704 
continuous row; and to obtain the fullest returns 
n fruitage these plants must never he allowed to 
produce runners. 1 have found plant production to 
he as destructive <ff vitality as is fruiting. Many old 
plants wil he found dead in the Spring from the 
successive tasks of fruiting and runnering. 
MATTED ROWS.—T presume that herry growing 
on a commercial scale will continue to he conducted 
in the stereotyped manner of setting plants, pri¬ 
marily to prod nee a mat of runners which were 
allowed to grow and fruit where they took root. 
This plan saves the labor of transplanting, but if 
an eh beds are maintained more than one hearing 
season, and the tendency of weed growth is consid¬ 
erable. the labor involved is much greater than by 
systematic setting of plants. As between the two 
systems, you have upon the one hand a profusion of 
small berries, making picking difficult, and upon the 
other immense berries, easily gathered and often 
commanding sale even when tin* marked, for small 
berries is glutted. The big fancy herry makes its 
own market,. 
FURNISHING PLANT FOOD.—I have said noth¬ 
ing about manuring the ground in preparation for 
growing banner crops of berries. T favor giving our 
sod ground in preparation for the preliminary crops 
(corn, potatoes) an application of stable manure 
competent to carry through several successive years, 
and leave the ground for the ultimate production of 
berries still rich and of that friable condition which 
abundant humus imparts. A heavy soil will allow 
of strawy horse manure, but for light soils cow dung 
is to he preferred. The strawberry loves a cool soil. 
A layer of manure half a foot deep, to he applied the 
first season is a good foundation, and its plants may 
he fed with commercial manures as needed later. 
VARIETIES. —This, like the tariff, is a local issue. 
In my new home in the Puget Sound country the 
Marshall is the one dominating herry. The' - can¬ 
neries specify it as their choice. This and the 
Magoon are the outstanding sorts, with Gold Coin 
to lead the season. Tn the East I had preferred the 
old Jessie for a mid-season berry. In the 50 years 
since I gew the Wilson. Crescent and Sharpless as 
a beginner. 1 have tested probably 200 varieties. It 
is a fact that very few new sorts remain in favor 
more than five or 10 years. The quality of tno old 
Wilson, unsurpassed for canning, is reincarnated in 
the early Ozark, being much larger than its distant 
progenitor, and its extra early season is led only by 
one of its parents. The Ozark calls for more fer¬ 
tility than generally given. Tt will lead the straw¬ 
berry season by a week. 1 he season is also pin 
longed a week by the Pearl. These two varieties 
will enable the lover of berries to enjoy them two 
weeks longer than possible with other sorts, early 
and late. 1 am impresseed with the future ot the 
everbearing varieties. We shall naturally look toi 
much improvement in these. For the homo table I 
believe Americas will give the best in quality. The 
fruit of most Fall-grown sorts is iusipid as con¬ 
trasted with the Spring fruiting of the same sorts. 
INTENSIVE cn/ITKE.—In conclusion. I will 
say that I believe intensive culture is the keynote 
of future success. The public, which Earn (Tin ■-.hi 
loves to he humbugged, will some day wake up to 
the difference between fruit locally grown and that 
of poor quality sorts picked in a green condition in 
the South, paying exorbitant prices for the latter. 
It is up to the Northern grower to produce such a 
superior fruit that the buying public will pay liber¬ 
ally for it. The outlook is for better quality sorts 
and size and attractive appearance. Will the grower 
consider this? w - doctor. 
Washington. 
Manurial Loss in Burned Grass 
R EFERRING to question Oil page 042. the nitro¬ 
gen content of mixed hay is. of course a variable 
quantity. We should not he far out of the way if 
w<* assume an average content of V/> per cent, or 
30 lbs. per ton. It will naturally follow that a quan¬ 
tity of hay equivalent to 1 tons per acre would 
contain about 45 lbs. of nitrogen. 
