THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
March 15 
186 
arguing that as there was a Federal apple (long since 
laid aside) there ought to be a Democrat. Finally, 
the present name—Rome Beauty—was adopted by the 
Pomological Society; suggested (as is understood) by 
the late M. B. Bateham, one of the leading members 
for many years, and editor of the Ohio Cultivator. 
Beauty has reference to the attractive appearance of 
the fruit, and Rome is from the fine township in Law¬ 
rence County, on the Ohio River, where the original 
tree grew. “Roman” Beauty (sometimes applied to it) 
is incorrect. 
The fruit on young trees is large, but heavy bear¬ 
ing reduces the size after a few years. It is quite at¬ 
tractive in appearance, and the quality is fair, though 
not equal to that of Stuart’s Golden, Grimes Golden 
and some other varieties. The most serious draw¬ 
back to Rome Beauty is its thin leaf; altogether un¬ 
like the leathery, dark green leaf of such varieties as 
Stayman. In old times this thin leaf was not so ob¬ 
jectionable, but the large increase of injurious in¬ 
sects and fungous diseases in recent years has 
changed circumstances. Spraying will doubtless be 
required to aid in overcoming these enemies. In an 
orchard of 600 trees of this variety there appeared an 
interesting sport, as it may be termed. The fruit 
differed in nothing but color; instead of being deep 
red, the stripes and markings were fully as light as 
in the old Cooper, and the greenish yellow of the 
ground largely predominated. The tree met with an 
accident and died before scions were saved from it. 
Bremen, O. r. J. black. 
THE NEWER VARIETIES OF CURRANTS. 
Currant growing for market has been part of my 
business for over 15 years. At first Cherry, Versailles 
and Fay were planted. The merits and weaknesses 
of each of these varieties are pretty generally known. 
Among all the varieties introduced none has equaled 
in size of fruit the old Cherry currant, but its failure 
to renew the wood by sending up shoots from the root 
made the plants short-lived. The Versailles was In 
some respects an improvement Its habit of growth 
was better and the clusters longer and easier gath¬ 
ered. While some of the fruit in favorable seasons 
compared well with the Cherry in size it was always 
much smaller toward the end of the cluster, and some 
years, and in unfavorable localities, it fell off much in 
size. It is now but little grown, and does not have a 
prominent place in the nurserymen’s catalogues. Fay 
has long and justly been the most popular variety 
grown in the Hudson River Valley, and perhaps 
throughout the entire fruit-growing region. Its long 
clusters of large, bright-colored fruit, so abundantly 
produced, made it a general favorite, and it seemed 
to leave but little to be desired as a market fruit. The 
habit of growth of the Fay is spreading rather than 
upright. Much attention has to be given to pruning 
and training a Fay bush, or when loaded with fruit 
it will lie on the ground and the fruit become soiled, 
especially in wet weather. It also dries on the bush 
very soon after it becomes fully ripe. These two weak 
points of the Fay make it desirable to get varieties of 
more upright growth that will prolong the season 
for marketing. 
In later years we have set quite largely of Victoria 
(May’s), Prince Albert and (President) Wilder. The 
two first named are not new varieties. Both are de¬ 
scribed in Downing’s Fruit and Fruit Trees, 1857. 
Victoria is a very strong, fairly upright grower, and 
produces, when properly pruned, immense crops of 
fine-looking, moderate-sized fruit. It is a late variety, 
and desirable. The habit of growth of the Prince Al¬ 
bert is different from any other variety. The growth 
is upright, the shoots being very strong and not very 
tall, and of a pinkish shade. The leaves are exceed¬ 
ingly thick and quite deeply serrated. The fruit with 
us in quite light colored and not quite so large as that, 
of the Victoria. It is the latest of all our varieties to 
color and generally sells for a good price. Last year 
all varieties in this section suffered with a leaf blight, 
that injuriously affected the fruit This blight or an- 
thracnose caused by the fungus, Glceosporium ribis, 
is fully described by Prof. F. C. Stewart in Bulletin 
No. 199 of the New York Agricultural Experiment 
Station, Geneva. While the leaves of the Prince Al¬ 
bert did not show any marks of the fungus, and re¬ 
mained on the bushes till frost killed them, the fruit 
shelled off almost as fast as it colored. At least one- 
half of it lay on the ground when the remainder was 
colored sufficiently to gather for market. It was the 
first we had ever known the fruit to shell. 
