THE RURAL HEW-YORKER. 
OCT 2 
valuable in formation on these subjects. There 
are 400,000 copies of these reports now pub¬ 
lished annually, and every fruit-grower should 
have one. The paper was applauded. 
Mr. Fuller said: “Out in Arizona there is 
one big green bug that is waiting for the 
people to plant more fruit It eats up peaches 
as soon as they get ripe.” Mr. Hatch more 
fully suggested that the pomologieal flag 
might as well be lowered to half-mast. “Why 
just think of those 350,000 species of insects 
over the water waiting to come over here !” 
Some one suggested the increase of the fiiend- 
ly lady-bug. Mr. Cay wood said: “ An ounce 
of soft-soap is worth more than ten thousand 
lady-bugs. Take a paint brush and go over 
the' trunk of the tree with the soap.” Some 
Florida members would rather sit in the shade 
and let the lady-bugs do the work. Perhaps in 
New York where the people like to work the 
soap remedy might do, they said ; but in 
Florida it had been tried without effect. 
“Is the Deterioration of Our Sviail Fruits 
a necessity?” was the title of John M. Smith s 
paper, the author being perhaps the most suc¬ 
cessful strawberry-grower in this country. 
Said he, in part, “there is no reason to suppose 
that the w ild strawberries of to-day are any 
better oi worse tliau those of 2,000 years ago. 
Those of my younger days have disappeared 
and reappeared again. But while our wild 
fruits do not improve if left to themselves 
they do not die out: they are here to stay. 
Those found growing under the best condi¬ 
tions of soil, air, etc., produce, other things 
being equal, the largest aud finest fruit. W hy 
is this? Is it not the very plants themselves 
saying to us ‘Give us better care, treat us more 
tenderly, give us a better chance,and we’ll do 
better for you.’ Now if we do this will they 
remain better or will they degenerate? Many 
of our improved fruits after a few years of 
success fail in quantity and quality. Is this 
a necessity or does it result from neglect and 
mistake in cultivation? We must agree that 
an improved strawberry plant is the result of 
a much higher cultivation—civilization is 
perhaps the better term—thau the plant could 
receive in its native condition. Remember 
the natural tendency is to go backward. Tbe 
plant must be kept up to its high standard. 
This being true, we find one of the causes, if 
not the grand cause, w r hy so many of the new 
fruits fail when carried away from their na¬ 
tive homes. Many of them are petted to the 
last degree: the soil is drained, fertilized with 
anything and everything, aud the plants are 
watched and tended like a baby. A great 
show of fruit results, but tbe plants become 
feeble, the show' caunot be kept up. Over and 
over again we have seen these failures. Thou¬ 
sands have spent their uiWy and time only 
to discover in the end that ail had been wast¬ 
ed. But you say some varieties are widely 
dissemiuated, continue doing well for many 
years and then suddenly fail. 
Well, let us consider the history of the Wil- 
son Strawberry, for instance. This had the 
most marked individuality of any strawberry 
ever sent out. It seemed perfectly at borne 
everywhere. Before the Wilson came,garden 
strawberries were only for the tables of tbe 
rich; but the Wilson created a revolution. 
With it every family could raiseitsown straw¬ 
berries. In 1880 reports of failure began to 
come in. These reports continued to iucrease 
until now it can no longer be said that the 
Wilson is the queen. Now, why has it deter¬ 
iorated, and in some cases almost entirely 
failed. 'Veil, in the first place, the Wilson re¬ 
quires rich land; secondly, it must be kept en¬ 
tirely alone, not being as strong in growth as 
some others. The beds should be renewed 
nearly or quite every year, because when they 
do their best they exhaust themselves and be¬ 
come liable to the attack of the first enemy 
that comes along, which with me is the 
“brown rust.” They will either lie down aud 
die or become so enfeebled as to be nearly 
worthless. Change of soil is another require¬ 
ment, Only in rare cases, I think, have these 
requirements been complied with. Poor, mis¬ 
erable, cheap plants have been planted in 
poor, half-prepared laud, where among other 
stronger growers they were left to struggle 
for themselves Theu half-cultivated, unpro¬ 
tected in winter, the yield is only one quarter 
or one-half what it should be. Left thus to 
struggle through a second year, the white 
grub, the brown cut-worm, the leaf- 
roller or a species of wire-worm attacks the 
plants, aud the work of destruction goes on. 
The yield of the second season is less than the 
first. Perhaps they are left lor a third year, 
hoping that a kind Providence wilt in some 
way step in uud furnish a crop. But almost 
utter failure results. Something must then 
be done, aud what is it? Sickly runners start 
out and an attempt is made to perpetuate 
themselves. These are, of course, worthless, 
but they are often used to set new beds. 
Sometimes the old bed is plowed up aud reset 
with these plants. Thus for nearly 30 
years this thing has been going on until now 
the cry has gone forth all over the country 
that the Wilscn is no longer a success ; some¬ 
thing new must he substituted. My only sur¬ 
prise has beeu that it didn’t fail long before, 
and it has be'm owing to its marvelous vitality 
that it has not. Time and again as I hivvu stood 
over my beautiful beds wheu in full bloom, 
or when laden with fruit, I have said to my¬ 
self, “You beautiful little pets, I wonder that 
Providence has not allowed you all to die 
outright to punish us for our ignorance and 
neglect.” 
