1913. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
636 
Ruralisms 
Propagating Poplar and Barberry. 
I). /?., Chappaqua, N. Y. —1. How can I 
propagate the Carolina poplar? 2. Can 1 
propagate Berberis Thunbergii from seed? 
If so, how? 
Ans. —1. The usual way of propagat¬ 
ing poplars is by cuttings of ripe wood 
taken in Spring or Fall or by suckers, 
but seeds may be used. They should 
bo sown in light soil as soon as ripe, 
and raked in. 2. The Japan barberry 
(Thunbergii) can be grown from seed 
sown soon after ripe, or stratified over 
YVinter and sown in the Spring. It is 
also increased by cuttings and layers; 
the latter usually take two years to 
root, layering in the Fall, but this is an 
easy and simple method of propagation. 
Delicious Apple. 
II. L., Worcester, Mass .—Could you give 
us the pedigree and full history of the 
rightly named “Delicious” apple? Also tell 
us if it will succeed in Worcester County. 
I do not find it in “The Apples of New 
York.” 
Ans. —The delicious apple originated 
in the orchard of Jesse Hiatt, of Peru, 
Iowa, about 1881, as a sprout from a 
seedling stock on which a Yellow Bell¬ 
flower had been grafted and died. That 
it will succeed anywhere in Massachu¬ 
setts and wherever ordinary apples do, 
there is no doubt. It has been grown in 
New England and all over the upper re¬ 
gions of the country, and is well worthy 
of being planted. The tree is hardy and 
productive, the fruit of fine flavor and 
keeps into the Winter months. 
H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
Asparagus on Limed Soil. 
L. J. R,, Union, N. Y .—Can you tell me 
whether asparagus would do well iu a 
Held that has been heavily limed? I put 
on two tons of marl and eight tons of 
tannery lime (dried) ; had large crop of 
Alfalfa for two years and then the crowns 
split and rotted, caused I think by drag¬ 
ging with a spring-tooth harrow. Last 
year I had corn on the piece. Do you 
think it would be safe to set asparagus 
a year from this Spring? 
Ans.— Lime greatly helps asparagus; 
one ton to the acre is generally applied. 
I should surely set asparagus on this 
land, especially after corn. The decay¬ 
ing Alfalfa roots and also those of the 
corn are greedily taken up by the as¬ 
paragus plants and give them a good 
start. I should not worry about the ex¬ 
cess of lime as it was used two years 
ago. C. W. PRESCOTT. 
Massachusetts. 
Axle Grease on Apple Trees. 
J. a., Romney, IF. Va .—We have coated 
a large number of our young apple trees 
with axle grease to keep the rabbits from 
barking 1 them. Some authorities are now 
advising that this will injure or kill the 
trees. What do you think? 
Ans. —There are differences in axle 
grease and it may be that some of 
them are injurious to the bark of trees, 
but I have never heard of any such 
bad results. When in Kansas I safely 
used the old make of axle grease on 
my apple trees to keep rabbits from 
gnawing them, and some of the neigh¬ 
bors did likewise. But the recent pre¬ 
parations are mostly from the residue 
of petroleum, and may be injurious. It 
might be well to swab the trunkc with a 
solution of potash or concentrated lye, 
which might act in some measure as an 
antidote to the universal oils. 
H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
Effect of Transplanting. 
II. N., New York ,—Will seeds of tomatoes, 
peppers and eggplants, if sown directly in 
paper pots or dirt bands, produce liner 
plants than those that are transplanted, and 
will they produce fruit earlier, or has trans¬ 
planting a beneficial effect on the roots of 
the plants? 
Ans. —No. You can make far better 
plants by sowing the seed in flats and 
transplanting to the paper pots, set¬ 
ting the plants a little deeper so that 
there will be a better root development. 
In fact I have found that the more 
frequently (he tomato plants are trans¬ 
planted before going into the field the 
earlier the fruiting will be. My early 
plants were sown in flats in the green¬ 
house, transplanted to other flats and 
•then to pots and then to the cold frames, 
und they are now very robust plants. 
