1 DIO. 
THE R U R. A. Iv NEW-YORKER 
84 T 
FEEDING BEES. 
A. D. H., Wilton, Conn .—I have a colony 
of Italian bees, which will need feeding. 
Can you give me any advice how to do it 
at this time of the year? I have a feeder 
used in super, so that I do not have to 
feed outside. Do you think sugar syrup 
would do? 
Ans. —It is impossible to feed sugar 
syrup or any liquid feed when it is too 
cold for the bees to break cluster, but it 
is perfectly feasible to feed sugar syrup 
in the feeder in the super on a warm 
day when the bees can fly freely. I would 
make the syrup two parts w r ater to three 
parts sugar, by measure, and feed it as 
warm as the bees could take it; if there 
are no other bees near there will be no 
trouble, but if -there are other bees near, 
it will be best to feed at night, cover the 
super up tight and warm, and take the 
feeder away as soon as the bees have 
cleaned it out, or in case the weather 
turned suddenly cold. It will not be 
necessary to feed a large amount during 
cold weather, only enough to keep them 
until warm weather, when they will need 
close attention until honey begins to 
come in freely, as they need abundance 
of stores to fill up their hives with brood, 
ready for the honey flow. j. A. crane. 
POULTRY WITH FRUIT GROWING. 
W. If. A., Franklin, Pa .—I am starting 
a small fruit farm, consisting of about 
3.000 Fay currants, about 1,000 raspberries, 
black and red, 200 peach trees and 1.10 
pear trees, and would like to have a few 
chickens, something that will bring the 
most money or returns, and would like to 
know what “strain" to get. I have the 
ground ready for 5,000 strawberry plants. 
Will the chickens be u paying investment, 
and how many would you keep? Would 
you raise laying stock or fancy stock? 
Ans. —The question of keeping poultry 
profitably on a fruit farm is a question 
of place for them. You cannot keep hens 
either in currants, berries or peach or¬ 
chards, but they can be kept in pear, ap¬ 
ple and plum orchards to the very best 
advantage, and if rightly cared for will 
be a paying investment. The number 
kept must depend on the space and time 
you can give them. The question of 
strain is one that I should be likely to be 
prejudiced about, so I will say keep the 
breed you like best -and keep it pure. 
Third question, “eggs or feathers”? I 
would advise "eggs” for the reason that 
it takes more time than the fruit grower 
can spare to breed these prize-winning 
fancy bars and under colors, feathers 
way down on their toes, and too much 
fussing, washing and fitting for the 
shows. FLOYD Q. WHITE. 
FERTILIZERS FOR SOUTHERN TRUCKERS 
J. IF. Y., Beaufort, S. C .—My fertilizer 
formula for peas is 7-5-5, phosphoric acid, 
nitrogen and potash in the order named; 
lettuce 5-7-10, cabbage 7-8-5, potatoes 7-5-5. 
I notice Prof. Massey recommends 10 per 
cent potash for potatoes. On my lettuce 
land I sow cow peas and turn the whole 
thing under as much as possible. Is seven 
per cent nitrogen enough for lettuce after 
a pea crop is grown upon it? I also put 
about 100 cartloads of cow-pen manure 
to the acre, fertilizer one ton. I plant my 
lettuce two feet by 10 inches in the row. 
I have used basic slag on all of my truck 
this year in the place of acid phosphate. 
Have I made a mistake or not? I have 
been putting acid on my land in large quan¬ 
tities. 
Ans.— Your formula for English peas 
has a needless amount of nitrogen and 
less phosphoric acid and potash than I 
would use. I would cut the nitrogen 
down and increase the potash, while the 
percentage of phosphoric acid is nearly 
right, especially if you get the nitrogen 
from cotton-seed meal, which has some 
phosphoric acid. The percentage of five 
per cent nitrogen, seven per cent phos¬ 
phoric acid and 10 per cent potash is all 
right for the lettuce, while for cabbage 
the main elements needed are nitrogen 
and phosphorus, and potash may cut a 
small figure. Then you see in the above 
I reverse your figures for nitrogen and 
phosphoric acid. For potatoes I use a 
fertilizer made up of acid phosphate, 
nitrate of soda, fish scrap and muriate of 
potash, that makes it about nitrogen, 
seven per cent phosphoric acid and 10 
per cent potash. I find this best in all 
the South Atlantic coast sections. In the 
lower Mississippi Valley the stations 
have found that in their soils potash cuts 
a very small figure and in fact is not 
needed at all. Seven per cent actual 
nitrogen is not needed by lettuce and I 
would save in this expensive element. 
