THE R.T_JRA.I> NEW-YORKER 
Maryland Notes. 
Cucumbers And Squashes. —The 
horticultural knowledge of the average 
magazine writer is well shown by a lit¬ 
tle article in the Delineator, a ladies’ 
fashion magazine. Honore Willsie says: 
“Vegetables are shameless cut-ups. As 
soon as they begin, as it were, to feel 
their oats, they look out for clandestine 
Bin-banking. A cucumber will pilfer sun¬ 
shine from the complexion of the Sum¬ 
mer squash in a neighboring bed, and will 
turn a sickly yellow. Then it will car¬ 
icature its victim by growing an awk¬ 
ward bulge at one end. The demoralized 
squash will assume an unbecoming green, 
and spin out an undulating, slithy figure, 
like a dancer on a magazine cover.” All 
of which is of course pure imagination, 
for no one ever made a cucumber and 
squash cross. The various members of 
the Cucurbitaceae cross far less than is 
commonly imagined. I grow cucumbers 
and muskmelons side by side in my gar¬ 
den, and get good cucumbers and good 
cantaloupes, and the seed saved from the 
best specimens make good cucumbers and 
good cantaloupes the next year, and there 
is never the slightest sign of crossing. 
All the varieties of squashes and pump¬ 
kins will cross, but the crossing in the 
order is always confined to the members 
of their own genera. 
Spraying. —I am trying the arsenate 
of zinc this Spring as a poison for the 
rose-chafers. They come here in vast 
swarms, and this season they are report¬ 
ed to be eating the peaches. They swarm 
on the grapevines, and if undisturbed 
will eat every flower cluster. A pro¬ 
fessional sprayer called at my office a.few 
days ago to know what to use on the 
peach trees. I showed him the mixture 
I was using on my grapes and potatoes 
and eggplants, one ounce of zinc arsen¬ 
ate in two gallons of water and a can 
of corn syrup to make it stick. So far 
it is keeping the grapevines clean and 
the roses too, and I find that it is just 
as effective on the Irish potatoes and 
eggplants for the Colorado beetle. The 
growing of melons is a large interest 
here. It is evident this Spring that the 
area in watermelons is largely increased, 
while the area in muskmelons is reduced 
considerably. The cantaloupes have not 
been very profitable for the past two sea 
sons, a late Spring throws our growers 
back so that they come in competition 
with the crop from South Jersey, and 
that means a glut on the markets. 
Pear Blight. —Mr. Miller’s notes 
(page 753) are suggestive. I have had 
a good deal of experience with different 
varieties of pears. Those most subject 
to blight in my experience are the Bart¬ 
lett. Lawrence and Winter Nelis. Man¬ 
ning's Elizabeth has been entirely resist¬ 
ant, Duchess also, Seek el nearly so and 
Beurre d’Anjou almost entirely so. 
Beurre Superfin also has been free from 
blight. Top-working Bartlett on Seckel 
doubtless made the Seckel more liable to 
infection. Trees in sod are always less 
affected than those growing sappily in 
manured and cultivated land. Another 
pear I have grown comparatively free 
from blight when in sod was the Made¬ 
line. Bartlett is always attacked and 
Lawrence has been the worst blighter I 
have had. w. r. massey. 
Comment and Discussion. 
The remarks by “K.” on page 729 do 
not seem to me to give the whole of the 
matter of winterkilling of raspberries or 
other plants. It has been our experience 
that the young canes which come up very 
late in the season and are still growing 
very rapidly when the leaves are killed 
in early Winter, are often more hardy 
than others which started early and were 
so thoroughly ripened that the leaves 
dropped before the killing frosts. The 
whole matter of the effect of cold on 
plants needs much careful experiment. 
At present the men who have been study¬ 
ing it can offer a large number of widely 
differing theories, none of which seems to 
quite satisfy all the known facts. 
Eradicating Horseradish, page 748. 
About 20 years ago we stopped growing 
horseradish for market, and had the prob¬ 
lem of cleaning the ground. One of the 
neighbors told us that it could not be 
done. He had been working at one of his 
fields for years. Every Spring when it 
was plowed he picked up all the roots 
and carried them off. I cannot remem¬ 
ber whether we had a crop on the field 
the year we started after the horseradish 
or not, but it seems as though we got a 
crop of strawberries there. About the 
first of August the field was plowed and 
all the loose roots picked up and carried 
off. From that time until late Novem¬ 
ber the field was cultivated with a one- 
horse cultivator every week, and all 
loose roots picked up. I have a vivid 
memory of carrying a basket over that 
field picking up little pieces of horse¬ 
radish roots. This treatment entirely 
cleared the ground, and the last time I 
saw that field it was as free from horse¬ 
radish as any on the place. In destroying 
horseradish it is essential to keep the 
plants from ever showing a green leaf 
above ground from the first of August un¬ 
til the ground freezes. From April to about 
the first of September the plants make 
tops, taking most of their nutriment from 
the old roots. The rest of the year they 
make roots, storing up material for the 
next season’s growth of tops and blossoms. 