I he transplanting not only develops the 
root system largely, but keeps the plants 
from running up tall and awkward, and 
by frequent transplanting I get plants 
with stems not over 10 inches high but 
as stout as a good-sized lead pencil, and 
they come from the frame with a mass 
of earth so that in the final transplant¬ 
ing they never wilt. Each plant is set 
with water in the hole and dry earth 
pulled in. I once made an experiment 
in an extra transplanting. Having a 
lot of tomatoes in pots I set most of 
them directly from the pots. A few of 
them I took from the pots and trans¬ 
planted to a frame some time before 
any were set outside. These that had 
the extra transplanting ripened fruit' 
the 25th of May (in North Carolina) 
and the potted ones ripened the first 
fruit the tenth of June. 
W. F. MASSEY. 
Japan Walnuts. 
I notice what Mr. Van Deman says 
about the Japan walnut, Seiboldiana, 
on page 543, in which he says it is 
entirely unworthy of cultivation except 
for beauty of tree and I most emphati¬ 
cally disagree with him. It certainly is 
a beautiful tree and a orodmious fruiter. 
The nuts are as large as an ordinary 
butternut. The husk comes off when 
the nut ripens, and although the meat 
is a little difficult to extract, any good 
healthy boy will never hesitate to spend 
a Winter’s evening in working at this 
job and never cry quit as long as he 
can hold another. I have had as many 
as 20 nuts on a single cluster like a 
cluster of grapes. It will even pay to 
grow these nuts for the pigs, as they 
are very fond of them and won’t find 
any trouble or fault in extracting the 
meat. j. s. woodward. 
Treatment of Rhubarb. 
IF. E. G., Tuscarora, Nev .—Can you tell 
me how to treat rhubarb when the plants 
become so thick that all stalks are very 
slender and lacking in flavor? What is the 
best time for transplanting and what sort 
of soil is best? 
Ans. —Rhubarb is usually propagated 
by division of the old roots, especially 
when a small plantation is to be set, 
and when the old roots are growing on 
the place. The clumps of roots grow 
rather loosely and are easily separated, 
each bud or eye when separated with a 
root attached forming a plant. These 
can be planted singly, or two or three 
may be planted together in the same 
hill. When plants have to be bought 
the making of a plantation in this way 
is pretty expensive, as the roots can 
very rarely be purchased for less than 
$50 to $60 per 1.000 eyes, and as it 
requires about 3,000 plants for an acre, 
quite an outlay is necessary. The plants 
can be grown from seed very cheaply. 
Seed may be sown in rows one foot 
apart in well-prepared and rich soil. 
As they are covered with a light shuck, 
the seed should be well trodden with 
the feet so as to firm the earth well. 
This will prevent their drying out, and 
also lessens the danger of the seed being 
washed out of the ground by heavy 
rains. Plants growm from seed may be 
transplanted to their permanent quarters 
the following Fall or Spring. For the 
more northern sections the seed should 
be sowm in latter part of April or early 
May. Whether the plantation is made 
of "divided clumps or seedlings no stalks 
should be pulled the first season after 
planting, but the second year after 
planting a full crop may be expected 
if gopd cultivation has been given. 
Rhubarb is a plant that adapts itself 
to almost any kind of well drained soil, 
but like almost all vegetables, it pre¬ 
fers a deep, rich, sandy loam. What¬ 
ever the soil it should be plowed as 
deeply as possible. Using the subsoiler 
is of great advantage, and if the plow¬ 
ing and subsoiling can be done to a 
depth of 18 or 20 inches all the better. 
After the ground is plowed it should 
be harrowed deeply and thoroughly. 
The plants should be set in rows four 
feet apart and about three feet apart 
in the row, or they may be set four 
feet apart each way when plenty of 
land is available. The land may be 
check-rowed, same as for corn, and the 
plants set at the intersection of the 
rows. Two or three forkfuls of well- 
rotted manure should be used to each 
plant, mixing it well with the soil be¬ 
fore the plant is set. To keep the plan¬ 
tation in good bearing ’■condition, it 
should be well mulched every Fall 
with partially rotted stable manure, 
which should be turned under the fol¬ 
lowing Spring. The best time to apply 
this mulch is after the ground is frozen, 
as no damage can result from driving 
over it with a heavily loaded wagon. 
K. 
“Whut I been tryin’ to tell you.” said 
Mr. Erastus Pinkley, “is dat de office 
ought to seek de man.” “I done heard 
you,” replied Uncle Rasburv. “But dat 
sound to me ’bout de same as sayin’ a 
Spring chicken ought to go out an’ 
meet a hungry gemman jes in time to 
be cooked foh Sunday dinner.”—Wash¬ 
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448 Pearl St., New York 
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Profit by Spraying 
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