766 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
November 18 
peach, or Russia of the apple, or Germany of the 
plum ! But these are merely technical slips. The 
larger truth is that there is no proof, or even evidence, 
that seeds taken from the natural habitats of these 
fruits give any better stock than seeds secured with 
equal care elsewhere and within the range in which 
the species thrive. 12. Humbug. How do they tell 
which stock is to produce the red fruit and which the 
sour fruit? 13. It is a common sophistry to compare 
the breeding of animals with the breeding of plants. 
Practically the only point in common is the accident 
that we use one word—breeding—for our operations 
in the two kingdoms, the animals and the plants. 
But similarities in words mean nothing, else we could 
compare the head of a stream with the head of a 
fanrly. But wholly aside from this, grafting and 
budding are not breeding in any proper sense of the 
term. 14. Yes; seeds may be expected not to have 
diseases which do not occur where the seeds are pro¬ 
duced, but this fact does not prevent the seedlings 
from acquiring diseases which occur in the country in 
which the seedlings are to be grown. 15. Not neces¬ 
sarily so. 16. Nonsense. Peaches ought to bear at four 
to six years from seed, and apple trees now and then 
bear at eight years from seed, [prof.] l. n. bailey. 
CLEAN THE LAND BEFORE PLANTING FRUIT. 
why ? how to no it. 
A subscriber in Massachusetts has a field which he hoped to 
plaDt to fruits (mostly small) next Spring. The wet season 
delayed his work so that the Witch grass got ahead of him, and 
covered the ground. Shall he go ahead and plant the fruit in the 
Spring, or spend next year in killing out the grass? 
Would Risk it Next Spring. 
We never have turned aside for Witch grass, whether 
we wished the ground for fruit or other hoed crops. 
His chances are as good next season as the past if he 
is as thorough. There are two ways to get rid of the 
grass. Get out every root and branch, and dry and 
burn them, or whenever it shows its head, hit it. We 
are acquainted with the critter, but in much more 
limited quantities than when we took possession of 
some of our farms. o. s. butter. 
Connecticut. 
Foul Land Unfair for Fruits . 
If any weeds are too large to cover with the plow, 
mow immediately ; if there is much rubbish, rake 
clean with a horse rake, and plow as near freezing 
time as possible. In the Spring, as soon as the land 
can be worked, harrow thoroughly and keep doing so. 
The middle of May, cross-plow, and keep the land 
mellow with the harrow until about June 10. Plant 
to Winter cabbage or squash, and give clean culture. 
I never found it to pay to set small fruits unless the 
land was in very fine condition. Trees could be 
planted on almost any land, unless the extra cost of 
getting the land in good shape was an objection ; but 
my own preference is to have land in fine condition 
before setting to fruits of any kind. h. o. mead. 
Worcester County, Mass. 
Kill the Witch Grass First. 
I would certainly not advise setting small fruits 
until the land is clean. I set one lot of blackberries 
in land foul with Witch grass, and I never was able 
to clean it afterwards. If there is nothing in the 
way to prevent freely cultivating, I do not find it a 
difficult task to clean my land of Witch grass. The 
surest plan would be not to crop the land next year, 
but cultivate it often enough so that nothing can 
grow. Begin operations by plowing about the middle 
of June, and run the cultivator as often as once a 
week after that, as long as anything green shows. 
The subscriber can accomplish just as good results 
with some crop on the land, if he will be sure to keep 
all green blades of grass from the land. 
To kill such plants as live over Winter, it is best to 
begin the attack when their root vitality is feeblest. 
That time is when they have expended the store of 
nutriment laid up the previous season in making their 
first Spring growth ; with most plants this is about 
blooming time. It is with the hope of taking advan¬ 
tage of this weakening of the roots by early growth, 
that I advise not to plow until about the middle of 
June. Plowed then, the roots will not sprout with as 
much persistency as though plowed early in Spring. 
