1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
721 
suitable for Oklahoma. Bartlett Is one 
of the very best, if not the best of all, 
for this purpose, and a good pear every 
way, except that it is more subject to 
blight than some others. Sheldon is a 
good one, and so is Bose. Kieffer, al¬ 
though poor in quality, is very profit¬ 
able. It bears early and constantly, and 
looks remarkably well. Lawrence is 
about the latest very good pear. Angou- 
leme is the best for profit, if dwarf trees 
are to be planted. 
3. The same apples that are standard 
market kinds in Kansas and Missouri 
are the ones to plant in Oklahoma. The 
Ben Davis stands at the head of the list 
for profit. Jonathan is good, but ripens 
a little early, and must not be expected 
to keep later than December. York Im¬ 
perial is a good keeper, and a most at¬ 
tractive and well-flavored apple. Stark 
is good, and will keep later than any of 
those mentioned. Winesap is very good, 
but Stayman is even better, being much 
like it in every way in fruit, and is bet¬ 
ter in tree. 
Insects in Stored Grain. 
Every year, about this time, we re¬ 
ceive letters from farmers who are 
troubled with insects in their stored 
grain. The insects that work in the 
grain bin often do a great deal of dam¬ 
age before they are discovered. All 
grain bins should, of course, be thor¬ 
oughly cleaned before the new grain is 
put in. If the weevils appear, there are 
two ways of killing them. Raising the 
temperature to 140 degrees will destroy 
them, but that is hardly practicable in 
most granaries. The most effective 
remedy is found in bisulphide of carbon. 
This is a powerful poison; it is quite 
inflammable, and must not be used near 
an open fire. When put at the top of 
the bin, it volatilizes, and the gas being 
heavier than air, sinks through the 
whole mass of grain without injuring 
it. The usual application is about 1 y 2 
pound of bisulphide to a ton of grain 
in a tight bin. More should be used 
when the bins are open. The bisulphide 
may be put in shallow pans or saucers, 
and thus scattered over the surface of 
the bin; then close the top and throw 
a blanket over to exclude the air, leav¬ 
ing it alone for 24 hours. 
Market for Willow Timber. 
IV. A. M., Hickory Valley, Tenn.—L own a 
large lot of beautiful willow timber here; 
the trees are from four to 12 inches 
through, very straight and long. This 
timber is on land I wish to clean up for 
farming. I wish also to utilize the timber 
to the best advantage. In order to do this 
I thought probably it would be necessary 
for me to start a manufacturing plant of 
some kind, as I have plenty of portable 
power any way. I had thought I might 
make baseball bats, but I am informed 
that willow has almost gone out for mak¬ 
ing bats, so must find something else. 
Ans. —There is a good demand yet for 
baseball bats, Indian clubs and dumb¬ 
bells made of good willow timber. The 
dealers in these articles in New York 
generally buy their goods of a large 
manufacturer in Massachusetts, and 
would not be likely to deal direct with 
the farmer for the manufactured goods. 
It would hardly pay any one but an ex¬ 
pert to try to manufacture these things 
for the market. It would be wiser to sell 
the timber to the manufacturers, who 
are generally ready to buy a first-class 
sample of willow. 
Nitrate of Soda. 
N. D. J., Arcadia, Tex .—Will you ask the 
Hope Farm man to inform me how to ap¬ 
ply nitrate of soda to a potato crop? 
Ans. —To those who have never used 
nitrate of soda, we will say that it looks 
very much like coarse salt, and is usual¬ 
ly moist, becoming caked or sticky if 
permitted to remain in a damp place. 
We used it on potatoes during a very 
severe drought, when th plants were 
beginning to turn yellow and to stop 
growing. It was scattered by hand 
along the rows, about six inches away 
from the plants. It is a mistake to put 
it too close to the plant, or to broad¬ 
cast it over the foliage, as it will burn 
•the leaves under certain circumstances. 
The best time to apply it is just before 
a good shower. It may, however, be cul¬ 
tivated in, or damp soil may be plowed 
over it. We scattered some directly on 
top of the ground, and found that it 
slowly disappeared. The light dews dis¬ 
solved it, so that in about 10 days it 
could not be seen. This nitrate is a 
very soluble and powerful form of ni¬ 
trogen. It promotes a quick growth, and 
gives life and vigor to the plants. Too 
much of it is an objection, as this makes 
a rank, heavy growth, driving the crop 
more to vine than tuber. 
The Asparagus Rust. 
11. C. M., Connecticut .—How early in the 
Fall is it safe to mow an asparagus bed 
that is infested with the rust? Is this 
treatment (mowing and burning the tops) 
a preventive of the disease? 
Ans. —The scientists at our experiment 
stations say that they have not been 
able to come to any satisfactory conclu¬ 
sion concerning treatment. Bordeaux 
Mixture frequently sprayed over the 
plants, beginning as soon as cutting is 
over, seems to promise most relief, but 
is by no means an ideal treatment. Cut¬ 
ting the plants in September, and burn¬ 
ing them as soon as dry will, of course, 
destroy myriads of tne spores. 
Fertilizer for Early Potatoes. 
G. C. S., Jersey Shore, Pa .—I have a 10- 
acre field that was in early potatoes this 
year, and now has a fine crop of Crimson 
clover that I wish to plow under in early 
Spring, and plant to early potatoes. It is 
good bottom land. What kind of fertilizer 
would you recommend to force a very 
early crop of potatoes? Owing to the 
heavy crop of clover, will it be necessary 
to use ammonia? How would S. C. rock 
and potash do, and how much per acre? 
