378 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
May 4, 
A GARDENER'S NOTE. 
Greenhouse Rhubarb. — I have had 
some expensive experience for the past 
two years in growing rhubarb in the 
greenhouse. Experience so expensive 
as that has been ought to be good 
property, and I am willing to share 
it with some one else- who may be 
in the same business as I. In some sec¬ 
tions at least there is .a fair demand for 
Winter grown rhubarb, be it grown in a 
warm, dark place giving deep pink stalks, 
or grown in the light under the green¬ 
house benches, giving in that way green 
stalks, the same as if it were grown 
out of doors later in the season. I find 
the best market for pie plant about two 
or three weeks before the out-of-door 
crop gets in; at that time people are 
getting hungry for it, and are looking 
for its arrival in the market. I dig the 
clumps of two-year-old rhubarb roots 
every Fall and store them in an open 
shed. For the past two years, after they 
had been dug and stored and frozen solid, 
strange as it may seem, we had a warm 
spell of sufficient duration to thaw out 
all the clumps of roots, stored as they 
were in a pile four or five feet deep. I 
thought they would be all safe, but a 
chemical action of some sort took place 
in that pile of roots; they either fer¬ 
mented or heated, perhaps both. When 
I went near the pile I noticed a peculiar 
odor. When taken into the greenhouse 
in February and March some of the 
clumps refused to grow at all; others 
produced rhubarb stalks the size of a 
man’s finger. After this I shall never 
pile rhubarb roots in such a manner that 
they can get a chance to be injured. 
Oil Stoves in Hotbeds. —A. R., page 
256, asks about heating hotbeds with oil 
D 
E 
stoves. For years I had a hotbed 15 or 
18 feet long to start tomato plants. It 
was heated by two one-wicked oil stoves, 
and was a perfect success after I found 
how to manage it. I will try to tell 
A. R. how he can have an oil stove hot¬ 
bed to grow pepper, tomato plants, egg 
plants and the like to perfection. The 
hotbed must be elevated on blocks of 
wood high enough so that a person can 
gat under it to care for the lamps; it 
should be sheltered from the winds, but 
not near enough to any building to 
cause danger if the hotbed should get 
on fire. In the accompanying diagram 
A represents the glass area, B is a false 
bottom made of sheet-iron and resting 
on iron rods run crossways of the 
hotbed. C is the true bottom, made of 
wood, and distance about six inches from 
the sheet iron bottom; D and E are 
small boxes, each big enough to hold a 
one-wicked oil stove. A two-wicked oil 
stove will make the soil too hot just above 
the flame. Each box is fitted with a door 
in which are bored a few holes to admit 
air. The dirt is placed on the sheet iron 
bottom to a depth of six inches, the warm 
air circulates between the wooden bottom 
and the sheet iron one, but no fumes 
from the oil stove ever reach the interior 
of the hotbed proper. The woodwork 
at the under side of the hotbed should 
not be too tight; a few small cracks 
should be left, or there will be no circu¬ 
lation of air for the lamps, and they will 
smoke. I once showed hotbeds made 
like this to an Englishman, the private 
gardener to a rich man in this town. 
This gardener makes his hotbeds by the 
help of horse manure. I told him after 
I got the hang of my oil stove hotbeds 
I never had a failure. He said: “You 
are, then, ahead of me, for with all my 
care my manure-heated beds are not al¬ 
ways a success, and it is some work to 
make them.” i. 
Fertilizer Questions. 
L. II, Germantown, N. Y .—In using muri¬ 
ate of potash and phosphoric acid, which is 
the best way to apply it on ground around 
trees which stand in corn stubble, to plow it 
under shallow or to harrow it in after it is 
plowed? Under what name is phosphoric 
acid sold on the market? 
Ans. —We can hardly think of any 
case where it is best to plow fertiliz.ers 
under. We much prefer to broadcast 
them after plowing and harrow in. These 
fertilizers make their way down with the 
soil water. Phosphoric acid is found in 
ground bone, acid phosphate, basic slag, 
guano, tankage, fish and in a few other 
substances. 
Colors in Sweet Corn . 
T. II. II., OromweU, Conn. — How many 
colors are there in sweet corn? 
Ans. —Varieties of sweet corn vary 
from milk white in most kinds at the 
edible stage to deep yellow in Golden 
Bantam, and a few other varieties, and 
to deep purple-black in the Black Mexi¬ 
can, and in the dry state from light amber 
or horn color to yellow and black in the 
varieties above mentioned. There are 
many intermediate shades of rose and 
pink in the dry corn. As a rule, consum¬ 
ers prefer the whitest corn they can get, 
other things being equal. Golden Bantam 
(yellow) and Black Mexican (dark pur¬ 
ple) are, however, among the sweetest 
and best flavored of all table corns. 
Planting Perennials. 
C. B. W., Potsdam, N. Y .—Do you favor 
digging holes from two to four feet deep and 
filling them with sod, rotten manure, good 
soil and bones, for the placing of perennials? 
Ans. —As herbaceous plants and other 
perennials are intended for permanent 
planting, it is well to give them as deep 
and rich soil as possible. If not possible 
to make the whole bed deep and rich, it 
is a good idea to dig large holes and fill 
them in with good compost made of rot¬ 
ten sods, manure and light garden soil. 
