1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
383 
SCALD IN STORAGE APPLES. 
Mature Fruit Injured Least 
I have been interested in the recent discussions in 
The R. N.-Y. concerning the relation between spray¬ 
ing and the “scald” of apples, especially of Rhode 
Island Greening. The scald is one of the most serious 
difficulties with which the handlers of apples in cold 
storage have to contend. All varieties do not suffer 
alike. The Rhode Island Greening and York Imperial 
are the most seriously affected of the great com¬ 
mercial sorts, the trouble appearing about the first of- 
the year and progressing rapidly. Winesap, Baldwin 
and Ben Davis are often injured later in the season, 
and of the less important varieties Smith Cider, 
Grimes, Wagoner, Huntsman, Minkler, Lankford, 
Arctic, Arkansas (Mammoth Black Twig). Stayman, 
Paragon, Maiden Blush, Nero, Salome, Sharp and 
Pride of Texas are often badly scalded. 
The causes of apple scald are not known. It is 
attributed to sweating, to over-ripe and under-ripe 
fruit, to freezing or to a temperature that closely ap¬ 
proaches the freezing point, to a high temperature 
in the storage room, and to various other causes. 
Through the pomological investigations of the Bu¬ 
reau of Plant Industry, the question has been syste¬ 
matically studied from many standpoints. No defi¬ 
nite conclusions can be drawn from the investiga¬ 
tions at present. Among the various suggestive re¬ 
sults, however, there seems 
to be a direct relationship 
between the degree of ma¬ 
turity of the fruit- and its 
susceptibility to s c a 1 ci. 
The most mature, most 
highly-colored apples of 
the same variety, appear 
to scald least; or, to apply 
the principle to an individ¬ 
ual apple, the scald is worst 
on its less colored side. 
It was observed about 
February 1 that Rhode 
Island Greening, from the 
same orchard in New York, 
and kept in the same room, 
developed four times as 
much scald in hard, 
grassy green fruit as in 
more mature fruit picked 
two weeks later; that light 
red, well grown York Im¬ 
perial (January 20), from 
Virginia, developed about 
nine times as much as 
later-picked, redder fruit; 
that light red, well-grown 
Winesap (March 15) from 
Illinois developed more 
than 30 times as much as 
darker colored fruit; that 
light Ben Davis (March 15) 
from Illinois, developed 
four times as much as the 
darker colored fruit; that 
the same variety from Vir¬ 
ginia developed five times 
as much in the lighter as 
in the darker colored ap¬ 
ples; and that light colored 
Baldwin from New York 
(April 30) showed 15 times as much as the same va¬ 
riety picked two weeks later. It has been shown fur¬ 
ther that the lower the temperature in the storage 
room, the less the scald. For example, there has been 
from five to 20 times as much scald in different va¬ 
rieties in a temperature of 36 degrees as in 31 to 32 
degrees. 
The scald is a complicated problem that will need 
investigating for several years before it will be safe 
to draw conclusions as to its exact nature and its best 
treatment. It is not a question that relates to the 
storage house alone. It involves the methods of 
growing apples, pruning, spraying, tillage and fer¬ 
tilizing. It is important to know more about the in¬ 
fluence of young vs. old trees, of heavy vs. light soils, 
and of well-cared-for vs. neglected orchards. It is 
of equal importance to know more about the influ¬ 
ence of diffei’ent temperatures, degrees of humidity, 
ventilation, kinds of packages, and many other 
storage questions, not on the scald alone, but on the 
whole subject of apple keeping. There has been 
a tendency among apple growers and handlers in 
recent years, to pick the fruit a little earlier each 
season, believing that the fruit that has not quite 
reached its highest color has better keeping qualities. 
It is not improbable that this practice partly accounts 
for the increase in scald in recent years, and especi¬ 
ally during the last season, when the competition 
among buyers in the Fall of 1901 resulted in the pick¬ 
ing of much fruit before it was mature. It has de¬ 
veloped from these investigations that the more 
highly colored fruit of all varieties studied—provided 
it is not beginning to soften when it is harvested— 
has kept as well in all cases, and better in most, than 
the less mature pickings. Fruit of high color, or 
greater maturity, therefore is apparently less suscep¬ 
tible to scald; it has a higher selling value, and its 
keeping quality is apparently not impaired. 
G. ITAROLD POWELL. 
Ass’t Pomologist, Department of Agriculture. 
LAWING OVER MUSTARD SEED. 
