1006 
November 20, 
MULCHING STRAWBERRIES. 
As it is nearly time to mulch the 
strawberries I hope you will publish this 
article for the benefit of some one who 
might cover their patch with the wrong 
kind of manure. The Hope Farm man 
and others tell of covering two or three 
inches deep with manure, but in most 
cases they fail to specify well-rotted 
manure, which might be all right, but 
I have seen two instances where plants 
were almost entirely killed by the use 
of manure which was not sufficiently 
rotted. One was a patch set by my 
mother years ago, on which horse man¬ 
ure was used, and since I have been 
raising them I tried a small section of a 
bed with mixed •stable dressing made 
the Summer before, using in the Fall, 
with the result of smothering nearly 
every plant where it was tried. Since 
that time I have placed the manure be-, 
tween rows and plants and have covered 
the plants with something lighter, as 
straw or marsh hay. I have set a small 
patch for experimental purposes this 
Fall in October, taking a good lot of 
dirt with the plants when transplanting. 
Some were set in a moist place last 
Summer, as the Hope Farm man treated 
his Marshalls. I did not lose a plant, 
and they had made a good root growth 
when taken up. I have set in hills about 
one foot apart, some 15 inches in rows, 
some two and others 2]/ 2 feet apart. I 
will report results at some future time. 
Maine. m. i. c. 
R. N.-Y.—Unless the plants have a 
fair chance to be aired they may be 
smothered. We have killed plants by 
mulching with forest leaves or fine ma¬ 
nure. This matted down over the row, 
and in the Spring many plants were 
dead. In Maine, where the snow is deep 
and remains all Winter, very little 
mulching is required. In New Jersey 
we would, from choice, put fine manure 
between the rows and then cover the 
plants with coarse strawy manure, or 
with cornstalks. The latter are good for 
this purpose, as they give air and still 
keep the frost in the ground, so that it 
docs not thaw in the day and freeze at 
night. That is the thing to avoid with 
Strawberries._ 
PROPAGATING NURSERY STOCK. 
J. E. J-, Tuscamra, Nev. —1. What is 
tho best way to propagate quaking aspen, 
alder, and balm of Gilead trees? 
A. H. P. (No Address). —2. I have about 
50 acres of fruit started, mostly in the last 
three years, from stock bought from dif¬ 
ferent sources, but have in mind other 
land which I may wish to set in two or 
three years from now. 1 have read I’rof. 
Bailey’s book on the nursery, but have had 
no experience. I have land well adapted to 
raising nursery stock, and would like to 
start next Spring to raise apple, peach and 
pear, and then bud from my own trees. 
Where can I get detailed information on 
this subject and where can 1 get reliable 
seed and pits? 
Ans. — 1. The aspen and balm of Gilead 
are poplars, and easily propagated from 
cuttings. The alder is propagated from 
the seed, which should be gathered in 
the Fall, and dried, after which sow 
broadcast or thinly in shallow rows in 
mellow soil and cover lightly. The 
a'der is imported from Europe where 
the climatic conditions are favorable 
to its germination and growth, and the 
one-year seedlings are cheap enough for 
nurserymen to buy rather than grow 
from seed. The poplar is easily grown, 
as stated above, from cuttings, made 
from the current year’s growth, and 
cut about six or eight inches long. The 
cuttings can be made any time during 
the Winter or early Spring, or the 
wood can be cut after the leaves fall 
and packed away in a cool place until 
ready to make into cuttings later. The 
willows and Oriental plane are also 
grown from cuttings. Now is the 
time to make cuttings of the Hydrangea 
paniculata; take the current year’s 
growth where it is strong, and two or 
more feet high, cut close to the limb 
or plant from which it started and then 
plant on the north side of a building, 
THE RURAL 
putting the cuttings down 12 to 18 
inches in the ground, and mulch with 
long manure. As soon as leaves fall, 
cuttings of all kinds of shrubbery can 
be cut and stored in sand or excelsior 
or moss, until ready to make into cut¬ 
tings later. The California privet can 
be cut in November and December, 
while the leaves are on, and put in a 
cool place, being careful not to get too 
many in bulk or they will heat. The 
leaves can be stripped off if they have 
not fallen, when ready to make into 
cuttings. Make all cuttings six to 
eight inches long, tie with tarred twine 
or willows into bundles of 100, keeping 
butt ends even. After the bundles are 
made up, put in a frame in a protected 
place, open to the south, tops down and 
butts up. Work some damp sand 
through them, then cover them all over 
with six inches of sand. As soon as 
ground is dry enough in Spring to 
work, plant out in rows, put cuttings 
four to six inches apart in row, and 
rows 3 Vi to four feet apart. Now is 
the time to think about cutting scions 
of apple, pear and plum, and storing 
them away before hard freezing weather 
comes on and injures them. 
