March  4,  1016. 
little  earlier;  or  it  may  simply  be  the  color  which 
gives  that  appearance,  for  they  can  be  sold  a  week 
or  two  before  the  ordinary  Gravenstein,  when  Gra- 
venstein  apples  are  high.  1  shipped  a  barrel  of 
(’(trln  drops  with  enough  red  ones  to  give  some  color 
to  them  with  some  other  varieties  to  Boston,  which 
sold  for  .$4.  Later  they  would  have  sold  for  less, 
as  1  put  all  of  my  good  fruit  into  boxes  (not  West¬ 
ern  pack).  I  was  satisfied.  They  have  borne 
heavily  on  young  trees,  and  when  they  are  ripening 
look  as  red  as  well-colored  Wealthy.  Were  I  young¬ 
er  I  would  set  an 'orchard  of  them,  for  much  of  our 
Massachusetts  soil  is  well  suited  to  that  variety, 
which  does  its  best  in  a  fairly  light  soil.  I  have 
never  seen  the  time  when  the  market  was  over¬ 
supplied  with  Qtfbd  Gravenstcins.  and  if  held  in 
storage  a  week  or  two  until  the  market  is  getting 
bare  of  thci'n.  almost  any  New'  England  town  or 
city  will  take  them  at  high  prices.'  h.  o.  mead. 
Worcester  Co-,  Mass. 
XShe  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
A  Red  Gravenstein  Apple 
Earlier  and  of  Brighter  Color 
AS  grown  here,  the  greatest  fault  of  the  Graven¬ 
stein  apple  is  its  liability  to  drop,  especially 
with  good  culture,  before  it  has  color  enough  to 
sell  at  good  prices  in  our  markets-  Like  many 
others  who  grow  this  variety  commercially  I  mulch 
my  trees  and  allow  part,  or  the  whole  crop,  to  drop 
digging  several  rows,  a  yield  of  from  .150  to  375 
bushels  per  acre. 
FA VOlt ABLE  CONDITIONS. — The  early  potato 
growers,  Mr.  Ryan  included,  did  not  however,  make 
much  mor  v  from  their  crop  this  year  because 
of  the  uini  dally  low  price  received.  In  fact  the 
usual  coihLl.ous  were  reversed,  since  these  early 
potatoes  brought  much  less  per  bushel  than  did  the 
late  ones  finally.  Mr.  Ryan,  along  with  other  grow¬ 
ers  of  early  potatoes,  and  as  advised  by  us.  does 
not  spray  for  blight.  Being  sit.ua' ted  close  to  the 
shore  on  a  low  level,  he  lias,  however,  favorable  con- 
•  ditions  for  au  early  and  vigorous  development  of 
this  troublfc  in  favorable  seasons.  Vs  a  result  he 
lost  some  potatoes  from  rot  this  year,  though  he 
claims  his  soil  conditions  are  such  that  he  does  not 
suffer  as  much  in  this  respect  as  one  would  suppose. 
LATE  POTATOES. — Coming  now  to  the  consider¬ 
ation  of  late  potatoes,  we  find  that  these  are  largely 
"grown  by  general  farmers  rather  than  by  market 
gardeners.  These  farmers  are  not  always  situated 
close  to  the  large  cities,  but  us  there  is  not  the  need 
of  placing  these  potatoes  quickly  in  a  nearby  mar¬ 
ket,  they  can  grow  this  crop  in  the  more  isolated 
rural  districts.  Potatoes  usually  serve  as  a  cash 
crop  for  them.  Most  of  the  pota toes  are  sold  soon 
after  digging,  some  being  wholesaled  to  merchants 
and  some  retailed  in  smaller  lots  to  the  families  of 
nearby  towns  or  cities.  Upon  the  whole,  this  late 
crop  seems  to  be  on  the  decline  in  the  State;  per¬ 
haps  partly  because  Connecticut  is  not  regarded  as 
one  of  the  potato-growing  districts  and  so  has  never 
specialized  along  this  line;  partly  because  if  lias  to 
compete  with  the  Maine  grown  crop;  and  part¬ 
ly  because  the  dry  Summers  for  several  years 
hack  have  greatly  reduced  the  yield  and  profits, 
especially  of  those  not  giving  the  crop  the  very 
best  attention. 
METHODS  PURSUED.— Taking  Mr.  Fagan, 
of  Forestville,  as  an  example  of  the  best  grow¬ 
ers  of  late  potatoes,  it  might  be  well  to  consider 
briefly  the  methods  pursued  by  him,  especially 
as  relating  to  his  15115  crop.  In  the  first  place* 
Mr.  Eagan,  like  Mr.  Ryan,  has  low  laud  rich 
in  humus  and  usually  with  sufficient,  moisture 
to  lessen  injury  from  tip  burn  in  dry  years,  ' 
which  is  an  important  factor.  Not  all  of  his 
land,  however,  is  low,  and,  perhaps  unfortunate¬ 
ly,  this  year,  with  unusual  moisture  during 
June  and  July,  lie  grew  his  potatoes  entirely 
on  his  lowest  land.  This  certainly  would  have 
been  a  misfortune  if  he  had  not  sprayed,  lmt 
more  of  that  later  on. 
