640 
the; rural, nkw-yorker 
WINTER INJURY TO TREES. 
I have seen a few notes in your paper 
regarding the injuries from the severe 
Winter to peach buds and some other 
fruit trees, but have seen no indication 
of the very profound Winter injury 
which we have had in parts of Maryland 
near Washington, D. C. The official 
thermometer here registered a tempera¬ 
ture of 26 below zero on January 14, 
and various other thermometers showed 
temperatures of 25 to 28 below. I feel 
sure that in a few weeks, after the 
vegetation has had a chance to develop, 
there will be a considerable outcry on 
account of the injuries which are not 
now apparent. Fortunately, roots of 
trees and shrubs and low herbs, etc., 
were protected by four to six inches of 
snow, but many shrubs, usually perfect¬ 
ly hardy here, have been killed to the 
snow line. Many miles of California 
privet hedges are dead to within six 
inches of the ground. The wood of 
many peach trees, of course, is killed, 
and no doubt there will be some loss of 
trees from this cause unless they are 
carefully managed and cut back. Apple 
varieties vary greatly in the amount of 
injury to the wood. In several varieties 
the wood has turned black or brown 
even on large branches, while others are 
perfectly green. The flower and leaf 
buds show very little injury. 
No doubt the most serious injury is 
to the California privet hedges, which 
are planted everywhere. Perhaps resi¬ 
dents in New York or other Northern 
States where Winter injury to Cali¬ 
fornia privet hedges is more conynon, 
could tell us whether it is better to cut 
back the hedges before they start or 
afterward, and whether they will prob¬ 
ably sprout up and do as well as before. 
The branches near the ground which 
were covered by the snow are already 
showing green leaves a half inch long. 
This season will give us unquestionable 
opportunity to test the theory that 
chestnut blight is due to Winter in¬ 
juries, as there has probably not been 
such severe cold for many years. How¬ 
ever, I have examined quite a number 
of wild trees and shrubs, and have yet 
seen no evidence of injury except on 
cultivated plants. J. b. s. Norton. 
College Park, Md. 
Lime-Sulphur on Fruit; Top-Grafting. 
1. I sprayed my peaches last Summer 
with the self-boiled lime-sulphur mixture, 
principally to prevent the brown rot. which 
is always very bad, sometimes taking nearly 
the whole crop. I had fine success. I had 
less rot than I ever saw before, but the 
lime and sulphur made an awful mess of 
the peaches; every peach had to be wiped 
off and then it was impossible to get it all 
off. Heavy rains made no difference to it. 
I would like to know how this trouble can 
be avoided in using the self-boiled lime- 
sulphur for this purpose. I)o you allow it 
to settle and use the clear liquid? I kept 
it stirred up and of course on the trees 
and fruit it looked like whitewash. On 
plums and cherries with a smooth skin it 
comes off easily enough, but not so on 
peaches. 2. In putting grafts on the top 
of another tree, do you tie the grafts on, 
or do you simply cover them with grafting 
wax and let them go at that? d. s. 
La Salle, Ill. 
1. The trouble in this case would seem, 
to have been from one of two reasons, 
either too much boiling, or too late an ap¬ 
plication. In the first place there should 
be no boiling if it can be avoided. The 
proper method of making is nearly to cover 
the lime with water, and as soon as boiling 
or slaking begins, sift the sulphur over it, 
at the same time stirring. Made in this 
way the sulphur partially smothers the 
lime, and the stirring does not allow the 
heat to become great enough in spots to 
allow boiling to take place. On early va¬ 
rieties only two applications are made 
generally; the first just as shucks are 
shedding, second about four weeks after 
blossoms have fallen, or two to three 
weeks after first application. If it seems 
advisable to make further applications, 
they should all be completed at least four 
or five weeks before gathering. In this 
way you see they should be well protected 
during the growing season, and yet there 
should be little sign of it at time of gather¬ 
ing. We have used the concentrated lime- 
sulphur one to 200 for the late applications 
with better satisfaction. 