The loss incurred hv your correspondent would 
involve the escape of the nitrogen into the air on 
account of the burning as well as the destruction of 
the organic matter. In attempting to place a value 
on the nitrogen thus lost, it should he remembered 
that nitrogen in nitrate of soda or sulphate of am¬ 
monia can now ho bought at about loc per ID. when 
carload lots of these fertilizers are ordered. In 
mixed fertilizers, or in the higher grade ammoniates 
like tankage or fish, the cost of nitrogen would he 
greater. Another point, to tie borne in mind is that 
the nitrogen iu uii^eU iiuy is> not us available as 
<Iht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
nitrogen in fertilizer salts or tankage. All told, a 
value of 10 to 15c per lb. may he assigned to the 
nitrogen lost. For the 45 lbs. the value would, 
therefore, he $4.50 to $0.75. 
Some additional value may lie allowed for the 
organic matter destroyed. If the heat was not in¬ 
tense enough to injure the organic matter in the soil 
itself, the loss would probably not exceed $7 or $8 
per acre. On the other hand, if the heat was intense 
enough to cause the burning out of a considerable 
portion of the soil organic matter, the loss would he 
very much larger. cr. o. lipman. 
New Jersey. 
Value of the Corrugated Roller 
IIROT'GHOITT Northern Ohio wheat is usually 
damaged by the early change of temperatures 
in the Spring. Through excessive freezing and thaw¬ 
ing Hie wheat is sometimes lifted to such an extent 
that the roots are no longer imbedded in the soil; 
then when the warm, dry winds of Spring come 
about, many of those plants die before they can 
secure moisture or plant food from the soil. The 
soil, too. sometimes may crack open, allowing much 
moisture to evaporate. 
The corrugated roller, however, is a new tool as 
being aide to correct these conditions. As soon as it 
Pieicing Tomatoes from a Ladder. Fig. 27!) . 
is possible to get on the wheat lauds without punch¬ 
ing the soil, this implement is used on the wheat, 
pressing the roots into the soil and closing up the 
cracks that, are made by windy weather. The imple¬ 
ment also has an advantage of making a light mulch, 
which will hold itself for a good length of time; at 
least to a point where the wheat may grow large 
enough until it begins to shade the ground. 'I'llis cor¬ 
rugated roller is also used in other farm operations, 
particularly in preparing the oats bed, by simply 
rolling down the plowed ground. It will compact 
soils, and yet leave a fine mulch on top, making an 
ideal seed bed for oats. It is also used by some 
farmers to roll down the land just as fast as it is 
plowed. In this manner mulch is made and the soil 
is compacted, making a firm seed bed. which allows 
capillary action to go on from the subsoil. In this 
way much of the moisture which usually evaporates 
after the soil is plowed is saved for future crop use. 
Ohio. cr.A renck m. maker. 
Picking Tomatoes on a Ladder 
HEN a man grows a tomato vine so high that 
» 
lie must have a ladder to pick the fruit, both 
man and vine seem to demand attention. The pic¬ 
ture at Fig. 27!) shows how Air. F. M. Swart of 
Delaware Go., N. Y... grew a good imitation of the 
famous beanstalk which “Jack” planted. He gives 
this account of it: 
The seed was planted early in February and plants 
received no special care until they were set iu the 
May 14, 1921 
ground, which was pretty early; so early that I had 
to place a frame around them and keep them covered 
to prevent them from being frosted. 
The ground in which they were set was spaded as 
deep ns I could reach with the spading fork, and the 
portion spaded for each plant was about 5 ft. square. 
Fertilizer from the barnyard and poultry house was well 
mixed with the dirt, and the plants were set upright, but 
deep, in the center of each spaded portion. They re¬ 
ceived no other fertilizer except nitrate of soda, which 
was applied with water about once a week. 
These plants bore very early, about three or four 
weeks ahead of others around town, and they continued 
to bear until the frost came. As the fruit ripened the 
foliage became withered around the ripening portion 
and fell off. Of course this process began at the bottom 
of the plant and continued upward as the fruit ripened. 
At no time were the plants out. of bloom. The tops of 
the plants were full of bloom and still going up when the 
frost caught them. 
