754 
NOV 47 
678 was sent to us by Mr. J. B. Rogers, who 
received it from Mr. Pocklington. Both are 
true to nature. Our bunches ripened with 
the Concord, and in quality they were much 
the same. 
EARLY GRAPES. 
G. W. CAMPBELL. 
There are many sections of our country 
where only early-ripening gTapes will suc¬ 
ceed, and where even the Concord often fails 
to mature. The demand for early grapes in¬ 
creases, and nearly all the new grapes, when 
first introduced, have been represented as 
ripening earlier than they have proven, upon 
trial. Northern regions, and those subject to 
early and late frosts which shorten the season 
at both ends, are those most interested in very 
early grapes, and as such locations are subject 
to extreme cold in Winter, hardiuess is an¬ 
other important requisite. In such locations, 
however, 1 believe grapes are usually less 
subject to mildew and other similar diseases 
of the foliage, and the wood consequently 
ripens better, enabling the vines to withstand 
the effects of severe cold better than in lati¬ 
tudes further south. I will mention a few 
varieties best adapted for planting, when the 
season is too short to ripen the Concord. 
Janesville: one of the earliest; black, 
medium-sized bunch and berry; rather pulpy, 
and acid in quality, not better than Hartford; 
a hardy and healthy vine, with good foliage; 
a prolific bearer. Not desirable, where better 
kinds can be grown. 
Hartford Prolific is too well known to 
need description: but it is next in earliness to 
Janesville. It also is poor in quality, and 
inclined to drop from the cluster when over¬ 
ripe, or permitted to over-bear. 
Worden’s Seedling seems to be growing 
in favor, aud is doubtless a Concord seedling, 
in many respects resembling Its parent. It 
has been, in different seasons, a little variable 
in its period of ripening; but has al ways been 
from a week to ten days in advance of the 
Concord here, I have found it quite as hardy, 
and as productive as the Concord; growth 
rather more slender; clusters usually a little 
larger; berries about the same. It is rather 
more juicy, and a little more sprightly or 
vinous in flavor than the Concord; but very 
much like it, and often it is very difficult to 
distinguish one from the other. It has the 
same tender skin, and does not keep in good 
condition loug after gathering. 
Moore’s Early is about two weeks earlier 
than the Concord, with larger berries and 
rather smaller clusters. In quality and flavor 
aud all general characteristics it is identical 
with the Concord. Perhaps it is not quite as 
productive, but it is sufficiently so; and it is 
of unquestionable value where an early and 
hardy grape of fair quality is required. 
Early Victor is a Dew variety of more 
recent introduction, having the habit of 
growth and general character of the Hart¬ 
ford Prolific vine. It seems, so far as tested, 
vigorous in growth, healthy in foliage, and 
very productive, aud in three years’ fruiting 
it has shown no tendency to rot. In size of 
bunch and berry it is less than the Hartford, 
and about the average of well-grown Clin¬ 
tons. In flavor it is sweet, slightly vinous, 
quite pleasant, but not high-flavored; not 
foxy, but always a little pulpy at the center. 
It hangs well to the cluster, not falling even 
when long past maturity. It is a good early 
variety, promising to be valuable; but I do 
not find it any earlier thau Moore’s. The 
above are all black grapes, and, so far as my 
experience goes, they are the most reliable 
of that color for locations where only early 
varieties can be grown. 
Lady is the only very early whife grape 
that I can reeommeud as promising to be 
reliable. It is a Concord seedling, and in vine 
aud foliage it resembles its parent, but is 
shorter-jointed and rather more dwarfish in 
growth. It has proven quite productive, but 
not equal in that respect to Concord or Wor¬ 
den. Berries fully as large as Concords; clus¬ 
ters rather less. It is generally regarded as 
better than Concord or any other grape 
which ripens as early, and is one of the ear¬ 
liest grapes of any color that I have ever 
grown. It hangs well to the cluster, has but 
little pulp, a thin skin, and few and very 
small seeds. It has always been as hardy in 
Winter here as the Concord. It blossoms 
late in Spring, aud thus often escapes when 
other varieties are destroyed by late frosts. 
Delaware ripens here a little before 
Concord, although the Concord sometimes 
shows color quite as early. The Dela¬ 
ware, however, when the foliage remains 
healthy, colors up rapidly, and as soon as 
fully colored it is fully ripe. It is less liable 
to mildew of the foliage in Northern than in 
Southern localities, and where the foliage re¬ 
mains healthy and the wwid ripens well, I 
know of no variety that endures the severest 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Wintei‘8 with less injury. It is not subject to 
rotting, and it is acknowledged to be among 
the best., if not the best, iu quality, of Ameri¬ 
can grapes. 
