1913. 
THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
1166 
A YEAR’S BUSH-FRUIT RECORD. 
Results from the New Berry Culture. 
The past two years have been excep¬ 
tional in that we have had killing frosts 
in June. The frost, or rather, the freeze 
of 1912, not only damaged the berry 
crop but also froze back the young canes. 
The blackberries recovered quickly and 
made a very satisfactory growth, but the 
red raspberries, on account of the freeze 
and unfavorable weather following, made 
less than half the cane growth they 
should have done. This year the frost 
came on June 6. The red raspberries 
had not begun to bloom, but when the 
first buds opened a few days later, there 
were lots of black centers. How much 
this affected the crop is hard to estimate, 
but we did not consider it half so serious 
as the half-sized canes. We began pick¬ 
ing June 30 and finished August 5 with 
a total of 56 bushels and two quarts from 
one acre. We sold a few bushels at $4.80. 
but most of them brought $5.10 per 
bushel at wholesale. The gross re¬ 
ceipts were $279.80. Adding to the two 
cents per quart we paid for picking, the 
cost of the baskets, and one dollar for a 
few crates not returned, the , total cash 
expense of handling the crop was $42.70. 
We have l^ acre of blackberries. 
They were in bloom at the time of the 
frost. There were some berries killed all 
over the patch, and in a few spots they 
were nearly all killed. The slight thin¬ 
ning, we think, did not lessen the crop 
materially, but we estimated that if we 
had those badly frozen spots out by 
themselves, we would have about one 
acre left. Of course this is guesswork as 
those irregular spots could not be meas¬ 
ured. We picked blackberries from July 
21 to September 1, harvesting 159 bushels 
and 12 quarts. We sold them at $4.80, 
$4, $3.50 and $3.20 per bushel, the bulk 
of the crop going at $3.20, the total sales 
amounting to $537.75. Counting again 
the two cents paid for picking, the cost 
of baskets and $3 for lost crates the total 
cost of handling the crop was $121.25. 
The dates and figures given are for ber¬ 
ries actually sold. We picked for our 
own table both before and after given 
dates, and I have made no account of 
berries used at home, given away or 
those canned for the Winter. I spent 
about two weeks in the blackberries, 
early in the Spi-ing, cutting out the old 
canes and thinning out, and tying the 
uew ones in position, and about six days 
in the red raspberries. This work was 
done by bits, as I had a small hothouse 
to eare for, and other work that would 
seldom allow me even a half day in the 
berries without interruption. I kept ac¬ 
count of part of my time and estimated 
the balance. Otherwise the work of car- 
ing for the berries has not been much 
more than for other well-cultivated 
crops. I am not working for a record, 
but growing for profit, strictly as a busi¬ 
ness proposition. 
While we are working under some dis¬ 
advantages as to the production of large 
yields, our market, which is always good, 
and higher than usual this year, will 
probably make up for the larger yields 
we might get in a more favorable loca¬ 
tion. Although our berries are more 
easily picked than those not tied up, we 
pay more for picking blackberries than 
some growers, partly because we are near 
a mill town where labor is at a premium, 
and partly because we like to pay good 
wages so that we can get the best of 
pickers, and have our work well done. 
We bought Snyder plants, but after 
awhile we found that we had seven or 
eight varieties; very good, good, indiffer¬ 
ent and poor. We can never get the 
highest yields from such a mixture, but 
we think they have done very well con¬ 
sidering the circumstances, and we give 
the new system most of the credit. Our 
six-year-old blackberry patch is just as 
vigorous as ever. We have a splendid 
growth for next year’s crop, and I shall 
not be a bit surprised if it is still doing 
good work six years from now. Part of 
our red raspberries are seven years old, 
and they are holding their own fully as 
well as the blackberries. I believe that 
the short life of the average patch of 
cane berries is due to poor cultural meth¬ 
ods, and particularly to the lack of moist¬ 
ure during the picking season, which 
leaves the plant in an over-exhausted 
condition just when it should be laying 
the foundation for the next year’jg crop. 
Pennsylvania. b. v. Egbert. 
WINTER PROTECTION OF HYDRANGEAS 
AND ROSES; SHADE TREES. 
