66 o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
OCTOBER 5 
dam into being milked; and it often injures 
her as a milker, because in her restlessness 
and anxiety about the calf she learns to 
hold up her milk. With an older cow it 
does not matter so much. In either case 
the calf is fed its mother’s milk until it is 
fit for use, which is generally conceded to 
be at the fifth milking. After this, the 
youngster is fed skim-milk, sweet and 
warm, three times a day, care being taken 
not to spoil the appetite for the next meal 
by any degree of over-feeding. Every day 
or two, common table salt, in small doses, 
is mixed with the milk. This is thought to 
help greatly in keeping the calves hearty 
and well. Should they get “off their feed” 
or “scour,” they are made to swallow one 
or more raw eggs per day, as the exigencies 
of the case may require. Regularity in 
time of feeding and uniformity in the quan¬ 
tity of feed are very important. Calves so 
fed can be made fat enough for veal. I dis¬ 
posed of four grade Holstein calves for veal 
that averaged in weight 175 pounds each 
when three months old. They grew to this 
size on the feed that was given all the 
calves, with no special effort to fatten them. 
A box of wheat bran always stands where 
the calves can lick at it and learn to eat it, 
and they early show a desire to pick a little 
hay. Every milker can guess pretty nearly 
as to the quantity of milk his cows give, 
but in the quality of the fluid thei*e can be 
no guess-work. 
It is essential to test the value of each 
cow as a butter-maker to operate a dairy of 
more than one cow successfully. Some 
cows make twice the amount of butter from 
the same amount of milk that others do; 
some make white butter—often it is white 
and hard—others make very yellow butter, 
and too often it is as soft as it is yellow. 
Years ago I owned an imported Guernsey 
cow that made butter as yellow as a carrot 
and so soft that it spoiled the “gilt-edged” 
properties of my butter all one summer, 
and it was only by accident that I discov¬ 
ered where the trouble lay. I remember 
another, a grade Jersey, that made the 
finest-colored butter and the hardest I ever 
saw, and the addition of her milk to my 
dairy of six cows made a very noticeable 
improvement in the quality of the butter; 
firmness and high color of butter are two 
desirable qualities that are not always com¬ 
bined in the butter from one cow. 
In breaking my bulls to be handled, I 
have so far been very fortunate and have 
had no dangerous animals. When about a 
year old a ring is put through the cartilage 
of the nose. The animal is never allowed 
its liberty, but it is picketed near the barn, 
during the day, its feed being carried to it. 
Or it is led by the ring to water and about 
the place with as little trouble as a well- 
broken horse. The Holstein bull that has 
stood at the head of my herd for four years, 
has always been managed in that way and 
he never has shown any disposition to quar¬ 
rel with his keepers. One thing about him 
worthy of mention is the ease with which 
he is kept. No attempt has been made 
to keep him in other than a good growing 
condition; but at four years of age he turned 
the scales at 2,000 pounds. O. H. 
Greely, Colorado. 
NOTES ON FUNGI. 
ANTHRACNOSE OF THE BEAN. 
Its victims; its effects; mode of spreading; 
structure; classification; proof against 
the Bordeaux Mixture. 
The disease commonly called bean-rust 
is only too well known to gardeners, but 
they are not so -well aware that the same 
disease attacks the melon and is even more 
disastrous to it than to the bean. In the 
latter case it rarely attacks anything but 
the pod, although it does occur on the leaf 
and stem, but it not only attacks and de¬ 
stroys the melons themselves, but by des¬ 
troying the leaves may prevent the perfect 
maturing of the fruit even were the fungus 
entirely absent from the latter. 
The appearance of the diseased beans is 
too well known to need much description. 
The pods become more or less covered with 
dark-brown spots which are often sur¬ 
rounded by a reddish-brown border, while 
the center is covered with a whitish or 
flesh-colored powder. On the melon rind 
we see large, sunken, discolored areas 
which, as in the case of the bean, are cov¬ 
ered with a fine, flesh-colored powder. 
Underneath these spots the tissue of the bean 
and melon are shrunken and discolored. 
