1887 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
RYE AMONG SMALL FRUITS. 
IS A “GREEN CARPET” DESIRABLE? 
On page 419 of Tub R. N.-Y., one of our correspondents des¬ 
cribed a method of sowing rye among raspberries and other bush 
fruits, at the time of blooming. This gave what he called a 
“ green carpet” at the time of .picking, kept down the weeds, and 
on the whole, proved a success, as he described it. Would you 
consider this a desirable thing to do in your raspberry planta¬ 
tion? If so, when would you sow the rye and when would you 
plow it under ? If you do not consider it a desirable thing to do, 
will you give us your reasons against it ? Would you prefer 
frequent shallow cultivation to this method of growing a crop of 
rye among the fruits ? 
I do not approve of sowing rye among berry crops 
of any kind. I have found shallow cultivation be¬ 
tween the rows, kept up until as near picking time 
as possible, the best and surest method of conserving 
and retaining the moisture in the soil to develop the 
fruit. I believe an earth mulch the best and most 
practical of all methods, and the growing of another 
crop at this time as detrimental to the perfection of 
the fruit and the development of the new canes for 
the coming year. Walter f. taber. 
Dutchess County, N. Y. 
I prefer frequent shallow cultivation of all small 
fruit plants, vines, etc. This means irrigation. It is 
always dry at fruitage, scarcely a year passes but the 
plants suffer from lack of moisture. By growing a 
crop of rye between the rows of small fruits, we 
draw out all the moisture from the soil. It is seldom 
we can supply water, but fortunately we can prevent 
the loss of what is in the soil and what falls upon it. 
We set out thousands of potted plants in the months 
of August and September ; after the plants are set, 
we stir the soil frequently during the growing season, 
and in early spriDg. These plants get the same treat¬ 
ment up to blooming time; after this, our mulch is 
placed between the rows and around the plants ; this 
serves to keep the moisture of the soil from drying 
off into the air. From these plants, we pick our 
choice berries, which are always salable at good 
prices. t. c. kevitt. 
Passaic County, N. J. 
We have never grown rye among our fruits, either 
as a green carpet during the picking season, or as a 
cover and protection from gullying during winter or 
in the early spring. However, I think it would be 
less objectionable for a winter than early summer 
covering of the ground in a berry field or vineyard, 
for the following reasons : With moisture and warmth, 
rye makes a rapid growth, and exhausts the moisture 
in the soil rapidly. The raspberry, currant and bush 
fruits generally, need all the moisture available when 
perfecting or ripening their fruit. This we endeavor 
to conserve by frequent shallow culture. Bye, unlike 
the clovers, draws its nutriment wholly from the soil, 
and in this case, will be absorbing plant food that is 
needed by the fruit at a critical period. For good 
results with raspberries or other bush fruits, we 
would prefer mulching with coarse manure after the 
hills have been cleared of grass and weeds in the 
early spring, and then keeping the surface mellow 
between the rows until the fruit is ripe. Again, rye 
sown among fruits at the time named, would have 
made a strong, coarse growth in the fruit row, at the 
close of the picking season, and it would be difficult 
and expensive to clean a field from it. For these 
reasons, I would not like to try the experiment. 
Orange County, N. Y. w. D. barns. 
I think sowing rye among small fruits for the pur¬ 
pose of securing a mulch to hold moisture, keep down 
weeds, keep fruit clean and give a “ green carpet” 
for the pickers’ benefit, will work better in theory 
than in practice. To attain the results intended, it 
would be necessary to sow earlier than when the 
fruit was in bloom to get growth enough to stand the 
tread of pickers for five weeks of picking, the time 
required for the fruiting of the Columbian raspberry. 
I should prefer to sow the rye two weeks earlier to 
insure success. It would be a cheap way of mulching 
if there were no objections to this method, but I 
think there would be; it would allow weeds, especially 
Quack grass, thistles, etc., to get such a start during 
the two months that the field could not be cultivated, 
and it would be almost impossible to eradicate them 
from the soil. It would require a large amount of 
work after picking to clean out a field of berry 
plants and get the land in good, mellow condition 
again. I think, also, that this growth of rye would 
absorb moisture ; and it would also prevent stirring 
the soil, which is so essential in a hot, dry time, for 
the retaining of moisture. My method of treating 
my Columbian raspberry field is to cultivate from 
the opening of spring up to fruiting time, about once 
a week, just giving time before picking to cover the 
field with straw, which serves as a mulch and keeps 
the fruit clean, and makes it nice for the pickers. 
