642 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
September 22 
; Ruralisms ; 
M7TS /7?0ytf THE RURAL GROUNDS. 
Hot and Muggy Weather. —The hot¬ 
test August yet experienced on the 
Rural Grounds has just closed. On 
something like 15 days the temperature 
exceeded 90 degrees in the shade at some 
time during the day, but never quite 
reached the 100-degree mark. The Hr 
was humid most of the time, and on 
many days the “mugginess’' was exces¬ 
sive, but the rainfall was singularly defi¬ 
cient, considering that the Hope Farm 
man 60 miles northwest was repeatedly 
deluged with heavy showers. We had 
a good many light rains, which kept ve¬ 
getation fairly green, while the soil was 
steadily losing moisture all the time. 
The result of these unusual atmospheric 
conditions has been a riot of fungus dis¬ 
eases. Plums, peaches and grapes were 
attacked with the Brown rot as never 
before. On healthy plants, not over¬ 
loaded witn fruit, a good share pulled 
through, but on weakly trees and vines 
or where the fruit was crowded an al¬ 
most total loss occurred. The leaf blight 
swept away a particularly promising 
crop of Paul Rose and other melons just 
as they were about to mature into their 
characteristic lusciousness. Within 48 
hours after the first crimping of the 
older leaves was noticed the plot was a 
mat of brown and withering foliage. A 
melon can’t store sugar and flavor when 
the leaves have been destroyed. The 
Celery blight has badly injured some fine 
fields of celery in the neighborhood, but 
has not attacked well-established plants 
in the Rural Grounds. A very hot 
morning, followed by a rather chilly 
shower, furnished the conditions favor¬ 
able for the rapid spread of the fungus. 
The little mite known as Red spider, 
a common and persistent greenhouse 
pest, attacked our block of pansies dur¬ 
ing the frequent hot waves and wrought 
sad havoc. It has even spread to the 
foliage of the chestnut and maple trees, 
and is rapidly browning them. 
We are asked whether science has not 
provided a remedy for all these pests and 
diseases. Certainly, but tneir applica¬ 
tion to such a variety of plants entails 
much labor and expense which it seems 
can often be bestowed elsewhere to 
greater advantage. Certain crops and 
plants must be saved at any hazard, oth¬ 
ers can most profitably take their 
chances. Bordeaux Mixture applied be¬ 
fore the buds open and at intervals dur¬ 
ing the development of the fruit will 
greatly check the development of the 
Fruit-rot fungus, but liberal culture and 
prudent thinning is even more effective. 
The Melon blight can be circumvented 
to a great extent by high feeding and 
very early planting. We have not heard 
of successful treatment by fungicides, 
and much doubt whether it would pay 
commercially to treat such masses of 
foliage with copper solutions, even if ef¬ 
fective. The Celery blight can be con¬ 
trolled by carbonate of copper solutions 
according to the Maryland Experiment 
Station, and promises practical results, 
but even here we find that strong trans¬ 
planted or potted plants set in good, 
moist soil, are nearly exempt, while 
starved plants from a crowded seed-bed, 
hurriedly planted, are swept away like 
chaff before the wind. The Red spider 
can be kept down by profuse syringing 
with cool water, or the whale oil and 
kerosene emulsions, but the plants in¬ 
fested outside seldom warrant such 
treatment, as a few hours of heavy rain 
is usually sufficient to check them. We 
are constantly using the spray pump to 
check the ravages of this or that insect, 
and to protect specialties, but we do not 
like continually to plaster our plants 
with copper and arsenical solutions. The 
successful culture of a variety of horti¬ 
cultural products in any locality depends 
on a nice balance of atmospheric condi¬ 
tions, but we have the comfort of know¬ 
ing that extreme conditions of tempera¬ 
ture and moisture favor the development 
of certain plants, while injuring others. 
Thus Lima beans, egg-plants and sweet 
potatoes find this tropical combination 
of humidity and high temperature just 
to their liking, and are doing very finely. 
The Delaware Plum. —The Delaware 
plum, disseminated by J. L. Childs sev¬ 
eral years ago, is bearing its first fruits 
near the Rural Grounds. The trees are 
quite dwarf, with a tendency to form 
drooping and rambling branches. The 
growth is less rapid than other plums of 
Japanese origin, and it can well be 
planted in a more confined space. The 
fruits were just ripening September 5, 
though the variety has been described 
as very early. They are blunt in shape, 
of fair size and covered with a tnick 
white bloom. The color is purple, with 
dark red flesh, clinging tightly to the pit. 
The quality is sweet and rich, but we are 
not able to detect any of the whimsical * 
flavors of watermelon, apricot, etc., as¬ 
cribed to it. It is just a good sweet 
plum. Delaware is the result, according 
to Burbank, of a cross between Satsuma 
and Kelsey, and was one of the first of 
his plum hybrids to be offered to the 
public It seems to be hardy, and to re¬ 
sist the rot reasonably well. It will take 
a season or two longer to test its pro¬ 
ductiveness in this locality. The curcu- 
lio has but little effect on the young 
fruits. 
Japan Maples. —Japan maples are not 
at their best now, as the brilliant shades 
of their early foliage becomes much 
dulled as the season advances, but they 
always make handsome and striking or¬ 
naments to any lawn or door-yard. The 
beautifully-cut, fern-like foliage is much 
admired, and the bright color of the 
Spring is to some extent repeated in the 
Fall growth, thus giving a fringe of 
bright red and purple tints on the dark 
green body of the foliage. There are 
many vantties, but the Ju"-lea\ed pur¬ 
ple (Acer palmatum dissectum atropur- 
pureum) is probably the most satisfac¬ 
tory, both in beauty and hardiness. Fig. 