2 . If root-grafting is to be done, this 
is the time to make arrangements with 
nurserymen for stocks to graft. Buy 
first-class, No. 1, one-year apple and 
pear stocks; never buy two-year stock 
for root-grafting, as they are too coarse 
and hard to work, and do not make as 
good stock as the one-year. For the 
inexperienced grafter, get stocks cali¬ 
pering 3-16 inch and up. The grafting 
can be done any time through the Win¬ 
ter months. Full instructions tabout 
root-grafting and planting were given 
in The R. N.-Y. of November 7, 1908, 
and for growing trees and shrubs from 
cuttings in The R. N.-Y. of March 20, 
1909, page 300. Now is the time to 
Fall plant peach pits; full instructions 
were given in The R. N.-Y. of April 
17, 1909. Nuts of all kinds should be 
put in moist (not wet) sand and packed 
in tight boxes to keep rats, mice and 
squirrels from running away with them. 
Keep in cool cellar. Plant two inches 
apart in rows early in Spring, cover 
one inch deep when planting. Seeds 
of barberry and of Ampelopsis Veitchii, 
or Boston ivy, can be gathered now, 
and when a rainy day comes clean 
them by washing in water; when dry, 
mix with sand same as nuts. Plant very 
early in Snring; do not cover Ampe¬ 
lopsis more than one-half inch with 
well-mdverized soil. Be careful to keep 
all cuttings, grafts, stocks, nuts, berries 
and all cellared stock in a cool cellar, 
just about freezing point is best, and 
moist, but not wet. Seeds can be had 
from seedsmen and stocks from nursery¬ 
men who advertise in The R. N.-Y. 
e. s. BLACK. 
Farmers and Trespassers.— It is re¬ 
ported that farmers in Goshen, Conn., have 
organized to arrest all persons found tres¬ 
passing on their farms. They intend to 
apply the law to hunters, fishermen and also 
people who go out for fruit and nuts. The 
Hartford Courant hits the bull’s eye on 
this proposition as follows: 
“Small wonder that this amazing stand 
should create indignaiion in eities and 
towns, for it is as a rule the people of 
these cities and towns who at present do 
the trespassing. It is easy to imagine the 
wrath of the city property holder if he 
should find a resident of the rural districts 
gathering flowers on his city lawn, picking 
his city-grown fruit, taking fish out of his 
fountain, and breaking off his gate so as 
to get in quicker. And yet the average 
city resident, when he gets out into the 
country, expects to gather the nuts from 
the trees on the farms he passes, to pick 
up what fruit attracts him, to fish in 
whatever waters are not posted and to 
break down a fence or leave down a pair 
of bars: so long as he is through and does 
not have to come back that way what 
reason for bothering over the bars? It is 
the every-day experience of the farmer that 
raiders do this sort of thing and think along 
just this line. Now he says ‘Stop!’ and, 
if he hns the courage to stand by his order, 
they will stop. Whether it was advisable 
for the Goshen farmers to agree further 
that they would not grant permission to 
enter upon their lands except in special 
cases is debatable. But plainly they were 
within their rights.’-’ 
NEW-YORKER 
JL 
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