1904 
To Make Grafting Wax. 
J. Grafton, N. II .—I would like recipe 
for best grafting wax for orchard use. 
Axs.—There are endless formulas for 
grafting wax. We have found the fol¬ 
lowing most reliable of the many test¬ 
ed: To four pounds of resin and one of 
beeswax add one pint of linseed oil; put 
in a heavy pot, heat slowly and mix 
well; pour into a tub of cold water, and 
pull by hand until it assumes a light 
color. Work into sticks, and put into 
a cool place until wanted. In using, 
oil the hands, work the wax until soft, 
and press it tightly around the grafts 
and over the cracks. If the day be 
warm it is better occasionally to moist¬ 
en the hands with water. This wax will 
not crack in cool or run in warm 
weather. 
Growing Caladiums. 
J. D. S., Wellsburg, W. 7a.—I would like 
some information in re'gard to the growing 
of Caladiums. How should they be start¬ 
ed and when, in order to get them on the 
market by the last of May or first of 
June? I always have fine plants after 
they are bedded out, often attaining' a 
height of seven feet, growing by the house 
under the drip on the northeast side, and 
from plants out of four and five-inch pots, 
having no more than two small leaves. 
What I want is a nice stalky plant with 
from three to four leaves in a five-inch pot. 
Ans. —By Caladium we suppose you 
mean the common elephant’s ear (Colo- 
casia antiquorum). The bulb or corm 
starts very readily when placed in moist 
heat, and the general practice in this 
locality is to bed the bulbs in trays in 
damp moss about the middle of April, 
placing them under the greenhouse 
benches near the pipes. As growth 
starts they are potted off and placed 
near the glass in rather a cool house to 
avoid extensive leaf growth, and come 
in for sale during the latter part of 
May. In your latitude it would probably 
not be necessary to start them quite 
so early. 
Walnut and Cedar Near Apples. 
J. II. K., Cliffwood, N. J .—A few years ago 
I noticed several articles in various agri¬ 
cultural papers stating that cedar or wal¬ 
nut trees growing in close proximity to 
apple orchards would cause a treater per¬ 
centage of scab on the apples. We expect 
to make a specialty of growing high-qual¬ 
ity apples. We would also like to plant 
a few walnut trees near the barn for the 
benefit of our children (or grandchildren), 
but do not wish in the least to endanger 
the quality of our apples. During the last 
few years I have seen or heard nothing 
about the matter. Are any of your corre¬ 
spondents acquainted with the facts in the 
case? If the above trees have an injuri¬ 
ous effect in any way on apples, the apple 
growers surely ought to be apprised of 
the facts. 
Axs. There is no known connection 
between walnut trees and apple trees so 
far as any diseases or insect troubles 
are concerned, except that sometimes 
the same kind of large, hairy, Datana 
caterpillars or yellow-necked worms 
work on both trees. Therefore no in- 
J'uy would result to the orchard from 
a few walnut trees set nearby. But the 
fungus disease known as Apple rust 
also lives part of its life on cedar ap¬ 
ples or cedar trees. Thus it would not 
be wise to plant many cedar trees near 
ai' apple orchard, si. v. slingerland. 
How to Poison fiats. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
2l3 
Several Readers .-What can we do to get 
rid of rats? 
Axs.—We have kept them well under 
control with cats. Here is an interest¬ 
ing statement from a good friend in 
Canada: 
P 01 some months my premises were 
overrun with rats—rats by the hundred. 
A nearby neighbor told me that he 
caught 25 one Sunday afternoon in a 
common rat trap set in his shed and at- 
'nded to. I tried in various ways to 
get rid of them. I sent for some of that 
Rat Bisket” that is well advertised in 
several of the magazines. The quantity 
sent me was so small as of itself to be 
j'sc ess to me, but it gave me the idea, 
bad the wife mix some dough, the ma- 
crmls used being water, flour, ground 
1 )S feed> a Jittl o shortening and baking 
powder. Into this before the water was 
added I put a liberal allowance of white 
arsenic. A spoon was used to mix it 
with, in place of the hands. It was then 
spread out thin in a shallow pie tin and 
baked like any other kind of biscuit. 
