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The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
January  13,  1923 
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Burpee’s  Annual 
The  Leading  American  Seed  Catalog 
Burpee’s  Annual  is  the  catalog  that  tells 
the  plain  truth  about  The  Best  Seeds  That 
Grow.  It  describes  the  Burpee  Quality  Seeds. 
Burpee’s  Annual  is  a  complete  guide  to 
■  the  vegetable  and  flower  garden.  It  is  a  hand¬ 
some  book  of  188  pages  with  more  than  a 
hundred  of  the  finest  vegetables  and  flowers 
illustrated  in  the  colors  of  nature. 
If  you  are  interested  in  gardening  Burpee’s 
Annual  will  be  mailed  to  you  free.  Write 
for  your  “Annual”  today.  Just  tear  off  the 
coupon  and  fill  in  your  name  and  address  below. 
-----------------------TEAR  HERE ---------------------- 
W.  ATLEE  BURPEE  CO. 
Seed  Growers,  Philadelphia. 
Please  send  me  a  free  copy  of  Burpee’s  Annual. 
IOC— 2 
Name 
R.  D.  or  Street 
STATE 
From  New  York  to  West  Virginia 
Part  III. 
Arming  for  Travel. — .Before  starting 
we  wondered  whether  a  pistol  should  be 
added  to  our  equipment.  We  were  to  go 
through  several  sections  where  industrial 
troubles  had  been  acute  and  where  con¬ 
siderable  lawlessness  might  be  expected. 
In  camping,  an  “automatic”  in  the  pocket 
of  some  cool-headed  member  of  the  party 
would  probably  be  desirable,  but  on  this 
trip  across  four  States  there  was  not  a 
moment  when  a  firearm  of  any  kind 
would  have  repaid  its  room.  The  ques¬ 
tion  of  picking  up  some  footman  on  the 
road  also  often  arises.  It  may  seem  a 
churlish  thing  to  refuse  a  ride  to  some 
man  or  boy  who  turns  to  look  meaningly 
at  your  empty  seat,  or  directly  to  signal 
you  to  stop.  Unless  under  exceptional 
circumstances  such  rides  should  not  be 
given,  for  they  can  only  encourage  irre¬ 
sponsible  men  and  boys  to  wander  about 
the  country  at  the  expense  of  passing 
motorists,  and  if,  by  such  refusals,  you 
chance  to  discourage  some  college  stu¬ 
dent  who  is  “hiking”  from  coast  to  coast 
on  a  vacation  trip,  instead  of  going  to 
work,  you  will  have  done  one  of  your  fel¬ 
lows  a  real  service. 
Southern  Pennsylvania.  —  After 
passing  through  IWestern  Maryland,  the 
National  Pike  enters  Southern  Pennsyl¬ 
vania,  and  as  it  approaches  Uniontown, 
leaves  the  mountains.  Of  all  the  sec¬ 
tions  through  which  we  passed,  none  are 
more  attractive  than  Southern  Pennsyl¬ 
vania.  On  the  return  trip  we  were  to 
see  still  more  of  it  along  the  Lincoln 
Highway,  east  from  Greensburg.  South¬ 
ern  Central  Pennsylvania,  like  the  west¬ 
ern  part  of  our  own  State,  is  the  garden 
of  that  commonwealth.  From  Harrisburg 
east,  west  and  south  it  is  difficult  to  im¬ 
agine  what  more  nature  could  do  to  make 
the  pursuit  of  agriculture  attractive.  At 
Uniontown  we  were^  in  the  heart  of  the 
soft  coal  region  of  Western  Pennsylvania, 
and  farming  is  an  occupation  of  second¬ 
ary  importance.  Turning  south  here,  we 
enter  West  Virginia  at  Point  Marion  and 
follow  the  Monongahela  to  Morgantown. 
The  last,  and  longest  detour,  takes  us 
across  the  Monongahela  on  a  small  ferry 
boat.  The  bank  down  which  we  plunge 
to  reach  the  boat  is  steep,  and  the  boat 
has  no  guard  rail  at  the  further  end.  Un¬ 
der  the  circumstances  the  Official  Ob¬ 
server  decides  to  go  aboard  afoot,  but  the 
Cautious  Driver  has  confidence  in  his 
brakes,  and  besides,  if  necessary  he  can 
swim.  Motoring  across  the  Monongahela 
by  boat  proves  to  be  an  enjoyable  experi¬ 
ence,  however,  and  the  C.  D.  would  like 
to  finish  the  trip  'by  the  same  conveyance. 
West  Virginia  dirt  roads  are  not  notable 
for  their  stability  of  substance  or  polish 
of  surface. 
