592 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 5. 1919 
•w 
General Farm Topics 
New Methods of Fighting Borers 
The Georgia growers have got the 
worming business down to a science. 
They take a one-mule plow and run 
along the side of the peach trees as close 
as - possible without barking them, throw¬ 
ing the dirt away. Tlieu the men and 
women come along with hoes and very 
easily and quickly remove the dirt from 
the base of the tree. This is followed by 
men with burlap bags or a piece of bur¬ 
lap. He slips this around the tree, pull¬ 
ing it back and forth and drying the 
trunk and wipes off the gum. The next 
day the wormers come by and worm the 
tree, and then they are painted with lime- 
sulphur sludge or something. B. G. 
New York. 6 
We have had several reports of success 
from using lime-sulphur or sealeeide. The 
latter has been sprayed under good pres¬ 
sure at the base of the tree trunk after 
the gum was wiped off. It is said to 
penetrate and kill the borers, lias any¬ 
one tried it? 
Tomato Flowers Fail to Set 
Can you tell me where the trouble is 
with our tomato blossoms? I always 
plant a dozen or two in pots to have 
extra early. They are splendid plants 
and almost always budded when we set 
them in the garden. Being very careful 
not to disturb the soil in pot. they never 
wilt, but keep on growing, but all blos¬ 
soms come open, then dry up and drop 
off. They have done this for several 
veal's. When we set in field the same as 
garden they do the same. The plants 
will branch out and be full of bloom, but 
none of the first blossoms set any fruit. 
I have tried several kinds, but they all 
act the same way. s. t. t. 
Xo matter how hard we try. it is diffi¬ 
cult to overcome the ways and methods 
of nature. The blossoms on an early 
tomato plant look good to us when we 
are setting out the well-grown plants. It 
requires exceptional conditions to enable 
the plant to develop fruit from its first 
cluster of buds early in the season. The 
plants must be sturdv and rugged, accus¬ 
tomed to adverse weather. The nights 
especially should be warm and driving 
winds or wet storms will blast the blos¬ 
soms. However, in spite of all our ef¬ 
forts it is very hard to get the first buds 
to develop fruit. Early in the season the 
plants have a struggle to get started in 
the field, as the tomato plant is a lover 
of heat. Naturally we must expect the 
more delicate blossoms to shrivel. The 
twigs of a young apple tree, for instance, 
are exactly the same as the twigs on an 
older tree. But few or no buds will 
appear on a very young tree, while an 
old tree will be covered with buds. While 
the first cluster of buds on early tomato 
plants frequently disappear, it must not 
be supposed that it does not pay to have 
large well-grown plants when putting out 
the early tomato plants, k. w. de baun. 
Controlling Chickweed 
In a recent issue W. F. Massey states 
in ‘‘Notes from a Maryland Garden” that 
it is an easy matter for him to dispose of 
chickweed in his garden. As I am very 
greatly troubled with this weed, and have 
tried for years to get rid of it. will you 
ask him if he would give the remedy? 
Farmingdalc. N. J. J. N. 
I did not mean that I have abolished 
the chickweed. for I have it as plentiful 
as ever in Winter. I do not think that 
anyone can clean a garden from it entire¬ 
ly. for it blooms and seeds all Winter. A 
farmer from up near the Delaware Water 
Gap came to my office a few days ago, 
and. noticing a thick mat of chickweed 
covering some of last year’s flower beds, 
remarked that that weed was his chief an¬ 
noyance. I told him that I had long ago 
ceased to worry about chickweed. for I 
of iron sulphate, commonly called copper¬ 
as. Sprinkle the weed with this liberally 
with a watering can. It will destroy 
chickweed and will not hurt the grass. 
That is the way 1 fight it on the lawn. 
In the garden I let it grow all Winter, 
till I want its room in Spring, and during 
the Summer I fear no weeds in the gar¬ 
den, for I do not allow any to grow. 
w. r. MASSEY. 