It to my great relief did the business it 
was designed for most effectually. It is 
very convenient to use. You can readily 
break it up into small pieces for dis¬ 
tribution.” w. O. E. 
Manure for a Subsoil. 
I\ T., New Jersey .—The soil of my garden 
is a sandy loam, but when the grading 
was finished much of the sandy subsoil 
from an adjoining plot was left on top. I 
want to raise various vegetables from 
beans to turnips. Well-rotted stable ma¬ 
nure costs $3.50 per load of about a ton. 
Would not some one of the commercial fer¬ 
tilizers serve my purpose as well as the 
manure and cost less? 
Ans. —Here is a case where the well 
rotted manure will be better than any 
chemical. The subsoil will pack hard 
unless opened by vegetable matter. It 
is “dead” or sterile—that is, it contains 
few if any bacteria. A crop might be 
grown on it by using chemicals freely 
but the manure will help it by adding 
humus, by starting bacterial action and 
by keeping it from baking. We must 
remember that plants do most of their 
feeding in the upper soil. They get lit¬ 
tle real nourishment out of the subsoil 
and when that is turned to the top it 
must be made more like the surface soil 
before the plants can do well in it. We 
have been watching a deep railroad cut 
for the past five years. The earth was 
dug away far down into the hardpan 
where there seemed to be no humus. It 
baked as hard as a brick in Summer. 
The second year a few straggling weeds 
and coarse grasses grew. They died at 
frost and rotted on the ground. The 
next year there were more and new sorts 
came in. This year clover and a few 
finer grasses have come in and the soil 
is darker in color and more open, as hu¬ 
mus has accumulated in it. In some 
localities farmers get a field into heavy 
sod and then sell the sod. They are left 
with a “dead” subsoil and a heavy coat 
of manure is far better than chemicals 
for starting the grass for another sod 
because the subsoil needs humus anc 
bacterial life more than it needs actua 
plant food. 
“George!” she screamed, “my neck!” 
“What’s the matter?” “There’s a pilla- 
catter”- “A what?” “A taperkil- 
ler”- “What in the world do you 
mean?” “Oh, dear!” she moaned, as 
she clutched him frantically. “A kitter 
paller! You know. George! A patter- 
killer!” “Oh!” said George, with evi 
dent relief, and he proceeded to brush 
the caterpillar away.—Tit-Bits. 
NEW BREEDS OF CORN 
Two varieties: COLLINGWOOD (Mixed) 
and TALIAFERRO (Yellow) 
tire exceedingly prolific and withstand drought. 
Yielded 120 bu. of ears per acre last season against 
80 bu. for other varieties. 35 ears weigh 36 lbs. 
Hope Farm man says: “I believe you have 
a remarkable variety of corn.” 
These varieties will make more ensilage per acre 
than any other known. Prices of either: Packet 
postpaid, 15c; two packets,one of each,25c; bushel 
o f ears, by freight or express, $1.00. 
P. B. CROSBY &, SON, Cafonsville, Md. 
THOROUGHLY RELIABLE SEED CORN 
Fjve best varieties for Ensilage and Grain. Canada 
Field Peas. Seed Oats, Cow Peas, Soy Beans, Giant 
Argenteuil and Palmetto Asparagus plants. I am a 
Field Seed Specialist. Price list Free. 
E. G. PACKARD, Dover,Del. 
Our Big Garden Book for 1904 
eoutaius everything you see in flowers 
and eat in vegetables. From it your seed 
■election will be quick and easy. 
DREER’S 
SEEDS 
bulbs and roots produce perfect, hardy 
plants, and are always reliable. Send 
10 c. (for postage) and we will mall our 
Book and Free three packages select 
Asters, Finks, Poppies. 
