494 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
June 22 
^ A A A A A 4 ^li 
Rural isms 
/VOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS 
At Tt Again. —A writer for one of the 
new know-it-all garden magazines—possi¬ 
bly the individual who last year advised 
farmers not to hoe or cultivate the soil 
later than 3 P. M. if it was desired to kill 
weeds—now joyously proclaims that, “at 
last, at last, AT LAST, a way has really 
been found to ‘fix’ the Rose.bug or chaf¬ 
er.” All you have to do is to stir a pound 
of arsenate of lead in five or six gallons 
of water, and frequently spray the mix¬ 
ture in and on the attacked flowers. This 
master authority asserts lead arsenate will 
kill the Rose chafer! And so it will if 
you can induce him to make it his chief 
article of diet, but as this discriminating 
insect infinitely prefers the fresh, unfold¬ 
ing petals of your choice roses and paeonies 
to any arsenical preparation you may 
spread over the buds and foliage, you arc 
little likely to inconvenience him. The 
writer tried lead arsenate several years 
NEW NURSERY LABEL. MUCH REDUCED 
Fig. 238. 
ago, as a Rose-bug antidote on grape and 
blackberry blooms and on cherry foliage. 
The preparation spreads and sticks well, 
and is undoubtedly eaten to some extent, 
when thus applied, but in our experience 
few if any of the pests were destroyed. 
The Rose chafer has been proved, by 
many experiments, to be extremely resis¬ 
tant to arsenicals or other internal poisons 
that can practically be applied. The de¬ 
structive action of either Paris-green or 
lead arsenate—swift and sure on Potato 
beetle larvae and Currant worms—is so 
slow that it is next to useless for saving 
blooms or foliage from the Rose chafer. 
If eaten it may give him eventually fatal 
indigestion, but his demise is not likely to 
occur until your floral treasures are de¬ 
stroyed. Despite the many schemes de¬ 
vised for the suppression of this nuisance, 
nothing more effective than plowing up 
the sandy breeding grounds, trap crops of 
white-flowering shrubs and hand-picking, 
appears to have been proposed. 
A Practical Nursery Label. —Con¬ 
siderable interest is manifested in the zinc 
garden label described on page 362. Ama¬ 
teurs and gardeners not only have trouble 
in preserving the names of low-growing 
plants, but in locating bulbous and herbac¬ 
eous specimens before growth starts in 
Spring. Good labels in place are wonder¬ 
fully helnful when starting work early in 
the season. In Fig. 238 we have a cheap 
and practical nursery label used and, we 
believe, got up bv The Elm City Nursery 
Co., New Haven, Conn. They inform us 
that it is not patented, and all are welcome 
to its use. Tt consists of a piece of hard 
wood 1 V-i by two inches and a foot long in 
dimensions. One surface is smoothly 
planed and to the other is securely stapled 
a loop of well galvanized, heavy telegraph 
wire, the free ends forming a pair of legs 
nearly two feet long. These are deeply 
thrust in the soil, diverging as they enter 
and form a .good support. The smooth 
front surface of the wood may be coated 
with white lead paint and the name written 
with a heavy black lead or graphite pencil, 
making a record that will endure several 
years, or rendered more durable still by 
writing on a sheet of weathered zinc, 
tacked to the surface. The Elm City 
Nursery people say this is the most dur¬ 
able and satisfactory label they have ever 
used. It is lasting, never overthrown 
by frost, not easily knocked out of place 
or turned around by singletrees in horse 
cultivation. This last is quite an import¬ 
ant item, as most nurseries set their labels 
so that the rows of plants or trees start 
from the back. If turned about, especially 
among varieties not easily distinguished 
apart in certain stages of growth, much 
confusion may ensue in filling orders. 
Th- ordinary stake label is particularly 
liable to this mishap, but the springy di¬ 
verging legs of the Elm City label seem 
well calculated to prevent it. Not the least 
of its advantages would appear the ease 
with which it can be taken up and re¬ 
placed when necessary to hoe out grass 
and weeds that may grow about it. All 
who have tried to pull out a deeply driven 
stake on reset it without a heavy driving 
tool at hand, will appreciate this feature. 
With slight modifications this label would 
appear as well adapted to parks and pri¬ 
vate pleasure grounds as for nursery use. 
