526 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
August 8 
some farmers to believe, but the crop proves the 
theory. 
We have told how the ground is worked with the 
Right-lap until the upper six inches are as fine as an 
ash heap. Work the ground after every shower. Let 
the air and sunlight into the soil. You know how the 
best grape growers put the fertilizer midway between 
the rows, because they know that the feeding roots 
are strongest where there is most sunlight. You 
literally make future crops of hay when you permit 
the sun to shine into and through the upper soil. 
The sun in the hay field does not “ make ” the hay, it 
only dries the grass. The “making” is done all 
through the growing season, and before the seed is 
put into the ground. 
Another thing of great importance is to have the 
field properly graded ; all hollows where water can 
stand should be filled up, for the grass in these places 
will be killed out. Mr. Clark uses a tool for this 
purpose which is a combination of the tooth harrow 
and scraper. The harrow is made somewhat like a 
Thomas harrow, only that it is much lighter and 
with smaller, slanting teeth. A board behind it can 
be raised or lowered at will, so that when, in harrow¬ 
ing, one sees a little hollow ahead, he can bear down 
on the board scraper, carry a load of soil to the 
hollow, then lift the scraper and dump the load into 
the low place. In this way, it is comparatively easy 
to get a good grade on the field. 
Mr. Clark’s field is half wet and half dry—the lower 
part being almost wet enough to be called a swamp. 
This wet part, in starting, was ditched—the ditches 
running 100 feet apart and from three to six feet deep. 
The stones dug and picked from the higher parts of 
the field were thrown into the ditches to within a foot 
of the surface, and covered with earth. He says that 
made the land too dry at first; but as the soil worked 
down among the stones, the drains did 
better. Good surface drainage, with a 
perfect grade that will let the surface 
water run off, is more desirable than 
ditching. 
For seeding, Mr. Clark uses for each 
acre, 14 quarts each of Red-top and Tim¬ 
othy, and four quarts of Red clover. 
The Timothy and Red-top seed are 
mixed, and half sowed one way and 
the other half sowed across the first 
sowing. The Red-top makes good hay, 
and will give, at least, 1% ton extra 
yield above what Timothy alone could 
do. Of course, the ground is in perfect 
condition before the grass seed is sown. 
In some cases, even the Right-lap 
cannot reach and throw out deep grass 
roots or weeds along the fence; in that 
case, a tool known as an underground 
cultivator is used. The teeth on this 
cultivator are somewhat the shape of hooks, and 
they can be set to catch and pull at any angle or 
depth. They work down under the surface and 
snap off and drag out many roots that could not 
otherwise be brought to the surface. And now, with 
the ground ready and the seed in hand, let us see how 
the grass is started. h. w. c. 
and berries very large, is of such poor quality that I 
shall drop it. The others I shall give further 
trial. Annie Lawrie promises to be one of the best 
I have yet tried in quality, but seems to be a shy 
bearer. I have on trial, Wm. Belt, Ivanhoe, Splen¬ 
did, J. Gould, and Jucunda Improved, which have not 
fruited yet. s. y. 
Dresden, N. Y. 
Japan Plums in Indiana. —Here is my experience 
with a few of the Japanese plums. The first trees of 
this class coming to this locality were planted by a 
neighbor and myself in the spring of 1892, the varie¬ 
ties being Abundance, Satsuma and Burbank. They 
have set a good crop of fruit buds every season since 
being planted, but did not succeed in producing a 
blossom until this season. Some of the Burbank 
trees are overloaded, many of the branches having to 
be propped. The fruit is of very good size, consid¬ 
ering the overloaded condition of the trees, frequent 
specimens measuring five inches in circumference. 
The Satsumas have a fair crop of nice fruit, while 
Abundance trees of the same age, and having equal 
chances with the others, do not average a half dozen 
fruits per tree, though they are giving us a sample. 
The Burbanks, now ripening, produce the finest plum 
show ever witnessed in this locality. This shows the 
tenderness of Abundance over Satsuma and Burbank, 
the last being hardiest of all. I am inclined to be¬ 
lieve, however, that all become hardier in fruit bud 
with age. i. m. h. 
