466 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
.1 uly 6 
/I VERY PROMISING NEW STRAWBERRY. 
On June 14 I visited the farm of Thomas R. Hunt, 
of Lambertville, N. J. I had heard of Mr. Hunt as a 
successful farmer who makes use of an irrigation 
plant. He wrote about a heavy piece of grass, and 
the chief object of the visit was to see how it com¬ 
pared with Mr. Clark’s famous field. The grass was 
there, but I was surprised to find about the best col¬ 
lection of seedling strawberries 1 have ever seen 
growing together. Mr. Hunt has been growing seed¬ 
lings for many years. He has probably tested nearly 
2,000 in all, but at last has half a dozen or so that 
seem worth all the waiting and watching. The berry 
shown at Fig. 196 is one of the best we have seen. 
There were plenty of specimens fully as large as the 
one pictured here. The color is a dark, rich red, the 
flavor is excellent and the flesh is solid and firm. 
There was but little appearance of rust on the foliage, 
whidh is strong and thrifty. Mr. Hunt calls this new 
berry President, and it certainly looks as though it 
were well qualified to stand at the head. There are 
several other good seedlings. One called No. 8 has 
been quite largely planted by nearby growers as an 
early variety, and another called Amwell is locally 
popular. The President is the best of the lot, and 
looks like one of the season’s leaders. I know how 
disappointing some of these new varieties often 
prove. A few years ago 1 gave what seemed to me 
the facts about Gladstone. At Mr. Merceron’s place 
it was certainly a wonder, yet at Mr. Hunt’s, with 
the same treatment which all others received, it was 
inferior to President or Nick Ohmer. This seems to 
indicate that many varieties of strawtherries are very 
superior in certain localities or under certain condi¬ 
tions, and yet fail when deprived of just the soil or 
treatment which they need. Perhaps the President 
will prove to be of this class, but as grown by Mr. 
Hunt it is the finest berry 1 have seen this year. On 
June 24 Mr. Hunt wrote the following letter: 
“Thinking you might like to have an estimate of 
the yield per acre of my grass, I write the following: 
The plot was 254x224 feet, and contains about 1.3 
acre. The hay was hauled in seven loads, the last two 
not being quite full, but the others being loaded wide 
and long, and as big as could be hauled into the barn. 
We estimate the weight as at least five tons, but that 
being only guesswork, won’t go. The bulk can be 
testified to. If it had been allowed to stand until it 
was older, and got the weight it should have had, 
there would surely have been more than five tons. 
“The strawberries are doing fully what they prom¬ 
ised, especially Nick Ohmer. The President has gone 
clear out of sight of anything I ever saw in the straw¬ 
berry line. While not quite so large as when you 
were here, the form and color are still perfect, and 
the berries are perfectly solid yet. It has held out 
this way in spite of the fact that we have had no rain 
for over two weeks, and will bring up the last berry. 
Nick Ohmer is still very nice, and although run down 
considerably in size, is still extra fine, and 1 com¬ 
mand the market here. Have not sold any of the 
good berries below 12 cents wholesale, and only a 
very few crates of poor stock at eight cents; have 
sold more than enough at 13 cents to ovei-come that. 
I think I should have put my irrigaiting plant in op¬ 
eration, but have put it off waiting for rain until it s 
too late now probably to accomplish any good.’’ 
The grass mentioned was mostly clover—the Tim¬ 
othy having been beaten down by heavy rains and 
smothered by the clover. It was seeded after straw¬ 
berries and onions with little working of the soil. 
This matter of the grass and the irrigation is so in¬ 
teresting that I shall make it the subject of another 
article. ii. c. 
CHILDREN AND CHICKENS IN CUBA. 
Last year we printed several brief accounts of the 
work done at the Industrial Home at Matanzas, Cuba. 
