f  I  12 
The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
September  I,  192:? 
when  supplying  a  select  trade.  The  consuming  pub- 
lic  has  learned  that  the  light-colored  yolks  are  pro¬ 
duced  on  poultry  farms  where  the  hens  have  the 
best  of  feed  and  care,  therefore  producing  the  best 
eggs  with  the  lowest  percentage  of  bad  ones,  while 
the  dark  yolks  are  usually  produced  on  general 
farms  where  conditions  for  the  fowls  are  reversed. 
Wholesale  dealers  make  capital  of  this  point,  and 
carry  it  to  extremes  in  buying  eggs,  but  the  yolks 
must  be  quite  objectionable  before  the  large  ma¬ 
jority  of  consumers  will  offer  any  great  resistance  to 
purchasing  them  if  perfectly  fresh.  What  I  have 
written  refers  to  the  New7  York  market.  I  under¬ 
stand  that  the  people  in  Boston  prefer  brown-shelled 
eggs,  and  that  they  offer  no  objection  to  dark  yolks. 
Whether  or  not  this  condition  has  any  correlation 
with  the  habit  of  eating  beans  I  am  unable  to  say. 
C.  S.  GREENE. 
Late  Substitute  Hay  Crops 
I  expect  to  move  on  a  farm  next  Spring  under  the 
following  conditions :  There  was  no  grass  seed  sown 
this  Spring;  all  the  hay  to  be  cut  this  year  is  Alsike 
clover.  'What  could  I  do  to  provide  for  a  hay  crop 
next  year?  The  Alsike  will  not  come  another  year,  as 
I  understand  it.  There  are  12  acres  of  wheat  stubble, 
and  it  has  been  suggested  that  I  disk  it  and  seed  to  Tim¬ 
othy.  Would  that  work?  If  so,  how  much  seed  should 
I  sow?  It  is  very  hard  to  hire  anyone  at  this  time  of 
the  year.  Would  it  catch  if  I  merely  sowed  the  seed  in 
the  stubble?  j.  d.  a. 
Yates  Co.,  N.  Y. 
E  have  never  succeeded  in  getting  a  good 
catch  of  Timothy  by  scattering  the  seed  on 
top  of  a  wheat  stubble.  "With  fine  seed  like  grass  a 
full  preparation  of  the  soil  is  needed  if  you  expect  a 
good  crop.  We  should  plow  or  disk  that  stubble  and 
make  a  light  seeding  of  rye  with  the  grass  seed.  In 
the  Spring  seed  Alsike  clover  in  the  rye.  The  rye 
will  start  early  in  Spring  and  when  about  twro  feet 
high  can  be  cut  and  cured  for  hay,  after  which  the 
Timothy  and  clover  will  coine  on  rapidly.  This 
dried  rye  does  not  make  as  good  hay  as  wheat,  bar¬ 
ley  or  oats  handled  in  the  same  way,  and  it  must  be 
cut  early  if  you  expect  the  stock  to  eat  it  at  all. 
Under  the  circumstances  it  is  almost  the  best  hay 
substitute  you  can  use.  We  would,  in  addition  to 
this,  seed  oats  and  Canada  peas  early  in  the  Spring, 
and  cut  them  for  hay  when  the  little  peas  are  form¬ 
ing  in  the  pod.  Right  now,  if  your  soil  is  moist 
enough  to  start  the  seed,  you  can  sow  barley.  This 
will  make  a  growth  through  late  Summer  and  Fall, 
and  give  you  about  a  ton  of  fair  bay  to  the  acre. 
The  Mole  and  the  Professor 
On  page  975  is  an  interesting  communication  from 
John  Montgomery  on  the  food  habits  of  moles.  Ilis 
experience  especially  interests  me  in  view  of  some 
work  recently  done  by  IT  of.  Hisaw  of  Kansas,  who 
experimented  most  thoroughly  with  moles  to  de¬ 
termine  what  they  would  and  would  not  eat.  The 
results  of  this  work  showed  that  while  the  food  of 
the  mole  was  primarily  earthworms,  white  grubs, 
insect  larvae  and  mature  insects,  their  preference 
indicated  in  the  order  as  given,  they  were  also  partial 
to  corn,  tomatoes,  birds’  eggs  (undoubtedly  only 
eggs  of  ground-nesting  birds  would  be  available  for 
them  in  the  natural  state)  and  to  a  lesser  extent 
apples. 
