T'HfcO RURAL NEW-YORKER 
341 
1910. 
CURRANT AND BLACKBERRY QUESTIONS 
J. F. N., Chatham, Mass. —1. Is there any 
better currant than the Perfection for 
market? 2. Is the quality of the Pomona 
currant better than the Perfection? 3. Is 
there any better blackberry than the El¬ 
dorado for size and quality? 4. Is the 
Lucretia dewberry as good as the blackberry 
for size and quality? 
Ans. —1. Perfection is one of the best 
of all the currants that I have seen, 
both in the patch and on sale. Last 
year I saw samples of it on exhibit at 
the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition at 
Seattle, Washington, that excelled any¬ 
thing in the way of currants that I had 
ever seen in size of berry and cluster. 
I also visited the place where they were 
grown and saw the bushes loaded with 
fruit. They are very stout and upright 
in habit, which is a point in which this 
variety excels the Fay and a few others. 
Diploma is about as near like the Perfec¬ 
tion as can be and is also well worthy of 
culture. 2. Pomona is a good currant 
in quality but I do not think it is bet¬ 
ter than Perfection in this regard. 3. 
Eldorado is one of the highest in quality 
of all blackberries and the canes are 
hardy in cold regions, but it is not very 
prolific. The fruit is not so large as that 
of Kittatinny, but it is not small. Mer- 
sereau is one of the best of the black¬ 
berries, but late in season of ripening. 
Ward is another excellent variety. I 
would advise planting all of these varie¬ 
ties and from them choose that which 
is best adapted to the conditions there. 
4. The Lucretia dewberry is larger 
than the average blackberry and its qual¬ 
ity is good, but I do not think it quite 
equal to the best of them. Mayes (also 
called Austin) is even larger in berry 
and better in quality than Lucretia, but 
it may not be hardy enough to endure 
the Winters in Massachusetts. The 
State Experiment Station may have 
tested it and be able to give positive evi¬ 
dence on this point. Windom is a dew¬ 
berry from Minnesota that is hardy 
enough. h. e. van deman. 
A FRENCH VEGETABLE CELLAR. 
The picture reproduced in Fig. 132, is 
from a French journal. La Vie a la Cam¬ 
panile, reprinted by London Gardening Il¬ 
lustrated. It is a cellar about 12 feet wide, 
with small windows about seven feet from 
the ground, the darkest portion of the cellar 
being at the foot of the wall opposite the 
air-holes. Alongside the walls make two 
beds, each about 2% feet wide, with a plank 
edging about 11% inches high, leaving a 
path between the beds of about 23 % 
Inches, which will give you a space of about 
3>/ t feeL to allow of a third bed being made. 
This may or may not occupy all the space 
at your disposal, but, if more than 6 feet 
long, it should be divided into two beds by 
a path. These should have plank edgings, 
about 7% inches high. About 3% inches 
or four inches below the air-holes, fix up 
shelves with strong supports, able to bear 
a considerable weight. The shelves should 
be about two feet wide, so that they can 
be easily reached without having to stand 
on the plank edging of the bed for that pur¬ 
pose. The height of the shelf from the 
ground will be about five feet. In no eas6 
should the shelf be so low as to prevent 
1 be light from the air-holes playing on it. 
1 he boxes for placing on the shelves should 
be about four inches deep and 20 inches 
wide, the thickness of the wood included, 
and not more than 23 inches or so in length, 
so as not to put too much strain on the 
support. On the opposite wall construct a 
similar shelf, with boxes as before. The soil 
used should be light and very dry, and not 
clayey, or it may be fine sand, or a mixture 
of the two, the principal point being that it 
shall not retain moisture. All the beds are 
filled except in the darkest part of the 
cellar. 
So long as there is no frost, outdoor cul¬ 
ture is best for curly chicory and endives, 
which means that there is no settled time 
for bringing them indoors, which ought to 
be delayed as long as possible. The neces¬ 
sity for it, however, occurs in most cases 
about the end of October. If it is only a 
case of white frosts, cover over the plants 
with matting or dry leaves in the evening, 
these to be removed in the morning about 
an hour before the sun shines on the soil. 
When severe frosts are anticipated, select 
the first fine, dry day, and take up, first of 
all, the curly chicory and next the endives, 
when their foliage is quite dry. Lift each 
plant with a ball, which, to render more 
compact, should be pressed by the hands. 
