J9K). 
01S 
MECHANICAL PEACH GRADERS. 
For the past few years the efforts of 
eastern fruit growers have been concen¬ 
trated upon raising fruit of the finest 
quality possible. The natural advantages 
of soils and climates, practical experience 
and scientific research have all contribut¬ 
ed to this end. The problem now before 
us in how to pack and market this fruit 
to the best advantage. One of the most 
practical aids to efficient packing is the 
mechanical grader run by hand or by 
power. Such a grader must not bruise 
the fruit, must be accurate and must 
handle the fruit more quickly than can 
be done by hand. As the gasoline tractor 
in the field is still in the experimental 
stage, so is the mechanical grader in the 
packing house. Many have been invent- 
TH LC RURAL 
1; No. 1 grade about a dollar more than 
No. 2, and No. 2 brings about what we 
used to receive for the whole crop or¬ 
chard run. As to saving in labor, one 
man to pour fruit in the grader, two to 
run the fruit with two helpers, one man 
to face and two to head up and roll away 
the barrels, eight in all. can put up 300 
barrels per day. In peaches one girl can 
put up about twice the amount of fruit 
with the help of the grader. 
FLORENCE CORNWALL. 
FROM THE MAIL BAG. 
Work of the potato stem-borer is often 
taken for some new disease. This insect 
works in the lower part of the stem— 
which turns dry or yellow, dies, and of 
course the plant withers and falls over. 
OUTSIDE OF A PEACH PACKING HOUSE. Fig. 
ed and patented, few are being used. Two 
years ago the writer sent to the Patent 
Office at Washington for specifications of 
.‘10 graders, and after careful study de¬ 
cided that not one of the 30 could be 
used with our eastern fruit, showing how 
impractical most of these inventions 
have been. 
The grader in the picture handles 
about 100 bushels per hour, and the fol¬ 
lowing method is used: Peaches are 
picked in half-bushel baskets, the men 
working from six-foot step-ladders. The 
baskets are gathered up by a low or¬ 
chard wagon and drawn to the packing 
house. Here they are unloaded on a 
broad cement platform. They are emp¬ 
tied with great care into the grader, 
which is stationed on the platform also, 
under one of the large windows. As the 
fruit passes through the grader it is 
carried into the packing house on con¬ 
veyor belts and runs onto inclined ta¬ 
bles. Here the girls are stationed to pick 
out soft and spotted fruit and till the 
There is no smell about it as in the case 
of true blight. There is no remedy for 
this year’s crop since the insect works 
inside the stem and the injury is not 
evident until too late. Pull and burn 
the vines on the spot where the borer 
works. 
Some readers seeded oats and peas as 
a Spring cover crop. This should be 
plowed under in early July, and buck¬ 
wheat seeded—to be plowed in September 
for grass and grain seeding. Frequently, 
however, the ground is too dry to plow. 
In such case we would cut the oats and 
peas, save part as fodder and plow the 
rest under. 
Paris-green in water about the strength 
taken for potato beetles will kill the 
cabbage worms. Do not use this after 
the head has closed or the poison will not 
wash away. Red pepper will usually 
kill the worms. 
The reports from all over the South¬ 
ern New York district show drought and 
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A MECHANICAL SORTER THAT HANDLES PEACHES. Fig. 342. 
baskets. This year the baskets to be 
used are mostly 16-quart Jerseys and 
lull-size bushels. The fruit can be sorted 
by the machine into as many sizes as 
desired. Quite a satisfactory way is to 
make two grades besides the culls, which 
drop on the outside. 
Apples are handled in much the same 
"ay. Heretofore picking bags have been 
used for all varieties. But this year 
^ '‘althy, Spy and some others, which are 
v,,p y easily bruised, will be picked in 
three-peck baskets. They are graded into 
or three sizes besides the culls, and 
fan be run right off the tables into bar- 
1 el®. The prices received for the fruit 
demonstrate conclusively that mechani- 
al grading is more satisfactory than the 
' 4 way. The extra grade of apples is 
v , n - th about a dollar more than the No. 
short crops of oats and hay. Later rains 
may bring up the hay, but it will pay 
to sow millet and save everything—in¬ 
cluding buckwheat straw. 
It is true that we advise an experi¬ 
ment in seeding barley with Crimson 
clover as a cover crop. The barley will 
die down and form a mulch for the 
clover. The chief loss with Crimson 
comes in late Spring when the bare 
ground thaws and freezes. 
The best fitting of soil for wheat means 
rather shallow plowing or disking and a 
very fine surface fitting. 
When cultivating in cover crops it is 
a good plan to hang a plank or joist be¬ 
hind the cultivator so it will scrape or 
dangle and rub or smooth down the cul¬ 
tivated soil. This makes a more even 
and better seeding. 
Sunday Hunting. —Our gun club sec¬ 
retary tells me that Sunday hunting is a 
thing of the past in Williamson and vi¬ 
cinity. The Italians and others think 
NEW-YORKER 
they would better not break the laws 
where so many are apt to report them. 
The moral effect is better than a dozen 
game protectors. Lots of applications 
for membership coming in, the club is 
getting strong, and we are going to ask 
for some changes in the laws this Win¬ 
ter. \\ e have our trap open every two 
weeks for practice shooting. No one 
spends much time or money there, but 
there are generally a few on hand ; they 
generally shoot a box of shells apiece 
and go home satisfied. j. a. crane. 
