870 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
General Farm Topics 
Strawberries After Garden Crops 
I fc - e a piece of ground on which I 
had strawberries three years ago. For 
the last two years 1 have had a garden 
there. Now I want to put strawberry 
plants there again, but the neighbors tell 
me strawberries will not amount to any¬ 
thing there. Are they right or wrong? 
Toms River, N. .7. it. G. 
No one could tell without seeing the 
ground and knowing just what their ob¬ 
jections are. They may be experienced 
enough to know that the berries cannot 
do well on that soil, and may have rea¬ 
sons. All we know is what you say, and 
there is no reason why using that soil 
for a garden should ruin it for straw¬ 
berries unless you have abused it in some 
way. 
Fools and Mice 
“What fools we mortals be!” You 
notice the paraphrase of Puck’s words so 
as to include myself. 
The first fruit orchard I set out I pro¬ 
tected against mice with copper wire net¬ 
ting. The trees were uninjured, and the 
wire is as good as ever. The last or¬ 
chard I set out, being much larger and 
expensive to protect with wire, I tried to 
protect by a method that has been rather 
often recommended, painting the trunks 
with lime-sulphur. To make doubly sure 
1 put a spoonful of poisoned grain close 
to the base of each tree and scattered 
primings from the trees around them. 
As the snow fell away from the trees 
this Spring the stretch of bare wood that 
grieved my eyes showed that the lime- 
sulphur had acted like sauce on the trees 
for the mice, and the poisoned grain was 
untouched. Ninety per cent of the trees 
are ruined or an appalling amount of 
bridge-grafting is necessary. This was 
on two and three-year-old trees, but even 
12-year-old McIntosh 10 inches in diam¬ 
eter, that last year bore three barrels of 
apples, are completely girdled. These 
trees had been given no protection. About 
all the trees that are left sound are about 
25 that had had builders’ paper wrapped 
around the trunks. 
“What fools we mortals be!’’ Abso¬ 
lute. positive protection can be given by 
using wire, wood veneer or paper, as ex¬ 
perience had amply proved, and I had to 
go and experiment with that foolish lime- 
sulphur ! May my sad experience be a 
helpful warning to others. 
My orchards are in sod-mulch, and 
the harboring of mice is one of the dis¬ 
advantages of this system. But this year 
even orchards in clean cultivation have 
suffered. Under any system absolute pro¬ 
tection may be had from wire, veneer or 
paper protectors, and I hone that ox 
blood, lime-sulphur and such-like foolish 
contraption ? may be forever dropped from 
mention. w. c. deming. 
Connecticut. 
The Quarantine on the Buffalo Market 
I wish to obtain a bit of advice con¬ 
cerning the quarantine placed on Erie 
County, New York. I have a quantity 
of rhubarb which will soon be ready to 
pull; I also plan to p..t in sweet corn, 
early cabbage, and beans (green and wax) 
for the market. As our market (Buffalo) 
is located in the same county in which 
we live (Erie County), are we allowed 
to sell our produce in Buffalo so long 
as v _ do not ship it out of the county? 
If we are not allowed to market these 
goods in Btffalo, it will mean a hardship 
to many of us, and necessitate a change 
of plans entirely. H. J. s. 
The Erie County Farm Bureau has 
taken this matter up and states that there 
are a number of important points in con¬ 
nection tlu.t are not as yet settled. It 
was found that the corn borer was pres¬ 
ent in 10 counties of the State, including 
Albany, Rensselaer, Schenectady, Fulton, 
Saratoga. Schoharie and Montgomery, in 
Eastern New York, and Erie, Cattaraugus 
and Chautauqua in the western section. 
Only in parts of these counties was the 
worm found, but as to details the State 
authorities are silent. An order has been 
sent out by Charles S. Wilson, Commis¬ 
sioner of Agriculture, which forbids the 
distribution from any points in the quar¬ 
antined area to points outside of corn, 
broom corn, celery, green beans in the 
pod. beets with tops, spinach, rhubarb, oat 
and rye straw, cut flowers or entire plants 
of Gladiolus. Chrysanthemum, aster. Cos¬ 
mos. Zinnia, hollyhock or Dahlia. 
The idea is said to be that while the 
borer does not attack any plant seriously 
except corn, it lavs its eggs on the other 
plants, and they are readily distributed 
if they are shipped to any point. It is 
stated that an inspector’s office will soon 
be established in Buffalo, and after in¬ 
spection it is promised that a least every¬ 
thing but corn will be allowed to go if no 
form of the borer is found. Plants that 
grow within 50 feet of corn known to ho 
infested with the borer will be held, prob¬ 
ably. no matter what they are. 
It has been proposed to include Buffalo 
in the quarantined district, but an ob¬ 
jection has been raised by the Federal 
authorities that produce shipped to Buf¬ 
falo might be reshipped to other points 
and even to other States, thus raising an 
interstate question. The quarantined 
townships in Western New York are 
Brant. Collins, Cheektowaga, Eden, Ham¬ 
burg and North Collins in Erie County, 
Dayton, Perrysburg and Persia in Cat¬ 
taraugus County and Hanover, Pomfret 
and Sheridan in Chautauqua County. A 
thorough inspection of this entire district 
is ordered as soon as possible, and then 
the order already given out will no doubt 
be modified. It is said that the borer is 
able to spread in a short time, if let alone, 
so that it would easily destroy at least 
half of the corn crop, hence the need of 
strong measures till it is under control. 
J. II. c. 
Notes on Grafting 
I have just re-read D. L. Hartman’s 
article (page 627) on the care of grafted 
native trees, and from my 40 years’ ex¬ 
May 1, 1920 
perience in grafting and trimming such 
trees, I offer the following suggestions: 
First, it might do in his home—Florida-- 
to graft a 2-in. tree within six inches 
of the ground, but here, where snow is 
still in evidence (April 2), I should ex¬ 
pect the graft to make so large a growth 
and be so tender that our cold Winters 
would surely kill it. I would graft it 
at least two feet above the ground, and 
would let any suckers that started grow 
for that season, provided the graft was 
making two or three feet of growth. Then, 
after they had grown to the length of two 
to three feet. I would pinch off the top 
buds, so that the graft would harden for 
Winter. Then I would allow both grafts 
to grow until the stub was nearly grown 
over, and 1 then remove the least desirable 
one. 
Please notice that I am not finding 
fault with Mr. Hartman’s article, which 
is an excellent one, but simply putting 
you on vour guard if you live, as I do, 
1.600 ft. above sea level, and in a cold 
climate, where the mercury drops to 30 
decrees below zero. A large part of the 
apple trees in this section are trees that 
have come from seed and been grafted to 
the desired variety. j. d. seeley. 
New Hampshire. 
Sod for Potatoes 
Will you tell me what you consider 
the best so? to plant potatoes in? I am 
advised by some of the old farmers to 
plant in green sod. while others tell me 
that I would do better to plant a piece 
which grew corn last year. E. n. E. 
Cranston, R. I. 
We consider a clover sod better than 
grass, as the clover. will decay more 
rapidly. Most of our Eastern farmers 
prefer to plant corn in the sod. They 
sow a clover crop in the corn, plow this 
crop under in the Spring, and plant po¬ 
tatoes with fertilizer. The corn seems to 
do better in the sod, and when planted 
in hills it is easier to keep the corn clean 
and thus kill out the grass before plant¬ 
ing potatoes in hills. Many farmers, 
however, prefer to plow under clover and 
plant potatoes right in the green sod. 
jpring 
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fl 
