726 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October I"? 
; Ruralisms [ 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS 
Birds Eat the Graphs. —Grapes have 
been fruiting on the Rural Grounds 
since our first plantings began to bear 
in 1898, and have never been noticeably 
molested by birds until the morning of 
September 21, when our trial collection 
of new and standard varieties was in¬ 
vaded by a fiock of perhaps 150 voracious 
robins. A well-loaded vine of McPike 
w'as the storm center of attack, and as 
there was at least a bird for each clus¬ 
ter, the entire crop of this particular 
plant was mutilated in a few minutes. 
The grapes, though well colored, were 
not yet at their best, but had to be at 
once gathered or lost. The protective 
laws of our State do not allow the gar¬ 
dener more than to “shoo” the birds 
away, and this gentle process is only 
effective while a guard is actually in 
sight. The birds hung about in force 
until every dark-colored grape in the 
collection was destroyed or prematurely 
harvested. We do not care so much 
about the loss of such kinds as Con¬ 
cord, Barry, Wilder and Herbert, as th'y 
were far enough along to benefit us in 
some degree, but certain later varieties, 
that previous limited experience had 
shown would ripen to honeyed nectar 
under an average October sun, were 
stripped to the last berry. Black grapes 
were almost exclusively attacked, though 
inroads were made on Agawam, Brigh¬ 
ton, Woodruff and other dark red kinds. 
The white grapes, though intermingled 
with the dark-skinned varieties, were 
not troubled at all. Lady, Diamond, 
Niagara, Munson’s Gold Coin, Wapanuka 
and others were completely ignored by 
the robins, though in much better eat¬ 
ing condition than many of the black 
kinds receiving their preferred atten¬ 
tion. Now that all dark grapes have 
vanished from the locality, the birds 
have fiown, with the exception of four 
or five individuals that have taken up 
Quite permanent quarters among the 
crowded clusters of a lusty Big Hope 
vine and are gathering in the berries as 
fast as they color. Immature grapes are 
net very stimulating, and it apparently 
requires several pounds each day of this 
light purple variety to satisfy eadi 
robin. 
What to Do.— Why don’t you bag 
your grapes or cover them with netting? 
In the first place a bagged cluster of 
grapes is not a normal sample of the 
variety. While protection from rot and 
insects is often assured by early bagging, 
the ripening of the enclosed grapes is 
delayed 10 days or more, and there is 
usually serious falling off in the quality. 
Bagging is troublesome, expensive and 
unprofitable save in special markets, and, 
lastly, our usual Summer and Autumn 
gales, not to mention the disastrous 
storm we have just experienced, would 
quickly strip every vestige of paper 
bags from the clusters. Netting of some 
kind must be used in the future if wo 
are to get any late black grapes. Birds 
have never before attacked gi-apes in our 
vicinity, and we hoped in vain they 
might spare us this one small fruit crop 
the present season. Until the State 
gives fruit growers permission to pro¬ 
tect their crop, we cannot consistently 
kill the birds. It is impracticable to 
frighten or drive them away without in¬ 
jury. We must then discontinue growing 
high-quality late black grapes, and con¬ 
fine our plantings to the indifferent early 
kinds that come in while wild cherries 
and elderberries attract the robins. J. 
B. Ward, in describing at the Boston 
meeting of the American Bornological 
Society, the ideal cluster of grapes, said 
the color should be black, but he 
will have to grow his black grapes in 
a cage if the bird plague goes on in¬ 
creasing at the present rate. 
Trap Crops Futile. —The stock ad¬ 
vice of those who grow no fruits, to 
plant a few cherry or mulberry trees 
to feed the birds, has been abundantly 
tendered since the publication of the 
Rural Grounds’ bird experience, page 
566. The futility of such a course should 
he apparent on slight reflection. Any 
fniit grower who has suffered from the 
ali-Snmmer attention of our too appre¬ 
ciative birds would gladly give his en¬ 
tire cherry crop, or anything else, if 
they would spare the rest. The cherry 
season is brief, and only forms an appe¬ 
tizer for the birds. We have mulberries 
with a long fruiting season, but the 
berries are not liked by the birds in com¬ 
parison with our luscious garden prod¬ 
ucts, and are too late in commencing to 
ripen. 
What i.s Reallv W^axted. —One native 
fruit has greater charms for our berry¬ 
eating birds than anything we cultivate. 
