lire 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKEisi 
November 1, 
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.] 
Washing Gravel. 
I wish to build a cellar wall of con¬ 
crete and cannot get the gravel for less 
than $3 a load. There is gravel in a 
creek a mile from here, but it is a little 
dirty. Will you advise me how to wash 
it? A. s. 
Farmers’ Bulletin No. 461, from the 
U. S. Department of Agriculture gives 
the following directions for washing dirty 
sand or gravel: Build a loose board plat¬ 
form from 10 to 15 feet in length, and 
with one end raised 12 inches higher than 
the other. Along the sides and lower 
end nail a raised edge two by six inches 
in size to retain the gravel, which should 
be spread over the platform in a layer 
three or four inches deep. Wash with 
a 94-inch garden hose, commencing at 
the raised end and allowing the water to 
How down and through the gravel and 
over the raised edge at the bottom. A 
small amount of clay or loam does not 
render sand unfit for use. but any amount 
over 10 per cent should be removed by 
washing. Gravel with sharp irregular 
edges is best suited to concrete work; 
much that is found in creek beds has had 
the edges worn smooth and rounded by 
attrition, and should not be used. 
M. B. D. 
Grapes for Home Use. 
I wish to plant about 15 grapevines 
for home use, in season from early to 
late, and I would like your advice as to 
varieties, stating their tendency to the 
diseases of grapes, mildew, etc., and 
what is best for fertilizing them. I know 
some varieties are very good with a little 
care that would not be worth having 
when they are neglected. When are paper 
bags tied over the bunches? G. F. R. 
Collingdale, Pa. 
I would suggest a succession of var¬ 
ieties as follows: Winchell (green) and 
Early Daisy (black) for the earliest. 
The latter has not been planted commer¬ 
cially, but for the home vineyard I would 
surely give it a place. It shows produc¬ 
tiveness and hardiness with us, and is of 
very fair quality. The first named needs 
no comment, and were it black it would 
be the early commercial grape. Early 
Daisy will ripen a week or 10 days before 
Winchell. Bindley and Worden should 
be given places and while the latter mil¬ 
dews badly in some locations and seasons, 
the readiness with which it can be con¬ 
trolled by sulphur dusting makes this 
tendency no longer a barrier against it. 
These can then be followed by Barry and 
Gaertner, black and red respectively, and 
like Lindley, they may mildew. Few if 
any varieties of grapes are immune under 
unfavorable conditions. Concords, fol¬ 
lowed by Catawba, can be planted for 
completing the succession. It is quite un¬ 
likely that much if any fertilizing will 
be necessary the first few years especially, 
if the vines are planted in new land. 
Later moderate amounts of .stable man¬ 
ure should be applied at frequent inter¬ 
vals. If paper sacks are used in pro¬ 
tecting the clusters they should be put 
on when the berries are about the size of 
peas, and left on till picking. 
F. E. GLADWIN. 
The Prolific Cabbage Louse. 
I have six acres of cabbage, and the 
lice have nearly ruined it. I have many 
times more lice than any of my neighbors. 
I have raised cabbage longer than they; 
there was a quantity of cabbage left from 
last year in one corner of the fieljl, which 
I could not sell last Spring. Would that 
make any difference? Where do they live 
over Winter? The field was rich and 
I used 1,000 pounds of fertilizer, high- 
grade, per acre, 4-8-10. Would it be ad¬ 
visable to plant cabbage next year on 
same field if I plowed and sowed rye this 
Fall to plow under next Spring? n. 
Honeoye Falls, N. Y. 
The cabbage plant-louse is perhaps the 
most difficult to control of all the insects 
that attack the cabbage tribe. It being 
a sucking insect, feeding on the juices of 
the plant which it obtains by puncturing 
the sap cells of the plant, insecticides of 
a poisonous nature cannot be employed 
in an effective manner, as in the feeding 
habits of the louse very little if any of 
the poison is ever taken internally. Any 
remedy to be effective must be of such a 
nature that it will kill the insect by direct 
contact. Such remedies as tobacco dust, 
pyrethrum powder, etc., ai-e more or less 
effective, as they clog the breathing pores, 
producing stupefaction and in most in¬ 
stances death. Tobacco smoke is also ef¬ 
fective when propexdy used. Whale-oil 
soap, fir-tree oil soap, and kerosene emul¬ 
sion are very effective as a spray. But 
whatever the remedy used it must be 
brought in direct contact with the aph¬ 
ids. Small cabbage plants can be suc¬ 
cessfully treated for louse, but it is im¬ 
possible to treat large plants successfully, 
especially after they have begun to head. 
