1895 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
6i5 
OUR RELATION TO THE DIVISION OF 
POMOLOGY. 
The rapid dissemination of news characterizes this 
epoch. It is no time for the hiding of lights under 
bushels, and the man or the organization engaged in 
progressive investigation, whose object is the public 
good, needs only to place his facts on the line of news 
movement, and the world will soon be absorbing 
them. 
The American Pomological Society has, from its 
outset, been a conservative organization, not given to 
methods of advertising its progress or movement. It 
has quietly done a valuable work for American pornol- 
ogy, which has been very slow in filtering into the 
minds of men who have most needed its assistance. 
It has followed the lead of scientists who seek truth 
for its own sake, and when found reap their satisfac¬ 
tion in quietly storing it away, leaving to others the 
work of application to the world’s affairs. The re¬ 
sult has been a very slow dissemination of important 
facts in progressive pomology. 
It seems to me that in this matter we have been 
livmg below the level of our highest measure of use¬ 
fulness, and we ought at once to grasp the methods 
of spreading our gospel which will give to the plant¬ 
ers of this country, without delay, the best counsel 
we have, in such shape as to be utilized, and thus be 
enabled to make a strong impress upon the fruit 
growing of the country. Ours is a benevolent society, 
and we have no secrets that belong exclusively to our 
small membership. We 
are anxious to have 
every planter reap the 
benefits of our delibera¬ 
tions at as early a mo¬ 
ment as possible. Hence 
I am strongly in favor 
of placing ourselves in 
so close a relationship 
with the Division of 
Pomology at Washing¬ 
ton, as to reap the bene¬ 
fits of its methods of 
rapid dissemination of 
facts among the people. 
The work of spreading 
information is the most 
important feature of the 
usefulness of the Di¬ 
vision. 
In an interview with 
Secretary Morton re¬ 
cently, I found him, not 
only willing, but anx¬ 
ious to assist our society 
through the machinery 
of his department to 
get rapidly in touch 
with the fruit growers 
of the country. And he 
signified his willingness 
to welcome any movement which would tend toward a 
harmonious union of the forces of the Division of 
Pomology and the American Pomological Society. 
Now we always are and always have been handicapped 
in the very line upon which the Division can give the 
largest measure of assistance. Our biennial publica¬ 
tions have been limited to a very narrow circula¬ 
tion. We have not been able to furnish even the 
press with our documents, because of our limited 
means. 
The advanced position taken in the nomenclature of 
fruits, and the grading of varieties for special uses ; 
the information as to the adaptability of varieties to 
localities ; in truth, all the work done by our com¬ 
mittees on fruits and catalogues, ought to be widely 
spread over the entire area represented by us in such 
a way as to influence the judgment and action of 
planters. We cannot do this work, for our means are 
too limited, and we have not control of the machinery 
for its accomplishment. The Government has the 
means and the men to do this work admirably, and as 
long as the head of the department which touches us 
most closely, is willing to undertake this work of dis¬ 
tributing our facts, I am heartily in favor of acting 
promptly in furnishing him the material. 
A bulletin containing our catalogues of fruits, with 
its perfected nomenclature and its distinguishing 
characters, which indicate values for various locali¬ 
ties, would thus be promptly placed in the hands of 
tens of thousands of planters, and especially distrib¬ 
uted to the entire agricultural press of the country 
for ready reference in giving counsel to the inquiring 
readers. 
We have nothing to lose by such an arrangement, 
and a good deal to gain. The general public, which 
knows very little of the objects and work of our So¬ 
ciety, will rapidly become acquainted with the objects 
we seek and our methods of reaching them. We shall 
enlist the interest of a much larger membership, and 
widen the opportunities for the benevolent part of 
our work. 
If the Dominion of Canada can, in a similar manner, 
through some agency or department, aid in spreading 
our gospel of better fruits and more of them, let us 
make haste to avail ourselves of it, and thus add to 
our strength and usefulness. c. w. garfield. 
SOME NEW MACHINES. 
Among the novelties exhibited at the New York 
State fair was a bicycle lawn mower, a picture of 
which is shown at Fig. 194. This is said to have 
originated from the suggestion of a young man who 
attached an ordinary hand mower to the hind wheel 
and frame of an ordinary bicycle. The mower wheels 
have rubber tires, and the attachments are made by 
means of steel prongs as shown in the picture. It is 
said to work three times as fast as an ordinary hand 
mower. We can believe this from the way it was 
rolled about the fair grounds. Farmers were busy 
examining the new corn harvesters. We believe that 
these machines are now perfected so that they will do 
really practical work—very much better work than the 
earlier small grain binders. There seems to be a 
surprising lack of ingenuity in devising new machines 
for use in the house. The women folks need a good 
and cheap washing machine, but it is a long time 
coming. The latest device is a sort of inverted closed 
funnel which is worked, by means of a lever, up and 
down on the clothes. The theory is that washing is a 
chemical process, and that all the hands can do is to 
move the clothes about so as to pass the soap and 
water through them. There seems to be no wash¬ 
ing machine yet that will take all the work from 
the hand. 
