56 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
January 2?, 
FARMERS’ CLUR 
[Every query must be accompanied by 
the name and address of the writer to in¬ 
sure attention. Before asking a question, 
please see whether it is not answered in 
our advertising columns. Ask only a few 
questions at one time. Put questions on a 
separate piece of paper.! 
The Value of Coal Ashes. 
F. Q. 8., East Rutherford, N. J .—I use con¬ 
siderable coal during the Winter and sift the 
ashes. What good use can 1 make of the fine 
coal ashes? Can I use them as an absorbent 
on droppings board of henhouse, or is it good 
to mix with the manure pile? 
A ns. —The coal ashes have no value as 
a fertilizer, containing little if any plant 
food. They are useful for mulching cur¬ 
rants or young fruit trees. They can be 
worked into sandy soils to make them 
more compact, or with heavy clay soils to 
make them more open. They will answer 
for the droppings board or for a dust box. 
No use to mix them with the manure. 
Wood ashes contain plant food—coal ashes 
do not. 
Sulphur Fumes for Sc b. 
J. It. 8., Leavitt, X. C .—Referring to an 
article in The H. N.-Y. about two years or 
more ago in the Hope Farm Notes on smoking 
Irish potatoes to kill the sprouts and prevent 
them from sprouting, how it is done? ilow 
do you arrange to get the sulphur so the 
fumes will go through them and not burn the 
potatoes? 
Ans. —The article referred to gave the 
experience of a western farmer who put 
potatoes in a close room and burned sul¬ 
phur inside in order to destroy the scab 
germs. We do not advise this method. 
The scab may perhaps be destroyed in this 
way, but the sprouts are likely to be killed-. 
The old plan of soaking the seed in a solu¬ 
tion of formalin is safer and better. We 
usually dust the cut seed with sulphur 
when planting. Thrs will help destroy the 
scab and often prevents rotting in wet sea¬ 
sons. 
Fresh Sawdust in an Orchard. 
V. N. G., Franklin, Pa .—We have a large 
pile of fresh sawdust (oak and chestnut). 
Can we use it to advantage in our orchard? 
We have a plum orchard 10 years old. planted 
12 feet apart each way. This orchard was 
manured liberally last Fall. Would it be ad¬ 
visable to cover this with sawdust four or 
five inches deep to act as a mulch? Would it 
be any advantage to tramp the snow down 
before applying the sawdust as a means of 
holding the fruit buds in check-in the Spring? 
This orchard is in sod, and is bearing abund¬ 
ant crops, being manured about every other 
year. 
Ans. —From our experience we would 
be willing to put the sawdust on the or¬ 
chard, on top of the manure. We would 
not plow or harrow fresh sawdust into the 
soil. We would not put so much sawdust 
on that it would kill out the sod. We 
would much rather have the grass grow 
and clip it off three or four times during 
the growing season. We do not think it 
would pay to tramp down the snow. 
Duties of a Rural Carrier. 
G. T). R., Candor, N. Y .—I live on a rural 
free delivery route. In good going the mail 
carrier makes the trip from corner No. 1 to 
corner No. 4, and continues route to post- 
office. When not first-class traveling he goes 
to the second or third house, turns around 
and going back passes corner No. 4, and I 
fail to receive mail. I live about 40 rods 
from corner No. 4 on route and keep road 
open from my house to corner No. 4. The 
highway tax of the town is paid in money. 
The supervisor of town is also the postmaster. 
Is the mail carrier at fault when he (on 
account of bad roads) fails to make the en¬ 
tire trip to come from corner No. 4, the dis¬ 
tance of 40 rods, to deliver my mail? What 
more should I do beside keeping road open 
from my house to corner No. 4? 
Ans. —You are informed that the De¬ 
partment looks to patrons and road offi¬ 
cials to see that highways covered by 
rural routes are maintained in such con¬ 
dition that they can be traveled at all 
seasons. A rural carrier is not supposed 
seriously to imperil his life, or that of 
his animals, nor to endanger his equip¬ 
ment or the United States mails, in an 
attempt to serve his route under extraor¬ 
dinary conditions of weather or roads. 