However, it is not necessary to dig as 
deep as you indicate, for very few peren¬ 
nials have roots extending to a depth of 
four feet. From 12 to 18 inches deep is 
about all that is generally needed. 
Fertilizer for Neglected Fields. 
J. It., New York .—I have recently moved 
from Canada to a farm that I purchased in 
New York State. Being somewhat unfamiliar 
with both land and manner of farming in this 
country I would like to ascertain what kind 
of fertilizer is best adapted to my land. 
The soil is medium heavy with clay subsoil 
and shale bottom. I notice that in places in 
the meadows the grass seems to have died 
out, and given place to moss. The fields are 
very dirty with ragweed, dock and other 
weeds. Whether this is due to neglect in 
cultivation or because the soil is somewhat 
impoverished I do not know. 
Ans. —No one could do more than 
guess with these few details. The heavy 
clays are usually strong in potash and 
need an abundance of humus. Where 
grass dries out and moss comes in the 
land is usually sour and needs lime. With 
us a heavy growth of ragweed usually 
indicates a potash soil. We should use 
at least 1,600 pounds of lime per acre on 
that mossy soil whenever seeding to grass 
or grain. Very likely nitrogen and phos¬ 
phoric acid are most needed, but until 
we were sure we would use complete 
fertilizers for all crops—that is, special 
mixtures containing all three elements of 
plant food. 
For the land’s sake use Bowker’s Fer¬ 
tilizers.—They enrich the earth.— Adv. 
s' If 
ft* 
•‘Good Luck ,r 
in Poultry Raising: 
is not “good luck,” but good management. Dis¬ 
eases in poultry are due to poor feeding and poor 
protection. Rex Flintkote will absolutely protect from 
cold, heat and wet. Let us prove to you that 
DC-V FLINTKOTE 
rltA ROOFING 
is the wisest purchase for top or siding. We can prove it 
We Will Send You Free Samples fo Test 
together with our valuable roofing booklet, on 
receipt of postal request. Our complete 
book, “Making Poultry Pay,’’will be 
sent for 4 c. in stamps. It is very 
useful to the poultry raiser. 
J. A.&W. Bird & Co. 
70 India St., Boston, Mass. 
Agents everywhere 
trade 
ma m 
WEUMATC TAW 
PRIVATE WATER WORKS 
ECONOMY HOT AIR PUMP 
temperature and any de.sired pressure the year around. RUN BY 
HEAT. NO EXPLOSION, no EXHAtJST. NO TROUBLE. 
NO NOISE. A child can run it. We equip your WATER SUP¬ 
PLY COMPLETE with either Hot Air or Electric Pump, pneu¬ 
matic or open tank. TEN DAYS TRIAL. 
THOMAS Hi Q MITHi 288 Hudson Street, New York. 
I nUlvInO Oi OlTlII n , 5-l5 S. Carpenter St., Chicago- 
Just a Little Sum For You! 
'.bS’ 
Springfield, Mo., Jan. 15 , 1907 . 
I have run one of your Separators 
for twelve years with $ 1.65 for re¬ 
pairs, and I think it can’t be beat. 
(R.F.D. 7 ) L. E. CHAPPELL. 
One Cent a Month, 
to maintain a U.S. Separator! 
Sure, that’s a little sum for you to pay to maintain 
a machine that gets ALL the cream out of your 
milk. That’s what a U. S. cfoesl 
Yes, sir! 
that’s the 
U.S. 
M 
Holds the World’s Record 
for CLEAN SKIMMING. 
Time has proved it is durably 
built. Not “how cheap,’’but “how 
good,” is our watchword, and the 
record of the U. S. during the past 
sixteen years proves we ’ve stuck 
to it. “The best is cheapest in the 
end.” Buy tlie U. S. 
We’ll send you free our large handsome 
catalog. Lots of pictures showing just 
how tne U. S. is built and how it works. 
See for yourself why it wears longer than 
any other separator. Write us today—now. 
Justsay: “Send new 1907 Catalogue No. 159.” 
VERMONT FARM MACHINE COMPANY 
Eighteen Distributing Warehouses. 
u u _u 
464 
Bellows Palls, Vt. 
Don’t 
buy a 
Vehicle 
of any 
kind until 
you get our 
New Vehicle 
Catalog 
■We Shipon 30 DaysT rial 
Every 
Vehicle 
Made in 
Our 
Factory 
Is Fully 
Guarafta 
teed. 
WRITE A POSTAL FOR LARGE ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE V-203. 
It is the most complete catalog of vehicle, and harn... ever printed. The cuts are made large so as to show you just how each vehicle is made. The two center page# 
■bow a colored plate 9x11 inches, of our CHICAGO SPECIAL BUGGY, reproduced in the actual colors just as It is painted and finished. The descriptions are complete and 
plain. All vehicles are shipped direct from our factory. Our prices are the very lowest. Bo cure HADlflkl CBOITU AA a.i.aiaa a . . 
leaeaeuraatenlahlasly lew prlaaa and the moat liberal tormsavoref fared tayeu. Ill All Will 9 III I I 11 t/Ua vtllUAvlUa ILL* 