It  would  seem  therefore,  that  Mr.  Montgomery’s 
conclusions  are  correct,  although  he  did  not  find  the 
dead  mole  after  poisoning  his  corn.  In  this  con¬ 
nection  it  may  be  of  interest  to  give  in  detail  an 
experience  which  I  had  years  ago  when  I  was 
entomologist  at  the  Oregon-  Experiment  Station. 
I  was  attending  a  horticultural  meeting  in  Port¬ 
land,  Oregon,  and  a  lady  made  the  statement  be¬ 
fore  the  society  that  moles  were  gnawing  her  bulbs, 
and  she  asked  for  some  remedy.  I  was  many  years 
younger  than  I  am  now,  and  we  always  know  more 
in  youth,  or  think  we  do,  than  we  do  when  we  are 
older,  so  I  at  once  arose  and  protested  against  her 
charging  the  mole  with  this  deed,  assuring  her  and 
the  members  of  the  society  present,  that  the  mole 
never  ate  anything  but  animal  food.  She  was  far 
from  being  convinced  and  asked  if  I  would  call  and 
see  her  upon  my  return  from  the  East.  At  that 
time  I  was  on  my  way  to  the  East  for  some  Sum¬ 
mer  work.  On  my  return  to  Portland  I  visited  her. 
She  told  me  that  she  had  two  pet  moles,  that  one 
of  them  had  died,  but  that  she  would  be  glad  to 
show  me  the  other  one  called  Pete.  She  left  the 
room  and  returned  with  a  mole  in  a  five-gallon 
kerosene  can.  She  had  also  brought  from  the  garden 
some  pods  of  green  peas.  One  of  these  she  split 
open  and  placed  in  the  can  with  the  mole.  The 
animal  at  once  ran  his  nose  through  the  pod  and 
took  out  every  pea,  and  then  the  lady  in  question 
threw  herself  back  on  the  chair  and  laughed  at  me. 
It  pleases  the  public  to  see  a  scientist  worsted.  I 
had  forgotten  to  state  that  at  this  horticultural 
meeting  I  had  offered  $5  to  anyone  who  could  prove 
to  me  that  moles  ate  vegetable  matter.  Of  course 
I  at  once  told  the  lady  that  the  five  dollars  was 
hers,  but  she  refused  the  money,  stating  that  she 
had  had  five  dollars’  worth  of  satisfaction  in  show¬ 
ing  me  that  I  was  mistaken.  Since  that  time  I 
have  learned  much  about  mammals  which  I  did  not 
know  in  my  enthusiastic  youth. 
University  of  Minnesota.  f.  l.  washburn. 
Cotton  Growing  In  New  Jersey 
IIE  R.  N.-Yr.  has  been  able  to  start  some  small 
.experiments  in  cotton  culture  for  Southern 
New  Jersey.  East  year  in  Bergen  Co.  N.  J..  we  suc¬ 
ceeded  in  getting  cotton  within  about  10  days  of  a 
good  crop  of  lint.  It  was  then  killed  by  a  hard 
Cotton  Boll  Grown  in  New  Jersey.  Fig.  489 
frost.  In  Southern  Jersey  the  chances  are  better, 
since  the  season  is  longer  in  that  section.  In  years 
past  considerable  cotton  was  grown  in  that  section 
and  we  think  it  quite  possible  to  produce  varieties 
which  will  mature  in  Cape  May  and  adjoining  coun¬ 
ties.  At  any  rate  various  people  are  trying  it  out 
in  a  small  way  this  year.  The  boll  shown  at  Fig.  4S9 
was  grown  at  Shiloh.  N.  J.  by  Mrs.  A.  S.  Lupton. 
