o 
l 
rn j 
I?gq 2 
tHE Rural new-yorkeR. 
JAN S 
Pale or dark comb is not a disease, but indi¬ 
cates that the bird is not well. A healthy 
fowl always has a bright, scarlet comb. 
Salt is necessary. Season the food with 
salt whenever it can be done, but only 
slightly. 
Crop-bound usually results from the bird 
eating long grass, old rags or rope, or some 
substance that stops the passage leading from 
the crop to the gizzard. 
The best place for a sick bird is the bottom 
of a flour barrel, straw being used for bed- 
dmg. 
No gases arise from frozen droppings, but 
the poultry house should be cleaned daily, it 
possible, and dry earth should be sprinkled 
on the floor, which permits of sweeping the 
latter with a broom. Cleanliness prevents 
disease. 
The combs will not easily become frosted 
on cold days if they are annointed with glyc¬ 
erine. Birds with large combs and wattles 
should drink only from vessels into which 
they can get their beaks alone. A hen with 
frosted comb will not lay. 
Never use kerosene on the legs or body, as 
it often irritates and does damage. 
Have roosts low. Many birds gradually 
droop and die from internal injury due to 
constant jumping to the floor from high 
roosts. 
Noddies. 
Readable Reports 
—OF— 
WHAT WISE WRITERS 
Aim to Argue Annually. 
HORTICULTURAL HAPPENINGS. 
DAIRY DOINGS. 
AGRICULTURAL ASPIRATIONS. 
SUNDRY SENSIBLE SYNOPSES 
R EPORTS of a number of valuable meet¬ 
ings have been sent to us during the 
past few days. This is the season for talking. 
As last week’s Rural was a Special Number, 
we were unable to print these reports. So we 
issue several of them together this week, be¬ 
lieving that they contain many excellent bits 
of information. 
OHIO STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
The twenty-second annual meeting of the 
Ohio State Horticultural Society was held at 
Troy, Miami County, on Dec. 12,13, and 14. 
Everything conspired to make it the success 
which all declared it to be. 
At two o’clock President Tryon called the 
meeting to order. The afternoon was almost 
entirely consumed in the reading of seven 
reports. The first and, to the general horti¬ 
culturist, much the most important one of 
these was that of Mr. W. J. Green, Horticul¬ 
turist of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment 
Station at Columbus. He said that with them 
irrigation had been found impracticable, the 
chief reason being that water is too expensive. 
One and one-fourth inch per acre, which is 
about the amount of a good shower is equal to 
one thousand barrels or one hundred two-horse 
loads, and costs in Columbus seven dollars 
and fifty cents. Mulching, too , sometimes 
fails. The best plan seems to be cultivation. 
Experiments in Illinois and Connecticut show 
that half an inch of rainfall may be saved per 
week from evaporation by stirring the soil 
every alternate day. A man and horse can 
cultivate two and a half acres per day, equal 
to five acres; \ every alternate day. If by 
cultivation one inch of water per month can 
be saved from evaporation, there need be no 
fear of drought except at one or two periods 
like the strawberry season. 
Reporting on fruits, Mr. Green said that the 
Jessie and Bubach strawberries are about 
equal for profit to the Crescent and are safe 
to plant. Itasca, Logan, Sunapee, and Mon¬ 
mouth should be returned C. O. D. whence 
they came. Jewell and Gold seem to have a 
weakness for good living. Carmichael is 
worthless. 
Mr. E. H. Cushman from the grape-growihg 
region east of Cleveland, reported that the 
crop of that district was about 500 carloads. 
Many growers realized no more than one and 
a half cent a pound on Concords and but little 
better on Catawbas. Euclid Catawbas sold 
this year in Denver, Colo, at 20 cents a basket, 
while two years ago they were worth more 
than that on the vines. The future of viti¬ 
culture nobody knows. 
In his report Mr. N. Ohmer, of Dayton, said 
he sprayed his apple trees just as they were 
going out of bloom with ten ounces of London- 
purple in 50 gallons of water, and was pleased 
with the results. He would not spray when 
they were in full bloom as many bees are thus 
killed. He considers 35 or 40 feet a better 
distance for apple trees than 30 feet. His 
orchard at the latter distance is crowded. 
