358 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
May 13 
across the briny ocean. Why, the total exports of all 
manufactures for 1898, amounted to only $290,679,354. 
The little American hen will take the American hugs 
and the American oat crop and pay for all these ex¬ 
ports, and have enough left to pay the salaries of all 
teachers in the country, buy the Philippine Islands, 
pay for all the gold dug out of the mines of America, 
and have nearly enough left to pay every pension for 
1898. All hail the American hen ! She is the greatest 
manufacturer on the earth’s surface 1 Let the cow, 
the ox, the sheep, the hog, the horse, the mule, and 
their higher brother, the man, take a hack seat, and 
take off their hats every time they hear the hen cackle, 
and pass with reverent step, the hen s nest. b. w. c. 
PERPETUAL FRUITING FOR STRAWBERRIES 
In raising strawberries, my experience has been enly with 
matted rows which, under irrigation, generally produce large 
yields. With persistent and thorough hand weeding, I have kept 
one five-acre field in constant fruiting for five crops, without 
renewal. As to how many years a single stool may bear, I have 
failed to observe, and would like to know from those who have 
cultivated in hills. I am now starting a field to be cultivated in 
hills, hoping to get a higher grade of berries, but if no new plants 
are allowed to set between the hills, the bearing life of the hills 
becomes a very important point, about which I would like to 
learn as much as possible. I have thought that, perhaps, it will 
be best to fruit in the hills for one or two crops, and then allow 
the plants to renew themselves in matted rows for a crop or two. 
Land is very high-priced here, and we can hardly afford to plow 
up a field every second year. A. h. r. 
Denver, Col. 
The life of the strawberry plant might, no doubt, 
he indefinitely prolonged, provided the proper methods 
of culture were practiced, including thorough Winter 
protection. Prof. Goff, of this Station, has shown, 
as a result of close study of the strawberry plant, that 
it is not a stemless plant, as commonly supposed, but 
has a true stem that emits branches from the axils of 
the leaves as do many taller-growing plants. These 
branches are of two kinds, runners and also short 
branches formed close to the main stem. The latter 
are mainly forme d late in the season after the runner¬ 
forming season is past. In case the runners are per¬ 
sistently removed, as in hill culture, a comparatively 
large number of these branches are formed, making a 
thick, spreading crown. 
Pig. 143 shows the stem of a two-year-old straw¬ 
berry plant with the leaves and runners of last season 
removed, and above are the shoots of the current 
season. Fig. 144 shows another 
plant two years old ; at a, a run¬ 
ner, at b, b, branches of stem, 
and at c the base of a flower stalk. 
Theoretically, therefore, the 
strawberry plant is capable of 
an indefinite existence, but many 
things concerned in practical 
cultivation, tend materially to 
shorten its life. The stem de¬ 
scribed, although very short, 
elongates each year, and this 
tends to raise the crown a little 
higher above the soil each season, 
which exposes it more to the 
Summer droughts and Winter 
A two-year-old. w i n( j s . Further, the new roots 
that are formed, are mainly above 
the older ones, and soon these are more or less exposed. 
We can overcome all this by cultivation by the matted- 
row system, narrowing our rows at the close of the 
bearing season to a strip, say 8 to 10 inches wide, of 
new, one-year-old plants. By this method, I believe 
it entirely practicable to produce paying crops of ber¬ 
ries without resetting for 10 years, or even longer, if 
the necessary soil fertility could be maintained. A 
heavy top-dressing of well-rotted manure, applied 
when cultivation is begun after fruiting, and in ad¬ 
dition to this, one or more liberal applications of com¬ 
mercial fertilizers, would, I believe, be sufficient. 
