56o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
August 18 
Farmers’ Club. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the 
name and address of the writer to insure atten¬ 
tion. Before asking a question, please see 
whether it is not answered in our advertising 
columns. Ask only a few questions at one time. 
Put questions on a separate piece of paper.] 
Pruning Young Plum Trees. 
K. O. A'., Tracy Oily, Term. —I have about 
half a dozen each of young Abundance 
and Burbank plum trees. They have not 
borne any fruit, but made line growth. 
I see no sign of fruit spurs. Should I cut 
back the new growth severely now, or 
leave it until Fall or Spring? The new 
growth last year was cut back fully one- 
half or more. The two kinds have entirely 
different growth; should it be thinned out 
if too dense? 
Ans. —Perhaps the trees are not old 
enough to bear; or, they may be stimu¬ 
lated into such vigorous growth that 
they will not bear. Severe pruning 
in Winter or Spring will tend to this re¬ 
sult. Summer pruning has the effect 
of inducing fruitfulness, but it is now 
too late to do it. The right time is in 
June or July. The Japan plums do not 
form fruit spurs in quite so prominent 
a degree as other plums, but have many 
of their fruit buds along the young wood, 
just as do the peaches. There may be 
many of them now on the trees, but not 
readily observed by any but an expert. 
I would await blooming time and then 
cut back but lightly. 
II. E. VAN DEMAN. 
Hogs in Oi chard. 
S. £>., Oak Hill, N. Y.— Will it be wise to 
put hogs or pigs in a young orchard set 
two to six years? If so, will the white 
breeds do as well as the black ones? Will 
the pigs bark the trees? 1 would prefer to 
put in sheep, but sheep raisers tell me that 
it won’t do until the trees get their rough 
bark, as they will kill them by rubbing 
against them, and I am afraid that hogs 
will gnaw the trees. 
Ans. —A young orchard ought to be 
cultivated and kept clean of grass and 
weeds that hogs or sheep would eat. In 
such a case I can see no reason for put¬ 
ting stock in an orchard except to yard 
them. When the trees have attained 
bearing size there may be circumstances 
in wnich it would be wise to put in hogs, 
and in some peculiar cases sheep. As 
to hogs, I do not think it matters what 
may be their color. They will rarely 
gnaw the bark of orchard trees, except 
when short of food; although I have 
seen a few that would do it with any 
kind of feeding. They need to be close¬ 
ly watched and well fed, when they are 
very good scavengers in an orchard, 
picking up dropped fruit and rooting for 
insects. Sheep will rub trees sometimes, 
and the grease on their wool will hurt 
them when they are small. I know of a 
friend who had to take his sheep out of 
a young orchard this Summer because 
of their fondness for the tender growth; 
for they will sometimes do a lot of 
mischief in this way before it is dis¬ 
covered; and I have known them to eat 
the bark off the trunks of apple and 
pear trees. When well fed and in old 
orchards they may sometimes be kept 
very advantageously. 
II. E. VAN DEMAN. 
Summer Pruning; Cultivating Bush Fruits. 
B. T. C., Bailey, Mivh.—l. What objections 
are there to pruning young trees to shape 
their heads in Summer? 2. How late in the 
season should the cultivation of currants 
and gooseberries be continued? 3. What is 
a good cover crop for a patch of young 
bush fruits? 
Ans.— Summer is often a good time to 
prune trees for the removal of unneces¬ 
sary branches or to shorten in those 
which are running too far in any direc¬ 
tion. Pruning at this time of year will 
check growth, but if done when the 
leaves are off there is almost sure to be 
a rampant growth of sprouts and in 
some cases it causes more growth of 
wood than there was before the pruning 
was done. 2. Currant and gooseberry 
bushes ripen their wood early, and it 
would be unwise to cultivate them in 
such a way as to induce a second 
growth. Yet the weeds should not ue 
allowed to grow among them. The 
.state of growth should be the guide as 
to when to stop. Usually that is about 
the beginning to the middle of August 
in most places where they are grown. 