In the report of Mr. J. C. Albaugh, of Troy, 
prominent mention was made of a new straw¬ 
berry, the Miami. It is large, dark-red, late, 
of good quality, a strong grower, and able to 
withstand drought and neglect better than 
others. 
The reports were almost unanimous in 
placing Bubach at the head of the list of 
strawberries. Their general tone was indeed 
pleasant as there seems to have been large 
fruit crops in all parts of the State, making 
Ohio’s Centennal year one of happiness to the 
growers and to the poor. 
Sec’y Ragan of Indiana, read a paper entit¬ 
led. “A comparison of the Manner of Growth 
of Native and Foreign Species.” While 
botanical rather than strictly horticultural, 
it was nighly enjoyed by all present, and 
might doubtless be made of practical value 
in ornamental plantings and in grafting. The 
conclusion drawn from the numerous ex¬ 
amples cited is that our American trees and 
shrubs are generally less symmetrical, bolder, 
and frequently larger and hardier growers 
than their foreign relatives, and in many in 
stances harder to domesticate and bring 
under cultivation. 
Mr. E. H. Cushman followed with a paper 
on the “ Relation of Refrigeration to Horti¬ 
culture and its Importance in Commercial 
Fruit-Growing,” embodying the observations 
made by the essayist on a visit to the cold 
storage warehouse of the Cleveland Auto¬ 
matic Refrigerator Company. The fine fruits 
seen there leave but little doubt that in the 
future,cold storage is going to play a prominent 
part in horticultural industry. It is well known 
that if the spores of rot can be kept from de¬ 
veloping, organic bodies may be preserved for 
long periods. The main factors in doing this 
are coldness, absence of light, and dryness, 
the last of which has caused most difficulty in 
all systems where ice is used. The system 
practiced in Cleveland is briefly as follows 
Aqua ammonia is reduced to an anhydrous 
condition; and this gas is reduced by steam 
pressure to a liquid state. It is then passed 
through pipes in the chambers, which are sur¬ 
rounded by dead air spaces, where it volatil¬ 
izes and thus produces a low temperature. It 
then returns to the condenser and is used 
again. A very low temperature may thus be 
produced and maintained. Dampness, in 
stead of causing decay, becomes condensed on 
the pipes. The system is probably the nearest 
to perfection of any yet introduced. 
The most interesting part of Thursday fore 
noon’s programme was a short address by 
Mr. C. E. Thorne, Director, O. Ag. Exp. Sta., 
who said: “Whenever we attend a farmer’s 
meeting we see few but gray-haired men. 
The young men are not there. The cities are 
drawing them; the schools and colleges are 
educating them away from the farm into the 
professions, where they will enter a fierce race, 
whose beginning is poverty and whose end is 
a chance of success. We should do all we can 
to counteract this tendency. The opening 
and improvement of so many experiment 
stations have opened a new profession to 
young men, more lucrative than many of the 
literary ones. The Ohio Station, feeling its 
duty in this matter, intends soon to offer ad¬ 
vantages, not attainable elsewhere, to young 
men desirous of getting practical training in 
horticulture. 
Mr. F. R. Palmer, of Mansfield, read a 
paper on “Commercial Fruit Growing,” in 
which he spoke of the necessity of growing 
good fruit, packing it honestly, and dealing 
honestly throughout. The writer was struck 
with one sentence, “The average Ohio farmer 
does not seem to think he has any right to 
luxuries in common with other people, unless 
it be chewing tobacco and paying taxes.” 
Does this not help to explain why boys leave 
the farm? 
It will be with sorrow that the horticul¬ 
turists not only of Ohio but of her sister States 
learn of the positive declination of Secretary 
Campbell to serve again. For a number of 
years he has held this position and largely by 
his efforts the Ohio reports have become very 
valuable. We may feel glad, however, that 
fie still holds a prominent place in the society, 
having been elected Vice-President. His 
successor as Secretary, is Mr. W. W. Farns¬ 
worth; of Lucas county. 
After the election, Secy. Campbell read a 
Valuable report on grapes. With him, as in 
Summit County, the Mills and Downiug 
mildew badly. There were embodied in this 
report two letters from Mr. Geo. M. High, of 
Sandusky County, in which that gentleman 
says that, after careful experiments, he has 
concluded that the best remedy for grape rot 
is the following: Dissolve one pound of 
sulphate of copper (blue vitriol) in two or 
three gallons of hot water. When cold add 
one pint of spirits of ammonia. Pour off the 
clear liquid and add to what remains 20 to 25 
gallons of water. Begin spraying about 10 
days before blossoming time. 