Now take a different condition of things; 
strong, healthy plants, planted in the best soil, 
in the best manner, laud heavily manured, 
careful culture, blossoms kept off the first sea¬ 
son, thus preparing them for a large crop next 
year. Train the runners like the spokes in a 
wheel, the parent plaut. being the hub; protect 
in winter. In selecting plants to set out next 
spring, take them from these young beds, and 
uever from enfeebled plants that, have beeu 
bearing fruit. My beds are rarely allowed to 
produce more than one crop of fruit. New 
beds are uever set upon old ones just turned 
under, but upon thoroughly cultivated laud. 
Thus they escape insects. Does anybody here 
tbit'k that under such circumstances the Wil¬ 
son would ever have failed? Such substan¬ 
tially has beeu my practice for many years, 
and if auy of you were to tell my boys that 
the Wilson was a failure when looking at our 
beds they would think him a lunatic. I first 
obtained my plants in 1801, My crops have 
been uniformly large to very large ever siuce, 
except when reduced by my own neglect aud 
stupidity. In 1875 I raised at the rate of 44(1’.7 
had so large a crop of Concords as now. 
President Berckmans said the leading aud 
most valuable strawberry now grown in 
Georgia was Wilson’s Albany (applause.) Dr. 
Hape had grown it 15 years without deteriora¬ 
tion, aud he wished to confirm all the essayist 
had claimed for it. h. h. 
BURLINGTON COUNTY, N. J. FAIR. 
(RURAL SPECIAL REPORT.) 
“27te largest county fair in the Union"; 
two-ton oxen; poultry galore; fine fruit; a 
good vegetable display; the trotting track 
cuts off the implement exhibits; a splendid 
shoto. 
The 41st annual fair of the Burlington 
County Agricultural Society was held at 
Mount Holly, N. J., October 10th to 15th. 
Tbis fair claims the distinction of being the 
largest county fair in the United States; §17,- 
000 were offered in premiums. The exhibition 
was unusually complete in all departments, 
aud, as a matter of course, the attendance was 
very large. 
In the cattle department William Parry ex¬ 
hibited a number of fine Holstein-Friesian 
representatives of the. famous Pomona Herd. 
A fine herd of Guernseys, known as the Pauls- 
dale Herd, was shown by William M. Paul. 
The two famous oxen. King of Cattle and 
Champiou, bred and owned by George Ayr- 
aultof Poughkeepsie, N. Y., were admired by 
the farmers. They are said to weigh 4,000 
pounds each. The Dutch Belted cattle from 
Avona Farm (H. B. Richards) attracted by 
far the most attention. The contrast in color 
■I 
I 
I W 
V • • turn 
. ; , 
BLACK SPANISH HEN. Re-engraved from Vinton’s Gazette. Fig. 446. 
bushels per acre on one-quarter of au acre. 
In 1876 the quarter acre plot yielded a little 
less than 100 busiiels. Both were fair seasons, 
lu 1886, during that terrible drought, 'M-i acres 
averaged over 250 bushels an acre. Last sea¬ 
son, the most unfavorable I ever knew there, 
my three acres yielded 223 bushels each, A 
few Manchesters yielded at the rate of 232U 
bushels, Crescents 235, Wilsons 273^, all grow¬ 
ing side by side. We consider our Wilson 
plants are larger, better and stronger to-day 
than when we first obtained them in 1861.” 
Mr. Smith is the president of the Wiscon¬ 
sin State Horticultural Society, and his place 
is at Green Bay, Wisconsin 
Ris paper called out an animated discussion. 
Mr. Cay wood said, "The Wilson'likes a north¬ 
ern latitude, but it wou’t succeed here with us 
in the East, or further South. There is a 
time when all varieties die out: we can’t pre¬ 
vent it. We can now do nothing with the 
Wilson in the region of its origin to make it 
pay. Where are the beds that did well wheu 
we were boys? We kuow they are gone. The 
Concord Grape is now lulling: it is not half a 
crop all over the Union this year.” This state¬ 
ment brought several members to their feet 
at once, aud they made it rather warm for 
the veteran originator of new fruits for a 
time. Wisconsin members said they uever 
between the black aud white and the uni¬ 
formity of the belting make a herd of these 
curious cattle a pretty sight. 
The poultry house was tilled with the usual 
variety of fowls, and tbe visitor was almost 
deafened by the discordant voices, ranging 
from the coarse baso of the duck to the shrill 
soprano of the diminutive Bantam. It is evi¬ 
dent from the display that the larger Asiatics 
are holding their owu. The Cochins aud 
Brahmas easily led tbe exhibit. One end of 
the building was devoted to the humorous— 
the Pekm Bantams, the Guineas, the Jersey 
Blues, the Colored aud White Frizzles and 
the geese. Pigeons- of all sizes, colors aud 
shapes wore shown. 