HEN RY A. DHEEK 
714 Chestnut St., 1'hilaclelphiu 
BURPEE’S 
Farm Annual 
!1. The Leading American Seed Catalogue," is now more “a leader” than ever before 
W:°J? U ®'!ll y revised and greatly improved, it tells not only the Plain Truth about seeds but 
has also many new features for 1904. auout seeas, Dut 
,„ r fjf£ ant b ?? k °t Pages, it contains hundreds of illustrations from nature and six 
ithograph^ie colored plates. It shows in natural colors thirteen 11 true and tried ” new 
Pel^ etab H S ° f - s , e I } n ® ment > three new Nasturtiums (of a distinct type), and seven Superb Sweet 
Peas -aH painted from nature, by New York’s leading artist, at our famous Fordhook FarmI 
Tr-Ju. pre ? ents . a ' 8 ° twenty-one faithful photogravures °f America’s Largest Mail-order Seed 
Trade,-views in both town and country. Altogether it is pro. ...need the 
Best Seed Catalogue Ever Publish id 
And it’s Free • P ro .Y ided y°“ will ask for it now. It will cost YOU one Cw.it to 
——---—-- man your address on a postal card to us. It will cost us four ronfc 
W"eS Ve “Sr-U r v?T^ 1 , „°„rre, r d e<1U<at - 
BURPEE’S FARM ANNUAL for 1904 
we feel quite sure that you will favor us with at least a trial order, and 
tell their own story in your 
. 7--—--- jwu .n mvui UCi Wll 
this is all we ask, as Burpee’s Seeds will 
garden and fields. 
f end I° r this catalogue to-day I One cent spent by you insures 
we hav^/W/A^m* 7 US ’ ?"c this sho H ld be sufficient to convince'you that 
we nave faith in Burpee s Seeds and also in nnr .kiiw.. _ 
we ha \ejaith in Burpee's Seeds and also in our ability to persuade you 
vinfn^fo d sn’Jdrwm? nly read Epee’s Farm AnNual. 
to try Burpee’-- „ U1 
Areyou willing to spend that cent? 
h „ we from you? If not, You will miss anr opportunity to 
become acquainted with the very BEST SEEDS that can be grown I 
W-ATLEE BURPEE & CO., Philadelphia, Pa. 
LZER’S 
SE?EbS 
Mr. Farmer 
creasing the yields of farm crops. 
? n P^ove your entire satisfac¬ 
tion, that where you now grow 40 
Bu- of Oats, Salzer’s sorts will give 
you, 100;where you takeoff 50 bu. 
om. Sa:Izeris sorts will make it 
A' 1 ’ 1 on Barley doubles, on 
M beat triples your yield, aud on 
Potatoes gives 736 bu. per acre 
as found below, would you then try 
rmvl^ eed9? , Well, Sir. we can 
Safe's New National Oats. 
Greatest Oats of the centur* 
oalzer 8 Oats has the endorsement 
of the U. S. Dept, of Agriculture 
an , th ? 7 e IZ best out of over 400 
sorts tried by them. Ever ether 
sort must take the back seat. 
a per Acre. 
„5' “^2?* -Ashland Co., O., says: 
YourNatlonal Oats yielded for 
me at the rate of 187 bu. per acre." 
T ® u - Per Acre. 
D. Schlestel, Osceola Co., Mich., 
says; I never saw anything like 
Salzer s National Oats. It yielded 
forme 231 bu. per acre.” 
255 Bu. per Acre. 
.. I?" st - Louis Co., Mo. 
Your National Oalswas a sight 
worth seeing—4 ft. tall, a solid stiff 
mass, not a stem lodged, yielded 
over 255 bu. per acre for me 1” 
310 Bu. per Acre. 
M. E. Ursner, Ransom Co., N. D 
'‘Salzer’s National Oats is great. 
It made the astonishing yield of 
310 bu. per acre! ” 
Now Mr. Farmer 
Your land is just as good, aud 
you are surely jus£ as good a 
farmer, will you not beat this Oat 
record In 1904? 
Spelfz or Emitter. 
