69o 
October 3 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
two seven-year-old trees was very satisfactory. All 
that we do not need have been sold to neighbors at 
40 cents per box of about 40 pounds each. Skinner’s 
is a very good apple for the family orchard when 
properly grown. It cooks well, bakes well, makes 
good pies and is nice to eat from the hand. It also 
makes the best dried apples, but is not a good ship¬ 
per, being very tender when ripe enough to be eat¬ 
able. Next year a number of new (to me) varieties 
will come into bearing, and the process of condemning 
those that do not show good quality will continue, 
and they will be grafted. A few apples have appeared 
this year. Stone’s Eureka looks very like Missouri 
Pippin, and Springdale, in growth of tree and fruit, 
is only an Arkansas-Paragon-Mammoth Black Twig. 
Two Fall Pippins are only very poor Greenings, and 
so on. Two Delaware Reds have borne two crops and 
are short in quality and drop badly. They will be 
grafted next Winter. h. g. keesling. 
Santa Clara Co., Cal. 
1. H. HALE ON “ MULCHING " 
We said In writing about Mr. Hale’s treatment of 
his peach orchard on page 659 that we wished to make 
c*ear to readers just what has been done. We are glad 
to print the following letter from Mr. Hale, which 
states in his vigorous style things about peach culture 
which ought to be known. 
You may poke all the fun you like about my “con¬ 
version,” it hasn’t struck in very deep, and I doubt 
if I shall ever depart very far from the good old ortho¬ 
dox cultivation, as now laid down by our most suc¬ 
cessful orchardists. My mulching, however, was more 
thorough and complete than the article would indi¬ 
cate, for instead of a growth of grass and weeds it 
was a very heavy stand of clover without weeds of 
any kind, and cut and left on the ground when it had 
come to its fullest maturity. The second growth was 
more of grass and weeds, but if you had seen the 
heavy mat of clover that was cut the first time you 
would have acknowledged that was a pretty good 
mulching. There are only six or eight acres in the 
mulched orchards, while there are nearly 300 in the 
orchards that were given half cultivation. This land, 
as you state, had all been heavily seeded to clover at 
the end of the cultivating period last season, and 
then early this last Spring the land was thoroughly 
broken up between every other row of trees and kept 
thoroughly harrowed during May, June and into July, 
while every alternate row the clover was left to grow 
and come to full maturity of seed, when the spring- 
tooth harrows were put in crossways of the fields, and 
scattered the home-grown seed into the adjoining 
rows. Where the clover had been left to grow was 
broken up and the whole orchard given the most thor¬ 
ough scratching over. So you see that one side of 
every row of trees was thoroughly cultivated all the 
early part of the growing season, and not left to be 
plowed in alternate strips “July 1 to 10.” Such early 
cessation of culture and seeding to clover did give 
grass and weeds a big chance, and they are all there 
to speak for themselves, but as you say the new 
growth and foliage’is all right, and is in very marked 
contrast to the mulched orchard adjoining. There is 
certainly five times as much new wood on the half 
cultivated orchard as on the mulched section, and 
while you say “some of the mulched trees are quite 
as good as any of the cultivated,” those “some trees” 
you saw are really less than a dozen in a little pocket 
where the annual drift of fertility from the adjoining 
lands would make any sort of a tree grow, even if it 
was sod and the hay crop was taken off. 
Don’t build any hopes for the mulch method by a 
few extra good trees in an especially selected spot. 
There may be a few special fields in certain localities 
the country over where the mulch method may be fol¬ 
lowed with marked success, and possibly a few in¬ 
stances where the results will surpass those in a cul¬ 
tivated orchard, but from a lifetime’s work with peach 
trees and pretty close observation of all methods in 
every section of America, I do not yet believe that 
there are any conditions where, for any number of 
years, a mulch method can be made to succeed one- 
quarter as well as culture. Some of my stumpy, stony 
lands that have been recently cleared I may not be 
able to plow thoroughly at first until the roots become 
a little more rotted, but I shall certainly dig and grub 
around the newly planted trees two or three times 
each Summer, and use the surplus growth of sprouts 
and weeds that we shall have to cut down to mulch 
around the trees between the hoeings, but just as soon 
as possible to break up the land I purpose to do it, 
otherwise I doubt whether I can see any profit in the 
business. I shall never fear the competition in mar¬ 
ket from the owner of uncultivated mulched orchards; 
those who will be fighting me In the high-priced mar¬ 
ket will be those who have the best cultivated and 
best cared for orchards. And may the better man 
win. J. H. HAX.E. 
