G6 
January 1.", 1021 
Iht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Back to the Backyard 
Back to a little piece of earth in which you can 
plant pure-bred seeds for a harvest of tender, fresh 
vegetables. This is one solution of the increasing 
cost of foodstuffs—one doctorless cure for sleepless 
nights and that all-in feeling—one sure source of 
inspiration for the next day’s work. 
There’s nothing more sensible—and nothing more 
easy. Pure-bred seeds and good cultivation are the 
essentials. The one you can buy “at the store around 
the corner” that sells Ferry’s Seeds; the other you 
can learn from Ferry’s Seed Annual. 
Ferry’s Seeds are rightly called “pure-bred seeds.” 
They are the progeny of parent plants whose parents 
and grandparents have been carefully selected for 
years. Plants are like animals. Defects or virtues 
are handed down to the following generations. 
“Weeding out” is done scientifically on the great 
Ferry Stock Seed Gardens. There, every variety of 
vegetable must meet rigid tests for vitality, must 
duplicate the size, flavor, tenderness and productivity 
of the parent plant. Flowers must show their an¬ 
cestral traits of color and vigor. 
In this way Ferry’s Seeds earn their title “pure¬ 
bred seeds.” You can’t afford to plant anything but 
the best. 
D. M. FERRY & CO., Detroit, Mich. 
(and Windsor, Ontario) JWlSV 
pans in which there are about 4 in. of 
water, and just sufficient fire kept under 
the pans to keep the water tolerably 
warm. Never allow it to become hot 
enough to feel in the least particle un¬ 
comfortable to the hands. Better let it 
x’emain colder than this. In about a week 
or 10 days the bark will start, and the 
canes are ready for peeling. This is done 
by cutting a semi-circular notch in the 
edge of a piece of steel. This piece is 
fastened securely in an upright position 
to a block or bench. A similar notch is 
cut in another but heavier piece of steel, 
and the two are fastened together much 
in the fashion of a pair of shears, but 
with the notches coming squarely to¬ 
gether. The butt end of a cane is placed 
in the lower notch, with the upper and 
heavier piece of steel resting upon it. 
Then the cane is pulled through the 
notch, the upper piece of steel gradually 
falling as the cane becomes smaller, thus 
by a slow process stripping the bark off. 
Sometimes, during storage, the canes be¬ 
come so dried that the bark will not 
start. In such cases the canes are strati¬ 
fied between layers of wet, half-rotted 
straw, and decomposition soon causes the 
bark to slip. This method, however, pro¬ 
duces large yellowish blotches upon the 
canes, which lessen their value. Steam 
is also used to start the bark, but in some 
way it sets a- portion of the tannic acid 
free, and this darkens the wood. After 
peeling the canes are dried, whitened by 
being subjected to the fumes of burning 
sulphur, assorted and tied into bundles 
for sale or shipment. 
Making a Beginning. —No use is 
made of the bark, but it contains a con¬ 
siderable percentage of tannin, and it, 
seems as though it might have a com¬ 
mercial value as a tanning agent. Also 
it is rich in salicin, which is the base of 
salicylic acid, and it seems as though it 
might be made the source of these chem¬ 
icals. But it is not, at the present time, 
used for any other purpose than as a 
cheap fuel. There are considerable 
plantations of basket willows in South¬ 
eastern Michigan, around Buffalo and 
Baltimore, and many along the Mississippi 
River as far south as Louisiana, but the 
business is only fairly profitable under 
normal conditions. Cuttings may be had 
from almost any nurseryman at a very 
nominal cost, and I would suggest that 
the experiment be tried out upon a lim¬ 
ited scale and increased if conditions war¬ 
rant an increase. The principal manu¬ 
factories of willow-ware are located in 
New York City and in Rochester. 
C. O. ORMSBEE. 
Garden Notes From New England 
If anybodv thinks that farming is not 
a gamble, let him ask some of the onion 
growers in New England. Onions are an 
expensive crop to grow, and yet right now 
they are almost a drug on the market. 
So far as profit goes, they have been a 
flat failure this season, and tons of onions 
will probably spoil without reaching the 
market. 
It is curious, by the way, to note the 
sheep-like way in which growers follow 
one another by over-planting any vege¬ 
table which has been short the previous 
season. Three years ago, if I remember 
rightly, there was a shortage of cabbage. 
