e>e ss 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July 10, 
Ruralisms 
Not Much Fruit. — Unfavorable 
blooming weather following the exhaust¬ 
ing drought of last year would appear 
sufficient cause for the present unflat¬ 
tering prospects for orchard fruits. 
Peaches alone promise anything like a 
fair crop, though the young fruits have 
been dropping at an unexpected rate. 
There was a good set in vigorous or¬ 
chards, and if rot does not gain too 
great headway at ripening time there 
should be some fine fruits. Plums in 
general have failed, only a few Japans 
carrying scattering crops. Natives not 
only lost their blooms from the effects 
of fog and rain, but much foliage and 
wood as well. European varieties were 
better pollenized, but Monilia rot ap¬ 
peared when the fruits were only half 
grown, and there is already noticeable 
loss. There are fewer pears in sight 
than has been the case since Kieffers 
and Le Contes have been commercially 
planted. Fruits can only be counted by 
the dozen in orchards that have hither¬ 
to produced by the carload. Never has 
there been such a prospective shortage 
of canning pears. Barlletts and other 
Europeans are better, but there can only 
be a fraction of an average crop. Kief- 
fer pear money has long been counted 
a substantial asset on many light soil 
farms, and its absence will scarcely be 
made up by increased output of other 
available crops. There is more promise 
in apples, but the full crop due this 
year will be far from realized. The 
s-et is generally light, and dropping con¬ 
tinues. Late sorts show up better than 
early ones. There is little evidence of 
scale and fungus disease. Spraying for 
Codling larvae appears to be effectual as 
far as can be ascertained at this time. 
Good orchards promise reasonable rev¬ 
enue to competent growers. Quince 
blooms came out at a favorable time 
and are well set. Sour cherries promise 
an average crop. Sweet varieties have 
greatly suffered from rot and attacks of 
fruit-eating birds. 
Small Fruits Better. —Strawbeiries 
have yielded bountifully, considering the 
drought-dwarfed plants that went to 
their Winter’s rest. The quality was 
unsatisfactory at first, owing to dull 
weather, but has since greatly improved. 
The full crop and increased acreage 
appear to explain the rather low prices 
that have prevailed, but better returns 
at the end of the season may even 
up matters. Bramble fruits are in good 
condition, red raspberries making an 
unusually fine showing. Blackberries 
and dewberries carried full bloom and 
have set well. Gooseberries and cur¬ 
rants will not be over-plentiful, but bid 
fair to finish up well. Grape bloom has 
been held back by cool weather, but is 
coming on well. Few Rose beetles ap¬ 
peared before the last week in June, and 
no great damage is reported. Our gen¬ 
erally reliable Juneberries, in common 
with all early-blooming fruits, failed in 
pollination, and the resulting crop af¬ 
fords little surplus over the demands of 
berry-eating birds. 
Siberian Rhubarb.— Plants of an ed¬ 
ible rhubarb—a form of the common 
Rheum Rhaponticum of our gardens— 
grown from seeds collected at Khabo- 
roosk, Siberia, near the northern border 
of Corea, were received for trial on the 
Rural Grounds, July 24, 1907, from the 
National Department of Agriculture. 
They have made good growth under 
ordinary conditions, and supplied a few 
stout stalks for table use this Spring. 
The leaves are broad, rounded and deep 
green in color, the stalks being tinted 
with rose in the lower third. The 
flavor was mild and very agreeable, less 
astringent than Victoria and other large 
sorts, and less acid than Linnaeus or 
Early Strawberry. A smaller quantity 
of sugar was needed to fit it for the 
table than any of the well-known gar¬ 
den varieties; while the fruity, goose¬ 
berry-like quality so greatly appreciated 
in this early esculent was marked. The 
variety is said to be entirely hardy in 
its cold Siberian home, and may be 
useful for breeding for improved qual¬ 
ity. Our plants show too great tendency 
to produce seeds for profitable garden 
culture, but this defect may perhaps be 
remedied in the future. 