Northern  (West  Virginia;,  so  far  as  we 
saw  it,  presents  little  that  would  attract 
one  interested  in  farming.  The  landscape 
is  a  sea  of  broken  hills  and  mountains, 
towns  are  small  and  far  apart,  and  the 
hope  and  destiny  of  the  State  is  hidden 
beneath  the  surface  as  soft  coal,  oil  and 
gas.  Along  the  road  was  seen  a  small 
village  of  tents,  where  miners,  evicted 
from  company  houses  as  a  result  of  the 
strike,  were  housed.  The  hill  farms  and 
homes  looked  very  like  those  of  Southern 
New  York,  but  the  river  valley  was  cov¬ 
ered  by  the  smudge  of  coal.  A  concrete 
road  is  being  constructed  down  through 
the  center  of  the  State,  and  when  fin¬ 
ished  will  invite  motorists,  but  as  yet  only 
those  who  live  or  have  business  there  will 
be  likely  to  spend  much  time  on  West  Vir¬ 
ginia  highways.  Morgantown  was  reached 
long  before  dark  of  the  third  day,  and 
some  almost  impassable  streets  of  that 
seat  of  the  State  University  had  to  he 
negotiated  before  the  home  of  our  friends 
was  reached.  Great  motor  truck  loads  of 
soft  coal  being  hurried  to  market  before 
the  price  should  drop  still  lower  had  made 
bogs  of  what  hitherto  had  been  paved 
streets.  Even  within  city  limits,  real 
estate  owners  count  the  c-oal  just  beneath 
the  surface  of  their  lots  their  chief  hold¬ 
ing.  When  the  price  is  sufficiently  high 
it  goes  to  market ;  at  other  times  it  re¬ 
mains  undisturbed  by  those  who  like  to 
gamble  in  uncertain  future  real  estate 
values. 
Back  Again. — Our  return  trip  was 
purposely  routed  to  show  us  a  different 
section  of  the  country.  Only  a  few  miles 
were  retraced,  and  these  where  it  could 
not  well  be  avoided.  Going  directly  north 
until  the  Lincoln  Highway  was  reached 
at  Greensburg,  we  turned  east  on  that 
well-known  transcontinental  route  and, 
upon  reaching  Sunbury,  directed  our 
course  toward  Wilkesbarre  and  Scranton. 
We  thus  saw  both  the  great  soft  and  hard 
coal  regions  of  Pennsylvania  and  ended 
the  trip  over  the  wonderful  Lackawanna 
Trail  to  Binghamton  and  our  home  in 
Candor.  The  Lincoln  Highway  lies 
through  a  less  mountainous  country  than 
does  the  National  Pike  further  south, 
and  we  saw  fewer  tourists  upon  it.  As  a 
scenic  route  it  cannot  quite  compare  with 
the  old  Cumberland  Road,  but  a  trip 
over  this  section  of  it  is  a  delightful  ex¬ 
perience  and  affords  ample  variety  in  the 
matter  of  levels. 
Some  Touring  Expenses— To  the 
prospective  tourist  of  moderate  means, 
actual  figures  of  the  expense  account  are 
always  interesting,  and  a  few  will  be 
given  here.  We  were  away  from  home  11 
days,  and  six  of  those  were  spent  on  the 
road ;  990  miles  were  covered  at  a  travel-  • 
ing  expense  of  but  $40.  Lodging  and 
breakfast  at  as  good  hotels  as  we  could 
find  in  the  small  places  where,  for  the 
most  part,  we  stopped,  cost  $4.50  each 
day  for  the  two  of  us,  a  room  being  $3 
and  breakfast  $1.50.  Night  storage  of 
the  car  in  garages  costs  from  50  cents  to 
$1,  the  latter  being  the  usual  charge. 
The  price  of  gasoline  varied  from  25  to 
30  cents  per  gallon,  while  engine  oil  was 
uniformly  25  cents  per  quart.  The  car 
consumed  60  gallons  of  gasoline,  at  a 
cost  of  $16.55,  and  15  quarts  of  oil,  cost¬ 
ing  $3.75.  Our  mileage  was  16^  to  the 
gallon  of  gasoline,  and  66  to  the  quart  of 
oil.  The  cost  of  gas  and  oil  was  thus 
slightly  over  2  cents  per  mile.  No  ex¬ 
pense  was  incurred  for  repairs  of  the 
car,  and  it  finished  its  practically  1,000- 
mile  trip  running  more  smoothly  than  at 
the  start.  It  is  difficult  to  estimate  tire 
wear  and  car  depreciation  accurately,  but, 
counting  these,  there  is  little  question 
that  the  expense  of  running  this  particu¬ 
lar  car  over  good  roads  is  very  close  to 
10  cents  per  mile,  and — it’s  worth  it, 
M.  R.  D. 
Brown’s  Seedling  Grape 
The  grapevine  shown  on  page  1447  is 
probably  “Brown’s  Seedling,”  sometimes 
called  “Brown’s  Early.”  If  you  will  look 
on  page  195  of  “ The  Grapes  of  New 
York ”  you  will  read :  “This  variety  was 
distributed  in  1907  by  The  Rural  New- 
Yorker  as  ‘Brown's  Early.’  ”  I  re¬ 
ceived  a  vine  the  same  year,  and  it  is  a 
fairly  good  grape. 
