9io 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 23, 
plants pulled from the bed, without being transplanted, 
$1.50 per 1,000 would be a very favorable price for a 
bulk of 200,000 plants. L. A. P. 
Palmyra, N. J. 
Figures from Illinois. 
The cost of growing tomato plants in quantity de¬ 
pends on the size and quality of plants wanted, as well 
as the time to be set for delivering the same. A good 
strong seedbed plant, six to eight inches long, grown in 
the field without the use of hotbed or cold frame, count¬ 
ed, but not packed or boxed for shipment, delivered at 
your own door, can be grown for 40 cents per 1,000, if 
you grow large quantities, not less than 100,000. If 
plants are to be shipped add enough to cover boxing, say 
10 cents per 1,000. If plants are to be grown in hotbeds 
or greenhouse, in order to get them ready early enough, 
the cost will be, say 80 cents per 1,000. If transplanted 
plants arc wanted, add $1 to $2.50 per 1,000, according 
to size, and how early wanted. Field-grown plants of 
above named size can be grown in about six weeks, 
more or less, according to the season, and to the time 
plants are wanted. In making your contract, you must 
insist that the factory take plants when ready; you can¬ 
not manufacture plants in the same way as, for instance, 
watches, to store away and keep in desired size for any 
length of time, and you cannot control the growing of 
your plants, especially those in the open ground; they 
might he two or three inches high, and look rather poor 
on account of a cold spell; if then the weather turns 
at once, and you get a fine rain followed by some warm 
days, your plants will be jumping, and might be over¬ 
grown in two weeks’ time, and worthless. You must 
also have a clause in your contract to the effect that 
you are relieved from all responsibility in case any in- 
- jury should happen to befall the plants from frost, 
drought, hail, cyclones or other causes, over which you 
have no control. It will not do to seed all at once; if 
you do you will have to seed at least for double as many 
plants as you need in order to be sure to fill your con¬ 
tract. You can grow 1,000 good, stocky seedlings on 
25 to 30 square feet of ground; of course you can grow 
up to 10,000 plants on that space, but not stocky, short, 
heavy plants. The above-named prices refer only to 
plants sold on contracts. For the open trade you cannot 
grow good plants at those rates, as you have to do ad¬ 
vertising, etc., and depend upon smaller orders arriving 
occasionally. L. m. 
Onarga, Ill. 
An Estimate from Delaware. 
I consider that 50 cents per 1,000 would be a fair 
price, as the plants are grown under out of door con¬ 
ditions in the State of Delaware. It is usual here to 
sow the seed about the first of April on ground that 
has been heavily manured and well prepared, usually 
of light loam, sowing the seed thickly in the rows, as 
the heat of germination is of material assistance in aid¬ 
ing the plants to come through the ground. Usually 
the rows are very narrow, say eight inches. It is a 
mistake to make them too narrow, as the plants are 
likely to be spindling if grown too thick. It is also 
good practice to thin the plants in the row after the 
plants are fairly well up and have begun to grow, in 
order to insure strong, stocky plants instead of weak 
stalks and leggy growth. 
By planting the rows 14 inches apart a small mule 
maj' be used successfully to cultivate the plants after 
they are one inch high. Such cultivation would, of 
course, require a trained mule and a trained man. both 
of which have been fairly plentiful in Delaware. For 
the very best plants we have always considered land 
not too rich in nitrogen to be the best, but to insure 
a quick start nitrate of soda in a very small quantity 
should be used as soon as the plants are fairly well 
out of the ground, taking care to give the plants only the 
very smallest quantity possible. Keep the plants coated 
with standard Bordeaux Mixture with one-half pound 
Paris-green to 50 pounds Bordeaux from start to finish. 
This precaution will insure freedom from fleas and Po¬ 
tato bugs, and also prevent fungus attacks. Vitality of the 
seed should be tested before using under as near field 
conditions as possible. Growing plants so early in the 
season among the essentials are a warm, well-drained 
soil, protection from northwest winds, and a perfect 
seed bed. The first plants under perfect conditions of 
growing should he ready to set in four to six weeks. 
The amount of land necessary to grow 200,000 plants 
may be easily figured out by taking into account the 
amount of seed sown in a rod of row, together with the 
measure of the rows, calculating that 75 per cent of the 
seed should produce plants fit to use. Usually a much 
higher per cent is used, but as none but the best plants 
should he taken for field use the best practice would be 
to discard at least 25 per cent, including seeds that did 
not germinate. s. h. derby. 
Delaware. ___ 
We have four farm papers, hut much prefer our R. N.Y., 
and incidentally let me say, the hint about taking milk 
stains from dark woolen goods, by sponging with hot black 
coffee, saved the price of many subscriptions in this family. 
Maine. mrs. e s. f. 
LONG EXPERIENCE IN SPRAYING. 
An Advocate of Lime, Sulphur and Salt. 
When the American Pomological Association held its 
biennial meeting in Los Angeles, Cal., the Horticultural 
Association of California exhibited their process of fu¬ 
migating by the hydrocyanic acid gas under the tent 
process, which never became very popular outside of 
California, and is about unused there at present. It 
was not long after this when Mr. Burbank sold the 
SECOND-CROP APPLES FROM VIRGINIA. Fig. 417. 
right of propagating the Burbank plum to a person in 
New Jersey, by which the San Jose scale was introduced 
into New Jersey, and all along the Atlantic seaboard 
by its dissemination. About this time 1 set out 10,000 
seedling pear trees from Iowa, under a certificate of 
inspection. Unfortunately, after they commenced to 
grow I discovered the San Jose scale. Being in close 
contact with the Department of Agriculture at Washing¬ 
ton, D. C., I used every possible means to destroy it. 