Ans. —We have not found it advisable 
generally to follow potatoes with pota¬ 
toes. This year the crop following pota¬ 
toes was badly covered with scab, al¬ 
though we are convinced that an appli¬ 
cation of sulphur at the time of planting 
would have helped it. The Crimson 
clover plowed under in the Spring will 
not be of great benefit to the potato 
crop until warm weather sets in. The 
ammonia must be broken up and formed 
into nitrate before the nitrogen can be 
fully available. That is why the best 
fertilizers for early potatoes contain a 
quantity of nitrate of soda, which is at 
once available, and will push the crop 
during the cooler weather. We would 
certainly add nitrate of soda to the 
potash and dissolved rock. A mixture 
of 400 pounds each of nitrate of soda and 
muriate of potash, and 1,200 pounds of 
dissolved rock, will give your potatoes 
plenty of food in connection with the 
clover. We would use all above 600 
pounds per acre that we could afford, 
applied in the drill. 
SHORT STORIES. 
“Red Hot” Fairs. —That seems to be 
a good title for the Allentown, Pa., fair, 
if we may believe newspaper reports: 
Among the attractions on the midway 
are the “Man Venus,” Veno, the living 
corpse; Boseo, half man and half snake; 
a Lehigh County three-legged heifer, 
which the owner has appropriately named 
“Dreyfus,” which is German for three foot; 
the portrayal of the burning of a Texas 
fiend at the stake and numerous other 
shows of high and low order. It is esti¬ 
mated that during the day 100 barrels of 
beer were disposed of at the hotel on the 
grounds. This means about 50,000 glasses. 
Some of the attractions at other fairs 
have been equally warm. In one case 
a man permitted himself to be buried 
alive. He had a tin tube through which 
he “spoke from the grave!” 
Turkestan Alfalfa. — The papers 
have had much to say lately about 
Turkestan Alfalfa, a new variety of this 
plant, which was imported from central 
Asia in 1897. It was thought that this 
variety of Alfalfa would prove better, 
especially in the Far West, than the 
homegrown seed. The Department of 
Agriculture writes us that it has proved 
more resistant to cold than the variety 
previously seeded, which came from 
Chili by way of California. It seems 
also to stand the drought rather better. 
The yield, however, is reported slightly 
less than that of the old variety. All the 
seed brought into the country has been 
distributed by the Government, except a 
small quantity which may be held for 
planting. This imported seed was full 
of weed seed; so much so, that the De¬ 
partment has been unable to clean it 
thoroughly. At the New Jersey Experi¬ 
ment Station, we saw a plot of this 
Turkestan Alfalfa growing by the side 
of the homegrown seed. It was in every 
way inferior to the American Alfalfa. 
The growth was shorter, the plants were 
not so healthy, and the stand was in¬ 
ferior. Homegrown seed seems to be 
plenty good enough for American grow¬ 
ers, except possibly those in the drought 
sections of the Middle West. 
Town Fairs. —The Mirror and Farmer 
makes an excellent plea for the small 
country fair, which was formerly held 
in the farming towns: 
A plea for the old-time town fair Is more 
timely than ever, on account of the ten¬ 
dency of all enterprises towards the center 
of population and trade. We notice this 
tendency In religious, educational and so¬ 
cial matters, and any worthy cause that 
calls people together even for a day in our 
country towns is a matter for encourage¬ 
ment. This, however, is not their sole 
claim for recognition. They are in one 
sense Old Home day occasions, when old 
residents return to the scene of their 
former experiences. Neighborhood ties 
are strengthened and town pride awakened. 
The boys are made to see new attractions 
in the old farm home, and the girls have 
their isolated life broken up by the socia¬ 
bility afforded. We believe the town fair 
is nearer the original idea of an agricul¬ 
tural fair than any other held to-day, and 
it should be encouraged and promoted. 
That is sound sense—every bit of it. 
Those little fairs were good and whole¬ 
some. The street fairs in the towns 
promised well, but they have been 
largely given up to fake shows and ad¬ 
vertising schemes. 
Natural Gas and Water. —Suits 
have been begun at Marion, Ind., to 
prevent a pipe-line company from car¬ 
rying natural gas out of that region for 
the benefit of Chicago consumers. The 
plaintiffs say that it is desired to retain 
for the benefit of citizens of Indiana the 
natural gas found in their State, and 
they wish to restrain the defendants 
from carrying it outside the State limits. 
A law passed in 1889 prohibited the pip¬ 
ing of gas from the State, but this was 
pronounced unconstitutional. The pres¬ 
ent suits are designed to secure a ju¬ 
dicial settlement of the question. Simi¬ 
lar questions with regard to water are 
arising in England, in cases where the 
sources of local supply have been tapped 
by outside consumers, and the County 
Councils Association is now trying to 
ascertain how it may be possible to pro¬ 
tect taxpayers in their rights to the nat¬ 
ural water supply. This is a question 
which is very likely to arise in this 
country.. Year after year the great 
cities are forced to extend the territory 
from which they obtain their water 
supply, and rural communities may find 
themselves suffering from a costly water 
famine if the natural supply is thus en¬ 
tirely diverted. Frequent dry seasons 
and diminishing forests already give 
reason for a careful use and conserva¬ 
tion of the natural water supply. 
“Pride Goeth 
'Before a Fall.” 
Some proud people think they are strong, 
ridicule the idea of disease, neglect health, 
let the blood run demon, and stomach, kid¬ 
neys and liver become deranged. Take 
Hood's Sarsaparilla and you voill prevent 
the fall and save your pride. 
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