628 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKEK 
April 4, 
The Home Acre. 
Fertilizing a Garden. 
I have a small lot containing S,000 
square feet, which I use for a garden. In 
the last six years I have spread stable 
manure, covering the surface two inches 
deep, three times; have turned under 
Scarlet clover twice, and cow peas once. 
Besides, I spread hen manure three 
times, ashes, 30 bushels to acre, last Fall 
and another light spread of stable ma¬ 
nure ; used two sacks kainit last year 
on potatoes and other garden truck. 
Will you advise the best manure or fer¬ 
tilizer for potatoes and other garden 
truck this year? The land is in good 
shape. Soil is stiff and not clay. I was 
thinking of putting lime at the rate of 
40 bushels per acre after the land is 
plowed this Spring. Last year's toma¬ 
toes rotted before maturing, and other 
vegetables seem to burn. j. m. w. 
From what you say it seems that you 
have got your garden into a one-sided 
condition. You have an excess of nitro¬ 
gen as compared with the mineral mat¬ 
ters, which are mainly engaged in the 
maturity of seed and tubers. Now I 
cover my garden with manure every year, 
but I try to balance the ration by sup¬ 
plementing the nitrogenous manures with 
an abundance of phosphorus and potas¬ 
sium. After manuring the garden I 
make a mixture of four parts acid phos¬ 
phate and one part sulphate of potash, 
and apply this at rate of 1,000 pounds 
an acre after turning under the manure. 
This is well worked into the surface soil. 
I would not use lime on the garden, as 
some vegetables are injured by it, and 
soil that has had so much manure is 
hardly acid enough to need lime. Lime 
wall make green peas hard to cook, while 
it might possibly help the plants. Lime 
will cause the conditions in the soil to 
become favorable to the growth of the 
scab fungus on Irish potatoes. Keep 
on manuring, but also keep on with the 
acid phosphate and potash and you will 
be surprised at the increase in the crops. 
Maryland. w. F. massey. 
Waterproofing Muslin for Frames. 
Will you give formula for waterproof¬ 
ing muslin? I wish to make a test be¬ 
tween glass and muslin sash for raising 
plants. I have 50 yards of Sl-ineh mus¬ 
lin. Give full information how to pro¬ 
ceed and the quantities for this amount 
of material. G. M. 
Fairton, N. J. 
The following formula is used for 
waterproofing muslin as covering for 
frames. Old pale linseed oil. three pints; 
sugar of lead (acetate of lead) one 
ounce; white resin, four ounces. Grind 
the acetate with a little of the oil, then 
add the rest, and the resin. Heat care¬ 
fully in an iron kettle, over a gentle fire. 
Apply with a brush, while hot, stretch¬ 
ing the muslin over the frame or sash. 
It is not possible to give amount of 
paint required with any accuracy, as it 
not only soaks in more freely on the 
muslin than ordinary paint on wood, but 
there is also likely to be some wastage 
in applying. In ordinary painting the 
common rule is to divide the number of 
square feet of surface by 200, the result 
being the number of gallons of liquid 
paint required for two coats. 
Planting Time for Vegetables. 
Will you inform me the dates when 
to plant the following in New Jersey, 
five miles from Philadelphia: Sugar corn, 
corn, peas, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, 
cabbage, oats, watermelons and musk- 
melons, sweet potatoes, carrots, cucum¬ 
bers, kale, spinach, turnips, green pepper, 
yellow onions and eggplant. At. J. 
Merchantville, N. J. 
In the normal seasons, the first early 
sweet corn is usually planted in latter 
part of April, and must be of some small 
growing sort, such as Early Adams, 
Cory or Minnesota. About the first of 
May, a second planting should be made, 
and at the same time a planting of Cros¬ 
by or similar variety, and Country Gen¬ 
tleman or Stowell’s Evergreen should be 
made. Successive plantings of some good 
sort should be made at intervals of 10 
days or two weeks, until July 10 to 15 
for late kinds, and may be prolonged un¬ 
til August 5 to 10 if early sorts are 
planted. Field corn may be planted May 
15 to June 1. 
Peas.—The round sorts may be plant¬ 
ed as soon as the ground can be worked; 
at the first planting two or three varie¬ 
ties that will immediately succeed each 
other should be planted, or a succession 
may be had by planting the same variety 
at intervals of one week. Plant the 
wrinkled sorts about May 1: succssive 
plantings of these sorts should be made 
up to the middle of June. Bush beans— 
The first planting of these may be made 
April 25 to May 1. 
Pole beans should not be planted un¬ 
til the ground becomes thoroughly warm¬ 
er, or until a night temperature of about 
60 degrees is reached, this rule applies 
to all kinds of pole beans. 
Potatoes.—The first planting for very 
early use, may be made as early as the 
ground can be prepared. For main crop, 
plant middle of April to May first. These 
should be ready to harvest by middle of 
August, when the ground may be used 
for late turnips, peas, beans or any other 
crop that will come in before frost. 
Tomatoes.—Sow the seed in the hot¬ 
bed about the 15th of March, set them 
out as soon as a night temperature of 
about 50 degrees is reached, which will 
be May 15 to 20. For late tomatoes 
sow the seed May 1 and plant in the field 
soon as ready. 
