■Uhe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
875 
Garden and Farm Notes 
White Grubs in Manure 
1. This Spring I bought well-rottod cow 
manure and spread it on my fields, and 
now find, where I turn it out with the 
wheel hoe (after it has been plowed in 
and I am ready to plant) in each clump 
of the manure numbers of white grubs, 
curled up in little coils. They appear to 
have six legs and a small blackish head. 
What are there, and are they harmful to 
the crops? 2. Can you tell me if grow¬ 
ing currant and gooseberry bushes near 
each other has any deleterious effect on 
either bush? We have been told that the 
gooseberries’ proximity is the cause of 
the currant bushes’ leaves falling. Is 
this true, or only a superstition? 
Wortendyke, N. J. O. P. it. 
1. From the description and location 
you give about the w’hite grubs in the 
clods of manure in yoiir soil, I would 
su|ipose that they are not the common 
and destructive w'hite grubs which are 
fi’equently injurious after sod. The genu¬ 
ine white grub lives on the roots of sod, 
and after a meadow is plowed up the in¬ 
festation may be injurious for a year or 
two to certain crops, such as corn, po¬ 
tatoes, strawbernes and corn when it 
first comes up. However, the white 
grubs you have evidently are not feeding 
on the roots of the growing vegetation ; 
they confine their activities to the clods 
of manure iii the soil: therefore, one must 
naturally suppo.se that they are not the 
destructive white grubs, but are the com- 
paratively harmless “muckworms.*’ It is 
a common thing for farmers to sui)pose 
that their manure is infested with the 
at that price, as they w'ould rather trtist 
the city consumer’s market. The Jersey 
muskmelon growers Avill be sure to have 
a profitable season if they have planted 
as usual, for the competition here will be 
light. Whatever the result of planting 
late potatoes in the South, it will not 
affect the market for the Northern grow'- 
ers, for this crop will be easily taken up 
by the home market in the South, and 
the chief importance of the crop lies in 
saving the buying from the North as 
usual and the getting of seed for Spring 
planting. 
The North Carolina Experiment Sta¬ 
tion demonstrated years ago by planting 
experiments with Irish potatoes that the 
late-grown seed potatoes growm there will 
make far heavier crops than the Maine 
seed, though somewhat Later than those 
grown from Maine seed. Now the Virgin¬ 
ia Truck Experiment Station at Norfolk 
finds the same result with the whole po¬ 
tatoes of the Virginia seed ; l.S-ounce size 
of the Virginia seed made 240.(5 bushels of 
first-size tubers and 31.7 bushels second 
grade, while the Maine potatoes' made 
141.7 bushels of first size and 4<S.3 bushels 
of seconds, or 78.3 bushels an acre more 
from the homegrown seed than the ^Maine. 
Cold storage seed of the previous year 
planted the middle of July and of the 
early varieties, will give good Winter po¬ 
tatoes and the most productive see<l for 
the next Spring. A grower in Mon¬ 
mouth County, N. J., wrote me that he 
had similar results there from planting 
•Southern late crop--seed • in comparison 
with the Maine seed. w. F. jmassky. 
