658 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 29 
; Ruralisms 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS. 
Dwarf tomatoes. —Since the intro¬ 
duction of the Dwarf Champion tomato, 
about 10 years ago, a demand has been 
created for a tomato of similar habit 
bearing a good crop of brignt scarlet 
fruit. The compact, stocky growth of 
the Champion is very attractive to the 
amateur, and thousands of plants of this 
variety are grown every Spring for the 
grocery and other forms of retail plant 
trade. There is much disappointment, 
however, when these pretty plants fruit, 
as tne tomatoes are dull red in color, 
rather soft and small, and none too 
abundant in number. Considerable ac¬ 
tivity has been evinced in breeding new 
sorts from the Dwarf Champion, and a 
number of scarlet-fruited “tree toma¬ 
toes” nave lately been offered by seeds¬ 
men, or are still undergoing tests in the 
hands of introducers. Most of them 
show progress toward the desired type, 
but fail to combine all the necessary 
qualities, 'me Quarter Century, which 
originated in 1896 on the present Rural 
Trial Grounds, comes nearer to the ideal 
dwarf tomato in the opinion of many ex¬ 
perts who have repeatedly tested it than 
any of its competitors. It has been sent 
out extensively for trial by W. Atlee 
Burpee & Co., of Philadelphia, this sea¬ 
son, and we shall soon know something 
of its behavior in many widely-separ¬ 
ated localities. It appeared as a “sport” 
in the third generation from a cross be¬ 
tween the Lorillard, a bright scarlet 
variety of high quality, largeiy grown 
under glass as a forcing tomato, and the 
Dwarf Champion. Though it has been 
repeatedly grown in areas as large as 
two or more acres, it comes perfectly 
true to habit an- color so far, and bids 
fair to fill tne bill completely for those 
who want a compact-growing tomato, 
bearing good-sized, bright scarlet fruits 
of the best table quality. Fig. 241, page 
654, is reproduced from a photograph of 
one of three main branches of a plant 
growing on the Rural Grounds under me 
most ordinary culture and fertilization. 
It is reduced to less than one-third nat¬ 
ural size, the larger tomatoes having 
been auout four inches in diameter, the 
cluster weighing nearly six pounds. The 
special advantages of the dwarf or up¬ 
right form of the garden tomato are 
that the plants are more resistent and 
manageable than the long, sprawling 
kinds. They can be grown to good size 
in a small pot or uox, and suffer much 
less when set out in dry and unfavorable 
weather; they can be planted much 
nearer together, thus getting a larger 
yield from limited grounds; the dense 
foliage shades the fruit, and greatly 
lessens sunscald, while the flavor is bet¬ 
ter preserved by the slower ripening 
during extremely hot weather. Quarter 
Century, as grown by Mr. T. J. White, 
of kittle Silver, N. J., the last three sea¬ 
sons has been planted 24 inches apart 
in well-enriched soil, each plant tied to 
a stake about three feet high as growth 
progressed, and the soil cultivated after 
each rain. h.r. \vnite has grown toma¬ 
toes by the hundred thousand, in every 
variety known to the trade, all his life, 
but says the Quarter Century gives him 
the best satisfaction for personal gar¬ 
dening of all he has ever tried. He gets 
the very first ripe tomatoes from this 
variety, as against all the “extra 
earlies,” for he is enabled to grow the 
plants to sufficient size in a four-inch 
pot under glass to set one or two clus¬ 
ters of tomatoes, which hold on and 
ripen outside, and he gets the last ones 
as they continue to bear until frost. He 
has not kept accurate count of the fruits 
picked from these plants so far this 
year, but is sure that they will average 
a half bushel apiece. We expected to 
secure a picture of this fine row of 
plants, but at no given moment did it 
seem possible to take a photograph that 
fairly represented the vigor and prolific 
character of the plants. The Quarter 
Century seems almost alone in its ca¬ 
pacity to endure the change from house 
culture to the open air without dropping 
the first fruits set inside. As all tomato- 
growers know, there is a considerable 
interval between the first clusters set 
and the succeeding crop, so the fact that 
they can be retained when transplanted 
to the garden renders the Quarter Cen¬ 
tury in our locality the earliest of all 
tomatoes as well as a main-crop Far¬ 
it ty. 
