The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1257 
Everbearing Strawberries 
I read what Mr. White wrote about Progressive 
strawberry plants. Is it too late to plant them now? 
Cannot Mr. White tell us more about it ? R. W. 
Tipton, Mich. 
P LANTS pulled and shipped in the ordinary way 
at this season of the year would not grow well, 
if at all. But with your bed once established, so that 
transplanting can be done without disturbing the 
roots of the plants, any time from May to September 
is suitable. I have just finished transplanting for 
next season; that is, the main job, though I shall 
be putting new plants in place of old ones where it 
seems best, as late as the runners grow this Fall. 
Please note that this plan of mine is not at all 
adapted to commercial growing, as it requires too 
much labor, but for a small garden it is fine. In 
establishing a new bed, I prepare the ground in the 
Summer or Fall, and fertilize freely with hen ma¬ 
nure. If you have not large quantities of this, use 
stable manure for the Summer and Fall dressing. 
Keep the land free from weeds, as the more you de¬ 
stroy this year the less you will have to battle next 
Spring. Some time in October lay out your rows and 
mark them so the Winter storms cannot erase them. 
Place additional hen manure the entire length of 
each row, and work it in with a hoe or hand culti¬ 
vator. By Spring it will be thoroughly solvent and 
ready for the plants. In April set your commercial 
plants, in the ordinary way, with a trowel or dibble. 
Do it after a rain, when the ground is soaked. This 
far the plan is good for commercial growing, and you 
will get results the first Fall. 
But the rest of it is different. To get a good Sum¬ 
mer crop the first year it will be necessary to pinch 
off the buds and the runners until the plants are of 
good size and strong. Generally you can let them be¬ 
gin to fruit by the middle of July, but keep the run¬ 
ners off and you will get more and bigger berries. If 
some of the plants failed to grow it will do no harm 
to let enough runners start to fill the vacant spots. 
But in transplanting be sure of this: Don’t let the 
roots be exposed to the air. 
Dig a hole first, with your trowel, about 5 in. 
square and 5 or 6 in. deep. Then dig up the plont 
with a chunk of earth sticking to it nearly as big 
as the hole. Set it in and pack loose earth around 
it, but in doing so be careful not to loosen the chunk 
of earth around the plant. If the 
ground is not wet, pour water into 
the hole before setting. Doing it this 
way the plant never will know it has 
been transplanted, will not wilt, and 
will start growing immediately. I have 
had them start runners and blossom 
two days after moving. 
In the Spring I always replace plants 
that have not wintered well, with early 
runners. Use only the runners that 
make big leaves. Do not let the plants 
transplanted in the Spring bear fruit 
in Spring. A plant that bears too 
young will be stunted in growth. After 
the June berries are all off, go over the 
bed thoroughly, dig out*all plants that 
seem to have deteriorated, and replace 
them with new ones, in the manner de¬ 
scribed. In a good season your Spring 
crop will be off by June 10 or Id, be¬ 
fore ordinary varieties are well started 
to ripen. 
Many good plants grow old sooner 
than others that have been no better in 
their first year. Whenever you see a 
plant with small leaves, dig it out, for 
it will bear small berries. I do this 
at any time during the Bummer I may 
find one, for it is wasting good ground 
to let such a plant grow when a thrifty 
young one can be set in its place with 
a minute’s work. But most of these 
plants will be good for three seasons 
if well cared for. For one thing, don't; 
let new plants set themselves at the 
edge of old ones. And don’t let the 
rows become matted. It does no harm 
for them to set close together in the 
row, near enough so that the leaves of 
one plant will touch those of the 
next one, but keep them in single file. I do not 
bother to set them any particular distance apart, 
as runners will fill in the space anj way. 
The best way to replace an old plant with 
a new one is to swing a next-door runner around into 
the old plant’s place, place a small stone on the stem 
to hold it where you want it until set. and do not cut 
off until it gets a fine start. By doing this whenever 
you find a plant “going back” you always will have 
a youthful, thrifty strawberry bed. But if you neg¬ 
lect it you will reap disappointment. I learned this 
by expei’ience. It can be done if you work at it, but 
not if you merely think about it. 
Michigan. morris j. white. 
Settling a Fence Problem 
W E have had hundreds of line fence problems 
put up to us. They are often hard to settle 
because something more than the fence itself is in¬ 
volved. There are many sores and scars to be con- 
Co-operation in Fence Building. Fig. 527 
sidered—and each party seems to feel that if he 
gives way in any particular it will be considered 
evidence of his deplorable weakness in the matter. 
