1901 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
477 
BOOK BULLETIN 
For Sale by The Rural New-Yorker 
My Kinp and IJis Service, by Frances 
Ridley Havcrgal, well known as a writer 
of devotional books. We have a few 
copies of this work beautifully bound in 
red and silver. Price, postpaid, 15 cents. 
TiiK Ilorticidturist's Rtde Book, by Prof. 
I„ II. Bailey. A great amount of infor¬ 
mation in condensed form for fruit grow¬ 
ers, truck gardeners, and florists. Reme¬ 
dies ff>r injurious insects and plant dis¬ 
eases, and methods of killing pernicious 
weeds. 'I’ables and rides useful in farm 
computations. Price, postpaid, $1. 
Crr Price Books. Any of these 20-cent 
bonks sent postpaid for 10 cents: 
Chemicals and Clover. 
Pertilizer Farming. 
Fertilizers and Fruit. 
My Handkerchief Garden. 
Milk, Making and Marketing. 
Accidents and Plmergencies. 
Tine New Rhubarb Cidture, by J. E. 
Morse. R. N.-Y. readers are acquainted 
with Mr. Mouse’s writings on this subject, 
and gardening in general. Part I. gives 
fidl details of his methods of growing and 
prejiaring rhubarb for market, with 34 
recipes for cooking and preserving it. 
Part II. deals with the methods of other 
well-known growers; 2!) illustrations. 
Price, postpaid, 50 cents. 
A TRIP THROUGH SOUTHERN NEW 
YORK. 
Leaving the Ilinlson River at the west 
near Newbuig one soon gets beyond the 
general fruit belt; but driving through 
this eountry one cannot help hut observe 
the evidences of old settlements as indi¬ 
cated, le.ss iierhaps in the cultivation of 
the fields than in the improvements of 
fat III buildings, and especially in the deco¬ 
rations of the home grounds. The city 
suburbs and rural towns no longer monop- 
olizi: the evidences of culture and refine- 
men. The farm homes bear every indica¬ 
tion of comfort, and the grounds about 
them bloom with the rose, the honey¬ 
suckle, Spinea, snowball, and countless 
other varieties of flower, creeping vine and 
ornamental foliage. Gne is a little dis¬ 
appointed, however, in driving through 
this rich and fertile country, to observe 
the neglect of orchards and the general 
lack of small fruits for family purposes. 
In some sections, and to a large degree 
in all sections, the lack of vegetable gar¬ 
dens is aiso apparent. Some parts of 
ftrange Gounty have run too exclusively 
to tlie horse and the cow, yet while Ken¬ 
tucky may beat her in raising fast horses, 
and Delaware and Madison counties may 
rival her in the production of milk, she is 
yet favored in matter of location, in cli¬ 
mate and in soil, and besides her sons are 
now as they ever have been prominent in 
the councils of both State and Nation. 1 
drove over the old turnpike which connects 
the Hudson with the Delaware almost its 
entire length. At Montgomery we cro.ssed 
the Wallkill, with its rich fertile meadowfe, 
leaving the village of Walden, where it 
IS said 80 per cent of the knives manu¬ 
factured in this country are made. It is 
a rich fertile farming section all the way 
up to the base of the Shawangunk Moun¬ 
tains at Bloomingburg, but the frequent 
piles of weatherbeaten manure seen in the 
farmyards give an idea of want of thrift 
hardly in keeping with the county as a 
whole. 
As one climbs the mountains and passes 
over into Sullivan County, the whole con¬ 
dition of the county is changed. In Orange 
the improvements seem, to be for the com- 
fm-ls of the family; as you approach Sul¬ 
livan the iireitaralions all seem to be for 
the entertainment of Summer boarders. 
