1897 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
773 
The Farmers’ Club. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and address ol 
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.] 
An Apple Orchard in Arkansas. 
R. A. L., Arkadelphia , Ark. —I am desirous of planting 10 acres 
of winter apples. The land is river bottom, subject to overflow 
from two to six feet. It is cane land, the cane growing 10 to 20 
feet. The timber consists of Red gum, sycamore, Red elm, Hack- 
berry, Box elder, ash, and occasionally a Black oak and Cotton¬ 
wood. The soil is sandy loam, and yields 60 to 80 bushels of 
corn, and 1 to 1!4 bale of cotton per acre. Would apples succeed 
on this soil 7 Would the overflow injure the trees ? What varie¬ 
ties, and number of each for the 500 trees, should I plant 10 acres ? 
Would you advise getting trees grown south of this locality ? I 
want nothing to ripen before September 15, and mostly as late as 
possible. What changes would you make in the following list: 
10 Wealthy, 10 Buckingham, 10 Red Winter, 25 Bradford, 65 Wine- 
sap, 50 Ben Davis, 10 Gano, 10 Texas Red, 100 Arkansas Black, 50 
Kinnaird, 50 Shockley, 25 Shirley, 25 Loy, 50 Mammoth Black 
Twig, 10 Yates ? 
Ans —It is not advisable to plant an orchard on 
low land, espeeially land subject to overflow. Apples 
succeed best on high land ; they need well-drained 
soil, also good air drainage for best results. I am of 
the opinion, from the information at hand, that there 
is some very desirable apple land in the vicinity of 
Arkadelphia. In that section, it is especially desirable 
that the location be such that the necessary air drain¬ 
age mentioned above can be had as well as a well- 
drained soil. Apples will do fairly well in that 
section on well-drained land without the air drainage, 
but they will not have as good quality or color as 
fruit from higher land. Regarding the varieties, 
some are mentioned in the list with which I am not 
acquainted, and I cannot give an opinion. I would 
plant sparingly of some of them. It is a good plan 
to plant few varieties for the market crop ; this is a 
great advantage when it comes to marketing, and but 
few varieties are perfectly reliable bearers. For the 
orchard above mentioned, as a commercial orchard, 
I would plant Ben Davis, Shockley and Winesap for 
the main crop. Then for a variety, Mammoth Black 
Twig, Yates, Kinnaird and the other varieties, a few 
of each. joiin t. stinson. 
Arkansas Experiment Station. 
Corn Smut; Cause—Prevention. 
H. II., French Creek , N. Y. —How can I prevent smut in corn ? 
We follow a four-years’ rotation, and our corn Is very smutty. 
If the corn stalks that are left by cows are thrown out with the 
manure and plowed under for corn, will that produce smut 7 Is 
smut injurious to cows 7 
Ans. —An extended investigation of corn smut has 
been made at the Kansas Experiment Station, and 
the results were published in Bulletin No. 62, Decem¬ 
ber, 1896. The following brief quotation is from the 
bulletin referred to: 
The smut does not usually make Its appearance on the corn till 
it Is two months old. Observations later in the season show 
that, other conditions being equal, all corn becomes about equally 
smutted, regardless of the time of planting. * * * The spores 
of the smut, the black or dark-brown powder composing the smut 
boll, germinate in water, or better in manure solution. In this 
way, each spore forms a large number of smaller, colorless 
spores, which, in turn, may be blown by the wind on the corn 
plant. The little spores or germs gain an entrance at some part 
of the plant which is in an active, growing condition, such as 
the central part of the cone-shaped mass of young leaves at the 
end of the stalk, the young ears or tassel, or even the brace 
roots. A smut boil appears about 10 days after the entrance of 
the disease. 
Smut is most abundant in dry seasons and in the dry localities. 
Smut is usually more abundant where the soil has been recently 
manured, or on corn growing near stables, barnyards, etc. The 
smut cannot be prevented by soaking the seed in fungicides (or 
by the Jensen method), as is the case with oat-smut and stinking 
smut of wheat. Since manure forms a favorable breeding 
ground for smut, fresh manure should not be applied to corn 
ground, especially in damp soil. 
If the smut boils are gathered as they appear, re¬ 
moved from the field and destroyed, the number of 
smutted plants from year to year may be greatly re¬ 
duced. 
In the tenth annual report , of the Wisconsin Agri¬ 
cultural Experiment Station are found the results of 
a most painstaking experiment in feeding smut to 
cattle. From six to 64 ounces of smut were fed daily. 
The details of this experiment are too lengthy to be 
quoted here. It will suffice to quote the conclusions 
reached : 
It is quite evident that smut is not an active poison, in moder¬ 
ate quantities. It seems to me that the principal danger from 
this cause lies in turning the cattle into stalk flelds where they 
often gorge themselves with dry corn fodder and smut. It may 
be that an unnatural desire is created for this improper food by 
certain animals in the herd. 
In earlier days in the West, the general custom was 
to turn the cattle into the stalk fields, and allow 
them to roam at will until they had consumed all the 
rough forage. It was noticed that, as long as there 
was plenty of water in the field, no evil results fol¬ 
lowed ; but if the cold weather froze up the sources 
of water, so that the animals could not readily get 
at it, impaction of the manifolds followed quickly. 
