686 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
Oct.  22 
Tree  Scraping-  Necessary. 
L.  A.  Goodman,  Secretary  Missouri 
Horticultural  Society. — As  soon  as 
fruit  trees  become  old  enough  to  show 
rough  bark,  to  scrape  the  bark  closely  is 
one  of  the  best  of  services  that  can  be 
rendered  them.  I  use  an  old  hoe  with  a 
short  handle  to  give  them  a  good  scrap¬ 
ing.  The  best  time  to  do  it  is  in  October 
and  November,  but  it  can  be  done  in  the 
spring  also.  If  done  in  the  fall,  all  the 
nsect  eggs  and  larvaa  are  sure  to  be 
destroyed,  especially  if  the  trees  are 
washed  with  strong  lye.  Rather  than 
neglect  such  an  important  matter,  I  would 
do  it  at  any  time.  It  is  like  a  good  bath 
to  a  man,  and  will  do  the  trees  just  as 
much  good. 
Peaches  for  Ohio. 
C. ,  Madison,  Ind. — In  The  Rural  of 
October  1  a  request  is  made  for  a  revision 
of  a  list  of  peaches  mentioned  as  suitable 
for  Ohio.  As  the  same  varieties  will 
thrive  well  in  Ohio  as  here,  I  would 
suggest  in  place  of  Crawford’s  Early  and 
Late,  respectively,  Reed’s  Early,  Golden 
and  Globe,  as  improvements  on  the 
other  varieties.  Ry  all  means  I  would 
add  the  Elberta  and  leave  out  the  Sal- 
way.  Experience  has  shown  me  conclu¬ 
sively  that  the  Globe,  Elberta,  Reed’s 
Early,  Golden  and  Wonderful  are  the 
best  shippers,  as  well  as  the  largest  and 
most  satisfactory  bearers  I  have  tried. 
Air-Slaked  Lime  for  Grape  Rot. 
D.  O.  M.,  Falls  Church,  Va. — I  would 
like  to  know  if  any  of  the  readers  of  The 
Rural  have  ever  used  air-slaked  lime  on 
their  grapes  to  prevent  the  grape  rot.  I 
began  using  it  three  years  ago  on  a  vine¬ 
yard  in  which  the  grapes  had  been  com¬ 
pletely  destroyed  by  the  rot  for  a  num¬ 
ber  of  years,  and  have  been  getting  good 
grapes  since.  I  recommended  this  remedy 
to  some  of  my  neighbors.  One  of  them 
who  had  two  vineyards  on  his  place  ap¬ 
plied  the  lime  on  one  and  got  a  perfect 
crop,  while  on  the  one  on  which  he  put 
no  lime  the  crop  was  a  total  failure.  The 
lime  should  be  applied  about  as  often  as 
is  recommended  for  the  Rordeaux  mix¬ 
ture — several  times  in  the  course  of  the 
season.  One  object  in  using  it  is  that  it 
is  much  less  expensive  and  more  easily 
applied  than  the  Rordeaux  mixture.  I 
have  talked  with  parties  who  had  thought 
of  giving  up  trying  to  raise  grapes  be¬ 
cause  of  the  expense  of  the  mixtures, 
who  are  now  continuing  the  business  and 
using  the  lime. 
Satisfied  with  Bordeaux  Mixture. 
T.  Greiner,  Niagara  County,  N.  Y. — 
My  friend  from  Tennessee  (see  page  638) 
cannot  have  read  my  article  on  this  sub¬ 
ject  in  a  former  issue  of  The  R.  N.-Y. 