Asparagus Beetles. —Can you tell me 
what I can use to kill the little beetle 
that comes on asparagus when the weather, 
gets warm, about the middle of May? It 
lays a little black egg and completely cov¬ 
ers the stalk. The large beetles will eat 
the stalk. I have about one-half acre, and 
some years have had to give up cutting it 
on account of those beetles. I have not 
yet been able to find anything that will 
keep them off. N. B. c. 
Windsor, Conn. 
There appears to be no way to con¬ 
trol the Asparagus beetle on edible as¬ 
paragus, except prompt cutting of the 
shoots as soon as the tops break through 
the soil. Growers of green asparagus 
suffer great loss from the pest. It is 
easily controlled on young plantings or 
seed beds by dusting the tops and foli¬ 
age with Paris green, by means of a 
sifter or air-gun, using the green either 
pure or mixed with flour at the rate of 
one pound of Paris green to four 
pounds of cheap flour. The application 
should be made while the tops and 
foliage are wet with rain or dew. Of 
course, such poisons cannot be used on 
Asparagus to be cut for the table. In 
small patches it is found that chickens 
readily eat the beetles, and are often 
able completely to control the pest dur¬ 
ing the cutting season. 
The Avocado Pear —On page 360 is a 
letter about the “avocado pear.” Prices 
quoted are so extraordinary that it is very 
interesting. Could you not tell us some¬ 
thing about the fruit and its prospects, and 
will it grow anywhere else than in Florida? 
Amistad, N. M. G. w. 
The avocado pear is a tropical fruit 
found growing wild from Mexico south 
to Peru and Brazil. It is also known by 
the names of alligator pear and mid¬ 
shipman’s butter. The fruit resembles 
a large purple or green pear, but has 
very oily flesh, and contains a single 
large seed. It is used more as a vege¬ 
table for salad making than as a fruit, 
but it is growing in popularity. The 
free is evergreen and cannot endure 
frost. It is successfully cultivated in 
the warm parts of California and in 
Florida. Trees are generally grown 
from seed and begin to bear in five or 
six, .years. There are several good 
varieties, the best of which are propa¬ 
gated by budding or grafting, which is 
not easy to accomplish. Avocado pear 
culture, if not overdone, bids fair to be 
profitable in the limited frost-free .por¬ 
tions of this country, as the taste for 
the fruit seems to be constantly grow¬ 
ing. You should be able to grow it in 
New Mexico. 
Stock for Plums. —What kind of roots 
are plums usually budded on, and would 
they do well on peach roots? What would 
apples do budded on quince roots? 
Westport, Pa. m. h. p. 
Plums are budded on both plum and 
peach stocks. Japan varieties succeed 
better on peach than native or European 
kinds, but usually live longer where 
worked on Japan seedlings. Probably 
the best stock for the common Europ¬ 
ean kinds is the Horse plum, a small 
purple-fruited variety which may be had 
from most wholesale nurserymen. In 
the South Marianna stocks are largely 
used, as they may be cheaply grown 
from cuttings, but this kind is too 
tender for the North. Native plums 
may be budded or grafted on the Horse 
plum or their own seedlings, but the 
latter often sucker excessively. Natives 
rarely thrive on peach stocks. The 
apple does not make a lasting union 
with quince, and propagation by this 
means is impracticable. Certain pears 
succeed better on quince than pear 
roots, though the trees are dwarfed by 
the process. 
Black Knot in Plums. —What can I do 
for black knot in plum trees, and worms 
that eat the leaves of currant bushes? 
Bethel, Conn. c. r. j. 
The best treatment for black knot in 
plum trees is to cut out the knots dur¬ 
ing the Winter season, going way down 
into the healthy wood, and to paint the 
wound with a strong solution of copper 
sulphate in water. Worms on currant 
bushes will be easily killed by dusting 
the leaves as soon as they are noticed 
with powdered hellebore or Paris green. 
Both remedies are effectual, but the hel¬ 
lebore has the advantage of not being 
poisonous to man or animal. w. v. F. 
Drying Hay in Kilns. 
