1914. 
THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
10 - 4 © 
Saving Seed Beans. 
W ILL you toll me how to handle green 
snap beans to save them for seed? 
What treatment is given them to 
prevent weevil infesting them? I have 
an acre of fine beans just ready to pick; 
early drought delayed them. New York 
market is now 25 cents per bushel. I 
think I can get some value as seed. 
What do you suggest? I have never 
saved any for seed before. F. c. 
Vineland, N. J. 
Gather the pods when nearly ripe, or 
in other words, before they become thor¬ 
oughly dried on the vines. Dry them 
well in the shade of some outbuilding, and 
bag them in the pod. Do not shell them 
until they are wanted for use. Corn, 
peas and beans will not suffer much from 
the attack of weevil if nature’s covering 
is not removed, but if this cover of pro¬ 
tection is removed, the weevil will quite 
often destroy the whole crop. This is 
particularly true in the Southern States 
and in some sections of the North. In 
the South, corn is always cribbed with 
the shuck on, and thus escapes the wee¬ 
vil’s attack for quite a long time, whereas 
if it was shucked before cribbing the 
grain would probably be entirely de¬ 
stroyed before Spring. I have kept beans 
and peas in the pod for two years or 
more, without being attacked by weevil. 
Good clean bean seed should not be diffi¬ 
cult to dispose of to seed dealers at a 
fair price, but before gathering the crop, 
I would advise that you write some of the 
reliable seed firms and find out what they 
will be willing to pay for a first-grade 
article. You will then get an idea if it 
will pay you to harvest the crop for seed 
purposes. k. 
Slitting the Bark for Blight. 
T WO years ago I had a Yellow Trans¬ 
parent tree that was badly affected 
with twig blight. All dead wood was 
trimmed out carefully, but last Summer 
it was worse than ever. While visiting a 
friend’s orchard I noticed long slits down 
the bark of all trees of this variety and 
he explained them by saying it was a 
preventive for blight. I laughed at him, 
and he said he had laughed too when told 
about it. My tree looked so bad last July 
that I gave it a few slashes and then 
gave it some more for good measure. No 
blight this year, and a lot of new wood 
is ripening up nicely at the present time, 
and we have picked three baskets of the 
most beautiful fruit I ever saw of this 
variety. It does not seem possible that 
this cutting did the work, but something 
did, for other trees are showing as much 
blight as last year. Is it a freak of na¬ 
ture that both my friend and I should 
hit the off year in blight on trees, or is 
it possible that young trees are benefited 
by the treatment? Walter c. black. 
New Jersey. 
R. N.-Y.—We will turn this over to 
the wise men for a discussion! 
School Health Law. 1 
I S it the law that a school trustee shall 
oblige each child to be vaccinated be¬ 
fore he can come to school? Many 
parents do not want their children vaccin¬ 
ated, and I wish to know if it is law. 
We had a doctor examine school last 
Fall; he charged ten dollars and I do not 
see where it did any good. We had the 
school closed last Winter by health doc¬ 
tors; we had to pay teacher for time 
closed, also for time to be made up. Is 
that law? w. H. B. 
Saratoga Co., N. Y. 
The law in New York State has re¬ 
quired the vaccination of all children pre¬ 
vious to their admission to the public 
schools since 1S93. Until recently this 
law has been permitted to become very 
much a dead letter but, owing, doubtless, 
to the general prevalence of smallpox of 
a mild form in recent years, this law is 
now being enforced with some vigor, and 
trustees or other school authorities upon 
whom the duty of seeing that the law is 
enforced has been placed are giving the 
matter their attention. The law has re¬ 
peatedly been held constitutional and the 
school authorities have no option in the 
matter; the only way in which the law 
can be evaded by 'those opposed to it is 
by sending their children to private 
schools where they will obtain the in¬ 
struction made compulsory by the State 
education laws and where they will not 
be subject to the compulsory vaccination 
law. 