I once destroyed a patch of blackberries by grubbing 
them off when in full bloom, and cutting the sprouts 
which came up afterward, with a hoe as soon as they 
showed up. There was not much sprouting, however. 
I, this season, plowed an old blackberry lot which 
was very foul with Witch grass, and planted it to 
potatoes. I did the plowing too early to secure good 
results most easily, in killing either the Witch grass 
or blackberry sprouts ; but l have made a pretty good 
job by several careful hand-hoeings—something I 
seldom give my potatoes—and digging the potatoes 
late in August, and cultivating the land after digging. 
Any plan which will prevent the Witch grass from 
making a show of green through the Summer, will 
kill it out. M. MORSE. 
Massachusetts. 
Mr. J. H. Hale’s Experience. 
If I had a field badly overrun with Witch grass, I 
would plow it at once, give it a thorough harrowing 
three or four times during the month of November, 
cross-plow it again by December 1, give some more 
harrowing, and if the ground did not freeze for Win¬ 
ter, within two or three weeks, I would plow it 
again. This treatment would expose a great number 
of the soft, succulent roots to freezing in the open 
air, and kill out a large portion of them. Then if I 
had no other land suitable • for small fruits, I would 
go ahead next Spring and plant it, with a distinct 
understanding with myself that the field should be 
thoroughly cultivated at least twice every week from 
the time the plants were put out until the first of 
August. Under ordinary conditions, the Quack grass 
would be finished by that time. 
I had a tussle with this miserable stuff in my early 
boyhood, and got a lesson that I shall never forget. 
A two-acre field badly infested with this grass was 
planted to sweet corn intended for pig and cow fodder. 
The grass almost overrun us early in the season, and 
in an attempt to kill it out, I rode an old bony horse 
bareback up and down and across the rows in that 
field, while my brother held the cultivator, 10 times 
as much as was required for ordinary cultivation. It 
proved to be an exceedingly dry season ; we killed 
the Quack grass, secured the only perfect crop of 
marketable corn in all this county, and instead of 
( 
ROOTS OF A SINGLE AERIAL STEM. Fig. 347. She Page 770. 
feeding it to the pigs, it was sold in market at fancy 
prices, and gave me my fi-st start in market garden¬ 
ing. But better than all that, the stimulus to culture 
forced on me by the Quack grass taught me the lesson 
that thorough cultivation in a dry time is pretty near 
an assurance of a perfect crop. j. h. hale. 
Connecticut. 
TELEPHONE CONNECTION FOR FARMERS. 
The introduction of telephone systems into isolated 
farming communities has proved to be a great con¬ 
venience wherever it has been tried. I have had occa¬ 
sion to notice the effect in a large number of com¬ 
munities in northern New England, within the past 
two years. Next to good roads, I consider the estab¬ 
lishing of telephonic communication between county 
and village the most important advance step that a 
rural community can take. The value of a man's farm 
is not dependent so much on the distance from town 
or railroad, as it is on the time required to reach 
them. The value of good roads, both for business and 
pleasure, has been so clearly demonstrated, and so 
much has been written on the subject within recent 
years, that permanent road building is not only in¬ 
dorsed, but the work is actually being done all over 
New Eagland. So, also, is the telephone. Both have 
the same object, quicker and better transportation. 
The highway carries the farmer and his produce. The 
telephone carries information. One ounce of foresight 
is worth a pound of hindsight, and the telephone can 
safely be said to furnish the foresight. 
With the aid of the telephone, the farmer can keep 
posted on the market, many times can bargain and 
sell his produce before it leaves his premises. He 
can save many useless trips to town by practically 
bringing the town to him (over the wire). It is truly 
wonderful, the way that news can travel over the 
telephone. Within an hour from the time the Asso¬ 
ciated Press was telegraphing dispatches to the daily 
papers in the large cities, announcing the great naval 
victories in our conflict with Spain, the telephones 
were whispering the same thrilling news into the ears 
of subscribers up in the back woods from Maine to 
California. In fact, it is said that the people in Cali¬ 
fornia heard the news two hours, by the clock, before 
it happened. 