For extended field culture the tall 
strong growing tomaf ;es of the Para¬ 
gon, Matchless and Beauty type will 
probably always be preferred, but for 
garden and home purposes there is evi¬ 
dently a secure place for dwarf and com¬ 
pact varieties, provided they have the 
additional qualities of good size, bright 
color, fine flavor and productiveness. 
Many amateur gardeners would like to 
grow their tomatoes tied neatly to 
stakes, but are debarred from using the 
tall varieties on account of the great 
length of the vine and the open charac¬ 
ter of the foliage, which tends to ex¬ 
pose the fruits to sunscald. They have 
not hitherto had an opportunity to try 
a dwarf-growing sort with the needed 
additional qualities. The Dwarf Cham¬ 
pion itself is but an amplification of the 
old Tomate de Laye, which originated 
from seed in France nearly 50 years ago. 
Prof. L. H. Bailey has erected it into a 
botanical variety under the name of 
Lycopersicum esculentum validum—the 
upright tomato. Tomate de Laye as 
grown in America, is a weak but com¬ 
pact dwarf plant producing a few soft 
dull-colored and watery tomatoes. 
Possibilities of a Wild Cherry.— 
The common Black wild cherry (Prunus 
serotina) is little appreciated as an or¬ 
namental tree, and is usually considered 
a pest as it grows by the roadsides. 
Tent-caterpillers hang their banners in 
the branches, and cattle are sometimes 
poisoned by eating the leaves, especially 
if they are partially wilted. Neverthe¬ 
less, its rapid growth, clean, shining fo¬ 
liage, dense racemes of creamy-white 
flowers and shining black fruits render 
a well-formed tree a most attractive ob¬ 
ject if prejudice is put aside. There is 
already a variet" of weeping habit, and 
others with golden and variegated fo¬ 
liage, in cultivation, but they have not 
been extensively disseminatea. We have 
discovered a very compact short-jointed 
form bearing thick and glossy leaves 
near the Rural Grounds, which seems 
eminently worthy of cultivation, and a 
test will be made to find whether it 
holds its characteristics after propaga¬ 
tion. When we took possession of the 
present Trial Grounds an ordinary 
young wild cherry seedling standing— 
it would be too forcible an expression to 
say growing—on the most barren part 
of a stony slope, attracted our attention. 
It was just at the end of a row of young 
evergreen trees that were constantly cul¬ 
tivated during the Summer. Every time 
a horse with the plow or cultivator 
came through the rows he tramped and 
dragged the tool over the forlorn little 
tree, which wr s bent, twisted and barked 
from bottom to top. As something green 
was wanted at this particular place, and 
it was evident that much time and trou¬ 
ble be required to establish another tree 
of any kind, we decided to stake and trim 
the stunted an^ misshapen cherry. That 
was five years ago, and the result is a 
neat, shapely tree nearly 10 feet high, 
and almost as many in spread, which 
always Iooks well and has already borne 
two crops of sprightly fruit. No atten¬ 
tion has been needed except snortening 
the branches during late Winter. As 
everybody knows, the wild cherry makes 
a valuable timber tree when of full size 
and development, and the bark and 
fruits are extensively used in the prep¬ 
aration of cough medicines and tonics. 
An Odd Annual. —One of the hand¬ 
some and litcle-known plants encoun¬ 
tered on the trial grounds of an exten¬ 
sive grower during a recent visit is the 
Mock or Summer cypress, Kochia sco- 
paria. it is not new, having been grown 
here and abroad for a generation, but 
has never been popularly disseminated. 
It is grown as a hardy annual, Gie small 
seeds being sown as soon as the ground 
can be conveniently worked. It grows 
about 2y 2 feet high, and resembles a 
small closely-sheared evergreen, and can 
be compared to a dwarf cypress or arbor 
vitae. The color of the plant is light 
green until the fruits or seed pods form 
in September, when it becomes a mass 
of crimson, and dies within a few weeks. 
The flowers are green and not conspicu¬ 
ous. When the seeds can be procured 
this Summer cypress makes a handsome 
and easily grown novelty for any gar¬ 
den. w. v. f. 
