lOOG. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
387 
HARROWING THE HIGHWAY . 
When the road is dry enough to work on, and I' am 
afraid that dust is already flying in some places, give 
it a thorough dragging with either peg or spring-tooth 
harrow. This fills the ruts, levels the surface, and 
gives the road machine a much better show, as it stands 
A REVOLUTIONARY TREASURE TREE. Pig. 155. 
to reason that when the road machine is used without 
harrowing, the large ruts are only partially filled; and 
even where filled completely with loose dirt, the first 
wagon that passes shows you exactly where to drive 
if you care to “be in it.” On the other hand where 
the harrow has been used a few days, or even hours, 
previous to the scraper, the old channels stand a 
chance of getting some packing along with the filling, 
as each wagon that passes “helps the good work along.” 
Only the other day while we were dragging, our mail 
carrier exclaimed: “Talk all you want to about your 
road machines, that old forty-tooth of yours does the 
biz.” Of course the road machine has its place as a 
“turnpiker,” for good drainage, a high and somewhat 
rounded surface are essential in maintaining a good 
road. _ A. l. h. 
FARMERS AND A CITY LICENSE. 
In your issue of April 14, among the editorials you 
mention some trouble that the farmers near Rochester 
are having over the license question. Albany at one 
time undertook to make the farmers pay a license fee 
if they wished to sell their produce anywhere about 
the city except upon the market square. Perhaps a 
little history of our skirmish with the city authorities 
may be interesting to some of your readers, and further¬ 
more it may not be generally known that as a result 
of that campaign there is a law on the statute books 
of this State which permits the farmer to sell his own 
produce upon any street or highway within the State 
excepting in the cities of New York and Rochester. 
The first move made by the farmers of Albany and 
Rensselaer counties was to organize a protective asso¬ 
ciation to test the right of the city to fine a farmer for 
selling in the streets without a license. Two test cases 
were soon begun, but as soon as the city found that 
the farmers were organized to carry it) to the highest 
courts they had the cases put over and delayed until it 
began to look like a question of endurance. This was 
not in accordance with our ideas at all, as we wanted 
the question decided. So about 40 of us called on the 
Mayor to find out just what the Common Council 
intended to do. He said that it was about decided to 
keep the hucksters off the market square and let the 
farmers have the whole of it, and not to allow the 
farmers to sell upon the streets without a license. He 
said if anyone hailed us on our way and wanted to 
buy a barrel of anything, or a case of eggs, or a calf, 
or a chicken, why we could sell, but that we couldn’t 
break a package to sell a peck of potatoes or a dozen 
of eggs or do any retailing whatever. Well, after we 
left the Mayor we went back to our hall and talked the 
matter over and decided that we wanted the privilege of 
selling wherever and as much as we liked. We ap¬ 
pointed a committee then and there and that same 
afternoon the above bill was drafted and given to a 
member of the Legislature (which was then in session) 
with instructions to push it through as fast as possible, 
and to let us know when the committee was ready to 
give us a hearing on it. He did so, and we invited 
E. B. Norris, Master of the State Grange, to be our 
spokesman on that occasion. He accepted, and we met 
him there with a good, large delegation of farmers 
from these two counties. The bill was opposed by the 
hucksters, grocers and commission men. Mr. Norris 
went before that committee and told them plainly that 
he wasn’t there to ask any favors of them, but that 
he represented 50,000 farmers in the State and that they 
demanded the passage of that bill. The committee 
reported the bill favorably, but when it came up for 
passage the members from New York and Rochester 
managed to have those cities excluded from its pro¬ 
visions. Of course we had the consumers with us, 
although they remained inactive. They wanted the 
privilege of buying fresh goods off the farmer’s wagon 
just as much as we wanted the privilege of selling to 
them. Of course we could not blame the city authori¬ 
ties so much either; we were outsiders from their point 
of view. We had no leverage on them, while the 
hucksters and grocers control a great many votes. 
When they organized and demanded things of the 
Common Council they got them; but when we organized 
and went over their heads, we got what we wanted too, 
and got it quick. I think no one will have any dif¬ 
ficulty in discovering that the moral of this little story 
is, become a member of some organization, and the 
Grange is a good one for the farmer. 
Albany Co., N. Y. homer a. gallup. 
SOME NOTABLE TREES . 
Driving to Salem, N. J., 12 miles distant, we pass a 
famous old gum tree, Fig. 156, which each Winter bears 
a crop of mistletoe. This parasite clings to its top¬ 
most branches. The birds pick the pretty white berries, 
and the sticky substance which adheres to their bill is 
rubbed off on another limb—and thus another crop of 
MISTLETOE ON OLD GUM TREE. Fig. 156. 
mistletoe is planted. The mistletoe’s favorite haunt is 
the gnarly limbs of an old gum. 
