294 
April 8, 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
contain seven or eight per cent of nitrogen, while other 
parts of the plant will not contain over two per cent. 
It is supposed that the bacteria store the nitrogen in 
their own bodies and are, at a certain stage of their 
development, dissolved by the plant and thus utilized as 
TIIE MIRACLE PINK. Fig. 121. 
See Ruralisms, Page 300. 
plant food. While this wonderful work has been going 
on for ages we are just beginning to understand it, so 
that we may utilize the bacteria properly. h. w. c. 
TESTS FOR ACID SOILS. 
The best single test for determining soil acidity 
which is capable of being used by persons upon their 
own farms is that with blue litmus paper. Such, paper 
can be bought of an apothecary at trifling cost. Strips 
half an inch wide and two inches long are convenient 
for making the tests. Care should be taken not to 
handle the end of the paper that is to be inserted in 
the soil, for if the fingers are moist they will redden 
the paper so that it will appedY much as it does when 
reddened by acid soil. The soil to be tested should then 
be moistened sufficiently with water to make a thick 
paste and should then be allowed to stand for half an 
hour or longer. It may then be parted by the use of a 
knife blade or other convenient instrument, and after 
introducing one end of the litmus paper the soil should 
be pressed against the sides of the paper. After from 
half an hour to an hour the paper may be removed 
from the soil, taking care not to tear it. After its 
removal the paper may be dipped repeatedly in water 
in order to wash off the adhering soil. If a distinct 
red color has entirely taken the place of the original 
blue color of the paper, it may be concluded that the 
soil probably needs liming. 
In the case of very red soils it is often better to 
press the blue litmus paper against the soil than to 
have it surrounded by it. If in such cases the blue 
color of the paper disappears and gives place to a dis¬ 
tinct red one, acidity is indicated. This blue litmus- 
paper test furnishes also a good means for testing for 
acidity in subsoils, or soils very deficient in organic 
matter, where the acid substances may be largely of 
mineral origin. A good supplementary test, which is 
applicable only in soils containing considerable humus, 
is made by means of adding dilute ammonia water to 
soils. Ammonia, too, can be bought of an apothecary 
at slight expense. In making this test take two glasses, 
place a level tablespoonful of soil in each, then add 
water until the glasses are about two-thirds full. Now 
add a tablespoonful of diluted ammonia water to one 
of the glasses. Stir each with a different spoon or 
knife. If, after standing some hours, the liquid in 
the one to which the ammonia water was added has 
become dark brown or black, it may be concluded that 
acid humus was probably present and hence that lim¬ 
ing will prove helpful. [dr.] h. j. wheeler. 
Rhode Island. _ 
GROWING DEWBERRIES IN IOWA. 
Good Shippers for Distant Trade. 
I have been fruiting and growing the Lucretia dew¬ 
berry for the past twelve years with very satisfactory 
results. For three years previous to my planting I 
visited a friend about 12 miles from me, who had one 
acre in cultivation, and when I saw the wonderful 
crops of berries each year I was fully satisfied to ven¬ 
ture into the cultivation. Does it pay to grow them in 
connection with blackberries? I cultivated both for 
10 years, but two years ago I plowed up my black¬ 
berries and planted last Spring two acres more of dew¬ 
berries. I find by experience the dewberry will stand 
a very severe drought and give a cron of berries when 
blackberries by their side on same ground will all dry 
up on the bushes. This was so with me in 1900. Then 
again, the blackberry is so very seedy, and the dew¬ 
berry almost free from seed, and has no hard core, and 
always being large in size causes my customers to pre¬ 
fer paying nearly double the price over blackberries. 
The past season I sold Lucrctias from $2.50 to $3 per 
24-quart case, while blackberries sold from $1.25 to 
$1.75 per 24-quart case. Owing to the difficulty of 
selling blackberries since I grew dewberries I have 
quit growing them. Another advantage is they ripen 
fully two weeks before blackberries, and the bulk is 
marketed before blackberries come. Again, thev are 
firmer to ship; although double the size they do not 
“muss up” so easily. For canning, everybody here, 
after several years of test, says: “Give me the dew¬ 
berries regardless of the price, for they are almost 
seedless, and remain whole when canned.” 
There are several varieties of dewberries, but the old 
Lucretia stands at the head. There is now a new dew¬ 
berry which is called the Premo. I have fruited it two 
years; it is about equal to the Lucretia, and the only 
advantage it has over the Lucretia is it is one week 
earlier, which gives us early berries and good prices. 
I now plant in rows six feet apart with plants five feet 
apart in rows. I plant a row of potatoes the first 
year between the dewberry rows. I cultivate as often 
as is necessary to keep clean of weeds, with a one- 
horse cultivator, and I always go the same way. By 
doing so the cultivator will straighten the vines all 
out in a straight, narrow row. Now bear this in mind; 
if you do not cultivate the vines will run all over the 
ground, but the cultivator will keep the ground clean 
and the vines in a narrow, straight row. The first 
year after planting I drive small stakes in the rows 
A PROLIFIC LUCRETIA DEWBERRY. Fig. 122. 
about every 20 feet two feet high, and staple a wire on 
top; then trim the canes to about from 3 ]/ 2 to four 
feet in length, and tie to wire, or the canes may be left 
a little longer and laid over the wire. The main ob¬ 
ject is to have the bearing wood above the new growth. 
