NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 22 , 1902 
81 PER YEAR 
SHORT STORIES FOR BUSY FARMERS . 
Live Ideas from Varied Fields. 
THE CELEBRATED MTNTOSH APPLE—The Mc¬ 
Intosh apple pictured at Fig. 317 originated in Canada 
and is evidently a seedling of Fameuse. It is very 
much like that well-known variety in its general char¬ 
acteristics, but it differs in important minor details. 
The tree is more vigorous and upright, and the foliage 
usually larger. The tree comes a little later into bear¬ 
ing, and never bears quite so heavily as Fameuse. 
This, however, is an advantage, for one of the sins of 
Fameuse is overbearing. Possibly it is due to this 
difference that the fruit is usually larger on the Mc¬ 
Intosh. At any i-ate, such is the fact. The color is 
very rich and attractive, and the whole apple makes 
an especially fancy appearance. It has been largely 
used by those persons who have a fancy fruit stand 
trade to supply. The quality is much like that of 
Fameuse. Some persons think it is better, but that 
depends on what one’s standards are. The variety is 
rather generally planted through northern New Eng¬ 
land and central Canada, and has a great many friends. 
I do not know of anyone who is growing it on a very 
large scale, but those who have a moderate number of 
trees are finding it very profitable. We have a few 
young trees in one of our 
orchards in the Depart¬ 
ment of Horticulture at 
the Massachusetts Agricul¬ 
tural College, and these 
have given a fair crop this 
year. The fruit is large, 
uniform in size, of good 
quality and satisfactory in 
evei’y way. I think, how¬ 
ever, it is not so highly 
colored as that which I 
have usually seen grown in 
northern Vermont. 
F. A. WAUGH. 
Massachusetts. 
IMPROVED CHEST¬ 
NUTS IN NEW JERSEY. 
—We have Reliance, Pro¬ 
lific, Giant and Mammoth 
of the Japan variety, and 
Hale’s (three kinds), then 
we have three or four 
/ 
kinds from Japan, import¬ 
ed grafts, not named in 
English, no Spanish except the Scott. In open fields 
we are not troubled with the weevil, but where graft¬ 
ed on natui’ais in the brush they take 80 per cent. So 
far the Reliance and Maxxxmoth bear the best of large 
deep-brown nuts, clean of fuzz. The Giant is a poor 
cropper. One of Hale’s is a good bearer of large deep- 
brown nuts of fair size and good sweet quality. One 
lot of the imported grafts is very early, fair size, and 
quality like the native; it was ripe this year Septem¬ 
ber 10. I think in the brush we must burn the ground 
over every Fall after the crop to stop the weevil, or it 
will be a failure. Perhaps it may not do on grafted 
naturals, but where done here on Spanish chestnuts 
it seems to meet the difficulty. The market this year 
seemed to discriminate badly against the Japans in 
price, and unless they can be marketed ahead of the 
native a considerably lower price must be taken. In 
gi’afting we find an avei’age of about 50 to 60 per cent 
is all we can count on, as many that “take” will blight 
back. In summing up it is my opinion that the ques¬ 
tion is simply experience and time when settled down 
to a few very early varieties of good to fair quality, 
and knowledge of how to handle the weevil. As yet 
our positive experience is limited. I think from my 
observation the weevil attacks grafted stock worse 
when the tree is so large that some of the original 
limbs are left. e. beekman. 
Monmouth Co., N. J. 
SILAGE FROM A CANNING FACTORY.—In con¬ 
nection with our canning business we store quite a 
lai’ge quantity of both pea and corn silage. Pea silage 
is obtained after thrashing the peas from the vines. 
The farmers deliver the crop to us on the vines in a 
green condition, and as rapidly as the peas are shelled 
the refuse is conveyed to the silos. Corn silage is 
made by crushing sweet corncobs after the corn has 
been cut from them. We mix with the crushed cobs 
the husks that come from the corn as it is being con¬ 
veyed to the silos. The silos have a capacity of about 
150 tons each. Canning-factory silage is well thought 
of by our patrons. They engage in advance the quan¬ 
tity they wish and draw same away during the Win¬ 
ter and Spring as required. They pay for pea silage 
$2 per ton, corn silage $1.50 per ton. At these prices 
it is considered very reasonable feed; in fact, most of 
our patrons prefer that we store and handle their si¬ 
lage at the price we charge rather than haul and store 
it themselves. From the fact of the silage being stored 
in silos that are 24x30 feet it renders it extremely 
free from moisture on account of the great settling 
weight of the contents. Many of our farmers feed si¬ 
lage in the place of hay and grain, and in many cases 
consider it economical to sell their hay and feed in 
its place our product. It has been demonstrated for 
some time and is conceded by all users of it in this 
vicinity that cattle give greater quantities of milk and 
keep in better condition when fed on silage than when 
fed in the usual way with hay and grain. Some of our 
growers feed grain, however, but in small quantities 
when using silage. It is not necessary to feed any hay 
unless desired. the burt olney canning co. 
