*896 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
847 
over the possibility of an Army-worm year in 1897 ; 
the history of the insect and the evident work of its 
little enemy this year support such a belief. 
How the insect will pass the winter in New York 
State, I do not yet know. A few moths are now, 
November 5, emerging in our cages, having developed 
from worms of the third brood found in September. 
Whether these moths will hibernate or will lay eggs 
this fall, remains to be seen. If eggs are laid, prob¬ 
ably the insect will hibernate in the half-grown, 
caterpillar condition, as it usually does. Should the 
worms appear in injurious numbers in any locality 
next year, I would be glad to hear about it. 
M. V. SLINGEBLAND. 
NOTES FROM THE FLORISTS. 
The Buttercup Oxalis is one of the best winter¬ 
blooming plants for window or greenhouse. It will 
give a profusion of yellow flowers for months, and is 
very easily managed. 
Rose, Yeli.ow Rambler.— We have, among the new 
roses, two “Yellow Ramblers” now on the market, 
Alister Stella Gray and Aglaia, the first named Eng¬ 
lish, the second of German origin. Both are highly 
recommended ; they have not yet had extensive trial 
in this country. 
Swainsona galegifolia alba is a very pretty 
leguminous plant, which has come into use largely 
within a few years. It has pure white, pea-shaped 
flowers, borne in long, graceful spikes, and abund¬ 
antly produced. The flowers, when cut, are largely 
used in decorating, and the plant is also attractive 
for pot use. The florists usually grow it planted out 
in a bed, but unrestricted root-room in a rich soil 
tends to produce too much foliage, with a deficiency 
of flower. 
Souvenir du President Carnot is a new rose, not 
yet introduced to commerce, which is exciting much 
interest in the flower trade. It was exhibited 
for the first time at one of the autumn shows. 
The color is soft pink, deeper at the center, 
bud long, with gracefully curving petals. It 
is a Hybrid Tea, originating with a French 
grower, who sold his entire stock to Ameri¬ 
can dealers. It is expected to be of especial 
value as a cut flower. No less than four 
American growers have been carefully nurs¬ 
ing plants of it, each one being under the 
impression that he had purchased the entire 
stock. 
Cyclamens are now showing good bloom, 
and will be in fine condition for some months. 
These plants are grown in great quantity for 
the New York market, Christmas sales being 
especially large ; in fact, the cyclamen is now 
regarded as the best winter blooming plant 
handled by the trade. Colors are selected 
carefully, washy magenta pinks and similar 
undecided tints being discarded, and the 
large-flowered type (Cyclamen persicum gigan- 
teum) is alone in demand. Some very deep 
crimsons are favorably received, also pure white and 
flesh pink. The character of the foliage also aids in 
determining the value of the plant, some possessing the 
silvery marking more strongly defined than others. 
Tobacco Stems have been mentioned lately in The 
R. N.-Y. as a valuable fertilizer. It is unlikely, how¬ 
ever, that they may be purchased at the low rates 
mentioned, except in localities where there is no 
florists’ demand for them. These stems are a staple 
article with dealers in florists’ supplies, who charge 
from 75 cents to $1.25 per bale of 100 pounds, or from 
$15 to $20 per ton. Either burned in a fumigating 
pan, laid on the heating pipes, or scattered over the 
greenhouse benches, this form of tobacco waste is a 
valuable insecticide. It is also largely used in the 
manufacture of tobacco extract, now taking the place 
of the crude stems in greenhouse use. The extract is 
vaporized in the greenhouse, producing fumes strong 
enough to destroy insects, with less risk of plant in¬ 
jury than in the case of old-style fumigation. 
Selling Wild Ferns.— One of the local industries 
of the Berkshire hills in Massachusetts is fern gath¬ 
ering for the florist trade. Some of the hardy ever¬ 
green wood ferns are very plentiful in this district, 
and they are used in enormous quantities as a back¬ 
ing for funeral designs and baskets, or as an accom¬ 
paniment for loose flowers. They are gathered in 
the autumn, and stored away in flat tiers in large 
barns built for the purpose. One Massachusetts 
dealer alone handles them by the million, shipping all 
over the country, the heaviest trade being during the 
winter. Another large source of supply is Wisconsin. 
