1910. 
IMPROVING THE SUGAR BEET 
Selection and Hand Pollenization. 
The Agricultural Experiment Station 
at Brookings, S. D., has been working 
for some time on the sugar beet, in 
co-operation with the Bureau of Plant 
Industry, U. S. Department of Agri¬ 
culture. The sugar beet is a biennial, 
hence seed sown in 1907 furnished 
mother beets for 1908, which supplied 
the seed for 1909 planting. All mother 
beets were rejected which fell below 15 
per cent sugar; in some instances all 
that fell below 18 per cent were rejected. 
The selected beets were planted early 
in the Spring as soon as danger from 
heavy frosts was over, and isolated to 
avoid cross-pollenization. Some supe¬ 
rior individuals were covered with light 
muslin sacks, so that seed was self- 
fertilized, but the main lot, in each 
variety, were not sacked, and were thus 
either self-pollinated or cross-pollinated 
within the variety. Regarding the arti¬ 
ficial crosses, the bulletin says: 
The making of definite crosses between 
different varieties of beets involved much 
hand labor requiring very delicate and skill- 
THE RURAb 
Those Native Plums. 
In a recent article on plums in The R. 
N.-Y. i stated that Mr. Kerr, of Maryland, 
from whom I had purchased my very satis¬ 
factory assortment of native plums, some 
five or six years ago. was not propagating 
these any more, and that I knew of no 
one else who was. I wish to correct this 
statement in justice to Mr. Kerr, as he is 
propagating and offering what he has 
found the best of some 500 kinds, and I 
am pleased to note that he still retains 
those in his list that have been so satis¬ 
factory here- We thinK that arty one 
throughout a large territory where other 
plums do not bear regularly, would great¬ 
ly appreciate at least a tree each of Ben¬ 
son, Moreman and Wayland, coining in 
succession, whatever other plums they may 
be pleased to plant. c. weckesskk. 
Wayne County, Ohio. 
NEW-YORKER 
309 
TREE-LIKE TYPE OF BEET. Fio. 134. 
ful manipulation. In the first place it is 
necessary to select the blossoms to be pol¬ 
linated at the proper time. This is just be¬ 
fore the petals open. The operation goes on 
in two stages. First, the petals are care¬ 
fully opened and the unripe anthers are cut 
away by delicate scissors. Either a whole 
plant may be treated thus, or one branch 
of a plant may be taken only. In either 
case the flowers so treated are carefully 
sacked to prevent stray pollen from coming 
in contact with the pistils of the emascu¬ 
lated flowers. These flowers are examined 
from time to time in order to note when 
the petals open, which usually occurs in a 
day or so. Then ripe pollen is secured from 
the male plant chosen for the cross and this 
is carefully dusted over the now exposed 
pistils of the female progenitor of the cross. 
After the flowers have been pollinated the 
sacks are again placed around the flowers 
until danger from stray pollen is past. When 
that time arrives the sacks are removed, 
since the seeds do not develop so well in 
the sacks as in the open air. After the 
sacks are removed it is necessary to go over 
the treated plants every few days and cut 
off any new flowers that may start to grow. 
In all 14 crosses were made in this way and 
thousands of seeds were treated. In every 
case cross-bred seed was secured. 
1 here was a marked variation in the 
way the mother beets formed their seed 
stalks, some making a strong central 
stalk witn lateral branches, distinctly tree¬ 
like in growth, as in Fig.124, while others, 
described as the deliquescent type, made 
a number of small, finely divided stems, 
without the strong central stem. A beet 
gi\ ing the phenomenal percentage of 24.8 
pei cent 'sugar was of this deliquescent 
type. In spite of years of cultivation, 
the sugar beet does not seem fixed in 
type, but is subject to much variation. 
There is also great variation in sugar 
content, weather conditions affecting this 
considerably. 
Cold Country Blackberries. 
