THE RURAIi NEW-YORKER 
803 
The Home Acre 
I_ 
Notes from a Maryland Garden. 
Rose-Chafers. —Our annual swarm of 
the rose-chafers has arrived, and I have 
been busy spraying the grapevines and 
rose bushes. They seem to be especially 
fond of the young bloom buds of the 
grapes, and if not prevented will eat every 
cluster. I am spraying with an ounce of 
lead arsenate in a two-gallon bucket and 
am using a sprayer with a stirrup to 
spray from the bucket; have already 
sprayed three times and the bugs are get¬ 
ting scarce. I add to the lead arsenate 
some corn syrup to make the spray stick, 
and it has always proved effectual. 
Early Tomatoes. —I am much inter¬ 
ested in a comparative test of the earli¬ 
ness of the John Baer, Bonny Best and 
Earliana tomatoes. I have rows of these 
side by side in similar soil and fertiliza¬ 
tion. The Bonny Best and Earliana 
were blooming and setting fruit the mid¬ 
dle of May, when the John Baer had not 
opened a flower, though the plants are 
rather stronger than the others. John 
Baer did not come up to the claim for ex¬ 
tra earliness last year, being far behind 
Earliana and I am making a more exact 
and uniform test this year. John Baer is 
an excellent tomato, however. 
Cutworms. —The Irish potatoes have 
been treated with the same spray used 
on the grapes and roses, but the beetles 
are not so plentiful as usual. But the 
cutworms have been unusually abundant, 
and have done a great deal of damage in 
spite of poisoned bran used liberally. 
They have even attacked the clumps of 
the hardy Phlox, though a shoot or so 
with these does not do a great deal of 
damage. A hunt every morning enables 
me to find and destroy many. 
Corn Suckers. —I am asked why I do 
not pull off the suckers from the sweet 
corn. The fact is I have long ago found 
that pulling suckers is worse than use¬ 
less labor, and the plants seem to do just 
as well if they are let alone, and many 
suckers give me good ears. 
Early Drought. —While we are now 
having rains, the long dry spell was a 
serious damage to the raspberries, and 
the majority of the blossoms have simply 
dried up and will make no fruit. The 
early strawberries were small and poor, 
but the later ones, like the Chesapeake, 
are now getting the benefit of the rains, 
and promise to be extra good. Progres¬ 
sive has started on its bearing, and is 
full, and making young plants that will 
be bearing fruit before Fall. The fruit 
of the Progressive is not large, but is 
sweet and good. Just now we are not car¬ 
ing much for them while the big Chesa¬ 
peake is in use, but after a while they 
will be very welcome. 
Eggplants. —These were set out May 
24 from four-inch pots, big lusty plants 
set in soil heavily manured last Fall, and 
heavily dressed with a high-grade fertil¬ 
izer this Spring. Eggplants need liberal 
feeding to make big plants and big fruits. 
The Black Beauty, as usual, is smaller 
and weaker than the Maule’s Excelsior, 
but they will soon catch up, and while 
the fruits are not quite so large as the 
Excelsior they are more abundant and of 
fine quality. 
Asters and Phlox. —A large bed is 
now being set with China Asters. This 
bed was in asters two years ago, and I 
have been keeping it empty all the Spring 
while I was getting the new plants 
started, for I do not sow asters early, as 
we get far better bloom in the late sea¬ 
son. But I have been surprised to note 
the great number of volunteer asters that 
have appeared in the bed from the plant¬ 
ing two years ago, and these volunteers 
are larger and stronger plants than the 
ones I have grown this year. It looks as 
though we might sow seed in the late 
Fall and get earlier plants than by Spring 
sowing. Phlox Drummondii are always 
better from Fall sowing, for the plants 
starting in the Fall, winter perfectly well 
and bloom far ahead of any sown out¬ 
doors in the Spring. I use some Coleus 
plants as border plants to Canna and 
other plants, and I save seed from some 
special ones that are planted especially for 
seed, and get a wonderful variety of 
colors, which to me are far more inter¬ 
esting than the formal beds of rows of 
different colors called carpet beds. Mine 
have all the colors the plant produces, 
and by saving seed from the most striking 
I get far more interesting plants than 
any that I can buy, and it saves carrying 
over stock plants. 
Herbaceous Flowers. —Peonies have 
grown splendidly, but in our hot sandy 
soil we cannot get the mass of bloom that 
is had in the North. Still we get some 
flowers and keep trying every year to get 
more. Heavily manured the plants grow 
enormously, and I suppose that if we had 
means for irrigating in the dry weather 
we might get some blooms. I have a host 
of them and will keep trying to make 
more flowers. But of all the herbaceous 
perennials the Phlox give us the greatest 
satisfaction. The hardy perennial Phlox 
grows finely and blooms through such an 
extended period that it would be hard to 
replace it. I have over 200 clumps of a 
dozen or more varieties, and when they 
come into bloom there is no lack of flow¬ 
ers. The last of the Spring shrubbery, 
the Deutzias and Wiegelas, are now in 
full bloom, and the Crimson Rambler 
roses are almost in bloom. Then the gor- 
geous Chinese trumpet-flower. Teeoma 
grandiflora. will soon be covered with its 
masses of great orange-colored flowers, 
making one of the most showy porch 
plants for Summer that can be had. Two 
years ago I saved seed from this, and last 
Spring had over 100 seedlings in the gar¬ 
den. One day a darkey whom I had 
working in the garden, concluded that 
they were the wild trumpet vine so com¬ 
mon here as a weed, and he hoed out the 
whole of them. This Spring I have been 
surprised to find them coming up again, 
evidently from the cut roots. 
