1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
67 
WANTED! A BLIGHT-PROOF PEAR. 
As I see it the '•ase stands about this way here: 
It is probably impossible to find among any types of 
pears with which we are now acquainted any variety 
that will be entirely free from blight in all soils and 
seasons. The most which we hope for .s to find large 
and good varieties that are practically free, or as 
much so as the average apple. But few varieties, if 
any, of the apple, are entirely blight-resisting here— 
an occasional twig, especially during the blooming 
period, will succumb to the scourge when conditions 
favor the disease. Yet, excep ing the Russians and 
a few other varieties, it is not a very serious trouble 
with apples here. True, I can name many good va¬ 
rieties, as Belmont, Lowell, Chenango, etc., that fall 
before the disease, but there is a long list that is 
fairly free. Root aphis, or, as the New Zealanders 
call it, “American blight,” is a far more serious thing 
in this locality. 
Probably a dozen varieties of pears m^y now be 
named which arc as blight-resisting as the apple, 
but the trouble now is to add size and quality. I see 
no reason why a large and good pear may not be 
found that will be as healthy as the smaller and in¬ 
ferior ones. It is not certain, because a single seed¬ 
ling has remained sound to a good old age, that all 
its children, by either graftage or seedage, will in¬ 
herit immunity to disease. I once thought differently. 
Perhaps the blight germs did not exist in the locality 
where the original tree grew; perhaps methods of 
propagation influence; perhaps the soil. It was held 
by the horticultural representative from the Experi¬ 
ment Station at Champaign, at the late meeting of 
our State Society, that, although possible, it was not 
probable that anything could be added to the soil 
which would affect blight. I hope, and really think, 
that he may be mistaken. Yet I have no positive 
proof. 
Here I wish to ask a question. Do the germs of 
blight ever penetrate the ground and attack the roots? 
A root may be broken by the plow; can the disease 
enter here? Suckers spring up around a tree and 
blight; can the disease be conveyed by these suckers 
to the roots of the main tree, killing it bexore the top 
is seriously stricken? -I have seen top-blighted trees 
that were sound at the root, sprouting at the ground 
and growing for years, and I have seen trees where 
all roots died, seemingly from blight, and yet the top 
was comparatively sound, or, at least, not discolored, 
as is usual in blight. 
Some day, let us hope, some one will supplement 
Prof. Burrill’s discovery of the cause of blight with a 
practical cure. Then a long, tiresome and very ex¬ 
pensive chase w*.i be over, and we here, in the land of 
corn, cattle and hogs, can derive some benefit from 
the labors of such men as Van Mons and others, who 
have brought exquisite flavor out of original astrin- 
gency. - b. b. 
Sangamon County, Ill. 
GOOD WOOD FOR FUEL 
Christmas Day ushered in a genuine slice of old 
Winter—the mercury, for several days now, having 
made many close thrusts at the zero mark. Such 
weather is calculated to make one thoughtful as to 
the fuel supply. Where coal is used, the only question 
is that of stocking the coal bins when the roads are 
good and the purse in a healthful condition. But 
where wood is burned, as it is upon thousands of 
farms, the subject becomes more varied, if not in¬ 
teresting, and is one with several well-developed 
“handles” on it. The man who forces his better half 
to cook with green,soggy, snow-covered wood that 
“hisses” the fire clear out of the range ought, himself, 
to be hissed out of decent society. Green wood, it is 
true, is more suitable for the modern heating stove, 
in that it lasts longer and produces an intensely hot 
bed of coals that gives a more even degree of heat 
than very dry material, but it should be cut in ample 
abundance and stored in a dry place convenient to 
the dwelling. With a good, keen cross-cut saw and 
a couple of axes, two men can get an immense 
amount of first-class fuel in shape for the heater in 
two or three days. These tools contain, in available 
form, the “handles” to the question above referred to. 
Wood for the cooking range, however, should be 
thoroughly seasoned and dry, so that the degree of 
heat may readily be controlled by the engineer of the 
“grubbing department.” 