Hill or Level Cultivation 
I was qxiite interested in the statements 
of C. O. O. on page 726. IIis ideas, in 
the main, are sound and practical, but I 
beg to differ with him as to tl^is so-called 
level cultivation, for the hoed crops. It 
stands to reason that in an extremely wet 
.season a ridge system is preferable, and, 
paradoxical though it may seem, I would 
prefer the same ridge system even in a 
dry season. For corn and potatoes I 
want nothing better than a good corn 
plow, banking the earth up against the 
hills, if to the depth of six inches, so 
much the better. This puts the roots 
down in the moist, cool earth, below the 
parched surface soil; and taking the sea¬ 
sons as they nin, I can uniformly get 
better results. Contrary to the state¬ 
ments some make, the stalks stand up 
better against driving winds. I am aware 
that the “hill’’ method is out of vogue 
in these days, but in my younger days, 
when it w'as practiced, we got far better 
corn crops, year after year, than we get 
by the level method. As to the plow dis¬ 
turbing the roots, I consider it a sheer 
fallacy of the imagination. When I was 
young we always put the plow in deep, 
two furrows to the row each way, bank¬ 
ing the corn up all it would bear, without 
breaking over, and it was interesting to 
see how it grew. If this method was 
practiced today we might see some of the 
old-fashioned corn crops once more, but 
as help is out of the question, and prices 
of labor prohibitive, we scratch along 
with the cultivator the best we can, and 
put up with what we get. Again 1 have 
observed that even in a droughty sea.son 
we get the rankest growth of grain when 
two furrows are thrown against each 
other, forming a ridge. 
As to hilling corn, there may be objec¬ 
tions on account of sowing a cover crop 
after the last cultivation. As C. O. O. 
remarks, we must use our owu good sense 
in determining methods. We hear much 
about the “dust mulch” of surface soil to 
conserve the moisture; also an extremely 
fine seed-bed for sown crops. That de¬ 
pends on the .soil. In this locality, as 
well as many others, it is the worst thing 
possible when there is a large percentage 
of clay in our fields, and, being thor¬ 
oughly reduced down to extreme fineness, 
will melt down to a puddle during a vio¬ 
lent rain, afterwards bake so no vegeta¬ 
tion can come up through it. Some of 
these theories advanced by experts and 
d<*sk farmers look very alhiring on paper, 
but good common sense in handling these 
factors will give most s:itisfactory results. 
Greene Go.. N. V. o. w. 
“I iiKAK you are thinking of buying 
a farm.” “That’s my intention,” sai<l 
the city man, with a complacent air. 
“Well, don’t forget the importance of 
silos.” “Trust me for that, sir. By the 
way—er—do those things consume much 
g.asoline?”—Birminghiim Age-Herald. 
GKANDAfA: “Shall I teach you how to 
make doughnuts'?” Debutante: “Yes, I’m 
terribly interested, but I can’t quite un¬ 
derstand how you fix the inner tubes.’’— 
Milestones. 
dangeroxis p(>st when in reality it is only 
the muckworm. 
2. I have never heard that there might 
be a detrimental result from having cur¬ 
rant and gooseberry bushes near each 
other: in fact, it is quite the common 
thing. a. n. 
Notes from a Maryland Garden 
Intensely dry and cool weather is tell¬ 
ing on the garden. Only about half of 
my garden is under the Skinner irriga¬ 
tion. and the remainder is drying up. 
I’lie early tomatoes are loaded with green 
fruit, which, under more favorable condi¬ 
tions. would have ripened. 
The St. Regis rasi)berry has again 
shown that it df>es not make crop enough 
-to pay for the use of the land it occu¬ 
pies. and I will proceed to exterminate 
them. 1 .shall also have to do away with 
the Nanticoke blackberry, for, although 
it is an excellent fruit and comes in 
tlirbiigh August, when other blackberries 
are over, its tremendous growth of fear¬ 
fully barbed canes makes the plants a ter¬ 
ror in the garden, and they p(‘rsistently 
make suckers 10 feet or more di.stant from 
the hills. 
(>wing to the dry weather my Irish 
Gobbler potatoes are small in size. Tin* 
hills are well filled, and with better 
weathei- the crop would have been large. 
A\'e began to use them .Tune 10th. and 
iKiw, June 20th, they are perfectly ma¬ 
ture. and not a potato slips its skin. 
(Mily a moderate area has been planted 
here to Irish potatoes, and it is probable 
that the late crop, yet to be planted, will 
be much larger. 