Last year, an unusually early snowfall prevented the 
gathering in Wisconsin, and high prices resulted, 
until the eastern crop was reinforced by stock from 
the South. The usual wholesale price is from 75 
cents to $1.25 a thousand, but this has been doubled 
in times of scarcity. e. t. r. 
CASH, CREDIT AND DEBTS. 
It is a curious fact that in times of great depres¬ 
sion, when prices run low and money is difficult to 
obtain, hundreds of men quickly give up the strug¬ 
gle, and let their debts “ go to grass,” without the 
least hesitation or concern. They tell their creditors 
they will pay up when they get the money to do it 
with, yet at the same time they do not worry about 
the matter, put forth any extra efforts, or economize 
in any particular. I was in a grocery store a few 
days ago, when a farmer came in and ordered, “ 50 
cents’ worth of brown sugar, 50 cents’ worth of coffee, 
a quarter’s worth of tea, a package of soda, and 25 
cents’ worth of soap.” After putting them up, the 
groceryman said : “I’d like to have a little money, X., 
I’m running pretty close and need it badly.” “Haint 
got a cent, now,” replied the farmer airily, “ and I 
can’t afford to sell corn at 14 cents. You’ll have to 
wait till prices get a little better ! ” “ But,” urged 
the groceryman, “there will be a man here this after¬ 
noon with a lot of bills, and I’ll have to pay them or 
go to the wall. Can’t you let me have part—say, $25, 
right now ? ” “ Couldn’t do it to save my soul ! 
Haven’t a cent for you. Tell the man he’ll have to 
wait like the rest of us ! ” He went out with his 
parcels, got into his wagon and drove off, apparently 
as happy as a lark. 
“ His account,” said the groceryman to me, “ is con¬ 
siderably over $100. It has been climbing up about 
eight months. What’s a fellow to do with such men?” 
“Lay on your profit, Macduff!” 1 replied. “ Oh, I 
haven’t forgotten that; but I want some money, now !” 
“ We are ordering a lot of groceries from the city,” 
said I to a neighbor, who seems to have a hard strug¬ 
gle to get along in the world, “ Wouldn’t you like to 
join us ? We buy these things in full packages, and 
get them at about the same price the grocers here pay 
for them. If you desire to put in a small order with 
ll» t\ i(iv. 
yS N- 
ENEMIES OF THE ARMY WORM. Fig. 281. 
us, you can do so, and your freight bill will not be 
over 10 cents.” I then showed him the price list. 
“ Well, well,” said he, as he read the items, “a person 
can get these goods for about a third less than they 
cost at the stores here. My wife was saying last 
night that we are needing several of these things, 
and I would like to give you an order if I had the 
money by me. I suppose they won’t give any time on 
these goods, will they ? Well, I’m short just now. 
Let me know when you order again, and if I have 
the money by me, I’ll get in with you.” 
We “ let him know ” four times, and each time he 
was a little short of cash, but hoped he’d be able to 
join us the next time. His account at the store in 
town is steadily growing larger, while his ability to 
pay it is as steadily diminishing. fred gbundy. 
AMOUNT OF WHEAT TO SOW PER ACRE. 
When The R. N.-Y. sent out its trial specimens of 
the wheat and rye hybrids a few years since, I began 
a series of experiments in thin seeding which I have 
continued up to the present whenever I had any 
wheat to sow. At that time, I received six small 
packets of as many different varieties of wheat, each 
packet containing about a teaspoonful, or about two 
ounces in all. This I pricked in, a kernel in a place, 
about eight inches apart each way, leaving a space of 
two feet between the different varieties. Planted in 
this way, it occupied about seven square rods of 
ground. It was not cultivated or treated any different 
from the ordinary wheat crop in any respect, except 
the sowing. The sparrows and yellow birds destroyed 
fully one-third of the crop, and I harvested 45 
pounds of cleaned wheat. The birds and I together 
got, at least, a bushel from two ounces of seed planted 
on seven rods of ground. An acre at the same rate 
would have required three pounds of seed, and would 
have yielded 23 bushels. 
That fall, I sowed of the same varieties of wheat 
one-half bushel on 13^ acre. It was put in with a 
Planet Jr. hand drill, in drills 10 inches apart, and 
distributed very unevenly, for the drill would not do 
its work well, often leaving a dozen kernels in a place, 
or skipping a foot or two without leaving any. That 
wheat yielded 24 bushels per acre, which was a larger 
yield than any one else in the vicinity had that year. 