If some portions of the route traversed 
by the carrier are found to be. absolutely 
impassable carrier is allowed to deviate 
from the official route to such an extent 
as may be necessary to reach all patrons 
by other roads, provided only a partial 
service could be given were no deviation 
made. In the case cited, if G. D. R. 
lives on the route and has qualified as a 
patron thereof by meeting the Depart¬ 
ment's requirements, the carrier would 
be required to serve his box under the 
conditions stated, provided other roads 
between the initial office and correspond¬ 
ent’s residence could be traversed. 
j. w. BRISTOW. 
Fourth Asst. Postmaster General. 
Cherry and Pear on One Tree. 
B. J. R., Kirkwood, Del ,—There lias boon a 
discussion in our neighborhood about cherries 
and pears maturing on the same tree. One 
person said they saw both ripen on the same 
tree, only at different seasons. Will cherries 
and pears mature on the same tree if grafted? 
Ans. —No, the cherry and pear will not 
grow when grafted or budded one upon 
the other. The pear, apple and quince 
can be so interworked, but the union of 
the apple and pear is not good, and rarely 
endures more than a few years, but the 
pear and quince do unite very well. That 
is the way dwarf pear trees are made. The 
cherry, plum and peach will unite fairly 
well. They are all stone fruits. But they 
do not grow one upon the other as well as 
upon their own stocks. There is surely a 
mistake in the assertion that cherries and 
pears had been seen ripening on the same 
tree. The two woods are so uncongenial 
that they will not unite. h. e. v. d. 
Siberian Nectarine. 
A. IF., Ossian, Md .—Can you tell me any- 
thing about 1 lie Siberian nectarine? Would 
this tree be adapted to eastern Maryland, and 
would the fruit be any good in market? 
Ans. —There is no such thing as a “Si¬ 
berian apricot” or nectarine, but there are 
Russian apricots, and they are from the 
region of the Crimea, which is the extreme 
southern part of Russia. These varieties 
were at one time lauded as being very 
hardy and of good quality, but experience 
proved neither to be true in any greater 
degree than of other varieties, and most 
of them were not so large or of so good 
quality as most of those we already had. 
The trouble with all apricots is that in 
the central and eastern parts of the United 
States they are apt to have the fruit buds 
killed by the Winter, or their blossoms 
by early frosts. Then the Plum curculio 
is almost sure to sting the fruit and cause 
it to drop off before maturity, in case it 
escapes the former dangers. Apricot 
growing is a great success on the Pacific 
coast. H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
Oil on Trees; Cooper's Market Apple. 
R. I. F., Vernon, R. C. —1. In 1903 I cut 
away body blight from two pear trees, and 
coated the parts with lard oil. About Au¬ 
gust, 1904, I examined them, thought they 
were much improved, and gave credit to the 
oil. I decided to coat them all over with 
raw linseed oil. which I worked well into 
them. November I looked at them ; the bark 
is rotten, and thus evidently dead; can any¬ 
body explain? 2. Would you give me a de- 
scription'of Cooper's Market* apple, its market 
value, color, shape, size in inches? Small, 
medium, large, are quite indefinite, and should 
be deleted from all descriptions of fruit. 
Ans. —1. It is probable that the oil was 
put on so heavily and rubbed in so thor¬ 
oughly that it killed the tender tissues be¬ 
neath the outer bark. Oils of all kinds are 
injurious to trees, but flaxseed oil. which is 
doubtless the kind used in this case, is not 
so injurious as the mineral and animal 
oils. No kind of outside applications can 
cure Pear blight, and it is not certain that 
they will in any measure prevent it. The 
germs that cause this disease are imbibed 
by the very tender portions of the flowers 
and growing twigs. 2. The Cooper Mar¬ 
ket apple rarely reaches over three inches 
in diameter and rarely that much. It is 
usually oblate-conic in form, but in the 
northwestern countries is more inclined to 
be elongated, as is true of all apples. Its 
color is mixed and striped red over a pale 
yellowish ground. The quality is poor, and 
it would not be my choice for planting 
anywhere. It is very proper to describe 
fruits as being “small, medium or large,” 
as the case may be, because in different 
sections the same varieties greatly differ 
in size, and exact dimensions cannot be 
given with accuracy. H. E. van deman. 