3. Oats make a very good cover crop for 
the soil among bush fruits. They 
shouu* be sown in time to make a fair 
growth before cold weather kills them. 
Crimson clover is also very good and 
has uie ability to store nitrogen in the 
soil. It must be plowed under soon af¬ 
ter soil is fit to work in the Spring. 
II. E. VAN DEMAN. 
Fall Planting of Tree and Bush F/uits. 
II. SI., Connecticut.—I intend planting the 
following fruits: Blackberries, raspberries, 
both red, blackcaps and purple, plums, 
peaches, pears and currants. Can all of 
these be planted with safety in the Fall, 
or with greater chances of success than in 
Spring? The soil is a light dry loam. 
Ans. —In the climate of Connecticut 
it is generally safe to plant all the fruits 
mentioned by H. M. in the Fall; al¬ 
though I prefer that the stone fruits 
should be planted in the Spring when 
the Winters are at all severe. The main 
benefit of Fall planting lies in the 
earlier starting of growth in the Spring. 
The roots become well settled in the 
soil, the wounds heal over, and the 
rootlets often start in the Fall, if the 
planting is done in 'good season. But, 
if the Winter is very severe, there may 
be considerable damage from evapora¬ 
tion of the sap faster than the roots can 
supply the water from the soil. 
II. E. VAN DEMAN. 
Mayes Dewberry. 
A. C., Grimes, Mich.- What do you know 
of the new dewberry from Texas that is 
called Mayes by some and by others Aus¬ 
tin? Is it as hardy as the Lucretia and 
other dewberries? Is it a good market 
berry ? 
Ans.—' 1 he Mayes dewberry is a new 
variety that has been tested but a few 
years outside of Texas, but it is found to 
be a very good variety in all respects, 
except that the fruit is too soft for uis- 
tant shipment. The name Austin has 
also been given it, but Mayes is given 
preference by the pomological authori¬ 
ties. Compared with Lucretia it is 
larger, better flavored, and being more 
tender in texture is better for family 
use. The plants seem about equally 
hardy, and will endure about the same 
climatic range as our best blackberries. 
Owing to the low habit of the vines i^ey 
are very easy to cover for Winter pro¬ 
tection. For nearby market and home 
use the Mayes dewberry is a decided 
success. h. e. v. D. 
Pears in Apple Orchard. 
C. V. P., Menlo, Qa.—ls it advisable to 
plant alternate rows of apples and pears? 
The object is to establish permanent apple 
orchard, and use the pears as a filler row. 
planting dwarf pears and then cutting them 
out when the apples encroach on them. 
Is the Bartlett more susceptible to blight 
than the other varieties? 
Ans. —Dwarf pear trees may safely 
and profitably be used as fillers in a 
young apple orchard. They will re¬ 
quire about the same cultivation as the 
apple trees, and bear abundantly before 
the time that the permanent trees will 
require all the room. The distance be¬ 
tween the apple trees should be not less 
than 30 feet, and I would prefer 40 feet. 
This latter distance will give the pear 
trees about 25 years before they will 
need removal. The Bartlett is more 
susceptible to blight than the majority 
of other varieties. Angouleme and 
Secltel would be good varieties to plant, 
so I would think, but a wise plan would 
be to look about the neighborhood and 
see what kinds are profitable with others 
who are growing pears on similar soil. 
H. e. v. D. 
Don't Use “ Salix Compound.” 
E. U. K., Rockville, Neb.— An article called 
Salix Compound, but which looks to me 
like plain salicylic acid, is being used here 
for preserving fruit. Is fruit so treated 
poisonous or indigestible? 
Ans. —This stuff contains salicylic 
acid. We believe there is no doubt 
about it. Its use is both a folly and a 
crime. Fruit treated with it is unfit for 
food. 
Fresh-Water Mud as Manure. 