Elmer E. Hubbard, a former New York State boy, estab¬ 
lished a home for orphan children. He has had a hard 
struggle to maintain the home, for the people who know 
of such things and would be glad to help them have 
many calls. It will be remembered that Mr. Hubbard 
imported Brown Leghorn hens from the States. The 
following letter from him gives a new side to the Cuban 
problem: 
Last November we had to give up the building and 
70 acres of land, where we had the boys and the hens, 
and let the hens go back to the Government, which 
had loaned them to us, and moved the boys into the 
girls’ home. In this one home we cared for about 40 
children through the Winter, and tried to make it a 
real home to them as much as possible. Two months 
ago we thought it time to have two homes again, and 
now are excellently located—^^the boys in a home on 
the hill with about an acre of garden attached, and 
the girls in a home on the shore of the bay which was 
formerly the home of the Spanish governor of Ma¬ 
tanzas at the time when some of these children were 
made orphans. While I have found much satisfac¬ 
tion with the children I can’t say that I have been 
very successful with the hens and the garden. With 
so many small untrained children to look after, and 
with little or no grown-up Cuban help, we two or 
three Americans have had our hands nearly full of 
the indoor work, and could not give much attention 
to outdoor work. Though we could sell eggs for 
from 25 to 30 cents a dozen all through the Summer 
and Fall there was not much profit in 20 eggs a day 
from 100 hens with corn at 90 cents a bushel and with 
a very long moulting season in the Fali. About 15 
of the hens died in the six months that we had them. 
Our boys have raised some vegetables, especially 
radishes, beets, squash, lettuce and egg plant, but it 
seems that not much successful gardening can be 
done in Cuba without an artificial supply of water. 
Even now in the so-called rainy season, after a week 
of pouring rains the very porous soil in the following 
week of hot sunshine becomes so dry that plants that 
TAKE A DRINK WITH ME ! Fio. 195. 
have not their roots reaching far down from the sur¬ 
face do not make much growth, and in the dry sea¬ 
son, when we have weeks and months of almost con¬ 
stant sunshine, abundant daily watering is necessary 
to make things grow. I hope that some time we can 
have one branch of our work so located that we can 
do some profitable gardening. 
With all the famed fertility of the Cuban soil it 
would seem that we ought* not to have to pay long 
the present prices for what we have to eat. Potatoes, 
$1.40 a bushel; beans, $3.20 a bushel; beef, 15 to 20 
cents a pound; salt pork, 12 cents a pound; butter, 40 
cents a pound, and oleomargarine, 20 cents a pound, 
with nothing much cheaper to take their places. I 
have just received two barrels of beans and four bar¬ 
rels of wheat from western New York. The cost of 
the heans there was $1.80 a bushel, and the freight and 
duty made the cost here $2.60 a bushel. The wheat. 
THE PRESIDENT STRAWBERRY. Fie. 196. 
which cost there 80 cents a bushel, cost here $1.46. 
We shall be very glad if we can see our work grow, 
for there is certainly need of much more being done. 
Only to-day I have gone to see a widow with her 
seven children, three of whom she wants us to take 
into our homes. They lost their home and property 
during the war, and her husband died, and she by 
strength of body and strength of character has kept 
all her children with her till now her physical 
strength is nearly gone, and she is broken down in 
health. She has taken such good care of her children 
that they are a family of which any mother might 
well be proud, but now some one must help her to 
take care of them. There are many similar cases. 
ELMER E. HUBBARD. 
TAKING A DRINK.—The picture Shown at Pig. 195 
is taken from an excellent leaflet published by the 
Humane Education Committee, Providence, R. 1. 
This leaflet is an appeal from the horses to their 
owners and drivers. During this hot weather the 
horse will highly appreciate an invitation to take a 
drink. Horses suffer greatly from thirst when work¬ 
ed hard in the hot sun. It is not only humane but 
profitable to keep them well supplied with water. 
BIG STORIES OF APPLES. 
On page 371 we gave some figures showing the in¬ 
come from a 14-acre apple orchard owned by Mrs. L. 
E. Allen, of South Hero, Vt. The net cash returns for 
apples were $2,564.14! Prof. F. A. Waugh, who made 
the report, says that some people call this “a fish 
story”—^too big to be true. He has secured the fol¬ 
lowing figures from two other Vermont orchards: 
Mr. Lucian Allen, also of South Hero, has 360 bear¬ 
ing apple frees, covering between five and six acres of 
land. From these he sold in New York 237 barrels of the 
crop of 1900, for which he received a gross return of 
$875.25, or an average price of $3.40 a barrel. Freight, 
cartage and commissions ate up $174.75 of this sum, leav¬ 
ing a net cash return of $700.50. These figures are taken 
directly from the returns of the commission man, (and 
the commission man seldom returns more money than 
the fruit brings). In addition to I lie $700.50 received for 
apples sold in New York, Mr. Allen sold a considerable 
quantity at home, from which he realized an additional 
$198.50. 'I'his makes a total of $899 for the year’s crop, or 
$150 to $180 an acre. Another Vermont apple grower, who 
objects to having his name used, hut whose accounts 
have been examined and found correct, has made still 
more remarkable sales. Last year his total sales (not 
net) v'ere $3,543.25 from 101^ acres. One single block of 
trees, covering 4'/^ acres gave a net return of $1,272, or 
over $282 an acre clear profit on the farming. 