The telephone business in all the larger cities and 
towns is controlled by large corporations that make 
direct personal communication possible between 
points 500 to 1,000 miles apart. Local companies can 
be organized to operate in country communities, at 
comparatively small cost to the subscribers, and afford 
a great deal of profit and amusement as well. I have 
had a telephone in my house the past year, and now 
think I could hardly keep house without it. A few 
weeks ago, the whole family were entertained for an 
hour listening to the soft, mellow strains of music 
that came to us over the wire from the band concert 
in the city, four miles distant. Having had two years' 
experience in constructing and operating telephone 
lines, I can say frankly and freely that the telephone 
has brought joy and gladness to many an isolated 
home, and is an investment that pays dividends every 
day in the year. c. w. scarff. 
Vermont* 
THE LAW AND THE HEN. 
WHEN IS SHE GUILTY OF TRESPASS ? 
We would like to know to what extent the laws regarding’ tres¬ 
passing of live stock apply to poultry. Is it necessary for a man 
to keep his poultry fenced in order to protect his neighbor’s prop, 
erty ? If his hens run over the line and scratch in the neighbor’s 
garden, has he the same redress he would have in case a larger 
animal did the mischief ? 
Any direct interference with the person, land, in¬ 
close, or property of another by a person, his stock, 
or his poultry, is a trespass. A single trespass by 
poultry upon a neighbor's garden or inclose would 
scarcely constitute a trespass ; yet everything in which 
the law recognizes property may be the subject of 
trespass, and the common and statutory law makes 
no exception of poultry. Therefore, whatever pro¬ 
visions of the law apply to the trespassing of live 
stock, will also apply to poultry. 
Wherever there is a wrong there is a remedy. The 
action generally called trespass (sometimes regulated 
by statute) may be brought for a great variety of in¬ 
juries, either to person or property. The measure of 
damages is usually the actual value of the property 
destroyed (double and triple damages are allowed in 
some States by statute); such damages are intended 
as a compensation to the damaged party for the injury 
done. 
A wrongdoer is responsible for the consequences 
which flow immediately from his wrongful or negli¬ 
gent acts, and the responsibility is not relieved by the 
fact that the consequences of the injurious act could 
have been prevented by the care or skill of the in¬ 
jured party. A party is not bound to fence his inclose 
in a manner to provide against foraging chickens be¬ 
longing to another. But such injured person cannot, 
because a wrong has been done to his property by 
trespassing fowls, commit some other wrong for the 
purpose of repairing the injury or preventing future 
injury, but must endeavor to obtain redress in a law¬ 
ful manner. r. d. f. 
R. N.-Y.—In other words, we cannot lawfully kill 
the tramp hen that scratches up our garden ! 
POSTSCRIPTS. 
Sitotroga cereallella is the name of an insect 
which is eating grain in New Jersey bins and mows. 
It is a small caterpillar. The remedy is to put the 
grain in an air-tight bin or barrel, and put at the top 
one ounce of bisulphide of carbon to each 100 pounds 
of grain. 
It is against the law in Michigan to sell canned 
peas or other vegetables in which copper is used to 
give a green color. Yet, out of 20 samples of canned 
peas which were analyzed, all contained copper. All 
these were imported French goods. Six samples of 
vinegar were all below the legal strength. Out of 
60 samples of various foods examined, 47 were adul¬ 
terated. 
Readers are still asking whether they can sow 
Crimson clover this Fall or in the Spring. No. In 
order to live through the Winter, the clover should 
now be, at least two inches high. The objection to 
Spring sowing is that this clover is a cold-weather 
plant. It does its best growing during September and 
October, and April and early May. Hot weather al¬ 
ways drives it to a head, even when only two or three 
inches high. Therefore it should never be sown so 
that hot weather will force it into seed before it has 
made its Fall growth. 
