1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
529 
SALT FOR QUINCE TREES. 
One of our readers sends us the following 
question: “I have a quince orchard five 
years old which blooms well but sets very 
little fruit. Would an application of salt 
nelp the trees to fruit? How much salt and 
wood ashes, and in what proportion would 
be good for them? They have been kept 
cultivated, manured and have had some 
acid phosphate.” 
I have had no experience in the mat¬ 
ter. Still, arguing from well-known 
principles, I do not believe that salt 
would have any influence one way or 
the other in helping quinces to set 
fruit. There is no doubt that an appli¬ 
cation of wood ashes, which contain 
lime and potash, would be serviceable. 
I should suggest that an application of 
wood ashes or some form of potash be 
made without the salt. e. b. vooriiees. 
Salt is not likely to do any good on 
your correspondent’s orchard. A liberal 
dose of wood ashes may be expected to 
help matters—a ton or more to the acre 
if he has not used ashes or lime pre¬ 
viously. Can it be that the leaf spot 
disease partially defoliates his trees and 
so checks the formation qf healthy fruit¬ 
bearing wood? If so, spraying thor¬ 
oughly for two years will bring him 
fruit. The first year will give him 
healthy new wood and the second year 
will bring him good fruit. Bordeaux 
Mixture is the thing to use. We have 
had similar experiences with quinces. 
E. II. JENKINS. 
Salt would be of no use to the quince 
trees referred to. Wood ashes would be 
beneficial in any quantity up to say 100 
bushels per acre, broadcast, or if spread 
near the trees say one-half peck to each 
a few feet around. It is only age that 
the trees need. There is not much de¬ 
pendence to be put on a quince for fruit 
until eight or 10 years old. For fine 
fruit the quince needs thorough prun¬ 
ing, leaving enough young wood to form 
a good open top. This should be cut 
back each year within 12 or 18 inches 
of the old wood, as, like the grape, the 
quince sets its fruit on young wood of 
the past season’s growth. I have grown 
very fine quinces for several years on 
quite sandy soil, with no special manur¬ 
ing or care except pruning, which I did 
thoroughly, leaving no small twigs or 
suckers. ciias. black. 
Ilightstown, N. J. 
The application of salt to an unfruit¬ 
ful quince orchard could be of no value 
to it. As there is no manure in common 
salt, the principal ingredient being 
chlorine, which is a poison to plant life 
instead of a food, there is nothing gain¬ 
ed from it in the way of fertility. The 
only advantage which is occasionally de¬ 
rived by adding salt to the soil of culti¬ 
vated fields or fruit plantations, is from 
the absorption of moisture which it in¬ 
duces, and this is slight. A small amount 
will do no harm, but a large amount 
certainly would do injury. There are 
cases on record of trees being killed in 
this way. The idea that the quince 
should grow in wet or even very moist 
ground is a mistake. It is true that it 
will endure and even flourish in quite 
moist ground, but good average soil that 
is suitable for other fruits is best for it. 
It may be that some fungus disease is 
working on the quince trees of which 
complaint is made, and the essential or¬ 
gans of the flowers or the embryo fruit 
may be killed. Spraying with Bordeaux 
Mixture just as the flower buds are 
opening in the Spring and again when 
the fruit is about an inch in diameter 
would doubtless be of material advan¬ 
tage and the first spraying might cause 
the fruit to set well. I have found this 
treatment very beneficial to quince trees 
that I have grown, and to the fruit on 
them. H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
Machine for Harvesting Cabbage. 
Reader.—I am told that there is a ma¬ 
chine for harvesting cabbage. Do any R. 
N.-Y. readers know what sort of work it 
does? 
Ans.—T here are thousands of tons of 
cabbage raised in our town yearly just 
at the present time. Some farmers 
raise 10, some 15, and some as high as 
20 acres of cabbage on the ground, but 
no one knows or has ever heard of a 
cabbage harvester, or seen anything of 
the kind, and I am quite sure that I 
have not seen or heard of any (and do 
not expect to in my day) that works 
successfully and satisfactorily. The 
best cabbage harvester that I know of 
is a good lively smart young man with 
a small sharp hatchet and a pair of 
willing hands that are used to the 
business, who will go Into a cabbage 
field when they are ripe and cut a 
single head at a time; harvest an acre 
of 12 or 15 tons of cabbage in one day, 
cutting them off just right to throw into 
a wagon and keep a team and hands 
busy all day to draw and throw into a 
car when nearby the station, too; not 
more than one-quarter of a mile to 
haul them; as I have seen done, and it 
it can be done again by a neighbor and 
his boy, who are experts 
Tully, N. Y. R. O. TROWBRIDGE. 
Fitting a Low Meadow for Grass. 
C. K. D., Hayward, Wis.—I have a meadow 
which is so low that I cannot plow it, yet 
a team can work on it hauling hay, etc. It 
produces a good quality of wild hay but is 
decreasing in yield each year. I am think¬ 
ing of putting a spring-tooth harrow on it 
and then sowing tame grass. What is your 
opinion? What mixture of seed and what 
amount would you sow? 
Ans. —Judging from our own experi¬ 
ence you will not be likely to put that 
meadow into good grass until you get 
the water out of it in some way. This 
may be done by draining, perhaps by 
open ditches, though we do not know 
how the meadow is located. Scratching 
the surface with a spring-tooth harrow 
has never fitted our soil for grass seed¬ 
ing. We should sow a mixture of Tim¬ 
othy and Red-top and Alsike clover on 
such a meadow if we could drain and fit 
it properly, but we should not care to 
try it until some of the water was taken 
out. 