At Dale View we use wood exclusively, both for 
cooking and heating purposes; and we make a busi¬ 
ness of keeping at least one year ahead in our stove- 
wood supply. This Winter we burned, for a time, 
wood that has been prepared two years; but we find 
that wood cut one year makes a more substantial fire 
than that which has been two seasons in. the “rick” 
—the latter becoming so dry and light that it is not 
so durable. I have found very few farmers who cared 
to discuss two-year-old stove-wood. In fact, there are 
too many of them who, in order comfortably to dis¬ 
cuss any question, in cold weather, must first repair 
to the woodyard and chop a "few sticks” of wood. 
We do not burn wood from necessity, but from choice. 
We have coal mines within two miles of our place. 
With a good, large, heating stove we can burn large 
chunks of wood, and their crackling, glowing, clean¬ 
liness and good cheer go far in making the most dis¬ 
agreeable Winter days the most enjoyable of the 
year. r. h. ballou. 
Licking Co.. Ohio. 
CUL TURE OF PEACH ORCHARDS CRITICISED 
On page 3 is an article on the Cultivation of Peach 
Orchards, by Mr. Goodrich, of Illinois, which I think 
is incorrect teaching. To allow the rye to grow till 
June to the height of a man’s shoulder is, I consider, 
about the worst possible treatment for any kind of an 
orchard except, perhaps, a dead one. Granted that 
water is an important factor in fruit production, why 
is it recommended that we allow 10,000,000 living 
pumps in our orchard to work continually from April 
to July, then laboriously turn under with a shallow 
furrow, a mass of material composed largely of wood- 
fiber? In fact, good raw material for a straw-hat 
factory. 
Would it not be better to plow in that crop in 
April, and then go over the orchard every Monday 
forenoon with a good scratching instrument, till some 
time in July? Again, we are advised to grow cow 
peas to make and keep the ground in “a loose and 
mellow condition,” while in another place the author 
cautions us not to make our orchards a little more 
loose and mellow (by tillage) for fear of exposing 
the roots by the washing of the soil! I believe in the 
A GOOD RED POLLED COW. Fig. 25. See Page 78. 
principle that a loose and mellow soil is good, but 
that a looser and mellower one is better. 
Rhode Island. nathan l. c. moore. 
R. N.-Y.—We must remember that Rhode Island is 
a long way from Illinois. 
THE TWO-STORY HENHOUSE. 
Please give me advice In regard to a double-story hen¬ 
house. I find the roof to be the most expensive part, no 
matter what the covering, and the more hens I can crowd 
under the same roof the less expense of housing them. 
S. Sandisfleld, Mass. h. j. 
In building a poultry house, the principal points to 
be kept in mind are economy in building, conveni¬ 
ence for the attendant, and arranging for the health 
and comfort of the fowls, as an unhealthy or un¬ 
comfortable fowl is an unprofitable one. Do not 
lose sight of the other essentials in the attempt to 
economize. There are 365 days in each year that the 
fowls’ wants are to be looked after, and every few 
steps or few minutes’ time, that can be saved when 
feeding, watering, cleaning, gathering eg^s, etc., will 
go a long way towards paying the extra first cost of 
a convenient building. If the fowls ar„ not satisfied 
with the plan of the house, they will get their revenge 
by refusing to pay for it. 
The greatest disadvantage, so far as the occupants 
are concerned, of a two-story henhouse, would be 
lack of yard room; otherwise they would probably 
be as well contented with their apartments above as 
though they got in on the ground floor. They could 
be confined to their rooms all right in Winter, but 
confinement in Summer would, most likely, prove a 
failure. In this respect the two-story house built on 
a steep hillside, as in Biddyville, The R. N.-Y., De¬ 
cember 30, 1899, would come in all right, but even 
here the busy man will probably pronounce it a fail¬ 
ure after a few months’ running up and down steps 
several times each day, for feeding, watering, clean¬ 
ing, gathering eggs, opening and closin^ windows, 
etc. The two-story poultry house appears to me 
much like some old houses I have seen, with the floor 
of each room a few steps above or below each ad¬ 
joining room, so one is continually tramping up or 
down steps in going from one room to i lother. We 
notice that people living in such houses, who are 
about to move, will be careful that their new home 
has all the floors of each story on a level, no matter 
what other defects it may have. I think that it will 
be the same way with the two-story henhouse; the 
person already having one will be pretty sure not to 
build another, and before the steps are entirely worn 
out, he will probably conclude that he needs the upper 
story of the one already built for a store room, or 
something that does not require so much running up 
and down as when the hens were kept there. 
