342 
THE KURAb NEW-YORKEH 
March 8, 
JERSEY SWEET POTATO QUESTIONS. 
II. E. 8., Egg Harbor, N. J. —1. I have 
cleared the semi-grown-over land on ray 
farm and had the thick sod turned under 
last Fall, and will allow it to lie on 
edge all Winter. In the Spring I intend 
to disk the same and follow immediately 
with an Acme harrow. At first I had de¬ 
cided to plow it in Fall as I have done, al¬ 
low the ground to lie in the exposed con¬ 
dition over Winter, harrow with an Acme 
in Spring, then plow again and harrow 
again thoroughly with the Acme. Which 
way would you consider best and why? 
Ans. —If intended for sweet potatoes 
I would leave that field with one plow¬ 
ing. Would disk it thoroughly and fol¬ 
low with the Acme to smooth and level 
it. If plowed again this Spring it would 
be little more than chunks of sod, and 
they would make it almost impossible 
to do a satisfactory job at ridging for 
sweets or in cultivating them afterward. 
For tomatoes or similar crop a second 
plowing might be beneficial. 
2. Do you think my soil too heavy for 
sweet potatoes according to description of 
soil heretofore given. 
From your description I think sweet 
potatoes would do fairly well on your 
soil, but I would rather plant next year 
after the sod has been broken up by 
corn, melons or some other crop. 
Sweets are inclined to run to vines and 
set stringy, rooty tubers if planted on 
sod. This is not always true; there are 
exceptional cases, and yours may be 
one, but as a rule it works out as 
stated. 
3. I was thinking of applying lime to 
the land for sweet potatoes. If lump lime 
was put on piles in the field in March and 
allowed it to slake by the action of the 
weather and then spread and harrowed 
iu, would it be injurious to the young 
potato plants? 
Our experience has been that lime is 
a decided benefit to the sweet potato. 
It helps the crop, seems to give the 
tubers a cleaner, brighter golden color, 
and we think it helps somewhat in pre¬ 
venting stem-rot. As for its being in¬ 
jurious, will say a few years ago we 
slaked three or four large piles of lump 
line, containing a wagonload each, in 
as many different parts of a field in¬ 
tended for sweets. This was done in 
early March. The lime was spread over 
the plowed field and harrowed in with 
an Acme. Later, in early May, this field 
was ridged and set in sweets, and the 
young plants lived as well in the spots 
where lime piles had been as elsewhere 
and in the Fall we got our best potatoes 
from those spots. On the lighter soils 
I would not apply more than one-half 
ton of the lump lime to the acre. Hy¬ 
drated lime is easier to spread and 
handle than lump lime, and can be more 
easily distributed, but we prefer the 
lump lime, chiefly because it is more 
economical. Hydrated lime is slaked 
lime, and when buying it we are paying 
for a lot of water, and that can be 
secured cheaper from a well or ditch 
than from a lime manufacturer. In 
order to get the same amount of actual 
lime it would take approximately 1,300 
pounds of hydrated lime to equal 1,000 
pounds of lump lime. I think the ques¬ 
tion of injury to the plants by using 
the two kinds of lime can be eliminated. 
TRUCKER, JR. 
Brown-tail Moth, Borers and Apple Scab. 
L. ir. 8., Springfield, Mass .—In my apple 
orchards in Maine I am seriously troubled 
with three pests. 1. The Brown-tail moth. I 
pick the nests in Winter thoroughly, but 
the surrounding shrubs and sprout lands 
are also infested, and my trees suffer badly. 
Can you suggest any other method, any 
spray that is effectual and at same time 
harmless to the tree and fruit, and the time 
of such spraying? 2. Borers in the lower 
trunk of the trees. We dig them out re¬ 
peatedly and constantly, but is there no 
treatment that will prevent them? 3. 
Apple scab came on unexpectedly last sea¬ 
son to my Snow and Greening. What is 
the best spray for that and time for appli¬ 
cation? Can it be combined with any other 
spraying successfully? 
Ans. —As the young of the Brown- 
tail moths destroy the foliage of trees, 
both in the Spring when they emerge 
from their Winter quarters and in the 
Fall before they make their Winter 
nests, I am not quite certain which 
time the writer refers to, yet in either 
case the remedy is a strong solution of 
arsenate of lead sprayed upon the foli¬ 
age of the trees. If it is the Fall pe¬ 
riod the moth eggs probably hatch the 
latter part of August in Maine, and the 
trees should be sprayed as soon as the 
young caterpillars appear, which can be 
easily determined, as the egg clusters 
can be easily seen on the leaves of the 
trees. If this spraying is well done 
there should be few nests to pick the 
following Spring, but it would be use¬ 
less to spray after they had made and 
entered their Winter nests. The arse¬ 
nate of lead will not injure the foliagq 
of the trees, but where the trees are 
loaded with fruit there is quite a possi¬ 
bility that some of the poison would 
adhere to the Winter fruit, and without 
doubt on Fall apples, and care should 
be used in such work. If the writer 
refers to the caterpillars which have 
destroyed the foliage on the nearby 
shrubbery in early Spring and then at¬ 
tack his apple trees, then spray with 
arsenate of lead, 10 to 12 pounds to 50 
gallons of water. There will be no 
danger to fruit or foliage with such 
application, and if the right time was 
chosen might do for the Codling moth 
as well. This is a matter which L. W. 
S. must decide to fit his own conditions. 
2. I have found no better way than 
digging the young borers out. Yet I 
sold an orchard last Spring and the 
new owner made an application of coal 
tar at base of trees to keep them out. 
It is too early to know the success of 
the operation yet. 
