88o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
December 31 
bling poultry. Our city grounds of five acres have 
been overrun this season with fowls, some of which 
came nearly a quarter of a mile, daily to pasture upon 
our lawn. A neighbor has a rooster which has come 
into our yard almost daily for years, to engage in a 
fight with our rooster. We have resorted to every 
known method to get this man to take care of his 
rooster, without avail. We finally shut the rooster 
up and fed and watered him for a few weeks. The 
owner at last came for him, and abused us roundly 
for confining his bird. The same rooster continued 
his visits, and will do so next year, and we are power¬ 
less unless we shoot the bird and deliver his body to 
his owner, which I think ought to be legal.” 
Our remedy for such a case as Mr. Green gives, 
would be to buy a Pit Game rooster, and provide him 
with the best spurs to be obtained. After about two 
rounds, the neighbor’s rooster would shun that gar¬ 
den as he never shunned anything before. Let that 
rooster once get a thorough whipping, and his scratch¬ 
ing would be confined to other localities. Regarding 
the item in question, it may safely be said that the 
Supreme Court has not made any such ruling. 
A Legal Statement.—“Game” includes all sorts 
of birds and beasts that are objects of the chase. A 
game bird or fowl is of a wild nature, obtained by 
fowling and hunting. There is no property in wild 
game until it has been subjected to the will or control 
of man. Wild animals or fowls belong to no one as 
long as they are in their wild state, and property in 
them is acquired by occupancy only. Wild geese 
tamed are also the property of the one who tamed 
them; and he can recover them when they stray away 
to the land of another. Partridges or pheasants 
hatched under a common hen are property as long as 
they remain with the hen. 
In animals which are of a tame and domestic nature, 
a man may have an absolute property, because they 
continue perpetually in his occupation, and will not 
stray from his premises unless by accident or entice¬ 
ment, in either of which cases the owner does not lose 
his property. The owner of domestic or reclaimed 
wild animals (including fowls) has the right to use 
any of the remedies the law provides for the re¬ 
covery of such personal property illegally taken, de¬ 
tained or impounded from him. Where an animal (or 
fowl) trespassing on the premises of a neighbor of the 
owner, injured bis crop or garden truck, was pursued 
and killed by the neighbor and his dogs, the owner of 
the animal was held entitled to damages for such kill¬ 
ing. And when trespassing animals are killed in a 
wanton, malicious, and deliberate way, exemplary 
damages may be recovered. The authorities are 
numerous and in harmony on these points. A law 
making it unlawful for stock to run at large is no de¬ 
fense for injuring stock running at large. 
The rule of law is that every man is bound to keep 
his animals (and this means poultry) within his in¬ 
close at his peril, and that he is liable in damages if 
he fails to do so and they escape on the property of 
others and do injury ; unless the trespass is committed 
upon property through defects in fences which the 
owner of such property is bound to maintain. It is 
not impossible for the owner of poultry to keep them 
within a properly-constructed inclose, but while the 
law makes it his duty to do so, nevertheless if they 
escape to his neighbor’s land, and do damage, his 
damaged neighbor may not lawfully kill them. The 
remedy is a recovery for the damages done. B. D. F. 
A MARYLAND STRAWBERRY PLANT. 
HOW IT IS GROWN AND DUG. 
A Perfect Glutton For Food. 
[editorial correspondence. I 
Part I. 
Ten million strawberry plants on one farm ! 
That thought is large enough to occupy one’s mind 
exclusively for a while. Some of the growers who say 
they can make each plant produce a quart of fruit, 
might figure what 10,000,000 quarts will represent. 
These plants, however, are not expected to be fruited 
at home. They get their size and root on this farm, 
and then go elsewhere to grow their fruit, like a 
country boy who gets, among the hills, the strength 
of bone and character that will later make him a 
marked man among the larger opportunities of the 
city. 
From Salisbury, Md., we drove out to the farm of 
W. F. Allen Jr. The road for most of the way was 
covered with a thick coating of oyster shells. In Ohio, 
we found the mines and the furnaces and the quarries 
yielding slag, cinders and stone for the roads, hut 
here was the sea giving up its treasures in order to 
speed traffic. It was a thin, uninviting country—a 
level stretch of sandy soil with weedy fields and small 
corn stalks. In this country, you find the stalk topped 
or cut off just above the ear with the butt and ear left 
standing. 