Maryland. w. F. MASSEY. 
Treatment for Potato Scab. 
I have a lot of seed potato scab treat¬ 
ment on hand this Spring. My formula 
is one pint formalin. 20 gallons water, 
soak 20 minutes, but have heretofore in¬ 
jured vitality of seed with it, possibly 
sometimes by leaving in too long. What 
latest information can you give me on 
the subject? I think the company should 
retire from the seed potato business or 
move to some other locality Of the ag¬ 
gregate damage I sustained last season 
from use of their seed, probably the 
lesser half is that by scab, and I would 
not have had that for $1,000. Guess 
they have fixed 10 acres land so I can 
never again use it for potato growing, 
and this in the face of my letter telling 
them if they did not know the seed to 
be right and from absolutely healthy 
crop not to send it. Had the seed shown 
scab of course I would have treated it, 
but evidently the tubers showing scab 
had been sorted out. e. ii. 
R. N.-Y.—Y'our formula is too strong. 
Ono pint to 30 gallons is the standard 
strength. We think it is always desir¬ 
able to treat the seed when buying from 
large stocks. This seed is grown on dif¬ 
ferent farms, and it is almost impossible 
to inspect it all. Better treat the seed 
on general principles. 
Culture of Onion Sets. 
How should I take care of about three- 
fourths of an acre of onion sets? I had 
the ground in first-class order, used .02-S- 
3 fertilizer, 400 pounds broadcast, worked 
in with harrow; intend to use 150 pounds 
in June broadcast, work in with hoe. 
How about cutting the tops off? j. b. d. 
Marion. Ind. 
I suppose this inquiry refers to onions 
to be transplanted from seed flats. Mine 
awaiting the close of frosty weather to be 
planted out are about seven inches high. 
When I transplant I shall cut the roots 
of a bunch even, and cut back the tops to 
five inches. This will make the planting 
easier and leave less tops to wilt while 
the roots are getting a new hold upon the 
soil. If the inquirer has already plant¬ 
ed, then cutting off the tops would be an 
injury. l. b. pierce. 
“Teacher, teacher! Willie and Benny 
is fighting like anythings!” “Stop that, 
you boys! You’re a good little girl. 
Lena, to tell me.” “Yes, teacher. But 
I wouldn’t tell you only Benny was get- 
tin’ licked.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer. 
THE WOOD OF SERVICE 
COUTHERN YELLOW PINE is 
. called “The Service Wood” because 
it has the strength and durability of many of 
the toughest hardwoods, with the easy work¬ 
ing qualities of a soft wood. That explains 
why Southern Yellow Pine is so universally demanded 
for general building, repairs, and manufacturing—why 
36 per cent of all the commercial lumber used in the United 
States is Southern Yellow Pine. 
The United States Government, after mak¬ 
ing accurate tests of the comparative strength of more 
than seventy commercial woods, said of Southern Yellow 
Pine (Longleaf): 
‘‘It may be bad in long pieces, free from serious defects, 
and possesses great strength and stiffness. In addition to 
that, it has enduring qualities which add much to its value. 
In a large part of the country it is so universally used that 
there are but few places of importance it does not fill.” 
And there is another very important feature, 
not mentioned by the Government— 
Quality considered , Southern Yellow Pine is 
the least expensive lumber you can buy. 
It will be money in your pocket to remem¬ 
ber these facts when you go to buy material for building 
or repairs on the farm or in the home. 
The Southern Pine Association 
626 D Inter-State Bank Bldg. 
New Orleans, La. 
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WHAT 1?e t s h ? LUMBER FOR THE FARM? 
U.S. Govt. Rept. Says: 
^§M“GYPRESS 
practically wears 
out before it decays.” CY¬ 
PRESS saves repair bills. 
INSIST on Cypress of your local dealer. He 
has, or can get. Cypress lumber and shingles. 
Ship in the coupon for your BookIets(of Real Value.) 
SO. CYPRESS MFRS* ASS’N 
2 26 Hibarnia Bank Bid*., N.w Ori..n. t La. 
I 26 Haard Nat'l Bank Bids.. Jackaonvills, Fla. 
Please send me the books, FREE, 
as marked in the following squares: 
Q New Silo Book.Vol.37. Free Plans 
□ Barn Book, (4 plans) Vol. 4. 
□ Farm Needs Book, (3 plans)Vol. 20. 
□ Carpentry Book, (12 plans) Vol. 36. 
□ Trellis & Arbor Book, Vol. 23. 
□ U. S. Gov’t Report on Cypress, 
R. F. n. Town 
State 
When you write advertisers mention The R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a 
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