1909. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
393 
LARGE COUNTRY FAMILIES. 
We have tried to tell some of the 
good things about the bashful State 
—Vermont—but may have neglected 
the best product—the people. The pic¬ 
ture at Fig. 166 makes up for part 
of this. John F. Parker and his fam¬ 
ily live in Rutland County. There 
having been some talk about “race sui¬ 
cide” in Vermont, Mr. Parker took his 
familv( or, rather, part of it) out in 
front of the lilac bush for a photo¬ 
graph. Mr. Parker and his wife have 
nine children—‘five boys and four girls, 
and as he says: 
“We live a happy life, contented with 
our lot, and try to gather the sunshine 
as we journey along.” 
Pie adds: 
“By trade I am a house painter, 
also a gardener, my chief crop being 
tomato plants and cucumbers for pick¬ 
les. My choice of tomatoes is the 
Matchless, raised by Burpee; of cu¬ 
cumbers, Cumberland Fordhook Fa¬ 
mous and Burpee Fordhook Pickling. 
Have any of your readers ever tried 
Sheffield sweet corn ? If not, try it once. 
It can be planted as early as potatoes, 
as it is very hardy and will stand 
light frosts. While not a farmer, I 
am interested in farming, usually plant¬ 
ing five acres. I plant my hotbed 
April 25. May 30 my tomato plants 
ered with tissue paper or fine gauze 
and left a day or two, until other 
buds at the same stage of development 
are wide open. Pollen may best be 
secured by placing newly opened blooms 
of the variety desired as the male par¬ 
ent in a vase of water in a light room, 
secure from insects. When it is ma¬ 
ture it may be shaken out on a piece 
of dark colored paper. In the potato 
it is a whitish powder, but so scarce 
it is not always easily seen on white 
paper. It may be applied to the "stigma 
of the prepared bloom, which should 
be receptive by this time, with a soft 
brush, feather or the ball of the finger. 
Two or three applications can be made 
at intervals of three hours or less, and 
the blooms covered with gauze or paper 
as before. If seed balls containing 
good seeds form the plants grown from 
them will probably be hybrids or cross¬ 
breds. We have no opinion as to va¬ 
rieties to be used. As a rule, it is 
best to use the kinds that succeed in 
your neighborhood. We have no seeds 
for sale. _ 
Reseeding an Old Lawn. 
G. A. K., Mussena, N. Y .—What is the 
best method to seed down an old lawn? 
The lawn has been graded with soil from 
a cornfield and has from four to 12 inches 
of good soil over the old grass and weeds. 
Last Fall a heavy dressing of old well- 
rotted manure was put on, and nothing 
A COUNTRY FAMILY 
are ready to set in the ground. Last 
Spring I sold 1,000 plants in three days. 
This year I am planning to raise 10,000 
for sale. I sell for 2]/ 2 cents each at 
the bed, so my share is 100 cents on 
the dollar. I also raise chickens. Usu¬ 
ally I have a large flock of mixed kinds 
but last Fall I sold out most of them 
as I wish to fancy only one kind—the 
White Wyandotte.” 
He says there are several more fam¬ 
ilies in town larger than his! Mr. 
Parker was not born in Vermont, but 
it is the only place for him. He is 
not at all bashful about claiming that 
Vermont is plenty good enough for him. 
Hybridizing the Potato. 
J. II., Spring Lake, Ky .—IIow is crossing 
or hybridizing of potatoes done, by hand 
pollination or by planting the varieties to 
be crossed side by side? I have tried this 
method myself, planting different varieties 
side by side, also done a little hand pollina¬ 
tion, but I could never get the blossoms 
to stick on any length of time. What is 
the cause of this? What are the best va¬ 
rieties to use in the crossing? 
Ans.—P ollen in cultivated potatoes 
is very scarce, and few real successes 
have been made in hybridizing pota¬ 
toes, except when grown under glass. 
