1906. 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
279 
A WORKER FOR PARCELS POST. 
On page 196, under “Brevities,” I found the follow¬ 
ing: “Count that day lost when you do not start a 
discussion of the benefits from a parcels post. Keep 
talking about it.” The retail grocers of Youngstown 
(the city in which I do my marketing) are organized 
into what they call the Retail Grocers’ Association. 
Recently they held their annual banquet, and among 
other notables present was J. R. Green, president of the 
National Retail Grocers’ Association. In an address, 
among ether things, he read a copy of the parcels post 
bill, and condemned it in an unmistakable way. He 
advised the members to interview Congressman Ken¬ 
nedy and have him pledge himself to oppose the meas¬ 
ure. Two hundred Congressmen, he stated, have al¬ 
ready agreed to vote against the bill, and they expected 
to secure the pledges of many more. I wrote a two- 
column article in defense of the parcels post to the 
daily'' paper in which the address of President Green 
was printed. In this article I asked the grocers to give 
me through the columns of this daily the cause for 
opposing so very strenuously this measure. I ended 
by saying, “Now why, please tell us why, do you oppose 
it so? Echo still answers why?” I signed myself 
“Only a Hayseed.” A few days ago I saw the treas¬ 
urer of the Grocers’ Association, a friend of mine. I 
asked him whether he read the article in the daily by 
“Only a Hayseed.” “Oh, yes,” he said; “we discussed 
it at our last meeting, but decided not to reply; that 
article never was written by a hayseed; we think we 
know the fellow. He is a paid agent of the mail order 
houses, and to reply would only start discussion which 
would do us no good.” Now, there you have, lined 
up in a solid rank with thc’powerful express companies 
both country and city merchants against parcels post, 
with over 200 pledged members of Congress back of 
them, and on a still hunt for more. They dare not 
come out openly and discuss the measure; they know 
they have no ground to stand upon. Do the friends 
of the measure work as hard for its passage? Have 
we got 200 pledged members in Congress? If not. why 
not? Our cause is just; theirs, on the other hand, is 
prompted by greed and selfishness. Should there be 
anyone in the R. N.-Y. family who thinks parcels post 
should not become a law, let him give just one good 
reason for thinking so. I never yet heard of one, or if 
anyone else who is not a member of the Rural family 
reads this, and has just a ghost of reason for thinking 
so, let him kindly give it to us. j. h. bollinger. 
Ohio. 
R. N.-Y.—If we had a few more men like Mr. Bol¬ 
linger to challenge such people everywhere we would 
make progress faster! 
TRAINING TENDER GRAPEVINES. 
Some time ago you asked me how I train my Ger¬ 
man grapevines. The method used by me is especially 
important and valuable with German and other vines 
which need Winter protection. After planting a vine 
we do not let more than three shoots grow from it, 
tearing off all others from time to time; the next year 
(unless, what is unlikely, among the three shoots there 
should be one of the thickness of the little finger) we 
let two shoots grow, expecting in the Fall to have one 
of these two of the required thickness. That one is 
saved, the other cut off before laying on or into the 
ground, and covering with earth, for that is what we 
have to do with Vitis vinifera every Fall, after the 
leaves are off; pruning must, therefore, be done in 
Fall, as at the time when the vines arc taken out of the 
ground it is too late for further pruning. 
When we find in the Fall a shoot of the required 
thickness we count five buds, beginning at a point about 
12 or 15 inches from the ground, and cut the vine off 
above the fifth bud (but never cut too close to a bud) ; 
these five buds are to give us next year five shoots, (no 
shoots allowed from the ground up to a point as above) 
of which the lower four are trained alternately to the 
left and right and the top ones trained upwards (with¬ 
out breaking) ; during the growing of these shoots we 
keep the side shoots to a length of two feet and the 
top one about 3 l /, pinching the ends off from time to 
time, for the purpose of strengthening the buds near¬ 
est the origin of the shoots. In Fall we count again 
five buds on the top one (ignoring the first, which is 
usually weak), cutting off above the top bud as before. 
These five buds give us the next season the second 
series, and are trained and treated the same way as 
before; the first four side shoots are cut back to the 
first two well-developed buds in Fall, cutting off all the 
wood beyond the second bud. These two buds of the 
side shoots are to give us the bearing wood next year; 
the shoot coming from the bud nearest the main (up¬ 
right) stem we retain by all means, whether it has 
grapes or not, as that shoot gives us in the Fall at its 
end nearest the “upright” the new two buds for the 
following year. The -shoot growing from the second 
bud we only allow to grow if it bears any grapes, as 
otherwise we have no use for it, the principle of this 
style of training being to keep everything as compact 
as possible, both for the purpose of training as many 
together as possible, as well as for having less trouble 
in burying in the Fall. Any side shoots bearing grapes 
we pinch off, leaving but two leaves beyond the last 
grape. 
The side shoots are trained rather horizontally; the 
smaller shoots coming from the axils of the leaves of 
these side shoots have two leaves pinched off as soon 
as they have grown three leaves in all, in order to make 
these weaker shoots aid in developing the buds for 
next year, whereas to allow them to grow as they please 
would be at the expense of the buds. Every year we 
add a new series on top of the vines until the high¬ 
est series is nine or ten feet from the ground, depend¬ 
ing somewhat on the richness of the soil and whether 
the vine is a strong grower or not. I hope I have 
made some success in making myself clear, it being, 
of course, much easier to demonstrate it on the 
vine itself; the diagrams illustrate it. I have raised 
German grapes for years here, although the U. S. 
