3io 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. May 19 
discourages giving much credit, or selling under 
established prices. I lose very little by bad debts, 
and as the books are prepared in blank form for this 
purpose, it does not require so very much book¬ 
keeping.” 
“You must be large purchasers of garden seeds.” 
“Yes, I do buy largely, but T aim to save my own 
seeds from choice, selected stock, whenever it is prac¬ 
ticable to do so. For instance, my Lima beans are 
grown from seed that a sailor from Peru gave to my 
uncle many years ago. It was a large, prolific variety, 
and we have kept the stock, selecting the best seed 
possible each year, until it is now a nearly perfect 
variety. In planting so largely, it is of great im¬ 
portance that the seed be of the best. A great deal 
of my business is in growing extra-early produce, 
for which my light, warm soil is well adapted ; and 
poor seed means failure, as far as an early crop is 
concerned. 
Feeding ; Plowing ; New Crops ; Storing. 
“ Do you use much commercial fertilizer ? ” 
“ I have used, this year, 90 tons, and all the stable 
manure I could buy in New Haven. I also make a 
great deal in the stables, hennery, piggery and other¬ 
wise.” 
“I saw three three-horse teams on sulky plows at 
work in one of your fields a few days ago. Is that 
your usual method of plowing ?” 
“ Oh, yes; there are no stones to contend with here, 
and I usually work the plow teams three horses 
abreast. When in a hurry, I put in three or four 
teams, and rush the work along. A few days, or even 
a few hours, may make the difference between profit 
and loss in getting a crop on the market.” 
Formerly Mr. F'. grew melons largely, but the excel¬ 
lence and cheapness of the Southern article has prac¬ 
tically driven Northern growers out of the business. 
A few acres are grown—a patch he calls it—but they 
are not made a prominent crop. 
“ Why don’t you try peaches ?” I suggested. 
“ I have thought of it, and I think I have some land 
suited to the cultivation of the peach, but it is a busi¬ 
ness in itself, and one with which I am not familiar. 
I have about as much to look after now as is neces¬ 
sary or desirable, so I have left peach growing as a 
future possibility.” 
Aside from being a successful gardener, Mr. Farn- 
ham is an intelligent, high-minded Christian gentle¬ 
man, whose popularity is mainly due to the fact that 
his word is as good as his bond. The Crescent stamp 
is put on all the goods where practicable, and that 
means full weight or measure, and good quality. He 
is favored by good roads to do most of the teaming, 
and is connected with the markets by telephone. The 
wagon repairing is all done on the place, two black¬ 
smiths being steadily employed. A large building 
opposite the office and washing sheds is used for stor¬ 
age of onions and winter squash, and the cellar be¬ 
neath it is used for all kinds of vegetables. Nine 
thousand bushels of onions were stored on slatted 
shelves last winter, and tons upon tons of Hubbard 
squashes occupied similar shelves in another part of 
the building. These vegetables were kept at a tem¬ 
perature a point or two above freezing, and the 
squashes were looked over daily, and such selected 
for immediate sale as showed signs of decay. This 
method of keeping these vegetables is pronounced 
the best ever tried. One part of the immense cellar 
is used for celery and kale for the holiday trade, 
hundreds of thousands of plants being trenched in 
where they may be readily prepared for market. 
The business is yearly growing, and its possibilities 
seem limitless. Mr. Farnham is a subscriber to The 
R. N.-Y. and other leading agricultural journals, and 
keeps his eyes and ears constantly open for the recep¬ 
tion of new ideas. c. i’. augur. 
POPULAR APPLES—WINTER VARIETIES. 
Bailey Sweet. —This fine, early winter sweet apple 
is a great favorite wherever grown. It is not strictly 
an “ironclad,” as it suffers from the harder winters 
of the northern border ; although it succeeds well in 
middle and southern Ontario. Large, ovate, ribbed, 
bright red. Fine, rich flavor. 
IsHAM Sweet. —This is a seedling of Bailey Sweet, 
introduced some 30 years ago by F. K. Phoenix, of 
Delavan, Wis. It has been tested in northeastern 
Vermont for some time, and has proved to be our best 
ironclad winter sweet apple. It much resembles its 
parent, but is more purplish in color, and less irregular 
in form. It was grown from seed by D. K. Isham, of 
Delavan. 
Bentley Sweet. —This is a large, handsome and 
long keeping Virginia apple of fair quality, and is a 
good keeper. It is roundish-oblong, with considerable 
color. 
Maveback’s Sweet. —Another large Southern sweet 
of very good (quality, which keeps into the^winter. It 
is red-streaked on yellow ground. Originated in 
South Carolina. 