Mr. L. B. Pierce, Ornithologist of the 
society, read his long, carefully prepared, 
first report. He spoke of the scar¬ 
city of knowledge on this subject and of 
the great labor necessary in acquiring accur¬ 
ate knowledge of birds. He has no senti¬ 
mental, poetic love for those feathered depre¬ 
dators, the robins and sparrows. The time 
seems to have come when small patches of 
raspberries or orchards of cherries cannot be 
grown on account of birds. These fruits 
must be grown largely as allowance must be 
made for depredations. 
Prof. Lazenby’s paper on ‘ 'Some Lessons from 
the Chemical Composition of Fruits and Fruit 
Plants,” was divided into three parts, 1, 
Chemical Composition of Soils; 2, Ulterior 
Advantages of Large Fruits; 3, Fruit as a 
Part of our Every-day Diet. Every man 
should study the natural composition of his 
soil and what he has removed from it, and 
try to make it what it should be. Average 
analyses of large and small apples show that 
the percentage of seed in the former is only 
about one half that of the latter. As we 
know, the production of seed taxes the soil 
most heavily. Large apples then add to their 
other advantages the fact that they remove 
from the soil only about one half as much fer¬ 
tility as an equal weight of small ones does. 
With other fruits it is the same. As a diet fruit 
is pleasant and healthful. It keeps the organs 
of secretion in a healthy condition, while its 
acids tend to the destruction of disease germs. 
Secretary Ragan entertained the audience 
with a lecture on the great cold wave of Jan¬ 
uary 1886 which froze the Florida oranges, 
illustrated by charts showing the center of 
low barometric pressure and the zero line at 
each of the eight-hour observations for the 
three days during which the wave was crossing 
the country. \v. s. c. 
Cuyahoga Falls, O. 
NEW JERSEY STATE HORTICULTURAL 
SOCIETY. 
T HE General Fruit Committee, through Mr. 
J. B. Rogers, reported that the season, be¬ 
ginning with the terrible March blizzard, has 
not been a very good one, horticulturally con¬ 
sidered. The blizzard had killed large num¬ 
bers of that most mischievous bird, the 
English sparrow, but this benefit is not a 
lasting one, since these birds have shown 
their wonderful reproductive powers, and 
will soon be present in their former vast num 
bers. The season was very unfavorable to 
fruit buds. The pear crop was light all 
throughout the State; apples were generally 
a poor crop, while peaches were injured by 
cold and wet weather during the ripening sea¬ 
son. 
Mr. Taplin, in behalf of the Committee on 
Flowers, sent a communication stating, 
among other things, that new roses are more 
subject to mildew, probably on account of 
excessive forcing for stock; also that the 
chrysanthemum now gives the flower lover a 
chance to have fine flowers for some weeks 
after frost, even without the use of a green¬ 
house. A little protection is the only re. 
quisite. 
COMMITTEE ON VEGETABLES. 
Mr. Franklin Dye gives a very favorable 
account, generally, of the crops of vegetables 
grown the past season. Most vegetables have 
given a full crop; only the white potato has 
not done well in many localities, either on ac¬ 
count of drought, as in Cumberland and other 
southern counties, or of excessive moisture, 
as in the northern tier of counties. Where 
potato bugs are plenty,the vines are generally 
more or less injured, and the crop diminished 
by the required applications of poison. Crowu 
Jewel is mentioned as an extra good new 
variety of potatoes. Among sweet corn 
varieties the Cory lacked sweetness, and 
had an uuusual tendency to be attacked by 
black fungus, and the crop was almost spoiled. 
Triumph and Minnesota can be recommended. 
Evergreen for late is all that can be desired > 
Rosy Gem and White Strassburg were favor¬ 
ites among radishes, and California Cream, 
was a pet among lettuces. Eclipse is yet the 
best beet; American Wonder and Bliss’s Ever- 
bearing the best peas. Among red fleshed 
melons the Emerald Gem and Princess take 
the lead, and Improved Early Hackensack 
among the green-fleshed sorts. The Rochester 
tomato has proved one of the best. The true, 
white-seeded Ice-cream is au elegant water¬ 
melon. 
