1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
673 
living 1 and feeding habits of any plant or animal. The 
successful farmer understands his farm and his stock, 
and such understanding comes only through long and 
patient study and experiment. 1 have no doubt peo¬ 
ple have before now decried Marshall strawberries, 
Jersey cattle or Leghorn poultry because they did not 
give their plants or animals the special care they de¬ 
manded. 
Danish Hard Cabbage.— Mr. Tice also grows a 
good acreage to cabbage. Here again he differs from 
most growers. He grows the hard Danish cabbage. 
This variety makes a comparatively small head, but 
round and almost as hard as a cannon ball. The plants 
may be set close together—12,000 on an acre. This 
cabbage will pack well in the car. In flavor, it is not 
quite equal to the ordinary sorts. Mr. Tice ships 
most of his crop West, where these hard heads are 
popular. In cities like Detroit, cabbage is sold by the 
pound, and these solid heads weigh surprisingly in 
proportion to their size. These Danish cabbages can¬ 
not be recommended for general culture. Neither 
can Marshall strawberries, yet, as Mr. Tice grows 
them, they succeed. It is a double illustration of the 
necessity for a man to know what he is doing and 
what tools he is working with. The very nature and 
history of our improved plants and animals will show 
us that some of them are best adapted to certain soils 
and local conditions. A good many of the misfits of 
agriculture may be due to the mistake of putting our 
labor and money into things that are not in harmony 
with their surroundings. Great results always come 
from the patient labor of some man who develops 
the possibilities in some little thing. Most of us live 
and die surrounded by unused possibilities, ir. w. c. 
WILD BLOOD IN THE TURKEYS. 
A Self-Introduced Gobbler.— One day in the early 
part of the Spring of 189G, a very fine, large wild tur¬ 
key gobbler made his appearance on our premises. 
For several days, he did not venture near, until we 
penned up our own gobblers, and immediately he be¬ 
came quite friendly with the turkey hens, and even 
came into the barnyard. The result was a cross¬ 
breed. The young turkeys soon gave evidence of the 
wild blood in their veins, as they were quite wild, and 
had longer legs and wings. As they grew older, these 
features became more marked. We did not think our 
flock improved by the wild blood. In fact, the birds 
looked larger and had longer feathers, but we found 
no gain in weight. In spite of using all the scheming 
and persuasive powers we possessed, when we tried 
to catch them, they flew in every direction. They 
roosted on the highest trees to be found, and it was no 
feat for them to fly across a large field without stopping. 
Center County, Pa. c. D. w. 
Two Years’ Experience. —No doubt the male wild 
turkey will improve the size and stamina of our tame 
breeds ; but as with the majority of other things, 
there is an unfavorable result in one respect. The 
young turkeys are wild, and the male bird entices the 
hen away into some undesirable place to make her 
nest. The wild turkey is essentially, like our national 
bird, a bird of freedom, and is not easily controlled 
into domestication. The result of two years’ use of 
the wild male has, so far, been a failure, for the young 
birds are not domesticated, but as wild as the parent 
has been. The result of two years’ experience has 
been that, of three broods of a total of 37 poults, but 
three are left. The old bird went off, and the male 
has not been recovered. The young ones strayed, the 
hens went with them ; but three of them are left, and 
these roost in the trees sometimes a mile away, and 
have given more trouble than the whole of the three 
broods would have been worth had they been saved. 
Of course, here, where nine-tenths of-the land is cov¬ 
ered with forest, and wild turkeys abound, this might 
have been expected ; but it goes to show the nature of 
the animal. A tame Bronze turkey has heretofore 
bred very quiet birds with which there has been no 
trouble. This experience has been repeated on a 
second farm which I have four miles distant, where 
four young birds only are left out of two broods, the 
rest having gone off with the tom, and the hens went 
off with them. n. stewart. 
Macon County, N. C. 
A farmer at Linden, N. J., bought an old fire horse 
in Elizabeth which had seen years of service in the 
fire department. This horse was used on a milk wagon. 
At 5 o’clock one morning, the horse heard the fire 
whistle in Elizabeth, a few miles away, broke his 
halter, kicked down a partition in the barn, and gal¬ 
loped down the road to a truck house where he had 
long been stationed. The horse made his way to the 
tire, and after it was put out, galloped two miles 
farther to the police station. He was taken back to 
his owner’s barn, but we pity the milk wagon if he 
hear another fire alarm while in service. 
Farmers’ Club. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and address of 
the writer to insure attention. Before asking a question please 
see whether it is not answered In our advertising columns. Ask 
only a few questions at one time. Put questions on a separate 
piece of paper.l 
A BATCh OF FRUIT QUESTIONS. 
ANSWERS BY H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
Waxed Cloth for Budding. 