Sycamore, Ind. 
Cankee Worms. —Some years ago, I noticed that 
the bottom of a stack of hay that a neighbor was 
moving, was filled with the cocoons of canker worms. 
The stack stood near some trees that had been badly 
eaten. It occurred to me that it might be a good 
A NEW W E E D E R . Fig. 166 
WHAT THEY SAY 
A New Weeder. —Last week, Mr. Warren Vree- 
land, of New Jersey, gave us some verses praising the 
work of his new Automatic weeder. This week we 
show a picture of the tool at Fig. 166. As will be 
seen, it embraces several ideas. The teeth are so 
adjusted that they turn and twist, thoroughly stir¬ 
ring the soil and dodging the plants. Several parties 
who have used this weeder in corn and potatoes, 
speak highly of it. 
Crimson Clover and Berries. —Just a year ago 
(July 20), I gave my strawberry patch (about one- 
seventh of an acre) a good dressing of well-rotted 
horse manure, plowed it under, and sowed it to Crim¬ 
son clover. It made a good growth during the fall, 
was covered with snow all winter, and came out fresh 
and green when the snow went off ; but a hard freeze 
soon after seemed to kill the most of it. I plowed it 
under and planted potatoes ; never had such a rank 
growth of vines before, but it is too early to tell what 
the yield will be. The soil is a gravelly loam. For 
the past three years, I have been testing some 20 
kinds of strawberries to find which is best adapted to 
my soil—a dry, gravelly loam, subsoil mostly sand. 
Of those grown three years, Bubach, Jessie and Haver- 
land stand highest as regards productiveness and 
ability to stand dry weather. Crawford, Timbrell, 
Parker Earle, E. P. Roe, and Michel’s Early are en¬ 
tirely worthless on my soil; Eureka, Middlefield and 
Leader do fairly well. I fruited Brandywine, Mar¬ 
shall, Annie Lawrie, Staples, Belle, and Noble for the 
first time this year. Noble rusts badly, and Belle, 
although on? of the most healthy and rank growers, 
plan to furnish the worms with a similar wintering 
place, as a means of destroying them. I had a few 
trees in the center of my orchard that had been eaten 
to some extent, and I found that the pest was spread¬ 
ing quite rapidly. As the trees most infested were of 
no particular account, the worms had been unmo¬ 
lested ; but I saw that they would soon spread to some 
bearing Baldwins if steps were not taken to prevent 
them. So, early in the fall, I spread swamp grass 
under the trees affected, and quite a distance under 
others surrounding them. As early as possible in the 
spring, I loosened up the mulch to let it dry a little, 
cleared it away a foot or so from around the bodies of 
the trees, and then set fire to it ; it burned slowly, 
but clean, and only a few worms showed that season. 
The next autumn, I repeated the work, and I haven’t 
seen a canker worm in the orchard since. Aside from 
that, the trees have taken on new life, and I have 
gathered one fine crop of fruit from trees I had con¬ 
sidered worthless, and I have another on the trees at 
present. The experiment cost me nothing but some 
very poor hay and a little labor, and I am sure that I 
would have been amply repaid if I hadn’t destroyed a 
single canker worm, or rather, prevented one, in the 
increased vigor and fruitfulness of the trees. 
Connecticut. c. r. A. 
To Avoid Harness Bruises. 
Nearly all the sores on the farm teams, from the 
harness, can be avoided by intelligent care. Collar 
boils and bruises are not a necessary result of hard 
work, but they are certain to follow negligence. 
When the collar, or any other part of the harness, 
presses heavily, the point of contact is compressed so 
that the circulation of blood is interfered with. If 
the pressure be continued long, the vessel walls are 
partially paralyzed, and the muscular fiber about 
them bruised. When the pressure is finally removed, 
the blood rushes into the weakened vessels, and the 
colorless liquid portion passes through the walls and 
accumulates in the connective tissue beneath the skin. 
