1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
593 
Short Stories. 
Bees and Sponges. —An article has 
been going the rounds of the press, in 
which some genius suggests the use of 
sponges in bee hives. He says that the 
bees will put the honey in the sponges, 
so that it may quickly be squeezed out 
by running the sponges through a 
clothes wringer. Mr. A. I. Root, the 
veteran bee keeper, makes this comment 
on the story: 
The clipping you mail us I think is a 
swindle. Years ago, the matter was sug¬ 
gested of having comb made of rubber so 
as to squeeze the honey out of it, and put 
it back in the hive again. Others suggest¬ 
ed sponges, and I made some experiments 
in that line, but never succeeded in making 
the bees put honey into a sponge. I think 
it is just a newspaper yarn. 
New Hampshire Cover Crop. —Crim¬ 
son clover winterkills with us. You 
ask whether there is anything better 
than rye for a substitute. The latter is 
commonly used in New Hampshire, but 
I prefer a mixture of Alsike and Red 
clover to sow in corn at the last culti¬ 
vation, this to remain for a crop the 
following season or to be turned un¬ 
der. It makes a fine cow feed, and 
rowen can be plowed under. If the 
land is in good condition, grass seed can, 
also, be used. The cow peas we are 
trying for a green manure, and they 
make a rank and heavy growih. The 
Hairy vetch we think very promising 
and hardy. E. w. rane. 
New Hampshire. 
A Flight of Fancy. —The Detroit 
Free Press looks into the future a little 
and thus describes the view: 
“Mr. Vanderbilt, of the New York 
Central, has made a covenant with the 
Boston and Albany, covering a period 
of 1,000 years, less one. It is quite a 
stretch of time. It might be said to be 
a railroad arrangement connecting time 
and eternity. When this 999-year con¬ 
tract runs out, there will be very few of 
us left—very few. By that time, there 
will have been some changes upon the 
face of the earth, for many of the things 
and institutions which we now know 
will have passed away. When the lease 
expires, the New York Central trains 
will be running between Albany and 
Boston without steam, electricity or 
liquid air. The single-rail tracks will 
cross no highway or avenue at grade. 
Boston will be contiguous to Albany by 
the existing schedule. The New York 
Central’s chief competitor will be the 
Aerial Transit Co., cutting the journey 
down to a matter of minutes, and afford¬ 
ing an unsurpassed bird’s-eye view of 
the Berkshire Hills. When the lease ex¬ 
pires the Boston bean joke will have 
been inurned for centuries.” 
“False Oats.” —We have had some 
complaint this year from readers who 
say that their oats have not matured 
seed. The flowers in some way proved 
imperfect. In some cases, nearly 15 per 
cent of the crop proved abortive. When 
asked about this, Prof. L. R. Jones, of 
the Vermont Experiment Station, said: 
“I will not promise to tell you what 
caused the loss in the oat crop of which 
complaints have reached you, but will 
give you my opinion as to why there has 
been a light oat crop in Vermont. The 
oat spikelet normally has two or three 
flowers. Of these, the lower one always 
forms perfect fruit, or seed, and the sec- 
We Want Men 
to represent The R. N.-Y. at fairs. 
We want every farmer who attends a 
fair in any part of the country this 
season to see a copy of The Rural 
New-Yorker. We want at least 
20,000 of those who are not now tak¬ 
ing it to become subscribers. We 
want to make arrangements with you 
to help in this result. Lastly, we. 
want you to write us for terms and 
appointments. 
The Rural New-Yorker, 
New York. 
ond one should do so if the oats are of 
a good variety and growing under favor¬ 
able circumstances. The third one is al¬ 
ways sterile so far as my observation 
goes. If, however, the oat plant is weak¬ 
ened by unfavorable conditions of 
growth, the second flower may, also, be 
sterile. In that case, only one seed is 
formed. It is this condition, as I under¬ 
stand it, of which your correspondents 
are complaining. I consider this to be 
simply a question of vigor of variety 
and favorable conditions of moisture, 
soil and atmosphere, and not at all a 
question of pollination or fertilization. 
In this part of Vermont, the failure of 
the oat crop is largely due to the very 
severe drought which prevailed during 
the early part of the Summer. This has 
been followed by considerable rust since 
the oats have headed out.” 
Summer Seeding to Grass. —We have 
just finished mowing away 13 as large 
loads of nice hay as we could draw into 
our barn on a 16-foot rack, a result of 
getting the hay from 314 acres of land. 