1. As my cellar is heated I find I 
have trouble with my Hydrangeas inas¬ 
much as they start to grow too early in 
long white shoots. Could I dig, say a 
four-foot pit, put them in and cover with 
boards and earth? 2. What are best 
shade trees for sandy soil? 3. How can 
I fix roses, standards, especially for the 
Winter and when? 4. How protect 
Rhododendrons? j. p. w. 
Ridgewood, N. J. 
1. It is quite practicable to store ten¬ 
der Hydrangeas in a cold frame or pit. 
Dig them late in Fall with a large ball 
of earth. We have not covered them 
with boards and earth, but had good suc¬ 
cess in a deep cold frame covered with 
sash, and protected -with straw mats 
when freezing set in. If you must dig 
a pit for them, select a place where the 
drainage is good, and where there is no 
risk of surface water pouring in, to 
freeze about the plants; this would be 
extremely detrimental. 
2. Both the American and European 
White birch do well in rather dry sandy 
soil; other suitable trees are Red oak. 
Scarlet oak, Post oak, and Ash-leaved 
maple or Box elder (Acer Negundo). 
While this does best in moist soil, it 
stands drought well, and will grow rap¬ 
idly in sandy soil. Many other maples, 
which have been planted freely in your 
district, are now suffering from drought. 
Beech, both European and American, do 
well in dry situations, and make beau¬ 
tiful shade trees. 
3. The ordinary Hybrid Remontant 
roses do not need covering in your lo¬ 
cality ; a mulch of short manure, put on 
late in the Fall, is advisable. Some of 
the tips of branches may be frozen back, 
especially if they were not fully ripened, 
but no more is lost, as a rule, than would 
be cut back with the Spring pruning. 
Teas and Hybrid Teas may have a cov¬ 
ering of dry leaves after ground is fro¬ 
zen ; where they are planted in a bed it is 
a good plan to surround the bed with a 
fence of chicken wire about a foot or 
more deep, fill in this space with dry 
leaves, and lay a few branches on top 
to keep the leaves from blowing away. 
With standard roses it is the tall bare 
stem that suffers from frost or sunscald, 
and a common practice is to wrap it in 
straw. This is commonly sufficient, but 
in an exposed situation it is better to lift 
them with a good ball of earth and, pre¬ 
paring a trench in a well-drained place, 
heel them in, covering with dry sod. 
4. Hardy Rhododendrons, mostly hy¬ 
brids of the native R. Catawbiense, en¬ 
dure Winter in your district without pro¬ 
tection, but it is well to cover the ground 
with a mulch of hay or leaves. If, how¬ 
ever, they are in a very exposed situa¬ 
tion, strong sunshine and sweeping winds 
are likely to affect the foliage, especially 
in the case of young plants. In such a 
situation a box or crate with the bottom 
knocked out may be placed over the plant, 
and loosely filled with dry leaves. The 
idea is, not to box up the plant so close¬ 
ly as to keep frost out, but to prevent 
excessive evaporation and sunscald. This 
form of protection is useful with many 
tender evergreens. 
Preparing for Alfalfa. 
I would like your advice about a piece 
of ground. It was well manured with 
rye, the rye being turned under; then we 
put potatoes in that same ground and 
now we would like to put in some wheat 
and next Spring sow six pounds of Red 
clover and four pounds of Alfalfa. When 
this wheat is cut next July will this 
clover and Alfalfa be up enough to turn 
under to put in Alfalfa for hay, as we 
intend to put lime in the field. G. n. 
Martinsville, N. J. 
This clover should be about six inches 
tall when the wheat is cut. You can let 
it grow for about a month and then turn 
the clover under for Alfalfa seeding. This 
will more than pay for seed and labor 
and we should certainly carry out the 
lan. The light seeding of Alfalfa will 
elp the permanent crop. 
An Iron-dad Peach. 
There is a fruit tree agent going 
through here selling the Iron-clad peach 
grafted on Canadian wild peach. Is it 
any good or a fake? s. K. 
Kittanning, Pa. 
In former seasons it has been claimed 
that this peach produced a sort of wool 
which kept it from freezing. It is a 
fraud and a fake if any such claims are 
made. Using peach pits for starting 
seedlings would not make the bud hardier. 
There is no “iron-clad” peach—the agent 
simply has an iron jaw. 
THE MAIL BAG. 
