1466 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 19, 
MASSACHUSETTS FARMERS MEET. NEW JERSEY HORTICULTURISTS. 
T HE meeting of the Massachusetts 
State Board of Agriculture for 1914 
was held at Worcester, December 1, 
2 and 3, and a very instructive, attrac¬ 
tive and educational program for each 
day drew a large attendance. In con¬ 
junction with the above meeting was held 
the Massachusetts apple show, Massa¬ 
chusetts corn show, boys and girls’ ex¬ 
hibits of farm and garden products and 
domestic manufactures, exhibits of the 
clean milk contest conducted by the State 
Board of Agriculture and the Massachu¬ 
setts Dairymen’s League with suitable 
cash awards furnished by a State grant 
for this purpose, and also a butter and 
cream show. 
Taken all together it was worth going 
to see and study, and the large attend¬ 
ance showed it was a step in the right 
.direction to have all these attractions and 
meeting together so everybody who wished 
could take them all in and go home well 
paid for time spent by taking new ideas 
with them to practice and improve on to 
their advantage. The lectures and de¬ 
bates on poultry, beef production, dairy¬ 
ing, truck growing problems, apples, eco¬ 
nomical milk production, household ac¬ 
counting and canning were to the point 
and were well received. Many of these 
lectures were illustrated with stereopti- 
con and motion pictures. 
A conference of agricultural organiza¬ 
tions on what legislation to ask for the 
coming session of the State Legislature 
caused a very lively debate and the gen¬ 
eral opinion was not to ask for any. and 
to bring all pressure possible to block all 
except a few necessary changes or amend¬ 
ments which might be decided necessary 
after further consideration and study. 
All agreed it was best to go slow on all 
and especially on milk bills. It was 
strongly decided to oppose the repeal of 
the present deer and other lately-enacted 
game laws, as it is reported a strong ef¬ 
fort from some sources will be made to 
accomplish this. 
The annual meeting of the Massa¬ 
chusetts Dairymen’s Association was held 
directly after the afternoon lecture on 
the second day and the president, secre¬ 
tary and most of the other officers were 
re-elected, which means the continuing on 
of the present year’s good work for the 
coming year also, and if the State grants 
the money which it probably will if asked 
to, another clean milk contest will be a 
feature of next year’s program along the 
lines of this year’s success. 
The corn and fruit judging caused lots 
of study as good or extra good exhibits 
were the rule rather than the exception, 
and much conferring was indulged in to 
decide which specimens were the best de¬ 
serving of the ribbons. While few really 
perfect ears were there, yet taken as a 
whole the corn exhibits were really more 
than good; they were excellent for the 
present season, which was a bad one for 
properly pushing the growth and properly 
maturing the ears. A finer collection of 
apples it would be hard to find, and much 
comment on this was heard. It is pretty 
late in the season to have Gravensteins 
in good condition to exhibit, yet these 
were much in evidence and in fine condi¬ 
tion, too, and it was stated they had not 
been in cold storage either, which many 
considered very remarkable. The Spys 
were also worthy of mention as all speci¬ 
mens seen there were very fine, as good 
looking as any Western apples I ever saw. 
It would not be fair to forget to mention 
the Blue Pearmain, which was shown 
of excellent quality, and speaking with 
Prof. Brooks, of the college, about these 
he thought it strange so good an apple 
was not listed as the rule in fruit cata¬ 
logues. It is really, he said, one of the 
good old-fashioned apples which was and 
is good, and it seems a pity not to con¬ 
tinue these and the old Pumpkin Sweets, 
which had a flavor never to be beaten or 
forgotten. 
The samples of strainer cotton through 
which the milk from the various contes¬ 
tants had been strained showed very little 
sediment or discoloring as the rule; most 
of these were very clean which shows 
there are many clean dairies in Massachu¬ 
setts. The condition of the milk on ex¬ 
hibition proved this also, as it had all 
been milked over a week before it was 
placed on exhibition at the hall. No one 
could tell if he did not know this that it 
had been not milked the day before. The 
butter was all farm made and of excel¬ 
lent quality. 
The boys’ and girls’ exhibits especially 
of domestic cooking, were very attractive, 
and received the praise they richly de¬ 
served ; all of these were very fine. The 
boys’ stock judging contest, which was 
billed to take place on the afternoon of 
December 3, was not allowed on account 
of the foot and mouth disease quarantine. 
