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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 29 
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; Ruralisms ; 
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NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS. 
Hybridizing Onions.—A review of 
available literature on the hybridization 
of useful plants fails to disclose any rec¬ 
ords of crosses between varieties of cul¬ 
tivated onions, or between the onion and 
related species, such as the leek and gar¬ 
lic. We have made several trials in past 
years of.applying pollen of leeks to se¬ 
lected onions, but no perfect seeds re¬ 
sulted. Crosses between the Yellow 
Globe Danvers and Southport Red Globe 
onions were made in 1899 on the Rural 
Grounds and the progeny grown the past 
season. But little effect is apparent from 
the transference of pollen from one va¬ 
riety to the other, as most of the ma¬ 
ture onions grown from this hybridized 
seed resemble one or the other of the 
parent types very closely, but a few are 
of good size, perfect form, and the skin 
is of a deep orange, just the shade one 
would expect from the blending of the 
two colors. These selected specimens 
will be planted for seed and grown for 
several generations to observe what fur¬ 
ther changes may take place. Nothing 
of special value can reasonably be ex¬ 
pected from crossing such carefully-se¬ 
lected and highly-bred vegetables as 
onions. The varieties now in commer¬ 
cial favor are the result of patient breed¬ 
ing for nearly a century, and it would 
seem that the breaking up of such fixed 
types would result in degeneration. The 
process is interesting, however, and in 
work of this kind useful and unexpected 
results have occurred at uncertain' in¬ 
tervals. 
Lively San Jose Scale. —Larvae of 
the Pernicious scale were plainly seen to 
be moving on the few infected trees on 
the Rural Grounds as late as December 
6; also a number of small black “lady- 
bugs” which, we think, were preying on 
the young and adult scales. With the 
aid of a hand lens it can be seen that 
great numbers of the adult scales have 
been destroyed, the insect scooped out 
of its shell like an oyster. We have so 
good an opinion of tne ladybugs that we 
cannot spare specimens for identifica¬ 
tion as to species as long as the active 
season lasts. There are no expert ento¬ 
mologists on the Rural Grounds, but we 
try to discriminate in favor of apparent¬ 
ly useful insects. The infected trees, 
now reduced in number to five, will be 
closely pruned in early March, the trim¬ 
mings laid aside in an open place to al¬ 
low any scale parasites to escape at the 
approach of warm weather, and later 
burned. The trees will be given two 
thorough sprayings with fresh crude pe¬ 
troleum just as the buds show signs of 
starting, the endeavor being made to 
cover every part of the trees above 
ground with a film of petroleum. Simi¬ 
lar applications last Spring appeared to 
be entirely successful, the trees making 
a good growth and being free from liv¬ 
ing scales up to this writing. The treat¬ 
ed trees have not yet entirely lost the 
greasy discoloration left by the oil last 
March on the thicker parts of the bark. 
Growing Interest in Orchids. —An 
orchid exhibition and talk was held at 
the American Institute, Lenox Lyceum 
Building, New York, December 13, at the 
occasion of the monthly meeting of the 
Farmer’s Club and horticultural section 
of the association. No feature of orna¬ 
mental horticulture has made greater 
advances in the last 15 years than the 
cultivation of tropical orchids. The 
number of species and varieties now 
grown is so great that large and expen¬ 
sive dictionaries are published for their 
enumeration. The results of hybridiza¬ 
tion among orchids are very surprising 
and beautiful forms are thus produced. 
It takes a long time to grow orchids 
from seeds, and the process is very un¬ 
certain. Some of the first hybrids pro¬ 
duced over 20 years ago have not yet 
bloomed, while others came to maturity 
within two or three years. The values 
assigned to handsome new varieties and 
to rare species on their first introduc¬ 
tion seem absurd to an outsider, as 
many hundreds of dollars are asked for 
a single plant, and many cannot be had 
at any price from their proud owners. 
It was formerly supposed that all exotic 
orchids required excessively high tem¬ 
peratures, and much petting and cod¬ 
dling wnen grown under glass in cool 
climates, but many species, including 
some of the most ornamental, are not at 
all exacting, and can be grown in any 
good greenhouse with very moderate at¬ 
tention. While the number of species 
grown by fanciers is so large, those be¬ 
longing to the genera Laelia, Cattleya, 
and Odontoglossum are perhaps the most 
popular and useful, as the flowers are 
very striking in form and coloring, and 
lasting in texture, giving them great 
value as cut blooms. Orchid culture is 
so interesting, and at the same time ex¬ 
pensive, that one who plunges into it 
may be regarded as lost unless he pos¬ 
sesses exceeding wealth. The facilities 
of the Rural Grounds will in the future 
as heretofore, be devoted to trials of 
plants useful and such of ornamental 
character as are practically in the reach 
of all who care to grow them, and or¬ 
chids cannot be placed in this category. 
Popular Horticultural Prophecies. 
—The following inflated statements are 
taken from a current ladies’ monthly, 
and are a good sample of the way par¬ 
tially-informed writers disseminate 
erroneous ideas about horticultural sub¬ 
jects. It purports to be a scientific pre¬ 
diction of some features of the develop¬ 
ment of garden and farm products at the 
end of the new century we are about to 
enter: 
Strawberries as large as apples will be 
eaten by our great-great-grandchildren for 
their Christmas dinners a hundred years 
hence. Raspberries and blackberries will 
be as large; one will suffice for the fruit 
course of each person. Strawberries and 
cranberries will be grown upon tall bushes. 