80 B Ul per Acre. 
Wonderful Speltz, marvelous 
Speltz, profitable. Speltz, the farm¬ 
er’s firm friend, flourishing every¬ 
where and yielding 80 bu. of grain 
and 4 tons of splendid straw hay 
per acre besides. 
Home Builder Com. 
Was named because 60 acres in 
1902 produced so bountifully that it 
built and paid fora beautiful home. 
See Salzer’s catalog. It is the big¬ 
gest eared early and heaviest yield¬ 
ing Yellow Dent Corn we know. 
Billion Dollar Grass 
and Teosinte. 
A noble pair. Billion Dollar 
Grass, the most talked of grass on 
earth, makes 14 tons of fine hay 
per acre, while Teosinte astonishes 
and startles you with 80 tons of 
green food per acre, rich in sugar 
aud milk and food values. 
Potatoes—736 Bu, per Acre. 
The Editor of the Rural New 
Yorker proclaims to the world that 
Salzer’s Early Wisconsin Potato 
yielded for him 736 bu. per acre, 
and we have several sorts that 
will beat that record. 
Farmer. Attention l Fall of 1904 
Potatoes may be worth 60c a bu., 
then 10 acres at 736 bu. per acre 
would mean $4,416.00 and you can 
pocket that money. If you plant 
Salzer’s Potatoes. 
For 10 cents in Stamps 
and the name of this paper, we will 
send you alot of farm seed samples, 
including some of the above, fully 
worth $ 10.00 to get a start, together 
with our mammoth 140 page illus¬ 
trated catalog, well worth $100.00 
to each and every wide awake 
gardener and farmer. All this we 
send for but 10c in postage stamps. 
JOHN A.SALZER 
SEED CO. 
LACROSSE,WIS. 
t t 
GREAT CROPS OF 
STRAWBERRIES 
AND HOW TO GROW THEM 
written by the “STRAW- 
DfiKKif so called because he discovered 
the way to develop the fruit organs of a plant and 
make it grow two big berries where one little one 
I grew before. He grows the biggest crops of the 
biggest berries ever produced, and the book tells all 
Ibuut how he does it. It is a treatise on PLANT 
TH tsiULOGY and explains correct principles in 
fruitgrowing. It is worth its weight in gold to any 
frufr 8 ro ,Y er- Will be 8ent free to all readers of 
KukAl New- Yorker. Send your address now. 
Pl!lNT8 t InT™SS l,GHBKliU P “™ 
B. M. KELLOGG. THREE RIVERS, MICH. 
GREGOR 
Famous for nearly half a century 
for their freshness, purity and reli¬ 
ability—the safest, surest seeds to 
sow. Ask anyone who has ever 
planted them. Sold under three 
warrants. 
Send to-day for free catalogue. 
J. J. II. GREGORY «fc SON, 
Marblehead, Mass. 
U |t|—Wanted addresses of farmers In- 
\Jr III Interested in Early State Field Corn. 
White Star Oats (not the kind that grows 300 bushels 
In circulars). Description free; samples, postage 2c. 
Iceberg Lettuce, etc. Evergreen Corn, mailed, 10c. 
Irish Cobblers and Gold Coin Potatoes. Can save 
$2bbl. SMITH’S POTATO FARM, Sho rtsvllle, N. Y. 
The best that money can buy. 
. -zrz ——— — Big catalogue free,write to-day. 
Alfalfa Clover Seed, the money - maker, 25c lb , 
100 lbs., $17.VOGELER SEED CO.JSaltLakeCity.Utah 
GOOD 
SEEDS 
.CHEAP 
Ever Grown. 
None better and none so 
low in price, lc per pkt. 
and up.postpaia. Finest 
illustrated catalogue ever 
printed sent FREE. Engrav¬ 
ings of every variety. A great 
. lot cf extra pkgs. of seeds, new 
sorts, presented free with every 
order. Some sorts onions only 55c 
per lb. Other seed equally low. 
40 years a seed grower and dealer 
and all customers satisfied. No old 
seeds. New, fresh and reliable every 
year. Write for big FREE catalogue. 
R.H.SHUMW. Rockford. Ill 