Some of our people in this country are 
getting a little dubious about the great 
number of legal holidays and the efforts 
now being made to establish three or four 
more. Very likely, however, we are bet¬ 
ter off than English people in this re¬ 
spect, for Consul Hamm of Newcastle, 
England, figures that there are now 26 
days in addition to Sundays which are 
recognizer! as English holidays. Includ¬ 
ing Sundays, this makes 79 days out of 
365 on which the workman is free from 
his labor. 
Marketing Small Lots. 
I have several bushels of nice Graven- 
stein apples. Would it be likely to pay 
to send them to New York? g. e. 
No, the chances would be that such a 
small lot would not pay in this great 
market. We do not advise such small 
shipments. The nearest local market 
ought to pay better. 
Skunk Farming. 
I would like to get some information 
as to raising skunks, or what you call 
skunk farming, G. M. E. 
Ilicksville, N. Y. 
This is one of the subjects which can 
be fully answered in one word—don’t. 
Take our advice and let skunk farming 
alone. There is nothing to it but blasted 
and badly decayed hopes. 
Horses or Tractor. 
Next year I shall have 250 acres of 
tillable land, and at present have only 
one light team. A great deal of the 
land needs plowing, is rolling and in 
good-sized lots, quite free from stone. 
There are two men to do the work. 
Would you advise buying more horses or 
a farm tractor? 
Pennsylvania. XJ. F. L. 
There are many things to be consid¬ 
ered. What crops do you raise? Do you 
have a rotation, and have much land to 
plow each year? Are you a good^ me¬ 
chanic? Do you like to keep stock? If 
you like horses several teams of big 
mares would pay. They would do your 
work and turn off colts to add to the in¬ 
come. The farm tractors are doing fair 
work but no one claims they have yet 
reached perfection. Personally, with such 
a farm we should try a tractor, but a 
natural stockman would do better with 
the mares. 
Corn Ear-worm. 
Is there any way of controlling the 
corn ear-worm ? Local growers say not, 
and some ears must be two-thirds cut 
away before cooking. c. P. 
Up to within a few years the usual 
answer was that there is no practical 
remedy for this corn worm. Now we 
are told of successful experiments in 
dusting dry arsenate of lead upon the 
growing corn. There is a dusting ma¬ 
chine which does this work quickly and 
if the poison can be put on at just the 
right time the worms are mostly 
destroyed.^ 
Corn-husking Machines. 
I would like to hear from some of your 
readers about their experience with corn- 
husking machines. I think most of these 
machines cut or shred the fodder at the 
same time. Will this cut or shredded 
fodder keep, or will it heat and mold if 
kept in a mow? Would alternate layers 
of cut straw prevent heating? At one 
of the State fairs I saw a machine husk 
corn satisfactorily, but the stalks were 
left whole, and had to be tied by hand. 
The manufacturer said it was not possi¬ 
ble to prevent shredded fodder from spoil¬ 
ing, and yet there seem to be a number 
of well-known machines that shred the 
fodder. H. A. c. 
Pennsylvania. 
We would like, if possible unbiased 
opinion or experience regarding this. 
Fall Radishes. 
Could I get a crop of radishes if I 
planted seed about October 10 or 15, and 
cover the radishes with muslin or cheese¬ 
cloth on frosty nights? If they could be 
grown this way, would a mulch of straw 
after they are up protect them as well 
from frost as cloth? The variety I wish 
to plant is the Giant Crimson, a 35-day 
radish. H. N. 
Cleveland, Ohio. 
It will not be practicable to grow rad¬ 
ishes in the manner you suggest. In the 
first place the temperature will be too 
low after October 10-15 to admit of much 
growth being made before freezing of 
more or less severity occurs in your lati¬ 
tude. In the second place, if it were 
possible to bring them to edible size, the 
first hard freeze would ruin them. Rad¬ 
ishes are unfit for use after they are 
once frozen, as freezing extracts the 
water from them, when they become 
spongy and tasteless. K. 
Potash for the Orchard. 
Will someone who has had experience 
and knows, tell us through the columns of 
The It. N.-Y. the best time to apply 
potash to the orchard, and what is the 
best form of potash to apply, sulphate, 
muriate or hard wood ashes? How 
much of each is it safe to use on 10-year- 
old trees? H. 
Vermont. 