1 ut the plants in the sand or light soil in 
the boxes, so that their outer leaves touch, 
but never pack them too tightly. Then 
water with the rose off. but gently, and 
without wetting the leaves, so that the 
balls of the roots shall be sufficiently mois¬ 
tened to unite with the soil in the boxes. 
This done, replace the boxes in the cellar, 
placing those that contain curly chicory on 
the shelf beside the air-holes, and those con¬ 
taining the Batavian endives, which with¬ 
stand moisture better, on the opposite and 
darker side. If the plants were already 
blanched by the ordinary process of tying 
or covering over, carried out in favourable 
conditions, leave them so; but if they show 
signs of rotting, remove the leaves, and 
merely place over them in the cellar a light 
covering of dry straw 2% inches to 3% 
inches thick. If, on the other hand, having 
neither been tied nor covered over in any 
way, they are still green, it is the more 
important to guard them from the light by 
doubling the thickness of the straw protec¬ 
tion. The daylight coming from the air¬ 
holes should not fall directly on the plants, 
as that would prevent blanching; its pur¬ 
pose is to keep the coverings in good con¬ 
dition and ward off damp. Therefore, ac¬ 
cording to the state of the weather, and 
the appearance of rot, change the places of 
the boxes, and put them by turns of from 
eight to 15 days in front of the air-holes, 
so as to air them, without, however, pre¬ 
venting bleaching. When lifting the plants, 
remove the roots also, to save the others 
from rotting. As fast as the curly chicory 
gets used up, fill the empty places on the 
shelf with boxes of Batavian endive, taken 
from the opposite shelf. 
The central mound, saves space, the 
section showing how the roots are planted. 
The leaves are cut so as not to injure the 
root, which will sprout anew, all that is 
necessary being an occasional spraying. 
“Barbe-de-Capuein” is a chicory with 
straight narrow leaves; witloof another 
chicory that forms more solid heads. The 
various forms of chicory and endive, with 
crisp tender leaves and slightly bitter fla¬ 
vor, are among our best Winter salads, but 
they are not as much appreciated in this 
country as in Europe. 
The Terumo x Scale. —On page 200 I 
notice an article by Mr. G. Herrick about 
the Terrapin scale on peach. My nearest 
neighbor has a bad case of it which has 
been increasing at a very rapid rate under 
the lime-sulphur treatment. The State Ag¬ 
ricultural College has five or six experi¬ 
ments under observation here now, testing 
the effects of the different kinds of spray 
mixtures. At our farmers’ institute the 
subject was discussed, and the following 
report was made. The better class of oils 
killed a very large per cent; in fact, it was 
very hard to find a live scale where treated 
with the best of them. Lime-sulphur solu¬ 
tion killed such a small per cent that it 
was not advisable to use it for those scales, 
while it is very effective on San Josd scale. 
This shows that any of the higher grades 
of oil sprays are what is needed to keep 
the Terrapin scale in check, and I advise 
any one who has them in his orchard not 
to depend on lime-sulphur, but use oils. 
Often where it has just been discovered 
there are only a few infested trees, and 
they can be marked and gone over separate¬ 
ly without much trouble. It will pay to 
use something we know will kill them. 
Maryland. d. v. pike. 
Hello, 
v-S Smith! 
How Much 
Butter and 
How Many 
SgsToday 
Y OU don’t need to take your pro¬ 
ducts to town on chance if you 
have a telephone. You need 
not even go yourself. Get customers on 
the ’phone, take your orders, then send 
the boy. Then you can find your best 
market—send the right stuff to the right 
people at the right time. There’s money 
in it. To have a 
Stromberg-Carlson 
Independent Telephone 
in the house is like having another hired 
man, yet it costs but a pittance each 
month. When the doctor is wanted in a 
hurry, its worth cannot be measured. 
Our new free book, 
“How The Telephone 
Helps the Farmer,” 
Edition31, will give you 
a lot of valuable hints 
and tells how easily any¬ 
one can put in our equip¬ 
ment and string the 
wires. Also tells how 10 
men can organize a suc¬ 
cessful Independent Tel¬ 
ephone System. 
u.-ry 
A 
I 
Stromberg-Carlson Telephone 
Mfg. Company 
Rochester, N. Y. 
Chicago, Ill. Kansas City, Mo. 
(Address nearest oitice.) 