It is then utterly impossible to reach all 
with powder or spray. If a single female 
louse escapes to each plant infected it 
will be but a few days until they are as 
plentiful as evei\ It is estimated that a 
single plant-louse may in five generations 
become the ancestor of over seven bun¬ 
dled million descendants. The young louse 
is born alive and the wingless females 
become mothers in three days from birth 
and bear four young each day, every one 
of which is a fertile female from birth; 
so that in 20 days the descendants would 
exceed two millions, (Oemler). So it 
will be seen how important that every 
female louse is destroyed. When the 
young plants are attacked by the louse, 
either in the seed bed or after being 
planted in the field, tobacco dust or 
pyrethrum will be found helpful in hold¬ 
ing them in check, but these remedies 
cannot be relied upon to free the plants 
entirely from the pest. At the time the 
plants are set out it is a good plan to 
immerse them in a solution of fir-tree oil 
soap of a strength of three ounces to two 
gallons of water. Immerse the plants in 
this solution up to the roots; this will 
effectually rid the plants for the time 
being of lice or any other insects that 
may be on them at the time of treatment, 
and if the plants start off promptly into 
vigorous growth this single treatment 
may be all that will be required. If the 
plants should be attacked again the only 
effective means of eradicating them is to 
sponge the plants thoroughly with the 
solution of some harmless insecticide such 
as fir-tree oil soap, being particular that 
no portion of the plant is missed. This 
method of treatment is tedious and slow; 
but it is effective, and is often the only 
means that can be employed to save this 
crop. The cabbage plant-louse, like most 
insects, usually hibernate when Winter 
weather finds it, and it is not at all un¬ 
likely that the refuse cabbage lying in 
the corner of your field furnishes the 
parents of the prolific and abundant crop 
of lice that infest the crop this year. I 
would not plant cabbage on that field next 
year; growing cabbage on the same land 
year after year is to invite all kinds of 
cabbage insects and diseases that will 
prove more or less disastrous to the 
crop. Sow to rye this Fall and plant 
to corn next year. Rotation of crops is 
always advisable, and should be more 
generally practiced. K. 
A Little Alfalfa Statement. 
My soil is limestone shale and clay 
subsoil, naturally drained. We sow T in 
the middle of August to middle of Sep¬ 
tember ; like the middle of August the 
better for the reason that the weeds are 
doing less growing at that time. We 
grow a crop of corn the year before, keep¬ 
ing it as clean as possible; the following 
Winter manure well, plow the latter part 
of May and cultivate often through the 
Summer. We lime and fertilize well, get 
about 400 pounds of ground from an old 
Alfalfa field and use that quantity per 
acre; get it in with fertilizer drill. We 
work the ground until we get a good 
seed bed, sow from 20 to 25 pounds of 
seed to the acre, cover about an inch in 
thickness. In cutting it, I w’atch for the 
new shoots to appear, and cut in the 
morning after the dew is off; let it lie 
until the next morning, go over it with 
a tedder and in the afternoon put in hay¬ 
cocks. Leave about three days if weather is 
good, open up shocks to air, then haul in. 
When I speak of yields I mean dry hay. 
I never weighed it, but filled a mow that 
holds 30 tons of Timothy hay from six 
acres of Alfalfa. Last Spring I cut what 
I judge would make not less than 10 tons 
off six acres, commencing to cut June 
2, and it is ready to make again and 
stands on an average two feet in height. 
Bedford, Pa. s. E. L. 
“Do you have as much trouble finding 
your cuff and collar buttons as you used 
to?” “No; I always find ’em in one 
place now.” “Indeed!” Yes; I go to 
the vacuum cleaner.”—Judge. 
THE MAIL BAG. 
Poison Ivy.—I have known several 
cases of ivy poisoning that were cured 
by stewed cranberries, not eaten but ap¬ 
plied externally. w. B. B. 
