1 914. 
'1'HEC RURAL N K\V-VOJ< .x. 
1 i k 6 
The Home Acre 
NOTES FROM A MARYLAND GARDEN. 
'TMIE long-deferred rain came August 
A 25, and we got some spinach seed 
sown, and are hoping that the favorable 
weather may continue. The rain came 
too late to save any of the early tomatoes, 
and the plants seem completely exhausted 
from the heavy fruiting. The late ones, 
from seed sown late in the open ground, 
have flourished in spite of the drought, 
and not being exhausted by fruiting, are 
now setting a good crop. I always try 
to have a good lot of well-grown tomatoes 
when frost arrives. The green tomatoes 
that have attained their growth are then 
gathered and each wrapped in paper and 
packed in strawberry crates, and put in 
a cool cellar. Then we take out a few 
at a time and ripen them in the kitchen 
window, and in this way have had to¬ 
matoes for slicing till January. It is 
also very handy to have a fresh crop of 
string beans just about frost time. These 
can be gathered and put in a strong 
brine in stone jars, and during the Win¬ 
ter we can take them out and soak in 
fresh water overnight, and the next day 
they cook very like fresh snaps. 
Just now I am busy planting my Can- 
didum lily bulbs. These must go in the 
ground early, so that they can make their 
rosettes of green Winter leaves, without 
which they would not bloom well next 
Summer. I had intended to increase my 
planting of these, and ordered 2,000 from 
the North of France, and now cannot say 
whether I shall get them or not. 
The next thing in order is the plant¬ 
ing of onion sets for the early green crop. 
The earliest of these is the Queen, sold by 
Norfolk seedsmen. This is a different 
onion from the Queen of the Northern 
catalogues, and is more like what is 
called the Pearl, but it is earlier and bet¬ 
ter than Pearl. In some Winters I get 
these large enough for use the last of 
February, and always in March. At 
same time, usually the middle of Septem¬ 
ber, I plant sets of the Yellow Potato 
onion. After the Queens are used up, 
the offsets on the Potato onions come in 
very nicely for green onions, while the 
main bulbs are left to ripen, which they 
do here in late June, and always bring 
a good price, as ripe onions are usually 
scarce at that time. This year I got $2 
a bushel for them. 
My crop of grapes was cut short this 
Summer by the swarm of Rose chafers 
that settled on the blooms before I no¬ 
ticed them. I saved part of the crop by 
spraying at once with a solution of lead 
arsenate and glucose, and could have 
saved all had I been more watchful. We 
are apt to have this swarm here every 
season, and when the spraying is done in 
time can save 1 the grapes, for they attack 
the blooms first of all. Our sandy soil 
here seems to be especially suited to the 
Niagara and Delaware grapes, and I sel¬ 
dom see finer clusters of these anywhere. 
Empire State does well and also Salem 
and Vergennes, and of course the Concord 
thrives. We are about on the northern 
limit of the Scupperuong. One of my 
neighbors has an arbor of the Scupper- 
nong from which lie gets good crops every 
Fall, and I know of a Scupperuong vine 
in one of the counties north of us where 
it gets killed back every Winter and fails 
to fruit. 
I have found that horizontal training 
on arbors, which is universal with the 
Seuppernong, is also as good for the La- 
brusca and other grape species. In North 
Carolina I had a grape arbor over a gar¬ 
den walk, and experimented with it with¬ 
out spraying. The vines were trained on 
the vertical sides of the arbor and over¬ 
head. On the vertical sides the grapes 
rotted badly, while overhead there was no 
rot. On the Experiment Station ground 
there I had a long row of grapes of va¬ 
rious kinds which had been trained on a 
vertical trellis. Half of this trellis I 
boarded up on the west side, and placed 
a coping over the top extending 214 feet 
to the east. That part of the trellis was 
not sprayed. The other half was care¬ 
fully sprayed. The vines on the sheltered 
part were not sprayed, and there was no 
rot there, not a particle, while there was 
a little on the sprayed part. I planted an 
experiment vineyard largely for testing 
the value of different fertilizers. This 
was trained on a modification of the 
Mu nson trellis, posts were set eight feet 
along the line of vines six feet tall. On [ 
the top of these posts cross bars 2% feet j 
long were bolted, extending 114 feet each j 
wav. One line of wire was stretched along i 
the top of the posts, and two other wires 
on same level along the ends of the cross¬ 
bars. The vines were taken with a single 
cane to the central wire, and then arms 
taken each way, the fruiting shoots hung 
over the outer wires and the grapes under- 1 
neath. This vineyard was purposely not j 
sprayed, and there was no rot, while vines I 
on vertical trellises in the same neighbor¬ 
hood rotted badly where not sprayed. In j 
all my experience with grapes I have j 
found that horizontal training is far bet- i 
ter than vertical. My backyard is very 
largely a grape arbor, and I have also 
about 100 feet of vertical trellis, but the 
arbor gives more grapes and better, and 
I intend to build more arbor and take on 
it the vines now trained on the vertical 
wires. Cutting out old wood and training 
long renewal canes on the arbor gives me 
more and better grapes than the close 
spurring on the upright trellis. Then I 
never prune till March, for Fall-pruned 
vines start too soon in Spring, and are 
apt to get caught by a late freeze, and 
what little bleeding takes place from the 
Spring pruning is soon stopped by the 
swelling buds. w. F. MASSEY. 
Maryland. 
Sorrel in Lawn. 
