254 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 24, 
tested sorts and not try too many novelties. With us 
Baldwin is the favorite because it does well in our 
section, and is well known in the markets. Red apples 
are popular, and the following keep up a fairly good 
supply: Red Astrachan, Williams, Fall Pippin, 
Wealthy, McIntosh. R. I. Greening, Sutton and Bald¬ 
win. Of course Fall Pippin and Greening are not red 
apples, but in our locality they are well known and 
much desired. If possible we shall, as we can, work 
up the ground between the rows, in some way and 
sow grass seed. The grass will be used for mulching 
the trees. 
“AN AID TO THE FARMER ” 
Farming is generally considered by those who have 
had actual experience with it. as pretty hard and dis¬ 
couraging work, with lots of unforeseen occurrences to 
diminish or destroy the result of hard work and good 
planning. This being so, the farmer should be specially 
grateful when our legislatures, almost entirely elected 
by farmers, pass laws to make our lot easier. As an 
example of this careful consideration of the farmers’ 
interests I would like to tell a little story. 
A few years ago, it was reported that a couple of 
deer had been seen in southern Rhode Island, and im¬ 
mediately the Legislature passed a law declaring a 
closed season on deer which is to last till 1008, with a 
fine of $500 for killing one of these animals, which are 
so valuable to farmers. What have been the results of 
this wise and considerate legislation? To me, they are 
as follows: In 1902 and 1903 I planted about 500 
cherry trees, and between 4,000 and 5.000 apple trees, 
which grew well, but during the Winter and Spring of 
1904 and 1905 the deer so gnawed and rubbed the trees 
that at this time, not a cherry tree is alive, and less 
than 2,000 of the apples, and these latter have so 
often had their heads bitten off that they are of very 
little value. The deer seem very fond of young apple 
shoots, and as often as the trees have started a new 
top, the deer have found it out and bitten it off. This 
Winter I have been at work building a wire fence seven 
feet high entirely around the orchards, an expense that 
I can ill afford, and entirely uncalled-for if it were 
not for these wards of the State. 
The State says I shall not kill these animals which 
are destroying my property, and also refuses to pay for 
the damage they have done, so that in addition to the 
loss I have already suffered. I must make a heavy 
outlay in the attempt to prevent complete destruction. 
In 1908 I presume I shall have the pleasure of seeing 
some city sportsman come down and tramp over my 
land with the care for gates and domestic stock 
that usually distinguishes them when brought into con¬ 
tact with the farmer. One of the worst features of the 
case to me is the fact that it is unnecessary. If the 
farmers individually, or better, collectively, through 
their Granges, which ought to be universal, kept an eye 
on the legislators they elect and the laws they attempt 
to pass, there would be a good many bills go into the 
waste basket that now become law, and a great many 
other measures that are now tabled and pigeonholed 
because only of benefit to farmers would become laws 
that would help not only the farmer, but all the classes 
who so calmly claim to be superior to him, but who 
are absolutely dependent on him. Let us combine to 
protect our interests and meanwhile don’t forget to use 
the postage stamp argument. It will help. 
H. W. HEATON. 
GROWING STRAWBERRIES FOR MARKET. 
I would consider transportation first, as the fruit are 
frail and tender things composed of sunshine and water 
and must be handled like eggs. Almost any manufac¬ 
turing city is a good market for berries. The best way 
to ship is by express. My choice of land would be a 
black loam or sand, the richer the better. High land is 
much safer from late Spring frost, and is drained bet¬ 
ter. New land is the best, but old land is all right if 
it is rich. Good potato land is all right; if potatoes 
or some other hoed crop are raised on it the year before 
all the better. I would not plant on old sod, as it con¬ 
tains white grubs, and they would eat the roots of the 
strawberry plants. My choice of slope would be to the 
east for early berries, or to north for late, never to 
south or west if I could help it, as it is too hot and 
dry. They will suffer from drought on west slope. 