Farming Out Pigs 
Like many other city men who were 
raised on the farm. I get wondering if 
some sort of a business could be worked 
up that would take me back there. Why 
could not a plan of this sort work out? 
Suppose I bought a hundred or two 12- 
weeks pigs and gave them to farmers or 
farmers’ boys to raise, selling them at 
nine months and dividing equally what 
they bring? Would that be fair? The 
pigs would cost now about $S. and the 
farmer would furnish feed and labor, 
keeping the manure, of course, as part of 
his profit. I would be taking the risk of 
the pigs dying. It does seem to me that 
something of this sort could be worked 
out on an equitable basis; if only one or 
two were given to a farm the waste would 
form a large part of their feed and the 
risk to me would be divided by having the 
pigs spread among a larger number of 
caretakers. If this worked with pigs, why 
not with lambs, or calves, or baby chicks? 
lias it ever been tried out? On what 
basis and with what success? If it hasn't, 
what do you think of it? w. G. P. 
We doubt if it has ever been tried in 
just that way. At present prices of feed 
we would not care to make such a part¬ 
nership. The cost of feed to grow and fat¬ 
ten a nine-months’ pig would be more 
than the original cost of the little fellow. 
The farmer would have to add his labor, 
and if the pig died he would lose all he 
had put in. We would not care to take 
such a pig unless the owner agreed to pay 
half the cost of the feed—we to give the 
labor. 
Rental Values of Farms 
This year we hear from a good many 
people who want to rent a few acres of 
farm land. What is a fair rental value? 
Such things are generally decided by local 
custom, the crop and the character of the 
renter. Some men would take a field, 
handle and fertilize it well and leave it in 
better shape than when they took it. 
Others will half work the land and leave 
it rough and weedy. Our idea is that such 
land should, first of all, pay six per cent 
interest on the true value of the land. If 
an acre is worth $150, a year’s rent should 
be the same as the use of $150 in cash, or 
$9. In addition to this there should be 
added enough to pay for any loss of plant 
food which the crop takes from the soil. 
This might mean $.'» or $5, depending on 
the amount of manure or fertilizer used. 
It is true that one man might grow corn 
and another onions on a rented acre, yet 
the cash equivalent of the acre might also 
be used for some plain business or for 
speculation. What is the objection to 
the above rule? 
A Cistern Silo 
1 have a cistern 15 ft. deep and S ft. in 
diameter. Can I use it successfully for a 
silo? I can seal it airtight with cement 
until I wish to use the silage. F. L. H. 
We doubt it. All the pit silos we have 
heard about as successful were dug in 
light sand where the soil water level is 
low. Most of such silos are in the Far 
West, where rainfall is light and the soil 
dry. There have been some reports of 
using pits or cisterns in more humid cli¬ 
mates, but usually they prove too damp 
and the silage spoils. It might work, but 
we doubt it. 
There’s a rich, 
satisfying', old - 
time flavor to 
The Original 
POSTUM CEREAL 
tKat no substitute can ever equal. 
A healthful drink that leaves no trace of 
harm, a beverage grateful to the stomach, 
that never upsets nerves, heart or digestion 
as does sometimes coffee. 
Boil just like coffee 
Boil thoroughly (15 minutes after boiling 
begins) make it rich and dark and you have 
something that makes your meal doubly 
enjoyable. 
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find it tin admirable Winter mulch, pro¬ 
tecting many things, and giving me some 
green growth to dig in in the Spring. On 
the 14th of February I buried a thick 
growth of chickweed and sowed the first 
English peas. Now that.is the last of 
that chickweed till another Winter, for 
the cultivation of the garden is too rapid 
and clean to allow it to grow. Then as 
hot weather comes on it is very easy to 
kill any chickweed that shows. When 
the chickweed appears on the lawn it is 
a very different matter It gets in the 
grass generally from people using stable 
manure on the lawn. Better top-dress the 
lawn with raw born-meal. But when the 
weed is there, make a saturated solution 
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