SEED  SELECTION.— A  second  factor  of  his 
success  is  care  in  selecting  his  seed  for  plant¬ 
ing.  Usually  he  purchases  most  of  his  seed  from  red  apple  with  the  Gravenstcins.  As  it  was  a  filler 
f  reliable  grower  in  Vermont.  This  is  in  accordance  orchard,  and  the  Gravenstcins  did  not  cover  the 
with  the  belief  of  most  potato  growers  in  this  State  whole  piece,  which  also  included  some  new  varieties, 
that  potatoes  grown  year  after  year  from  home  I  did  not  call  them  Gravenstein,  although  the  flavor 
grown  seed  do  not  do  as  well  as  those  grown  from  was  similar  to  Gravenstein.  When  1  asked  the  help 
seed  produced  in  the  North.  Most  growers,  however,  where  the  red  apples  came  from,  the  answer  was 
think  that  seed  potatoes  can  be  grown  here  for  a  "Under  a  Gravenstein  tree.”  Orders  were  given  to 
year  or  two  without  deterioration,  and  thus  Fagan  remember  which  tree  they  came  from.  I  was  very 
usually  saves  part  of  bis  crop  grown  from  northern  busy  and  gave  the  subject  little  thought  but  was 
seed  the  year  before,  for  this  purpose,  lie  believes 
that  the  Green  Mountain  variety  grown  so  com¬ 
monly  here  has  gradually  deteriorated,  or  at  least 
much  of  the  seed  how  on  the  market,  has,  and  he 
has  given  up  growing  this  variety  and  selected  what 
he  considers  varieties  that  produce  a  greater  num¬ 
ber  of  "sots.”  Gold  Coin  and  World’s  Wonder  are 
the  varieties  that  he  has  been  growing  lately,  and 
while  they  may  have  much  in  common  with  the 
Green  Mountain,  they  certainly  produce  more  tubers 
per  bill  (as  shown  by  the  accompanying  illustra¬ 
tion.  photographed  early  in  September)  than  we 
are  used  to  seeing  from  tin1  ordinary  stock  of  the 
latter  variety  as  grown  at  the  Station. 
PLANTING. — Planting  with  Fagan  this  year  be¬ 
gan  about  April  20th.  and  ended  the  first,  week  in 
May.  The  potatoes,  cut  in  fairly  large  pieces,  were 
planted  12  inches  apart  and  about  four  inches  deep, 
in  rows  three  feet  wide,  leaving  a.  slight,  furrow 
above  after  covering.  If  not  all  covered  by  the 
planter,  a  man  following  completes  the  covering. 
Before  the  plants  were  up,  the  fertilizer  was  sown 
by  machine  all  at  once  over  the  rows,  the  operation 
covering  up  the  fin-rows.  A  good  grade  of  commer¬ 
cial  potato  fertilizer,  practically  a  5-8-6  formula, 
was  used,  at  the  rate  of  3,800  pounds  per  acre;  no 
manure  was  used.  As  Mr.  Fagan  grows  only  hay 
and  potatoes,  he  generally  uses  the  same  land  for 
two  or  rarely  three  years,  and  lhe.n  turns  it  into 
grass  for  two  or  three  years,  plowing  up  a  new 
piece  for  bis  potatoes.  Following  the  grass  turf,  the 
June  bug  larva*  are  apt  to  eat  the  tubers  somewhat 
in  certain  seasons,  as  the  past  one. 
CULTIVATION.— As  soon  as  the  vines  appear 
(Continued  on  page  414.) 
The  Mechanical  Side  of  Spraying 
WING  TIME. — This  will  be  an  attempt  to  dis¬ 
cuss  the  tools  used  in  spraying  from  the  view- 
as  they  begin  to  ripen,  pick  off  every  day  and  ship  point  of  one  who  stands  on  the  platform  and  holds 
immediately.  Such  fruit  will  bring  more  money  the  spray  rod.  It  is  needless  to  point  out  that  it  is 
than  bard  green  fruit  picked  from  the  trees.  The  necessary  to  study  a  new  spraying  rig  carefully  be- 
liiuleb  should  be  put  on  just  before  picking  time,  fore  buying  in  order  to  see  if  it  is  capable  of  doing 
after  all  stones  have  been  picked  or  raked  from  the  work.  It  is  also  necessary  to  watch  the  outfits 
under  Hie  trees,  in  handling  an  orchard  that  way  that  are  in  use,  and  so  keep  them  in  proper  condi- 
six  or  eight  years  ago,  and  working  at  the  packing  tion  for  service  when  needed.  A  few  hours’  delay  at 
end  of  the  job  I  noticed  once  in  a  while  a  bright  a  critical  time  may  entail  serious  loss.  The  time 
available  for  making  the  spray  application  im¬ 
mediately  after  blossoming  is  often  less  than 
four  days.  If  one  must  spend  one  of  these  days 
overhauling  the  outfit,  perhaps  grinding  a  valve 
or  two  and  packing  some  leaky  pump  cylin¬ 
ders,  the  cost  of  such  repairs  when  figured  at 
the  end  of  the  year’s  work  may  run  into  the 
hundreds  of  dollars. 
