558 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
August 22 
that they will prove very valuable additions to our 
insecticide batteries; the results obtained against 
borers in the trunks of trees are especially promising. 
Whether one substance is better than the other for 
certain purposes, is not yet demonstrated ; it will be 
important if their possible variability in composition 
should render them unsafe applications for peach or 
other trees. Before using either substance exten¬ 
sively, I would advise fruit growers to wait until the 
scientific experimenters in our various experiment sta¬ 
tions have more fully tested them, so that more 
definite recommendations as to when and how they 
should be applied, or whether they should be applied 
at all or not, can be given. m. v. slingerland. 
SEASONABLE NOTES FOR THE GARDEN. 
Golden Glow helianthus was something of a novelty 
last season ; its double yellow flowers are lasting and 
continuous, and it will prove a good addition to the 
garden of the country home. 
Summer-blooming spiraeas, such as Bumalda and 
its variety, Anthony Waterer, bloom much better if 
their decaying flowers are cut off as soon as perceived. 
This holds good with all flowering plants. Many a 
plant which would, otherwise, bloom nicely, has all 
its efforts taxed to mature seeds. 
For a half swampy place, the Asclepias incarnata, 
Swamp milkweed, is a capital plant. It delights in 
the moisture, and during July and August, produces 
its rosy, flesh-colored flowers in great profusion. 
September is a good month in which to sow pansy 
seeds for early spring blooming. In Pennsylvania, 
pansies winter very well, covered lightly with forest 
leaves. 
One of the most satisfactory shrubs in small gar¬ 
dens is the “Wayfaring tree” so-called, Viburnum 
lantana. In early spring, its corymbs of white flow¬ 
ers are charming. Just now (August 5), its clusters 
of berries are beautiful. The green ones change to a 
red, then to a black color, and all three colors are 
often on the cluster at the same time. It is thor¬ 
oughly hardy. 
It is hard to understand why the assertion that the 
Trailing arbutus cannot be transplanted, is so often 
made. Of my own knowledge, it is fairly abundant in 
England, as I saw nice beds of it there last summer, 
and the plants first came from here. If a small, com¬ 
pact plant be dug up with a good ball, and set in a 
favorable, shady place in a wood, it will flourish, as I 
can testify from my own experience. 
Many of the native asters are most beautiful, and 
are well worthy of a place in a garden. It may not 
be known that these plants grow readily from 
seeds. Gather a handful in passing through the 
woods, and sow them in the fall, covering lightly 
with forest leaves for the winter. Treated in this 
way, the young plants will flower next fall. 
Aspidistra lurida, which is much grown as a decora¬ 
tive plant for dwellings, is quite hardy in Eastern 
Pennsylvania, as, no doubt, it is still further north. 
Its broad, flag-like leaves make it useful for planting 
close to walls or dwellings. 
The wild azalea, Viscosa, is a good garden shrub 
where it can be given a damp place. Its white 
flowers come in July and August, and they have a 
pleasing odor. Joseph meehan. 
Pennsylvania. 
FALL PLANTING OF FRUITS. 
I send a photograph, see Fig. 175, of a dwarf pear 
tree planted last fall, the branches being removed 
close to the main stem, as is my custom with dwarf 
pears. This photograph, taken July 15, shows a new 
growth of from 18 to 24 inches. This is one of a row 
of dwarf pears, nearly all of which have made the 
same growth. Last spring, these trees had made a 
growth of six inches before spring-planted trees had 
made any growth at all. At Fig. 17 6, is shown a Red 
Cross currant bush planted last fall. This, also, was 
headed back close to the ground, all the growth 
shown in the photograph having been made this sea¬ 
son, previous to July 15. This is one of a long row 
of bushes, some of which have made a still larger 
growth. 
I offer these photographs in evidence of the fact 
that almost one year’s growth may be saved by ju¬ 
dicious fall planting. I am more and more convinced, 
each season, that more planting should be done in 
the fall, and I am planting more in the fall than 
formerly. There is always a long season from October 
to December, of comparative leisure, when the soil is 
in the best possible condition for planting, being 
moist, yet crumbling nicely under the spade or plow ; 
still it is difficult to persuade people to plant in the 
fall, for the reason that it is not the season of making 
gardens, and there is nothing on the face of nature to 
remind #ne forcibly of planting. The trees, lawn, 
orchard and forest, are still green, and the planting 
instinct is not dominant. In the spring, all Nature 
urges the ruralist to dig and plant. After the long 
sleep, the plants, shrubs and trees seem to have been 
resurrected, and without effort, the whole world goes 
to work and plants. As a consequence, the nursery¬ 
men find themselves overwhelmed in the spring, and 
if summer come forward with rapid strides, as it did 
last spring, the nurseryman cannot give his patrons 
the best service, no matter how hard he may endeavor 
to do so. 
True, there are some shrubs and trees that should 
not be planted in the fall, among which are peach 
trees, roses, Cut-leaved birch, althaeas and tender 
varieties of plums, unless the same are given careful 
protection. There are also localities in the northwest, 
FALL-PLANTED DWARF PEAR TREE. Fig. 175. 
and along the Canadian borders of the East, where 
fall planting cannot be recommended, except of such 
small fruits as can be covered entirely from sight. 
Wherever the thermometer goes 15 to 20 degrees 
below zero, it is not safe to plant trees in the fall, if 
they are to be fully exposed during the winter ; but 
currants, gooseberries, blackberries and red raspber¬ 
ries, especially, should be planted in the fall, no 
matter whether north or south. Currants and goose¬ 
berries leaf out so early in the spring that they 
often arrive too late if sent a long distance at that 
season. _ chas a. green. 