This  was  picked  early  in  August  and  the  plants 
are  now  quite  sure  to  produce  a  crop  of  lint.  This 
is  the  first  report  on  Jersey  cotton  that  we  have  re¬ 
ceived.  We  would  like  to  hear  from  other  growers. 
Strawberries  and  Florida 
Part  III 
QUOTING  PRICES — Quoting  prices  by  the  crate 
was  a  very  satisfactory  innovation  I  introduced 
on  this  market  last  season.  Berry  prices 
had  always  been  quoted  on  a  per  quart 
basis,  and  the  dealers’  retail  price  was  pretty  gen¬ 
erally  a  10-cent  advance  on  the  wholesale  price  re¬ 
gardless  of  whether  the  wholesale  price  was  30  cents 
or  GO  cents  per  quart.  By  a  little  excursion  into 
This  is  the  form  of  trespass  notice  posted  on  the  farms 
of  H.  A.  and  R.  H.  Carhart  near  Syracuse,  N.  Y.  It 
is  printed  on  stout  white  cloth  in  black  letters.  You 
notice  the  Boy  Scouts  are  invited.  The  place  has  come 
to  be  well  known  to  local  Scouts.  They  do  not  trespass. 
arithmetic  I  discovered  that  by  quoting  the  price  of 
berries  by  the  crate,  a  variation  in  price  of  a  dollar 
per  24-qt.  crate  permitted  the  dealer  to  vary  his 
retail  price  by  5c.  per  qt.  without  any  variation  of 
gross  profit  on  his  investment  if  he  was  content  with 
a  gross  profit  of  20  per  cent,  and  most  of  them  were. 
Also  the  price  computation  was  easy.  Five  times  the 
dollars  wholesale  equaled  the  cents  retail.  Say  I 
sold  at  $8  per  crate,  five  times  eight  or  40  cents  per 
quart  would  yield  20  per  cent  gross  profit.  The 
same  holds  good  with  any  figure.  I  made  no  at¬ 
tempt  to  dictate  price;  simply  changed  from  quart 
to  crate  basis  of  quotation  and  explained  the  ad¬ 
vantages.  There  was  no  opposition,  in  fact  I  think 
practically  all  were  pleased  with  the  change.  The 
system  was  soon  adopted  by  other  growers. 
INDIVIDUAL  PRICES — The  one  price  feature 
is  of  the  greatest  importance  in  holding  un¬ 
disputed  right  to  one’s  own  quotations.  To 
illustrate:  On  a  Thursday  I  was  selling  berries 
at  $8  per  cx*ate;  demand  was  brisk  and  yield  de¬ 
clining,  accentuated  by  a  spell  of  cool  weather. 
Friday  and  especially  Saturday  demand  is  always 
extra  keen.  When  collecting  Thursday  evening  I 
gave  notice  that  the  price  Friday  would  be  $10  per 
crate.  I  could  just  about  meet  the  demand,  and 
Friday  gave  notice  that  the  price  for  Saturday 
would  be  $12  per  crate.  The  first  load,  19  crates, 
Saturday  morning,  was  distributed  at  that  quotation, 
hut  as  I  passed  these  stores  with  the  second  load 
I  discovered  the  fruit  was  not  moving  as  it  should 
at  the  advanced  price.  I  immediately  reduced  the 
price  to  $10,  advising  all  earlier  purchasers  of  the 
reduction,  refunding  to  two  or  three  buyers  of  single 
crates  who  had  paid  on  delivery.  There  were  several 
times  beside  the  instance  related  when  quotation 
receded  one  dollar  per  crate  after  first  deliveries. 
