468 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
July 17 
is, when the old beds are through fruiting (I pick them 
two years), to plow them underand sow to Mammoth 
clover—no grain ; cut the first crop for hay the fol¬ 
lowing spring, and allow the second crop to grow all 
the fall, planking it down to prevent seeding, and 
plow under in the spring and set to strawberries again. 
Dutchess County, N. Y. waltkr f. tabes. 
WHAT THEY SAY. 
Killing Wild Onion. —Garlic or wild onion is killed, 
root and branch, if cut when in full bloom, on my 
farm. My grounds were so infested after the war 
that garlic followed a crop as thickly as rag weed did 
oats or wheat on my ante-bellum farm in Ohio. I 
simply waited till the plants were in full bloom in my 
field, and cut with a mower with consequent destruc¬ 
tion of all plants cut. Subsequent growths were due 
to seed already in the soil. I can show 100 acres 
cleared of wild onion by mowing when in full bloom. 
Washington, D. C. R. s. L. 
Waterproof Hay Caps. —My formula for making 
hay caps water and mildew proot at a very slight cost, 
had its origin under my own hat. I know it is hard 
to beat. It is made of red glue, four ounces ; starch, 
four ounces ; alum, two ounces ; sugar of lead, two 
ounces. Soak the glue overnight in cold water. Wet 
the starch with cold water enough to soften, then add 
to it two quarts of boiling water. Make a smooth 
paste if you have to squeeze it through cheese cloth. 
After draining off the water, add the soaked glue to 
the hot paste and mix well; add four tablespoonfuls 
of strong vinegar. Dissolve the alum in one quart of 
hot water, and add to the above. Last of all. dissolve 
the sugar of lead in one quart of soft hot water and 
mix with the last solution. The last addition should 
turn the whole quite a milky white. Mix in the order 
given, or you fail in results. J. A. rose. 
New York. 
Watch the Horse’s Shoulders —Noticing an article 
some time ago in The It. N.-Y. about horses refusing 
to draw in spring, I would like to remark that I have 
had a little experience on that line. My trouble was, 
probably, the trouble with others. A horse that is 
driven only occasionally or with a breast collar, be¬ 
comes tender where the collar bears on the shoulder, 
and should not be put right into steady, heavy work, 
but should be worked part of the day and then laid 
off for a while. In this way, the shoulders will grad¬ 
ually harden again. If I draw 1,200 or 1.500 pounds 
seven miles one day, my horse is not fit to do it next 
day ; but if I skip a day, he will do it easier than at 
first, and will not show the tendency to balk as at 
first. I have come to the conclusion that tender 
shoulders are the first cause of balky horses, and that 
care is a better cure than the whip, even should the 
whip cure (?). If horses go wrong, there must be a 
cause, and that cause sometimes hard to find. 
Dartmouth, Mass. j h t. 
Budding Orange Trees. —I have just read in The 
R. N.-Y. about the way in which some people treat 
frozen-down orange trees. I cut mine down to the 
ground and then let all the sprouts that came up, 
grow the first year. The next spring, I cut out most 
of the smallest sprouts, leaving from three to eight 
or ten and, later in the season, gave them another 
thinning, leaving three to six of the best ones. This 
spring, I thinned again to two to four or five, and put 
buds into the best one that stood firm on the stump, 
then thinned again to two or three, and later to two 
only. I shall let the two stand until next spring, or 
until the bud gets a good growth, so that it will use 
most of the sap from the roots, and eventually cut 
out all but the budded stem. The only change I 
should make if we have another freeze, would be to 
put buds in the second spiing instead of the third, if 
I could get buds. Many, perhaps half of our groves, 
were not cut down at all, a sad mistake, as many of 
the owners now admit. Very few realize how near 
we came to losing all our orange trees again last 
winter. January was so cold that the sap had not 
begun to flow much when we had the heavy frost in 
February. That is all that saved us. A. y. a. 
Orlando, Fla. 
