634 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
Oct.  1 
We  are  glad  to  know  that  the  demand  for  this  excel¬ 
lent  grape  shows  that  it  is  being  quite  largely  planted. 
Under  the  Maples. 
About  one  o’clock  the  entire  company  numbering 
about  75,  sat  down  to  an  excellent  collation,  the  tables 
being  set  under  the  magnificent  maples  which  adorn  a 
part  of  the  lawn.  After  dinner  an  hour  or  so  was 
spent  in  listening  to  brief  speeches  from  the  gentle¬ 
men  present,  the  programme  being  opened  by  a  capital 
address  from  Col.  .James  Wood,  ex-President  of  the 
New  York  State  Agricultural  Society.  Others  fol¬ 
lowed  until  the  hour  for  driving  to  the  train  surprised 
the  party.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  all  who  were  present 
went  away  profoundly  impressed  with  the  business 
enterprise  of  the  Messrs.  Hoyts,  of  the  many  good  qual¬ 
ities  of  the  Green  Mountain  Grape  and  the  hospitality 
of  Mrs.  Iloyt,  who  presided  over  that  feature  of  a 
most  pleasant  day. 
Grape  Notes  from  Central  NewYork 
80 MK  NEGLECTED  VARIETIES  REMEMBERED. 
Every  autumn,  as  I  read  the  statements  excommuni¬ 
cating  the  Jessica  Grape  from  the  vineyards  of  some 
of  our  best  horticultural  writers,  I  am  constrained  to 
ask  them  for  the  evidence  on  which  the  sentence  has 
been  pronounced.  “  Worthless,”  they  say,  but  seldom 
specify  points.  I  have  grown  Jessica  seven  years,  and 
this  is  what  I  find  :  An  early  yielder,  a  fairly  strong 
grower,  an  abundant  producer,  the  earliest  to  ripen, 
and  almost  absolutely  disease-proof.  As  for  the  fruit, 
I  call  it  very  nearly  equal  to  Delaware  in  all  points, 
while  fully  four  weeks  earlier.  From  accurate  count¬ 
ing  I  find  that  Jessica  contains  no  more  seeds  than 
Delaware. 
Another  of  the  favorites  at  our  place  that  has  been 
indiscriminately  condemned,  is  Eldorado.  I  acknowl¬ 
edge  that  it  sometimes  sets  imperfect  clusters,  owiDg 
perhaps  to  defective  fertilizing ;  and  that  the  fruit 
steins  have  a  habit  of  mildewing.  My  vines  this  year 
are  exempt  from  all  defects  and  I  think  1  can  say 
that  Eldorado  is  the  only  grape  on  my  list — over  50 
sorts  in  all — that  can  be  called  in  first-rate  condition. 
Hayes  is  almost  first-rate,  though  a  few  of  the  clust¬ 
ers  contain  diseased  berries. 
The  group  of  five  sorts  on  which  I  received  a  first 
prize  (amateur  class)  at  the  State  Fair  contained  these: 
Brighton,  Eldorado,  Hayes,  Jessica,  Pocklington. 
Worden  would  have  been  substituted  for  Hayes  or 
Jessica  if  perfect  specimens  could  have  been  found, 
but  Worden  is  sorely  afflicted  this  year.  First,  the 
birds — robins  especially — have  made  havoc  in  my  vines 
since  the  first  appearance  of  coloring  in  August ;  sec¬ 
ond,  the  black  rot  has  been  especially  severe  upon 
Worden,  although  the  soil  conditions  were  exception¬ 
ally  fine  ;  third,  an  insect,  which  I  call  the  grape  cur- 
culio,  has  found  us  out  and  has  chosen  my  favorite 
black  variety  to  devastate.  I  have  not  yet  suc¬ 
ceeded  in  finding  a  cluster  of  Worden  Grapes  that  is 
not  infected,  and  generally  about  one-half  of  the  ber¬ 
ries  in  a  cluster  are  spoiled  by  this  creature.  It  is  the 
third  year  this  pest  has  been  noticed  on  my  place. 
I  have  not  tried  bagging  as  a  protection  against  this 
new  destroyer,  but  shall  probably  resort  to  it  next 
year.  I  know  of  no  other  effective  protection  against 
birds.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  none  of  the  white 
grapes  has  thus  far  been  attacked  by  the  latter. 
They  seem  to  think  that  a  grape  is  not  ripe  without 
color.  Brighton  is  their  first  choice,  and  without 
bagging  I  would  not  have  been  able  to  find  enough 
perfect  specimens  for  the  exhibit  at  the  fair. 