Long Island. 
Willow For Artificial Limbs. —It 
may not be of personal interest to you, 
but manufacturers of artificial limbs are 
seeking substitutes for English willow, 
used because of its combined lightness 
and strength. It is claimed that the 
Port Orford cedar of the Pacific Coast 
will prove equally serviceable. 
Successful Crops. —Shall we plant 
melons twice in succession on the same 
ground? It depends on circumstances. 
If melon diseases like wilt and blight, 
or melon insects were bad, take new 
ground. These pests will be multiplied ! 
another year, while they will starve | 
out if other crops are planted there. 
If insects and diseases were not bad— 
try melons again. 
Dynamite Tree Planting. —My own 
experience, as well as that of others, 
seems to be that trees planted in blasted 
holes do better than where the holes are 
dug or plowed. The great drawback to 
the use of dynamite is, in my case, the 
severe pains in head and back resulting 
from inhaling the gas. No matter how 
careful I am I always manage to inhale 
enough to make me sick. The last time 
I did some blasting I hardly slept at all 
during the following week. Give us a 
remedy. R. w. g. 
A Soils Laboratory has been started 
at the Wisconsin College of Agriculture. 
This laboratory will serve farmers who 
desire examination of the soil and chem¬ 
ical analyses. The charges will be low 
both for personal investigation and for 
examination of the soil. During the year 
we have many inquiries from our people 
asking where they can have soil, fertiliz¬ 
ing materials, and similar matters an¬ 
alyzed. As a rule, the Experiment Sta¬ 
tions cannot handle this work, and the 
cost in commercial laboratories is high. 
There ought to be in every State some 
place where farmers could have this 
work done at a low figure. That should 
be a definite part of the work of agri¬ 
cultural education, for a very large part 
of this education is based on the analysis 
of the soil or of farm and fertilizing pro¬ 
ducts. 
Although an old man I have changed 
my skies and am out here to “grow up 
with the State.” The strawberry situa¬ 
tion is different from ours in the East, 
but Eastern methods are needed, and I 
hope to get the Panama prizes, as I did 
those of Jamestown and St. Louis. The 
destruction of grapes by birds is great. 
/The queer part of it is that no bagging 
is done anywhere as far as I can see. 
Ignorant folk blame the bees, hornets and 
wasps, but none of these have ever hurt 
a grape since the world began—unless the 
way had been blazed by rot, cracks, or 
gashes made by birds. All bunches hang¬ 
ing free below and no perches upon which 
the birds can alight and pick them are 
perfect, while those surrounded by leaf 
stems and twigs are riddled. 
ARTHUR T. GOLDSBOROUGH. 
California. 
Those Abused Cats. —On page 1073 
a man tells that he made his cats good 
hunters by keeping them out of the house 
and not feeding them. No doubt he 
thinks so, but cats that will endure such 
treatment and not catch chickens are en- : 
titled to more nraise than their owner. 
We have two male cats over three years 
old, and 10 to 12 pounds in weight, that 
are fed fresh meat, fish, new milk and 
other things they like, and they will 
finish eating and start out hunting as a 
man would go to his work from his din¬ 
ner. One of them follows me to all the 
henhouses and chicken coops in the 
morning to look for mice and rats, and 
keeps watch of all places where such 
creatures work or travel. The other 
hunts in the field and woods more, and 
brings in squirrels. Neither of them will 
touch chickens at home or at the neigh¬ 
bors, but are ready to take English spar¬ 
rows when they come among the flock. 
Instead of being kept out they eat and 
sleep in the house; sleep in chairs when 
they please, and are so neat that they 
leave no dust or seldom. A person who 
cannot make a companion of a domestic 
animal and give it fair treatment seems 
like the class who used to winter colts in 
open sheds, lying on their own filth all 
Winter to “toughen” them. We have 
but two in the family beside the cats, and 
they are petted like children; yet they 
are cats and will hunt. o. u. LEAVITT. 
New Hampshire. 
“For the Land’s Sake, use Bowker’s 
Fertilizers; they enrich the earth and 
those who till it .”—A dv. 
If you want to set a new orchard or renovate old ap¬ 
ple or peach trees to last until the new orchard is 
ready, writeT. H HARRIS, 908 Main St., Fredericksburo.Va. 
