Xl-iHC RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1293 
Farm and Garden Topics 
Grapes Ripen Late. 
I have a grapevine sent out by The 
R. N.-Y. several years ago, Brown’s 
Early, I believe it was called, also a 
Brighton and a Worden, all trained on 
the south and east sides of a building. 
These vines are well set with grapes 
which have failed to ripen. Some bunches 
are apparently half ripened but many are 
entirely green. I supposed all of these 
varieties were early, and would like to 
inquire what is the matter with them. 
They have made a luxuriant growth, and 
have not been trimmed this year. Should 
the leaves be trimmed off so as to let in 
the sunlight? All directions I have ever 
seen about pruning grapes seem to refer 
to field culture. How should vines be 
treated which are intended to cover con¬ 
siderable space, as the side of a building 
or over a veranda, growing as a large 
vine rather than as a sort of bush, as in 
field culture? F. w. P. 
Norwich, N. Y. 
The season of 1015 has been decidedly 
unfavorable for the ripening of the grape 
crop throughout New York. The con¬ 
tinued wet weather has kept the vines 
making wood and leaf growth to the det¬ 
riment of the maturing processes.. With 
us of the varieties mentioned in the above 
inquiry, Worden only failed to ripen 
property. This variety requires very 
close Winter pruning in order to produce 
well-matured fruit, and hence is not well 
adapted for the production of such when 
it has to serve the purpose of a covering 
for a building. The difficulty with these 
vines as seen from this distance, is prob¬ 
ably due to an excessive amount of fruit 
to he matured, coupled with an unfavor¬ 
able ripening season. In order to over¬ 
come this trouble, at least in part, the 
vines should be pruned more severely, so 
that a fewer number of clusters are to he 
matured. 
In training vines to .a building it used 
to he our practice to carry one or two 
stems from the ground, either obliquely 
or vertically up the side of the building, 
and at a height of four or five feet from 
the ground, canes were taken off to the 
right and left of the stem, and carried 
obliquely up the building. After a few 
years the stem can he extended to nearly 
the height of the wall, and then the prob¬ 
lem each year is to secure the fruiting 
wood directly from this stem, or from 
short spurs that have been retained at 
the previous season’s pruning for this 
purpose. Then spurring and pruning to 
canes that arise from the stem practically 
all the wood retained older than one year 
is this stem. We found that narrow 
strips of thin leather or sheepskin were 
very satisfactory for fastening the stem 
and canes to the buildings, as they could 
be fastened over the canes rather loosely, 
yet firmly, and no girdling results. 
The failure of Brighton to mature its 
fruit may he due in part to the deterrent 
effect of mildew. This disease was un¬ 
usually severe on both leaf and cluster 
of this variety in our vineyards this sea¬ 
son. Brown Early matured a heavy 
crop, and considering the backward Sum¬ 
mer, at its usual season, f. e. gladwi.v. 
Storing Grapes. 
Can you tell me of any way of keeping 
grapes fresh as picked from the vine, so 
that they can be kept at least until mid¬ 
dle of January? I was told to take a tub, 
fill it with sawdust and grapes, in rows. 
Will that keep them, and must they be 
kept cool and dry? j. M. J. 
Whitestone, N. Y. 
It is very doubtful that American va¬ 
rieties of grapes can be kept in good con¬ 
dition till the middle of January, other 
than in cold storage. Certain sorts, how¬ 
ever, as the Catawba, are frequently 
held in picking boxes as they come from 
the vineyard in ordinary cellar storage 
for the Christmas trade. For home use 
we have found that some varieties keep 
very well packed in cork. With this 
method the fruit is placed in layers with 
the cork separating each layer. Only 
well-ripened clusters with perfect berries 
should be packed for storage, and these 
should be cool when put up. The con¬ 
tainer must be immediately put into a 
cool dry cellar, where the temperature 
does not vary a great deal from day to 
day. If the cork or the container has 
3 een previously used for holding graoos 
they should be thoroughly aerated before 
use. This can be done by spreading the 
cork on a clean surface exposed to the 
sun. The container should be washed 
with boiling water and allowed to dry 
thoroughly. Often grapes that are de¬ 
sired for storage are bagged shortly after 
the berries set, picked with the bags on 
and stored in this condition in crates. If 
this method is practiced it is very neces¬ 
sary that the picking be made when the 
fruit and bags are perfectly dry. F. E. o. 
Cover Crops and Pigeons. 
[Here is a new difficulty with seeding 
cover crops. These pests of pigeons are 
surely ravenous during late Summer.] 