Taking  Onondaga  County  as  a  whole,  I  think  the 
grape  crop  is  not  more  than  10  per  cent  of  a  normal 
yield.  Only  vines  that  were  thoroughly  protected 
lasiautumn,  are  yielding  fruit  at  all,  while  the  sev¬ 
eral  hurtful  causes  I  have  alluded  to  have  in  some 
vineyards  made  a  clean  sweep  of  all  the  fruit.  Con¬ 
cords  are  especially  poor  and  scarce.  In  some  cases 
Delawares  are  totally  ruined  through  the  premature 
falling  of  the  leaves.  The  Rogers’s  series  are  sur¬ 
prisingly  healthy.  joiin  t.  Roberts. 
Why  Should  Fruit  Growers  “Treat?” 
ALL  HANDS  ASK  THEM  TO  “  GIVE.” 
It  has  become  the  custom  with  laborers,  mechan¬ 
ics,  merchants  and  ministers  alike  to  expect  the 
freedom  of  the  orchards  of  the  fruit  grower  and 
the  privilege  of  helping  themselves  to  the  fruit  grown 
by  the  industry  and  watchful  care  of  the  owner.  They 
pass  along  the  road  and,  seeing  luscious  and  valuable 
fruit,  proceed  to  appropriate  10,  20  or  50  cents’  worth 
of  the  unconverted  proceeds  of  the  grower’s  labor.  If 
the  proprietor  be  in  the  orchard,  they  go  to  him,  and, 
after  greeting,  remark  about  the  beautiful  fruit.  The 
farmer,  of  course,  says,  “Help  yourselves.”  They  do. 
Careless  and  improvident  farmers  always  say  thus. 
Occasionally  an  honest,  industrious,  hard-working  and 
high-minded  farmer,  who  has  moral  courage  to  match, 
says  :  “  Hands  off  !  I  raise  that  fruit  to  sell.”  Then 
the  outraged  wayfarers  spend  an  hour  on  the  street 
corner  relating  to  the  horrified  listeners  how  they  went 
into  Brown’s  orchard  to  get  some  fruit  to  eat  and  were 
told  they  would  have  to  pay  for  it !  Ever  after,  at  the 
mention  of  the  name  of  farmer  Brown,  these  outraged 
individuals  have  but  to  relate  the  incidents  to  prove  to 
one-half  of  the  people — the  half  who  have  not  in  them 
the  sense  of  justice,  and  who  are  little  capable  of  grasp¬ 
ing  moral  truths — that  farmer  Brown  is  a  penurious, 
indecent  individual,  not  worthy  of  the  confidence  and 
good-will  of  the  community.  They  relate  the  circum¬ 
stances  to  their  unfortunate  children,  and  tell  them 
that  farmer  Brown  ought  to  be  hooted  out  of  the 
country.  Farmer  Brown  goes  to  town  and  into  Smith’s 
grocery.  Smith  is  a  friend  of  Brown,  and  receives  gifts 
from  his  orchard  ;  but  does  Brown  expect  him  to  give 
him  a  kit  of  mackerel,  a  pound  of  coffee  or  a  clothes¬ 
pin?  No,  sir.  The  kit  of  mackerel  is  §1.82  ;  the  pound 
of  coffe  is  27  cents,  and  the  clothes-pin  is  one  cent. 
After  all,  is  the  fruit  grower  generous  who  gives 
away  his  fruit  because  it  is  demanded  ?  Is  he  a  bene¬ 
factor  ?  Why  not  be  a  real  benefactor  and  truly  gen¬ 
erous,  and  by  refusing  to  give  alms,  give  to  the  extor¬ 
tioner  a  lesson  that  would  be,  to  him,  a  lasting  good. 
The  man  who  treats  the  fruit  beggar  and  the  fruit 
pilferer  as  common  enemies  and  drives  them  to  a  real¬ 
ization  of  their  beggarly  or  thieving  attitude  is  a 
public  benefactor.  Oftentimes  we  meet  a  person  who 
is  a  good  man  in  most  ways — who  loves  his  wife  and 
children  and  is  kind  to  his  neighbors,  who  pays  his 
debts,  and  whose  word  is  good  even  in  a  horse  trade, 
and  who  never  stole  anything  else,  excuse  himself 
for  sometime  having  stolen  some  fruit — just  once — 
and  he  gives  as  a  good  and  sufficient  reason  that  the 
man  from  whom  he  stole  (he  doesn't  say  stole)  it  was 
awfully  “stingy”  and  “mean.”  Which  is  the  worse, 
my  brother,  to  be  stingy  and  mean,  or  to  be  a  thief  ? 
And,  after  all,  were  they  stingy  and  mean  ?  Are  you 
not  as  poor  an  interpreter  of  their  acts  as  of  your  own? 
