710 
May  6,  1910. 
Gfce  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
Saving  the  Decayed  Trees 
It  is  surprising  how  many  people  have 
come  to  ns  this  year  asking  how  to  save 
old  apple  trees,  which  have  began  to 
decay  on  the  trunk.  These  questions  re¬ 
late  to  other  trees  also,  hut  our  people 
seem  most  anxious  to  save  the  apple. 
Some  of  these  old  tree  friends  are  on  the 
lawn  or  around  the  house,  and  as  they 
have  a  history  tied  up  with  the  family, 
it  is  no  wonder  that,  their  owners  grieve 
when  the  old  veterans  begin  to  decay. 
This  decay  usually  starts  from  a  limb 
which  was  cut  off  so  as  to  leave  a  long 
stub.  Under  such  treatment  the  stub 
begins  to  decay,  and  the  wound  does  not 
heal  over.  Water  works  down  into  the 
decayed  spot  aud  it  rapidly  spreads,  un¬ 
til  finally  there  is  a  large  cavity  eating 
down  to  the  center  of  the  trunk.  If  in 
the  first  place  the  limb  had  been  cut  back 
into  live  wood,  with  a  slanting  cut  so 
that  the  water  would  run  away,  and  then 
covered  with  good  paint  or  grafting  wax, 
there  would  have  been  little  trouble,  hut 
the  cavity  has  appeared  and  threatens 
the  life  of  the  tree.  The  picture  on  page 
707,  Fig.  255.  gives  a  homely  view  of 
the  way  these  cavities  are  treated.  The 
principle  of  treating  the  tree  is  the  same 
as  that  of  saving  a  decayed  tooth.  The 
cavity  must  be  chopped  out  so  as  to  dis¬ 
pose  of  all  the  decayed  wood.  When  this 
has  been  completely  removed  the  cavity 
should  be  washed  out  or  painted  with 
some  antiseptic,  which  will  prevent  any 
further  spread  of  the  decay.  Then  the 
whole  cavity  is  packed  solidly  with  ce¬ 
ment,  asphalt,  or  stone  and  concrete.  In 
the  picture  shown  (he  workman  is  evi¬ 
dently  filling  the  cavity  with  concrete 
and  stone,  packing  it  down  solidly  so  as 
to  fill  the  entire  place. 
dressing  of  manure  or  of  a  nitrogenous 
fertilizer,  early  in  the  Spring,  usually 
gives  the  best  returns. 
New  York.  e.  w.  mitchell. 
Fertilizer  for  Walnuts  and  Grapes 
1.  Will  you  tell  me  what  to  do  for  two 
lemon  walnut  or  butternut  trees?  They 
are  large  trees  aud  used  to  bear.  They 
are  near  some  maple  trees.  Do  they  need 
fertilizer?  If  so  what  kind,  and  do  they 
need  much  pruning?  2.  I  have  six  Con¬ 
cord  grape  vines  set  out  two  years  ago, 
but  while  they  live  do  not  grow.  What 
can  I  do  for  them?  o.  ii. 
East  Wakefield,  N.  II. 
1.  The  natural  habitat  of  the  White 
walnut  (butternut)  is  in  the  alluvial 
soils  of  creek  and  river  bottoms,  aud  foot¬ 
hills  bordering  on  streams  where  tin1  soil 
is  made  up  largely  of  leafmold,  and  when 
removed  from  their  natural  food  elements 
they  seldom  thrive  well,  nor  live  as  long. 
The  White  walnut  needs  but  little  prun¬ 
ing;  about  all  that  is  necessary  is  to 
keep  the  dead  aud  dying  branches  cut. 
out.  A  compost  composed  of  forest 
leaves  and  stable  manure,  about  equal 
parts,  well  rotted,  worked  in  the  soil 
around  them  in  a  radius  equal  to  that 
of  the  branches,  should  prove  quite  ben¬ 
eficial.  The  addition  of  about  25  pounds 
of  coarse  raw  bone  to  a  wagonload  of 
compost,  will  be  of  additional  benefit. 
2.  Work  into  the  soil  around  the  vines 
a  liberal  application  of  well-rotted  stable 
manure  supplemented  with  a  good  shovel¬ 
ful  of  unleached  wood  ashes,  and  a  quart 
or  so  of  coarse  raw  bone.  Keep  them 
cultivated  regularly  every  10  days  or  two 
weeks  until  July  first  to  fifteenth,  and 
seed  rhe  ground  around  them  to  Crimson 
clover,  to  be  turned  under  the  following 
Spring.  K. 
Working  on  Old  Apple  Trees 
I  have  an  old  orchard  <>f  about  100  ap¬ 
ple  trees.  Some  of  them  I  want  to  graft, 
a  few  dishorn,  and  get  lower  limbs  to 
graft:  but  most  of  them  I  wish  merely 
to  prune  and  fertilize.  Will  you  advise 
me  how  to  treat  canker,  with  what  to 
paint,  where  large  branches  are  removed  : 
with  what  to  fill  cavities  in  trunk  and 
large  branches,  and  what  to  use  for  fertil¬ 
izer  when  a  cover  crop  is  turned  under  in 
the  Spring?  h.  w.  M. 
Franklin  Co.,  Me. 
Before  undertaking  any  extensive  re¬ 
pairs  to  old  apple  trees  be  sure  that  they 
are  fairly  free  from  root  rot  and  collar 
rot.  for  without  a  good  foundation  the 
work  on  the  tops  is  practically  wasted. 
To  dishorn  and  get  lower  limbs  to  start  is 
an  operation  that  takes  several  years. 