T. F. K., Carmel, N. Y.—A neighbor has a 
mill dam joining my farm; he has let the 
water all off, and the bottom of the dam 
is covered about three feet deep with black 
muck and sand that has been in there for 
the last 10 years. Do you think it would 
pay me to draw it and put it on my land? 
is there any fertilizing value to it, and if 
I draw it away, shall I spread it on grass 
land, or plow it under and mix it with the 
soil? 
Ans. —Such mud varies in value, but 
usually contains considerable plant food. 
A sample analyzed in Massachusetts 
contained 2 y 2 times as much nitrogen, 
as much phosphoric acid, and half as 
much potash, as average stable manure. 
The mud is likely to be sour, and the 
plant food is not quickly available. The 
best use to make of the mud is to mix 
with lime and put in piles for a com¬ 
post. Let it be worked over once or 
twice through the Winter, and it will 
then be in good condition for next 
Spring. If you do not compost it we 
would haul at once and spread thinly 
over the meadows. 
Fine Apples in Boxes. 
U. T. C., Bradrick, Ohio. —We have a fair 
crop of fine Borne Beauty apples, which 
were well sprayed. We are going to put 
them in bushel boxes, and would like some 
information about packing. We bought 
4,000 boxes, and as soon as the fruit is 
ready, it will be put into cold storage. 
Should we face the boxes the same as when 
we pack in barrels? We put a double layer 
of apples on the bottom of the barrel, al¬ 
ways using nice specimens, and filling in 
with nothing but good fruit. We expect 
to put only No. 1 apples in the boxes. Is 
it advisable to line the boxes with paper? 
Ans. —The above was presented to a 
number of receivers in this market, and 
brought out a variety of opinions. The 
majority prefer barrels, as they are more 
easily handled, and the fruit can be 
packed more tightly than in boxes. 
Boxes are all right for export trade. 
They can be stored without waste of 
room on shipboard, thus saving freight, 
which is charged according to space; 
and they are favorably received in the 
English market. There would be no ad¬ 
vantage in lining the packages with 
paper. California apples come here in 
good shape, each one wrapped in paper. 
This makes a great amount of work, and 
it certainly would not pay for anything 
except unusually fine fruit. One gain 
with wrapped apples is that without 
bruising they can be packed so tightly 
that there is no danger of rattling. So 
far as facing is concerned, it is a good 
plan to put fine fruit on the bottom and 
top of either barrels or boxes, so long 
as there is not too great a difference be¬ 
tween that and the rest of the contents. 
People expect that the outside ones will 
be a little better than the others, but 
they don’t want too much contrast. 
Our inquirer evidently intends to put up 
an unusually fine grade of fruit, hold it 
for a time in cold storage, and market it 
in large quantities when selling condi¬ 
tions are most favorable. He has a 
fair chance of satisfactory results un¬ 
less, as sometimes happens, the apple 
crop turns out to be so large that stock 
packed with unusual care does not bring 
enough more to pay for the extra labor. 
For the land’s sake, use Bowker’s Fer¬ 
tilizers. They enrich the earth.— Ad/v. 
DOT-OROWN STRAW- 
* BERRY PLANTS- 
Sample and Nick Ohmer, 
the two best varieties, set now, 
will pioduce a full crop next 
June. Price: 50 cts. per do*., 
$2 50 per too. f 20.00 per tooo. 
Send for Catalogue. 
PRATT. Reading;, Mass. 
Beautiful Strawberries in 1901 
We can furnish you with 
pot-grown Strawberry Plants 
that will bear a full crop of 
fruit next year. Celery and 
Cabbage Plants. Full line of 
Fruit and Ornamental Stock. 
Write at once for our Summer 
and Autumn catalogue. It 
explains all. Fruit packages 
of ail kinds for sale at low 
prices. T. .1. DWYER A SON, 
Orange County Nurseries, Box 1, Cornwall, N. Y. 
IlmBmam 
DREER’S 
Pot»Grown 
^ Strawberry Plants' 
fiWW planted this Summer will produce a lull 
J© crop of berries next June. Our Mid- 
Summer catalogue, just out and mailed 
free, offers plants of tile best aud new- 
SHjOi est varieties. The “Gladstone,” 
vSc finest berry known. Early, large, 
s®*- and delicious flavor. Price,Tocts.^ 
per dozen; $5.0(1 per hundred.^ 
HENRY A. IHtEER, 
Philadelphia, t’a. 