FRUIT TREES. 
A Large Assortment of the Finest Quality 
of Fruit, Shade and Ornamental Trees, 
at very Low Prices. We make a Specialty 
of dealing Direct with the Farmers. 
Write for Price List. 
CAUL’S NURSERIES, Perry, O. 
DC APU TDCCC A full Jlneof varie- 
rCAV/n I riCCO ties, new and old 
APPLE T K E E S , 
Summer. Autumn and Winter Varieties. 
OUNCE TREES are scarce, 
but we have them. Get our FK EE descriptive Cata¬ 
logue. JOS. H. BLACK 80N& CO.. Hightstown, N.J. 
rn nan UAVMAlfCD New Money-Making Rasp- 
UUjl/uU n A I Ifl AWE.it berry. Net profit $400.00 per 
acre. Finest catalog. W. N. tScarff, Jiew Carlisle, O. 
“GREAT SCOTT” 
A Wew StrawLerry 
S. H. WAltUEN, Weston. Mass. 
SO VARIETIES 
BEST NEW and 
Standard Straw'by. 
Kas’by, Gripe and 
Blk by plants, Vigorous. Heavy Rooted, ami 
True to Name. High quality and Low Prices. 
Perfect satisfaction guaranteed. Price List FREE. 
A It. WESTON & CO- 
R. F I). No. 8 Bridgman, Mich. 
LOMBARDY POPLARTJ, -S'S, 
First class trees 8 feet to 18 feet. CALIFORNIA 
PRIVET, strong, 1 year, in quantities to suit. 20 
inches to 2 feet. J. A. ROBERTS, Malvern, Pa. 
MY PLANT CATALOGUE 
KEVITT’S PLANT FARM. Athenia, N. J. 
Blackberries 
All the best varieties. Plants superbly rooted and vigor- 
ous. We suggest as a leader for every order the de- 
licious RATHBUN. Largest of all, a great bearer r 
aid one o f the most vigorous and hardy. Easily firstchoice I 
in the market on account of quality and appearance. It I 
pays to plant Wood's quality Strawberries, Raspberries, I 
Currants, Gooseberries and Grapes. Send for catalogue. [ 
ALLEN L. WOOD, Wholesale Grower , Rochester, N, Y« 
WESTMICHIGMIMTl 
•bred for bearing.” 
: nest 
That's why we 
cut all buds from the £est fruited, bearing 
trees. It also insures stock true to name and 
variety. Over three million trees—913 acres. 
All new ami standard varieties of Apple, 
Peach, Pear, Plum, Quince, etc. Also orna¬ 
mental trees and shrubs. We Bell direet at 
x ho'enale price*. Illustrated catalogue free. 
WEST MICHIGAN NTJRSERIES, 
Box 54, Benton Harbor, 3fieh. 
Peach Trees and 
Strawberry Plants. 
We have them by the 100,000. to¬ 
gether with general line of nur¬ 
sery stock. Prices low; quality 
best. Write for new l!K)o Catalog. 
CHATTANOOGA NURSERIES, 
Chattanooga, Tennessee. 
Berry Plants 
all good kinds 
Cat. free. 
Over $200 netted last year per 
acre from Parson Beauty Straw¬ 
berries, also, from Miller Rasp¬ 
berry. We sell plants enough 
of eit her sort for 1 acre for $15. 
SLAVM AKER & SON, Dover, Del 
TREES 
SHRUBS 
ROSES 
The largest and most com¬ 
plete collations in America, 
including all desirable nov¬ 
elties. Illustrated descrip¬ 
tive catalogue free. Gold 
Medal—Paris, Pan-American, 
St. Louis. 102 prizes New York 
State Fair, 190-4. 
ELLWANGER & BARRY 
Mount Hope Nurserlem 
Drawer 1044— I, Rochester, N.Y. 
Established 18U7. 