In spite of all the rain we are having 
we have trouble getting our cover crops 
started. Many of our neighbors have a 
flock of pigeons lodging in their barns 
and boarding off the neighbors. Before 
we knew what happened they gathered a 
large quantity of turnip and rape seed 
off us, and now they are going for the 
vetch just sown. We have been com¬ 
pelled to get the gun on the job, though 
I don’t like it, but it seems the only 
way we can keep them off. E. j. w. 
Giant Gibraltar Onion.. 
As I am thinking of planting a small 
piece of ground with Giant Gibraltar 
onions next Spring I wish to know as to 
the quality, compared with Prizetaker, 
and their salability. Does the public like 
such large onions? b. o. w. 
Middlesex Co., Mass. 
Grown by the transplanting method 
the Giant Gibraltar is larger than Prize- 
taker and slightly flatter. I have had 
one onion cooked for three people, and it 
gave us all we wanted. The Giant Gib¬ 
raltar is a light colored onion, a rather 
dingy white, and it is mild and pleasant. 
As to the quality, compared with Prize- 
taker, I think that if a specimen of the 
two varieties was boiled and placed be¬ 
fore anyone it would be hard to decide 
which was which. From the way that 
the large Spanish onions sell in the im¬ 
ported crates it would seem that the 
public like large onions, especially when 
it is known that they are mild and sweet. 
W. F. MASSEY. 
Washes and Pastes for Borers. 
I have set out about 100 apple trees 
this Spring on a side hill on sod ground. 
I am afraid of borers. Some people tell 
me that wood ashes are a good preven¬ 
tive. If so how much wood ashes would 
you place around the tree, and would you 
remove the earth away down to the roots 
and put the wood ashes around the trees 
in that manner? Others tell me that 
soot from soft oral taken from the bot¬ 
tom of smoke stacks or chimneys is a 
very good preventive. Will you please 
give your opinion on that? Still others 
say that digging the earth away from the 
trunk of the young trees and painting 
the trunk down to the roots with tar, 
such as you would obtain from gas man¬ 
ufacturing, is also a preventive. I 
would like information relative to that. 
Connecticut. M. D. 
The only safe and sure way of killing 
borers that we know of is to cut or dig 
them out. We believe it would be dan¬ 
gerous to use unleached wood ashes, and 
we have several reports of injury from 
the use of tar. We have had no exper¬ 
ience with soot, but do not see how it 
could destroy borers. We have given up 
using paints and smears, and depend on 
digging out. The use of thick lime-sul¬ 
phur has been advised, but there are 
some reports of positive injury from its 
use. 
Fumigating the Sick Room. 
With increasing knowledge of the ways 
in which disease is spread methods of 
combating it change. Among those meth¬ 
ods to which great importance was form¬ 
erly ascribed, but which now, to a con¬ 
siderable extent, are being superseded, 
fumigation with sulphur fumes or other 
gases may be classed. When it became 
known that disease germs were killed by 
exposure to certain gases, the generation 
of such gases in a room known to be in¬ 
fected seemed a convenient and positive 
method of disinfecting it and the use of 
sulphur for this purpose became common. 
Later, formaldehyde gas was found to 
be more efficient than that from burn¬ 
ing sulphur, and very largely took the 
place of the latter. There is no doubt 
that either gas, in sufficient concentra¬ 
tion and applied for a sufficient length 
of time, will destroy disease germs, but, 
in actual practice, it is very difficult in 
most homes to bring about ideal condi¬ 
tions for effective fumigation, and it is 
to be feared that very much of that 
which has been done in the past has been 
little more than a farce, with the very 
undesirable effect of distracting atten¬ 
tion from more effective and necessary 
measures for protection. 
Many sanitarians of standing are now 
recommending that fumigation after dis¬ 
ease be abandoned, or, at least, relegated 
to a subordinate place, and that careful 
attention be paid during the course of a 
disease to such measures as shall make i 
i 
unnecessary what is called “terminal 
disinfection”; that is, that disinfection 
shall be a matter of constant observance 
during the illness of a patient, and not 
be left for a final grand clean-up. It is 
recognized now that the contagion of dis¬ 
ease exists in the secretions of and the 
discharges from the body of a patient, 
and that the germs have no wings which 
enable them to fly about the room and 
alight upon convenient articles of furni¬ 
ture and hangings. If these discharges 
and those things which come into direct 
contact with the body of the patient, 
and are, therefore, likely to be soiled by 
discharges, are properly cared for at all 
times, there will be little opportunity for 
the distant parts of a room or house to 
become infected, and fumigation after re¬ 
covery will not be needed. 