On the melon leaves appear large, or 
smaller dead areas, over which are scattered 
tiny heaps of the same powder which are so 
small that they are barely visible to the 
naked eye. 
The cause of all this trouble is a fungus 
growing within the tissues of the diseased 
plant. It is as much a plant itself as the 
one on which it feeds, but is built on a much 
simpler plan. It is composed simply of 
long, slender, branching filaments which 
wind through the tissues of the host plant, 
and come to the surface in certain places. 
Where they do this, celled spores 
or reproductive bodies are cut off 
from the ends. These spores falling on 
a healthy bean or melon will grow out into 
another filament which will bore its way 
into the plant, and there by continued 
growth produce another diseased spot. It 
is popularly supposed that the spotting of 
bean pods is caused by wet weather or by a 
damp situation. It is really produced by 
the spores of the fungus and will not occur 
unless these are present; but these spores 
cannot germinate without moisture, hence 
a dry, airy locality is the best and surest 
preventive of the disease. A gardener once 
wrote me that a single wet night would 
sometimes develop spots on hitherto 
healthy pods. I was inclined to doubt the 
statement until I placed an apparently 
healthy pod one night in a moist chamber, 
and found several spots on it the following 
morning. 
Some reader may be interested in a fuller 
account of the structure of the fungus. As 
has been stated, it is composed of slender 
branching filaments; where these filaments 
approach the surface they branch repeat¬ 
edly; the ends of the branches stand up¬ 
right, side by side, and the spores are borne 
on the tips. It is these spore masses that 
form the flesh-colored powder already men¬ 
tioned. The spore-bearing branches them¬ 
selves are colorless and short, but scattered 
over them are a few longer, brown filaments, 
appearing like brown hairs. Whether they 
are really a part of the fungus causing the 
disease has never been absolutely proven, 
and it is quite possible we may have here a 
case of one fungus attacking another. 
However, Cavara, an Italian author, has 
considered them of sufficient importance to 
change the classification of the fungus. 
The fungus has hitherto been classified as a 
Gloeospor; n. Fungi of this genus are 
very destructive and very hard to eradicate. 
It is a Gloeosporium that causes the well- 
known cane-rust of raspberries and black¬ 
berries, better known as Anthraenose of 
the raspberry and blackberry. Another 
attacks the grape, and while not so destruc¬ 
tive as black-rot, is even harder to treat. 
Still another causes the sycamore blight, 
and where there are no sycamore trees it 
attacks the oak. If, however, the new 
classification be adopted, as it probably will 
be, the fungus must be known as Colleto- 
triehium Lindemuthianum, the first part 
of the name meaning glutinous hairs. 
Some experiments made this year by Col. 
Pearson on melon vines indicate that the 
Bordeaux Mixture, usually so effective 
against fungi of all sorts, has no effect 
whatever on this disease. Mr. B. T. Gallo¬ 
way has visited his place during the sum¬ 
mer and seen the disease developing on 
melons covered with the mixture. This 
was also true of the Anthraenose of grapes, 
where the same treatment had prevented 
black-rot; and various reports which have 
come in during the summer go to confirm 
the idea that this disease belongs to a class 
very resistant to fungicides. 
E. A. SOUTIIWORTH. 
(Tl)t' 'Vitifijari). 
THE WOODRUFF RED GRAPE. 
SECRETARY CAMPBELL’S OPINION. 
I send the Rural by mail a sample of a 
few berries of the Woodruff Red Grape, 
from a young vine in its first bearing, hop¬ 
ing the editor may not find it quite as in¬ 
ferior as he has heretofore seemed to re¬ 
gard it. I have several times expressed, in 
the Rural New-Yorker, a favorable opin¬ 
ion of this grape for general use; and I have 
seen no reason to change my opinion. I 
have always thought it a little strange 
that the Rural considered this grape so 
poor as to be unworthy a place in its 
grounds, especially as it has received com¬ 
mendation from such men as Lyon and 
Garfield and Crawford and Miller and many 
others, and J have thought it must be 
either that the editor had not the variety 
true; or that there must have been some 
unfortunate circumstance of soil or season 
that prevented its normal development. I 
know that taste is a matter not to be dis¬ 
puted about; but so many do like this grape, 
and it lias so many valuable characteristics 
to recommend it, I cannot help the belief 
that if the Rural had left its vine to stand 
for further trial, the editor would have re¬ 
garded it more favorably, under perhaps 
more favorable circumstances. It is more 
vigorous in growth, and certainly as hardy 
and healthy as the Colerain; has larger 
berries and cluster, and so far as tested here 
has been more productive. 