A Flowerless Memorial Day. —May 
30, 1907, will long be remembered as a 
nearly flowerless Memorial Day. The 
continued chilly weather so delayed out¬ 
door blooms that few were available for 
decoration save wild Azaleas, dogwood s 
and Crimson clover blossons. The white f 
flowered shrubs usually relied on, such as 
Japan and native snowballs, Deutzia grac¬ 
ilis, Weigela Candida, and light-colored 
herbaceous perennials like Pyrethrums, 
field daises and Canterbury bells were en¬ 
tirely lacking. In some localities potted 
geraniums and German Iris only were 
available. Wealthy people had their glass¬ 
house blooms, but even these were in short j 
supply, roses being notably deficient. The 
close of the first week of June finds 
Weigelas, early Deutzias and Viburnum 
tomentosum, the progenitor of the very 
popular Japan snowball, V. plicatum in 
bloom. V. tomentosum makes an attractive 
but less showy appearance than its very 
floriferous offspring, but the Autumn col¬ 
oring of its foliage is extremely rich. 
W. v. F. * 
remedies. To use the King for stock to top- 
work oil would he very unwise; as I have 
staled before, I do not lielieve in the principle 
of setting something to top-work on, as a 
general proposition, the King and Twenty 
Ounce excepted, for they are both tender and 
short-lived in their own stock. Again the 
tree after a year or two, would be the sort 
worked on and any advantage that variety 
may have, as partially immune from the 
scale, would be multiplied. I finished the 
not agreeable job of applying a ton of sul¬ 
phur, with a greater amount of lime to some 
2.000 trees, from yearlings to veterans of one- 
half century, where tops, like Jacob's ladder 
reach toward heaven, and I have sprayed, like 
the gentle rain from Heaven that fails on the 
evil and good alike, King, Northern Spy and 
Kietfer pear, not because I wanted to. but 
because I must. They stand to-day like whited 
sepulchres, and I trust are full, not of dead 
men’s bones, but dead and dying scale. 
EDWARD VAN ALYSTYNE. 
FRUITS THAT WITHSTAND SCALE. 
Plum Varieties. — I live oni a small place, 
shut in on three sides bv forests. On the 
east side is the road. I had in a chicken 
yard near the east side Japanese plums of 
the Botan, Burbank, Satsuma, Red June, and 
Chabot varieties, all thrifty and bearing 
abundantly. All were killed suddenly by San 
.Tose sca'e. One tree of Octolter Purple of 
large size, blooming abundantly and setting 
a fair proportion of fruit from year to year; 
but ripening few specimens is now, May 10, 
alive and well and in full bloom. This tree 
is on the east side of the yard, away from 
tlie other trees, except a single Red June 
which was outside the yard and east of it. 
A Red June and a Chabot both in another 
yard with good varieties of Wild Goose plums 
were killed, but the Wild Goose were undis¬ 
turbed. w. w. s. 
New Jersey. 
The King ArrLE. —It is a fact that the 
King apple, like the Kioffer pear, is not for 
some reason so likely to be infested by the 
San Jose scale, as are most others. This is 
also true to even a greater degree with the 
Northern Spy, and it is claimed that the 
Roxbury Russet is in the same class. My 
own orchard, however, does not confirm this 
latter view. I find more scale on this variety 
than on Jonathan, Greening. Baldwin and 
Fall Pippin, all in the same block. Without 
doubt both the King and Spy will suffer 
less, and live and thrive longer where the 
scale is present, than most varieties; but let 
no one for a moment suppose that even with 
these he will not have to use the prescribed 
Tests for Acid Soil. 
E. L. K„ 8o. Burlington. Vt .—How can 
I tell whether my land needs lime? 
Ans.—W e have told many times. A 
good indication of sour soil is a thick 
growth of sorrel. When the red of sor¬ 
rel appears among other crops it is a good 
sign that lime is needed. The “litmus test” 
is quite accurate. “Litmus paper” which 
we buy at a drug store, is thin blotting- 
paper stained with litmus. This is a blue 
dye extracted from lichens or moss grow¬ 
ing on rocks. This litmus color is very 
sensitive to acids. When touched with an 
acid substance it turns red, and when this 
red is put with an alkaline substance it 
turns back to blue. It is this quality that 
makes it a test for soil. A fair sample of 
the soil of a field is taken and put into a 
cup or glass, with just enough water to 
make it pack firmly. A knife is thrust 
down into this soil and a piece of the blue 
litmus paper put into the hole and the soil 
pressed firmly around it. There it is left 
about 15 minutes and then taken out. If 
on drying the blue color has changed to 
red you may safely conclude that the soil 
is sour and needs lime. 
Spraying Danger; Bordeaux Substitute. 
C. 8. 8., A lew Haven, N. T.—Is there any 
danger of poisoning birds by spraying trees 
to kill the insects, using the term popularly? 
Is there a preparation that has the same 
beneficial effects as the ordinary Bordeaux 
Mixture, but which does not leave such an 
amount of coloring matter on the trees? 
This is very disfiguring on all ornamental 
parts of the grounds. Is there danger to 
sheep from their being in an orchard sprayed 
with Bordeaux Mixture and Paris-green? 
