708 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October 3, 
Ruralisms 
Time to Plant Spring-Blooming 
Bulbs. —The Autumn bulb catalogues 
are now distributed, and should be 
closely studied by all flower lovers. No 
other phase of plant culture gives such 
prompt and plenteous returns for small 
outlays as the blooming of hardy¬ 
flowering bulbs. There is no tedious 
delay, as in growing small plants from 
seeds, and little effort need be expended 
in cultivation aside from the planting 
and light Winter protection. The 
flower germs are already formed— 
packed away in the fleshy roots or bulbs 
—and only need the first bright days of 
early Spring for their full development. 
Hardy bulbs arc now furnished in much 
better quality than formerly, as the 
European growers are generally im¬ 
pressed with the importance of sending 
us the better grades they formerly kept 
exclusively for their home trade. Va¬ 
rious experiments in this country have 
demonstrated that bulbs of excellent 
quality can be grown here, and if good 
ones cannot be had from Europe at 
satisfactory prices there are indications 
that the industry of supplying American 
needs will be transferred from across 
the sea. Tulips and Narcissi are most 
popular, furnishing a wealth of beauty 
when in bloom, and lasting, with rea¬ 
sonable care, for several successive 
years. In fact many Narcissus varieties 
may be naturalized and endure for a 
lifetime, increasing in vigor and attrac¬ 
tiveness as the years go by. For this 
purpose the cheaper kinds are especially 
suitable not only because the lower cost 
enables the amateur to plant more ex¬ 
tensively, but also because the superior 
vigor that favors rapid increase and 
consequent lower prices also indicates 
greater hardiness and adaptability to or¬ 
dinary conditions. Fig. 361, page 763, 
shows a clump of daffodil blooms de¬ 
veloped from one bulb each of Emperor 
and Empress varieties planted four 
years ago in sod. Absolutely no cul¬ 
tural attention has been given them ex¬ 
cept pulling away the grass from near 
the blooms. In photographing the group 
a screen was needed to cut off confus¬ 
ing objects in the background, so that 
little grass is shown. 
Hyacinth bulbs of good quality give 
magnificent blooms the first season after 
planting, but rapidly deteriorate after¬ 
wards, even with the most scrupulous 
care in curing and handling. They are 
indispensable for Spring blooming as 
well as for Winter forcing, but should 
only be purchased with the understand¬ 
ing that after the first flowering they 
will only be useful for growing in out- 
of-the-way nooks, where the welcome 
color and fragrance make up for defec¬ 
tive trusses of bloom. 
The Minor Bulbs. —The better cata¬ 
logues present such fine illustrations and 
accurate descriptions as well as useful 
cultural directions that there is little 
need for extended comment. It is well, 
however, to bear in mind the smaller 
species and varieties that may be bought 
in quantity for little money. No one 
willingly dispenses with Crocuses. They 
come so early, are so brilliant and 
withal so cheap that they may be re¬ 
garded as indispensable, though they do 
not endure many seasons. There are 
many colors, but the clear purples and 
bright yellows give most satisfaction. 
Snowdrops we must have. The pure 
and dainty blooms sometimes open in 
mild Februarys, and are most heartily 
welcomed as the first real harbingers 
of Spring. They live long in deep, rich 
soil. A small group in sod in the Rural 
Grounds planted 12 years ago, flowers 
with increasing vigor each year. Scillas, 
Chionodoxas and grape hyacinths are 
indispensable for furnishing the intense 
blues so cheering after the dreary and 
lifeless Winter. The Chionodoxa is 
termed Glory of the-Snow, as in its 
native Caucasian home it blooms among 
the melting snowdrifts, but here it fol¬ 
lows the snowdrop and Crocus, coming 
out generally when the snow is gone. 
It thrives best in the shelter of walls 
and rockeries, the bulbs multiplying and 
forming large clumps of gay and bril¬ 
liant blooms. The Scilla, particularly 
the common Siberian species, endures 
the most ordinary treatment, lives long 
and furnishes perhaps the most intense 
and vivid blue of the entire floral world. 
Grape hyacinths look best in sod, where 
they thrive extremely well, at times in¬ 
creasing until there are broad stretches 
of rich coloring at blooming time. Once 
established the only care needed con¬ 
cerning these lovely Spring flowering 
plants is to avoid injuring the foliage 
until it naturally ripens, toward the end 
of May. This is indicated by drooping 
and yellowing, when grass and leaves 
may be cut in the usual manner without 
injury to the maturing bulbs. The 
bulbous Spanish Irises are cheap and 
beautiful, blooming in early June. They 
are quaint, striking in form and rich in 
odd shades of yellow, bronze and 
purple. There are also some good pure 
whites and porcelain blues. Spanish 
Iris bulbs are a trifle tender in northern 
latitudes, and do not, as a rule, bloom 
well after the first season under our cli¬ 
matic conditions. For old-fashioned 
borders and permanent plantings the 
crown imperial, Fritillaria imperialis, is 
indispensable. The plant is stately and 
the blooms on good specimens quite 
showy. The large and rather mal-odor- 
ous bulbs require deep planting in loose 
soil of moderate richness. Once estab¬ 
lished they are good for a lifetime. 
Order Bulbs Early. —Place your bulb 
orders early and plant as quickly as pos¬ 
sible when the consignments arrive. 
The imported varieties have been long 
out of the soil, and are better off when 
placed where they are to grow. The 
native ones also are impatient of too 
long drying. The catalogue directions 
for preparation of the soil, depth and 
spacing for the different kinds may be 
safely followed. No matter how small 
or how large your investment in these 
delightful plants may be the chances are 
a thousand to one that you will be 
more than pleased with the result if rea¬ 
sonable care is taken in the selection of 
varieties and in caring for the bulbs. 