SOUTH CAROLINA ROCK AND BONE. 
Is South Carolina phosphate rock, previous to pre¬ 
paration for agricultural purposes, a fossil deposit? To 
v.’hat extent would it answer the purpose of ground 
bone for bush and tree fruits? 
F. M. 
Geneva, O. 
The phosphate rock found in South Carolina and 
other States is supposed to be of fossil origin—that Is, 
the remains of animals long buried in the earth. 'This 
“rock” occurs in various forms, and is dug out of the 
ground, dried and ground into a fine powder known 
as “floats.” In order to make it available for plant 
food the “fioats” are mixed with sulphuric acid which 
“cuts” or dissolves them and puts the phosphoric aci<l 
which they contain In a soluble form. In order to 
compare this rock phosphate with bone we should see 
what they contain: 
Pounds in One Ton. 
Available 
Nitrogen. phos. acid. Insoluble. 
Ground bone. 70 130 370 
Acid phosphate. 0 250 BO 
Neither contains any potash (which should be re¬ 
membered when we use them for fruits), and the acid 
phosphate has no nitrogen. It is a common saying 
that a pound of available phosphoric acid is worth as 
much in one form as in another. We should remem¬ 
ber the difference between the hone and the rock. 
Bone is an organic substance which will decay after 
a time in the soil and thus become all available to 
plants. The crude rock is a mineral and will not de¬ 
cay rapidly. Put a big bone by the side of a large 
stone and see how under the infiuence of common 
weather conditions the bone decays, while the stone 
remains. When the ground rock is cut by the acid 
LONG STEM OF WHITE CLOVER. Fis. 251. 
the phosphoric acid which it contains becomes soluble 
in water and is carried wherever water runs. That 
explains why the acid phosphate usually gives better 
results on grass or grain—or any place where the fer¬ 
tilizer is not worked into the soil. While in such a 
case the ground bone remains on or near the surface 
the phosphoric acid in the acid rock is dissolved and 
carried down into the soil. This very advantage be¬ 
comes at times a disadvantage. When the sulphuric 
acid “cuts” or dissolves the ground rock it does so by 
breaking up the combination of lime with which the 
phosphoric acid is held. In the crude rock three parts 
of lime hold one part of phosphoric acid. The acid 
eats away two parts of lime and when in this soluble 
form the phosphoric acid is very liable to unite with 
more lime, or with iron or other substances, and thus 
form a combination which would no more feed the 
plant than the original ground rock. The soil con¬ 
tains these substances, so that the soluble form of 
phosphoric acid does not last long. In some peculiar 
soils this soluble phosphoric acid will soon form a 
combination which is less soluble than bone. 
The name “insoluble” is given to those forms of 
phosphoric acid which do not dissolve in water or in 
weak vinegar. This is the chemist’s test. His theory 
is that the weak vinegar represents about the strength 
of the acids which are secreted by the plant as it 
grows. Thus if weak vinegar can dissolve the phos¬ 
phoric acid it is reasoned that the plants can do so. 
This may be a fair test of the rock phosphates, but 
it is not fair for the bone, for that is an organic sub¬ 
stance which will decay in the soil, and thus become 
more and more available. A good sample of acid 
phosphate will take the place of ground bone in fur¬ 
nishing phosphoric acid to fruits. Potash and nitro¬ 
gen should be used with it. For permanent results 
we prefer to use a mixture of the acid phosphate and 
pure bone. _ 
A CHEAP WATER SUPPLY. 