Massasott, or Rogers’s Hybrid No. 3. 
ripens with the Delaware, and though not 
quite hardy in very severe Winters. I think it 
can be grown successfully in northern sec¬ 
tions by giving some Winter protection. It is 
a red grape of very good quality, among the 
best of the hybrid varieties, and also one of 
the earliest. 
Delaware, Ohio. 
Pom olo laical 
APPLES AND APPLE-TREES IN THE 
the cion in the ground, where it is quite out of 
its element. It is evident that trees grown in 
this way can never be. as well rooted, as 
healthy and as long-lived as those budded on 
whole stocks. The excuses that nurserymen 
give for not budding on whole stocks are,that iu 
the first place, it costs four to six times as much 
for stocks; then that it requires one year longer 
to grow trees from the bud; aud, lastly, that 
root-grafting can be done in Winter when 
labor is comparatively cheap, while budding 
must he done in Summer. Purchasers, we are 
told, are not willing to pay the necessary dif¬ 
ference in price of the two classes of trees. 
But should purchasers be offered a choice be¬ 
tween them { Ought not nurserymen to grow 
trees in the proper way at reasonable rates, 
without regard to the demands of customers 
who are generally ignorant of the laws that 
relate to the habits aud growth of trees ? 
during recent years has been caused, to say 
nothing of the new and valuable varieties 
they have brought into notice. 
Considering that they probably receive one- 
half of the retail prices of trees, etc., as com¬ 
mission, that the amount of trees not taken 
or sold to irresponsible persons is considerable, 
and that the freight is always paid by the 
nurseryman, the charges made by the agent, 
are not unreasonable. The usual price for 
apple trees two years old is *30 per 100, freight 
included, the purchaser having the right to 
refuse them if not delivered as represented iu 
the contract, and in good condition. No 
money is paid till delivery. There are large 
firms employing no agents, which sell apple 
trees no hotter or larger at double the above 
rate, prepaying no freight, not. warranting a 
delivery in good condition, or even any 
delivery at all, and requiring payment iu 
advance of shipment. It is but fair to say, 
however, that there are many houses which 
sell direct at much below the rate mentioned. 
On the whole, agents are uo doubt nuisances; 
and if their services could be dispensed with 
it would be better for the consumer. But 
there are hundreds of farmers all oyer the 
land whose inattention and carelessness arc 
giving agents increased employment every 
year. These farmers neglect to call for their 
trees at the time they are notified, leave them 
at the station for days with their roots ex¬ 
posed to sun aud wind, and then, when the 
trees fail to grow, lay all the lilame ou the 
rascally ageuts. They turn their cattle and 
horses iu the young orchards, thinking, per¬ 
haps, that apple trees are cheaper grazing 
than grass; and, finally, buy all the trees thus 
lost and destroyed, over again. The number 
of sales annually made is far beyond what is 
required by any increase of area; and one 
iguoraut of the facts I have stated would won¬ 
der what becomes of all the trees that are sold. 
Pulaski Co., Ya. 
“ Feed Your Trees, and They Will 
Feed You.” —The conviction is fast growing 
among the orchardists of Maine that the 
above is not a mere smart saying, but that it 
embodies a fundamental truth which no fruit¬ 
grower can afford to neglect. We are har¬ 
vesting a very light crop of apples. This is, 
of course, not. without a cause; but the bar¬ 
renness is not universal. A good many men 
have a few trees well loaded. I have some 
myself, and I observe that all of these pro¬ 
ductive trees stand in exceptionally good 
spots, made so by nature or by man. There 
are also some whole orchards that are bearing 
good crops of apples. I know of two instances. 
One of these fortunate orchardists is the very 
one whom I have for some years regarded as 
the highest feeder in all this region, aud the 
other, without doubt, keeps his orchards in a 
far higher state of fertility thau the average 
of good farmers. The prime came of the 
short crop may have been the drought of 1882; 
but as it. is well known that crops iu general 
suffer less from drought ou rich than ou poor 
land, we need not hesitate to believe that fruit 
trees are subject to the same general laws, 
and that a remedy for drought iu the orchard 
will be found iu better fertilization, c. G. a. 
Manchester, Maine. 
