‘Ik* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
397 
Horticultural Short Cuts 
Cherry Tree Sprouting 
Will you let me know what do do with 
a cherry tree that sprouts out from the 
trunk about 12 ft.? T have cut the roots 
3 ft. from the trunk. Is it necessary to 
head down the tree proportionally? 
Hawthorne, N. J. a. r.. a. 
Trees sprout front the roots when more 
plant food is taken in than can be used 
by the top. This it? especially true with 
budded trees. By cutting the roots ihe 
area from which plant food is secured i« 
reduced until new roots can be formed. 
I think cutting 3 ft. from the trunk is 
too close if the tree is of any size, but I 
would not touch the top. as any lack of 
plant food would only affect the present 
growth of the wood. Cherries require lit¬ 
tle or no pruning, and as much injury 
could be caused by many cuts with gum 
exuding as by retarding the growth. 
T. ir.T. 
Destroying Honeysuckle in Hedge 
I have a strip of Osage orange hedge 
around my property that is troubled with 
honeysuckle vine. 'Phis hedge has been 
planted 15 years. Can you suggest some¬ 
thing that would destroy this vine and not 
injure the hedge? j. a. c. 
Ellicott City, Md. 
There is no way of getting rid of honey¬ 
suckle except by thoroughly and com¬ 
pletely grubbing it out. It is one of the 
most persistent of all the climbing plants : 
every little root when broken seems to 
make a new plant. If it is desired to 
get rid of the honeysuckle, the Osage or¬ 
ange hedge will have to be destroyed with 
it, as there is no way of destroying the 
vine and saving the hedge, and. on the 
other hand, there is not much chance of 
saving the hedge unless the vine is de¬ 
stroyed. as the vine will eventually kill off 
the hedge, so there you are. k. 
Tying Up Grafts 
On page 208 is an excellent article on 
grafting fruit trees. No doubt .success 
will follow if the details given are car¬ 
ried out. 1 notice, however, the absence 
of one feature in grafting that I believe 
is of great importance, at least I have 
always found it so; that is wrapping the 
stem with a piece of cloth covering about 
1 in. down from the end, carefully pass¬ 
ing the scions through openings in the 
lop. and tying it firmly so as to keep the 
split of the stock closely together. 1 have 
known a case where more than a dozen 
scions were set out and only a few grew, 
the stocks gaping at the split. T have 
also noticed that at times when grafting 
is done rather late in the Spring the 
warm sun melts the wax, thus exposing 
the scions to serious damage. It. may be 
antiquated to tie up grafts, but I have 
seen it done for many years and have 
myself followed it for some years, very 
seldom losing a single graft in a season. 
A favorite time with me for grafting is 
Washington’s Birthday. This may not 
apply to more rigorous climates, but 
seems to do well in the District of Co- 
lymbia. or. it. h. seltzer. 
Washington, D. C. 
Kieffer Pear as Grafting Stock 
The recent talk about grafting freaks, 
etc., recalls to my mind that some years 
ago a correspondent wrote that it would 
he useless to graft a Kieffer pear—that 
the Asiatic varieties were not congenial 
stocks for American or European sorts. 
Someone answered and said that he had 
grafted Kieffer with perfect success; then 
the first writer came back and said: 
“You wait a few years and your new top 
will fail. ’ I had a single experience cov¬ 
ering the time when that correspondence 
was on. I had already grafted Le Conte, 
which I had understood to come from the 
«ame source as Kieffer and Garber. For 
a few years results were splendid, and 
now the now growth dies back, two- 
thirds gone now. I had put in an old 
*' rench sort, Doyenne de Boussoek. T 
have the last two years been budding 
small limbs on a Kieffer. I am writing 
this hoping someone will comment on this 
matter. U. s. n. 
ITingham, Mass. 
Control of the Striped Cucumber Beetle 
On page 227, T. II. T. gives us an ex¬ 
cellent letter regarding the culture of 
melons, but lie advises the use of arsenate 
of lead to control this pest. This will do 
the work, but its one great fault is that 
it works so slowly, and the beetles work 
so fast, that a plantation of vines is lia¬ 
ble to be ruined before the poison can take 
effect. A great deal better method is to 
saturate the hills with tobacco water. My 
method is to boil a 10-cent plug of to¬ 
bacco in water until its strength has been 
wholly extracted, and then add enough 
water to make 10 gallons of the decoc¬ 
tion. Then I saturate the ground around 
each hill a few days after planting, and 
again just as the plants begin to appear, 
and once or twice more if necessary. This 
remedy is also effective against melon 
aphis if sprayed upon the foliage in such 
a manner as hit the lice. But, since there 
are seven broods of aphis in a single sea¬ 
son, it is obvious that a single spraying 
will not be effective for any great length 
of time. It must be repeated as often 
as aphids, are seen. I presume that Black 
Leaf 40. or any of the commercial tobacco 
extracts, would answer equally well, but 
I am not familiar with their use. The 
above infusion will also handle the onion 
maggot and the cabbage root worm, and 
it will greatly discourage the cutworm. 