Agricultural Department calls Rhode Island a place 
where Vitis vinifera does not grow, henry r. wirth. 
KEEPING “ GOOD ROADS ” IN REPAIR. 
• Nearly two years ago O. W. Mapes told us how the 
members of his road club proposed to keep their road 
in good condition. There have been a number of ques¬ 
tions about this, and so we repeat what Mr. Mapes 
then said: 
“BEGINNING OPERATIONS.—The first step is to 
stake out the work, by making a light furrow on each 
side of the proposed work, 12 or 14 feet apart. If any 
part of these first furrows comes within the beaten 
track, where it is hard, it should be done just after a 
soaking rain, either with a plow or the point of a road 
machine. Next put the wheel of the road machine in 
this light furrow, hold the point of the blade firmly down 
in place, remove every stone which the point strikes and 
work down and out, until enough dirt is secured to 
bring a good crown to the center of the road and a good 
glitter on each side, making suitable outlets from all 
low points in these gutters. This is only a question of 
applying sufficient team power and removing all stonci 
that interfere with making a good gutter. On portions 
of our road this alone will give us a good road with 
proper care in honing down after each heavy rain, and 
raking out all loose stones. Other portions will need a 
little gravel or shale along the crown of the road. There 
are several hills where this can be secured requiring only 
short hauls. A cubic yard hauled on a 12-foot wagon 
is enough for the worst places by dumping a full load 
in a place, and in other places a half or a third of a 
load in a place will finish the crown of the road. Grad¬ 
ing with the machine should not cost more than $25 per 
mile, nor drawing the gravel on the crown of the road 
more than 40 cents per cubic yard. This makes the 
cost only $200 per mile, were a full load of gravel 
placed on the ceown of the road all the way. 
“KEEPING IN REPAIR.—Flow about the after-care 
of such a road? Here is the secret of success. When 
the first rain comes, passing teams and vehicles will 
puddle the material along the crown of the road in the 
beaten track, forming a hard crust as it dries, which will 
be somewhat rough and uneven. Before it becomes too 
dry and hard, hone the surface perfectly smooth and 
true with a light hone, about five or six feet long. One 
man and team can hone off a bunch of road in this way, 
if he understands his business, at slight cost. He should 
stand on the hone, and guide it by stepping from one 
end of the hone to the other as the occasion requires. 
This is very inexpensive and should be repeated after 
every big rain, though it will never soften much after 
the first puddling. Now rake off any loose stone and you 
have a beaten track on the crown of the road, over 
which a bicycle or an auto will roll as smoothly as on 
the best macadam road, and on which you can drive a 
clean buggy an hour after a Summer shower without 
having to avoid mud holes. The only other care needed 
on such a road will be to sprinkle a very little good 
gravel, shale or even hardpan, right in the center of the 
beaten track, occasionally, according to the amount of 
wear on the road, and keep the gutters from filling, 
throwing the stuff scoured out of them away from the 
road instead of back into it. 
“PRINCIPLES OF ROAD BUILDING—What are 
the scientific principles involved? The beaten track 
on the crown of the road is a hard crust almost imper¬ 
vious to water, while the soil beneath this crust, and at 
the side near the lower gutters, is porous and open. I 
cannot illustrate better than by referring to a turtle’s 
back. Using the hone frequently keeps the upper sur¬ 
face of the crust so smooth that rain flows quickly into 
the gutters at the side, as it would from a turtle’s shell. 
Rain cannot saturate this crust from the under side 
any more than it could on the under side of a turtle’s 
shell. If any happens to work its way through the 
crust of the beaten track it falls away quickly through 
the more porous soil beneath, and into the gutters at 
the side, just as rain would run from the under side of 
the shell to a turtle’s back through the openings for 
his legs. At any rate, the sample which was built after 
this pattern and at this cost, has stood the test of a 
year’s service, and is still in almost perfect condition. 
The thawing of last Winter’s heavy frost seemed to 
have no bad effect on it last Spring, though formerly 
it had often been almost impassable. We claim that it 
costs no more to keep a good road good than it does to 
keep a poor one poor, and that the first cost of a good 
road is thus within the means of most rural communities.” 
There have been some questions about the proper 
“hone” to use in fitting such a road. A picture of the 
King road drag is shown herewith. It was designed 
by D. Ward King, of Missouri, and has proved so 
successful that special trains have been run to enable 
Mr. King to carry “the gospel of good roads” to farm¬ 
ers. Directions for making and using the drag are as 
follows: 
“Log 12 inches in diameter, of some soft wood; 
oak is too heavy. Slabs seven to nine feet long, to suit 
weight of team. Cross sticks, hold the slabs 30 inches 
apart. Platform of inch boards should be laid on 
cross sticks. 2 x 12-inch plank can be used instead of 
log slabs; when plank are used it is better to reinforce 
the middles with a 2 x 4 piece lengthwise. The hitch¬ 
ing ring should be two or 2J4 feet in front of the drag. 
After each rain drive up one side of the wheel track 
and back on the other side with drag in position to 
throw the earth to the center. Ride on the drag. Have 
an angle of 45 degrees." 