Fickle Orchard-Planting in Califor¬ 
nia. —A leading nurseryman in California 
writes me that the demand for trees in that 
State this coming Winter will be very large; 
but that its character will lx? somewhat differ¬ 
ent from the demand last year. Thou apri 
cots enough could not be supplied, and 
cherries were almost entirely out of favor. 
This season these conditions are reversed. 
Cherries are iu large demand, aud the nur¬ 
serymen are not well supplied. Tree-planting 
iu California has always presented idiosyn. 
Wftdes, aud nurserymen there find it nearly 
impossible to suit the market. c. h. s. 
(Lljc 
1883 AS A HONEY YEAR. 
Thinking the numerous readers of the 
Rural New-Yorker would like to hear 
something about bees, I send you a few notes 
regarding the season of 1888 as to honey iu 
this loculi ty. The steady cold during the 
Winter of 1882-8 was very bard for the bees 
to endure (us they are natives of a warm cli¬ 
mate) which caused many to die from long 
confinement, for, to be health}', bees should 
have a flight once iu six weeks or two 
months, while during the past. Winter they 
could not fly for nearly five months. The re¬ 
sult w'as death to many stocks, und a great re¬ 
duction of numbers among those that sur¬ 
vived, Then, to make matters still worse, we 
hail a cold, backward Spring, so that it. was 
well into May before many young bees could 
SOUTHWEST. 
HUGH L. WYSOR. 
VARIETIES. 
South of the 40th parallel of north lati¬ 
tude, including the southern portions of Ohio, 
Indiana. Illinois, nearly all of Missouri, and 
all of Kansas, Winter apples of northern 
origin do not succeed. The seasons are too 
long for them, and they ripen too early in 
the Fall to be kept, through the Winter. 
Such famous varieties as the Buldwiu, North- 
era Spy, and Rhode Island Greening are 
nearly valueless for all the country above 
mentioned. In the more mountainous dis¬ 
tricts, the Baldwin occasionally does well: 
the Northern Spy is slow’ in coming into 
bearing, bears sparsely and irregularly when 
it does, and ripens the last of August or in 
early September. The Rhode Island Green¬ 
ing grows vigorously, and bears profusoly in 
alternate years, but the fruit almost invaria¬ 
bly rots on the tree and keeps badly. Here 
in Virginia, on the south side of the Blue 
Ridge, the Albemarle Pippin, which is iden¬ 
tical with the Yellow Newtown Pippiu of the 
North, does remarkably well, but on the north 
side it succeeds only in warm, rich allu¬ 
viums It is, at best, a poor, slow grower, 
both in the nursery and iu the orchard. Out 
of 15 varieties set out by myself, some three 
years ago. it has made the least growth. 
I give below a list of the best Winter 
apples for the South and Southwest. Most 
of them are too well known to need any 
description. I make no mention of Summer 
and Fall apples, because at a distance from 
market they are not profitable and are of im¬ 
portance only for home use. Fanners usually 
plant too many of them; a few only, selected 
so as to succeed one another, are required 
where there is no market for them. 
Here is the list of Winter apples in the 
order of their importance, but not of their 
quality: Ben Davis, York Imperial (Johnson’s 
Fine Winter), Rawle’s Genet (Neverfail), 
Winesap, Limber Twig, and Shockley. 
Of the newer varieties, Nansemond Beauty 
aud Duubar may be mentioned Of all the 
apples in the list, Ben Davis is the most vigor¬ 
ous, aud the earliest to come into bearing. 
For market. I should plant it almost exclu¬ 
sively. York Imperial is a fine apple for the 
Southwest; it is of first-rate quality. The 
only objection to Rawle’s Genet is that it is 
rather small. It. is a regular and profuse 
bearer, and blooms so late as always to escape 
frost. Winesap and Limber Twig are both 
good bearers, aud keep remarkably. The 
latter, however, is of poor quality. Shockley 
is the best apple for the South, where it is 
highly prized for its long keeping. Here in 
Virginia, except, perhaps, in the tide-water 
country, it is too small to be valuable. It is 
a regular and abundant bearer. The two 
new varieties, Nansemond Beauty and Duu¬ 
bar, have not fruited here to any extent, aud 
I cannot speak particularly of their merits. 
The former is claimed to be a larger apple 
and a bettor liearer than the Winesap. The 
latter is said to keep till June. 
PROPAGATION OF TREKS IN THE NURSERY. 