Jk O B C ff you want Apple bar- 
I-' I*** Li CL rels. and want to get 
——— them when you want 
them, write to 
ROBERT GILLIES. 
MARLBORO, N. Y. 
M AMMOTH White Winter SEED RYE 
—Noted for its productiveness both in grain 
and straw; awarded llrst prizes at several N. Y. State 
and American Institute Fairs. Also first at theTenn. 
Centennial, Mo., Vt. and Mass. State Fairs. Price, J1 
per bushel. Send for illustration. Refer by peirnis- 
slon to The R. N.-Y. E. L. CLARKSON, Tivoli, N. Y 
Harvest King Seed Wheat. 
Heavy-yielding: red. smooth chair. Yielded 40 bush¬ 
els per acre with me this season. Write for descrip¬ 
tion and prices. 
A. H. HOFFMAN, Lamlisville, Pa. 
JONES’ WHEATS 
never were as much in demand as now. Try these 
champion yielders from headquarters. Catalogue 
free. A. N. JON ES, Wheat Propagator, Newark, N. Y. 
||[|AF&|AWea re Headquarters tor 
ClH^CHh Seed & Plants. 
I Valuable book about it, telling bow togrow thousands ol 
dollars worth, what used foraudwno Is growing it,Sent forlOe 
AMERICAN GINSENG GARDENS, ROSE HILL, New York. 
FOR SALE 
—500 bushels Delaware-grown 
CRIMSON CLOVER SEED. 
JOSEPH E. HOLLAND. Milford, DeL 
c 
RIMSON CLOVE 
Do 
D 
not be deceived in buying 
cheap foreign seed. ■ «3k 
Ve are Headquarters for pure Delaware Seed. 
<ew crop. Write for prices. 
II. I,. HOLMES, Seedsman, Harrisburg, Pa. 
best bv test-74 YEARS. We DAV CASH 
WANT MORE Salesmen I /\ I WfEKlV 
Stark Nursery, Louisiana, Mo; Dausville, J.I. 
R POSSIBILITIES 
fully realized by those who plant our 
Standard Kiefer Pears. 
Our stock is renowned for vigor and rapid 
growth aud absolute freedom from disease, etc, 
This near is enormously productive, large size, 
fine flavor and handsome appearance. A good 
seller. Trees are free from blight; ripeDS late. 
_ Oar stock is the best the growers’ art can produce, 
UAUiUbOK’S NUKSKK1E8, Box 21> Berlin, Md. 
200,000 Peach 
HEADQUARTERS FOR 
YORK IMPERIAL KIEFFER. 
One tree to a carload, 
lusiness treeB at business prices. (They are bear- 
) Inducements to Peach buyers. 
)te vou on your want list. 
Let us 
For $1 I will send by express or freight, i Alpha, i Paragon 
1 Numbo Chestnut Tree grafted, worth $2.20. Full line of 
~ r* . • r . ARTHUR J. COLLINS, 
Nursery otOCK. Uertmcate. Moorestown, Burlington County, N. J. 
Choicest Fruit and Ornamental Trees. 
Shrubs, Plants, Bulbs, Seeds. 40 Acres Hardy Roses, 
of Palms, Everblooming Roses, Ficus, Ferns, Etc. 
solicited. Catalogue Free. 47 Years. 1000 Acres. 
44 Greenhouses 
Correspondence 
THE STORRS & HARRISON CO Painesville, O. 
CABBAGE WORMS HAMMOND SLUG SHOT 
over the plants. Its effectiveness is never denied, its safety is proved by 18 years of annual use. Is retailed 
generally at 25 cents for 5-lb package Put up in kegs and barrels and SOLD BY SEED DEALERS. For 
pamphlet address «• HAMMOND, FlshkiU-on-Hudson, N. Y. 
