The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1820 
December 4,.1020 
The Contributions of Science 
The greatest material bene¬ 
fits the world has received 
have come from the labora¬ 
tories of the scientists. They 
create the means for ac¬ 
complishing the seemingly 
impossible. 
Science, after years of la¬ 
bor, produced the telephone. 
From a feeble instrument ca¬ 
pable of carrying speech but 
a few feet, science continued 
its work until now the tele¬ 
phone-voice may be heard 
across the continent. 
In February of 1881 a bliz¬ 
zard swept the city of Boston, 
tearing from the roof of the 
Bell telephone building a vast 
net-work of 2,400 wires. It 
was the worst wire disaster 
the Company had sustained. 
Now through the advance 
of science that number of 
wires would be carried in a 
single underground cable no 
larger than a man’s wrist. 
As the fruit of the effort 
of science greater safety and 
greater savings in time, money 
and materials are constantly 
resulting. 
And never before as now, 
the scientist is helping us solve 
our great problems of pro¬ 
viding Telephone service that 
meets the increased demands 
with greater speed and greater 
certainty. 
American Telephone and Telegraph Company 
And Associated Companies 
One Policy One System Universal Service 
And all directed toward Better Service 
Silos at Pre-War Prices 
I will sell my present stock 
of silos, as long as they last, 
at PRE-WAR PRICES. Get 
your order in early and save 
money. Silos are all new, 
of well-known make, and 
furnished in the genuine 
Clear Oregon Fir, the most 
durable material used for 
silos. Quality guaranteed. 
You deal direct with me. No 
agents, no salesmen to come 
between us. 
M. L. SMITH 
113 Flood Building 
Meadville Pennsylvania 
Annual White Sweet Clover 
Garden (frown, from Prof. Hughes’ original stock. Guar, 
anteed genuine. Price, 60c per ounce or £6 per lb. Post 
I 3 * 1 *- HENRY FIELD, Shenandoah, Iowa 
A choc Unlenohed, packed in bags, 618 
VV OUCJ Aallv/h per ton F. O. B. Swarthmore, Pa. 
W, H. LEIDY, • Swarthmore, Pa. 
f HVI|| STATIONERY PRINTED for Poultrymcn, Stockmen 
r n K Hi etc. It pays to make your letters look businesslike 
I MU III Samples printed Envelopes and Letter Heads for any 
business, postpaid, froe. R. N. Howie, Printer, Beebe Plain.Vt. 
With or 
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Ah* “One-Man 1 
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Wheels 
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elearinf land forothers. 
r The Hercules big Free 
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'down experience of 25 
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’ Turn low e-~,t stump land 
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r Hercu!es Portable 
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steel wheels. Themarvel of the 
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r tory offer. 80 days* free trial—3 year 
r guarantee. Write today for book of 
^photographs and letter* from owners. 
Herculea Mfg. Company 
130 29th St. Centerville, la. 
Get Hercules 
Big Book 
Buy Right-HIGH GRADE SEEDS 
WILSON EARLY SOY BEANS, $4.60 ; 20 Bush., $4.20. 
Hod Clover, $13.80 Bush. Yellow Danvers Onion Sets, 
$2.60; 20 Bush., $2.26. LAYTON 8 LAYTON, Inc., Georgetown, Del. 
AGENTS WANTED 
Active, reliable, on salary, to 
take subscriptions for The 
Rural New-Yorker. Prefer 
men who have horse or auto. 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
333 W. 30th St New York City 
2ND CROP SEED POTATOES 
Cobbler, Mills Pride, Giants, Green 
Alt., Superba, Ked Skin 
SEED CORN-YELLOW & WHITE 
WHITE PLY. HOCK COCKERELS 
MINCH BROS. BRIDGETON, N. J. 
Representative Local Agents Wanted 
in unoccupied territory for New Jersey, New York 
and Central Pennsylvania. Communicate with 
GODFREY FERTILIZER & CHEMICAL CO Newark, N. J. 
truth, it has been difficult for anybody 
to understand just what the regulations 
are, but no restrictions seem to have been 
placed on the farms, so far as wayside 
mills are concerned, and a tremendous 
amount of cider has been sold to auto¬ 
mobile parties, sometimes being drank on 
the premises, hut often carried away in 
bottles and jugs. Never before has there 
been such a demand for small cider 
presses. Some dealers report that they 
are far behind in their orders. The one 
catch in the law as regards the sale of 
cider is the provision that the manufac¬ 
turer shall be hold responsible if the bev¬ 
erage develops a greater alcoholic content 
than is allowed under tho Volstead act 
after it is in the hands of the purchaser. 
