278 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 15 
well here as anywhere, and the canners like it—for 
they can often sell it under a Bartlett label. Mr. 
Harrison showed me some Kieffer trees—part grown 
in Georgia and the rest from Michigan. The northern- 
grown trees were much superior. 
“ I want those Michigan trees for our own orchard !” 
said Mr. Harrison. 
The three chief products in the nursery are peach 
trees, strawberry plants and asparagus roots. Prob¬ 
ably some of our readers will be interested to know 
how they are grown. The Harrisons use cow peas 
and Crimson clover extensively. On the day of my 
visit, March 14, they were plowing under one large 
field of Crimson clover. The tops did not seem large, 
but when turned up by the plow, the roots seemed as 
thick as one’s finger, and gave a good idea of the 
wonderful power of this plant to grow below ground 
during the Winter. Mr. Harrison said that this Crim¬ 
son clover was better than a coat of manure. It gave 
more actual fertility, and left the ground so open and 
loose that they could use a machine for setting the 
strawberry plants. When the soil is full of manure, 
the planter will not do good work. 
Chemical fertilizers are used largely, and some ma¬ 
nure is bought. This year one car-load of Orange 
Tree fertilizer was bought, and several home mix¬ 
tures are to be tried alongside it. Here is one sample 
mixture for potatoes: 
300 pounds of sulphate of potash. 
100 pounds of nitrate of soda. 
100 pounds of sulphate of ammonia. 
400 pounds of tankage. 
1,100 pounds of dissolved bone. 
The method of mixing this fertilizer is one of the best 
I have ever seen on the farm. These southern farms 
are dotted with outbuildings of varying sizes. Some 
of them date back even to old slavery days. We have 
nothing just like them at the North. One of those 
old buildings has been utilized for a fertilizer-mixing 
shed. The chemicals are first dumped into a pile in 
layers. Looking at the pile, one can see the white 
streaks of potash and nitrate, and the darker layers 
of tankage and bone. The mixer is a stout negro 
with a shovel. He shovels the pile over, from one 
corner of the shed to another, working it four or five 
times in this way, and letting it stand to ‘ ‘ blend ” for 
several days between each shoveling. This lying in 
a heap to “ blend”, and the constant working over, 
are about as useful to the chemicals as fermenting 
and working over are to the manure pile. H. w. c. 
VAN DEMAN’S FRUIT NOTES. 
Triumph , Kalamazoo and Fitzgerald Peaches. 
What are the real merits of the Triumph, Kalamazoo and Fitz¬ 
gerald peaches, as compared with the claims made for them in 
catalogues ? Do you think any one would be justified in planting 
them, not as an experiment, but for business ?; o. r. h. 
South Hadley, Mass. 
The Triumph peach is no longer an experiment. It 
has been grown in all peach growing sections of the 
country, and has proved a late bloomer, yet nearly as 
early as Alexander, a reliajd^bearer, and the fruit is 
yellow, with a red cheek-fand of fair quality. It is 
worthy as an early variety. Kalamazoo is one of the 
very best peaches for the mid-season market. It is as 
large as Early Crawford, but more uniform in size, 
and has a smaller seed. The color is yellow, and flavor 
good. It originated at Kalamazoo, Mich., and has a 
good name there and elsewhere. Fitzgerald is of 
Canadian origin, and is much like the Kalamazoo in 
every respect. It is one of the most dependable of the 
yellow peaches. All these are “business” peaches, 
and may be planted with good hope of success ; but 
some nurserymen may overstate their good points 
and, probably, do so, while others undoubtedly state 
them fairly. 
Talks on Plants and Fruits. 
1. I bear that the Japan shrubs, E aeagnus edulis—E. pungens 
and E. longipes—as generally distributed here, are the same, and 
that the last is the proper name. Is this sot Give points of difference 
in genuine plants. 2. Why does not Akebia quinata fruit in this 
country, as it is said to in Japan ? So also of Actinidia poly- 
gama ? 3. Will you give a short history of Capp’s Mammoth and 
Menagcre apples? If they are synonyms, whiih is the proper 
name and why ? 4. Is it not true that a low headed tree is more 
likely to split at the forks than one with a long stem ? 5. Are 
seedlings of sports more likely to vary from the original type 
than the seedlings from normal plants ? ben.i. buckman. 
Illinois. 