About nine years ago the Wilder was introduced by 
S. D. Willard, of Geneva. We procured 100 fine plants 
in the Spring of 1893. They were set between rows 
of grapevines with Fay and Prince Albert on either 
side of them set the same Spring. This first setting 
has given excellent opportunity for comparison with 
these varieties. The Wilder has always been healthy, 
and last season resisted the blight better than any 
other kind. The growth is strong and upright, always 
yielding a large crop of exceptionally fine fruit. The 
fruit is about the color of Fay, nearly as large, stems 
longer, colors soon after Fay, and is in good condition 
to market after Victoria begins to wither. The qual¬ 
ity of the fruit is best. We have received higher 
prices for its fruit than for any other during the sea¬ 
son. We think so highly of it that we have set no 
other variety since this came in bearing. The Filler 
is largely grown in Marlboro and Highland, and is 
considered an improvement on the Fay, of which it is 
probably a seedling. We have never grown it. Dur¬ 
ing the past 10 years many varieties of currants, for 
which great excellence is claimed, have been intro¬ 
duced. We have not tested any except those already 
named. At the Pan-American Exposition an extensive 
and elegant display of the Fay Tree currant was 
made. It was something entirely new, and extrava¬ 
gant claims of its productiveness were made. I am 
not aware that it is ready to be introduced to the gen¬ 
eral public, but it will doubtless be heard from later. 
Middle Hope, N. Y. wm. d. barns. 
DRAINING A MARSH FARM. 
Work of a Steam Ditcher. 
I have been very much interested in the article about 
the reclaimed marsh farm of Henry Price, page 65, but 
feel that you have left out the most important part; 
viz., a description of how it was drained, the time and 
amount of work it required to kill the marsh grasses, 
and in what manner it was done; the amount of capital 
it required, and the average cost per acre. I have a 
large tract of just such land. a. w. i. 
Shelburne, Vt. 
The article briefly stated that dredge-boats were em¬ 
ployed in reclaiming this fertile tract of land. Fig. 
68 shows one of these boats at work. It is difficult 
to give the exact cost per acre, owing to the fact that 
A STEAM DREDGE-BOAT AT WORK. Fie. 68. 
land nearest the ditches was taxed heaviest. The 
Scioto River rises in this marsh, and the county com¬ 
missioners were petitioned to survey and locate a new 
channel for the stream which would drain the then 
almost valueless land. This was done at the expense 
of the county, and in 1882 the work of dredging was 
begun. The cost of dredging was paid by the land 
owners, and proved to be a very profitable investment. 
The value of land rose from a few dollars to $50 or 
$60 per acre. The dredge work was finished in 1892, 
and about 15 miles of the river had been deepened 
and straightened. Part of this expense did not fall 
upon the Marsh farmers, as the river was improved 
beyond the limit of the flooded land, and property 
owners all along the river were taxed, though at a 
lower rate, because they received less benefit. There 
are numerous large ditches running through the 
Marsh that were also dug by the dredge. Then, too. 
there are many smaller ditches that were dug by 
hand or scraped out. Occasionally, during heavy rains 
in the Winter and Spring, the water covers the low 
lands, but the network of open ditches soon carries 
it away. A man who has had much experience in 
dredge work, and was also an owner of Scioto Marsh 
land, roughly estimates the cost of drainage at $10 
per acre. It cost some farmers more than this, and 
some less, according to location; but these figures 
give a general idea of the expense. Mr. Price gives 
the first cost of drainage to farmers nearest the large 
ditches as $5 per acre; but says the smaller ditches 
and the cost of keeping them open would probably 
run very close to $10. 
In the days when the Marsh was a paradise for 
hunters it was covered with a thick growth of rank, 
tough grass that grew from five to eight feet tall. 
In the Fall people came from miles around for wagon- 
loads of this grass to tie up corn fodder. In those 
days it was unsafe to drive through the Marsh even 
if a team could have forced its way through the wild 
grass, on account of the soft condition of the soil. For 
the first few years it was under cultivation the horses' 
feet were shod with huge iron plates to keep them 
from sinking to the knees in the loose black earth 
and wagons with wide tires had to be used in gather ¬ 
ing the crops. When the water was drained off the 
grass dwindled in size, and the planting of rye for a 
few years completely destroyed it. Weeds now grow 
as on ordinary land, and the grass gives no more 
trouble. m. b. i. 
BLOWER SILAGE CUTTERS. 
In The R. N.-Y., page 101, J. N. B., East Hampton. 