.Many people are wondering just what 
kind of a boomerang this provision con¬ 
tains, and what attempt will be made to 
enforce it. 
Keeping Dahlias Over Winter.— 
The popularity of the Dahlia seems to 
increase rather than abate. It seems to 
me I have never seen so many of these 
flowers grown as this season, and great 
numbers have been exhibited at the shows. 
It is well to remember when puttting 
away Dahlias for tho Winter that some 
of the newer sorts are less easily handled 
than the old-fashioned kinds. It is par¬ 
ticularly important that the nuids in the 
roots be allowed to escape, which means 
that the clumps should ho stored with the 
Dahlias Stored in Bins. Fit). 607 
stem end down. A few inches of stem 
may be left with the clumps. It is also 
important not to break the necks of the 
tubers at digging time, although this is 
very likely to be done unless care is ex¬ 
ercised, especially if the clumps are 
roughly pulled up by the stalks, which 
they should not be. On the large Dahlia 
plantations the roots are often plowed 
out, and with varieties which produce 
very large, stout stalks, the latter are 
cut off with long-handled pruning shears. 
The Dahlias .should be stored where the 
temperature is above freezing, of course, 
but where it is not high enough to make 
them dry up. If they are to be stored in 
a heated cellar, it is a very good plau to 
put them in boxes with sand sifted around 
and over them. They should not be di¬ 
vided until Spring, as they keep better in 
a clump, although commercial growers 
handling many Dahlias find it necessary 
to keep their men busv cutting up the 
clumps throughout the Winter. 
Late Dahlias. —This has been one of 
the most remarkable seasons for Dahlias 
that New England has ever known. As I 
write this, almost the last day of the 
month, the Dahlias in my garden are as 
handsome as ever, and only a few days 
ago I talked with a man from North Con¬ 
way. N. IT., who said that not only his 
Dahlias, but his. Gladioli and his sweet 
peas were blooming splendidly. Some of 
the commercial growers with large fields 
lost their blossoms early in the month, 
hut the gardens with a little protection 
have escaped the frosts, and this year we 
have had the unusual spectacle of Dahlias 
and hardy Chrysanthemums in flower side 
by side. Of course, the Dahlia roots will 
have to be dug quickly, folio-wing a frost, 
because freezing weather will come on 
soon. Do sure that tliev are allow'd to 
dry off a few hours, and pack them away 
so that the stumps will point downward. 
The growing of Dahlias has come to 
be an enormous business. One New 
England grower puts away several mil¬ 
lion bu'bs each season, packing them in 
great bins, which are filled almost to the 
ceiling. The difficulty in handling so 
many bulbs comes in keening them prop¬ 
erly labeled. Evidently this difficulty was 
not wholly overcome last season, because 
there has been much complaint that 
Dahlias have not come true to name. 
Here again, no doubt, the difficulty has 
been due to incompetent or careless help. 
Flower-growing Made to Pay.— It is 
worth while saying a word about the man 
at North Conway, because he has devel¬ 
oped quite an interesting and profitable 
business in the growing of out-door flow¬ 
ers. He had made an arrangement with 
three, of the big Summer hotels whereby 
lie is permitted to have a stand in each. 
These stands are kept suoplied with out¬ 
door roses, sweet pea«. Gladioli. Dahlias, 
bachelor buttons and Centaureas, to¬ 
gether with other annuals and perennials. 
He says that he has done a very brisk 
£rade the past Summer, many of the 
guests keeping their rooms filled with flow¬ 
ers during their stay. In some cases, 
too, the guests have purchased flowers 
for the tables, tire holders being supplied 
by the management. There is really a 
good opportunity in many places to earn 
money by raising flowers for Summer 
visitors. This is true in sections where 
there are many Summer homes, as well 
as in places where the guests assemble in 
hotels. I know of one woman who has 
built up a good business in this way. 
She is often able to contract with a family 
for flowers all through the Summer, and 
two or three times a week carries a basket 
with the blossoms neatly arranged therein 
to the house. She uses whatever happens 
to be in bloom in her garden, and, of 
course, tries to have a variety, and em¬ 
ploys enough greenery to make a good ef¬ 
fect. She finds that sweet peas, nastur¬ 
tiums and bachelor buttons are especially 
in demand. Garden roses, too, are al¬ 
ways welcome, and baby’s breath makes 
a good foil for the more conspicuous 
blooms. She has also found that people 
have a great fondness for lavender and 
lemon verbena, the leaves of the latter 
being used frequently in making up bou¬ 
quets. E. I. FARRINGTON. 