In the center of the main building there 
was a beautiful fountain and ceuter-piece of 
aquatic plants. Nearly tbe whole of the lower 
half was devoted to fruit. The apple exhibit, 
although large, was not up to the average, 
owing to the partial failure of the local crop. 
There is, perhaps, no section of the couutry 
where pears grow to greater perfection than 
in this part of New Jersey, and, as might bo 
expected, they were exhibited in largo num¬ 
bers. One plate of Kieffer’s was shown aver¬ 
aging over 18 ounces each. Some remarkably 
fine specimens of the Le Conte, Duchess aud 
Vicar of Wiukfield were shown, besides a 
great variety of Lawrence, Seckel and other 
small pears. 
A temple of fruit made up by Mr. Elmer E. 
Craft from fruit raised at the Fair view Nurs¬ 
eries was a model of architectural art iu fruit. 
The leading grape growers were well repre¬ 
sented. Amoug the exhibitors were: A. 
J. Cay wood & Sou, Charles J. Copley, 
J. 8. Collins, William Parry, E & J. 
C. Williams, George S. Eayre, C. C. Corby 
and others. A number of branches of au Ul¬ 
ster Prolific vine literally loaded with grapes 
were exhibited by Mr. Caywood. He also 
showed a new and unnamed grape, a cross be¬ 
tween the Delaware and the Concord. 
On the tomato table the honors were di¬ 
vided betweeu the Paragon and the Acme. I 
noticed that the latter seemed to have the 
most friends. The Taggaird was highly 
spoken of as a remarkable bearer aud of ex¬ 
cellent quality for family use. 
Among the potatoes a new seedling of M. B. 
Elton’s attracted attention because of its re¬ 
markable size aud smoothness. It is claimed 
to be across between the Scotch Grampian 
and the Early Rose. It is evident that the 
Early Rose is still the favorite with local 
growers—they easily led the exhibit in size 
and smoothness. Some fine specimens of the 
Rural Blush, Queen of the Valley and Chicago 
Market were shown. Naturally the showing 
of sweet potatoes was of special excellence. 
The red. and white varieties attracted the 
most atteution, but the yellow led both iu 
size and beauty. The pumpkins and squashes, 
like everything else about the fair, were simply 
enormous. The 174-pouud pumpkin deserved 
the first prize. The Croatiaw Pumpkin is the 
favorite with growers iu this section, aud al¬ 
though its long, crooked neck makes it trou¬ 
blesome for the housewife to peel, yet it is the 
favorite in the Philadelphia market. 
Tbe display of corn exceeded auything of 
the kind ever shown in the East. The dents 
attracted attention; only a few baskets of in¬ 
ferior flints were exhibited; numliers of ears of 
the dents were 14 inches in length aud eight 
in circumference. The yield per acre must 
have been very large. Home of tbe stalks 
reached to the eaves of the building with ears 
eight feet or more from the floor. 
The implements were scattered promiscuous¬ 
ly over the circle inclosed by tbe race-course. 
Many pi rsons do not like to cross tbe track 
and therefore do not go to see the implements 
at all. A bridge over the track would over¬ 
come this objection aud make glad the 
hearts of the implement and fertilizer men. 
Nearly all the loadiug manufacturers of mow¬ 
ing machines, reapers and harvesters were 
represented. There seems a fascination about 
a harvesting machine, which attracts and 
holds the spectators. They attracted more 
attention than any other implements. The 
noisy traction engines were admired hy the 
men aud feared by the ladies. Among the 
new implements I noticed the silent Force- 
feed Mill and Cyclone Breaker made by Wal¬ 
dron & Sprout, Muncy, Pa. The ears of corn 
are carried one by one into a cutter which 
cuts them into small pieces and deposits 
them iu the hopper of the mill. It takes 
very much less power to cut the ears than to 
crush them. E. 8. <& T. Bateman made a 
fine display of the “Iron Age” cultivators. 
The Belcher & Taylor company made an 
attractive exhibit. The Roberts potato dig¬ 
ger was again exhibited, but it did not seem 
to impress the farmers favorably. An acre 
or more was covered with plows, harrows, 
rakes and other implements too numerous to 
mention. 
Among the new inventions I noticed as of 
special merit Laue Bros’, door-hanger. It is 
made of steel and is just the thing the farmers 
of the country want. Tbe well known wire 
fencing made by Sedgwick Bros, was ex¬ 
hibited by the general Eastern agent Mr. Ed¬ 
ward Sutton, of Philadelphia. Mr. Cook 
made a fine display of the popular dairy 
goods made by tbe Vermont Farm Machine 
Company. Mr. A. H. Reid also showed a full 
line of dairy apparatus. G - 
BLACK SPANISH FOWLS. 
At Fig. 446 wo show a portrait of a Black 
Spanish hen which recently won a prize cup 
offered by the English Black Spanish Club. 
The picture is re-engraved from Vinton’s 
Gazette. It is said to be a true likeness of a 
very typical specimen of the breed. At one 
time the Black Spanish fowls were very popu* 
jar in England, but they fell into disfavor 
mainly On account of their delicacy aud lack 
of thrift. Now strong efforts are being made 
to bring the breed into favor again, and this 
effort is meeting with success. The American 
history of the breed is much the same. For.a 
