6i2 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 7 
Jarmers Club. 
[Bvery query must be accompanied by 
the name and address of the writer to In¬ 
sure attention. Before asking a question, 
please see whether It is not answered In 
our adrertlsln; columns. Ask only a few 
questions at one time. Put questions on a 
separate piece of paper.] 
M'a^'es for Grape Packers. 
Reader.—What wages or prices are paid 
for packing grapes? 
I never pack grapes in baskets, and 
do not know wbat is paid by those who 
do. The gathering of my grapes is done 
by my regular help, as required, and no 
account of cost kept apart from other 
work. This wet, sultry weather is caus¬ 
ing some rot in grapes, more, I think, 
than usual with me, though not serious. 
New York. Walter f. taber. 
I have never had grapes picked by 
the basket, for the reason that I keep 
so many employed in the nursery that 
when we pick grapes we have our men 
pick them. However, I do not grow 
many grapes anyway, and there are not 
many grown here. I pay my men from 
11.25 to $1.50 per day; a few skilled men 
I pay more. sieas wilson. 
Iowa. 
The average price for packing grapes 
in this section is seven cents per hour. 
The work is done by women, and costs, 
when the grapes are in fair condition, 
about one cent per five-pound basket. 
For regular work men get $300 per year, 
or $30 per month; $1.25 per day and 
board themselves. For picking currants 
and cherries we pay one cent per quart; 
strawberries cent per quart. 
Trumansburg, N. Y. d. r. p. 
In this grape section packers are ah 
most invariably paid by the day and 
not by the basket. The average price 
per day is 50 cents and board, or 75 
cents without board. What that would 
be per basket depends somewhat on 
the worker’s skill and experience, but 
more on the condition of the iruit. In 
this vicinity all grapes are picked at 
least 24 hours before packing, so that 
the stems can wilt slightly. The clus¬ 
ters can be packed more closely in the 
basket without breaking the stems or 
cracking the berries; then all imperfect, 
decayed and cracked berries are trimmed 
out. A good packer will pack from 300 
to 500 baskets per day, and keep several 
girls busy trimming. No grapes are ever 
packed direct from the vine into the 
basket, in this Keuka Lake grape re¬ 
gion, as they do in Chautauqua County. 
The wages of other help in vineyard and 
on fruit farm vary from $1 to $1.50 per 
day for men according to their ability. 
Penn Yan, N. Y. E. c. o. 
Hessian Flies and Ragweed. 
L. P. A., Walworth, N. T.—l send you a 
box containing stems of ragweed cut from 
wheat fields. Are insects in the stem the 
Hessian fiy maggot? (I have examined 
several fields where the fly ruined the 
wheat crop, and find nearly all of the rag¬ 
weed in this condition. I have examined 
ragweed in corn and other places, and do 
not find any of the insects. If this is the 
fly why not mow the weed and burn it? 
A small acreage of wheat will be sown 
here on account of the ravages of the fly. 
Ans. —No, the stems of ragweed were 
not infested by the Hessian fiy. The 
•terns had been tunneled by a small 
caterpillar, but nearly every caterpillar 
in the stems sent had been killed by a 
little ichneumon parasite. I found many 
of the little brown cocoons of this para¬ 
site in the stems, and one or two pupae 
of the caterpillar which bored the stems. 
I think that farmers will make a mis¬ 
take in giving up sowing their usual 
acreage of wheat this Fall. For, even 
though the fiy should be as numerous as 
it was last Spring, the weather condi¬ 
tions thus far this Summer are such as 
to indicate that the flies will emerge at 
their normal time, or early in Septem¬ 
ber, and thus late-sown wheat will be 
much more likely to escape the fly than 
it did during such an abnormal season 
as last year, when the flies continued 
to emerge much later. I would advise 
farmers thoroughly to prepare their soil, 
and sow a decoy strip of wheat around 
the field at once. Then wait until about 
September 20 to 25, and plow under the 
decoy strip, and then sow the whole 
field. I believe that by this maneuver 
a farmer will win nine times out of 10 
against the Hessian fly. One must not 
expect to grow any crop without risk¬ 
ing something. m. v. slinqerland. 