Fertilizer for Apple Tree 
When should nitrate of soda be put 
around apple trees, and how much? 
What effect does it have on the fruit? 
My trees are all in ground sod, and bear 
well. Sprayed every year. Will tin 1 
nitrate work all right on sod, or must it 
be harrowed in ? g. k. 
Nitrate of soda furnishes nitrogen in 
very available form. The effect is stimu¬ 
lating. The tree makes a quick growth, 
takes on a dark green foliage, and vigor¬ 
ous appearance. The effect of nitrogen 
alone is to increase the size of the fruit, 
but does not impair color or quality. 
Where the trees have been making slow 
growth and show poor color, nitrogen 
will start them up. It requires good 
judgment to use nitrogen alone on trees. 
It would be safer to use acid phosphate 
along with the nitrates. That would 
give a more solid growth and better and 
firmer fruit. For a good-sized tree 5 lbs. 
each of the nitrate and phosphate will do. 
Scatter these chemicals on the ground 
under the branches, as far out as the 
limbs extend. Do not put it all up around 
the trunk. As early as possible in the 
Spring is the best time. Unless you are 
early there will be little effect during the 
season of the application. The Ohio Ex¬ 
periment Station at Wooster, Ohio, has a 
good bulletin on fertilizing orchards. 
CONTENTS 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, DEC. 4, 1920 
FARM TOPICS 
A Thirteen-cent Dol’ar. 1818 
Improving Wild Pasture Land. 1819 
Bones for Fertilizer. 1819 
A Wisconsin Potato Grower. 1821 
Making tho Most of Potato Seed. 1821 
Opinions of a Hill Farm Woman. 1822 
A Farm Hand Asks Questions. 1822 
Changes in Farm Labor. 1822 
Hope Fann Notes. 1828 
The Next Secretary of Agriculture. 1831 
Annual Session of National Grange. 1831 
LIVE STOCK AND DAIRY 
The Child Without Milk Has No Chance.. 1831 
Deoember Milk Prices. 1831 
Winter Feed for Horses and Cows. 1834 
Ration for Family Cow. 1834 
Sunnlementing Home-grown Grain. 1836 
Kieffer Pears for Stock. 1836 
Diluting Skim-milk for Hogs. 1836 
Value of Silage Ration for Dairy. 1836 
Leaking Milk . 1837 
Rickets . 1837 
Lameness . 1837 
Distemper . 1837 
Chorea . 1837 
Worms of Horses. 1837 
Chronic Cough . 1837 
Feeding Bull Calves and Cows. 1838 
Improving Dairy Ration. 1838 
Turnips and Pumpkins for Succulence. 1838 
Satisfactory Dairy Ration. 1838 
Ill-flavored Milk . 1838 
Ration With Silage. 1838 
Warts . 1840 
THE HENYARD 
Blaokhead; Spreading Limestone. 1828 
Scorched Wheat for Poultry. 1828 
Pullets Mature Slowly.. 1828 
Plucking Geese . 1828 
Feeding Laying Pullets. 1841 
Ailing Pullets .. 1841 
Quantity of Grain for Poultry. 1841 
HORTICULTURE 
Plain Story of a Back-to-the-iander. .1817, 1818 
A Combined D"ster and Sprayer. 1819 
Notes from a Marvland Garden. 1825 
Care of Rod Rasebo-ries. 1825 
English Ivy in the North. 1825 
The Japanese Walnut. 1829 
WOMAN AND HOME 
From Day to Day. 1832 
Christmas D°v Meals.1832, 1833 
The Rural Patterns. 1832 
Christinas Preparations . 1833 
Embroidery Designs . 1833 
The Christmas Letter. 1833 
MISCELLANEOUS 
Pulfballs and Their Imitators. 
A Case of Adoption... 
An Outdoor Toilet. 
Power for Turbine wheel. 
Waterproofing a Cistom. 
Cleaning Rustv Water. 
Improving Well . 
Lime-sulphu- Barrels for Cider. 
Cleaning Fleur Sacks. 
A Big Fly Trap. 
Sulnhur, Rats and Apples..... 
Estimating Standing Timber. 
Editorial . 
The H-bit of Po’itical Graft. 
From Connecticut to Califonla—Part 
Publisher’s Desk . 
. 1821 
. 1822 
. 1822 
. 1824 
. 1824 
. 1824 
. 1824 
. 1827 
. 1827 
. 1827 
. 1829 
_ 1829 
. 1830 
. 1831 
II... 1840 
.... 1842 