The only insect that exhibits a liking - for 
tobacco belongs to the genus homo. 
c. o. o. 
Setting Southern Strawberry Plants 
1 have been reading the article by 1). L. 
Hartman on strawberries on page 03, and 
notice that plants set. in September and 
October bear fruit in three or four months. 
I have thought of trying the following 
plan: Send South to Delaware or Mary¬ 
land and have plants that are started 
early and set out here as soon as the 
ground can be worked, thus getting an 
early start, and get a crop the first year; 
cultivate well and force with nitrate of 
soda, thus saving time. 
If B. F., on page 102, will take burner 
off his lantern and clean it thoroughly in 
hot water, he will have no trouble with 
it. The trouble is that pores are closed 
up. w. E. T. 
South Hamilton, Ma&s. 
Our large growers of strawberry plants 
are already shipping plants, and many are 
being planted here. You might buy the 
everbearing sorts and set them as soon 
as your soil is in condition. Then keep 
the blossoms off till mid-June, and you 
can get strawberries the rest of the Sum¬ 
mer and Fall. But the best Spring-bear- 
iug varieties will not make a crop, or 
should not be allowed to make a berry 
from Spring planting, no matter from 
what climate they come, unless you could 
get pot-grown plants, which are hardly to 
be had at this season. Sending South 
and getting plants already started would 
not advance, but rather retard, the fruit¬ 
ing. w. E. MASSEY. 
Stuffing a Garden Lot 
T have a half-acre of garden ground 
which has been in use as garden for more 
than 30 years. Next Summer 1 am going 
to give it a rest, and seed it down with 
some green crop and plow under. Would 
you tell me how to do it? What kind of 
seed is best, how much seed to use, when 
to seed it down, when to plow it under? 
Tell me how you would do it if it were 
yours. e. B. 
New York. 
We should assume that the great needs 
of that soil are organic matter and lime. 
If you want to give it a “rest,” we would 
put it at work in the following manner: 
Blow it as early as the soil is fit, and 
harrow in one-half ton of lime. Then 
seed half a bushel of (’anada peas, work¬ 
ing them in with a disk or cutaway, if 
possible. Then seed 2 bu. of oats, har¬ 
rowed- in. We should use 300 lbs. of 
acid phosphate and 100 lbs. of muriate 
of potash, and then stand off and watch 
the crop grow. Early in July we would 
have the big mass of peas and oats plowed 
into the soil. Fit the ground well and 
seed one bushel of buckwheat, two pecks 
of rye and two pounds of Alsike clover. 
Harrow it all in. The buckwheat will 
start fast and soon cover the ground. 
You will see little of the rye and clover 
before September. The buckwheat will 
ripen and fall down on the ground. We 
would let the poultry in to harvest it. 
By late September you will find the rye 
coming up through the buckwheat and 
the clover making a fair growth down be¬ 
low. They will cover the soil through 
Fall and Winter and in the Spring all 
that is left would be plowed under. The 
soil will then be filled with organic mat¬ 
ter and ready to produce a big crop. 
Blackberries for Hedge 
I am thinking of planting some black¬ 
berries. This Spring I wish to plant 
them around our boundaries or line 
fences, for the fruit and for the purpose 
<>f making a hedge. These must be sturdy 
growers and rough, to repel cattle or any¬ 
one going through them. I have a barb 
wire fence around these lines and 1 wish 
to plant them inside this fence. What 
varieties will answer my purpose and the 
method of cultivation ; also the pruning’ 
h redonia, Pa. E 
Snyder blackberries make a fair hedge 
m this section, but I doubt the ability of 
any blackberry bushes to hold back either 
a persistent cow or man. The berries 
could not be cultivated in the position 
stated, so the best results could not be 
secured. I would never try to mix a crop 
and a fence. K 
More About Pomegranates 
L. s. K. asks about pomegranates, 
lour correspondent must have got hold 
of the sour variety, and before the fruits 
were fully ripe. They must not be gath 
ered until touched by frost, or until they 
burst of their ripe fullness. They are 
delicious then. There are a number of 
varieties; one. by the way, that is en¬ 
tirely too sweet. Those mentioned as 
being grown for their blooms, and espe¬ 
cially in hothouses, are not the fruiting 
varieties: the double flowers are always 
sterile. It is only the single-flowered va¬ 
riety that bears fruit, and ftuch fruit! 
