1152 
FARMERS’ CLUB 
[ Every query must be accompanied by the 
name and address of the writer to insure 
attention. Before asking a question, please see 
whether it is not answered in our advertising 
columns. Ask only a few questions at one time. 
Put questions on a separate piece of paper.! 
Too Much Nitrogen. 
A year ago I moved onto the place 
where I live to raise garden truck for a 
few families who want it strictly fresh. 
The ground is rich and heavy, not a trace 
of sand in it. It had been used for this 
purpose about seven years, and when I 
came it was spread with cow manure and 
some lime. I plowed this in. Everything 
seemed to go to vine and stem, and peas, 
beans and corn were so very slow to 
mature that I was almost discouraged. 
The cornstalks grew very high and large, 
but the ears were small. This year I 
did not use any manure at all, but things 
have not done well. They are still slow 
to mature, and beans seemed to blight. 
I have one row of Limas that have never 
had a pod on yet, and are. still blossom¬ 
ing, although in another part of the patch 
they have been plentiful, although late. 
Rockford, Ill. H. L. c. 
The indications are that this soil is too 
rich—contains too much available nitro¬ 
gen. This nitrogen is the element which 
naturally drives plants into rapid and 
prolonged growth, and thus delays ripen¬ 
ing. When potash and phosphoric acid 
are present in large enough quantities to 
“balance” the nitrogen there is a slower 
and more solid growth, with seasonable 
ripening. A way to overcome this trou¬ 
ble would be to use chemicals which con¬ 
tain no nitrogen. A mixture of three 
parts acid phosphate and one of muriate 
of potash would help, and cause the 
vegetables to mature earlier. 
Prospects in Quince Culture 
I have been thinking of planting sev¬ 
eral hundred quince trees. How many 
trees dare one plant to an acre? When 
is the best time to plant? IIow long 
will it take till they hear? What kind 
would you suggest for commercial use? 
What kind of ground rs best for quince? 
Do you believe it is a paying business 
provided one gives good attention to it? 
Perkasie, Pa. J. s. 
The cultivation of quinces in Pennsyl¬ 
vania is a good business where the soil 
is good and the trees are properly planted 
and cared for. The fruit always brings 
a good price. I do not think I ever sold 
any for less than $2 a bushel and they of¬ 
ten bring twice as much. The climate of 
Pennsylvania is very well suited to the 
quince and almost any of the soils that 
are rich enough to grow good crops of 
corn, potatoes or garden stuff would be 
in right condition. It may be heavy clay 
or of a sandy nature, for this tree will 
flourish in either kind. Plenty of rich 
and well-rotted stable manure will help 
the soil. The trees may be planted in 
Spring or Fall, the latter being preferred, 
because the trees get well settled in the 
ground and start early to grow the next 
Spring. The proper distance apart to 
set the trees is about 15 or 16 feet. They 
should begin to bear in about five years 
from time of planting, hut may do so a 
little earlier if well treated. The Orange 
and Meech are two of the best early kinds, 
and Champion and Van Deman are good 
late ones. H. E. VAN deman. 
Fall Rye for Green Fodder. 
Does it pay to put rye in now, cutting 
it green and feeding to cows early in 
the Slimmer? Would it pay better to 
Fall-plow and sow to peas and oats, and 
cut this green to feed to cows? Which 
is better, to feed rye, or oats and peas, 
or what would you advise me to do, in 
order to get the best results, sow now to 
rye, or wait until Spring and sow oats 
and peas? J. E. 
Kirkvilie, N. Y. 
We should put the limit for rye seed¬ 
ing in your latitude at about October Id. 
Green rye is a fair feed for cattle—not 
equal to green wheat, oats or other 
grains. The rye can be seeded late, and 
gives the first green cutting in Spring. 
A piece of wheat, seeded in September, 
would help by giving green fodder after 
the rye has become too hard. It is bet¬ 
ter quality than rye. Our own plan is 
to sow wheat or rye on all vacant land. 
Then in the Spring we save what rye is 
needed for green feed or for plowing un¬ 
der when full grown. The remainder of 
the rye can he plowed under for oats and 
peas. The growth made by the rye 
plowed under will be worth far more than 
the seed and the labor of seeding, and it 
will help dry out the soil so that oats and 
peas may be seeded a little earlier. In 
TH C2 RURA L, NEVV-VORK2R 
October 25, 
our latitude we can cut green rye early 
in May, while oats and peas are not 
ready before June. 
