63o 
August 2G, 
TIIH RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
SOMETHING ABOUT LEEKS. 
Will you tell all about leeks; when to plant them, when 
to use them, and how and why? Do they winter in the 
ground one year or two? r. M. o. 
Danbury, Conn. 
The leek is not as much used by Americans as it 
deserves; it is mild-flavored and wholesome, and de¬ 
serves the title of "poor man's asparagus,” bestowed 
upon it by the French. It does not form a bulb, and 
has flat lily-like leaves. Leeks require a long season 
for development, and can be sown early in Spring and 
treated like onions. It is preferable, however, to sow 
in a frame or mild hotbed in March, in drills two or 
three inches apart; when large enough, thin out to one 
inch apart in the row. In May or early June trans¬ 
plant to the open ground, trimming off half the tops 
and setting quite deep, as they are to be blanched. Set 
six to nine inches apart, in rows 15 inches apart; the 
best soil is rich light loam. Cultivate well, and earth 
up slightly when growing well. Some growers cultivate 
leeks in trenches like celery, and they are stored like 
that vegetable. Leeks planted out in May are ready for 
use in September; they may also be sown in cold 
frames in August and September, and planted out the 
following April. When grown in trenches they are 
stored in the trench during Winter, but they decay 
easily if covered too early. They should be plump, ten¬ 
der, well blanched, and free from decay. Good varie¬ 
ties arc London Flag, Scotch Flag, Giant Carentan and 
Large Rouen. They are used as ^flavoring for soups 
and stews, and also boiled and served with white sauce 
or vinaigrette dressing, like asparagus. The prepared 
soup bunches sold in many cities usually contain leeks. 
AN OLD, OLD SUBJECT. 
While we are well pleased with other farm papers, 
your pbsition on the Spencer Seedless apple fad. which 
had such a boom in this county a short time ago. 
makes The R. N.-Y. worth its weight in "big red 
apples,” and as The R. N.-Y. stands square for the* best 
of everything, how about dishonest nurserymen and 
tree dealers who are filling the cduntry full of worth¬ 
less trees, to absolute disadvantage of every fruit 
grower? Agents sell "whole-root budded stock,” but 
when trees are delivered not a budded tree can be found 
among the whole lot. To my certain knowledge two- 
thirds of the trees now set in apple orchards are worth¬ 
less piece-roots that can never make long-lived and 
profitable orchards. Evert year we have the accumulat¬ 
ing evidence of the presence of root gall and other de¬ 
vices, proving conclusively that something is wrong in 
the propagation of nursery stock. h. b. n. 
West Virginia. 
R. N. \ .—We might talk from now until doomsday 
about "tree agents” and worthless trees, but until peo¬ 
ple will make use of their own sense or powers of 
observation ,the “novelty” business will prosper. Many 
of the peojfle who buy such trash know better. Some 
think they are a little smarter than the agent, others 
expect to get the better of their neighbors; other's are 
willing to take the risk, and others like to experiment. 
After repeated warnings we have little sympathy for 
those who pay great prices for "novelties” which bear 
all the ear marks of a fraud. It is possible now to buy 
reliable nursery stock at a fair price. 
PLAIN TALES FOR PRACTICAL PEOPLE. 
Propagating Evergreen Trees. 
I should like to have a discussion of the subject of 
propagating evergreens, especially the pines and cedar (redl. 
We have large trees on our farm, furnishing plenty of seed, 
and so far have failures in attempts to secure the germina¬ 
tion of the seed- Can you refer me to a work on the sub¬ 
ject? lT . v. c. 
Topeka, Kansas,-. 
Dry seeds oi? evergreens, such as those of the pine 
tree, are usually gathered as soon as ripe. The cones 
arc opened by being kept in a dry room near the fire, 
and the seeds stored in perfectly dry sand until early 
Spring, when they may be sown in large mellow seed 
beds, carefully watered so as to avoid packing the soil, 
and shaded until the seedlings come up. They are care¬ 
fully weeded and cultivated for one or two seasons, and 
then transplanted in nursery rows, eight to 12 inches 
apart, the rows three feet or more apart to allow horse 
cultivating, and grown on for two or three seasons more 
until large enough for general planting. Cedar seeds, 
however, are enclosed in a sort of a bony nut, and de¬ 
mand different treatment. They should be mixed with 
moist sand, placed in a strong canvas bag, and kneaded 
until the outer coatings are partly worn off, then packed 
in moist sand* stratified in boxes or buried in the soil, 
where they cfen freeze, until Spring, when they are 
sown very much like pine seeds. They are slow in 
germinating, and sometimes do not come up until the 
second or third year. Good directions in handling ever¬ 
green seeds will be had in Thorburn’s Seed Catalogue, 
sent by J. M. Thorburn & Co., New York City. The 
most practical book on this subject that we know is 
Forest Planting, by H. Nicholas Jarchow, price $1.50 
from this office. It contains much useful and reliable 
information on the subject. 