R. N.-Y.—This question has been ans¬ 
wered many times, but now we would like 
to have the personal experience of fruit 
growers with potash—best forms to use 
and most profitable amount. 
u 
The Bastian 
Oregon” Primer 
Operates with a simple pump-gun 
action upon a most powerful com¬ 
pound leverage, enabling.you to cut, 
with a quick pull, a small twig or a 
limb an inch thick. This pruning 
hook is light but very strong, power¬ 
ful and durable. The natural posi¬ 
tion of your hands on the pole-handle 
gives ease, speed and accuracy of 
operation. All side-strain is eliminat¬ 
ed as the compound leverage principle 
places the strain lengthwise of the 
pole. The perfectly tempered and 
ground Sheffield Tool Steel blade 
makes a clean, smooth cut—-there’s 
no chance for it to pinch or bind. 
THE BASTIAN “OREGON” 
PRUNING SHEARS 
These shears work with the same 
easy but powerful compound action 
as the pruning hook. They are espe¬ 
cially adapted for cutting out water 
sprouts and suckers, heading back 
young trees, trimming hedges, berry 
bushes, etc. 
THE BASTIAN “OREGON” 
FRUIT PICKER 
gets the fruit 
t h a t’s “w a y 
out of reach” or 
your hand, and picks 
t without bruising in 
the slightest. You need 
this handy fruit picker. 
It will soon save enough 
fruit to pay a big profit. 
TRY THESE ORCHARD TOOLS 
Bastian “Oregon” Orchard 
Tools are carefully made 
of the best materials. They 
are reasonable in price and 
guaranteed. Made in all 
lengths. 
If the local dealer cannot 
supply you with these tools, 
do not accept substitutes. 
Write to us and we’ll send 
prices and the name of the 
nearest dealer who can sup¬ 
ply you, or we’ll ship di¬ 
rect. Try Bastian "Ore¬ 
gon” Tools before buying 
others. Write to-day for 
descriptive circular. 
STOREY MFG. CO. 
1540 Macadam Road, Portland, Oregon 
RHODES DOUBLE OUT 
PRUNING SHEAR 
Cuts from 
both sides of 
limb and does 
not bruise 
the bark. 
We pay Ex¬ 
press charges 
on all orders. 
Write for 
circular and 
prices. 
529 SO. DIVISION AVE, GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. 
PAT. 
RHODES MF0. CO. 
EVERY DAY BRINGS ITS ORDER FOR A 
“FRIEND” SPRAYER 
THERE'S A REASON FOR IT 
“FRIEND” MFG. CO., GASPORT, N. Y. 
SURE CURE FOR SAN JOSE SCALE 
CHEAPEST AND BEST 
Jarvis Spraying Compound has no superior. Buy 
from the mamuacturers direct and save money. A 
gallon of Jarvis Spraying Compound makes 16 gal¬ 
lons of spray. Compound; ready to mix with water. 
Sold in bbl. lots (50 gallons), 30 cents per gallon. 
References—J. H. Hale, the ’’Peach King,” or Prof. 
Jarvis of the Connecticut Agricultural College. They 
will tell you there is nothing better. 
The J.T. Robertson Co., Dept. R, Manchester, Conn. 
TO KILL 
San Jose Scale 
USE 
Bergenport Brand Sulphur 
The best sulphur .for Lime Sulphur Solution. 
Combines easily and quickly with lime. Write to 
T. & S. C. WHITE & CO. 
BERGENPORT SULPHUR WORKS 
100 William Street. New York 
FOR 
A CHRISTMAS PRESENT 
Nothing is more appropriate than 
ENGRAVED CARDS. 
Send as two new yearly subscriptions 
at $1.00 each; or four renewal subscrip¬ 
tions at $1.00 each (oue may be the re¬ 
newal of your own subscription) ; or 
twenty 10-week trial subscriptions at 10c 
each and we will send you 
50 ENGRAVED NAME CARDS 
AND COPPER PLATE 
oue line, name only, in neat script type— 
good quality card. 
We cannot guarantee delivery of 
Cards for Christmas for orders sent 
us after December 1st. 
These articles are not given with a 
subscription to the R. N.-Y., but are 
given to the agent as a reward, in place 
of cash, for extending the subscription 
list of the R. N.-Y. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
333 West 30th Street, New York City. 
