The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
I  143 
fornia  the  record  trees  and  orchards  are  under  the 
control  of  the  Citrus  Fruit  Exchange,  composed  of 
8,000  members,  and  the  buds  are  cut  by  their  experts 
and  sold  to  nurserymen.  No  buds  are  cut  from  trees 
under  a  five-year  performance  record,  which  must 
show  quality  and  quantity  yields  up  to  certain  aver¬ 
ages.  The  guarantee  of  the  Fruit  Growers'  Supply 
Company  (a  subsidiary  organization  of  the  Califor¬ 
nia  Fruit  Growers'  Exchange)  is  behind  every  se¬ 
lected  bud  it  sells,  as  being  genuine,  because  cut  from 
a  record  tree.  If  selected  buds,  under  such  condi¬ 
tions  as  here  outlined,  are  to  be  had  at  reliable 
sources,  it  requires  no  prophet  to  foretell  improve¬ 
ment  in  quality  of  our  commercial  fruit  and  a  larger 
and  regular  yielding  capacity.  geo.  c.  roeding. 
(Continued  next  week) 
Chicken  Manure  for  Strawberries 
Would  you  recommend  chicken  manure  as  a  fertilizer 
for  strawberries?  j.  a.  b. 
Rockville  Centre,  N.  Y. 
E  do  not  seem  to  make  this  matter  of  using 
chicken  manure  clear.  It  is  the  most  concen¬ 
trated  of  all  animal  manures,  chiefly  because  the 
liquids  and  solids  are  voided  together.  In  practically 
all  other  farm  manures  the  liquids  are  voided  sepa¬ 
rately,  and  as  they  contain  most  of  the  available 
nitrogen,  that  element  is  mostly  lost.  When  chicken 
manure  is  promptly  dried,  kept  under  cover  and 
made  fine,  it  is  equal  to  some  brands  of  commercial 
fertilizer.  It  is  not  most  effective  when  used  alone, 
for  it  is  what  may  be  called  an  unbalanced  fertilizer 
— that  is,  with  too  large  a  proportion  of  nitrogen  to 
the  phosphoric  acid  and  potash.  When  there  is  this 
excess  of  nitrogen  the  tendency  is  toward  a  heavy 
growth  of  leaf  and  stem,  and  this  will  usually  mean 
a  later  and  slower  production  of  seed  or  fruit.  For 
some  crop’s,  like  celery,  cabbage  or  grass,  which  are 
useful  chiefly  for  stem  or  leaf,  the  chicken  manure 
alone  would  be  excellent.  A  crop  of  strawberries 
must  have  a  full  supply  of  phosphoric  acid  in  order 
to  mature  its  seedy  fruit.  Our  experience  with  cliick- 
dri  manure  alone  has  been  that  it  makes  large  and 
vigorous  plants,  but  the  fruit  is  not  of  the  best  qual¬ 
ity  nor  as  large  as  it- should  be.  We  have  found  it 
best  to  add  acid  phosphate  or  fine  bonemeal  to  the 
chicken  manure.  A  mixture  of  1,400  lbs.  chicken 
manure,  made  dry  and  fine,  and  000  lbs.  of  acid 
phosphate  will  make  a  far 'better  fertilizer  for  straw¬ 
berries  than  the  chicken  manure  alone.  That  will 
be  particularly  true  in  a  season  like  this  one,  where 
the  drought  has  prevented  a  large  vine  growth 
When  the  rains  come  most  growers  will  make  an 
effort  to  speed  up  growth  by  using  some  kind  o f 
fertilizer.  The  fruit  buds  for  the  next  crop  will 
soon  be  forming,  and  the  chicken  manure  alone  will 
drive  the  plant  hard,  without  providing  fully  for 
these  buds.  The  acid  phosphate  or  bonemeal  will 
add  the  available  phosphorus  needed  to  make  fruit 
buds  in  abundance.  Many  growers  go  further  and 
use  1,300  lbs.  of  chicken  manure,  000  lbs.  of  acid 
phosphate  and  100  lbs.  of  muriate  of  potash,  which 
is  a  better  all-around  mixture.  You  might  try  a  lit¬ 
tle  experiment  to  show  what  phosphorus  will  do  for 
crops.  There  are  often  places  all  over  a  pasture 
where  cattle  droppings  are  found.  Usually  around 
these  places  the  grass  grows  green  and  rank,  but 
the  cattle  will  rarely  eat  this  grass  unless  starved 
to  it.  Just  scatter  a  small  handful  of  acid  phosphate 
or  fine  bonemeal  around  these  places.  After  a  short 
time  the  cattle  will  usually  come  and  eat  this  grass. 