Immediately after picking, with a fork I rake the 
straw between the rows (which are eight feet apart) 
up close to the hills, trim out the old wood, put in 
a drag to rake out the brush, and then start the cul¬ 
tivators again, thoroughly pulverizing the soil in 
preparation for the planting of tips. By this method 
of cultivation, I have thoroughly eradicated Quack 
grass in a single season from fields where it entirely 
covered the ground. The heavy growth of Colum¬ 
bian plants and the straw smother the Quack in the 
hills. j. T. THOMPSON. 
Madison County, N. Y. 
We have found that, in all cases, the raspberry and 
other such fruits should be cultivated thoroughly 
right up to the time the fruit ripens ; if we do other¬ 
wise, we do not get the best results from the plants. 
If not cultivated, the vines are very likely to turn 
yellow, and the fruit to be of inferior size and quality. 
Especially have we found this to be the case in dry 
seasons—of course, it would not make so much differ¬ 
ence in wet seasons. We think, again, that the 
method is not practical for large fruit growers be¬ 
cause of the extra labor expended in getting clear of 
the rye after the crop is picked. We have found the 
following method to be the best : Plow early in the 
spring and clean the rows out thoroughly, loosening 
up the ground as much as possible in the rows with¬ 
out injuring the plants, and then plow the middles 
and keep the middles well cultivated until the fruit 
is picked. We have sometimes sown the earliest of 
peas in the middles, and in that way utilized the 
ground, and made one cultivating do for both crops ; 
that is to say, when we cultivate the peas, we culti¬ 
vate the raspberries also, but we always put in 
enough fertilizer to supply all the food the peas 
PROF. J. L. BUDD, OF IOWA. Fig. 207. 
need. As soon as the peas are picked, pull up the 
vines and cultivate well. jos. h. black, son & co. 
Mercer County, N. J. 
Rye Good in Curranfs. 
I cannot conceive how it would be a benefit to 
growers of raspberries to follow the -suggestion of 
carpeting the plantation with a green growth of rye, 
from the fact that raspberries make heavy draughts 
on the soil for every bit of moisture it contains—so 
does the growing rye. It can, therefore, be readily 
sien that the rye would rob the berry plant of that 
which it most needs, and at the time when it needs 
it most. Every grower of raspberries must have 
observed that, during a period of moderately dry 
weather, the smallest amount of rain will greatly 
increase the size of the fruit at its next picking, show¬ 
ing thereby how exceedingly necessary is moisture 
to the growth and development of the fruit. I can 
imagine, also, how difficult as well as expensive it 
would be to subdue this carpet of growing rye in a 
five-acre plantation of raspberries, especially in and 
among the hills or canes where it is next to impos¬ 
sible to use a hoe, fork or hook, and where, of neces¬ 
sity, fingers must come into play. I firmly believe 
that thorough cultivation all through the period of 
picking is not to be improved upon, for reasons that 
are evident to all, or nearly all growers. 
The idea of sowing rye in a currant plantation, 
struck me very forcibly, and I believe it to be just 
the thing, and shall practice it myself, or at least, 
experiment in that direction another season. There 
is a period when the currants have developed in size, 
that cultivation must cease unless we wittingly create 
havoc with whittletree and traces by dragging the 
fruit from the bushes while passing through the rows 
with horse and cultivator. This period frequently 
covers five or six weeks, and during that time, weeds 
assume large proportions, so large in fact, that it is 
not possible to turn them under with a fruit plow ; 
consequently, pulling them or cutting off with a short 
499 
scythe must be resorted to before cultivation is 
resumed. 
I will admit that mulching with straw, coopers’ 
shavings, or other coarse material at the time culti¬ 
vation ceases, would be far superior to the above sug¬ 
gestion ; but no currant grower, except he be a small 
one, can afford it, even though the necessary material 
be readily procured. The sowing of rye, therefore, 
at such time as cultivation ceases, would, in a meas¬ 
ure, subdue the weed growth, keep the fruit from be¬ 
coming sandy or dirty during a rain storm, furnish 
humus for the soil when plowed under, and would be 
much more easily subdued than in a berry plantation. 