D 
O YOU want all the conveniences a city water supply would give you ? Running water 
in your bathroom? In the.kitchen? For the lawn? Garden? Barn? Watering 
Troughs? You can have an abundance of water under strong 
pressure, for any desired connections, if you install the 
Kewanee System of Water Supply 
With the Kewanee System, the tank is located in the cellar or buried in 
the ground, and the water is delivered by air pressure. No elevated or attic 
tank to leak, freeze, overflow or collapse. Water can be pumped by hand, gas¬ 
oline engine, electric and other dependable forms of power. Kewanee Pumping 
Machinery, used in complete Kewanee Systems, is as far ahead of ordinary 
pumping rigs, as Kewanee Tanks are ahead of leaky attic tanks. 
Complete Kewanee Systems cost from $70.00 up, depending upon your 
requirements and the method adopted for pumping. Over 10,000 Kewanee 
Systems in successful operation. Let otir engineers solve your water 
supply problem. Write for illustrated catalogue No. 47 
Kewanee Water Supply Company, Kewanee. Illinois. 
50 Church Sb, New York, 1212 Marquette Bldg., Chicago, 305 Diamond Bank Bdg., Pittsburgh. 
A WATER SYSTEM 
WITMOUTaWATER TANK 
"" l,M » Equipment may he placed at any distance 
Don’t use an immense tank, either 
elevated or buried, for storing 
water. Stored water is unhealtliful 
for your family and your stock. 
Pump tno water direct, with com¬ 
pressed air, as you use it. Supply 
the home with water fresh from tho 
well by using the 
PERRY PNEUMATIC WATER SYSTEM 
The only water system that stores no water. 
"\X^TTH the Ferry System, the water stays in the well until it is needed. Continuous 
’ * pressure in the pipes at all times, same as city supply. The Ferry System forces 
water from the source of supply to the faucets by direct air pressure. It stores com¬ 
pressed air, which is the power that forces the water from the cylinders of the pneu¬ 
matic pump. This stored air is reserve power, making it necessary to operate 
the compressor only occasionally; therefore the motor, engine, or whatever power 
employed may, in the meantime, be used for other purposes. 
One air-compressing outfit will supply both hard and soft water, if desired. 
Easy to install and operate. 
The Perry System is adapted for open or driven wells, lakes, rivers or springs. 
Economical in operation. Endorsed by architects and engineers. Fully guaranteed. 
Write for descriptive catalog. 
UNITED PUMP & POWER CO. 
473 OLD COLONY BUILDING, CHICAGO. 
General Assortment. 
FRUIT TREES. 
Readers are familiar with the 
values wo have offered through this paper for nearly 25 years. Beautiful 2-year Cherry, 3 to 4 ft., 
S7 i>er lOO. Our free catalogue will interest you. H.S. WILEY & SON,Drawer 5,Cayuga,N. Y. 
ark^yearJ3°°k- 
1310 
tail. It will be sent to any person interested in 
g on receipt of 7 cents to cover postage. The 
Book for 1910 represents an entirely new idea in 
s literature—it is a work of art as well as a 
catalogue of Stark Nursery products. Within its covers are 32 full-page illustrations of 
fruits and flowers, representing 175 varieties, done in four colors, and exactly reproducing 
nature. 84 pages are devoted to descriptions, prices, and records. 
{Stark Delicious, the apple that has revolutionized orchard planting and established a 
new standard of apple values (selling at $10.00 per bushel box this year); Stark King 
David, another apple of wondrous quality and merit; Stark King Philip, a hardy black 
grape of California grape quality, and dozens of the very best«things in the horticultural 
world are fully described, illustrated, and priced. 
To any one planting one tree or many, of fruits or ornamental, this book is of 
inestimable value—a horticultural text-book—a guide to proper selection. 
Stark trees have stood the supreme test of actual planting for 85 years—they are the 
yard-stick by which all other nursery products are measured—they are the first choice of 
this country’s most successful orchardists. The success of the orchard is dependent on 
the kind and quality of tree planted. Stark varieties are the best of the best. Our record 
of 85 years of successful selling is a positive guarantee of tree quality. 
Before you decide to buy, send 7 cents for the Stark 
Year Book—do it today before the edition is exhausted. 
Stark Bro’s Nurseries and Orchards Co. 
Lock Box 35, Louisiana, Missouri 
eady to n 
it-growin 
rk Y’ear 
rservmen’ 
