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433 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
about the time when the Kalamazoo stock Is shown. It 
may be called a one-hearted celeVy, but in some hands it is 
somewhat branching : the leaf stalks are very solid, being 
in that respect much superior to the Kalamazoo. Two 
plants grown in good soil and pinned together make a 
bunch that “counts one in a box.” It came to this 
country from Vilmorin, the Parisian seedsman. It is now 
being cultivated right and left, and possibly too much of 
it will be grown. It should not, therefore, be banked all 
at once ; some of it should be allowed to run along into the 
winter. A leading dealer in Fanueil Hall Market informs 
me that his trade, which is a hotel sort, was clamoring for 
it all winter, and as its pitting qualities are good, there is 
no reason why that trade should not be accommodated. 
Another characteristic of Paris Golden that commends it, 
is that it is in a measure self-bleaching. Vilmorin states, 
in his catalogue, that it is literally self-bleaching; but I 
find that, if the earth is drawn up to it until it is half 
covered, its texture is improved and it becomes much 
sweeter eating. Its appearance is not altered by the opera¬ 
tion, for the leaf stalks remain about of the same color as 
before banking—yellowish-green—but its eating qualities 
are improved. Herein lies the danger to its ultimate suc¬ 
cessful introduction ; for if the trade should find that they 
cannot tell whether it has been banked or not, they will be 
a little chary of buying it, for unless it has been banked it 
is tough eating. In growing, it can be planted in rows not 
more than four feet apart, and six inches apart in the rows. 
Thus, if it thrives well, there will be a large crop per acre. 
The rows are so close because very little soil is needed to 
bank it, especially if it is marketed before heavy frost. If 
it is to remain in the ground until November 10—the time 
to commence pitting our Boston Market—it will have to be 
banked to the top of the leaves. In that case the rows 
should be farther apart so that there will be earth enough 
to bank it. I notice that one grower is dotting out his 
Boston Market in rows the usual six feet apart, and is 
pricking a row of Paris Golden between every two rows. 
He is evidently going to market it early, by slightly bank¬ 
ing it, an operation that will not disturb his rows of Bos¬ 
ton Market. Later on, he will use the same earth that had 
banked his Paris Golden for banking his Boston Market. 
In such cases the land should be previously left unplanted, 
for our regular celery is grown as a second cron, being 
pricked in, in vacant rows between early crops. E. p. K. 
Pressing Horticultural Work.— Black-seed onions, 
when young, are about the most sensitive little plants in 
the garden to neglect. If disregarded for a short time 
after they first need care, they rarely recover. I have been 
through mine twice—the last time very carefully—and ex¬ 
pect to go through them again next week, and when the 
third cultivation and weeding are over, I trust there will 
not be as many weeds upon the four acres as a Rural 
reader could carry away in his vest-pocket. When that is 
done, we sow Short-horn or Stump-rooted Carrot seed in 
every alternate space between the rows. The onion seed is 
sown in rows 12 and 14 inches apart, and the carrot seed 
will be sown in the 14-inch spaces. The onions will be ripe 
in August. They are harvested and put away to cure for 
market; the carrots are cultivated and left to grow until 
late in the fall, by which time there will, in all probability, 
be a fine crop. The moment we shall have finished pick¬ 
ing strawberries, we shall turn the vines under and set the 
ground with cabbage and celery. Thus it is easy to see 
that the work is unceasing and, in addition to all this, as 
soon as marketing strawberries begins, night-work has to 
begin, and shipments are made by every night as well as 
day express. j. m. smith. 
Green Bay, Wis. 
MAKE EVERY EDGE CUT. 
What would be thought of a farmer who sent his 
mowing machine into the hay field with a part of his 
kuives so dull that they would scarcely cut? And yet when 
we think it over, this is what many of us are now doing in 
all our farming operations. Let us look at some of the 
edges with which we cut our way on the farm, and see if 
they are not dull. First the cows: Are you making as 
much money from the cows as can be made from them ? 