NATIVE AND JAPAN PERSIMMONS. NATURAL SIZE. 
Fig. 41S. See Ruralisms, Page 914. 
The first was the whale-oil soap. I sent to Bedford, 
Mass., to get a barrel of that, boiled it myself to have 
it right. It was ineffective; killed small scale in a 
crawling condition, but older encased scale it did not 
kill. Then came the kerosene emulsion; I gave that 
a thorough trial, and found that would not destroy 
them. Then came the recommendation of crude oil, 
but found it failed. It killed more trees than the scale 
did up to that time. When the Buffalo Exposition was 
held the American Pomological Society held its meeting 
in connection with it. There I met tfie State Entomol¬ 
ogist from Oregon, who told me they had a dead shot 
on San Jose in lime and sulphur. I told him if it did 
better work than the crude oil did I would want to 
know its preparation. Ten days after I received the 
proceedings of the Oregon Horticultural Society with 
full particulars of the dead shot. I made inquiries of 
the Department of Agriculture at Washington, from 
which I learned it was doing effective work on the 
Facific coast, but thought the climatic condition on the 
Atlantic was unfavorable. However, I was favorably 
impressed with Jts formula. I did my boiling in large 
iron kettles. I tried it as an experiment; incorporated 
the sulphur and lime thoroughly. My trees wer.e thor¬ 
oughly cleansed by its application. I then put up a plant 
to boil 600 gallons by steam at one boiling, and boil it 
about four hours; for three years I have been applying 
it, and expect to use it again this Winter. When Prof. 
Geo. C. Butz of our State College inspected my trees, 
he reported to Prof. Surface that it was utterly im¬ 
possible to find a scale in my orchards, which he em¬ 
bodied in one of his bulletins. Since the sulphur, lime 
and salt did so well with me, why should 1 not advo¬ 
cate its use? It also prevents the curly leaf on peaches, 
taking the place of the Bordeaux Mixture, so injurious 
to peach culture. w. b. k. Johnson. 
Lehigh Co., Pa. 
HARDINESS OF PEACH VARIETIES. 
There are certain facts well known to peach growers. 
Early peaches are more subject to rot than late ones. 
Peaches are more liable to rot in damp and muggy 
weather than when cool and dry. Some varieties are 
more subject to rot than others. That all varieties with 
fuzz on them are less liable to rot than the smoother 
varieties does not agree with my experience. Neither 
can correct conclusions be drawn from one or two sea¬ 
son’s experience, for soil, location, fertilization and 
culture are also factors in the rot problem. Fruit on 
a rankly grown tree is much more subject to rot than 
on one more moderately grown. Yet I think the 
weather has more to do with it than any one factor. In 
1904 all our early peaches were quite subject to rot, 
Rivers a total loss. In 1905 there was very little rot; 
even Rivers little affected, and Greensboro no rot at 
all. Yet with unfavorable weather Champions were 
practically a total loss, Crosby, Stump and late varieties 
practically free. I do not think the matter of fuzz vs. 
rot worth considering as a factor in setting an orchard, 
except people do not wish to buy fuzz. 
In regard to hardiness of bud, a good frost peach 
well grown will stand more cold than any other peach 
tree we ever had on our grounds. And varieties of the 
frost type (if I may call them so), Crosby, Pratt’s, Hill’s 
Chili, etc., are more hardy in bud than many other va¬ 
rieties, especially of the Crawford class, but with the 
varieties of the Chinese type which bear young and 
have a hardy bnd, what little hardiness, if any, the fuzzy 
varieties possess above them is much more than offset 
by their failings. No, we do not care for any fuzz on 
OUTS. H. 0. MEAD. 
Massachusetts. 
EXPERIENCE OF A TOMATO GROWER. 
I contracted last Spring with a canning company of 
Camden, N. J., to raise tomatoes for them, at $8 per 
ton, Camden is 10 miles from my place, over a good 
stone road. The seed was sown in the open ground 
April 15 in a well-prepared plant hed, and transplanted 
to the field June 5 to 10. We had some good showers 
at the time, and the plants lived well, I rented a piece 
of ground for $3 per acre that had been in corn last 
year. The ground is sandy loam that has been farmed 
hard with very little fertilizer for a number of years. 
The ground was plowed and harrowed, then marked out 
one way with the corn marker. I then put in the fer¬ 
tilizer and made up the rows with the potato planter. 
I put out 18,000 plants, rows five feet apart and plants 
three and one-half feet apart in the row. I used two 
tons of fertilizer, no other manure. I hoe-harrowed 
them four times then turned a light furrow to the rows 
with a one-horse plow. The variety was New Stone; 
they are solid and ripen well to the stem and suit the 
canners best. I hauled to the canners 22 loads of 100 
baskets each, a total weight of 78.710 pounds at $8 per 
ton, $314.84, I also sold in the Philadelphia markets be¬ 
fore the canners were ready to receive, and after they 
had closed for the season, 464 baskets for $112.50. Some 
green ones sold as low as seven cents per basket, and 
good ones sold for 40 cents per basket. Total for 
2,674 baskets, $427.34, also about 10 baskets for home 
use. I think it pays better to haul to the canners than 
to Philadelphia markets, as the canners will take all 
small and cracked tomatoes that would be sold in mar¬ 
ket as culls at a very low price, besides the extra cost 
and time to haul to Philadelphia. t. s. F. 
Laurel Springs, N. J. 