The annual meeting of the Massachusetts 
milk inspectors was held on the 3d. I at¬ 
tended this expecting to see and hear 
some lively talk on the subject of milk, 
but a quieter lot of lambs I never met. 
At the meeting of about two hours’ dura¬ 
tion nothing came up to cause a ripple or 
disturb the quiet. The election of officers 
and a little other business was all they 
accomplished; perhaps they were saving 
their energy for the farmer. A. E. P. 
C O-OPERATIVE marketing, advertis¬ 
ing, spraying experiments, overhead 
irrigation, the growing of nuts, straw¬ 
berries and grapes, and spray experiments 
on potatoes, were features of the program 
of the fortieth annual lheeting of the 1 New 
Jersey Horticultural Society, at New 
Brunswick. 
A. M. Seabrook. of Cumberland Coun¬ 
ty, who has over 75 acres of his property 
under overhead irrigation, said: "The 
installation of the system costs from .$125 
to $150 an acre, exclusive of pump and 
mains. Where we did not have the sys¬ 
tem installed, the crops were less than 
one-third as great as where the plant is 
in operation. Overhead irrigation saves 
cultivation, reduces insect pests, more 
than doubles the yield, provides for quick 
succession of crops, and enabks the grow¬ 
er to produce vegetables of superior 
quality.” 
J. C. Hendrickson, of Monmouth Coun¬ 
ty, said that an abundant rainfall is es¬ 
sential in growing the eggplant. “It is 
important that the soil should be free 
from bacterial wilt, and this will persist 
in the soil four or five years. A rich 
sandy loam soil is best location, and an 
old asparagus plot is very good. It should 
be set in quite damp soil and the earth 
firmed with the hands, but not too com¬ 
pactly against the stem. Manure should 
not come in contact with the plant. We 
use. a handful of ground fish or tankage; 
it is scattered along between the rows, 
and cultivated in. 
Theodore Brown, of Gloucester County, 
described two blight-resistant varieties 
of potatoes which were generally planted 
in his locality. “The Iloosier or Pink 
Eye wall grow under rather adverse con¬ 
ditions,” Mr. Brown said, “and another 
variety is that from Cape May. They 
have been grown there for 35 years. Their 
quality is so good that when our markets 
become acquainted with them they will 
demand them in preference to other varie¬ 
ties. This latter variety may be planted 
after the first of July and is very pro¬ 
lific.” 
Frank Jones of Monmouth County, who 
is co-operating with the State of New Jer¬ 
sey in spraying experiments on potatoes, 
said: “There is no mixture which will 
destroy the flea beetle. I would say it 
pays better to spray with home mixed 
rather than the commercial Bordeaux 
mixture as the home made is applied when 
hot. The operation of spraying costs 40 
(•(‘ids an acre; with commercial Bordeaux 
$1.00, the home-mixed $1.15. Arsenate of 
lead costs 80 cents.” 
Prof. ,T. B. Norton, of Washington, de¬ 
scribed the efforts of the government in 
producing rust free asparagus, lie said 
in part: “The rust problem will be 
greatly reduced as soon as we eliminate 
such old varieties as Moore’s Cross-bred, 
for these are very susceptible and suc¬ 
cumb to blight readily. I would not burn 
over the bed, for it needs all possible 
humus. We are not only trying to pro¬ 
duce a rust resistant asparagus, but we 
are endeavoring to secure a strain that 
will yield more to the acre. It is im¬ 
practical to try to dig out those plants 
which suffer from rust, as it already has 
a start of a dozen days. Keep all plants 
on the edge of the field cut down, as pests 
inhabit these and spread throughout the 
field. It will pay the New Jersey grow¬ 
ers to put up their asparagus in the same 
way as the Massachusetts growers, and 
they will be able to secure the same fig¬ 
ures in the Boston market.” w. j. 
Horse Chestnuts. 
W ILL you tell me if horse chestnuts 
have any use? t. r. 
Raymond; N. II. 
The nuts or fruit of the horse chestnut 
contain a substance known as esculin. 
which is sometimes used in preparing 
medicines for rheumatism or malarial 
disorders. As most people know also, it 
is an old-fashioned belief that a horse 
chestnut carried in the pocket will pre¬ 
vent an attack from rheumatism or 
hemorrhoids. Needless to say. we do not 
recommend the horse chestnut for the 
cure of these troubles, although no harm 
will be found in carrying the nuts in 
your pocket. Its use as medicine is in¬ 
significant. 