2. Whether putting In the top or any 
other part of the tree the method would 
be the same. If they are cleft-grafted only 
waxing is; necessary. If they are to be 
whip-grafted they should be wound with 
waxed cord, or cotton yarn, which may be 
made by drawing the cord through melted 
grafting wax, and winding on sticks or in 
balls. w. H. 
Those Government Seeds. 
After bringing the mail from the box I 
sat down a few minutes to look over The 
R. N.-Y.. I turned first as usual to the 
editorial pages, and was very much inter¬ 
ested in your article on free seed distribu¬ 
tion. I hope this paper and others will 
keep after this fraud until it is done away 
with. I wonld like to relate a tale of these 
needs. Some years ago my husband and 
myself worked on a ranch in a northwest¬ 
ern State. The man we worked for, as fine 
an old gentleman as could be found any¬ 
where, was during our stay on his ranch, 
elected to the U. S. Senate. The Spring 
following his election several sacks such 
as we use for phosphate, called there gunny 
sacks, were sent to him filled with seeds for 
distribution, then later in the season sev¬ 
eral other sacks that were badly damaged 
by mice were sent to swell the collection 
to be given to the “hard-working farmer 
and his sweet wife.” These seeds were of 
all kinds, regardless of the climate or con¬ 
ditions. Up there where it frosts every 
month In the year were sent watermelon, 
muskmelon, late tomato, beans, and flower 
seeds equally as well suited to the climate. 
It was as the old saying is, “You can lead 
a horse to water but you cannot make him 
drink,” so though the Senator offered the 
seeds freely no one wanted them. They 
were in the office all Summer, and at last 
be sent them to the ranch to get them out 
of the way. One day, as I was looking 
all the waste over, I saw so many beans 
that I got a basket and picked out nearly 
a half bushel of beans in packets and took 
them to the house, and used them for baked 
beans; the rest of the seeds were never 
used. I fail to see where anyone got very 
much good from those seeds unless it was 
the mice; they certainly had an ample 
opportunity to take their choice, but imag¬ 
ine what all those seeds cost! How much 
better it would seem if Senators would use 
their Influence for parcels post, which the 
farmers want, rather than to throw money; 
away like that. I do not know personally 
a farmer or a farmer’s wife who cares 
for the seeds, or w r ho would not buy any 
seeds they want, without any help from 
Congress. mrs. James lampman. 
Ohio. 
Hens in Sprayed Orchard. 
On page 458 R. C. Lester asks for advice 
about spraying orchard where chicks run. 
I fail to see any danger, as I sprayed a 
pear orchard last Spring, using Bordeaux 
mixture first and a commercial spray 10 
days later, and had poultry of different 
ages running there at the time. In one 
case of particular note, was a tree in very 
bad condition, sprayed with the dregs from 
Bordeaux and next with the other spray, 
and only a few days later I put colony 
house full of very young chicks near that 
tree, and I put a fence about it, but my 
death rate was no greater there than in 
other places where no spray was used. I 
intend to repeat the trial this year, as I 
received $1.75 per measured bushel for 
those pears. w. j. dougax. 
New Jersey. 
As to spraying with poisons where poul¬ 
try are kept, the inquirer need have no 
hesitation about doing so. I have used 
arsenicals freely for many years in or¬ 
chards and yards where poultry, old and 
young, were kept, hut have not noticed any 
evil effect. Five gallons of spray, contain¬ 
ing at usual strength about 60 grains white 
arsenic will cover a large tree. The wide 
distribution of the material makes the 
amount that a chicken would be likely to 
eat harmless. The Bordeaux or lime-sulphur 
used would doubtless make grass distaste¬ 
ful to chickens. w. p. 
Port Chester, N. Y, 
In regard to spraying fruit trees with 
poison where chickens have free range, 
during the Summer of 1911 we had about 
three acres containing pear and cherry 
trees, fenced in as a chicken park. We 
had about 200 hens and chickens in this 
enclosure during the Summer; had two 
tree spaces across entire orchard sown 
with oats and another of rape for green 
feed for chicks. We sprayed very thor¬ 
oughly after blossoms dropped for Cod¬ 
ling worms on pears and later for second 
brood, both times using three pounds ar¬ 
senate of lead to 50 gallons of diluted 
lime-sulphur. No bad results were noticed 
on chickens. Orchard was under cultiva¬ 
tion except where oats and rape were 
growing. I think the fowls get so little of 
the lead they would not be affected. 