A strong cluster of flowers should be 
chosen, and the buds opened with for¬ 
ceps or penknife just before they would 
do so naturally. The stamens or male 
organs, which cluster about the stigma 
or female organ in the center of 
thei flowers, should carefully be re¬ 
moved, taking care not to injure the 
latter. The cluster should then be cov- 
IN VERMONT. Fig. 166. 
more was done, as we are in northern New 
York where the weather drops as low as 
25 or 35 degrees below zero. The lawn 
is much shaded, and was always hard to 
make grass live on some parts, especially 
where an old cellar had once been. What 
kind of seed will be best for a good sod, 
and what quantity of seed should be used? 
Should we use any chemical fertilizer, and 
if so what quantity? Should anything be 
sown with the seed to shade the ground 
while the grass is getting a root? 
Ans. —Your prospects for renewing 
lawn would be better if the old sur¬ 
face had been well plowed or spaded 
before applying soil from cornfield, 
but fair results may be expected if 
finely ground bone at the rate of 10 
pounds to the square rod is broadcast 
and well raked or harrowed in. Seeds 
of high-grade Red-top and Kentucky 
Blue grass, equal quantities of each, 
should then be sown at the rate of 
one pound of the mixed seeds to each 
square rod, and very carefully covered 
with rake or light harrow. It would 
be a good idea also to sow in the 
shady places one pound to the rod of 
Rhode Island Bent grass and Various¬ 
leaved fescue (Festuca heterophylla) 
mixed equally together. If White 
clover is liked an additional sowing of 
the seeds at the rate of 10 pounds to 
the acre may be made. The seeds are 
too large to mix well with the lawn 
grasses. White clover brings in nitro¬ 
gen and binds the turf, making it more 
lasting. _ 
Clubman : I understand, sir, that 
you began life as a newsboy.” Guest 
of the Evening: “I fear some one 
has been fooling you. I began life 
as an infant.”—Philippine Gossit. 
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Don’t Use Cheap Paint 
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NO. 348 PLYMOUTH STREET, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK. 
THOROUGH CULTIVATION 
and preparation of the seed bed means bigger 
crops and more money for you. 
THE THOMPSON IN-THROW DISC HARROW 
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IT IS THE ONLY HARROW THAT CUTS 
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SIZES 
8 to 16 Discs. 
DISCS 
16 to 20 in. 
Diameter. 
ZEV-A-UVSi MFGr. OO., Lock Box 7, HAMMOND, NEW YORK. 
THIS IS THE 
GRAIN BINDER 
THAT GIVES 
NO TROUBLE 
TO ITS USERS 
“The Best 
Yet” 
THE NEW CENTURY 
We made the first successful grain binder. 
We have kept ahead of all others ever since. 
The New Century is our latest. Grain 
growers in all parts of the world say it is 
“the best yet.” New Century users say it 
does the work easier with two horses than 
do other makes with three, in fact it runs 
one horse lighter. Crops of hundreds of 
acres have been cut and bound without miss¬ 
ing one bundle. Easily adjusted to every 
condition of the harvest field and strongly 
constructed, the New Century removes all 
cause for worry and does away with the usual 
harvest time troubles. Get acquainted with 
the New Century at our dealer’s. If you 
don’t know his address, write us for same, 
also for catalog. 
AS SEEN BY ITS USERS 
Lowndesboro, Ala., 
Sept. 7, 1908 
Used your binder this sea¬ 
son. Cut one hundred and 
fifty to two hundred acres of 
oats. No repairs. 
L. H. McCURDY 
Bombay, N. Y. t 
Aug. 26, 1908 
I used one of your New 
Century Binders this year. 
I cut one hundred and twenty 
acres and never skipped a 
bundle, and I can safely say 
it is the best binder built 
to-day. 
DAN CONELY 
WALTER A. WOOD MOWING 
AND REAPING MACHINE CO. 
BOX 908 HOOSICK FALLS, N. Y. 
OLDEST AND LARGEST INDEPENDENT MANUFACTURER OF HARVESTING MACHINES 