very  carefully,  or  else  I  have  failed  to 
make  my  meaning  quite  clear.  I  have 
not  expressed  “  hopes  to  make  from  crude 
gypsum  a  simplified  Rordeaux  mixture 
superior  to  anything  known.”  My 
article  was  addressed,  not  to  chemists, 
nor  to  the  average  user  of  fungicides, 
but  to  our  scientific  fungologists.  I  was, 
and  am  still,  in  quest  of  knowledge.  I 
challenged  them  to  tell  me  what  they 
know  about  the  germ-killing  properties 
of  the  element  copper.  I  am  fully  con¬ 
vinced  that  copper  exercises  no  effect 
whatever  in  this  direction,  and  that 
whatever  effect  there  is,  is  due  to  the 
sulphuric  acid  which  is  a  part  of  almost 
all  solutions,  etc.,  now  in  general  use 
for  plant  diseases.  I  have  arrived  at  this 
conclusion  mostly  by  simple  reasoning, 
and  only  partially  by  experiments.  Now, 
what  do  we  want  with  copper  in  our 
Bordeaux  mixture  ?  Why  make  the  lat¬ 
ter  uselessly  expensive,  when  crude  sul¬ 
phuric  acid,  lime,  and  water  will  give  us 
a  mixture  which  adheres  to  the  foliage 
just  as  tenaciously,  and  will  undoubtedly 
prove  just  as  effective  in  destroying  dis¬ 
ease  spores  as  the  Bordeaux  mixture 
made  with  copper  ?  Why  should  we  be 
satisfied  with  the  old  formula  ?  Can  any¬ 
one  give  me  a  valid  reason  for  it  ?  My 
Tennessee  friend  has  used  “  a  saturated 
solution  of  sulphate  of  iron  early  in 
spring  on  the  dormant  vines,”  and  right 
well  he  has  done.  Herein  lies  the  secret 
of  his  success.  The  strong  sulphate  has 
killed  the  spores  hibernating  on  the 
canes,  and  the  trellises.  No  better  treat¬ 
ment  could  be  imagined.  But,  my  friend, 
if  copper  has  such  great  virtues  as  a  germ 
destroyer,  why  did  you  not  use  a  solu¬ 
tion  of  sulphate  of  copper  instead  of  iron 
sulphate  ?  Will  you  claim  germ-killing 
virtues  for  iron  also  ? 
J  ust  now  I  am  anxiously  awaiting  an 
answer  from  our  fungologists  on  this 
question.  I  want  information.  Whether 
gypsum  can  ever  be  used  in  the  prepara¬ 
tion  of  the  Bordeaux  mixture  or  not,  is  a 
matter  of  no  moment  at  present.  Per¬ 
haps  it  will,  and  perhaps  it  will  not. 
Crude  sulphuric  acid  is  cheap  enough, 
anyway. 
Those  “Genuine”  Parker  Earles. 
W.  G  ,  West  Troy,  N.  Y. — In  my 
account  of  my  experience  of  the  Parker 
Earle  strawberry  in  The  Rural  of  Au¬ 
gust  27,  I  have  been  misunderstood.  I 
did  not  say  the  Parker  Earle  was  an  ex¬ 
cessive  plant-maker,  but  did  say  “I 
could  not  see  a  single  good  thing  about 
it  unless  it  was  plant-making,”  having 
in  view  the  demand  for  the  plant  and  its 
price,  and  not  the  number  of  plants  it 
made.  It  is  quite  a  good  grower  with 
me,  but  not  a  large  plant  maker.  It 
bore  quite  late  and  set  a  great  number 
of  berries  without  maturing  one  in  ten. 
It  is  an  old  and  cheap  way  of  throwing 
discredit  on  my  statements  to  say  that 
1  have  not  the  true  variety.  The  Par¬ 
ker  Earle  was  between  the  Ilaverland 
and  Manchester,  and  both  were  good. 
It  was  quite  dry  during  the  time  the 
Parker  Earle  was  fruiting,  and  perhaps 
that  was  the  cause  why  the  fruit  did 
not  mature.  I  have  quite  a  number  of 
plants  for  next  season’s  fruiting  and 
shall  not  plow  them  up.  but  would  like 
very  much  that  the  ground  were  occu¬ 
pied  by  some  more  reliable  variety.  If 
J.  N.  or  J.  1).  will  call  on  me,  or  send  a 
representative,  I  think  I  can  convince 
him  I  have  the  true  Parker  Earle. 
Spirit  of  the  Press. 
In  May  of  1888  we  received  a  single 
vine  of  a  new  grape  from  A.  B.  Howard, 
of  Belcliertown,  Mass.,  who  w’rote  as  fol¬ 
lows  :  “  The  variety  originated  with  E. 
W.  Bull,  of  Concord,  Mass  ,  and  was  by 
him  named  Ester  (not  Esther)  after  his 
mother.  The  vine  is  perfectly  hardy, 
the  berries  of  the  finest  quality  without 
foreign  blood.  In  other  words,  it  is  a 
pure  native.  Mr.  Bull  raised  his  first 
crop  of  Concords  in  1849,  and  has  fol¬ 
lowed  up  Concord  seedlings  to  this  is¬ 
sue.  ” . 
