lull. 
THE R.U RAb NEW-YORKER 
1163 
Whiting, the Tree Agent. 
C. A. »S'., Ransomville. X. Y .—I would like 
to know something about II. M. Whiting 
Nursery Co. This man has taken a lot of 
orders for fruit trees in this section. He 
sells an imported Japan plum of six varie¬ 
ties, and his price is 80 cents each, and he 
claims this plum will grow so fast that the 
sting of the curculio will not hurt the fruit, 
but will grow over the injury. Is this firm 
a fake or is he all right? He goes around 
in an automobile and has sold fruit trees 
that would amount to up in the hundreds 
of dollars in this section. 
Ans. —For several years we have paid 
our respects to H. M. Whiting. He is 
what you might call a rare bird, even 
among expert tree agents. We regard 
him as one of the three best dealers in 
pure, unadulterated “guff” that have yet 
made themselves known. He could hold 
black cloth in his hand and induce a 
farmer to say it was white. To be fair 
to Mr. Whiting, we will say that re¬ 
ports are that he delivers trees of good 
size and shape. He charges from three 
to five times as much for his trees as 
reputable mail order houses. We have 
taken some of bis orders and submitted 
them to half a dozen houses. The prices 
quoted were one-third or less of what 
Whiting demanded. His 80-cent fast 
growing plum certainly is a “plum,” and 
this is a fair sample of his guff. Prices 
for good plum trees this season run live 
to eight cents to the grower and $20 to 
$25 per thousand to the wholesaler. Two 
years ago Whiting worked Orleans Co., 
N. Y. Men who bought his trees claimed 
that he misrepresented and refused to 
accept or pay. They organized, hired a 
lawyer and made, a fight. Our informa¬ 
tion is that while a few were bluffed 
into paying the majority held out. We 
regard Whiting as a type of the tree 
agent who should be let alone. Such 
agents discredit a good business by their 
big stories and extravagant prices, and 
reputable nurserymen who want to do a 
fair trade must sooner or later pay the 
penalty. Perhaps Whiting would like to 
put up that argument to prove that our 
readers can get the best bargain in trees 
from him! 
Keeping Celery in Winter. 
There arc several essentials that must 
be understood and kept in mind when oue 
wishes to store celery for Winter use. 
First, it must be a Winter variety; sec¬ 
ond, it must be mature; third, it must be 
preen (not blanched), when it is packed 
away; fourth, it must lie drv. With any 
one of these essentials lacking the chances 
are against its keeping any length of time, 
observing them all, take up the celery 
carefully, when the tops are falrlv dry, 
leaving a portion of the dirt adhering to 
the roots. . Have a trench dug in a well- 
ilrained soil, where there is no danger of 
water entering from either top or bottom, 
and a sufficient depth to stand the celerv 
upright and have three or four inches still 
on top between the celery tops and the 
cover. This trench should lie about 14 
inches in width. A good plan is to drive 
a few stakes along each edge of tiie trench 
and nail a 10-inch hoard along each edge 
of the trench, banking the dirt, that comes 
from the inside of the trench, against the 
outside of these boards, making it smooth 
and of even slope, to carry away water 
of heavy rains. To allow celery to become 
very wet should the weather he at all 
moderate, is almost sure to cause rot. Now, 
having the trench completed, begin at one 
end of the trench. Let one man get down 
in the bottom of the trench and place the 
celery in the trench in rows crosswise, thor¬ 
oughly covering the roots and pressing the 
foil down good and firm with each row, as 
placed in the trench. Tills can be con¬ 
tinued almost any length, hut if longer 
than 50 or (!0 feet ventilators should be 
placed in the cover for each additional 50 
feet. When all is completed, nail some 
boards together A-shaped, place over the 
Irench as a cover, leaving both ends open 
for circulation. These should lie left open, 
jlso tiie ventilators, until danger of freez¬ 
ing occurs, when a light covering of straw 
»r marsh hay should he placed over the 
whole trench, ends included, just sufficient 
to prevent freezing. This covering should 
be added to, only so fast as the weather 
prows colder. If celery, once placed in a 
trench, is allowed to get excessively wet or 
loo warm, rot is sure to occur. 
There is a mistaken idea held by many 
that placing green celery in a trench causes 
file green stalks that are already grown, 
to blanch or turn white. They' do not. 
The plant packed in that damp soil con¬ 
tinues to grow and absorbs the strength 
from the old green stalks, and they wither 
md dry up, and a new growth is made in 
renter of plant. Once the blanching process 
is gone through with and completed the 
keeping qualities of celery are done, and 
it must be used or marketed at once. 