No, you are not, because first they are not as good stock 
as they might have been. You might have got a thorough¬ 
bred bull-calf for a small amount a few years ago, or you 
might have paid a few dollars more and have bred to your 
neighbor’s thoroughbred, instead of to that scrub; but 
you did not. Or you might have read in the dairy column 
how the best dairymen were making good butter, and 
then practiced what you read ; but you did not. And are 
there not various other ways wherein you could have 
sharpened up the dairy edge on your farm and can still do 
so? Now let us look at the implements : Where are they ? 
If they are under cover, well painted and oiled, then this 
edge is well sharpened; but if not, you are paying the 
manufacturer and the blacksmith very dear for the privi¬ 
lege of running with this dull edge. And the manure pile ! 
This is the biggest blade in the machine ; look to it care¬ 
fully ; see that it grows no smaller, and if possible make it 
bigger. 
These are only three of the many edges with which you 
cut; but see what a difference it makes whether these are 
sharp or dull. Are you working with every knife in good 
order or are your kuives, dull, broken and rusty. Perhaps 
they are aud you don’t realize it; perhaps you have been 
toiling and sweating so long under your heavy work that 
it has become second nature to you. If this is so stop now, 
think carefully over every branch of your farming aud re_ 
solve that you will make every edge cut; for unless you do t 
you will keep “ under the harrow” to the end of the chap¬ 
ter. What becomes of the city merchant who does not 
make every edge of his machine cut; who does not think 
morning, noon and night how he can best improve each line 
of Ilia business ? The answer is very simple; “ He foils,” 
and in these times unless the farmer uses the well di¬ 
rected energy and persistence of his successful city brother, 
he will fail. 
But there is one knife that should be sharpened, not on 
account of any money it may directly earn, but on account 
of the pleasure it will give, and that is fruits and flowers. 
Don’t let us be in one perpetual grind from Monday morn¬ 
ing ’till Saturday night: we can work all the better for 
having a little pleasure and nothing on the farm can give 
so much of this as fruits and flowers. Let us have more of 
these than we want; let us share them with our neighbors 
and we will never regret having sharpened this edge. 
P. B. C. 
The Farmers Club. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and address 
of the writer to insure attention. Before asking a question, please 
see if it is not answered in our advertising columns. Ask only 
a few questions at one time. Put questions on a separate piece 
of paper.] 
Applying Stable Manure In July. 
Several Subscribers .—Last year the R. N.-Y. had con¬ 
siderable to say about quite a remarkable system of farm¬ 
ing employed at Cranbury, New Jersey. Among other 
things it was stated that the farmers apply what stable 
manure they use in July. Why is this done ? 
ANSWERED BY D. C. LEWIS. 
In the earlier days of my farming, before the general in¬ 
troduction of chemical fertilizers, the question with me 
was how to make the most productive wheat crop, and 
after wheat how to secure the best yield of grass. At 
that time probably 100 acres of oats were grown where 
now there are 10, and wheat always succeeded the oats 
and I was forced to use all my yard manure for the 
wheat and to assist in making my grass crop, with 
the addition of 150 pounds to 200 pounds of Peruvian guano 
per acre. Then I would apply about 100 bushels of green 
sand marl per acre, with all the yard manure, and the 
150 pounds to 200 pounds of guano. I was quite 
sure of a fair crop of wheat and a good crop of grass, 
with the introduction of chemical manures. As oats in 
these days have proved an unprofitable crop with me, an 
entire change has come about in my routine. It is now 
wheat, grown exclusively with chemical fertilizers, two 
years of mowing or pasture, then corn and next potatoes. 
This rotation seems to be at present the most profitable. 