Cabbage.—Early sorts, should be sown 
in the hotbed first to tenth of February, 
when plants make their second pair of 
true leaves; give plenty of air to harden 
them. Plant to field soon as ground can 
be worked. Sow late cabbage in 
a well prepared seed bed in the open, 
tenth to fifteenth of May, plant to field 
soon as large enough, which will be June 
20 to July 1. 
Watermelon and Muskmelou.—Plant 
as soon as a night temperature of 60 de¬ 
grees is reached, which will be about the 
last of May. 
Cucumbers.—Plant seed in well pre¬ 
pared hills May 10 to 15. For late 
pickles, plant August 1. 
Kale.—For Fall use, sow the seed 
about May 15; for use the following 
Spring, sow the seed September 1. 
Sweet Potatoes.—Bed the potatoes in 
a warm bed about April 1, plant sprouts 
to field, when the trees are well ad¬ 
vanced in leaf. 
Carrots.—First sowing may be made 
middle of April, which may be followed 
by successive sowings, at intervals of a 
month to July 15. 
Spinach.—Sow soon as ground can be 
prepared. To be followed by later sow¬ 
ings at intervals of 12 to 14 days, up to 
May 25. 
Turnip.—For early use, sow in April. 
For Fall and Winter use, sow August 
1 to 15. 
Peppers.—Sow seed middle of March 
in a well-prepared hotbed. As soon as 
the night temperature reaches 60-65 de¬ 
grees they should be planted out. 
Eggplant.—Sow seed in warm hotbed, 
about the last week of March. Plant 
out about June 1. 
Onions.—Seed and sets may be planted 
as soon as the ground is in good work¬ 
ing condition. k. 
Planting City Lots. 
The firm of Ellwanger & Barry has, 
during the last few years, built a large 
number of small houses on city lots in 
Rochester. These houses have been made 
suitable for small families, and the yards 
are left so as to provide some space for 
embellishment. Some of these backyard 
gardens have been fitted up in a very 
artistic manner, providing good models 
for similar work in other places. Mr. 
Win. C. Barry has sent us the following 
notes, showing what is done with these 
lots, and suggestions for an outfit of 
fruit trees suitable for this work. We 
hope later to have pictures of some of 
the lots to show our readers. 
“These lots average about 40x100 feet, 
the houses are about 26x2S feet, so that 
there is not great space for planting, but 
yards both front and rear have been made 
attractive by judicious planting. The pur¬ 
chasers of the property are allowed to 
make their own selection up to a certain 
amount, and there has been great rivalry 
as to who would have the best looking 
place. I enclose a list of trees and 
shrubs suitable for planting a place like 
those described, the cost of which would 
be about $15 to $20: One dwarf apple; 
one dwarf pear; one peach; one cherry; 
six currants; 12 raspberries; one dwarf 
evergreen; one maple or other orna¬ 
mental tree; 12 shrubs; six roses; three 
pamnies; 100 California privet or Ber- 
beris Thuubergii for hedge.” 
Powerful, Permanent and Profitable 
The 
• •• JL J. 
Mapes Manures 
Availability Without Acidity 
No Rock or Acid Phosphates Used 
Permanent Enrichers of 
the Soil— Not Stimulants 
“With judicious use of the Mapes Manures 
worn-out lands can be restored to fertility quicker 
and with less expense than in any other way.” 
—American j4griculturist. 
Send for Our Pamphlet 
The Mapes Formula and Peruvian Guano Company 
143 Liberty Street, New York 
Insure Your 
CORN CROP 
against the lack of available plant food 
in the soil by the use of 
Hubbard’s Bone-Base Soluble Corn and 
General Crops Manure 
Don’t be content with the average yield of 40 or 50 bushels of corn per 
acre, when by co-operating with Nature you can obtain 90 or 100 bushels. 
Nature alone cannot meet the enormous demand for the food which a big 
crop requires. You must co-operate,by furnishing the growing plants with a 
high-grade, well-balanced, available fertilizer like Hubbard’s “Bone-Base” 
Soluble Corn and General Crops Manure. This fertilizer has put many other 
fanners into the “100-bushel-per-acre” class, and it can do the same for you. 
Broadcast your fertilizer for the Corn Crop. It is the only common 
sense way. 
Write today for our booklets. “Insure Your Corn Crop,” “Soil Fertility,” “The 
Grass Crop,“ The Apple/* and Hubbard’s Bone Base 1914 Almanac, which contains 
much valuable information about soil, fertilizers and other farm subjects. Sent free 
to any address. 
THE ROGERS & HUBBARD CO., Address Dept. A, Middletown, Conn. 
Office and Works, Portland, Conn. 
0ME-MIX YOUR FERTILIZER 
BETTER FERTILIZER-LESS M0NEY-N0 USELESS FILLER 
If you can mix Cement you can mix Fertilizer 
1100 Bushels Potatoes per acre yearly, Guernsev, Channel Islands 
600 Bushels, C. Fred. Fawcett, Upper Sackville, 1913 
350 Bushels, State Farm, Massachusetts, 1913 
ON HOME-MIXED FERTILIZER 
Write for FREE Booklets, Formulas, Full Directions 
ALL FERTILIZER MATERIALS-NITRATE OF SODA, POTASH 
SALTS. ACID PHOSPHATES, BASIC SLAG. ANIMAL AMMONIATES 
NITRATE AGENCIES CO., 106 Pearl Street, NEW YORK 