Farmers here and southward are be¬ 
coming convinced that now is the time 
for them to plant a late crop, though the 
early one has not been profitable. They 
ai'gue tha,t the Northern growers will not 
l>lant ne.ar as large an area as usual, and 
the Northern markets will not be full next 
Siiring. Then if they plant the early 
varieties they can not only provide a 
Winter supply, but the best of seed for 
the S])riug planting. 
It is probable that the growers here 
who have planted cantaloupes and cu¬ 
cumbers will have a good market, for the 
rush into tomatoes has greatly reduce.l 
the area in melons and cukes. But the 
tnmato ar(‘a is enormous. Fields of 30 oi* 
more acres are not uncommon. If the 
cold and dry sea.son continues we shall 
be apt to have repetition of last year’s 
jioor crop. Most of the fields have been 
lilanted late, and they must grow very 
fast for the canners to .start early in Au¬ 
gust. The price offered for contract is 50 
cents per %-bushel ba.sket. The op»‘n 
market will hardly la; lower than that. 
In fact, very few growers are contracting 
vtOffMore Cork 
!IViM Year 
... 
Thirty per cent of the feeding value of your corn crop is in the 
stalks. This fact is based on exhaustive tests made by the best 
agricultural authorities. Yet thousands of acres of corn stalks 
are practically wasted every year by field feeding—a loss that amounts to an enormous sum. 
Cut more corn this year. You will increase your net profits whether you cut the green corn 
for the silo, whether you shred and store the fodder, or whether you feed the whole stalk in the 
feed lot. You can cut more corn, at the right time, if you use the 
JOHNS^EERE CORN BINDER 
The Binder'with the Power Carrier and Quick Turn Tongue Truck 
You can cut corn more timely, you can cut it five to seven times as fast as by hand: you can help solve the present 
shortage of farm labor by cutting your corn with a John Deere Corn Binder. In addition to its labor saving features, its 
better, more lasting construction and its many operating advantages will have a particular appeal to you. 
These Features Save You and Your Horses 
Power carrier relieves you of all the 
hard work—simply press the foot trip 
iever and the carrier, which is always in 
receiving position, dumps the bundles in 
windrows, free of the horses’path,parallel 
to the standing corn. 
The Quick Turn Tongue Truck, another 
valuable feature relieves the horses o. 
all neckweight and makes turning at the 
ends as easy as when the horses are 
hitched to a wagon. The truck with a 
flexibly mounted axle conforms to uneven 
ground perfectly, keeps the gatherers to 
their work, prevents slu¬ 
ing on side hills and does 
away with side draft. 
In addition to the above 
features, you get a binder 
that is built right through¬ 
out. The big wheels with 
wide tires, give ample sup¬ 
port to the machine. The big drive wheel with 
wide tire and high lugs, has plenty of driving 
power. The frame is strong and rigidly built. 
Main boxes are self-aligning—the working parts 
continue to run true. Seventeen roller and ball¬ 
bearings, used in all important parts of the 
machine, lighten the draft. 
Flexible throat springs adjust themselves to 
the volume of corn—continuous and even eleva¬ 
tion is assured. Regular binder attachment has 
three packers instead of two, as commonly used, 
resulting in better bundles. Four discharge arms 
insure proper discharge of bundles onto carrier. 
Levers are readily accessible and easily operated 
from the seat. 
Like other John Deere Implements, the John 
Deere Corn Binder is built on the standard of 
quality that insures service and satisfaction. 
Place your order early with your John Deere 
dealer for a John Deere Corn Binder. Be assured 
of delivery when you need it. 
Write for These Free Books 
Let us send you literature fully describing 
this better binder and also big 156 page book 
“Better Farm Implements and How to Use 
Them. ’ ’ Full of practical information. Worth 
dollars. Ask for free package C B 226. 
John Deere 
Moline, Illinois 
Riveted Steel 
Stub Tongue 
^Flexible Axle 
Wheels Turn 
Faster than 
the Pole. S<‘e 
Dotted Lines. < 
Johu Deere Quick'Turn Tofu^eTruck 