How is the waxed cloth for budding made, such as H. E. Van 
Deman spoke of in a recent article on budding ? l. h. d. 
Corona, Cal. 
The way I make waxed cloth for budding or graft¬ 
ing is to heat ordinary grafting wax in a kettle until 
it is as liquid as water. Prepare tender muslin or 
calico cloth in strips about six inches wide and of any 
convenient length, say one to two feet. Cut small 
sticks the size of a lead pencil into lengths two inches 
longer than the cotton is wide. Roll the cloth on 
them, one piece after another until about two inches 
in diameter. Drop these into the hot wax, and let 
them thoroughly soak. Dip them out with a big 
fork, and as soon as the projecting ends of the sticks 
are cool enough to hold in the fingers, let one person 
take a roll by these ends, and another start the cloth 
to unrolling. Hold it over a bush, and let the waxed 
cloth lie on the branches to cool. Keep on until all 
are so spread out. When cool, they may be laid to¬ 
gether in a cool place and used as needed. Tear them 
into such strips as may be needed to cover the wounds 
on the grafted or budded trees. 
What Stock for Cherries ? 
Ell wanger *& Barry say in their catalogue in regard to cherries: 
“ We now employ the Mahaleb stock extensively, as we find the 
trees on it more hardy in many cases, and it is adapted to a 
greater variety of soils.” Per contra, Wiley & Co., Cayuga, N. Y., 
say: “ Our cherries are budded on Mazzard (native cherry seed¬ 
ling) stocks. While it takes a little longer to make a tree, 
examples are not wanting where trees budded on Mazzard stocks 
are still vigorous and fruitful at 40 years of age, while cherries 
grown on miserable, worthless French (Mahaleb) stocks, the 
roots of which are soft and porous, eight to ten years is the life 
of the tree.” Which stock does The R. N.-Y. prefer for planting 
upon a rather dry, sandy soil ? h. h. b. 
Jewett City, Conn. 
Judging by my own experience and frequent obser¬ 
vation of cherry trees in different parts of the coun¬ 
try, and of all ages, I would be guided in my choice 
of stocks by two things—the class of cherry I expected 
to plant, and where to be planted. I think either 
would do well in a dry, sandy soil if other conditions 
were right. If any of the sour kinds, such as Rich¬ 
mond, or Montmorency, Mahaleb would be my prefer¬ 
ence. In Kansas, I had some very fine Richmond trees 
on this stock, and there are some good, thrifty ones in 
the orchard here in Virginia that are 12 years planted; 
also some Montmorency and English Morello trees on 
the same stock. If I wished to plant either the Heart 
or Bigarreau class, the Mazzard would be my choice. 
This stock will not do well in wet soils, neither will 
it flourish where there are violent changes of tem¬ 
perature, as in the Upper Mississippi Valley. The 
sweet cherries and all the rampant-growing kinds 
unite better with this stock than with any other, be¬ 
cause their manner of growth is similar. 
The Taproot of a Tree. 
What is the office of the taproot of a tree, with special reference 
to fruit trees ? Is there any book published containing informa¬ 
tion as above ? l..h. d. 
Corona, Cal. 
Any one who has closely observed the growth of 
the roots of fruit trees, and other kinds, also, from 
the seed up to full maturity, is aware that there is a 
material change in all of them. The first thing that 
starts is what the botanist calls a radicle. It is a little 
taproot, and it starts downward. Branches soon begin 
to grow out on the sides. With some species, they 
grow much larger and more abundantly than in others. 
In the nut trees, the taproot is predominant to the 
end, as any one knows by tiresome experience who 
has tried to dig up an oak or walnut stump. The tap¬ 
root of the one-year seedling apple is very much larger 
than all the other roots combined. It is about all of 
the root the seedling has, and this is what the nur¬ 
serymen cut into pieces for grafting. The second year, 
it is less prominent, the branches having developed 
more in proportion than the first year ; and so on from 
year to year, the lateral roots soon developing much 
faster than the taproot, until it is almost unobserv¬ 
able. 
It is so with the peach, cherry, and all other kinds, 
but in various degrees of prominence, the pear main¬ 
taining the individuality of the taproot more than any 
other of the ordinary fruits. The forest trees are 
much the same. Take the pines, for instance; the 
little seedlings start out with pronounced taproots, 
but old pine stumps are usually such a mass of laterals 
that they are turned up in some sections and locked 
together, making excellent fences. The need of the 
taproot decreases as the tree gets older. The office of 
the taproot is to secure a good foothold upon the soil, 
especially at first. With fruit trees, the same prin¬ 
ciple holds true, although there are numerous varia¬ 
tions or degrees of depth of the taproot. If the pro¬ 
portions did not change, we would have roots 50 or 
more feet deep under old apple trees. If the orchard 
tree has a good start, it does not need much taproot, 
and will not have it if left to its own way. Roots in 
general have two offices, to gather food and water, 
and to hold the tree upright. Nearly all books on 
fruit culture say more or less about roots, but none 
that I know treat of the taproot in detail. 
