448 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JUNE 20 
as ts easily ascertained by the slight gall-like 
swelling and hardening of the parts affected, 
it should be burned, as they can very well 
afford to sacrifice the straw to lessen the in¬ 
jury the ensuing year. After Mr. Luse’s ex¬ 
perience, one cannot be too careful in cleans¬ 
ing the grain and in separating and destroying 
the infested straw. 
While speaking of this Joint Worm, I regret 
that Prof. A. J. Cook should have given 
such prominence to a redescription of this old 
and well-known pest. In reading over his 
account on page 314 of the Rural, I could 
not but feel that he was dealing with Isosoma 
hordei (Harr ) and specimens which he has 
kindly sent, at my request, prove beyond a 
doubt that my surmise was correct. The col¬ 
oration in this species is sufficiently variable 
to have induced Dr. Fitch to separate from it 
what he considered three distinct species, viz.: 
I, tritici, secalis and favipes. The researches 
of Walsh, and the experience of myself and 
others since, have shown these so called spe¬ 
cies to be one aud the same, aud the names 
have become mere variety names Prof. 
Cook’s species accords in every way with the 
Tritici variety, and the work, as shown 
by him, is that peculiar to this species; 
for while, ordinarily, it causes more or less 
of swelling of the straw, the solidifying and 
The larva? and pupae of all three species are 
so much alike that they cannot well be distin¬ 
guished by the most skilled, and Prof. Cook’s 
description, agrees better with the parasitic 
Semlotellus larva than with that of Isosoma. 
WRAT I KNOW ABOUT RAISING FINE 
NEW VARIETIES OF FRUITS 
FROM SEED. 
IN TWO PARTS.—PART II. 
JAMES DOUGALL. 
PEACHES. 
My first attempt to raise fine fruit from seed 
was with peaches. I planted the pits from 
my best fruit, where the trees were to grow, 
budding them the first year with the best 
named kinds; but leaving a shoot to grow from 
below the bud till it fruited, to test its quality. 
Several of these proved very good, but with 
the exception of two, they were not consider¬ 
ed distinct enough to propagate from. One 
of these two, the Rosebank, described in 
Downing’s Fruits and Fruit Trees of America, 
is one of the richest-flavored peaches—white 
Fig. 216. 
Isosoma tritici, the wingless Joint worm Fly—showing female (/): larva (.a, 0); ami rudimentary wing (i); 
with full developed wings (a, h ) of exceptional Individuals.—After Riley. 
there. These were her reasons for imposing 
restrictions, and no one who understands the 
English policy need be told that they will 
never be removed until we can show that 
pleuro-pneumonia no longer exists here. Our 
only hope, then, either to save our cattle indus¬ 
try or recover our trade, is to stamp out the 
disease and to do it immediately and thor¬ 
oughly. 
We have an investment of twelve hundred 
millions of dollars at stake, and we are annu¬ 
ally losing three times what it would cost to 
relieve us at once and forever from the danger 
—what stupidity, then, to stand quiet and 
idle and see the plague spread from State to 
State as it has within the past year, during 
which time it has advanced a thousand miles 
nearer our uufenced ranges. But for its 
prompt discovery in the West by the Bureau 
of Animal Industry, and the agitation which 
has led to its control there, it is probable that 
it would even now be beyond the possibility 
of extermination. Under such circumstances, 
I cannot see the stock columns of an in¬ 
fluential journal like the Rural dealing 
out. week after week, such matter as l have 
been criticising, without recording an empha¬ 
tic protest and endeavoring to show the 
ignorance, if not the criminality, as Mr. Per- 
iain puts it, by which it is inspired. The 
writers of Stockman’s way of thinking have 
succeeded in delaying legislation for year 
after year, during which time we have suf¬ 
fered in consequence, by restrictions upon our 
foreign and domestic commerce, and by the 
extension of the disease, until now the crisis 
is at hand, and it seems reasonably certain 
that relief muBt come from the next session of 
Congress, or we will find ourselves in the con¬ 
dition of some other countries which real¬ 
ized their danger only when it was too late to 
be avoided. 
PROF, C. V. RILEY. 
Mr. Elliot Luse, of Barry, Ohio, under 
date of May 4th, sent me samples of wheat- 
sti aw for inspection. He writes as follows: 
“Last Fall, when thrashing, there was a 
hard straw that would come through with the 
grain. It was from half an inch to three 
inches in length: when cleaned with a hand- 
mill, 1 would get about one busbel of this stuff 
out of 20 bushels of grain. We thought but 
little about it at the time. This Spring, I 
commenced feeding my horses with cut straw 
and ground feed One horse was taken sick, 
and I sent for the doctor. He said It was 
worms, and gave ber a dose, which soon cured 
her. In less than a week another was taken, 
and had the same symptoms as the first. I 
concluded it must be in the feed. Examining 
the straw, 1 find such as I send you. In one 
piece, not over two and-a half inches, I found 
as many as eight worms. What are they, and 
will they injure the grain this Summer? I 
find them only in the wheat straw.” 
