810 
November 28, 
AN ASPARAGUS TALK. 
1 intend to plant 30 acres of asparagus next Spring, 
and as some of the land has tile in it I would like to 
know if asparagus roots will fill a tile three feet below the 
surface. 1 would also like to know what implement to use 
that will make the best furrow the quickest. The land is 
sand, with a clay subsoil. r. b. 
St. Anne, Ill. 
The asparagus plant has a root system quite pe¬ 
culiar to itself. While it has many roots, some of 
which penetrate the subsoil to a depth of three feet, 
the major part of the whole root system is located 
in the upper l£ inches of the soil. But few roots 
penetrate to a depth of three feet, or beyond, par¬ 
ticularly so in a stiff, compact clay subsoil. This 
plant is not particularly noted for fibrous roots; that 
is, in sufficient quantity to choke a tile drain. Its 
forte appears to be in producing the mass of long 
fleshy roots, furnishing the plant with a storehouse for 
food, that enables the plant to withstand the long 
season of cutting, which it is subjected to. This 
kind of roots rarely do much damage, should they 
succeed in getting into a tile drain. In all my ex¬ 
perience as a farmer, I have yet to hear the first 
assertion that tile drains were ever choked with as¬ 
paragus roots. 
In preparing a piece of land for setting asparagus, 
and marking out the rows, it depends largely on 
whether the grower intends cutting green or white 
grass. If the grower intends cutting white or 
blanched grass the crowns should be set deeper than 
where the grower intends to cut green grass. In 
either case, I do not believe it good policy to go 
down in a poor subsoil. In this asparagus section 
the ordinary two-horse turning plow is used to plow 
out rows, going twice in each furrow, once each way. 
In some instances, where the soil is quite deep, a 
board is placed behind mould-board of the plow to 
catch the overflow of soil and deposit it on the bank 
at the side. But where the grower intends growing 
green grass, it is not good policy to plant the crowns 
so deep. Hence a furrow made with a turning plow 
and cleaned out by going in the opposite direction 
with the plow is all that is needed. c. c. hulsart. 
Monmouth Co., N. J. 
MULCH IN A DRY TIME. 
Your reply to J. K., on page 836, moves me to add 
somewhat to the answer given. On all points except 
one I agree with the writer (whom I take to be 
H. W. C.), and that is where'he does not think it 
best to mulch during a drought, with which idea I 
take issue. It has been my experience that a mulch 
applied during a drought would revive and save the 
lives of trees and vines; during a very dry time I 
understand that moisture is constantly rising from 
the subsoil to the surface by capillary action and 
escaping into the air. This can be largely checked by 
a good dust mulch, but that is not always feasible, 
and then the mulch will do just as much good, or 
even more in my judgment, if liberally applied, and 
moisture will accumulate from the underground reser¬ 
voir until, as I have often demonstrated to myself 
and others there will be quite a sensible amount 
found in the first six to 10 inches below the surface, 
and all without any rain. I might give an instance 
or two in my experience. Ten or 12 years ago, as 
near as I remember, we were having a series of very 
dry and hot Summers. I had grown a piece of early 
potatoes, and was then quite interested in the second- 
crop potato idea of the South. I had saved seed for 
that purpose, and when the first crop was dug the 
latter part of July the ground was bone dry. I never 
could have dug them from ordinary prairie loam, but 
this was a very light sandy loam—more sand than 
anything else. It looked as though my second crop 
would not be able to materialize, but I knew some¬ 
thing of the effects of good mulch, and planted the 
second-crop seed in a bed of dust, barely covering 
them. The plot was about 40 by 50 feet. There was 
a big manure pile close by, and I, by the aid of a 
wheelbarrow, applied a liberal coat, probably four 
inches solid. The plants were up promptly and by 
the time all could be seen there was a perceptible 
amount of moisture under the mulch. They grew 
until the frost took them, as I remember, about 
October 1, when the tubers were about half-grown, 
just the thing for seed the next Spring, and were so 
used. Now notice; I aver there was no rain on that 
crop during the time it was in the ground. Again, 
about those days (I cannot tell just the year), I had 
a strawberry bed, just such a hot and dry season as 
above mentioned; when the crop was off, as is the 
custom here, the bed was mow^ed over, and mulch and 
leaves all raked off and piled in a small rick just 
along the outside row on one side, and about four 
feet from the row. The pile of mulch was 15 or 
more feet long. The drought continued, and several 
weeks passed, the old plants in the bed scarcely show¬ 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
ing any life, but as I passed along from time to 
time I began to notice quite a growth on the first 
row. Then later I discovered this extra growth was 
alongside the mulch pile, and finally that it extended 
only six or seven feet beyond the ends of the mulch 
pile. I was so much interested I called a neighbor’s 
attention to it, and we examined the ground around 
the edges of the pile and found it quite moist, then 
the ground along the strawberry row and still some 
moisture, but this did not extend beyond the six or 
eight-foot limit mentioned. These are facts, and I 
practice mulching right along on my fruit trees. 
