T iri ti RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1395 
times wlmt I paid for it in its raw, sandy state. 
Let’s go and have a look at it.” 
We got out of the car and walked out into the 
field. Our feet did not sink into it now, and in fact 
there was very little about it to indicate that it ever 
was a “hopeless” piece of sand, of value only to the 
near-by glass works. The decaying humus had given 
it quite a dark appearance, and it felt firm to the 
foot, while the dark green cornstalks, many of them 
Apple Hit by Hail. Fig. 514. 
higher than we could reach, and most of them bear¬ 
ing two good ears of corn, attested the success of 
McKillop’s treatment. 
And South Jersey has a good many thousands of 
acres of just such land which has been condemned 
as being only fit to raise mosquitoes and sand flies, 
but which is really only waiting the intelligent 
touch to cause the “desert to rejoice and blossom 
as the rose.” edwin i. fisii. 
New Jersey. 
Effects of a Hailstorm. 
HE apple shown at Fig 514 is hardly a thing to 
he thankful for—on its appearance. No, this is 
no illustration of what man’s neglect leads fo—it 
Shows what resulted from a fearful hailstorm. F. 
T. Jencks of Rhode Island sent samples of apples 
taken from his orchard. As we see, wherever the 
hailstones hit an apple they hit to kill. The fruit 
was hit so hard that it never recovered. Mr. Jencks 
sa ys: 
“With this, via parcel post, I am sending a pack¬ 
age of apples that show the result of the hailstorm 
of June 2Gtli. The storm lasted about 20 minutes 
and hailstones covered the earth to the depth of an 
inch. The largest measured two inches across; 
those as large as that were very few, but up to an 
inch and even 1 % inch across were common. In 
shape they were like large lozenges and looked as if 
they were artificial ice, frozen in cups. The range 
of the storm was Bristol County, which is composed 
of the towns of Barrington, Warren, and Bristol. 
Thousands of panes of glass were broken, 2,000 being 
broken in the National Rubber Co.’s factory. (Jar- 
dens were wrecked. In my own case, I had little but 
beets to sell for about a month. Corn came to all 
right, only it was late. Tomato plants and all kinds 
of vines were literally battered to pieces and had to 
put out new branches and start again. The damage 
to fruit was enormous. Although peaches were 
marked, yet on account of having no stem, perhaps 
one-half of the crop was knocked off. The apples 
because they have stems and were a softer fruit, 
were cut up worse. Pears suffered the least, as 
they were small and hard, but some were badly hurt, 
being even broken in half.” f. t. jencks. 
Tree Dopers in Niagara Co., N. Y. 
I would like some information in regard to a com¬ 
pany doing business around here treating fruit trees. 
They sell a spray mixture at $4 per gallon, and this is 
diluted for spraying the sour cherry to kill what they 
(‘all the snuff scale, which makes leaves fall off. This 
spray will cure pear blight, and once sprayed, will never 
blight again, same with quinces. They dig a trench 
around a tree half dead, and put in a mixture that will 
stop the tree dying, and it will bear fruit again. They 
claim there are SO different kinds of grubs that work 
in the roots of fruit trees, and this mixture they put 
in the trench will kill them. The head man is from the 
West, but he takes a local man around with him who 
claims to have an agency for this State. This man or 
both of them, are geting a lot of money from good farm¬ 
ers ; they don’t want anything to do with people who 
keep in touch with the experiment station. These men 
are working this county. c. A. s. 
Ransomville, N. Y. 
E know nothing about this particular com¬ 
pany, but whenever we see a blackbird in 
the cornfield we drive him out or shoot him if we 
can. “Birds of a feather flock together,” and wtiile 
we know nothing personal about this man .liis state¬ 
ments carry all the marks of a well-known fake, and 
we would not under any circumstances whatever 
advise any of our friends to bother with him. Very 
likely there are 80 different kinds of grubs, but we 
can safely say that there is no mixture which when 
put in the root of a tree will absolutely kill them all. 
These men are usually very successful in putting 
grubs into the heads of credulous people who be¬ 
lieve their stories, and it is usually impossible to 
kill these head grubs until the money has been lost. 
The very fact that these men want nothing to do 
with the experiment station is quite enough to con¬ 
demn them. The scientific men at the experiment 
station know insects and diseases thoroughly, and 
they know the life habits of the tree, and with this 
knowledge they understand that quack remedies are 
most useful to geese who believe fairy tales and 
guff. We have had experience with a dozen of these 
companies, each one working a remedy, so called, 
based on much the same principle. We have chased 
them down repeatedly, and in every case the result 
has been the same, and that is why we are so posi¬ 
tive in advising our friends to have absolutely noth¬ 
ing whatever to do with any such proposition. 
Improving Farm Buildings. 
