i74 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 3, 
STARTING A STRAWBERRY BED. 
Every farmer ought to set out a straw¬ 
berry bed, one large enough for home use 
at least, and if near a large town he will 
find it not the least profitable crop by 
any means, if he has a larger bed. There 
is no berry more healthful and none more 
universally liked. We rarely sell any for 
less than two boxes for a quarter, and 
find a ready market for all we can raise, 
and that in a town of less than 3,000 in¬ 
habitants. The plants ought to be set out 
by the first of May or earlier, while the 
ground is still cool and moist. Sod land 
is preferable if free from grubs and 
Witch grass, because it retains the mois¬ 
ture, and there is more humus for the 
plants to feed upon. In this locality it is 
rarely that we find a piece free from the 
first of these two pests, so we often fall 
back upon our second choice; land upon 
which corn or potatoes have been raised 
the previous year. The ground should 
be as mellow as possible before the plants 
are set. For a fertilizer we use one 
composed of about 225 pounds nitrate of 
soda, 800 pounds bone meal and 200 
pounds muriate of potash. The rows 
should be three feet apart and the plants 
18 inches apart in the row. We make a 
very satisfactory marker as follows: To 
the front of a wheelbarrow is nailed a six- 
foot strip of wood so that it will ex¬ 
tend equally on each side from the mid¬ 
dle. To the ends are attached chains 
that will drag on the ground as the bar- 
row is moved. On the wheel itself rope 
is wound every 18 inches of its circum¬ 
ference, so as to make quite a hump. 
As the wheel turns these humps will mark 
the places where the plants are to be set, 
while the dragging chains at the same 
time will leave a mark where the adjoin¬ 
ing rows should come. Thorough culti¬ 
vation should be given from the first, 
that the weeds may not get a foothold. 
We prefer the matted-row system, al¬ 
though runners should not be allowed to 
set plants oftener than once in six inches. 
Extra ones may be cut off or trained to 
come between the rows so as to give ex¬ 
tra plants for setting a new bed. The 
blossoms should be picked off the first 
Summer to insure a good crop for the 
following year. Before cold weather 
comes the plants should be protected with 
fir boughs or coarse hay. 
Hillsboro Co., N. H. g. h. wheeler. 
VARIETY TESTING. 
Variety testing at our experiment sta¬ 
tions is not without value, but there is a 
tendency among tillers of the soil to place 
too much reliance upon the results of 
such tests. Every market gardener and 
small fruit grower should conduct limit¬ 
ed variety tests on his own premises, and 
the information acquired will be much 
more valuable to him than the conclu¬ 
sions of some one who is operating under 
different conditions of soil, exposure and 
perhaps climate. It is a very simple mat¬ 
ter to test the most promising varieties of 
any vegetable or class of small fruits. 
It is not necessary to set a large number 
of plants of each variety. One dozen 
plants will usually serve the purpose just 
as well as one hundred. This makes it a 
very inexpensive matter to test the most 
promising or highly recommended varie¬ 
ties, and the information thereby gained 
may be worth hundreds of dollars. 
In growing quite a large area of early 
and late tomatoes, as well as early and 
late cabbages, we make annual tests of 
promising new varieties in competition 
with standard old sorts. We also test dif¬ 
ferent strains of the same variety, and 
this is nearly as important as the testing 
of varieties. If there is anything better 
than the old sorts we have been growing 
we want to know it as soon as possible, 
so that advantage of the fact can be taken 
the following year. It is an easy matter 
for a gardener or fruit grower to get in 
the variety rut and keep on growing good 
varieties when it is discovered, perhaps 
accidentally, that some one else is grow¬ 
ing something better and probably more 
desirable from every standpoint. 
Cambria Co., Pa. r. l. watts. 
WHEN VEGETABLES ARE STARTED. 
As to sowing seeds under glass, I usually 
begin about January 15 with the following: 
Eggplant, all kinds of peppers, beets, cauli¬ 
flower. tomatoes for pot plants, cabbage to 
transplant in flats to be placed in cold frame 
for early planting, also sow some celery for 
early use. Then I sow a batch every two 
weeks, but the conditions of former planting 
will have something to do with this, and 
continue in this way until the season of 
out-door planting opens. I transplant all my 
stock into flats of from 10 to 12 dozen each, 
or about two inches apart. I plant peas just 
as soon as the ground will do the work; 
the season here varies from the last of 
March to April 20 for planting such as 
peas and potatoes. Early beans and corn we 
cannot plant before the first of May with 
any degree of safety ; one year with another. 
