1894 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
683 
Rurallsms— ContinnoL 
is grafted feet high, the union per¬ 
fect. This tree bore 82 burrs, gathered 
October 2. There were 205 nuts which 
weighed 4 pounds 10>^ ounces. About 
the same date, 205 of our largest native 
chestnuts were picked up under the tree. 
They weighed 27 ounces. It will be seen 
that the Paragons weigh nearly three 
times as much as the natives. 
It will be remembered that in our re¬ 
marks regarding the two remarkable 
plums, Wickson and “J,” which origi¬ 
nated with Luther Burbank of California, 
we described the “J” as somewhat in¬ 
ferior to the WickEon in quality. (See 
Ruralisms of September 1.) On the date 
of October 1, we received a letter from 
J. H. Hale of South Glastonbury, Conn., 
from which we quote a few paragraphs : 
“ We also received specimens of these 
plums about the same time and sub¬ 
mitted them to Mr. Fairchild, of Nichols, 
Conn., who is our most expert judge of 
these Japan plums. He pronounced the 
“J” as of most superb quality, far better 
than any other Japan known and fully 
equal to the Imperial Gage, which is the 
best of our European varieties. I was 
so impressed with this “J,” that I sent 
for further samples, which came the 
latter part of August and were even 
better than the first; and although Mr. 
Burbank had advanced his price on the 
stock of this plum, I was so fully con¬ 
vinced of its great value that we have 
purchased the stock and have had some 
40,000 buds sent to our Georgia place and 
hope in two years to have it on the 
market. 
“ Mr. Burbank is a wonderfully cau¬ 
tious man, even in estimating his own 
pets, and he says of the “ J,” which by 
the way we shall have to give an appro¬ 
priate name, as follows : ‘ Two years ago 
in the hedgerow of seedlings, Prolific, 
or “J” was the most vigorous, most 
productive, handsomest, most uniform 
and best fiavored of any Japan plum I 
had ever seen. I have three bearing 
trees and 10 to 30 immense yearlings 
from last winter’s grafts in the nursery 
row. I judge that most of them are 8 to 
12 feet high, with a circle of branches 
three to five feet across, and trunks in 
some cases four inches in circumference 
at least. In other words, no other Japan 
plum now known equals it in growth. 
It surpasses the Burbank, and grows in 
much better form. The foliage is all 
that could be desired ; nothing seems to 
affect it. I made up my mind last 
summer to try it from cuttings this fall, 
as I feel sure it will make a superb 
stock and root readily, judging from its 
parentage, vigor, etc. 
“ ‘ The fruit sent you was too green : 
I found afterwards that it was picked a 
week or two too soon. It is now larger 
and richly marbled, dotted and striped 
with purple on light yellow ground. 
The trees are always loaded to the 
muzzle and just in the right place, so the 
trees hold and perfect more fruit than 
the Burbank, and I may say, perhaps 
more than any other fruit tree of any 
name or nature. 
“ ‘ The fruit is always uniform, not a 
small one so far seen, and all just as 
much alike as peas. The stem is remark¬ 
ably long, making it easy to pick. The 
fruit hangs to the tree well, never falling 
and bruising, or sun scalding. It grows 
on the trunk and large branches, and is 
always overshadowed in leaves. No one, 
who has ever tasted the fruit when ripe, 
will ever say that any European plum is 
superior, many having compared it to 
the Beine Claude and Green Gage. I do 
not know of any plum that will keep 
longer. As to the time of ripening ; it 
is nearly a week later than Burbank, 
and before or with the Satsuma.’ ” 
Mr. Hale will send one of the “ J” trees 
to the Rural Grounds this fall. 
