76© 
MOV <7 
THE BUBAL MEW-YOBEEB. 
finest Newtowns I ever beheld. I cautiously 
asked the price, expecting it would be three 
or four dollars. “§1.50,” was the ahswer, 
while handsome “Kings” and other sorts 
standing near were three and four dollars. 
Of course, 1 had the Newtowns sent to my 
house very promptly. It was evident that 
neither the seller nor the grower knew what 
the apple was. Was I dishonest, or was it 
merely a stroke of luck ? h. hendricks. 
FRUIT ROTES. 
PRES. T. T. LYON. 
WHAT IS AN IRON-CLAD ? 
In the issue of October 17th, the 
Vermont Watchman, in the Farm 
and Garden department, which is 
in charge of Dr. T. H. Hoskins,criti. 
cises the w'ord “irod-clad” as ap¬ 
plied to the apple in my report to 
the Commissioner of Agriculture, 
on the adaptation of Russian and 
other fruits to the extreme northern 
portions of the United States. That 
the use of this word, horticulturally, 
is of recent origin, is true; and it is 
claimed, with great propriety, that 
its meaning, in such connection, 
must necessarily be more or less in¬ 
definite, since a variety may be 
iron-clad in Missouri, even though 
it prove too tender for Iowa, and 
utterly fail in Minnesota. It is, how¬ 
ever, butjust to the report referred 
to, to add that the writer was aware 
of the objectionable character of 
the word, only using it as it occurred 
in quotations. 
This lack of precision seems not 
to result so much from laxity or 
carelessness in the use of the word 
as from the very nature of the 
case; since the characters of all va¬ 
rieties, so far as hardiness is con¬ 
cerned, are dependent upon their en¬ 
vironment. To convey a definite 
meaning, it is indispensable, there¬ 
fore, that the locality be specified, 
and even that the season be stated 
during‘which the test occurred. 
BLIGHT. 
The article in the Watchman 
(which may doubtless be attributed 
to Dr. Hoskins), assumes apparently 
that Russian apples are less subject 
to the attacks of blight than are 
the crabs, which, at the extreme 
north, are their rivals for the meed 
of hardiness, if not even for that of 
general value. My own personal ex¬ 
aminations and observations, togeth¬ 
er with the statements of growers, 
taken as a whole, have created a 
decided impression that the differ¬ 
ence, if any, is in favor of the crabs, 
although, at the extreme north, this 
malady is often very severe and even 
fatal. Peter M. Gideon, of Excel¬ 
sior, Minn., who has given the last 
quarter of a century to the origi¬ 
nation and testing of varieties, de¬ 
voting his energies largely to the 
crabs, and who may almost be said 
to have created a pomology for the 
Northwest, at one period planted 
largely of Russian apples ; but be¬ 
tween the results of severe cold in 
winter and blight in summer, these 
have been utterly ruined, while in 
the summer of 1887, his extensive 
orchards of seedling crabs, in full 
bearing, were in sound and healthy 
condition. 
PARENTAGE OF SEEDLINGS. 
It is quite customary for the orig¬ 
inator or the discoverer of a chance 
seedling, to assume to determine its 
parentage, merely from an apparent 
similarity to an existing variety. 
Whitney’s No. 20 is confidently announced to 
be a crab seedling, as I suppose, because it 
sprang up among crab seedlings. It may, 
perchance, have sprung from a fruit the 
bloom of which had been accidentally cross- 
fertilized ; but of this no proof is offered, 
while the character of both tree and fruit 
(if we except only the elongation of the stem), 
may fairly warrant the suspicion that it may 
have sprung from a casual seed of Pyrus 
malus. The claim of Mr. Gideon that the 
Wealthy apple sprang from the seed of a 
Cherry crab, also rests upon the assumption 
that the crab seed sent him from Maine, 
was absolutely pure; and yet the Wealthy, 
in neither tree nor fruit, has a single char¬ 
acteristic in common with the crabs. It may 
not, in either of these cases, be warrantable 
to assume an error; but there would seem 
good reason, in the absence of substantial 
proof, to doubt the existence of so wide a 
departure from the original type. 
Van Buren Co.; Mich. 
jtjommom. 
PERCHERON STALLION SPARTACUS. 
On page 659 we gave a picture of a group 
of work horses used at Cornell University. 
In the center of this group is shown the 
stallion Spartacus. A larger and better pic¬ 
ture of this animal is shown at Fig. 381. 
East. The following notes will serve to show 
what some of our fruit men think of the 
matter: 
FROM IRA J. BLACKWELL. 
“Should the Eastern gardener or fruit¬ 
grower combine the winter feeding of stock 
with his land culture?” The market gardener 
usually employs all of bis land for market 
crops, and the laud is supposed to be of the 
best quality. To buy all the feed that stock 
would consume, except in the case of a 
cow for family use, would be unprofit¬ 
able. The farmer raises his hay, and it 
will cost him as little to feed it to his 
stock as to cart it to market. Indeed, if the 
distance is far it will cost him less to do the 
former than the latter. The market gardener 
v- ; 
•M 
: 
. . ■ ■; t . >‘AV'-V. ' • / 
KvYfi 
O-v. 
PERCHERON STALLION SPARTACUS. From a Photograph. Fig, 380. 