You will want good plants; never set old plants that 
have borne fruit, as they have lost their vitality. Their 
roots are black and stubby. Always set plants from a 
new bed with white, fresh roots. Prepare your land 
as for a fancy garden; make it smooth and fine. Line 
it in straight rows, four feet apart, shallow marks. I. 
set with a spade, and have a boy to help me. I set 
the spade in the soil with the handle leaning a little from 
me, then straighten and lift out. The boy carries the 
plants in water, so the fine roots will not get dry. He 
gives the plant a shake and straightens out the roots 
fan shape, and sets them in the spade hole. I press my 
foot against the soil, and it is set firmly so you could 
pluck a leaf without pulling it up. I set in April two 
feet in the row, or closer if they are not good plant- 
makers. I cultivate shallow in about 10 days. I pluck 
all fruit stems the first season, and trim all runners up 
to June 20, as the first runners are like a sewing thread 
as to size, but they will get larger until they are as 
large as a slate pencil. I follow the matted row plan, 
about eighteen inches wide. I train the first two 
plants’ runners each way along' the row, put something 
on the runner to hold it in place, then train each plant 
like the spokes from hub of a wheel. Do not let them 
get too thick; if you have plenty of rain in the Fall 
they are liable to get too thick, and will have small 
berries in 'place of large ones. Cultivate often and late 
in the season to keep ahead of weeds. The varieties that 
do well with me are Michel, Bederwood, Haverland, 
Tennessee Prolific, Greenville, Senator Dunlap and 
Buhach. They are named in their order of ripening. 
Salama, West Virginia. M. w. 
WHY DID LIME AND SULPHUR FAIL? 
We mail you under separate package a sample of 
scale, which seems to enjoy the kindly protection of 
lime, sulphur and salt given last November; I think 
you will find them fat and hearty. Now, please forbear 
saying “He did not prepare his wash properly,” for 
that is evident, seeing the scale is still alive. I took 
20 pounds sulphur, 40 pounds lime and 15 pounds salt, 
all carefully weighed (or multiples of this). Into a 
tank holding something over 200 gallons I placed water 
for slaking the lime, first heating the former, then add¬ 
ing the lime. While the slaking took place the sulphur 
was added, then the salt, then the necessary amount of 
water to bring the above mentioned ingredients to 50 
gallons, usually making 200 gallons, or four times the 
formula. Live steam was turned into this 200-gallon 
tank, and the mixture boiled for two hours by the 
watch, then turned into a 200-gallon wagon tank and 
applied, while still hot. Some of the tanks became cold 
before they could be applied, and were returned and 
brought almost to the boiling point before application 
was made. I mention the foregoing thus minutely 
to forestall any presumption on your part that the 
mixture was improperly made, or if I have failed in any 
respect that I may be corrected. I send you twigs to 
show you the coating of the wash still remaining on 
them to some extent; the lime is most in evidence on the 
under side of the branches. This is not the first time 
we have failed in the use of the wash, and only one 
A HAPPY BARNYARD FAMILY. Fig. 108. 
time that we know of lias it been so effective as to rid 
us of the scale to such a degree that in that particular 
block of trees (dwarf pears) we have not seen a scale 
since, though we have repeatedly looked for it. How¬ 
ever, in this instance the infestation was mild. 
In the Farm Journal current issue, some one says: 
"Nine times out of ten the mixture is improperly pre¬ 
pared.” This would seem to indicate the writer’s belief 
that in 90 per cent of the cases where lime, sulphur and 
salt is used, the mixture is ineffective, and I suppose 
the same writer, on seeing our trouble, will say that we 
constitute a part of the 90 per cent. While the mixture 
is exceedingly disagreeable to prepare and handle, we 
fail to see where any man need to err on making it 
properly if he so desires. We boiled it longer than is 
now common, but who can say that its effectiveness 
was injured by the thoroughness of the boiling? We 
used a mixture 20 per cent stronger than various 
promulgated formulas call for, and just 20 per cent 
milder than Prof. Taft, of Michigan, recently told me 
he used. We refer to the sulphur strength, as in the 
lime we used more than most of the formulas call for. 
That it is effective in many cases we cannot doubt, but 
as for our own case we know it to be quite inefficient, 
so that in two seasons’ dependence upon it, we have 
placed ourselves at the mercy of the scale, and we are 
contemplating the use of crude oil to hold them in 
check, though it is feared it will be at the expense of 
the fruit buds. We do not fear for the tree, having 
used it before on young trees, but never on fruit buds. 
