464 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July 11 
nine weeks ; one duck weighed as much as three 
chicks, and sold for two cents more per pound. Of 
course, the chicks consume less food, but the mortal¬ 
ity is greater, and the labor in keeping ahead of lice, 
vermin and disease among them, is much greater. If 
there is any other fowl or animal raised on the farm 
that will take on the same amount of flesh on the 
same quantity of food in the same time, I have failed 
to fiud it. H. E. MOSS. 
Kansas 
Only White Ducks Are Wanted. 
It ought to be impressed on the general farming 
public, or that part of it which raises ducks, that it 
should weed out all dark-colored ducks, and breed 
only from white ones ; I don’t care from what breed, 
or no breed at all, but they should be white, as they 
dress so much better. A white duck can be picked at 
any time, while a colored one will not pick off smooth 
until November. You can always command one to 
three cents per pound more for dressed white ducks. 
I have bought duck eggs on the market as they run, 
and the larger proportion would ba colored. I believe 
that I lost money on every one of them I have also fat¬ 
tened a good many western ducks. The white oaes paid 
a fair profit, but there was a loss on all the colored 
until after November. The colored ducks are not desir¬ 
able, the shippers work them off by putting 10 or more 
i a each coop of f>0, and to be able to buy the whites, we 
must accept a lot of miserable dark pinfeathers. As 
this is the season to select breeders for next year, this 
paint should be now fully understood by the western 
duck men. The East want all the ducks they can 
raise, but we want white ducks, and take the colored 
ducks only under protest. wm h. tbuslow. 
Pennsylvania. _ 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and address of 
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only a few questions at one time. Put questions on a separate 
piece of paper.] 
THE BEST LATE STRAWBERRY 
WIIAT SOIL FOR PARKER EARLE ? 
Wbat is considered the best late strawberry ? What soil is best 
adapted to the Gandy, and what is considered a good yield of that 
variety ? Will the Parker Earle do well on a moist, sandy bottom 
laud, when well fertilized ? The soil is quite gravelly, and never 
dries out—is always moist from below. I have, also, a clay bottom 
land equally moist, naturally very strong soil, will grow heavy 
crops of roots without manure, and is absolutely free from stones 
or gra vel. Which soil would be best adapted for successful high 
culture of Parker Earle ? j. w. w. 
Stow, N. Y. 
Yale, Brandywine, and Parker Earle. 
The Handy will do best on a moderately heavy soil, 
as most very late varieties do. The Parker Earle, I 
have never fruited, so I cannot say to what kind of 
soil it is best suited ; but it has a good reputation, 
and I have no doubt that it will do well on almost 
any good, rich soil. The moist, rich soil described by 
J. W. W. would be best suited to the Yale. We have 
found this variety the best late sort we ever culti¬ 
vated, when grown on such soil. It is later than the 
Gandy, very large and prolific, perfect in blossom, 
good for the table or market, and has no superior for 
canning or making syrup. The soil must be heavy 
and rich. The Gandy is not, with us, a heavy bearer 
or profitable to grow for market. edwin hoyt. 
Connecticut. 
Gandy, Brandywine, and Parker Earle are the three 
best late varieties, on my grounds. Gandy does best 
on heavy clay loam, not wet; I have picked at the 
rate of 1,600 quarts to the acre on such soil. Par¬ 
ker Earle does not do as well, but will do well on 
a moist, sandy bottom land if well fertilized. 
New Jersey. t. c. keyitt. 
Gandy Best Under Right Conditions. 
The Gandy, on strong, moist soil and under thorough 
culture, I consider to be profitable, and the best very 
late variety that has, so far, been introduced. A more 
beautiful beri*y, when well grown, was never placed 
upon the market—very large, uniform in size, very 
firm, and of the most brilliant color which contrasts 
strikingly with the very large, double, dark-green 
calyx. The most serious objection to the Gandy, 
urged by growers in general, is that it is not suf¬ 
ficiently productive. While this is true, to a certain 
degree, as regards the number of bushels that it will 
produce to a given area, the Gandy will prove itself 
as productive of dollars and cents as many of its more 
lauded and really inferior relatives. Under favorable 
conditions, there are no small berries among the 
Gandys. Nature has done for it j’ust what careful 
growers of choice fruits recommend to be done by 
hand if we would secure the finest specimens possi¬ 
ble—it has thinned the fruit j'ust right to bring to 
greatest perfection those which remain. 