When the June-berry or service-berry 
reddens its fruits a week or more be¬ 
fore they would attain their real blue¬ 
berry-like ripeness, the fruit-eating 
thrushes swarm over the trees and 
bushes to the exclusion of strawber¬ 
ries and cherries, and remain until the 
last berry is gone. If we could breed a 
variety of Amelanchier ripening before 
the first strawberries and holding out 
until Isabella grapes were gathered in 
October, we might control the bird sit¬ 
uation by liberal planting. As it is, the 
Juneberry season is an all tco brief in¬ 
terlude in the story of destruction. El¬ 
derberries and wild cherries distract 
the attention of tlie birds during mid¬ 
summer. The only really ripe blackber¬ 
ries we secured this year were in August, 
during the season of these roadside 
fruits, but the latter were exhausted be¬ 
fore our grapes thoroughly ripened. 
The kindly foaling toward bird life ex¬ 
pressed by our correspondents does infi¬ 
nite credit to their hearts, but does not 
greatly help to solve the problem of 
how to grow fruits and hordes of fruit¬ 
eating birds in the same locality with 
due regard to the rights ot the fruit 
grower. 
The Local Peach Crop. —Although 
only a fraction of the usual Jersey 
peach crop was harvested this year, sav- 
eral careful local growers find their 
financial retuims little affected by the 
short yield. Prices for fair fruits 
to the grower ranged from $1.25 to 
$1.75 a basket, as against 25 to 
80 cents last year. Good peaches 
were only gathered in well-cared-for 
orchards. Scrubby and neglected trees 
as a rule produced no marketable 
fruits. Edwin Beekman, Middletown, 
N. J., sold 2,000 baskets at $1 each 
on the tree. He has only 11 acres in 
bearing peaches. The September gale 
wrecked a number of his best trees, but 
did not greatly affect the yield, as most 
of the crop was gathered at the time it 
occurred. 
Mr. Beekman has this to say about the 
treatment of his orchards: 
1 have seven acres in one orchard now 
bearing its tbirteenth consecutive crop; 
four acres in another and one, set last 
year, of eight acres. The four-acre or¬ 
chard is somewhat a failure; set in Kieffer 
Iiear trees, it is slowly being choked to 
death. The seven acres have borne as 
high as 3,800 baskets in a given year. This 
year as far as we now know 2.600 or 2,700 
baskets. lYe cultivate until July 8 or 10. 
then sow to Crimson clover. In Spring 
•sow broadcast on each acre 600 pounds 
of fertilizer made up of 1,400 pounds of 
Charleston phosphate rock, 600 pounds 
muriate of potash to the ton. In early 
May plow about three inches deep; in June 
sow 200 pounds nitrate of soda to the acre. 
The tops are cut back from time to time 
so as to keep young wood coming and re¬ 
duce bearing surface. We have done 
some hand thinning, but help is generally 
too scarce. The trouble with mv cultiva¬ 
tion is while we get fruit it lacks color 
from too dense foliage. Varieties are 
Mountain Rose, Stump, Qldmixon Free. 
Reeves Favorite, Cratvford Hate. Peach 
trees require and must have potash and 
nitrogen. It is the young w'ood that brings 
good-sized peaches, but only high gravelly 
soil w'ill produce ideal fruit. Our land is 
loo low and clayey. 
A high ideal of quality, it may be 
noticed, is sometimes a troublesome pos¬ 
session for the conscientious grower. 
Mr. Beekman’s peaches please his cus¬ 
tomers, if they do not quite satisfy him. 
His trees are models of luxuriant health, 
somewhat too leafy, but it is likely that 
he would not get 3,800 baskets in a sea¬ 
son from the seven-acre block if the 
foliage was less vigorous. 
Where to Grow Peaches.— J. H. Hale 
declares there are now no peach dis¬ 
tricts. Good peaches can be grown 
wherever corn may be successfully culti¬ 
vated, if the needs of the tree as to soil 
and fertilization are considered. High 
or sloping sandy or gravelly land is uni¬ 
versally recommended, but wonders may 
be done with dry thin clays if the trees 
are properly fed. Low and moist 
ground will not do. You get your tree, 
but not the best fruits. There are all 
sorts of exceptions, however. Thrifty 
trees are occasionally found in most un¬ 
likely places, but the broad rules for suc¬ 
cessful commercial growing are now tol¬ 
erably well recognized. It would seem 
that the finest fruits are borne on trees 
rather under than overfed with nitro¬ 
genous manures, but the quantity is like¬ 
ly to be lessened. w. v. f. 
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Tickets to 
California 
Oregon and 
Washington 
If you want to visit any point on the Pacific Coast or in the 
Pacific Northwest—NOW IS THE TIME. 
Every day from September 15 to November 30, the Burlington 
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Spokane, Ellensburg, Wenatchee or Umatilla, $30.50; to Salt Lake 
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OOUROINI. 
CUT THIS OUT. 
P. S. EUS^IS, Passenger Traffic Manager, 
209 Adams St., Chicago. 
I A'ant to go to_ 
Please send descriptive folders telling about the 
cheap tickets, the country, and how to get there. 