If  local  journals  would  treat  of  this  subject  they 
would  do  a  great  service  to  their  communities.  They 
Stone  Boat  for  two  Hands.  Fig.  252. 
would  bring  home  to  thousands  a  realization  that 
begging  is  begging,  and  that  stealing  is  stealing ;  that 
to  steal  fruit  is  morally  as  bad  as  to  steal  anything  else 
of  equal  value,  and  is  like  the  tiny  stream  across  the 
levee  which  soon  makes  a  way  for  the  mighty  river. 
South  Haven,  Mich.  A.  e.  b. 
Another  Stone  Carrier. 
The  device  for  carrying  stone  shown  at  Fig.  222,  on 
page  522,  is  too  clumsy  and  wrong  side  up.  I  send  a 
rough  sketch  of  a  boat  (see  Fig.  252),  which  I  have 
used  for  15  years  or  more.  Many  of  my  neighbors 
have  used  it  also.  I  never  saw  another  like  it.  With 
only  four  bolts  it  shuts  up  in  a  small  compass.  One 
hasn’t  to  dig  in  the  mud  or  thistles  to  get  hold  of  the 
handles.  s.  p.  kimball. 
Horticultural  Gossip. 
In  a  recent  conversation  with  Mr.  M.  Jansen,  a 
prominent  official  of  the  Ulster  County  Agricultural 
Society  and  a  well-known  fruit  grower,  he  said  he  was 
seriously  contemplating  the  policy  of  substituting 
Brightons  for  Concords  in  his  vineyards.  With  him, 
since  the  introduction  of  the  spraying  process,  the 
Brighton  is  as  productive  as  the  Concord,  and  brings 
much  better  prices.  Specimens  of  his  Brightons  seen 
this  year  were  unusually  large  and  fine. 
“  How  do  Brightons  sell?”  we  queried  of  a  prominent 
commission  man,  since  the  above  conversation. 
“They  are  a  decided  drag,”  was  the  answer.  An 
examination  of  the  Brightons  he  had  to  sell  explained 
why  they  dragged.  They  were  very  poor  specimens — 
small  and  imperfect  bunches,  berries  undersized  and  a 
dirty  brown  in  color,  instead  of  the  bright  shade 
which  a  good  Brighton  has  and,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
they  were  off  in  flavor.  It  was  no  wonder  that  such 
Brightons  did  not  sell. 
The  nomenclature  of  fruit  at  some  of  the  county 
fairs  is  in  a  terrible  condition.  At  a  recent  fair  there 
were  three  plates  of  Louise  Bonne  de  Jersey  pears. 
One  was  labeled  Beurr6  Gris,  one  Virgalieu  and  the 
other  Sheldon.  All  three  were  good  specimens  of  this 
well-known  pear.  Just  such  errors  pervaded  the 
whole  fruit  exhibit  and  iquch  careful  work  \y^s  neces¬ 
sary  to  straighten  it  out. 
A  grape,  called  the  Early  Ohio,  was  on  exhibition 
at  the  recent  New  York  State  Fair,  for  wThich  its  dis¬ 
seminators  make  great  claims,  such  as  that  it  is  ten 
days  earlier  than  Moore’s  Early,  etc.  We  examined 
it  on  the  third  day  of  the  fair.  It  is  about  the  size  of 
Early  Victor,  but  of  much  poorer  quality.  At  this 
date,  it  was  very  sour,  utterly  unfit  for  table  use.  It 
would  not  sell  for  as  much  as  Champion  in  the  New 
York  market,  though  it  is  just  about  as  good.  It  is  a 
great  mistake  to  disseminate  such  poor  grapes — we 
have  far  too  many  of  them  now. 
The  black  knot  law,  passed  by  the  recent  legisla¬ 
ture,  should  be  vigorously  enforced.  In  almost  every 
community  there  will  be  found  some  careless  farmers 
who  allow  black  knot  to  remain  on  their  trees.  Not 
satisfied  with  infecting  their  own,  they  propagate 
germs  enough  to  spread  over  every  orchard  within  a 
mile  of  them.  Make  them  cut  down  the  trees  or  ex¬ 
cise  and  burn  the  affected  limbs. 
A  Discussion  of  Fertilizers. 
Part  VII. 
We  have  seen  that  many  of  our  soils  are  deficient  in 
potash.  How  shall  the  deficiency  be  supplied?  The 
main  dependence  of  most  farmers  for  soil  fertility  is 
upon  stable  manure  and  fertilizers.  The  composition  of 
manure  varies  greatly,  but  as  it  is  handled  in  ordinary 
farm  practice  there  is  usually  a  large  loss  of  potash 
before  it  reaches  the  field.  In  the  experiments  at  Cor¬ 
nell  with  horse  manure  exposed  to  the  weather,  the 
per  cent  of  loss  of  the  three  elements  of  plant  food 
was,  nitrogen  60 ;  phosphoric  acid,  47 ;  potash,  76. 
