458 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
June 11, 
great thing when it rolls a thousand pounds of hay at 
a time, but it certainly is a job to get it out again, espe¬ 
cially when the thermometer is hovering around 90 
degrees in the shade, but like most things a little per¬ 
severance finishes it, and the rest of the job is easy. 
Then comes supper, first for all the animals, then for us 
humans; then a pleasant half hour with The R. N.-Y. 
and my pipe (what a shame to put the two together, 
but I am telling just what I did), and the children 
first, with the good wife and myself soon after, end the 
day with a brief acknowledgement to the Heavenly 
Father for the mercy that endureth forever. 
Maryland. _ r. b. crosby. 
EXPERIENCE WITH CABBAGE MAGGOTS. 
What Salt Did. 
The inquiries regarding Cabbage maggot “cures” and 
M. V. Slingerland’s appeal to “large cabbage growers” 
to come forward with suggestions, have been read with 
interest by me. I am not a large grower, but some 
years ago I had a patch of about two acres of Winning- 
stadts. A homemade fertilizer of muriate of potash, 
ground bone, beef scraps, dried blood, etc., was applied 
in the furrow, and thoroughly mixed. About two weeks 
after the plants were set my farmer with three or four 
boys was sent to work the patch, following the culti¬ 
vator with steel rakes. In a short time one of the boys 
came up saying that “Joe” wanted to see me. I re¬ 
sponded in person, and at once saw that the cabbage 
was in trouble. Almost every plant looked as if it had 
the jaundice, if plants can have it. Joe dug away the 
soil from a plant and revealed a dozen or fifteen mag¬ 
gots, and so on, every plant having from a half dozen 
to as many as 30 each. I immediately drove to town, 
got a lot of the finest “coarse fine” salt I could, then 
set one boy to uncovering the maggots, another to 
apply a pinch of the salt, and the third to covering 
it in. Result: In three days not a maggot could be 
found and we cut cabbages from that piece until we 
were fairly tired of it. The heads were not large— 
the plants were set 15 inches apart in the row—but 
they were very solid, many of the barrels weighing up 
to 135 and 140 pounds each. These cabbages were 
raised on ground that grew a heavy Frop of turnips the 
year before, and an old gardener who lived below me 
used to delight in stopping and calling me “pet names” 
for trying to do that trick—up to the time the plants 
had been out about five or six weeks. “About every 
cabbage will be stump-footed,” he said. But the fine- 
ground bone meal fooled him, and I do not think there 
were a half dozen “stump-foots” on the piece. 
We are having a backward Spring, farmers having 
done little or no corn-planting up to this time (May 24). 
Apple trees are generally well loaded with blossoms 
and bid fair to give us a great crop. The benefits of 
“pig-power” cultivation are now very apparent in my 
orchards, as many of the trees that bore heavily last 
year are now loaded with blossoms. Nearly three miles 
of barbed wire has been strung around the pear orchard, 
now in sod, and the pigs are now cultivating that. We 
will see how much they will accomplish there. 
Cumberland Co., Me. w. o. b. 
VARIOUS EXPERIMENTS.—Dealing with the 
Cabbage maggot on my ground, my purpose has been to 
find the cheapest and most effectual means of combating 
it. I have discovered this year that the best way to re¬ 
duce the bale of pulp to a sawdust-like condition is to 
allow the bale to stand endways in an inch or two of 
water, and then place it on a box and scrub it vertically 
with a sharp currycomb. I have five or six rows of 
cabbage across my garden and tOO or more plants in a 
row. To all but one row I applied the pulp. To 50 
plants I applied thick white lead paint to the collars 
with thumb and fingers. To 50 I applied nothing, and to 
a few more some birdlime. The singular thing about it 
is that I have not seen a trace of the enemy this year. 
The birdlime killed the plants outright. Those un¬ 
treated, as yet, are not attacked, and of course the pulp 
treated ones are unhurt, and finally I have added noth¬ 
ing to my experience in dealing with the maggot this 
year. H. j. s. 
Kenwood, N. Y._ 
UNCLE JOHN’S BOYS. 
Three weeks ago we had the picture of a' farm hoy who 
was introduced by “Uncle John,” John W. Spencer. This 
week we have another—a larger boy who will make a good 
farmer. 
I wish that you might meet a young friend of mine, 
whose photograph I am sending you. T first met him 
over seven years ago, when I was visiting rural schools 
up in Oswego County, talking gardening and kindred 
subjects to the children. He wore knickerbockers at 
that time. I remember the October morning quite well. 
