The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
nnd many are grown under glass. It seems 
to me there is little chance for the aver¬ 
age grower in the face of this competi¬ 
tion. If pumpkins had nothing except a 
food value for humans or live stock it is 
doubtful if our work would pay aside 
from the effect of fittting the land for 
next year’s berry crop. We are after 
the Hallowe’en trade. Thousands of 
people will buy a big pumpkin for the 
children if their attention is called to it. 
The wayside stands can sell many of 
them, it would not pay to grow them 
far back among the hills and expect to 
cater to this trade, but near by where 
people can come right into the fields and 
select their pumpkin—this humble prod¬ 
uct may pay better than melons. At 
any rate that is what we believe and we 
are willing to try it. Business is de¬ 
veloping so rapidly around these way- 
side stands that I think a good salesman 
can dispose of about anything—even to 
a litter of kittens, if he will go after it 
right. H. w. c. 
Ohio Folks at Their State 
Fair 
Part I 
A Great Event. —What makes a great 
fair? It is not the music of bands, the 
live stock parades, the cries of the hawk¬ 
er, but back of the spectacular is the 
honest effort of the people living on the 
farms year in and year out tending their 
stock, producing crops and rearing their 
families. One day over SO.OOO Ohio 
farm folks journeyed to Columbus to at¬ 
tend the great agricultural event, .a 
milestone in the history of agriculture 
in that State. The fair held the last 
week in August attracted over its high¬ 
ways totalling six times the mileage of 
the' famed highways of ancient Rome, 
farmers from the rich fruit belt of the 
lake shore, the dairy sections of North¬ 
ern Ohio, the rich corn belt lands of the 
western part of the State and the rolling 
hilly country of Southern and Southeast¬ 
ern' Ohio. 'The first Ohio State fairs 
were held in the early childhood of men 
now having past their three score and 
ten. A fair would be held one year at 
Springfield, another at Zanesville and an¬ 
other at Cleveland. In the early '80’s it 
was permanently located at Columbus. 
Early Efforts. —Few are left to re¬ 
call the early fairs when farmers from 
round about Springfield or Dayton, 
Cleveland, or Columbus drove their stock 
to the annual shows, which were little 
better than some of the good county 
fairs of the State. These fairs did much 
to develop and consolidate Ohio agricul¬ 
ture. how much cannot be estimated. Per¬ 
haps the greatest effect has been on the 
exhibitor himself in broadening his ap¬ 
preciation of his competitor, and of other 
breeds, and a greater appreciation of 
his own State. 
Tiie People’s Verdict. —It is with the 
farmer, the farmer’s wife, and children 
that I seek to find the things that should 
be said about a great fair, the greatest 
in the history of the State. These are 
the people who have come from the ends 
of the State, who bring their lunches, 
and who seek to share with new-found 
friends the bounties of their farms. 
Others to whom the success of the fair 
is due are the older folks left at home on 
the farm who do up the chores, and 
await the belated arrival of the family 
car. There is a sense of anxiety, for 
things have changed, and the older peo¬ 
ple have reason to worry. The roads are 
crowded; the automobile, a curiosity 20 
years ago, taxed the parking capacity of 
the fair grounds. The automobile 20 
times over rivalled the horse show, yet 
the horse show is coming back in popu¬ 
larity. A farmer from up-State. as he 
looked at the wonderful three-year-old 
stallion weighing better than a ton by 
200 lbs, remarked : “It is strange that a 
wonderful animal, possessed of intelli¬ 
gence, has the instinct of self-preserva¬ 
tion, is companionable, can provide his 
own food and maintenance if properly 
directed, will sell for one-third the price 
of a low-priced farm tractor. We have 
reason to wonder if it is possible that the 
association of man with this animal es¬ 
tablished before the dawn of history is 
to become a closed book.” From farmers, 
rather than from breeders or tractor men. 
I sought an answ r er to this question. 
One farmer said : “I have worn out one 
tractor. I will buy another, but I only 
will use it on my large farm when I can¬ 
not make use of horses. Every penny 
that I put in fuel and oil. goes away 
from the farm. There was a day when 
we all used horses. The oats and hay we 
did not raise were bought from our 
neighbors, and the money went into their 
pockets.” Others told me the majority of 
horses are a dozen years old, and that 
young horses must be raised, not the 
nondescript kind, but they must be su¬ 
perior animals, and even now, farmers 
and those seeking for good draft animals 
are at a loss to know where these can 
be found. 
Farm Power. —The tractor will con¬ 
tinue to be sold. However, it was evi¬ 
dent from the numerous industrial uses 
to which the tractor has been adapted in 
the past years that both the tractor and 
the horse are indispensable in agricul¬ 
ture. Our grading for highways will be 
done more and more with tractors, the 
snow will be swept from them, the heavy 
loads of rock and cement will be drawn 
by them. Even the newer developments 
have much to do with the future of the 
tractor. A corn harvester was shown 
bolted to the frame of one of the low- 
priced tractors. This harvester weighing 
perhaps 200 lbs. more than the old horse- 
drawn machine, cut the corn, cut it up 
in proper length for ensiling and ele¬ 
vated it to a wagon box driven along 
side. A blower is furnished with each 
machine which elevates the corn to the 
silo. The power is furnished, and the 
weight partly carried by the tractor. An¬ 
other interesting development, interest¬ 
ing to the man who raises a large acre¬ 
age is the new corn harvesting machine 
carried and pushed by a popular tractor. 