The rules laid down by the best authorities 
for the propagation of trees iu the nursery—I 
mean of standard apples—are these: They 
should lie grafted or budded on whole seedling 
stocks; they should be headed or branched not 
more than two feet from the ground with not 
more than three or four main branches; and, 
finallv. they should be so grown as, when of¬ 
fered for sale at one or two years from the 
bud, to have an abundance of fibrous roots. 
The reasons for these rules are apparent, yet 
few nurserymen observe them, either in whole 
or in part. Probably uine-teuths of the apple 
trees sold iu the United States are root-grafts. 
This root-grafting is accomplished by cutting 
the roots of the seedling stocks into pieces 
about two inches in length—as many as five 
or six pieces are often cut from a single root. 
A cion three or four inches in length is then 
inserted into every piece, and the pieces are 
set. out iu the nursery row, with two inches of " 
As to the violation of the rule about the 
heading of trees, we are informed that a 
majority of people want them beaded high 
enough to admit of the plow passing beneath 
them, or to allow of stock being turned into the 
orchard. Nurservmeu say it is their business 
to supply what is demanded. This is a flim- 
sey excuse, since it would be just as easy for 
the purchaser to trim up his trees to fall- 
necked stems, if such he wants, as for the 
nurservmeu to do so, for, afterall, it is simply 
a matter of trimming. But on the other hand, 
if low-headed trees are desired, they can only 
lie had by cutting off the whole top. Of what 
use, then, is their having been branched at all ? 
No. the real reason for tall stems and bushy 
tops is that the trees are not given room en¬ 
ough iu the nursery row to be headed any 
lo wer. The truth is that it would lie better for 
both uurserymen and their customers if the 
latter would buy yearling trees with single 
stems. The heads could then be allowed to 
form uaturally in the orchard, thns saving a 
vast amount of after trimming, since the 
branches would be thrown out regularly with¬ 
out crossing or interfering with one another. 
The use of the knife always causes a more 
numerous growth of shoots. Rome object to 
formiug the head with three or four branches 
starting from a common fork on the ground, 
that when the trees come into heavy bearing, 
they are often split down from the fork. 
Heie again single stems, if not cut back, would 
be desirable. 
The most important point of all is that trees 
should have plenty of fibrous roots. Without 
these, no tree can live, for they are the feeders 
through which it derives its nourishment from 
the soil. It is due more to the absence of 
these roots than to the carelessness with which 
they are set out, that so large a percentage of 
trees die after transplanting. To secure 
fibrous roots, the trees must have been grown 
in the right, kind of soil and must have been 
transplanted at least twice in the nursery be¬ 
fore being offered for sale. Iu this matter, 
also, the advantage is with one-year-old trees 
on whole stocks, since they can be taken up 
with all their roots intact. Older trees, of 
course, suffer a less or greater loss of roots 
according to the size and age. Whoever looks 
to his interests will not buy two and three- 
year-old trees when he considers that one-vear 
trees are much cheaper, that there is much lass 
danger of losing them, and that they are no 
longer eomiug into bearing. 
THE SALE OF TREES. 
The products of thenursery throughout Vir¬ 
ginia aud the adjoining States are generally 
sold by means of ageuts. These ageuts differ 
very materially from those who are oppro¬ 
brious!}’ termed “ tree peddlers” in the North. 
In many cases they represent the largest and 
most responsible firms in the country. What¬ 
ever they sell is sold true to name, and is of a 
character and quality equal to the hest. that 
comes from houses who employ no agents, 
“Tree peddlers” sell old plants under new 
names, charging therefor exorbitant prices, 
which the purchaser is induced to pay by the 
loud and taking descriptions given him. The 
ordere taken in this way are filled from the 
ordinary stock of some nursery and bought 
by the peddler at the usual wholesale rates. 
No words are too hail to use of men who de¬ 
ceive and plunder people iu this way. Agents, 
however, as we kuow them here, are really a 
very honest and respectable class. It, is true 
tliat. thev are sometimes extremely annoying 
and can’t take “no,” for ausw’er. The only 
way to dismiss them is either to give them an 
order or else kick them out of the house. 
Bu f then they have done a world of good, 
for thev have sold thousands of trees und 
plants to persons who, though really in need 
of such things, would, if left, to themselves, 
never have thought of buying them. Think, 
too, of those other men who, if they had not 
been “dogged” into it, would never have 
planted an orchard as long qs they could beg 
fruit of their neighbors. It Is also mainly 
due to the work of agents that the vast in¬ 
crease in the area of orchards and small fruit 