The insects in tbese straws proved to be the 
common Joint Worm (Isosoma hordei. Harr.) 
(Fig. 215), wbleh was quite abundant in parts 
Fig. 215. 
Isoeoma hordei, the true Joint-worm Fly.—a, fem¬ 
ale, with her antenna and abdomen enlarged <c, e); b, 
male, with same parts enlarged (<*,/).—After Riley. 
of the country last season, and was a great 
peat 30 years ago. As noticed by Mr. Luse, 
the insect remains in the straw through the 
Fall and Winter, and the most satisfactory 
way to destroy it is to burn the infested straw. 
The fact that the hardened and solidified bits 
of straw, infested by tbe Joint Worm, came 
through the thrasher with tbe wheat, in such 
quantities, is a most interesting experience, 
and shows the necessity of cleaning wheat that 
has been infested by this insect and of burn¬ 
ing the hardened and swollen bits of straw. 
As the Joint Worm has evidently been on 
the increase for the last few years, I would 
recommend to wheat growers to examine 
carefully their cut straw at harvest time, and 
if the infested portions are found numerous, 
hardening often take place with no more swell¬ 
ing than indicated in his figure, and the 
habits of the other species that infest wheat 
namely, I. tritici (Riley), and I. grande (Riley), 
Figs. 216, 217, 218, are quite different. These 
Ioaoma grande, larger Joint-worm Fly, female.— 
After Riley. 
Fig. 218. 
IoBorna grande.—d, larva; e, antenna; f, mandible. 
a, pupa.—After Riley. 
two are known only in the female sex, and as 
Prof. Cook’s figures are lacking in structural 
accuracy, I send the Rural herewith figures 
of the three species known to Infest wheat. 
Tbe larva of Isosoma hordei occurs In num¬ 
bers usually near tbe joint, aud produces veri¬ 
table galls, the affected stalk solidifying aud 
the external swelling varying In prominence. 
The other two species, which may prove to 
be dimorphic forms, live singly In the stalk 
without causing any hardening or swelling. 
flesh with handsome red mottled cheek,aud of 
good size. The other was a seedling from 
the old French psach Pavie de Pompone, 
exceeding its parent in size and beauty, if any 
thing, but otherwise very similar. 
The Pavie de Pompone was described by A. 
J. Downing in the first edition of his work, as 
being very large, very late, but worthy of 
trial at the 8outb. Having an imported tree 
bearing at that time, I sent him a basket of 
the fruit averaging about 15 inches in circum¬ 
ference and weighing as many ounces; none 
on the tree were less than 11 inches, while 
some were 16 a'd 17 inches in circumference, 
weighing upwards of a pound, and as large as 
the Alexander Apple, ripening thoroughly in 
October. From those sent, Mr. Downing 
gave a correct description in his secoud edi¬ 
tion, saying he had got the specimens from 
me, grown in Canada. If any fruit had at¬ 
tained full perfection it was this, as almost all 
the pits were imperfect, aud yet a seedling 
from it was rather better than the parent. 
The severe winter of 1884-85 killed nearly all 
the peach trees la this section, and amongst 
them both the original and seedling trees. It 
should be again imported from France as it is 
well worthy of cultivation. 
GOOSEBERRIES. 
The gooseberry was my next attempt. I 
had all the best English varieties, but found, 
with one or two exceptions, that they mil¬ 
dewed badly, while some of the very best, 
such as Warrington Red, did not stand the 
great heat aud drought of our Summers. 
Thinking to raise some more suitable to our 
climate, I sowed the seeds; the aeedliugs, with 
one exception, though good, did not prove 
more free from mildew than imported varie¬ 
ties. The exception was evidently a hybrid 
from the wild prickly fruited, several bushes 
of which grew wild in a ravine running 
through my lawn close by. It grew very strong 
and upright, with shoots from the bottom 
about five feet high, the same year, and close¬ 
ly resembled the wild, except that Its fruit 
was covered with strong hairs instead of 
prickles, was larger,better flavored, and blos¬ 
somed at the same time as the Euglish, the 
wild being a week later in flowering. To get 
a Btill Letter cross, I planted some of the beat 
Euglish closely around it and saved the seeds 
from both. Tbe result was many excellent 
varieties, principally from the seeds of the 
hybrid. Some were perfectly smooth, others 
hairy, and of all colors and sizes; but all had 
a trace of the wild flavor, and the same 
strong, upright growth. 