Disease germs are afraid of the light 
and air, for in these they die. Nature 
has wisely provided that those organisms 
that prey upon others shall, themselves, 
have their enemies, and the chief ene¬ 
mies of disease germs are the sun and 
the winds. Air dilutes germs by separ¬ 
ating them from each other, and sunlight 
kills them by its direct action. Dirt 
harbors germs and protects them from 
the sun and air which would kill them; 
cleanliness, therefore, is a great disinfect¬ 
ant. Far better than to attempt to dis¬ 
infect a dirty room by poisonous gases 
is it thoroughly to clean the room with 
hot water, soap and elbow grease, and 
remove the germs with the dirt. Having 
removed their hiding places, such germs 
as may be left can now be subjected 
to the fresh air treatment. With shades 
removed and doors and windows thrown 
open, Nature’s disinfectants have full 
sway and need only sufficient time to ac¬ 
complish their beneficent work. Chemi¬ 
cal disinfectants have their place, and a 
very useful one, but the good housewife 
who scorns dirt as she would a pestilence 
unconsciously guards against the latter, 
and the sun whose rays give life is her 
chief ally against that pestilence which 
truly “walketh in darkness.” 
M. B. BEAN. 
Renting Problem. 
If a man rents a house and barn for 
$5 per month ($4 per month without 
barn) and only uses barn for a few 
months, when the party rented from buys 
an automobile and puts in into barn, and 
uses barn all himself, locking barn up, so 
that the man who rented it with house 
cannot even put a horse in it, will he 
have to pay rent for same, and can the 
other man collect rent for same? 
New York. m. j. g. 
The party rented from or landlord, by 
using the barn himself and locking it, 
asserted a right to possession adverse to 
that of his tenant, and showed that he 
considered his tenant no longer in pos¬ 
session. And he cannot collect rent from 
the tenant during the time he so used it 
unless the tenant consented to this use. 
When you write advertisers mention Tub 
R. N.-Y. and you'll get a quick reply and a 
"square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
Good Seed 
One of the surest ways of 
getting better grain is careful 
seed selection. 
And the principle applies 
ta clothes-making as well as 
farming. 
We have Clothcraft 
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makers have selected the one 
best way to perform every 
little operation in making a 
suit or overcoat. 
Naturally you get more style, 
fit and long wear for your money 
—and a binding guaranty of serv¬ 
ice value. 
Come in and look over the 
many handsome fabrics in suits 
and overcoats at $10 to $25. 
You’ll surely want to try on one 
of the Clothcraft Blue Serge 
Specials “4130” at $18.50, and 
“5130” at $15. 
| The Clothcraft Store | 
(IN YOUR TOWN) 
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*lO*°*25 ?o e w^ 
Made by The Joseph 6* Feiss Company, Cleveland 
BIG BARGAINS 
A pairof fleece - lined boot sox 
given with every pair of bools 
STRONG SERVICE 
RUBBER BOOTS 
Extra lino quality made by new pat¬ 
ent process, reinforced in every vita 
spot to insure unusually long service. 
Special double thick Para gum soles* 
Heels so solidly constructed that they 
positively cannot come off. Duck 
lined, flexible and well fitting. Quul. 
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wearer in every respect. 
Every pair absolutely guar¬ 
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money refunded. Sent 
postpaid for..... o a qp 
M en's sizes 5 to 13. VL.H J 
The above are a few specials from our 
Corduroy Trousers 
t Drab color Cordu¬ 
roy of good, sub¬ 
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well made in every 
8)>ecial quality is 
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measure, and 29 to 
36 i ii 8 e ii ni. Give 
waist and inseani 
measure. OurSpecial 
$1.39 
!n Wearing Apparel 
For Entire Family 
Men’s Strong, Black 
Calf Leather Shoes 
for General Wear 
Price.... 
postpaid to your home. 
• ir , • . - catalog, containin 
wearing apparel tor the entire family. Send for it today 
large 
Uppers made 
of good quality 
black calf 
leather 
over a 
wide, 
roomy 
last, with heavy, double sole 
and common sense heels, suit¬ 
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Has all double stitched seams 
ami Is strongly made through¬ 
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Sizes 6 to 12. K and 
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postpaid. yl.Dj 
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hundreds of similar bargains in 
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112-113 South St. 
Now York City. Dept. A* 