On one side of the mountain you leave 
fertile fields; on the other, except for a 
narrow valley at the base of the hills, you 
approach barren wastes. You leave be¬ 
hind sluggish streams; you meet clear bub¬ 
bling springs of crystal water, murmuring 
brooks, and rapid streams. “That tired 
feeling” seems to have left you as you 
(limb the first hill beyond the narrow 
\alley. 'I’licrc is no malaria in Sullivan, 
rial m e seems to have fitted it for a Sum¬ 
mer home for tired city people. For the 
liist 12 miles there is little attempt at 
cultivation. It is a dr.v stretch of barren 
waste. Yet leaving Wurtsboro one sees 
Summc'r cottages built h.v city men stretch¬ 
ing along for miles, and others in course 
ot construction. On the topmost brow of 
this barren plateau is the Sullivan County 
Club. A number of individuals secured 
possession of a large tract of land here, 
including some fresh water lakes, and 
erected a club house. Others have bought 
sites ttnd built cottages. I was agreeably 
surprised at the number of these cottages 
as well as by t-heir neat and attractive ap¬ 
pearance. q'hc view from the poiVit is 
extensive and most interesting. General 
cultivation begins again as the Neversink 
River is approached, and farm conditions 
improve to the west as far as Calficoon 
and north to the Ulster County line; but 
the Summer boarder and the city Summer 
resident are getting to be more and more 
a factor in the development of the county, 
not only in the villages and special re¬ 
sorts, but also on the farms throughout 
the length and breadth of the whole coun¬ 
ty. It is hard to get any idea of the num¬ 
ber of people who go to summer on the 
farms: but at Monticello nearly 4,000 people 
rest for longer or shorter time as circum¬ 
stances will permit. City men are also 
buying farms and building Summer resi¬ 
dences in this vicinity. What is probably 
one of the finest private Summer homes 
ill the county la located on a high eleva¬ 
tion just east of the depot. It has recently 
bten erected by Mr. John O’Neil. When 
the ground was first purchased there was 
little to recommend it except its superb 
location and commanding view. A liberal 
fortune has been expended in clearing the 
grounds, in masonry and in building; the 
house is modern in all its appointments as 
well as in finish and general construction, 
and commands a view- as far as the eye 
can see, covering a radius of not less than 
25 miles. The grounds have already been 
planted w'ith ornamental shrubbery and 
w'ith plans now under contemplation to 
furnish it with well developed stock adapt¬ 
ed to the location and severe climate 
of this section, the landscape effect will 
be in keeping with Mr. O’Neil’s original 
and lavish plan for a Summer house. 
J. J. D. 
LONG ISLAND NOTES. 
Bt.ACK Son,.—On the road from Dong 
island City to Flushing one sees a good 
many small patches, half an acre or a little 
more, of low land, which has been drained 
and is used for vegetable growing. This 
soil, largely decayed vegetable matter, is 
black as tar, and, when so fertilized as to 
give it a proper balance of plant food, 
produces excellent crops, especially of 
onions. Weeds are the great pest to the 
tiller of this soil, and in wet seasons like 
the present it is almost impossible to keep 
them down, as they grow so fast, and the 
land is too soft and greasy to work. 1 saw 
some plots of onions so completely over¬ 
grown with weeds that the owners had 
evidently abandoned them. In one place 
I stopped to look at what appeared to be 
a field of cultivated mustard, but found 
that it was planted to corn. The wild mus¬ 
tard had taken complete possession, and 
was waving its yellow flag to such an ex¬ 
tent that the corn was entirely hidden. 
A Back-Aciiino Job.—O f course weeds 
between the row's of vegetables can be 
subdued by cultivation, but those in the 
rows must be pulled out by hand, some¬ 
thing of an undertaking in large fields. 
Considerable of this gardening is done by 
foreigners from sections of Europe where 
women , are accustomed to working in the 
fields, and a good many are seen here, 
ceding or hoeing. I have seen workers 
using a little box or stool to sit on while 
pulling weeds, but the more common way 
is to get down on the knees. Now and 
then a man whose backbone seems to be 
fitted with ball bearings, stands up to it. 
'J'hose doing such work as picking up po¬ 
tatoes can materially lessen the backache 
by learning to bend at the hips and keep¬ 
ing the backbone as nearly straight as 
pt.ssihle. A man who was noted for his 
ability as a potato picker gave me this 
hint, and I have found it quite effective. 
Horseradish is cultivated to some ex¬ 
tent in this section of the Island. This is 
-in uncertain crop; that is, the price ob¬ 
tained varies greatly. Sometimes it sells 
for $l a barrel or less, and at othwrs M 
for a small basket, about three pecks As 
everyone knows who has tried to extermi¬ 
nate it, it is a strong grower, and every 
little piece of root that is left in the soil 
will make a new plant. It is, if anything, 
harder to get rid of than the artichoke. 
When planted for commercial purposes, 
the roots are set in Spring 10 or 12 inches 
apart in rows three feet apart, and cultl 
vated the same as corn. Of course, the 
richer the soil the larger and finer the 
roots. In digging it is necessary to be 
careful about breaking off the roots, if 
the field is to be used for another crop the 
next season. I saw some plots of horse¬ 
radish in the black soil spoken of above. 