Is the Kieffer Pear Fertile ? 
I have a row of six Kieffer pear trees, three years planted. The 
nearest other pear trees are 50 rods away, with a piece of timber 
between them and the Kieffer. Should I plant some other kind 
near the latter? u. B. L. 
Laceyville, O. 
There are conflicting opinions about the Kieffer 
pear being self-fertile. Some growers claim that it is 
perfectly able to pollinize its own flowers, while others 
say not. I have never had opportunity to observe 
a Kieffer orchard so isolated that there was no possi¬ 
bility of the wind or the insects carrying foreign pear 
pollen to it. I am not sure that apple pollen may not 
be partially potent upon this and other pears. In 
one very large Kieffer pear orchard I examined in the 
Winter, there seemed to be very clear evidence in 
favor of the belief that other pollen is necessary to 
produce abundant fertility. The trees were well 
cared for and in their sixth year. ,A very few Le 
Conte trees had been planted here and there among 
the Kieffer trees, and before getting to one of these, 
I could tell of its nearness by the bent branches from 
the load of fruit that had been on them. The owner 
told me that he had noticed this near every Le Conte 
tree. He had top-grafted a tree now and then with 
this variety, and expected to do more of it the next 
Spring. Le Conte blooms at just the right time for 
Kieffer, and so does Garber. It may be that some 
seasons or under some circumstances Kieffer pears, 
and other fruits, too, are fertile, and sometimes not, 
when conditions are not favorable. This seems quite 
well established with the cherry and plum. I would 
advise mixed planting for safety. 
Cleaning Out the Gapes. 
J. P. B., Flemington, N. ./.—My brooderhouse lias become in¬ 
fested with gapes. The chicks had a slight attack two years ago, 
and this ye.ar I have lost one-fourth with gapes. How shall I 
clean up the house and yards to get rid of the disease ? 
Ans.—G ive the house a thorough cleaning, remove 
the earth from the yards, and house if it has an earth 
floor, to the depth of one foot, and fill it with clean 
sand hauled from any place where no chickens have 
been kept, so there is no possible chance for it to be 
infected. Thoroughly whitewash the house, keep it 
clean, and I am quite sure that there will be no more 
trouble from gapes. J. e. s. 
A Lining for Walls. 
V. C. It., Salt Lick, Ky .—Why wouldn’t it be a good plan to fill 
in between the walls of a frame dwelling with sawdust? It 
seems that, if it will keep the heat out of an icehouse, it will keep 
it in in a dwelling. 
Ans.—T he result of some experiments made espe¬ 
cially to discover the comparative values of non-con¬ 
ducting materials for filling in between walls of 
dwellings or other buildings, showed that the least 
effective filling material was considerably better than 
a mere air-space, and that dry sawdust was the most 
effective, small broken charcoal being the second best. 
The sawdust will thus make a desirable filling for the 
walls of a frame dwelling, but it must be perfectly 
dry, and the refuse of some inodorous wood, spruce or 
any of the hard woods, but not pine on account of the 
odor of it. This kind of filling will not only act as a 
non-conductor of heat, but it is a complete seal of the 
walls against the passage of air, which when in 
motion as wind, will readily pass through a brick 
wall 16 inches thick, and the plastering as well if this 
is laid directly on the bricks. Thus a brick dwelling 
is not so warm as a wooden one, unless the walls are 
studded inside, then lathed and plastered, leaving an 
air space by which the continuity of the conducting 
material is broken. You are right in your deduction. 
Heat and cold are both merely terms for expressing 
variations of temperature. There are always the 
same conditions prevailing, but varying in degree 
only. A non-conductor, as we term the various ma¬ 
terials for, as we say, keeping out the heat, is simply 
something that preserves any desired temperature 
steadily without change. Thus a woolen blanket will 
keep ice from melting in the Summer, and it will keep 
hot water from cooling in the Winter. Being a non¬ 
conductor, it preserves the temperature from change 
by radiation, either to or from the material protected 
by it. When any loose filling like sawdust is used in 
a dwelling, the bottom of the space between the walls 
should be well protected against mice or rats, other¬ 
wise, once gaining access, there will be serious diffi¬ 
culty in dislodging them. The floors should be laid 
between the studding of the walls, so as to close the 
spaces between the lower and upper floors. The spaces 
between the studs should be filled with pieces of 
scantling to which the baseboards are nailed so that 
there may be no way for vermin to get into the walls 
by gnawing the baseboards. H. s. 