My only experience with a two-story poultry house 
is a combination of chicks and pigeons. My brood¬ 
ing house, which is 100 feet long by 15 feet wide, is 
two stories high, the young chickens occupying the 
lower floor, with pigeons above. This arrangement 
has proved satisfactory, as the pigeons come to the 
ground for their feed, water, etc., and we seldom have 
occasion to go aloft except once each week to get the 
squabs for market. By the way, I find the upper 
story much more profitable than the lower, when the 
amount of labor required for each is taken into con¬ 
sideration. J. E. STEVENSON. 
ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS. 
LATE GRAI< j/ING.—I n your issue of January 20 
Prof. Van Deman, in his fruit notes, replying to B. 
G.’s inquiries about grafting plums and cherries, says 
that they should be grafted early. I would suggest 
that B. G. try late grafting in part. Some time ago 
there was much said in The R. N.-Y.about grafting nut 
trees, and the best results were said to be obtained 
when the grafting was done late in the season, after 
growth had commenced. I had not been successful 
in grafting Japan plums. The thought occurred to 
me that some fruits bear some likeness to nuts. The 
almond and peach are said to be derived from the 
same stock. Last season I tried, upon this sugges¬ 
tion, grafting the Japan plum at varying dates. My 
experience was that the latest-set scions did best, 
and they were set about June 15. Of course, the 
scions were kept dormant. As I have made but one 
trial in this line, I should hesitate to advise one to 
try it extensively, but I believe it worth experiment. 
I have had best success in grafting apple and pear 
after growth commenced in Spring. m. morse. 
Massachusetts. 
REFRIGERATOR CARS.—At tne last meeting of 
the Peninsula Horticultural Society at Salisbury, Md., 
Mr. J. A. Davis gave a brief talk on shipping fruit 
in refrigerator cars. He made a point that ice will 
not resurrect the dead, and a refrigerator car cannot 
carry poor berries in good condition to market. The 
chief value of refrigeration is that it maintains the 
quality of fruit during shipment. But this quality 
must be high-class before the fruit is put into the 
car. Mr. Davis says that some people try to econ¬ 
omize by packing too many crates in the car, so 
as to reduce the price per quart to half a cent. He 
says that this does not pay, because when the fruit 
is crowded in this way the ice will melt quicker and 
not carry the fruit so well. Mr. Davis at one time 
packed 152 48-quart crates in a car, and not one of 
them sold for less than 13 cents per quart. They were 
picked right, packed right, shipped right. Another 
grower packed 252 48-quart crates in a car; too much 
of the ice melted, and the fruit arrived in poor con¬ 
dition. Mr. Davis’s advice is to strip the car with 
1%-inch strips, so as to afford ventilation, and let 
the air pass through. Last season he sold 127,000 
quarts, and, after paying two cents for picking, there 
was not a crate but what brought back profitable re¬ 
turns. Mr. Davis says that he would also use re¬ 
frigerator cars for shipping Lucretia dewberries. 
FERTILITY GIVEN AWAY.—Mr. Orlando Harri¬ 
son, of the nursery firm of Berlin, Md., recently told 
us of a novel plan for growing peach pits. The Har¬ 
risons produce millions of peach trees, and of course 
plant large quantities of pits. The usual plan has 
been to wait until late in the Fall before planting. 
Last year, however, they planted in August. Fur¬ 
rows were made as usual, and the peach pits dropped 
in the furrows; then a quantity of fertilizer was 
scattered, and cow pea seeds dropped in the same fur¬ 
row, the whole thing being covered as usual. The 
cow peas started and made a good growth, constant 
cultivation being given. At the last cultivation Crim¬ 
son clover was broadcast over the whole field, and 
when the cow peas were killed by frost the Crimson 
clover kept on growing, so that it now covers the 
ground. Thus they have had three crops in the same 
field. They were able to plant the peach pits earlier 
than before, and the cow peas and the clover will add 
greatly to the condition and fertility of the soil. In 
the Spring the cow pea vines that stand in the row 
will be crushed down and broken off with the Acme, 
while the Crimson clover will be turned under with 
a light plow. One can see the advantage to the soil 
in being able to use these manurial crops in this way. 
Farmers on the Peninsula, with their long seasons, 
are certainly blessed in their ability to make use of 
these two great crops so successfully. 
