RURAL NEW-YORKER 
615 
Mixing Sprays 
I would like to know which of the 
sprays used for spraying can be mixed 
together without injuring their efficiency. 
Will Bordeaux mix with lime-sulphur? 
Will nicotine mix with lime-sulphur? 
Fitchburg, iVIass. o. s. 
Bordeaux mixture has been combined 
with lime and sulphur as a spray, but it 
has never come into general use, as there 
appears to be little or nothing gained bv 
the combination. Some diseases, such as 
apple scab, can be readily controlled with 
a proper dilution of lime and sulphui-, 
while other diseases, such as black rot of 
the grape, cannot be controlled very well 
by this spray mixture and Bordeaux is 
much more effective. It is douhtfid 
whether a combination of the tut) would 
be nearly as satisfactory as a single mix¬ 
ture used alone. Nicotine solutions may 
be combined with lime and sulphur with 
safety. —- M. A, B. 
Growing Box for Foliage 
Will you advise which in your opinion 
would be the best kind of boxwood to 
raise for market purposes, such as is used 
for decorating; also give the distance it 
should be planted, the most practical way 
of cultivating and caring for same to 
promote rapid and profitable growth—say 
for one or more acres? c. G. B. 
Belona, Va. 
The common box (Buxus sempervirens) 
is the variety ordinarily used for decora¬ 
tive purposes. While slow of gi-owth it is 
thoroughly hardy and will eventually 
yield an immense amount of foliage for 
cutting. The variety Angustifolia has 
dark green lanceolate leaves and is very 
handsome in appearance. There are sev¬ 
eral other varieties of variegated form 
that might be adapted to special taste or 
requirement; one with white-edged leaves, 
another yellow-edged, and an entirely yel¬ 
low-leaved kind. Buxus Balearica is a 
very attractive light green species but is 
less hardy than the varieties of Buxus 
sempervirens. In tho latitude of Vir¬ 
ginia box plants may be successfully 
started out of doors in the Fall in a shel¬ 
tered place. By Spring they will have 
calloused and started stiff whitish rootlets 
which stand out horizontally like the 
spokes of a wheel. The young plants may 
be planted in the nursery row from six 
to 12 inches apart and kept there as a 
hoed crop till crowding commences. Care 
should be taken not to disturb the roots 
in removing the plants to their perma¬ 
nent positions. AVhile the writer has had 
no experience with box as a commercial 
crop, he is of the opinion that it would be 
Iiracticahle to set the plants six to eight 
feet apart .so that they could be horse 
cultivated and i)rofitahly inter-cropped 
until they themselves figured on the pay- 
loll. S. P. THOMAS. 
Maryland. 
Fertilizer for Melons; Stem-rot of Sweet 
Potatoes 
1. Which is better to do in planting 
seeds such as watermelon and canta¬ 
loupe, to put the fertilizer in land or 
row, will say two weeks before planting, 
or to put it in and plant the seed im¬ 
mediately? 2. Can you tell me the 
Ciiu.se of sweet potato plants dying after 
they are set three or four weeks? They 
continue to die up to maturity. The 
stem turns dark and by taking one up 
out of the ground I find the root or stem 
op'uied or split. C. M. w. 
Delaware. 
1. We have found it best to have fer¬ 
tilizer in and have at least one rain on 
it before melons or cantaloupes are 
planted. It is also important to plant 
the seed so they will not come in direct 
contact with the fertilizer, 
-■ Your ssveet potatoes are affected 
with “stem-rot,” also called “yellow 
rot.’ This is a very serious disease, 
and there is at present no absolutely 
sure way to cxintrol it. The best methods 
for keeping it under partial control are 
to rotate, use care in selecting seed, so 
as to have it free from the disease, avoid 
injuries from fertilizer burning or any¬ 
thing^ else that will cheek growth, and 
tise lime liberally. Stem-rot thrives on 
poor soil, lacking in humus, and does its 
gieatest injury in a dry year. 
TRUCKKK, JR. 
' Drilling Corn i 
In a recent issue I noticed an article 
by .1. S. Woodward referring to planting 
corn in drills. We are thinking of adopt¬ 
ing this method, hut there is no mention 
made as to how heavily the seed should 
be planted. Can you advise us on this 
subject? n. F. 
Brewster, N. Y. 