Mabcella Peach. —This is a new va¬ 
riety of the Crawford's Late type, though 
probably later. Specimens were re¬ 
ceived from E. T. Daniels, Kiowa, Kan., 
October 4, in fine condition. This peach 
is of perfect shape, nearly round, golden 
yellow, with some crimson, nearly three 
inches in diameter, orange yellow fiesh, 
red at the stone, which is free. Very 
juicy, rich, vinous, sub-acid, melting, 
with a peculiarly agreeable fiavor. We 
have no Crawfords to compare with it, but 
we would guess that it is of higher qual¬ 
ity. It is difficult, if not impossible, to 
give a fair judgment of a fruit from a 
few specimens, or from those of a single 
year, but those received of this variety 
certainly indicate that it is a promising 
variety. 
“On page 555, you say: ‘Two hills 
were dug. Not a potato, or the sign of 
one, was found. The second hill yielded 
one tuber.’ Please explain what a tuber 
is. I had always supposed you meant 
potato by tuber.’’ e. p. b. 
We are always pleased to be corrected. 
Five of our seedling Japan chestnuts 
have borne this year—the sixth from seed. 
The nuts are of the largest size, the 
quality of four quite inferior, that of 
one fully as good as the Paragon. 
Dubinc the season of 1894 we have 
raised no less than 100 different kinds of 
potatoes, including our own seedlings. 
Not one fruit (true seed—seed ball) has 
matured. 
We wish to ask our friends this ques¬ 
tion : What potato is better in quality 
than the Rural Blush ? In what respect 
is it better ? 
Neab the Rural Grounds is a farmer 
that for many years has raised the Blush. 
“ Why,’’ we asked him, “ do you stick to 
the Blush?” “Because of its quality,” 
he replied. “My customers who have 
once eaten it, want the Blush again and 
always. ” His yield the past season is less 
than usual, but, strange to say, the 
tubers, though fewer, are larger. He 
showed the writer one that weighed 1 % 
pound, and many that weighed over one 
pound. 
Again it is queer that during the past 
season of almost unparalleled dryness,the 
tubers are as shapely (the Blush is never 
a shapely potato) as they ever are in 
favorable seasons. When the Blush was 
introduced, the claim was made for it 
that it was drought-resisting, this as a 
result of having tried them in the sandy 
soil of the Rural Farm during a dry sea¬ 
son. The claim has been well substan¬ 
tiated. 
A FBiEND (see page 648) does not agree 
with The R. N.-Y. that it is best for po¬ 
tatoes to broadcast a part of the ferti¬ 
lizer. “ It is better by far,” he holds, 
“ to put all in the drill.” We have never 
made any comparative experiments that 
we now recall, to prove which is the 
better way. It seems reasonable, how¬ 
ever, to assume that, as the roots, before 
the tubers have ceased to grow, extend 
from drill to drill, those beyond the drill 
need food as well as those in the drill. 
Besides, the roots just underneath the 
plant are sheltered from the rain. The 
foliage acts as a shed to carry the rain 
outside of the drill or hill. Many a time 
we have found the soil positively dry 
under the plant, while between the rows 
it has been moist. At such times it is 
exclusively the roots beyond the drills 
that feed the plant. 
Fbom W. W. Wilson, Mt. Sterling, Ky., 
comes a box of black grapes which are 
something of a surprise to us. He writes; 
“ They have been ripe since August 1, 
but I want to show you how well they 
retain their flavor and stick to the vines, 
by letting them remain until the middle 
of October. They begin to turn July 20, 
and by August are fairly ripe, lasting 
until November, drying up on the vine 
during that month; they last three months 
upon the vines in good condition. Wasps 
and bees scarcely bother them. They do 
not rot after ripening like most fruits.” 
They were received in perfect order. 
The bunches are rather long, the berries 
a little larger than Delawares, and 
crowded closely together. There is a 
good deal of fat just underneath the 
skin, and some pulp. The flavor is mild 
and sweet, reminding one of a combina¬ 
tion between the Labrusca and Frost 
grapes. We are promised a vine or so 
for trial. 
Fbom our respected friend. Geo. W. 
Campbell, come five bunches of grapes 
October 5. Brilliant, one of Prof. Mun¬ 
son’s finest productions, is of a dark, 
reddish-purple color. The quality is ex¬ 
quisite—not a trace of acidity about the 
seeds which almost drop out of the ten¬ 
der pulp. 