I also remember the schoolhouse and the difficulty I 
had in finding a suitable place to hitch the horse. If 
you have visited many country schools you know the 
rarity of a satisfactory tying-place. I would suggest 
to all readers of The R. N.-Y. that they encourage their 
children to plant not only trees and shrubs on the school 
grounds, but a hitching-post as well. The young man 
who comes for the teacher Friday afternoons will greatly 
appreciate such a convenience. 
To return to the subject of my young friend, Jesse. 
As I was leaving the school he followed me to the buggy 
for a conference about his flock of chickens. I think 
that was the first live stock he owned. I quickly saw 
that he had an eye for the profit he might gain from 
them. When T returned to the College of Agriculture I 
wrote to him. That was the beginning of a correspond¬ 
ence which has continued with some fluctuations ever 
since. One Fall he came on his bicycle for a couple 
of days’ visit to me. lie was much interested in many 
A THREE-FIORSE EVENER. Fig. 199. 
things about the Station, particularly the stock. Next, 
I met him at the State Fair as an exhibitor of a large 
variety of potatoes. I have forgotten how many dollars 
in premiums he took home with him. It was many more 
than his expenses. Since then sheep have become his 
leading interest. He has gone in for stock having a 
pedigree. During the early part of the past Winter he 
wrote, asking me how he could get instruction in judg¬ 
ing on points. I urged him to take the short course of 
II weeks. In reply, he said that while he wanted the 
instruction, “lambing time” would begin before the term 
would close, and he felt he ought to be on the spot 
during that eventful season. 
I mention my friend as illustrating one of the surest 
ways to keep the boys on the farm; lead them to see 
the money-making side. Ten or 15 years from now, 
should I be obliged to find some one to go on my bond 
for a considerable amount—understand, I am merely 
supposing—Jesse’s name would be much more accepta¬ 
ble than some of these young farm lads who are on the 
waiting list for employment as brakemen, telegraphers 
and motormen. I he following letter will show some¬ 
thing of what Jesse is doing now: 
We have a flock of 95 sheep and lambs. Our wool brought 
us about .$100 this year, and we have sold several grade 
lambs at $0 each; we lost only two lambs all through lamb 
season. How is that, with no one to look after them but 
a very little except me? We expect to sell all the grades 
this Fall and keep nothing but purebred Shropshires, of 
which we have 70 now that are very nice stock. I am hav¬ 
ing more orders than 1 can begin to till for eggs, and I am 
asking more than most of the breeders, too. 1 am selling at 
the following prices: .$1 for 15 eggs, .$3 for 50, .$5 per 
100, which is a good price for eggs this season of the 
year—better than 15 cents a dozen. Who says that it does 
not pay to keep purebred stock? Last Fall my ram lambs 
sold from .$10 to $1(5 each, averaging $13.75 each. My 
yearling rams averaged $18.25 each, selling from $12 to $25. 
_ UNCLE JOHN. 
MORE ABOUT THINNING FRUIT. 
Thinning Plums in Wisconsin. 
My experience in thinning fruit has been confined very 
largely to plums. While connected with the Experi¬ 
mental Station at Madison we made a regular practice 
of thinning the plums on about 2,000 trees. We began 
work when the fruits were about as large as peas, or 
usually after the curculio had finished its work. There 
is no short cut to this work that I know of. A man, 
boy or girl must climb the tree and pull the fruits off 
one by one, but it is not as expensive as one might think. 
A CROP OF LITTLE MEN. Fig. 200. 
See Page 460. 
After a little practice the thinners will go over a 
branch very rapidly, leaving the fruits the desired dis¬ 
tance. With native plums we intended to leave the 
fruits about two inches apart, Japanese and European 
plums somewhat farther, three or four inches. The 
thinners we instructed to pick off as far as possible the 
stung plums; these were not retained, but allowed to 
drop on the ground, when they quickly dried up. In 
this case there would be no trouble from the curculio 
larvae developing, as they can come to maturity only in 
the growing fruits. I cannot give any definite state¬ 
ment of expense account further than to state that we 
hired very competent boys at from 50 to 75 cents a day. 
These, working under a foreman, would cove-r a large 
number of trees in a day. I consider it wholly practical 
and a decidedly paying operation to thin plums. It is 
not a question of quantity, but quality, when you put 
the fruits on the market, and you cannot get the size 
and quality without thinning. f. cranefield. 
Sec. Wis. Ilort. Society. 
Hard Work Necessary. 