1 next planted the Houghton and the Eng¬ 
lish beside each other in the same way, 
sowing the seeds of both. Many of these 
were excellent: one in particular No. 10, uow 
Dougall’s Favorite, from a seed of the 
Houghton, bore fine, large, solid fruit, a very 
productive market berry. Another, No. 3, is 
from a seed of an English berry; fruit pretty 
large, of excellent quality and immensely 
productive. Illustrations and descriptions of 
these will be found in the Rural New Yorker 
January 19th, 1884. 
I have some other hybrid seedlings, a cross 
still further removed from the wild, which I 
hope to fully test this year. They Lore last 
year a few fruits which are quite large,white, 
yellow, red and blHCk, smooth and hairy. I 
have some thousand more seedlings coming on, 
that will bear in a year or two. Each va¬ 
riety will be kept distinct, and I hope to 
have some still better fruit from them. None 
of these crosses or hybrids ha3 mildewed. 
CHERRIES. 
Amongst other seedling cherries, all very 
good, I have raised two that I consider of 
first quality. These and Home plums, hereafter 
to be noted, grew up in my garden where the 
pits had been thrown after the fruit had been 
eaten. The trees were taken up when about 
three inches high aud transplanted thickly in 
two rows a foot apart, across the vacant end 
of a four-foot wide tulip bed, with the inten¬ 
tion of removing them for trial tbe following 
year, but this was neglected till one of the 
cherries fruited, which proved 60 excellent 
that all the others were removed and planted 
elsewhere. This cherry, now the Windsor, 
was described aud illustrated in the Rural 
New-Yorker of September 13, 1881. it is a 
large, late, solid fleshed, liver-colored fruit of 
great excellence, becoming nearly black when 
ripe; tree a hardy, vigorous grower, and ex¬ 
traordinarily productive, and this is probably 
tbe most profitable .market cherry yet raised. 
The other cherry, the Dougall, I think fully 
as valuable, as it is the earliest cherry of first 
quality that we have. It is closely allied to 
the Early Purple Gulgne; but is larger, better 
flavored and nearly a week earlier; moreover, 
the tree is a strong, healthy grower, with 
broad leaves, while the Early Purple Guigne 
is a weakly grower with narrow, incurved 
leaves. The Dougall has oue especial quality 
that was discovered by accident—the fruit 
will keep a long time without spoiling. 
THE FALLA VYATER APPLE. 
Please let me add a few words to what 
Mr. Marvin and Mi-. Devereaux say, page 313, 
concerning the Falla water. The apple is 
worthy of all they say. It seems to have or¬ 
iginated on the Tuipebocken Creek, in Berks 
County, Pa., and as the Oermaus of that sec¬ 
tion were not familiar with orthography, and 
as names are liable to ail sorts of variations 
when only heard aud rarely or never seen, it 
may be supposed that “Tomahawking” and 
“Tallakeehawky” are curruptious of Tulpe- 
hockeu. The first newspaper mention of this 
noble apple, over 40 years ago, gave it the 
name of Falamander (for Fallawater—the 
name, probably, of the first disseminator). It 
is very widely known In Pennsylvania as the 
“Pound” Apple. Graud fruit as it is it has 
some defects. It ripens on some trees and in 
some seasons too early to keep well, although 
otherwise a good keeper. Cions should be 
taken from trees that retain the fruit green 
till gathering time. The stems being short, 
tbe growth of the enormous ball tends to de¬ 
tach them and the loss by windfalls is often 
great. It is a very easy sort to bud or graft, 
having great vigor of growth, which causes 
it to bleed injuriously when pruued late in 
Spring, the constant flow rotting the bark 
down which it oozes. It is impatient of 
severe pruning at any season, aud If over-rank 
and late growth is induced from any cause, 
the tree is apt to suffer seriously from frozen 
sap. So very flue aud popular a fruit is 
worthy of attention by Northern growers. 
Its flesh, though large-grained, iB tender and 
uioy, with an agreeable sweetness, without 
high flavor or aroma. It is a good keeper 
under fair conditions. “w.” 
Ijorticnltunil. 
THE WINDSOR CIILEF STRAWBERRY. 
It will be recollected that, upon the intro 
ductiou of the Windsor (Chief) Strawberry, 
mauy promlueut growers found it impossible 
to discover the slightest difference, either in 
plant or fruit, between this and one of its al¬ 
leged pareuts—the Champion. This was, in 
fact, my case, though my plants wore received 
directly from tho originator. Several promi¬ 
nent horticulturists have persistently claimed 
a very decided difference between the two, 
and that clearly in favor of the Windsor. 
Among the most persistent of these I may 
name A. M. Purdy, of the Fruit Recorder, of 
Palmyra, N. Y. 
With the purpose of reaching, if possible, a 
solution of this problem, I, last season, ex¬ 
changed plants with Mr. Purdy, placing hia 