SULPHUR  AS  A  STIMULANT— Referring  now 
to  the  sulphur  treatment,  many  readers  are  ac¬ 
quainted  with  my  assertion,  that  flowers  of 
sulphur,  first  used  as  an  insecticide  against  red 
spider  on  the  foliage  of  the  plants,  proved  in  some 
unaccounted  way  to  act  as  a  stimulant  or  fertilizer 
as  well;  so  much  so  that  I  am  very  sure,  with  both 
fertilizer  and  sulphur  applied,  the  sulphur  benefited 
the  crop  fully  as  much  as,  perhaps  more  than,  the 
fertilizer.  Each  previous  season  the  sulphur  had 
been  dusted  over  the  foliage  with  a  blow-gun.  From 
observation,  I  concluded  that  the  insecticidal  action 
of  the  sulphur  is  not  by  direct  contact,  but  by 
gaseous  action  of  the  sulphur  as  it  slowly  evap¬ 
orates.  Acting  on  this  conclusion,  100  lbs.  of  flowers 
of  sulphur  was  mixed  with  each  ton  of  other  in¬ 
gredients  when  mixing  the  fertilizer.  Thus  the 
fertilizer  and  sulphur  were  applied  at  one  opera¬ 
tion,  saving  much  labor  during  a  busy  period.  The 
result  was  all  that  could  be  desired;  vigorous,  even 
growth,  and  no  trouble  from  spider  until  many 
weeks  after  the  last  application  of  fertilizer;  then 
the  pest  developed  in  considerable  numbers  at  two 
different  points.  These  areas  were  then  dusted. 
APPLICATION  OF  FERTILIZER— As  usual  two 
tons  of  fertilizer  per  acre  werre  used,  one  ton  as  soon 
after  planting  as  possible,  the  second  from  four  to  six 
weeks  later,  depending  on  rainfall.  Thus  nearly  200 
lbs.  per  acre  of  sulphur  was  applied.  It  probably 
would  require  an  extensive  series  of  experiments  to 
determine  the  minimum  amount  of  sulphur  neces¬ 
sary  for  the  maximum  benefit.  All  I  know  defin¬ 
itely  on  this  point  is  that  as  little  as  70  lbs.  per 
acre  has  shown  marked  benefit,  and  very  large 
quantities  applied  to  a  few  plants  by  hand  has 
shown  no  ill  effects.  As  I  have  pointed  out  before, 
with  the  use  of  sulphur  showing  marked  crop  in¬ 
crease  when  used  on  Alfalfa  on  the  Pacific  coast, 
and  the  splendid  showing  the  use  of  this  element 
has  made  in  my  strawberry  crops,  considering  the 
long  call  between  Oregon  and  Florida,  Alfalfa  and 
strawberries,  there  is  a  very  wide  and  hopeful  field 
for  experimentation,  to  determine  what  other  crops 
and  what  other  soil  areas  most  require  sulphur. 
IMPROVED  TOOLS — Last  Summer,  contemplating 
the  large  amount  of  labor  involved  in  setting  nearly 
half  a  million  plants,  I  thoroughly  reviewed  our  plant¬ 
ing  methods  for  any  chance  of  improvement.  The  most 
important  idea  that  presented  itself  was  that  our 
planting  trowels,  regular  steel-garden  trowels,  were 
too  light,  and  I  determined  to  experiment.  From  a 
hardware  store  I  secured  a  few  bars  of  solder  metal, 
and  a  number  of  4-in.  lengths  of  galvanized  iron 
pipe,  1%-in.  diameter,  outside  measure.  The  regular 
wooden  handles  were  removed  from  the  trowels,  the 
blade  and  shank  of  this  particular  type  of  trowel 
is  cut  and  stamped  all  in  one  piece.  The  blade  was 
stuck  vertically  into  the  ground  up  to  the  shank, 
one  of  the  bits  of  pipe  set  over  the  shank  for  a  new 
handle,  and  fastened  by  filling  with  melted  solder; 
a  few  strokes  of  a  file  to  smooth  irregularities  at 
the  ends  and  the  job  was  dmie.  and  I  may  add  the 
handles  are  permanent.  The  trowels  then  weighed 
a  pound  instead  of  four  ounces.  Did  the  men  like 
them?  None  of  them  ever  wanted  a  light  trowel 
for  that  work  again.  It  was  much  like  using  an  ax 
instead  of  a  hatchet  for  chopping  wood.  It  was  a 
great  stride  in  our  planting  operations,  not  that  it 
increased  speed  greatly,  but  the  effort  required  was 
much  less.  d.  l.  hartman. 
(To  Be  Continued) 