The fellow who pitched it up into the 
barn loft said that there were fully nine 
tons of it. I think there was some less, 
though I “lifted” it twice over to see 
whether he was right. It was the re¬ 
sult of what Prof. Roberts calls the hot 
plowshare plan of farming. The field 
from which it was taken was seeded two 
years ago, but we did not get a good 
catch, so it was left to grow a cover crop 
until after July 4, when it was plowed, 
chaining the cover crop under. It turn¬ 
ed dry after plowing, so it was occasion¬ 
ally Cutawayed, rolled twice, and after 
a fine rain about August 10, it was fit¬ 
ted and sown to grass seed, covering it 
with a Breed’s weeder and again rolling. 
As soon as the weeds started, they were 
promptly clipped with the mowing ma¬ 
chine, and later on, grass and weeds 
were clipped again. This season, the 
crop was a sight, not a weed or foul 
growth, and the grass when we cut it 
was about shoulder high, and so thick 
that the swath on a large part of it 
had to be forked away from the grass 
so as to see where to drive to join the 
swaths. Was this Summer seeding with¬ 
out a nurse crop a just-happened-so, or 
is it a commendable plan? We shall try 
it again at a venture. joiin gould. 
Ohio. 
Georgia Peach Orchards. —In re¬ 
gard to Crimson clover, I must say 
frankly that I have had but little ex¬ 
perience, and that little leads me to say 
that, on ordinary and thin soils in this 
State, it does not give satisfactory re¬ 
sults, at least in the clay soils of mid¬ 
dle Georgia; neitner do 1 think it 
would be a good crop to plant in the 
Fall in a young apple or peach orchard, 
for the reason that it makes its prin¬ 
cipal draft on the soil in the Spring, at 
the time the young trees are making 
their chief demands. I hav-; always 
considered a small grain crop as very 
destructive to a young orchard. It is 
true that a crop cl Crimson clover will 
mature a little earlier than a crop of 
small grain, but it can be only a little 
less damaging than small grain. Cow 
peas would be better for the purpose of 
renovating the soil of an orchard, for 
the simple and sufficient reason that the 
cow pea makes its draft upon the soil, 
provided the seed be sown at the proper 
time, say the last of June or in July, 
after the peach crop has been pretty well 
matured. In this State, peaches mature 
and ripen in July and August, and peas 
sown the last of June or early in July 
will not make mucn demand on tne soil 
until after the crop of peaches is about 
matured. My advice would be to give 
the peach orchard or apple orchard clean 
culture from the time of blooming until 
about July 1, or perhaps a little later, 
and then sow the cow peas in 3-foot 
drills, to be lightly cultivated once or 
twice, and the vines converted into h y. 
r. j. redding. 
Georgia Experiment Station. 
Northern Seed Wheat. — I am 
doubtful about it proving an advantage 
to bring wheat from a northern point 
into this locality, with the expectation 
of an increase in yield, or getting better 
growth. I believe in the Life Zones for 
the different classes of plants. The 
wheats of the Northwest seem to make 
their best development in that region, 
and as I recall in the instance of oats 
and wheat brought from the most favor¬ 
able conditions to our more southerly 
ones, the resulting crop was not as satis¬ 
factory as it should be. In this vicinity, 
a class of rustproof oats has been in¬ 
troduced from the South, and has got 
a strong foothold, being grown as 
Spring and Summer oats. This variety 
is driving out many of the white oats 
that did so well farther north. Nearly 
all of the wneat that is grown in the 
Northwest is a Spring wheat, while al¬ 
most none of this is grown in the lower 
central States. If our farmers would 
use more care in selecting their seed, 
and would plant the same variety year 
after year when carefully grown and se¬ 
lected, I feel certain that there would 
be no necessity for purchasing much 
new seed. The experience of this Ex¬ 
periment Station for 15 years back with 
Velvet Chaff and Michigan Amber 
wheats has been very satisfactory, and 
the wheats present no evidence to indi¬ 
cate that, after this length of time, they 
are running out. The policy of changing 
seed, in many cases, is a makeshift for 
poor farming. c. s. plumb. 
Director Indiana Station. 
THE POT-GROWN STRAWBERRY. 
M. Crawford Discusses It. 
New Varieties. —Pot-grown straw¬ 
berry plants are for amateurs rather 
than for professionals. It is doubtful 
whether one per cent of the berries 
sent to market are grown on potted 
plants. The plants are produced at 
considerable cost, and the expense of 
sending them by express is no small 
item, especially if they are carried far. 