The  Carman  is  a  Lincecumii  hybrid, 
and  its  ripening  period  in  Massachusetts 
would  be  much  later  than  Mrs.  Gray’s 
grape,  shown  in  the  illustration.  It 
ripens  on  the  Kansas-Oklahoma  border 
with  Catawba,  about  October  1.  It 
would  be  a  poor  variety  for  your  readers 
to  plant  for  wall  growth  or  arbors,  as 
the  foliage  is  thin,  but  very  healthy.  I 
grow  it  in  commercial  quantities.  It  was 
named  for  E.  S.  Carman,  former  editor 
of  The  R.  N.-Y.  e.  s. 
Kansas. 
Coboea  Scandens 
During  the  late  Summer  came  an  in¬ 
quiry  from  Brunswick,  Me.,  for  a  quick 
covering  vine.  I  needed  the  same  in  early 
Spring,  and  looking  over  a  seed  catalogue 
I  selected  Coboea  scandens.  I  found  it 
very  beautiful  and  satisfactory.  The  seed 
should  be  planted  in  house,  or  if  out  of 
doors  protected  at  night  until  warm, 
weather.  The  vine  has  wiry  red  stems, 
leaves  like  honeysuckle ;  very  thick  foli¬ 
age,  rapid  grower,  with  long,  hair-like 
feelers  or  tendrils  that  cling  to  every¬ 
thing  it  can  reach.  Flowers  a  delightful 
surprise,  from  bud  to  seed  pod.  They  ap¬ 
pear  on  long,  slender,  upright  stems,  first 
light  green,  yellowish  green,  yellow-pink, 
lavender,  last  a  deep  purple ;  resembles 
Canterbury  bell  in  shape  and  size. 
'Warwick,  R.  I.  MR.  H.  M.  W. 
Indian  Summer 
The  following  item  from  the  Minne¬ 
apolis  Tribune  gives  another  explanation 
of  the  term  “Indian  Summer”  : 
“It  must  be  remembered  that,  to  the 
early  pioneers,  the  coming  of  Winter  was 
an  event  to  be  hailed  with  the  greatest  of 
relief.  The  appearance  of  Winter  meant 
that  for  a  few  months,  at  least,  they 
would  be  safe  from  Indian  attacks.  But 
it  sometimes  happened  that,  after  the  first 
onset  of  Winter,  the  weather  became 
warm  again.  This  was  the  Indian  Sum¬ 
mer,  so  called  because  it  gave  the  In¬ 
dians  another  opportunity  of  visiting  the 
settlements  with  their  destructive  war¬ 
fare. 
“The  phrase  ‘Indian  Summer,’  there¬ 
fore,  was  to  our  forefathers  a  term  wont 
to  curdle  the  blood.  The  early  pioneers, 
on  discussing  weather  prospects,  never 
expressed  the  hope  that  ‘we’ll  have  a  good 
long  Indian  Summer  this  year.’  They 
had  only  one  feeling  toward  Indian  Sum¬ 
mer,  and  that  was  detestation. 
“Says  Joseph  Doddridge,  who  is  the 
authority  for  the  above  explanation  : 
“  ‘The  melting  of  the  snow  saddened 
every  countenance  and  the  genial  warmth 
of  the  sun  chilled  every  heart  with  hor¬ 
ror.  The  apprehension  of  another  visit 
from  the  Indians,  and  of  being  driven 
back  to  the  detested  fort,  was  painful  in 
the  highest  degree,  and  the  distressing  ap¬ 
prehension  was  frequently  realized.’  ” 
Spangle,  Wash.  h.  s. 
The  Bookshelf 
Entomology,  with  Special  Reference 
to  Its  Ecological  Aspects,  by  Justus  Wat¬ 
son  Folsom,  Sc.D.  This  is  an  interesting 
study  of  insects,  not  in  their  economic  as¬ 
pect,  but  in  their  relation  to  their  sur¬ 
roundings.  The  chapters  on  insect  be¬ 
havior,  and  the  inter-relations  of  insects, 
are  of  especial  interest.  This  is  a  valu¬ 
able  book  for  those  who  wish  to  study 
insects,  and  are  not  interested  merely  in 
methods  of  destroying  them.  It  is  clearly 
and  concisely  written,  and  contains  a  vast 
fund  of  information.  Published  by  P. 
Blakiston’s  Son  &  Co.,  Philadelphia; 
502  pages,  five  plates  and  308  text  fig¬ 
ures  ;  price  $4. 
POSTOFFICE 