Cranberries, gooseberries and currants will 
be as large as oranges. One cantaloupe 
will supply an entire family. Melons, cher¬ 
ries, grapes, plums, apples, pears, peaches 
and all berries will be seedless. Figs will 
be cultivated over the entire United States. 
Peas and beans will be as large as beets are 
to-day. Sugar cane will produce twice as 
much sugar as the sugar beet now does. 
Cane will once more be the chief source of 
our sugar supply. The milkweed will have 
been developed into a rubber plant. Cheap 
native rubber will be harvested by ma¬ 
chinery all over this country. Plants will 
be made proof against disease microbes 
just as readily as man is to-day against 
smallpox. The soil will be kept enriched 
by plants which take their nutrition from 
the air and give fertility to the earth. 
Roses will be as large as cabbage heads. 
Violets will grow to the size of orchids. A 
pansy will be as large in diameter as a 
sunflower. A century ago the pansy meas¬ 
ured but half an inch across its face. There 
will be black, blue and green roses. It will 
be possible to grow any flower in any color, 
and to transfer the perfume of a scented 
flower to another which is odorless. Then 
may the pansy be given the perfume of the 
violet. 
When we consider the tremendous de¬ 
velopment of various fruits, flowers and 
vegetables that has already taken place 
—the modern orange from a little bitter 
acid berry—the cabbage, cauliflower, 
etc., from the wild herb of the chalk 
cliffs of Europe—the apple and pear 
from almost uneatable little wild fruits 
—one is tempted to think that there is 
no limit to the improvements that may 
be made in the future; but practical 
workers in plant-breeding soon find that 
Nature has a series of checks to too 
rapid and excessive developments of 
parts of plants that are not really im¬ 
portant to its welfare or essential for 
purposes of reproduction. Vast changes 
will doubtless take place even in the 
most highly-developed of our present 
fruits and vegetables in the fullness of 
time, but they will scarcely reach the 
degree indicated by our optimistic 
writer in one brief century. Nature, 
even when spurred to the utmost by 
eager experimenters does not work at 
such a high-pressure gait. w. v. f. 
THE YORK IMPERIAL APPLE. 
crop of hay (which is very fine), is good to 
feed stock hogs in Winter. The Alfalfa I 
have here looks good for the first year; I 
have cut it three times. If it does not 
winterkill it can be grown here. m. h. 
Connecticut. 
The York Imperial is one of the grow¬ 
ing apples here in the West. It has 
worked its way into favor with the or- 
chardists because of the good showing 
made during the last few years. The 
tree is a good grower, healthy, vigorous 
and as little liable to disease as almost 
any of our varieties. It succeeds in al¬ 
most all varieties of soils where apples 
will do at all, from one end of the State 
to another. It bears rather young and 
well. The apple is large, well-colored, 
of fairly good quality, and a moderately 
good keeper. Its faults are, that the 
apples are not of uniform, even size; not 
as productive as the Ben Davis, not as 
good a keeper, does not hold in cold 
storage well, being liable to “scalding.” 
In some parts of the State the cold Win¬ 
ter of 1898-99 injured the trees very bad¬ 
ly. In spite of its defects we will and 
must plant some of them, but it is not 
the perfect apple yet by any means. 
Missouri. l. a. goodman. 
I would not recommend the York im¬ 
perial for the Delaware and Maryland 
peninsula, except to furnish pollen for 
Winesap, Stayman or Paragon, all three 
of which I consider superior to it for 
commercial purposes. The three varie¬ 
ties mentioned are self-sterile, and the 
Stayman and Paragon, or the reverse 
crosses, are also sterile. Whether Wine- 
sap will fertilize Stayman or Paragon 
has not been determined. York Imper¬ 
ial is fertile with Stayman, and prob¬ 
ably with Paragon, though the latter 
point has not been settled, but it is 
weakly self-fertile. For practical pur¬ 
poses it may be considered self-sterile. 
The chief merits of York Imperial are 
its good keeping and shipping qualities, 
a bright red color, and excellent culin¬ 
ary properties. Its weak points in this 
section are medium to poor quality for 
eating; shy bearing in many places; slow 
growth of trees in comparison with the 
varieties mentioned, except Winesap; 
and often a lop-sided, ill-shaped fruit, 
less desirable for uniform packing than 
some others. In quality Stayman and 
Winesap are superior co it, Paragon fully 
equal, while Winesap and Paragon are 
better keepers, and Stayman probably 
as good or better. In color all three 
equal it, and in form and in early and 
heavy bearing surpass it. While I think 
York Imperial a safe apple for commer¬ 
cial orchards, the feeling has been grow¬ 
ing from year to year at the variety 
has been unnaturally boomed, end over¬ 
painted by its admirers. 
Delaware. g. harold powell. 
Growing Alfalfa.— On page 785 I read 
with much interest what Mr. Clinton has 
to say about Alfalfa. I am growing a small 
patch as an experiment. I had two years’ 
experience growing it in the Arkansas Val¬ 
ley, southeastern Colorado. There it is 
grown under irrigation to perfection. In 
1898 I sold over 200 tons from 52 acres, be¬ 
sides what I used to feed four mules. It 
makes a good hog pasture, and the last 
In your Issue of December 8 you ask: 
“Whatever has become of the Idaho pear?” 
I have a few trees, bought from one of our 
leading nurserymen, that are growing 
beautifully, and furnish a fine lot of Kieffer 
pears every year. gabriel hiester. 
Pennsylvania. 
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FREE—Send name and address on a postal card for 164 page illustrated catalogue. 
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