Mass., has made some statements that, so far as the 
Blizzards are concerned, need to be corrected. I affirm 
the correctness of the statements made in my article 
upon the same page. J. N. B. is right in the opinion 
“Better have plenty of spare power in an engine for 
the farm” or any other use. But so far as his remarks 
apply to the Blizzards, they are far from being cor¬ 
rect. He evidently is honest in his opinion; but 1 do 
not think he has ever seen a Blizzard at work, perhaps 
has never seen one at all. He appears to judge it by 
other blower cutters that he has either seen or heard 
of. He states: “In regard to any kind of engine of 
five-horse power running a Blizzard cutter, or any 
other blower and cutter combined, it would be out of 
the question, unless the cutter was so small as to he 
of no practical use.” Then again, that “the best of 
feeders will occasionally get a little too much corn 
into the cutter for the power; and, of course, that 
slackens the speed, and in order to blow corn you 
must keep your speed uniform, for the fan must go 
at the rate of 2,000 revolutions per minute.” These 
statements may be correct as applied to the blowers 
that he has seen, but they do not describe the Bliz¬ 
zard. I am quite confident that he can run either the 
L 10 or the L 12 Blizzard with his seven horse-power 
steam engine anywhere from 700 to 1,000 revolutions 
per minute and have it warranted to do a good satis¬ 
factory business, or no sale. In the season of 1901 
“quite a number of Blizzards were operated success¬ 
fully at 700 to 750 revolutions”; yet I believe a higher 
speed, say from 900 to 1,000 per minute, will give a 
better preparation to the silage. J. H. B. further 
states: “The sawmill men claim that it takes five 
horse-power to blow sawdust without elevating It. 
In answer I will say, that it will take far less power 
to elevate wet sawdust from 30 to 50 feet through a 
perpendicular pipe than to blow it the same distance 
in a level or inclined pipe of the same size. The rea¬ 
son for this is, that the wet sawdust or the wet cut 
corn will settle in passing through the level or much 
inclined pipe and soon choke it; while in the perpen¬ 
dicular, or nearly so pipe, it is lifted up by the under¬ 
neath air blast. I have seen an instance where very 
green and watery corn early in August, 1900, judged 
to be nine-tenths water, cut one-fourth inch, was ele¬ 
vated 30 feet through a pipe at an angle of 1 V 2 inch; 
the pipe choked at once. The cutter was then moved 
nearer to the silo and the pipe inclined about five 
feet in 30—almost perpendicular—and the heavy wet 
1%-inch cut corn was elevated all right. The corn¬ 
stalks were so very juicy that when a handful was 
squeezed the water ran out in a stream. This was at 
an early trial exhibition. Corn should not be siloed 
until past the milk or even “roasting stage,” when 
half ripe or glazed, to make the best sweet silage. 
Still, if cut while quite soft by the Blizzard the con¬ 
tents of the kernels are plastered all over the cut 
silage and not a particle is lost. R. m. w. 
FUMIGATING TREES WITH TOBACCO. 
I see on page 52 an inquiry from J. R., Derby, 
Washington, about spray for green aphis with your 
answer, which is correct I will give you my experi¬ 
ence with this, the worst of all pests to the apple or¬ 
chard. San Jos6 scale isn’t “in it” with this pest. I 
have about 2,000 apple trees, mostly young, the oldest 
10 years old, that have been badly affected with this 
aphis. In fact, it has killed many trees for me, and I 
have tried about every spray that I could think of. 
Tobacco water seems to kill the lice better than any 
other wash, and two years ago I sprayed a few trees 
once a week for six successive weeks, and I thought 
that I had the lice killed, but I did not, for within a 
month I found them at work upon the trees again. 
Last year I tried fumigating. I made a light frame 
large enough to set over the trees and covered it with 
sheeting. I took a frying pan, built a fire in it, and 
set it under the tree. I put my tent over the tree, and 
put two tablespoonfuls of sulphur on the fire and left 
the tent over the tree for 15 minutes. This killed the 
lice, and also killed the leaves on the trees, and some 
of the trees died from the effects of the fumigation. 
I then prepared as before and used tobacco, a good 
handful with a teaspoonful of sulphur, and this fumi¬ 
gation killed the lice and did not injure the leaf, and 
I think that I never saw trees grow as rapidly as those 
trees grew after the fumigation. They have not had 
a louse on them since the fumigation. I raised my 
own tobacco last year, and will fumigate all of my 
trees this year. This fumigation not only kills the 
aphis but every other insect that may be on the tree, 
and the trees seem to enjoy the relief from their 
pests and make a wonderful growth after the fumiga¬ 
tion. I think the tobacco would do the work without 
the use of sulphur, but I have not used it that way 
yet; will try it this year. Any form of tent that will 
retain the smoke around the tree for 15 minutes will 
kill the aphids and their eggs and leave the trees in 
a healthy condition. w. s. L. 
Weaverville, Cal. 
