NEW YORK, OCTOBER IK, 1902. 
*1 PER YEAR. 
SHORT FRUIT NOTES. 
Practical Experience from Varied Sources. 
STRINGFELLOW TREES.—Referring again to Mr. 
Stringfellow’s theories I am getting excellent results 
on Long Island with close root-pruned ornamental 
deciduous trees, planted in hardpan gravel without 
fertilizer, in small holes dug with a pickax. I am in¬ 
clined to think Mr. Stringfellow is right when he says 
the cause of the poor results from the Rhode Island 
planting was the rich soil from the barn drain put 
into the holes. f am going to find out by planting 
some more this Fall. w. b. w. 
New York. 
GRADING APPLES.—In reference to the apple 
question on page 687 I would say that according to 
the statement of the question, the buyer rs the party 
who needs protection, and not the seller. If the buyer 
pays the same price for No. 2 as for No. 1 he must 
have a code of rules as to what shall go in as No. 2; 
if he did not have such 
rules I am afraid there 
would not be any stock 
for the evaporators or 
cider mills. There are 
certain fixed rules in this 
section. I believe they 
are the rules of the Apple 
Ship p ers’ Association. 
“No. 2 apples shall be 
hand-picked from the 
tree, shall not be small r 
than 2% inches in diam¬ 
eter; the skin shall not 
be broken nor the apple 
bruised.” I think the 
rules suggested by the 
New York State Fruit 
(1 rowe r s’ 
should cover such a case, 
and if your reader is not 
a member of that Asso¬ 
ciation I would advise 
him to join it as soon as 
possible, and when he 
sells his apples agree th >.t 
the rules of that Asso¬ 
ciation shall govern. 
C. K. Cl.ATtK. 
Newark, N. Y. 
INDIANA BEN 
D A V I S.—About 30 Ben 
Davis trees are bearing 
their first crop to amount 
to anything this year. I 
have gathered 50 buqhels 
and there are about as 
many more. It is early, but they are ripe and falling 
off, and outsiders carry off too many. They are of 
better quality than 1 ever knew Ben Davis to lie. and 
cook and eat better than the Maiden Blush, some of 
which we still have. Are apples ever graded by size? 
1 grade mine to take to market; the largest run 160 
to a bushel and from that up to 180, 200, and some 
230 per bushel. I find they sell better and bring more 
money that way. I sprayed some of the trees near 
the house with Bordeaux and Paris-green, but the 
fruit is no smoother than the unsprayed, or not much. 
Indianapolis, Ind. ir. a. u. 
THE YENSHI PEACH.—Fig. 28/ shows a sample of 
this peach sent by Prof. F. A. Waugh, of the .Massa¬ 
chusetts Agricultural College, who wrote: “Did you 
ever cat a Yenshi peach? f am sending you a couple 
to-day. They are rather undersized, being the last of 
the crop. We have had them nearly a half larger than 
those I send. The fruit is too soft for shipment, but 
has a fine, rich flavor and is good for table use at 
home. When you consider the fact that our Mountain 
Rose are not yet ready, you will see that this is some¬ 
thing in the way of an early peach—quite remarkable, 
I think, for its season.” The flavor of the peach was 
excellent, fully justifying Prof. Waugh’s opinion. 
HEN-FED APPLES.—There is a striking object 
lesson on the farm of White & Rice, in Westchester 
Co., N. Y. Hens are kept at one end of an apple or¬ 
chard. They run out from their house under the trees, 
roaming about as far as hens ordinarily do under such 
circumstances. The trees under which they live and 
work were wonderfully healthy. The foliage was 
thick and green, and the fruit large and fine. Back, 
out of range of the hens, the trees had a very different 
appearance. The wood growth was less vigorous, the 
color lighter and the fruit decidedly smaller. I could 
not realize how great this difference was had I not 
seen the trees. I have known yearly applications of 
half a ton of fertilizer to show less difference! Mr. 