Too Rich for Corn? —Farmers sel¬ 
dom worry about the over-fertility of 
their cornfields. Maize is such a gross 
feeder and of such rapid growth that 
the general impression is that there can 
scarcely be too much available plant 
food in the soil in which it grows. 
However, seasons vary, and conditions 
that would just favor a maximum crop 
in a normal year may prove its undoing 
in an exceptionable one. The past sea¬ 
son has been extraordinarily favorable 
for the growth of maize. Intense heat 
and timely, if not overplentiful rainfalls, 
induced an almost record growth for 
this locality, where there was ample 
fertility to support it. There are fields 
where there are more stalks above 12 
feet high than below it, each carrying 
its quota of heavy ears. Even starved 
fields made a fair showing. This was 
most encouraging in view of the scar¬ 
city and high price of corn and the 
miserable quality of the old crop, but 
an August gale of great persistency 
and considerable violence, accompanied 
with the most rapid rainfall of the year, 
laid low these aspiring fields, causing 
loss and waste that is saddening to con¬ 
template. Light corn on poor land was 
little damaged, but the heavy stalks with 
their weighty ears could not maintain 
their hold in the storm-drenched soil. 
Small grains are likely to lodge in too- 
fertile soil but field corn does not often 
meet disaster through over-vigorous 
growth. •_ w. v. F. 
Bisulphide of Carbon on Cow Peas. 
J. C. L., Louisville, Ga .—In using bisul¬ 
phide of carbon with cow peas would it do 
as well to have the peas sacked? IIow long 
should the peas remain in the bin? IIow 
often should the bisulphide be used? 
Ans. —Will practical men who have 
tried this answer the above question? 
We have often given general directions 
for using the bisulphide. Now we 
would like notes of actual experience. 
Fertilizing a Lawn. 
R. 8. G., Tennessee .—IIow is the lawn 
turning out? I have seen no mention of it 
for some time. Did the application of such 
a large amount of fertilizer to the potato 
crop have any effect on the condition of the 
land? I put 1,200 pounds of Mapes potato 
manure per acre on two acres of potatoes, 
and shall seed to wheat and grass. The po¬ 
tato crop is large in amount, but owing to 
the backward Spring and late frosts, the po¬ 
tatoes had only a short season to grow in 
till the drought cut them short, so the po¬ 
tatoes are mostly small, but will still make 
the best crop around here. I cannot apply 
the fertilizer to the best advantage on our 
land, as I find that contact with the fertil¬ 
izer is apt to cause the resulting crop to 
rot greatly, otherwise would plant the way 
you do, dropping the fertilizer over the 
seed with some earth to separate them. 
Ans. —Our lawn has done well. We 
started with rough land in the Spring, 
plowed and harrowed it well, and plant¬ 
ed potatoes, rows two feet apart and 
hills one foot. We used a heavy dress¬ 
ing of potato manure and gave thorough 
culture with cultivator and hand hoe. 
There was a heavy yield and the pota¬ 
toes were dug early. Then the soil was 
chopped again and again with the Cut¬ 
away, graded and raked and seeded to 
lawn grass seed in October. The seed 
made a poor start in the Fall and there 
was some washing. We all expected 
failure, but there was a fair stand in 
Spring, and after cutting several timeS 
the grass has thickened and now looks 
well. There was a good deal of plant 
food in the soil, left by the potatoes. 
The theory of “chemicals and clover” 
Vepealirip 
Shotgun 
This new 6-shot 
model is the simplest, 
surest, and fastest 12- 
gauge repeater made. 
It has the solid top, 
side ejection and 
double extractors — 
special fflarft/t fea¬ 
tures of comfort and 
convenience. The closed-in breech 
keeps the action clean and the shells 
dry—keeps out rain, snow, dirt, leaves 
twigs and sand. 
The new take-down construction allows 
you to take gun apart in ten seconds for 
cleaning or packing, yet the joint is always 
as firm and rigid as in a solid frame, non¬ 
take-down gun. The fat forearm fits you r 
hand and helps quick operation. 
The full choked guns are guaranteed 
close-shooting, hard-hitting guns, and are 
unequalled for ducks, geese, foxes and all 
long-range work. 
A circular giving large 
illustration, with full 
description of thi9 
handsome new gun, 
sent free on request or 
with complete 136-page 
catalog for 3 stamps. 
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157 Willow Street, 
NEW HAVEN, CONN. 
GET THE BEST 
A Good Spray Pump "earns 
big profits and lasts for years. 
THE ECLIPSE I 
is a good pump. As 
(practical fruit grow¬ 
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sprayers in our own orchards 
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invented the Eclipse. Its 
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WOODWARD’S WATERING BASIN 
A STABLE NECESSITY. SEE WHAT OTHERS SAY OF IT. 
ClreuHr. Free. J. 8. WOODWARD A SON. LOCK PORT. N.Y 
farming is that we should use enouglfi 
fertilizer on the potatoes to grow that 
crop and also the following grain and 
grass. Wc think this lawn would have 
been better if we had used some ni¬ 
trate of soda in the Spring. Most of 
the soluble nitrogen seems to have been 
lost from the upper soil by Spring and 
a small quantity of it added then will 
start the grass off. There seems to be 
enough potash, phosphoric acid and or¬ 
ganic nitrogen left by the potato crop, 
but a small quantity of nitrate will 
usually pay. We cannot understand, 
how potato fertilizer will make the crop 
rot. We have seen it burn or scald 
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the tubers when put too close to tkem,i 
but never knew it to rot them. 
“For the Land’s Sake use Bowker’s 
Fertilizers; they enrich the earth and 
those who till it.”—Adv. 
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to show the steel, the galvanizing, the size. 
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Don’t Neglect 66 
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