I know of no good way to thin fruit other than pick¬ 
ing off by hand. I do not grow many apples, and have 
not thinned them, but my peaches I thin when it is 
needed. Trees which bear three to four baskets of 
peaches cost me to thin 10 to 15 cents per tree. It is 
expensive, but I think it pays in improved quality of 
fruit and preserving the vigor of tree. Reports from 
the Hatch Experiment Station seem to show that thin¬ 
ning apples proved profitable. I do not think fruit can 
be thinned well except by hand. m. morse. 
Massachusetts. 
Argument for Mulched Orchards. 
By allowing apple trees to grow from the time of 
planting without much trimming we avoid the necessity 
of thinning the apples to a large extent, for the set of 
fruit is not as heavy on trees so treated as on those 
with centers well trimmed out. This practice also 
tends to annual bearing, but on alternate limbs. Part 
of the limbs will bear this year, and the load of fruit 
bends them down, leaving remaining limbs in upright 
position just right for proper development of fruit 
buds. Next year these will bend down with fruit, and 
the other set will take the upright position and form 
fruit buds. With some varieties this habit is very 
marked; others from different growth of top do not 
show the same results. I have never practiced thinning 
to any extent; if necessary would remove any defec¬ 
tive specimen or excessive load of fruit the latter part 
of July. I find a tree will develop a heavy load of 
fruit if it has a uniform or steady supply of moisture 
during the Fall. Here the mulch of cut grass, coupled 
with the natural supply of moisture underlying the soil, 
develops the fruit in good condition. I believe the 
money spent in thinning fruit would be better spent in 
applying stable manure in form of mulch during August. 
Onondaga Co., N. Y. grant g. hitchings. 
Low-headed Peach Trees. 
I commence to thin as soon as the peach is about 
half an inch in diameter. Strong, healthy trees I thin 
about six inches apart. Frees that are not so vigorous 
1 thin to about eight inches. We find some trees where 
we have to leave fruit a little closer on some limbs in 
order to have enough on the tree; some limbs not 
enough in some part, and quite thick somewhere else. 
It requires good judgment to decide in many cases, 
but the most trouble I have with the pickers is that 
they do not take off enough peaches. Women and 
girls make good help if the trees are low, and they 
should be, for there is no need of high trees, and if 
peaches are cheap the profit is cut right in two by high 
trimming. Of course in thinning we try to get all those 
stung by curculio and the small gummy ones. I think 
most peach growers believe in thinning, but few take 
time to do it, for it comes in a busy time, and they do 
not get at it until too late, for if it is not done before 
the pit hardens it does not seem to do any good for 
peaches or tree. I think with proper pruning and thin¬ 
ning peach trees may be kept in good shape for 20 or 
25 years. G . B . N . 
Clarkson, N. Y. 
Thinning Apples 
1 his is one of the most difficult operations connected 
with fruit culture. For several years we have been 
propagating trees with a view to obtaining early bearing 
and productiveness. We have selected our buds and 
grafts from mature trees, showing these characteristics, 
and have top-worked nursery trees from these. We are 
now confronted with the problem of thinning the fruit, 
as these trees are bearing heavy annual crops. While 
the trees are from 10 to 15 years of age it is practical to 
thin the fruit when intelligent men are employed. The 
apple should be well formed, which will be by the mid¬ 
dle of July in the Hudson district. Then ill-shaped and 
imperfect specimens may be seen and picked off, but 
many perfect apples will also have to be taken off, and 
this requires men of intelligence to pick off judiciously 
and expeditiously. Such men are not to be had in 
sufficient numbers, hence this work on a large number 
of farms becomes impracticable. With good men the 
cost of thinning apples on trees 15 years of age has 
been 12 cents a tree. This cost is not the only con¬ 
sideration. At the time of marketing there is very little 
No. 2 grade of apples to handle, and the advantage of 
thinning counts at this time. The great danger is with 
careless men, that they will pull off many of the fruit 
spurs, and do more harm than good. When trees be¬ 
come very large and high, the expense is very much 
greater. Flere most growers will be forced to allow 
their trees to overbear, barrel the No. 1 fruit, keep the 
No. 2 out of the center of the barrels, and provide 
evaporators for it, taking a heavy crop one year and a 
lighter one the next. We have just finished setting 
2,000 additional apple trees, under entirely changed 
methods, heading down to within two feet of the 
ground, for several purposes, and double planting 20 
feet each way. We are also testing the commercial 
value, of dwarf apple trees where thinning will be 
practical. g. t. powell. 
Ghent, N. Y. 