. Benton Harbor, Mich. a. j. m. 
Hens in Sprayed Orchard. —We sprayed 
our plum trees last season with arsenate 
of lead, four times, and never lost a hen. 
We had a fine flock of White Wyandottea 
running at large all the time these trees 
were sprayed. We did this against the 
“advice” of some neighbors. c. m. 
Michigan City, Ind. 
Immigration Laws. 
I have a sister, 55 years old, in Ger¬ 
many, who with her husband would like to 
come to this country to see me and my 
family. She is very well-to-do and can 
live on the interest of her money. I have 
been told by people that chances are as 
soon as she lands she and her husband 
might be sent back on account of their 
age. All can speak, read and write Ger¬ 
man and English and my sister speaks 
French . a. 
New Jersey. 
The immigration law is intended to keep 
out persons likely to become public charges, 
or those considered physically or morally 
undesirable. The authorities work under 
definite Government instructions, and mat¬ 
ters about which there is doubt are heard 
before an immigration board. The steam¬ 
ship companies have to return free of 
charge those not admitted, and hence are 
careful not to take passengers who may be 
barred out. We see no reason why the 
persons mentioned in the question should 
not be admitted, as they have ample means, 
and apparently no physical disability. 
That Concrete Ice House. 
That concrete ice house which I described 
last Winter is full to the top and has not 
settled yet. In carting ice I ran across an¬ 
other solid concrete house, divided in two 
rooms, on a slight north slope, but exposed 
to full sun. They had thrown out a lot 
of old ice and the foreman said some of it 
was three years old. Looks as if concrete 
works on this place. Another foreman I 
know had just put up a tile house, about 
10x20 I judge ; plastered inside on side and 
top, with ventilator holes left open. If 
you will remind me next Fall some time I 
will tell you how it kept ice. I see a lot 
about cold storage. I use the principle, 
modified by using a big wash boiler stood 
on the ice with sawdust banked around. 
We bad _peacbes until Thanksgiving, grapes 
and pears until New Years. What more 
do we need? I have a few apples yet in 
that store room by the ice. not wetted nor 
specked. It took a lantern in the zero 
weather. w. o. 
Chester, N. Y. 
Cow Peas in Nebraska. 
Having noticed that a correspondent 
from Wisconsin asks for information about 
cow peas and Soy beans I thought perhaps 
my experience might be of some benefit to 
him. I have been experimenting with cow 
peas for several years here in northern 
Nebraska, which is about on a parallel 
with southern Wisconsin, and I find that 
cow peas of the Whippoorwill variety do 
fairly well, and some years grow very 
luxuriant, but it always takes the full sea¬ 
son to mature ripe seed, and some years 
they do not bear very heavily. I raise a 
few In a lot for the benefit of the pigs, 
which I turn in some time during Septem¬ 
ber and let them harvest the crop. I also 
raise rape for the same purpose. I have 
been raising these crops only on a small 
scale as an experiment and because I know 
they are good to supplement the Alfalfa 
pasture, which I think needs a rest in the 
Fall. However, I do not think there is 
anything that can beat an Alfalfa hog 
pasture for this section of the country If 
properly managed. The first year I raised 
cow peas the pigs would not eat them be¬ 
cause they had not learned to like them, 
but since then have had no trouble. I find 
that mature hogs that have not learned to 
eat Alfalfa when they are pigs treat Al¬ 
falfa the same way, while those that have 
been raised on Alfalfa will consume a 
surprising quantity of it. Soy beans did 
not mature here, so I did not try them 
again. a. o. s. 
Wayne, Neb. 