One of the most useful tools on the farm is a low- 
down wagon with wide tires. The one made by the 
Farmer’s Handy Wagon Co., of Saginaw, Mich., is a 
regular freight car for useful service. There are a 
dozen of them in that big peach orchard of the Hale 
Bros., and there is no telling how much lifting and 
back aching they save. For handling ensilage corn 
they are equally valuable. Our picture—Fig. 193, 
shows how they are used in the West. This is taken 
from an actual photograph. It doesn’t need much 
explanation, after that picture, to show the useful¬ 
ness of this contrivance. The tires are so wide that 
the wagon will go over plowed or wet ground 
with much less draught than the ordinary narrow- 
tired wagon. For drawing hay, straw, etc., much high 
pitching is saved, and a load is less liable to tip over 
than when on a high-wheeled wagon. 
A TALK ABOUT NEW STRAWBERRIES. 
The following talk with Mr. A. W. Slaymaker, of 
Delaware, may interest some of our strawberry 
growers: 
“ What seems to be the general verdict as to the 
new berries of this year ?” 
‘‘It must be confessed that the new varieties of 
strawberries tested last spring, were generally very 
disappointing Out of many new kinds sent out the 
year befoi-e, with glowing descriptions and great ex¬ 
pectations, only a very few have proved worthy. But 
we need not be entirely discouraged ; it will pay well 
to find one good new berry for a hundred failures-J 
All the standard sorts of to-day were the new ones of 
only a few years ago, so that the wide-awake grower 
must continue to experiment with new kinds. But 
this year he will look well to the recommendations of 
every new applicant for trial. The new berry must 
not only bea fine fruit, well tested and recommended, 
but it must show a real, definite advance in some par¬ 
ticular over all other kinds.” 
“ What do people in your locality desire in a new 
berry ?” 
An early berry that is also productive is, I think, 
the great need of the situation. The mid-season is 
fully supplied with such fine varieties as Greenville, 
Bubach, Dayton, etc., while the Brandywine and 
Gandy fill out the late season. But the first straw¬ 
berry of the season is always the best and in the 
greatest demand, and there is now no tried variety 
that combines earliness 
with enough produc¬ 
tiveness to make it prof¬ 
itable in any large way. 
I think, too, that a per¬ 
fect flowered variety 
will have more favor, 
not because it is really 
any better in any way, 
but because there is 
need for a real, good 
perfect berry to plant 
with the standard, im¬ 
perfect sorts. Pedigree 
should count, also, as a 
known,hardy parentage 
goes a long way towards 
insuring against fail¬ 
ures Horn weakness de¬ 
veloped after the vari¬ 
ety has left the careful 
hands of its originator. 
There is room for im 
provement in color over 
existing varieties, as is 
shown by the Marshall, 
so deficient in many re¬ 
spects as to be perfectly 
useless here, but pos¬ 
sessed of a color when 
it does ripen a berry, 
that is beautiful, indeed to behold.” 
“ How are most new varieties originated ?” 
“ The production of new varieties is now conducted 
on such careful, scientific principles, that any real 
public demand is sure to be met promptly. The day 
of chance seedlings is past and succeeded by the 
most careful and definite experiments. The history 
of the Oriole, a new early variety well illustrates this. 
The blossoms of Bubach, a pistillate variety of known 
vigor and great productiveness, were covered with 
mosquito netting so as to exclude all pollen from 
undesirable varieties, and at the proper time were 
pollenized by brushing over with blossoms of Hoffman, 
an early Southern berry of vigorous habit and fine 
fruit, but lacking in size and productiveness. All 
extra blossoms had been taken off, and the runners 
also removed the preceding year, so as to give these 
special berries all the vigor possible. The resulting 
berries in all respects like fine Bubachs, were saved 
and the seeds planted, from which have sprung at 
least two new varieties that are, as I believe, destined 
to play an important part in the future strawberry 
business. The fame of these berries reached the ears 
of the United States Pomologist at Washington, who 
came over to the grounds of the originator, Mr. J. W. 
Kerr of Denton, Md., and was so impressed with their 
superiority that he consented to name them. Oriole 
and Ideal were the names given. 1 had the pleasure 
of seeing these berries in fruit, and I do not wonder 
that they created a sensation in that neighborhood. 
Oriole is just the early berry that is needed, having 
all the most desirable characteristics of its notable 
parent, the Bubach, combined with an extra early 
ripening season. Ideal ripens early, too, though sev¬ 
eral days behind the Oriole, and is all that its name 
implies among perfect flowering varieties. That such 
success should follow such carefully directed efforts, 
is not wonderful at all, but it is certainly encouraging 
to all experimenters in this line.” 
THE VALUE OF A LOW-DOWN WAGON IN COEN CULTURE. Fig. 193. 