The next year it was planted so heavily 
that the following Winter found every¬ 
body trying to sell cabbage even at a loss. 
Two years ago pumpkins and squashes 
were almost out of the market, with the 
the side of the barn or shed. The result 
is picturesque, and an enormous quantity 
of fruit produced. In the Italian sec¬ 
tions around Boston, where great quan¬ 
tities of wine are made, the grapes are 
commonly grown on overhead trellises, 
sometimes a half-acre being covered in 
this way. About the only point that 
needs to be remembered is that the grapes 
are borne close to the main stem, and 
that the overgrown laterals should be 
kept pruned back fairly well. Of course, 
no such pruning is necessary as in a com¬ 
mercial orchard. When, however, a va¬ 
riety of grapes are being grown in the 
garden, it may be well to train some of 
them on wires, and to cut them back se¬ 
verely each season. 
Pruning Fruit Trees. —While it is 
true that the early Spring is without 
A Mammoth Wind-break in Massachusetts 
result that an enormously increased area 
was given over to them, bringing about a 
big surplus the next seasou. Then onions 
went through the same routine, although 
in their case remarkably heavy shipments 
from the South had something to do with 
the decline in price. 
Wind-Breaks. —Market gardeners who 
make use of cold frames realize the value 
of wind-breaks, and usually put up tight 
board fences for the protection of their 
frames. General farmers often overlook 
this matter when handling only a few 
frames, with the result that they are not 
able to get as early crops as they could 
with a warmer location. The plan of 
using a wind-break has been carried far¬ 
ther by Thomas Roland at his plant in 
Revere* than by any other man with whom 
I am acquainted. Mr. Roland has three 
long greenhouses. For several years he 
■was annoyed by the wind which blew 
across the marshes on one side, making 
it difficult to keep the lower end of the 
houses warm. Finally he hit upon the 
construction of a mammoth wind-break 
which has proved a decided success. This 
wind-break is made of stout posts, upon 
which boards are nailed. The boards are 
not tight, there being a space of several 
inches between them. This arrangement 
was made so that the light would not be 
interfered with too much. The wind¬ 
break is about 200 feet long and 25 feet 
high, and while it doesn’t cut off the wind 
entirely, it breaks its force so that the 
temperature of the house can be kept 
much more uniform than before. 
Trimming Grapevines. — Because of 
the many articles which appear in the 
papers about the scientific trimming of 
grapevines according to one system or 
another. I think a good many amateur 
growers get the idea that they must fol¬ 
low some such plan, which, of course, is 
not true. When there are only a few 
grapevines there is no better way to 
handle them, in my opinion, than to have 
them grow over a trellis or arbor, or on 
doubt the best time for pruning fruit 
trees, the average man has to do the 
work when the opportunity offers, and all 
rugged, well-grown trees can be trimmed 
safely enough at any time when the wood 
is not frozen. If you have trees which 
are in a low state .of vitality, though, you 
will be wise to leave them until freezing 
weather is passed, as otherwise the 
wounds may not heal over well. 
I think there is a reaction from the 
drastic pruning of former years. At any 
rate, the man with a few trees is advised 
not to be too free with the use of the 
saw, extending his operations over several 
years, even in the case of old trees that 
need a lot of attention. It takes longer 
for a tree to recover from a severe shock 
than most people realize. 
First of all, get rid of dead wood. 
Then cut out branches which rub or chafe, 
and those which shoot straight up in the 
air. After that you can go leisurely 
about the work of beheading or reshaping 
the tree. Oftentimes you will find it a 
good plan to thin out your fairly young 
trees pretty well if the fruit does not 
color up satisfactorily. 
Frequently you can save old trees that 
are likely to lie blown down by the wind 
if you bolt the bad crotches. Never use 
bands around the limbs. There has been 
considerable question as to the value of 
scraping the trees, but it seems reasonable 
to believe that by getting rid of the rough 
bark you can do much to eradicate oyster- 
shell 'scale. An old hoe makes a good 
scraper, but you must be careful not to 
cut into the green inner bark. 
And one other word of warning. When 
you are cutting off large limbs, be sure 
to saw underneath the branch close to 
the trunk before transferring the saw to 
the top. This will prevent the danger 
of stripping off the bark when the branch 
falls. With very large limbs .it is often 
wise to saw them off with a long stub 
first, and then to remove the stub later. 
E. I. F. 