As to radishes, kale, spinach, lettuce, beets, 
mustard, salsify and parsnips, I always try 
to plant just as soon as the ground will do 
to use a drill; this season varies from April 
15 to the first of May. The same applies 
to onions and onion seed. 
Parke Co., Ind. h. b. brubeck. 
First peas were planted 1904, April 4-7; 
these were early smooth. In 1905 plantings 
were April 6-8, Gradus. Thos. Laxton, April 
24, 1905. Sweet corn, April 18; North Pole, 
Ford’s Early, Golden Bantam; for late plant¬ 
ing, July 10-17. Lima beans, June 15-30, 
1904-5. Tomato seed in hotbed February 20 
to March 10. e. h. 
St. Louis. Mo. 
For 1904 we planted peas, beans and pota¬ 
toes April 5; 1905 the above seeds were 
planted April 12. In 1903 it was much 
later, I think it was May 1. We have sown 
seeds and done some planting the last of 
March but not often. A fairly good average 
for vegetable plants, tomatoes, cabbages, 
etc., is February 20 to March 1; early out¬ 
door setting for late or general crop March 
20 to April 1. The above to be started in 
greenhouses or hotbeds. Out-door seeding 
and planting, peas, beets, radishes, potatoes, 
etc., April 9; beans, corn, (sweet) early 
squash, cucumbers, etc., April 20 to 25. We 
plant sweet corn three feet apart, one foot 
in the row. Peas and beans are drilled in 
rows three feet apart. Beets, carrots, par¬ 
snips, vegetable oysters, etc., 28 inches apart. 
Field corn three feet nine inches, drilled in 
the row to average 12 inches apart. This 
estimate is given on our planting within 
three or four miles of Lake Erie; 8 or 10 
miles farther south it is from 10 to 20 
days later. c. w. zuck & sons. 
Erie Co., Pa. 
We have looked over three yearly mem¬ 
oranda of the garden operations of John 
Jeannin, Jr., in Rensselaer Co., N. Y. These 
dates are for near Albany, N. Y. Beans 
planted from May 7 to May 31 ; began to 
mature July 1. Beets, earliest planting, 
April 9. Cabbage, earliest seed sowing, 
February 25. Celery seed sown March 29 
to May 3. Carrots May 7. Cucumbers May 
4. Sweet corn, earliest outdoor planting, 
May 11. Lettuce February 23. Melons 
May 4 to 24—the former transplanted 
on sod. Onions April 24. Radishes April 
10. Peas April 9. Squash May 24. Toma¬ 
toes March 4—’transplanted May 10. 
SPRAY, SPRAY, 
SPRAY 
your trees for the 
Codling Moth and All Leaf 
Eating Insects with the 
Best and Safest Poison 
which is 
Swift’s 
Arsenate of Lead 
IT WILL NOT BURN AND 
IT STICKS 
MADE ONLY BY THE 
Nlerrimac Chemical Co., 
33 Broad St., Boston, Mass. 
Write for free booklet. 
FOR SALE BY 
W. S. Stevens, Grand Rapids, Mich. 
Benton, Hall <fc Co., Cleveland, Ohio. 
Williamson Produce Co., Quincy, III. 
McPike Drug Co., Kansas City, Mo. 
C. S. Martin & Co., Salt Lake, Utah. 
Woodward, Clark & Co., Portland, Ore. 
Langley, Michaels Co., San Francisco, Cal. 
San. Monte Fruit Co., Watsonville, Cal. 
INSIST ON HAVING SWIFT'S. 
PL ANTI NO TIME IS HERE . 