In  cow  manure  the  loss  of  potash  was  less,  being  only 
eight  per  cent,  while  the  loss  of  phosphoric  acid  was 
19  per  cent.  But  even  where  manure  receives  the  best 
care,  it  cannot  be  depended  upon  to  supply  potash  to 
a  soil  where  that  element  is  greatly  deficient.  If 
manure  enough  to  supply  the  lack  of  potash  is  put  on, 
too  much  nitrogen  is  applied,  and  often  too  much 
phosphoric  acid,  and  this  causes  loss.  We  must, 
therefore,  turn  to  chemicals  for  our  supply  of  potash. 
But  in  what  form  shall  we  use  them  ?  Shall  we  buy 
the  ordinary,  ready-mixed  fertilizers,  or  use  a  mixture 
of  our  own  ?  Let  us  quote  again  from  the  Hatch 
Station  Bulletin  No.  14  :  “  Farmers  who  have  used 
commercial  fertilizers  have,  as  a  rule,  bought  phos¬ 
phates  or  fertilizers  rich  in  phosphoric  acid,  and  con¬ 
taining  little  or  no  potash.”  How  much  potash  do  the 
ordinary  fertilizers  contain  ?  The  average  composition 
of  17  standard  brands  sold  in  Vermont  in  1891  is  shown 
in  the  following  table,  taken  from  the  State  Experi¬ 
ment  Station  Bulletin  No  23. 
Name  of  fertilizing 
Ingredient. 
Nitrogen . 
Soluble  phos.  acid . 
Reverted  phos.  acid.... 
Insoluble  phos.  acid.... 
Available  phos.  acid  ... 
Total  phos.  acid . 
Potash . 
Total  valuation  per  ton 
Pounds  in 
Pounds  in  Price  per 
Valuation  at 
a  hundred. 
a  ton. 
pound. 
1891  prices. 
2.56 
51 
1 
$  T.94 
6.37 
127 
8 
10.19 
2.98 
58 
4.35 
2.06 
41 
2 
0.82 
9.26 
183 
11.83 
227 
3.26 
65 
4« 
2.92 
$26.33 
Fifty-seven  brands  of  nitrogenous  superphosphates 
were  analyzed  at  the  Connecticut  Experiment  Station 
in  1891.  The  following  table  shows  their  composition  : 
Highest.  Lowest.  Average. 
Total  nitrogen .  6.06  .73  2.89 
Available  phosphoric  acid .  12.97  4.23  8.90 
Total  phosphoric  acid .  14.78  6.19  10.24 
Potash .  9.95  .93  3.48 
Thirty-eight  brands  of  special  manures  were  anal- 
ized  by  the  same  station  with  the  following  results : 
Highest.  Lowest.  Average. 
Total  nitrogen .  6.90  1.15  3.72 
Readily  available  phosphoric  acid .  10.36  4.38  7.82 
Total  phosphoric  acid .  16.72  5.36  9.39 
Potash .  11.66  1.54  6.74 
Suppose  one  wants  to  put  100  pounds  of  potash  on 
an  acre  of  land.  If  he  buys  an  average  brand  of 
nitrogenous  superphosphate,  in  order  to  get  100  pounds 
of  potash  he  wTill  have  to  purchase  nearly  a  ton  and  a 
half,  in  round  numbers  2,800  pounds.  But  this  amount 
would  contain  250  pounds  of  available  phosphoric  acid 
— 200  pounds  more  than  most  crops  need — and  cost 
§16.  If  he  buys  an  average  brand  of  special  manure, 
he  must  purchase  nearly  1,500  pounds  to  get  100  pounds 
of  potash  and  will  have  to  pay  for  more  than  twice  as 
much  phosphoric  acid  as  he  needs.  But  if  he  buys  200 
pounds  of  muriate  of  potash  at  a  cost  of  §4.30,  he  will 
get  his  100  pounds  of  potash. 
It  is  very  evident  that  the  average  commercial  fer¬ 
tilizer  greatly  lacks  in  potash.  Of  the  57  brands  of 
nitrogenous  superphosphates  sold  in  Connecticut  last 
year,  only  five  contained  over  six  per  cent  of  potash, 
and  these  were  guaranteed  to  contain  5,  6,  6,  7  and  10 
pounds  in  100  pounds  of  fertilizer.  Of  the  38  brands 
of  special  manures,  10  wTere  guaranteed  to  contain 
over  seven  per  cent  of  potash,  and  the  average  guar¬ 
anteed  amount  in  them  was  a  little  less  than  10  pounds 
in  100. 
If  a  soil  is  deficient  in  potash  and  one  wishes  to 
raise  on  it  a  crop  that  needs  a  large  amount,  the 
cheapest  and  best  way  to  supply  the  lack  is  to  buy 
muriate  of  potash.  Where  ensilage  corn  is  grown,  a 
large  amount  of  potash  is  needed.  It  makes  a  great 