First  cut  out  all  dead  and  diseased 
wood  and  then  take  off  about  one-third  or 
one-fourth  of  the  tree  each  year,  or  every 
other  year,  and  save  and  train  lower 
water-sprouts  for  the  new  branches. 
Most  of  the  cutting  should  be  confined  to 
the  upper  branches  that  go  over  20  feet 
in  the  air,  and  old  branches  that  are  low 
should  be  saved  wherever  possible. 
Grafting  on  old  trees  is  usually  a  fail¬ 
ure;  large  limbs  may  sometimes  be  work¬ 
ed  over  by  setting  in  four  or  six  grafts 
and  gradually  thinning  them  out  or  bridg¬ 
ing  them  together,  or  water  sprouts  may 
be  grafted  in  their  second  or  third  year, 
but  such  work  is  expensive  and  not  very 
satisfactory.  As  a  general  rule  it  is  bet¬ 
ter  just  to  cut  out  dead  and  diseased 
wood,  keep  the  tops  thinned  and  shaped 
a  little,  and  plant  young  orchards  to  re¬ 
place  the  old  ones.  Apple  tree  cankers 
usually  extend  so  far  under  the  bark  and 
into  the  wood  that  it  is  difficult  to  cut 
them  out.  and  weakens  the  branch  so 
that  it  soon  breaks  off.  Where  they  are 
cut  out  or  limbs  are  out  off  use  coal  tar, 
a  by-product  of  the  manufacture  of  gas, 
to  paint  the  wounds. 
Filling  cavities  is  only  practical  on 
trees  of  unusual  value,  and  is  not  econom¬ 
ical  in  the  average  old  apple  orchard. 
Use  about  three  parts  sand  and  one  of 
cement,  and  after  cleaning  the  cavity 
thoroughly  with  a  chisel  back  to  sound 
wood,  tack  a  bag  over  the  opening  for  a 
form  and  tamp  the  cement  in  firmly  from 
the  top  of  the  opening. 
When  cover  crops  are  plowed  under 
lime  is  often  better  than  fertilizer,  as  it 
encourages  the  rapid  decay  of  the  vege¬ 
table  matter.  On  the  orchard  a  good 
Frosted  Potatoes 
About  three  years  ago  a  frost  hit  some 
early  potatoes  that  were  about  six  inches 
high.  The  leaves  were  all  killed  but  the 
stalks  seemed  all  right.  They  formed  a  new 
growth  and  made  about  one-half  of  crop. 
Same  year  some  more  fields  did  not  yield 
one-third  of  crop.  It  is  a  chance  to  take 
if  they  are  frosted  badly,  especially  on 
low  land,  on  high  and  dry  ground  they 
seem  to  outgrow  frost  soon.  This  has 
been  my  experience.^  PETER  W.  to .\ OVER. 
Monmouth  Co.,  N.  ,T. 
We  have  had  a  number  of  questions 
this  year  about  frosted  potatoes.  In  a 
number  of  cases  at  the  South  apparently 
the  early  crop  has  been  caught  by  cold 
weather,  and  readers  want  to  know  what 
the  effect:  will  be  if  they  let  the  potatoes 
alone.  There  are  some  cases  where  a 
new  set  of  vines  will  come  and  make  a 
fair  crop.  In  the  majority  of  cases,  how¬ 
ever,  especially  if  the  seed  is  cut  to  one 
eye,  frosted  vines  will  rarely  amount  to 
much.  They  appear  to  make  a  feeble 
growth,  blit  fall  an  easy  prey  to  bug  and 
blight  later  on.  In  the  majority  of  cases 
we  think  it  would  pay  better  to  plant 
corn  or  some  other  crop  on  the  potato 
rows,  rather  than  to  expect  the  crop  to 
mature.  We  know  of  cases,  however, 
where  when  the  blight  appeared,  the 
vines  have  been  mowed  off  with  a  mow¬ 
ing  machine,  ripped  out  and  burned. 
The  weather  changed  later,  new  vines 
came  up  aud  made  a  fair  crop.  These 
are  all  exceptional  cases.  The  general 
rule  would  be  that  the  vine  will  not  fully 
recover.  Where  it  is  evident  that  frost 
is  coming,  the  best  thing  is  to  get  out 
with  the  plow  as  quickly  as  possible  and 
turn  a  furrow  from  each  side  of  the  row 
up  over  the  vines.  IVo  should  like  to 
hear  from  farmers  who  have  had  potato 
vines  frozen.  Did  they  recover  and  make 
a  fair  crop? 
Maple  Vinegar 
Will  you  give  mo  a  recipe  to  make  a 
vinegar  out  of  maple  sap?  j.  J.  n. 
Enfield,  Mass. 
I  am  not  very  familiar  with  this  pro¬ 
cess,  since  we  have  not  made  vinegar  in 
this  way  for  some  years.  As  l  remem¬ 
ber  it,  however,  the  sap  is  evaporated  to 
about  one-fourth  of  its  original  volume, 
then  put  into  a  clean  barrel,  allowed  to 
cool  and  a  quantity  of  yeast  added.  The 
barrel  is  set  out  in  the  sun  during  the 
Spring  and  Summer,  so  that  acetic  fer¬ 
mentation  takes  place,  and  a  good  grade 
of  vinegar  is  the  result.  E.  s.  b. 
BERRY  PLANTS 
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Bushel,  $2.00;  2  bu.  hag.  $3.50;  10  bu.  $16.50 
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Cabbage  Maggots  destroy  a  big  percentage  of  the 
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F 
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