1 . The fruiting shrub from Japan, commonly called 
“Goumi” there, and to some extent here, is known 
to science as Elseagnus multiflora, E. pungens, E. 
longipes and E. edulis. It is unfortunate that so many 
scientific names should have been given the species, 
but such confusion comes in this case, as it 
does in many others, by different botanists each 
thinking his name the first one to be given. Thun- 
berg’s name, multiflora, is the one that has been de¬ 
cided to have precedence over the others. No mate¬ 
rial, specific differences have been noticed by me 
among the seedlings which I have seen under the dif¬ 
ferent names mentioned. A description and colored 
illustration of a fruiting branch of this shrub may 
be seen in the annual report of the United States 
Department of Agriculture for 1890 
2. Several years ago I imported seeds of Akebia 
quinata from Japan, and distributed them, but they 
failed to grow well, and did not fruit well so far as 
heard from. Why, I do not know. Of Actinidia 
polygama, I know almost nothing. [This species at 
the Rural Grounds does not bear fruit because the 
flowers are imperfect. Actinidia arguta, a far less 
thrifty vine, bears fruit in abundance.—E ds J 
3. Capp’s Mammoth has long been considered by me 
as a synonym of Menagere, the latter being the cor¬ 
rect name. I may be mistaken, but the specimens ex¬ 
amined have led me to this belief. The history of the 
variety, so far as I know it, is rather obscure. It is 
said to come from Germany. There is nothing special 
to recommend it except its very large size, regular, 
oblate conic shape and ydllow color. I once exhibited 
one grown in Kansas that was 18 % inches in circum¬ 
ference, and free from any blemish. The quality is 
poor. It ripens in the Fall in the central United 
States. 
4. Judging by what I have seen, I do not believe 
that the length of the trunk of a tree has much, if 
anything, to do with its liability to split at the fork. 
It is, however, a common fault of those who have 
trained their trees with low heads, to cause them to 
make forks that are easy to split, by cutting out the 
central stem of the tree, and forcing a number of 
branches to start out at one place. If the branches 
are induced to come out one above the other and 
around a central stem, as near as may be possible, 
there will be little trouble with their splitting off. 
5. Any answer that I might make to this question 
would be entirely theoretical with me, and of no es- 
ROLLER CUTTER FOR STRAWBERRY RUNNERS. Fig. 113. 
pecial value. It is my bare opinion that the farther a 
variety gets from the original type, the greater the 
chances for variation in its seedlings, except as it may 
be the result of a succession of generations of selec¬ 
tion towards a fixed type. A “ sport” would, prob¬ 
ably, be more likely to produce seedlings of wider 
variation than those from the variety from which it 
sprung. 
Grafting Nut Trees. 
A Difficult Task.—Several correspondents of The 
R. N.-Y. have been asking about grafting nut trees 
of various kinds. Some want to know about the pos¬ 
sibility of grafting the chestnut upon the oak, and the 
relative value of the different species of the chestnut 
as stocks for the finer kinds. Information is also 
desired regarding the value of the hickory nut for cul¬ 
tivation, and methods of grafting all of these nut 
trees. All the above will be included in this answer. 
It is not possible to graft the chestnut upon any of 
the oaks with satisfactory results. The chestnut scions 
will sometimes start to grow, and may live for a year 
or so; but the union is too imperfect to last long or 
to be healthy and thrifty. It is a difficult thing to 
graft any of the nut trees very successfully with 
scions of their own kind, and to attempt intergraft¬ 
ing different species is rarely advisable. The Japan 
chestnuts do fairly well on the wild American stocks, 
and so do the European kinds, but the latter are much 
more successful upon seedlings of their own species. 
For instance, the Paragon should, whenever possible, 
be set upon Paragon seedlings, or at least, upon seed¬ 
lings of some other variety of the European species. 
In top-grafting trees of our wild chestnut, I have 
done fairly well. Those practiced upon have been 
such as I could find in the open, and not very large 
trees. I have set scions of several kinds of both the 
European and Japan species, and since I learned how 
to do the work properly, by repealed trials, I have 
had nearly all of them grow. The hickories and wal¬ 
nuts are more difficult to graft than anything else I 
have ever tried, and the utmost skill that I have been 
able to use has not given very flattering results. 
What a Scion Is.—This one principle should be 
thoroughly understood by all who attempt grafting 
of any kind, that a scion is a cutting set in a stump of 
another tree, much as a cutting is set in the ground. 
Both are expected to make vital connection with the 
food supply, one through the union of its cells with 
those of the tree, and the other by the formation of 
roots in the soil. In either case, there must be no 
drying out of the scion or cutting before the vital 
union has taken place, or death and failure will result. 
