Ihe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
949 
Garden and Farm Notes 
Late-planted Strawberries 
A reader in Vermont asked about plant¬ 
ing strawberries in late Summer or Fall. 
He says he has a good quantity of ma¬ 
nure, and he wants to know just how to 
proceed. We should take the cleanest 
piece of ground of good quality that we 
could find. A garden with the early crop 
taken off, or a piece of cultivated land, 
would answer. Give it a thick coating of 
manure and plow that under deeply. Then 
with a cultivator or harrow make the sur¬ 
face as fine and smooth as possible. In 
the latitude of Southern Vermont the 
plants may be set during the latter part 
of August. If possible, take a time after 
a shower or good rain when the land is 
moist. Do not plant, however, when the 
soil is so wet that it will pack hard like 
brick when it dries out. We should fake 
strong runner plants of this year’s 
growth. Plant them in rows 3 ft. apart, 
placing the plants about 2 ft. apart in 
the row. Put the plants down into the 
ground so that the crown or top -will be 
just above the surface. Give these plants 
thorough cultivation and keep them clean 
until the ground freezes, then cover them 
with a mulch of straw, marsh hay or 
coarse manure. We should let the run¬ 
ners from this late planting run about as 
they please. Next Spring push the mulch 
aside into the middles and let the plants 
grow up through. They "will give only a 
small crop next year. Then they can be 
cultivated and trimmed and carried 
through the season so as to give a full 
growth in 1922. 
Raspberry Cane Borer 
What is the matter with my black rasp¬ 
berries? They started fine, and now they 
have dried up, or that is the way the 
bushes seem. The new shoots r.t the bot¬ 
tom seem all right, but it is the old shoots. 
The red raspberries are not like it. They 
did the same last year, and I thought it 
was the dry weather. Now they are the 
same. They started to make berries, then 
they dried. What is the trouble, and 
what can I do? MRS. A. C. 
Orange, Conn. 
The injury described is probably caused 
by the raspberry cane borer, a beetle 
which infests the brambles. Eggs are laid 
near the tip of the growing canes and the 
pest then leaves its very characteristic 
mark, namely, a row of punctures above 
and a row below the place where the egg 
has been laid. This girdling of the stem 
causes the tip to wilt and later break off. 
Before this occurs the egg hatches into a 
larva or worm and goes an inch or two 
down the stem, just below the lower gir¬ 
dle. Here the Winter is spent and the 
following Spring the larva bores down 
the cane, causing it to wilt and the fruit 
to dry up. In controlling the pest, the 
wilted tips can be removed as fast as they 
appear during the Summer, thus remov¬ 
ing the egg. or the larva can be removed 
in the late Fall by cutting an inch or two 
below the girdle. T. H. T. 
Rhubarb from Seed 
Will you kindly inform me as to the 
proper handling of rlmbarb seed? I have 
a root of rhubarb of such outstanding 
merit that I very much wish to multiply 
it more rapidly than by root division. 
Will the seed come true? That is, will 
the plants from seed be the same as pa¬ 
rent. or will they be different? How 
should the seed be treated, and -when 
sown? There are now two seed stalks 
about 8 ft. or more high, loaded with 
seeds. They will turn brown, I think, in 
another week. H. B. l». 
New York. 
Rhubarb may be propagated by root 
division or by seed. The root division is 
generally used, as a greater uniformity of 
the product is secured. Some growers 
prefer to propagate from seeds because 
these may be obtained so much cheaper 
than roots, but rhubarb plants grown 
from seed require one year longer to come 
to maturity than those grown from roots; 
that is, it will require three years from 
the time of sowing for the plants to be¬ 
come firmly established in the ground. 
The first harvesting of leaf-stalks will 
thus be delayed until the Spring of 
the fourth year. Rhubarb does not al¬ 
ways come true to type from seed, from 
15 to 20 per cent only being true to va¬ 
riety. There is usually a great variation 
among the seedlings, especially in size of 
stalks. This irregularity can be partly 
avoided by selecting the plants with the 
most uniform characteristics. 
The seeds are sown early in the Spring 
and are usually drilled in rows 3 ft. apart 
and about 1 in. deep. One-half ounce of 
seed should be used for 100 ft. of drill. 
The young plants should be thinned to 
8 in. apart in the row. When the plants 
are one year old they are ready to be set 
in permanent position. T. H. T. 