Ulster County, N. Y. a. w. williams. 
Rye in Currants and Vineyard. 
We have never sown rye among any small fruits, 
and would not think it desirable to do so early in the 
season, as we would be afraid that, in case of dry 
weather, it would take up so much of the moisture 
that it would injure the crop very much. We try to 
keep our bush fruits well cultivated (very shallow) 
until time of ripening or picking. We would not ex¬ 
pect to get much good out of rye as a green manure, 
as it would be almost impossible to handle it between 
narrow rows, if it grew to be of any size. We were 
well pleased with oats sown in our gooseberries last 
season, about the last of July; they checked fall 
giowth and made a good winter mulch. We mulch 
our strawberries very heavily, and do not cultivate 
in the spring. We have been experimenting with 
rye in our vineyard for several years, and with such 
marked results, that we drilled it in 20 acres last fall. 
We put the first eight acres in about 10 days before 
we began picking our early grapes, two weeks later, 
eight acres more, and 10 days later, the rest. There 
were, at least, 10 days’ difference in the growth of the 
rye this spring, which gave us an opportunity to let 
the first get larger than we otherwise could if we had 
sown it all at once. If one doesn’t make his plans to 
get the last of it plowed under before it gets too 
large, he gets more than he bargained for. We sowed 
it on a large peach orchard, also, last fall, and plowed 
it under this spring. It grew large enough to hold 
the leaves from blowing away, keep the ground from 
washing, and make a good mulch. t. n. king. 
Tompkins Caunty, N Y. 
THE GYPSY MOTHS IN NEW YORK STATE. 
It has been recently reported in several prominent 
daily newspapers, that the famous Gypsy moth had 
been discovered in Delaware County, N. Y., where it 
was extensively ravaging forest and shade trees. The 
appearance of this fearful pest in the orchards, street 
shade trees, and forests of New York State would be 
an exceedingly serious matter. The State of Mass¬ 
achusetts, a small portion of which contains all of 
the Gypsy moths supposed, or known, to exist in 
America, has already spent over half a million dollars 
in fighting this pest, and has succeeded in practically 
exterminating it in some localities, thus narrowing 
the limits of the small infested region. But it will 
take, at least, as much more money entirely to ex¬ 
terminate the insect in these few Massachusetts 
towns, even if such a thing be among the possibilities. 
In view of these facts, one should be very sure and 
then verify his observations again before giving out 
the report that the Gypsy moth—the worst insect pest 
ever introduced into this country—had appeared in 
any locality outside eastern Massachusetts. It is too 
serious a matter for any guess-work. 
Realizing this, I have taken pains to investigate 
this reported occurrence of so serious a pest in New 
York State, and am very glad to be able to state that, 
only a few days ago, our State Entomologist, Dr. 
Lintner, was able to secure specimens of the cater¬ 
pillars from one of the sources of the report. A single 
glance at the first tangible evidence thus submitted 
to support such a report showed Dr. Lintner that the 
insect which was doing the damage was not the Gypsy 
moth, but one of our common hairy caterpillars, first 
cousin to the Apple-tree Tent-caterpillar, which has 
been allowed to defoliate so many of New York’s 
apple trees this summer. In short, the Delaware 
County Gypsy moth invasion proves to be simply an 
unusual outbreak of the common forest Tent-cater¬ 
pillar (Clisiocampa disstria). The caterpillars of the 
Apple-tree Tent-caterpillar (Clisiocampa Americana) 
can be readily distinguished from those of its near 
relative by a glance at the light stripe which runs 
down the middle of the back. In the apple-tree 
species, this whitish marking forms a continuous 
stripe while, on the forest species, the stripe is broken 
at regular intervals, being in reality only a row of 
elongate spots extending down the back. 
A little earlier in the season, both of these cater¬ 
pillars worked upon the apple tree, and now the forest 
species is reported as unusually abundant in several 
localities in New York. Both species have been be¬ 
fore mistaken for the Gypsy moth caterpillars, and it 