The colder it is kept from the beginning the 
linger it will be in blanching. 
C. C. HULSART. 
Spring Crop to Plow Under. 
Can you tell me if buckwheat, rye or 
retch can lie sown early enough in the 
Spring to plow under and sow to oats and 
>eas for fodder, and could I then seed to 
Alsike and Timothy? k. w. m 
Homer, N. Y. 
No, you cannot expect to sow anything 
in early Spring that can be plowed under 
in time for seeding oats and peas. The rye 
and vetch should have been seeded this 
Fall. Then the crop could have been 
plowed under. We would sow oats and 
p?as as early as the soil is fit, and use the 
cbver and grass-seed at the same time. 
Building that Cistern. 
Do you think If. L. D., page 1112. could 
build a cistern strong enough of one layer 
of brick, 10 feet across, and 10 feet deep, 
that would stand the pressure, without 
bursting, of 180 barrels of water that it 
would hold? If II. L. I). wants a cistern 
that will hold about 200 gallons, one four 
feet across and 3% feet high will hold it. 
For the sake of comparing the space 200 
gallons would take up in a cistern 10 feet 
across and 10 feet high, draw a circle 10 
feet across on the floor. Now we know a 
barrel of molasses holds 50 gallons or more, 
and just stand four of those barrels in¬ 
side the circle and you will see a mis¬ 
take in tiie amount it will hold was given. 
By squaring the 10-foot circle we have the 
same as 78 M> square foot, leaving off the 
fraction, so a cistern eight feet and about 
10 inches square will hold just about the 
same as a round one 10 feet across. A 
square gallon can is five inches square and 
a trifle over nine inches high; eight foot 10 
inches equal 100 inches, so it would take 
21 cans for one row, and 21 rows equals 
441 gallons on the bottom tier; 12 tiers 
shows about tiie amount tiie cistern would 
hold, hut it does not seem to me the cis¬ 
tern would stand the pressure. 
Delaware Co., N. Y. e. e. rtebbins. 
It. N.-Y.—Several readers have called at¬ 
tention to an error in these figures. The 
cistern would hold about 200 barrels rather 
than gallons, as printed. 
Canadian Plowing Matches. —Consul 
Se.vfcrt of Owen Sound has reported a 
groat plowing match which ranks in inter¬ 
est with a baseball game: “On November 
1. near the town of Markham, in York 
County, 2,000 people turned out to wit¬ 
ness the county contest, and 63 plow teams 
competed in what it is alleged the biggest 
and most interesting plowing contests ever 
held in Canada. The weather conditions 
were ideal for the groat competition. In 
plowing sod 34 teams competed and in 
stubble land 20. In tiie sod contest there 
was a time limit of five hours to complete 
tiie area allotted to each team. The re¬ 
markable result when the time was up was 
the fact that the first prize was awarded to 
a farmer who is 87 years old and has 
been following tiie plow for 57 years. This 
aged farmer, according to the judges, out¬ 
classed every other competitor for tiie best 
work in the contest.” 
Law for tiie American Farmer; by 
John B. Green, member of the New York 
Bar; 438 pages, copious index; published 
by tiie Macmillan Co. Many inquires have 
been made for an up-to-date moderate priced 
book, covering tiie essential parts of law 
as it pertains to the farm. This book 
fills the want in a comprehensive manner, 
and ought to lie in every farm library. 
Some of the subjects discussed are : Titles, 
boundaries, easements, farm laborers, 
water rights, contracts, pure food regu¬ 
lations, laws about live stock, dogs, com¬ 
mon carriers, warranty, insurance. For 
sale by The Rural New-Yorker, price 
$1.50 net. 
The Farm and Garden Rule Book, by L. 
IT. Bailey. Tiie old “Horticulturist’s Rule 
Book,” by tiie same author, lias long been a 
helpful compendium of useful knowledge to 
gardeners, florists and truckers. It is super¬ 
seded. however, by this new volume of 587 
pages, which contains a really amazing 
amount of information, rendered easily ac¬ 
cessible by a copious index. Storage and 
keeping of crops, grades of grain, size of 
fruit packages, tiie abatement of posts and 
nuisances, plant diseases, injurious insects, 
live stock rules and records, poultry treat¬ 
ment, milk tests, dairy scores, animal para¬ 
sites, feeding stuffs and rations, fertilizers 
and _ manures, planting tallies, greenhouse 
heating and a host of other subjects are 
treated briefly and in condensed form. Con¬ 
struction, farm engineering, tile drainage, 
etc., are included, and there are numbers 
of those useful tables and formulas that 
we are all likely to need, yet seldom keep 
on hand. The hook shows great industry 
and research, and will certainly lie of great 
value to farmers and gardeners of all class- 
es. Published by the Macmillan Company, 
New York; price, postpaid, $2.20, 
A\ hex you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply and a 
“square deal.” Sec guarantee editorial page. 