Ramsdell Sweeting. —A well-known Connecticut 
apple, sometimes called Red Pumpkin Sweet; of fair 
size, and very good quality. The tree is vigorous and 
productive. Fruit yellow fleshed and tender. Quality 
very good. Early winter. 
Talman Sweet. —The popular baking winter sweet 
all over the North. Tree very hardy, as well as pro¬ 
ductive ; but far north it is safest when top-grafted 
on an ironclad stock. Fruit medium in size, greenish 
yellow, and keeps well. 
Blue Pearmain is a well-known round, dark red 
apple, with a marked bloom. It is not a very reliable 
cropper, and its quality is not high. 
Bethel is a Vermont seedling of Blue Pearmain, 
which surpasses its parent in every desirable quality ; 
though also not an early bearer. It is oval, dark red, 
with some bloom, and is one of our most reliable iron¬ 
clad winter apples in northern New England. The 
original tree is yet living and in good condition, 
though over a century old. 
The Baldwin is too well known to need particular 
description. It is a handsome red apple, very produc¬ 
tive, but of only moderately good quality. Its free 
and regular bearing makes it valuable as a market 
fruit over the rather limited territory in which it 
fully succeeds. The great market apple of southern 
New England, but does not succeed much north of 
southern Maine and New Hampshire, and in Nova 
Scotia. Large quantities are shipped to England. 
Russian Baldwin is the name recently given to an 
almost exact duplicate of the American Baldwin, 
found among a miscellaneous collection of unknown 
Russian apples brought over by Prof. Budd, of Iowa, 
and the late Mr. Charles Gibb, of Canada. Specimens 
sent to The Rural New-Yorker, April, 1893, were 
pronounced “equal to the Baldwin at its best.” It 
has not yet been offered to the public, but is in course 
of propagation for that purpose. 
Ben Davis is, with little doubt, the most exten¬ 
sively grown market apple in America. It is a long 
keeper, even when grown pretty well south, and 
grown in Missouri and northward is probably the 
best keeper known, with perhaps the exception of the 
Roxbury Russet. As commonly seen, the quality, for 
dessert or cooking, is poor. Under the best condi¬ 
tions, it cannot be rated above “ fair to middling.” 
Northern Spy has, as a dessert apple, a very high 
standing in our markets. It is a large, handsome and 
very good red apple, which keeps well and maintains 
its quality long. It is also a profitable apple for ex¬ 
port. 
Rhode Island Greening, despite its plain exterior, 
is a leading apple in our Eastern markets, being of 
excellent quality for all uses. There seem to be two 
forms of it, one with yellow, and the other with green¬ 
ish flesh ; but it is doubtful whether this is persistent, 
or merely due to locality or treatment. It is a large 
apple, pale green, ripening to a pale yellow. 
King, “ of Tompkins County,” is another leading 
market apple, almost wholly limited, as to profitable 
growth, to western New York, but very profitable 
where it succeeds. ' It is of uncertain origin ; the tree 
is vigorous, and bears good crops annually. Fruit 
large, roundish, striped red and crimson; flesh yel¬ 
lowish, juicy and pleasant to taste, often high fla¬ 
vored and aromatic when well grown. Keeps well 
up to March. 
Hubbabdston Nonsuch is a famous New England 
apple, well known and highly prized within its lim¬ 
ited circle. A large, roundish apple, striped red on 
yellow, with russeted cavity about the calyx. Early 
winter. 
Pryor’s Red; one of the best and most profitable 
apples of the Ohio Valley. Medium to large, round¬ 
ish, somewhat ribbed and slightly russeted. Flesh 
tender, rich, mild and agreeable sub-acid. Best 
planted with other varieties, as by itself it is a shy 
bearer. 
Red Canada, or Old Nonsuch, a regular, roundish, 
medium sized red apple, succeeding well from New 
England to Ohio. Sub-acid, a good keeper, produc¬ 
tive. Subject to scab, but well worth protection by 
spraying. 
Rome Beauty. —A very popular early winter fruit, 
large, red, tender, juicy and good. 
Esopus Spitzenburgh.— One of the best of our 
apples ; large, handsome ; high rich flavor and color ; 
but not very successfully grown over a wide area. A 
good keeper. 
Westfield Seek-No-Further. —A widely known 
Connecticut apple of good size; slightly colored and 
russeted, tender, rich and spicy, and succeeds as far 
west as any New England apple. 
Willow Twig.—A favorite market apple of the mid¬ 
dle West; large, roundish, slightly colored; a good 
keeper and good market apple. 