Illinois. c. B. PADDOCK. 
FORMALIN FOR SPRAYING. 
I have been experimenting with “formalin” 
this past season, both as a fungicide, and so far 
as sucking insects are concerned, an insecticide also. 
In all my experiments I used a two per cent solu¬ 
tion in water. Before planting, I soaked my seed 
potatoes in it; result, no scab on the tubers when dug 
this Fall. I also sprayed the strawberry plants, with 
it occasionally, and got rid of the leaf blight, and 
I had the same result with the potato vines. I don’t 
know what effect formalin has on Potato bugs, but 
the fact is there were no bugs in my potato patch. 
I have used it successfully in fighting plant lice 
(aphids) ; but the best of all is that it >vill abso¬ 
lutely kill the San Jose scale. I found a dozen young 
apple trees in my orchard literally covered with the 
scale. After two applications of a two per cent 
formalin spray the scales were dead and dried up. 
In fact this spray can be used in place of the Bor¬ 
deaux Mixture. It is clean, and there is no trouble 
in its preparation. In my experience with it I have 
seen no bad effect on the foliage. I have not tried it 
in connection with arsenic or other poisons, and I do 
not know whether it will form a precipitate with 
them or not. From page 803, of The R. N.-Y., I 
quote: “In most fruit-growing districts some sort of 
fungicide is absolutely necessary, and many growers 
are afraid to use Bordeaux.” Let them try formalin. 
It is used in all hospitals as a germicide and in all 
medical colleges it has taken the place of alcohol for 
preserving specimens of anatomy. It being a perfect 
disinfectant, it is one of the most useful articles to 
have on the farm for washing wounds, sores, etc., on 
man and beast. • d. d. alley. 
Dutchess Co., N. Y. 
R. N.-Y. It is well enough to experiment with 
new remedies, but there are two sides to this formalin 
question. One of the highest authorities in the coun¬ 
try, when asked for an opinion, says: 
“This is not the first time that people have gone in, 
enthusiastically, for formalin. They did use it for a 
time to preserve specimens, and as a disinfectant in 
hospitals and medical schools; but it was found that, 
whereas alcohol w r as a preservative in the true sense 
of the word, the tissues fixed in formalin were al¬ 
tered. and sooner or later decayed and became useless. 
I used formalin myself very extensively in a two 
per cent solution, and have long since given it up. 
And so it was at one time believed that it would be 
an excellent material to use as a fumigant; but 
we have found that whereas it is really good as 
against fungus and bacterial organisms, it is abso¬ 
lutely valueless as against insects. Formalin does kill 
a great many fungi and other micro-organisms. It 
is a very feeble insecticide, and at strengths at which 
it is safe to use on foliage it is of absolutely no use 
against insects. This material was thought of as an 
insecticide long since, and has been abandoned after 
pretty thorough tests. 
“I think it likely that by painting a branch infested 
with San Jose scale with a two per cent solution of 
formalin you would kill the scale. I very strongly 
doubt whether a spray of the same material would 
have that effect. Let me illustrate: The Cooper 
fluid is a combination of methyl alcohol and phenols 
with some other materials to help the mixture, and if 
you dip an infested twig in a dilute mixture it will 
kill the scales. It will also kill plant lice eggs, and 
the eggs of a number of insects; but take that same 
mixture and spray it on an infested plant in exactly 
the same strength and you get absolutely no result at 
all. In the one place you have a body from which 
penetration takes place very rapidly. In the other 
case you have an exceedingly fine film from which 
surface evaporation take place before penetration 
through the insect tissue begins.” John b. smith. 
N. J. Experiment Station. 
BERMUDA GRASS FOR CATTLE. 
Summer Pasture in Oklahoma. 
I would like to know how Bermuda grass compares with 
Blue grass for grazing. Could one on good heavy land 
graze a steer on Bermuda grass, feed him in Winter on 
Alfalfa, and have him fat without grain as we could in 
the North on Blue grass, in the western part of Virginia 
and Kentucky? m. a. d. 