In 1894, I sowed five pounds of Rural No. (3 wheat 
on one-fourth of an acre broadcast. The ground was 
very dry when it was sown in the fall, and the terri¬ 
ble drought of 1895 followed, ruining most of the 
wheat in this vicinity, yet I got three bushels, or at 
the rate of 12 bushels per acre. I didn’t hear of any 
one getting over 10 bushels per acre in this vicinity 
that year. 
In the fall of 1895, I sowed 2% acres with Rural 
No. 6 wheat, broadcast at the rate of one bushel per 
acre, and three-quarters of an acre with Rudy wheat 
at the same rate drilled in with an ordinary drill. 
From the 2% acres, I got 56 bushels of wheat, and 
from the three-quarter acre I got 20 bushels. It was 
a bad year for wheat; the hot spring, Hessian fly and 
rust damaged the wheat half or more, and spoiled 
some fields entirely. I have not heard of any one 
else in the neighborhood who got more than two- 
thirds as much per acre as I did, or who sowed as 
little seed. The rule here is to sow from to 2 
bushels per acre. 
In the light of these experiments, if I could sow 
wheat as I would like to do, and be sure that every 
kernel would grow, I would not sow to exceed a peck 
to the acre. I should sow it a single kernel in a 
place, and at distances of four to eight inches apart 
each way, varying somewhat with the variety of the 
wheat. This will require from two to ten pounds of 
seed per acre, depending on how near it is planted 
and the size of the kernels. As at present sown, the 
greater part of the seed is wasted. Some of it is 
damaged in thrashing so it will not grow, and 
some of it is dropped so close together that 
each kernel has no chance to stool out or 
produce more than a single head. There is 
no greater mechanical difficulty in making a 
machine that will plant one kernel of wheat 
in a place and at any required distance, than 
there is in making one to plant corn. If we 
could get just as good crops from one-tenth 
the seed, we could afford to thrash our seed 
wheat with a flail, if necessary, to avoid crack¬ 
ing and spoiling so much of it as the machine 
now does. f. hodgman. 
Kalamazoo County, Mich. 
WHAT THEY SAY. 
A Farm Record. —Herewith I send a copy 
of a page from my “ Farm Record a sort of 
diary and time book combined, by the use 
* of which I am enabled to keep close account 
of all work, when, where and by whom done. 
By it, I have the time of each person em¬ 
ployed, where employed, and upon what work, 
thus making it very easy to settle any dispute which 
might arise when paying off. It is, also, of much 
value in getting at the cost of producing a crop, 
or of doing a piece of work, as by referring back 
to the last year’s work, the desired facts may be 
found. In the same way, it is often useful in letting 
out jobs, planning new work, etc. 
FARM RECORD JUNE 15, 1895. 
EH 
6 
i 
hi 
w 
Team. 
| Schat. 
| G. S. 
tn 
« 
Cu 
H-S 
Mon. 17.. 
Warm and dry. Picked berries, 33 
Tues. 18. 
Warm and dry. Hoed strawberries 
on hill. 
5 
10 
10 
10 
Wed. 19.. 
Warm and dry. Picked berries, 35 
crates (7 on No. 2). 
Applied 200 pounds. Comp. Veg 
10 
Thurs. 20 
Warm and dry. Hoed tomatoes. 
Thinned potatoes, large field. 
Gang plowed and harrowed cab- 
bage held No. 3. 
2 
1 
2 
6 
6 
2 
3 
2 
3 
5 
5 
Friday 21 
Sat. 22... 
Heavy rain, night. Setting cabbage 
on No. 3 (L). 
Warm. Finished setting cabbage on 
No. 3 (9,000) . 
5 
7 
7 
9 
’ 
7 
7 
Sprayed' potatoes (1 lb. Paris-green 
to 50 gallons water with lime).... 
5 
Delivering berries, hauling crates, 
etc. 
3 
Picked berries, 34 crates (6 on 
No. 2). 
13 
— 
25 
8 
47 
1 
7 
27 
Now, a few words explanatory regarding the method 
of keeping this book: Each evening, when done 
work, I jot down the labor of the day, giving a line 
to each thing done, then put the time taken by each 
person (and horse or team) to perform the work in 
the columns below their respective names or initials ; 
at the end of the week, the columns are footed, which 
gives the time of each person. I feel sure that any 