Your success in beautifying your grounds depends largely upon the stock you plant. We 
have been carefully training 
Ornamental Trees, Vines and Shrubs 
in our nurseries. They are now strong and sturdy—ready to be set out. Cheap plants are 
poor economy, it pays (in dollars and cents and in satisfaction) to get reliable ones. We 
guarantee every specimen we sell to be true to name, free from disease and sure to grow. The 
unqualified success of planters who use our stock is due very largely to the care bestowed on 
plants before they leave our nurseries. Our landscape department is of unusual field and 
scope and is capable of the designing and planting of grounds of any size. Perhaps it can be 
of service to you. Our handsome catalogue is free. Besides ornamental trees, shrubs and 
vines, it describes all kinds of fruit trees, flowering plants, etc. May we send you a copy? 
T. J. DWYER & COMPANY, 
Box I, CORNWALL, NEW YORK. 
WHAT OF IT ? 
Why Gilt-Edge Berries and Gilt-Edge Prices by shipping your berries in our 
NEW SUCCESS CRATE. I can show you better than I can tell. For lOc. 
I will send you a sample crate by express, or by mail 50c., and prices per 100 or 
1000. A big thing. Be sure to try it this season. Your money back if not satis¬ 
factory. T. C. KEVITT, Inventor and Manufacturer, Athenia, N. J. 
Coles & Co., 109 Warren Street, New York, Sales AgenL 
FULL DIRECTIONS 
FOR BUILDING 
This Greenhouse 
CHEAPLY 
^S. 
Any Kind of Carpentering 
TAUGHT BY MAIL. 
H. S. MARTIN, Kenmore, New York. 
71* Y FREE CATALOG tells you in plain facts 
why my improved Second Crop Seed Potatoes 
are best by test everywhere. 40 varieties of Strawberry 
Plants of the highest grade, true to name. etc. Don’t 
fail to get my prices. J. W. HALL, Marion Sta., Md. 
California Privet, 1 &2yrs,flne,bushy,l-4ft; cuttings 
of same, $1.35 per 1000, ready for planting made early 
and callused. Lombardy Poplar, 3-5 ft.;lyr., nice 
for ship.; gen. nur. stock. J. A. Roberts, Malvern, Pa. 
SPRAY MATERIAL 
BERRY BASKETS 
AND CRATES. 
Everything for planting 1 , 
growing, harvesting ana 
marketing fruit. Write us 
to-day ana let us quote you 
a special price on what you 
need. The Powerful Barrel 
Pump shown here can be at¬ 
tached to any barrel. Price 
complete, ready to use, 
only $4.95. Send for our 
catalogue of trees, plants, 
— „ vines and everything need¬ 
ed to care for them. It is free with a copy 
of Green s Big Fruit Grower Magazine. 
GREEN'S NURSERY CO., 
105 Wall Street, 
^Rochester, N. Y. 
The best blackberry of recent introduction. Get the 
genuine direct from introducer. Eldorado, per- 
fectly hardy and reliable blackberry. Lucretia, 
Blowers and other Blackberries. Miller, Welch, 
Cuthbert, Early Pink, Kansas and other Raspberries, 
40 best varieties of Strawberries, Currants, Grapes, 
and other small fruit plants and trees, a large 
stock of California Privet, all sizes very low. For 
price list and illustrated circular of Ward Black¬ 
berry address Chas. Black, Hightstown, N. J. 
Choice Plants, Strawberries, Rasp¬ 
berries and Blackberries. 
My catalogue for 1906 describes some of the most 
hardy varieties. It tells you the best varieties to 
plant for profit; also a list of those that do 
not stand the frost. We offer a select list of the old 
and new varieties; my specialties are the Abington, 
Arnot, Cardinal, Ideal and Fairfield strawberries. 
We send out only No. 1 stock; Catalogue free. 
C. W. Graham, Box 342, Afton, N. Y. 
f£ERRY CRATES AND BASKETS—All growers 
should send at once for catalogue. Special 
prices. H. H. AULTFATHKR, Box B, Minerva, O. 
pOR SALE—A large lot of Paragon and Ridgely 
* Chestnut wood for grafting. 
HENRY C. LOVETT, Emille, Bucks Co., Pa. 
■ —- • — —Daidam Til, /ii uui 
1 ' Vitse, American Spruce, 6 to 12 in., $4 per 1000; 5000 
for $15. White Pine and Hemlock, $5 per 1000; 5000 for 
$20. Also Transplanted Evergreens. Writo for price 
list. MBS. JAMES A. BOOT, Skwjeftteles, N.Y. 
