. WiUowdale, Chester Co.,Pa. 
TREES. 
BISMARCK Apple, October Cherry and Japan 
Plums very cheap. Catalogue free. 
C. F. MACNAIB & Co., Dansville, N. Y. 
^GRAPEVINES 
100 Varieties. Also Small Fruits, Trees, Ac. Best root¬ 
ed stock.Genuine, cheap. 8 sample vines mailed for 10e. 
Descriptive price-list free. LEW IS KOK8CH, Fredonl., N.T. 
I A n A tl Dl IIUC Large stock. Best varieties. 
ilArAN rUUmO Prices low. Free catalog. The 
Geo. A. Sweet Nursery Co., Box 1,605, Dansville, N. Y. 
ILLUSTRATED 
CATALOGUE. 
Choice Evergreens, Shrubs, Fruit and other 
TreeB. Roses, Water Lilies, etc. Prices low. We 
also lay out grounds when desired. 
K. 8. PETERSON A SONS. Montrose, N. Y. 
HEADER 
RARE FLOWERS 
IF YOU 
LOVE 
choice only- AddressELLis Bros.. 
>unipc- we send p iants ai1 ° yer the United 
inUIUk States, and guarantee safe arrival. It 
ill pay you to send for our illus- PI AU/CPC 
ated catalogue: it’s free. iIbaJWWCIIv* 
LOUIS P. BUTLER, Keene, N.H. 
THE FRUITS 
to plant for profitable results are 
named in our Spring Catalogue. 
This Book names all the Trees and 
Plants that will succeed in a northern climate, gives accurate descriptions of 
varieties, and instructions about planting. The Catalogue explains all. Mailed 
free at your request. After receiving it, write to us for any further information 
you need about fruits. 
S1 V.T"‘ T. J. DWYER & SON, Orange Co. Nurseries, Box I, Cornwall, N.Y. 
IV THAT BEAR FRUIT (TRUE TO NAME) 
All have been inspected; no heeled-in stock. Beder 
Wood, Crescent, Lovett, Michel’s Early, Warfield, 
$1.25 per M. Barton’s Brandywine, Bismarck, Ganay, 
Haverland, Tennessee Prolific, $1.75 Bubach, Clyde, 
Parker Earle, Mayflower, Jessie, Wilson, $2. Cumber¬ 
land, Wm. Belt, Glen Mary. Marshall, Sharpless. 
Woolverton, Windsor Chief, $2.50. Mary, Manwell, 
Excelsior. Nick Ohmer, Seaford, etc. Cuthbert. Han- 
sell, Brandywine, Turner, Thompson, $3. Lucretia 
Dewberry, $5. 100 varieties. Name your wants. 
WM. C. BABCOCK, Bridgman, Mich. 
BLACK 
DEW 
EL ANTS 
AND 
CRAPE 
VINES 
n 
Business Trees “e Best Trees 
ROGERS TREES are BUSINESS TREES. Remember the name and the 
place to buy. THE ROGERS NURSERIES, Dansville, New York. 
K|EFF ! BARTLETT PE « BALDWIN APPLE Trees 
Finest Stock we ever offered. Ask for Bulletin No. 1. Don’t delay now. Catalogue 
free. CHOICE SEED POTATOES—all in cellar ; no frosted stock. 
Cayuga Nurseries Estab 1847. WILEY & CO., Cayuga, N. Y. 
A First Rate Catalogue 
of fruits, large and small, forest and ornamental trees, roses, etc. Our new specialty, 
the October Purple Plum, is acknowledged the finest of all Japan varieties color-pl 
picture of it, pretty enough to frame, with 64-page catalogue, free. Write to-day. 
Established 48years. STEPHEN HOYT’S SONS, Box 10 New Canaan, Conn. 