Soil for Growing Chestnuts. 
P ROF. ATIEARN of the Kansas Agri¬ 
cultural College tells how to prepare 
soil compost for growing plants: The 
way to handle the old pasture for farm 
crops is to give ;.s good an imitation of 
this as you can with farm tools: 
“A workable soil may be made from 
loam. sand, and manure, but it will be 
greatly improved if leaf mold or peat is 
added. The best loam for plants is made 
of well-decayed sod taken from a pasture. 
After the grass has been killed by hard 
freezes in the Fall, the sod should be 
cut three or four inches deep and placed 
in a pile, the grass side down. For the 
sake of convenience, make the pile* three 
or four feet wide and as high and as long 
as necessary. Hollow out the top so as 
to catch the rains. If the year is a dry 
one, a garden hose may be used to supply 
the moisture. In the construction of 
this pile, alternate layers of sod and 
manure should be used. This compost 
should be allowed to weather for at 
least a year, preferably two years, be¬ 
fore being used. When ready to be used, 
it should be chopped and thoroughly 
mixed with well-rotted manure.” 
The J.H. HALE Peach 
53 Days After Picking 
Identical specimen kept by Mr. W. P. Stark 
in an ordinary ice-box for 53 days 
“In my 35 years of fruit-growing 
I have never seen a peach that will 
make so much money f-or the 
grower as the J. H. HALE.” 
—William P. Stark. 
Here in this record-breaking J. H. 
HALE Peach is the peach fruit 
growers have long been seeking. 
Not alone for its gigantic size (one- 
third to one-half larger than Elberta), 
but for its amazing keeping and ship¬ 
ping qualities. In this respect it surpasses 
them all. 
J. H. HALE peaches shipped in competition 
with Elbertas have invariably kept two to 
three times as long. Their firmness permits 
packing and shipping almost like apples. 
No Peach Before with 
All These Features 
Immense size like small cannon-ball. 
Round, globular shape. 
Golden yellow flesh, carmine tinge. 
Perfect freestone—meat of a cling. 
Firm, yet delicate texture. 
Smooth skin —practically fuzzless. 
Ripens 5 days ahead of Elberta. 
Will hang longer on tree. 
Wonderful keeper and shipper. 
Matchless for canning. 
Brings 25 to 50% higher prices. 
Shrewd fruit-growers are jumping at this op¬ 
portunity. From California comes a call for 14.000; 
from Arkansas for 10,000: from New York for 
5.000. Reserve your trees now ! Hundreds or¬ 
dered too late last year. Be first in your section. 
Beware of 
Fraudulent Trees 
You can get genuine J. H. Hale peach trees, 
budded from Mr. Ilale’s bearing orchards, 
only from Wm. P. Stark Nurseries. Be on 
your guard. Dishonest persons are offering 
an old, worthless, small peach known as 
"Hale’s Early” for the true J. II. Hale. 
Refuse them—they are fraudulent. The J. H. 
Hale peach is trade-marked and grown by us 
under an exclusive contract with Mr. Hale, 
who has appointed us sole distributors. Order 
genuine J. H. Hale trees only from Wm. P. 
Stark Nurseries. 
Only Trees Bearing This Tag Are 
Genuine J. H. Elale Peach. Look For It, 
X/ // TRAOE MAW* 
< CX R, S U S P.t Oft 
STARK 
CITY 
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Box 245 Stark City, Missouri 
The Storrs & Harrison Co. 
Box 475, Painesville, Ohio 
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THE PECAN BUSINESS 
In a concise booklet, FREE. Every 
point mentioned from planting the nuts 
to gathering the nuts. Written from 
practical results, over20years’ experience. 
NUTS AND TREES FOR SALE. Mention Rural New-Yorker 
B. V/. STONE, Thomasville, Ga. 
T rees—Roses— V ines 
In small or large lots at wholesale 
prices. Catalog and Green’s Fruit 
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22 Wall St.. Rochester, N Y. 
INSIST ON YOUR DEALER 
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BACK 
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highest prices—can be grown in your 
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open PdTATnF^ F0R sflLE - Rod Dakotas, $1 bush 
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The Rural New-Yorkor, 333 W. 30th St., N. Y. 
i a-M.-iin.-*., 
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