THE RURA.lv NEW-YORKER 
921 
RURALISMS 
Winter Green-house Crop. 
We have a greenhouse 16x30, wood 
sides, glass top and ends; going to make 
it as big again. What can be raised in it 
between October 15 and January 15? 
Plainfield, N. J. ' b. f. 
Either lettuce or radishes would fill in 
very well between October 15 and Janu¬ 
ary 15. Radishes could be sown in beds 
direct in rows four to 4y> inches apart 
and thinned to 1^4 inches in row. Grand 
Rapids lettuce seed can be sown outdoors 
September 1 to 15, and transplanted to 
greenhouse October 1 to 15 about 6xS 
inches each way. Both radishes and let¬ 
tuce require very rich soil, well filled with 
humus, and require a liberal quantity of 
water. The temperature should be 48 
degrees to 50 degrees at night and 10 to 
15 degrees warmer on bright days. 
E. j. w. 
Rome Beauty in Hudson Valley. 
You ask for opinions of the Rome 
Beauty in the Hudson Valley. I have 
100 trees bought for Northern Spy, and 
feel badly swindled at the substitution. 
It has a few good points, however. It 
will hang on the tree interminably—a 
Euphorbia Eustacei in South Africa. 
Fig. 341. 
few of last year’s fruits are actually on 
the trees yet; it keeps until July in ordi¬ 
nary storage; it is an excellent shipper; 
it bears two or three years earlier than 
the Baldwin ; it is an annual bearer and 
the tree is strong and vigorous, with good 
foliage, more than ordinarily free from 
insect pests, and the wood is only a little 
less tough than hickory. But the quality 
is so low that it is only fit for culinary 
purposes and then only when all other 
apples are out of the market. It grows 
on the terminals chiefly, in clusters of 
three, making thinning imperative. In 
sod the fruits are undersized, and under 
cultivation they attain no color what¬ 
ever. The limbs have a tendency to 
“back-fire”—that is curl backwards. I 
have one that actually tied itself into a 
knot. It is the most expensive and un¬ 
satisfactory tree I know of to prune. For 
the good of the apple industry there 
should be an apple censor who would have 
the right and power to condemn every va¬ 
riety of this ilk to limbo. As soon as I 
found out what I had I planted other 
trees in between, and as soon as they get 
anywhere near the bearing age my Rome 
Beauties will get the ax. iiarvey losee. 
Dutchess Co., N. Y. 
A Hedgehog Plant. 
The strange-looking picture shown in 
Fig. 341, reproduced from the “London 
Gardeners’ Chronicle,” looks like a hedge¬ 
hog crawling over a rock, but it is a 
South African plant, growing in a rocky 
crevice on the mountainside. This plant, 
Euphorbia Eustacei, belongs, like the 
pretty “snow-on-the-mountain” of coun¬ 
try gardens, to the Spurge family. It 
forms a number of short, crowded 
branches, thickly covered with formida¬ 
ble white spines an inch long, growing 
so closely that it makes a cushion-like 
spiny mass about six inches high. Ordi¬ 
narily it is circular, but this plant was 
restricted by the crevice in which it 
grew, and assumed the quaint animal 
shape. The picture was taken in the dry 
season, when the plant was leafless; in 
the growing season its thorns are fairly 
well concealed by close glaucous green 
leaves. A number of the Euphorbias are 
extremely spiny, among them the green¬ 
house plant known as “crown of thorns,” 
a showy variety with vivid scarlet flow¬ 
ers. Some of them, with swollen trunk 
or branches, armed with thorns, look like 
cacti, but as a rule they have milky juice, 
acrid or poisonous in character. The 
showy Poinsettia, with brilliant red 
bracts, often seen in Christmas displays, 
is a well-known member of the same 
family. 
Asparagus Questions. 
I have about 1 X A or 1*4 acre in as¬ 
paragus ; have fertilized only with com¬ 
mercial fertilizer, which is put on the 
asparagus immediately after the cutting 
season is over. This year up to May 24 
we put up 650 bunches which includes 
the culls. The plants were attacked by 
a little fly, which delights to be on the 
asparagus, and is evidently the insect 
that is biting the stalk here and there 
and so makes the “grass” very crooked. 
Can you tc’l me if anything can be done 
to destroy this little pest? j. r. d. 
Port Jefferson, N. Y. 
Many of the most successful growers 
of asparagus, now advocate two or three 
applications of fertilizers during the 
early part of the growing season. When 
two applications are given, they should be 
put on in March and immediately after 
the close of the cutting season. When 
three applications are given, they are 
applied in March, May and at the close 
of the cutting season. The idea of the 
early application is to stimulate and sus¬ 
tain vigorous growth during the cutting 
season, and that applied at the close of 
the cutting season to assist the crowns 
in forming new and strong eyes or buds 
for the following year's crop. By this 
method somewhat more fertilizer will be 
required than if but a single application 
is given, probably one-third more. This 
system of fertilizing will also admit of 
varying the kinds which in some cases at 
least will be quite an advantage. The 
insect referred to is no doubt the com¬ 
mon asparagus beetle. This insect both 
in the adult and larval state is injurious 
to the tender shoots, which they often ren¬ 
der unfit for market early in the season. 