A. H R. gives evidence of what may be done in this 
line. Five crops without renewal are certainly a very 
good showing. At the Wisconsin Experiment Sta¬ 
tion, three crops were taken from one plot without 
renewal, and the third crop was larger than either 
the first or the second ; this, however, was due in part 
to a very liberal application of water. In this connec¬ 
tion, I would say that I believe an abundant supply of 
water, during the blooming and fruiting season, abso¬ 
lutely essential to profitable strawberry growing. At 
the Wisconsin Station, a gain of more than 100 per 
cent has been obtained by irrigation, and in other 
places, still greater gains have been noted. Under 
hill culture, the plants would, without doubt, bear 
as long as they could be made to live ; but on account 
of the reasons above noted, it is probable that the 
plants would perish after three or four years. This 
might be avoided if the level of the field could be 
raised an inch or two each year. Another plan would 
be to layer a strong plant between the hills in the 
Fall or early Spring, and retain these, destroying the 
old hills. FREDERIC CRANE FIELD. 
Wisconsin Experiment Station. 
DRILLING VS. CHECKING FOR CORN. 
WESTERN FARMERS PREFER CHECKS. 
Drills Too Hard io Keep Clean. 
Has the practice of drilling corn proved practical and profit¬ 
able in your locality? We are often informed that farmers, 
after trying this plan, have gone back to checking corn, so as to 
be able to cultivate it both ways, and that the practice of drill¬ 
ing is being slowly given up. What are the advantages and dis¬ 
advantages apparent by experience ? 
Objections in Iowa. —None of the farmers drills 
corn; they could not keep it clean when they plant 
50 to 150 or more acres each, and they couldn’t stir the 
land 60 well. s h w. 
Clinton County, Iowa. 
Nearly all the corn planted here is checked so as to 
cultivate both ways, which gives a better chance to 
keep ahead of the weeds. A small amount of our 
corn planted on light, sandy soil is listed or drilled 
late, about June 15. I think it is less work, and gives 
some protection against drought. a s. 
Muscatine County, Iowa. 
The objection to drilling corn is the difficulty of 
destroying the weeds, and the bad shape the land is 
left in, being thrown into ridges. It is not so gener¬ 
ally practiced a6 formerly, except in case of the 
smaller varieties of corn, as sweet corn and flint corn, 
or where it is to be cut with corn binder or for ensi¬ 
lage. Improved machinery for checking has much to 
do with it, as in former times much was drilled for 
lack of ability to get it in cheek. w. R. 
Howard County, Iowa. 
Drill the Corn. —My experience has taught me 
that more corn can be grown to the acre by drilling, 
as one stalk in a place, with stalks 16 inches apart, 
will grow more corn than three stalks in a hill. I am 
talking about corn on good ground. If I plant corn 
on thin land, especially if weed seed is plenty, I want 
it checked, and checked straight at that, and then 
harrow just as the corn is coming up. I think more 
corn is drilled in this section of country than there 
was 10 years ago, as farmers are learning that it pays 
better not to plant so much, and cultivate better. 
Peru, Ind. w. c. 
New Plan Suggested,—Both drilling and check¬ 
ing corn are practiced in this locality. Some prefer 
“ COME EARLY TO AVOID THE RUSH.”— Life. Fig. 145. 
one method and some the other. Checking seems to 
give better results. The sun has a little better show at 
checked corn, and cross cultivation levels the ground 
to some extent in spite of turning and shovel plows. 
I believe that corn should be planted in drills, with 
stalks from five to eight inches apart, and rows six 
feet apart. Cultivation is given early and often with 
only a light harrow or weeder. When laid by, both 
cow peas and Crimson clover should be sown—cow 
peas not too thick, of course. I have neither tried 
this plan nor seen it tried, but intend to try it this 
season. l. e. k. 
Jefferson County, Mo. 
Nine-Tenths Checked. —The check-rower has 
almost entirely superseded the drill; nine-tenths of 
the acreage of this locality is check-rowed. The 
trouble with drilling corn here is that it is almost im¬ 
possible to keep it free from weeds, and where a field 
is planted to corn several years in succession, it be¬ 
comes quite weedy. The advantage of the check- 
rower is that, by using it, we are able to keep our 
fields free from weeds, and the land can then be sown 
toother crops after the corn is made—Crimson clover 
or rye. From experiments of a great many farmers, 
I would say that the yield is in favor of checking, 
when we consider the difficulty of keeping the land 
clean of weeds, as you well know that corn will not 
do the best with weeds for company. L. d. o. 