While this result might have occurred if there had 
been no smut in the field, yet it was noticeable that, 
when there was abundant smut, the cattle suffered 
far more than when the fields were measurably clean 
of it. Cattle usually relish smut better than corn 
blades. Possibly, this may be due to the fact that 
the smut is a far more nitrogenous and concentrated 
food than the corn stalks. i. p. Roberts. 
How to Graft Hickories. 
H. S. K., lalesville, Conn. —How can I graft small Shellbark 
hickory stocks 7 Do you leave the scion entirely covered with 
soil, or let it extend above ground 7 What season of the year is 
best to operate 7 
Ans. —Cut the scions before severely cold weather 
if possible, or later will, perhaps, do. Label them 
plainly, and put them in the refrigerator of some 
neighborly grocer or butcher, or bury them in the 
ground just north of some building or other place, 
where they will not start to grow, or even swell their 
buds until late spring. After the leaves have begun 
to grow on the stocks, dig away the earth from them, 
laying them bare from four to six inches under ground. 
Cut off the stock, at least two inches below the surface, 
or more, if the branching roots will allow it, and 
with a rather sloping cut. At the top of this slit the 
bark for an inch. Use a scion six or more inches long, 
and one with a terminal bud has the greatest vitality. 
Trim it with a long, sloping cut from one side only, 
and as smooth and straight as possible. Slip this 
down between the bark and wood of the stock where 
the slit was made. Tie it with an old cloth strip 
firmly to the stump. Press a ball of soft clay about 
the wound. Fill up the hole with earth, and bank to 
near the top bud of the scion. This method will in¬ 
sure the best possible chances for the vital union of 
stock and scion, and before the scion has dried out, as 
it is likely to do in the open air. Keeping it moist 
prevents this. When the sap is very active, the union 
takes place much sooner than when it is not. Com¬ 
mon cleft grafting will do quite well for nut trees, 
but the bark method has proved much better with 
me, both below and above ground. On a neighbor’s 
wild chestnut trees, I set scions of Paragon in 1896, in 
this way, fully 25 feet above ground, that this year 
were full of large, perfect nuts. The hickory and 
walnut are more difficult to graft than the chestnut, 
at least they seem so ; but when we learn just the 
way to treat them, I fully believe that we can graft 
them successfully. I know that, under my advice, as 
just given, one of the leading Pecan growers of the 
South had nearly all his grafts to take set on small 
Pecan stocks under ground. If Shellbark hickory 
and walnut stocks be treated the same way, they will 
succeed, also, I firmly believe, from the little experi¬ 
ence I have had with them. Situated as I now am, I 
have no chance to make extended experiments with 
them. h. e. y. d. 
Pruning Currants, Gooseberries and Grapes. 
J. T. T., Newark, N. J. —1. When and how severely are currant 
and goosebery bushes pruned 7 2. How about transplanting 
six-year-old grape vines, pear and plum trees to more favorable 
locations 7 
Ans. —1. Currant bushes bear their fruit on the 
wood that is two or three years old or more. After a 
branch has borne several crops, it is best to remove 
it, because the younger wood will bear larger cur¬ 
rants. Cut out the old wood, therefore; it is also 
well to shorten back the young branches, and cut 
out the weaker ones. The gooseberry should be 
pruned much the same as the currant. It is neces¬ 
sary that the gooseberry should have a more open 
head than the currant, so that the air may have free 
circulation and prevent mildew. They may be 
pruned now or at any time before the sap starts in 
the spring. 2. Grape vines six years old may be 
easily transplanted. Cut back all the wood to near 
the soil, and preserve all the roots within a diameter 
of two feet. We would dig a trench about such 
large trees this fall, and transplant them in the 
spring. 
Wool Waste and Fertilizers. 
C. I. Al., Alt. Holly, N. J. —I have a small pear orchard. What 
is the best fertilizer for it—hen manure, potash or stable man¬ 
ure, fine 7 How much of either on trees three years old 7 Is 
wool waste good to put broadcast on potato ground 7 
Ans. —We would rather put the hen and stable 
manure on other crops, and use muriate of potash 
and bone in the orchard. Three parts of bone to one 
of muriate form a good mixture, and from six to 10 
pounds of this mixture around each tree. Wool 
waste does not make a very useful fertilizer. Its fer¬ 
tility is in an insoluble form, and is not available 
enough for potatoes. We would use the wool waste 
in the stable to absorb the urine, and then compost it 
in the manure. 
What is u Fit tea Cheese?’' 
J.H., Greenfield, Alo. —What is filled cheese? With what is it 
filled 7 How may it be detected from houest cheese 7 
Ans. —Filled cheese is the name given to a sub¬ 
stance which is made by adding lard or beef fat to 
skim-milk. Full-cream cheese is made from whole 
milk, and contains a certain amount of butter fat. 