Oneida, N. Y. 
GETTING READY TO GRAFT.—I wish to graft 
over about 3,000 prune trees. These trees are very 
large and thrifty. Should they have all the tops cut 
off, or only part of them? Can I cut off the limbs 1 
intend to graft, and haul them from the orchard be¬ 
fore inserting the graft? Hauling brush out might 
displace some of the grafts. Should I wait until brush 
is all hauled out? Bad weather might cause delay of 
a month or more. When is the proper time to put in 
grafts? How many gi’afts should a good grafter put 
in in a day? Is paraffin wax good to paint over where 
large limbs have been cut off? Can quinces be suc¬ 
cessfully gi’afted on pears? E. 
Umpqua Ferry, Ore. 
It is a good plan to cut off the branches now that 
are to be grafted next Spring and get them out of the 
way, and hasten the work along that much. But 
the stubs should be cut longer than they are to be 
finally; because there may be some injury from the 
winti'y weather, and the long ume elapsing between 
now and the proper time for grafting. The stubs can 
then he cut afresh. And, let me drop one important 
suggestion, that they all be cut with a steep slant and 
not square across the branch for the grafting. With a 
knife clip off their points and set but one scion to each 
stub. These will heal over much better than square 
stumps and make a better and cheaper job generally. 
I would not cut off quite all the branches this year. 
The time to graft these prune trees will be about next 
March. The number of gi'afts that should be set by a 
good workman will depend upon the size and character 
of the trees to be grafted. If he does not have to climb 
the trees, which is hardly likely, except in a few cases, 
he should set about 500 per day, and if everything is 
very handy he may set 1,000. Paraffin is good to use 
instead of beeswax in making gi - afting wax, but for 
painting over tree wounds any common paint is fully 
as good or better, and much cheaper. Quince scions 
may be successfully grafted on pear trees, but the pear 
is usually set on the quince. h. e. van deman. 
A FRIEND OF BEN 
DAVIS.—We of the Ozarks 
know that the Ben Davis 
has many virtues; we 
know it has but few faults. 
We know the market has 
constantly called for more; 
we have invested vast 
sums of money in it; we 
know it has paid us back 
with big interest, and we 
believe it will continue to 
do so. We know that it is 
a good cooking apple, and 
a favorite with the bakers. 
We know it is a favorite 
with the evaporator men, 
and the cold stoi’age men. 
It keeps well, ships well, 
eats well and is beautiful 
to look upon. The tree is 
hardy, comes into bearing 
young, bears regularly, is 
vei’y prolific, a rapid 
grower, shapely and very 
beautiful. I once heard a man say while sitting at my 
table eating a Ben Davis apple that there was “no 
apple equal to the Ben Davis for him to eat.” While 
I do not consider it the best I know it is very good 
eating as grown with us here in the Ozai’ks, much 
better than it is in many other localities. 
We can grow two bushels of Ben Davis for less 
money than we can grow one bushel of Winesaps or 
any other variety that is well enough tried to be a 
safe investment here. In view of all these facts we 
hope in the future you will not ridicule our favorite. 
I think your correspondent, Mi\ Kiely, takes rather a 
narrow view of the Ben Davis situation. Had there 
been dumped on the St. Louis market on October 11 
such large quantities of any of the other sorts he 
mentions as there were of Ben Davis, and had Ben 
Davis been as scarce as they, then I believe the dif¬ 
ference in price in favor of the Ben Davis would have 
been greater than the difference in price on that day 
in favor of the other sorts. There are always a good 
many wealthy people in every large city who are will¬ 
ing to pay a high price for something out of the com¬ 
mon, and the scarcity of other sorts made this demand 
equal to the supply. But the great common people 
who consume the products of our great commercial 
THE McINTOSH APPLE. UNDERSIZED SPECIMENS. Fig. 317. 