Permit me to say in reply to It. A. M., 
of Walker, N. Y., regarding bis planting 
the Blowers and Mersereau blackberries, to 
go slow on these sorts until he finds out 
whether they are adapted to bis soil, also 
whether the Mersereau is able to withstand 
the low temperatures of his section. With 
me, the Mersereau killed back to the snow 
line for three consecutive Winters, and I 
rooted them out in disgust. They would 
make a fine cane growth each Summer, but 
what good was that if all the fruiting wood 
was killed during Winter? Of course, we 
get some pretty cold spells here in Chenan¬ 
go County every Winter—SO below zero 
or more; we have had that weather within 
the past week. Mersereau won't stand that 
degree of cold on my fruit farm, which is 
a gravelly upland loam. Snyder and El¬ 
dorado always do well under similar con¬ 
ditions: I have tried the Blowers black¬ 
berry only two years, and that in a 
limited way. It is a good enough grower 
and apparently quite hardy, but it does not 
set much fruit for me. I shall not plant 
it largely until it proves better in this 
respect. The old Snyder may not bo the 
handsomest or biggest berry, but it's there 
when it comes to reliability for fruit, no 
matter how cold the Winter weather. We 
never lay down our blackberry or raspberry 
bushes in Winter, but mulch our straw¬ 
berry plants with straw. Snyder and El¬ 
dorado blackberries are quite free from 
rust with us. . g. h. m. 
Norwich. N T . Y. 
Children Are 
Killed by Lightning 
•n ^' ves property destroyed, losses reaching^ 
millions are sustained—just because we do not 
use proper protection from fire losses. Some of these 
losses are partially made up by insurance, but insurance 
rQfltl AT n rn .-nn D „ „ * 7 r » ' 
your own hands.' "You "carfsafeguard youreelpandyour 1 fam- 
|ly, your barns and stock from fire dangers. Not onlv that 
but you can save money at the same time—from one-fourth 
n° ° rnmc ^ ha A you are n , ow P a y [n & ou * for insurance 
T1S .; T 5 a . t J bein g so > wh at excuse can you offer if you 
fail to do it, and there should follow loss of life and property. 
Besides, such protection as we offer relieves your wire and 
children from the terror of fear every time there is a thunder 
storm. Perhaps you have that fear yourself. 
Know this —three out of four fires in rural districts are 
caused by lightning. Read the proof. 
We Can Guarantee to Protect You 
THE PROOF 
If you read but one 
parasraph of this adver¬ 
tisement. read this one: 
. Report of 111 fire 
insurance companies 
show 2960 fire losses in 
one year— 2165 were 
caused by lightning — 
only 795 from all other 
causes combined. Think 
of it—3 to 1. That is 
what we would save 
you from. 
from lightning. We have the proof, 
clearly demonstrating that D. & S. Light- 
mng System will not only protect, but 
you can secure fire insurance at a saving 
of one-fourth to one-half present rates. 
D. Cl S. System 
is Not Expensive 
They are put up by our men trained and 
experienced in the work—not by men 
who are the lightning rod agent kind. 
Ueta D. & S. System which lasts forever, 
costs you hardly any more than inferior 
2 DODD & STRUTHERS, 
. -, r .v-w.v»v**l,VI V/Ul VUlll- 
pany, is the only scientist since Franklin 
who has made a scientific and practical 
study of lightning. The D. & S. system is 
the result of his scientific discoveries. 
We have several books on lightning 
and lightning protection which will give 
you facts and figures. A request will 
bring them. Destructive spring storms 
will soon be here. Find out now how 
you can be safe from loss. 
Sixth Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa. 
Soaking Seed Potatoes. 
I have met with marked success in soak¬ 
ing seed potatoes to prevent scab. Raised 
.300 bushels per acre this year on land that 
four years ago would not grow oats big 
enough to cut, and clover would not come. 
I have accomplished it by stable manure, 
lime, intense cultivation, and last year 
plowed under a good crop of clover. I am 
going to sow this year to Alfalfa. I use 
one pound formaldehyde to 30 gallons 
water. I plowed up, last Fall, an acre of 
Alfalta. D had become so badly infested 
with dodder; it has been limed heavily but 
am going to put on early potatoes, and 
follow with Alfalfa again. I have no fear 
of scab, as I shall soak my seed. Keep 
after the fakers, and the farmers who do 
not raise Alfalfa. e p t 
Smyrna, N. Y. 