NEW FRUITS. 
Dr. J. B. Ward, as a member of the special 
committee on trial of new fruits mentions the 
following: 
Golden Queen raspberry very prolific, a 
strong grower, of excellent flavor. Its w on- 
derful suckering tendencies, and its color are 
against it. Not good for market. The Crys¬ 
tal raspberry is four or five days earlier and 
handsomer, and of bright yellow or straw 
color; perhaps it is not quite so prolific. 
Int roduced by Cay wood. The Cohanzick - 
strawberry is a complete failure. Fruit hard 
and very acid, and not to be recommended. 
The Minnewaski blackberry holds its own, 
and even improves on acquaintance. It 
ripens with the Wilson. Fruit larger, very 
sweet; vines very prolific and hardy even in 
exposed locations. No rust or double blossoms 
noted about it as yet. Holds its color well. 
Mr. J. T. Lovett says the market rejects all 
but a bright red variety. Fashion in a 
measure controls the market. The Golden 
Queen raspberry is only good for family use. 
On the subject of worthy fruits new or old, 
Mr. W. R. Ward says that some of the old 
fruits which are not yet much disseminated 
are as good as new ones, and can often be 
grown with as much profit as any, new or 
old. Old varieties are often new to some 
people. The Kieffer has been growing in 
popularity. At the start too much was 
claimed for it. Growers now concede it to be 
a good cooking, and a good market fruit, and 
profitable. His Kieffers sold in market for 
$1.40 per bushel, and Anjou for $1.65. Yet 
the Kieffer, one year with another, produces 
double as much as the Anjou. 
The loss in ripening is very small and the 
tree is not subject to much injury from 
insects. The fruit is valuable for New Jer¬ 
sey. Dana’s Hovey is in many respects the 
opposite of the Kieffer—one of the oldest, yet 
very little grown. It is of highest flavor, and 
deserving widest dissemination. The Quinn 
pear is also one of the very best—late and a 
very good keeper. The Lawson tree is a good 
grower, but he could not say anything in re¬ 
gard to its fruit. Many strawberries have re¬ 
cently been introduced, but few are receiving 
field culture. The Jessie is one of them, doing 
especially well on a heavy soil. Its popularity 
is on the increase. 
Shaffer’s Colossal raspberry is discarded on 
account of its color. Cuthbert and Marlboro 
take its place. The latter is considerably 
earlier than the Cuthbert, hence does not 
come in competition with it; and is gaining in 
popularity. Fay’s currant is sustaining its 
reputation and the claims made for it by its 
introducer or originator. He has some bushes 
three years old that yielded as much as twelve 
quarts each, and the fruit sold for 10 cents a 
quart. Of cherries, the Montmorency and 
English Morello are good, and yet not gener¬ 
ally grown. Moore’s Early grape is one of the 
very best early black sorts in cultivation. It 
comes to the market when that Is yet'uusup- 
plied with grapes; or at the same time with 
green Ives, Champions, or Concords from 
Delaware and Maryland. Last season it sold 
in Newark for eight cents per pound, while Con¬ 
cords in their season brought only four cents. 
It takes the place of Ives, and is much better 
and more acceptable. 
Mr. Beene praises Grimes’s Golden apple, 
that has never been pushed half as much as 
it deserves. The Wagener also is hardly 
disseminated, and yet it is one of the finest 
apples. He is disgusted with mauy of the 
Russian apples. The Canfield is a tough 
sweet apple, perhaps good to cook or for 
cider. J. T. Lovett thinks the Russian apples 
should not be condemned in this fashion. 
Yellow Transparent is good. Being asked 
about the Delaware Winter apple, he says he 
is quite confident that it is identical with the 
Lawver; but even this is not much known. 
Mr. Wilcox says it is a good keeping apple, 
but never becomes good to eat. Quailty 
always very poor. Grimes’s Golden is praised 
by Mr. Lovett. 
President Baird’s address emphasized the 
necessity of selecting proper varieties of 
fruits. The tendency in horticulture is in the 
direction of quantity, rather than quality. 
He would like to see this reversed. Rubbish 
is not wanted in any market. The grower 
should also coutine his efforts to an area tba 