Scott's Winter.— One of the very few native “iron¬ 
clads ;” medium size, round, dark red, with a little 
russet; a long keeper, and succeeds well at least as 
far west as Iowa. Origin, northern Vermont. 
T. H. HOSKINS. 
THE DEMPSEY PEAR. 
This new pear is being introduced by Stone «fc Wel¬ 
lington, Toronto, Canada. It is claimed to be ex¬ 
tremely valuable, not only on account of the superior 
quality of the fruit, but because of the hardiness of 
the tree. In their description of it, Messrs. Stone <fe 
Wellington say that it was produced from a seed of the 
Bartlett fertilized with Duchesse d’AngoulSme. Tree 
an upright, good grower; foliage large, glossy dark 
green, resembling both parents. Fruit large obtuse 
pyriform, irregular in outline. Skin smooth, green, 
changing to yellow as it ripens with a slight brown 
tinge where exposed to the sun. Stem about an inch 
long, stout and set slightly to one side. Calyx shallow. 
Flesh white, fine grained, tender, buttery, almost 
melting, with a rich, sweet, delicious flavor. As a 
dessert or market pear it is of the highest merit. It 
will stand transportation to the most distant markets. 
Season, October and November. A picture of the pear 
is shown at F'ig. 88. 
CULTIVATION OF THE CHESTNUT. 
FACTS ABOUT GRAFTING THIS NUT. 
Any Practical Future for the Business P 
1. How hl(ih are your trees grafted ? 2. Does the scion unite per¬ 
fectly 7 3. Have you known the top to blow off on account of weak¬ 
ness at the point of union ? 4. At what size and age do your Improved 
chestnuts bear? .5. How many nuts to the burr? 6. How about size 
and quality compared with wild chestnuts ? 7. Do you think chestnut 
culture promises any practical rewards to farmers or others ? 
How to Start the Graft. 
1. Five to six feet. 2. Not always on young trees. 
On large trees worked in branches from 1 to IM inch 
thick, the scions take as readily and make as perfect 
a union as the apple. In the nursery, I have the best 
success in whip grafting having the scion and stock of 
equal size. 3. Yes, sometimes the scions will make a 
growth of two to three feet and do not apparently 
form a particle of union with the stock. My opinion 
is that this occurs from too free a flow of sap. If the 
scions are cut before the sap begins to flow, and left 
to wither somewhat, they may be successfully grafted 
up to the middle of May, and the union will be more 
perfect. 4. They usually commence bearing the second 
year after grafting. I am alluding to the Paragon. 
The Numbo will take several years longer. The 
Japan I consider of very little account compared with 
the above varieties. Some of the Japan varieties bear 
very fine nuts, but they shrink much quicker than the 
Paragon and Numbo. 5. From one to four, sometimes 
five to six. 6. The size is generally from three to four 
times as large as the common chestnut. In quality 
they are not as fine as the common chestnut, but like 
the Concord among grapes, they are good enough for 
the masses of consumers ; boiled or roasted they are 
excellent. 7. Emphatically, yes. If a young farmer 
would plant a grove of 1,000 trees now, 10 years hence 
he would have an independent competence. A reader. 
Chestnuts or Apples for Profit. 
1. I think about one foot high. 2. It does in the 
case of Numbo, perfectly; of my first trees of Paragon, 
apparently the union was not so perfect. 3. I have 
had no tops blow off. 4. At three years, they bear a 
few. 5. Usually three nuts to a burr. 6. The size is 
fully double the average native chestnuts; quality 
less than half. 7. Only moderately so. I would 
rather expect to profit more from an apple than a 
chestnut orchard. w. atkinson. 
Notes From a Big Grove. 
I have a grove of nearly 1,000 Paragon chestnut trees. 
1. I generally graft my trees four to five feet from 
the ground. 2. The scion does not always unite per¬ 
fectly on American stocks, but on Spanish there is in 
every case a perfect union. 3. In all my experience, 
I never had but one top blow off, and that happened 
when the tree was loaded with nuts; it broke at the 
union of the scion with the stock. 4. My Paragon 
trees commence to bear when four to five feet higb ; 
they bear the second year from the graft. The great 
trouble with me is that they bear too full every year. 
Paragon has no off years. 5. Generally three nuts to 
the burr; sometimes as high as five to seven to a 
burr. 6. The size is very large ; 40 selected nuts will 
make a quart dry measure. They sell at 40 cents a 
quart, or one cent apiece. When boiled, the quality 
is as good as the wild nuts. Paragon ripens from 10 
days to two weeks ahead of the common wild chest¬ 
nut ; for that reason a better price can be had for 
them. 7. There is great promise in chestnut culture 
to those who have the time, money and patience. 