I quite agree with the Rural as to the 
probable value of the Colerain. It has a 
vigorous, healthy vine, with pure Labrusca 
foliage, and is probably as hardy as any of 
the Concord seedlings of its class. It ripens 
early, is handsome in appearance, and very 
good; and I hope to see its originator duly 
rewarded for the production of a grape ap¬ 
parently so worthy and so good. There is, 
in my judgment, no good point possessed by 
the Colerain, that the Woodruff has not, 
except it may be in flavor. The color of 
the Woodruff is also in its favor, as there 
now seems to be a lack of good, red, mar¬ 
ket grapes earlier than the Catawba, and I 
really think the Woodruff the most prom¬ 
ising red grape that I have ever seen or 
tasted, for general planting, as the Concord 
and Worden, and such popular varieties 
are planted. And as the great mass of the 
public, who buy, and eat grapes, will re¬ 
gard it as good enough, and entirely satis¬ 
factory, its other good qualities must make 
it one of the most valuable and popular 
grapes, even if its quality does not come up 
to the highest standard of excellence re¬ 
quired by the most fastidious tastes. I 
have written more than I intended when I 
began; but I do not like to appear in the 
position before Rural readers, of recom¬ 
mending a grape beyond its merits; or in 
opposition to the views or opinions of the 
editor. [Readers of the R. N.-Y. will no 
doubt accept the opinions of Secretary 
Campbell regarding grapes before they 
would those of the R. N.-Y. And that is 
just as it should be. Eds.] 
The past'season has been a disappoint¬ 
ment to grape-growers in this region and, I 
think, generally throughout the State. 
Although the early promise was good, ex¬ 
cessive rains and very cool weather at the 
time of blooming seemed to prevent fer¬ 
tilization and the clusters were either de¬ 
stroyed or produced loose, uneven and very 
imperfect fruit. Even the hardiest kinds, 
such as Moore’s Early and Concord, pro¬ 
duced but little, and the berries were small, 
and the clusters loose and inferior. The 
latter part of the season was more favora¬ 
ble, and we have the somewhat singular 
experience of the early and late varieties 
ripening very nearly together, the peculiar 
season seeming to retard the early, and 
hasten the maturity of the late ones. An¬ 
other noticeable circumstance is that all va¬ 
rieties with the short filaments and reflexed 
stamens failed to a much greater extent 
than those with the long filaments and 
erect stamens, or what we call perfect blos¬ 
soms. This includes several of Rogers’s 
Hybrids, Brighton, Moyer and some others, 
which failed almost entirely, the blossoms 
falling off and setting little, if any, fruit. 
Delaware, Ohio. 
R. N.-Y.— The berries sent were, in the 
R. N.-Y.’s estimation, much the same as 
those grown at the Rural Grounds and sent 
to this office from time to time, except that 
the foxy flavor is less pronounced. Our 
objection to them is the tough pulp from 
which it is difficult to separate the seed. 
JOHN BURR’S LATEST GRAPES. 
The R. N.-Y. lias received a box of 
grapes from John Burr of Leavenworth, 
Kansas, containing a number of his seed¬ 
lings. No. 13 is a blue-black grape, of med¬ 
ium size with a dense blue bloom. Skin 
thin but quite firm; pulp, rather tough; 
seeds large. The quality is sweet and pure. 
No. 11 is a large, green grape tinted with 
purple. Skin about like that of Concord. 
Seeds large. Pulp rather tough. It is 
sweet, but not of high flavor. No. 15 (Par¬ 
agon) is a black grape, juicy, sweet, of fair 
quality. No. 14 is a green grape of medium 
size and fair quality. Seeds rather large, 
skin strong. No. 16 is much like No. 14, 
though more juicy and sweeter. Skin firm. 