1 IIAVE a lawn of an acre or more, and 
it is over-run with sorrel. The sor¬ 
rel seems to spring up in places which 
had been free from it before. What can 
I do to get rid of it? We have very dry 
Summers, so the grass does not grow as 
well as in cities when it is watered. 
Eden. N. Y. o. n. H. 
The presence of so much sorrel in the 
lawn indicates that the soil is quite sour 
and in need of lime to neutralize the add. 
Apply about 1,500 pounds of hydrated 
lime, spread evenly, this Fall, and in the 
Spring apply a half ton of raw bone 
meal broadcast. The lime will sweeten | 
the soil and make it uncongenial for the | 
sorrel. The bone will stimulate the grass 
into strong healthy growth. The two 
operating together should bring the sor¬ 
rel under control, and finally kill it out 
almost entirely. k. 
B uilding vegetable cellar. 
-—I would build a vegetable cellar of 
concrete far enough below the sur¬ 
face of the ground to protect from frost, 
have adjustable ventilators in roof every 
six or eight feet, have entrance door at 
one end and have chimney in opposite 
end; chimney so arranged that it could 
be closed tight, avoiding draft, except 
when draft is desired, at the same time 
admitting of small fire when increased 
draft is desired. The dimensions of this 
cellar will be governed by the demands of 
the person building it. If not desirable 
and practicable to build deeply enough in 
ground to guard against frost, the struc¬ 
ture should be surrounded with earth— 
roof and all—so that there would be no 
danger from frost. j. m. 
New York. 
O N page 0GS. II. N. of Cleveland in¬ 
quires concerning bisulphide of car¬ 
bon for squash-vine borers. The eggs 
of the borers with which I have had ex¬ 
perience are laid at the first leaf joint or 
higher, and the borer when it hatches 
commences eating its way toward the 
root, through the center of the vine and 
by the time it gets there, or below the 
surface of the ground, where carbon bi¬ 
sulphide would kill it. the vine is use¬ 
less for bearing, and almost always dead. 
The borer follows the root an inch or 
two and then enters the earth, being then 
about inch long and full grown. 
When I found vines which contained 
borers I slit them open lengthwise and 
removed them, but this treatment is al¬ 
most as bad as the borers and the next 
case I find I shall try injecting some 
white hellebore or tobacco extract. I 
have found it better to use a preventive, 
in the form of moth balls, which are 
placed every four or five inches and keep 
the striped beetles away also. 
Ohio. w. J. M. 
All those who are interested in fruit 
shows, and fruit judging, should obtain 
a copy of “Timely Helps For Farmers,” 
Volume VII, No. 11. This is published 
by the Maine College of Agriculture at 
Orono, Me. This little pamphlet gives ! 
an excellent study of the problem of the 
judge at a fruit show. There are pictures 
showing how to judge fruit, how to ex¬ 
amine the box carefully, and in fact 
much information which the fruit judge 
ought to have. It is one of the best lit¬ 
tle pamphlets of this kind we have seen, 
and as fruit judging is becoming a science, 
the man who undertakes to do the work 
should collect all useful information on 
the subject. 
“I bought a set last Spring, just about seeding time—and The 
second time I read it I found a new way of mixing fertilizer at 
home that would save me $60 over the way I’d been doing. 
“It was taken from a United States Government Bulletin, 
worked out by an expert, so 1 knew it was all right. I tried it, 
and blessed if it didn’t make a better crop than the old way.” 
If one volume save him $60—think what it will mean to you 
to have the whole seven volumes of the 
Farmer s Cyclopedia 
Abridged Records U. S. Dept, of Agriculture 
Here you get, condensed ami easily read, 
the experience that cost the United States 
Government ten years of work and $4,000,000 
in actual cash. All theories and statistics 
have been cut out. All the real meat of the 
thousands of bulletins, issued for 10 years by 
the Government and the State Agricultural 
Departments you have here for 0 cents a 
day—if you mail the coupon at once without 
money. 
We are farmers ourselves. Our plant is in 
open country. From our tree nurseries, 
(lower and vegetable gardens we draw knowl¬ 
edge of untold value for our garden and 
country magazines, for our many farm books 
and for this big seven-volume work. We 
use the greatest authorities, hut we try out 
things for ourselves to make sure. 
And in every bit of work on this set of 
books we have had the help of the Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture and the State Experi¬ 
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For Your Boy —Like an Agricultural 
Course 
Give YOUR boy the right books—books 
about the farm. Give him the chance YOU 
never had—the chance to learn the HOW 
and WHY of farm life—and you’ll keep him 
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farmer. For man or boy—too busy to go 
away—the Farmer’s Cyclopedia will take 
the place of the Agricultural School. 
No Theory — But Actual Experience 
In these books is the result of ACTUAL 
KXl’Eit 1FXCM of thousands of other farmers 
—experience that YOU could not get in a 
hundred years, working alone. No matter 
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when you learn what some other fellow did 
in a certain ease, and you iiave just such a 
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books place at your command the experience 
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7 Big, Thick Volumes 
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of the United' States. 
How to Make All Kinds of Spray Mixtures. 
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How to Grow Rice, Hops, Mushrooms, Gin¬ 
seng. Peanuts. Bamboo, Rubber, Pears, 
and other Specialty Crops. 
How to Give Medicine to Animals. 
How to Protect Hogs from Cholera. 
How to Distinguish the Breeds of Horses, 
Cattle. Sheep and Swine. 
How to Feed for Best Results. 
How to Care for Sheep on the Range. 
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only HEAD what other men have d'one—what 
tlie Government advises—in cases like yours. # < 
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If you do not find something in every one of them that will -» v-ity, New York 
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