1912 . 
THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
7W1 
Currants Losing Fruit. 
II. IF. C., Brooklyn, N. Y .—My planta¬ 
tion of Rod Cross currants, set very close¬ 
ly between peach trees, while very luxur¬ 
iant in foliage and apparently in good con¬ 
dition have dropped a very large percentage 
of the small fruits at the end of branches, 
so much so that the crop is seriously dam¬ 
aged. In the early Spring the fruit set 
very well, and I anticipated a large yield, 
but from bad weather conditions or some 
other cause the sets droped from time to 
time. These currant plants have made a 
very large and heavy growth and have far 
too many branches to develop and ripen 
fruit properly. The condition mentioned 
above was not caused by the currant worm, 
as we keep this under control by early 
spraying. Soil is rich heavy clay, well fer¬ 
tilized. 
Ans. —An explanation for the slough¬ 
ing off of the berries in the above case 
might be traced to one of several 
causes. The most probable as the in¬ 
quirer suggests, is the maintenance of 
too much branch and leaf, resulting in 
poorly developed pollen grains. Fre¬ 
quently with other fruits the potency 
of the pollen is only sufficient to pro¬ 
duce stimulation enough to cause the 
berry to appear fertilized when later 
it will slough. This is quite common 
with the grape when more canes are 
put on the wires than the vigor of the 
vine warrants. It is more noticeable 
during unfavorable weather at bloom¬ 
ing, being especially marked if warm 
dry winds prevail. Heavy nitrogenous 
fertilization is known to produce wood 
growth at the expense of fruit. It 
might be well in this case to withhold 
such fertilizers for a year or two. 
F. E. GLADWIN. 
An Orchard Proposition. 
M. B Brooklyn, N. Y .—I am thinking of 
turning an old farm into an orchard and 
would, ask you to give me returns from 
R. I. Greening, Baldwin and Ben Davis 
apples; Dorset and Bartlett pears. I 
realize that there would be a good many 
conditions which would make it hard to 
tell definitely what the results would be. 
We would assume that I would buy the 
first size or five-foot stock. 
Ans. —Approximate average yearly 
yield in bushels following the year after 
the five-foot stock has been planted: 
Apples, Rhode Island, Ben Davis, Bald¬ 
win, Greenings: pears, Dorset, Bartlett: 
First year, second year, third year, 
fourth year, fifth year, none; sixth year, 
one peck; seventh year, two pecks; 
eighth year, three pecks; ninth year, one 
peck; tenth year, excepting Ben Davis, 
one barrel; six pecks, Ben Davis. That 
is about the record in our own orchard. 
Baldwin and Greening rarely give profit¬ 
able crops before 10 years. We have cases 
where through injury to the trunk a 
special treatment like Summer pruning, 
these varieties start at six to seven 
years, but a man figuring on a business 
orchard cannot expect returns under 
nine years. The “Experts” will tell you 
another story, but this is our ex¬ 
perience. With us the pears come along 
about with Ben Davis. 
Whitewashing to Protect Peach Trees. 
Some years ago Prof. J. C. Whitten, of 
the Missouri Experiment Station, reported 
an experiment in spraying peach trees with 
whitewash during late Winter or early 
Spring. The object in giving this white 
coating was to reflect the heat and keep 
the trees dormant during late Winter and 
Spring. If this could be done of course 
blooming would be somewhat delayed, and 
thus the danger from a late frost would 
not be so great. Very little has been heard 
lately about this practice. A number of 
our readers have asked about it, and Prof. 
Whitten has made the following report: 
"Perhaps the most practical data I can 
give you is to suggest that for 10 con¬ 
secutive years we whitewashed diagonal 
rows of peach trees across the Experiment 
Station orchard just before midwinter. In 
this section we had five general peach 
crops during that 10 years on untreated 
trees; on whitewashed trees of the same 
varieties we had eight crops. The five 
crops on untreated trees were not all full 
crops; the eight crops on treated trees 
were all but two full crops. More than 
double the amount of fruit was secured in 
10 years on the whitewashed trees. The 
treated trees were anywhere from a few 
days up to 10 days later in blooming. In 
years when normal weather prevailed until 
sudden warm spells brought the trees into 
bloom hurriedly, there was only a little 
difference in time of blooming, and under 
normal conditions there was a week or 
more difference in their blooming. This is 
less important, however, than the fact that 
the whitewashed trees began their first 
starting into slight growth on sunny days 
in late Winter fully six weeks later than 
the naked trees. Almost every Winter in 
this section, dormant peach trees will en¬ 
dure any cold weather that we have. There 
was a period of six weeks during the last 
nart of the Winter and early Spring when 
The whitened trees were fully dormant after 
nnwhitened trees had begun to swell and 
grow enough to make them susceptible to 
injury from any severe cold. 
"Only a few progressive orchardists so 
far as I know arc attempting to white¬ 
wash. A few have tried it, however, and 
of those who have tried it thoroughly, most 
of them say that it pays. Now as to 
whether it would be commercially success¬ 
ful in a maritime climate like most of 
New York State. 1 am unable to say. Of 
course in this interior section we have an 
intensely bright sunlight. Purple coloring 
matter on untreated peach trees often ab¬ 
sorbs heat enough on a sunny cold day in 
Winter to raise the temperature of the 
trees 25 degrees or more above the tem¬ 
perature of the atmosphere. Whitened trees 
remain at atmospheric temperature or us¬ 
ually a degree or so below. Whether that 
great difference would be felt in the lake 
region in New York, I am unable to say. 