This machine cuts two rows and shocks, 
and is driven by one man. Eight acres 
is considered a day’s work with this 
machine. w. j. 
(To Be Continued) 
Treatment of Peonies and 
Phlox 
1. Last Fall I set out some peonies; 
some bloomed this Summer; other were 
nearly winter-killed. What should I do 
to them this Fall and next Spring in or¬ 
der to insure a good show of bloom next 
Summer? 2. What is the best fertilizer 
to use Tor hollyhocks? Should they be 
covered to protect them during the Win¬ 
ter? 3. What causes rust on Phlox? 4. 
How long is it advisable to keep Phlox in 
the same place without moving? Should 
the plants be fertilized in Fall or Spring? 
Amenia, N. Y. e. b. 
1. We doubt whether the peonies were 
“nearly winter-killed,” because the com¬ 
mon garden peony is exceeding hardy, en¬ 
during our Winters as far north as Du¬ 
luth. There may be some other cause for 
lack of thrift. It is not unusual for 
peonies to fail to bloom the first year 
after pi .nting, and if conditions are fa¬ 
vorable they should continue to increase 
in vigor. Peonies are gross feeders ; they 
prefer a deep rich loam with plenty of 
moisture, but good drainage. Soil*should 
be well prepared and thoroughly enriched 
before the plants are set. Lack of mois¬ 
ture may prevent the formation of flower 
buds. An occasional watering with liquid 
manure, while the plants are forming 
buds is helpful. This Fall, about Novem¬ 
ber, your plants should be given a good 
mulch of well-rotted manure. In the 
Spring the remains should be lightly 
worked into the ground. Spring applica¬ 
tion of manure is not desirable. 
2. Well-rotted manure is the best fer¬ 
tilizer for hollyhocks. A mulch of this 
over the crown will be desirable, both for 
enriching the soil and for preventing 
heaving by frost. 
3. We are not familiar with rust on 
Phlox, the common causes for a rusty 
appearance, followed by drying or death 
of foliage being drought or red spider. 
iSome years red spider becomes quite 
troublesome when the weather is very hot 
and dry, and this pest is controlled by 
vigorous spraying with cold water direct¬ 
ed to the under side of the leaves. Dur¬ 
ing August this year Phlox suffered se¬ 
verely from heat and drought, especially 
in light soil and this may account for the 
rusty appearance, though some of the 
fungeous rusts attacking other plants of 
the same family may infest Phlox also. 
4. It is desirable to lift and divide 
clumps of Phlox every second or third 
year. The largest trusses of bloom are 
obtained on young plants, and as the old 
clump continues to increase at the outer 
edge, the center has a tendency to die 
out. Young seedlings often grow around 
the clump, crowding it still further, and 
if it is not divided the original variety 
may in time be so smothered by the seed¬ 
lings that the owner believes it has 
changed to another sort. Well-rotted ma¬ 
nure, put over the crown in Fall, and 
stirred in in Spring, is a desirable method 
of adding fertilizer. 
Experience With Everbear¬ 
ing Strawberries 
You have asked for observations in 
raising everbearing strawberries. Many 
berry growers consider them of no com¬ 
mercial value. One may be successful 
with standard varieties and fail with 
everbearers. I have reached the follow¬ 
ing conclusions: 
In matted rows, unless irrigated, ever¬ 
bearers are likely to be small, and it 
hardly pays to pick them. We have 
adopted a two-row hill system, setting 
the plants 10 in. apart and a space of 
16 in. between the two rows. This en¬ 
ables one to cultivate thoroughly and fre¬ 
quently, at least once a week during dry 
spells. In this way we get more and 
larger berries per square rod. and more 
quarts per hour of labor. 
Usually it is true that the hill system 
requires more labor per quart than the 
matted row. It is true, perhaps, always 
with standard or June varieties, but not 
Avith everbearers if grown without irri¬ 
gation. A week or 10 days without rain 
means small berries for the matted row. 
Personally I would not grow ever¬ 
bearers commercially without a sprink¬ 
ling system, and not unless I had a local 
market at fancy prices. For growing a 
small patch without irrigation I use the 
hill system. We are located at an eleva¬ 
tion of nearly 4,000 ft. Have more ■'•ain 
than the Hudson Valley, but our frost- 
free seasons are shorter. f. h. n. 
Pineola, N. C. 
1191 
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of USE in Your 
Home2 
you have 
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kind of food unless 
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using one of the big, durable, efficient 
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they are ideal for the Farm Home 
1 here is a STEWART DEALER near you 
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Makers of STEWART Stoves 
Ranges and Warm-Air Furnaces 
SINCE 1832 
Organized Co-operation 
A NEW BOOK 
This book is written in three 
parts. 
PART ONE.—The Develop¬ 
ment of the Agricultural Indus¬ 
try. In five chapters. 
PART TWO. — Fundamental 
Principles and Adaptable Forms 
of Co-operative Organization. In 
ten chapters. 
PART THREE. — Application 
of Co-operation to Efficient and 
Economic Distribution of Farm 
Products. In seven chapters. 
This is a new treatment of the 
co-operative subject. Heretofore 
writers of b<_oks have contented 
-c- By JOHN J. DILLON 
themselves with accounts of co¬ 
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now committed to co-operation. 
Once shy of it, they are at last a 
unit for it. What they want now 
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Bound i n Cloth _Price $1.00 
' The Rural New-Yorker, 333 West 30th St., New York 