TI1E  TANK. — The  outfit  should  be  low  down. 
It  can  thus  lie  used  on  steeper  hillsides  and 
under  lower  limbs.  Those  who  consider  it  ne- 
eessary  to  get  away  up  in  the  air  when  spray¬ 
ing  can  add  a  light,  tower  and  still  have  the 
whole  outfit  more  stable  than  the  higher  forms. 
We  do  not  use  a  tower,  and  cannot  see  that,  we 
do  any  poorer  spraying  by  our  methods.  The 
capacity  of  the  tank  should  be  proportionate 
to  the  work  it.  is  required  to  do.  In  the  larger 
commercial  orchards  200  gallons  is  about  the 
minimum  capacity,  although  a  very  low-down 
outfit  of  too  gallons  capacity  may  be  use¬ 
ful  in  the  case  of  trees  planted  on  steep  hill¬ 
sides.  Three  horses  are  usually  needed  to  handle  a 
200-gallon  outfit.  Two  may  be  able  to  pull  it.  but 
the  steady  drag  of  businesslike  spraying  is  pretty 
hard  even  on  three  horses.  The  agitator  in  the  tank 
should  be  of  good  design  and  run  fast  enough  to 
keep  the  spray  material  from  settling  to  the  bottom 
of  the  tank.  The  ordinary  screw  propeller  type 
is  good  enough  if  run  fast.  It  must  be  watched  to 
see  that  the  propellers  do  not  get  loose  on  the  shaft. 
The  job  of  cleaning  out  the  “sludge”  in  the  bottom 
of  a  spray  tank  is  not  one  to  be  envied.  We  have 
found  tin'  best  way  is  to  get  inside,  sit  against  one 
side  of  the  tank  with  the  feet  braced  against  the 
other  and  dip  and  scrape  below.  Of  course  the  tank 
should  have  a  eloan-nut  plug  at  the  bottom  of  one 
end.  These  directions  apply  to  the  half-round  tanks. 
The  older  style  of  round  vertical  tanks  are  too 
high  for  comfort  when  spraying. 
IIANDY  FILLING. — Means  should  he  provided 
for  tilling  (lit*  tank  quickly.  No  hau'd  pump  is  rapid 
enough.  An  elevated  tank  or  reservoir  with  a  pipe 
of  not  less  than  two  Inches  diameter  leading  to  the 
filling  platform  should  lie  provided-  The  water  sup¬ 
ply  should  furnish  about  1<M)  gallons  per  minute 
while  the  tanks  are  being  filled.  Storage  space 
shoud  be  provided  for  the  spray  materials  on  or 
near  the  filling  platform,  so  that  there  will  be  no 
need  of  carrying  any  tiling  up  to  put  it  in  the  spray 
tank.  With  everything  handy  one  man  can  put  six 
to  eight  gallons  of  lime-sulphur,  nine  pounds  arsen¬ 
ate  of  lead  and  half  a  bag  of  hydrated  lime  in  a 
spray  tank  in  from  two  to  three  minutes.  While 
this  is  being  done  the  other  man  can  oil  the  engine 
and  fill  the  tank  with  water.  It  should  not  be  more 
than  five  minutes  from  the  time  the  team  stops  at 
the  platform  until  they  start  back  to  work.  In  near¬ 
by  work  we  have-  loaded  up  and  sprayed  out  200 
gallons  in  20  minutes.  That  is,  20  minutes  from 
the  time  (lie  team  stopped  at  the  platform  until  it 
stopped  then*  for  another  load. 
ENGINE  POWER— The  engine  should  furnish 
power  enough  to  run  the  outfit  and  have  some  re¬ 
serve.  It  takes  considerable  power  to  run  a  pump 
(Continued  on  pgac  3S2.) 
Yield  from  a  Hill  of  Gold  Coin 
The  Red  Gravenstein  Apple.  Fig.  108 
Sampling  the  Peach  Crop.  Fig.  109 
told  later  which  tree  it  was.  When  the  tree  bore 
again  r  watched  the  fruit  color  and  found  one  limb 
wlii<>Ji  bore  the  red  apples,  I  now  have  a  dozen  or 
so  grafted  from  that  limb. 
The  trees  in  growth  are  similar  to  the  Graven¬ 
stein;  in  fact  cannot  lie  distinguished  from  that  va¬ 
riety.  But  the  fruit  is  a  deeper,  blighter  red.  with 
the  Gravenstein  flavor.  They  may  possibly  be  a 
