1901 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
3o3 
Market Briefs. 
PICKED UP HERE AND THERE. 
apple wood.—a reader says that a 
large number of apple trees in his vicinity 
have been blown down by a storm, and 
he wishes to know whether the wood can' 
be sold to advantage in this city. We look¬ 
ed this matter up several months ago, but 
were unable to find any dealer who was 
willing to pay enough for this wood to 
warrant shipping it any great distance. 
At one time it was largely used in the 
manufacture of pipes, but other woods 
have taken its place. Makers of tool han¬ 
dles use some apple wood, but most of 
these factories are in smaller towns and 
they get all that is needed from the sur¬ 
rounding country, often at a trifie above 
cord-wood rates. 
REFERENCE W^ANTED .—We are asked 
to look up the business standing of Chas. 
H. Lyons, dealer in butter, cheese and 
eggs, at 2G4 Greenwich St., New York. He 
may have a first-class standing and refer¬ 
ences, but thus far we have not been able 
to find them or him either. On the ground 
floor of the number given is a Chinese 
laundry and a tailor’s shop. At the door 
of the hall leading to the upper stories, is 
Mr. Lyons’ sign and an iron box to re¬ 
ceive letters. Every time we have tried 
the door, however, it has been locked, and 
signs on the building indicate that the 
upper rooms are vacant and to let. He 
is evidently doing a mail business, how¬ 
ever, for letters were seen through a crack 
in the mail box beside the door; but where 
he receives his goods or has his office we 
are unable to say. 
CUT IN RAISINS AND PRUNES.—The 
California Cured Fruit Association have 
struck a hard row to hoe. They have now 
on hand 900 carloads of raisins, more than 
the ordinary trade will require before the 
new crop. The only thing seemed to be 
to cut prices so as to induce consumers to 
use more raisins. The present reduction 
is only on seeded raisins, the price to 
seeders being made three cents per pound. 
This would allow retailers to sell pound 
cartons at about 10 cents. It is thought 
that at these figures most of the sur¬ 
plus will be worked off. so as to 
be out of the way of the new crop. Great 
dissatisfaction is expressed at the manner 
in which the Prune Association has han¬ 
dled matters. It is said that one-third of 
the growers have not received pay for 
the last crop, and the courts have decided 
that contracts for this season may be can¬ 
celed. If this decision holds, the Associa¬ 
tion will practically go out of existence. 
DEAD LETTERS.—Every year thousands 
of letters are sent to 'Washington as 
’’dead,” because of wrong address or re¬ 
moval of person to whom written. All 
this might be saved if the sender would 
put his name and address on the left hand 
upper corner of the envelope. Then the 
letter would be returned to him if it could 
not be delivered. There is another reason 
why this should be done. Suppose a man 
sends goods to a commission merchant, 
and is unable to get any reply to his re¬ 
quests for account of sales. If his name 
and address and a request for return are 
on the envelope, he may be quite certain 
that the letter wdll be delivered or returned 
as "not found” or "refused.” If the party 
to whom the letter is addressed receives it, 
or refuses it, and gives the shipper no 
satisfaction, he then has a case which the 
postoffice inspector at the general post- 
office in this city will take up, and, if 
fraud is found, the mail of the guilty party 
w'ill be stopped, thus making things highly 
uncomfortable for him. The idea is that 
scalawags must not use the malls to carry 
on their fraudulent work, of course these 
inspectors are provided only to take charge 
of clear cases of fraud, and under no cir¬ 
cumstances would they be employed it) 
settle petty disputes between people. It 
those who come across clear cases of 
swindling of this sort would report to the 
postmaster at the office where the fraud 
is being carried on, giving full details, it 
would materially help to make life miser¬ 
able for those who carry on a scheme of 
systematic robbery through the mails. 
__ W. W. II. 
CONDITION OF GRAIN CROPS. 
The wheat and rye, in so far as I can 
see and learn, have wintered unusually 
■well, and are starting up nicely now. Most 
of that early sown (before September 25) 
was hurt in the Fall by the fly, and that 
is looking bad. A majority of the acreage 
was sown late; the Winter was very favor¬ 
able, freezing up early and remaining so. 
Ihere was light snow in January; Febru¬ 
ary 3, 12 inches of snow-. Increased a week 
ater to 18 to 20 inches on level. The ground 
remained covered until about the middle 
of March. Newly-seeded clover has win¬ 
tered well also. Prospects are more favor- 
a le for wheat than for several years, un- 
ess fly gets to work late. In seeding grass 
on heavy land most sow the latter part of 
February, or fore part of March when 
ground is honeycombed; on light soils about 
April 1, after harrowing thoroughly with 
spike-tooth harrow. I prefer latter method. 
Wolcottville, Ind. j. c. o. 
Wheat and rye have gone through the 
Winter in good condition, and are looking 
promising now. The acreage of wheat 
will not be more than 50 per cent. Last 
Spring grass seeding was generally a fail¬ 
ure due principally to grasshoppers. The 
ground sown to grass then wilt be put to 
corn, making a large acreage of corn and 
a short hay crop. Grass seed is sown with 
small grains, being harrowed before and 
after sowing. For the past 10 years it has 
been almost impossible to get a catch of 
clover on the prairie and the openings just 
on the edge of prairie. Timothy is sown 
generally in October on the young wheat, 
and the clover the last of March or first of 
■Api’il- j. s. 