J. tv. 
The Man- 
Made 
VS. 
The Nature- 
Made Roof 
No w ondop wise men are going “Back to Nature” for roofing material. Vermont 
Weathering Sea Green slate has been thousands of years in the making and 
it cannot be destroyed in a lifetime. When you roof with this slate, your mind 
is once and tor all relieved. r l houghts of fire and leaks, repairs and paint— 
are forgotten. A strong, reliable roof will last for you, your children and their 
children’s children. 
Co-operate with the fire-prevention authorities. Insist that your roof as well 
as your neighbor’s be of an absolutely fire-proof and everlasting material. An 
article written by the committee of Fire prevention of the National Board of 
Fire TJunderwriters reads as follows: “ 
small, can prohibit, by law. the use of wooden 
shingles or any inflammable roofing mate¬ 
rial, ami can enforce the law. Would not 
such action be a step in the right direction? 
Arc not citizens entitled to this protection? 
Do your part ami it will all help.” Much 
of the conflagration can be traced directly 
to the flying brand hazard of shingle roofs, 
and other man-made inflammable roofings. 
Let list show you figures from competent au¬ 
thorities. l)o not conflict the word "fire- 
resisting” with FIREPROOF. There is con¬ 
siderable difference. Use green slate from 
Vermont that will not burn. Specify this 
kind of slate and know that you will not 
need to consider your rooting proposition 
during your lifetime, or your children's 
children. 
\Vhat the wise man said about mouse traps 
is true: “if you can produce a better mouse 
trap, or anything else, better than the other 
fellow, the world will make a beaten path 
to your door.” Property owners are looking 
upon the Sea Green slate industry to demon 
strate that its produet will bear the most 
ea re fill scrutiny. Know your roof, and buy 
intelligently. 
Don’t liny “Camouflage.” Buy the original, 
"tried and true,” "Weathering” Sea Green 
slate. 
Write us for literature, and state whether 
you wish slate for a church, office building, 
factory, residence or barn, and we can write 
more intelligently, and we wish to be of real 
assistance. We have specifications for flat 
roofs where our solid slate may be used as 
well as those for sloping roofs. 
Any incorporated town, no matter how 
Prominent Carpenter and Builder. 
In my experience of forty odd years 
as a carpenter and slater I do not hesi¬ 
tate to say that if slate are properly 
laid on a pitched roof of 175 pitch or 
more, that the Vermont Sea Green Slate 
are the best slate in tile world; the 
maintenance item is the lowest of any 
roofing material used today. I have re‘- 
moved a good many slate from roofs and 
relaid them a second time, after they 
had seen service a good many years. I 
censider a roof slated with old slate 
equally as strong ami durable as when 
first laid. 
I know of instances where slate have 
been upon roofs here in Granville from 
forty to sixty years, and the roofs are 
doing good service today. I assisted in 
removing the slate from the old Meth¬ 
odist Episcopal church here, and know 
I hose slate to lie giving excellent service 
on the new church. 
The slate on this church, as near as 
we can find records among the church 
papers, have been on eighty-five years. 
I a.n a carpenter, in my seventy-third 
year. The weathering effect develops 
into a most beautiful blending of colors 
in mellow browns and greys. Manv tine 
residences and churches have been slated 
upon my recommendation.—Wm. Grav- 
line. 
AMERICAN GREEN SLATE PUBLICITY BUREAU, Box C, Granville, N. Y. 
High Yields Make 
Low Costs 
Increase the yield per acre, cut labor 
costs, improve the quality of your crop 
and lessen the danger from weather 
and insects by the liberal use of 
ROYSTERS 
FERTILIZERS 
»AOC MAIM 
»^S.R> 
REGISTERED 
Agents wanted in 
unoccupied territory 
WL 
200 
m 
miLizm 
F. S. Royster Guano Co. 
Department C- 12 
Baltimore, Md., Toledo, O. 
v»» X. V 
* ; 
fmezmam i m gi* 
mMm.f > l 
muFACTti8&Wi& : 
/ SALT!MORE, MO,., 
msim 
=1 
When you write advertisers mention The R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a 
quick reply and a “square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