Who can tell whether it will hurt them worse than it 
will leaf buds? Our experiment station horticulturist 
did not criticise our making of the mixture in any way. 
Who can tell what is the matter? Do not guess, and 
do not tell us to experiment. We are at a place where 
we must act. We begin to wonder when we see the 
scaly apples on our markets here, if we are not voicing 
the troubles of the 90 per cent. People have a diffidence 
about getting up before others and admitting a failure; 
we even admit having that feeling ourselves. 
When at the Portland Exposition last Fall a person 
in charge of one of the Government exhibits told us 
that expert chemists had been at work upon the mixture 
for five months, studying its composition, and that 
scarcely any two of them agreed as to its composition, 
so may it not be that certain times, certain lengths of 
time of boiling, or certain percentages of ingredients 
form mixtures entirely ineffective, as this has evidently 
been, and may it not also account for much of the 
complaint over the country, as to its ineffectiveness? 
Any suggestions will be highly appreciated. reader. 
Indiana. 
BLACK WALNUTS IN ILLINOIS. 
This idea of planting the Black walnut for profit as 
a lumber tree is largely bosh. It is very nice to have a 
small walnut grove on a prairie farm, as a landscape 
relief, for a wind-break, and to get a few nuts, but for 
actual money—oh, no! For lumber the stem must be 
long and free from branches. There are two ways to 
attain this. One is nature’s way, which is to plant 
thickly, so that the side limbs may be starved off, and 
the other is to give greater room, and trim up, and 
trim up, and keep at it. Without this trimming the 
tree may give one short saw-log, the rest branches. The 
general practice is to plant closely, either in row or 
grove form, and, as with humans, let the thrifty, hog¬ 
gish trees starve out the little ones. This is rich, black 
soil here, the natural (except for fires) home of the 
Black walnut, and I can say that the young man just of 
age who plants a walnut grove, and who lives until 
he is 80, will find no profit in the lumber he has grown 
from his grove. Plenty of groves and rows are to be 
seen all through the country here that were planted 
40, 50, 60 and more years ago, and it will take 50 or 
75 years more to give lumber that will amount to any¬ 
thing. It may do, sometimes, to' plant for one’s chil¬ 
dren, but when it comes to grandchildren, and great¬ 
grandchildren. excuse me! Yet plant a small grove of 
walnuts. Of course the wood is poor for fuel purposes— 
coal is much cheaper and better. As a post in the 
ground the walnut is not to be praised. Osage orange 
will last three times as long, and it costs just as much 
to plant a 10-year post as one that will last 30 years. 
For nuts the trees must have room, leaving the lumber 
factor out, and the nuts will pay—that is, just about 
pay the children’s wages for picking up and hulling and 
marketing. Plant the grove—but don’t expect too much. 
Now, I know that what applies to one locality may 
not to another. In a treeless country—say in Western 
Kansas, and where coal is not found, and high in 
price because of the long haul, and the great problems 
are wood to burn, stakes on which to stretch barbed 
wire and poles to use in the construction of cribs, out¬ 
buildings and even primitive dwelling houses there, if 
the Black walnut succeeds, it may pay to plant it. Still, 
this does not affect the original proposition—planting 
for lumber—except that the grove is partly paying for 
itself as it grows, which is not the case in most places 
east of v hat was once our “Great American Desert.” 
Of course a rich bottom land that is actually irreclaim¬ 
able for farming purposes might be one of the excep¬ 
tions. B. BUCKMAN. 
Sangamon Co., Ill. 
POSSIBILITIES OF THE MIDDLE SOUTH. 
On page 115 J. A. M’K. writes about the reasons why set¬ 
tlers avoid the Middle South. There must be other reasons 
than the “perversity in man” and the “fool names given by 
early settlers to localities.” Is there not great danger of 
malaria? The lack of good roads, bridges, etc., and the 
native labor, white and black, may not be satisfactory. The 
general lack of prosperity may have a depressing effect on 
intending settlers. Freight and express rates may be ex¬ 
cessive. The cheapness of land is certainly an inducement 
to settle in that section. There may be many other rea¬ 
sons why that part of the country is a good place for a man 
with a little money to locate. Let us hear from a number 
who have succeeded and from some who have failed. 
Nassau Co., N. Y. a. h. k. 