Passing on to the city of Salem we find a wonderful 
old chestnut. Fig. 157. It is a good old tree—the 
pride of the city. Before Philadelphia was even thought 
of William Penn and his colony made a landing at 
Salem, then nothing but a beautiful forest, and out of 
the slaughter of trees this one handsome chestnut was 
saved, and has successfully battled with wind and wea¬ 
ther well on to 300 years. The spread of its branches 
is 117 feet; its girth two feet from the ground is 20 
feet eight inches, and its height is 85 feet. The tree 
is in the center of the Quaker burial ground. On the 
main land near Bay Side there is another old tree, 
Fig. 155. The natives who are familiar with it say it 
seems as if it must be 1.000 years old. In Revolution¬ 
ary times it was the only landmark on the mainland, and 
much plunder is said to have been buried beneath it. 
A hundred years after people came long distances to 
dig for gold, which they thought was buried beneath its 
branches. When visiting in Chester County, Pennsyl¬ 
vania, I photographed some famous chestnut trees; 
they were 25 feet in circumference. Wher* a new State 
road was made and the trees were about to meet their 
doom, the good people of the neighborhood united to 
preserve the trees. The road was made to turn aside 
from them. 
I might go on indefinitely telling of trees I love and 
admire; when I die I would like to be buried beneath a 
tree, and to have it grow taller and better would be 
monument enough for me. CORA JUNE sheppard. 
SORGHUM AND CLOVER IN MARYLAND. 
GOOD FOR SORGHUM.—From three-fourths of 
an acre of sorghum I have fed four horses, three cows 
and some hogs one feed a day since October 1, and 
have enough to last till March. It is eaten with a de¬ 
cided relish, and with no waste. I drilled it in thickly 
with a corn planter the last day of May, kept it well 
cultivated and when ripe cut it and left it on the 
ground in bundles a few days to wilt; then set it up 
in large-sized shocks. An extra string around the tops 
will keep the heads from spreading, and keeps the 
shocks from taking rain and snow. The stalks remain 
sweet all Winter and come out of the shocks bright 
and green. When I feed, the heads are first cut off 
with a few strokes of an ax, and thrown to the poultry* 
making an agreeable change in their rations. Alto¬ 
gether it is a most satisfactory forage crop, but must 
be grown on rich, well-manured land for best results. 
SEEDING CLOVER.—The question has been dis¬ 
cussed in The R. N.-Y. why Red clover so often fails 
in this section. Last Spring I sowed two 10-acre 
wheat fields with Red clover on same day and under 
same conditions. One field had never grown clover be¬ 
fore, although an old field, as the former owner said 
it was too badly infested with sassafras to seed down 
to grass. The other field had grown clover repeatedly 
in rotation. The seed came up well and promised a 
good stand, and by harvest the clover on the fresh 
field was heavy and rank and just coming into bloom, 
while the other had dwindled away to a few scattering 
stalks, a clear case of clover sickness. Grow Red 
clover on your fresh land if you have it, but it is a 
waste of seed and money to sow it on the worn fields. 
Cow peas seem to have no scruples in this regard, and 
are much to be preferred, especially as here it can be 
grown on same land after hay, early potatoes or small 
grains, and got off in time for wheat in the Fall, or is 
an excellent preparation for next year’s corn crop. 
Worcester Co., Md. w. e. b. 
WHY DID LIME AND SULPHUR FAIL? 
I am interested in the experience of “Reader” from 
Indiana on page 254, under the above heading. I be¬ 
lieve that it is yet too early to say with any degree of 
certainty that the wash applied in November has proved 
ineffective in this instance. I made a similar applica¬ 
tion early last November on five-year-old pear trees, 
and an examination the fore part of February showed 
that only a small per cent had been injured by the wash 
up to that date. In looking over these trees the past 
week (March 26) I find that a large per cent of the 
scale are dead and many others do not look healthy. 
This was my first experience with the wash applied 
in Fall, and I doubt if Fall applications are as effective 
as those made in early Spring. The action of lime- 
sulphur wash on San Jose scale is always slow. Where 
infested trees have been treated in early Spring, the 
latter part of June I have been able to find quite a few 
adult female scales, apparently ready to bring forth 
young, but from that time through July and August 
less live scale could be found. I believe that the in¬ 
secticidal effect of lime-sulphur applied in Spring 
continues in a measure throughout the entire year, and 
that the results from the second year’s application arc 
likely to be better than the first. Where I have super¬ 
vised Sprint applications on bearing plum, peach and 
pear it has proved successful in every instance, reduc¬ 
ing the scale to such an extent that fruit or tree were 
not injured, and same results have followed treatment 
of young apple trees. I have had no personal experi¬ 
ence in treating lrrge old apple trees, but know growers 
LARGE CHESTNUT AT SALEM, N. J. Fig. 157. 
who have used lime-sulphur, results varying from 
almost complete extermination of scale to absolute fail¬ 
ure. I understand that 200 gallons of the mixture was 
boiled at one time in one tank. Was the steam turned 
in the tank at one point, or distributed over bottom of 
tank? Also, was the lime and sulphur sediment kept 
well stirred, or allowed to settle and rest in cake on 
bottom of tank? I have used 17 pounds sulphur, 20 
pounds lime to 50 gallons water the past two years 
very effectively. B. D. v. B. 
Niagara Co., N. Y 