However well the ground may be fitted 
and free of clods and stoni's harrowing 
corn when young, will occasionally take 
out a plant, and for tlmt reason more 
.seed should he u.sed. The planter should 
be set to drop the corn from 10 to 
<i foot apai t in the row. 1 would also rec¬ 
ommend tiiat the first going over be done 
crosswise of the row. Another thing to 
be renfembered is that, when growing rap¬ 
idly, the corn planted in the morning is 
full of sap and is easily broken, while mi 
the afternoon it has much less sap and 
is far less easily broken by the harrow. 
So it is best to do the harrowing in the 
afternoon, and the hotter the day the bet¬ 
ter. I have often harrowed coim when it 
was ten or more inche.s tall and with 
great benefit. After the corn is six inches 
tall the harrow Avill scarcely ever displace 
a plant, and though it may make the field 
look quite the worse for the harrowing, 
the next day it will he all light and show 
the benefit of the treatment. 
J. S. WOOPWARn. 
Cherries and Song Birds 
Page 870 coiifains an appeal from L. 
C. T., Wellsville, ()., a.sking for sug¬ 
gestions to keep song birds from his 
cherry trees. Your suggestions about 
leddy bears, stuffed cats, etc., are quite 
useless, as robins and starlings pay no 
attention to them, and covering tJ’ees 
with nets would c“ost more than the 
cherries are worth. I hit on a device so 
simple, and inexpensive, it is a wonder 
no one^ had thought of it before. For 
years I had been pestered by starlings 
and robins, literally .stripping my big 
cherry tree, which stands within 10 feet 
ot our home. Last year not a bird came 
near it. This is what I did. I bought 
.^*i>‘ds of the bright red cotton 
stuff called Turkey red, rigged it on a 
long pole, similar to the “banner.s” used 
m Sunday schools, and fastened it to a 
stout limb of the tree, with the cloth 
hanging do.vn, so as not to twist around 
the pole. This was all—every cherry 
ripened unmoh'sted. After I had all I 
wanted, and supplied all my neighbors. I 
took the banner down, and within half 
a day the birds returned, and stripped 
the tree. The same device will protect 
berry patches. I trust you will pub- 
.ish this as I am sure many will profit 
c. V. w. 
I believe if L. C. T., page 870. will 
try the following plan he can jnit an end 
to this trouble. I hav’e never tried it 
on trees, hut to keep birds from peas 
and other garden truck it was a signal 
success with me last year, and I can see 
no reason why it will not work just as 
well in his case. Fasten a strong cord 
from the top of one tree to the top of 
the next (and so on) and suspend from 
this, by other pieces of cord tied to it, 
pieces of bright tin (roofing tin will not 
answer) about (1x12 inches. The cir¬ 
culation of air will keep the tin in a 
constant circular motion and a strong 
liright reflection will be thrown a con¬ 
siderable distance. If the tin is sus- 
Iiended at different heights, so the re- 
Hectioa will* strike the trees at different 
place.s, the effect will he more efficient 
and the bright darting flashes of light 
will be just a little more than any bird 
can stand, and from my exp»>rience, they 
don’t get used to it. 
Virginia. gkorge l. furgur.sox. 
Cows from .$00 to .$100. Ilor.ses $100 
to $200. Beef cattle 0 to 7c live weight; 
I)ork lOe dressed. Chickens W to 20o 
live. Eggs 26‘c; butter 24c. Wheat $2; 
oats G4c; corn $1.15; bran $2 cwt.; cot¬ 
tonseed meal $2.,5() per cwt. Calves 
llVjG live weight. Potatoes .$2 per bu. 
Northumberland Co., Pa. j. n. e. 
. Ve have to trade out in the stores; 
if our goods come to more than theirs wo 
have to take tin or pasteboard money 
with their name and trade it out at 
some future time. Cows $.50 to .$80. 
Not many auctions this vear. Calves 10 
to lie per lb.; butter 88e. Milk for the 
month of April League prices $1.05 per 
hundred for 8% butterfat. for all 
biitterfat over 8%. Milk. pe"r qt.. 7c. 
1 otatoes $2.2;) per hu.; apples, scarce, 
.p: onions avere .$2 last Fall. Small 
fruits bring from 10 to 15c per quart 
( attarangiis ('(»., N. Y. c. p ir 
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