FRUIT NOTES FROM “DALE VIEW.” 
Wet Weather Culture. —The earth is as full of 
water as a sponge, and anything like cultivation has 
been practically impossible for the past four or five 
FALL-PLANTED CURRANT BUSH. Fig. 176. 
weeks. Much of the time, in our strawberry patches, 
one would sink over shoe top in the mud, so that 
pulling weeds or training the runners into rows has 
been entirely out of the question. As a natural 
result, the weeds are rampant, and the runners 
which have been sent out in every direction and in¬ 
terlaced across the spaces between the rows, have set 
myriads of large, strong, young plants everywhere. 
The very plants which it was our desire to have 
trained into nice fruiting rows, are nearly all firmly 
rooted away out in what should have been the spaces 
under clean cultivation; so that, to go in with a 
cultivator, would simply be murder in the first 
degree. Especially would this be the case with the 
Gandys, whose long-jointed runners have set fully 
nine-tenths of the plants outside of the greatest pos¬ 
sible limit for a fruiting row capable of being cul¬ 
tivated at all. To dig up all these thoroughly-rooted 
plants, and reset them in a decent row, would take 
an immense amount of labor—so much, indeed, as to 
cancel the additional profit to be gained thereby. I 
have concluded to pull out all the weeds so that 
none may go to seed, give a good mulch this autumn, 
harvest one crop, plow under and, in the meantime, 
try again. 
Growth of Plants. —Young trees and plants have 
made a fine growth this season. A small orchard of 
50 plum trees, set three years, have given us a few 
luscious samples of what we may expect in the future. 
These trees, which occupy an eastern slope just above 
our cottage, are remarkably vigorous and healthy 
under our “ hoe and lawn mower” cultivation. A 
circular space about four feet in diameter around each 
tree is kept clean and mellow by an occasional hoeing, 
while with the lawn mower, we keep the grass down 
to short “ hen pasture.” By actual measurement, 
under this method of culture, I find that some of our 
Imperial Gage trees have made new shoots from five 
to six feet and seven inches in length the present sea¬ 
son. Under the same conditions, we, also, have a 
few well laden trees of Ford’s Late peaches. These 
trees have been planted but seven years, yet, by care¬ 
ful measurement, I find the trunk of the most perfect 
one to be 27 inches in circumference one foot above 
the ground, while the branches, which have been 
headed in from one-third to one-half each season 
since planting, cover a circle 25 feet in diameter. 
Grape Notes. —An Elvira grape vine, five years 
old, which I wished to change from the upright 
method of training to the Kniffin system, was cut off 
two inches above the ground last March, and has 
made a total growth of over 140 feet this season. 
Grapes are an abundant crop in this section this year, 
and are, like everything else in the fruit line, ripen¬ 
ing unusually early. We sent a few fine clusters of 
Moore’s Early, which were in fine condition, to a 
friend in Chicago, on July 31. The wires on our 
Kniffin trellis are as taut as fiddle strings from the 
great weight of the fruit upon them. 
Ohio. f. h. BALLOU. 
FERTILIZERS FOR WHEAT. 
IS THEIR USE INCREASING ? WHAT QUALITY ? 
THE QUESTION. 
In your opinion, is the use of fertilizers on the wheat crop in¬ 
creasing or decreasing in your State ? What amount of fertilizer 
is generally used per acre for wheat, and, so far as your obser¬ 
vation goes, do farmers use a plain superphosphate with a little 
potash, or high grade goods containing more or less nitrogen ? 
THE ANSWERS. 
Little Change in New York. 
The farmers in western New York sow just about 
the same amount of fertilizer every year. As a rule, 
they use a complete fertilizer costing from $25 to $30 
per ton, but a great number are using acid phosphate 
alone combined with potash. Certain soils need com¬ 
plete fertilizers and others do not. On my own 
farms, this fall, I shall sow about 100 acres of wheat, 
and shall use a complete fertilizer containing one 
to two per cent of ammonia, 10 per cent of phos¬ 
phoric acid, and five to six per cent of actual potash, 
at the rate of 200 pounds per acre on some 70 acres. 
The rest, 26 acres, is low, black, flat land, well sup¬ 
plied with ammonia and potash, 14 per cent available, 
200 pounds per acre. I believe in complete manures 
generally, for most soils are deficient in the three 
elements of plant food. edwabd f. dibble. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. 
The Situation in Ohio. 
The statistics collected by the township assessors of 
Ohio indicate that the total expenditure by the farmers 
of the State for commercial fertilizers rose from 
$416,000 in 1881 (the first year of collection), to $693,- 
000 in 1888, and $1,297,000 in 1891, thence falling to 
$1,163,000 in 1894. The greater portion of these fer¬ 
tilizers has been used on the wheat crop, at least 
during the earlier part of this period, the ordinary 
practice being to use 200 to 300 pounds per acre of a 
fertilizer costing $25 to $30 per ton. While large 
quantities of plain superphosphates, or superphos¬ 
phates with potash, have been used, I have good 
reason to believe that the great bulk of the fertilizers 
sold in Ohio have been mixtures of slaughterhouse 
tankage and acid phosphate, with occasional sprink¬ 
lings of muriate of potash. The high valuations 
which have hitherto been given to “ammonia,” not 
only in Ohio but in most other States as well, have, 
undoubtedly, had much to do in stimulating the use 
of tankage, since “ammonia” has been offered to the 
fertilizer mixer in this material for years at but a 
fraction of the price at which it has been rated in 
fertilizers. As a matter of fact, I find that the most 
reputable of the fertilizer dealers, those who keep in 