233 shows one of these sturdy little trees 
on a lawn in Rochester, N. Y. They are 
often allowed to grow in shrub-like form 
with branches drooping to the ground. 
It is hard to say which method is pref¬ 
erable; the general character of the sur¬ 
roundings stems to decide the matter. 
There are many other varieties with gol¬ 
den and parti-colored leaves, but some 
are of doubtful hardiness and require 
Winter protection. Good young trees of 
the best kinds can now be had for $1 
to $2 each. While the price appears high 
few investments of this kind will give 
more pleasing and permanent results. 
A Hybrid Honeysuckle. —No in¬ 
stances of intentional hybrids between 
species or varieties of the climbing 
honeysuckles appear to be on record. 
Heckrott’s honeysuckle (Lonicera Heck- 
rottii) is: considered to be a hybrid of nat¬ 
ural or garden origin, and some hybrids 
have been found between various yellow- 
flowered American species. During me 
Summer of 1894 the writer attempted to 
hydridize several of the more common 
species together, but only secured a sin¬ 
gle fruit from L. fuGhsioides, a hand¬ 
some variety of the scarlet trumpet 
honeysuckle, with L. Sullivanti, a native 
yellow-flowermg species. The resulting 
plant produces large clusters of yellow 
trumpet-shaped blooms, changing the 
second day to orange red on every young 
twig throughout the entire growing sea¬ 
son, thus becoming a true everbloomer. 
Both colors, red and yellow, show clear¬ 
ly in each cluster as long as it lasts. The 
plant is a healthy but rather slender 
grower, with a tendency to climb very 
high. It makes a good companion with 
the Chinese honeysuckle on account of 
the great profusion of its brilliant flow¬ 
ers. It is quite sterile, producing no 
berries, which probably accounts for its 
constant blooming character. 
THE CHAIRS PEACH. 
The wonderful peach crop of this year 
is teaching us some useful lessons about 
varieties. • Some of the old ones hold 
their own remarkably well, and others 
are being outclassed by better ones of 
the same character. The demand for 
yellow peaches seems to be on the in¬ 
crease, and whatever color is fashionable 
is the one to grow. The Crawfords, Fos¬ 
ter, Reeves, Smock and lately Elberta 
have largely been the cause of this pop¬ 
ular notion, because they are all peaches 
of good quality, except it be Smock, 
which has been mainly popular with the 
canners. Many varieties have been 
brought forward of the season and char¬ 
acter of Late Crawford, but none that 
seems to be superior in all respects ex¬ 
cept Chairs. Having just made a trip 
of investigation through the peach or¬ 
chards of Delaware, which are almost 
universally loqded with fruit, it has been 
a rare opportunity to see what the varie¬ 
ties have done, and there seems to be 
no variety of that season that equals it, 
although there are plenty of competitors. 
It is just like a very large Late Craw¬ 
ford, but excels it in size and seems to 
be less subject to rot. It is also a trifle 
longer in ripening its fruit, which is 
sometimes very convenient when a large 
quantity requires marketing. The fruit 
hangs on remarkably well. 
The variety originated on the premises 
of Franklin Chairs, of Anne Arundel 
County, Md., about 1880, and has been 
grown more or less in many sections 
ever since. At first it was called Chairs 
Choice, but the name is now cut down to 
the single word Chairs. Many orchards 
of it have been in bearing for years 
past, and thousands of baskets and boxes 
of the fruit have gone to market and 
been handled on the reputation of Late 
Crawford, because the old name would 
be an advantage in the sale, the dealer 
and buyer both thinking they had rare¬ 
ly seen such fine Crawfords, when it was 
really the Chairs. Those who contem¬ 
plate planting a medium late yellow 
freestone will do well to plant Chairs, 
except where varieties of the Crawford 
type do not succeed. The drawing re¬ 
produced in Fig. 236 was made from a 
good average specimen from a tree that 
was well-laden, on the farm of Charles 
Wright, of Seaford, Del. 
H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
Li. A. Goodman, of Missouri, calls for 
fruit from that State to show at Paris. 
Here are the directions for gathering and 
packing: “Gather with the stems on, good, 
sound, well colored, even sized specimens 
without scab, worm marks or bruises; in 
fact, as near perfect as possible. Double 
wrap them, first in tissue and then in par- 
rafin paper. Pack them closely in boxes 
or barrels, so they will not move in the 
least. Head up or box up closely and firm¬ 
ly, putting old paper on the sides and top 
where there is danger of bruising.” 
Cherry Notes.— Sweet cherries sell here 
at retail 12% to 18 cents per quart. In my 
own orchard of 360 trees I set the rows al¬ 
ternately, Dayton, Ida, Early Richmond, 
replanted with Montmorency. I intend to 
top-graft most of the Richmond to a very 
fine variety I accidentally came across at 
Medway, Ohio. It is of the Morello class 
but very black and meaty; not so watery 
and larger than the Richmond, also later. 
Ida does not bear more than one-third as 
much as Dayton (a local seedling); that 
seems to have weak blossoms as they 
bloomed heavily last Spring, but they 
failed to set a crop although no frost oc¬ 
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