Rice stated that the orchard had not been fertilized. 
it had been in sod for several years, but the grass has 
not been cut and carried away. The hens were en¬ 
tirely responsible for the condition of the trees. It 
was hard to believe that a flock of hens can make such 
a wonderful showing. Under some of the trees they 
had burrowed and dug until the soil was well turned 
over, but I did not notice that such trees carried bet¬ 
ter fruit. I think the chief thing responsible for the 
fine fruit was the way the hen manure was applied. 
The constant, daily application of soluble plant food 
gave those trees just the nourishment they needed. 
Plant food distributed in this way will probably pro¬ 
duce a more useful tree than an equal or even a larger 
amount put on at one time. This is one reason for 
the vigorous appearance of mulched trees or plants. 
The plant food is made available steadily close to the 
roots where it may he utilized at once. What an or¬ 
chard companion for an apple tree a lively hen is, and 
this is especially true with a good hen man back of 
her! it. w. o. 
SHORT TALK ABOUT “PEACH YELLOWS.’’ 
Symptoms of the Disease. 
In the article by O. W. Mapes, on page 654, I found 
a statement which should not go unchallenged. First 
and last I have read a great deal about Peach yellows 
written by men whose knowledge was theoretical 
rather than practical. In telling of the good results 
of nitrate on some sickly trees, Mr. Mapes says: 
“Possibly the disease we have been calling yellows is 
simply starvation.” Now in the first place yellow fo¬ 
liage is not of itself a sign of yellows. Second, it is 
not starvation, and is not helped or cured by any ap¬ 
plication of fertilizer whatever. A yellow, sickly ap¬ 
pearance of the trees is most likely to be caused by 
lack of cultivation, unsuitable soil, grubs, starvation. 
or root aphis. The greenest, most vigorous tree in 
the orchard is likely to he the first attacked by yei- 
lows. The first sign of the yellows is red-spotted 
fruit with little threads running from the skin to the 
pit which will be found 
more red than is natural. 
Simply red flesh has no 
significance. Sometimes 
healthy trees produce 
spotted peaches which 
closely resemble yellows 
fruit, but the spots will 
he raised like warts, and 
the threads and red pit 
will be lacking. The sec¬ 
ond sign is short fine 
sprouts which may start 
directly from old woo I, 
or from sprouts of this 
season’s growth. These 
are the two infallible 
signs of the yellows. !f 
the tree is not removed 
it will take on a peculiar 
coppery yellow color, and 
the edges of the leaves 
will curl in somewhat. It' 
you wish to continue in 
the peach business, an>l 
you have trees which 
show theso symptoms, 
get your ax; cut down 
and burn every tree af¬ 
fected if it takes half 
your orchard. 
Now a word as to tho 
destructiveness of the 
yellows. A few years 
since I drove through the 
country east of the town 
line of Saugatuclc and 
Lake town townships, Michigan, and west of what is 
now the Pere Marquette Railroad. Here I saw the 
most magnificent orchards it has ever been my lot to 
observe. Then for two years l was not in this section 
of country. The third year I drove through again and 
was astonished to find the orchards all gone; two or 
three sickly looking trees out in the middle of a mea¬ 
dow or wheat field, a pile of stumps back of the barn, 
all that remained of the once fine orchards. A year 
or two later I met one of the growers at a pomological 
meeting, aiul asked him what had become of those 
fine orchards? He tersely replied: “Yellows. The 
growers wouldn't cut out their trees when first at¬ 
tacked and consequently lost their orchards.” He 
said that he had promptly removed all affected trees 
and had his orchard yet. I have all my life lived 
among peach orchards and have had two years’ ex¬ 
perience as yellows commissioner for my town, and 
am writing from personal experience. 
Allegan Co., Mich. 
Association 
“BILLY GORMAND,” THE PIG FATTENED BY MAPES THE HEN MAN. Fig. 284. See Page 714. 
U.VI.N i: u II Ail V. 