Renovating Asparagus Bed. 
E. T. D., Plainfield, N. J .—I have an as¬ 
paragus patch about 50x50 feet which Is in 
fair condition, but I want to tone it up. It 
has never been salted, when should this be 
done, and what quantity? Should it be 
spaded under, or allowed to slay on the 
surface broadcast? Should a heavy coating 
of stable manure be spaded under first, or 
what fertilizer should be used, and what 
quantity? 
Ans.— Salt is not at all necessary for 
the welfare of asparagus, though heavy 
applications seldom harm the plants. 
About the only benefits to be had from 
salt applications is in keeping the soil 
moister for some years and clearing out 
weeds sensitive to salt. An application 
of two bushels to the space you indicate, 
well spaded or raked in should be 
enough. len or 15 pounds of nitrate of 
soda applied in the same way will do 
much more good and the results be 
quickly apparent. The thick coating of 
stable manure you mention should not 
be omitted as it is, after all, the best 
fertilizer for asparagus, mellowing the 
soil as well as furnishing the needed 
chemical ingredients. If the manure 
cannot be had, apply a good high-grade 
chemical fertilizer as thickly as a floor 
is usually sanded. Both the manure and 
fertilizer act better if well spaded or 
worked into the soil. 
NOTES ON NATIVE PLUMS. 
We are constantly in receipt of inquiries 
at the station from all parts of the United 
States, except possibly the Pacific coast 
region, concerning culture, varieties, etc., 
of the native plum. As most of the writers 
ask for lists of varieties, the following 
notes are offered. The largest native plum 
we have fruited is Brittlewood. This is as 
large or larger than Lombard, quality 
good. Originated and disseminated by 
Theo. Williams, of Benson, Neb. The 
earliest variety that we have, at least of 
commercial importance, is the Aitkin; 
medium to large when properly thinned; 
remarkably thin-skinned, for a native, 
and fair in quality. A very poor keeper, 
and very sure to be attacked by curculio 
and gougers. We have even considered 
the advisability of planting the Aitkin as 
“curculio traps.” The Cheney resembles 
the Aitkin in most respects but is several 
days later. The bulk of the varieties that 
are grown here are mid-season, ripening 
from September 5 to October 10, and here 
we find most of the good plums. 
One of the best for market is Wyant. 
Medium to large; quality good; Mesh firm, 
meaty, prolific and a reliable bearer; an 
attractive plum and always sells well. 
Surprise is a trifle larger than vVyant, a 
few days earlier, and better in quality. 
With us it has not proved as productive as 
Wyant. Quaker is an old stand-by. Large 
and attractive and of high quality; very 
productive. Forest Rose is of tne same 
type. Hawkeye, Stoddard, Wolf and New 
Ulm are all large and showy, all are coarse 
of flesh and sour. Hawkeye is largely 
planted in the West on account of its size 
and prolificacy, but is nevertheless a poor 
plum; Wyant will bear as well and In the 
long run outsell the Hawkeye. De Soto is 
too well-known to need description, but is 
rarely included in our list of “best’' plums, 
as there are so many better varieties. Rol- 
lingstone is medium to large and very pro¬ 
ductive. With us it is not high in quality. 
Beatty, Etta, Nellie Blanche, Silas Wilson, 
Smith, Kieth and North Star are all excel¬ 
lent plums; of good size and high in qual¬ 
ity. The sooner growers plant this class 
of plums, the sooner will native plums be¬ 
come popular. With the exception of 
Smith, the plums of the last-named list 
are light in color, greenish yellow ground, 
splashed with bright red. A light-colored 
skin seems to be associated with high 
quality, tender flesh and lack of astrin- 
gency in the native plum. The least desir¬ 
able color is the dark purplish red so 
dominant in the whole Americana species. 
All of the varieties so far named belong 
to the Americana species, with the pos¬ 
sible exception of Surprise and North Star, 
which bear marks of hybridity. This spe¬ 
cies is best adapted to the Northwest. The 
flower buds of the Chicasa varieties, such 
as Pottawattamie and others are not re¬ 
liably hardy here. Even if hardy it is 
doubtful whether they would ever be 
grown to any extent where the Ameri- 
canas succeed. The flesh of these varieties 
is soft and watery, with no decided flavor; 
in fact, an indifferent combination of 
sugar and water. This somewhat rambling 
account of varieties is gleaned wholly 
from observation in southern Wisconsin. 
It is probable that in other regions farth¬ 
er south or east the recommendations 
would need revision. If I were to plant 
an extensive orchard of native plums in 
this State next Spring, I probably would 
plant largely of Brittlewood, Wyant, 
Quaker, Hammer, North Star, Beatty, 
Etta and Kieth, with a few Aitkin for 
early. That is, if I could obtain trees of 
all of these, which is somewhat doubtful, 
as most of them are new varieties. In 
case of failure to get trees of the newer 
ones, I would plant extensively Wyant, 
Quaker, Surprise and Aitkin, and grow po¬ 
tatoes or some other crop until such time 
as the trees of the others were available, 
rather than attempt to build up a market 
on such “Ben Davis” varieties as Hawk- 
eye and Stoddard. Frederic cranefield. 
Wisconsin Exp. Station. 
m,k 
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2, 4, C, 8,10,12,14 and 
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Peach Covers. 
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Berry, Peach and Grape Crates, etc. 
Write for new 1902 Catalogue. 
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109 & 1 11 Warren Street, New York. 
Established 1884. . 
MACHINERY 
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PRESS CO., 
118 Went Water St., 
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OBFT DIG Potatoes b y Hand. 
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