Again, it should not be believed that 
whitewashing is a sure preventive of Win¬ 
ter injury to the peach trees, because Win¬ 
ter weather may sometimes in peach dis¬ 
tricts he cold enough to kill even the dor¬ 
mant fruit buds. If such temperatures 
prevail, whitened buds would probably kill 
as quickly as those which are not whitened, 
because all that the whitewashing is ex¬ 
pected to accomplish is to keep the buds 
dormant.” j. c. written. 
Professor of Horticulture. 
White Grubs in Strawberries. 
This Spring I set out a patch of 500 
Strawberry plants and they were all coming 
out very nicely and growing finely until a 
few days ago. I noticed several of the 
plants wilted, and I could not account why 
they should wilt under the ideal condi¬ 
tions they have here this Spring to grow. 
1 began to investigate and upon taking 
hold of plant I lifted it right out and 
found the roots all cut off. and upon dig¬ 
ging down below the ground to ascertain 
the cause here I found a grub-worm lying 
there, seemingly to enjoy life. I have taken 
up several such plants and all had the 
grub under them. I also noticed our beans 
wilting, and upon investigating found that 
the grub-worm was there too at his work. I 
have been hoeing and cultivated the land 
with a garden plow. What can be done to 
rid me of this pest? w. h. h. 
Colfax, Iowa. 
You may be sure that white grub was 
enjoying life. The only plan we can sug¬ 
gest where the mature grubs are at work 
is hand picking or the use of bisulphide of 
carbon. You must pull up the plants when 
they show signs of trouble and kill the 
grub. Usually the plants are so far gone 
that you cannot save them. Sometimes by 
severe pruning, both root and top, and 
watering, you can make them grow. The 
bisulphide treatment was described on pages 
227 and 3G5 of this year. On a large scale 
the remedy is to kill out the grubs before 
the plants are set. This is done by thor¬ 
ough cultivation for two or three years 
after a sod. One of the best methods is to 
pasture a drove of active shotes in the fiold. 
Winter Spelt in Michigan. 
Tell us more about that Winter spelt, a 
grain said to bo seeded with Hairy vetch. 
* Mr. G. II. Redfield, of Cass Co., Mich., 
sends us the following facts: 
"I have raised ‘Winter spelt' for 18 years, 
sowing and handling same as wheat, cut¬ 
ting while quite green, thrashing and using 
the straw for fodder and grinding the grain 
with corn, fine-half by weight, for dairy 
purposes. The grain takes the place of 
bran in our ration; its protein content 
said to be 14 per cent; its yield about 35 
bushels per acre, on an average, for the 
18 years. It sometimes winter-kills on our 
soil (clay loam). I have raised 57 bushels 
from an acre. I consider it a lino feed Yw* 
both cows and horses. T have had no ex¬ 
perience whatever with Hairy vetch or any 
cover crop, and know of no one in south¬ 
western Michigan who has. Our spelt is of 
the beardless variety, very nice to handle, 
and if cut at the proper time clover catches 
very nicely in it. I will probably thrash 
800 bushels this year.” 
Giving Corn a Chance.- — I have noticed 
of late a lot of reading in The R. N.-Y. as 
well as others on how to tar corn, how to 
make scarecrows, how to set crow traps, 
and how to keep out crows in general, by 
brother farmers best ways. I have no best 
way to tell, neither do I tar corn, poison 
corn, twine fields or build scarecrows. I 
spend the time it takes to do all these 
things by using the one-horse woeder, start¬ 
ing it the third day after planting and go 
over the field once in four days until the 
corn is big enough to use the cultivator, 
then keep that going. In case of a rain I 
start the machine the next morning and 
do not give the sun a chance to dry out 
the field. I have tried this for eight years 
and have not had any corn pulled by crows, 
while they would be quite busy in the field 
over the fence. Crows as a rule do not like 
new worked ground. Farmers may think 
it some work to keep the weeder going, but 
do they stop to think that corn is all hoed 
when it comes up? e. c. h. 
Connecticut. 
Ringing the Crows.—I note quite fre¬ 
quently that many farmers have much 
trouble with crows pulling corn. 1 used to 
be troubled with them, and having tried 
several ways to keep them off the. cornfield, 
one of which was a shotgun, inasmuch as 
I am averse to killing any kind of birds, 
I then thought I would try to scare them 
which I successfully do whenever I use 
the method. It is simple and easily fixed 
at small cost. I used to teach district 
school, and in rural sections the children 
get (piite a way from the “house of learn¬ 
ing.” therefore to overcome that I furnished 
my own call bell and got an extra good 
one for .$1.25, shrill and penetrating; can 
hear it a quarter of a mile. I take this 
bell and attach it to a cross piece between 
two light posts set about two feet apart 
and in nearly the middle of field, then 
pass strong twine through screw eyes put 
on stakes at intervals of a rod or so. carry¬ 
ing the twine very close to house, and then 
give it a few rings as often as any mem¬ 
ber of family passes by it. It is most 
necessary early in the morning, as the 
crow is "up with the lark” you know. I 
Jfcive used this tor three years with better 
success than anything I ever tried. Would 
advise its trial, but don’t think that a cow 
bell will do. for it needs a shrill sound' to 
scare. I usually place a sort of dummy 
close to bell so crows can see as well as 
hear. h. f. s. 
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| ■■ gk 99 hills Prairie Dogs, 
m m “ ™Woodchucks, Gophers, 
and Grain Insects. 
“The wheels of the gods 
grind slow but exceed¬ 
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S with “Fuma Carbon Bisulphide are doing. 
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I 
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