GARDEN. 
ORCHARD AND 
VOL. XI. 
MARCH, 1889. 
NO. 3. 
The Murphy Apple. 
The apple of which we herewith pre- 
sent an excellent likeness is of a variety 
which originated in Essex County, Mass., 
more than fifty years ago, but seems to have 
become forgotten as we find it but little 
known. Within a year or two since it at- 
tracted the attention of the Hon. j. F. C. 
Hyde and attention has thus been called to 
its merits. It is of medium size, yellow, 
shaded, striped and splashed with brilliant 
rich red. Flesh of excellent qual- 
ity, fine grained, tender, juicy, 
rich sub-acid. Mr. W. C. Strong 
writes us that it has been cultiva- 
ted by a Mr. Burr, of Mass., for 
several years and that he regards 
it as “a most valuable variety, 
‘ without a fault,’ uniformly pro- 
ductive and keeping through the 
winter, if in cold cellar. Its superb 
appearance makes it to be in quick 
demand at fancy prices. It bids 
fair to be the most profitable win- 
ter sort.” The specimen from 
which the engraving was made is, 
as we are told, a fair sample of the 
apple, and we can therefore speak 
knowingly regarding it. It is a 
handsome fruit and should sell 
readily at sight— by reason of its 
beauty. The quality too is very 
fine and fully as good as claimed. 
Its only fault is in size which, as a 
before stated, is but medium. It 
was in good condition, yet had not 
been given special care or treatment, hence 
we may conclude that it will keep well. Al- 
though our list of apples is a long one and 
any new candidate must have extra merit 
to deserve a place therein, yet we think there 
is room for this. 
climates that the Japan plums are, when 
worked upon the plum, hardier than if 
worked upon the peach, and that the plum 
ceases to grow, earlier in the fall, and ripens 
more perfectly the wood of the Japan plum 
worked upon it. At the South it is claimed 
that the peach is more favorable for stocks 
as they grow for a much longer period and 
make a healthier tree. In all those cases 
where I hear complaints respecting the lack 
of hardiness of Japan plums, I feel sure the 
latter are worked upon the peach, and, in 
most cases, where claimed to be hardy they 
will prove to be upon plum stocks. I would 
like to see the whole matter, which is a very 
impoitant one, fully discussed in the 
Orchard & Garden. The experience thus 
far advanced on this subject is of a very 
The Murphy apple. Fig. 1575. 
contradictory nature, and there must be 
certainly some cause, such as I have named, 
to account for these Japan plums behaving 
so differently in different parts of the 
country. — Eli Minch. 
with fruit nearly or quite a half inch in 
diameter. This species of cherry is scarcely 
known in cultivation, although there are 
specimens in a few private gardens in New 
Jersey and may be elsewhere. — A. S. F. 
Spraying Orchards. 
A great many persons have tried spraying 
orchards the past year with arsenical 
poisons for the destruction of insects, and 
all report good success in killing them. 
The only trouble reported was in the 
burning of the foliage, by having the mix* 
ture too strong or putting it on too heavy, 
the latter owing often to the fact that the 
machinery used was not the best. If the 
spray is too coarse, or if put on so that the 
solution will hang in drops on the leaves, 
the result is that the atmosphere 
dries up the water and there is 
too much of the poison on the 
edges of the leaves, and harm 
follows. The pump used should 
throw a small stream under heavy 
pressure, the greater the pressure 
the better, so that the nozzle will 
break the mixture into the smallest 
possible particles, and then the 
mixture can be of the proper 
strength and put on just enough 
to dampen the fruit and foliage, 
and no harm can result from hav- 
ing too much poison on the trees. 
For this purpose the pumps manu- 
factured by the Goulds Manufac- 
turing Company, of Seneca Falls, 
N. Y. . are excellent and well cal- 
culated to resist corrosion from the 
arsenites. With one of these 
pumps, provided with a good noz- 
zle, and mounted on a barrel in a 
cart, the orchard may be effect- 
ively sprayed with ease. The Nixon 
nozzle has been recommended by many who 
have used it. For vineyard spraying with 
the Bordeaux mixture and other chemical 
solutions we refer the reader to the excel- 
lent article on Spraying Pumps by Prof. 
Scribner on another page. 
The Kelsey Plum. 
I was pleased to see in the last number of 
the Orchard & Garden letters from W. B. 
Collins, of Mo., and W. J. H. Paoli, of Ind., 
in regard to the hardiness of Japan plums. 
It is asserted by the pomologist of the Agri- 
cultural Department, Washington, that the 
Kelsey is no hardier than the fig. I had a 
Kelsey from P. J. Berckmans, Augusta, Ga., 
in 1883; it was hardy enough to withstand 
eighteen degrees below zero, without injury, 
and passed two winters unharmed, but it 
was afterwards killed by an accident. In 1885 
I received a tree each of Botankinand Hat- 
tonkin (Kelsey’s) which have safely passed 
through our winters with the thermometer 
much below zero. The last two were im- 
ported trees from Japan, by H. H. Berger 
& Co., of California. It is claimed for cold 
Clous Tor Grafting. 
Cutting cions for grafts should not be 
delayed. All the wood that will be needed 
should be cut now and the ends dipped in 
melted grafting wax. This prevents drj ing 
and will keep them fresh for a long time. 
Label them carefully and pack in damp moss 
in the cellar until needed. 
New Mexico Choke Cherry. 
Mr. Walter Weston in the Jan. No. of the 
O. &. G. speaks of the superior quality of 
the Choke Cherry of New Mexico. We can 
corroborate his statement from personal 
experience, and will add that the species 
referred to is the Prunus demisa, and quite 
distinct from the native cherries of the 
Atlantic States. This is mostly black and 
of small size or about as large as our wild 
black cherry, but there are red varieties 
Hardy European Cherries. 
Prof. J. L. Budd in a bulletin from the 
Experiment Station, of the Iowa Agricul- 
tural College, gives the results from his trial 
of some European cherries imported in 1883 
of the varieties which seemed the most 
promising for trial on the prairies of the 
Northwest. The trees were set in orchards 
and have had hard usage as they have been 
exposed to the recent summers and winters 
that have killed out the trees, young and 
old, of the grade of hardiness of the Early 
Richmond and English Morello, and in ad- 
dition have been cut heavily for coins and 
buds. With this severe trial many of the 
varieties have endured the tests as perfectly 
as our native plums such as De Soto and 
Wolf, and have proven quite as hardy in fruit 
buds. 