This is well suited to it, being deep and 
mellow', so that the roots have every 
chance to develop, and are easily dug. 
Aspauagu.s. —About 15 miles northeast of 
Flushing is a tract of land six or seven 
miles wide, extending into the water about 
five miles. On one side is Hempstead Har¬ 
bor, and on the other Oyster Bay. In' this 
section great quantities of asparagus were 
formerly grown, but of late years the rust 
has worked such havoc that many have 
given up the business. There are, how¬ 
ever, scattered pieces here and there, and 
those who have had fair crops this year 
have been well paid for their perseverance 
on account of the high prices received. In 
some notes from this vicinity last year, 
mention was made of an asparagus man 
w'ho, while others were giving up the 
business In disgust, was setting a large 
new bed. This man is George H. Town¬ 
send, of Glenhead, and he is the most ex¬ 
tensive grower I found in that district, 
having at present about 25 acres in as¬ 
paragus. The new plot he set out last 
year looks unusually fine. Worms and 
beetles have been active on some of his 
fields. A spray of Paris-green had de- 
stro.ved a good many of them; but. there 
were enough left, either new arrivals or 
those that had escaped, to make another 
dose soon necessar,v. Mr. Townsend in¬ 
tends to use Bordeaux Mixture for the 
rust this season. Thus far he has worked 
on the principle of high fertilization and 
good care, and his success is certainly a 
strong argument for these methods. He 
believes in setting out strong roots, giving 
them every chance to develop, and not 
continuing the cutting season ton long 
The plants are thus much more likel.y to 
get the start of the rust and pull through 
the season in fair shape than those that 
are starved and cut until they have but 
little vitality left. In the new bed above 
m.entioned, cutting was stopped about 
June 1. Conover’s Colossal is the variety 
Mr. Townsend uses most extensively. He 
is making tests of Palmetto, which is 
claimed by some to be partly rust-proof, 
but did not seem to be very enthusiastic 
over it. However, his tests have not been 
carried out long enough to give any very 
definite results. He helleves that high cul¬ 
ture and the use of Bordeaux Mixture, 
where it can be applied properly, are the 
best means of dealing with this rust. No 
one with common sense w'ould expect to 
get the best work from a hired man by 
starving him and making him work 18 
hours a day; and the same principle, to 
some extent at least, will doubtless appl,v 
to a starved and overworked asparagus 
plant. 
Fruit. —Dong Island is not considered a 
fruit section, yet here and there are fair¬ 
sized orchards of various kinds, and most 
farmers have at least a few trees for their 
own use. The outlook for apples and 
pears is slim. T found some farmers near 
Glenhead and Roslyn who thought they 
might have half a crop, but most orchards 
that I examined showed but few pears and 
few'er apples. 
Rye for Straw'.—No great amount of 
r.ve Is sown for grain, but a good many 
farmers have a small field which they cut 
for horse bedding. For this purpose it is 
cut after it is too large for hay, but before 
ripening, and while the grain is so soft 
that In curing it dries away to a mere 
skin. In this stage the straw is exceed¬ 
ingly tough, and makes much better bed¬ 
ding than ripe straw. Most of the farm¬ 
ers who do this either have fine horses of 
their own, or sell the straw to those who 
keep fancy horses, many of which are 
found in the vicinity of Mineola. 
Potato Bugs. —The hot, dry weather of 
the past w'eek brought these pests out in 
full force, and growers have had lo be 
liberal in their use of "French bitters,” as 
one man said, referring to Paris-green. If 
some one would invent a scheme for ex¬ 
tracting the active principle from poison 
ivy and preparing it so as to be fatal to 
the Potato beetle, enough of this might be 
gathered from the rougher parts of Dong 
Island to make way with all the Potato 
bugs in existence. The cold wet spell made 
potato planting several days late. Some 
fields had to be planted over on account of 
the seed rotting in the ground. Others 
used damaged seed that had been cut and 
held for several days because of the rain, 
and these plants looked sickly. They may 
come along in fair shape later, but it is 
doubtful whether they will make a satis¬ 
factory crop. Planting inferior seed of any 
sort is a poor investment. 
Acres of Garden, yes, hundreds of acres 
of it, may be seen in the vicinity of East 
Williston, Mineola, Garden City and Hyde 
Park. This section is a great flat, and the 
most Intensive culture is practiced. These 
large tracts of land get better care and 
fertilization than most farmers give to 
their small gardens. I saw potato fields 
containing from 25 to 30 acres, the row's 
straight as a bee line, and the vines that 
healthy dark green that a potato shows 
when he is well satisfied w'ith the condi¬ 
tions under which he is living. w. w. ii. 