FREE—Great Crops of 
STRAWBERRIES 
AND HOW TO GROW THEM 
W§mS 
Wmm 
The BOOK that is worth its weight Id Gold 
because it tei.s how Big Crops of Fancy 
Berries can be grown every year audh-.wto 
market them at a Big Profit. It contains the 
Latest Discoveries in Plant Breeding 
and has 110 beautiful engravings of berries and 
berry fields, showing Actual Results ob¬ 
tained by progressive growers. It tells how to 
Start a Profitable Berry Farm with a 
small capital. Jt is invaluable to the experi¬ 
enced fruit grower and gives Plain Instruc¬ 
tions for the beginner. Don’t order your plants 
until you Read This Book. It Is Free. 
Send your address to the 
R. M. Kellogg Co., Box 480, 
Three Rivers, Michigan- 
Strawberries 
Grown by the pedigree sys¬ 
tem. Biggest and Best 
Berries, and lots of them. 
$2.00 a 1,000 
and Upwards. 
Strawberry plants by the 
1,000,000, Raspberries, 
Blackberries, Gooseberries, 
, Currants, Grapes. All the 
good old and many choice new 
varieties. Illustrated, deserip- 
, tive catalogue giving prices and 
w telling how to plant and grow them, 
, Free to all. For 30 years a small fruit 
specialist. 250 acres in berries. 
J. T. Lovett, Little Silver, N.J. 
EM APPLE TREES $5.00 TO $10.00 PER 100 
Currant Bushes and Grape Vines, also Poplar 
Trees, for sale at bargain prices, boxed free. 
These trees, plants and vines must be sold at bargain prices, as we 
are overstocked with them. We have a surplus of both Carolina and 
Lombardy Poplars. Help us to sell 1 , 000,000 first-class trees, shrubs 
and vines as described and priced in our large new catalogue, which is 
mailed free when requested by postal card. Established 25 years 
# 100 , 000.00 capital. Trees true to name, boxed free. Let us price 
your list before buying elsewhere. Mention where you saw this adver¬ 
tisement and we will mail you a copy of Green’s Fruit Magazine. 
Address GREEN’S NURSERY CO., Rochester, N.Y. 
£Q|||V TQPPQ “Wiley, that's astonishing!” “Whatis?” “ Why, an unbroken line of 
f HUI | | tlttO orders from the same pe pie for 25 Years.” 
Nothing strange at all, they simply got what they bought and know they 
will continue to get it. Our Free Catalog submits evidence that will make you our customer. Send for it. 
Box 122 II. S. Wiley 8011 , Cayuga, 3XT. Y. 
DO YOUR FRUIT TREES BEAR TRUE TO NAME? 
A problem confronting Fruit Growers and Farmers throughout the Country, and a serious one 
to solve. I have studied the question many years and can give you valuable information. Send for 
my FREE Catalogue. Fifty Fruit Trees FREE with early orders. 
MARTIN WAHL, Nurseryman, Rochester, N. Y. 
ROGERS’ 
are SAFE 
Planters of Rogers’ 
Trees get Safety 
Not the largest, not the oldest, not the cheapest, but the Best trees and the Safest trees money can 
buv. Our Tree Breeder tells about our trees and our plan of breeding. It’s FREE. 
The Tree Breeder. ROGERS ON THE HILL, DANSVILLE. N. Y. 
There’s big money in every sprayed tree for the man who knows how to do it eco¬ 
nomically. We have 40,000 readers—students—who are learning from our columns 1 
how to grow and market luscious fruits and crisp vegetables — at a good profit too. 
Special seasons need special efforts, so in Feb., 1905, we shall publish a special edition of’ 
THE FRUIT-GROWER 
devoting 50 to GO columns to the different aspects of “spraying.” Formulas, sprayingmachin- 
ery; pictures of insects and the destruction they cause; when, where, and how to kill 
them and prevent loss will all be clearly dealt with without technicalities. Be 
sure you get this special number. Yearly subscription 50c. Send 25c and names of 
10persons interested in fruit-growing, for a year’s trial. Our"Bro. Jonathan Series” 
of ten Fruit Booklets is instructive. 25c each. You can get them free. Ask us. 
THE FRUIT-GROWER CO., 1351 SO. 7th.. ST. JOSEPH, M0. 