Charcoal for the Soil 
Will you tell me the value of powdered charcoal 
applied to the soil? I have found Sweet clover of rank 
growth in pure charcoal near an abandoned chemical 
works here, and would like to know if it would be of 
any benefit applied to garden crops. F. J. M. 
Pennsylvania. 
O RDINARY charcoal contains very little actual 
plant food, only very small quantities of potash 
and phosphorus, so that as a direct fertilizer it has 
little value. It does, however, almost invariably give 
good results when used on the soil, and is greatly 
prized by gardeners Mho work on light land. Char¬ 
coal has great powers to absorb ammonia or other 
gases. Pack a rat or other small dead animal in 
charcoal and you will later find practically all except 
the hones fully absorbed away into the charcoal with 
no odor. Thus charcoal is very useful in earth 
closets or in stables. In old times, when the M'ater 
in the well M’cnt wrong, farmers would throw a 
shovelful of hot charcoal down into the water to 
“cure” it. The charcoal did absorb much of the foul 
gas -which gave a had taste to tho water. As most 
of us know, charcoal filters are usually very useful. 
This power to absorb gases makes the charcoal useful 
in the soil. It is alkaline and helps sweeten the soil. 
Tt also helps make the soil loose and porous, some¬ 
what like sand or sifted coal ashes. Yi'ith gardeners 
t Do chief value of charcoal is that it gives the soil a 
darker color, thus making it better able to absorb 
heat. The effect of this is to make the soil warm up 
earlier in Spring, which, of course, is desired for 
early crops. Thus, M-liile charcoal has little value 
as a direct fertilizer, it does benefit the soil, and we 
should use all we can get of it. It is good as a 
“drier” for chicken manure. 
Killing the Robber Robins 
M ANY of our readers have suffered severely 
through losses of fruit from robins. The robin 
is a robber. The sentimentalist will he horrified at 
that statement but ask any grower of strawberries or 
cherries and you will get the truth about it. The 
losses sustained through the thievery of this bird 
can hardly he computed, and New York farmers 
have felt that a great injustice has been done by re¬ 
fusing them the right of self-protection. It M-as 
reported to us not long since that under the Migra¬ 
te 17 Bird Law the Bureau of Biological Survey at 
Washington was empowered to issue permits for the 
destruction of robins when they were found destroy¬ 
ing fruit. We find that this is true, and the follow¬ 
ing note from the director of this survey gives the 
facts containing it. There have been many state¬ 
ments made about this matter, some of them entirely 
wrong and calculated to lead farmers into trouble. 
The statement here given is authentic: 
Regulation 10 of the Migratory Bird Treaty Regula¬ 
tions gives the Secretary of Agriculture authority to 
issue a permit to destroy certain species of migratory 
birds when they are found, upon investigation, to he 
injurious to agriculture or other interests. An investi¬ 
gation has been made of the damage done by robins to 
small fruits in the State of New York, and last year a 
permit was issued covering their destruction when 
found destroying fruits. A similar permit will be 
issued by the Secretary of Agriculture during the com¬ 
ing berry season, which permit must be countersigned 
by the Conservation Commissioner of the State of New 
York. .The permit provides that robins may he killed 
when they are committing or are about to commit seri¬ 
ous injury to growing cherries and other small fruits, but 
that no person shall shoot such robins from any arti¬ 
ficial or natural blinds, nor shall the robins so killed be 
sold or offered for sale, or shipped, transported, or car¬ 
ried in any manney except that they may be carried by 
the person killing them to the residence of the owner or 
lessee on the lands where such robins were killed and 
there may be used for food purposes by persons author¬ 
ized to kill them. This permit, will become effective 
June I, 1921. and will expire July 15. 1921. These 
permits will be issued by the Secretary of Agriculture 
to the Conservation Commission of New York, and 
those desiring this privilege should address him at the 
offices of the Conservation Commission, Albany, N. Y. 
No robins may )*o killed without this permit. 
E. W. NELSON, 
Chief of Bureau. 