Montgomery County, Ill. 
Objections to Drilling. —There is no doubt that, 
in exceptional cases, more corn can be grown on an 
acre drilled than by checking ; but one is almost sure 
to get too much seed on an acre. The seed grains are 
not of even size and thickness, so that two grains 
chamber and are dropped instead of one. Each man 
and team undertake to take care of 25 to 40 acres, and 
on up to 65 acres, so that hoeing is out of the ques¬ 
tion. If the ground be too wet to work for a few days 
when the corn is small, and the weeds get a start 
in drilled corn, a man can only resolve that he will 
check his corn next time. Corn cutters do not like to 
cut drilled corn. When the ground is heaten down 
and run together, I think that a hill will push through 
where one grain in a place would not. About 10 per 
cent of the corn here is drilled. Early-planted corn, 
where ears of corn are the object, should be checked. 
Sod land, or late planting intended to be cut for fodder, 
can be drilled to better advantage, and if it comes up 
too thick, a weeder or smoothing harrow can be used ; 
but most farmers prefer to plant just enough to seed 
properly, as it is harder to thin corn rightly than it 
is to kill weeds. J- N- b. 
Macoupin County, Ill. 
MULCHING MELON PATCHES. 
Noticing what has lately been said on page 321 
about mulching melons, leads me to give my experi¬ 
ence in this work in several States, and where the 
climatic conditions were quite different. In all of 
them, it has been very satisfactory. It is to be highly 
commended if properly done In Ross County, Ohio, 
when a boy, one of our neighbors’ boys had good 
melons every season, and it was a mystery to the re6t 
of us how they grew them. My brother and I were 
let into the secret by being taken into the middle of 
a corn field, where the boys had their melon patch. 
There lay big melons so near each other that we could 
almost have walked on them all over the patch. 
There had been a straw stack there, and when it was 
nearly rotted down, the top was scattered over the 
ground about the base, making a mulch over the en¬ 
tire surface about a foot deep. Holes were then dug 
in the rotten straw where the hills were to be, the 
ground spaded up well at these places, and the seeds 
planted. About the time the melons were ripe, the 
corn was so high that thieving neighbors did not see 
the patch, and the location as well as the mulch was an 
advantage. I tried it once in Ohio with equally good 
results. 
On the homestead claim which I bought on the Kan¬ 
sas prairies, were the butts of some old haystacks be¬ 
side an old cattle yard. I plowed the yard and an 
adjoining patch of prairie sod, and spread the old hay 
over it. In this, I dug hills, and planted watermelons 
and cantaloupes. I had melons for the whole neigh¬ 
borhood without another stroke of work. So long as 
I lived in Kansas, I tried melons under cultivation in 
old ground, I grew them on fresh prairie sod, and 
mulched with old stack bottoms, with straw, hay and 
with coarse manure, and the mulch seemed to be the 
easiest and surest to succeed. 
When we came to live in Virginia, I found pine 
leaves a handy material with which to mulch. Here 
the people call them 11 shats ”, which is the short for 
shatters, because the leaves shatter off the trees. 
They contain no weed seeds, and are cheap and ex¬ 
ceedingly good for making a mulch. If they have 
been first used as bedding for stock so much the 
better. No better or sweeter melons or cantaloupes 
are grown than we have every year. I first plow the 
ground, plant the seed, and generally cultivate it 
until the melon plants begin to start their vines. Then 
I mulch so heavily that no annual weeds can come 
through. The soil remains moist throughout the 
season. Sometimes I grow pumpkins the same way, 
and the results are simply wonderful. In 1897, I grew 
seven pumpkins on one vine in mulched ground, that 
averaged over 50 pounds each, and they were of the 
choicest quality. The way to prove this plan is to try 
it. After over 30 years of experience in mulching 
melons, potatoes, tomatoes and other crops, too, I like 
it exceedingly well; but the coating must be put on 
so thoroughly as to cover all of the surface so deeply 
that no weeds can grow, and that the soil will be 
moist during the driest weather. h. e. v. d. 