Pruning Shade Trees. 
1. Can I prune my maple and elm trees 
this Fall, say in October? 2. Would you 
advise me to cut them back? They are 
very tall and I am afraid the wind will 
break off some of the large limbs. 
3. There are some decayed spots on the 
trunk of one tree. Will you tell me how 
to treat and fill these places? 4. I have 
same cottony maple 'Scale on my maple 
trees. Which material is best to use, 
lime-sulphur or scalecide, to spray these 
trees in the dormant season? Can I do 
any good by scraping or cutting off some 
of the rough bark on my trees? 
Churubusco, Ind. w. C. D. 
1. Maple and elm trees may be pruned 
any time of year without injury if it is 
done reasonably and not too severely. 
2. If they have been started with good 
trunks and no bad crotches they ought 
not to need any pruning, for they usually 
grow into very beautiful forms, naturally, 
and are not likely to be injured by winds^ 
There are millions of them growing in 
the open over a large part of North¬ 
eastern North America that are gems of 
beauty and have never had a knife or 
saw used on them. Pruning, is likely to 
injure and disfigure them instead of 
beautifying them. 3. If the “decayed 
spots” are such as to admit of filling 
them with cement it might prevent furth¬ 
er decay. In any case it could do no 
harm to dig out all the dead wood and 
fill the cavities as a dentist fills teeth. 
4. Either the lime-sulphur wash or scnle- 
cide will destroy the scale on the trees 
if properly applied. Scraping the bark 
would do no good and would be wasted 
effort. H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
Seeding a Permanent Pasture. 
I wish to seed a five-acre lot this Oc¬ 
tober as permanent pasture. Will you 
instruct as to seed-bed, what grass seed 
to sow, and how much to the acre? 
Wittman, Md. J. M. B. 
When Rlue grass does not grow readily, 
as is the case on the Eastern Shore of 
Maryland, there is nothing better than 
a mixture of Orchard-grass, red-top, Tim¬ 
othy and Alsike clover. The amount of 
each to sow per acre is Orchard grass 18 
pounds Red-top eight pounds, Timothy 
and Alsike clover four pounds each. The 
Orchard grass will be the first to start 
in the Spring, the one to furnish the 
most growth during the middle of the 
Summer and the one to last longest in the 
Fall. The Red-top will fill in among 
the hunches of Orchard grass, and the 
Timothy and clover will furnish consid¬ 
erable grazing the first year or two, after 
which they will give way to the Orchard 
grass and Red-top. If the soil is a fair¬ 
ly good clay loam and has been, or will 
be limed heavily. Blue grass will take 
hold and in this case the amount of Red- 
top and Timothy in the above mixture 
may be cut in half and eight or 10 pounds 
of Blue grass seed substituted instead. 
The Blue grass will gradually spread un¬ 
til after five or six years it will have 
taken the place of most of the other 
grasses. If, however, the land is not 
fairly fertile and well supplied with lime 
Blue grass will not succeed. The seeding 
should be done as soon as possible. 
Chances for success are much better if 
the seeding is done in September, but 
with an open late Fall seeding as late 
as October 15 may give excellent results. 
The seed bed must he finely pulverized 
and be firm. It is practically impossible 
to secure a good stand of grass on loose 
or freshly plowed land. The seed should 
be covered with a weeder or light spike- 
tooth harrow, with the teeth slanted back. 
If the land is inclined to he sandy a 
roller should follow the weeder or har¬ 
row. n. s. 
Maryland Experiment Station. 
Work of Powder Post Beetles. 
What can I spray or apply with 
brush on the inside of an old barn, new 
covered and part old covenng. to stop 
dry powder posting? A. R. . 
Peconic, L. I. 
Apparently the injuries from powder- 
post beetles are becoming more prevalent 
and more widespread as the country 
grows older. In the earlier history of the 
country these tiny beetles found an 
abundance of dead trees, logs, and 
stumps to satisfy their cravings for food 
to sustain life. Now, in the absence of 
these, they betake themselves to the tim¬ 
bers, beams, and floors of old houses and 
barns. They mine in every direction 
through the wood, digging small cylindri¬ 
cal burrows, and reducing the wood to 
mere powder. The insects that are re¬ 
sponsible for the trouble are small, cylin¬ 
drical beetles about one-quarter of an 
inch long. When they become full- 
grown they cut round, shot-like holes in 
the timbers, through which they emerge. 