Certain newspapex-s of late have imported a start- 
ling seed case from this State. Fi-om the accounts 
given it appears that a farmer purchased a quantity 
of what he supposed was rape seed of a seedsman, 
but when the plants appeared it pi'oved to be wild 
mustard. The farmer is said to have sued the seeds¬ 
man and l-ecovered $10,000 damages! Through the 
kindness of an attorney who is familiar with the 
cases, I am able to present the following, given in the 
words of my informant: 
“There were three of those cases. The facts were 
similar in all three, and were as follows: The de¬ 
fendant was a merchant, keeping a general country 
store. The plaintiff called at his store and asked for 
rape seed. In each case a quantity of seed was weigh¬ 
ed out and delivered to the plaintiff by the defendant’s 
clerk, axxd in each case the seed turned out to be wild 
mustard. Both the plaintiff and defendant in each 
case were ignorant of the character of the seed. On 
the trial of the first case, which took place in 1898, 
the judge granted a non-suit on motion of defendant, 
on the ground that the maxim of caveat emptor (let 
the buyer beware) prevailed, and that the plaintiff 
was not entitled to recover. An appeal was taken by 
plaintiff and the decision was reversed. This case 
was then settled out of court, the defendant paying 
the plaintiff reasonable damages. Since then two fur¬ 
ther suits have been tided. In the first of these the de¬ 
fendant obtained a verdict for the reason that the jury 
found that the plaintiff relied upon representations 
of an expert whom he brought to examine the seed 
before purchasing and not upon the representations 
of the seller. This case was not appealed. In the re¬ 
maining case the plaintiff was only a tenant, having 
two remaining years under his lease. This case re¬ 
sulted in a verdict lor the plaintiff; damages $76.25 
and costs of action. These cases were decided for 
plaintiffs on the ground that if the seller represents 
by words or acts that he is selling an article of a cer¬ 
tain kind, and delivers an article of another kind he 
is liable on the ground that a sale under such cir¬ 
cumstances amounts to an express warranty that the 
article is the kind represented to be, and that the 
maxim of caveat emptor does not apply.” 
Wisconsin. Frederic cranefield. 
PROF. ROBERTS ON FARM MANURES. 
What Is a Balanced Plant Ration ? 
I notice in your issue of April 26, page 308, a short 
article on stable manure. It is said, “Suppose 20 tons 
of average manure be used per acre, it will furnish 
(approximately) 200 pounds of nitrogen, 120 pounds 
of phosphoric acid and 260 pounds of potash.” This 
brings up the question, What is a balanced plant ra¬ 
tion? If the ordinary farm crops be analyzed it is 
readily seen that the proportion of nitrogen in the 
manures is too great. But what about the relative 
proportions of the three plant foods in the soil? In 
many if not most soils, long cultivated, nitrogen is 
found to be proportionately low compared with phos¬ 
phoric acid and potash. Then, too, the availability 
of the plant foods under discussion should be taken 
into account. The farmer should take heed to the 
question raised, but he should do far more, for he 
cannot go on intelligently without putting questions 
to the soil and correctly interpreting the answers. 
In one place in the Mohawk Valley we found a super¬ 
abundance of potash in the soil, yet potash was the 
one plant food which markedly increased production. 
It is presumed that the greater part of the potash in 
the soil was unavailable. 
But what I wished particularly to call attention to 
is the amount of manure wffiich, by implication at 
least, is recommended—20 tons per acre. If one of 
the most exacting crops as 
to plant food supply, wheat 
is considered, it is found 
that in a crop of 25 bush¬ 
els per acre, 1,500 pounds, 
and straw assumed to be 
2,000 pounds per acre, the 
following demands in 
p o u n d s, approximately, 
are made on the soil: Ni¬ 
trogen in wheat 29, straw 
12, total 41; phosphoric 
acid, wheat, 13, straw 4.5, 
total 17.5; potash, wheat, 
8, straw 12.6, total 20.6. 
Ordinary good soil and 
thorough tillage should 
supply this out of a prob¬ 
able 1,000 to 3,000 pounds 
of nitrogen, a like or great¬ 
er amount of phosphoric 
acid and from three to four 
times as much potash in 
the first eight inches of 
ordinary surface soil. Five 
tons of manure contain ap¬ 
proximately 70 pounds of 
nitrogen, 34 of phosphoric 
acid and 77 of potash. In 
the above estimates the 
composition of unrotted 
strawy manure from a cov¬ 
ered barnyard is taken. 
Here it is found that the 
manure contained enough 
nitrogen for the wheat crop 
with 36 pounds to spare, 
almost exactly twice as 
much phosphoric acid and 
more than three times as 
much potash as is required 
by a crop 50 per cent larg¬ 
er than the average of the State or of the United 
States. It should be said, however, that it is probable 
that less than one-half of the plant foods contained 
in the manure is available or usable by the wheat 
plants the first year, but after making due allowance 
for all this and for manure of a somewhat poorer 
character, it should be clearly apparent that the effort 
to produce a respectable crop by “soaking” the land 
■with expensive manures and phosphates is neither 
scientific, logical nor most profitable. 
These notes suggest the great part which humus 
plays in crop production, and, above all, the greatest 
of all factors in increased production, constant and 
suitable moisture supply. Suppose the subject of in¬ 
creased production be studied by starting from the 
larger factors and ending at the small ones, as follows 
—MOISTURE, Humus, Tillage, Added Fertility. 
I. P. ROBERTS. 
R. N.-Y.—We had in mind chiefly the potato grow¬ 
ers of Long Island and New Jersey who use a ton or 
nearly of high-grade potato fertilizer per acre. They 
persist in doing this though scientific experiment 
seems to show that 800 pounds would be more eco¬ 
nomical. We find that as a rule the most prosperous 
and progressive farmers in these sections are those 
who use nearest to the full ton per acre! By general 
consent the fertilizer manufacturers and farmers seem 
to agree that for average soils a fertilizer for pota¬ 
toes should contain about 3 y 2 per cent of nitrogen in 
various forms, eight to nine per cent of phosphoric 
acid and six 1o seven of potash. This mixture appears 
to give average good results. It does not seem to be 
based on the analysis of either the soil or the crop but 
on farm results, ____ M 