Strawberry Notes.— Of about a dozen 
varieties of strawberries grown by me 
this season, I shall retain the Cumber¬ 
land for early, and the following, valued 
in the order named: Brandywine, Park¬ 
er Earle, Henderson’s Repeater, Clyde, 
Bismarck, a limited quantity of Lovett 
and Brunette, discarding Murray’s Ex¬ 
tra Early, Michigan, Sharpless and Ar¬ 
row. Of these Cumberland was the only 
variety in blossom at the May 10 freeze, 
destroying about one-third of its crop. 
Repeater has as yet shown no indica¬ 
tion of repeating its crop in September, 
as claimed by its introducers, but is of 
fair quality, being equal in vigor and 
productiveness to another variety, en¬ 
tirely free from rust, berries medium to 
large, very uniform, ranking next to 
Cumberland for earliness, and the best 
of the newer varieties with which I am 
familiar. I consider it well worthy of 
growing regardless of a Fall crop. My 
experience hitherto with potted plants 
having been unsatisfactory I had about 
concluded to have nothing more to do 
with them, but noticing the offer to send 
plants by mail with the earth shaken 
out, I concluded to try a couple of dozen. 
Planted them out July 23; they rooted 
finely, and are already sending out run¬ 
ners. Grown in pots the roots are 
cramped into small space, become pot 
bound, and unless the earth is shaken 
out do not readily extend to the fresh 
soil. Layers would probably be fully as 
good, perhaps preferable, even at the 
same rate, besides saving the expense of 
potting, and reducing express charges. 
But if purchasers must have potted 
plants, by all means shake out the earth 
and give the roots a chance to spread 
themselves. h. h. b. 
Jewett City, Conn. 
The Crosby Peach.—T here is a good crop 
of apples, but they are now showing indi¬ 
cations of early ripening: peaches are plen¬ 
tiful, small, high-colored, and ripening all 
at once in many orchards. One orchard, 
that of P. E. & C. E. Peck, is a notable ex¬ 
ception. It is on rather moist ground, not 
swamp, but spring-water moisture, and was 
thoroughly worked during July. The dirt 
mulch thus obtained has held the moisture 
and the trees are weighted down with the 
finest peaches it was every my good for¬ 
tune to behold, or taste. In size, color and 
flavor, they are near peach perfection. 
There are many good kinds in the orchard, 
but Orosby is king. Say what you will, the 
Crosby is a great peach. Brother J. H. 
Hale in his most sanguine moments never 
claimed for that variety what excellencies 
the facts show in this orchard. Peaches 
three inches and more in diameter are the 
rule, rather than the exception, painted in 
colors no lithopgraph has ever shown, their 
delicate skin filled with a juicy combination 
that makes all other peach flavors poor in 
comparison. These are not young pampereu 
trees, bearing their first crop. They are 
seven or eight years planted, and are bear¬ 
ing their fourth successive crop without 
any unusual amount of fertilization. They 
get good care, but nothing beyond what any 
intelligent fruit grower would give them. 
1 am aware that the Crosby does not al¬ 
ways behave in this manner. I have not 
been partial to that variety in the past, 
but the fact that it is capable of producing 
such results, places it in the front rank of 
peaches for this section. c. p. a. 
New Haven Co., Conn. 
An Unfailing Remedy in Croup. 
Mr. H. M. BENNETT, Wellsville, Kansas, October 
1899 writes: 
I have known of Jayne’s Expectorant over forty 
years, and recommend it unequivocally as one of the 
best Cough Syrups on the market—one that always 
gives my customers satisfaction, and that IS AN 
UNFAILING REMEDY IN CROUP.— Adv. 
CLOTHING—C. O. D. 
mj Our free style book of the 
“ Famous Maryland” Made- 
to-Order Clothing is now ready 
and shows the most fashiona¬ 
ble styles, with large samples of clot h 
that will be worn by the best dressed 
th is season. Suits and Overcoats from 
S7.75 to 826.00. We guarantee to 
fit and prepay Expressage to your 
station. This book also contains 
some special values in the ‘‘Famous 
Maryland ” Shirts, Shoes and Under¬ 
wear, also Boys’ Clothing. 