J. F. J., Jeanerette, Isa. —Can you put 
me in correspondence with anyone who is 
kiln-drying hay for the market? Possibly 
you know of some of the stations getting 
out a bulletin on this subject, and if so 
please so advise me. We have a very ex¬ 
cellent market here for good hay, and our 
rich alluvial soils grow the various grasses 
used for hay successfully, but we find it 
very difficult to cure the hay here owing to 
the natural humidity in the air and the 
frequent rains through the Summer or 
growing season. Owing to the excellent 
market or demand for hay and the fact 
that we can grow it very successfully, we 
would like to investigate the advantages 
of kiln drying if it is feasible. We could 
use for fuel the crude oil at about 75 cents 
per barrel. The sugar mills and refineries 
all use this fuel in this section, as it is 
cheaper than wood and is easily used— 
feeding automatically as it were, and re¬ 
quiring less labor. 
Ans. —W!e do not know of any such 
plan in operation. Can anyone tell us 
about it? If such work is actually be¬ 
ing done we feel confident that some, 
one of our readers will be able to give 
the facts. * We have read of some 
strange ways of making hay in Eng¬ 
land, where the weather is usually wet. 
In one case we heard of a farmer who 
put up a long shed made of galvanized 
iron. It was made in sections—the roof 
being removable. This roof was taken 
off, the wet hay thrown loosely in, and 
the roof put on. A hot fire was started 
at one end and a big fan or blower 
worked at the other, this drawing a 
strong current of hot air through the 
hay. While, of course, such a shed 
could not be made airtight, this plan 
was sSid to give fair results. Some 
such plan as this might be practical 
where hay is high and fuel cheap. 
Root-Worm Beetle on Raspberries. 
J. G. W.j Pracsburgj A T . Y. —We have 
mailed you box containing small bugs. They 
eat the leaves off tlie red raspberries; have 
eaten one-half acre clean. They only work 
when it is warm and the sun shines. We 
would like to know what they are and 
how to get rid of them; have sprayed with 
Paris green. Wo have mulched with pea 
vines for two years; the insects seem to live 
in the pea vines. 
Ans. —The beetles causing the injury 
to the red raspberry foliage are the 
adults* of the strawberry root-worm 
(Typophorus -canellus). The grubs 
feed on strawberry roots during the 
Summer and transform to beetles in 
the Fall. These adults hibernate under 
rubbish, and in the Spring attack the 
foliage of the strawberry, raspberrv, 
and to a less extent, the blackberry. In 
the present case, a neighboring patch 
of old strawberry vines doubtless fur¬ 
nished the beetles, and the mulch of 
pea vines gave them ideal Winter quar¬ 
ters. As a general thing, adult beetles 
are hard to kill with a poison spray, 
but satisfactory results may be expected 
if the vines are given a thorough appli¬ 
cation of arsenate of lead at the rate 
of three pounds in 50 gallons of Bor¬ 
deaux Mixture. It is better to use the 
poison in the Bordeaux Mixture than 
in water, since the former is distasteful 
to the beetles and acts as a deterrent. 
C. R. CROSBY. 
To kill potato bugs and to check 
blight, use Bowker’s Pyrox. Sticks 
like paint. Cost 50c. to $1 per acre. 
Mail orders to Bowker Insecticide Co., 
Boston. —Adv. 
GET THE BEST 
A Good Spray Pump'earns 
big profits and lasts for years. 
THE ECLIPSE 
is a good pump. As 
practical fruit grow¬ 
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i —found their defects and 
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You take no chances. We 
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a ; _ •'VJ . 
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Unsurpassed for— 
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Niagara Tree Borer Paint —Controls 
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Niagara Gas Sprayers— Built in 7 styles. 
Send for descriptive catalogues, prices, etc., FREE. 
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Middleport, N. V. 
The Deyo Power Sprayer 
The original. Others have copied. Our 3 h. p. air 
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“AUtO-POp” NOZZLE. 
Slight pressure on lever starts dense 
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INCREASE THE CROPS 
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WITH 
THE 
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FERTILIZER LIME .MS 
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TANKAGE s : *12.00 PER TON 
IRON CITY : : 22.00 PER TON 
Freight Paid To Now York Stato Points 
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OF PITTSBURG, PA. 