Wayne Co., N. Y. 
Turtles as Insect-eaters. —As a 
remedy for slugs and snails in the green¬ 
house, a correspondent of the Florists’ 
Exchange suggests a turtle, which is very 
fond of these molluscs, and an excellent 
all-’round insecticide. Greenhouse tur¬ 
tles usually become very tame, following 
workmen around to be fed with worms or 
other dainties. 
Fireless Fireworks. —Fashion, habit 
or law may change an industry. For ex¬ 
ample, the element known as strontium is 
used for making “red fire” in fireworks. 
All this talk about a “safe and sane” 
celebration for July fourth has had its 
effect in diminishing the demand for 
strontium as “red fire.” Now comes a 
use for it in recovering sugar from beet 
molasses. 
Government Whitewash. — Every 
week there are questions about the so- 
called “government whitewash.” Here 
is the recipe once more: Slake one-half 
bushel of lime with boiling water, keep¬ 
ing it covered during the process. Strain 
it. Add a peek of salt dissolved in warm 
water; three pounds ground rice, put in 
boiling water and boiled to a soft paste; 
one-half pound Spanish whiting; and one 
pound clear glue dissolved in warm water. 
-Mix well and let the mixture stand sev¬ 
eral days. When used put on as hot as 
possible. 
Alfalfa Trials. —The West Virginia 
Agricultural College at Morgantown 
takes up a rather new plan for interest¬ 
ing farmers in Alfalfa. It advocates a 
trial of one square rod. It will send to 
the first one hundred farmers who applv 
the seed, inoculated soil, and the ferti¬ 
lizing materials needed to sow one square 
rod well. The farmer is to fit the soil 
and put on 25 pounds of lime. Then he 
is to keep chickens and stock away from 
the plot, sow the seeds and use the fer¬ 
tilizer, and watch results. There will 
be a double result in this. It will show 
whether the soil will produce Alfalfa un¬ 
der the proper conditions, and if it will, 
the farmer can obtain soil out of this 
small plot for inoculating as many acres 
as he cares to try. 
Tent Caterpillars.—Do you not 
tfunk there should be a law of some kind 
in regard to the tent-caterpillar? We 
have fought them all the Spring (have 
just bought and was not here to get 
eggs), but they are on the neighbors’ 
trees and all along the highway. Each 
land o\\ nor or renter should be compelled 
to destroy them, also the road commis¬ 
sioner \\ e can never get rid of them 
while they surround us on the land of 
others. c w n 
The trouble with such laws is the diffi¬ 
culty of enforcing them. On the Pacific 
coast where many such laws are passed 
it has been found that where public senti¬ 
ment is strong enforcement is possible. 
A here the people are indifferent such 
laws are nearly a dead letter. 
Lime-sulphur for Brown Rot. —It 
will be a mistake to use commercial lime- 
sulphur at the rate of one to 50 parts 
water for brown rot in peaches. With 
many varieties that strength would strip 
the trees of leaves. At the rate of one 
Part commercial to 100 water is about 
the strongest solution we could advise 
now. It is too late for the most effective 
work anyway. 
“BIDWELL” 
BEAN and PEA Threshers 
JiMADE in three sizes. 
■* Capacity: 50, 100 and 
150 bushels per hour. Thirty 
years’ experience. 
In Use wherever Beans and 
Peas are Grown 
Write for description of our 
half-size thresher. The Bidwell 
Jr., for use of individuals and in 
localities where large expensive 
machines are not necessary. 
BATAVIA MACHINE CO. 
Batavia, New York, U. S. A. 
BARGAINS 
in Fence. 150 st>les- 
13 cents per rod up. We pay 
^ freight. Send for bargain fence 
book and sample to test—ALL FREE. 
THE BROWN FENCE & W IRE COMPANY 
DEPT- 59 CLEVELAND. OHIO 
It pays to bale your hay in 
DEDERICK’S 
STANDARD 
Baling Presses 
Catalogue Free 
P. K. DEDERICK’S SONS, 
42 Tivoli St., Albany, N. Y. 
Is endorsed by the leading agricul-' 
tural experiment station as the 
best and most economical 
source of Phosphorus. It ap¬ 
peals to the intelligent 
farmer who utilizes na¬ 
ture’s abundant sup- 
ply of Nitrogen by 
growing legumes 
and keeping his 
soil alive 
with hu¬ 
mus. 
__ £ 
$1.05 
per a< 
invested in 
Rock Phos¬ 
phate gave in 
creased crop yields 
valued at $5.85 as 
an average of 12 years 
experiment and $8.41 as 
an average of the last 8 years 
at Pennsylvania State College. 
Thus the profit from the use of 
Rock Phosphate was 560 to 800 per 
cent on the investment 
Write us for literature and prices 
Mention this paper 
Seeding Down Time 
Make New Soil Again 
If you have a piece of land 
that is not producing as much 
as you think it should, write 
us about it. 
We will be very glad to give 
you advice as to what methods will best restore it 
to full productiveness. 
We prepare special fertilizers for particular soils and special crops. 
Let us tell you how we have helped many a farmer raise 
CROPS 
^ ou can read it in our 1913 Almanac or in our Booklets on Soil, 
and on Grass Crops. 
ThE ROGtRS & hbBBARD CO., Address Dept. A, Middletown, Conn. 
OFFICE AND WORKS, PORTLAND, CONN. 
