494 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
July 8 
you will quickly understand why fruit and milk are 
regarded as luxuries by the poor people. They have 
a wrong idea of the food value of beer. Too late in 
life the beer-fed child finds lacking in his blood, 
bones and nerves the solid elements which the milk- 
fed child received in abundance. 
Yes, the vast consumption of beer in Greater New 
York is the greatest obstacle in the way of increas¬ 
ing the sale of milk. Beer and milk are rivals from 
the moment the grain enters the cow’s mouth or the 
brewer’s vat. We are not discussing this matter from 
a moral standpoint at this time, though it could easily 
be shown how the alcohol in the beer destroys the 
buying capacity of thousands of dollars that ought to 
be spent for milk and fruit. We are talking now of 
food values, for through mistaken ideas, many beer 
drinkers honestly consider their swill as nourishing 
as pure milk. Many good men could never be in¬ 
duced to face the beer question because of the harm 
that results through its alcohol. As a food fraud or 
humbug rival of milk and fruit, they may regard it 
differently, and insist upon a better regulation of its 
manufacture and sale. 
GIRDLING FRUIT TREES. 
Why and How to Do It. 
Mr. E. H. S. Dartt, superintendent of the Tree Sta¬ 
tion at Owatonna, Minn., sends a circular giving some 
experience with girdling fruit trees. In this circular, 
he says: 
If wo girdle a thrifty tree in May, the wound is likely 
to heal over perfectly during the growing season, and no 
effect is produced. But on July 1, the elements of growth 
are being taken in rapidly through the leaves, and are 
being distributed to every part of the tree. If we girdle 
at this time, cutting through the cambium layer, we 
stop the downward flow of these elements, which, being 
held in the top of the tree, naturally cause the formation 
of fruit buds to be developed the next season. Water 
sprouts frequently start below the girdle, which should 
be removed. 
The manner of girdling is not very essential, and after 
trying various methods, I have adopted the spiral method, 
partially because it seems less shocking to the nerves of 
those sensitive people who believe that to girdle means to 
kill. Girdling by the spiral method is accomplished by 
starting in with a saw just below the limbs, and cutting 
down around the tree at an angle of 45 degrees. If the 
cut extends a little more than once around, no harm will 
result. If the saw is turned square around the tree, the 
effect will be the same. On small trees and limbs, a 
knife may be used instead of a saw, but the fact must 
be emphasized that, unless the cut is deep enough to dis¬ 
turb the cambium layer, no results can be expected to 
follow. 
In discussing this matter, Mr. II. E. Van Deman 
says:— 
DONE AT PROPER TIME.—There is no question 
in the minds of those who have practiced girdling, 
that it may be safely and profitably done, provided it 
is done at the proper time, and for proper reasons. 
My first observations on girdling were in the “dead- 
enings,” where my father and others were clearing 
land in southern Ohio. It was usually done in 
August, cutting deeply into the forest trees to kill 
them. If done too early in the Summer, sometimes 
tney would not die, but leaf out the next year. 
Those which had been only peeled in places, would 
often grow a new bark there, and live indefinitely. 
About 1855, my father girdled some of the apple 
trees in June “to make them bear,” as he said, and 
they did bear the next year in almost every case. 
Since then, I have girdled many kinds of fruit and 
other trees. If done when the cambium layer is 
thick and pasty, making new wood and bark very 
fast, little or no harm will be done to that or any 
other part of the tree, except to the conifers and 
some other species of a resinous character. I have 
never been able to girdle a pine or cedar without kill¬ 
ing it, but I have taken the bark from apple, maple, 
cottonwood and other trees for a space of two feet 
perpendicularly and around the entire body without 
the slightest permanent damage. The next Fall, 
there was a new bark formed over every part of the 
peeled surface. 