Ans. —There is so little danger of 
poisoning birds with ordinary spraying 
that it is hardly worth considering. Sev¬ 
eral experiments in pasturing sheep in 
sprayed orchards, in feeding the cut grass 
to them, and in analyzing the grass show 
no danger. It is generally considered that 
well-made Bordeaux is the best fungicide 
yet discovered. Eyperiments are being 
made with benzoate of soda, which 
promise well. This substance was form¬ 
erly used in very small quantities in pre¬ 
paring canned goods. It destroys germs 
and thus prevented ferments. We under¬ 
stand that the pure food law prevents its 
use in food, but it may succeed as a fungi¬ 
cide alone, or with copper. 
It costs money to change 
your mind when you get 
the wrong roof on your 
house. 
Send to us for Book 10 and samples. Go 
to your dealer for Genasco Ready Roofing. 
TIIE BARBER ASPHALT 
PAVING COMPANY 
Largest producers of asphalt in the world 
PHILADELPHIA 
New York San Francisco Chicago 
GET THE BEST 
A Good Spray Pump earns big 
profits and lasts for years. 
THE ECLIPSE 
is a good pump. As 
practical fruit growers 
we were using common 
sprayers in our own orchards 
—found their defects and 
invented the Eclipse. Its 
success forced us to manu¬ 
facturing on a large scale. 
You take no chances. We 
have done all the experi¬ 
menting. Large fully illustrated Catalog and 
Treatise on spraying FREE. 
MORRILL & MORI.EV. Benton Harbor, MIcb. 
Use Fairmount Brand 
Concentrated Bordeaux Mixture 
To one gallon add 49 gallons of water 
and it is ready for use. Only makers 
Fairmount Chemical Laboratory, 
N. W. Corner Broad St. and Fairmount Ave., 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
f Save Your Trees ^ 
Kill San Jose Scale and other destructive 
parasites with a sprayin'; solution of 
Good’s Soap No. 3 
Sure deatli to insects. No sulphur, salt, mineral 
oils, or any substance harmful to plant life. En¬ 
dorsed by U.S. Dept.of Agriculture. Pocket Manual 
of cause, treatment and cure of tree diseases, free. 
Write today. JAMES GOOD, 
Ongim^ADiker^Uj^^MYam^^^^Plifiadolpluir 
m Hoover Digger 
Clean, fast 
work. It stands 
the wear and 
tear. 
Rye Threshers 
Save and bind the 
straw in m at bun¬ 
dles and clean the 
grain perleetly. 
400 Du. a day. Small power required. Also Manure 
Spreaders, Silos, Horseand Dog Powers, Cutters. Catalogfree 
HARDER MFC. CO., Box 1 I , COBLESKILL, N. Y.. 
Look 
into 
It. 
Pay 
The 
freight 
TWENTY TO ONE 
We’d rather get twenty small orders 
than one big order for same amount of 
ALL No. 9 STEEL WIRE 
E mpire Fence 
Because It makes more farmers 
acquainted with it. 
We want you to know about this 
fence. Knowing Empire 
fence makes the sales. 
Wo want a strut11 
order. E MPIKE 
fence sold you at wholesale, all 
ready to staple to posts. We guar¬ 
antee it. Write today for more 
Information abqut the No. 9 wire. 
BOND STEEL POST C0„ Adrian, Michigan 
FOR $10.00 PAID ON INSPECTION 
You can secure a genuine JONES 5 Ton S45.00 
Wagon Scale,all steel trussed levers, brass com¬ 
plete beam without loose weights, beam box, plat- 
form 14x8, for pit or without. Warranted agaiust 
all defects. I, EDWARD F. JONES, personally 
guarantee tin’s scale. Pay balance when ship conies in. Send me a postal for my new plan. 
Address only JONES He Pays the Freight. Box 422A, Binghamton, N. Y. 
A Never Failing Water Supply, 
with absolute safety, at small cost may be had by using tho 
Improved Rider Hot Air Pumping Engine and 
Improved Ericsson Hot Air Pumping Engine. 
Built by us for more than 30 years and sold in every country in the world. Exclu¬ 
sively intended for pumping water. May be run by any ignorant boy or woman. 
So well built that their durability is yet to be determined, engines which were sold 
30 years ago being still in active service. 
Send stamp for “C4” Catalogue to nearest office. 
RIDER-ERICSSON ENGINE CO., 
35 Warren St., New York. 239 Franklin St., Bouton, 
40 bru. liorn St., Cbieago. 234 Craig St., West, Montreal, P. q. 
40 North Jth Sti, Philadelphia. 22 Pitt St., Sydney, N. S. W. ” 
Amargura 95, Havana, Cuba. 