If no wire is used then the bearing vines and the new 
vines are all mixed up together, but if bearing wood 
is above the new growth you will easily see the fruit 
can be much easier gathered. As soon as the fruit ripens 
the old canes die and dry up; the new growth is trail¬ 
ing on the ground for the next crop, and the culti¬ 
vator will keep the vines all in a straight row. Then 
the next Spring trim and place on wire, and continue 
the same with cultivator. I have at present time some 
rows 10 years old that will fruit for several years yet. 
As to their yield with the blackberry, perhaps this 
will outyield in bulk of berries in a good season, but 
'should the season be a little short of rain then the 
dewberry will be far ahead. I will give you the yield 
for the past three years on two acres. This two-acre 
piece has rows seven feet apart. I have in every other 
row, every 1G feet, a peach tree, growing 285 trees. In 
1902 we picked 4,340 quarts, sold at $2.75 per 24-quart 
crate; total $475. In 1903 picked 3,G40 quarts, sold for 
$375. In 1904 I thought my vines were almost ruined 
by the severe cold Winter, but was happily disap¬ 
pointed; we picked 3,110 quarts, sold for $322. I ship 
a good many berries to northwest Iowa, from 150 to 
200 miles, and for the past five years have been sending 
berries by express almost every day in berry time to a 
groceryman at White Lake, S. D., 5G0 miles west, with 
success. I simply mention this to show you the dew¬ 
berry is a good shipper. My location is centra] eastern 
Iowa, on the banks of the Mississippi River. Fig. 122 
shows how Lucretia fruits. geo. l. gast. 
UTILIZING A VILLAGE LOT. 
I note on page 177 artiele on kitchen garden, and am of 
same opinion as our friend ••Villager.” I have an acre' of 
land in New Jersey on which I would like to raise poultry 
and have enough left for my garden. Could I raise enough 
garden truck on one acre for a family of three for the year, 
and keep 200 hens for eggs for tile market? Will a Summer 
run of 15 x 50 feet, he enough for 25 hens? Will they get 
exercise enough ? h. t. p. 
The possible income from an acre of land or 200 
hens is quite large, but of course much depends on the 
quality of the land and fowls, and the experience of the 
owner. The income per acre from some intensively 
worked land in parts of Long Island and New Jersey 
is surprising, yet a man with little garden or hen prac¬ 
tice might be still more astonished at the amount of 
money,, time and labor he could invest in hens and gar¬ 
dening with no adequate returns. Insects <?r fungi may 
destroy his garden stuff, or, without any visible reason 
it may refuse to grow. Eggs may not hatch well and 
hens loaf around eating high-priced grain when'they 
should be laying. Yet there is no good reason why- 
one should not work into moderate success in both these 
lines by moving along carefully and keeping a close 
watch of results. Success with poultry will cost less 
if one starts with 50 hens, gradually increasing as re¬ 
sults and experience warrant. The size of run men¬ 
tioned— 15 x 50 feet—will do very well for 25 hens, but 
having no free range they will need plenty of green 
stuff, and shade in Summer, unless the pen is in a 
very airy place. If you have not had much experience 
in gardening it might be well to take a small piece, 
say 40 x GO, for beans, peas, tomatoes and similar small 
vegetables and use the remainder of the land for some 
staple crop, like potatoes, quite easily grown and the 
surplus readily salable. Plant beets, turnips and cab¬ 
bage for Winter hen feed and sow a succession of 
small pieces to coarse-growing lettuce to throw in the 
yards with weeds and grass. h. 
KILLING THE CANADA THISTLE. 
The Canada thistle is becoming one of the most 
troublesome of the noxious weeds that annoy Illinois 
farmers, and I noticed recently in an agricultural paper 
that they are a great nuisance in the Middle and New 
England States. It was also stated that this thistle 
is very hard to eradicate in the East; therefore a west¬ 
erner’s experience may prove profitable to some of your 
readers. The Canada thistle propagates chiefly by 
means of rootstocks which push through the soil. These 
have latent buds at intervals, and these buds will pro¬ 
duce when broken by the plow any time during the 
growing season. The plow will carry them to other 
portions of the field. This weed appears to be less 
able to resist attacks after the blossoming period than 
earlier; therefore after that season I secure a sharp 
hoe and cut the thistles off just below the surface of 
the ground. A few plants will be likely to show up 
the next season, but two or three cuttings will finish 
them for good—at least this has been my experience 
In large areas where surface cutting with a hoe 
would not be practicable they, may be destroyed by 
mowing off the thistles and throwing salt on the: 
ground where they grew. I have seen a neighbor de¬ 
stroy a 10-acre field of thistles in this manner in two> 
years. A year after I heard a farmers’ institute lec¬ 
turer tell his audience to laugh at anyone who told 1 
them to “kill thistles by putting salt on to them.” As: 
the rootstocks of the thistle are underground the ten¬ 
dency of the roots to grow when cut from above may¬ 
be destroyed, and it may be this cause and not the salt 
that was the cause of my neighbor’s success. At any 
rate he got rid of the thistles. I have destroyed thistles: 
NEW HYBRID PINK, SWEET WILLIAM X CHINESE PINK. 
Fig. 123. See Ruralisms, Page 300. 
and burdocks by the bare fallow and pasturing the in¬ 
fested land with a flock of sheep. The sheep destroy 
the tender .shoots. This would involve the growing 
of a succession of pasture crops for two or three years, 
and this has proved the easiest way of fighting noxious 
weeds in my experience. w. d. s. 