The peas will leave you a large amount 
of organic nitrogen and if they are left 
on the land three per cent of readily 
available nitrogen in the fertilizer should 
answer very well. This is especially true 
when you use manure made from feed¬ 
ing a legume forage. Basic slag is a 
good article but not so quickly available 
as acid phosphate. It has the advantage 
of tending to .sweeten the soil through 
the large ‘percentage of lime it carries, 
but I would on this account hesitate in 
mixing it with organic material carrying 
nitrogen, if it is to stand long before 
using. Mixed with nitrate of soda I can 
see no harm, but with cotton-seed meal 
there may be loss. I do not believe that 
you are wrong in using it though it may 
not act quite so readily as acid phos¬ 
phate. It will at least restore some of 
the lime the acid phosphate has been 
robbing from your soil. w. f. massey. 
REPAIRS FOR EXPENSIVE MACHINERY. 
C. IF. C., Cocliituate, Mass. —On first page 
of Tiik R. N.-Y. for February 12, Mr. W. Y. 
Hooker complains that he had to throw 
away two machines costing $125 each be¬ 
cause he could not obtain parts to replace 
those broken. I wish to suggest he need 
not have lost but one machine, because he 
could have taken the necessary part from 
the other machine to replace the broken one, 
as each machine was broken in a different 
place. If you think it worth while, you 
can send him this letter, as I do not know 
his address, otherwise would have written 
direct. It might be well to make the sug¬ 
gestion that where there are several ma¬ 
chines in a neighborhood this principle 
could be extended of using one machine to 
patch-up others where new parts were not 
obtainable. 
Ans. —The suggestion that farmers 
substitute one part of one broken har¬ 
vester by a part from another machine 
that may be disabled elsewhere is not as 
a rule possible, because each year the 
patterns of the machines are slightly 
changed. The manufacturers claim the 
changes are improvements, but many 
farmers are of the opinion that the 
changes are made to prevent substitu¬ 
tions of part from one machine to an¬ 
other. During the last few years I 
have operated several corn harvesters. 
When two of them broke in different 
parts I tried the plan of taking from one 
to repair the other, but found the manu¬ 
facturers “had beaten me to it,” and I 
had to get separate repairs for each. 
About the only thing I was able to 
change from one machine to another 
was the horses or the driver. I think 
you will find this the general experience 
of farmers throughout the country. 
w. v. ROOKER. 
Oil Emulsion for Spraying. 
I am preserving carefully and intend to 
use the formula for spray for the Codling 
moth in the Spring. I have caldron, out¬ 
fit. etc., for making these various solutions; 
have also crude and other oils, and would 
like to make and use during the Winter 
some oil emulsion. Can you give me a 
formula for same? I think an oil emulsion 
has some advantages, being more effective 
and more easily applied during the Winter 
and early Spring, and furthermore I do 
not think it should cost any more than or 
as much as the lime, sulphur, etc. 
Northport, L. I. j. s. C. 
Send to the Connecticut Experiment Sta¬ 
tion, Storrs P. O., for a bulletin on oil 
sprays. It gives a large amount of in¬ 
formation. We do not think these home¬ 
made oils are very largely used. Of course, 
the oil will be of no value in fighting the 
Codling worm. 
DAILY 
OUTPUT 
17,500 
BBLS. 
7 YEARLY 
OUTPUT 
OVER 
6 , 000,000 
ALPHA 
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160 Harrison St., Dept. 3683 Chicago, 
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employ no salesmen or agents, and appeal 
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Bradley’s Fertilizers 
For Half a Century in the Service of Quality 
After 1000 years of steady cultivation the soils of Northern Europe 
are now producing about twice as much per acre as the newer soils of the 
United States. 
The average yield of potatoes last year in Germany was 209 bushels per 
acre, while in the United States the average yield was 106 bushels per acre. 
Maine is the only State in which the average' yield exceeded the 
average yield of all Germany. The best growers in Maine are not satis¬ 
fied with less than 300 bushels per acre, and the potatoes are but an 
incident, for the man who reaches this level has his farm in prime condi¬ 
tion for succeeding grain and grass crops. The nature of the potato 
crop is such that a short term rotation is forced, and this adds to the 
yearly income of the grower. 
By using commercial manures in growing the potato crop the barn 
manures are all left for other cropping, and so long as they are all needed 
and can be profitably used for other crops, the commercial manures 
enable the farmer to increase his business. 
Bradley’s Fertilizers are used by the best potato growers in the 
Eastern States. 
Bradley’s Fertilizers are the standard by which results of other 
fertilizers are determined. 
Bradley’s Fertilizers properly used make possible farming that is 
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Send for descriptive circulars. 
The American Agricultural Chemical Co. 
BRADLEY FERTILIZER WORKS 
Offices: BOSTON, NEW YORK, BUFFALO, CLEVELAND 