FEEDING STOCK ON TRUCK AND 
FRUIT FARMS. 
Two weeks ago Dr. Hoskins discussed this 
subject. Theorists have frequently com¬ 
plained that the Eastern gardener does not 
understand the first principles of his business 
because he buys his manure instead of making 
it at home. Many Western farmers who 
travel through the East and learn of the im¬ 
mense bills for manure paid by Eastern gar¬ 
deners every year, at once conclude that they 
would run things differently if they moved 
must add the expense of feeding it out or, say, 
two dollars per ton, to the cost of his hay, 
and this would make quite a good profit 
for the grain raiser. If the buyers have to 
pay a middle-man, the comparison will be 
more against buying, and the farmer is sup¬ 
posed to sell the stock to the gardener and the 
gardener runs the risk ot exchange or rather 
transportation, ana does not the gardener 
have enough winter work without attending 
to live stock ? By January, preparations for 
spring if not already under way, must be 
started. Frames or a greenhouse require 
continued attention. Everything must be 
ready for spring. Forcing pits for lettuce 
and all kinds of vegetables are to be looked 
after. The occupation of the market garden¬ 
er is one full of cares, and I doubt if the margin 
of profits in stock raising would be sufficient) 
even if the value of the manure is rated at 
the highest figures If there is any stock that 
would be profi able I think poultry or rather 
chickens would be best to keep, as they can be 
sold at any time and would, with proper 
arrangements, be very good in the garden at 
certain times. I hardly think it would pav to 
keep poultry hungry enough to induce them 
to eat potato beetles, yet little chickens and 
old hens are great msect scavengers. I am 
aware that manure must be had for the 
garden, as it is the great lever of suc¬ 
cess: but my opinion is that, as a rule, it 
can be bought from others cheaper than it 
can be made by stock kept by a gardener. 
I believe, however, that the fruit grower can 
make a part or all of his supply for 
the fruit garden cheaper than he 
can buy it. Hogs are the best plow- 
ers in the orchard. They eat the 
fruit, possibly destroying some 
fallen worms. It is not at all im¬ 
probable that it would pay to grow 
apples and pears for the special de¬ 
sign of making pork. I believe the 
benefit to the trees would pay the 
expense of feeding, and the manure 
would be clear gain in years of ordi¬ 
nary prices for pork. Sheep are 
better for an orchard in grass ihan 
hogs; for they eat all fallen fruit, 
and it may be the borer does not at¬ 
tack trees where sheep run. This is 
not certain, but it is possibly true. 
The sheep can be sold at most times, 
and usually at some advauceon their 
cost. Cattle are too large for the or¬ 
chard and hardly pay to feed here in 
the East. I hava however, known 
steers, bought in the fall and fed 
through the winter, to grow enough, 
when prices had also advanced, 
to pay for their hay and ether feed 
leaving the manure to pay for the 
labor; but this I think is not often 
the case. Chickens are the stock 
for the orchard, as tney destoy more 
beetles, bugs and buttei flies than 
hogs or sheep, and their manure is 
valuable and good for trees, although 
seme say it will kill them. I believe 
that 1U0 chickens well taken care 
of, will furnish the manure necessary 
for an acre of fruit trees, and it 
costs nothing unless some disease 
strikes the flock badly. The eggs 
and poultry raised will pay for the 
feed and care. Raising chickens 
and eggs is a small business I know, 
but when the aggregate amount of 
profits derived from eggs and, 
poultry is taken into account, the, 
business ceases to look small, for in. 
our markets poultry and tueir pro¬ 
duce are more necessary for the lux¬ 
uries of life than fruit itself. To sum 
up: first, market gardeners have lit¬ 
tle feed for slock, that cannot be sold 
to better advantage. Second, com- 
mercial fertilizers will grow most, 
crops. Third, market garaeuers are* 
usually within transporting distance* 
of stable manure, aud, last but not 
least, it is usually difficult to buy 
the stock aud then buy feed for them 
during three or six months without 
having a balance on the wrong side 
of the account. On the other hand, 
the stock is a benefit to the orchard 
unless it is overstocked, and there is 
usually some feed, fallen fruit, grass, 
or weeds, and the orchardist is much 
of the time not hurried so much as 
to find the labor a burden. 
Mercer Co , N. J. 
FROM E. WILLIAMS. 
The theory of the winter feeding 
of animals for the employment of 
otherwise idle or unprofitable labor 
and the manure as well as the 
profit in the increased growth 
and value of the stock, is good 
and seems to be based on 
common sense ; but practice only will tell 
whether the theory is sound or not, and I have 
had none. To be profitable, one must, I think, 
look closely after the details himself, be pre¬ 
pared for the work and see that it is done 
thoroughly. It won’t do to trust to help; one 
must see there are no leaks himself. Again, 
if the feeder could be his own butcher and re¬ 
tailer he would be apt to find the profits if 
there were any; but as things are now man¬ 
aged, the middlemen retailers will not deal 
outside of the regular channels without jew¬ 
ing down the prices as low as possible. They 
will tell you that cow beef is not worth as much 
as steer beef by two or three cents a pound 
and will not buy unless at that reduction; but 
they will turn around and sell you or any one 
else a cut from your own cow at the same 