Light Soil ; Heavy Roots.— “ Why do you grow 
strawberry plants in this poor soil ? ” was about the 
first question asked of Mr. Allen. 
“ Well, the best reason is that, in this light, open 
sand, the plant not only makes a better root, but you 
get more of that root when you dig. Other reasons 
are that this land is very cheap, and we can work it 
early in the Spring and late in the Fall.” 
“ But doesn’t the strawberry make just as good a 
root in heavy, thick soil ? ” 
“ It does not go quite so deep, or usually spread out 
quite so far ; but if you will dig plants in the two 
soils, you will find that, in the light sand, the little, 
fine root hairs come up with the plant, while in 
sticky, heavy soils, most of them stay in the ground.” 
“ In theory, then, if you could have the plant form 
its roots in sand, and then transplant it to a heavy 
clay, you would have it about right.” 
“ That is about my idea.” 
“ But how can you make full-sized plants in such 
poor soil ? ” 
“ Only by filling it up with manure and fertilizer ! ” 
Long Haul tor Mauure. —Now here comes a 
singular thing. Mr. Allen is bringing stable manure 
from Jersey City to his farm. You will see where 
Salisbury is on the map, anci understand what a long 
haul this represents. The cars are stopped on a siding 
right at the farm, and Mr. Allen says that this manure, 
at a cost of 82.50 per ton, is cheaper than he can buy 
it in Washington or Philadelphia. In addition to 
all this manure, Mr. Allen uses 55 tons of fertilizers, 
among others the Mapes light-soil dressing. 
“ You must put money into a farm if you expect to 
make it pay,” says Mr. Allen, “ and manure and fer¬ 
tilizer certainly represent money. Some of this land 
was so poor to begin with that it would not grow even 
cow peas. That was why it was necessary to use so 
much manure.” 
“ Yes,” said Mr. Allen, “ I believe in cow peas. We 
had 90 acres of them this year. I think a big crop of 
cow-pea vines and fertilizer will take the place of 
manure, but on much of this soil, you must use ma¬ 
nure before you can grow peas. The strawberry plant 
is one of the most exhausting crops. It is a glutton 
for food. I have plowed under plants that were left 
over, and noticed a great difference in the corn that 
followed them over that on open ground. When you 
take 10,000,000 plants away from a farm, you take a 
heap of fertility. When you grow plants for fruit, 
you know that most of the manure or fertilizer is used 
for producing the plant and securing a large growth 
of leaf, stem and root.” 
Starting tlie Plants.—“ I want to know just how 
you undertake to grow a good strawberry plant.” 
“ Well, we start the first warm days after Christ¬ 
mas ! ” 
“ You don’t mean to say that you set out strawber¬ 
ries at Christmas time ? ” 
“ Yes, we do, and we keep it up until April. Some¬ 
times there will be a frozen crust on the ground, and 
we have to rake or knock it off before the plants can 
be set. Of course, these early-set plants do not grow 
until warmer weather. They lie dormant, and later, 
all start growing together. The object in this early 
planting is simply to get started, and thus gain time 
before plant digging. Many a time we set when it is 
so cold that the workmen have to stop and blow their 
fingers.” 
“ Do you ever set in the Fall or use potted plants ? ” 
“ No ; in order to pot plants, we would have to im¬ 
port heavy soil in car-load lots. The strawberry is a 
cold-blooded plant, and with us, stands still from June 
to September. We can plant so early that we get a 
large growth which is very sure to live through the 
Summer.” 
“ How do you prepare the ground ? ” 
“ First we give it a good coating of manure. Usually 
this is plowed under. One year, however, we left 
the manure on top of the ground, and just ran our 
furrows through the field without plowing under at 
all. That part of the field left in this way gave the 
best results—the manure, probably, acting as a mulch 
to retain water.” 
“ Where does the fertilizer come in ? ” 
“ Right with the plants. The strawberry is a close 
feeder, and the fertilizer should be put up close to it. 
We make furrows with the plow, drop the fertilizer 
by hand, and then level it all down with cultivator 
ready for setting. I realize that there is too much 
hand work about this, especially in dropping the fer¬ 
tilizer.” 
“ We find the fertilizer attachment on the Robbins 
potato planter an excellent thing for such work. Do 
you set plants by hand ? ” 
“ Yes, the plant-setting machines do not work well 
on our light, sandy lands.” 
“ You must be able to hire cheap help to make hand 
work pay.” 