Hay Caps and Clover —J. J. P. can make a good 
hay cap of heavy bleached factory or muslin, that 
will answer every purpose and last, with good care, 
for six or eight years. I usually bought 6/4 cloth, cut 
the caps square, and made a pocket in the corners 
for a weight of two or three pounds (brick or stone 
will do). This cover spread over a hay cock will pro¬ 
tect it through several days of heavy rain. It will 
hardly wet through at all if properly put on. He will 
find that, if clover is cut and left to wilt, then when 
hot from sun put in cocks and covered with such 
covers and left for several days to cure, then before 
puttie g in the barn, turned over so as to air the 
bottom, he will have a quality of hay that cannot be 
excelled for a cow for milk. Clover should never be 
exposed to any great amount of sun, and no dew or 
rain. When cured in the above manner, it will retain 
its color and its sweetness as finely as when first cut. 
It should be cut as soon as in full bloom. The hay 
covers I refer to will not cost more than 12 cents 
aside from the making. When through with them, 
thoroughly dry, fold and lay away for future use, 
and he may have good covers for six to eight years. 
Hay made in this manner excels clover hay made in 
any other way. h. a. w. 
Chicago, Ill. 
Hybrid Gooseberries. 
About four or five years ago, we secured some 
plants of the wild gooseberry of Manitoba, from 
open prairie exposure. This wild type has very small 
cut leaves, and bears very sparingly, fruit of the size 
of a small pea. In the spring of 1894, the blossoms 
were fertilized with great care with pollen of the 
Champion. This variety was selected, as we believe 
it has foreign parentage, and never has shown mildew 
in our trying climate. The resulting seeds were 
planted in a box kept in the plant house over winter, 
but did not germinate until the box was set outside 
in the spring of 1895, The little plants were potted 
and set in a well-prepared bed about the first of June, 
1895. In the fall, they were packed away in the 
cellar. In the spring of 1896, they were set in rows 
for fruiting. At this date (June 26, 1897,) they are 
strong, well-branched plants, well loaded with fruit 
fully as large as that of the Champion or Pearl. In 
vigor of growth, and size and thickness of leaf, they 
are superior to either parent. Our hope was to secure 
varieties hardier than any we now have with, pos¬ 
sibly, one or two equal to the Champion in s'zi and 
the mckinley strawberry, fig. m . 
See Ruralisms, Page 471. 
quality of fruit. The surprise comes in to find all 
plants—100 in number—vigorous, free from mildew, 
with cultivated expression of leaf, and loaded when 
young quite uniformly with fruit as large as Champ¬ 
ion. Not a single plant reverts to the wild type with 
its small cut leaf, prostrate habit, and very small 
green fruit. 
In trying to select the best six varieties, we are 
puzzled and decide to wait another year. This uni¬ 
formity of “ new creations” from seed of wild plants 
is wholly new. In our crosses of fruits, roses, etc., 
we have always found wide variations. But in this 
gooseberry experiment, the Champion appears to be 
so prepotent as to control largely both plant and 
fruit. In crossing the wild strawberry of Manitoba 
with pollen of Shuster’s Gem, Beder Wood, Warfield 
and Parker Earle, we have had all kinds of variation 
in plant, but the fruit in no case has half the size of 
that of the male parents, and retains largely the form 
and fragrance of the wild species. In this case, the 
wild species was, in all cases, prepotent. 
Iowa Exp. Station. j. l. budd. 
United States Senators as Horticulturists. 