Chestnuts for Post Timber. 
A few miles north there is plenty of light sandy soil, 
where the chestnut thrives naturally, and which can he 
bought very cheap. A friend wants to plant some of this 
land to chestnuts, expecting to cut the trees for posts when 
they reach a suitable size. How shall he prepare the 
ground, and when should nuts he planted, and about how 
many years would it take for trees to reach a suitable size 
for posts? i.. it. 
Cohoes, N. Y. 
Experiments in growing chestnut for posts and tim¬ 
ber from the nuts have not been very successful. If the 
land is not too rough it should be prepared in early 
Spring as for corn, and furrowed out in checks about 
four feet by five. The nuts are kept over Winter in 
boxes of moist sand, buried a few inches under the 
soil and dropped like corn in the checks, two or three 
inches to a “hill,” covering very lightly. Clean cultiva¬ 
tion is needed for several years, and the seedlings are 
gradually thinned to one in a place. In congenial soil 
the post size should be reached in 10 to 12 years. Nuts 
often sprout during Winter storage, and a good stand 
is never certain. If planted in the Fall vermin are quite 
certain to get many of them. The native chestnut 
sprouts so readily front the stump that the best way 
is to buy natural stump land and thin the sprouts as 
growth progresses. Sprouts from good stumps make 
good posts and timber two to four years before seed- 
l’lilZETAKER ONIONS READY FOR TRANSPLANTIN'*;. 
FtG. 2<i7. See Page 032. 
lings started at the same time. Write the Department 
of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., for bulletins on 
chestnut culture. 
Treatment of an Asparagus Patch. 
Having leased a farm here recently, we found an aspara¬ 
gus bed bearing fairly, but tbe owner must have neglected it 
previously, as the soil on top was very hard when we came 
at the beginning of May. We endeavored to correct con¬ 
ditions in digging, but found the roots to be only three 
inches under the surface. We intend to manure the bed 
well in the Autumn and spread sifted soil on top next. 
Spring. What can we do in tlie meantime? Can we put 
some rotten stable manure on it now, and give the bed a 
good scraping in Fall? a, l. a. 
Hanover, N. Y. 
Although your asparagus bed has many roots neat 
the surface, the plants are probably provided with an 
abundance of roots deeper down, and little harm can 
come from hoeing the bed over thoroughly, in order to 
destroy the weeds. A thick mulch of stable manure put 
on now would keep the soil moist, and to a great extent 
prevent the growth of weeds. In the Fall you could 
given it a good scraping and light hoeing, and early in the 
Spring apply another dressing of stable manure, well 
cultivated or hoed in, or a dressing of about one pound 
of good potato fertilizer to the square yard, also lightly 
cultivated or hoed in the soil. This should put your 
plot in good condition for another year. Although we 
do not generally advise salt for asparagus beds, in 
your case it might be advisable to sow about two pounds 
to the square yard over the bed before putting on the 
first mulch of manure. Salt in this strength will not 
harm the asparagus, and is of some benefit in keeping 
the soil moist, and would be very likely to destroy most 
of the weeds without disturbing the roots with the hoc 
or cultivator. 
SHORT STORIES. 
PARAFFINED BERRIES. —An Oregon correspond¬ 
ent sends us by mail some fine berries that had been treat¬ 
ed to a bath of melted paraffin before shipment. They are 
shown in natural size, just as received, in fig. 2(59. I he 
varieties are Royal Sovereign strawberry, Loganberry 
and Mammoth blackberry. These paraffined fruits were 
packed in hardwood sawdust and forwarded in an or¬ 
dinary mailing case. They retained much of their char¬ 
acteristic flavor after their eight days’ journey. The form 
and color were fairly well preserved at the end of six 
weeks, but the quality was decidedly "off.” As a handy 
means of preserving samples of ripe fruit when cold 
storage is not available the paraffin process is not with¬ 
out merit, though the results are not lasting. 