“ In Winter, we pay 60 cents a day for about eight 
hours, and in Summer 75 cents for H hours. We can’t 
get them to start before the factory whistles blow in 
Salisbury, but we can keep them until sundown. 
Where there are no factories, farm laborers will work 
longer hours, but the factory whistle is the starter.” 
h. w. c. 
FAT PICKINGS FROM PICKLES. 
HOW THEY WERE SAVED FROM DROUGHT. 
Plenty of Green Manure. —I had six acres of 
pickles this season, five acres in one field. The five- 
acre field last year was sown one-half to rye and the 
other half to Crimson clover. The one acre was an 
old strawberry bed. But last Spring it was so wet 
that clover and Timothy came up so thick that I had 
to plow it under. The rye I plowed under May 20, 
when it was as high as the horse’s back. The clover 
was plowed under May 30, and the strawberry bed 
the next day. The ground was rolled with a very 
heavy roller as soon as plowed, to hold the moisture, 
then harrowed with a spring-tooth harrow until it 
was as fine as a garden. Then it was laid off in rows 
3% x 7 feet. I find that, in this way, I can pick much 
better, as I can train all the vines to run to the east. 
Most growers plant five feet each way ; by so doing, 
the ground is all covered with vines, and there is no 
place to walk. 
I find the best time to plant is the last of May or 
the first of June, as the seasons vary. I use fine rotten 
manure, one large scoopshovelful in each hill, about 
10 two-horse loads to the acre. As the manure is 
drawn from the city, it is put in a pile, and one load 
of coal ashes to three of manure. The coal ashes keep 
the manure from burning, and when the pile is com¬ 
plete, it is turned over three times. I can dig into the 
hill any time during the Summer, and find plenty of 
moisture. 
Keep Working'. —I start the cultivators as soon 
as done planting, as I want to save all the moisture ; 
then once a week, I go over the ground with a weeder. 
As the rows grow wide, I keep taking off the teeth. 
From the time I planted until after we had picked, one 
week there was no rain. As my five-acre piece was 
by the roadside, people would stop and say that I 
would better put my horse in the barn, as I was work¬ 
ing for nothing. “If it doesn’t rain, you won’t get 
any pickles this year.” But those that did not culti¬ 
vate did get only from 825 to 850 to the acre, while I 
got 8100. 
We hire men and boys to pick, pay them by the 
week, and board. We began picking August 1, and 
got through September 21. The largest picking was 
on September 1. On the strawberry bed and rye 
ground, we picked 60 bushels ; on the clover, 140. We 
got 50 tons in all. The pickling company have a ma¬ 
chine that sorts the pickles in five sizes. The pickles 
have to be picked so that they do not exceed six inches 
in length or six inches in the largest circumference ; 
they pay 60 cents per 100 pounds on December 1. 
Onondaga County, N. Y. chas. siddon. 
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.] 
SOME FRUIT QUERIES ANSWERED. 
Plums Alternated with Apples.— 1. I have an orchard set to 
apple and pear trees alternately in the rows, which are 30 feet 
apart. The pear trees show so much blight that I shall dig up 
most of them and replace either with plum, cherry or peach. 
Which is likely to prove the most satisfactory for me ? If plum 
be used, will they fertilize properly set in that way ? 2. Do you 
consider the Dyehouse cherry as hardy and profitable to set as 
the Montmorency and English Horello, both of which do well 
here ? Will you name five or six varieties of hardy and profitable 
peaches ? m. e. s. 
Colorado. 
1. Planting orchards of mixed fruits, such as M. E. 
S. proposes, is rarely satisfactory. It has not proved 
so in his case, as he plainly states, the pear trees dying 
out. It would have been better if all had been apple 
trees, and especially so in Colorado and other regions 
where the trees bear very early. He does not tell us 
how long his orchard has been set, but the presump¬ 
tion is that it is yet young. Whether young or old, 
I would not advise planting the vacant spaces to any 
of the fruits he names. If I wanted to fill them, 
I would use Missouri or some other very early-bearing 
kind of apple. The peach does not succeed well at 
Canon City, as I have had occasion to notice there by 
personal inspection of the orchards. The way the 
ordinary kinds of peaches died there from winter- 
killing was certainly discouraging, if I may judge by 
what I saw in the orchard of Judge Felton, who is 
one of the most careful and successful orchardists in 
that section. The same is true of about all of east¬ 
ern Colorado, but in the valleys of the western part of 
that State, the peach does very well. The sour cher- 