The  phosphorus  has  evidently  given  it  a  finer  flavor. 
Leaving  Grass  Uncut 
Hay  on  our  country  place  in  Maine,  four  to  six  tons, 
dry,  cannot  be  sold  or  given  away,  on  account  of  scar¬ 
city  of  labor.  Is  it  all  loss  if  left  to  ripen,  fall  down 
and  decay  uncut?  Will  it  be  a  nuisance  in  haying 
time.  1924?  w.  A.  U. 
Wellesley,  Mass. 
OU  would  be  surprised  to  see  how  many  people 
are  thinking  of  doing  just  this  thing.  For  one 
reason  or  another  they  are  unable  to  cut  the  grass. 
It  now  stands  dead  and  dry.  Wherever  we  go  we 
find  such  fields.  In  some  cases  the  grass  has  been 
cut,  but  never  raked.  A  ton  of  mixed  hay  will  con¬ 
tain  about  50  lbs.  of  nitrogen,  S  lbs.  of  phosphoric 
acid  and  33  lbs.  of  potash.  The  potash,  phosphoric 
acid  and  lime  will  not  be  lost,  even  if  the  hay  is 
burned  on  the  ground.  Some  of  the  nitrogen  will  be 
lost  through  decay,  and  of  course  if  the  field  is 
burned  over,  practically  all  this  nitrogen  will  pass 
off  as  gas.  It  will  be  difficult  to  cut  the  crop  of  1924 
unless  this  old  growth  is  burned  in  the  'Spring.  The 
loss  therefore  will  be  in  the  nitrogen.  If  the  field 
were  to  be  plowed  for  corn  or  potatoes  there  would 
be  practically  no  loss,  but  you  will  hardly  be  able  to 
work  over  this  field  with  a  mower  unless  you  burn 
it  off. 
Hilling  Corn  and  Strawberries;  Green 
Crop  for  Poultry  Run 
1.  When  the  ground  is  exceedingly  dry  and  one  is  cul¬ 
tivating  corn  for  the  last  time,  should  the  soil  be  thrown 
up  around  the  hill,  or  should  the  surface  be  simply 
stirred?  The  cultivation  is  as  much  for  conserving 
moisture  as  for  keeping  down  weeds.  Should  straw¬ 
berries  be  hilled  up  in  the  same  way,  and  under  sim¬ 
ilar  conditions?  2.  I  want  to  fence  off  a  chicken  rum 
for  use  next  Spring.  What  crop  can  I  sow  this  Fall 
that  will  yield  a  lot  of  green  stuff  next  Spring?  I 
want  to  divide  this  run,  using  each  part  alternately  ; 
something  that  will  last  all  Summer.  3.  What  time  in 
the  Fall  should  asparagus  be  set?  g.  r. 
Ontario  Co.,  N.  Y. 
N  such  a  dry  season  as  this  we  should  not  hill  up 
corn  or  strawberries,  but  try  to  leave  the  surface 
as  level  as  possible.  There  will  be  less  evaporation 
from  the  level  soil,  as  that  gives  the  least  exposure 
to  the  air.  In  a  wet  season  we  consider  it  wise  to 
hill  or  plow  up  the  corn.  That  is  better  for  drainage 
and  to  promote  evaporation,  but  in  a  dry  season  the 
reverse  will  be  true,  and  in  order  to  hold  as  much 
A  Two-story  Henhouse.  Fig.  1/95.  ( See  page  11. ft) 
moisture  as  possible  in  the  soil  we  leave  the  surface 
as  level  as  possible.  We  have  never  seen  any  ad¬ 
vantage  in  hilling  up  strawberries  except  where  they 
are  planted  in  soils  or  situations  which  are  naturally 
too  wet  for  good  culture. 
2.  For  the  chicken  runs  we  should  seed  a  mixture 
of  rye  aiwl  Alsike  clover. 