Prof. Waugh vouches for these figures, and we be¬ 
lieve they are correct. We have looked over the fig¬ 
ures of several New England fruit growers, and know 
that they received nearly as much per a<-re or tree as 
did the Vermont farmers. What are we to conclude 
from all this? That New England is a land over¬ 
flowing with fruit and money, and that any man or 
any soil can earn thib amount of cash? No—that is 
the most dangerous conclusion that could possibly be 
drawn from these accurate figures. There are soils 
and locations peculiarly adapted to the development 
of certain varieties of apples. There are also men 
who by natural inclination and long and patient study 
come to know just how an apple tree should be cared 
for. When the capable man grows apples on the fit 
soil the results may be in time like those given above. 
The careless man on the best soil, or the best man on 
the unresponsive soil, can never reach them. There 
are many who start to climb the rocky road to the 
highest possibility in farming—yet few there be who 
do not wait by the wayside. 
BEE STINGS FOR CURING RHEUMATISM. 
We frequently see items floating in ♦he papers regara- 
ing the effect of continued stinging of bees. It is claimed 
that such stinging is a reasonably sure cure for rheuma¬ 
tism. As we understand it, the claim is that the acid 
developed by the sting of tlie bee renders (he patient 
immune to the disease. It is also said tliat after a person 
has been stung a large number of times, he is not likely 
to feel any ill effects from future stings. What is your 
opinion regarding this? 
This matter has been up in the bee journals for 
years past; but the testimony, like that in regard to 
many other things, seems to be conflicting. We have 
been compelled to decide that, while stings may be 
a perfect remedy for certain kinds of rheumatism, it 
is equally certain that they do not always cure other 
kinds, and that it does not work alike on different 
persons. 1 have conversed with bee-keepers who de¬ 
clared they were troubled with rheumatism during 
the Winter, when not working with the bees; but as 
soon as the season opens up, and they get stung more 
or less every day, the trouble disappears entirely. 1 
have sometimes thought the outdoor work, warm 
weather and perspiration may have had something to 
do with it as well as the stings. A medicine is pre¬ 
pared directly from the poison sac of the bee, remov¬ 
ing it for this special purpose. We have at different 
times filled orders from manufacturers of medicines, 
for bee stings taken directly from the live bees. But 
I am not satisfied that the poison induced by the sting 
of a bee has any direct effect on rheumatism. I say 
this when I remem/ber the wonderful cures that are 
being performed all the time with electi’opoise, absent 
treatment, mind cure, and a thousand other whims 
and superstitions. For years I labored to convince 
the people that electropoise had neither sense nor 
science about it; but long strings of testimonials 
from multitudes were against me, and so I gave up 
in despair, deciding to “let the world wag.” Soon 
after, however, one after another of the victims who 
persisted so strenuously that it was a scientific ap¬ 
paratus. opened up a “new era.” etc., drojiped it of 
his own accord, and now it has gone out of sight. 
Perhaps I am a little hasty in thinking the bee-sting 
cure may be something along this line; but for some 
reason or other but little is said alxiut it now, even 
though it made quite a stir when the matter first 
came up, years ago. It is true beyond question, I be¬ 
lieve, that, after a person has been stung a sufficient 
number of times, the poison begins to have less ef¬ 
fect, and finally produces no swelling at all; and this 
condition of the system seems to remain permanently. 
When I first commenced with bees, every sting pro¬ 
duced such a swelling that my friends hardly knew 
me. In a few months, however, this gradually ceased, 
and year after year w^hen I began again with the bees 
in the Spring, the stings produced only a momentary 
inconvenience. It is now many years since I was 
stung repeatedly; but I always find that, when it is 
necessary for me to go among the bees, I am just as 
immune in regard to the swelling and pain as I was 
20 years ago when I w'as stung dozens of times daily. 
Medina, 0. A. i. root. 