The plant is perfection itself—very vigorous, large, 
healthy and hardy. It produces plenty of thrifty 
young plants upon long-jointed runners, and naturally 
forms a thinly set fruiting row—“just right,” accord¬ 
ing to my method of culture. With good care, a 
plantation of Gandys will be more productive the 
second, and in many cases, the third season of fruit¬ 
ing, than the first; this is another desirable character¬ 
istic of this fine variety. While I have never kept a 
record of the Gandys by themselves, to ascertain just 
what they would do in bushels and quarts, I will give 
my experience of the present season which has just 
closed. It is briefly told and, I believe, sufficiently 
significant: With the proceeds from the sale of ten 
quarts of Gandys, as I sold them wholesale, I could 
have bought in our market, during the busy season, 
one bushel of ordinary strawberries as grown and 
handled by those who do not make a specialty of the 
business of growing high-grade fruit. From my ex¬ 
perience with the Gandy, I can sincerely recommend 
to J W. W. this variety, with the assurance that the 
strong, moist clay bottom he mentions would, with 
the necessary care, bring to perfection paying crops 
of this fine variety of the most beautiful fruit under 
cultivation. 
I will leave others to give their experience with the 
Parker Earle, as mine is limited to the ordering of a 
few plants when it was first introduced, and which 
came to hand so badly heated that not one of them 
grew. There is no doubt in my mind that J. W. W. 
could successfully grow the Parker Earle, as he seems 
to have plenty of moisture, without which it is gen¬ 
erally reported to be a grand failure, f. h. ballou. 
Ohio. 
Moist, Strong Soil, with Clay Bottom. 
The best late strawberry for those who place qual¬ 
ity first, is the Gandy. The most profitable late straw¬ 
berry, where quantity is desired, is Parker Earle. A 
good, moist, heavy, rich, loose, soil is best adapted to 
Gandy. The different seasons influence the yield of 
all varieties of strawberries to such an extent, that it 
would be misleading to talk about the expected crop 
from any variety. The Parker Earle will do exceed¬ 
ingly well on a moist, sandy, bottom land, provided 
it is rich with plant food, and will do much better 
on a clay bottom land, equally moist and good strong 
soil, provided, of course, the ground does not bake. 
The latter is the soil best adapted for successful high 
culture of Parker Earle, and on this land with proper 
care and cultivation, it will give astonishing results, 
and will, probably, outyield any other variety now 
under general cultivation. t. j. dwykr. 
New York. 
Gandy on Heavy, Moist Bottom Land. 
I consider the Gandy the best late strawberry on 
my soil. As to the soil best adapted to its growth, 1 
would prefer heavy bottom land, naturally moist, yet 
I have had good success on both heavy upland loam, 
and black soil on a clay subsoil. But few, compara¬ 
tively, make a success in growing the Gandy. If not 
well grown, it is a poor berry. One hundred bushels 
per acre are an average yield; yet I have had, some 
seasons, over 200 bushels. I have not had sufficient 
experience with the Parker Earle to speak positively 
about it, except that it requires more water to perfect 
the fruit it sets than our seasons, of late years, fur¬ 
nish. We got some fine berries, this year, from a 
row so situated, that I ran a hose from the barn tank 
to it, and gave it a soaking. I would conclude that 
the bottom land, naturally moist, would be prefer¬ 
able. I have set quite a piece of them this year, and, 
therefore, hope to know more of their particular 
requirements than I do at present. 1 have not as 
high an opinion of the Parker Earle as many profess 
to have ; it lacks firmness, and is not rich enough to 
suit my taste, though a fine-looking table berry. 
New York. Walter f. taber. 
INSECT AND FUNGOUS FOES OF FRUIT. 
ANSWERS BY M. V. SLING ERL AND. 
Rose Beetles; a New Apple Pest. 
R. C. B., Niagara , Ontario .—I send by this mail, some bugs, aud 
samples of partly destroyed apples. These bugs have appeared 
in some of the apple orchards, and are doing great damage. 
The insects proved to be that dreaded grape pest, 
the Rose Chafer beetle, which sometimes attacks fruit 
trees, and has been found eating young fruits. I 
know of no practicable method of fighting these 
beetles on fruit trees ; they do not readily succumb 
to arsenical sprays. Is R. C. B. sure that the Rose 
beetles were the culprits which ate into the young 
apples ? Throughout New York State this season, 
apples have been eaten into in the same manner, but 
not by beetles. The culprits, in every case, have been 
large, green caterpillars with yellow stripes. They 
look like, and are closely allied to, cutworms ; and 
they develop into moths much like the moths from 
cutworms. I am now breeding, at least two distinct 
kinds of these green fruit worms, and hope to issue an 
illustrated bulletin from the Cornell Experiment Sta¬ 
tion this fall on the pests. The arsenical sprays are 
not effectual against them, but the caterpillars are 
easily shaken or jarred off into sheets or curculio 
catchers where they can be quickly destroyed. Their 
work is now over for the season. These green fruit 
worms have not been serious in our New York apple 
orchards since 1877, until this year. They are attacked 
by several interesting parasites which have, doubt¬ 
less, been very efficient aids in holding them in 
check during the past 19 years. 