An Apple Storage House.—I wish to 
erect a sort of cold storage or a place to 
keep apples, room enough to keep 1.000 
bushels. I have a hill running northeast 
and southwest, and I thought of digging 
into side hill and use cement blocks. How 
large should it be, how ventilated, and how 
arranged inside? f. m. h. 
Sod us, Mich. 
Peach Yellows.—I had supposed that 
everyone who grows peaches was familiar 
with yellows, and yet because of something 
that occurred the other day I feel like 
saying a word about this common disease. 
A man asked me recently if they often 
worked two kinds of peach on one stock. 
He said he had some that appeared to be 
all one kind, but part of some trees would 
ripen two or three weeks earlier than the 
rest of the tree. Now, that is quite sure 
to be our old enemy, the yellows, and wher¬ 
ever a tree showed markedly premature 
ripening of part of the fruit (because of 
the nature of the disease) the only safo 
thing is to destroy by burning, root and 
branch. wm. hotaling. 
New York. 
April 27, 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you'll get a quick reply and a 
“square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
EVERBEARING 
STRAWBERRY 
LARGEST in the WORLD 
Bears the first season. 
Continuous June to No¬ 
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crimson. Even through¬ 
out. No green tips. Com¬ 
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and wild strawberry. 
Circular Free. 
H. F. DEW, Albion, Mich. 
S URPLUS STRAWBERRY PLAWTS-Guaranteed true to 
name—at $1.75 per thousand. Descriptive Cata¬ 
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^tmtifharcv Dlontc Over forty Varieties, at 
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MARSHALL STRAWBERRY PLANTS- 
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SURPLUS FRUIT PLANTS 
Miller Red Rasp., fine plants, at $3.50 per M. 
Cumberland Black Rasp., $6; Mersereau and 
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but owing to backward season are surplus. 
C. E. WHITTEN, Nurseries, BRIDGMAN, MICHIGAN 
Coin Cow Peas, $2.00 to $2,50 bushel 
"Ur uafc Crimson Clover Seed, $6.00 to 
$7,00 bushel; Red Clover Seed, $12.00 bushel 
JOSEPH E. HOLLAND_ Milford, Delaware 
S EEU P0TATUES —Standard varieties, true to name 
from 12 years’ selection. Strawberry plants,20 va 
rieties. Send for prices. Homer B.Howe, 'Vellshoro, Pa 
S IR WALTER RALEIGH PUTATUES-Clean seed from good 
crop. References given. Geo. U. Sprague, Uvid, N.Y. 
INCREASE your profits by planting potatoes bred up by 
hill selection. Circular free. E. B. FOLLETT, Hale, Mich. 
C ABIUGF„ LETTUCE, BEETS—Fine plants, *1.00 per 1,00* 
Cauliflower, $2.60 per 1,000. Sweet Potafocn, Peppers, Toma 
toes, Celery; best kinds. Semi for list. J. C. Schmidt, Bristol, Pa 
Ask yonr dealer for a 
Fenn Post-Hole Auger 
you can return it and get your money back 
if it does not pay for itself over any other 
post-hole tool in any soil, but do not bring 
it back with the varnish on. 
Booklet on request. 
THE FENN MANUFACTURING CO. 
CHARLOTTE, Mich. 
BUSH and BOG PLOW-^ 
Clark’s Reversible Busk and 
Bog Plow is just the tool 
to subdue baked soil, 
bogs or newly cleared 
forests or stump land. 
Cuts a track 5 ft.wide, 
9 in. deep. Has eight 
24-inch cutlery steel 
disks. Turns the 
earth to or from 
stumps. Will kill any 
bnsk or plant that grows and leave land true 
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CUTAWAY HARROW CO., 
839 Main St., _ Illgganum, Conn. 
SURPLUS STRAWBERRY PLANTS 
20.000 Blaine. 50,000 Gandy, 50,000 C. Cluster, 25,000 B 
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name ;ind all fresli dug. Also send for my free cata¬ 
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DAVID RODWAY, - Hartly, Del. 
Strawberry Plants 
Thirty-nine of the earliest, latest, largest, most produc¬ 
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