Alfalfa For Sale-.turSM.s; 
season’s crop, three cuttings, neither sun-burned 
nor mow-burned, $22 per ton on board cars Fayette¬ 
ville, N. V. JOHN McLENNAN Fayetteville, New York 
iy-1 car each of 1st cut- 
' " ting and 2d cutting. 
11s, from high-class, high- 
DUNLOP, 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. 
FOR SALE-i'oSd C Lo fl xi DANISH STOCK BEETS 
$6 per ton F. O. B. Auburn. The key to larse milk production. 
Ready for immediate delivery. T. E. Barlow, Mpr., Auburn, N, Y. 
Standard Apple Barrels 
Car lots or less. ROBT. GILLIES, Medina, N. Y. 
ft IF ALFA Hi 
* ™ Two Guernsey bi 
record cows. W. R08ERT 
TREES FOR FALL PLANTING 
Direct from our Nurseries. Our immense 
stock of Apple, Peach, Pear, Plum, Cherry, 
etc., enables ns to quote lowest prices. 
Write at once for Catalog and Prices. 
L'AMOREAUX NURSERY CO.. - Schoharie N. Y. 
SURE CURE FOR SAN JOSE SCALE 
CHEAPEST AND BEST 
Jarvis Spraying Compound has no superior. Buy 
from the manulacturors direct and save money. A 
gallon of Jarvis Spraying Compound makes 16 gal 
Ions of spray. Compound ready to mix with water. 
Sold in bbl. lots laO 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 bette’r. 
The J.T. Robertson Co., Dept. R, Manchester, Conn. 
San Josf: Scale Killer 
KIL-O-SCALE is the most reliable rem¬ 
edy for scale. Ready for use by simply mix¬ 
ing with water. Also Lime sulphur and 
Spraying Outfits. Write for catalogue. 
Henry A. Dreer, Philadelphia, Pa. 
to kill 
San Jose Scale 
TSK 
Bergenport Brand Sulphur 
The best sulphur for Lime Sulphur Solution. 
Combines easily and quickly with lime. Write to 
T. & S. C. WHITE .ft CO. 
BERGENPORT SULPHUR WORKS 
lOO William Street, New York 
^3 
There will NEVER be enough num¬ 
ber one apples—ALWAYS too many 
cider apples. Don’t waste your time 
and your trees growing inferior grades. 
Use “Scalecide” the one sure spray for 
San Jose scale, and produce number 
one fruit. “Scalecide” is 100% efficient 
against scale and has marked fungi¬ 
cidal properties. Used by best orchard- 
ists the world over. Endorsed by Ex¬ 
periment Stations. Our SERVICE 
DEPARTMENT furnishes everything 
for the orchard. Write today to Dept, 
for new booklet—"Pratt's Hand* 
book for Fruit Growers” and "Scale¬ 
cide the Tree Saver.” Both free. 
B. G. PRATT COMPANY 
50 Church Street New York City 
For Two New Yearly Subscrip¬ 
tions or Twenty 10-Week 
Trial Subscriptions 
Overland 
Nickel 
Silver 
Open- 
Face 
Watch 
Clock movement. Low price, but guaran¬ 
teed timepiece. Every watch is run and 
regulated six days at factory before leav¬ 
ing. Gilt-finished movement; white dial 
with Arabic figures; stem wind and set. 
These articles are not given with a subscrip¬ 
tion to the K. 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 St., N. Y. 
We grow our trees And sell direct to the customer at wholesale P'-Ices whicl 
are from 60* lo 76* less than you pay agents and dealers. rwenty-ntMlyears | 
experience enables us to sell you fruit trees and plants at loner prices thanur 
competitors. If you want Guaranteed Quality flnple. Peach, Pear, Plum, 
Cherrv Ouince, or other Fruit and Ornamental trees, vines or shrub* at lowest 
p,,s*\ble’ prices, consistent with quality, write today lor our FREE wholesale, 
Illustrated catalogue. You cannot afford to be without It. Visit our nurseries. 
1L0NEY BROS & WELLS CO. 144 Main Street. Dansville, N. Y. Itansmlle s Pioneer Wholesale Nurseries. 