O NE questioner in relation to the hill farm prob¬ 
lem, as stated on page 1006, raises the point 
that the New York farmers have been unwise to put 
so much money in buildings. In many cases they 
have as much in the buildings as the farm will 
bring, and even more in some cases. This point 
My Friend Robinson Crusoe. Fig. 515. 
seems to be well taken, yet it is difficult to see how 
it could have been otherwise. It is foolish from a 
business point of view purely. In most cases, how¬ 
ever, the buildings or the improvements were made 
with the expectation that the farm would be held 
by the farmer or his family for many years, and 
for the purposes of a home, the premises were not 
thought to be any too elaborate. As old age came 
on (sooner than one realizes it will), or the young 
people went to town, there came the necessity to 
sell, and one must sell as prices are, regardless of 
the cost. By way of illustration I will mention a 
case of the present Summer, although it is only 
a small affair. There is an old house on the prem¬ 
ises that has stood a hundred years or more. It 
has never been painted, and the siding is remark¬ 
ably good. Some of it is getting broken now, and 
to make it warm it needs some new siding, and some 
patching is required. A small expense will make it 
fairly good so far as comfort is concerned. The 
i.'ouse is used by the hired man commonly. Now 
instead of repairing the siding the farmer has re¬ 
placed it on a part by new siding and is preparing 
to do the same by the rest. lie is painting the 
l ouse and it has an appearance better than ever 
before. The farmer is near 60 years old, and it 
will be only a few years when he will have to give 
up farming. Then the dollars he is putting on that 
old house will return him nothing. Is he unwise to 
make the improvements? From a strict business 
view he probably is. Whether it is the best way 
for him depends on his circumstances and desires, 
and he is the one to decide the question. If he 
wants it and can pay for it it is all his business. 
Sometimes improvements are made without realiz¬ 
ing how soon the place will have to be left. This 
same question arises in reference to the purchase of 
farm machinery. It will not sell in a year or two 
for over a small percentage of its original cost. 
H. H. LYON. 
Alfalfa in Massachusetts. 
HE Extension News Service, published by the 
University of Nebraska, in the issue of Decem¬ 
ber 23rd, 1914, says: “A dairyman with a farm with¬ 
in 40 miles of Boston bought a carload of Alfalfa 
hay the other day in Nebraska, and told a University 
Farm professor that he expects to feed it with profit 
in Massachusetts at a total cost of $37 a ton.” 
One reading the above would naturally ask: “Can 
they not raise Alfalfa in Massachusetts?” The fol¬ 
lowing is from The Cultivator. March, 1844, page 
S6: “On a visit to Mr. Phinney’s farm in Lexington, 
Mass., about the middle of June, we saw a piece of 
lucerne or French clover, as it is often called, which 
had been cut three times for the purpose of soiling. 
.One acre is sufficient for five or six cows, 
during the soiling season,......and is said to yield 
from five to eight tons per acre.Mr. Pliinney 
appeared to be well satisfied with it.” “(Alfalfa pre¬ 
vious to its introduction into California, from Chili 
.was usually known by the French name Lu¬ 
cerne.” Shaw in Clovers and How to Grow them.) 
Here is evidence that Alfalfa was known and planted 
in Massachusetts 70 years ago, but is little known by 
the farmers here to-day. 
In my work as farm laborer in various States 
West and South I have handled and fed a great deal 
of Alfalfa, and was so impressed with its great value 
that I often wondered why it was not grown here 
at home. I have had well-posted men tell me that 
Alfalfa would not grow here; I knew it could, but 
was unable to prove my contention. It can be grown 
in Massachusetts, and right within the limits of tin? 
city of Boston. The Boston State Hospital at Mat- 
tapan has three acres of as fine Alfalfa as one could 
wish to see. Mr. L. S. White, the farm superinten¬ 
dent, kindly showed me what he was doing in grow¬ 
ing Alfalfa and clovers, and he is certainly getting 
fine results. 
Last year the three acres of Alfalfa yielded a 
little under 40 tons of green fodder in three cuttings; 
had it been cured for hay would have been nearly 20 
tons. The figures for this year’s yield were not 
ready, but I saw a barn filled with well-cured Alfalfa 
hay, and dairy cows eating the green fodder. 
Well knowing the weather conditions last July and 
August. I was interested to see if the excessive rain¬ 
fall had caused any disease to appear in the growing 
plants. I walked over a portion of the field keeping 
a sharp lookout for diseased plants, but could not find 
any. Mr. White is doing another stunt that looks 
good. The text books on agriculture say that Crim¬ 
son clover cannot be grown successfully north of 
Pennsylvania, but Mr. White plants the seed in the 
early Fall and plows under a nice growth in the 
Spring to prepare land for corn. We did that in 
Maryland. On land where the water table is near 
the surface, he sows either Mammoth or Alsike 
clover for green fodder and hay. The good work 
Alfalfa Field in Massachusetts. Fig. 516. 
that is being done by Mr. White in demonstrating 
what can be done right here at home with Alfalfa 
and clover should be an example for every farmer 
who is making milk. Since I have seen the yield at 
the Boston State Hospital I have seen an excellent 
small yield of the Grimm Alfalfa right here in my 
home town. g. c. w. 