Ponca City, Okla. 
Where it thrives there is no better Summer pasture 
grass than the Bermuda grass. In its own climate it will 
do more than Blue grass will do anywhere, for in 
hot and dry weather, when Blue grass pastures are 
burnt up, the Bennuda is in its glory, and will give 
more pasturage through an average Summer than 
Blue grass will anywhere. It will grow on poor land, 
but give it good .soil and full exposure to the sun, 
and from your section southward there is no Sum¬ 
mer pasture to equal it, and Blue grass is not in it 
at all. But it will not grow in the shade, for it is 
a sun-loving grass, and will carry cattle through the 
Summer better than Blue grass will anywhere, if the 
Summer is dry and hot. It is not a grass to intro¬ 
duce in a rotation of cultivated crops, for its per¬ 
sistent character makes it difficult to handle cotton 
and corn where it has the ground. On sandy soil it 
is not hard to eradicate it. About 20 years ago I 
broke the old Bermuda sod at Old Point Comfort, 
Va., on what was the “Contraband” camp during the 
Civil War. It was as tough a sod as I ever en¬ 
countered, but the soil was light, and with a heavy 
team I ran the plow just under the mass of running 
stems and merely turned the sod with little of the 
soil. Then, with horse rakes, the grass was almost 
entirely separated from the soil, and was hauled off 
and dumped in the salt marsh. It came off in such 
great sheets that there was little left, and the land 
was cultivated in garden crops that Summer, and it 
was no trouble to clean it out entirely. On a heavier 
soil the best plan, after getting all off in this way 
that can be got off, is to sow the land at once thickly 
with cow peas, for, as I have said, Bermuda will not 
thrive in the shade, and the peas will easily shade 
out what is left. Years ago I planned and prepared 
the grounds of the new Governor's mansion in the 
city of Raleigh. The land had a dense Bermuda sod 
on it. This was plowed off shallowly, and the soil 
prepared and sowed to peas for the Summer. These 
were plowed under in the heavy clay soil in the 
Fall and a fine sod of Blue grass was obtained. 
The best legume to associate with Bermuda is Les- 
pedeza striata, or Japan clover, as it is called. This 
l:as spread naturally all over the eastern section of 
the South, nearly up to the Potomac River. It, too, 
is a hot-weather plant, and dies with the frost, but 
where the season is long enough it reseeds the land 
and conies again. In North Carolina, Mr. French, 
who came there from a Blue grass section of Ohio, 
says that he has a far better Summer pasture than 
in the Blue grass country, largely because of the 
growth of the Lespedeza, which gives him the best 
of pasture when Blue grass is parched with drought. 
If constantly pastured it will not grow tall enough 
to injure the Bermuda. With the two in your climate 
you wi’l have a Summer pasture that Blue grass can¬ 
not equal. _ w. f. massey. 
HOMEMADE BOILER.—I note design for boil¬ 
ing vat on page 850. At Fig. 424 is a sketch of vat 
much cheaper and just as good. Anyone who can 
drive a nail can make it. It consists of one piece of 
sheet iron and two planks. The planks are two inches 
thick and as long as the vat is wanted. Round the 
lower corners of the planks a little. Nail the sheet 
iron along the bottom and up the ends, using 20- 
penny wire nails and a strip of heavy cloth between 
wood and iron. Drive the nails about two or 2 l / 2 
inches apart. Set on an arch eight to 12 inches nar¬ 
rower than the width of vat. It will stand long serv¬ 
ice. It won’t leak, and a small amount of fire will 
make the contents boil. I have made and used sev¬ 
eral. ' a. 1. LOOP. 
Last Summer we had an article on tree repairing, 
showing how large trees that have begun to rot on the 
trunk are handled. The cavity is cut out and cleaned 
like a decayed tooth, then filled with cement and cov¬ 
ered. Wealthy people often have such love for an old 
tree that they would pay $100 rather than have it de¬ 
stroyed. In some cases old apple trees rotting where 
a limb was cut are doctored up at great expense. This 
has created a new business, and expert tree doctors 
are in demand. Like every other development, it has 
also opened a great field for the tree fakers. These 
frauds claim to have some patent or secret process for 
curing a tree, and strange to say, they find plenty of 
people ready to believe their ridiculous stories—and 
give up their dollars. 
/ 