Palue of Pearl Millet. 
D. L. P., Dover, N. ff.—What Is the true 
name of “Pencillaria?” A neighbor plant¬ 
ed quite a lot this Summer and it much 
resembles corn growing in tufts or stools. 
Is it of agricultural value and adapted 
to silage? 
Ans. —One of the older botanical 
names or synonyms of Pearl millet, 
Pennisetum typhoideum, is Penicillaria 
spicata. Pearl millet is a very strong¬ 
growing species from northern Africa. 
Planted in rows three or four feet apart 
on rich ground it will give an astonish¬ 
ing amount of palatable forage, which 
is relished by cattle and horses. In good 
seasons it may be cut three or four 
times, and two or three crops may al¬ 
ways be expected. It does not amount 
to much on poor land or under careless 
cultivation. It is little grown in this 
country except for experiments, but 
could be made useful where soiling crops 
are wanted. 
Pruning a Cherry Tree. 
J. R. F., Norwich, N. 7.—One of my Black 
Tartarian cherries Is strong and vigorous, 
but though standing in the open, persists 
in making an almost perpendicular growth 
—like a poplar. Will It harm the tree to 
head It in severely next Winter when dor¬ 
mant? The authorities I have consulted 
say a cherry should be pruned sparingly. 
Ans. —Sweet cherry trees as a rule 
need little pruning, but in case of too 
upright growth the top may be headed 
back, taking care to cut to an outeide 
bud as far as possible, so that the new 
growth will be likely to spread. 
A Parasite on Raspberries. 
P. M. n., Littleton, Mass .—I send a piece 
of Cuthbert raspberry vine with a vine 
which encircles It. It was first seen per¬ 
haps a month ago, and I paid but little 
attention to it. I dug around the vines, 
supposing it came from the ground, but 
find it grows from the cane, adheres firmly 
and spreads badly, I have cut away 20 or 
30 stocks, and fear it will still spread. A 
neighbor who has quite a large field of 
raspberries says he never saw anything 
like It. What is the parasite and how is 
it destroyed? 
Ans. —The plant is Cuscuta Gronovii, 
and for lack of a well recognized com¬ 
mon name it is usually called in the 
books Gronovius dodder, from Dr. 
Gronovius, who first collected it in 
Virginia and sent a specimen to 
Europe for identification in the early 
Colonial days. There are more than 
100 species of dodder recognized, 
many of them native in this country. 
This one is abundant in many localities 
throughout the eastern part of the Uni¬ 
ted States. It generally grows on coarse 
herbs and bushes in low land. I have 
but one record of it heretofore as grow¬ 
ing on raspberry bushes. That was at 
Andover, Mass., and an account of it oc¬ 
curred in a recent number of The R. N.- 
Y. Gronovius dodder, like all other spe¬ 
cies of dodder, is an annual, and is pro¬ 
pagated by seeds which germinate in the 
soil, sending up tender shoots. These 
swing about in the air until they touch 
some green plant upon which they can 
grow. If a suitable host is found the 
vines twine around the plant, sending 
suckers or small rootlets into the tissues 
of the host, through which the parasite 
obtains nourishment. The connection 
with the ground then dies. The young 
dodder soon dies off if it finds no suit¬ 
able host plant. This species grows 
most rapidly in the shade, or where the 
vegetation is rather dense. The best 
remedy for us destruction is therefore 
to keep the raspberry canes tninned out, 
and to cultivate the soil so as to destroy 
the young seedling dodders. The infest¬ 
ed stalks should be cut and burned, to 
prevent the seed production, and the 
place where the dodder has been intro¬ 
duced should be closely watched next 
season, so as to destroy the young dod¬ 
der plants as soon as they appear. 
LYSTER H. DEWEY. 
U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
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AERMOTOR 00 1206 ROCKWELL ST., GHIOAGO 