As I do not make large quantities of yard manure, keeping 
only four head of cattle, and utilizing my wheat straw and 
corn-fodder for the purpose of manure, the latter is neces¬ 
sarily in a coarse state. Now,I know of no crop that can take 
hold of such coarse material as plant food as well as corn, 
it being a strong feeder. My accumulations of yard 
manure for the year will make a fair dressing—say 
10 loads per acre on from 14 to 17 acres, each year. As I 
make only one application during the crop year, in adopt¬ 
ing this system of applying my yard manures, my first 
cause of anxiety was what would be the effect upon 
manure applied in July from evaporation and waste. I 
was induced to leave a few acres unmanured then, making 
an application in the following March, in order to notice 
by actual experiment the difference, if any, in the corn and 
the succeeding crops. I found there was but little, if any, 
difference, and that what existed was in favor of the July 
application. This system appears satisfactory, and I pro¬ 
pose to continue it so long as I continue my present crop 
rotation—wheat, grass, corn and potatoes. It will be un¬ 
derstood that when I applied my yard manure to the 
wheat crop I was depending on the sward alone, with the 
natural soil, for my corn crop; but since the advent of 
chemical fertilizers, when I can make a crop of potatoes 
with a liberal application of them, and a light application 
to the wheat crop at the time of seeding, I have no anxiety 
about making every crop a success, provided the seasons 
are favorable. 
Riparian Rights. 
M. B., Home Park, Montana.—I was pleased to see so 
much interest in the matter of irrigation, as that is the 
only means we have of supplying moisture enough to 
plants to keeD them growing. The valleys in some parts 
ot Montana are getting so thickly settled that water is 
very scarce, and several parties are at law to see who has 
the best right to it. If a man owns a piece of land through 
which a stream is running, has he a right to take water 
from the creek over his land, having it so arranged that 
all waste water returns to the main channel before leaving 
his land ? Or can parties living below on another stream 
of which said stream is a tributary, prevent him from 
using the water? What is’the law with regard to the 
matter ? 
Ans.—I t is a general principle that every owner of land 
on a natural stream of water, has a right to use the water 
for any reasonable purpose not inconsistent with a similar 
right of owners above, below or opposite him. He may 
take the water to supply his dwelliug, to irrigate his laud, or 
to quench the thirst of his cattle, or to use for manufactur¬ 
ing purposes, such as the running of water-wheels, so long 
as he does not sensibly and injuriously lessen its volume. 
Where the stream is small aud does not supply water more 
than sufficient to answer the natural wants of the different 
owners along its banks, none of the proprietors can use the 
water for irrigating or manufacturing purposes; but for 
domestic purposes aud for watering stock one proprietor 
will be justified in using the whole of it. Twenty years’ 
use adverse to the rights of another, will give the person 
so using the stream the right to continue the use, regard¬ 
less of the other’s rights. In the above case if the stream 
is so small that it doesn’t supply more than enough water 
for the ordinary needs of those living on its banks, and if 
the amount of water expended in irrigation before the 
water returns to the stream is enough to sensibly lessen 
the volume of the latter, our inquirer has no right to use 
the stream for irrigating purposes, to the injury of those 
living lower down along its course. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
T. B. R., Brooklyn, N. Y. —1. What is the best work 
on “artificial manures” in English, French or German? 
2. Is fish manure of much value ? 
Ans.— l. Walks and Talks on the Farm, by Joseph 
Harris, is the best English work Storer’s Agriculture is 
excellent. 2. Yes. The Connecticut Experiment Station 
in analyzing a half dozen different samples of dried and 
ground fish found them to contain from 5.23 to 8.5 per 
cent, of nitrogen ; from 4.2 to 1.33 per cent, of soluble phos¬ 
phoric acid; from 1.96 to 4.65 per cent, of reverted phos¬ 
phoric acid; and from 2.22 to 3.8 per cent, of insolu le 
phosphoric acid. The estimated value of four samples ex¬ 
ceeded the cost by 32 cents, $1.11, $2.17 and $2.51 respectively, 
while the cost of two samples exceeded the valuation by 
23 cents and $5 97 respectively. Fish usually analyzes very 
high in nitrogen, and as this is the most costly constituent 
of fertilizers, any form of fish fertilizer should be valuable. 
H. E. T., Oxford, N. Y. —There is in my neighborhood a 
certain farm which experiment shows receives no benefit 
from the application of unleached hard wood ashes; but 
good results come from the application of complete fertil¬ 
izers. 1. Does that show that phosphoric acid and potash 
are of no use to the soil at present ? * 2. Would other forms 
of the^ame substances be likely to be of use ? 3. What is 
the cheapest method of furnishing nitrogen, supposing*that 
is all the soil needs ? 