For  some  reason  this  vine  has  been 
neglected  or  overlooked  for  several  years. 
We  are  now  surprised  at  the  beauty  and 
excellence  of  the  grapes  which  it  bears, 
as  protected  by  paper  bags.  The  berries 
are  as  large  as  those  of  Moore’s  Early,  or 
even  larger,  and  perfectly  round.  The 
skin  is  a  light,  delicate  pea  color  with  a 
dense  white  bloom.  The  pulp  is  tender, 
with  from  but  one  to  two  (rarely  three) 
seeds,  and  the  acidity  of  the  flesh  about 
the  seed  is  not  so  pronounced  as  with 
most  of  the  new  grapes,  such  as  Dia¬ 
mond,  Colerain,  Hayes  and  Empire  State. 
It  is,  in  the  writer’s  judgment,  a  better 
grape  than  any  of  the  above,  and  decidedly 
better  in  all  essential  respects.  The  ber¬ 
ries  cling  to  the  peduncles,  the  skin  is 
firmer  than  that  of  Concord,  and  less 
foxy.  We  shall  be  glad  to  hear  from 
those  who  have  tried  the  Ester . 
The  sprout  of  the  seed  potato,  after 
planting,  lives  upon  the  decomposing 
flesh  of  the  seed  piece  until  the  sprout 
has  developed  roots  enough  to  draw  a 
sufficiency  of  nutriment  from  the  soil. 
Now,  how  large  should  the  seed  piece  be 
to  furnish  this  sufficiency  of  food  ?  If  the 
quarter  of  a  medium-sized  potato  will 
furnish  this  amount  of  food  to  a  couple 
of  eyes  or  growing  sprouts,  why  plant 
half  a  potato  or  a  whole  one,  unless,  in¬ 
deed,  the  hills  are  further  apart.  We 
fancy  that  the  degeneracy  of  potatoes 
comes  as  much  from  close  planting  as 
from  using  cut  pieces  for  seed,  if  the  cut 
pieces  be  of  ample  size.  And  by  “ample  ” 
we  mean  enough  flesh  to  feed  the  shoot 
until  it  becomes  an  “established  ”  plant.. 
Are  we  to  expectorate  the  seeds  of 
grapes  or  swallow  all  but  the  skins? 
That’s  the  question.  If  the  seeds  are  to 
be  rejected,  then  pulpy  grapes  will  have 
a  fall,  and  the  good  old  Concord  and  most 
of  its  pure  seedlings  will  be  included. 
There  is  little  satisfaction  in  eatiDg 
grapes  if  the  seeds  are  enveloped  in  a 
tough  pulp.  This  is  particularly  the  case 
if  the  pulp  about  the  seeds  is  sour  as  is 
generally  the  case  with  those  grapes  hav¬ 
ing  a  tough  pulp.  There  is  little  pleas¬ 
ure  in  eating  grapes  if  the  seeds  are  to 
be  rejected,  unless  the  flesh  is  tender  and 
readily  releases  the  seeds . 
The  Hayes  (white)  Grape  again  disap¬ 
points  us  at  the  Rural  Grounds.  The 
berries  are  under  size  and  the  bunches 
somewhat  loose . 
Would  it  be  desirable  to  breed  pota¬ 
toes  for  whiter  flesh? . 
Wpi  repeat  the  question  :  Is  a  russeted 
skin  evidence  of  good  quality  in  pota¬ 
toes?”  Again:  Are  a  shapely  form — 
that  is,  freedom  from  raised  or  sunken 
eyes — and  a  smooth  skin  evidences  of 
quality? 
Through  the  kind  thoughtfulness  of 
W.  B.  Shannon  of  Albany,  Oregon,  we 
received  200  or  300  seed  balls  of  the  R. 
N.-Y.  No  2  Potato  which  he  gathered 
from  his  vines.  A  careful  examination 
showed  that  these  seed  balls  were  utterly 
seedless . . 
J.  Horace  McFarland  made  an  inter¬ 
esting  address  before  the  American  As¬ 
sociation  of  Nurserymen  on  the  subject 
of  “the  right  way  to  prepare  catalogues.” 
He  insists  that  a  catalogue  should  ap¬ 
proach  a  customer  in  much  the  same  way 
as  a  salesman.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  paper 
( Continued  on  next  page.) 
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