In the case of the scion set in a stock, a cell growth 
takes place between the wood and bark of both ; but 
there is a great difference in the ability of various 
kinds of trees to make this cell growth. The apple 
and pear and many other trees do it quite readily, 
while the nut trees do not. Therefore, we must follow 
some plan that will prevent the escape of moisture, as 
thoroughly as possible, if we are to succeed in graft¬ 
ing nut trees, and we should do the grafting at a time 
when the cell growth is active, in order to perfect the 
union quickly. 
One of the most important things I ever learned 
about this difficult kind of grafting is to cut the scions 
before there is any sign of the buds starting, and put 
them in a cool place until after the stocks to be grafted 
are well started into leaf. Then the cell formation 
is rapid in the stock, and it will soon unite with that 
of the graft. In the sawdust of an icehouse or in a 
damp refrigerator is a good place to keep them. Bury¬ 
ing in the earth does fairly well. 
How to Do It. —The ordinary split or cleft method 
of grafting is not nearly so successful as bark graft¬ 
ing. This is done as follows, and of necessity, must 
be so late that the bark will peel readily from the 
wood : Cut off the stock as for split grafting, either 
straight or sloping (the latter is preferable) and, in¬ 
stead of splitting it, merely slit the bark with a knife 
for about an inch at the top just where the graft is to 
be set. Trim the graft to a long wedge, and all from 
one side. Raise the bark a little at the top of the slit, 
and force the scion down between the bark and wood 
until the cut surface is all hidden. Bind it fast to the 
stump with a cotton string, and wax the entire wound 
thoroughly. 
If the trees to be grafted are quite small, it is best 
to do the grafting below the surface of the ground. 
Dig about six inches deep, and set the graft as just de¬ 
scribed, except that wet clay instead of wax may be 
used. Fill up the hole, and if necessary, bank up to 
near the top of the scion. This will keep all parts 
moist until the union has taken place. This last has 
proved the most successful of all methods of grafting 
that I have tested upon the nut trees and the persim¬ 
mon ; I am sure that it would enable one to succeed 
with many other kinds of trees that are difficult to 
graft. 
CUTTING THE STRAWBERRY RUNNERS. 
For several years the process of clipping the straw¬ 
berry runners was considered the most tedious and 
tiresome in the whole routine of our strawberry cul¬ 
ture. Having tried fully a half dozen different plans, 
none of which was at all satisfactory, I concluded 
that a large, keen-edged, rolling disk would be the 
simplest and most effective solution of the problem. 
With this in mind I approached an implement dealer, 
and inquired as to whether he had anything that 
would be suitable, and what would be the price. He, 
of course, had just what I wanted—a rolling disk or 
coulter belonging to a sulky breaking plow—and he 
would charge but $3.50 for it ! Believing that to be 
quite too expensive for my purpose, which was purely 
an experiment, I drove to a scrapiron firm. The first 
thing I saw upon entering was a fine, large 13-inch 
disk and frame (or fork) all complete. I asked the 
price, and was told that I was welcome to it for 25 
cents. That is the entire cost, in money, of the excel¬ 
lent strawberry-runner cutter shown in Fig. 113, the 
handles being worked out and put on in our shop. 
Ohio. _ F. H. BALLOU. 
A TALK ABOUT ROSES. 
A GOOD DISPLAY OF FAMILIAR VARIETIES. 
[editorial correspondence. I 
Time to Consider Roses.— From April 15 to May 
15 is rose-planting time. Every garden lover esteems 
roses, and they form an important feature of the mail¬ 
order trade. Novelties in roses are offered every year, 
many of them with most extravagant claims, yet one 
may obtain satisfactory results by buying tried old 
varieties of approved virtues There are buyers whose 
attention must be attracted by the claims of a novelty, 
and there are worthy novelties introduced every year; 
out no ro3e lover need feel that he must forego the 
pleasure of these flowers, because novelties are out of 
his reach. 
Inexpensive Roses. —“ Is it possible to select a 
good list of roses among familiar sorts, which are less 
expensive than the novelties ? ” I asked a florist of 
wide experience. 
“ Certainly ; many old sorts are still unexcelled in 
their class. Among Remontants and Everblcoming 
roses, some-of the very best varieties are comparatively 
old. Among the newer roses, every garden ought to 
contain Crimson Rambler; it is very hardy, a strong 