Minnehaha is rather larger than Delaware; 
green without bloom, translucent, almost 
transparent. Pulp tender, juicy. Skin 
firm. The bunches are long and double¬ 
shouldered. Eclipse is a green grape of 
medium size, firm skin and fair quality. 
No. 9 is a red grape of excellent quality. 
Juicy, swoet; pulp tender; skin firm. The 
bunches were injured in transit and 
many of the berries decayed. Standard is 
a blue-black grape of medium size. The 
bunches are shouldered, rapidly tapering 
to a single berry. Skin thin and firm, 
juicy, pulp about like Concord. It is not 
of high quality. 
Mr. Burr has labored perseveringly 
through many years in the vineyard and 
many of his varieties are prized in various 
parts of the country. 
The following note from Mr. Burr should 
be read in connection with our necessarily 
imperfect report of the quality of the grapes 
sent, size of bunches, etc. 
Leavenworth, Kansas, September 6. 
Editor It. N.-Y. —I seiit you yesterday by 
United States Express a small basket of 
grapes. They are not good specimens as 
our season has not been at all favorable for 
the development of good quality. An early 
warm April and part of May caused an ear¬ 
ly strong growth. About the middle of May 
when the vines were mostly in full bloom, 
cold rains set in lasting 10 or 12 days, with 
two frosts, which retarded and chilled the 
blossom so much as to destroy their vitali¬ 
ty to such an extent that most of the clus¬ 
ters are not half filled with fruit. The 
Standard is full and is one of the most reli¬ 
able; it has not failed of a full crop of per¬ 
fect fruit since it first commenced bearing 
eight or nine years since; vine hardy, 
healthy, very vigorous and enormously pro¬ 
ductive, quite free from rot, mildew or 
cracking of the berries which remain per¬ 
fect on the vine throughout the season. 
The Ideal is a seedling of the Delaware. 
The vine is very strong and vigorous, 
hardy, healthy, and enormously pro¬ 
ductive; the very small cane with 
the two clusters will show something 
of its character. Every branch shows 
fruit and a good-sized cane usually gives 
clusters one-third larger than either of these 
two. None of my grapes are as good as usual 
owing to almost continuous rain and a cool 
summer. The Paragon shows clusters not 
over one-lialf the size they were two years 
since. It is a very healthy, hardy and 
vigorous grower and very productive. The 
Eclipse is generally about the size of a well 
grown Concord. The two clusters sent are 
no criterion of its ordinary size, and it is now 
past its prime. It is an uncommon grape; 
the vine is one of the strongest growers I 
have, with the largest leaf, and it is quite 
hardy and healthy. I hardly need speak of 
the others sent, as the clusters are not full 
enough to enable one to judge what they 
are or should be except for variety. 
VINEYARD HINTS. 
L. D. SNOOK. 
It is conceded by all that without a suf¬ 
ficient amount or number of roots we can¬ 
not produce a vigorous growth of vine or 
fruit, and the Concord is considered one of 
the most rampant growers, with a wealth 
of roots and hardiness that far eclipse the 
Delaware and other delicate varieties; hence 
in examining a large vineyard not long 
since, I was surprised at the rank growth 
of Delaware vines and the amount of fruit 
they were carrying, which the proprietor— 
Mr. John J. Smith of Dundee, N. Y.—fully 
attributed to his method of grafting the 
Delaware on Concord roots, and his method 
has the merit of originality and success, 
hence I send it to the Rural for publica¬ 
tion. 
One-year-old Concord roots are taken 
from the nursery row, or rather bed, and 
instead of being set in the vineyard in the 
position in which they grew, are laid down 
flat in a trench of the proper depth, and 
two buds of the previous year’s growth are 
allowed to remain aboveground, as in Fig. 
248, in which a is the cutting and b a por¬ 
tion of the first year’s growt h, and c the sur - 
face of the ground. The Concord vine is al¬ 
lowed to grow one year in the vineyard and 
presents an appearance quite like that shown 
at Fig. 249, in which one can see that several 
more bunches of roots have been thrown 
out at the covered buds. This cut also 