Get the big prices on 
the^early market 
r The two layers of glass let 
your plants have all the light 
all the time. 
iThis causes them to mature cariiei— 
[become hardier—sturdier. When the 
plants grown under single glass sash 
(that must be covered) are still 
W’-i ' small and weak, your plants under 
Sunlight Sash will be ready for the field. 
The resulting crops will get the big 
v prices. 
ear,y Sprint; Plants. Get some Sunlight 
i.iints rtr h F° lir cal>b 'iKe. cauliflower, tomato and other 
I l ints, etc., ready to set out as soon as the weather permits. 
o-her i/? r i th if Se 0p -e Is our free catalog; the 
other is a book on hot-beds and cold-frames by Professor 
Massey. It is authoritative and of 
i vital interest to all growers, florists 
and gardeners. 4 c in .stamps will 
bring Professor Massey’s book la 
addition to the catalog. 
Sunlight Double 
Glass Sash Co. 
824 E. Broadway, Louisville, Ky. 
.J Frame* 
dhot-B«fa 
Build Your 
Walering Troughs of Concrete 
All thrifty farmers are building their watering troughs of concrete. There 
is a reason. Concrete does not rot, leak or rust. Once built of concrete your 
trough, will last indefinitely, and there will be no upkeep cost. The same 
qualities make it the perfect material for feed troughs, fence posts, silos and 
farm building work in general. In concrete construction the most important 
thing to consider is the cement. Be sure to use the right brand—you are 
safe if you choose 
T rmrilPO RT-L7L N D 
LLnlWlCEMENT 
It has been on the market for 14 years, and its quality is therefore 
unquestioned. If you use Lehigh you may be sure of a cement that has all the 
qualifications for making the strongest and best concrete. 
It is most important that your sand and gravel 
are right before you start your work. Write us todaj 
for our book. The Modern Farmer, which tells how 
to test your sand to see ifit is clean and your gravel 
to see ifit is free from impurities. It is sent free on 
request. 
LEHIGH PORTLAND CEMENT 
COMPANY 
(11 Mills—11,000,000 bbls. yearly capacity) 
Dept. A, Allentown, Pa. 
For Orchard and Farm. 
All genuine “Cutaways” aro intense cultivators and 
will increase your crops 25 to 50 percent. Our Double 
Action "Cutaway” Harrow is a wonderful invention 
—can be used in Held or orchard. Perfect center 
draft. Drawn by two medium horses will movo the 
earth twice on every trip. Wo can prove it. 
“Intensive Cultivation,” our new catalogue is Free 
Send for it today. , 
CUTAWAY HARROW C0. f 839 Main St., Higganmn, Conn. 
Rapid 
Transit 
for the 
Farmer 
VLOW traveling eats up time. 
"I ime is money. 
. Why Pot make your trips to town, to mill, to creamery—anywhere 
—in one-third the time, with an International Auto Wagon—as many 
other farmers are doing? 
The simplicity of the International makes it easy to operate. Its 
economy makes it inexpensive to keep. Its strength and durability 
make it a permanent investment. The 
International Auto Wagon 
is always ready, winter and summer, 24 hours a day if necessary. 
Roads, hills, sand, or weather do not stall it—it never tires. 
The wheels are sufficiently high to give ample road clearance. The 
solid rubber tires eliminate tire troubles and expense. There are no de¬ 
lays and no expense on account of punctures and blow-outs. The 
“^air-cooled engine does notfreeze in winter. An International auto 
yvagon will give more service for the amount 
’ invested than can be secured in any other way. 
, Whenever desired, it can be converted into a 
pleasure vehicle by adding an extraseatandtop. 
There are many International auto wagons 
in the hands of farmers all over the country. 
The IH C local dealer will be glad to tell you 
all the facts, or, if you prefer, write us for 
i catalogue and full information. 
^International Harvester Company of America 
f (Incorporated) 
101 HarvesterBUg., Chicago USA 
1 HC Service 
Bureau 
The purpose of 
this bureau is to 
furnish farmers 
with information 
on better farm¬ 
ing. If you have 
any worthy ques¬ 
tions concerning 
soils.crops,pests 
fertilizers, etc., 
■write to the IHC 
Bureau and learn 
what our experts 
and others have 
found out con¬ 
cerning these 
subjects. 