WHAT IT DOES.—The effect of this operation, 
whether it be done by peeling a large or small space, 
is to check the flow of sap, which is laden with 
starchy material, and cause it to make an unnat¬ 
urally large deposit above the wound. It is about as 
our Minnesota friend has stated, “We stop,” I would 
sav check, “the downward flow of these elements, 
which, being held in the top of the tree, naturally 
cause the formation of fruit buds to be developed the 
next season.” It takes more nourishment to make a 
fruit bud than a branch bud. When the sap is rich in 
nourishment, if we can force it to expend its vitality 
upon the part of the tree where the fruit buds are 
forming, or should form, we will often cause them to 
be formed long before nature would do so. Girdling 
will do it. Simply running a knife or saw around 
the body or branch will do it in some degree. The 
wider the gash the greater the interruption of na¬ 
ture’s plan. Fastening a wire or strong string about 
the body or branch will have the same effect in part. 
THE “WHY.”—The reason the sap is richer above 
than below any cut or stricture is that it receives 
the bulk of the material from which the wood, bark, 
etc., are made, from the air, it having been absorbed 
by the leaves in the form of carbonic acid gas. This 
is carried downward to build up the entire tree or 
plant, to the end of the deepest root. All that is not 
so obtained is the little part that is left as ashes 
when wood or any vegetable substance is burned, 
except in some cases, the nitrogen, which is taken in 
by both roots and leaves. 
Regarding the utility of girdling, my opinion is 
that it is often very helpful to the fruitgrower. If it 
is done about midsummer, when the cambium is 
very abundant and soft, it will surely force the forma¬ 
tion of fruit buds in tardy bearers. I have no doubt 
of the value of the plan in the Northwest and else¬ 
where, too, when wisely carried out. But it must 
not be done too early, or there will be little checking 
of the sap flow, neither must it be too late, else there 
will be injury or death. 
Girdling also makes the fruit on the part above 
where it is done, larger than if it were not done. 
This plan is often followed by those who wish to 
grow very large specimens for show purposes. “Ring¬ 
ing” grape vines (taking out a ring of bark), for this 
purpose, is a common practice, and sometimes it is 
done for producing extra large grapes for the fancy 
N. OHMER. #ig. 195. 
From the Miami Valley Horticulturist. 
market. But the flavor is always inferior to that of 
fruit grown in the natural way; perhaps, because of 
the lack of potash, phosphoric acid or some other 
manorial element from the earth. This is the main 
objection to girdling for increasing the size of fruit. 
SOME NOTES FROM ILLINOIS. 
A Useful Little Tool - Fruit. 
One of the handiest and most useful little tools I 
ever got hold of is the little sprayer or atomizer. 
These sprayers are made of tin, brass or copper, are 
15 to 20 inches in length, and have a small can at¬ 
tached for holding the liquid. By working the piston, 
this liquid is blown out of the can in a very fine spray 
or mist. I bought the one I have with some misgiv¬ 
ings as to its usefulness. It is made of heavy tin, 
cost me 40 cents, and now I would not sell it for $5 
if I could not get another. 
For spraying Paris-green on potato plants, it is 
fine, but I use mine for spraying everything that 
needs it. I sprayed the currant bushes with hellebore, 
and slaughtered a million worms; then I sprayed the 
chicken coops and nests with kerosene, and destroyed 
a multitude of mites and some lice. Then I sprayed 
the tents of the tent caterpillar with kerosene, and re¬ 
joiced to see the pests perish before my eyes. Now I 
keep the implement in the stable, and destroy flies by 
the thousand. When the cow enters the darkened 
stable where I milk, a few hundred flies enter with 
her, and I am ready for them. In five seconds, the 
air is full of vaporized kerosene, and they get out— 
such of them as are able—through the chinks of the 
door, and in less than a minute, there is not a fly 
humming about. Some stick to the cow’s legs and 
back, but a few whiffs of kerosene vapor settle their 
accounts quickly. In 10 or 15 minutes, the air is 
clear of the vapor, and I go in and milk in peace. 
Before turning the cow out in the morning, I send 
a few whiffs along her sides, back and legs, and the 
flies do not trouble her very much for an hour or two, 
at least. I shall keep this thing in the stable all 
Summer, and slaughter the thousands of flies that 
gather on the walls, and wait for the animals to 
come in. The kerosene comes out like mist or 
smoke, and one can fill a small stable with it in a 
few seconds, and the way the flies cut for the chinks 
is amusing and immensely satisfactory. 