The beetles sometimes burrow under 
ground and gnaw the young shoots, caus¬ 
ing them to become woody and somewhat 
crooked in growth, but they are not al¬ 
ways responsible for some of the shoots 
coming crooked, particularly in heavy 
soils. Such soils will crust over quite 
hard following heavy rains; in fact the 
crust is quite often so hard that the 
tips of the shoots will sometimes be bent 
in almost a half circle before they force 
their way through. Such soils should be 
gone over with a one-horse weeder or 
lightly harrowed after heavy rains to 
prevent or break up incrustation. When 
the beetles are present and responsible 
for such damage, a flock of chickens 
turned into the asparagus field will usu¬ 
ally keep them in check. Poisons cannot 
be used effectively as the beetles cannot 
be reached underground. Nor would ,t 
be safe to use them during the cutting 
period. After the cutting season has 
closed they may be kept under control 
by frequently spraying the plants with 
arsenate of lead or Paris green. k. 
A Non-bearing Tree. 
On my farm I have a Northern Spy 
apple tree set nine years. This tree is 30 
feet from a Twenty Ounce apple tree, 
which bears every year, sometimes heavier 
than other years, and the Spy tree has 
never had an apple on it to the best of 
our knowledge. Can you offer any reason 
for this, or any suggestion as to how to 
make it bear? I believe this tree should 
bear some fruit at this age; it is very 
strong and healthy, and good size. 
Albany, N. Y. w. H. I. 
The Northern Spy is a very tardy 
bearer, but at the age given the tree re¬ 
ferred to should bear from one to three 
bushels biennially. They sometimes bear 
profitable crops seven years from plant¬ 
ing. The bearing habit of fruit trees is 
so reliable and general that such instances 
as the one described are fortunately very 
rare, and such phenomenons have never 
been satisfactorily explained. Two courses 
or practices are open to promote bearing 
in this tree: First, prune tree radically, 
but intelligently in latter part of May to 
check vegetative action, and thus pro¬ 
mote fruit bud formation This should 
consist of cutting out central erect lead¬ 
ers ; removing all but five of remaining 
leaders, or framework limbs r what is 
then left of the top should be cut back 
from three to five feet to suitable laterals, 
and the remaining laterals so thinned 
that when in leaf, the sun, light and air 
be admitted to all parts of tree. This 
treatment is based on the asumption that 
the pruning and shaping of tree has been 
neglected If it has been thoroughly 
pruned and is not dense a slighter cutting 
is still desirable and advised. Second, a 
strip of bark one-half inch wide around 
trunk of tree may be removed, called gird¬ 
ling, at the season advised in first treat¬ 
ment c. F. B. 
Cultivation of Drug Plants. 
We have had many requests for in¬ 
formation about the possibility of grow¬ 
ing drug crops in this country. The Eu¬ 
ropean War has shut o^ much of the 
supply of foreign drugs, and some of the 
wonder workers in journalism have tried 
to make it appear that there is a great 
fortune buried in a back yard if the own- 
I 
er would only go out and raise drugs. 
Most of these writers are under the in¬ 
fluence of some drug apparently when 
they write this stuff, but it is popular 
with a lot of people who are hunting 
evex-ywhere for a new crop. The Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture has now issued Bul¬ 
letin No. 663, “Drug Plants Under Cul¬ 
tivation,” which gives the facts as far 
as is posible in regard to these crops. 
Dr. Stockburger says that very few if 
any of these drug plants are used in 
quantities large enough to make them 
promising for general cultivation. Many 
of the common ones bring but a few 
cents a pound, and thei-e is little chance 
of profit in them. Most of the high- 
priced drug plants must be cared for two 
or more years before a ci'op can be har¬ 
vested. There is no such thing as quick 
returns with large profits from a small 
investment in drug plant growing. The 
most skillful management and care are 
need in order to make this crop pay. 
Of course some of the enthusiastic peo¬ 
ple who have seeds or plants for sale 
will say that we are trying to throw cold 
water on this drug plant business, but 
cold water is healthy and doesn’t cost as 
much as good money when it is thrown 
away. In spite of all the wonderful 
stories we read in the papers about pro¬ 
fits in the drug business, our standard 
advice is to go very slow in the matter 
and be siire of your ground before you 
start. Give the drug business a care¬ 
ful study first of all, and about the best 
thing you can do to begin with is to 
study this bulletin fi*om tlie government. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you'll get a quick reply aud a 
“square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
Plow Handles 
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^Hers a thoroughly practical training to boys and girls who cannot go to col- 
le a e. Graduates of the school are successful at home and in responsible positions. 
Agriculture 
The school offers two year and 
short winter courses in general 
agriculture, dairying, poultry 
husbandry and horticulture. 
Best Equipment ; Large Farm 
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to residents of New York. En¬ 
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Home Economics 
Two year and short winter 
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