There are many people who know many things, but 
there are few people who know everything. This is 
made manifest by the recent debate in the United 
States Senate on the duties on Mahaleb and Mazzard 
cherries, and on Manetti and Multiflora roses. The 
distinguished Senators attempted to discuss the ques¬ 
tion of duty on these articles, without having the 
slightest idea of what they were talking about. They 
seem to think that the two cherries named are valu¬ 
able fruit-producing varieties which are imported into 
this country, whereas they are simply small seedling 
stocks which nurserymen produce in France, plant 
here, and bud to valuable varieties, The two roses 
named are simply stock on which valuable roses are 
budded after they arrive in this country, after they 
have been planted several months. Doubtless, the 
Senators are puzzled to know why nurserymen who 
are obliged to buy these stocks should want to have 
the duty placed upon them. This is, indeed, a puz¬ 
zling question. I, myself, am a nurseryman of 20 
years’ standing, a grower of trees and plants, and I 
can see only one reason why nurserymen should desire 
this duty : 
Old-established nurseries have, during recent years, 
found competitors in their wholesale business in men 
of small means, who have planted upon their own 
land, or land rented, from five to fifty acres of these 
stocks, and grown trees which have been thrown upon 
the market, and which have caused a reduction in 
prices. If a duty be placed upon the stocks which all 
nurserymen have to purchase, these small nurserymen 
of limited means will not be able to purchase so 
many. Indeed, many will be choked off entirely, 
and will be obliged to give up the nursery business. 
There may be other reasons for the action of prom¬ 
inent nurserymen along the line of asking for duties 
on stocks, but >1 am frank to confess that I cannot 
discover what such objects are. chas. a green. 
Sweet-and-Sour Apples. 
I heartily second H. E. V. D.’s motion to have the 
sweet-and-sour apple men make an exhibit at our 
State Fair, or some of our horticultural fairs, say at 
the American Institute Fair next fall, where their 
claims can be verified. I have, for 60 years, heard 
of that divided bud that somebody had grown ; al¬ 
ways but once, it was R. I. Greening and Talman 
Sweet, but a western man used a Swaar and Talman 
Sweet. Several times I have had grafts sent me of 
the so-called sweet-and-sour apple, but on mv trees, 
they all reverted to the sour, and never anything 
else. Yet one was sent by the late Dr. Farleigh, 
of Union Springs, saying that he had it from well 
authenticated stock. I have another tree I am wait¬ 
ing to be suprised with, a genuine cross sweet-and- 
sour. Supposing a bud so split did grow, would not 
the branches from the sweet side bear sweet apples, 
and from the sour side, sour ? I think so, at least. 
Sometimes a person may have only seen the apple. 
As they all use the Talman for the sweet, all say it 
shows the brown cross lines peculiar to that apple. 
Last fall, while judging apples at the Orange County 
Fair, a number of plates of Talman Sweet were cut, 
all showing the characteristic stripe. One plate of 
nicely marked fruit I sent away as not true. A pro¬ 
test was made and an apple cut, and all proved to be 
quite sour. Yet the markings were so true to the 
Talman Sweet that they thought the judge wrong 
until the knife told the story. But let us have an 
exhibit, by all means. n. h. 
Queens, N. Y. 
The 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.1 
PINCHING OFF MELON VINES. 
Subscriber .— Do large growers practice pinching off the ends of 
melon vines after flowering? Does it really pay to do this ? 
The terminal buds of the melon vines are never 
pinched off in field culture here. I do not know of 
any good result that would follow such a course, and 
if there is sny, it would entail too much labor to be 
practiced. Owing to lice and scald, melon culture is 
a lottery here, and it is imperative to spend in labor 
only what is really necessary. Neither the lice nor 
the scald would respect a patch that had been 
pinched. Charles parry. 
New Jersey. 
This is not much of a melon-raising section. When 
I could raise melons, I tried the pinching process 
when the fruit blooms appeared, let them go at their 
own sweet will, and could see no difference. I think 
it does not pay to pinch these terminals. I should 
let squashes run, as that is the practice of the large 
raisers here. When they grow eight or ten acres, it 
would be a tedious job to go over and pinch off buds. 
Let them go ! n iiallock. 
Long Island. 
This section of country is naturally adapted to the 
growing of melons, and nearly every farmer in a 
radius of two miles grows them for market. There 
being more hustle and bustle as springtime approaches 
over this crop than all other crops combined, each 
grower exercises all the skill in his power to get 
ahead of the crowd, and I know of not one who 
pinches off the terminal buds of his melon vines. I 
have generally been successful in keeping ahead of 
the crowd, and doing so has required much careful 
thinking and experimenting. I have nipped the run¬ 
ners at all stages of growth, and have never derived 