3. The Snow apple (Fameusc) is 
very subject to scab, and I have seen 
the Greening badly affected in unfavora¬ 
ble conditions. I believe such varieties 
should be grown with open heads and 
the fruit given as much sunlight as pos¬ 
sible. If the writer does not need to 
spray for scale, use an application of 
dilute lime-sulphur just before the blos¬ 
som buds open, and again soon after the 
petals fall, then one or more applica¬ 
tions two to four weeks apart, accord¬ 
ing to weather conditions, and possibly 
an application for the Snow in July if 
weather conditions are favorable for 
fungus diseases. The first spraying 
could be omitted if lime-sulphur was 
used for scale. h. o. m. 
Barren Plum and Cherry Trees. 
II. L. II., Augusta, Me .—Can you inform 
me how to make plum trees bear? I have 
a Burbank plum tree that is about 15 
years old, and is about eight inches in 
diameter and has never borne a plum. It 
blossoms full every year, and is near the 
building, so the frost does not strike it. 
I have a dozen more that are not quite so 
large that bear some and I also have 
some Blacklieart cherry trees that have 
been set about 15 years and 30 or 40 feet 
high, and have had the top cut off several 
times, and they blossom full every year 
but bear only a very few cherries. If you 
Can tell me anything that will make them 
bear I will be glad to try it. 
Ans. —Some of the Japan plums are 
quite self-sterile, but so far I have not 
noticed or heard of this fftult with the 
Burbank. The climate might be unsuit¬ 
able. If some other variety of the same 
class was grafted or budded on a 
branch or two of this tree well towards 
the top it might cause it to be fruitful. 
The kind selected should be one that 
blooms at the same time with the Bur¬ 
bank, and I would suggest the Wickson 
or Chabot. Why the Blacklieart cherry 
trees do not bear is past my understand¬ 
ing, unless it be that there is a fungus 
disease that kills the young fruit in 
the bloom or soon after it sets. I would 
suggest spraying with self-boiled lime- 
sulphur or Bordeaux mixture just at that 
time, and notice the result. And it 
might be the need of cross-pollination, 
but this is not common with that class 
of cherries. H. e. van deman. 
Barren Apricots. 
J. ir. H., Corterville, Mo .—I have some 
apricot trees that have borne scarcely any 
fruit, but bloom every year and are very 
thrifty. Is there any way to treat them 
so they will bear fruit? 
Ans. —The troubles with apricot trees 
in all of the States east of the Rocky 
Mountains are two—early blooming that 
often causes the late frosts to kill them 
and the curculio stings the young fruit 
when set. Between these two troubles 
it is seldom that many apricots are al¬ 
lowed to come to maturity, except west 
of the mountains, where there is al¬ 
most no danger of spring frosts and 
where there is no curculio. Jarring the 
trees often and alarming the curculios 
and catching them on sheets and de¬ 
stroying them is done to some extent 
and helps to protect the fruit. The 
frosts can be kept off in many cases 
by burning fire pots that are used as 
orchard protectors. Any fire will be 
serviceable that will keep the tempera¬ 
ture above the freezing point in times 
of danger. H. e. van deman. 
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Ohio. 
700,000 Fresh Dug Trees 10c Each 
Apple, Pear, Plum, Cherry, Peach and Quince. Genesee 
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F. W. WELLS, WHOLESALE NURSERIES, ITreeacres Road, Dansville, N T. 
122 GRAPEVINES 
69 Varieties. Also Small Fruits, Trees, eto. Best Hooted 
Stock. Genuino, cheap. 2 sample vinos mailod for 10c. Dose, 
price-list froo. LEWIS K0ESC11 & 80N, Box K, Frodonla, N. Y. 
STAYMAN’S WINESAPnKIT, 
GRIMES 
GOLDEN and YORK 
IMPERIAL only. Choice one-year trees at less than 
wholesale prioes. Tunnel Hill Faum, Kifer, Md. 
© 
TREES,PLANTSandVINES. 
Beet Money Values. Catalog free. 
SPRING HILL NURSERIES. 
Box 48 Tippecanoe City, Ohio 
< 3 . 
anrl a11 kin<Js ' by the mil- 
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at wholesale prices. APPLE and PEACH trees 5c. PEAR & 
CHERRY lllc., ASPARAGUS 93 porM.. PRIVET HEDGING $10 
per M. THE WESTMINSTER N0RSERY. Westminster, Md. 
M ILLIONS OF ASPARAGUS ROOTS, Blackberry and Straw 
berry plants, Sweet Potato seed and plants, vegeta 
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VFRY flHftirF King, Cuthbert, Kansas and 
VL,l\i uiiviol Gregg Raspberry plants, $7.00 
per 1.000. Lucretia Dewberries, $6.00 per 1,000. 
CHERRY HILL FRUIT FARM, Toboso, Licking County, Ohio 
POTATOES—Beauty, Bilan, Cobbler, Hebron.Giant,Huatler, Ohio, 
Norther,Star,Boee, Raleigh, srikimla. C. W. Ford, Fisliem, N. V. 
CTKAWBEItKY PLANTS- Reliable money 
0 making varieties. Only $1.50, $1.75& $1.98 per'1000 
Illustrated catalog free. S. A. VIRDIN, Hartly, Del. 
- Large biennial cultivated variety 
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SWEET for D ..„,, ..... 
PI nUFR and circular how to grow it, on request. 
VLUVtn E BARTON, Box 29 , Falmouth, Ky. 
Red 
Raspberries Kin 
H. 
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R0SSMAN, 
$4.25 per 1,000 
Vermilion, 0 
COR SAUK—1>»nisli Hnll-H.ad CAlllJAGJE 
■ SKKI>, Gape Elizabeth (Maine) grown. For 
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B I G 
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I. L. WARE, ... Gardiner, Maine 
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^ FRUIT TREES 222 
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PLANTS 
From strong, carefully selected strawberry, black¬ 
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