OIL AND LEAD FOR APPLE TREES.—On page 
533 is an article by Prof. Britton, who says he painted 
apple trees with white lead and linseed oil. and the paint 
lias killed them. After reading the description and look¬ 
ing at the cut showing the way the trees were painted, 
it is evident that the reason the trees were killed was 
that they were painted too high up and too large a sur¬ 
face was covered with the paint. We have treated, (in 
our orchard), over 3,500 trees with white lead and lin¬ 
seed oil paint and have not lost a single tree, and as far 
as we can see, none was injured in the slightest de¬ 
gree. They were painted about is inches high from 
the ground, which is sufficiently high to keep rabbits 
from gnawing the bark, w. c. stevens. 
Virginia. 
BEET SUGAR FACTORIES.—To say that beet sugar 
industry in America is a failure appears to be no more 
correct than to say that it is a success in southern New 
York. This has been practically the contention of The 
R. N.-Y. all along. The company that for a time oper¬ 
ated at Binghamton, at first in a moderate way, but 
later increased the investment to $400,000, found the 
beet-sugar industry business not very profitable, as the 
soil in general about Binghamton did not seem to be 
well suited to growing the beets. They had made a bad 
investment, but they sent a lot more of good money 
after that which had gone, removed the entire outfit to 
Idaho at a cost of $90,000 for freight, refitted and en¬ 
larged the plant, making the entire plant cost nearly 
three-quarters of a million, and set it to work. As a re¬ 
sult of this move they have at last sold out to the trust 
at a price a little short of a million, and the pay is good, 
A firm nerve, a clear understanding, and enough money 
enabled them to pull out of a bad situation. H. h. l. 
SAN JOSE SCALE IN DELAWARE. 
Han Jose scale and its treatment has been discussed for 
years. The development and life history of the scale has 
been told ftnd retold. The different treatments are still being 
written on at length, and their particular merits brought out. 
In (lie horticultural centers you hear scale and its treatment 
talked of more than any One thing The fruit grower is only 
getting awake He lias for a long period been asleep The 
question of what to use for the scale has been asked oftener 
than how to apply it; In my opinion at the present time it 
is becoming one of the minor questions, and when the fruit 
grower becomes thoroughly awake it will be an almost need¬ 
less question. The paramount question is, bow thoroughly 
did you do the work? Was your material (be whflt it (nay) 
thoroughly prepared? Did you cover the trees from top to 
bottom, and ail tlie small twigs between? For if there is 
one small badly-infested twig left untouched there will he 
enough breeding stock left to cover the tree by the following 
Winter. This question of thoroughness has been sorely neg¬ 
lected. and is seldom mentioned After examining a poorly 
sprayed orchard it is hard to tell a man bis work has been 
for naught ; nevertheless it is often so. There were n good 
many orchards sprayed last Spring where the owners would 
have been money in pocket if they had paid their men to sit 
still, for then the material would have been saved. Last 
Spring there was a great increase in the number of orchards 
sprayed : among these there was some very good work done, 
and a good deal of very poor work. A few years ago, when 
spraying was comparatively new, there was slighting work 
done. Now some of these men are among our most thorough 
sprayers. So we will live in hopes of a good share of the 
new ones joining the same class, and taking for their watch¬ 
word thoroughness I do not wish to be misunderstood: T 
would not for an instant have anyone think the horticul¬ 
tural interests of the State were on the decline, for it is just 
the reverse. There are enough thrifty and industrious fruit 
growers ready to enlarge on tllelr already paying orchards as 
fast as the careless drop out of line. h. c. richardson. 
In recent references to Burbank’s fruits, it should be 
remembered that Abundance, Burbank and Red .Tune plums 
were not originated by Mr. Burbank, being, as we under¬ 
stand. native Japan varieties merely named by him. 
According to the interstate Commerce Commission, dur¬ 
ing January, February and March, 1905, railway accidents 
of all kinds in the United States injured 14,397 persons, and 
killed 909. 'file total number of collisions and derailments 
during the same period was 3,108. 
In 1903 there were in the United States 8,970 homicides. 
The ratio of murders to population has increased from 24.7 
per million in 1881 to 112 per million in 1903. One recent 
year Chicago had 118 homicides, and London, five times as 
large. 20. Criminologists blame these crimes largely upon 
the practice of carrying hidden weapons. 