3.  As  for  the  asparagus  roots,  we  should  wait  until 
Spring  before  planting  them.  If  you  prefer  Fall 
planting,  about  October  1  will  do. 
Strawberries  and  Florida 
Part  IV 
METHOD  OF  PLANTING — 'Perhaps  it  would  be 
well  again  to  explain  our  method  of  planting.  The 
trowel  grasped  daggerwise  in  the  right  hand,  is 
thrust  into  the  soil,  a  slight  backward  movement  of 
the  handle  loosens  the  soil  at  the  point,  a  quick 
movement  of  the  trowel  upward  and  toward  the 
operator  leaves  a  clear  opening  behind  the  trowel. 
On  the  instant,  with  the  left  hand,  the  roots  of  the 
plant  are  whisked  into  this  opening,  before  the  fall¬ 
ing  particles  of  soil  close  in;  these  falling  particles 
carry  the  tips  of  the  roots  to  the  bottom  of  the 
opening.  Meanwhile  the  trowel  hand  continues  its 
upward  course,  letting  the  soil  fall  back  on  the  roots. 
As  the  trowel  clears  the  soil  the  point  is  flashed 
outward  and  upward  as  the  hand  is  turned  to  strike 
the  loose  soil  firmly  in  place  over  the  roots.  The 
operator  wears  a  canvas  glove  on  the  trowel  hand, 
and  usually  works  resting  on  right  knee  and  left 
foot,  occasionally  working  on  both  knees  for  short 
periods  for  change  of  position.  When  all  details  of 
movement  have  been  co-ordinated,  a  man  can  plant 
1,000  plants  per  hour  by  this  method  without  strain. 
The  rate  of  1,S00  plants  per  hour  is  our  record  as 
a  speed  test.  Of  course  it  should  be  understood 
that  plants  are  dropped  by  another.  A  wheel-hoe 
with  rake  attachments,  with  teeth  rather  wide 
apart,  is  used  to  finish  evening  the  soil  around  the 
plants. 
ADAPTATION  NEEDED— In  the  first  paragraphs 
of  this  article  I  have  tried  to  impress  the  fact  that 
adaptation  or  lack  of  it  means  all  the  difference 
between  success  and  failure.  That  fact  and  the 
fact  that  comparatively  few  people  realize  how  much 
the  power  of  adaptation  is  aided  by  lifelong  familiar 
surroundings,  calls  for  extra  caution.  There  is  no 
reason  that  I  know  why  my  crop  record  should  not 
be  duplicated,  or  excelled  for  that  matter;  never¬ 
theless  it  is  doubtful  if  that  yield  has  been  ap¬ 
proached  within  50  per  cent  of  this  section  of  the 
State,  and  according  to  the  census  reports  the  aver¬ 
age  yield  for  the  whole  State  is  less  than  20  per 
cent  of  my  yields. 
Of  the  other  two  largest  growers  here  last  season 
one  told  me  he  had  lost  money  after  a  -successful 
crop  the  year  before.  He  said  he  would  try  again 
on  a  smaller  scale.  The  other  told  me  he  had  made 
no  profit,  and  would  discontinue  altogether,  though 
he  has  grown  berries  in  considerable  quantities  for 
a  number  of  years.  However,  there  must  have  been 
numbers  of  smaller  growers  -who  must  have  made 
from  moderate  to  very  satisfactory  profits.  The 
total  acreage  planted  will  probably  continue  to  in¬ 
crease.  I  am  planning  to  increase  my  own  area  by 
several  acres  next  season.  The  prospect  of  having 
the  plants,  at  present,  is  fine. 
PA.TCHY  SOIL — Land  of  a  given  quality  is  found 
not  in  counties  as  in  some  other  sections,  but  in 
patches,  and  sometimes  to  acquire  land  that  is 
wanted  it  is  necessary  to  purchase  much  that  is  not 
wanted.  So  what  point  is  there  in  writing  to  ask 
as  one  correspondent  did :  “What  is  the,  price  of 
land  suitable  for  raising  strawberries”?  The  fact  is 
there  is  probably  much  iless  than  one-half  of  one 
per  cent  of  the  area  of  this  county  at  all  suited  to 
raising  strawberries,  so  the  matter  of  price  is  en¬ 
tirely  overshadowed  by  the  consideration  of  selec¬ 
tion.  It  is  much  the  same  with  other  considerations, 
they  need  personal  investigation,  supplemented  by 
sound  judgment ;  and  whatever  advantages  are  found 
must  be  properly  combined  as  experience  dictates. 