The female beetle lays many eggs, and as 
several females may lay their eggs in the 
same piece of wood, there may be scores 
of larvte within a comparatively small 
space. 
In controlling these powder-post beetles 
it is important to bear in mind, at least 
for the future, that they work only in the 
sap wood. Heart wood and cement are 
immune from the attacks of these beetles. 
In many instances, in which the beetles 
are abundant and well established, the 
infested timbers and boards have to be 
removed entirely and replaced by sound 
ones. Timbers that are much eaten often 
become positively unsafe, and it is almost 
impossible to tell how badly they are 
eaten, because the insects work inside. 
We have one ease, at least, in which a 
railroad wreck was undoubtedly due to 
the weakening of certain timbers by these 
powder-post beetles. 
Where it is not practicable to remove 
the infested timbers, they may he treated | 
to a liberal application of kerosene, gaso¬ 
line, or very strong brine. The kerosene 
and gasoline would be most satisfactory, 
because they will penetrate the wood and 
work down the burrows much better. In 
any case, it will he difficult to reach all 
of the insects inside of the timbers. The 
applications of oily substances should be 
made frequently and in liberal quantities 
until no more fine powder is seen to fall 
from the timbers. If all signs of the 
activity of the beetles stop one can be 
fairly sure that they have been killed. 
Finally, we would urgently advise a care¬ 
ful investigation of all the infested tim¬ 
bers to see how weak they have become. 
This is especially important in case of 
those supporting a loft filled with hay or 
grain. If the beams are too much eaten 
they should be removed and replaced by 
new ones. glenn w. herrick. 
Manure in Open Pit. 
If I dig a hole and throw all my stable 
manure iu same, arranging the drain 
from the kitchen sink and bath-tub to 
flow in same, would it be a benefit to the 
manure? G. A. H. 
The plan of handling barn manure that 
you suggest would result in considerable 
loss through the leaching away of soluble 
plant food. If the sides of the pit were 
made water-tight through cementing or 
otherwise waterproofing them, the addi¬ 
tion of liquid wastes would improve the 
quality of the manure, hut if sufficient 
liquid was added to render the contents 
of the pit fluid, the difficulty and ex¬ 
pense of handling the manure would be 
greatly increased,, possibly necessitating 
the use of pumps and liquid manure 
spreaders. A similar method of storing 
manure in cement cisterns and adding 
water to it, allowing it to ferment, is 
practiced by some, hut can hardly be 
commended for the ordinary farm. 
_ M. B. D. 
Robert had been dutifully listening to 
the conversation of his parents. They 
were discussing a certain Mrs. Smith 
who was tagged in their talk as a grass- 
widow. “I say, pa,” said Robert afte' 
some reflection, “is a grass-widow r 
woman whose husband died of hav 
fever?”—Credit Lost. 
“I give you 10 days extra,” said the 
judge, “for telling me lies.” "I didn’t 
suppose you minded a few lies, yer 
honor,” responded the tramp. “They 
went all right from them fellers that 
wanted to dodge gittin’ on a jury.”— 
Louisville Courier-Journal. 
When you write advertisers mention THE 
R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply and a 
“square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
rpHORBURN’S SEED CATALOG will 
be issued earlier than usual this 
coming season. And it will be found to 
be even more interesting than last year’s 
—many new hints on cultivation are in¬ 
cluded'. There is another point to re¬ 
member, also—all descriptions are abso¬ 
lute dependable. 
If your name isn’t on our 
list, send it in to-day— 
it’s not a hit too early. 
J. M. THORBURN & COMPANY 
53-Y BARCLAY STREET, NEW YORK 
Standard Apple Barrels 
Car lots or less. ROBT. GILLIES, Medina, N. Y. 
os Dlonic — Beets, Lettuce, Kohl-rabi. 
wdDRdgC rlctnio $i per lOUu. Tomato, Sweet 
Potatoes. $1.50 per 1000. Cauliflower, Peppers, $2 per 
1000. Send for list. J. C. 8CHMIDT, Bristol, Pa. 
FOR SALEioSo lots DANISH STOCK BEETS 
1 6 per ton P. O. B. Auburn. The key to large milk production. 
Ready for immediate delivery. T. E. Barlow, Mgr., Auburn, H, Y. 
s° l "_seed corn on m-jSin^isUK 
to 2 pounds. Send 15 cts. for sample ear, pay post¬ 
age and write for prices. S. LflUER, Blandon, Pa. 