More About Dung Worms. 
F. W. V., Milton, N. Y .—Noting the comments of Mr. Slinger- 
land, that the genuine White Grub does not batch in manure, I 
send a sample. I dug it out of the grouud three inches from the 
top. It was plowed under as deeply as possible about the middle 
of April. If this is not the White Grub, lam very much mistaken. 
One thing I do know, is that it grows up with an appetite for 
strawberry plants. 
F. W. V. is certainly mistaken, for the specimens 
sent are not White Grubs, but are nearly full-grown 
grubs of the Aphodian dung beetles which I discussed 
in detail in The R. N.-Y. for January 4, 1896, page 2. 
If F. W. V. will put some of the little grubs in a box 
of manure, he will soon find that they will develop 
into little b eetles about one-third of an inch in length, 
doubtless with red wing-covers and black heads and 
thorax. They have never been seen feeding upon 
living vegetation of any kind. The dung worm ques¬ 
tion is getting decidedly interesting, and we are now 
getting down to facts. More dung worms wanted. 
** Plum Rot.” What Is It ? How Cure It ? 
J.A. G., Courtney, Pa .—I am a new beginner in growing or, 
rather, trying to grow, plums. Every year, I am troubled more 
or less with plum rot. I want to know bow to detect the first 
appearance of this fungous disease. 
The rotting of plums, peaches, and cherries is due 
to a fungous disease known as the Brown Rot (Moni¬ 
lia fructigena). It is the most destructive fungous 
enemy of the stone fruits, and is very prevalent in 
the eastern fruit-growing sections. The life cycle of 
the fungus begins in early summer, when a micro¬ 
scopic spore falls upon a green fruit where, under 
favorable conditions, it begins to grow ; a little water 
left by rain or dew on the fruit, or between two fruits 
that touch, forms an ideal germinating spot for the 
spore. Warm, moist weather greatly favors the develop¬ 
ment of the disease. The little spore sends out a germi¬ 
nating tube or rootlet, which penetrates the skin of 
the fruit. Once inside, it grows very rapidly, pushing 
branches all through the pulp, with the result that 
the tissues of the fruit are disorganized, causing the 
so-called rot. An affected fruit at first turns brown 
in one or two spots, and these gradually enlarge until 
they take in the whole fruit, making it become brown 
and rotten. Soon after this stage is reached, it be¬ 
comes covered with a brownish or ash-colored, vel¬ 
vety coating, consisting of vast numbers of micro¬ 
scopic spores. These spores are readily dislodged and 
blown about by the wind, and when one of them 
lodges on an unaffected fruit where sufficient moisture 
is present, the disease is again started. The rotten 
fruits continue hanging on the tree, gradually shriv¬ 
eling up, until finally, they become dry aud hard, 
forming the so-called “ mummied ” fruits so often seen 
on the trees after the leaves have fallen. These 
“ mummies ” remain on the trees during the winter, 
and on some of them, there are spores adhering 
which retain their power of germinating until spring. 
But the most danger lurks in the interior of these 
“mummies,” for the mycelium or rootlets of the 
growth of the preceding season remain dormant dur¬ 
ing the winter, and during a damp, warm spell of 
weather in early spring, they start into growth and 
produce a new crop of spores. These spores are scat¬ 
tered everywhere, and many of them develop in and 
destroy the blossoms and young leaves. Serious losses 
are sometimes occasioned by the attack on the blos¬ 
soms. 
The fruit may be attacked at almost any stage in 
its growth, but the disease is most destructive about 
the time the ripening period begins. It first becomes 
visible to the naked eye when the brown spots appear 
on the fruit. The conditions are sometimes so favor¬ 
able that it increases with astonishing rapidity, and 
the whole crop may “ rot ” in a few days. When the 
disease reaches the point where it can be seen with 
the eye, it is usually too late to check it with the 
spray ; the spore has its rootlets too well established 
in the tissues of the fruit. Remedial work against 
this disease must be begun early. As we have seen, the 
“ mummy ” fruits are a great source of danger, so the 
first move to make is to pick off and burn all of these 
before growth begins in the spring. It would, also, 
help much if all the rotting fruits which drop in the 
summer and fall were burned or fed. The disease has 
also been greatly checked by spraying thoroughly with 
the Bordeaux Mixture soon after the fruit has set ; 