Self-Seeding Crimson Clover 
I have 200 apple trees eight years old; 
have borne some apples two years. Trees 
and land have been well cared for. I now 
have in the orchard a fine stand of Crim¬ 
son clover (annual), sown first of last 
August. What do you think of letting 
that clover stand till seed is ripe (June 
1), then disking that land thoroughly and 
turning it loose for another year, allowing 
the clover to reseed? There are mice in 
the orchard, but I thought of hoeing 
around each tree out to end of limbs to 
drive them aw T ay from trees. S. A. D. 
Crozet, Va. 
We have seen much the same plan 
worked out in Delaware and Maryland. 
In some cases the clover is plowed' under 
roughly without using a chain on the 
plow. This leaves many clover heads 
above ground. The seed matures, and in 
June the soil is well harrowed with 
spring-tooth or light harrow across the 
furrows. This scatters the seed over the 
field and 1 givee a good seeding for the 
next crop. Disking the clover after the 
seed ripened would give a new seeding. 
The object of this is usually to save labor 
and expense. The Crimson clover ripens 
its seed early, and the new crop would 
naturally be seeded in July. 
Pruning Currants 
I have some currant bushes which 
seemingly are making too much growth. 
I set them last year, got a few currants 
and) a good growth. This year they have 
made a growth so far of one foot in 
height, thickening up so as to cover the 
ground completely, although set at a good 
distance apart. They are literally filled 
with fruit. Shall I cut the tops off to 
stop their growth, or will it be best to 
wait until Spring, then thin them out and 
cut back? They are great yielders, and 
of the finest fruit. f. H. n. 
Westbrook, Me. 
Pruning the currant is simple, but im¬ 
portant. Fruit is borne on both old and 
young wood, but the very best of it is 
near the base of the one-year-old shoots 
and on short one-year-old spurs. The 
younger the wood the finer the fruit, but 
a fair supply of old wood must be left to 
insure productiveness. From four to 
eight main stems are desirable, and these 
should be frequently renewed. No wood 
over three years old should be allowed to 
remain. Superfluous young shoots should 
be cut away, though the buds at their base 
may be left to develop fruit-bearing spurs. 
Shortening in the straggling shoots may 
be called for, especially with young plants, 
but the most important thing is a ju¬ 
dicious thinning out of old wood and re¬ 
placing it with young. We prune our 
bushes in the early Fall or in the Spring, 
according to when we find the time. 
T. H. T. 
Profit from Maple Trees 
How much profit could one expect to 
get from 500 maple trees in a season? 
East Orange, N. Y. w. s. 
Data given is entirely inadequate to 
enable one to give any definite estimate, 
but it is generally calculated that, taking 
one tree with another and one season with 
another, a tree will yield 3 lbs. of sugar 
for every solid cord of wood that the tree 
contains. There are wide variations, but 
this is the rough-and-ready rule generally 
adopted. With good wood, good manage¬ 
ment and good equipment, one cord of 
wood will be sufficient for the production 
of 800 lbs. of sugar. The extremes, so 
far as I have heard of them, are one cord 
of wood to lOO lbs. of sugar, and 1.300 
lbs. of sugar from one cord of wood. But 
these are exceptions, and 800 lbs. is a fair 
estimate. One man and team, employed 
for one month, will be required, but there 
will be an aggregate of from 10 to 15 days 
between the “runs,” during which time 
other work may be done. Normally, the 
cost of the equipment will average about 
$1 per tree, exclusive of the boiling house, 
which may be made as elaborate as one 
may please, or it can be built at a surpris¬ 
ingly low cost. There is no standard of 
price, and your profits will depend upon 
your ability as a salesman. If your trees 
are located upon sloping ground. I sug¬ 
gest that you investigate the possibilities 
of the spout system for gathering the sap. 
Where this system is in use the sap flows 
by gravity direct from the tree to the 
boiling place, thus eliminating the greater 
part of the labor of gathering, and thus 
greatly lessening the cost of production. 
C. O. OKMSBKE. 
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THE GILL MANUFACTURING COMPANY, 
8300 South Chicago Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 
Canadian Manufacturer: 
BROWN ENGINEERING CORPORATION, Limited 
Toronto, Ontario 
Sole Export Agents: 
AUTOMOTIVE PRODUCTS CORPORATION 
Woolworth Building, New York, N. Y. 
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