If we plow the field when the plants 
have about used up the reserve of food 
and keep them from storing any more 
they will be killed. The plants must be 
dug up before they are no'ticed if they are 
to be killed. The only way that can be 
done is to go over the ground with some 
good horse tool at least once a week from 
about the first of August until the ground 
freezes enough to stop cultivating. A 
crop can be grown the first part of the 
season but it must be out of the way 
early in August. 
Shade Trees, page 749. — I do not con¬ 
sider a tree that begins to die when it 
is six or eight inches in diameter a very 
long-lived tree. Most of the sugar maples 
I have seen planted for shade had many 
large dead limbs by the time they had 
been planted 20 years. To be sure, they 
may live many years after this, but the 
owner will take little pleasure in them. 
Brush In Fence Itow, page 725.— 
The U. S. Department of Agriculture has 
recommended kerosene for destroying 
wild garlic and similar hardy, deep-root¬ 
ed plants, and it would be little expense 
to pour a quart or two of kerosene on 
the trunk and roots of each of 10 or more 
trees and watch results. My opinion is 
that the trees will die promptly. 
a. c. w. 
Destroying Borers. 
Can you tell me what to do to pre¬ 
vent the borers from destroying fruit 
trees? My father bought a farm that 
827 
has a young orchard on it, and the borers 
have destroyed nearly half of the trees 
already. 1 have also set out a few trees, 
and they are working in them also. I 
have dug the borers out of my tres, but 
they will doubtless get in again, and if 
there is anything that will prevent it I 
should like to know about it. f. l. ii. 
Tioga Co., Pa. 
We assume you refer to peach borers. 
Briefly stated, the egg is laid at the base 
of the tree by a moth in June or July. 
This egg hatches, and the little borer be¬ 
gins to work down toward the root under 
the skin. As it works on the borer grows 
larger and makes a deep burrow. In the 
Spring this borer reaches full growth, 
goes through the insect changes and fin¬ 
ally turns into a moth which lays more 
eggs. When the borer once gets into the 
tree there is no remedy except digging 
out. Most peach growers go over their 
orchards in Fall and again in Spring, 
following the passages in the tree and 
killing the borers. Various plans have 
been tried to prevent the moth from lay¬ 
ing her eggs on the trunk of the tree. 
Probably the. best material for this pur¬ 
pose is a thick solution of lime-sulphur 
sprayed or painted over the lower part 
of the tree. More or less hand work will 
be needed, however 
The late Congressman W. W. Wede- 
meyer used to tell a story of rain in the 
Klondike. He was going up the Yukon 
on a Government junket, and the sky 
drizzled all the way. At one landing a 
dejected looking “sourdough” stood on 
the wharf awaiting the boat. “I say, 
partner,” asked Wedemeyer, “how long 
has it been, raining?” “Dunno,” was 
the reply, “I’ve only been here seventeen 
years.”—Denver Post. 
Goodyear Passes Goodyear 
$500,000 Better 
Yet Users Pay $5,000,000 Less 
Note these amazing facts: 
Goodyear tires, as built this year, will cost 
us $500,000 more than if built like 1914 
Goodyears. 
That s because of improvements. 
Yet this years output will cost our users 
some five million dollars less than if sold at 
1914 prices. 
That s because of a big price reduction, 
made February 1st. It was our third in two 
years, totaling 45 per cent. 
Why Better Tires? 
You ask why ws add that half-million 
dollars in face of such reductions. 
We have always added every betterment 
our experts could discover. And we spend 
on research $100,000 
yearly just to seek im¬ 
provements out. 
Goodyears may pass 
Goodyears, but we make 
sure that no rival ever can. 
What Extras 
Cost 
Goodyear Fortified 
Tires embody many ex- 
G 
OOD YEAR 
KRON, OHIO 
Fortified Tires 
f Rim-Cuts —by our No-Rfm-Cut feature. 
P 4 1 Blowouts— by our “On-Air” cure, 
rortitiea / Loose Treads— by many rubber rivets. 
Against j Insecurity —by 126 braided piano wires. 
j Punctures and Skidding —by ourdouble- 
' thick All-Weather tread. 
tras. Five of them are features found in no other 
tire that s built. Others are found in but few. 
Based on current output, those extras this 
year will cost us $1,635,000. 
That is, if we omitted our exclusive fea¬ 
tures, which all others do omit— 
And other protections which most makers 
omit— 
We could probably add to our profits this 
year more than 1 % million dollars. 
But What of You? 
But Goodyear users would pay. Those 
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to us. 
In those extras lies the reason why Good¬ 
year outsells any other tire. And in that 
mammoth output lies the 
reason for the value that 
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Think of these things 
when other tires are 
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extra means a saving to 
you. Any dealer, if you 
ask him, can supply you 
Goodyear tires. 
(2413) 
THE GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY, AKRON, OHIO 
Makers of Goodyear “Tire Saver” Accessories; also Goodyear “Wing” Carriage Tires and other Types 