FOR SALE 50,000,000 ft. of NEW LUMBER 
ahsoi r ute*y® brand new and Ur^-class^n^ e^p^rttcJlar* '*?? , tI ? an askpd for U 14 is 
, lumber mills at half the usual prices and wtf bought 50,000,000 feet from 
lutely no possibility for you to go wrong in this mktte? C Ui? b L nefil of a There ia abso- 
offered at such low prices as we ore sell it ”*®E' l ff ver ,n twenty years has Lumber been 
chance, you are certainly missing a splendid opportunity 14 w« m°iI UOt j ake “^vantage of this 
price to your railroad shipping r r 0 int. PP t ty ' VVe Wl11 9uote you freight prepaid 
SEMI LUMBER BILL FOB ESTIMATE 
I ^ ^225 a It. makes no difference 
the building material line and it is good materiii? nnVbR, i T. k lnch A es evervthin « in 
I do ' ,a t r * worth of merchandise we sell is cove ed hv s manufactured. Every 
satisfied customers everywhere. covered by a binding guarantee. Thousands of 
lab’H%Apparatus? Hardware ^nc^^ 000 0 ?. W ° kav0 “ complete stock of Plumbing Mater- 
CHICAGO HOUSE WRECKING CO., 35th and Iron Sts., CHICAGO 
a d 
frost 
WIRE FENCES 
A quarter of a century's experience 
", '! 0l P 3 us In deciding the proper ma- 
terials to uso and proper methods of 
constructing.t ie heavy weight Woven 
Wire and Field Erected Fences and 
steel gates. Catalog Free. Our Prices 
mil at tract you. 
_ THE FROST WIRE FENCE CO. 
Dopt- H. CLEVELAND, 0. 
Cents a Rod 
For22-ln. Hog Fence; 15 3-4e for 
26-lnch; 18 3-lc for 31-inch; 22c 
for 34-inch; 2oc for a 47-inch 
Farm Fence. 60-inch Poultry 
Fence 33c. Sold on 30 days 
trial. 80 rod spool Ideal Barb 
Wire $ 1 .55 Catalogue free. 
KITSELMAN BROS., 
Box 230 MUNCIE, INO. 
^27%TWELDi 
Wf/HELDJ 
WEIGHT DIFFEREIiCE ? 
PERFECT PENCE 
NOT A PERFECT 
Going to buy a fence? Then 
^ ware of the mistake of counting waste ^ 
wei *g ht as strength. Study carefully th^T^oints 
where wire meets wire. In all fences with wraps, ties 
or clamps remember that every ounce of wire in those ^ 
y ra Pf> ties or clamps is waste wire, dead weight. These 
bunglesome holding devices add nothing whatever to strength, 
but ^detract from appearance , effectiveness and durability. 
You know that you have to pay for that waste 
weight —also you pay freight on waste weight" 
Now look at the 
“PITTSBURGH PERFECT” FENCE 
Not an Ounce of Waste Weight ! 
We! ?,f d at . eve 7 con *act point-the weld is even stronger 
than the wire. The selling price of any other fence made of the same guage 
< s '"> “ the ‘P.ttsburgh Pi-rfect" Fence i. gre.ter tha„ the 
of the Pittsburgh Perfect Judge the strength of a fence by the size of the 
Z*£l' I a f / nCe W £ h Stay Wires as ,ar S e as Iine wires—weaker TtTy wires 
make a weaker fence. Every wire in the “Pittsburgh Perfect” is of open^earth 
midefn 73 n dif e f d by ou f r . lm P roved process. Insist on seeing this fence. It b 
made m 73 different styles for every fence purpose. 
Your dealer sells it. Write for free catalog. 
PITTSBURGH STEEL CO.. Pittsburgh, Pa. 
Deadweight 