Alfalfa For Sale of Alfalfa, entire 
season’s crop, three cuttings, neither sun-burned 
nor mow-burned, $22 per ton on board cars Fayette¬ 
ville, N. Y. JOHN MCLENNAN Fayetteville, New York 
GINSENG SEED FOR SALE 
500,000 home grown seed at $1.00 
per 1,000 in lots of 5,000 or over, 
J A. THOMAS, - 4 Bellevue Place, Auburn, N. Y. 
Grow Big Asparagus 
In 4 to S weeks 
The book, “French Method” describes the 
intensive way of growing vegetables. Read - 
“The Vegetable Grower” — a monthly 
magazine devoted to culture, harvesting 
and marketing of vegetables, fruits, flowers. 
Our Special Offer:—A 3*year subscription 
to “The Vegetable Grower” and thebook, 
“French Method” for $1. One year sub¬ 
scription alone, 50 cents. Order today. 
THE VEGETABLE GROWER 
804 Boyce Building Chicago, Ill. 
KellysTREES 
r Our catalog Is our only agent : send torj 
!t and note the saving at growers' prices. 
Hardy, healthy trees, sure to grow and bear 
abundantly. A quarter of a century exper¬ 
ience in tree values guarantees yon the most 
profitable bearing qualities. Highest grade apple trees our | 
Fall specialty. Don't tail to write for catalog now. 
Kelly Bros, WholesaleNurseries 77 MainSt.,Dansville,N.Y. 
12for$lQQ WO rflt$l.§5 
TRm: 
MATCHLESS GARDEN COLLECTION. 
1 Early ITar.cat, l FallPippin, 4 B.ld-ftj 
/ win Apple.; 2 Ulaok Tartarian Sweet 
2 Montmorency Sour Cherries, 1 Hart 
lott, 1 Scrkel I’tars. AH first class 2 
year, 1 to 5 feet, for f 1.00. Semi today for FKF.K Illustrated 
catalogue dcacrihlug our full lino of guaranteed Tru»-to- 
Nanie trees. Visit our nurseries. 
Maloney Rros. A Welle Co., 113 Main St., llansrllla, N. T. 
ltanivllle'i Pioneer Wholeaalo Nunerlea. 58 Year, 
TREES FOR FALL PLANTING 
Direct from our Nurseries. Our immense 
stock of Apple, Peach, Pear, Plum, Cherry, 
etc., enables us to quote lowest prices. 
Write at once for Catalog and Prices. 
L’AMOREAUX NURSERY CO., • Schoharie. N. Y. 
npiIIT TREES AN0 PLANTS at Reasonable Prices. 
riYUll Catalogue Free, Basil Perry. Cool Spring, Del 
Handy 
Binder 
J UST the thing for 
preserving files of 
The Rural New-Yorker. 
Durable and cheap. Sent 
postpaid for 25 cents. 
The Rural New-Yorker 
333 W. 30th St., New York City 
KINGS 
Invite you to come to Dansville. 300,000 fruit trees to sell. 
Apples 2-yr. 5 to 7 ft. at $120.00 per 1,000. Poaches, 1-yr. 4 to 6 ft. 
at $80.00 per 1,000. Guaranteed true to name, free from scale 
and aphis. Visit, us now or write at once. Prices will advance. 
Buy from a reliable firm on a rising market. . . _ „ 
KING BROTHERS NURSERIES, - DANSVILLE. N. Y. 
SCALECIDE 
TRADE MARK REG. U. S. PAT. OFFICE 
DON’T NEGLECT FALL SPRAYING. GET READY NOW. 
Many trees can be saved that would die before Spring if unsprayed. 
“SCALECIDE” will positively destroy San Jose and Cottony Maple Scale , 
Pear Psylla , etc., without injury to the trees. 
Many of the finest orchards in the country have been sprayed with“SCALECIDE” for the 
past eight years, producing record crops and prize winning fruit. It costs less to spray witn 
r ‘SCALECIDE" than Lime-Sulfur, and does better work. We stake our reputation on this 
assertion. Write today for our booklet, “Scalecide. the Tree Saver." Sent free on reqnest. 
Our Service Department furnishes everything for the orchard at money-saving prices. 
Tell us your needs. B. G. Pratt Co., Dept. \ T . 50 Church St., New York City. 