My opinion is that a public school 
teacher is legally entitled to pay for his 
sex-vices during the time that his school is 
closed by the health authoi-ities even 
though these sex-vices are not rendered by 
reason of the action of the health author¬ 
time ! E. II. A., we have you as a pub¬ 
lic benefactor, how did you “get next?” 
New Jersey. s. friedlandeix. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply and a 
“square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
ities. Not having looked up the law on 
this matter I give this as opinion only 
based upon general knowledge of the 
health laws. m. b. d. 
Destroying Cockroaches in Grain Bin. 
H OW may cockroaches in a grain bin 
be exterminated? A. P. 
Oswego, N. Y. 
Any insects in stox-ed grain may be 
desti-oyed with bisulphide of carbon. The 
allowance is one pound of the liquid to 
each 100 cubic feet of space, or if grain 
is being fumigated, one pound to 100 
bushels; in small quantities about two 
drams to the bushel. The bisulphide is 
exposed in shallow dishes, on top of the 
matei-ial to be fumigated; the bin is then 
tightly closed, preferably with a canvas 
or blanket thrown over the top, and then 
left for 24 hours. Always i-emember that 
the bisulphide is highly inflammable and 
explosive; no light, fire, cigar or pipe 
must be allowed near it until all fumes 
have passed away. The liquid evaporates 
i-apidly on exposui-e to air, giving off a 
heavy gas which floats downward, as it 
is heavier than aix-. There is no danger 
if proper care is taken, but where there 
is risk of fire another chemical, carbon 
tetrachloride, is advised, as this is non¬ 
explosive. It is less active than the bi¬ 
sulphide, and double the quantity must 
be used. 
THE MAIL BAG. 
Legal Bushel of Walnuts. 
I S there any legal weight for a bushel of 
black walnuts? If not, are they sold 
by a standard weight, or in bulk? 
They are always quoted “bushel,” no 
weight mentioned, as with shagbarks. 
Willimantic, Conn. j. h. w. 
There may be legal weights per bushel 
in some States for the wild or Black wal¬ 
nuts, but as they are usually sold by the 
bushel and there is no very large quanti¬ 
ties handled it is not deemed a matter of 
much consequence. Their actual weight 
is 40 pounds per bushel. h. e. v. d. 
Spraying Trees Against Sheep. 
W HAT spray can I use on my young 
peach and apple trees, so as to pre¬ 
vent sheep from browsing on foli¬ 
age? The trees ax-e only a year old, and 
I do not want to wire them in. It has 
occurred to me that from your experi¬ 
ence you may have leai-ned of some appli¬ 
cation that could be made to the tree, 
which would be offensive to sheep. 
Easton, Pa. g. f. c. 
We have never heard of such a scheme 
being successfully worked out. There 
have been calls for a wash to spray on 
dormant trees to repel deer and vermin, 
but we have found nothing practical. A 
spray for trees in full foliage would be 
too weak to have much repelling powei\ 
We doubt if the scheme is practical. 
Alfalfa in Minnesota. 
P USH Alfalfa. Any location that grows 
Sweet clover will grow Alfalfa. This 
is a limestone counti-y, no inoculation 
of soil. I could have cut my first crop 
last of May, but continuous rains held 
us back until first week in July. Now 
the new growth is IS inches high, will cut 
it next week. Seed was sown two years 
this month, Grimm variety. I have five 
acres, last year we cut 12 big loads June 
10, 15, July 0. They were hindered by 
rains until September, three cuttings. 
First cutting this year 20 big loads, de¬ 
layed cuttings causes lower leaves to drop. 
Mankato, Minn. w. M. s. 
We think this Alfalfa pushing has 
come to the point where fair discrimina¬ 
tion should be used. A wonderful plant 
where conditions suit it. There are some 
cases where it will cost too much to 
change or fit the soil properly. In sxxch 
cases Red clover or Soy beans will pay 
better. Everyone should make a fair 
effort to grow Alfalfa without plunging 
too heavily on cost. 
Permanganate of Potash for Ivy Poisoning. 