Next we have Mr. Campbell’s cross be¬ 
tween Lady and Lady Washington. It 
has a yellow berry with a delicate violet 
bloom. Sweet, vinous, pulp a trifle tough, 
some acidity about the seeds. It is a 
delicately beautiful grape. The skin is 
thin and firm. 
Juno’s Sisteb is a black grape with 
blue bloom. The flesh is meaty, skin 
firm ; the seeds part readily, no acidity. 
The Rubal New-Yobkeb rejected 
Woodruff Red years ago, because of its 
foxiness and tough pulp. A bunch of 
this variety from Mr. Campbell is far less 
foxy and pulpy than any we have tried. 
The Empire State, the last of the five 
varieties sent by Mr. Campbell, is just 
about the same in all respects, as it 
ripens at the Rural Grounds. 
Again (Oct. 8) we are in receipt of a 
Dempsey pear from Stone & Wellington, 
49 Wellington Street, Toronto, Canada. 
It is the child of a cross between Bartlett 
and Augoul6me. In shape, it resembles 
Bartlett more than AugoulSme, being 
obtuse-pyriform though not so thick 
through the lower portion as Bartlett, 
and more pyriform than Augoul0me. It 
is about four inches long, with a diameter 
through the lower, thicker portion, of 
about three inches. The skin is green 
until fully ripe, when it changes to a 
greenish-yellow. In quality it reminds 
us of Bose. The flesh is white, tender, 
sweet, juicy—less melting than Bartlett. 
It is an excellent pear. The tree is said 
to be wonderfully productive, bearing at 
an early age. 
Those who are interested in the im¬ 
provement of the native grape, will be 
delighted to learn that the veteran grape 
grower, D. S. Marvin, of Watertown, N. 
Y., has originated a grape which he calls 
Shelby, after his birthplace in Ohio, that 
he claims is as good as the Delaware, and 
more than a week earlier than any grape 
under trial at the Rural Grounds. There 
is no foreign blood in its make-up 
Though the Watertown climate is about 
a week later than at the Rural Grounds, 
it was fully ripe there August 28, the 
date that Green Mountain and Early 
Ohio were ripe with us. It is less acid 
than the Delaware, the berries and 
cluster being about the same size. He 
has now tested it about a dozen years. 
The vines are exceptionally vigorous and 
healthy. 
Word for Word. 
-“ A HUSK of pleasure ’round a heart 
of sorrow.” 
-New Yobk Hebald : “There is no 
more painful contrast in human life than 
that between what we are capable of 
doing and what we really accomplish.” 
-Bulweb Lytton : “ It is not study 
alone that produces a writer ; it is inten¬ 
sity.” 
“ I WAS always an early riser. 
Happy the man who isl Eyery morning 
day comes to him with a virgin’s love, 
full of bloom and purity, and freshness. 
And oh, youth 1—take my word for it— 
youth in dressing-gown and slippers 
dawdling over breakfast at noon, is a 
very decrepit, ghastly image of that 
youth which sees the sun blush over the 
mountains, and the dew sparkle upon 
blossoming hedge-rows.” 
“ In the solitude we shrink up. No 
plant so much as man needs the sun and 
air.” 
-Chas. a. Gbeen : “From a sojourn 
of nearly three months in various por¬ 
tions of Europe, and from such other in¬ 
formation as I can gather, I can say posi¬ 
tively that the United States is the most 
progressive country in the world as a 
fruit growing country.” 
-Googe : “The only gentlemanlike 
way of growing rich, is by the art of 
husbandry. All other professions have 
something in them of the mean and sub¬ 
servient. This alone is free and noble ; 
and the wealth thus gotten may almost 
be said to be of a man’s own creating.” 
If you name Th* Buila. 1 , Niw-Yobkkb to our 
advertlBers, you may be pretty sure of prompt 
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