It is often profitable to buy new varie¬ 
ties in pots, if first offered in the Sum¬ 
mer or early Fall, so as to have them 
fruit the following season, and be able 
to increase the stock rapidly if desir¬ 
able. Last Fall, I purchased three dozen 
plants of the Gladstone, and now I have 
a bed 160 feet long and nearly five feet 
in width. It is no great feat to grow 
1,000 plants in one season from a pot- 
grown plant set out the year before. Of 
course, a layer plant rightly managed 
would do as well, but it is hardly as 
safe in the hands of an unskilled per¬ 
son. 
Potted Grubs. —Aside from the cost 
of potted plants, there are other objec¬ 
tions: They are in good condition but 
a limited time. If kept in the pot too 
long, the plant becomes pot-bound and 
stunted. This is more damaging than 
is generally supposed. But the great¬ 
est objection to* their use is that the 
larvae of the Strawberry root-worm and 
other insect pests may be carried to the 
new bed. I have seen this, and Dr. 
Riley told me of it before I saw it. 
This, of course would not apply to 
plants that are first rooted and then 
potted and put in a frame. 
I have received pot-grown plants that 
had been potted in very sandy soil, in 
small pots, and they became so dry in 
transit that, when unpacked, the soil 
fell away and left very small layers. I 
have also received plants in clay that 
was so hard and dry that I had to soak 
them to remove the soil so that they 
could be repotted. 
For the land’s sake — use Bowker’s 
Fertilizer.— Adv. 
Demand For It. —There is almost no 
chance for the ordinary commercial 
grower to send off for potted plants and 
get a paying crop from them next 
Spring. But from the standpoint of the 
amateur who wants something nice re¬ 
gardless of cost, the pot-grown plant is 
a luxury of which one would dislike to 
be deprived. Now that we hear of 3-ounce, 
and even 4-ounce berries being grown 
in various parts of the country, a new 
interest will be felt in large berries, and 
many of them will be grown on pot- 
grown plants. Here is the way I made 
a few: Three-inch pots were filled with 
potting soil, rammed solid. These were 
sunk in the ground, and runners ready 
to root were placed in them, and held 
there with small stones. The weather 
being hot and dry, they were watered 
daily. After they were rooted, there 
was a promise of rain, and they were 
planted in this way: The bed was dry, 
soft and sandy. A handful of high grade 
fertilizer was placed where each plant 
was to be set. I then took a tamper 
and rammed the fertilizer and r oil very 
firm. This left a hole into which a 
quart of water was poured. A few hours 
later, the plants were set out, and the 
ground heavily mulched with chaff. Al¬ 
though dry and hot for days the plants 
never wilted. m. crawford. 
Summit Co., O. 
Potash. 
I^ARMERS should know its 
value and its importance 
in a fertilizer to be applied to 
their grain crops. 
Our illustrated books which 
tell what Potash is, how it 
should be used, and how much 
Potash a well-balanced fertil¬ 
izer should contain, are sent 
free to all applicants. Send 
your address. 
german kali works, 
93 Nassau St., New York. 
Profits of Farming 
GARDENING AND FRUIT CULTURE. 
depend upon Good Grope and they In 
turn upon Good Fertilizers. The 
uniformly best fertilizer for all Crops 
and all soils Is made by 
The Cleveland Dryer Co., Cleveland, O. 
Materials Supplied, for “ Home Mixing .” 
Jadoo Fibre and Jadoo Liquid 
Will give you Early Crops and Large Crops 
of Vegetables or Fruit. Send for Catalogues 
and be convinced of the merits of these 
new Fertilizers. 
THE AMERICAN JADOO CO., 
815 Fairmount Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa. 
POISON 
Is not used In my Killer of Cab¬ 
bage Worms. By mall, 25 and 50c. 
EDW. SWARTS, Blockton, la. 
“A MOLE 
on the Neck > 
Money 
by the Peck 
but there is no money In hav¬ 
ing a mole in your garden or | 
on your lawn. Don’t have I 
them. Catch them with the | 
“OUT^O-SIGHT” 
Mole Trap* 
Every trap has our guarantee to catch, j 
Sample trap 85c. by mall 
or, hare your dealer order for you. 
ANIMAL TRAP CO. 
10 rieek St., Abingdon, III. 
WE SAVE FARMERS 40 PER CENT. FE ° R VSs 
VVe sell you direct—Actually pay you salesman’s expenses and agent’s profit. Write for 
free sample and book. THE SCIENTIFIC FERTILIZER CO., PITTSBURG, PA. 