J ULY 4 issue, page SS5, E. II. A. asks 
for reports on the use of permangan¬ 
ate of potash for poison ivy. He may 
be assured of one grateful appreciation; 
it affords relief in a few moments, either 
by rubbing in well, or by two or three 
applications one after another as soon 
as dry, and I believe it would x-elieve 
hives also, and possibly insect stings. I 
tried almost everything except dynamite 
and came near to committing assault and 
battery upon one physician who told me 
the only cure was to let it run its course 
about six days and keep cool and not get 
overheated. This to farmers in haying 
Drain Heads vs. Tile. 
C AN you tell me whether dx-ain heads 
are a better system of draining wet 
lands, etc., than the old style of dimm¬ 
ing, ditching with stone, tiling, etc. 
Hamden, Conn. w. j. 
The “drain head” is practically a deep 
well with a system of drains running into 
it. The theory is that the water runs 
into this well and then passes off at the 
bottom, thus relieving the field even 
when there is no natural surface outlet. 
In cases whei-e thex-e is a stx-atum of 
open porous gi-avel below the subsoil this 
plan may work, but on most of our East¬ 
ern soils these wells would give just the 
condition we do not want. They would 
not drain off at the bottom, but would 
simply hold the water or flood it back 
into the land. In nine cases out of 10 
the old plan of running off the water 
through tile or stone drains to some 
natural outlet will pay better on our 
Eastern soils. 
Roughing a Concrete Floor. 
Sour Soil 
Next to the possession of soil and proper moist¬ 
ure, there is no factor more essential to success¬ 
ful crop cultivation, than the presence of Lime. 
Where lime is absent the soil becomes sour and 
non-productive—a condition which is speedily 
and effectively remedied by the use of 
Edison 
PULVERIZED LIMESTONE 
NATURE’S CROP PRODUCER 
This excellent lime product is made from the 
purest Crystalline White Limestone obtainable. 
Pulverized like flour and not being caustic can be 
applied without danger to plant life. Farm lands 
greatly increase all crop yields by its use. Espe¬ 
cially recommended for Alfalfa. Lawns "run 
down” and of slow growth fully restored and the 
grasses thickened. HThis signature guarantees 
satisfaction and reliability 
I THINK if persons who are troubled 
with slippery floors will try the fol¬ 
lowing, they will find the method both 
better and cheaper, and withal more 
easily applied than other plans. For 
each stall, say 4xS feet, procure one quart 
of cement and two quarts of sharp sand. 
Mix the cement and sand thoroughly, 
dry. Now sweep and wash the floor 
clean, then spread the cement and sand 
evenly over the stall floor by means of a 
piece of lath, having a couple of shoe 
nails pi’ojecting about thi-ee-eighths inch 
from one edge. Should the cement and 
sand run short, drive the nails in a little 
and beginning at the front always, go 
over again. After getting an even sur¬ 
face to the floor you proceed t<- wet it; 
for this purpose a fine sprinkler is need¬ 
ed. Too much water will displace the 
sand while wetting. When the cement is 
well wetted give it a i-easonable time to 
set and it is ready for use. osage. 
Fairfax Co., Va. 
Greensboro Peach. —I wish the many 
readers of The R. N.-Y. in Northern N. 
J. could see tree of the Greensboro 
peach which I planted in May, 1911. It 
is one of the most beautiful sights I have 
seen this season, and they were ripe 
enough to use on July 2S, eax-lier than I 
ever had peaches before, though I have 
15 kinds in my orchax-d. Every house 
owner should have one or mox-e tx-ees of 
the Gx-eensboro. a. c. worth. 
4 
I40VU 
Edison Pulverized Limestone 
is packed in 100 lb. bags, also in bulk. Sample and 
prices furnished on request. Ask us to send book¬ 
let No. 202. It is instructive and will please you. 
j Edison Pulverized Limestone Go. 
1133 Broadway ::: New York City 
Hardwood Ashes 
BEST FERTILIZER IN USE. 
GEO. L MUNROE S SONS, Oiwiqo, N. T. 
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mention your deal¬ 
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The John Lauson 
Mfg. Co. 
218 N.W. Street 
New Holstein, Wis. 
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