Lima, Ind. 
The Fall-sown grain in this section is 
looking very wed this Spring, and the 
newly-seeded grass is good. 1 sow my gi’ain 
with a drill and always sow the Timothy in 
the Fall and clover in the Spring, and go 
over the field with the weeder after the 
clover is sown, if the ground is dry enough 
for the weeder. The smoothing harrow is 
good, but the slaruing tooth will destroy 
some grain in turning around at the end 
of the field. In order to get a good stand 
of grass 1 should first plow the ground and 
then harrow it very thoroughly to kill all 
weeds; then sow uuj pounds of some good 
grass fertilizer per acre broadcast, and 
harrow it in; then 12 or 16 quarts of Tim¬ 
othy about August 25, and go over it with 
the weeder. e. p. b. 
Columbia Co., N. Y. 
'J’here was a very small acreage sown to 
Winter wheat last Fall in this county 
(Menard), on account of Hessian fly and 
chinch bugs. Wheat wintered well and is 
looking fine. Rye looks well, but small— 
not much grown in this vicinity. Clover 
seeded last Spring is looking fine. Clover 
is generally seeded broadcast on "Vt’inter 
wheat or rye, and when sown late in March 
or early in April, and the ground is dry 
enough, is generally harrowed in, but when 
sown earlier, and ground is cracked, the 
rains and action of frosts cover the seed 
sufficiently. Considerable clover was seed¬ 
ed in this vicinity last Spring with oats, 
mostly early oats, and the clover is look¬ 
ing fine. Timothy is generally seeded in 
the Spring on Winter wheat. Our soil is 
mostly black loam. a. d. a. 
Sweetwater, Ill. 
Winter wheat and Fall seeding are look¬ 
ing remarkably well in this vicinity, and 
also in adjoining towns, as far as I have 
observed. With the same showing 20 years 
ago we certainly would have expected a 
yield of 35 or 40 bushels per acre. We sow 
our wheat from September 10 to October 1, 
and sometimes later, now that fertilizers 
are almost invariably used. Timothy is 
sometimes sown by seeder attachment on 
drill, or within a week or more by wheel¬ 
barrow sower. All varieties of clover are 
sown about April 1, and if favorable 
weather follows we are almost sure of a 
good catch. I sow four quarts Timothy, 
three to four quarts Medium, and Alsike 
clover per acre. This makes a choice qual¬ 
ity of mixed hay for one or two years, after 
which clover dies out, leaving a strong 
Timothy sod that will cut a good crop of 
hay for six or eight years if not pastured 
too close in the Fall. Our soil is clay loam. 
J^ima, N. Y. w. H. D. 
The Winter this year has been an ex¬ 
tremely favorable one for Fall-sown crops. 
The prospects now are that there will be 
a large crop of Winter wheat this coming 
season, in this section of Illinois. Wheat 
never came through the Winter here in 
better condition. Apparently, the Hessian 
fly will not trouble us this season. There 
were many of these flies last Fall in all of 
the wheat sown in this section, but wheat 
in which they abounded last Fall, when 
taken into warm quarters this Spring, fails 
to bring forth any flies. Our crop was 
practically ruined last season by this pest, 
but this year it has seemingly disappeared 
from some cause. If one variety is in any 
better condition than another it is the Har¬ 
vest King at the present. This variety is 
recommended by our experiment station. 
Fall-sown Alfalfa, clover, Timothy and 
Red-top are also in excellent condition. 
Those who tried the Clark method of seed¬ 
ing last Fall think it a good one. I believe 
that it will be more largely followed yearly. 
The general practice of farmers of this lo¬ 
cality is always to make a good seed-bed 
for all grain and grass seed sown. Our 
•soil (bottom land) has just enough sand in 
it to make it friable, and we rarely fail to 
get a good stand. A common expression 
of farmers here is: "Do half of the tending 
of your crop before it is planted!” Little 
rye sown here, but this looks well. Corn 
is our staple crop with wheat a very close 
second. r q 
Bluffs, Ill. 
The Great Value 
and the marvelous healing power of 
Veterinary Pixine 
has never been made more manifest than 
when in emergency a speedy and per¬ 
manent healing ointment is iirsrentlv 
needed. 
Apply it, rub it in on bare spots, in¬ 
flammatory swelling,old sores, scratches, 
grease heel and speed cracks. It pene¬ 
trates and soothes, and the horse grows 
well as he toils throughout the day. 
Absolutely antiseptic—scientific, un¬ 
failing. Indorsed by stock-raisers and 
trainers throughout the United States 
and Europe. Investigate ; money back 
if it fails. 
2 oz., 25c.; 8 oz., 50c.; 5-lb. pkge., $4. 
At all Druggists and Dealers, or sent prepaid 
TROY CHEMlCAIi CO., Troy, N. Y. 
Why Not 
Preserve Wlieat and 
Rye Straw Straight 
Round in 
Buinlles’.’ 
Please your custom¬ 
ers by saving barn room and ease of handling straw. 
We make a machine that we guarantee to thrash 
wheat perfectly clean and not bruise or break the 
straw, that will bind it again in bundles. The same 
machine thrashes rye and preserves the straw 
straight, bound In bundles, and is also changed in P) 
minutes to a spike-tooth oat and wheat thrasher 
Send for Catalogue B. Free 
GRANT-FEUKIS COMPANY, Troy, N. Y 
