727 
JShO RURAL NEW-rORKER 
RURALISMS 
The Barberry and Wheat Rust 
All over the Northwest farmers are en¬ 
gaged in a warfare on the barberry. We 
understand South Dakota has a law mak¬ 
ing it a penalty to permit the growth of 
this plant, and Wisconsin and Minnesota 
are both fighting it. This is because the 
barberry is what is known as a “host 
Iilant” for the b^ick-stem rust of wheat. 
This disease passes a part of its life on 
the barberry. It makes its first appear¬ 
ance in the Spring on this bush, and 
spreads from it to wheat, oats, barley 
and rye. The disease is spread long dis¬ 
tances by the wind, and thus it may travel 
over a wide area. "^Tien once started the 
disease cannot be prevented by Spraying 
or by treating the seed. The only prac¬ 
tical way of getting it out is to destroy 
the barberry and thus prevent the develop¬ 
ment of the disease. Dr. E. D. Ball, 
State Etomologist of Wisconsin, says that 
Denmark has eliminated this disease from 
the grain by completely destroying the 
barberry. North Dakota prohibits the 
growing of the plant within that State, 
and Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin have 
started a fight against this plant as a 
war measure. Dr. Ball says there are two 
kinds of barberry commonly planted in 
Wisconsin. One is the European bar¬ 
berry, a tall bush with green or purple 
leaves, which is shown at Pig. ?>G7. The 
other is the .Japanese barberry, low- 
spreading and reddish in color. The tall 
or European barberry is the dangerous 
kind, and should be cut out and destroyed 
wherever grain is growm. The .Japanese 
barberry is perfectly harmless, and can be 
grown as a hedge plant or ornamental 
plant safely, but in every case cut out the 
tall barberry and burn the plant. 
—with me—plan of double cropping my 
war garden. As fast as one crop was 
removed I put something else in its 
place, and, if not wanted, sowing the 
space very thickly with dwarf rape, so 
thick as to prevent tall growth. I even 
did this between the rows of beans and 
the TOWS of sweet corn after the latter had 
developed the ears to the eating stage. 
With me it was a great success in more 
than one way. Winter cress has been 
the plague of my life in that garden, but 
the rape smothered it, and very few cress 
runners appeared, and I think the rape 
will not only save the leaching out of fer¬ 
tility, but add a Amlnable lot of humus to 
Hints on War Gardens 
The advice given at times in The R. 
N.-Y. aborit the culture of tomatoes is often 
timely and wise, but in some points some¬ 
what different from my way. As o 
plants, I prefer those at least a foot long, 
and put about the entire length of the 
plant “longways” in the soil, but I have 
two ways of even this. One way is to set 
them in the open prepared soil, and after 
they are well started in growth, cover the 
entire ground with a thick layer of straw 
so as to mat down at least three inches 
thick, patting it closely up to the plants, 
and then leave them undisturbed until 
fruiting has well advanced. The other 
I)lan is first to cover the tomato land 
with the straw a short time before setting, 
then line off the rows and, opening places 
in the straw, set in the plants as in the 
other plan, and thus avoid all hoeing and 
care of the plants. The soil is always 
moist about them, never gets hard and 
baked, weeds are smothered from the 
start. The vines spread out over the 
straw and cannot come in contact with 
the ground, so are always clean, and, lying 
on the straw ripen their fruit quite as 
well as if staked up. Excess branches are 
trimmed off, so that the fruit is open to 
the sun and ripens finely, and the crop has 
called for but little attention. Same way 
with cabbage, except the worms! 
It is much the same with the peas. We 
first put (for the late ones) in a row of 
pretty strong brush, setting them securely, 
and then plant a row of peas on each 
side, close up to the brush. After the 
peas are up we give them one good hoeing 
and then mulch with straw, both sides, 
and, for that matter, sti-aw the small peas 
between the rows, and this part of gar¬ 
dening becomes a very pleasant duty. 
Peas cared for in this way have their 
bearing period greatly extended, eating 
our last mess last year in October*. 
The combination of rabbits and fruit 
trees in the Winter, with their usual loss¬ 
es of the latter, is seemingly a matter of 
the past with me, but its discovery (?) 
was quite accidental. Several years ago 
I had a few apple trees broken down with 
a great weight of snow, but before Spring 
about every twig was gone and the larger 
limbs completely denuded of their bark 
by the rabbits, and nothing else was dis¬ 
turbed. Since then I do quite a lot of 
early Winter pruning of the apple trees, 
and with like results. 
Last Summer and Fall I tried a new 
Harmless Japanese Barherry. Fig. 366 
the soil, w*hich, with a little lime, will 
help us not a little in getting our garden 
“over the top” next season. 
Last Summer we had in this section a 
somewhat new garden pest—an unusual 
visitation of skunks, and they swarmed 
everywhere, especially in the gardens, 
looking for food. As their fur was out of 
season, all one could get out of them if 
killed was a scent apiece, but as soon as 
the sweet corn began to well ear out, the 
skunks began depredations, pulling down 
the stalks and feasting upon the milky 
ears. Shooting seemed to bring more, 
and trapping brought all the relatives of 
the caught offender to bail him out. The 
waste became serious, when the corn 
weather did not make good the loss by 
developing growth. But poisoning worked 
European Barherrii. JTost of Wheat Bust. 
Fig. 367 
the cure. Partially husked ears were dust¬ 
ed with poison, and, according to direc¬ 
tions, the skunks went into their holes to 
die. j. G. 
A Sure Method to Grow Melons 
A plot of ground 50x50 feet will grow 
enough melons to supply the family table. 
The method is as follows: Take a cider 
or oil barrel, remove both heads, dig a 
hole in center of plot, place barrel in hole, 
letting 10 inches project above the earth 
level. Pack earth around barrel, prepare 
ground well around barrel and plant four 
hills at a like distance around barrel. 
May 1 to 10 cover each hill of seeds with 
box 10x10, covered with cheesecloth to 
protect young plants from beetles. After 
plants are well established thin to two 
to the hill, and remove covers and store 
away for next year’s use. Now fill barrel 
with good manure, tamp it tight, fill in 
water until barrel is full, and keep water 
over manure from now on by renewing 
every f'veral days. The manure should 
also be turned every three weeks. When 
the barrel irrigation is started spray 
plants every 10 days after they start to 
vine with Bordeaux. Pinch off vine at 
every small melon, and send all strength 
into melon. This method will insure you 
large melons and plenty of them, even in 
a dry season. It is a pleasure to see how 
easily melons can be grown by the barrel 
irrigation method. J. M. MYEES. 
Maryland. 
y 
DELCO-LIGHT 
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Fifty thousand Delco-Light plants in 
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saving, at the most conservative 
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men working ten hours a day for a 
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It furnishes an abundance of clean, safe, 
economical light, and operates pump, 
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Ask us to show you how 
Delco-Light can save time 
and money on your farm 
The Domestic Engineering Company 
Dayton, Ohio 
DOMESTIC ELECTRIC CO., Inc. 
52 P«rk Place, New York City 
P. E. ILLMAN, 
71 SoutbAve., Rocbeiter, N. Y. 
/ 
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For the Farm 
On the farm rests the fate of the universe. 
Every productive hour must count. Spark plug 
delays must not occur! 
SOOTLESS SPARK PLUGS in gas- 
engine, tractor and car are the best insurance 
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If your dealer can’t supply you with SOOTLESS 
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State size and number wanted and remit $1.25 
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33 Chardon Street, Boston, Mass. 
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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 333 West 30th Street, NEW YORK CITY 