SPECIAL.— Men’s Black Clay Wor¬ 
sted Suits, either cutaway or sack, 
worth $10.00 for 84.96. Send $1.00 
with order and pay balance plus the 
express charges to your Agent upon 
receipt of this suit. They will not last long. 
Address this way: 
JuliusHines&Son, Baltimore, Mri. Dept. 320 
How to Drain Land Profitably. 
On every farm there is probably some land 
that could be made more productive by under¬ 
drainage. Properly drained land can always 
be worked earlier, and more profitably. The 
best and most 
economical way 
to drain is ex¬ 
plained in the 
book, “ Benefits of Drainage and How to Drain,” 
which is sent free by 
JOHN H. JACKSON, Third Ave., Albany, N. Y. 
200 BU. A DAY 
with this OTIS BALL BEARING No. 2 MILL. 
i< Grinds ear corn and other grain, fine or coarse. 
liGrlnd* faster than any other 2-horse mill 
. made, because burrs are 26^ in. in diameter, 
•of Improved nhape to draw the grain 
jdown into them. Pulls easier as it runs 
"on a series of 1 in. ball bearings. This is the 
_SlaripeHt 2-horBe mill made, but our prices are 
low because we have no a^enti. We sell it with a niiiriiiiff 
S un run tee to grind twice an much as most others and more 
an any other 2-horse mill made of any size burrs or any con¬ 
struction. THY IT. If it don’t do as we say return it at our ex¬ 
pense. 8W EEP GEARED MILL of new pattern, rapid 
grinder. 8 styles of sweep mills, price. $14.25 and up. Our 
latest catalogue—prices on 10,000 articles—gent free on request. 
Marvin Smith Co.. 53-55 N. Jefferson St., Chicago, Ills. 
MIGHTY HANDY 
for genera) farm work, handling pota¬ 
toes. beets, coal, lime, manure, is the 
DIAMOND 
SCOOP FORK. 
Does not bruise vegetables. Screens 
out dirt. Last indefinitely. 10 or 12 
tines with flat points, made of one 
f iece of steel. Ask dealers for the 
Miiniunil. Send for catalogue 
farm tools. It Is free. 
ASHTABULA TOOL CO 
Ashtabula, Ohio. 
One Layer 
OF 
Cabot’s Sheathing 
Pai.l552.-9i 
is as warm as 
SIX LAYERS 
of common sheathing paper. Makes 
houses, stables, barns, poultry houses, 
etc., wind and frost proof, and costs 
less than ic. a foot. Send for a sample. 
SAMUEL CABOT, Sole Atanufacturer, 
81 Kilby Street, - - Boston, Mass. 
Agents at all Central Points. 
I 
^ADVANTAGES 
or a low down wagon.such as ease 
of loading, saving of heavy lift- 
. ing, saving the land from cutting up and 
| rotting, are derived from using a set of 
Electric Steel Wheels 
They convert your old wagon into a low 
down handy wagon at the lowest poaai- 
ble cost. They are made of Bteel with 
either direct or staggered oval steel 
spokes. They are made in sizes to fit any 
- wagon. A set of these wheels means 
that you have practically two wagons:—A low one for the 
farm and a hign one for the roads. A ny height you want, 
and all wide, non-rutting, easy draft tires. Write at once 
for catalogue, prices, etc. • 
Electric Wheel Co., Bo*88 ,Quincy, III. Z 
4 Buggy Wheels with tire on, 87.26 
with Axles Welded and Set, 11.00 
I make all sizes & grades. Send for cat. giving 
instructions for ordering. Special Grade 
Wheels for repair work, $5.50. ft prepaid, if you 
write to-day. W. R. BOOB, Centre Hall Fa 
We are the largest manu¬ 
facturers of Steel Wheels 
and Truck Wagons in the 
World. Write for Catalogue. 
Havana (III.) Metal Wheel Co. 
Nobody Can Tell 
what prices will be, but Page Fences are cheaper now. 
PAGE WOVEN WIRE FENCE CO., ADRI AN,.RICH. 