Duclc Plant in Eastern Massachusetts. Fig. 528 
Sometimes one of the parties to a line fence prob¬ 
lem is a woman. In that case the trouble seems to 
be at its worst. The man thinks the woman has no 
rights and the woman thinks he has an exaggerated 
idea of what his rights are. It would be a good 
thing if more of these quarrels could be patched up 
as is shown in the picture. Here the neighbors have 
decided to build the fence together. 
“A Gasoline Improver” 
Some time ago you printed a government conclusion 
that all gasoline improvers were bunk. Has there 
been any improvement since? I inclose an advertise¬ 
ment of one of these preparations, and would like to 
know if such claims are possible? n. o. 
St. Helena, Cal. 
ERHAPS we said it. We may also have said 
that some government bulletins were “bunk.” 
We always try to understate the truth. However, 
what we probably said was that the usual run of 
gasoline improvers is added in such small portions 
and at such a cost that it is not likely that the power 
of the gasoline to drive a car is enough increased to 
pay for the stuff used. The gain comes in following 
the good advice as to carburetor adjustments, accel¬ 
eration, idling the motor, etc., which always comes 
with the “dope.” As to the stuff you mention, I let 
some of my students look it over last Bpring and 
they found it was mostly nitrobenzene and aniline, 
with, perhaps, a little dimethyl-aniline. All of these 
have been used, from time to time, with the idea of 
getting the energy of the combined nitrogen. There 
is no surety that the stuff you are getting under that 
trade name in the West is the same they are hand¬ 
ing out in the East. Personally, I am a bit shy of 
adding any nitro groups, as they are almost sure to 
burn, more or less, to nitric acid. However, some 
folks buy a Lizzie, wear it out in a year, and get 
another, and it doesn't matter much what they use; 
other things will 'go before the cylinder scores 
much. If you want to try the effect, get a little 
aniline, and “oil of myrbane,” which is a trade 
name for nitrobenzene, and mix in the proportion 
of one to two and add a little to your “gas.” Di¬ 
methyl-aniline has been used for quite a while, but 
it is not likely you can pick it up, it is a “dye in¬ 
termediate,” not widely distributed outside that in¬ 
dustry. 
However, there is at least one substance which 
does get more power out of the motor when it is 
used in the gas, and it does it, not by helping the 
gas burn but by keeping it from burning too fast. 
A mixture of gasoline vapor and aJr gives up its 
energy when it breaks down and the atoms re-com¬ 
bine. It can do this in two ways; it may be a true 
combustion, a burning in the oxygen of the air, or 
it may be a very much more rapid decomposition 
which is known as a detonation or 
explosion. Gas engines should be com¬ 
bustion engines, to have them act as 
they are sometimes mis-called, “explo¬ 
sion engines,” is the last tiling the 
combustion engineer wants. The en¬ 
gine is designed to use the energy of 
the gases heated by combustion, not the 
much more rapid output of energy 
which results from detonation. Now, 
for reasons which I have forgotten for 
many years, but which rest on the fun¬ 
damental “gas laws” which, in turn, 
are merely statements of the relations 
between matter and energy, the closer 
you can pack the molecules of gas as 
you burn them, the more of the liber¬ 
ated energy will be given out by the 
gas engine as mechanical work. Un¬ 
fortunately, a close packed gas mix¬ 
ture is almost certain to detonate 
rather than to burn. It was Dr. Midge- 
ly’s discovery that, among other things, 
lead tetra-ethyl, which can be mixed 
with the gasoline, would act as a de¬ 
tonation restrainer, so that the mixture 
burned without exploding, that is, the 
motor did not “knock under high com¬ 
pression.” Just how the carbon end of 
alcohol is induced to stick to the atoms 
of the metal, lead, is quite another 
story. They have managed to make the 
stuff on a large scale and. with a little 
carbon tetrachloride added, so that the 
chlorine can'take care of the lead and 
keep it from alloying with the spark 
points, they are selling it to be added 
to gasoline to make it burn at the de¬ 
sired rate. It works very well in some 
engines, other do not need it. But it 
does not add to the power of the gas¬ 
oline; it merely delivers that power at the rate for 
which the engine is designed. f. d. c. 
Everyone who lives on the upper Atlantic slope 
knows how the chestnut blight disease has swept off 
the chestnut trees. What has come in to take their 
place? Chestnut oak, white ash, hickory and pine are 
most common. The reputed 'blight-proof! chestnuts 
have not been found useful. 
Shelter for Dueled. Fig. 529 