In order to counterfeit the genuine cheese, the man¬ 
ufacturers skim the milk wholly or in part, and then 
add enough of the inferior hog or beef fat, to make 
up for the loss of the butter fat in skimming. The 
milk is then made into cheese, and is, as you will see, 
a skim-milk cheese, with a certain amount of cheap 
fat mixed with it. An ordinary analysis of such 
cheese would show about as much fat as there is in 
the pure article, and in order to detect the fraud, it is 
necessary for the chemist to distinguish between but¬ 
ter fat and the cheaper hog and beef fats used as 
substitutes. 
Bone and Potash for Strawberries. 
IF. F. W., Crumpton, Aid. —I grow six to eight acres of strawber¬ 
ries, and have not used anything on them except stable manure 
This fall, I have bought ground bone and dissolved bone, and am 
mixing it one-third dissolved, two-thirds ground bone. Will I 
need anything with it, or is bone good for berries at all 7 My 
land is part sandy and part black loam. What ought the analysis 
to be of ground bone 7 My bone came in sacks not branded. 
Ans. —The strawberries ought to have potash in 
some form as well as bone. Stable manure supplies 
nitrogen chiefly, and the bone supplies nitrogen and 
phosphoric acid. Ground bone of average quality 
should analyze about 3% per cent nitrogen, and 25 
per cent phosphoric acid. We do not consider it 
economical to buy dissolved bone for small fruits, as 
the fine-ground raw bone is available for such crops. 
You should use potash in some form. With unleached 
wood ashes, you may use equal parts ashes and ground 
bone. We use muriate of potash, three parts bone 
and one part muriate. 
Wood Ashes in Place of Lime. 
J. II. C., Deadwood, S. D. —I have some land that la sour; lime, 
on account of its cost, is almost out of the question, but I can get 
pine wood ashes (pitch pine) for the hauling in almost any quan¬ 
tity. Would these ashes not answer the purpose of sweetening 
the land 7 Or is there anything deleterious in pine wood ashes 7 
About what quantity should I apply 7 
Ans. —Tnere is nothing in pine wood ashes that will 
injure land. A ton of such ashes will contain 700 
pounds or more .of lime, which is in excellent condi¬ 
tion for “ sweetening ” or curing the soil. You can 
safely use three tons of the ashes per acre if you can 
obtain that quantity. From choice, we would rather 
broadcast the ashes after plowing, and harrow 
them in. 
Best Material for Reservoir Lining. 
J. H. C., Deadwood, S. I). —I wish to construct a reservoir 80 
feet in diameter and 7 feet deep. Were I to scrape it out with 
sloping sides and puddle the sides and bottom carefully with 
clean clay, would its efficiency compare favorably with crushed 
rock and Portland cement on sides and bottom 7 What would 
be the probable cost of a concreted reservoir of this size 7 
Ans. —Clay is not as satisfactory a material with 
which to line a reservoir as concrete ; clay might 
answer for the bottom, but concrete is best for the 
sides. Conditions vary so much that a hard and fast 
price for such work cannot be given. The recent 
actual cost per cubic yard for drag-scraper earth ex¬ 
cavation, hauling about the distance you will have to 
haul, was 15 cents. The actual cost for concrete per 
cubic yard was as follows : 
Quarrying stone. $0.45 
Transporting stone. 0.50 
Breaking stone. 0.35 
Cement, per barrel, $1 35. 1.80 
Sand, cost of digging. 0.10 
Water. 0.05 
Labor, mixing and laying. 0.75 
Incidentals. 0.05 
Cost per cubic yard.$4.05 
These details were based on the following : The stone 
was broken to pass through a ring 2 % inches in diame¬ 
ter. The mortar was one part Rosendale cement and 
one part sand, the concrete one part mortar and 2}$ 
parts stone, mixed by hand. Common labor was 81.25 
per day, and the foreman, 82.50 per day. Assuming 
these figures to be applicable to your conditions, it is 
probable that the cost of such a reservoir as you 
mention, with sides and bottom concreted six inches 
thick, would be about 8550 ; with sides only con¬ 
creted, the cost would be about 8350. Your conditions 
may largely modify these prices, but by the data 
given, you can make a reasonably close estimate of 
what your work will cost. j. a. h. 
Value of Corn Fodder. 
S.A.J., New Jersey.— I topped my corn, stripped the leaves 
from the stalk below the ear, and have got tops and leaves in 
the barn in excellent condition. What is the feeding value of 
this fodder, compared with ordinary hay, at $12 to $15 per ton 7 
What is the value of the butts of the stalks compared with the 
tops 7 What is the value of the stalks as a whole compared with 
the leaves 7 
Ans.—A fair comparison of these values may be 
stated as follows : 
POUNDS IN ONE TON. 
Muscle-Makers. 
Fat-Formers. 
Pure Fat. 
Timothy hay.... 
100 
865 
44 
Whole fodder... 
610 
22. 
Leaves and tops 
120. 
700 
28. 
Stalks alone.... 
38. 
340 
10. 
The leaves and upper part of the stalks, if well-cured, 
are worth as much for feeding as good Timothy 
hay. The butts contain considerable feeding value, 
but if too hard, they will not be eaten readily. If 
they can be run through a shredder, the stock will 
eat much of them, and what they leave may be used 
for bedding. 