Ans.— 1. No, it does not show that the soil will not be 
benefited by phosphates. The per cent, of phosphoric acid 
in most samples of wood ashes is too small to supply all 
the needs of plants unless very heavy quantities are ap¬ 
plied. 2. No, unleached ashes give potash in its most ac¬ 
ceptable form, that of carbonate, and the phosphoric acid 
chiefly in the form of phosphate of lime. 3. This soil un¬ 
questionably needs nitrogen in soluble form and probably 
phosphate. Clover among green crops is the best and 
cheapest. For the rest, we should use nitrate of soda, sul¬ 
phate of ammonia and blood. If one alone were used, we 
should choose the nitrate of soda applying it to the crops 
several times during their growth as previously explained 
in these columns. 
J. A. R., Stanard’s Corners, Y. Y. —I have a 14-acre 
field on the Genesee River flat. It has been cleared 15 or 
20 years, stumped, and used alternately for grain and 
meadow, and has always produced well; but about two 
years ago blackberries began to come in it, and now they 
seem in a fair way to monopolize it. Why have they in¬ 
truded, and what is the best way of ridding the lot of 
them ? What is the best method of exterminating live- 
forever (Sedum telephium). 
ANS.—We should cut the canes down in the hottest part 
of July, and plow the land and cultivate later, if needed. 
Nothing but continuous clean culture will subdue livefor- 
ever, that we know of. The R. N.-Y. has little faith in 
the results of introducing diseased plants of liveforever. 
W. H., Carlisle, Ky. —1. What is a remedy for insects 
that infest the raspberry ? 2. What are two standard 
varieties of strawberries, one to ripen before, and the other 
after, the Sharpless ? 
ANS.—1. Specimens of the canes or insects would be neces¬ 
sary for identification. It may be the Snowy Tree Cricket. 
This insect deposits its eggs in long, compact lines. The 
canes are apt to break from being weakened. The best 
way is to collect the canes in the winter and burn them. 
2. The Monmouth and Gandy (early and late) do well in 
many places. Kentucky, as a late berry, is popular. 
Would advise a trial of Parker Earle as continuing to 
fruit after Sharpless. 
E. A. T., Croton, Ohio. —I top my new raspberry canes 
at a hight of 2)4 to 3 feet. This causes them to throw out 
laterals which attain a length of from three to eight feet, 
and prevent the use of a cultivator between the rows. At 
what length should they be cut ? 
Ans.—T he best way is to pinch or cut out the laterals in 
their earlier growth—say when 18 inches long. 
J. A. E., Tiffin, Ohio.— Has the Rural New-Yorker had 
any experience in thinning potatoes to one stalk ? 
ANS.— Yes, a little, but not to make exact comparative 
tests. The R. N.-Y. No. 2 sprouts came up apparently too 
close. There were too many. About two stems from each 
seed piece were pulled up. The yield was at the rate of 
over 700 bushels to the acre on rich garden soil. 
C. A. R., Fulton, N. Y. —How can a brick walk be made? 
Is it desirable for farm grounds ? 
Ans.— The Rural’s advice would be not to make one. 
We consider brick walks undesirable for any location. If 
any of our readers know how to make good ones, we should 
be pleased to hear from them. 
C. J. M., L. Oenesee, N. Y. —1. How much blue vitriol 
can I use with Paris-green in three gallons of water, to 
prevent rot, without in the least injuring the potato tops ? 
2. Where can I get a light, handy sprinkler with which 
one man can sprinkle the solution ? 
A::s.—1. Three-quarters of a pound to three gallons. 
We know nothing positively as to what extent it will pre¬ 
vent rot. A recent bulletin of the Yermont Experiment 
Station says that by applying the Bordeaux Mixture in time, 
and repeating the application four or five times through 
the season, rot can be almost entirely prevented. A tea¬ 
spoonful of Paris-green will he sufficient for that amount 
of water. 2. The aquapult is what you want for applying 
the solution. Write W, & B. Douglas, Middletown, 
Conn., for it. 