Rose slugs attacked my rose bushes just before 
blooming time; I gave them a few squirts of vapor^ 
ized kerosene, and they died instantly, while the 
plants were not injured a particle. I have not tried 
it on Potato beetles, because there is none to try it 
on. The beetles seem to have perished or gone East, 
for I have not seen one this season. Cabbage worms 
have gone with them, and this season, we have cab¬ 
bage as smooth and clean as in days of yore. I in¬ 
tended to feed them vaporized kerosene emulsion if 
they had appeared, but that experiment will have to 
be laid over for lack of material. 
1 notice that my six-year-old Burbank plum trees 
are dying, also two of the younger Abundance. They 
appeared to be all right in the Spring, though most of 
the fruit buds were dead, but they have made no 
growth. Younger Burbanks are all right and well 
set with fruit. Ben Davis apple and Keiffer pear 
trees are sound as a dollar. People sneer at old Ben 
D. because he is not a dessert fruit; but if I were to 
plant another orchard, there would be lots of him 
in it. There may be better pears than properly- 
ripened Kieffers, but they are scarce. There are 
bushels of Kieffers hanging on my trees, and I expect 
to feast on them the coming Fall. I like them, my 
neighbor likes them, and his neighbors like them, so 
they must be good. fred grundy. 
Illinois. 
N. OHMER—AN OHIO HORTICULTURIST. 
Hundreds of our readers have heard of N. Ohmer, 
of Ohio, and doubtless, many of them have wondered 
what sort of a looking man stood behind the name. 
We are glad to satisfy their curiosity by printing a 
picture of Mr. Ohmer, which is shown at Fig. 195. 
Our friend is now 76 years old, but still active in 
mind and body. He was born in Lorraine, France, 
and came to this country 67 years ago, so that he is 
a pretty good American after all. He landed in New 
York, and was one of those who gave Horace Greeley 
an argument for advising young men to go West. 
The family traveled westward by canal and wagon, 
first to Cincinnati, Ohio, and then to Trenton, Butler 
County, where Mr. Ohmer’s father followed his trade 
of tailoring. In speaking of his early education, Mr. 
Ohmer says that he received “a very common school 
education.” 
In 1837, the Ohmer family moved to Dayton, Ohio; 
there they opened a confectionery store. In 1846, Mr. 
Ohmer borrowed $200, and went into the candy busi¬ 
ness on his own account. He did well at it, but it 
was too much for his health, and, as he says, his doc¬ 
tor told him that it had come down to a question of 
country or graveyard. Mr. Ohmer says that, as he 
did not hanker after the graveyard, he chose the 
country, and bought a 100-acre farm near the city 
of Dayton. 
Here he was, 35 years of age, with a new profession 
to study—that of horticulture. He went at it and 
mastered it, and made a great success of the business 
of fruit growing, and incidentally raised a good crop 
of health, for he has kept on living 41 years since 
that time, and shows no present indication of giving 
out. Mr. Ohmer has been a hard and persistent 
worker, and by perseverance and shrewd application, 
has made a success of whatever he undertook to do. 
Most Ohio men who show any ability to get there,” 
are pushed along by their admiring countrymen, into 
positions of trust and responsibility. Mr. Ohmer has 
had his share of places of trust, and has filled them 
all to credit. He is well known in the American 
Pomological Society, the American Horticultural 
Society, the Ohio State Society, and other horticul¬ 
tural organizations. He was president of the Board 
of Control of the Ohio Experiment Station, and gave 
it a good start in the right direction. He was six 
years a member of the Ohio State Board of Agricul¬ 
ture, and for 32 years, has been president of the 
famous Montgomery County, Ohio, Horticultural So¬ 
ciety. In all these places of trust, Mr. Ohmer has 
done his duty, and he is highly respected by all who 
know him. We wish there were more men in the 
world like N. Ohmer. He has given character and 
force to the profession of horticulture, and the quiet 
work that he has done, has made a dent upon his¬ 
tory, that will not be rubbed out for many years to 
come. 