FARMING  AT  BOTH  ENDS— Last  Fall,  when  the 
country  contingent  of  tourists  in  flivvers  and  trucks 
was  headed  South,  the  Hope  Farm  man  expressed 
the  opinion  that  a  revolution  in  production  was  at 
hand,  due  to  the  present-day  facilities  for  enter¬ 
prising  men  to  farm  both  ends  of  the  country.  More 
recently  thinking  along  the  same  lines  he  has  told 
us  his  personal  ideals  of  a  long  time  vacation  would 
be  to  grow  a  perfect  field  of  strawberries  in  the 
North,  then  in  the  late  Fall  put  them  snugly  to 
sleep  under  mulch  and  hie  to  Florida  to  grow  a 
perfect  Winter  crop  of  strawberries  there.  The 
possible  harm  is  not  in  the  prophesying  or  the 
dreaming,  but  in  the  fact  that  there  are  very  many 
people  to  whom  the  suggestion  of  work  mixed  with 
pleasure,  with  the  accent  on  pleasure,  has  a  very 
strong  appeal. 
PLEASURE  IN  WORK— In  this  connection  the 
work  would  be  there  all  right,  but  the  pleasure 
would  be  almost  certainly  missing  if  it  be  supposed 
to  have  any  connection  wjth  a  consideration  of  the 
bank  account.  The  reason  is  obvious.  Most  people 
find  r  difficulties  enough  making  profitable  dapta- 
tions  to  one  section,  to  say  nothing  of  tw<  This 
fact  crops  out  in  the  dream  of  a  strawberry  .arm  in 
each  section.  It  does  not  take  into  account  that 
while  the  northern  grower  is  busy  harvesting  his 
crop,  the  Florida  grower  is  busy  in  his  plant  field, 
at  the  most  critical  period  for  insuring  that  he  will 
have  a  full  supply  of  plants  on  which  the  Winter 
crop  depends.  Further,  the  Northern  grower  would 
have  to  be  here  to  plant  his  fields  fully  six  weeks 
before  he  could  mulch  his  northern  fields.  A  flivver 
wouldn't  do.  He  would  need  a  high  powered  aero¬ 
plane  and  a  constitution  to  stand  the  change  from 
Summer  to  Winter  weather  between  morning  and 
night. 
NORTHERN  TOMATO  GROWERS— Laying  jest 
aside,  only  one  successful  case  of  growing  crops  in 
both  sections  has  come  to  my  notice  in  14  years. 
In  that  case  a  native  of  New  Jersey,  grows  tomatoes 
very  successfully  for  shipment,  during  the  Winter 
at  a  point  about  15  miles  from  here,  and  grows 
tomato  seed,  in  Summer,  in  New  Jersey  for  Florida 
growers;  having  some  one  to  start  the  seed  beds  in 
the  North  before  he  arrives  in  the  Spring. 
The  one  point  about  Florida  that  is  least  under¬ 
stood  in  the  North  is  our  Summer  climate.  We  have 
our  troubles  in  Florida,  but  Summer  climate  so  far 
as  physical  comfort  is  conoerned  is  not  one  of  them. 
D.  L.  HARTMAN. 
Hyposulphite  of  Soda  for  Ivy  Poisoning 
An  extremely  simple  and  efficient  remedy  for  ivy 
poisoning,  is  to  bathe  the  parts  affected  with  a  saturated 
solution  of  sodium  hyposulphite,  the  common  “hypo” 
of  the  photographer,  which  can  be  obtained  at  any  drug 
or  camera  store.  Mix  with  cold  water  as  strong  as  it 
can  be  made  and  apply  freely.  It  is  absolutely  harm¬ 
less  in  every  way,  and  generally  cures  at  once.  I  have 
given  this  simple  formula  to  many  people,  and  so  far 
have  never  known  it  to  fail.  While  on  the  subject 
would  say  that  Rhus  toxicodendron  has  three  leaves, 
while  the  harmless  Virginia  creeper  has  five  leaves. 
They  can  thus  be  identified  at  once — even  by  the  novice. 
New  Jersey.  h.  w.  hales. 