On page 595, under the head of “Conveniences for 
the Women Folks,” I noticed what W. H. W. said 
about water supply under pressure in the farmhouse, 
and how it could be had in many cases at a very mod¬ 
erate outlay. We built a new house last Fall, and 
during a few stormy days in early Winter I put in a 
system which supplies both upstairs and down with 
all the water needed except for drinking and cooking 
purposes. We had a galvanized iron tank made which 
holds about 20 barrels; we put this in a back room up¬ 
stairs, placing it on a platform high enough to allow 
the top to be about two inches above the eaves trough 
to avoid possibility of running over should the over- 
fiow become clogged. Then I connected tank and 
eaves trough, put pipes to the kitchen and other 
rooms. One or two rains will fill the tank, and there 
will be very few days when you will not have all the 
water necessary. The tank cost $14 with fittings. To 
this add the cost of what half-inch pipe and fittings 
are needed to conduct water where wanted. Anyone 
can put it in, and save plumber’s bills. Try it and see 
how you can please the women folks. h. b. s. 
Chateaugay, N. Y. 
PEDIGREE IN STRAWBERRY PLANTS. 
On page 502 of The R. N.-Y. W. V. F. says: “A run¬ 
ner is but a prolonged bud, and the young plant la 
actually a piece of the parent. If the mother is of the 
best possible type the youngsters are likely, under 
similar conditions, to reproduce the desired qualities, 
thus starting a genuine pedigree strawberry.” Sev¬ 
eral years ago, strongly imbued with this idea, I se¬ 
lected a thrifty late-ripening hill of Rural New- 
Yorker No. 2 potatoes and planted it alongside ordi¬ 
nary seed and some selected to look as nearly like the 
hill as possible. The yield from the selected hill was 
50 per cent greater than from either of the other kinds 
of seed, which were very nearly alike. The problem 
of successful potato culture was solved. But the next 
year the product of the selected hill, that of another 
showing the same characteristics, and ordinary seed 
were planted for comparison. They were indistin¬ 
guishable from start to finish, and what became of 
the pedigree? 
I have had the Lovett strawberry since its intro¬ 
duction. The bloom was removed from the original 
plants and has been pinched ever since. Rows used 
for growing plants are allowed to form sufficien: 
plants for a fruiting row, and then the surplus run¬ 
ners are turned between the rows and these plants 
used for setting the next season. This is directly op¬ 
posed to the practice of growers of pedigree plants, 
and should result (according to them) in barren 
plants and reduced yield. But after 12 years of such 
treatment an acre produced berries on every plant and 
a heavy total yield. Two years ago, not having plants 
enough of my own of this variety, I bought what I 
needed from a grower of pedigree plants. No one 
could ever tell the difference at any time of growth 
either in fruit or foliage. W. V. F.’s article does not 
show that Mr. White’s selected William Belts (they 
may be seedlings), were tested in comparison with a 
similar number of unselected plants under “similar 
conditions.” The so-called pedigree plants are in no 
way produced like pedigree animals. The plants “are 
actually a piece of the parent,” and can be modified 
only by varying conditions of soil, fertility, moisture, 
etc. Animal types are determined by sexual influ¬ 
ence, and a decided and permanent change in the 
strawberry must be accomplished through the polien. 
A Haverland fertilized by Lovett may produce a berry 
superior to either parent A diseased plant is unfit 
for planting, but the fourth, fifth or sixth plant on a 
runner is by no means necessarily weaker than the 
first; It is only younger, and may be as valuable for 
setting as the first. One might as well say that the 
youngest child of a family of a dozen is unfit to be¬ 
come a parent. 
I use only well rooted plants because'*they com¬ 
mence to run sooner, and I can obtain a stand earlier 
in the season and larger plants for fruiting the fol¬ 
lowing year. If it Is possible to fix productiveness by 
selection of runners we should have Gandy as produc¬ 
tive as Haverland is now. For better berries than we 
now have we must look to cross fertilization. 
New York. g. a. pakcell. 
A LONG CLOVER STEM.—I send you a picture 
(see Fig. 258) of a White clover stalk which measures 
just an even four feet. It may be a common thing to 
yen, but seemed pretty tall to me. It grew near a 
stake, and I found it held up to the stake by other 
grasses. The soil was very rich. It shows what can 
be done it conditions are just right, w. o. wells. 
Massachusetts. 