This produces the soft, fluctuating swellings. When 
such accumulatioas are not too large, they may be 
reabsorbed, though the blood plasma contains the 
tissue matter that forms callouses, and a greater or 
less thickening usually results. The way to obviate 
such bruises is to lift the harness frequently, thus 
removing the pressure long enough for the circulation 
to be restored. Manipulating the parts with the 
fingers will assist this. When plowing or doing any 
heavy work, stop frequently, but not long, every time 
raising the collar. 
When the collar is removed at night, wash the 
shoulders with cold water. This prevents such rapid 
expansion of the blood vessels, by contracting the 
muscles, and greatly lessens the liability of the soft 
swellings. Should they occur, or bruises occur ac¬ 
companied by fever, the affected parts should be 
bathed frequently with cold water, ice water if pos¬ 
sible, for 12 to 24 hours, or until all fever has sub¬ 
sided. After that, bathe with warm water, and rub 
gently to hasten resorption. In case the swelling be 
so large as not to be removed in that way, open with 
a knife at a point where it will have free drainage 
Should this have been delayed a few days, there will 
be an accumulation of light-colored matter in the 
connective tissue beneath the skin of which the 
callous forms. This should be removed with the 
finger. Keep the incision open, and bathe with mod¬ 
erately warm water for a few days. Gentle rubbing 
will greatly assist restoration. The wound should be 
bathed twice a day with an antiseptic to prevent 
infection. h. p. miller. 
Ohio. 
Western New York Apple Crop. 
We have now on the trees, one of our old-time 
apple crops. All orchards that have been well cared 
for are loaded with apples of good size and of the 
best color ever seen on the trees. They are very free 
from worms, and no scab can be found 
on leaves or fruit. For the past nine 
years, we have had no fair crop of ap¬ 
ples in western New York, and now we 
are making up for lost time. The bulk 
of the orchards are Baldwins and Green¬ 
ings ; but there are, also, a good many 
trees of Spys, Kings, Russets and a few 
orchards of Duchess, 20-Ounce and Maid¬ 
en’s Blush. 
A good deal of spraying was done, 
but no one can see the difference be¬ 
tween sprayed and unsprayed trees. 
This is one of the years of general 
health, when every tree is doing its 
best, and I predict that not half the 
spraying will be done next year as this. 
The fact is that spraying is a sort of in¬ 
surance policy. It is only in the bad 
years that it is so very marked in bene¬ 
ficial results. An insurance does the in¬ 
surer no good unless he has a fire ; so spraying does no 
good when there are no insects or disease. But the 
prudent man keeps insured all the same, and the 
prudent orchardist will continue to spray so as to be 
protected when the bad years do come. 
In some sections of western New York, the Canker 
worm was very prevalent, and in others, the tent 
caterpillar, and where these got in their work, there 
will be no apples. Only for the damage done by 
these, we should have picked the largest crop ever 
grown, and even now we shall have 1,000,COO barrels 
or more of very fine apples in Niagara County. 
J. 8 WOODWARD. 
An Iowa Portable Fence. 
Some time ago, I devised and constructed a portable 
fence that, at the time, quite took my fancy. It did 
not differ materially from styles that I have seen 
illustrated in agricultural papers since. The panels 
were ordinary four-board ones. The posts were tri¬ 
angular concerns, and the wide base was supposed to 
make them steady on the ground. But I never built 
any after the first I made. I soon found that the posts 
had to be pegged down to keep the hogs from moving 
them, and the wind from blowing the fence over. 
Also, the ground bad to be nearly level, or the panels 
would lose their hold on the posts. Lastly, the posts 
were too costly and hard to make. 
This summer, I have made another style of port¬ 
able fence, and, so far, I like it. It is around a pig 
lot. It might not do so well for larger stock. The 
panels are made of three boards of six-inch fencing, 
about 12 feet long, and the end pieces are set back 
six inches from the ends. The posts are round 
willow, three to four inches in diameter, and four 
feet long, sharpened, and driven with a maul. One 
panel is nailed to one side of the post, and the 
next panel to the other side. Soft wood is used 
so that the nails may be drawn without damaging the 
panels when it is desired to move the fence again. 
This fence can be put up quicker than the other style, 
and the ground does not need to be so level ; besides, 
the cost of posts made of sawed lumber is saved eu- 