On page 387, upper right-hand corner, 
writing of balsams, the types made 
the writer say “Keeping off all dead 
branches,” w'hen it should be side branches. 
'I'he result of keeping off the side branches 
is to grow the plant as straight as a 
broomstick with flowers thickly set oh 
the trunk from bottom to toil. j. y. p. 
A Dice Kii.i.er.—O ne ounce crude car¬ 
bolic acid to one quart crude petroleum 
makes a very good lice killer for chicken 
houses, and we find it very satisfactory, 
sprayed on, for keeping flies off cattle. 1 
have used the commercial article, but 
found it expensive, and think this an ex¬ 
cellent substitute, and cheaper, c. p. l. 
The Joilg Girl 
often changes to the jaded woman. 
c'n’t see what’s come over Mary ; she 
lused to be such a jolly girl,” was the 
remark of a young woman visiting a 
married school¬ 
mate. Marriage 
chants a wom¬ 
an. The drains 
and pains which 
are so often the 
sequence of 
marriage rob 
her of all vital¬ 
ity. Give her 
back her former 
strength and 
she’ll be as 
"jolly” a wife 
as she was a 
maid. Doctor 
Pierce’s Favor¬ 
ite Prescription 
gives back the 
lost strength by 
re - establishing 
the health of 
the delicate 
womanly or¬ 
gans. It dries 
the drains and 
stops the pains. 
It cures ulcera¬ 
tion, inflamma¬ 
tion and female 
weakness. It 
makes weak 
women strong and sick women well. 
"For two ye.irs I had been a sufferer from 
chronic diseases and female weakness,” writes 
Mrs. Allen A. Hobson, of 1125 Rodman Street, 
Philadelphia, Pa. "I had two different doctors, 
and they gave me medicine which only relieved 
me for a time. My niece advLsed me to 
take Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescription. I con¬ 
cluded that to open a correspondence with you 
for your advice would be safe.st, so I did, and 
have been highly benefited. I find that after 
taking six bottles of ' Favorite Prescription ’ and 
five of ‘ Golden Medical I)i.scovery ’ and follow¬ 
ing your advice in regard to local treatment, I 
am now a strong woman. Accept my sincere 
thanks for the interest manifested in my case 
and the happy results obtained.” 
Sick women are invited to consult Dr. 
Pierce by letter free. Correspondence pri¬ 
vate, Address Ur. R. V. Pierce, Buffalo, N. Y. 
aik 
Each 
KcE con¬ 
tains too lbs. ol new 
mi.’icil wii-e nails 
Irom about.'i to 40 i)enn.-y 
size. Order a Sample Ken. Write 
for Free OataloKiie No..'? on 
bulblinit material ami supplies. 
CHICAGO HOLISB WRECKING CO 
THE FULL MILK PAIL 
attetds the value and ia the sure reault ol the use of our 
NEW CENTURY FLY KILLER OIL. 
IhereIsno“fly time’* where It is used. Alwolulely safe—harin« 
neither man nor beast and will not taint milk. It Is most 
evenly and cheaply applied with our 8peciul Sprayer. 
Calves and young stock can’t thrive and grow if coiuiiiualiy 
lighting flies. It’s equally valuable for horses. Prevents “tly 
nervousness” ami has saved many a “run off” and “smash- 
up,” Ask your dealer for it. If not theie, send |].00 to us 
for SpruyiT and enough Killer to protect 150 cows 
or other animals. Wo are the sole manufacturers and 
want ueeiitH everywhere. 
D. B. SMITH CO„ UTICA, N. Y. 
Don’t Be Taken In! 
The dealer who tells you he has some¬ 
thing ju.st as good as 
Veterinary Pixine 
is mistaken ! He does not know. Trials 
and tests prove it the most marvelous 
Healing remedy made Ab.solutely iSure, 
it penetrates, ab.sorbs, soothes and 
heals—antiseptic—contains no mineral 
or poisonous substance. Will positively 
cure old sores, scratches, grease heel, 
hopple chafes, hoof rot, mange and all 
skin diseases, when veterinarians and all 
known remedies fail. Sold under an ab¬ 
solute guarantee. At all druggists and 
dealers or sent postpaid. 
At all druggists and dealers or sent prepaid. 
2 oz., 25c.; 8 oz., 50c.; 5-lb. pkge., f4. 
TROY CHEMICAL CO., TROY, N. Y. 
